Category: Content Creation

Are You Using Social Media Right In Your Business?

It’s not a secret that how people look for goods and services is always changing…and adapting to new technologies or features. It’s important to make sure that your business is responding to this constant change and growth in the right way.  This will help you get more clients!

Your social media presence can be crucial when it comes to your business’ ability to succeed.

How many accounts does your business have on social media right now?

More importantly, how many of them do you use with frequency?

You might already know that social media is a good way to build your online reputation. But once you’ve set up an account, you can’t just sit back and wait for customers to sign up.  It’s not the Field of Dreams, if you build it, they don’t necessarily come. 

In order to get them to come to you, you actually need to put in the time and effort to be proactive.  

By being proactive, replying to your customers, and consistently demonstrating that you’re there, you’re present, and you’re ready to listen and communicate, you may increase customer contact with your accounts. 

Respond To Your Customers Quickly

You can get people to interact with your accounts by being active, responding to your customers, and showing them over and over that you’re there, and you’re ready to listen and talk.

You can showcase your services and case studies to start to build trust.  Educate your clients on what you do as well as common questions that they may have.

When you have built this kind of relationship with customers through social media, they will be more likely to trust you. Over time, you can use this trust to your advantage by asking your customers who interact with you on social media to write reviews and testimonials.

If you want this to work, you need to know how to use social media correctly and how to talk to your customers.

The whole point of social media is to connect with other people. Customers want businesses to respond to them, listen to them, and care about what they have to say.

Customers don’t go to social media to see another sales page; they want to be heard. You may be passing up chances to truly engage with your customers if you’ve ONLY been utilizing your accounts to promote new goods and services.

The 80/20 Rule

If you’ve only been using your accounts to promote new products and services, you might be missing out on chances to get to know your customers better. We recommend using the 80/20 rule when it comes to your posts.  Educate/Entertain with your posts 80% of the time and sell 20% of the time.  This way, people will want to look at your posts.

By being more social on your accounts, you can get to know both your current and potential customers better. It gives you the chance to give your brand a unique voice that speaks to the wants and needs of your target audience. Before social media, this was one way that big companies stood out from their smaller rivals.

If you talk to your customers on social media in a relevant and helpful way, they will want to support you in the long run, both by continuing to buy from you and by leaving you good reviews. It’s very important to keep in touch with your customers, so make sure you check your accounts often and answer any questions or comments. Because of this, many of your customers will want to tell other people how great your business is. This can help your reputation a lot.

In other words, be sure to use social media to connect with people!

If you have been ignoring your visitors and just using social media as a sales page or platform, you should rethink your strategy. Start talking to more people, and your reputation will improve on its own.

If you don’t know how to set up or manage a social media account, contact us right away about our social media plans.



Creating Content in 2023: What Will Help You Reach Your Business Goals?

In 2023, creating content that is valuable and engaging to your audience will be key in achieving your business goals. Content creation should focus on building relationships with customers, providing accurate information about products or services, and providing a platform for customers to engage with your brand.

Let’s look at some common business goals and different types of content you can create to help you reach them.

1. Increase Brand Awareness:

Are you looking to boost your brand’s visibility? Crafting content that positions you as the expert in your field is an excellent way of achieving this goal.

Content marketing involves developing and sharing meaningful, valuable content with your target audience. Use your expertise and experience to create content that showcases your knowledge and provides your audience with insightful information about the industry such as:

  • Blog posts – create informative, helpful, and keyword-rich blog content that educates your readers and helps them solve their problems.
  • Infographics – create eye-catching infographic content that can be used to explain complex topics or to present data in an easily digestible format.
  • Videos – create engaging video content that can be used to showcase your products and services or to provide helpful tutorials and how-tos.
  • Social media posts – create shareable content that people will enjoy and engage with on social media.

This type of content should be creative, entertaining and informative. The key is to create content that resonates with your audience and provides them with valuable information. Additionally, you should also ensure that your content is optimized for search engines so it can be easily discovered.

Creating content that is easy for users to consume will help increase awareness about your business and drive more traffic to your website.

2. Generate Leads:

Creating content that will generate leads is an important part of any successful marketing strategy. If you want to generate more leads, you need to create content that encourages customers to take action.

A few strategies you may want to consider include:

  • Optimizing your content (seo)
  • Targeting specific keywords and topics
  • Leveraging social media to share your content with a wider audience
  • Writing content that is interesting and informative to your target audience

You may also want to consider creating content with a call-to-action to generate leads, such as offering a free download or providing a contact form for those interested in learning more about your product or service. With the right content strategy, you can create content that will help you generate leads and grow your business.

3. Build Customer Loyalty:

Creating content that will build customer loyalty can be a great way to increase customer retention and boost long-term customer engagement.

Here are some ideas on how to create content that will build customer loyalty:

  1. Focus on providing quality content. Quality content can include helpful advice, tips, articles, videos, and more that are tailored to customer needs.
  2. Show appreciation for customers. Create content that highlights customer achievements and thank customers for their support.
  3. Offer exclusive content. Give customers early access to new products, discounts, and other special offers.
  4. Ask customers for feedback. Encourage customer feedback by asking customers for their opinions, ideas, and suggestions.
  5. Share customer stories. Highlight customer success stories in your content.

You should also consider creating customer loyalty programs that reward customers for their loyalty. Rewarding loyal customers with discounts, exclusive offers, or other promotional items can help increase customer engagement and satisfaction.

By following these tips, you can create content that will build customer loyalty and help strengthen relationships with your customers.

Remember This When Creating Your Content

Creating content that meets your business goals in 2023 will require a well thought-out content strategy.

It is important to ensure that your content is tailored to the needs of your target audience and is optimized for search engine rankings. Use creativity when creating your content to make it truly stand out. This will increase its visibility and attract more viewers. For maximum impact and engagement from your audience, it is essential to be consistent with your content – this will not only help you gain their trust but also keep them coming back for more. With careful and thoughtful content creation, your business can reach its goals and find success.

Prepare To Meet Your 2023 Goals

By focusing on creating content that is valuable and engaging for your customers, you can build relationships with them and increase brand awareness, generate leads, and build customer loyalty.

By following these tips and staying up-to-date with the latest trends in content marketing, you can ensure that your content creation efforts are successful in 2023.

If you need help creating a content strategy for your brand, contact us today at 412-715-6266.

What Should You Consider Before Hiring A Web Design Company?

So, you’re looking for a well-designed website that keeps people engaged while still being simple to use AND converts visitors into clients? 

Get in line! 

A website that is proactive in addressing your requirements and business goals has become more essential than ever before.  In this day of information overload, having an online presence that reflects the unique features of your business or services while still being simple enough to not only attract but also retain customers is essential. You need to stand out among the almost 2 billion websites that exist today.

Remember – there is no need for consumers to waste time on a confused or dysfunctional website when there are hundreds (often thousands) of alternatives available to them at the click of a button.  

Keep all of this in mind as you conduct research and attempt to determine the most appropriate route when developing your company (or personal) website. There is no reason to squander your time or money, but a few well-timed and well-placed investments may go a long way toward ensuring your success.

Did you realize that some individuals make their entire career designing websites?

Okay, so you probably already knew that, but think about the following scenario: 

Your home requires plumbing or electricity. Considering that these are important factors in your overall quality of life, are you willing to put in the hundreds of hours required to learn how to do it yourself, knowing that the chances of making an error are significant? 

Alternatively, are you planning to engage a professional, certain that their knowledge and skills will ensure that your requirements are fulfilled? 

Another scenario that is commonly encountered:

A business owner will tell us, “My teenage nephew is really good at computers and promised to help set up a website for our company this weekend.”

Does this nephew know about SEO, website speed optimization, CTAs, internal and external linking, Google Business Profile optimization, congruity across your online presence and other factors that help your website rank as well as convert? Our guess is probably not.

Most people don’t know what must go into a website to make it work for your business in 2022.  There are 175 new websites created PER MINUTE every day.  The “If you build it, they will come” mindset no longer works like it did twenty years ago.

Designing a profitable or promotional website is critical to your company’s livelihood, and while DIY projects are a fun and educational way to pass the time and learn something new, the truth is that there is a lot more to online success than meets the eye. 

A professional web design company employs multiple people that are well-versed in the complicated and diverse requirements of many types of websites. 

Throughout their careers, they have gained incomparable expertise that serves as a precious basis for their current endeavors. This experience has given them invaluable knowledge that serves as a priceless foundation when starting a website design project.  This is why I strongly recommend that you hire a professional when it comes to creating your website. 

However, the type of expert you choose is equally crucial. 

Figure out what you need the website to do

Before employing someone, it’s critical to have at least a basic understanding of your own requirements and objectives. Because pro web designers work with a large number of clients, understanding what you want before you talk development with them will guarantee that you and the designer are a good match and will assist them in providing you with exceptional service.

What kind of person or company do you want to work with?

It’s also crucial to be aware of who you’re working with. 

Because of the internet, it is simple for people to market themselves as “experienced professionals” (yet another reason to have a high-quality website!). 

Investigate what you’re looking for; if you come across someone claiming to do it for a significantly lower price, be skeptical; you’ll most likely wind-up spending twice as much money to get a useless site back up and running. 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! You are knowledgeable about your industry, and they should be knowledgeable about theirs. 

Inquire about their opinions on your project and see whether their ideas are compatible with yours. Look at their previous work and see what other sorts of sites they have worked on and the industries that they are familiar with.

Due diligence is important when choosing a web design company

Another component of “knowing who you’re hiring” is to request a portfolio and references from past customers. Be careful to research the designer’s past work; it’s critical that you choose a firm that can collaborate with you and meet all of your business requirements. Reviewing work from prior clients is a valuable and instructive approach to obtain honest feedback about the quality of the designer’s work, his or her willingness to collaborate, and overall professionalism.

You’ll want to know who will be engaged in the creation of your website after learning more about the firm itself. Web design and development are comprised of several different components. You should inquire as to whether any of the services being supplied will be outsourced and whether the firm has a group of employees with whom they operate on a regular basis. 

Make a list of everything that you want your website to be capable of

You should also check to see if the company provides all of the features that you are searching for. For example, having a mobile-friendly or responsive website that adapts to any screen size might be a distinguishing feature of your site that sets you apart from your competition in certain situations. Find out what sorts of services the web firm provides and make sure that they are in line with your expectations and the requirements of your organization.

Is there a timeline that you have to meet?

Another issue that has to be addressed is deadlines. If you have deadlines, it’s critical that you communicate them to anyone you hire so that they can ensure that your project is successfully completed on time. 

You want to ensure that anyone you employ will devote the necessary time and effort to your project.  Make sure they will develop an appealing and easy-to-use website in a timely manner, so that you are not forced to wait months for your company’s website to go up.

Hiring a web design firm is a good investment for your company, and the appropriate expertise may make a significant difference in your performance and profitability. 

In your hunt for a web designer, make sure you do your homework and be clear on the type of relationship you are seeking. Don’t be hesitant to ask questions or obtain references/portfolios from potential candidates. 

Hiring the right company to design your website is just as important as hiring a web designer in the first place!

Hiring IFTS for your web design needs

Thinking about hiring IFTS, Inc.?  We offer a free one-hour consultation to hear all about your business goals and what you want your website to do for you.  After that meeting, we can provide references and other information about past projects.

To get started, schedule your appointment today by calling 412-715-6266.

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