You Just Published a Blog Post. Here Are the 14 Things You Need to Do Next.

You’ve just poured your heart and soul into creating an epic blog post your audience is sure to love.

You’ve clicked the “Publish” button…Now what?

It may be tempting to leave it at that and move on to the next project. You’ve got more blogs to write, more topics to cover, and more content to produce, right?

Hold on a minute.

Publishing a blog post and quickly moving on to the next one is a waste of your efforts. Doing so will minimize the impact of your content and its true potential.

If you want to increase the exposure and circulation of your blog content, implement the following 14 tactics I’ve found to be insanely effective. 

1. Reread the final product

Should be an obvious one…but I need to mention it.

I like to think I’m pretty thorough with proofreading and diligent about catching spelling/grammar mistakes.

But no matter how meticulous I am, I occasionally find some errors after publishing.

Sometimes, it’s not even spelling/grammar but formatting or some other issue that slips past me.

You should be using spellcheck, obviously, or even a service such as Grammarly. However, nothing substitutes the proofreading services of a trained professional.

Most pros have a process they follow when proofreading a document.

If proofreading is not your strong suit, here’s what you can do:

• Hire a proofreader from Upwork or Fiverr.
• Ask someone on your team to proofread it for you.
• Once you write an article, wait a day or two before you proofread it. You’re more likely to catch mistakes with fresh eyes.
• Proofread it a second time.
• And a third.
• And maybe even a fourth.

You may wish to hire a copy editor instead of a proofreader.

What’s a copy editor? A copy editor pays more attention to the copy itself, not just grammatical details.

Wikipedia defines copy editor in this way:

Copy editing (also copy-editing or copyediting, sometimes abbreviated ce) is the process of taking raw material to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text.

A good copy editor can not only correct your typos and grammar but also improve the style, approach, tone, and accuracy of your content.

It doesn’t matter how much promotion you do (below). If your article is full of errors, you’ll lose credibility.

2. Insert a link to new content on old posts

Internal linking kills two birds with one stone.

First, it encourages readers to explore your site further. Second, it’s helpful for building site architecture and can give you some much needed SEO juice.

I always try to find previously published content that’s relevant to each new blog post and create a link that points to it.

Why does this even matter?

Internal linking helps you to:

• improve your site’s structure
• strengthen the overall authority of your site’s internal pages
• increase the likelihood of inbound link potential to the new article
• begin to build the link profile of the new article
• establish the validity of the new article.

Adding a link to your new article from old posts is easy:

1. Open an old article you’ve published.
2. Find a relevant spot in the article to create a text link.
3. Add the link to the new page.

It only makes sense to do this easy task. Why? Because links matter.

According to Moz, 99.2% of the top 50 results on Google have at least one link to the website from some external site.

But it’s not just sitewide links that make a difference. The page itself should have links too. Moz’s research shows a high degree of correlation between a top-ranked page and a page-specific link.

Interlinking pages within your website aren’t considered external links, but they do improve your site’s structure and optimization.

Besides, there’s the freshness factor to consider. When a page acquires new links, it instantly signals relevance to the algorithm, improving its potential in the SERPs.

Adding links should be a top priority shortly after publication.

3. Add a question to spark discussion

Many times, my audience just needs a little coaxing to chime in and get the conversation going.

That’s why I like to add an open-ended question at the end of each post.

This not only encourages my readers to think deeply about a topic but also increases their engagement significantly.

I don’t actually expect people to answer the questions I ask. I do it to spark thinking and conversation.

And thankfully, it works. You guys do share your thoughts with me and other readers!

4. Post on Facebook

Duh, right?

But there’s a deeper strategy involved.

When I post an article on Facebook, I like to add a quick sentence or two that captures the essence of a post and explains how others will benefit from reading it. Usually, it’s pulled directly from the article itself.

And the image? It’s a must-have.

Facebook posts with photos get more links, shares, and comments. It’s a fact.

You can combine different techniques to get even more social sizzle from your Facebook post—a photo with your article, plus a question and the link to the article.

If you promote your article with that kind of power, you’re bound to make an impact.

Notice how a successful page such as Business Insider promotes its articles with a variety of techniques: images, a brief comment, and the link to the article.

5. Post on Twitter

You’re obviously limited in terms of writing a description with 140 characters.

But I try to write a short, snazzy caption to pique the interest of my followers.

Chris Brogan does this too. The guy’s a Twitter master, and he knows how to get people to click on his articles when he promotes them.

Also be sure to include a hashtag or two, but don’t overdo it to the point of looking like a jabroni.

A couple of hashtags is all you need to double the amount of engagement on your promoted article!

6. Post on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is great for highly professional posts and those that are relevant to my industry.

If you’re posting on LinkedIn, you’ll improve your LinkedIn engagement.

LinkedIn users are among the most plugged in and tuned in to your message.

Use your best judgment in terms of the type of content you decide to post on LinkedIn, but by all means, use it!

7. Post on Reddit

You might regard Reddit as the Internet’s home for hipsters and geeks, and you might be right.

But it can also be a traffic gold mine.

Why? Reddit has millions of pageviews, and its active user base is committed to engagement.

With Facebook and Twitter, you might have casual users, but there’s something about Reddit’s audience that makes them absolutely addicted to the site!

Reddit users interact on the site using what’s called karma. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, think likes on Facebook, except not really.

Basically, the idea is this: if your post gets lots of karma, more people will see it.

Reddit users don’t hesitate to share their opinions—good or bad—on articles that get shared.

If your content is subpar, you’ll get scoffed at. If it’s good, you can be confident that your new post will get referenced, linked to, and viewed by a lot of people.

8. Share on news aggregators

Sites such as Alltop serve as resources where readers can find a vast amount of content on the topics that interest them.

Bloggers can often share their content on these types of sites, which can ultimately lead to an influx of quality traffic.

Check out this guide from Techlicious on the best news aggregator sites.

9. Tap into other relevant networks

Whether it’s Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, or even Google+ and its uncoolness, share your content on whatever other site(s) you think might be beneficial to you.

The Internet is full of backwater forums, highly-engaged Facebook groups, and other pockets of interactive communities.

Seek out your tribe, build an audience, and provide this network with value through your content.

10. Send to email subscribers

If you’ve got a sizable list of loyal subscribers, you can circulate your content with relative ease.

Just make sure you’re not doing it to the point of being annoying.

I send out a daily email to my subscribers, and it’s the perfect frequency for my engagement, audience, and goals.

11. Ask a key contact to share it

I would never recommend being the irritating guy who’s always hitting someone up for a favor.

But I would recommend occasionally asking a key contact if they wouldn’t mind sharing a new post with their audience.

Just make sure that it’s relevant to their niche/industry and adds value to their audience.

In fact, that’s the most important thing—adding value.

Value works both ways. You should be trying to provide value to the influencer too. Before you hurry to email all the influencers in your address book, please read this post. It will give you some helpful tips on how to do it.

12. Respond to comments

Let’s be honest. Getting readers to comment on your content isn’t easy—especially at first, when you’re just getting the ball rolling.

Although I usually get quite a few comments on Quick Sprout and NeilPatel.com, it didn’t just happen overnight.

It took a lot of hard work, persistence, and, of course, responding to comments.

Back in the day, my blog posts were pretty lame. But even then, I tried to respond to comments.

Being engaged and responsive is essential for building relationships, creating social proof, and ensuring future engagement.

Even though it can get a little time-consuming if you receive dozens or hundreds of comments, it’s well worth it to respond to each one individually in a timely manner.

13. Comment on other blogs

If you’re relatively new to the game and are still trying to establish an audience, this is perfect for building rapport and trust.

Some may think of this tactic as old school, but it definitely gets results.

Why? Because you’re providing value to other people. It’s not just about scammy link building.

It’s about engaging with real people.

Just be sure you’re leaving valuable comments on relevant blogs.

14. Comment on a commenter’s blog

One strategy I would highly recommend to fairly new bloggers is to take a bit of extra time to reach out to the people who are commenting on your blog.

For example, I suggest identifying a few consistent commenters contributing to the conversation and stopping by their blogs.

From there, I like to find a relevant post that ties into my content and leave a thoughtful comment.

I know this can be a bit time-consuming, but it can really boost your reputation and likability—both of which are integral to your content marketing longevity.

Conclusion

According to Hubspot, “B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67 percent more leads than those that do not.”

You already know that blogging is a best practice. You do it. But then what?

Then you share it.

A blog that simply churns out content is not going to get the kind of traffic, interaction, and action that it needs to. It’s essentially worthless unless you actually do the work of sharing it.

When you go the extra mile and follow these strategies, you can cast a wider net and circulate your content to the deepest recesses of the Internet.

These methods are the secret sauce you need to gain more leads and a loyal following of people who’ll stay hungry for future content. The great thing about intensive sharing is that doing so often attracts prospects who are most likely to convert on your content.

If you’re in the “publish and leave it” habit, it’s time to change. Use these simple, straightforward, and easy methods, and your content will begin to take off.

Do you have any specific steps you take after publishing a blog post to ensure maximum visibility?

from Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/295lJB4

10 Tried and True SEO Tactics That Will Pull You out of a Traffic Slump

We’ve all faced disappointing traffic numbers and even heart-stopping dives.

It happened to me recently on this website. Two years ago, I was blogging along as usual, when wham, my traffic dropped!

As it turns out, it was a random algorithm update that killed things for a week or two. Several tweaks later, I was back up to even higher numbers than before.

I understand that algorithms can change, audiences can leave, and a website can suffer from penalties.

But I’m also convinced that there’s no reason to settle for low traffic.

How can I be so confident? Because I faced it. I dealt with it. I recovered.

I’ve come up with 10 SEO tactics proven to boost traffic.

If you’re feeling skeptical right about now, I understand. I am sure plenty of SEO snake oil salesmen have tried to convince you that [insert some random weird hack here] could boost your SEO.

I don’t give advice that doesn’t work or hasn’t worked for me and my clients. These tactics actually work.

And here’s a quick comment before you dive into the tactics. I’ve intentionally avoided all the obvious stuff because you’d already have already tried that.

These techniques are relatively advanced. However, with the right skillset and a bit of patience, I know that you can master each technique and enjoy the boost in traffic. 

1. Infiltrate Google’s Knowledge Graph and the global knowledge base

Do you know where Google Knowledge Graph gets its content from?

Wikidata.

Wait, what the heck is Wikidata?

Wikidata is a community-driven initiative that belongs to the Wikimedia organization. They own a bunch of Wiki sites serving information content in a variety of languages.

It’s easy to see that once you get into Wikidata, either as a company or as a reference, your business will benefit in terms of exposure and traffic. Plus, a link from any of the Wiki sites is worth its weight in gold.

Many organizations pull data from the Wiki sites. The most important of them all is Google.

The content that gets featured in the Google Knowledge Graph is from Wikidata.

Do you see now why it’s important?

Getting inside Wikidata seems easy on paper, but it isn’t. Here’s how you can get a free pass:

• The first thing to do is to read and understand the guidelines.
• The next step is to write an authoritative piece based on a primary keyword, organization, or individual in your niche. It must be factual and non-promotional.
• Now create a website, page, or subdomain that defines the concept and contains comprehensive information, including all the pain points related to the keyword.  For example, if you are in the fashion industry, you can talk about fashion in general, the problems faced by manufacturers, the common pitfalls of using some equipment, the secret lives of fashion models, and so on.
• Next, jump into the Wikidata community, and socialize. Don’t create a topic until you have contributed positively to the community and established your own personal vibe. If a new member jumps in and creates a topic, it could be flagged by the editors. You should try to create a topic that doesn’t already exist in the community.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you sell products related to the fashion industry, specifically industrial sewing machines. One of your top sellers is the Brother brand.

Here’s what you should do:

• Use Google to check whether information on Brother sewing machines shows up in the knowledge graph. I checked. It doesn’t. There’s no knowledge graph for Brother sewing machines as of 8 June 2016.
• Write an exhaustive piece on Brother sewing machines on your subdomain or the website you have specifically created for sharing knowledge.
• Create a topic on Wikidata (for example: History, Evolution, Pros and Cons, and Current Status of Brother Sewing Machines) and choose a channel to publish your data on (any one of the Wiki properties; in my case, Wikipedia).
• Write your statements, and link to appropriate references. You must link keywords and brands to public documents (use the documents hosted on Wiki sites), and one of your links or references must be to the site you created.

Your page must be strong and backed by data. Fluffy or thin pages are deleted by the editors.

You can even add social media URLs to the reference pages. It would be a good idea to create a group discussion on LinkedIn related to the topic, and link it as a reference on your Wiki page.

In addition to this, you must go to each Wiki site and edit or contribute to topics that contain your keyword. Don’t forget to write an authoritative piece on your subdomain or website and link to it as a reference. For the example above, the keywords would be fashion, sewing, clothing, models, etc.

2. Get into Google News

News articles get pulled by Google on two SERPs—the traditional SERP you’re used to and the News section.

You may not have thought of Google News as a traffic source, but consider my point. It’s a traffic wellspring!

Check out this screen shot:

To get into Google news requires perseverance, honest reporting, cutting-edge articles, and regular updates.

If you are up to it and want your website to show up on the Google News SERP, here’s what you should do:

1. Start a “News” section on your blog/site.
   Update it regularly (1-2 newsy posts a day is a good practice).
2. Publish authoritative, unique, original, and newsworthy content. For research, set up a Google Alert for keywords in your niche.
3. Informational articles such as how-tos and guides do not qualify. Every post must be newsy.
4. Do not publish aggregated content.
5. Every news article you write must be authoritative.
6. The byline of each post must be linked to the author’s profile, which should contain their contact information and links to their social media profiles.
7. Follow the Google quality guidelines before starting your news section.
8. You need to subscribe to a paid Google account to become a Google News Partner because you can’t get in with a free account. The best thing is to sign up for a Google Apps email account, available for as low as $5 per month (http://ift.tt/1YdgnK7).
9. Finally, start publishing, and enroll as a Google News Partner after building up sizeable content (at least 50 pages).

Yeah, it reads like a slow process, but it’s worth millions!

3. Register with Google Posts

Heard of Google Posts?

Let me rephrase.

Have you ever seen a carousel on Google SERPs? Something like the image below. Notice the section outlined in red:

The posts contained in such carousels are Google Posts.

Google Posts isn’t commercially launched yet. There’s a waitlist, and you must get on the waitlist.

Google Posts allows verified and prominent individuals and organizations to create content (text, images, videos) on the fly and publish instantly. Once the posts are published, they will be visible on Google SERPs when a user searches for topics and keywords within that niche.

The hassle, of course, is that you can’t start using Google Posts immediately. If you are an established organization or a prominent individual, you should sign up and reap the benefits when it goes live.

4. Use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) HTML/JS

AMP is a new coding standard, and the way it is shaping up, it seems that it will go on to become a global HTML coding best practice.

I highly recommend you research it and implement what you can.

Think of AMP HTML as regular HTML with some restrictions that reduce clunkiness and help generate reliability.

AMP HTML (and JS) increases the loading speed of your web pages, which is an extremely important factor. This protocol is on its way to become a huge ranking factor.

Google has already included it in its Search Console, and many web developers around the world are quickly adopting it.

Remember the time when Google made mobile-friendly design a ranking factor?

Developers were slow to pick up on it, and when their site rankings dropped, there was panic.

That’s why I encourage you to get started on AMP right away and to keep your site AMP-ready. Moreover, AMP will make your pages load faster, which will help you rank higher and attract more traffic.

5. Use the Skyscraper Technique

Did you know it was Brian Dean of Backlinko who coined the term Skyscraper Technique?

Although it’s simple when you think of it, it requires some pretty intense work.

Does it work? Yes, it does. Sites with traditionally low traffic or in traffic slumps have experienced an uptick in traffic after using the technique.

Here’s how you should exploit it:

First, simply research the top-shared content in your niche. You can use BuzzSumo or EpicBeat.

Next, you should:

• Select 2-3 top posts in your niche. These will serve as the basis for your research.
• Write a better and more in-depth article (with a new title). You can do this by picking up the phone and interviewing appropriate experts, reading industry white papers, or checking out research reports. There are plenty of ways to improve upon what currently exists.
• Market your article. Try to market it on the same channels and groups as the original article. I have no doubt that your article will be picked up and talked about.

Result: Traffic, shares, and more traffic.

6. Create an FAQ page in your niche

There are three things you must be aware of:

1. Personal assistants, such as Siri, and voice search tools, such as Google Voice search, are getting smarter by the day. Google also recently unveiled the Google Assistant, an AI like Siri, at its I/O Conference.
2. The number of people using their personal assistants to help them with their online search or scheduling tasks as well as the number of voice searchers are growing each day.
3. Most voice searches or requests typically start with a question word (what, when, how, where, which, etc.).

One of the key takeaways from the Google I/O developer conference notes was that over 20% of the searches on the Google app on Android in the US were performed by voice.

I don’t have the stats for Siri, but if you put two and two together, it’s easy to infer that your SEO must be ready for voice search/voice assistants because its use will keep increasing over time.

How will you get your website ready for voice search?

By developing an FAQ page in your niche.

An FAQ page can easily leverage both the question word and the keyword/correlated keywords.

How will you collect data for your FAQ page? Here are some ideas:

• Learn about the pain points faced by consumers in your niche. You can learn about these online (forums or social media) and by conducting a customer survey.
• Visit government and non-profit websites where people complain about products and marketing tactics.
• Check out Amazon and eBay for product complaints/nasty reviews (in your niche).
• Buy an e-book that talks about the pros and cons of your niche.
• Make a list of the questions that a lot of customers have in common.

Finally, take all this research and create a giant FAQ page that is neatly divided into categories.

Make each question shareable, and write detailed and helpful answers. Do this, and you’ll quickly get some traffic to your site.

7. Become an expert in your niche

Sounds like a tall order, right?

But it’s not as difficult as you think.

You can increase your website’s traffic by growing your personal brand. I spent about a decade cultivating my personal brand. I then used that personal brand to boost traffic and generate high-converting leads, creating several multi-million dollar businesses.

You can do the same. Here is how.

Start sharing your knowledge tactfully and helping others without giving away your business secrets.

First, register at Q&A sites such as Quora, Yahoo Answers, and WikiHow. Join LinkedIn groups, and reach out to other sites in your niche that could benefit from your guest authorship or input.

Start answering questions and helping users. Do not promote your business or link to your website.

If your answers are helpful, users will start requesting your help. When you see help requests coming in, it’s time to strike (in a good way, of course).

From this point on, help people, but link back to your article or site when you do so.

Followers and browsers will follow your link, and your site traffic will multiply like crazy.

Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn, and Quora are liberal with links, but WikiHow has a tough backlinking policy, so be careful. Whatever you do, be polite, and write factual helpful information.

8. Don’t spread yourself too thin

Many website owners do all the right things and still wonder why their traffic volume is static (or decreasing).

The answer could be that you may be doing too many of the right things.

There are tons of SEO and content marketing tips available on the web, and while reading as much as possible is a good thing, trying to do everything may prove to be counterproductive.

Content marketing is performed on social media and blogs, which are user-driven. Viewers expect the writer or poster to interact with them and follow up on their articles.

If you’re into excessive content marketing, you won’t have time to interact. You’ll also feel burnt out doing too many things at the same time.

My advice is to stick to three or four social media channels (Facebook and YouTube are important). Once your traffic and sales increase, you can consider hiring someone to handle other social channels.

9. Influencing the influencers

You may have heard that influencer marketing is dead, but I can guarantee you that if any influencer links to your post, a swarm of traffic will follow.

Now, you cannot overtly approach an influencer and request that person to promote your content. Why? Because the minute the influencer reads your first line, they’ll understand what you want. Honestly, it’s a turnoff.

Influencers receive hundreds of content promotion requests every month. They can spot one from a distance.

Here’s what you can do instead. Influence and motivate the influencer to share your content.

I’ll show you how you can attempt that with an example.

Let’s say I am targeting “men’s fashion” as my keyword phrase. I Googled “top blogs on men’s fashion.” There are plenty of meaty results:

I visited one top blog, Off The Cuff, and found it was founded and owned by Christopher Hogan.

Next, I visited Christopher Hogan’s Twitter page. It looks like he tweets often, and some of his tweets are about formal fashion in different seasons (he has 3,300 followers. It’s a bit low, but there’s a twist in the tale).

That gave me an idea—a content strategy that can be endorsed by many influencers (with a gazillion followers).

Here’s what I’d do next:

• Check around the other top blogs. Figure out which bloggers have thousands of followers on Twitter or Facebook.
• Read their posts/tweets. Search for their interviews online to figure out what motivates them.
• Create an article (or video or infographic) based on my research. If I wanted to influence Christopher Hogan, I would create an infographic or write an article based on formal fashion for men for summer. I would stock the items that feature my content in my online store. I could perhaps title it “Men’s Formal Fashion for The Summer Inspired by Christopher Hogan Designs” (or some other designer).
• I would then tweet it to him or post on his FB page. If it appeals to him (and it should because I would have spent a whole lot of time and love making it), he will share it. That would get me targeted traffic that has the potential to convert.
• Even if he doesn’t retweet, I know I’m sitting on killer content bound to get noticed by guys who strut around in formals during the summer.

What I have given you is just an example. And it’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential of this technique.

Use your creativity to devise even more advanced and informative content within your niche.

You can use other tools, such as Followerwonk or Buzzsumo, to find influencers and apply the same technique.

10. Research e-commerce keywords

There are so many articles floating around on keyword research that I wasn’t sure whether I should include this tip.

I decided to include it.

E-commerce is a serious business. If you know what customers are exactly searching for, it could be rock-and-roll time for your sales and traffic.

Shoppers who have finished their research typically head to retail sites such as Amazon to buy stuff. As I’m sure you’re aware, Amazon is the world’s largest e-tailer.

Researching keywords on Amazon and including them in your content can be a rewarding SEO task.

To research keywords on Amazon, you need to subscribe to a paid keyword research service.

But I’ll show you how to research for free. Here’s the technique:

First, choose your product on Amazon.com (it’s “men’s fashion” in this example):

Next, select “men’s fashion” in “All Departments.”

Then, now check the results page. Notice the filters and categories in the column on the far left.

Finally, expand each category, and copy the keywords that drop down.

These are the keywords that real shoppers with ready-to-swipe credit cards search for (on Amazon). Use these very keywords in your content.

Conclusion

If your traffic has dropped because of slow loading pages, lousy server, clunky coding, malware, unfriendly UI, etc., no amount of SEO, SMM, or PPC can help you. Plus, you’ll end up wasting a ton of money.

Fix the basic issues first, and then move on to marketing and SEO.

The tactics I have recommended will help you attract traffic that has the potential to convert.

It’s worked for me. I’m confident it will work for you too.

Tell me how it goes! And let me know about both your successes and your challenges. I want to help.

from Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/28YEd6L

7 Psychological Insights That Will Help You Develop a Powerful Facebook Strategy for Business

What is the most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal?

Is it keyword research? Copywriting? Beautifully designed ad campaigns? Maybe….

But the driving force behind all of these things?

Psychology.

You see, sales and marketing are really about understanding consumer psychology.

Why do people buy? What makes them click on your Facebook ad? What sort of stimuli do most people respond to?

I’ve been interested in consumer psychology for quite a while. It started innocently enough. I was curious. What makes customers interested in a product, service, person, or brand? Why do people click on headlines? What makes 100%-refund-guarantees so assuring? How will this influence conversion rates or customer loyalty?

Asking these kinds of questions helped me develop a deeper understanding of my customers.

And then I figured out something more. Consumer psychology applies to just about everything in business.

Even social media.

What did I do? I started using my knowledge of psychology to improve my Facebook strategy.

And guess what?

It worked.

It wasn’t just my personal brand that started growing by leaps and bounds. My clients got the benefits too!

I’m not going to keep these techniques a secret.

I wanted to share with you the psychological insights I learned so you can dramatically improve your game by leveraging Facebook marketing more effectively.

So, what are the most important psychological “hacks” you can start using today to improve your social media marketing?

1. Kick rational advertising out the window

Most people are emotional creatures, not rational.

Many of us analytical types tend to think that everyone else sees the world in terms of ones and zeros like we do. But this is simply not the case.

Most people act emotionally, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It just is.

One of the most effective things you can do to improve your Facebook strategy is to quit relying on rational thinking as your main driver and start relying on customer’s emotions to take the wheel.

Great…But how do you do this?

One of the most effective methods is to convey emotion through facial expression. Try using ads that have someone’s face on them, whether it’s a real photograph or a drawing.

I do this often, simply by adding an image of a face to my posts. It’s simple. It’s quick. It’s effective.

Seeing a face is way more appealing than seeing some inanimate object.

It works not only on posts, like the ones above, but on sidebar ads too.

People are already browsing through Facebook, looking at pictures of friends and family. Using headshots or other shots that include facial expression is a natural way to enter into your customer’s newsfeed unobtrusively.

Facial expression is the only universally understood language, and the human brain is wired to process facial cues far more easily than written word.

In fact, according to a study from Caltech, people may have specific neurons in their brains that respond to individual people!

This means that when you see my face, Tony Robbin’s face, Donald Trump’s face, or Brad Pitt’s face, you have a neuron in your brain dedicated to only them!

Pretty cool, huh?

Take a look at some of the ads below.

Notice how the headshot of Noah Kagan smiling instantly changes your mood and instills trust.

This ad from AdEspresso offers almost no rational reason for clicking on it, but the positive emotion instilled by the cartoon and the eye-catching red (more on that later) makes me want to click on it.

Notice how Tim’s confident (or smug?) facial expression communicates confidence about the method he is teaching without any extra information.

The face is enough to build my trust and encourage me to interact with the Facebook ad.

Do you see how powerful conveying emotion through facial expression is? Use it in all your Facebook ads, regardless of the topic.

2. Use color to catch attention and convey your message

Something that many marketers are aware of but rarely utilize is the power of color.

The human brain evolved to see red colors more vividly. This was a huge advantage to hunter-gatherers who could now spot ripe red fruits out of green leafy trees as well as potential dangers like venomous snakes and fish.

(That snake could kill you.)

This is a huge advantage to marketers.

Red in your ads will catch users’ attention much more effectively than any other color.

However, the combination of red and blue is even more powerful as blue is more calming and relaxing.

For example, let’s reexamine the AdEspresso ad.

Notice how the ad uses red to grab your attention and direct you to the “Try it now” button but combines it with some blue text to give the ad a more calming and friendly tone.

This is an easy psychological trick you can use to your advantage in your next campaign.

Colors are powerful. They’re a language unto themselves.

It’s time to start speaking this language with your customers. Why? Because it’s a language that is neurologically innate. We’ve learned the language of color through nature and through the complex development of our species.

Color has a way of communicating that doesn’t depend on effective ad copy or even a smiling picture of a model. Choosing the right color can drive up your engagement and improve your Facebook marketing.

3. Slash the price (by just one cent!)

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find something in a supermarket that costs exactly $1 or exactly $5?

That’s because, once again, the human brain has evolved to discern the difference between prices based on the left-most digit.

That’s the power of pricing.

For example, the reduction of one cent—from $100.00 to $99.99—is perceived as more significant than the reduction of 40 cents—from $99.99 to $99.59.

While the brain may suck at math, this is an incredibly easy-to-implement tactic that can increase your Facebook ad conversions almost instantly.

This doesn’t work every time or in every situation. However, I have learned that odd styles of pricing are far more effective at luring customers in than flat, round numbers.

Give it a try. Run a split test with differing price points, and see which one wins.

4. Use now as a trigger word

Our brains are not wired for our modern technological era.

It sounds odd, I know. After all, most of us run around virtually tethered to some electronic device—wearing it, talking to it, and interacting with it.

But the brain is still trying to adapt to these devices, no matter how marvelous they are.

Our brains are still way back in the day when we were living on plains, hunting and gathering for survival. This means our brains are still wired for one of two basic responses: fight or flight.

You’ve heard of fight or flight, haven’t you? The idea is simple: fight or flight is “the instinctive physiological response to a threatening situation, which readies one either to resist forcibly or to run away.”

The fight or flight response takes its toll on the entire body in various ways. Some of these effects are obvious—like sweating. Other effects are subtle—like digestion slowing down.

Either way, our bodies respond.

Here’s how one science website describes it:

In response to acute stress, the body’s sympathetic nervous system is activated due to the sudden release of hormones. The sympathetic nervous systems stimulate the adrenal glands triggering the release of catecholamines, which include adrenaline and noradrenaline. This results in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. After the threat is gone, it takes between 20 to 60 minutes for the body to return to its pre-arousal levels….In the face of something frightening, your heart beat quickened, you begin breathing faster, and your entire body become tense and ready to take action. This response can happen in the face of an imminent physical danger (such as encountering a growling dog during your morning jog) or as a result of a more psychological threat (such as preparing to give a big presentation at school or work).

In other words, our brains are wired to make impulse decisions.

Using the word now is a great way to capitalize on the brain’s propensity for impulsivity and get your customers to click on your Facebook ad.

Here’s how one Inc. writer describes the word now:

Immediacy is what everyone wants: Get what you want now. Make a change now. You can start now. Tomorrow is too late, yesterday is over, and now is exactly the right moment to start.

Humans are wired to want now. It’s just the way we are.

Cater to that desire in your ads or social campaigns, and you’re sure to improve your scores, conversions, and engagement.

5. Focus on the images, not the words

According to most modern studies, the brain processes images much faster than text.

This means that when you are designing your Facebook or other social media campaigns, you should focus more of your time and energy on the images you are using than the text you include.

Social media today is a visually driven world. The more visual content you have and the better it is, the more successful your social media campaigns will be.

6. Create scarcity

We’ve established that the brain is wired for impulse decisions and fight or flight. Thus, ads featuring products with (perceived) scarcity instill a sense of urgency, influencing a customer’s desire to purchase.

Notice how the “Only 24 Hours Left” warning creates a sense of urgency to buy.

You want it more because it’s scarcer.

It’s called the scarcity principle, and it will work wonders for your social media strategy!

7. Use odd numbers for opt-ins

I was just about to write the conclusion to this article when I realized…

I can’t end on an even number!

Why? Because odd numbers are, for whatever reason, more psychologically appealing. Odd numbers improve engagement, increase click-throughs, and attract more eyeballs.

The simple takeaway?

• If you are running a Facebook ad with a giveaway to increase email opt-ins, use an odd number to help increase conversions.
• If you are posting an update about a listicle, use an odd-numbered headline.
• If you are using a number in any place in your Facebook updates, use an odd number.

For example, the giveaway “9 Powerful Hacks to Massively Increase Facebook Ad Conversions” would convert much better than “10 Amazing Ways to Improve Your Conversion Rate” (according to science).

Conductor’s research showed that odd-numbered headlines have 36% more clicks and a 20% higher CTR than non-numbered or even-numbered headlines.

The same principle holds true for Facebook ads, Facebook articles, and Facebook opt-ins.

Odd numbers just work.

Researchers have discovered that the mind considers odd numbers to be more natural. A list-driven article like this one, therefore, has a more trustworthy neurological connection due to its odd-numbered status.

Conclusion

More often than not, I find that most Facebook ads fail to utilize any of the above tools, and that is a shame because using human psychology is one of the most proven and consistent ways to increase your sales and conversions.

And the thing is none of these psychological insights are hard to implement!

That’s the power of consumer psychology. Knowing a few insights can be powerful and can positively impact your marketing efforts!

If you want to see any of the above advice in action, simply run an A/B split test, utilizing the power of color, facial expression, and trigger words. You’ll be AMAZED at the results.

Like with everything, however, don’t take my word for it. Go out there, and do it for yourself: test, test, test, and see what gets you the results.

I’m still curious. What kinds of psychological hacks are you testing and trying in order to improve your Facebook strategy?

from Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/28S1dFj