Emoji. Those cute little characters that you add to your texts and tweets are all grown up — or at least getting there. In fact, the “picture letters” have moved into the business world.
Take the above example: Chevy used emoji to launch its 2016 Cruze, and the popular auto manufacturer isn’t alone. Brands continue to get into the emoji game, tapping into the characters’ popularity and universal appeal.
With today, July 17th, being World Emoji Day, brands across the globe, large and small, are getting into the act.
You chased your dream and started your own business, and for that, we think you're 💯👍🏆💪😎#WorldEmojiDay
— Mastercard Business (@MastercardBiz) July 17, 2015
Brands utilizing emoji took a big step forward when Instagram announced that you can use emoji in your hashtags. This is a great move, expanding brands’ reach and allowing them to connect with people across time zones and languages. Considering that we live in a global world today, that’s good business.
As more people and companies use emoji, the demand for a wider variety of characters grows. According to Yahoo News, 38 new emoji are set to debut in 2016. We’re excited to see new business characters, such as a handshake and clinking glasses. The latter seems so much more appropriate to celebrate a business deal than clinking beer mugs.
Our goal in the short-term is to work on incorporating more emoji into our social media, including hashtags on Instagram. We recommend that you do the same. Just remember to use appropriate emoji for what you’re trying to convey and don’t go crazy. Even these cute little characters can make your audience want to face palm, and that character isn’t available until next year.
Emoji Talk
Are you planning on incorporating emoji into your brand’s social strategy?
CCC would love to see an emoji representing a brand. What would you suggest?
What brand does a great job of utilizing emoji?
p.s. Did you know that you can use emoji on Facebook via desktop too?
“The more I learn about positive psychology, the more I am convinced of its tremendous potential. Potential to transform individuals and societies. Potential to steer humanity into a new era, an era that pays homage to this statement: Every human being, whether living now or in a future generation, should be afforded the opportunity to live a meaningful, happy, and fulfilling life.“
Are you living a good life? Carol Preibis’ new eGuide, Living a Good Life, is packed full of tips, ideas and inspiration on the subject. Divided into three parts, the eGuide explores what it means to live a good life (backed by science), showcases inspirational role models in this area and discusses the positivity project.
Loyal readers of the CCC blog will recognize the author’s name due to her contributions to this space. Preibis’ Kindness in the Workplace series: It Just Makes (Dollars &) Cents and A Guide for Your Organization, shows that kindness is important in the workplace because it directly affects your bottom line, and she brings the research to back up her claims.
Does your company engage its employees? Photo credit: Kevin Kruse
Preibis does the same in her new eGuide.
Living a Good Life
In the first section, Preibis explores scientifically proven ways to achieve authentic happiness, beginning with the five elements of what free people choose to do in their lives and ending with the search for meaning to make sense of our existence.
“Simplicity is simultaneously a personal choice, a community choice, a national choice, and a species choice.” –Duane Elgin, author
“What is this place? It’s a crossroads, where we must choose between two paths.” -The Perfect Storm by Carol Preibis
If you’d like examples of those living a good life and achieving authentic happiness, you’ll be happy to move on to section two.
Role Models and Teachers
Who are the true superstars in our world? Preibis showcases 10 examples, from personal connections to Nobel Peace Prize winners and celebrities, who are doing extraordinary things and inspiring others to live a good life. Then she moves on to two iconic figures, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Pope Francis, who have worked to make their dream of justice and equality for all real — 50 years apart.
“Four times in his I Have A Dream speech Dr. King proclaimed, “Now is the time.” In an exhortation 50 years later, Pope Francis asked, “So what are we waiting for?”” -Carol Preibis, Living a Good Life
The Positivity Project
In the third section of the eGuide, Preibis explores positivity and how it can impact our health just as much as diet and exercise. Shared positive emotion and social connections are major driving forces in our lives.
“Positive emotions are good for our health. Shared positive emotions — positive emotions people feel in connection with others — seem to be a real driving force behind health benefits.” -Carol Preibis, Living a Good Life
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.” -Anne Lamott
The research, exercises and the author’s own contributions in this section will enable you to take advantage of the powers of positivity to improve your health and overall life. Discover how to build your own positivity portfolio, meditate on loving-kindness and explore what gives your life meaning.
We invite you to read (and share) the introductory version of Living a Good Life, which includes the table of contents and first chapter. If you find it as worthwhile as we did, you’ll want to purchase the entire eGuide, available in PDF or EPUB, for only $4.99. It’s a small price to pay to discover how to live a meaningful, happy and fulfilling — aka good — life.
What does living a good life mean to you?
What gives you authentic happiness?
Carol is passionate about food, recipes and cooking.
Carol Preibis and her sister Michele value the Simple Life and want to help you shed the complicated nature of today’s world. They share insights on food, decorating, stress relief and living more simply, while actually enjoying day-in, day-out living. Looking for a scrumptious, healthy recipe? Trying to figure out how to have fun on a budget? Head to Ahh The Simple Life to start feeling better and getting more out of your life.
I was honored (and surprised) to have the CCC blog included in the Resources section of the eGuide. As such, Carol did send me a complimentary copy of the guide as a way to say thank you. Rest assured, that’s not why I chose to review the guide or promote it. That decision was based solely on my opinion of her guide and the value it will bring to readers. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. Thank you, Carol! –Jaime
On the road to authentic happiness,
Jaime
Let’s chat (on living a good life, blogging or otherwise):
Selfies tend to draw a reaction one way or the other. Some people love them while others hate them. But here’s the real question: are they awesome advertising for your brand or bad for business?
It depends on how you use them. For example, the above image is a selfie I took after a spring run two years ago. (Yes, I said spring, which includes snow in Northeastern Ohio.) I’ve used it a few times already for different purposes in addition to this post.
Why do I use selfies? As a small business owner, it benefits me to let customers and prospects see the face behind CCC. It allows people to put a face with a name and helps to build trust, essential for small businesses to survive and grow. When I started this journey over three years ago, my personal brand carried a lot more weight than my company’s brand because CCC was new. Utilizing selfies (and pictures of myself in general) helped me establish and promote my new company brand.
Having said that, there’s a time and a place for everything. I only use selfies where it makes sense, either connecting something in the photo to my business or using the picture as an example. When I kicked this post idea around in my head, it made sense to me to use a selfie and this image immediately came to mind due to its color and layout. I’m not a huge fan of having my picture taken, so it’s taken me some time to get used to being more visible.
In addition to tapping into your personal brand and building trust with target audiences, being visible as a small business owner can also help your social media efforts. As we’ve covered before, photos with faces receive 38% more likes and 32% more comments on Instagram.^ Showing faces in your photos brings in the human emotion element, which increases engagement on any network. Snap a selfie with happy customers at your next event or meeting to show what’s happening ‘behind the scenes’ at your business.
In summary, selfies can be awesome advertising for your brand AND bad for business, depending on how you use them. Think before you post a selfie to a business (or semi-business) account. Is it appropriate to post to this account? Will your target audiences find this image insightful? If so, go ahead and showcase your self(ie), letting customers and prospects alike see the face behind the business.
Selfie Talk
What are your thoughts on selfies?
Tell us about a selfie you saw or posted that made sense.
Did it surprise you when selfie was the word of the year for 2013?
People often ask me what the hardest part of leaving the corporate world and starting my own business was. It was learning to promote myself, which may come as a surprise. Granted, I should have been doing that in the corporate world, but that’s always been an area of weakness for me.
I’d rather run the show from behind the scenes, but I’ve had to learn to be more visible while running my business.
In the past, the old adage was to keep your head down and work hard. Today, that will get you nowhere. You need to work hard and let others know what you’re doing, in a positive way. How can you do that?
4 Ways To Earn Your ’15 Minutes’ In Business With Style & Grace
Use social media to build your brand. Take advantage of social platforms’ tools, such as adding projects on LinkedIn and showcasing happy customers and successful projects on Facebook and Instagram. (Use platforms that your customers are on so you can tag them in relevant posts.) Prospects want to see and hear about work that you’ve done and happy customers are your best brand ambassadors.
Photos with faces get 38% more likes and 32% more comments on Instagram.*
Give credit where credit is due. If you collaborate on a project, give credit to others who contributed. When adding projects on LinkedIn, you can tag multiple people as contributors. Colleagues, customers and business partners will appreciate the recognition.
Be grateful. Remember to thank and recognize people who help you along the way. Whether someone acted as a sounding board, contributed to your business plan or came through in the clutch during a last minute project, let them know how much they are appreciated. Small gestures and kind words can go a long way.
Let others tell your story. When you follow the first three suggestions, people will be happy to spread the word about your work. Most human beings enjoy helping others, especially when they view others as deserving. Make sure you’re deserving and continue the cycle by thanking those who take the time to promote your brand (and reciprocating when you can). You never know when a casual mention will turn into your big break.
On the topic of humble self-promotion, I’m excited that the CCC portfolio page is live! Feel free to browse some of our work, and let us know if you would like to discuss a project. (Perhaps how to build your brand on social media?) 🙂
Mobile offices, mobile apps, Mobilegeddon: The age of mobile has arrived. We can tap into Wi-Fi at 35,000 feet and conduct business from almost anywhere in the world.
Desktop access to the Internet has risen 37% over the past four years. Source: comScore
But don’t forget about desktop, marketers. It hasn’t gone the way of 8 tracks and parachute pants just yet — and is still worth your attention.
While browsing trends in social media marketing for 2015, one in particular caught our eye. While mobile access to the Internet has quadrupled over the past four years, desktop access has also risen 37%.^
“Mobile’s new domination of social media activity did not sap numbers and minutes from desktop digital time, however. Instead, digital time seeped into Americans’ off-hours, as they brought their smartphones and tablets to television time, waiting rooms, Starbucks’ lines and bed.” –Social Media Examiner
Despite its impressive growth, mobile is still not the primary device used to access the top digital properties either, including Facebook.
Furthermore, Instagram recently released web profiles, making it easier to browse and share images on the Web. Despite being the fastest growing social network in 2014*, Instagram still heard loud and clear from users who wanted a better desktop experience. So the popular platform, launched in 2010 as a mobile app, expanded its web presence to make its users happy.
So yes, we live in the age of mobile but the desktop era hasn’t gone the way of dinosaurs just yet. Keep your customers happy (and prospects interested) by spreading your presence across the mobile/desktop divide.
(Irony: We just realized that we’re writing this as a movie about dinosaurs is breaking box office records around the world!)
Mobile/Desktop Feedback
Have you cut into your desktop/laptop time with mobile? Or cut into other activities with mobile?
How do you access social media (approx. mobile/desktop %)?
Are you surprised that mobile is not cutting into desktop’s overall numbers yet?
Storytelling is a powerful tool in today’s business world. It allows us to connect on an emotional level with customers, so they become loyal, longtime clients.
It’s not about selling a product or service. It’s about understanding your clients’ challenges so you can solve them and make your clients’ lives just a little bit easier.
Every brand has a story, and your story is integral to your success.
What’s your brand’s story?
CCC’s Chief Storyteller,
Jaime
Let’s chat (on brands, storytelling or otherwise):
Facebook’s at it again. The social behemoth has tweaked its News Feed algorithm to focus on time spent looking at a post — regardless of engagement.
Facebook wants to be your news source. But do you want to get your news from Facebook?
“We’ve discovered that if people spend significantly more time on a particular story in News Feed than the majority of other stories they look at, this is a good sign that content was relevant to them.”
-Ansha Yu, Facebook software engineer
The implications of this move could be interesting to brands. We had previously been encouraged via another News Feed algorithm update to share link-style posts instead of pictures. This move presented a dilemma to some pages, including CCC, because photo posts continued to draw more engagement while link posts now had a greater reach. So we mixed our post types in order to satisfy Facebook’s wishes and our audience’s.
Now Facebook is pushing even harder towards brands sharing link posts with its ‘time spent reading’ update. People rarely spend much time looking at photo posts, unless someone uploads an entire album or an infographic. You’re more likely to linger on a post while reading, whether it’s text or an article.
This move fits in with Facebook’s overall goal to be your destination for news. However, it seems that Facebook users don’t want to focus on the news when they visit the site. On the CCC page, we’ve always had a much higher engagement rate on photos than articles even if fans are clicking through to read the articles.
So let us ask you, Facebook users: What type of content do you prefer on Facebook?
A) Newsworthy articles
B) Fun/inspirational pictures
C) Updates from family/friends
D) Special offers from brands
For now, we’ll continue to offer a mix of newsworthy articles in our areas of expertise (marketing, writing and social media) along with fun pictures and tips in a visual format. But it will be interesting to monitor this development and see if Facebook is able to move closer to the news destination it wants to be.
Where do you see Facebook’s future — news, entertainment, connecting people or something else?
You’ve probably heard that visual marketing is all the rage these days, driving more interaction and traffic than text alone. Pair that trend with Instagram being the fastest-growing major social network in 2014*, and you’ve got a love affair — or so we thought. However, we were surprised at the lack of marketers, especially B2B, on Instagram.
Report Findings
Statistics on the popular visual social platform in Social Media Examiner’s recently released Social Media Marketing Industry Report were underwhelming, at least to CCC.
Instagram was the 7th most popular social platform for marketers in 2014, with 36% utilizing the site. Platform use did rise significantly from the previous year, with an eight percent increase. However, the disparity came to light when we looked at business-to-consumer (B2C) use vs. business-to-business (B2B) use, as the following chart indicates.
Social platform use differs significantly between B2C and B2B marketers, especially on LinkedIn. Source: Social Media Marketing Industry Report
OK, so B2B marketers are a little slow to adapt to this platform. That might make sense until you look at future plans. Again, B2C marketers outpace their B2B counterparts with 60% likely to increase Instagram activities (compared to 40% of B2B marketers). What’s making B2B marketers hesitant to devote resources to Instagram?
Two Reasons Why B2B Marketers Aren’t on Instagram
We can think of two reasons to start. One, some B2B marketers feel like a platform or vehicle isn’t worth their time until they can advertise on it. With Instagram opening up advertising to all companies, that should draw more B2B companies to the platform. New ad formats, including a buy button, and enhanced targeting should help as well.
Two, several B2B companies sell services, and they may be having trouble understanding how to utilize the platform to promote what they do. (Even if they sell products, they may be considered ‘boring’ products, such as ink cartridges, paper, industrial cleaners, etc.)
Five Ways To Showcase Services (and Boring Products) on Instagram
How do you showcase services (or ‘boring’ products) on Instagram?
Sell benefits, not features. Show how your products or services impact people or companies. For example, a picture of a sales letter may not be enticing, but a picture of my client’s happiness after making a sale using that letter conveys human emotion.
Photos with faces get 38% more likes and 32% more comments on Instagram.^
Utilize picture editing tools. Tools such as Pic Monkey and Square InstaPic, among others, allow you to create professional images to showcase your work. A picture of my blog post on a modern marketer’s tools may not generate much interest, but this picture of the items mentioned in the post was a hit.
Share behind the scenes videos. Instagram’s the perfect place to ease into video production due to the 15-second maximum timeframe and built-in editing tools. Introduce employees, share an office tradition (bean bag toss break on Fridays!) or record brief tips on what you do. For example, share a marketing tip every Monday or a social media tidbit on Saturdays.
Seventy two percent of marketers plan to increase their use of video in the future.`
Be creative with built-in filters and editing tools. We’re not telling you to filter every picture you post, but the built-in editing tools that Instagram provides do appeal to users if used appropriately.
Organic Instagram-style photos can increase click-through rates from 2.35% to 8% and drive conversion rates by 25% over traditional photos.^^
Encourage followers, customers and other users to join your campaign by tagging their photos with a unique hashtag (i.e. #CCCgetssocial) and tagging your account in order to enter a contest or showcase how they use your products or services. User-generated content is powerful because other people are telling your story for you. Plus, Instagram stores photos that tag you in your profile so others can easily see them.
Top brands’ Instagram posts generated 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter.**
So what’s a B2B marketer to do? Get visual on Instagram! But remember to put together a strategy first, just like you would with any other marketing initiative. Your customers (and potential customers) will like what they see.
What’s your favorite Instagram account to follow?
Where does Instagram rank in your favorite social platforms?
Do you utilize the Instagram website at all or only the mobile app?
Intimidated by Instagram? Have no fear! We’d love to answer your questions or help you put together an approach to put your best face forward on this popular visual platform. Contact us or leave a comment below to join the conversation!
Are you using LinkedIn to expand your professional network and grow your business?
LinkedIn is ready for its closeup, and marketers are taking notice.
LinkedIn tends to be the forgotten social network. Most people go one of two ways: set up a profile and forget about it or link it to their Twitter account, flooding their professional network with random bits of information. We don’t recommend either.
It was interesting to see LinkedIn’s presence on the recently published Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner. The professional social network came in an impressive third (behind Facebook and Twitter) as marketers’ most used social platform.
LinkedIn came in a close third as the most popular social network for marketers. (Source: Social Media Marketing Industry Report)
But are marketers setting and forgetting or actually using the network? We’re going with the latter. LinkedIn came in (a distant) second to Facebook as the most important social platform for marketers, if they could only choose one, and that sentiment is growing. Twenty-one percent of marketers selected the professional network as their most important platform, up from 17% in 2014. And LinkedIn’s status in business-to-business (B2B) marketing is even more dominant. Forty-one percent of B2B marketers designated the professional network as their most important platform, even outpacing Facebook.
Will this trend continue? CCC thinks so. Sixty-six percent of marketers surveyed plan on increasing their usage of LinkedIn in the future, narrowly finishing third behind Twitter and YouTube. And we do mean narrowly: the top three networks in this category were all within one percent.
How can you tap into the power of the largest professional social network in the world? Review our series on how to make the most of your efforts, including growing your professional network, rocking your profile and making LinkedIn Groups work for you.
What’s your favorite LinkedIn feature?
How regularly do you visit the platform?
Where does LinkedIn rank in your order of most important social platforms?
Let us know if you have any questions or would like some help tapping into the wealth of possibility on this platform.
Let’s connect!
Jaime
Let’s chat (about the SMM Industry Report, LinkedIn or otherwise):
CCC welcomes Eve Haugen to the blog! Anyone with a website (or blog) is always looking to improve his or her search engine optimization (SEO), and of course, you don’t want to wait to see the results. Insert quick SEO — tips and tactics to give you a quick boost in your search rankings and website traffic. Eve’s here to share her knowledge on the subject and dispel ten common misconceptions about the practice. Enjoy!
The science of SEO is constantly evolving. Although a long-term strategy, it can also yield quick results with the right tactics. While there is a range of tips on how to get around quick SEO, the misconceptions about it are galore and the people spreading such rumors are the ones who have hardly dabbled in it.
Ranking factors of Google’s search algorithms
So, here are some of the SEO myths – If you are alert enough, you will immediately package these practices in a box and throw them away.
Google will NOT build strategy for you: This is a well-followed mantra of website building. You build a website fattened with content and you expect traffic to flow into it. Well, it doesn’t! That is why SEO professionals are still needed. You need to pay attention to the best keywords, develop your user’s experience (UXD/UED), insert links and ensure fast page downloads so that your website stands out.
Stuffing your page with unnecessary keywords can instantly get you a better rank: Well, that is not a good SEO tip. Keyword density – the number of keywords found on your page that determines the relevancy of your work – should never exceed a certain maximum. Keyword density may be an important metric for ranking a page, but it isn’t the only one. Your keywords also need to be relevant to your material. Don’t add them randomly because they always stick out.
Adding unnecessary promo boxes and ads can give you more clicks: Times have changed, and with it, mindsets. It’s best to do away with these ads as they hardly generate extra clicks. People are no longer interested in them.
Guest posts do not matter: Hell yeah, they do! Moving posts from guest bloggers to your page is an excellent technique to generate quick traffic. Recently, Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Webspam team, drew attention to the importance of guest posting and promoted it on his blog. Well, he said it, so is there any reason to doubt it?
Link building can be ignored: A content marketing team greatly benefits from a link builder. Link building is an important aspect of Google’s ranking schemes that give you a greater visibility to the outside world. Especially back links – when you acquire back links in relation to your content, you make it visible to a larger audience. It’s a much needed SEO tip for good promotion.
Quick SEO is all that matters – after all it’s just a one-time strategy: SEO in its essence is a long-term process that requires immense planning, but in case you’re in a hurry, quick SEO tips can be of great use. However, these tips should only be used once in a while.
SEO is just a one-time strategy – do it quickly and get it done: SEO requires a continual investment of your time and energy. Otherwise, your website’s content just rots. Continuous SEO integration helps in keeping the competition away and allows you to keep track of the continuously evolving techniques.
We can miss out on the social buzz – after all we are in a hurry: Google doesn’t care about the number of Facebook shares or your Twitter followers but successful social buzz can put your content right in front of your target market. It helps in building links, search engine discovery and spreading of content to the outside world.
The flashier, the merrier: Excessive use of flash content can go against your desired SEO results as search engines mostly understand the language of HTML.
SEO is easy so anyone can do it: SEO is not child’s play; even quick SEO techniques require an able hand who knows how to implement them. It requires care and analysis and well-informed people can help you with this.
Well, these are just a few misconceptions about SEO techniques, which stem from people who are still fixated on black hat SEO. These unethical techniques are supposedly cheap and easy to work with, but they can cost you dearly.
Remember, quick SEO can work for a certain time frame. Once, twice – that’s okay. But never fall into the allure of quick SEO all of the time.
Eve Haugen is a freelance writer, whose passion in writing drives her to craft articles that are engaging, informative and meaningful. Her partnership with QuickSEOResults has given her an opportunity to take her writing to a new level.
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