Tag: setting goals

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Essential Characteristics of a Successful Brand Community

A successful brand community has the power to unlock benefits and resources that can take your business to the next level.

 

Communities foster engagement that fuels brand awareness, credibility, and, most importantly, loyalty. With loyalty, you can market and grow your business more effectively than on your own or through traditional marketing efforts. In addition, loyal customers will not just participate in your community. They will loudly advocate for you to their friends and family.

 

Nothing is as powerful as word-of-mouth marketing. When you build a strong community, you will have many people who strongly advocate for your brand. To create a strong community to reap these rewards, you must possess certain common and essential characteristics as a business owner and community leader.

 

The following characteristics are essential to building a successful brand community:

 

  • Influential and Inspirational – You need to demonstrate that you have the necessary knowledge and experience to help your customers solve their problems. When you focus on problem-solving, you become very inspirational. Find ways to inspire them by giving them reasons to act in the manner you desire them to.

 

  • Authentic and Unique – It’s imperative that you are yourself and don’t put on any fake personalities. While your business needs to have its own personality apart from you – let’s face it, you are your business, so you must be who you are. The good news is when you are yourself, you’re automatically unique. Don’t worry if you think someone else can do the topic better. They want to hear it from you because you are you.

 

  • Collaborative and Engaging – The easiest way to be engaging is to include your audience in everything you say and do. Ask them if they like your new book cover. Ask them if they want to participate in a challenge. Let your members choose what they want to do with you by setting up two or three options and then letting the group vote on it.

 

  • Personalized and Valuable – Your community needs to be personalized for your business and made to represent who you are as a business. Still, its main purpose is to provide value to the ideal customer. So, ask yourself what value you can provide to this particular customer every day, depending on their buying journey position?

 

  • Consistent and Communicative – You can’t allow your community to go dark for even a day. You need to post something in the community a minimum of once a day, if not three times a day. Plus, what you post needs to be useful and not irrelevant to make headway.

 

  • Honest and Full of Integrity – One thing about doing business online to know is that if you’re dishonest, it’s going to come out. You may as well tell the truth and be who you say you are from the start, even if you believe you’re imperfect.

 

Incorporating as many of these characteristics or qualities as possible while building your own brand community is essential to make an enormous impact and grow your business. With these characteristics, you can create a strong community that advocates for your business.

 

 

 

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Why a Brand Community is the Business Strategy You Need

Communities keep your ideal audience all in one place, making it easier to communicate, market, and engage and motivate them to buy your products, use your services, and consume your content. All of this together shows you why communities are a valuable marketing tool and business strategy to adopt if you want to grow your business. Plus, having a brand-centered community is fun too. And who doesn’t want to have a little fun while making money?

 

The following are the top five crucial reasons to build a brand community:

 

To Increase Brand Awareness and Recognition

 

Building a community increases brand awareness and recognition by capturing your audience into a smaller captive unit that you can send information to easier than if they’re all out in the wild. For example, you might have to run an advertisement to capture someone to learn about your new product, but your audience in the community will know about it simply due to being part of the community.

 

To Engage and Interact with Your Target Audience

 

When your community is on a platform that you all use to talk to each other, share information, and engage, it makes it so much easier for them to interact with you without the noise from everyone else interfering. In addition, the community is only about what you make it about, so you don’t have to worry about pleasing anyone but your ideal audience.

 

To Influence, Inspire, or Educate Your Audience

 

Having a community that enables you to be a lot closer to a smaller portion of the available. Being closer to them makes it easier to influence them to buy your products or try something you think works. In addition, you can educate them better because you’ll get insight into what they need by observing their discussions and actions.

 

To Foster Trust and Brand Loyalty

 

Your audience gets to see you more often through the content you share in the group instead of through an advertisement or email. As a result, they feel as if they know you. When they think they know you, they trust you more and become very loyal to your brand.

 

To Grow and Improve Your Products and Services

 

One of the best parts about having an involved community of people who want what you are offering and need what you have is that you can get insight into making your products and services better simply by asking questions and listening to the answers.

 

These reasons should easily explain why building a brand community is the business strategy you should be adopting today. If you have yet to get your most loyal customers together, you are only missing all the potential your business can gain. Strong communities create trust, loyalty, and value that services you and those involved.

Automate Your Community Management

 

 

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The Three Google Web Story Tools to Know About

Google web stories is a feature that allows you to publish content in a different format than your blog that is highly attractive and shareable to mobile users. This format is similar to what you see on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. It uses video, graphics, text, and other features to tell a story that your audience is interested in or needs through a more attractive and engaging format to your audience.

 

Using features that attract more mobile users is more crucial than ever, as nearly seventy percent of those using the internet to shop use their smartphones. What’s even more important is that the Google Discovery feature, where your stories will be placed, attracts around eight hundred million views every single month. To use this feature, you must be aware of the tools required to get it going. Let’s look at some.

 

The following are the three Google web story tools to know about and important tips on how to use each:

 

Web Stories for WordPress

 

This is the main plugin to use that started the launch of Google web stories. This plugin offers a unique editing interface, tools, and templates to create powerful and beautiful stories — making it your best bet if you want to get maximum value out of your stories. Of course, if you have a WordPress blog, this will work better since it’s designed to work with self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org). However, since it is a Google product, you will likely have success using this feature. Third-party options can still make things better and easier to use, especially as time goes on.

 

MakeStories

 

This third-party tool takes Google’s Web Stories technology to the next level and makes it easier to use. It also provides more tools to host your stories, turn your stories into Instagram style carousels on your website, and offer a workspace to design and collaborate with your team.

 

Newsroom AI

 

Another powerful Web Stories tool that builds on a more immersive and intimate experience with your audience. Newsroom offers a freestyle functionality web story builder that lets you add shapes, media, or text layers however you want. Newsroom also gives access to over three hundred million Getty Images to upscale your content with free images and use the advanced publish settings to Connect to Google Discover to get more views.

 

Get to know each of these different Google web story tools to find the one that works best for you. While many of these 3rd Party tools are useful, it is always a good idea to learn the one that was developed first to get the most out of this new feature, as it is likely to be the most compatible. However, it is only natural for more tools and resources to become more beneficial and valuable as time goes on.

 

 

 

 

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Five Google Web Story Content Ideas for Business Success

In 2018, a new competitor to the social media stories game was created and launched by Google; at the time, AMP stories — now referred to as Google Web Stories. It is a powerful feature that draws in more traffic to your WordPress blog through a more interactive and engaging feature for those who use their smartphone to search on Google and scroll through their Discovery page.

 

They are short virtual clips of content in video or picture with text that teach your audience something or further advertise your website. To attract these new viewers, you need to develop the right content. While the content is consumed in a story-like feature, it is much different than the stories’ function found on Instagram. Meaning the story content, you create for your blog will likely be different.

 

Here are five Google web story content ideas to utilize for your business to maximize your success and exposure with this feature:

 

How-To Series or Step-by-Step

 

By far, the most interactive, educational, and useful Web Stories to create for your target audience are how-to series or step-by-step tutorials. Cooking or baking blogs can easily benefit from this idea. Recipe how-to stories are highly popular, attractive, and engaging.

 

Top Ten Recommendations

 

The next powerful Google web story content idea that is highly attractive and shareable among many readers is the top ten recommendations within your industry. This shows your personality as a brand and can further educate your audience on your products without a sales-like approach.

 

Product Highlights or Promotions

 

Create a story that is around five to ten frames all-around a specific product or service. Be sure to avoid a sales-like approach. Education and knowledge are power. Tell your audience how and why you created the product or service and that your product solves their problem through your Google web story.

 

Top Industry or Niche Facts

 

Are there powerful facts or beneficial tips you know about your industry or niche that will helps your readers or followers? Answering frequently asked questions is a good place to start.

 

Industry Related Quotes and Inspiration

 

Step away from your niche for just a moment and inspire and motivate your audience instead. Find a similar subject that gets your audience to act towards the niche with a group of related quotes.

 

Adding these ideas to your Google web stories content plan is vital if you want to use this feature correctly. Maximizing and enhancing your content is the most important first step in order to attract the right audience and get them interested. Anything worth a long-form post is worth a supporting Google Web story to increase your reach further, traffic, and success on your blog or WordPress website.

 

Creating a Niche Home Base on Your Blog

 

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Common Social Media Story Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

The best way to know how to use a certain feature correctly is to learn what not to do first. This is done by understanding some of the most common mistakes many do when first using social media stories to market and advertise their business. While social media stories and the other features it provides can offer your business many benefits, learn how it works so your efforts will not be wasted.

 

Here are four of the most common social media story mistakes and what to do to avoid them:

 

Inconsistent Schedule and Posting Time

 

Social media is attractive due to the high amounts of communication and its movement and speed at which that communication can be found and digested. However, it is constant and never-ending — making it almost addicting as humans love to socialize. This means you need to find a schedule that keeps you consistent and always engaged. Of course, this will be different depending on the platform you use, but most stories only last for around twenty-four hours, which means at least once a day is vital at minimum.

 

Ignoring Audience Interaction and Engagement

 

Stories are about engagement and audience interaction. Don’t use this feature to post the same content you do everywhere else and ignore your audience. Get them involved, ask them questions, get their feedback, and always provide maximum value in exchange for their time.

 

Cross Promoting or Over Prompting

 

Repurposing is a great idea, but not for your stories. You always want to be more creative and transform the idea into something better and different to keep your audience attached or interested. Posting the same boring content on all platforms will likely disinterest them, making them head over to your competition as you no longer provide any value.

 

Poor Branding and Overall Message

 

Always plan your content to ensure your goals and company values are clear and obvious. If you don’t take the time to plan, you may inadvertently send the wrong message. Take advantage of the features, such as changing your font and colors to match your branding and using the Highlights section offered by Facebook and Instagram. A consistent message and branding statistically translate into more revenue for businesses. This is because your communication is clear, making it easier for you to create products or content your target audience needs and enjoys.

 

Don’t be caught making these same social media story mistakes. Start your social media story content plan off right by avoiding these common mistakes and taking advantage of the tips provided above. Being aware of these common mistakes gives you the tools you need to be one step ahead of your competition and offer better value and high-quality content to your target audience.

 

 

 

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How to Monetize Your Google Web Stories

By far, one of the main benefits of using Google web stories is the ability to monetize it through your own content, branded content directly, and now native ads with Google AdSense. Meaning you now have another way to repurpose your content, increase your blog or website traffic while increasing your revenue in many different ways.

 

The following are the different ways you can monetize your Google web stories and tips on how to optimize them:

 

Native Ads

 

These are full-screen and immersive ads that play before, during, or after your stories. They are easy to turn on and connect with your Google AdSense account. Follow these steps to get your stories to monetize through Google using the Web Stories for WordPress plugin:

 

  • Step One: Select “Settings” from The Plugins Page After Downloading Plugin
  • Step Two: Locate “Monetization”
  • Step Three: Follow Steps to Connect Site Kit and Activate Google AdSense
  • Step Four: Select “Google AdSense” or “Google Ad Manage” from Drop Down Menu and continue following the Instructions.

 

Video and Click or View More Ads

 

You don’t need to monetize your stories with Google AdSense to make money. You can use stories and make your own promotional videos or even sponsor a story. The option to add a link should be included in all your stories and their frames to increase your potential sales as well.

 

In other words, any story you create can be turned into a well-designed advertisement from you or an approved brand rather than Google – giving you more control over what you share as well as more potential for revenue as you can charge more for your work. Google AdSense is generated automatically and set by them per their terms. However, both of them together can create a powerful monetization tool for your website. Unless you want complete control, there is no reason not to do both.

 

Be sure to follow these monetization tips to fully take advantage of the benefits Google Web Stories can bring to your blog or website. Not only can you monetize through your own links or sponsored post, but you can also include fully immersive ads generated and paid out by Google itself — increasing your revenue and overall success as an online business owner or influencer. Overall, these monetization tips should encourage you to add Google Web Stories to your online content marketing strategy today.

 

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Four Tips to Optimizing your Google Web Stories

To increase your blog traffic or beat out your competition, you need to add Google web stories to your content marketing plan. These stories are the new way to attract mobile users on the Google Discovery page or utilize the Google search engine.

 

When you search a keyword through Google’s search engine, a carousel appears below the search with stories from different blogs or websites. To view, simply click and tap to view each page of the story. As you can clearly see, these stories give you another opportunity to make it to the top of the Google search results page.

 

4 tips to optimize your Google Web stories for max conversions:

 

Include High-Quality Videos and Images

 

Keep your video size under 4MB, no larger than 720 pixels, and ten seconds in length. Images used should be 900 pixels by 1200 pixels. Fill in the alt text of your images, and don’t use GIFs.

 

Create a Solid Narrative, Theme, and Fill in SEO

 

Never cut off the viewer or expect them to finish the content on another page. Create a full story that educates and inspires them to continue instead. Be sure to keep the length of each of your stories between five and thirty pages. Add a title to your story but limit the text to forty characters. Each page you make should have a max of two hundred characters or less but keep in mind that they only last fifteen seconds. The more text you have in one frame, the more distracting it can be.

 

Test Your Stories Using the Google Web Stories Test Tool

 

By adding your story’s link to this tool, you can be sure you filled in all the required information to create a valid web story. Missing information such as your cover image and publisher logo will prevent your story from being recommended or shared by Google. Using this quick and easy tool ensures the work you put into creating Web Stories is worth it.

 

Don’t Share Content That Isn’t Yours

 

A final tip to note is only to post content you created to your stories. Google will not share content that is not by the publisher; you, which means if you want to share other people’s content, use Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat instead or ask your audience to submit new content directly to you. This way, you can have full ownership of the content you share on your blog and with Google Web Stories.

Optimizing your Google web stories is vital if you want to get the most benefits out of this new feature. These stories provide a more attractive, creative, and immersive way to market and advertise your products, services, or content to your target audience while increasing your traffic and potential revenue.

 

 

 

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Five Tips to Creating Your First Google Web Story

Before you publish your first Google web story, it is essential you understand the basics first. Google requires certain information and criteria to produce quality content worth sharing with its audience on its Discovery page or the Google search engine results page.

 

Google web stories offer your blog or website a new way to generate more traffic and revenue through a creative, powerful, and immersive storytelling format. They are much different from regular social media stories. You are the owner of all the content and the host – giving you more control, ownership, customization, and ways to increase your revenue than other platforms with the story feature.

 

Here are five tips to keep in mind when creating your first Google web story:

 

Think 10 to 15 Second Hooks

 

Each Web story slide lasts about ten to fifteen seconds, depending on how you set it. Meaning that the information you share in each frame, even if you create a full thirty pages, should be easily and quickly digested. It is unlikely many will go back too many times to re-read stories as it can be tedious. Of course, that should never be your goal when creating stories in the first place. The point of stories is to make it even easier for your target audience to take in your information.

 

Animate and Choose a Theme

 

Stories are more entertaining and easier to digest when they have a consistent theme and proper animations. Animations keep your viewers interested, and themes keep your brand image clear and focused.

 

Keep Titles and Story Lengths Short

 

Google stories that are between five and thirty frames perform the best. However, it highly depends on your niche and the type of content you create. Title lengths should be around ten characters long but no more than forty.

 

Include an Attractive and Compelling Cover Image

 

Before creating a valid google web story, you must add in your cover image and publisher logo. Be sure your cover image is highly attractive and makes your viewers want to click. Your cover image is no different than the image that appears before your blog post link or YouTube thumbnail. However, the more compelling it is, the more likely someone will click on it. Use images with a good resolution of 900 pixels by 1200 pixels.

Include Relevant Links

 

Always include a relevant link to your story. In fact, this needs to be done in order to create a valid web story. Again, the main function of Google web stories is to increase your website traffic. If there is no link, it’ll be hard for your viewers to reach you. They will be more likely to click off.

 

To maximize your reach and potential with Google web stories, following these tips is a must. These tips, along with the checklist the plugin provides, are required to properly communicate and build an effective story that converts to more revenue or increased traffic.

 

 

 

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How to Use Google Web Stories for Business

To reach a wider audience and market to nearly half of the internet population who uses their phone to shop online, Google web stories are a must-have business tool. It allows you to create a story through different visuals, text, and audio features that are highly engaging and shareable. Thus, making your other content more interesting to new readers or potential buyers. Not only that, but Google web stories can also add a new dynamic, creativity, and impact to your content altogether.

 

Here are the five steps to creating and setting up your first Google web story using the Google Web Stories plugin for WordPress:

 

Step One: Create a WordPress Blog

 

In order to use the Google Web Stories plugin, you need to have a WordPress blog. WordPress blogs offer more freedom and customized options, making them a great platform to create your website. It is also highly friendly to search engine optimization too.

10 Simple Steps to Building a Blog on Word Press.

Step Two: Find and Download the Web Stories Plugin for WordPress

 

Once you have established your blog, you will need to download the plugin and fill in the settings page. First, select “Plugins” from the WordPress menu to the left. Then select “Add New” next to “Plugin” when the new window appears. From there, you can search for “Web Stories” in the search bar that appears to the right. Next, select “Install Now” next to the right plugin. After it downloads, select “active.” You will then be instructed to fill in the settings page to connect your Google AdSense account and add your logo.

 

Step Three: Create a New Story or Explore Templates

 

Now you are ready to get creative and develop your first story. From the WordPress menu, look to the left of your dashboard, find “Stories.” Then select “Add New” or “Explore Templates.” If you select “Explore Templates,” this will lead you to a list of free templates you can use to create a more consistent story. Otherwise, you will be sent directly to the Web Stories builder.

 

Step Four: Fill in Required Information and Customize Your Story

 

When you get to the Stories builder, be sure to add your cover image and publisher logo in the Document panel to the right to create a valid web story first. This is where you will also develop a story description, set your page’s advance length, and add music. Then you will need to add a title no longer than forty characters long in the section labeled “title” above your story content. Once you have these set, you can add in your frames and customize them to your liking. Note that filling in the “link” section of your design after adding an image is also important.

 

Step Five: Preview, Publish and Test

 

As you customize, your frames use the preview option located at the top right of your builder next to “publish.” This way, you can get a clear view of your story as you are creating it. You even get to choose what device you want to view it from. Next, view the checklist provided in the bottom left to follow along with the suggestions provided by the application. Once happy with the results, publish the story and then test it using the Google Web Stories Test Tool to ensure you filled in all the important information required for a valid story to publish.

 

Overall, getting your first Google web story going is easy with the Web Stories plugin for WordPress. As you go along, be sure to read each tip and follow through the checklist it provides to create compelling, attractive, and quality content for Google to share.

 

 

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Important Instagram and Facebook Story Differences to Know

While Instagram and Facebook offer similar features, it is important to highlight the differences to pick the right one or use them efficiently to market to your target audience. Choosing the perfect platform is only as successful as your knowledge and understanding of using it or creating highly engaging story content. The story features offered on each platform are slightly different and can provide many different outcomes depending on your niche and goal as a business.

 

Here are the important differences to know between Instagram and Facebook stories:

 

Slightly Different Interface and Feature Options

 

Instagram is often slightly easier to use, but there are not many differences beyond the layout and art style. The main difference includes the amount of picture and video filters Instagram offers compared to Facebook. Instagram also allows you to go live, and it still appears within your stories section, unlike Facebook, where it will appear in the newsfeed. However, the benefit to Facebook posting the live to the newsfeed means it will last forever, but at that point, it is no longer a story, and you would need to create a new story to promote the video.

 

Age and Amount of Active Users

 

Instagram is for a younger audience, while Facebook is slightly older. The age range for Instagram includes those between eighteen and thirty-four, and Facebook consists of those between twenty-five and forty-four. Facebook’s audience is larger and more diverse because they created the option to make a business page and many different groups related to your niche or industry. Unlike Instagram, you only have one profile and a highlights section that heavily relies on hashtags to gain more views and exposure.

 

Group and Community Building Priorities

 

Facebook is better at this, and using stories allows you to beat the timeline algorithm by keeping you near the top of your follower’s news feed. In addition, Facebook group stories inspire user-generated content and get your target audience more involved and engaged.

 

Return on Investment

 

Facebook has the best return on investment for any social media platform due to its ads and the high number of users. While Instagram has the same ads, they don’t have the same daily active users or diversity.

 

Don’t waste time any longer struggling to pick between Instagram and Facebook. As you can see, each of them provides its own benefits. If you have the time, using both is a great strategy; however, adopting either will still bring you success as long you use them correctly. Take the time to test both and be sure you know where your target audience lives the most to make the best and most optimal decision.

 

What You Need to Know About Instagram Stories Highlights