Instagram is one of the most powerful platforms for visual storytelling, brand building, and customer engagement. With over a billion active users and a wide range of features, it offers massive opportunities for businesses to grow and connect with their audiences.

Why Posting to Instagram Matters

Posting regularly on Instagram helps you:

Increase Visibility

With over a billion active users, consistent posting puts your brand in front of more people — keeping you top of mind for both current and potential customers.

Showcase Engaging Visual Content

Instagram is a visual-first platform ideal for authentically and creatively sharing your products, services, behind-the-scenes content, or team culture.

Build Trust and Credibility

Featuring customer reviews, testimonials, or user-generated content helps humanize your brand and increases credibility.

Foster Community Engagement

Posting lets you spark conversations, respond to feedback, and develop loyal relationships with your followers.

Quick Stat: 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business, and 70% of shoppers turn to Instagram for their next purchase. Posting regularly keeps your brand visible when it matters most.

Related: Not sure if you should be using Thread or Instagram…or both?: Check out our guide: Threads vs Instagram

Types of Instagram Posts

Instagram offers three main formats for businesses to connect with their audience. Each serves a unique purpose and can be used strategically to maximize reach and engagement.

1. Instagram Feed Posts

Standard feed posts appear on your profile and in your followers’ feeds. These can be single images, videos, or carousels (multiple images/videos in one post).

Best for:

• Building a polished, branded grid
• Sharing product or service highlights
• Posting evergreen content that lasts

Key Features:

• Captions & Hashtags: Add storytelling, context, and discoverability.
• Engagement Tools: Users can like, comment, save, and share your posts.
• Carousels: Share up to 10 photos or videos in a single swipeable post.

Pros:

• Long-lasting visibility on your profile
• Ideal for high-quality visuals and thoughtful captions
• Enhances your brand identity

Cons:

• Content can get buried in the feed over time
• Requires polished visuals to stand out

Quick Stat: Instagram Posts generate 3x more engagement than Facebook content, making them a powerful format for brand storytelling.

2. Instagram Reels

Reels are short-form videos (up to 3 minutes) designed for discovery, creativity, and entertainment — similar to TikTok.

Best for:

• Reaching new audiences through trending sounds and hashtags
• Showing personality behind your brand
• Educational tips, tutorials, or behind-the-scenes peeks

Key Features:

• Trending Sounds & Effects: Boost visibility with audio and filters.
• Explore Page Placement: High-performing Reels can reach far beyond your followers.
• Flexible Editing Tools: Add music, text, cuts, and transitions.

Pros:

• Organic reach is often double that of standard posts
• Perfect for viral, shareable content
• Boosts discoverability among non-followers

Cons:

• Limited time for delivering detailed content
• May require video editing skills to stand out

Quick Stat: Instagram Reels generate 2x more reach than other content formats on Instagram—making them your best bet for expanding your audience and visibility.

3. Instagram Stories

Stories are temporary posts (lasting 24 hours) that show up at the top of your audience’s feed. They’re informal, quick, and highly engaging.

Best for:

• Real-time updates or limited-time promotions
• Sharing polls, questions, or behind-the-scenes moments
• Driving quick actions (clicks, responses, feedback)

Key Features:

• Interactive Stickers: Use polls, quizzes, sliders, and more.
• Story Highlights: Save your best Stories to your profile.
• Direct Engagement: Viewers can reply or react directly.

Pros:

• Encourages daily, casual interaction
• High engagement through quick formats
• Great for testing content or promoting urgency

Cons:

• Disappears after 24 hours unless saved
• Requires frequent posting to stay relevant

Related: Check out our guide to Instagram Post Types – Instagram Reel vs Story vs Post: What’s the Difference?

Quick Stat: Over 500 million people use Stories daily, and 58% say Stories increased their interest in a brand or product.

How To Use These Formats Together

• Use Posts to establish your brand identity and showcase products, services, and evergreen. 
• Use Reels to expand your reach with viral, creative, and trend-based videos.
• Use Stories to engage followers with real-time updates, behind-the-scenes content, and interactive features. 

Pro Tip: Use all three formats together. Post on your Feed for long-term visibility, Reels for discovery, and Stories for quick, casual engagement. When used strategically, these formats keep your brand top of mind across different moments and moods.

Related: Take a deeper dive with our guide to  Instagram Reel vs Story vs. Post: What’s the Difference?

How to post on Instagram

Whether you’re new to the platform or just need a refresher, here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to post on Instagram — including feed posts, Reels, and Stories.

These instructions will help you learn how to post on Instagram, how to upload to Instagram, and how to post with Instagram for different content types.

1. How to Post an Instagram Feed Post (Image or Video)

1. Open the Instagram app
   Log in to your account.
2. Tap the ‘+’ icon
   It’s located at the bottom center of your screen.
3. Select “POST”, choose your photo or video, then click Next
   Choose an image or video from your phone’s gallery, or tap “Camera” to capture something new.
4. Edit and enhance (optional), then click “Next”
   Crop your content, apply filters, and adjust brightness or contrast.
5. Add your caption and details
   • Write a caption (use hashtags if you’d like).
   • Tag people or add a location if relevant.
6. Tap ‘Share’
   Your post is now live and visible on your profile!

2. How to Post an Instagram Reel

1. Open the Instagram app
   Log in to your account.
2. Tap the ‘+’ icon 
   It’s located at the bottom center of your screen.
3. Select “REEL”, select your video, then click “Next”
   • Upload clips from your camera roll
   • Or record directly in the app using the camera icon
4.  Trim the length of your video (Optional), then click “Next”
   Select the section of video you want to post. Trim off the beginning and end, if you’d like.
5. Edit and enhance (Optional), then click “Next”
   Add effects, text, music, and transitions. Trim clips or rearrange the order.
6. Write a caption and details
   Write a caption (use hashtags if you’d like).
   Tag people or add a location if relevant.
7. Tap ‘Share’
   Your Reel is now published and can appear on Explore pages.

3. How to Post an Instagram Story

1. Open the Instagram app
   Log in to your account.
2. Tap the ‘+’ icon 
   It’s located at the bottom center of your screen.
3. Select “STORY” and choose or capture content
   • Tap the shutter to take a photo or hold for video
   • Swipe up to choose content from your gallery
4. Enhance your Story
   Use stickers, polls, questions, music, or filters to make it engaging.
5. Tap ‘Share’
   Your Story is now live for 24 hours — unless you save it to Highlights.

Best Days and Times to Post to Instagram

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer for when to post — but if you’re wondering how to post on Instagram at the best possible time, this guide offers data-backed suggestions to help you get started.

Your results may vary depending on your audience, industry, and content type. Use this as a starting point and refine with Instagram Insights over time.

Best Days to Post on Instagram

• Monday – A strong engagement day as users catch up after the weekend.
• Wednesday – Typically, the best day overall for interaction and reach.
• Thursday – Afternoon posts perform well as users anticipate the weekend.
• Friday – Great for promotional content and weekend-related announcements.

Worst Days:

• Saturday & Sunday – Engagement often dips on weekends, especially early in the day. However, lifestyle brands and younger audiences may still perform well.

Pro Tip: Wednesday consistently ranks as the best day for engagement across most industries.

Best Times to Post on Instagram

• Early Morning (7 AM – 9 AM)
  Catch users as they scroll before the workday begins.
• Midday (11 AM – 1 PM)
  Lunchtime breaks are a peak window for scrolling and tapping.
• Evening (7 PM – 9 PM)
  Prime time for relaxed browsing at the end of the day.

Why These Times Work

• Morning & Lunch Hours:
  People check their phones during quiet moments — right after waking up or while on break.
• Evening Hours:
  Users are more likely to slow down and engage deeply with content during downtime.

Tips for Finding Your Perfect Posting Window

• Use Instagram Insights: Check when your followers are most active and adjust accordingly.
• Test Different Times: Post at varying times and track engagement to find your brand’s sweet spot.
• Stay Consistent: Posting regularly builds momentum and trust with your audience.
• Tailor to Your Audience: Students might be more active late at night, while professionals are easier to reach during work breaks.

Ultimately, while these general guidelines can help, experimenting and analyzing your audience’s behavior is the key to figuring out the best times to post for your business.

Pro Tip: Use a content scheduling tool like dlvr.it to plan and automate your posts for optimal timing — without needing to log in manually every time.

Instagram Posts – Size and Formats

If you’re wondering how to upload in Instagram without losing quality — or how to make your Reels and Stories look polished — use the following dimensions and specs to ensure your content appears sharp and professional.

This breakdown covers feed posts, Reels, and Stories.

Instagram Feed Posts

Image Specs

• Square: 1080 x 1080 pixels
• Landscape: 1080 x 566 pixels
• Portrait: 1080 x 1350 pixels
• Aspect Ratio: 1.91:1 (landscape) to 4:5 (portrait)
• File Types: JPEG, PNG

Tip: Always upload images at least 600 pixels wide to avoid quality loss.

Carousel Posts

• Up to 10 images or videos per carousel
• Each video must be under 60 seconds
• Mix formats (photo + video) to create a swipeable, story-driven gallery

Video Specs

• Resolution: 1080 x 1080 pixels (square)
• File Types: MP4, MOV
• Max Duration: Up to 3 minutes per post
• Carousels: Up to 10 video clips, each 60 seconds max

Instagram Reels

Reels are optimized for mobile and designed to be consumed vertically.

• Resolution: 1080 x 1920 pixels
• Aspect Ratio: 9:16
• File Types: MP4, MOV
• Max Duration: Up to 3 minutes

Tip: Hook your viewer in the first 2 seconds — Reels autoplay, so your opening matters most.

Instagram Stories

Stories are full-screen, mobile-first visuals designed for engagement.

• Resolution: 1080 x 1920 pixels
• Aspect Ratio: 9:16
• Image Formats: JPEG, PNG
• Video Formats: MP4, MOV
• Max Duration: 15 seconds per slide (longer videos auto-split into multiple slides)

Tip: Enhance your Stories with polls, questions, countdowns, GIFs, and stickers to boost interaction.

Related: Check out our guide to Instagram Reel, Post, and Story Specifications –  Instagram Reel Size & Dimensions – The Perfect Specs Guide

Final Tips for Posting Quality Content

Consistency: Stick to Instagram’s size and format guidelines for a clean, cohesive feed

Optimization: Compress files to balance visual quality and quick loading

Stay Current: Instagram’s specs change — check the Instagram Help Center for the latest updates

Test and Adjust: What performs best for one audience may shift over time — monitor results and refine

Best Practices for Posting to Instagram

Posting a photo or video isn’t enough to succeed on Instagram. If you want to increase reach, connect with your audience, and drive results, these best practices will help you get the most out of every post.

1. Share High-Quality Content

Instagram is a visual platform — so eye-catching, well-composed content is essential.

• Use high-resolution images and videos
  Avoid blurry visuals. Aim for bright, clear, high-quality content that feels professional.
• Keep a consistent aesthetic
  Use similar filters, color palettes, and themes to create a cohesive brand look across your feed.
• Diversify your content mix
  Alternate between single-image posts, carousels, Reels, and Stories to keep your page engaging and dynamic.

2. Post Consistently

Consistency is key to staying visible in the feed and building a loyal following.

• Use a content calendar
  Plan your posts ahead of time to maintain frequency and variety.

• Aim for 3–5 posts per week
  Enough to stay relevant — but not so much that you overwhelm your audience.

3. Write Captions That Add Value

Your caption is a storytelling opportunity. Use it to connect with your audience or drive action.

• Tell a story or share context
  Help your followers connect with the content on a deeper level.
  

• Keep it concise and authentic
  You don’t need to write a novel — but be real, clear, and human.
  

• Include CTAs (Calls-to-Action)
  Encourage interaction:
  → “Tag a friend who’d love this.”
  → “Double tap if you agree!”
  → “Visit the link in bio to learn more.”

4. Use Hashtags Strategically

Hashtags help new audiences discover your posts.

• Stay relevant – Use hashtags that match your content, audience, or industry.
• Mix broad and niche – Combine high-volume hashtags (#socialmedia) with smaller, targeted ones (#sustainablebeautybrands).
• Optimal number – Studies show that using 9–11 hashtags tends to perform best.

Avoid overly generic hashtags like #love or #photooftheday, which are oversaturated and less effective.

5. Maximize Stories and Reels

Instagram favors these two formats in the algorithm — and so do users.

• Use Stories to share real-time moments, host polls or Q&As, and keep your brand top of mind daily.
• Use Reels to expand your reach and showcase your brand’s personality through short-form video.

Quick Stat: Reels can generate 2x more reach than feed posts.

6. Engage with Your Audience

Instagram is not a one-way street. The more you engage, the more likely you are to be seen — and remembered.

• Respond to comments and DMs
  Build loyalty by being responsive and human.
• Interact with others
  Like and comment on relevant posts in your niche. It builds relationships and increases your visibility.
• Use interactive tools
  Polls, quizzes, emoji sliders, and Q&As in Stories drive immediate engagement.

7. Track, Learn, and Adjust

Don’t just post and forget — learn from your performance.

• Use Instagram Insights
  Identify top-performing posts, best times to post, and how your audience is growing.
• Test new content formats
  Try new things — and see what resonates.
• Refine your approach
  Keep doing what works, and tweak what doesn’t. Instagram rewards creators who stay consistent and adaptive.

By following these best practices, businesses can build a strong presence on Instagram, foster deeper connections with their audience, and drive engagement and sales. The key is consistency, high-quality content, and active engagement. Don’t be afraid to experiment and refine your approach based on performance insights.

Cross-posting Instagram Content to Other Social Media Platforms

If you’re already creating great Instagram content, why not make the most of it? Cross-posting — sharing your Instagram content across platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, or LinkedIn — saves time, increases reach, and boosts ROI.

Whether you’re asking how to use Instagram more efficiently or how to post with Instagram in a broader strategy, cross-posting is one of the easiest ways to expand your impact.

Why Cross-Post?

Cross-posting your Instagram content allows you to reach new audiences who may not follow you on the platform, extending your brand’s visibility across social media. It also reinforces brand consistency by ensuring your messaging stays aligned across channels. Instead of creating entirely new content for each platform, you save time and resources by repurposing what you’ve already created. Sharing content in multiple places can also boost engagement, as different platforms often bring out different user behaviors. By comparing how your content performs on each platform, you gain insight into what resonates best—allowing you to refine your strategy. Ultimately, cross-posting maximizes your content’s ROI and helps you get the most mileage from every post.

Recommended Cross-Posting Tools

• dlvr.it – Automate your Instagram-to-Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest shares. Easy scheduling, smart queueing, and optimized delivery times.

Related Guide – How to Share a Facebook Post to Instagram 

Key Instagram Metrics and Analytics

Understanding your content’s performance is crucial if you’re wondering how to use Instagram to grow your business. Instagram’s built-in analytics (and a few external tools) help you measure what’s working, what’s not, and how to optimize going forward.

Each format — Posts, Reels, and Stories — has unique performance indicators. Here’s what to track and why it matters.

Instagram Posts

Feed posts are ideal for high-quality content, strong captions, and building your brand identity. They also offer valuable long-term metrics.

Quick Stat: Posts with carousels receive 1.4x more reach and 3.1x more engagement than single-image posts.

Track these metrics:

• Likes & Comments: Core engagement metrics that show audience interest.
• Shares: When your post is shared via DMs or externally — a strong indicator of value.
• Saves: Saved content signals deeper relevance. Instagram considers saves as high-quality interactions.
• Reach vs. Impressions: Reach = unique viewers. Impressions = total views (including repeats).
• Engagement Rate: (Likes + Comments + Shares + Saves) ÷ Reach or Followers.
• CTR (Click-Through Rate): Tracks how many people clicked on a link in your bio or post.
• Follower Growth: Gauge which posts contribute to attracting new followers.

Pro Tip: Posts with a strong narrative, polished visuals, and a clear CTA drive more meaningful engagement.

Instagram Reels

Reels are Instagram’s most discoverable format — ideal for audience growth and trend-driven content.

Quick Stat: Reels earn 2x more reach than static posts, especially when paired with trending audio and hashtags.

Metrics to watch:

• Plays & Reach: Total views and unique viewers — a signal of visibility.
• Completion Rate: How many users watched your Reel to the end.
• Shares & Saves: Powerful indicators of relevance and rewatchability.
• Engagement Rate: Total interactions ÷ Reach.
• CTR: How many users clicked links (via captions or tagged content).
• Follower Growth: High-performing Reels often drive significant audience expansion.

Pro Tip: Reels that hook viewers in the first few seconds tend to outperform others — start with energy, surprise, or value.

Related Guide: How to Share a YouTube Video on Instagram

Instagram Stories

Stories are perfect for real-time content and instant audience interaction. Although short-lived, their metrics offer big insights.

Quick Stat: Over 500 million users watch Stories daily — and 58% say a brand’s Story has increased their interest in a product.

Metrics to monitor:

• Views: Total unique viewers — your base reach.
• Taps Forward / Back: Taps forward may indicate boredom; taps back show curiosity or missed details.
• Replies: Direct messages = strong engagement.
• Shares: Viewers who repost your Story — great for brand exposure.
• Exits: Users who swiped away before finishing — flag for low engagement.
• Swipe-Up or Link Clicks: How many people took action on CTAs.

Pro Tip: Use interactive stickers like polls, quizzes, and sliders — they boost both engagement and retention.

How to Use These Metrics

Tracking the right metrics helps you:

• Identify high-performing content
• Test new formats and ideas
• Adjust timing, captions, and visuals for better results
• Understand your audience’s preferences

Recommended Analytics Tools

• Instagram Insights – Free and native to your Instagram account
• Meta Business Suite – Unified analytics across Instagram and Facebook
• Google Analytics – Track clicks from Instagram to your site
• Bitly or Rebrandly** – Analyze click-through rates on links in your bio or Stories
• Pinterest Analytics – Great if you cross-post from Instagram

Summary: Why Instagram Still Matters

If you’re looking for the best way to grow your brand online, Instagram remains one of the most effective platforms — especially when used strategically. From static feed posts to viral Reels and interactive Stories, Instagram allows businesses to connect visually, emotionally, and directly with their audiences.

Whether you’re just learning how to post on Instagram or you’re refining a seasoned content strategy, here are the key takeaways:

• Post consistently to stay visible and relevant
• Use all three formats — Posts, Reels, and Stories — for a dynamic presence
• Optimize visuals and captions for discoverability and engagement
• Cross-post to reach new audiences and extend the life of your content
• Measure performance and adapt using insights and analytics

Bottom line:

With the right strategy, posting to Instagram can do more than grow your following — it can elevate your brand, strengthen relationships, and drive real business results.

The post How to Post to Instagram – The Ultimate Guide appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

The automation tools available help with scheduling posts, monitoring comments, finding influencers, and more. This can save time for those managing a company’s social media accounts, who may now be able to devote more resources towards creating content that resonates with their followers or other aspects of digital marketing and advertising.

Automation platforms have become invaluable for responsible social media management. They not only make life easier but also help businesses engage in meaningful conversations with their fans/followers/customers instead of continuously spamming them every day.

Why You Need Social Media Automation Tools

Social media is increasingly important for businesses and entrepreneurs, but managing social media accounts on a daily basis can be time-consuming. Thankfully, there are now a variety of tools that entrepreneurs can use to automate many tasks.

Social Media Automation Tools provide a variety of features designed to help make the job easier and more effective. You can automatically schedule posts across multiple social networks, giving you more control over your content. It also enables you to create engaging graphics quickly and easily by using pre-made templates or custom designs. In addition, you can track analytics data in real-time with accurate and detailed reporting features, enabling you to make informed decisions about your marketing strategies. With so many features available for automation, it’s easy to understand why these tools are becoming popular among entrepreneurs everywhere.

Social Media Automation, Defined

Social media automation is the use of specialized tools to streamline a digital presence. Automation helps optimize efficacy, and it includes curating content to sharing posts on social media platforms. This means that you no longer have to manually engage in your campaigns for growing social accounts, prompting interactions with audiences, or creating campaigns.

Rather than relying completely on manual efforts and the time required to create an effective social media marketing campaign, users can leverage various tools available in synchronized services aimed at automating processes while still engaging audiences with quality content. Social media automation promotes efficient use of resources such as time and money leading to improved ROI (return on investment).

The Importance of Social Media Automation

Social media automation is becoming an increasingly important part of every business’s digital marketing strategy. With millions of Facebook users and other social media users logging in, posting, and sending emails every minute, it is simply impossible to keep up with user queries, mentions, and responses without automation. Additionally, there are hundreds of social metrics that require manual intensive work on a daily basis for you to constantly monitor the performance.

Automation helps you and your business save time and money by providing you with a strong social media presence and increased audience engagement. Automated posts help you reach more potential customers with ease by promoting new products or services as well as boosting customer loyalty. This can also be used to measure user engagement levels on different platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, etc., helping you plan effective strategies for growth.

The Benefits of Automating Your Social Media Accounts

Automating your social media accounts can help you create an effective strategy on how to use the power of social media networks for marketing and business. Automation tools are becoming increasingly useful for businesses as they provide useful insights on how their content is performing and how it’s reaching their target audience.

Aside from providing analytics, automation tools also allows you to be more responsive and productive when managing your social media accounts. This helps in establishing a strong bond between customers and brands, giving the latter more opportunities to connect with potential clients. Automation tools also make life easier by enabling you to schedule posts ahead of time, saving time that would have been spent several hours a week distributing your content manually across various platforms.

The Best Automation Tools To Boost Your Traffic

Social media automation has become an essential element of success for many professional bloggers and small-business owners. Automating mundane tasks such as scheduling, curating content, and managing multiple accounts, can be time-consuming – but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to maximize your chances of success in the digital world. Fortunately, there are some great tools available that make it easier to automate your social media activities.

The most popular social media automation tools include scheduling tools, follower tools, content curation tools, and more. Whether you are a solopreneur running a business on the web or an experienced blogger looking for ways to optimize your content marketing strategy – having powerful a set of automated features is essential. Using these powerful tools you will be able to scale up your marketing efforts with minimal effort and cost without needing additional help. There are also various resources available to help you understand how to use social networks effectively so that you can gain massive traffic and leads from them.

Which are the Best Social Media Automation Tools to Better Reach My Audience?

It’s no secret that making the most of social media for marketing and outreach purposes is a major part of digital success today, but how does one go about achieving it? The answer could be social media automation tools. In other words,  you can use automation programs to help you run various social media accounts with ease, so you can focus more on content production and strategizing, instead of managing every post manually.

The best ones should accomplish certain tasks with minimal effort on the user’s end: Scheduling posts ahead of time, tracking the performance of multiple accounts simultaneously, and automating the response to customer queries or mentions, among other tasks.

However, before choosing one particular tool, business owners must consider what makes them beneficial – such as better streamlining customer interactions – as well as looking at drawbacks like lack of customization and inserting ads in posts without permission.

dlvr.it

dlvr.it offers many options to automate posting to social media. From automating your blog within minutes of publishing – to scheduling posting – to queuing your best content for resharing, dlvr.it has a full arsenal of tools to make your life easier.

In addition, dlvr.it provides social media automation tools that let you automate posting your content to social media sites from an intuitive interface, and integrates with your favorite apps, and includes these advanced features:

RSS to automatically publish new articles to social networks; Auto-post to Google Blogger: Google My Business profile auto-poster: Auto Hashtags; EverQueue – recycle your best content; Content search and import: Category manager; WordPress to Social Media Scheduler: Chrome extension for finding and sharing interesting articles across the web; Google Analytics for tracking traffic growth on your website; and Bit.ly for automatically publishing bit.ly shortened URLs with every post.

You can also automatically post to all your social media accounts, saving time, and dlvr.it searches through your RSS feed and other trusted content sources to find new articles, blog posts, and images. We automatically post the latest articles to your social media calendar (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), at pre-defined times. We think you’ll agree that dlvr.it is the best social media automation tool available.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a great social media automation tool for large enterprise owners. It is one of the most recognizable social media marketing tools in the industry, with its unique features to help you maximize your business’s return on investment (ROI). Its comprehensive platform allows businesses to track brand mentions in real-time and has an approvals workflow that increases collaboration and reduces errors. Hootsuite also offers analytics to measure performance across networks, as well as a range of built-in monitoring and reporting capabilities. 

Buffer

Buffer is a widely used and popular social media tool; with Buffer Publish, you can schedule posts in advance. Its features come with planning tools to help stack up your content plan, along with a stories planner, first comment hashtag planner, and shop grid features for Instagram posts. Additionally, its analytics can provide insights into website and engagement stats.

The basic version of Buffer Publish starts at $15/month that permits three channels, ten scheduled posts, one user, and two reports per profile. Its Premium plan allows five channels and one hundred scheduled posts for up to 25 users for $65/month. Similarly, analytics package can cost you more money by charging $34/month if you want to analyze social performance across multiple accounts and compare data over time.

Social Oomph

SocialOomph is one great tool for automated Twitter marketing that lets you schedule updates, monitor keywords, and customize dashboard settings. The platform provides you with recurring queues, which are lists of tweets that can be sent out to Twitter in an endless loop. This ensures that your content is always being shared not only across Twitter it self but other social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn as well. With automation like this, it increases the number of people visiting your website on a daily basis, helping you stay on top of the competition without a lot of extra effort.

It also offers management of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

IFTTT

A popular (or “If This Then That”) automation platform that enables you to set up triggers that can perform an action when a certain condition is met. It’s been used by tech-savvy individuals, businesses, and developers alike by automating processes across multiple platforms and services.

For example, you can set up IFTTT so that when a new email arrives in your inbox, you get sent a text message to remind you to check it. Similarly, if you upload a picture on Instagram with a specific hashtag, the image will also be shared on Facebook automatically. These triggers can make mundane tasks more efficient and save you time – allowing more valuable moments to focus on other pressing matters.

Sprout Social

A powerful platform to manage social media content, used by thousands of companies worldwide. It’s an excellent choice for those that need fast access to the best analytics, customer service, and creativity tools. Equipping its users with options for collaboration and individual work, Sprout Social offers professional solutions for enterprises built on cloud-based technology. Aside from creating content, the platform enables users to publish it across multiple accounts and schedule posts automatically – as well as measure and track user engagement in real-time.

It also comes with an affordable price tag, including a brief free trial period and no need for credit card details to book it in advance. The software is suitable for use across teams and businesses since it offers multi-level access control and assistance with crafting content that corresponds with corporate mindsets.

CoSchedule

This is an automation software designed to increase efficiency for you and your marketing team. CoSchedule enables users to schedule and automate their social media campaigns within a single platform, streamlining the entire creative marketing process.

This software focuses on optimizing effectiveness with robust analytics tools that quickly assess campaign performance. Segmentation capabilities allow you to select the right platforms for your particular audience.

The platform also includes ReQueue, a helpful tool that automates users’ most successful content within their customers’ feeds to ensure they reach the widest possible audience. This level of optimization helps save time and money while providing better returns from social media efforts.

MeetEdgar

MeetEdgar is one of the most well-known and highly praised social media automation tools on the market today. It provides users with powerful and user-friendly scheduling tools for multiple social media channels, with features that make it easy to setup and manage. The setup process is simple and quick, with extensive video tutorials. Additionally, screenshot support documentation ensures easy implementation of their automation tools.

Additionally, MeetEdgar has the ability to schedule content multiple times, helping users optimize their reach without any additional effort or help needed from the staff. This makes it an ideal tool for busy businesses that don’t have spare resources to maintain a consistent social presence. With its comprehensive tutorials and simple setup process, MeetEdgar efficiently schedules content for multiple social media platforms making it one of the best social media automation tools on the market.

Summary: Social Media Automation Tools

The term “social media marketing” should bring to mind a number of different things: engaging with an audience, developing relationships, and interacting on forums. It requires consistent and constant activity, which is impossible to do manually. Experienced bloggers and solopreneurs use social media automation tools, such as chatbots and schedulers, to automatically manage their accounts more efficiently.

The post Social Media Automation Tools to Boost Traffic appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

A “URL shortener” is a program to make shorter variations of long URLs. You can use it to make it simpler to recall the subject matter of a lengthy link. A URL shortener can be compared to a bookmarker. However, you store a condensed version of a link to a specific location where you may access it later rather than storing an entire web page to your favourites bar.

Simply copy the brief URL into a browser window to return to the original link.

The capability to monitor how frequently you are shared is another advantage of employing a URL shortening service. This assists you in finding chances to connect with new audiences and may even inspire ideas for next campaigns and social media postings.

URL Shorteners Offer a Wide Range of Benefits:

1. You don’t need to worry about inputting lengthy character strings

2. It makes it simpler to distribute links on various social media networks.

3. It frees up room on social media platforms.

4. Condense a large domain name into a shorter version.

5. To improve your chances of being noticed on search engines, you can add keywords.

There are numerous varieties of shorteners. In this post, we’ll examine a few of the possibilities and discuss why, depending on your needs, each one might be valuable. The benefits and drawbacks of each kind of shortener will also be covered.

How to Use URL Shorteners

One of those tasks that appears straightforward but actually has a variety of approaches is URL shortening. Here, we’ll examine some of the most well-liked ones in detail.

The fundamental concept of URL shortening is rather simple. You begin with a lengthy link, and the URL shortener is a straightforward tool that reduces the number of characters. People can access the original link by simply copying and pasting the abbreviated URL into the address bar of their browser.

The ease with which information may be shared online thanks to shortened URLs is fantastic. They’re notably helpful for linking to destination URLs of certain articles or images when sharing web addresses on social media.

Shorteners: The Three Types

There are three types of URL shorteners: free, premium, and custom. Other free URL shorteners include TinyURL and Bitly. These services are fantastic because they are cost-free and extremely user-friendly. Additionally, they offer fundamental functions like analytics and social sharing. They are not customizable, though, and frequently have a cap on the number of redirects per site.

Create your own solution with custom shorteners – everything about your shortener may be changed, including the name, logo, appearance, colors, and even functionality. Custom shorteners are typically developed using the PHP programming language, which gives them strength and adaptability. Although they frequently cost money, they provide you with complete control over every element of your website.

Last but not least, paid shorteners are created especially for businesses. They frequently include several extras, such as analytics, social media integration, and others. For instance, you may import your complete blog archive into a single post with the well-liked WordPress plugin WP All Import. This improves your search engine exposure and makes it simpler for visitors to find earlier posts.

Effect of Link Shorteners on SEO

Those who dislike link shorteners frequently raise this problem. However, as Google’s Matt Cutts explains, as long as the URL shortener is employing a 301 redirect, the PageRank and anchor text will flow via the shortened link and there shouldn’t be any damage in using them.

Choose the Appropriate Tool for the Job

One of those things, URL shortening, seems like it should be simple to do, but you have no idea where to begin. It’s likely that you’ve heard of it, seen it used on social media, and perhaps tried it yourself. Of course, it may appear trickier to use than it is. And no, in order to shorten a URL, you don’t need to be a web designer or have a degree in computer science.

Shortened URLs allow you to share links more quickly and save time.

On the internet, URLs are crucial pieces of data. They instruct individuals on where to go, what to do, and how to locate items online. But it takes time and energy to type out lengthy URLs. You might want to tweet a link, but you don’t want to take the time to type it out. That is why Bitly exists; by shortening links, we make it simple to share them.

Detailed Reports Regarding Your Shortened Links Are Available.

You will get thorough analytics information for any shortened link you’ve ever shared when you utilize Bitly. These contain information about where the link was shared and how frequently it was clicked.

The Most Well-Known Link Shorteners:

1. Bitly

Using Bitly, you can convert lengthy site URLs into shorter connections. Without having to spell the entire thing out, you can quickly share your customized links on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms.

In addition to providing users and marketers with the ability to shorten links, Bitly also allows them to track click-through rates for individual URLs, view analytics on the total number of clicks and shares for their generated shortened URLs, and integrate Bitly with other tools like social media platforms and other digital advertising dashboards.

It not only provides free accounts, but also subscription plans with analytics and personalized domains. The ability to quickly construct several abbreviated versions of a single URL is its key feature.

Therefore, you can simply copy and paste the original URL into the Bitly box, select the platforms you’d like to share it on, and tap “shorten” if you have a blog post that needs to be connected to a variety of social networking networks (especially when utilizing an automated scheduler). When someone has to read it, you may just send them the condensed version.

2. TinyURL

TinyURL is simple to use and doesn’t demand that users register for an account. Enter a URL into the text box and click “Create Shortlink” to create the link.

Users can shorten any URL they like with TinyURL, a straightforward URL shortening tool. Click the “Create Shortlink” button after entering the URL you want to use. Following that, you’ll have a special, one-time code that you may copy and re-paste onto your original URL.

Preview the end result before clicking on them by making personalized small URLs and using a browser extension. Sign up for a premium account at TinyURL.com if you want to know which websites people visit after clicking on your link.

Although TinyURL is free to use, you’ll need to subscribe to a premium plan if you want to maintain your whole link history.

3. Yourls

Yourls, which stands for Your Own URL Shorter, is a user-friendly link shortening tool that lets you make unique short URLs for your website. You can quickly add unique domains to your account and view data on the number of times visitors click on your short URL.

The URLs you create belong to you, and by including a custom domain name in your shortened links, you may utilize them to build your brand. several practical built-in features to add new functionality rapidly. Historical click statistics, referrer tracking, and visitor location are some of the analytics tools and reports.

4. Rebrandly

It’s time to check out Rebrandly if you want to brand your link shortener with your own domain name. With the help of this tool, you may accomplish so while also adding your own domains or choosing from Rebrandly’s enormous database of more than 2 million domains. Even your own photos can be used.

Rebrandly allows you to directly generate and distribute brand links while you browse the web using the browser add-on. With Rebrandly, you may directly register a new URL by choosing from more than 2,000 domain extensions, including.link,.shop, and other unique links.

Because the corporate name is included in the link even if it is being utilized by another party, branded links raise brand recognition for the company. It increases link trustworthiness, and in comparison to generic short URLs, a branded link can actually increase the click-through rate (CTR) by up to three times (GSUs).

5. BL.INK

Using the link-shortening application Bl.ink, you may monitor clicks on the abbreviated URLs you create. This makes it simple to count the number of clicks on your links.

Five distinct pricing tiers are available, with prices ranging from 12 cents per month to 59 cents per day. Each tier grants access to Bl.ink’s services, including SSL certificates, custom domains, and URL tracking.

The capability to monitor clicks per link is the most widely used function. For instance, you could want to see where visitors are clicking on your website if you’re attempting to market a product or service. You can do that with BL.INK.

To monitor clicks on your social media posts, you can use use BL.INK. You may now view exactly what happened to a link you sent on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or another social media platform.

It’s easy to create custom domains in addition to being able to track clicks on your website. You may ensure that your link always points to the same location in this method.

Finally, you have the option of purchasing SSL certificates. These enable you to guarantee that site users feel secure while surfing your webpages.

Why You Need to Use a URL Shortener for Your Business

It is simpler to share content across many networks when you utilize URL shorteners, which are practical tools. They enable you to use long URLs as text shortcuts by shortening them. But before you begin sharing links, there are a few things you should understand about them.

You can share material across channels by shortening URLs. For instance, you could simply copy the entire URL and paste it someplace else if you wanted to share a link to a blog post. Without having to type the entire thing out, this makes it much simpler to distribute the link.

Utilizing a URL shortener also gives you the ability to monitor how frequently your URLs are shared. When someone clicks on one of your shortened links that you’ve shared, a notification will appear in your dashboard to let you know. You can even set up notifications so that you get an email notification each time one of your links is shared.

Always include a disclaimer if you genuinely want to utilize a URL shortener. Make sure you give a justification for your actions and that you are not deceiving anyone. Make sure you aren’t breaking any terms of service agreements as well. Some businesses forbid the use of specific kinds of URL shorteners because they believe that these tools are too simple to abuse.

Shortened URLs Have a More Streamlined Look

Facebook made adjustments to the way postings are displayed. The social network is making some adjustments to make it simpler for users to find what they’re looking for in addition to modifying the feed’s appearance. One of those adjustments entails URL shortening. Chris Cox, the Facebook product manager, stated in a blog post that “we’ve heard comments about how difficult it may be to remember large URLs.” As a result, we’ll soon start displaying shorter URLs.

Not every sort of link shared on Facebook will be impacted by the change. Photos, for instance, are still immediately connected to the original picture file. However, the whole URL will no longer be included in links to movies, articles, events, businesses, and groups. Links shared via comments, advertising, and status updates fall under this category. Also truncated are any links that are posted in messages.

Each shortened link will have a tiny green icon next to it for users to view. The whole URL will be displayed when they click on it. There is a button in the top left corner of the screen that allows you to keep the entire URL if you choose.

Twitter already makes use of shortened URLs. Users can share links without needing to use all 140 characters thanks to them.

Increase Traffic with Shorter Links

Why then do people employ them? The reason for this is that they want to make sure that the link is shared with as many individuals as possible.

Of course, you still have to manually type the entire address. However, it is still far quicker than attempting to copy and paste the original URL.

Shortened links are a terrific, time-efficient way to spread the word about your content. They let you track it while yet keeping your URL brief. You may shorten your URLs and monitor their usage by using a custom URL shortener. This enables you to precisely determine what information your audience is interested in knowing about your brand.

Gain More Credibility

One of the best methods to raise your brand’s online trust is with a shortened URL. People assume that a short link will be simple to remember and less likely to result in broken links. Additionally, they frequently assume that because there are fewer words to type into a browser address bar, the website behind the link must be reliable.

A shorter URL encourages customer confidence and trust. In fact, customers are more likely to trust a business when they see a shorter URL, according to research done by Moz.

Share Shortened URLs on Social Media

One of the most efficient ways to reach out to potential customers is through sharing links on social media. You must make sure that the links you post are optimized for social shares if you want to increase the impact of your postings. Making ensuring that your shortened URLs are prepared for social media sharing is part of this.

Links were frequently used to abbreviate URLs in the past. But nowadays, the majority of individuals just copy and paste a URL from the address bar of their computer. Therefore, using a URL shortener eliminates the need to write a lengthy 45-character address to reach that location.

For instance, you might get something like /wp/products/product1/ if you abbreviate a URL that ends in.com/products/product1. All but WordPress users won’t find much use in this. You may shorten the URL to /products/product1/ to optimize it for social media, which would make it much simpler to distribute on social networks.

To achieve this, you don’t have to alter your entire URL structure. Just a few extra letters need to be added at the beginning of each URL. This strategy works well for websites when the product catalog is a primary draw for visitors.

Why You Should Use URL Shorteners, in Summary

A URL shortener is an online tool that enables you to create shortened URLs that direct users to different web pages or sites.

Therefore, why use a URL shortener? So, in addition to saving you time, it can help you have a stronger online presence. It can be challenging to type more than the allotted 140 characters if you’ve ever tried to tweet a lengthy URL. An integral aspect of any marketing plan, URL shorteners allow you to reduce the length of the internet links you post, making it simpler to share information about your brand on all social media platforms.

The post Why You Need to Use a URL Shortener appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Use your competitor’s best ideas

I can’t take full credit for this idea. If I’m being completely honest, I was given this idea by a blog written by a website that I use for SEO. Ahrefs came up with this idea of analyzing your direct competitors for traffic and figuring out what they have successfully published and gained a lot of traffic from. Your competitors have successfully figured out which posts are best for them, and if they are successful, they can help you generate new content. In fact, this can help you steal a little bit of your competitor’s traffic. I have a spreadsheet that I work with to build my content, and ahrefs suggests many techniques to perfect this technique. I highly recommend checking out their video guide to help you steal traffic from your competitors.

Use your favorite keywords and build from there

I like to find a trusted set of keywords and build related topics from there. You’ll notice that when I publish blogs, I usually publish in series. I may have a post on content curation, and evolve to evergreen content. Building a series of posts is a lot easier than building your blog one post at a time. You can also research topics online and start from your last post’s keywords to do so. I use my posts to plug into Google and then I figure out which keywords are closely related to my last blog post’s keyword set. This is a great way to make a set of blog posts quickly and easily, and perhaps create a theme for your blog.

Use your tools as inspiration

You’ll notice that a lot of my blog posts have a lot to do with tools and techniques that I use for marketing. If you use a tool, find out if that’s the best one for the job? Do a little bit of trial and error. Figure out which tool works best for you! Many times, in the process, you will find a tool that not only works, but might work better for the job that you’re needing to use it for. For example, my infographic tool post talked about the right tools to create infographics. As a college student, I use these tools for more than one purpose. I found that one of my infographic tools actually worked very well for my schoolwork as well as my marketing work. You may find that some tools you are researching aren’t great for the job that you need. That’s fantastic too! Write it down for your readers. Your readers want to hear honest feedback about your experiences so that they can learn from your mistakes.

Make it personal

Chances are, your readers may have experienced what you’ve experienced. For example, I have personally experienced writer’s block. Rather than working through it and making it a part of my sordid blogging past, I’m telling you about it. My blog is about a field that involves creating content. This is extremely relevant to my readers. If you have a mommy blog and you have had experiences with a park or a swing set or even a department store, write about it! Your readers want to hear about your experiences and how they are relevant to their interests. You will more than likely have readers that have gone through or will go through the same circumstances. You’re probably reading this because you’ve encountered writer’s block yourself! Instead of thinking about what you want to write, write about your journey to the piece that you publish.

Don’t forget to relax

Writers thrive on different circumstances. I like to write with some low noise in the background toward the evening hours, when I’m at my most productive. Pick your most productive time to write. Find your environment that inspires you. For me, that’s my desk at home with a couple of candles burning and some music in the background, usually with my husband playing computer games in the next room. You may have a different tone of inspiration, but whatever gets you in that creative place, go with it! You can’t create in a state of panic, and that’s what happens when you’re not relaxed when you write. Remember that the content is just as important as the creator.

Keep a journal of your topic ideas

You may have a topic or two in the wings, waiting for the light of day. You may have completely forgotten them. Stop yourself from doing that and write them all down. My topic ideas usually make it into my cell phone jotted down in a notepad somewhere, and when I run low on ideas, that notepad comes out with all my ideas behind them. Usually, I even come up with more ideas related to the ones that are already written down. This post, in fact, came from my notepad. So, you see, there are many ideas that may not be feasible to write about at the time you come up with them, but given time, they may become more relevant to your audience and you might find a perfect time to publish them.

Writer’s block may be an obstacle, but you can overcome it

Remember that all the best writers have encountered this. You’re not alone in this fight to create endlessly. Blogging is hard work and finding your voice is crucial to your success. Remember that your competitors and fellow bloggers alike are probably working against that endless struggle too. Give yourself time to adapt to the rigorous schedule that is publishing, and your ideas will flow. And don’t forget to publish your blogs to your social media accounts. You don’t want to keep all that creativity to yourself! And I always love seeing great content put out by my fellow writers.

Happy Writing, bloggers! Go forth and create!

The post Quick and Easy ways to Overcome Writer’s Block appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Why do I need a free video editing software suite?

Editing your videos is incredibly important to viewing. A raw video may look incomplete or unfinished and will cause others to opt for other content because of the finished look.

According to Dreamgrow, video marketing can enhance conversions and sales. In fact, a product introduction video can improve conversions by 80%. Leaving these conversions on the table. However, a video that markets your product must present your product in the best light possible. This is why you need video editing software. Video editing software will provide the best possible enhancements that your product could receive.

However, a video that markets your product must present your product in the best light possible. This is why you need video editing software. Video editing software will provide the best possible enhancements that your product could receive.

We’ve put together a fantastic list of six of the best free video editing software available:

1 – Lightworks

Lightworks impresses as the most widely regarded free video editing software suite for editing and publishing content. Cleaning up content couldn’t be easier on this platform. Fortunately, Lightworks keeps the novice user in mind when they build features for this platform.

• Lightworks is a pro-level tool that has a beginner-level user interface in some features.
• It is such a pro-level program that major motion picture studios have used it to edit productions in their own business.

While some features may be easy to use, others do require a little bit more expertise. So, for the complete novice user, the learning curve may be a little bit too steep. The free version of Lightworks also is limited in its functionality.

2 – Windows Movie Maker (Windows)

Windows Movie Maker is an application that is available for no cost at all.

• This video editor is a great editor for beginners who want to edit shorter films with less detail.
• Because this is a video editor for novices, it does have a less steep learning curve, but also comes with fewer features.

Windows Movie Maker is a very barebones software program and shouldn’t be expected to yield phenomenal results, but can be expected to provide a polished look to your video content. Windows Movie Maker provides the essentials needed to crop video, edit video snippets together, and speed up/slow down footage. These basic effects are generally enough to make sure that your video gets the attention it deserves.

3 – WeVideo

As a cloud based application, this video editing software is not bulky, nor is it difficult to use.

• WeVideo is targeted for the beginner user, as it integrates well with Social Media, YouTube, and Dropbox.
• The video editor has a built in integration with Dropbox, which will allow you to pull video directly from a cell phone or tablet into the video editing software.
• The application is built around a drag and drop interface, which allows beginning level users the ability to move footage around seamlessly.

Not only is it easy to use, but it is also collaborative. With the application being cloud based, you can invite your friends or other editors to view and change your footage. WeVideo also has a YouTube integration, which allows you to bypass downloading the video to your own computer but enabling you to directly upload the video straight to YouTube.

4 -Avidemux

Avidemux has been described by PC World as ‘Quick and Dirty Video Editing‘.

• This is a product that is perfect for beginner editors.
• Any updates that you make to your content will be updated immediately by Avidemux. You don’t end up needing to update anything further.
• The interface for this program is quick and easy to learn, making it ideal for beginners.

The downside to this software is that it only supports one track at a time, not allowing merging or layering of other tracks. For many beginners, this function is not necessary, but for others, it is essential. This software might conflict with the more advanced users’ sensibilities.

5 – Filmora

By all accounts, Filmora is an excellent alternative to Windows Movie Maker and iMovie. The makers of Filmora looked as if they wanted to strike a balance between complicated features that could make a striking video and tools that would appeal to the most novice of film editors. In that regard, they succeeded. Even the home screen makes it as simple as possible to import your videos and edit.

Using their simple interface, you can apply effects, trim snippets of video footage, and add text. These features will give your raw footage the face lift it likely needs. Filmora also boasts the free price tag, which is an impossible price to beat for what it offers. The full, paid version boasts an even more robust set of features available for premium users. At the price tag of free, though, it boasts a plethora of premium features while avoiding the premium price.

6 – YouTube

Last, but not least, we have to acknowledge the video editor provided by YouTube itself.

• YouTube has added a free editor to their software to help you select the most visually striking content for your YouTube video.
• The software offers options that will help you choose the proper cover photo for your post, as well as trim and crop the video that you are uploading.

The obvious issues with this product are that it may not contain your requirements to edit your video correctly. This video editing software is a software suite that is intended for very basic editing.

Let’s wrap it up

Video editing could not be more crucial to your marketing strategy. It is important to use the editor to make your product look great and appeal to your target consumer. Make sure that your content is relevant to your audience, of course, and follow a few best practices to make sure that your content is the best it can be.

And remember, dlvr.it can help you publish your awesome videos as soon as you post them to your YouTube channel.

The post The Best FREE Video Editing Software appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Why do headlines matter?

Headlines are your first impression upon your readers. Think about what you are likely to click or not to click. If you wouldn’t click it, your readers would probably skip it too. Having an eye-catching headline is what draws in readers so that you will see your SEO rankings jump. Maria Konnikova of the New Yorker published an article indicating why headlines matter. She says that not only does a headline draw in a click, but it also provides the reader with a frame of reference for the content that they’ll be reading.

1 – CoSchedule Headline Analyzer

The positive side of CoSchedule Headline Analyzer

On the positive side, CoSchedule’s tool is geared toward those that are frequently sharing original content on social media. Because CoSchedule has a lot of experience in the social media world, they have utilized their experience to create this tool and help you determine which headlines will work best with your content. Rather than looking for headlines that will work in native advertising, they will help you find an appropriate headline that will work with any source. CoSchedule also provides a history of how your headline has changed while you’ve been altering your headline. This is nice because some changes may not improve your score, but lower it. Since this is the case, CoSchedule has provided this history along with the dozens of the historical headlines.

The potentially confusing

CoSchedule has also implemented their own headline analyzer. CoSchedule’s headline analyzer works through a number of factors and utilizes a different type of algorithm than Sharethrough’s algorithm. CoSchedule, like Sharethrough, provides tips and tricks to improve your headlines. However, CoSchedule’s tool provides a little bit more vague guidance. Their headline analyzer starts with a rating of your current headline. It breaks down your headline by percentage of types of words. Rather than providing tips at the top of the page, you must scroll down to view more information.

CoSchedule does provide information about particular types of headlines and words that will improve your headlines. dlvr.it also has published a fantastic list of 1000 powerful words to help you post better headlines. They link to an article that will give you quite a few suggestions for new words to improve your headline.

Depending on what type of headline you determine to be appropriate, you may need to:

• Include more emotional words
• Include a headline type like ‘How To’

Some of the suggestions that CoSchedule’s tool provides are ambiguous as to how they are supposed to be implemented. For less ambiguity regarding how to create a better headline, we have created an article for you about how to phrase a more powerful headline.

2 – Sharethrough Headline Analyzer

Sharethrough is one of the best free headline analyzer tools that I have had the pleasure of working with. While some of their suggestions may not bear out for many businesses, they do create very valid suggestions for most headlines, assisting you in writing headlines that not only catch the eye but also have science backing them. Sharethrough employs algorithms that it creates based on research conducted within their own systems and also with neuroscientific backgrounds. We do have to consider Sharethrough’s experience when reviewing its headline analyzer tool, however.

Sharethrough is a software platform that assists in native advertising. Native advertising is a type of advertising that fits within whatever platform to which you are advertising. For example, if you are advertising on Facebook, it will recommend full articles for advertising, rather than ads that might be more brief or visual. Their tool provides a headline analyzer tool with these options in mind. This tool crafts headlines using the best combination of what they determined as the most powerful words to appeal to the human mind.

Sharethrough makes its headline creation process quick and easy by providing a rating for your headline. Once they have provided a headline, they offer suggestions in expandable menus to the right of the rating so that you can tweak your headline as necessary. The expandable menus offer cool tips about what would make your headline stronger. These tips are quick and easy to follow and will show immediate results when analyzing your improved headline.

3 – Advanced Marketing Institute’s Headline Analyzer

Unlike the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer tool, Advanced Marketing Institute’s analyzer does not provide much in the way of information to improve your headline. When I analyzed my headline, it simply tells me that my headline contained 11.11% Emotional Marketing Value words. It recommends between 30-40% EMV words. Rather than tell me how to do this, it indicates that my current words pertain to spiritual value. When I read more about what this means, this states that my headline would appeal to the clergy. Unfortunately, it does not give me many tricks or tips to make my headline more effective. This tool seems to be the barest of the tools that I have encountered. It refrains from providing more tools to make a better headline, even avoiding the specifics of what makes a great headline.

Should I use a title generator?

Utilizing the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer along with the common title generators provides some insight as to what a title generator actually does. Free title generators use an algorithm that will use your topic and generate a title that it would believe to be popular. For example, I entered my keyword “CoSchedule Headline Analyzer” into the seopressor.com Free Title Generator, and the below screenshot is what I received back.

The keywords from seopressor.com were the best of any free title generator that I tested (that is not saying much). These free title generators do not seem to have any technique for piecing together headlines, but rather have a template into which a keyword is simply stuffed. Utilizing one of these title generators is clearly absent of specific information related to your topic. You know better than anyone what you would like to write. This particular title generator can be useful for brainstorming reasons, but that is about it. If you already have a topic and copy written for a topic, you are better off using a tool like the CoSchedule headline analyzer to refine your headline.

Why should I even use a headline analyzer?

These types of tools can help you improve your traffic dramatically. The idea with headline analyzers is to improve your search engine optimization scores for your content. This helps you to market your product or service far more effectively.

• Free headline analyzer tools provide a useful analysis of your current title and will tell you how to make it better.

On the other hand:

• Free title generators will provide you with brainstorming ideas for articles, but will not provide you with any further information as to how to make this title appealing, or how to center your content around the suggested title.

It is important to note that using a free title generator is more likely to provide you with useless information, as it has no system to assign titles. Personally, I would use the free headline analyzer over the free title generator any day of the week.

The post Is CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer the Best Tool for the Job? appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Evergreen content is content that is always relevant—much like the way evergreen trees retain their leaves all year around. – Rachel Deahl

Evergreen content creation requires a two-pronged and creative approach.

What is Evergreen Content and Why is it Important to My Marketing Strategy?

Evergreen content is a crucial marketing tool. As the name implies, it is content that will likely never lose relevance. Some evergreen content will require a little bit of updating, but for the most part, this content should be timeless.

Some great examples of evergreen content are already in your social media feeds. Think about the marketing strategies of BuzzFeed and Real Simple. All of these content creators have one thing in common – they are excellent at making sure their content never ages out of production.

Real Simple’s home page, for example, looks like this:

What do we notice about this page?

Sure, there is an article about Cinco de Mayo, as this was current when we took this screenshot. And, yep, those sneakers are probably not always going to be $65 (unfortunately). However, other articles in this post are currently relevant but also just as pertinent to other times in life.

When can we use recipes for baked goods? Pretty much anytime.

Any event can be a place for a sweet cake or cookie. And guess what? This article gives you eleven options that may look like they’ve come from a professional bakery. The best burger ever? We could use this at Labor Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or really any family event. The most important aspect of evergreen content is that all of these articles are already done. They do not require any additional editing or updating. You may choose to publish more topical content that might need little updates every year, but for the most part, content like this should be a no-brainer.

A Case Study

One of our articles, 21 Unique (and Inexpensive) Gift Ideas for Boss’s Day remains one of our most popular posts to this day.

Why is this the case?

First, the article mentions Boss’s Day. Even though this is one day a year, these gift ideas could apply for birthdays, office holidays, or a special occasion for your boss. More importantly, these gift ideas represent unique gift ideas for anyone in your house for which you have run out of creative gift ideas. A piece of content like this is valuable because it is giving your audience something that applies to everyday life.

Tip #1: Make sure that your evergreen content is useful to your audience

Make sure that your evergreen content is helpful to your audience. We opted to utilize Boss’s Day as a useful guide because our blog primarily discusses business and marketing. Everyone in this field has a boss and can relate to the struggle of finding a gift for your boss or coworker. You may have a blog that discusses issues that face single moms, gardening, or politics. Content for these types of sites can include tips on how to keep your toddler busy, or when to plant your azaleas or grassroots organizing for dummies. All of these types of content can be used for many years and can also serve a much larger purpose.

Take this article for example:

Notice that this article is from Parenting magazine and is likely geared toward parents of young children. But also notice that this type of article can appeal to professional daycare providers or nannies; anyone who may have a tough time keeping toddlers busy while they care for an infant or older child. This applies to any content out there. If you want to make it evergreen, make it specific to your target market, and it will end up being relevant forever.

Tip #2: Do not neglect your social media accounts

As important as it is to create evergreen content for your blog, it is just as important to create evergreen content for your social media accounts.

Bulk.ly created a blog article that discusses how important your social media feeds are and in turn how important evergreen social media posts can be. They suggest many tactics on how to create this content – like using open-ended questions, sharing your favorite tools, asking for testimonials from your users, or posting links to guest posts.

Open-ended questions can be something like “It’s Friday. We’re getting ready to leave the office. What are your plans?”

This engages your readers by giving them the opportunity to provide their own thoughts. Surprisingly, these posts receive a ton of attention and can end up generating hundreds of retweets. Sharing your favorite tools can engage your target demographic and provide more attention to your social media feeds. These tactics can be immensely helpful in increasing attention to your social media accounts. Check out the bulk.ly article for more tips and tricks for creating evergreen content for your social media accounts.

Tip #3: Don’t make your evergreen content all about your products

Lori Ballen recommends including this content because it will not age as quickly as other content. Your products will evolve and change with time, and including nothing but detailed descriptions will age your content much faster than it needs to age.

For example, if you have a promotion that involves prizes, this content will age very quickly. You may be a car dealership giving away a new car. But a post about that model of car will last all year! Reviews about the type of vehicles will stand the test of time.

Tip #4: Avoid dates whenever possible

This tip may seem obvious, but dates can be included anywhere in your blog posts. Even the URL can have a date in it, and it’s possible to remove this date. Remove dates from your content, from your URL, and from your meta description. Avoiding dates means avoiding the appearance that the content is out of date. Small updates will keep the content fresh.

Why is evergreen content for me?

Evergreen content can be useful to any business, small or large. BuzzFeed is very successful at providing everlasting content, whether it be through quizzes or through top ten lists. All of this content can be used over and over. You do not have to be BuzzFeed to be able to create and use evergreen content. Evergreen content also can provide new SEO opportunities, as it remains around forever and remains relevant forever. This can improve search results for all of your articles.

What software can help me publish this content?

dlvr.it has the ability to set up Reposts of your Evergreen content. Setting up Reposts can take the guesswork out of republishing your Evergreen content. dlvr.it is capable of scheduling Reposted content up to 12 days in advance and up to 12 times. For more information about Reposting, visit dlvr.it’s support site.

The post How to Use Evergreen Content to Engage Your Audience appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

First of all, Facebook People Search contains a wealth of information on what people like, their hobbies, food they eat, pets they love, brands they associate with, images they share, competitors they follow and endless demographic information.

Secondly, all these details can be used to generate better content, create better connections with prospects, craft better ads, and sales pitches.

Facebook Search puts all this data at your fingertips. However, you need to string together the right query parameters to extract detailed information on prospects. 

Understanding How Facebook People Search Works

Facebook People Search is a useful tool to find targeted prospects and boost revenue. However, you have to learn how to extract the data first.

Because Facebook People Search responds to both keyword searches (similar to Google) and natural language queries, it makes searching through Facebook something like a game of Mad Libs.

Think of natural language queries as phrasing questions the same way you would ask a human.

Natural language search is search carried out in everyday language, phrasing questions as you would ask them if you were talking to someone. These queries can be typed into a search engine, spoken aloud with voice search, or posed as a question to a digital assistant like Siri or Cortana. – Search Engine Watch.

For example, if you own a “bait and tackle shop” in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and you’re interested in reaching customers in your local community who like fishing, you might use the following query:

“People who live in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and like fishing”

When you understand how queries can be structured, it’s easier to determine what type of question will yield your desired result. 

Generally speaking, you can use Facebook People Search to find:

• What Facebook users think about your competitors’ products and services so you can get a clear picture of how to position your business.
• The overlapping interests of your target customer base so you can create more relevant content on your Facebook page.
• What Facebook Groups and Pages are most popular among a business’s target customer base, so you know which groups your prospects are hanging out in – ultimately you can join those groups.
• What hobbies and interests are shared with prospects so you can create deeper connections and conversations with them.

Find Customers Using Facebook People Search

Facebook People Search can handle a surprising number of parameters so you should take advantage of this to learn more about your target audience.

Using the bait and tackle shop as an example, you can search for people on Facebook who liked a competitor who lives in your city. The search query, could like something like this:

• Fans of [page] who visited [city, state] 

In the example above, you can see I used two criteria to find the exact person – Facebook Page and City/State.

You can also take a more targeted approach to a people-focused search. For example, let’s say you want to reach women who are married and like fishing. You might search for something like this:

• Women who live in [city, state] and are [married] and like [something]

Now that you have the basic structure down, you can start experimenting with different queries that return the results you are after.

But, beware: While you can layer and string together a plethora of search queries, consequently you could be severely limiting the result. These conclusions are where the experimentation comes in.

Whether you sell to consumers or businesses, you can pinpoint people on Facebook that are more likely to buy what you sell.

Search Queries to Uncover the Right Customers

Don’t think that Facebook is just for B2C sellers either. There are more people on Facebook than LinkedIn, and the level of data locked in Facebook People Search is much deeper than you will find through LinkedIn Search. You can find not only where they work but what they love which will help you find commonality with your prospects.

Search Examples

Below are a few examples you might use to find and learn more about prospects. You can search for specific people, Facebook Pages, City, State, favorited pages and more.

1 – People who work at [company] and live in [city, state] and like [page]

2 – [type of business] liked by people who like [something]

3 – [type of business] liked by people who like [page]

4 – [type of business] liked by people who live in [city, state] and like [something]

5 – [type of business] visited by fans of [page]

6 – [type of business] visited by people who work at [company]

7 – [type of business] visited by people who work at [company] and like [something]

8 – Favorite pages of [company name] employees

9 – Favorite pages of [profession]

10 – Pages liked by people who like [something]

11 – Pages liked by people who like [something] and visited [city, state]

A practical example:

Imagine you sell recycling services to businesses  – we’ll call it Greener Earth – and business is slow. By using a business-focused query, you might discover that a lot of “NewCo” employees (your target company) care about recycling and also like a local coffee shop.

The search queries might look like this.

• People who work at NewCo and live in San Francisco, CA and like recycling
• Favorite pages of NewCo employees

Consequently, you may hold an informational meeting at the coffee shop or do a cross-promotion with the store owner. For instance, you could do a trade with the coffee shop owner and offer your services in exchange for a window sticker, flyers or a green recycling bin with your logo on it. 

In fact, queries like these, paint a three-dimensional picture of your ideal customer.

While conducting market research for Greener Earth, you might just learn that many fans of your business also like the Facebook page for America Recycles Day.

“Wow!” you might say. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing as America Recycles Day.”

What a very promising promotional opportunity!

How to Search Facebook Posts

Now that you found prospects, and know their interests, the next step is to find not only content they share to further enhance your customer profile but to improve your own content strategy. Moreover, the right post-focused query can help you unearth this treasure trove of information. 

First, you might start by studying your competitors and identify what kinds of posts get the biggest reaction from their customers. 

What are your competitors sharing? What are your prospects sharing? 

To find Facebook Posts loved by your prospects, try these queries:

1 – Posts liked by people who like [page]

2 – Posts liked by people who like [something]

3 – Posts liked by people who live in [city, state] and work at [company]

For example:

For Greener Earth, your search might look like this:

1 – Posts liked by people who like recycling

2 – Posts liked by people who like NewCO

3 – Posts liked by people who like [Competitor’s Page]

Through these queries, you might discover that people who like recycling responded well to a competitor’s post about recycling paper and responded poorly to a post about the cost of recycling.

In fact, if you notice this behavior occurring enough times, you could focus your sales pitch on ways to reduce paper usage and educate prospects on the long-term cost savings. 

Putting Facebook People Search in Action

You’ve created a target list of prospects, started to write and share posts they love, but now you want to take your prospecting to the next level and contact them directly.

1 – Expand your personal network

Using Facebook People Search, you can discover people who aren’t your friends and who like a particular Page you like.

For example, find common hobbies and include a note that helps create an immediate connection. 

• People who are not my friend who like [page]
• Movies liked by people who like [page]
• Favorite music of people who like [page]
• Sports teams of people who like [page]

Or, network within Facebook Groups.

However, this isn’t a license to blast everyone with a self-promotional message. Ultimately you want to come across as being helpful and personal (without being creepy because you have a ton of information on group members.)

• Groups of people who like [topic] and like [page]

2 – Request Facebook Friends to like your Page

Find friends who haven’t liked your Page and then invite them to check your Page out.

• My friends who like [page]

3 – Learn about your prospects or customers without surveys

In the past, if you wanted to find out more about your customer’s hobbies, interests, favorite TV shows, etc., you had to survey them. As a result, you wasted a ton of time and spent a lot of money. With Facebook search, you can now get a good snapshot – for free and in a few keystrokes – which only takes seconds.

• Interests of people who like [page]
• Pages liked by people who like [page]

You can then create content or ads that resonate with your target audience.

4 –  Compare Fans to identify new markets or products

Use Facebook People Search to find cross-promotional opportunities, new markets to target or strengthen a loyalty program. This query shows what your customers do when they aren’t doing business with you.

• [Type of business] in [city, state] visited by people who like [page]
• Products liked by fans of [page]

5 – Sort Your Fans’ Page Likes by Gender and Age

Maybe you need to appeal to the interest of specific genders within your Facebook fans for instance to create targeted content or ads.

• Page liked by [male/female] in [city, state] visited by people who like [page]
• Interests of [male/female] in [city, state] who like [ your page]
• Pages liked by people over the age of [number] who like [ your page]

6 – Show up in location-based searches

Are you on the radar of local landmarks or places near you that people visit often?

Use this query to see if your business turns up in the results.

• Places near [place] visited by people who like [attraction] 

If your business is not appearing in a local search, learn how to boost your search ranking in Facebook Search.

A few more Facebook People Search tricks

1 – Don’t ignore the videos and photos tabs. Ultimately the results can provide guidance in choosing images for your blog posts or ads.

2 – For a massive list of Facebook search queries, visit Wrightimc.com.

3 – Learn how to delete your Facebook Search history.

4 – View your past searches.

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There are “literally” hundreds of possible search combinations. This information can be used to learn about your fans, improve your Facebook ad targeting, and do market research.

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Have a few tips using Facebook People Search? We would love to hear from you.

The post How to Use Facebook People Search to Boost Revenue [Without Buying Ads] appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Facebook search is possibly the most powerful, under-used feature on the social network.

Facebook has a wealth of information you can’t get anywhere else – even on Google and they made a few attempts to get search right. However, pundits believe they may have finally cracked the nut with their latest effort.

Facebook Search Isn’t Quite Google – Yet

Facebook’s intent is to be the “go to place” to surface real-time information on current trending news.

Google is still the search king for daily search queries. However, what’s important to mention is there are other social networks – including Facebook – that are quickly gaining ground on Google.

Consider the following search queries per day across several social networks:

• Google Search: 3.5 Billion – Internet Live Stats
• Twitter Search: 2.1 Billion – dlvr.it blog
• Pinterest Search: 2 Billion – Pinterest blog
• Facebook Search: 2 Billion – TechCrunch

Why is Facebook boosting search?

The main reason why Facebook is so focused on expanding search is that it hopes to increase ad revenue.

Although Facebook makes a ton of income on ads already – nearly 6 Billion in Quarter 1 of 2016 alone, they have said they are running out of ad space.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, is hinting at a future search monetization strategy, saying:

There’s a reasonable amount of behavior in there (Facebook search) which is looking for things that, over time, could be monetizable or commercial intent.

Obviously, Google has proven there is money to be made with search. The question for Facebook is whether or not they can create a viable monetization strategy around real-time conversation content in their search index.

Facebook Search: Find the People and Posts that Matter to You Most

People on Facebook are attempting to find what their friends are up to.

Twitter search has been the go-to-place for information on live events and breaking news – similar information that Facebook is now surfacing.

Facebook’s renewed focus on search means trouble for Twitter.

Although queries for “dentist” or “burrito” could surface recommendations from friends that compete with Google results, Facebook search wants to become the place for you to find all types of public conversational content.

You can search by:

• People
• Posts
• Photos
• Videos
• Places
• Pages
• Groups
• Apps
• Events

You can also search by likes, interests, times and other categories.

How does Facebook Mobile play into Facebook Search?

Consider this fact, 54.2 percent of Facebook’s 1.6 Billion active users use Facebook mobile. Facebook has made trillions of posts available on the Facebook mobile app.

• So, next time you are interested in where your friends are or looking for a ‘fun restaurant’, you can surface this information at the very moment you are hungry and looking for a place to grab a bite with friends.

• And when you’re looking for friends in a particular geography, just search for “friends who live in” and include the name of the country, city or whatever geographic parameter makes sense for you.

Advantages of Facebook Search

1 – Facebook’s index of ‘conversational content’, including reviews, recommendations, likes, and visit data is a huge advantage over Google because the data can be leveraged to deliver more personalized results to the user based on what their friends liked or paid attention to.

2 – And Facebook didn’t just stop at building a keyword based search index. They realized that their audience’s time is shifting to mobile, messengers and chatbots.

• What this means for Facebook is a new approach to search that would make sense of the conversational content users were sharing.

3 – To take advantage of the major time and attention shift of its customers, Facebook needed a fresh take on combing through trillions of pieces of unstructured conversations. To this point, Facebook launched what they are calling DeepText artificial intelligence.

• The tool analyzes text continuously so that the social network can provide services and content that match up with what people are sharing or might need.

Techcrunch reports the first place Facebook will use DeepText is in Facebook Messenger and chat bots.

One of the first obvious applications for DeepText will start rolling on Messenger. When DeepText identifies a sentence it thinks means you need a ride, it will suggest you use Messenger transportation integrations with services like Uber and Lyft.

How do Facebook Lead Ads factor into Facebook Search?

Facebook is not only creating a new way to present compelling content to people promptly, but if monetization search is in the future, maybe Facebook Lead Ads give us a peek at how they plan to monetize it.

A Facebook Lead Ad looks like a traditional Facebook Ad, but—when a Facebook user clicks on one—it displays a form that is pre-populated with the user’s phone number, email address, and other information the user has already given to Facebook.

• This type of ad unit is perfect for mobile because it doesn’t force users to leave Facebook and travel to some unfriendly mobile landing page the advertiser created.

How to Rank Higher in Facebook Search: Five Optimization Tips

Facebook uses 44 ranking factors in its EdgeRank algorithm to determine what appears in user feeds. According to TechCrunch, there are approximately 200 factors that establish the order of the search results including:

• Like history
• Previous points of engagement
• Previous searches
• Geography of searcher

Similar to optimizing your website for search, there are a number of things you can optimize to improve your search presence within Facebook search.

How to optimize for Facebook Search?

1 – Post Timely Information

Past: In the past, to see your update, I had to be following you.

Present: Now (based on your privacy settings), when using Facebook search, I could surface your updates.

Facebook includes public posts into search results, so if you’re looking for information about a current event or trending topic, you’ll likely see results from people outside your network alongside posts from people you know.

PRO TIP: As a small business, you want your post settings to be public so potential customers outside your network can find you.

Facebook promises, “As you type, we’ll highlight things that are happening right now so you can follow popular stories as they unfold.”

• It’s important to keep in mind how fans use Facebook. For example, they want to be:
  • entertained
  • to find timely news
  • to find where their friends are
  • and where they visited
• Your Facebook updates should mirror this information.

According to a study from TrackMaven, posts with 80+ words garner 2x’s as much engagement.

Facebook users are willing to read! Also, this gives you more opportunity to include relevant keywords in your updates.

2 – Include Photos and Videos

When you search on Facebook, you can view the results in four different categories: Top, Latest, People, and Photos. What this means, to get noticed, is that a compelling photo increases the likelihood.

And don’t forget about video posts on Facebook. Video posts have 135% greater organic reach than photo posts.

3 – Optimize Your Facebook Page

Your Facebook page is probably not going to turn up in the search results, but it is a good practice to keep your page in order because when you do surface in a search query, and that user clicks to your posts, you want to make a great first impression.

Read the following for more Facebook optimization tips:

• Facebook Cover Photo tips: Include the right size for mobile.

• Facebook bio examples: Create a keyword rich Facebook bio.

• Call-to-action: Make it easy for visitors to get to your site or add their email.

4 – Participate in Popular Conversations

“When a link gets shared widely on Facebook, it often anchors an interesting public conversation,” Facebook said. One click will display the most popular public posts connected to a specific link, therefore allowing users to jump into the conversations on those posts.

• The more actively you participate in discussions related to your niche the better the opportunity you will surface in the search results.

5 – Use Facebook Instant Articles

Facebook’s goal is “… to connect people (quickly) to the stories, posts, videos or photos that matter most to them.”

What’s more, is that 50% of their users access Facebook mobile so it only makes sense that Instant Articles has the potential to be a ranking factor.

Instant Articles allows any… “publisher to tell great stories, that load quickly, to people all over the world,” according to Facebook.

Facebook wants to keep users on their platform and will likely give preference to businesses who use Instant Articles.

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It’s Your Turn

What’s your experience with Facebook Search?

Have you discovered other ranking factors?

We’d love to hear from you.

The post 5 of the Best Facebook Search Tips That Will Help More Customers Find You appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

In this post, we’ll discuss the following:

• How to create perfect Twitter headers
• Examples of Twitter headers (templates from the experts)
• Essential elements of your Twitter profile picture
• Recap of what makes a Twitter Bio awesome

It’s time to get creative! Your header image gives you space and ability, to showcase your business. You could feature your products or include text. And remember that change is good: try updating your header image periodically to highlight promotions, product news or seasonal events.

Read more.

Perfect Twitter Cover Photo Size (why perfect is not always perfect)

Recommended Dimensions

Twitter headers are horizontal in orientation. Twitter’s recommended dimensions for your header photo is 1500px in width X 500px in height.

BUT, the size that really works well for most is: 1500px (width) X 421px (height)

Remember this!

Creating the perfect custom Twitter header image is a bit more complicated than it appears – it’s still easy to do, but you need to keep a few things in mind:

1 – The whole content of your image won’t always fit in the header since it automatically gets cropped and upscaled for some reason.

Fix: You need to know the “visible” and “invisible” areas to make sure your followers can view what you want them to see in your header photo.

Here’s an updated template from Twelveskip showing the “invisible areas:

2 – You will lose the original quality of your image after uploading to Twitter.

Fix: Use premium quality images and save your work in its highest quality.

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Twitter Headers Pro Tips (from the experts)

Do you want to create Twitter headers that stand out from the crowd? Follow the advice from our social media experts:

Tip #1: Start With a High-Quality, Royalty-Free Image – Social Media Examiner

There are now dozens of free image resources out there.

• Pexels and Unsplash both offer thousands of high-resolution images for free and without the need for attribution. Unsplash focuses more on landscapes, while Pexels focuses on business and technology collections.

Tip #2: Boost engagement by updating your Twitter header regularly. – Canva

Twitter Header Templates

If designing from scratch is not your thing, use these following templates from the experts to create awesome Twitter headers.

1 – Canva. FREE

Canva has one of the best selections of Twitter header layouts on the web! You can use their incredibly simple design tool to create a professional Twitter header that will make your profile stand out among the best.

Read more: How to Use Canva to Design Amazing Graphics: It’s FREE and Easy

2 – Hubspot. FREE

Download Hubspot’s pre-sized Twitter cover photo templates (contains 2 examples and 4 templates) to create a brilliant Twitter header photo of your own. To download, you are required to fill out a little information about yourself.

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Real Twitter Cover Photo Examples

Think about it: Would you rather engage with a company that has a header image featuring a dozen of their happiest employees working together on a cool project, or one that relies on a plain blue rectangle to do the talking?

To give you a better sense of what a Twitter header photo done right looks like, Hubspot put together a list of some of the best examples from companies around the world. Check them out.

1 – Starbucks

Whether you take your coffee with cream and sugar, or you prefer to drink it black, this image will have any coffee lovers craving an ice-cold caffeine fix.

2 – British Airways

British Airways’ cover photo is perfectly simple. While the high-quality image of the plane dominates most of the space, our favorite part is on that left-hand side: the names of their other social media accounts.

3 – Uber

Brand consistency is one tactic Uber’s nailed to gain brand loyalty.

If only you could win gold for fastest sprint to your Uber at the end of the workday.

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Importance of Twitter Profile Photo/Avatar

Why is your Twitter profile picture or headshot really important?

One simple answer:

Your Twitter profile picture is what follows your tweets and retweets.

When others follow you and read your Tweets in their feed, your headshot is the consistent branding image that associates you with that Tweet. Building visibility, familiarity, and a positive reputation takes time and a series of memorable contacts. According to Salesforce, it takes anywhere from 6-8 touches to make in impression with your audience.

The default headshot is the egg. Do you want to be remembered as an egghead? Wouldn’t you agree, the egg does nothing to differentiate you from all the other eggs in the carton? You just look like a yoke.

Now, look at the ‘branded’ Twitter headshots associated with each Tweet. They draw you into the Tweet, add personality to a silent medium and associate your brand in the reader’s mind.

Profile picture details

• Twitter recommends a 400×400 minimum
• The image should be a square (you can crop during the upload)
• Save as high a DPI
• Maximum file size is 2MB (this is no longer specified by Twitter)
• The profile photo scales down to 200×200 on your profile page, gets even smaller in timelines, and blows up to full size when somebody clicks on it, so make sure your image looks clear at all scales. (tip via Adweek)

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Craft an Awesome Twitter Bio

Whether you’re treating it earnestly, opportunistically, or as a complete joke, your Twitter bio is your elevator pitch for who you are. –Lara Cohen, Head of Entertainment Talent (TV, film & digital creators) and Lifestyle partnerships for @Twitter

Your Twitter bio is a very succinct, clear way of stating who you intend to be on Twitter. How you craft yours may reveal a thing or two about your true self (or at least your personal branding goals).

Here are eight ways from Post Planner to really craft an excellent Twitter bio to engage and entice a Twitter following:

1. Instead of using just hashtags (#socialmedia, #blogging, etc.) – Use Keywords

Keywords are super important when people search for you on Twitter.

• Think about what your target audience is searching for — and then include those keywords in your bio.
• What is it about you that will attract them to want to follow you?
• Don’t make them figure what you do. Hashtags won’t give them much information about you either.

2. Embrace the Space!

Your Twitter bio is only 160 characters long! It’s (basically) your elevator pitch on steroids. Don’t waste it!

3 – Use Emojis, Hashtags, @s, or Links

Twitter bios can help people branch out into various facets of your identity.

• Emojis: Twitter, like Facebook and other social networks, allows you to enter any emoji supported by your device in posts through their native Android and iOS apps. You can use any emoji in the body of your tweets. However, you can only use a certain number of emojis in your Twitter name and bio.

***Make sure to click here for a list emojis that will work in your Twitter name and bio. I wanted to use the wine glass emoji at the end of my Twitter bio (see image below) but found that the emoji is not supported. Plan B, I used a heart emoji instead:

• Hashtags: For example, if you are an “SEO” expert, you can add “#SEO” to connect your bio to mentions of #SEO on Twitter.

• @s: If you work at a company, have started a business, or are otherwise related to some other Twitter accounts, link to them.

• Links: You can add outbound links to your Twitter profile, too. Be aware that they can take up valuable character space.

4. Tell Us What You Do or Believe in

• Differentiate yourself from others in your field.

Here’s an example of Richard Branson’s Twitter bio. He certainly knows how to make himself stand out.

Here are four more things to consider when crafting the perfect Twitter bio:

5. Include the Name of Your Employer

6. Get Rid of Meaningless Buzzwords (e.g., Social Media Expert, Marketing Guru, Growth Hacker, Networking Ninja, Lean Entrepreneur, Hustler)

7. Add Social Proof (e.g., Write about your successes, your awards, books you’ve written, lists you’ve been on, etc.)

8. Use Humor

Read more: How to Craft an Awesome Twitter Bio

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Pro Tip: Let dlvr.it help with your Twitter post automation.

Have any advice on perfecting your Twitter headers? We’d love to hear from you!

The post How to Create Perfect Twitter Headers and Why it’s Important appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

First noticed in October 2015, RankBrain’s top priority was processing brand new queries. However, as it turns out, it showed best results when returning suggestions for long-tail keywords. It is also useful when dealing with ambiguous queries, keywords with multiple meanings, poorly defined queries, slang as well as any other word formations which were previously problematic for Google.

What is RankBrain?

Given RankBrain’s importance, it is no wonder that Google has kept the system’s technology a secret. We know very little about it. However, we can easily deduce that the intelligence system has numerous similarities with previous algorithms created by Google.

1 – When it comes to understanding the semantics behind the intelligence system, we discovered that there are several similarities with Hummingbird (a primary Google search algorithm).

1. RankBrain can understand the meaning of the text and extract the most important points.
2. But, unlike Hummingbird’s algorithm, RankBrain is also able to comprehend real intent behind queries. In other words, search no longer revolves around finding precise words within the text.
3. The machine learning system is also about giving direct answers to questions, regardless of the phrase used to formulate it.

→Keep in mind that Hummingbird is still the main algorithm within the Google search engine.

RankBrain is currently a modification that can help it process troublesome queries.

Experts believe that Hummingbird and RankBrain work together, while at the same time, processing queries separately from each other.

Nevertheless, according to what we know, RankBrain is only concerned with a small number of keywords, usually when you can’t find a proper answer. In that regard, although hailed as a BIG change that will alter the world of SEO, its real potential, remains to be seen.

• RankBrain is most likely augmented by Google’s Knowledge Graph. It provides an excellent database that will help extract information which you can, later on, use for establishing different connections.

2 – We also noticed certain similarities with Word2vec. To use words, RankBrain first has to convert them into vectors. This conversation factor is the same principle under which Word2vec works. This way, the system can put keywords into virtual space. 

***Connections between two keywords are established based on proximity. 

***If they are close to each other, two keywords have a higher correlation. If they are distant, they are not as well correlated.

Based on this technology, RankBrain can establish whether a sentence is necessary to a particular query. If a particular word or a phrase is mentioned within the text, without any other semantically related keywords being present, the system concludes that it is just a random mention and will not give it much weight in comparison to other topics.

This intelligence is crucial for revealing the full intent behind an article.

3 – Lastly, we have Google AdWords. As far as we know, relevancy is the deciding factor for RankBrain when ranking different content on the internet. However, unlike standard Google rankings that rely heavily on outside signals such as links, it has its own independent internal system – very similar to Google AdWords.

What is the purpose of RankBrain?

Each day, there are about 450 million new search queries. A vast majority of them are poorly defined. In some cases, there is not enough data so Google cannot give a relevant answer. Keeping this statistic in mind, a large number of people will not get a proper response to their query.

As a result, Google invented RankBrain – which can make a solid conclusion based on limited data that it has. Before it shows suggestions, it will make initial testing that will corroborate whether the results are suitable.

We mentioned that RankBrain continually learns and improves itself. Based on this, we conclude, that even if the system provides bad results to the end user, one can learn from its mistakes, ultimately, giving better suggestions.

Most likely, RankBrain can make this observation based on the following:

• click through rate
• bounce rate
• time spent on a website

Unlike previous technology, RankBrain is not only providing suggestions but is also able to polish them as time goes by. In this regard, user feedback is crucial for determining whether a query is suitable or not.

What is a machine learning system?

These smart observations are why RankBrain is considered a machine learning system. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be confused with artificial intelligence. Machine learning represents a process where a system (machine) can improve itself over the course of time without any human interference. On the other hand, official intelligence is the last step in its evolution where the system can have human-like behavior. Of course, as of today, 100% artificial intelligence is still out of our reach.

Here is a brief summary of what RankBrain is and how it can help us:

• Machine learning system introduced by Google
• Important ranking signal
• Used for predicting and understanding words and sentences
• It is creating new rankings and classification based on its knowledge

How does RankBrain work?

As it turns out, there are numerous ways we can use Google’s RankBrain system to our advantage.

Advantage #1: RankBrain can follow our train of thought and provide results based on our previous queries.

One good example is the query:

“How old is President Obama?”

• Before RankBrain, Google results would return with a post that contained all these keywords within it – ‘how old president obama.’

• After implementation of the machine learning system, Google can understand that we are not “really” asking for this result. Instead, we are looking for a direct answer to a direct question.

However, it doesn’t end here.

If we type in “How old is his wife?” RankBrain will recognize that we are looking for data on Michelle Obama based on our history.

In the future, Google will become more like humans. At one point, we will feel we are conversing with a real person based on the dynamic process.

Advantage #2: Another thing that makes RankBrain stand out is the way it understands the meaning behind words.

In this particular example in the image above, the query “What’s the title of the consumer at the highest level of a food chain” was used.

There are numerous ways you can interpret this search query. It would be hard for a human being to understand the purpose of the question. However, RankBrain can conclude that the individual is asking for additional info on predators.

How do I prepare for RankBrain?

Based on our current understanding, RankBrain is the third most important search ranking factor. However, we are still uncertain what this precisely means and whether you can view this machine learning system in the same way as traditional ranking signals.

It is something that affects rankings but only when it comes to a smaller number of queries.

What should be concerning is the fact that RankBrain has its own parameters of establishing the importance of content. In that regard, strategies which were previously valid, such as link building may prove to be irrelevant in the future.

However, we are not certain if this will disrupt current rankings – placing all articles at point zero if Google decides to go with RankBrain technology for general queries.

KEY TAKEAWAY:

The real question is, should you optimize for RankBrain?

The answer is NO.

The same set of rules applies as before:

1 – Google still gives an advantage to well-written, educational content which can improve a user’s experience.

2 – The main thing that changed is the perspective from which Google observes your content.

However you put it, RankBrain should not affect your current SEO strategy.

There are still numerous questions. Given that RankBrain is relatively new, some time will have to pass until we have a better understanding of the system and what it brings.

___

Guest author Nikolay Stoyanov is a well-known SEO expert.

As RankBrain grows in importance, we will continue to check in with Nikolay.

Please feel free to add your thoughts on RankBrain in the comments below. We’d love to discuss this topic further with you.

The post What You Need to Know About Google’s RankBrain Algorithm appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Every day millions of people use Facebook to engage with businesses – look up an address, a menu, customer reviews, comment on a post, send a message or to check in, etc.

According to Venture Beat, over 50% of those people are checking these pages only from their mobile device. As a result, users are not only interacting with businesses on Facebook mobile but, they’re also discovering new business pages.

A survey conducted by market research firms Sterling Research and SmithGeiger found that:

Two-thirds of smartphone users said that a mobile-friendly site made them more likely to buy a company’s product or service. Half of respondents went on to say that even if they like a business, they’ll use its site less often if it doesn’t work well on their smartphone.

Are you looking to optimize your Facebook mobile site or how to make your Facebook mobile login page more friendly?

Read more on the following:

• Latest Facebook Mobile Stats
• Mobile Marketing Tips
• Facebook Mobile Marketing While on the Go Using Mobile Apps

Facebook Mobile Stats (always up-to-date)

1.65 billion monthly active users (up 15 percent year over year) and 1.51 billion mobile users (up 21 percent year over year) use Facebook. – VentureBeat (4/27/16)

Breaking the numbers down:

• 66.1 percent of all Facebook members use the service daily
• 65.5 percent of mobile members use it daily
• 54.2 percent of Facebook users now access the social network exclusively from a mobile device

What this means for you:

In case you had any lingering doubts, statistically, Facebook mobile is too big to ignore.

Facebook sends by far the most mobile readers to news sites of any social media site. – Pew Research Center (May 2016)

• This gap holds true for both longer and shorter news articles.

• Mobile users spend more engaged time with long-form (1,000 words or more) than short-form (101-999 word) news stories – 123 seconds compared with 57 – and this gap holds true across all the different ways visitors arrive at news articles.

• However, there are noteworthy differences between Facebook and Twitter:
  • Facebook sends the vast majority of social media traffic to these news stories.
  • But mobile users arriving at these news stories from Twitter spend more time there than those from Facebook: an average of 133 seconds for longer content and 58 seconds for shorter content.

See image below:

Android and iOS account for nearly 90% of smartphone browsing in the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, and China. – Adobe Digital Index

How does this affect you:

As the market consolidates around iOS and Android, focus your Facebook mobile experience on these two major players.

One in every three new page “likes” occur via Facebook mobile. – State of Mobile Benchmark

• According to a study from Syncapse, the most popular reason why people Like a Facebook Page is to support the brand. This support is notable because it means that some people are willing to align themselves with businesses and endorse their products without any financial incentive. These are the people you want to identify when looking for brand ambassadors.

Facebook Mobile Marketing Tips

Take advantage of the huge mobile marketing opportunity by making sure your Facebook mobile site is “up to snuff” by following these tips from Constant Contact and Social Media Examiner:

Tip 1: Understand how your page looks on a mobile device.

• Look at how your Facebook Page is rendered on a mobile device

In the “Public” view (see a snapshot of dlvr.it’s Facebook mobile page above), the Facebook mobile summary doesn’t show your complete Timeline.

It’s important to have a pinned post to highlight your content.

Make sure you have a “pinned” post first so that it will be featured first and most prominently. After this is the Recommendations and Check-Ins section, and then photos, and finally, your most recent post.

What is a Facebook Pin? 

A pinned post means it will not slip down your brand page as you create and publish more post updates to your page. Pinning a particular post at the top of your Facebook page will increase its performance. A small orange ribbon marks a pinned post. See an example in the upper right-hand corner in the image below.

Some additional suggestions to help optimize your Facebook Page

• Keep in mind that you have much less time and space on a mobile device to acquire the attention of your visitors so take the time needed to find and optimize eye-catching photos, and remember not to mince words! Be concise and direct in your text and any calls to action.

• Log into your Facebook page from a mobile device and see that your relevant info is not only present but correct. You want people to be able to find you! You can do this using Nearby Friends.

• One way to increase your social “word of mouth” is to stimulate check-ins from your location. Having customers check-in at your location makes a big difference with Facebook. ***To let people check-in at your business, you’ll need to choose Local Businesses for your Page’s category.

• Engage with your visitors while you are on your mobile device, which is not only convenient for you but helps you easily keep on top of the activity on your page.

Read: 9 Steps to Boost Traffic on Your Facebook Business Page 

Pro Tip:

Your Facebook page cover photo has to look good on both desktop and mobile. But, they’re not the same size! Designing an image that fits both formats is a little tricky, but not impossible. Read: How to Make the Perfect Facebook Cover Photo Size for Both Desktop and Mobile

Tip 2: Make sure your customers can find your Facebook Mobile Site through mobile searches.

Make sure your Facebook Business Page is ready by always keeping it complete and up-to-date. Mobile Facebook users can search by

• Business name
• Category
• Based on their location

1 – Check your category to make sure it’s correct.

2 – Update your hours of operation and contact information.

3 – Try “Nearby Friends” on a mobile device to ensure that the map and directions are accurate.

It’s important for your Facebook mobile site to be visible through mobile searches.

Read: 9 Minute Audit to Prime Your Facebook Page for Epic Success

Tip 3: Encourage check-ins. They matter.

Encourage customers to check-in on Facebook at your business location because recommendations from mobile user’s friends will also appear first. Having check-ins serves as an excellent tool for word-of-mouth recommendations.

Facebook already promotes mobile users who recommend your page, but it doesn’t hurt to nudge customers a little more by asking for recommendations through signage or a promotional incentive.

Read: How to Add a Facebook Map to Boost Local SEO

Facebook Mobile Marketing While on the Go Using Mobile Apps

Tip 4: Manage your page on-the-go

Manage your page using Facebook’s Pages Manager app. The app lets you manage up to 50 pages from your smartphone or tablet, and it’s available for both iOS and Android.

The “Facebook Pages Manager” app helps page admins:

• Post updates and photos and respond to comments on your Pages
• Get push notifications for new activity, tips, and reminders
• View your latest Page Insights
• Assign five different types of admins: Editor, Moderator, Analyst, Advertiser, or another Admin (full access).
• View and reply to private messages sent to your Pages

This feature is especially helpful for pages that receive comments of a particularly sensitive or negative nature at times. You can quickly defuse the situation by taking it offline. Becasue of this, I also recommend that you leave a comment so anyone viewing the comment thread can see you’ve clearly taken steps to start a private discussion. – Mari Smith

You can also adjust immediate notifications for your page within the settings of the app or within “Your Settings” in the dashboard desktop:

Desktop: Edit Page > Edit Settings > Mobile

Tip #5: Broadcast via Facebook Live

Facebook Live is finally live!

Facebook Live has the potential to change the way marketers and consumers approach the platform—not to mention influencing most of the platform’s contemporaries. – Forbes

Facebook Live allows you to have “face-time” conversations in real time with your friends, fans, and followers. Once your live broadcast is complete, the video posts to your wall like a regular native video. Live video is an excellent way to build a more intimate relationship with your audience. The stronger the connection to you and your business, the more loyal and engaged your following.

Not surprising, according to a recent post on Engadget:

• Facebook will soon let viewers skip straight to the good parts when replaying video footage.

• Based on reactions and comments, Facebook will show you when the best portions of a video take place in the form of a visual timeline.

• Facebook says that two-thirds of Live video views are replays after a broadcast has ended. With that in mind, this so-called engagement graph is meant to help guide viewing by pointing out highlights, especially clips that are several minutes long.

Pro Tip (or frankly a tip for any business thinking about using Facebook video as a marketing tool): 

Keep this not-so-surprising stat in mind when producing Facebook video:

85 percent of Facebook video is watched without sound! – Digiday

According to MEC North America, branded videos from its clients average 85-90 percent silent video views. But that doesn’t mean consumers are less engaged. Internal studies showed that KPIs like brand lift and intent to purchase were not affected by whether the viewer watched the video with the sound on or off, said Noah Mallin, head of social for the agency.

___

In conclusion, don’t be fooled into believing marketing on Facebook is not important. With over 1.65 billion monthly active users and more than half of them using mobile only, having a solid Facebook mobile marketing strategy is critical to your business success.

What’s your Facebook mobile marketing strategy?

How do you optimize your Facebook mobile site?

We’d love to hear more from you!

The post Facebook Mobile: 1.5 Billion Reasons It’s Important to Get Right appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

For beginning bloggers, powerful words are one of the easiest tools to master. Unlike many blogging strategies which can take considerable time to get right, start sprinkling power words into your writing and you’ll notice an immediate lift in the quality of your article.

What Makes Words Powerful – Power Words

Why are words powerful?

A power word…

1 – Strikes a balance between pretentious sounding words and standard language.

2 – Communicates with clarity and precision.

3 – Enhances marketing effectiveness by invoking emotion.

People connect to emotion, not words. Studies show that content that elicits “high arousal emotion” (anxiety, amusement) is more likely to be shared and go viral than content that doesn’t elicit emotion or elicits “low arousal” emotion. Power words are key to evoking these “high arousal” emotions. Examples include words like “instantly”, “mistakes” and“hilarious”.

4 – Triggers curiosity.

Research published by Harvard Business Review found curiosity to be one of the most powerful triggers for virality. Since we have a hard time resisting our curiosity, strategic use of powerful words makes it almost impossible for us to not to click, share, and read. Power words that trigger curiosity include words such as “Reveals”, “Proves”, “Ridiculous”.

Best Power Words From the Experts

1 – SumoMe: Turbo-Charge Your Marketing (With These 355+ Powerful Words)

This article includes great examples on how to combine powerful words for more sales, signups, and conversions.

The easiest way to start? Incorporate power words into your call to action and headlines.

Check out the following examples:

Example #1: Using Power Words in a Call to Action

In the image below, see the ‘Subscribe Now’ pop up in a post from Vanessa Van Edwards, founder of Science of People.

Notice how she uses two power words – ‘Free’ and ‘Scientifically Proven’ –  in her call to action (one in the header and the other one in the sub-header):

  →  Free: Converts visitors to subscribers

  →  Scientifically Proven: A power phrase to demonstrate authority and credibility

Example #2: Using Power Words in a Subhead

Power words in your subheads capture attention and draws the reader into reading rather than scanning the content.

Bryan Harris does a great job with this on his blog, VideoFruit.com. In the article below he used:

  →  Unique

  →  Unconventional

both of which trigger curiosity.

2 – CoSchedule: 180+ Powerful Words for Writing Emotional Headlines

Copywriter Karl Stepp offers a great list of highly emotional words that he calls “power words for emotional selling.”

3 – SmartBlogger: 317 Powerful Words That’ll Instantly Make You a Better Writer

Jon Morrow offers an impressive list of power words organized into categories based on the emotion you want to create, so you can easily find the right word.

Try one of Jon’s experiments:

Experiment #1: Calling All Fearmongers

Just for a moment, stop reading this post, turn on the television, and go to a major news channel. Watch it for five minutes, listening for the words below.

Chances are, you’ll hear dozens of them.

Here’s why:

  →  Fear is without a doubt the most powerful emotion for grabbing and keeping an audience’s attention. Why do you think news networks load up with fear words, making you worry you might miss something important. To make sure you don’t change the channel. 

  →  It’s effective. Granted, you can overdo it, but in my opinion, most writers don’t use these types of words nearly enough. They “really” do connect with people.

Here are 30 “fear inducing” words to get you started:

Experiment #2: Make Your Audience Feel Safe

Greed isn’t the only emotion you want buyers to feel. You also want to make them feel safe.

They need to:

• Trust both you and your product or service
• Have confidence you’ll deliver
• Believe they’ll get results

Of course, building that kind of trust starts with having a quality brand and reputation, but the words you use to describe yourself and your product or service also matter.

To help your customers feel safe, try to use as many of these power words as possible:

4 – WordStream: 5+ Powerful Words & Techniques for Writing More Persuasive Landing Pages

Dan Shewan at WordStream answers the question: What are the MOST common power words?

When used in the right context, these powerful words can make your copy significantly more compelling, but it’s important to understand why they’re so effective.

  →You

Terms such as “you” and our names trigger specific responses in the brain that appeal directly to our sense of identity, making them a powerful way to connect with your prospects.

  →Easy

If your product or service is genuinely easy to use, say so in your landing pages. Better yet, show them how easy it is.

  →Save

When it comes to committing to a purchase, most prospects are looking to minimize two things: how much it will cost them, and how long it will take. Even if time and money aren’t your prospects’ primary concerns, the word “save” has powerful implications that can make your landing page copy much more persuasive.

  →Results

To the uncertain prospect, ambiguity is the enemy. Why waste time or money on something that may not work? The word “results” can offset a prospect’s hesitation to commit and nudge them gently over the line and convert.

  →Guarantee

Just as many prospects are averse to ambiguous “solutions” to their problems, they’re even more wary of the possibility of losing something, whether it be time, money, or something else. That’s what makes the word “guarantee” so powerful – when used correctly, it effectively removes the risk of at least trying whatever you’re selling.

5 – Writtent: 640+ Power Words That Sell to Maximize Your Conversions

Are you struggling to find the right words to sell your product or idea? What are the most persuasive words in the English Language? This article from writtent.com CEO, Helen Nesterenko, helps point you in the right direction.

Most Persuasive Words in the English Language: 

1. Because

2. Free

3. Instantly

4. New

5. You

Helen’s post also contains many other power word nuggets, such as…How to:

• Write Popular Blog Post Headings: Big/Huge, Critical, Hacks (or a variation of this word), History, Science, Smart, Surprising

• Increase Facebook Shares, Likes, and Comments: Amuses, Comment, Deals, Discounts, Inspires, Post, Should, Submit, Take, Tell use, Warns, When, Where, Would

• Increase Retweets: 10, Blog, Blog post, Check out, Follow, Free, Great, Help, How to, Media, New blog post, Please, Please retweet, Post, Retweet, Social, Social Media, Top, Twitter, You

• Call to Action: Add, Buy, Call, Claim, Create, Discover, Download, Get, Join, Launch, Learn, Promote, Send, Share, Sign up, Start, Subscribe, Trial, Try

• Imply Logic: Analyse, As a result, Because, Consequently, Example, For this reason, In order, Logical, Makes sense, Organize, Reasons, Science, Therefore, Thus, Why

• Encourage Community: Be a part of, Help us, Join, Let’s, We can

• Spark Curiosity: Astonishing, Banned, Bizarre, Censored, Confessions, Confidential, Controversial, Cringeworthy, Did you know, Elusive, Extraordinary, Eye-opening, Find out why, Hidden, Hilarious, Imagine, Life-changing, Magic, Mysterious, Myth, Remarkable, Revealed, Revolutionary, Secret, Shocking, Sneak peek, Strange, Surprising, You won’t believe

• Offer Exclusivity: Be the first, Before everyone else, Behind the Scenes, Exclusive, Insider, Just for you, Limited, Members only, Membership, Rare, Secret, Sneak peek, Special, Unique

• To Target Greed: Bargain, Bonus, Cheap, Discount, Double, Extra, Free, Giveaway, Half price, Marked down, Massive, Prize, Profit, Reduced, Reward, Sale, Triple, Unlimited

• Make it Personal: You, Your, I, My, We, Our, Us

• Imply Specificity: Because, Certain, Comprehensive, Exactly, Explain, Define, Definite, Detailed, How, Identify, In-depth, Precise, Specific, This, Why

___

Power Word Headline Analyzer Tools

Now that you have a grasp on words that are powerful enough to grab attention, how can you use them to write better headlines?

Check out these two FREE tools to help analyze headlines for you:

1 – CoSchedule Blog Post Headline Analyzer: FREE

This free blog post headline analyzer will score your overall headline quality and rate its ability to result in social shares, increased traffic, and SEO value.

Use Proven Research To Write The Best Headlines

Make sure you have the right balance of common, uncommon, emotional, and power words in your headlines. This structure makes sure your headlines are readable while commanding attention from your audience.

Research proves that readers share emotional and positive headlines with their social networks. Use the headline analyzer to write captivating headlines your audience will share.

Here’s an example of one of the results testing headlines for this post:

1,000 Power Words That Will Make You Awe-Inspiring

***Author’s note: One of the best things about CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer is the ability to run as many headline scenarios as you need. The system also keeps your previous headlines and results in a running list during the current session – making it easy to flip back and forth between them.

2 – Advanced Marketing Institute Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer: FREE

This free tool will analyze your headline to determine the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) score. As you know, reaching your customers in a deep and emotional way is a key to successful copywriting, and your headline is unquestionably the most important piece of copy you use to reach prospects.

___

What did we miss?

Which power words have worked for you?

Which words contain extra emotional spark?

We’d love to hear from you!

The post Ultimate List of 1000 Powerful Words That Will Make You A Social Media Rockstar appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

The good news: There are plenty of free social media analytics tools on the market that have the answers you need – right at your fingertips.

I’ve put together a fantastic list of free social media analytics tools including some we tried and some recommended by small business owners and social media experts.

But before you can dive down into what tools are “perfect” for your business, you have to ask “what success metrics do you want to track?”

Social Media Analytics To Track

1 – First, decide what your primary business goal is for social media.

2 – Based on your goal, you will have a clearer picture as to which stats are important to monitor and what tool to use.

Determine your primary business goal:

For example, at dlvr.it our primary business objective is to create a meaningful dialogue with our audience by creating useful social media tips that drive traffic to our blog. At the end of the day, we hope the content drives sign-ups for dlvr.it.

The problem is, there is so much data we could track. To simplify things, we decided to focus on a few social media success metrics that gets us to our primary objective.

Three key metrics we focus on:

• Time spent on our blog
• Number of pages each visitor consumes
• How many meaningful interactions occur (comments, shares, likes, email sign-ups)

In my opinion, all social media campaigns should have robust, engagement-driven reporting behind them. Deciding on the right metrics that ultimately lead to your primary objective takes a bit of experimentation and thought.

Metrics to consider tracking:

• Audience Size: On a weekly basis evaluate your audience growth and compare this with your competitors. Also, assess the people that are unfollowing you where possible.

• Audience Profile: Are you attracting the right audience?

• Reach and Engagement: How much of your audience are you reaching and how much are they engaging with your content?

According to social media influencer, Ian Clearly from Razor Social,

Reach without engagement is still important because a lot of people pay attention to your content but don’t respond to it. This doesn’t means to say they are not interested and they won’t buy from you.

If no one is engaging with your content, you have either the wrong content or the wrong audience!

• Traffic: Are your content efforts on social media driving traffic to your site (if that is a focus)?

• Content Analysis: Ian Clearly goes on to say, “On a regular basis you need to analyze your content to see what’s working/not working. Are videos, pictures or text updates working best? Do you have the right mix of content? Are you getting engagement on your questions? What changes have happened on the platforms that you need to change? (e.g. changes to profile images).“

• Competitor Benchmarking: What can you learn from your competitors? Track their growth, content, and engagement to benchmark your progress. Read more below; we have a tool for that!

• Sentiment Analysis: Analyze positive, negative, or neutral mentions of your product or -service.

For more in-depth analysis on creating a social media analytics reporting system, Social Media Examiner has an informative write-up. Another resource to consider is this MOZ article on measuring content.

Once you have decided what to track, next step is to find the ideal platform to help you monitor results. The solutions below range from basic to robust enterprise solutions.

Want to quickly jump to a particular tool?

Click one of the analytics solutions below and don’t miss the BONUS section at the very bottom of this post:

All social networks:

• dlvr.it
• Rocketgraph
• Simply Measured
• Scraawl
• Google Analytics
• Buffer
• Hootsuite
• Cyfe
• Klout

Twitter only:

• Twitonomy
• Followerwonk

Facebook only:

• Klear
• Quintly
• Fanpage Karma
• LikeAlyzer

Instagram only:

• Squarelovin
• Collec.to
• Union Metrics
• StatShot

Pinterest only:

• ViralWoot
• Pinterest Analytics

21 Free Social Media Analytics Tools

Tools that cover all social networks

1.) dlvr.it

dlvr.it’s content sharing and social analytics help you gain customer insight. Measure audience engagement across social networks and track the performance of each item you share.

Followers: The change in your total number of followers/friends across all your social networks for the last 24 hours. dlvr.it also shows you how that compares to the maximum/minimum daily follower changes over the last 30 days.

Clicks: The total number of clicks across all your Routes for the last 24 hours. dlvr.it shows you how that compares to the most active and least active days over the last 30 days.

Posts: The total number of posts made across all your Routes for the last 24 hours. dlvr.it shows you how that compares to maximum and minimum daily post days over the last 30 days.

Audience: The total number of followers/friends (and reach, when enabled) across all your social networks for the last 24 hours. dlvr.it details the changes for each of your social networks during the last 24 hours.

Popular Posts: The most popular posts made in the previous seven days, including the number of clicks.

Geo: A global map of your click activity over the last seven days.

2.) Rocketgraph

Here is an example of the stats Rocketgraph tracks for Twitter. They offer analytics for the most popular social networks.

Engagements

• Engagements (replies/retweets/likes) by tweet date.
• Engagements (replies/retweets/likes) by tweet type (text, URL, photo, video). Find out what tweet types do your followers engage with the most.
• Recent top engaged users with a sentiment. View the users that have been talking about you the most, and if they have positive or negative things to say.
• Response time to mentions. View analytics about how quickly you respond to mentions (useful for support account).
• Sentiment of mentions/replies. View analytics about what people are saying about you, and if it’s positive or negative comments.

Audience

• Followers by language. Find out what languages your followers speak.
• Followers by tweet source. Find out what platforms your followers are on.
• Followers recently talked about. Find out what hashtags your followers have been recently talking about.
• Followers by location. Find out the geo-locations of your users.
• Top followers by popularity. Find out who your most popular followers are.

3.) Simply Measured

Simply Measured’s full suite of analytics arms you with the ability to research conversations, competitors, and audience, across all social networks. They offer a suite of free reports. Read reviews on Simply Measured.

4.) Scraawl

Scraawl is a social media analytics tool that helps you understand social stats, social presence, relations, influence, sentiment, and communities.

5.) Google Analytics

https://dlvrit.com/blog/2014/09/auto-enable-google-utm/

The numerous Google Analytics reports and metrics available, allow you much flexibility in determining variables to review and things you can adjust to get results. Adding Google UTM tracking to each social media post can help you make sense of your social media traffic. We have covered how to use Google to monitor social media analytics quite extensively:

• How to find your top producing social network with Google Analytics
• How to reveal the secrets behind dark social
• How to track every social media link with Google UTM codes

6.) Buffer

From the Buffer blog:

With Buffer‘s free plan, you get all the major engagement stats for every update you post on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. My favorite feature (and one I’m always stoked to see!) is the Top Tweet/Top Post badge that pops up when an update goes above and beyond the average performance.

7.) Hootsuite

Hootsuite has been a staple in the social media analytics market for some time for businesses of all sizes. We use their paid version for social media listening.

8.)  Cyfe

Cyfe is an all-in-one business dashboard app that helps you easily monitor all your business data from one place.

• Automatic email reports
• Branded reports for clients
• Business KPIs
• Custom data sources
• Custom domains and logos
• Custom visualizations
• Easily track everything
• Historical data
• Monitor individual departments
• Multiple sharing options
• PDF/CSV exports
• Pre-built integrations
• Push API
• Real-time reports
• Setup in seconds
• Social media analytics
• Track multiple websites
• TV mode
• Unlimited users and dashboards
• White labeling available

9.) Klout

Klout measures your influence based on your ability to produce action from your activity. Specifically, Klout measures:

• True Reach: The number of people you influence such as the people who are acting on your content. When you post a message, these people tend to respond or share it.
• Amplification: When you post a message, how many people respond to it or spread it further?
•  Network: The influence of people within your ‘true reach’, such as how often top influencers respond to or share your content.

Joe Fernandez, Klout’s CEO and co-founder, says Klout is built to help the social media world answer this fairly simple question: “When you speak, does the world listen?” Regardless of how you feel about social popularity, Fernandez says that everyone cares about their reputation.

Twitter Only

10.) Twitonomy

Recommended by social media consultant Kiera Stein.

Twitonomy has a detailed feature set for drilling deeply into Twitter engagement.

• Get detailed and visual analytics on anyone’s tweets, retweets, replies, mentions, hashtags…
• Browse, search, filter and get insights on the people you follow and those who follow you
• Backup/export tweets, retweets, mentions and reports to Excel & PDF in just one click
• Monitor your interactions with other Twitter users: mentions, retweets, favorites…
• Get and export Search Analytics on any keywords, #hashtags, URL or @users
• Get insights on and download any user’s retweeted & favorited tweets
• Browse, search, filter, sort and batch add/remove people to your lists
• Monitor tweets from your favorite users, lists, and keyword searches
• Get actionable insights on your followers with Followers Report
• Find out easily those you follow but don’t follow you back
• Download your followers and following lists to Excel
• Get the list of the followers you don’t follow back
• Track clicks on the links in your tweets
• Track your follower growth over time

11.) Followerwonk

• Dig deeper into Twitter analytics: Who are your followers? Where are they located? When do they tweet?
• Find and connect with new influencers in your niche.
• Use super-actionable visualizations to compare your social graph to others.
• Easily share your reports with the world.

Read a detailed review on Followerwonk.

Facebook Only

12.) Klear

• Find influencers that are relevant and reachable
• Access the deepest available social profiles on any influencer, including influential topics, top performing content, influence metrics, close network, audience demographics

13.) Quintly

• Get a holistic overview of the performance of Facebook pages
• Compare and benchmark every existing Facebook page with one another
• Obtain valuable competitor data to optimize your Facebook marketing activities
• In-depth information about your fans. Get to know where your fans are coming from; analyze their changes and the corresponding distribution.

Read the reviews on Quintly.

“The quiet but strong contender in the social media analytics field.”

“Most useful social tool, especially to track competitors.”

“Great social media analytics tool, especially for long-term tracking.”

14.) Fanpage Karma

A user favorite on the market to monitor and manage Facebook pages is Fanpage Karma

• best times for posting
• best types of posts and best topics
• best and least engaging posts
• best posting frequency

15.) LikeAlyzer

LikeAlyzer offers comprehensive reviews and tips to improve your interaction with current and potential fans and customers. They provide daily updated Facebook statistics for your company or other Pages of interest. It enables you to monitor and compare your efforts with those of the world’s favorite brands or relevant companies, such as competitors.

Instagram Only

16.) Squarelovin

Since Instagram doesn’t have its own analytics, third party sources are valuable. One of the best is Squarelovin.

• Who are your followers? Where do they come from? Have you increased your number of followers or have you lost followers?
• Best performing content on a month-to-month basis (and overall)
• Best and worst times to post
• Filter impact
• Total and average like/comment on a month to month basis
• Account growth

17.) Collec.to

Collec.to offers both paid and free plans. Free users can view a summary of their Instagram account’s photos and engagement.

• Discover the most liked photos, commented on and most popular overall
• Showcase your photos with your own URL
• View top hashtags

Social media expert, Kristi Hynes, says, “The best feature is the ability to see other user’s top tags and venues.”

18.) Union Metrics

• The best times to post new photos and videos to receive the biggest response from your audience.
• Who interacts the most with your content to discover your most loyal fans and advocates.
• Which posts resonate with your followers and which posts fall flat, so you can do more of what works.
• What hashtags result in the most engagement for your posts to get in front of new audiences.

19.) StatShot

A relatively new Instagram analytics tool with great reviews is StatShot. Easily track your Instagram audience growth with excellent daily, weekly, or monthly email reports.

• Understand changes in your follower count, reach, likes, and engagement
• Keep tabs on the amount of media tagged with your branded hashtag

Read the discussion on StatShot on ProductHunt.

Pinterest Only

20.) ViralWoot

This Pinterest tool helps with much beyond analytics. You can schedule pins, promote pins, and gain new followers. The analytics on the free plan shows you new followers, new repins, and new likes.

21.) Pinterest Analytics

Pinterest does a great job proving detailed engagement stats.

• What Pins and boards from your profile people love most
• What people like to save from your website
• Who your Pinterest audience is, including their gender, location, and other interests
• What devices people use when they’re Pinning your stuff
• How adding the Pin It button to your website leads to referral traffic from Pinterest

Analyze the Competition

22.) Klear

Klear offers a number of free tools to get feedback on your competitor’s social media engagement.

• Identify your competitors’ top influencers, build relationships and make them your new advocates.
• Quickly understand which content performs best across the industry.

BONUS

G2Crowd

Check out this handy tool that compares a number of the social media analytics tools based on user feedback.

Double BONUS

5 Paid Social Media Analytics Tools We Like

1. Tweetfull – Engage leads, find followers, drive traffic on Twitter
2. ManageFlitter – Clean up Twitter, find new followers, follower competitor’s followers
3. BuzzSumo – Find the Most Shared Content and Key Influencers
4. Hootsuite – Find what your audience is saying about your brand
5. Sumall – Aggregate all your social media data into one dashboard

PCMag created an in-depth review of many of the paid social media analytics tools. You should also check out Razor Social’s reviews on additional paid tools.

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I know there are more social media analytics tools out there.

What do you use or recommend?

We would love to hear your thoughts.

The post Social Media Analytics: 21 of the Best Free Tools That Will Make You Super Successful appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

This week featuring:

• Top Tweet of the Week: Confirmed: Google to Stop Showing Ads on Right Side of Desktop

• Social Media Growth Hacks:
  • 16 Top Marketing Blogs and Publications You Need to Be Following
  • Want To Be Successful With Content Marketing? Teach, Don’t Sell

• Productivity Tips:
  • The Organizational Cost of Insufficient Sleep
  • How Exercise Makes You Smarter, Happier, and Less Stressed

‘Exercise is like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin,’ says a Harvard researcher, describing the amazing effects of fitness on the brain.

• Trending on Facebook: Opening up instant articles to ALL publishers

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Top Tweet

16.1K Shares: Confirmed: Google To Stop Showing Ads On Right Side Of Desktop Search Results Worldwide

A long-running test is now rolling out for desktop queries: Google will no longer show ads to the right of its search results, with two exceptions.

Google is rolling out a dramatic change that removes ads from the right side of its desktop search results, and places ads only at the top and/or bottom of the page. At the same time, the company says it may show an additional ad — four, not three — above the search results for what it calls “highly commercial queries.”

Ads will not appear on the right side of desktop search results, with two exceptions:

1. Product Listing Ad (PLA) boxes, which show either above or to the right of search results
2. Ads in the Knowledge Panel

Read more.

Social Media Growth Hacks

1 – 8.7K Shares: 16 Top Marketing Blogs and Publications You Need to Be Following

The best marketers are incessantly learning. Why? They can’t afford to stop.

The marketing industry must constantly evolve alongside the audiences it attempts to reach. Cutting-edge is adequate, and everything else falls by the wayside. Where can marketers go to learn from influencers within the industry?

Here are 3 of the 16 marketing blogs and publications you should add to your reading list this year:

1. MarketingProfs: Blog for marketers of any ilk. Constantly stocked with legitimate content.

2. Business Insider: A rising star in the content world. Think of it as the Huffington Post for business and marketing professionals.

3. The Knowledge Bank: Touches on all aspects of content marketing and branding–from thought leadership and content creation to lead generation and content distribution.

Read more.

2 – 14K Views: Want To Be Successful With Content Marketing? Teach, Don’t Sell

The idea of teaching instead of selling seems to turn marketing on its head, and yet it’s at the core of content marketing. “Teach, don’t sell” is exactly what makes content marketing different from advertising.

Here’s the part you might not like hearing. You teach instead of sell, because frankly, nobody really cares about your marketing.

So how can you avoid triggering their “THEY’RE SELLING!” radar? Here are three ways:

1) Don’t include a call to action that asks them to buy.

2) Tell them what they want to know, not what you want to tell them.

3) Be generous.

Read more.

Productivity Tips

1 – 3.8K Shares: How Exercise Makes You Smarter, Happier, and Less Stressed

Being nagged about exercise isn’t fun or motivating. Plus, it’s cold out there in a lot of America. So how can you convince yourself to do what you know you should do: move more? Forget guilt and pep talks. Maybe science is the answer.

“We need to move,” says Harvard psychiatrist John Ratey of our evolutionary baggage, early in his talk on the science of how exercise positively affects the brain. “It’s only 10,000 years ago that we were hunter-gatherers and we moved anywhere from 10 to 14 miles a day.”

Read more.

2 – 3.3K Shares: The Organizational Cost of Insufficient Sleep

Sleep (mis)management, at one level, is obviously an individual issue, part of a larger energy-management challenge that also includes other forms of mental relaxation, such as mindfulness and meditation, as well as nutrition and physical activity. But in an increasingly hyperconnected world, in which many companies now expect their employees to be on call and to answer emails 24/7, this is also an important organizational topic that requires specific and urgent attention.

Read more.

Popular on Facebook

5.5K Shares: Opening Up Instant Articles to All Publishers

A new way for publishers to create fast, interactive articles on Facebook.

We’re excited to announce that on April 12th at Facebook’s F8 conference, we will be opening up the Instant Articles program to all publishers—of any size, anywhere in the world. To date, we’ve been working with a few hundred publishers around the world to build an incredibly fast and immersive reading experience for people on Facebook. While we were getting feedback and making improvements to Instant Articles, in parallel we’ve been building the tools to open up Instant Articles more broadly.

Read more.

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Have any social media trends, tips or tricks to share?

Read any interesting social media facts recently?

Run across any fascinating infographics?

We’d love to hear from you!

Please share!

The post The Best 5 Articles and a Science-Based Productivity Tip You May Have Missed in Social Media [Week February 21, 2016] appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.