Category: Uncategorized

11 Days of Instagram Caption Ideas

Post author By Rallio
Post date December 1, 2021

In our last post, we explained Instagram grid layouts — an easy way to make your page look like one cohesive work of art instead of a random series of photos. Now that you’re an Instagram grid guru, you might be wondering, what do I post on Instagram? Glad you asked — because we’ve got Instagram caption ideas to spark your imagination!

The captions below are not “cut and paste,” meaning you will need to customize them for your business. Obviously, you also need your own photos to post. However, with these Instagram caption ideas in hand, you’ll have plenty to work with when you’re snapping photos and figuring out what to post.

What other Instagram caption ideas can you come up with? Challenge yourself to get creative and think outside the square — the Instagram square, that is. Snap some personalized photos, add your own caption and hashtags, and create a grid layout of your own to start making the most of your Instagram profile.

#1 Get a Case of the Mondays

Play off the day of the week, like Mondays and Fridays. It’s a relatable topic that everyone understands and probably has an opinion about.

Example: I don’t know about you, but I like Mondays. ?? I actually wake up excited to start a new week. It’s true: Love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life, including Mondays. Anyone feel the same way?

#2 Quote Somebody

Quotes are one of the easiest types of posts you can create. Throw a quote into a nice layout (Canva.com makes it easy), and voila! There’s your post.

Example: “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” — Abraham Lincoln

#3 Talk About Your Industry

Post something about trend in your industry that your followers would want to know more about. You’re the expert on something, so share your knowledge!

Example (for a marketing company): Video will continue to be a dominant focus on Instagram going forward. Comment below and let us know: Are you using video in your social media content? Why or why not?

#4 Post a Testimonial

Ask a happy customer to give you a review, and get their permission to take a photo of them. Nothing is more powerful than the words of someone who loves your brand!

For this example, use your customer’s own words, shortening it as needed for purposes of a caption. If the customer is OK with it, tag them in the photo and ask them to share the post on their own profile.

#5 Post a How-To

Take a video of yourself explaining how to use one of your products or services. Keep it short and sweet but helpful, too.

A furniture company could post a video explaining how to care for a leather sofa. A beauty brand could post a tutorial for applying face serum. The possibilities are endless!

#6 Post an Offer

Offers shouldn’t be the bulk of your page, but they can be sprinkled in. Make sure it’s aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t look like a giant “Sale!” sign. You can easily grab a nice product photo from your website and add a caption that explains the offer.

Example: Don’t miss out! For three days only, get free shipping and 25% off your order when you spend $99. Head over to the link in our bio to snag this deal before it’s gone!

#7 Post a Giveaway

Like offers, giveaways can be mixed in among your regular content to gain engagement and get your followers excited about your page. Try partnering with another brand to collaborate on the giveaway.

For this example, spell out the contest rules clearly and make sure you add in language that encourages people to follow and engage with your brand.

#8 Post a Behind-The-Scenes Photo

Who started your company? Who’s your star employee of the month? What fun events do you do as a team? Get snapping and tell your followers about it!

Example: This is Christie. She runs our front desk like a boss and always has a smile on her face. She also makes the best German chocolate cake this side of the Colorado River, and she has three adorable beagles she sometimes brings to work. Leave a comment below and give Christie a shoutout!

#9 Post a Fun Fact

Again, you’re the pro. What information can you share with your followers?

Example for a cleaning company: Ever feel like your floor is constantly getting dirty? Cut down on the dirt and germs by removing your shoes every time you walk in the door. If you have pets, consider purchasing pet-friendly paw wipes to reduce the amount of dirt tracked inside.

#10 Make a Prediction

What industry predictions can you make? Pull out your crystal ball, and take a few wild guesses!

Example: Here it is: our top three predictions for the latest and greatest in [XYZ industry] trends for 2022.

Prediction 1
Prediction 2
Prediction 3

What about you? What are your top predictions?

#11 Focus on the Little Things

Like a day of the week, talking about small, relatable topics has a way of connecting with your followers.

Example: Never underestimate the power of a smile from a stranger, a chocolate chip cookie hot out of the oven, and fresh, clean sheets on the bed. Today, we are grateful for all the little things.

Instagram Caption Ideas Are Easy Once You Get Rolling

You’ll notice that the ideas above are repeatable, so you can recycle the same ideas with different captions and photos to keep your content fresh. You’ll never run out of content this way!

Of course, not everyone has time to post on Instagram if you’re busy running your business. Does your business need help posting more frequently? Contact us at Rallio and we’ll help you out!

Rallio

Rallio | Powered by Ignite Visibility is a powerful SaaS platform designed to help multi-location and franchise brands streamline their social media, online reputation, and directory listings management. With AI-driven content creation, scheduling, and analytics, Rallio ensures brand consistency while allowing localized engagement. The platform also features employee advocacy tools, review generation, and seamless integration with social ecosystems, making it the ideal solution for brands looking to optimize their digital presence across multiple locations.

Tags social media marketing

Content Marketing Uncategorized

12 Surefire Ways to Grow Your Email List

Post author By Rallio
Post date October 11, 2021

So you have a special offer, promotion, announcement or video you want to email to your customers. But what do you do if your email list could fit on, uh, a sticky note? Or, more to the point, how do you grow your email list so you actually have people to email?

It’s a common problem among businesses that are just starting out or that haven’t put focused effort into acquiring subscribers. Start implementing the following 12 tips, however, and you’ll be well on your way to bulking up your email list and converting more of those people into paying customers.

Ready to grow your email list? Let’s go!

#1: Create a giveaway.

One of the simplest ways to grow your email list is by launching a giveaway where people need to provide their email address to enter. It’s best if you give other options for entering via social media — by liking a post and tagging a friend, for example — so that your giveaway is accessible to everyone (not just people who give you their email).

For the email entry, create a landing page for the giveaway that’s independent of Facebook and your website. A simple email entry form will let you capture email addresses, and you can provide further details about the giveaway rules and the giveaway itself. You’ll also make use of this landing page in additional steps below.

#2: Add a call-to-action button to your Facebook page.

You can use a Sign Up button on your Facebook profile that links users to your giveaway landing page. This button can also be linked with other content when you’re not hosting a giveaway, such as a gated featured resource that requires email access.

#3: Create an email automation.

Once you have a subscriber, you can send them through different email automations. An email automation is simply a series of emails that you send to a subscriber based on different triggers. These emails not only provide information to subscribers, but also help with retention so people don’t immediately unsubscribe after your giveaway is done.

For example, once someone enters your giveaway, you can send them through an automation that tells them more details about the giveaway. Then send them another email on days 2, 3, 4 or however long you want the automation to be — a seven-day sequence is a good goal. When they reach the end of the automation, have the automation subscribe them to a general email list that you can then use for your email marketing.

In the subsequent emails, add value by sending out blog posts, freebies or other information. You can also pair your emails with social media posts that echo your email content.

#4: Create a challenge.

You could also create a landing page featuring a unique seasonal challenge with a downloadable resource — an ebook, for instance — such as “7-Day Healthy Eating Challenge” that people would opt into. You could then take info from your ebook and create an email sequence to distribute the healthy tips and create other assets to go with it on social media, such as social media posts and even a private Facebook group (more on that in tip #11).

#5: Host an online event.

Have a topic you know something about? Or some type of special event you can host virtually? Create an educational webinar, a “virtual tasting” event with food or drinks, or even a how-to session explaining one of your products.

Create a landing page or use a service like Eventbrite.com where people input their email address to join your event or class. Be sure to promote the event on social media, in your newsletter and on your website.

#6: Add an “Instant Win” to your website.

Ever seen a “spin the wheel” animation on a website? People can enter their email address in exchange for instant savings, such as a percentage off at checkout.

See Viral Sweep for instant win ideas. Note that after a user enters their email address, they can be presented with social media sharing options.

#7: Use your cover photos.

Turn your Facebook and Twitter cover photos into calls to action to sign up for your email list, for a contest, for a special challenge or anything else that gets people to subscribe.

Canva.com is an easy graphic design tool, or you can use a service like Fivrr or Upwork to locate a freelancer who can create the artwork for you.

#8: Post snippets to social media.

Draw out useful tidbits from your monthly newsletter content or blog that you can repurpose on social media. Ask your followers to become email subscribers — send them over to that landing page you created.

#9: Pin a link to your landing page to the top of your profile.

As with your cover photos, you can pin your landing page to the top of your Facebook and Twitter profiles. You can also put this link in your Instagram bio and/or link to it from Stories. If you have more than 10K followers, you can add this link as a swipe-up feature.

Note: If you have multiple links you want to share with your followers, gather them together in a single link using a link-bundling tool like Linktree.

#10: Add an “Email” link on your Instagram profile.

This technique to grow your email list might not get you an influx of subscribers, but it falls under the category of “why not?” You’ll simply go into your Instagram settings to add this button and provide another means for people to message you.

Then, if and when you get an email, you can invite them to join your subscriber list. Try adding a call to action to “subscribe to emails” within your email signature, so that anytime you reply back to someone, you have another opportunity to obtain new subscribers.

#11: Create a Facebook group.

Facebook groups can be a great place to connect with a smaller group of followers who are interested in your topic. If you have a massage business, you could start a Facebook group featuring tips on stress relief and healthy living, for example.

Within your Facebook group, you can try various tactics to gain email subscribers. The massage business could create “7 Days of Stress Relief” where people opt in to receive emails. Each day, they would get a different email with new stress-relief tips.

Be sure to promote your Facebook group via your main Facebook page, too, with social media posts inviting your followers to join the group.

#12: Partner with a business.

There are plenty of complementary businesses out there that would be willing to add your email newsletter link to their own website, newsletter and social media channels in exchange for you doing the same. Reach out to them and let them know you’ll feature the partner in your own newsletter.

This technique can also work well for co-hosting contests and giveaways. Plus, if another business provides the giveaway item, it won’t cost you anything.

Grow Your Email List One Tip at a Time

As you can see, many of these techniques make use of existing resources such as your social media pages. You can get them done in seconds and, in many cases, without spending any extra money.

Start with the tip that’s easiest for you, and then continue through the list until you’ve checked off all 12. Before long, you’ll be able to grow your email list to a sizable number of subscribers who are interested in your brand.

Rallio

Tags content marketing, social media marketing

Social Uncategorized

Case Study: Why Localized Social Media Matters

Post author By Rallio
Post date October 7, 2021

As a franchisee, you buy into a system that includes brand recognition and certain business processes. Instead of starting from scratch, you can lean on the corporate brand to an extent as you get up and running. There are, however, certain things you shouldn’t rely on completely — including localized social media marketing.

It’s true that most parent brands provide assistance with social media at varying levels. Some brands supply branded content and social media guidelines. Others leave it to their franchisees to create a social media presence. But in all cases, it’s important to have localized social media, and that’s something that can’t come from the corporate office.

By localized social media, we’re referring to social media posts and advertising that takes place on a franchisee’s local page. So you have a franchisor with a national page representing the brand, and individual pages representing their specific locations. Ideally, there’s a balance between the two — but in reality, that localized presence often falls short.

Challenge

Franchisees are faced with no time and, often, no desire to post on social media. At Rallio, we see franchisees make the mistake of ignoring their local social media pages.

These franchisees may have corporate-syndicated content on their pages — a process that’s streamlined for them through our technology platform — but they aren’t building a localized presence through real-life images, videos, special offers, recruitment posts and advertising.

They are therefore missing out on opportunities to connect with their local communities, respond to customer reviews and inquiries, build relationships with their followers, attract new talent, and give people a reason to visit their location or pay for their service.

Essentially, they are invisible on social media because not only do they lack localized social media, but they also aren’t doing any advertising, an essential component of social media marketing success.

Solution

Our Rallio Local division automates the process of posting locally, gathering assets via uploads from team members, and boosting posts for greater visibility. Franchisees who want extra help are paired with a dedicated Strategist who connects one-on-one with owners.

Social media posting, reputation management, directory listings and employee advocacy are wrapped up into one platform to serve corporate and franchised locations alike. We’ve seen many of our brands go from zero following and engagement to month-over-month gains.

Results

The results below provide an idea of the results franchisees experience by posting localized content with our help. The goal is to flood their pages with hyper-local content that shows the personality behind the location.

With some franchisors that we work with, franchisees have a choice of whether to opt in to our Rallio Local program. Others choose to implement a systemwide rollout of Rallio Local.

We have found that Rallio Local locations consistently outperform non-Rallio Local locations month over month in terms of followers and engagement.

Over a six-month time frame from March to September 2021, one spice and tea brand had a 58% increase in the number of average daily engagements and a 66% average following growth.
Over the same six-month time frame, a laboratory services franchise had a 225% increase in the number of average daily engagements and a whopping 7,229% average following growth.
With a pet supply franchise, we have an agreement with corporate to publish localized content to all franchisees’ pages. During the pandemic, the localized content combined with boosted posts has helped franchisees to introduce new services, such as curbside pickup and delivery, and build awareness of how the franchise is serving its communities. As a result, in 2020, over $1.7 million in purchase conversions was generated brand-wide, thanks to localized social media.

Conclusion: Localized Social Media Makes a Greater Impact

Every brand will experience different results of their social media marketing efforts, depending on factors like franchisee buy-in and contributions to their localized social media as well as ad spend budget. However, one thing remains consistent: hyper-local content is more engaging, entertaining and likely to connect with audiences than mass-syndicated content.

To learn more about how localized social media can help you, go to https://www.ralliolocal.co/ and explore our various packages.

Rallio

Tags local social media

Social Uncategorized

Reverse Case Study: How the Pandemic Proved the Value of Local Social Media for Massage Heights

Post author By Rallio
Post date April 8, 2021

When Shane Evans and her husband, Wayne, co-founded Massage Heights back in 2004, they had a vision to provide professional, affordable massage therapy services. Now a thriving franchise with dozens of locations across the United States and Canada, Massage Heights continues to expand. Their Retreats offer not only a path to wellness for guests, but also career opportunities for countless massage therapists, estheticians and franchisees.

As the preferred technology supplier for Massage Heights, Rallio provides the social media SaaS and employee advocacy platform needed to manage, schedule, optimize and grow Massage Heights’ entire social media presence — from corporate down to the location level. Individual Massage Heights locations are paired with a Social Strategist to help automate their social media and execute a unique content calendar each month.

Since implementing Rallio technology and services, Massage Heights has experienced month-over-month growth in the number of engagements and followers on social media. Still, faced with unprecedented challenges and the forced closure of their Retreats when the pandemic first hit, Massage Heights needed to pivot quickly and decide how best to move forward with their social media.

In the following “reverse case study,” we’ll walk you through the process of how Massage Heights handled pandemic-related decisions and where they are in the present day.

Challenge

At the start of the pandemic when lockdowns began, Massage Heights Retreats were mandated to close temporarily. Given the marketplace unknowns and the nature of their services, conducted in close proximity to their guests, it was hard to imagine when franchisees would be able to reopen.

Solution

Faced with these closures, Massage Heights wanted to be proactive in trimming costs for a short time to ensure they could weather the pandemic. As such, they elected to pause their Rallio Local services for all locations starting in April 2020. The plan was to restart their social media services with Rallio on July 1.

Yet even with most locations temporarily on pause with Rallio, a small number of locations chose to continue posting locally three to four times a week. A total of three locations posted consistently throughout the lockdowns and the halt of their Rallio Local services.

Results

For the brand overall in March 2020, before pausing their Rallio Local services, Massage Heights’ average daily engagement had reached its highest point ever, at 46 average daily engagements. With everyone turning to social media during the pandemic, and Rallio Local continuously posting for them three to four times per week, they were seeing amazing results.

However, once Massage Heights paused their services in April, their average daily engagement dropped by 86.9%. Throughout the three months they were on a pause, from April through June, they averaged 6.34 daily engagements brand-wide.

In July 2020, Massage Heights was back open with many different safety protocols put in place, such as mandated masks and enhanced sanitization procedures. Guests were asked to bring their own water bottles, and couples massages were out of the picture. At this time, Massage Heights restarted their Rallio Local services — and their numbers tell a story. In the first month alone, they increased their average daily engagements by 216%.

In addition, the select locations that continued to post three to four times a week on social media during the hiatus experienced the following results:

Number of followers

750% higher in April compared to brand average
200% higher in May compared to brand average

Engagements

23% higher in April compared to brand average
45% higher in May compared to brand average

Conclusion: Local Social Media Is a Must

Massage Heights experienced a severe drop in engagement after pausing their Rallio Local services. Without regular local content getting posted on their social media pages, followers simply weren’t hearing from their local Retreat anymore.

The select locations that continued to post on social media continued to see growth on social media, demonstrating the need to continue marketing efforts despite the pandemic or any other interruptions to business as usual. A year into the pandemic, our advice holds true as written in Why You Need to Keep Up Your Marketing Despite the Coronavirus:

“People are social distancing, self-isolating or quarantined. Now, more than ever, they need to hear from you — with messages of hope, reassurance that either you’re still up and running or you’re following necessary safety protocols (depending on the nature of your business), and perhaps some levity here and there.

Moreover, with more people likely to be on their phones, using their mobile devices to stay in touch, order online and connect with the world, you have an opportunity to connect with your audience like never before. While now is not necessarily the time to blast people with your usual promotions, you can, and should, adjust your strategy to support current times and be of service.”

Let Rallio Help

While hitting pause on your marketing during uncertain times may feel like the best business decision, consider your long-term goals before deciding to cut your marketing budget. More often than not, the continuation of marketing efforts will position you for growth following any bumps in the road — as demonstrated by Massage Heights’ results after restarting their Rallio Local services.

In these uncertain times, it helps to have a company like Rallio on your side. We understand that franchisees have many responsibilities in running a successful business. And in recent years, social media and reputation management have become critical items for your success.

Engage the Rallio Local team of social gurus who will do the heavy lifting for you to create ridiculously engaging, hyper-local content; make sure local targeted audiences actually see and engage with that content; respond to all your social comments and online reviews; and make sure you’re highly visible even in the event of a business disruption like COVID-19.

If you’re looking to maximize your results on social media with a team that cares about your results, we would love to chat with you. It all starts with a quick demo that you can schedule with our Rallio Local team.

Rallio

Tags local social media, social media marketing

Uncategorized

4 Major Instagram Trends to Watch in 2021

Post author By Rallio
Post date January 8, 2021

We’re about a week into 2021, and we’re acutely aware of how quickly time is passing. For franchises and SMBs that are still wondering how to approach their social media marketing this year, it’s important to be aware of the top Instagram trends.

With expanded capabilities on the platform, you have an opportunity to fine-tune your marketing strategy and make the most of your social media presence in 2021. With Rallio as your SaaS provider, you can automate agency-like services and employee advocacy across your pages, improve your reach and take the guesswork out of social media ROI.

Read through these Instagram trends with a fine-toothed comb, and use our action items to start applying them to your own brand. It doesn’t take much extra effort — meaning you can simply work smarter, not necessarily harder, to get the results you desire.

Trend #1: Seek, and Ye Shall Find

Recent changes on Instagram have greatly expanded the platform’s search capabilities. Users can now search keywords in the search bar, not just hashtags, and find relevant profiles, posts, videos and more.

This is one of the major Instagram trends to get on board with as you’re creating posts and Reels, updating your bio and expanding organic exposure.

Action items:

Include keywords in your captions to help Instagram identify what you’re discussing in your post.
Consistently post content that’s relevant to your niche to help your account show up in search within your category. If someone searches for “home cleaners” and you provide these services, you want to make sure your content focus on house cleaning doesn’t stray too far into unrelated categories.
Update your bio with relevant keywords. “Plum Deluxe Loose Leaf Tea” (@plumdeluxe) is a lot more descriptive than just “Plum Deluxe.”

Trend #2: Reels, Reels, Baby

Open up your Instagram app and click over to the Reels tab at the bottom, and you’ll instantly see a variety of short-form video content. Reels, Instagram’s answer to TikTok, delivers 15- to 30-second videos designed to grab attention quickly and entertain the audience.

Given that Reels are front and center in the app (literally positioned smack-dab in the middle at the bottom, between the home, search and shopping pages), marketers need to pay attention to this Instagram trend going forward.

Just as engagement on Stories previously overtook feed-post engagement, Reels are now earning more views than both Stories and feed posts. Side note: This shift toward Reels can be to your benefit, given that they can live on your profile page indefinitely — as opposed to Stories, which disappear after 24 hours.

Action items:

Watch several Reels from different accounts to get an idea of the kind of content that’s being created.
Play around with creating Reels of your own. Keep them to 15 seconds; this is the maximum amount of time a Reel will play before a user has to tap “more” to see the rest of your content. Read: Keep it short and sweet.
Add text overlays in addition to music and voice sounds. Not everyone will have their sound turned on, and others may need closed captions. In addition, you can make the text a part of the Reel in fun ways — like timing the text to appear with the beat of a song, or to reveal your message piece by piece for a more dramatic effect.
Remember to create a value-add caption that encourages users to take an action, such as saving or sharing the Reel. Every action helps your content perform better with Instagram’s algorithm.

Trend #3: Insta-Shopping Is Eyeball Cardio

The popularity of online shopping and services is helping not just online retailers, but also brick-and-mortars impacted by the pandemic. With a reduction of foot traffic and in-store shopping, and with more eyeballs on social media than ever before, Instagram can help you pivot your business model and make more online sales.

The Shopping tab on Instagram lets users browse shops, view editors’ picks and buy directly on Instagram. Posts can be linked to products for in-app purchasing. Instagram Live enables live formats for classes, product reveals and announcements.

The more you can take your real-world products and services and translate them into online purchases, the better you’ll be prepared for this year of continuing contactless shopping. There’s a huge opportunity to capture sales right in the app without having to direct users over to your website — taking them from “casual scroller” to “customer” with fewer barriers.

Action items:

Make sure your account is set up for Instagram Shopping. Tap on the “Add Shop” tab from your profile page to get started.
Link products to your shop directly from your posts, Reels and Stories.

Trend #4: All Omnichannel, All the Time

The pandemic has made the need for an omnichannel approach more important than ever — whereby you’re delivering a consistent user experience across mobile, web and in-store shopping. Before the pandemic, omnichannel strategies seemed to be employed more as a “nice to have” rather than a necessity. Retail Dive reports Euromonitor’s 2019 Voice of the Retail Industry Survey findings:

Just 30% of retailers indicated that they allowed shoppers to reserve an item online and pick it up in-store
Fewer than 15% offered any option for delivery in two hours or less
Just 7% indicated they offered an option to get customer support through video chat

Oh, how times have changed. Real-world experiences have been replaced or augmented by digital offerings. Meanwhile, social media apps like Instagram have become an important part of marketers’ omnichannel approach. The same July 2020 survey indicates a new definition of omnichannel has emerged, and it’s no longer simply a neat marketing concept occasionally discussed at the marketing roundtable.

Retail Dive writes: “Even as retailers were looking to optimize their store- and web-based touchpoints to serve the new needs of shoppers as COVID-19 emerged, many were increasingly turning to third parties to drive digital sales as well. Fifty-six percent of respondents indicated in July that they thought one of the most likely effects of COVID-19 on their business was looking to sell through additional digital channels such as marketplaces or social media sites.”

Action items:

By today’s definition of omnichannel, social media sites like Instagram need to be included as one of your customer touchpoints. You’ll have more ability to scale than you would if you relied on your website alone.
Assume that your customers want seamless shopping experiences that limit or eliminate in-person contact. That trend will hold even when the pandemic is no longer an immediate concern.

These Instagram Trends Are Worth Watching

Although trends are just that, trends, the Instagram trends we’ve presented here are going to continue impacting business for the foreseeable future. Even in a post-pandemic world, the conveniences and entertainment value of Instagram will be important to your audience.

To make the most of these Instagram trends, make sure you have the right technology supporting your efforts. Rallio’s SaaS can help you automate your social media presence and optimize your pages in 2021 and beyond.

Rallio

Uncategorized

Top 3 Tips to Battle Burnout as a Social Media Manager

Post author By Rallio
Post date December 22, 2020

As we trudge through the final days of 2020, many people are ready for this year to end and welcome in 2021. If you’re a social media manager (by name or by definition), the burnout can be real.

However, when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, that doesn’t mean the trials of 2020 will magically disappear.

Rather than think of leaving 2020 in the dust, try implementing the tips below for battling the burnout. These tips are not meant to downplay the substantial challenges we’ve experienced over the past year. Instead, they’re intended to prepare you to enter the new year strong as a social media manager, executive or business owner.

Tip #1: Take Time to Recharge

The always-on nature of our modern-day lives means that social media is perpetually only a tap away. If you’re a social media manager, that means your job never really ends.

You might publish a funny Instagram Story or Facebook post, but the work isn’t done upon publication. You have to interact with your followers, respond to their comments and questions, as well as reply to any negative feedback or reviews.

You also have to boost your content, monitor your analytics, pivot if you’re not getting the results you want, and continually think of creative ways to engage your audience.

That last bit — the creative part — can be one of the most challenging aspects of a social media manager’s job. Not only must you be a critical thinker, highly organized and collaborative across teams, but you also must find ways to keep the creative juices flowing.

To ensure you’re able to keep posting the best content, it’s important to step away from your social media pages and take time to recharge. Granted, the pandemic has made in-person contact more difficult or nonexistent for some. However, it’s imperative that you build time in your day for real-life experiences.

These moments of hitting your reset button don’t have to be elaborate. It might mean taking a walk, meeting up with a friend for a socially distanced coffee, or calling a friend or family member to check in. Maybe it means picking up a book or engaging in a hobby at the end of the day — instead of endlessly scrolling.

This type of mindful use of social media — choosing when and how you’ll engage — may contribute to positive health outcomes. In one study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, researchers found that certain types of routine social media use are positively associated with social well-being, good mental health and self-rated health.

In contrast, social media use becomes problematic when it includes checking apps excessively due to fear of missing out or becoming disconnected from friends.

As Harvard puts it, “these findings suggest that as long as we are mindful users, routine use may not in itself be a problem. Indeed, it could be beneficial.”

We can also infer from these findings that for a social media manager, you have twofold responsibilities:

Stay on top of your social media
Carve out time in your day to disconnect

This brings us to our next tip: Get some help.

Tip #2: Build a Team

Whether you’re a social media manager working for someone else, or a small-business owner trying to manage social media on your own, one thing becomes crystal clear the longer you work on your social media: You need a team.

It doesn’t have to be a big team, but you need more than just yourself if you want to cover the two responsibilities mentioned above. You can’t do everything yourself and expect to be able to take time away.

As we discuss in The 5 Top Players You Need on Your Social Media Team:

“At the very least, assume you’ll need one or two people handling your social media posting, review responses, boosting and inbox replies.

Remember, too, that you can always outsource this function, and many business owners do so in an effort in order to dedicate their resources elsewhere.”

When you outsource, it doesn’t mean you’re stepping entirely away from your social media. Rather, you can partner with someone like Rallio to provide much-needed help, support and expertise. You’ll also be able to grow much faster on social media and gain new customers if you have more people working on your behalf.

Tip #3: Crowdsource Your Content

In line with tip #2 above, you as a social media manager can turn to employees and influencers. Our article 19 Jaw-Dropping Social Media Stats + Action Items for Marketers offers some insights on why the use of employees and influencers to promote brands continues to be on the rise:

“Weber Shandwick reports these jaw-dropping social media stats: 98% of employees use at least one social media network for personal use, and of those, half of them are already posting about their company.

These third-party endorsements, so to speak, impact buying behavior. Convince & Convert notes that 83% of Americans are more likely to purchase a product or service that’s recommended by a friend or family member.

Forbes further reports that brand messages shared by employees on social media reach 561 more people than those shared on a brand’s social media channels. They also earn eight times more engagement.

Need some dollar figures to wrap your head around? One November 2020 study in Public Relations Review found a correlation between employee advocacy and sales. “When people are talking about your organization, it helps elevate brand recognition, especially for companies that are in the sales realm and have growing goals,” states one study participant.

Gartner adds that a lead generated through employee advocacy or social selling is seven times more likely to close than those originating from other lead-gen tactics.

Bottom line: The evidence speaks volumes, and the stats above are just a fraction of the research showing the effectiveness of employee advocacy.”

To integrate employee advocacy, create a formal program that encourages employees to post brand-approved assets about your business. With Rallio’s technology, you can gamify the process with leaderboards and rewards for your top posters.

Not only does employee advocacy help you as a social media manager, but it also builds greater engagement and morale among employees.

The End Goal: Minimize Social Media Manager Burnout While Getting Results

Your social media manager role can be exciting, rewarding and fulfilling if you take the proper steps to minimize burnout. The three tips above can set you up for a prosperous year — and leave you with enough energy to enjoy a cute dog TikTok video or two.

Final takeaways for a social media manager:

Find a balance between work and play. Set boundaries for yourself so you’re not “always on” and you have the ability to recharge.
Maximize your most productive hours (it’s different for everyone). Fast Company recommends choosing high-protein foods that support brain function and incorporating aerobic exercise to boost creative potential.
Take a digital detox at specific times, too. Maybe you shut off your phone at night or completely unplug for lunch. Again, lean on your team to ensure you’re able to step away.
Make sure you’re engaging in activities that don’t include social media. Yes, you’re a social media manager, but perhaps you’re also a bicyclist, a painter, a baker, a gardener, a musician or a novelist.

At Rallio, our goal is to help brands — and you as a social media manager — avoid burnout while achieving incredible results. With our powerful combination of technology and a team by your side, you can’t help but be massively successful.

Rallio

Social Uncategorized

5 Terrifying Social Media Mistakes That Can Scare Away Your Followers

Post author By Rallio
Post date October 28, 2020

Social media mistakes are not uncommon — and they could be costing you big if you continue to repeat them. The most terrifying social media mistakes are the ones that might just scare away your followers for good.

Is your social media page turning into the haunted house on the hill that nobody wants to visit? Are you losing sleep because you’re concerned about your social media results?

Time to call in the Ghostbusters of social media and let Rallio scare away the goblins and ghouls — so you can put an end to the nightmare these social mistakes might be causing:

1. Being an Unwanted Guest

There are a couple of different ways your page can turn into the unwanted guest in newsfeeds: posting infrequently and/or posting irrelevant content.

If you’re posting infrequently, your followers will forget about you and what you do. Any posts you do create either won’t be seen — especially if you’re not boosting them — or may be met with a “Huh? Who and what is this?”

If you’re posting irrelevant content, it will garner the same results. You’ll be forgotten, unfollowed or hidden from newsfeeds.

Ghostbuster tip: Post relevant, local content that shows the real, authentic you. Include a wide variety of posts about team members, product spotlights and how-tos, blog posts, and videos featuring your people and customers.

As far as frequency, the typical cadence is three to four times per week, according to HubSpot. If you’re posting local, non-promotional content, you can post more frequently, even daily. Just don’t go overboard, as that will also be unwelcome by your followers.

Pay attention to the content that gets the most engagement with your audience, too. Boost the most relevant posts to increase your chances of being seen — without the accompanying frightened look of surprise from your followers. Focus on quality over quantity for the best results.

2. Haunting Followers With Promotions

Along with posting irrelevant content, another social media mistake is posting too much promotional content. Just like they don’t want to see content they don’t care about, they don’t want to be flooded with promotions, either. It’s like getting junk mail, and it’s not going to win over your followers.

Ghostbuster tip: As you begin posting relevant content, you’ll build a relationship with your audience. At that point, the occasional promotional post won’t be off-putting to your audience. It will feel more like a friend telling them about a great deal or a cool new product. You can also boost these promotional posts to increase visibility and reach.

3. Scaring People Away

If you snarl at people who criticize you, or you’re rude when they ask a question, or you ignore people altogether, that’s a definite no-no. This social media mistake has to do with failing to realize that social platforms are also customer service channels.

People turn to your social media pages to ask questions, leave reviews and share about their experiences with your brand. If you’re rude to them or don’t get back to them, it’s going to scare them away — or send them on a spree of spreading negative information about your brand.

Ghostbuster tip: Respond to your engagements, messages and reviews. Whether it’s positive, negative or neutral, you always want to look alive and make sure your followers hear from you.

4. Being overly controversial

In 2020, it’s expected that there will be a degree of controversy on social media. Whether it’s about the pandemic, politics or social issues, there are many different topics about which you might want to take a stand.

While it’s important to stand by your convictions and core values as a company, it’s also important to do it as tastefully and respectfully as possible. Insulting people who don’t agree with you doesn’t make you look very inviting.

Ghostbuster tip: If you’re going to comment on touchy subjects, stick to the facts. Think of it like Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of relatives. Unless you want people flinging mashed potatoes and turkey at each other, you’ve got to remain pleasant and approachable.

Want to encourage people to vote, for example? Great! Be encouraging. Tell your followers where to find their local ballot dropoff box. Post a photo of yourself wearing your “I voted” sticker. Don’t say, “You’re a real dummy if you don’t vote” (even if secretly that’s what you think).

5. Letting your analytics collect cobwebs

If you’re posting content, boosting your posts and running promotions, you need to know what’s working and what’s not. Checking your analytics helps you gain an understanding of the types of content that work best on your page. It also helps you tailor promotions for your audience.

So if you’re not checking your analytics and getting to know your audience, you won’t be able to make any of those important tweaks.

Ghostbuster tip: Regularly take a fine-toothed comb to your analytics. All of the major platforms offer insights into your audience, your promotions and your growth. Then use that information to create the most compelling content and campaigns going forward.

RIP to Your Social Media Mistakes

You work hard to gain followers on social media. Don’t scare them away by succumbing to the social media mistakes above.

Rallio has perfected the process of creating engaging content, responding to online reviews and making sure our clients’ pages are performing optimally. If you’re ready to lay your social media mistakes to rest, get in touch with us today.

Rallio

Tags social media marketing

Uncategorized

3 Major Forces Shaping Social Media Marketing for Franchises — and What to Do About It

Post author By Rallio
Post date September 21, 2020

The changes brought about by the pandemic have been felt universally — and franchise organizations everywhere have had to pivot, adjust and change with the times. Social media marketing for franchises has become more important than ever.

Those businesses that haven’t embraced social media marketing are either lagging behind those that have — or, worse, closing their doors altogether.

On the up side, the pandemic has opened up doors of opportunity for franchises and small businesses. As we discuss in a recent webinar produced for the International Franchise Professionals Group (IFPG), a membership organization for franchise professionals, three major forces have come into play. Our Vice President of Business Development, Ryan Hicks, delved into a discussion of these three forces as they relate social media marketing for franchises.

Below, we’ve recapped the key points that Hicks addresses, plus our best practices for tackling social media marketing for franchises. We recommend putting these tips into play in order to set yourself up for success moving forward.

Force #1: Economics

As we know, 2020 has been a volatile year, full of uncertainty. While some sectors have experienced gains, others have struggled to keep their heads above water.

Unquestionably, economics are influencing social media marketing for franchises, either for better or worse. The initial knee-jerk reaction for some businesses was to slash their marketing and advertising budgets.

“But what brands are realizing is they need true connection with their communities to survive, and I mean that in every sense of the word,” explains Hicks, who is also a Certified Franchise Professional (CFE) with over a decade experience in the franchise sector, as well as host of the MODRN Business podcast.

Key takeaway: Rather than cut marketing and advertising, franchises should consider ramping up those budgets.

Force #2: Social Influences

We’ve seen everything from virtual baby showers and weddings to drive-by birthdays and graduations in 2020. In the absence of in-person experiences, people have had to turn to online events.

If you’ve been invited to a Zoom event or a socially distanced celebration in 2020, then you know what we’re talking about. The trend has taken hold in business, too. Curbside pickup, online ordering, delivery, and contactless ordering and pickup are now an essential part of doing business today.

Key takeaway: Connecting with your customers online and shifting the way you do business gives you an opportunity to survive and thrive.

Force #3: Technology

As a natural extension of these shifts in online behavior, we’ve seen engagement explode on social media. Not only are we using online platforms to take the place of in-person events, but we’re also using them to communicate with one another and stay up-to-date.

By embracing technology and social media platforms, businesses are able to communicate about new, safe ordering options and stay in front of customers.

“Brands that did not used to consider social media as a worthy marketing channel before this pandemic have realized that may have been a mistake in the past,” says Hicks. Using technology to communicate with customers ensures you stay top-of-mind in a time when you could easily drown in a sea of competitors.

Key takeaway: It’s more important than ever to stay in front of customers. Technology is a huge driver of social media marketing for franchises.

Best Practices in Social Media Marketing for Franchises

Respond to all your online reviews

One of the biggest mistakes we see franchisors and franchisees make is not responding to every online review, says Hicks. While they might reply to the one- and two-star reviews, they’re not always getting back to customers who leave glowing reviews. Those are missed opportunities.

Consider the following stats:

86% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses
89% of consumers read businesses’ responses to online reviews
85% of consumers think reviews older than three months are no longer relevant

Not only will responding to all reviews improve your online reputation, but it can also potentially improve your local SEO. To streamline the process, consider using a solution like the Rallio Dashboard to pull in all your reviews in one place. With Rallio, you can respond to Facebook and Google reviews without having to leave the platform and log in somewhere else.

Respond to all your social media comments and messages every day

Just as you should be responding to all your online reviews, the same is true of any comments, direct messages and other engagements on your social media pages. If you’re not paying attention and getting back to customers, it’ll look like you’re ignoring them.

You also risk missing customer service inquiries, potential leads and sales opportunities. If you don’t get back to them, they’re going to move along and never come back. And if they raise a customer service issue and you don’t respond, they’re going to be angry — maybe even take to an online review to air their concerns.

Moreover, Hicks adds, the algorithms on social media platforms are paying attention to your response times and engagements. How quickly are you getting back to your followers? Are you even getting back to them at all? The social media wizards behind the curtain are paying attention, even if you’re not.

“If you have people trying to engage with you and you’re not even responding, that’s a problem,” warns Hicks.

If you don’t have time to dedicate to social media marketing for franchises, you’re not alone. When you’re busy running your business, social media may fall to the bottom of your to-do list. You can either assign the task to someone on your team, or outsource to a third party like Rallio. In addition to social media marketing services for franchises, we have an all-in-one Dashboard to help you view and respond to all your comments and messages.

Craft your own custom local content three times a week

Most franchise brands have at least a cadence of corporate content getting syndicated across the brand, notes Hicks. This is the “bread and butter,” if you will — the professional, branded content produced at the corporate level.

You need this kind of content as a franchisee to help identify you as a part of the brand. If someone comes across one of these posts on your local page, they’ll be able to trust that you’re a legitimate business.

At the same time, this isn’t the only thing you should be publishing. Successful social media marketing for franchises includes content that isn’t “overproduced.” It’s authentic and local, with real pictures and videos of team members, customers and the local community.

“So wait,” you’re thinking. “I can’t just rely on corporate to handle my social media marketing?” For franchises, this is a common question.

And we get it. It’s a lot to handle. Again, Rallio has a team of Social Strategists who can help create, post and caption your content. Many of our clients also receive weekly emails with content ideas if they’ve opted in for that service.

If you want to give posting a try yourself, here are a few ideas of what to post:

“Before and after” photos, if it makes sense for your business.
Team or customer testimonials. Try Canva.com for free graphic design tools.
Pictures or videos of your product or service in action.
Partner shoutouts: What partners work with you and why?
Your work with the local community. Document any photos showing how you support local businesses, nonprofits, schools or other groups.
How-to videos. What knowledge do you have that your clients do not?
How does your product or service make your clients feel? How can you show that?
Networking events, even if virtual.

Boost your posts at least once per week

As you’re posting local content, boost this content at least once a week to see even greater results. Even on a modest budget of $5 a week or more, you can begin to target your local audience and people who aren’t already connected with you.

If you’re taking the steps above, you should start to see massive growth on social media. According to our research, people who followed these tips tended to:

Rank an average of 2.68 spots higher in Google search
Receive 53% more online reviews
Produce 25% more website traffic from social
Generate 4 times more leads from social each month

Bonus tip: Solve the content problem through crowdsourcing

Rallio has still other tools and services to help business owners organize and manage social media marketing for franchises. We can also help you activate and incentivize employees and customers to post images from your business. In this way, you can “crowdsource” your social media and create a much richer user experience for anyone visiting your page.

As an Entrepreneur Top Franchise Supplier for three years running and an Inc.com 5000 fastest-growing company, Rallio is prepared to handle social media marketing for franchises — from corporate down to the location level. Feel free to reach out to Hicks directly via ryanh@rallio.com, or head over to rallio.com to explore our full suite of services.

To tune in to the full IFPG, webinar, click here, or visit ifpg.org to learn more about membership.

Rallio

Tags franchise social media, social media marketing for franchises

Uncategorized

Should You Outsource Your Small-Business Social Media? 4 Compelling Reasons It Makes Sense

Post author By Rallio
Post date September 11, 2020

With the recent launch of Rallio Local for Small Business here at Rallio, we’ve had a few questions come up about outsourcing small-business social media.

It’s not an unusual question by any means. Most small businesses’ social media needs are greater than their resources. After researching their options, many entrepreneurs decide that outsourcing their small-business social media makes sense.

How so, you wonder? We’re glad you asked.

#1: You Can Lean on Experts

Here at Rallio, we’re on social media all day, every day. We live, breathe, eat and sleep social media. That’s because it’s our business to do so — just as it’s your business to live, breathe, eat and sleep your own business.

So if you’re busy running your own business, it’s likely that you don’t have the time to manage your social media. You also might not particularly want to manage this task, much less become an expert in it.

That’s all OK, because when you outsource, you can hire people who are experts in social media like Rallio. You don’t have to waste time or resources on something that draws you away from your core functions as a business owner.

Rallio, an Entrepreneur Top Franchise Supplier and an Inc.com fastest-growing company, has earned nationwide recognition for its service of the franchise sector, from corporate down to the franchisee level. With its new Rallio Local for Small Business division, Rallio will also be able to lend its expertise to small businesses that are independently owned and operated.

“Rallio has become the trusted provider of choice for thousands of franchise operators by offering best-in-class social media solutions and top-notch customer service for our clients,” says Chuck Goetschel, CEO of Rallio. “With our new Rallio Local for Small Business division, we are now able to further translate this experience and expertise into serving the local bakery, barber shop, restaurant, dentist, tire shop and other types of small businesses in all different verticals.”

https://www.facebook.com/rallio/posts/1723817577771407

#2: You Can Access Top Technology

Rallio’s solutions include a social media management platform where users can access and manage all their social media accounts, in one central dashboard with a single login. Along with a mobile app, the platform enables clients to upload and schedule content, implement employee advocacy programs, reply to comments, messages and reviews, and much more.

Basically, Rallio makes small-business social media management a much smoother, easier process. Rather than having to log in to multiple platforms with different logins, you can simply log in to your Rallio Dashboard.

You’ll also avoid letting anything slip through the cracks like a negative customer review or an important sales lead. Everything will be in your inbox to review and respond to.

#3: You Get the Service and Support You Need

In addition to Rallio technology, the Rallio Local for Small Business program includes social media services for busy entrepreneurs. Clients are paired with their very own Social Media Strategist who manages the entire small-business social media process — from posting and boosting local content to interacting with the page’s community and even responding to online reviews.

Our team will do the heavy lifting for your small-business social media needs. Don’t know what to post? We do. Don’t have time to respond to your reviews? We do. Can’t figure out boosting? We have the formula for your success.

All of these factors make Rallio Local for Small Business an essential component to your overall marketing program, especially during the pandemic.

“This program is a must for small-business owners as they continue to address the ongoing pandemic,” adds Goetschel. “With social media usage at an all-time high and businesses having to pivot to meet COVID-related demands, having Rallio in their corner is going to be invaluable. Businesses simply can’t afford to ignore social media as part of their overall marketing strategy. Outsourcing the work saves them time and is much more cost-effective than trying to take the work in-house or do it themselves.”

#4: You Could Get Free Services

As part of the Rallio Local for Small Business program’s rollout, Rallio will be offering referral incentives to small businesses. New clients have the opportunity to get one month of free small-business social media services when they refer another small business to Rallio. To qualify, both businesses must commit to three months of service. Email localsales@rallio.com to inquire about the referral program.

In addition, Rallio will be hosting an ongoing social media contest to give away one month of free service to three lucky small-business owners. Here are the rules and entry requirements:

Visit Rallio’s Instagram and Facebook pages (@rallio).
Look for the post with the hashtag #RallioLocalSmallBusiness.
Tag another business on the post.
Each time you tag a business, you earn one entry in the contest.

Three lucky winners will be announced on Sept. 30. (Future contests will be announced at a later date.) Note: To enter, you must be an independent business owner. Tagged businesses may also enter by tagging other businesses.

https://www.facebook.com/rallio/posts/1721821871304311

Let Us Handle Your Small-Business Social Media

Our Rallio Local for Small Business division is an extension of our existing social media management and marketing solutions. As a top-ranked provider of social media technology, employee advocacy and local social media services, we’re thrilled to be offering our all-in-one social media solutions to small, independently owned businesses.

If you’re ready to outsource your small-business social media and focus on other parts of your business, contact localsales@rallio.com, and visit www.rallio.com/getlocal or www.rallio.com.

Learn more: Should I Outsource My Social Media? 6 Questions to Ask Yourself

About Rallio

Rallio is a powerful SaaS combining social media technology, creative services and employee advocacy. As the supplier of choice for franchise organizations and small businesses, Rallio enables brands to manage their entire social media presence, online reputation and online directory listings in one dashboard for all locations. Business owners can either take charge on their own, with easy-to-use desktop and mobile technology, or recruit the help of Rallio’s in-house agency. Rallio’s motley crew of social media strategists, brand managers, designers, producers, writers, engineers, geeks, freaks, change-makers and born leaders helps businesses ditch boring content forever and light up their social media pages.

Rallio

Uncategorized

How to Do a Social Media SWOT Analysis and Amplify Your Results

Post author By Rallio
Post date September 9, 2020

As a small-business owner, you might know it’s important to have a social media presence. At some point when you’re wearing multiple hats, however, you also might forget to pay attention to your social media — much less think about doing a social media SWOT analysis.

It’s easy enough to set up your social media pages and put a checkmark next to that box on your to-do list. What’s not so easy for busy entrepreneurs is keeping up with posting, engaging with their audience, boosting their content, and responding to followers’ questions and reviews.

To avoid falling into a “set it and forget it” mindset, we recommend performing a social media SWOT analysis — identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Walking yourself through this process will help you stay sharp on social media and amplify your results.

What Is a Social Media SWOT Analysis?

By fine-tuning your social media, you’ll ensure you’re investing your money optimally on social media — not pouring money into the medium “just because.” With a social media SWOT analysis, you’re able to analyze your social media marketing strategy based on four quadrants:

Strengths: What are you doing right on social media? What are your competitive advantages, and how well are you conveying them?
Weaknesses: What factors might be holding you back on social media? Do you lack internal resources, budget or time?
Opportunities: What do you stand to gain on social media? Is it new followers, greater engagement, new leads, brand awareness?
Threats: What are some of the external forces that could hinder your progress on social media, such as competitors or economic factors?

You can perform an overall social media SWOT analysis periodically, perhaps on a quarterly basis. This will help dictate your general social media marketing strategy. However, it’s also wise to perform a social media SWOT analysis anytime you want to analyze a campaign or project.

Keep in mind, too, that your SWOT analysis requires that you measure not only hard numbers, but also customer sentiment about your brand. This means you’ll be looking at both your analytics as well as “softer” factors such as reactions to your posts and follower growth. Together, all of your metrics add up to social media success when all your gears are working properly.

“In 2020, an estimated 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025.” — Statista

What Are Your Strengths?

What are you doing well on social media? Your analytics will show you how well you’re engaging with your community and which types of posts perform well. Other factors that might be considered strengths include:

Brand-consistent messaging, imagery and use of assets such as company logos
Authentic content featuring real people and places associated with your business
Well-written captions that encourage engagement
Ongoing boosting campaigns to make sure your content is more visible and has a better reach
Audience engagement such as likes, comments and shares
Replies to your followers’ comments, direct messages and reviews

Together, the strengths above help to differentiate you on social media. Instead of being just another company, you can set yourself apart. Over time, your strengths help you grow your social media presence and increase the chances of meeting other goals, such as new leads and sales.

What Are Your Weaknesses?

In many ways, you can look at your strengths in reverse in order to identify any weaknesses. Just as your analytics will show you what you’re doing well, they will show you low-performing posts and lack of engagement. Potential weaknesses could be:

Off-brand imagery, poorly constructed captions, and inconsistent messaging and use of company assets such as logos
Poorly written captions that don’t inspire your audience to engage
Worn-out content featuring stock images or lacking variety (maybe you’re posting links all the time but no images or videos)
Lack of ad budget, meaning your content isn’t getting seen because you’re not boosting it
No audience engagement such as likes, comments and shares
Few or no replies to your followers’ comments, direct messages and reviews

These weaknesses will prevent your page from working as hard as it could for you. Bottom line: Iron out your weaknesses to make them your strengths.

What Are Your Opportunities?

Analyzing your opportunities helps you weigh the risks against the possible rewards. It also allows you to see any potential areas for growth. This analysis might look something like this:

Is the money I spend on boosting likely to help me gain new followers (risk versus reward)?
Are there opportunities to engage with my existing follower base? (Keeping a current follower is just as important as gaining new ones, if not more so!)
Are my customers asking the same questions or making the same requests over and over again? That is, is there an opportunity to improve my product or service, create certain offers and promotions, and better appeal to my customer base?
Am I reading all my comments and messages to inform point #3 above?

Answering these questions will help you continue to grow on social media. Even when you have strengths or weaknesses, you need to keep re-assessing what’s working and what’s not.

What Are Your Threats?

Last up in your social media SWOT analysis: threats. Much like you’re making educated guesses about your opportunities, you’re doing the same with possible threats. Those threats might include:

Economic factors that could impact buying behavior and social media usage, as we’ve seen during the pandemic.
Competitors who come out with new offerings before you do. They could eat into your target market and gain market share.
Other factors out of your control, such as new laws or regulations.

You can’t prepare for every threat, especially if you get blindsided like many businesses did with the pandemic. Not many people could have predicted how business would unfold in 2020, but COVID-19 has taught us not to get too comfortable doing things a certain way. For example, businesses had to shift to virtual offerings, online shopping, social distancing, safety protocols and other pandemic-related changes.

As much as possible, prepare for the unexpected. Think about worst-case scenarios and have a plan to address them.

And once you’ve laid out a complete social media SWOT analysis, you can identify your next move on social media. You’ll also be equipped to analyze any particular campaign before launching it.

The more you can play on your strengths and opportunities, and address your weaknesses and threats, the greater your results will be on social media. In many cases, your social media SWOT analysis can help you make the best decisions while avoiding any pitfalls.

Rallio