Target Rocket

Pro tip: Group Posting Strategy

Odds are, you're in many local groups and that's definitely a way to connect with your local audience and score some sales in the same process.

Also, odds are, you're in more than one local group and so are those folks within those groups. I may work in one area and live in another so I wanna know what's going on in both! Or I service the entire region so it's good for me to be in the know when someone needs what I offer.

One faux pas I see is people copying and pasting the same content and posting it in different groups without so much as changing a single word in the post. Wanna know what this does to us readers in the group?

What it does is truncates those posts together so we only see the first one and then underneath that it'll say all the other groups you cross-posted to. Not only does this waste your marketing efforts, but it looks disingenuous and like you're just checkin' something off your to-do list for the day without investing in those folks taking the time to read your content.

A great way to switch it up without having to sit down and dream up original copy for each group is addressing that group name or residents in the first sentence. "Hey Alexandrites!" or "How are my Nova Parents on this first week of school?" can help keep your content 1. relevant to those reading and 2. keep it from getting smushed and lookin' like duplicate content.

💯 Social Media Update: From Stars to Percents

It seems that Mark rolled out a new update that many have been waiting on for a while!

Backstory: Facebook used to go off of a star rating and then switched to "recommended" but the stars seemed to always be there even though there was no way to leave them anymore.

Well, as of today, Facebook seems to be rolling out the newest change which switches those stars to percentages. What does a "not recommended" knock off your 100%- we still aren't sure but this is a good change in the right direction to make the review profiles a little bit less discombobulated and a little more streamlined.

Have your Pages switched over yet?

😂 The marketing life ain't for the faint of heart!

📅 4 Days until Graduation * 🎓
📅 9 Days until Last Day of School * ✏
📅 20 Days until Father’s Day 👔
📅 38 Days until July 4th 🎆
📅 55 Days until Shark Week 🦈
📅 12 Weeks until Back 2 School * 🏫
📅 14 Weeks until Labor Day 🔨

📈 Venmo: Increasing from 1.9% + $0.10

Big on e-commerce transactions? You'll wanna read this if you are using your personal Venmo to bypass goods and services!

Edit - This is for folks using a personal Venmo to accept business transactions from customers. The customer decides how to toggle the purchase: "friends and family" versus "goods and services."

If the buyer (your customer) pays your personal Venmo, for example, and tags it as "goods and services," you'll be charged a higher fee than if they paid your Venmo *business* account. Seems like Venmo is started to really not like folks using a personal account to make $$$.

📸 So there is a new social media platform comin' to town and it's here to rival Instagram.... but not Instagram now where we are constantly guessing if we need to make reels, deals or appeals to our audience to get shown in feeds but the Instagram of old where photos ruled and things were less... well, like my last relationship....complicated.

This is an app from TikTok that is called TikTok Notes. There isn't much info on it yet, but rumors say it'll be all the best parts of Instagram and none of the worst.

“As part of our continued commitment to innovating the TikTok experience, we’re exploring ways to empower our community to create and share their creativity with photos and text in a dedicated space for those formats,” a TikTok spokesperson was quoted saying.

There is no release date but some folks on TikTok have gotten a notification of "coming soon" and there is a website (which doesn't work yet) that shows polaroid photos which gives the idea that TikTok has its mark set on the grams.

🤔 Will you be signing up for this new social platform?

Planning on running some campaigns, sales or markets!? Make sure to plan along side these upcoming holidays!

The number one thing I wish I could advise against is copying another company's ad strategies and thinking they'll work for you.

If businesses and their marketing campaigns were cookie cutters, totally fine- copy away, but they aren't. Even in the same industry, you've grown your audience differently than the guy down the street selling the same things you do!

Your ads and the strategy behind them need to compliment YOUR audience and not theirs because your audience isn't going to respond to their message coming from you.

A great way to see who your target audience is is to make a buyer persona- heck, give that buyer persona a name and start to figure out the person behind it! Do women pick up the phone and call to schedule? Sounds like we know your buyer persona gender. Now start narrowing down the age range. Is your target audience well-established and homeowners? Sounds like you can rule out Gen Z and using the words "rizz" in your ads!

Taking time to see who your audience is and not using what works for another company can result in higher conversions, better customer loyalty and more sales.

A written confirmation that engagement right after you post DOES matter when it comes to reach on Instagram

This is why I tell all my clients that they should spend at least 30 minutes prepping their posts by engaging with others.

Knowing when your audience is most active is going to help you with engagement so you can ride the wave to more reach.

How do you know when your audience is most active? If you have a business account (which you should if you have a business), go to your Professional Dashboard > Click Total Followers > Scroll to the bottom > Click "Days > then narrow your days down and > Click "Hours".

By knowing your audience, you can start to get to know what content they like to see, interact with and enjoy. Each post on Instagram (again, with a business account) will allow you to see shares, saves and sends.

Now that you know where your audience is (on Instagram during peak times), and what they like to see (saves and sends)- you can start engaging with their content BEFORE you post yours so that you can give them that little notification that makes everyone's heart skip a beat and they can come back and engage with your brand new post helping you beat the algos and reach more potential clients.

Have some product launches or marketing campaigns? Make sure to stay in the know with upcoming holidays so you can either work with them or around em!

Summary: 🚫 Don't run ads through your iPhone.

Apple will start taking a 30% cut of the payments made through the AppStore apps. Meaning that if you paid $100 to boost a post through your iPhone's Facebook app, you now pay $100 upfront, then $70 would go to your ads, and Apple will keep $30 (if I'm reading this right - which I ✨think✨ I am.).

"Hello,

Starting later this month, when you use the Instagram or Facebook iOS app to Boost a post, ⚠️ you will be billed through Apple, which retains a 30% service charge on the total ad payment, before any applicable taxes. This service charge is retained by Apple, not Meta.

What will change within the Boost flow as a result of Apple In-App Purchase (‘MAP”)?

As part of IAP, users will be required to prepay for the entire cost of a boosted post upfront, rather than being billed as ads run. ⚠️ Any prepayment via the iOS apps will be billed through Apple which retains a 30% service charge on the total ad payment amount, less any applicable taxes.

Which businesses are impacted by this change?

Any small business or advertiser that uses the Facebook iOS app and/or Instagram iOS app to Boost posts will be impacted by this change.

What actions can you take to avoid the Apple service charge?

Going forward, there are multiple ways for you to avoid the Apple service charge when boosting your content:

👉 Boost content from Instagram (desktop) or Facebook (desktop). which can be accessed on your desktop computer or your preferred mobile web browser. This is a similar experience to using the iOS apps and does not incur the additional Apple service charge.
👉 Add prepaid funds to your ad account from payment settings using a desktop computer or preferred mobile web browser. Once added, you can use these to boost posts from any surface, including the Facebook and Instagram iOS apps, without incurring the Apple fee. For more information on prepaid funds please visit our Help Center article here.

While the methods for boosting posts on Facebook and Instagram iOS are changing, we are committed to offering advertisers flexible and cost-effective ways to maximize their ad dollar."

Important holidays you wanna plan your events, campaigns and launches around!

❤️Happy Valentine's Day!

If there is one thing we love about T Swift, she is a mastermind a businesswoman. From sold-out arenas, movie theaters and merch- she knows what she is doing!

As small business owners, we can learn a lot from her. No no, don't start singing, ain't nobody ready for that this early in the morning, what I mean is that we can learn a lot from how she does business.

Let me explain, me and Taylor don't have much in common other than the fact that we both were born in the 80's, but Taylor makes me feel like we have everything in common with her relationship marketing.

Think about it, her songs aren't about her private jets and lavish homes... nope, they are about her heart getting broken by a guy and not fitting in. Hey- that's totally me! Me and TayTay! We are besties for the resties!

By Taylor leaning into relationship (literally) marketing, she is allowing herself to connect to her audience on a personal level so that everyone feels like they know her. If you're a small business owner, you can incorporate this into your marketing!

Instead of the "I've sold over 2 million in homes last year" (this is stale and doesn't create a relationship) try, "If you have one of those colonial brick homes in Burke, try adding a pop of color with a yellow wreath. This will catch the eye of potential buyers and get your home sold even faster". Everyone in Burke with a colonial home now feels closer to you and they don't even know ya.

"But I'm trying to sell to more than just Burke!" you might say, and T Swift doesn't just make songs about Taylor Lautner... but you don't have to market to everyone in every song... or, I mean, post.

Found a new coffee shop? Highlight that by showcasing what you got in a photo. Most likely your target audience is also running off caffeine and you'll now have something more in common with them than your listing photo being in their feed.

Taylor Swift doesn't know me but lemme tell ya, she knows exactly who I am and I'm a swiftie for life!

Ouchie.

Translation : you'll need to post directly to your groups, no more third-party scheduling/posting software for groups.

* this doesn't affect scheduling posts within Facebook groups using Facebooks scheduling feature.

📅 Get in gear for upcoming holidays and marketing campaign run times!

Hosting a seminar or meet and greet? Aim for weekends with less travel.

Have sales lined up for Saint Patrick’s Day? Start marketing 6 weeks out from your deadline.

The number one thing that will guarantee you having a less-than-successful event is not giving yourself enough time to market it. Believe me, I wish it was a "build it and they will come" but in 2024- it's more like, "Market it and they will come" type scenario.

We tell clients that if it's the first event of its kind, you'll want to warm up your audience before your marketing campaign to get them used to the idea.

Done a million of these types of events? You can stick to a 6-week schedule and make sure you bring in new faces.

Meta: We want Reels

Youtube: We want Shorts

TikTok: We want content over a minute long

Meta again: We want photos now

YouTube: nvm, videos again

TikTok: Change everything you know and love and give us horizontal videos

Just when you think you got it all figured out, they throw something new at ya. The newest push is TikTok and they no longer want videos shot vertically, instead, they are willing to boost your view count if you film in landscape.

Many marketers think this is their push to take over YouTube by bringing horizontal video content to their platform (which makes sense because they recently allowed video content for up to 10 minutes)!

You might think, "But YouTube allows you to have a lot longer of content" but what you need to be aware of is the average watch time per video which typically falls under 10 minutes.

So, will you take the bait and switch your content over? If you already have a YouTube channel, this is a great chance for you to repurpose that content and take TikTok up on the surplus of views!

🤔 What is Facebook up to?

This week, Facebook pushed out a new update that allows Group members who hit certain criteria to take over Groups where a current admin has been MIA.

I mean, not a bad move if you consider that in August of 2022, there were over 10 million Facebook Groups with over 1.8 billion (yes, with a B) using them.

So having active members at the helm sounds great, right? In theory, it does, but it's caused chaos as the position has been offered to multiple random people in the same group with no forewarning or Group permissions.

From my history of community management, it helps when the admin and mod teams are on the same page with the same goals in mind. Throwing a bunch of random people and hoping they have the same goals is kind of, well, not the best strategy.

It seems like Facebook knows that people gravitate towards groups and Facebook loves people.... and ads.

They are pushing for more active Groups with new admins, the pop-up suggestions for you to join new "Groups you might be interested in" and Group reach typically means something new is coming with its sights set on Facebook Groups.

What is it? Only Mark knows but I think we might get a hint of it in early 2024.

How to survive Q4

In my last post, we talked about what Q4 is but now that we know WHAT it is, how do we survive it?

Tip 1: Be consistent

Hey, I know days can get long and the nights get shorter but don't get so caught up in the rush and sales that Q4 brings and forget about your social media accounts!

Use things like Facebook Planner to schedule out posts when you know you'll be elbow-deep in quotes so you don't have to feel like you're starting over mid-December.

Tip 2: Be annoying

If commercials on TV can show up every 6 minutes, so can you! Be annoying in Q4 so you can reach your audience. This last part of the year isn't like the others- you're fighting for every eyeball and you gotta be annoying about it.

Take different photos of your top seller, your team working in the conference room and what's up and coming for 2024 trends- this will give you more content to work with instead of using the same photo and post over and over again.

Tip 3: Use different copy.

Odds are, your audience knows you sell something so test long and short-form copy to see what hits home with your audience. Try just asking for the sale in one post. Creating FOMO in another and adding some value.

Changing up your copy can help you see what your audience responds best to and keep your posts from feeling the same old same old.

Tip 4: Learn to pivot

I'd be out of a job if everything sold out right when you posted it. If you see your audience is selling out on one thing and the other ain't movin'- mark the one as sold out and pivot your attention to your hot marketing item instead.

Pivoting doesn't mean you failed, it means you are a smart business owner and are focused on the bottom line vs forcing your customers to like something they just don't.

⚔ Welcome to Q4!

*starts passing out armor and tissues*

If this is your first year in business, congrats. If this is your first Q4, brace yourself.

So, what does Q4 even stand for?

It's a short name for quarter four, the final quarter of the financial year for most companies.

Why does that matter to you? Every single big biz and small biz is waking up and taking up space on the feed, spots in the emails and time from your customers.

Folks who haven't posted, businesses who haven't blown their budgets yet and you are all fighting for the same little square on someone's feed.

What does that mean for you? Reach is going to be low. Your posts aren't going to be seen. And you WILL need to get annoying about your sales, upcoming events and anything you plan on pushing for the next few months.

DO NOT expect to sell out after one post. DO NOT give up after one post. I want you to put that marketing hat on and think of creative ways you can stay and get in front and relevant to your audience.

Content buckets are perfect for this time o' year. A list of what stores will be closed for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The prices of local Christmas trees folks can use to scout the best deal. Easy recipes your customers can make for their next event.

The worst thing you can do is stop marketing because you aren't reaching your audience. Double down. They can't get annoyed by what they can't see! Don't think for them, think Q4!

🤔 What does your marketing say about you?

Now, I ain't do**in' on this company, but I did pass the sign on my way to work and two things popped into my mind as I sat there looking at it. As a consumer, I thought...

Thought 1: Probably cheaper than most companies

Hey, I'm probably not too far off from the truth! They didn't spend a lot on their marketing and maybe that's because they don't charge a lot for their work. I could assume that I could save a few bucks going with this company because they are working off thin margins... at least thin enough where printing a sign is too much.

Thought 2: Probably not guaranteed work

Don't fault me for my consumerism brain, but yeah- I thought it. Why? Because their marketing isn't building confidence within me as a consumer. Looking at their sign makes me feel like if I have an issue (that may cost them money) they won't be running to fix it fast.

"Corrie! You jumped to conclusions there. You don't know if any of that is true!" and you're right, but that's what their marketing is saying to me, Corrie, the homeowner.

Your marketing speaks volumes about your business before you ever even open your mouth to close that sale. Are you losing customers and not knowing? Are they going with another company and skipping over you?

Take a look at your marketing message from a consumer's standpoint. Ask your friends and family what they think. Don't think you can get an honest answer from them? Ask it to a community group! I promise you they will give you their opinion freely (sometimes too freely).

What does your marketing say about you?

I love it when Facebook rolls out new Page options, but this one might cause some division!

Do you remember when the feature rolled out that admins could "@" people in a group and everyone would get the notification? It was great (in theory) but then started being used by every single group for random things. I get using the feature for group headlines but to @ me when you are looking for a good dry cleaner.... that might be crossing the line. With the ability to join up to 6,000 groups, my notifications were hopping with "an admin mentioned you and others in a post".

It was being misused so much that people would use the notification to remind them to leave that specific group- doing the opposite of what the entire thing was made for.

Well, now they are rolling out the option for Pages to @ followers once a day. I don't know what criteria your page has to hit or what you need to post to get it triggered, but it's been rolling out to a few folks and I am so torn with it!

Would it be awesome to awaken your sleepy followers with your new product or service? Absolutely! Would it be devastating to have a mass exodus of followers after you did it? Also absolutely.

I'm more in the camp of those who wanna be there and show up on my posts will do just that without the help of me @-ing them. Those who don't, won't... and they don't wanna be reminded about it in their notifications either.

As with every new feature, testing is best but remember that people are in more than just your Group and follow more than just your page. So whatever you decide to do, remember that your end user is probably experiencing that x 10.

Influencer = salesperson

This was a comment I saw today that should stand out to us as business owners and marketers.

Influencer marketing has been around for yeeeears but really gained popularity in the last 10 to 12 years. In 2016, the industry was worth 1.7 billion; last year's numbers equaled 16.4 billion. So to say it's gained popularity is an understatement.

BUT, as things become popular and not so uncommon, folks get desensitized to it. It doesn't "hit home" quite as much. I heard a marketer on TikTok say that they think the market will turn back to brands relying on commercials to push their products and not so much on influencers now.

The rise of folks wanting to quit their 9-5 and do full-time content creation and influencer marketing has really inundated the field with tons of creators hoping to get that next viral video and that lucrative brand deal. The problem with that is one video can be of a make-up influencer loving a specific product and the very next video is another creator with a list of 5 reasons why they hate that same product and the end-user is left confused.

Do I think influencing is out? I don't. I still will buy off a recommendation of someone, but I think more micro-influencing will start gaining traction. Those who haven't quite "sold out" to big brands. Those who have created a brand voice that is near and dear to their humble following.

X marks the spot?

Twitter recently announced that it was changing its name from "Twitter" to a fancy "X". Makes sense as Elon does like the letter X throughout many of his businesses. The electric car Model X. Paypal started as X .com. His kid's first name (before he was forced to change it) started with X. He's got a thing for the letter X.

Folks claim that this is the beginning of the end and Elon had one thing to say... well, post... about it.

The billionaire mogul claimed to give his entire share of revenue BACK to the twitter creator fund.

Creators are reporting they are making upwards of 7k a month with little effort and just from reactions and shares from their tweets.... or do we call them ex's now?

As you know, Meta released their new platform called Threads a few weeks ago but folks are running back to Twitter just for the compensation- something Meta has always been lacking in.

So is the beginning of the end or the beginning of the beginning?

Did you just see the tweet about Meta!?

Well, if you haven't been tuned into the Twitter drama lately... you probably haven't... unless it's part of your 6,000 daily allowance of tweets.

Elon rolled out the new daily limits on Twitter starting off with verified account holders have a maximum of 6,000 posts daily, while unverified users must contend with a drastically reduced limit of 600 posts. Not verified? You're stuck at a whopping 300. What is that, one thumb swipe!?

Since the amount of backlash, the SpaceX CEO has upped the limits to 10,000, 1,000 and 500.

But in a weird turn of events, Meta dropped a new app called Threads which is oddly almost like Twitter. A well-timed accident or the plan has been waiting to launch til just the right day?

With Twitter numbers plummeting, only time will tell if this play was worth it. Facebook isn't immune to failed attempts with its audiences. Beacon, Sponsored Stories, Creative Labs, and Facebook Credits are some of the failed Facebook products from the past BUT with 2 million signups in the first 2 hours- this might be a thread you wanna stay on!