How to Create Content More Efficiently with Curation Techniques

I’ve always said that every website should have a blog.

Think about how long you’re currently spending to write a blog post.

I’m willing to bet it takes you at least a few hours to create each.

Sometimes longer posts take up to six or even eight hours.

Where do you find the time to focus on other aspects of your business?

I struggled with this concept as well when I first started blogging.

It seemed like there weren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.

Then I realized that your content doesn’t always need to be created from scratch.

Think about it.

Chances are, your content isn’t some new or revolutionary breakthrough in the industry.

You’re writing about something that’s been discussed before.

Sure, you’ll put your unique spin, voice, and personal experiences in there, but ultimately there are plenty of similar topics on the web.

Spending your entire day writing blogs is not an efficient use of your time.

Instead, I’ll teach you some content curation skills that will help you write content faster.

David Kadavy from The Medium was able to learn different tricks to improve his productivity.

Look at the impact this had on his published word count between 2015 and 2016.

If you follow my advice, your productivity will skyrocket as well.

Here’s how you can use content curation to effectively manage your content strategy.

Make sure you’re utilizing visuals

If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you know I’m a firm believer in using lots of pictures, screenshots, and other infographics to illustrate my points.

That’s no secret.

But there’s a reason behind this strategy.

Adding pictures to your blog posts makes it easier for people to read.

It breaks up the content and grabs the reader’s attention.

There are also plenty of great image resources on the Internet.

While creating a unique visual or infographic is great, it’s not necessary.

Instead, use someone else’s image, making sure to give credit to the original source.

This will save you a lot of time because you won’t have to create these images yourself.

Don’t be shy when you’re adding visuals to your content.

Images make it easier for readers to process your point.

See what I mean?I

Fittingly, I’m using an image about the importance of visuals to prove my point.

But seriously, think about how easy it was for you to process and retain what you just saw.

Visuals also make it easier for you to put words on the page.

Here’s what I mean.

Once you insert an image in your post, it gives you something to talk about.

Explain the image to your readers.

It will guide you in the right direction instead of just coming up with content out of thin air.

You’re much less likely to suffer from writer’s block if you always have something to talk about.

Here are some additional tips about using images within your content:

• Use high quality visuals that aren’t too cluttered.
• Make sure they are easy to read and understand.
• If the visual contains data, make sure it’s from a reputable source.
• Always cite your sources.
• Use lots of images.

All of these pointers will help you create content faster and more efficiently.

Start with an outline, and stick to your plan

Never start creating content from a blank page.

Psychologically, it’s intimidating.

But more importantly, it’s not an efficient use of your time.

Sure, as you start writing, you’ll need to do some research along the way.

But it helps significantly if you get some of that out of the way before you get started.

Here’s what you need to do.

For example, let’s say you are writing a post about the best ways to find a new job.

Start with a Google search.

Now you can create a list of the 28 best ways to do this.

Keep in mind, there will likely be some overlap among the pages.

You’re not the only one using curation strategies to build content.

But when it’s all said and done, you should still be able to come up with at least 10, 15, or maybe even 20 different ways on your list.

The key is planning this out ahead of time.

Open all these pages in a new tab.

Each time you see something you want to include in your article, add it to the outline.

Quickly add a few notes to develop further when you get to that point of your writing process.

For example, you may talk about a specific job board site on your list.

So a note could be “insert statistic about the job placement success rates of this site.”

Then you can do that research when you get there.

This strategy also makes it really easy if you’re aiming for a certain word count per post.

Let’s say you want all of your posts to be roughly 2,500 words.

If you determine you’ll have 15 different sections based on your list, now you can aim for each section to be about 165 words.

It keeps you on track for your goal.

That way you’re not frantically trying to come up with a 500 word conclusion or end up reaching your desired word count after your second subheading.

Repurpose content on different channels

For the most part, I’ve been discussing these curation strategies as they relate to blogging, but let me clear the air.

Your content doesn’t stop with blogs and articles.

One of my favorite ways to repurpose content is through YouTube videos.

I’ll give you an example based on my own blog and YouTube channel.

Here’s a post I wrote that was a big hit.

It’s got 137 comments (and counting) at the moment.

What did I do?

I repurposed some of the main points and made it into a YouTube tutorial.

Here’s the link to my YouTube video.

You don’t always have to use content from other people for your curation strategy.

Instead, take your existing content.

You can also use this technique on social media platforms.

Think about Twitter.

You have only so many characters to use.

Rather than racking your brain to come up with the most clever tweet on the planet, refer to your posts that already have thousands of words.

Take lines directly from that content, and post them on social media.

It will save you a ton of time, and you’ll be able to focus on other aspects of social media management, like responding to customer comments.

That’s a much more efficient use of your time.

You don’t need to be the first person to break a story

How many times have you seen a breaking news story, only to discover that it’s inaccurate?

I see it all the time, so I’m sure you have as well.

That’s because all these news outlets want to be first.

But first isn’t always best.

You don’t want to develop a reputation for being an unreliable source.

Furthermore, the first person to break a story may not have a chance to include lots of relevant information.

Let’s use a hypothetical example of a local car accident.

The first person to break the story may just say, “car accident on X street at Y time.”

But they don’t have any other details to report.

So if you wait a little bit, you can newsjack the story.

Wait for other sources to report new information.

Now you can write about other factors like the:

• number of cars involved
• types of cars in the crash
• names of any victims
• cause of the accident
• road conditions at the time
• quote from law enforcement

You can see where I’m going with this.

Being the first one to release new information doesn’t get you a gold star or sticker.

Instead, it limits your resources and the amount of information you can talk about.

Curate content from the comments section of your blog

You should always be checking the comments on your page.

Respond to these users.

It’s a great way to help with your search engine optimization, but it also keeps your readers actively engaged.

You may find some valuable information here as well.

People who comment on your page may be doing so to promote their own websites or blogs, but their points may be viable.

Take a look at what people have to say.

It might just be included in your next post.

Send a newsletter with a roundup of your weekly content

Again, you don’t always need to use someone else’s thoughts or ideas to generate new content.

Sometimes the best curation source is your own writing.

If you’ve got a weekly or monthly newsletter, it’s a great opportunity for you to promote content you’ve already published.

Moz does this with their monthly top 10 newsletters.

Instead of coming up with something new or unique for their monthly newsletter, they just repurpose the hard work they’ve already done.

You can use this strategy as well.

Write a weekly roundup post that summarizes the content you’ve already covered during the week.

Work smarter, not harder.

Don’t get me wrong.

I’m not saying to just copy and paste your existing content into a new article.

That’s a quick way to lose readers.

But you can just take something old and put a new spin on it.

Update new statistics.

Add personal stories or a learning experience you’ve come across since the content was originally posted.

This will make your life a lot easier, and you’ll spend less time trying to come up with new ideas.

Conclusion

Your time is valuable.

Instead of spending endless hours each day trying to come up with new content to write about, you can use curation strategies to be more efficient.

Remember, content curation doesn’t just apply to your blog.

You can also use these methods to help produce content on social media.

Research showed that finding and posting content on social media was the most time consuming aspect of this process.

It doesn’t have to be.

Use lots of visuals in your content.

Rather than creating original infographics, use ones you find on the Internet.

Make sure you give credit to the source.

Images make it easier for readers to process and retain information as well.

Don’t start writing from scratch.

Build an outline using ideas you find from a Google search.

This will make things easier for you to write naturally and stick to a plan.

All of the curation doesn’t need to come from someone else’s pages or ideas.

Repurpose your existing content.

Take a top performing blog post and turn it into a YouTube tutorial.

Use phrases from articles on your site as social media posts.

Think twice before you try to be the first person to break a news story.

Instead, wait until all the information gets released.

You’ll have more reliable sources and information to use.

Refer to the comments section of your blog if you’re looking for new ideas.

Use recent posts to come up with a weekly newsletter or round up blog.

If you follow these strategies, you’ll spend less time creating content and more time focusing on other areas of your business.

What kind of content curation strategies have helped you spend less time writing blogs each day?

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Social Media Project Introduction and a Quick Update

I wanted to provide an update on a few of the things happening in my business.  I typically do this on a monthly basis.  

However, beyond just a normal update, I also want to provide a few more details on the social media project that I mentioned briefly in my last post.  I'll dive into what the social media project is and why I'm doing it.

First, let's jump into what happened in the last month…hopefully some of these updates will be useful to you in your own business.

Monthly Update

Even though I no longer give income numbers, I still want to give a general update on what I've been up to. 

Business sale

As mentioned last month, I was able to find a buyer for my “Home Goods Brand” through EmpireFlippers.  We agreed on a price and started the due diligence period.

Unfortunately, the process has taken much longer than anticipated.  We agreed on a price in early October, and now it's near the end of November and things are still in limbo.

The primary reason is that the new buyer is located in Canada and needed to get a US business entity and US bank account set up.  Anything that involves attorneys, accountants, and the government can take a long time.

However, I'm happy to say that in the past week the new buyer was able to get everything set up and we are now in the process of transferring everything over.  I was hopeful it would happen this week; however, due to Thanksgiving…I expect everything to close out next week sometime.

Fitness Brand

I'm excited for the future of this brand.  This is the brand that I've building the Facebook page for (see my post on 10,800 followers in 17 days).  We are seeing some really high engagement with this audience; especially, in the new private Facebook group I created last month.

This new private facebook group already has over 500 members and it's INSANELY active.  Here's an image showing the top posts in the past 30 days.

Getting 50 or 60 comments and 100+ likes/reactions is HUGE for a group of around 500 people.

By comparison, here is the Niche Pursuits private FB group with over 16,000 members.  The top posts are not anywhere close to as engaging as the top posts for my fitness brand:

I think it's great that I have a 16,000 member private FB group, but I wish the engagement was much closer to that of this newly formed group in the fitness niche.

In addition to jumpstarting the social media presence of this brand, we are also working on a few new products.  We are currently manufacturing 3 new products that we plan to sell on Amazon and through our own website.  

In addition, I'm working with a partner to create a membership website that people will pay $10 a month for (hopefully).  We plan to make the private FB group part of the membership along with a few other information/digital “products” that we believe people are willing to pay for.

I'm hoping to launch the new membership area in December.  

The plan is to the leverage social media to grow this membership product.  (This will likely include both organic reach and paid ads on Facebook).

Social Media Project

I've mentioned the social media project and have been in the planning stages, but what exactly is it?  Ah, that is the question!  I share my 10 point plan and explanation of it below…

So, I sent out a survey a few weeks ago asking people what their experience and concerns are with social media.  I was trying to get a feel for what the interest level was in learning about social media.

Here's some of the response I got:

Most people are getting none or very little social media traffic to their sites; over 70%.  So, there is room for this type of traffic growth for most people.

Nearly 80% of people are open to seeing strategies for both free and non-free strategies.  I think this is realistic for most business owners…free is great, but if you can pay and convert at a profitable rate, that's great too.

I'm not surprised to see that most people are interested in Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube.  I plan to focus on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest throughout this project.

This is just a small sample of over 200 responses to this question.  The answered varied from just knowing how to get started, to finding a way to truly convert social media traffic into customers.

The ideas I got were all over the board.  Some people wanted me to conduct this project in a similar fashion to the Niche Site Projects, while others wanted larger group training.

So, after taking into consideration the feedback I've gotten, here's what I've decided to do for the social media project.

10 Point Plan for the Social Media Project

1. I plan to share my strategies and what's working for me as I try to build a social media following on various platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest will be the focus) and as I find success in monetizing those followings.
2. I do NOT plan to take on students and make this project reliant on how others perform.  All the “coaching” will simply be publicly available to anyone that reads my blog posts.
3. I do plan to post at least twice a month with either updates OR social media strategies.
4. I do NOT plan on letting this project go on forever.  This project will last 6 months (until May 2018) where I'm providing regular updates.  After that, I don't plan on blogging twice a month about the social media project (but may still provide occasional updates).
5. The 6 month goal for the project: See how large of a social media following I can get AND see how much revenue I can generate through that social media following.  I'll be updating these 2 stats at least once a month: social media following size and revenue attributed to my social media following.
6. I do NOT plan on focusing my efforts on growing the social media following of NichePursuits.com…that would seem disingeneous.  This project and my social media efforts will be focused on a niche outside of NichePursuits.com.  In other words, I can't leverage my “fame” from NichePursuits.com to this other niche.  The niche I will be focusing on is in the fitness space, and I've never revealed the domain publicly.
7. I will not be revealing my domain or social media profiles publicly.  I'll simply be sharing the strategies I learn and growth statistics.
8. I would like to share the opinions of other experts.  So, I hope to bring on guest posters or interview others that have had great success in social media.  If you are one of those people, please reach out to me and let's figure out when you can share your knowledge.
9. I do want to hear success stories from you.  Even though I'm not coaching anybody one on one, I still hope that others will be following along and implementing some of these strategies on their own.  As you do, I hope you will reach out to me and let me know that you are seeing success!  If it makes sense, I'll ask a few of you to write guest posts for me to share your success stories.
10. Overall, I want this to be a fun and enjoyable experience as we all learn together!  You can interact with others following along with this project right here in the Niche Pursuits Private Facebook Group.

How can you participate?

Just because I won't be coaching anyone, doesn't mean I don't want you to feel like you can following along and participate.  Please apply the strategies I share (like this strategy from last week), and let me know how it's going!  Send me an email or post in the private FB group.

I hope the private FB group can be a hub where participants interact and learn from each other.

Final Thoughts

As shared last week, this project is already under way!  I was able to grow a brand new Facebook page from 0 to over 10,000 fans in 17 days.  However, that was just one idea and I haven't really scratched the surface of what could be done and how to monetize that following.

Overall, I hope you are excited to join in and follow along with the social media project!  Even though I won't be coaching anyone one on one, I think just putting myself through the project is the best way to see what happens when someone focuses on social media project.

I hope over the next 6 months that I'm able to share a few things that I learn along the way so that you can apply it into your own business.

The post Social Media Project Introduction and a Quick Update appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

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Why Websites with Simple Designs Have Higher Conversion Rates

Typically, when companies look to improve their conversion rates, they focus on their CTA buttons or value propositions.

Businesses also like to A/B test certain elements of their pages to see which versions convert the best.

Don’t get me wrong: these are all valid ways to improve conversions.

But something that’s sometimes overlooked is the simplicity of the website.

Far too often I see websites try to jam too much information into a very small space.

The navigation is confusing, and it’s overwhelming for anyone viewing the site.

If this is starting to sound like the layout of your website, it could be the reason why your conversion rates are unsatisfactory.

Even if you don’t think your design is too cluttered, there’s always room for improvement.

A slight rise in conversions could mean a significant increase in your annual revenue.

Below, I outline some reasons why simplicity can optimize your conversion rates.

You’ll learn some proven strategies that focus website visitors on your CTA and any other element of your site you want to emphasize.

It’s time to clean up the clutter and simplify the layout of your pages.

Here’s why modest designs have the highest performing conversions.

They have faster loading times

If you have too much going on all over your website, it will take longer to load.

Don’t think it’s a big deal?

Think again.

When a web page takes longer than 4 seconds to load, the bounce rate increases by 100%.

Once your site hits the 8 second mark for loading time, the bounce rate jumps to 150%.

If you can speed up the load time, your bounce rate will improve as well.

Think about how much potential you’re missing out on over a couple of seconds.

Getting your page to load in less than 4 seconds should be your goal.

To accomplish this, you have to get rid of unnecessary elements on each page.

This is especially true for ecommerce websites.

Why?

Take a look at how speed effects shopping cart abandonment:

According to survey respondents, four of the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment were related to the speed of the website.

What elements can you remove to get your page to load faster?

• Complex images
• Extra features
• Added options
• Unnecessary text

Those are just a few places to start.

Visuals are definitely an important feature to have on your website. Just don’t go overboard with them.

Simplify the photos so the images are smaller and can load faster.

The CTA is clear and obvious 

When your pages have simple layouts, you have more control over what visitors see.

If the site is too cluttered, your CTA button may be obscured.

You don’t want people to be confused about whatever action you want them to take.

Some examples of CTAs:

• join an email subscription list
• download an ebook
• sign up for a service
• make a purchase
• enter personal information

Basically, whatever your CTA is, it needs to be the clearest item on the page.

Here’s a great example from Unbounce:

Notice how open and free of clutter the page is.

There are no complicated images or visuals to distract the user.

The text is minimal, and it explains exactly what their company does.

Now the user can focus on the CTA because the options are so limited.

The site visitor can:

• start a free trial
• explore the platform

Sure, there is a menu that visitors can navigate through as well. But based on the design, it’s clearly not made to be the primary focus.

Their menu at the top of the screen has the smallest text on the page.

If Unbounce tried to jam a detailed description of each section of their menu, the page would be too overwhelming.

So they did the right thing here by keeping it simple.

I use this same strategy on my own website as well.

When someone visits my page, their eyes are immediately drawn to my different CTA buttons.

There’s nothing else to distract them.

If you’re looking for help to find out what users see when they’re looking at your page, try using a service such as Crazy Egg.

You can analyze a heat map that shows what visitors’ eyes get drawn to when they’re viewing your website.

This is really helpful in terms of CTA placement when you’re simplifying your design.

It’s easier for visitors to skim through your page

People aren’t going to read all the content on your page.

It can be disappointing because I know what it’s like to put much hard work, time, and effort into every word on a website.

But that’s the reality.

Break up the content on your page to make it easier for visitors to scan it.

If you’re writing in long paragraphs without any breaks, it’s going to be difficult to get your message across to the audience.

Here are some tips to break up content and make it easier for visitors to scan through your page:

• use short sentences
• keep paragraphs between 1-3 lines
• insert visuals
• include numbered lists
• use bullet points

Take a look at how visuals are used to accomplish this goal:

The most common types of visuals to break up content are:

1. infographics
2. stock photos
3. videos
4. charts and data visualizations
5. GIFs and memes

Take this into consideration when you’re deciding what to include on your page.

Stick to the suggestions at the top of this list.

When you get down to GIFs, complex images like that can slow down your loading time.

Keep it simple with some relevant infographics and photos.

Navigation is simple

Simple navigation piggybacks on my last point.

Let’s go through an example to illustrate what I mean.

Here’s the homepage for Square:

It’s super clean and easy to read.

If a visitor wants to get started, they can simply select the size and type of their business.

There’s nothing confusing about this navigation because the options are narrow.

The CTA is clear: “Sign Up With Square.”

When someone visiting the website wants to learn more, their options are limited, so they are forced to scroll.

As you continue to navigate down the homepage, you learn more information about the product.

Look at how the screenshot above reflects the points I talked about earlier.

• No complex images
• Minimal text
• Short paragraphs
• Bullet points

From here, the user has no other option but to continue scrolling.

Now they have even more information about the product, and there’s a CTA button in this section as well.

There’s no messy sidebar or confusing menu.

It’s so easy for the visitor to navigate that it’s impossible for them to get lost.

This also impacts the page loading time.

Each time a user has to click on a new page to find more information, you risk having an issue with loading, which, as we saw earlier, will negatively impact your bounce rate.

But Square eliminates that problem but putting all the information on the homepage.

Once you get to the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a much larger menu on the footer.

Can you imagine if this was the first thing you saw at the very top of the page?

You’d be so overwhelmed that you’d have no idea where to get started.

There are nearly 40 options to choose from.

It’s fine at the footer because at this point the user already has an idea of what they’re looking for.

But I know you’ve been to websites that have menus like this at the top of their pages.

Bad idea.

If your website looks like this right now, you need to simplify it right away if you want to improve your conversion rates.

You’ll have fewer problems designing the website and fixing bugs

If you’ve been running a website for any length of time now, you know that bugs and minor issues are bound to happen.

It’s inevitable.

The key is being able to identify those problems and get them fixed right away.

Here are some of the most common types of problems with a website:

All of these can negatively impact your conversion rates.

If your site is too cluttered, it’s hard to keep the page code organized.

Anytime you need to make an update, it becomes a complicated process.

There’s just too much room for error.

Having a simple design will make it easier for you to code, build, update, and edit the site.

It’s less expensive for your web hosting services

How much does it cost you to host your website?

If your site is complex, you’ll need extra storage space.

Prices vary from platform to platform, but here’s an example from SiteGround’s web hosting plans:

There’s a 300% price increase between 10 GB of web space and 30 GB of storage space.

I realize the price points also come with other upgrade features, but from a storage standpoint, it’s going to be cheaper for you if the page design is simple.

You can put the money you’re saving towards another aspect of your business.

That money can help you from a marketing perspective to generate new leads and eventually increase conversions.

Visitors will think your site is more trustworthy

Have you ever been on a website and thought it didn’t seem legitimate?

I have.

It’s a weird feeling getting instantly worried about cyber security.

You don’t want your website visitors to get this feeling when they’re navigating your site.

Having too much clutter can make it seem like you’re trying to hide something, even if that’s not the case.

Having images and advertisements everywhere feels too salesy.

Even if you’re selling something, you don’t want to come off like you’re trying to force it down the user’s throat.

Earlier we discussed some reasons for shopping cart abandonment as it relates to the speed of your site.

This graph explains that trust also impacts conversions on your page:

For an ecommerce store, this could be a deadly mistake.

The customer wants your product or services, but they are hesitant to complete the purchase because they don’t think their credit card information is secure.

They’ll just go to another website where they feel safe and make the purchase from your competition instead.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to improve the conversion rates on your website, take a look at the design of your pages.

Those of you who have too much clutter overwhelm your visitors.

Go back to the drawing board.

Simplicity needs to be your goal.

Simple designs help your pages load faster, reducing your bounce rates.

Without distractions on the page, your CTA button will be clear and obvious.

Users won’t have to search for it to take the action you want them to take.

Modest designs also make it easier for people to skim through your content.

This is beneficial for you because you’ll have complete control over what their eyes see on the screen.

Limit their options, and make your points stand out.

A simple website design is also less expensive for you to host.

You can put that extra money towards another marketing campaign that improves conversions.

Simple websites also help you establish more trust with the visitors.

If your design is too complex or sketchy, you’ll have trouble getting conversions.

What elements of your website do you plan on eliminating to cut down the clutter?

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The Top Customer Engagement Strategies That Generate Sky High Revenue

In order to run a successful business, you’ll need to do more than just acquire customers.

One of the best ways to have a successful customer retention strategy is by creating customer engagement.

That goes for all companies across every industry.

Whether you have a brick and mortar location in a small town or have a global ecommerce distribution network, the customer is the lifeline of your business.

While it may not seem like an issue or concern right now, failing to keep your customers engaged could be detrimental to your business.

Fortunately, it appears as though you’ve recognized the importance of customer engagement and that’s what brought you here.

You’ve come to the right place.

I’ll show you my proven strategies to help you improve your customer engagement strategy.

Following these techniques will show the customer how much you care about them.

When customers don’t think you care, they’ll stop using your services and find another company to treat them better.

Part of successful engagement and retention involves going above and beyond to connect with your customers.

Big retail companies are even spending upward of $1 million on artificial intelligence technology to improve their customer engagement strategy.

It’s the top expected benefit from such a big investment.

I’m not expecting you to do this, but I wanted to show you how much stress big brands are putting towards improving their company.

My strategies are much more cost efficient and will yield a high return on your investment.

They don’t require too much time or effort either.

You can implement these tactics to your marketing plan right away too.

Here’s what you can do to get started.

Create interactive emails

How much time have you spent in the last few months making sure that your email marketing strategy is performing at a high level?

I see this mistake far too often when I’m consulting with various businesses.

They send the same boring weekly newsletters and promotions.

While your customers definitely want to hear from you, the constant repetition won’t keep them engaged.

That’s a problem.

You can spice up your email campaigns by incorporating interactive emails to your messages.

One way you can accomplish this is by getting your email to mimic the look and design of your website.

Include different menus that give the subscriber a reason to actively click to find out more information.

Accordion menus work well too.

It allows you to pack more information into a small space.

When a customer sees something that they like, they can click to expand the accordion.

This also improves the chances that your subscribers will see more of your content because it eliminates the need for scrolling.

Adding GIFs and videos to your messages can help increase engagement as well.

It’s much more exciting than just reading a plain email.

If you have a retail or ecommerce business, you should include live shopping carts in your messages too.

This is a great strategy to improve your shopping cart abandonment rates.

When a customer doesn’t finish the checkout process, send a follow-up email with the shopping cart embedded in the message.

That way the consumer can complete the transaction without having to go back to your website.

It’s quick and efficient for everyone, which will help generate more revenue for your company.

Use Facebook Live on a regular basis

Facebook Live is one of my favorite trends of the year.

It’s the perfect resource for businesses to engage with their customers.

More than half of marketing experts agree that video content yields the highest return on investment.

Why?

First of all, it’s so easy.

Second, if you’re using Facebook Live to promote video content, it won’t cost you anything except for your time.

Treat your live stream as if it were a television show.

Don’t just come on randomly whenever you feel like it.

Set a scheduled time once or twice each week to go live.

This will help you build a loyal audience, which will impact your conversions and revenue.

One of the best parts of going live on Facebook is the ability to interact with the viewers in real time.

As you broadcast, users have the option to comment on your stream.

These comments could be directed towards you or even other people who are watching the stream.

Make sure that you respond those comments.

Acknowledge those users.

“That’s a good point, John Smith. I’ll keep that in mind.”

It’s simple.

That recognition will help make the viewers feel special.

It encourages them to keep watching each week and it inspires others to comment as well, knowing that they could also get mentioned.

Facebook live videos are native, which means they are embedded on a page or feed as opposed to an external link.

Native formats increase the share rate of your content compared to other channels.

Don’t do a quick stream.

Longer live videos increase your chances of getting a larger audience.

Facebook allows you to go live for up to four consecutive hours.

You don’t have to stream for the full four hours, but I’d recommend doing at least two or three hours.

Not sure what to talk about during this time?

Don’t worry about it.

Just be yourself.

Obviously, you want to keep things professional, but this stream will give your customers a chance to see the human side of you.

Recognizing that there’s a real person behind the brand name will help them establish a closer connection with you.

This can ultimately increase customer loyalty.

Here’s something else you’ll want to keep in mind.

85% of videos on Facebook get viewed with the sound turned off.

So use lots of visuals in your stream.

You can also add captions to your video so the viewers can read what you’re saying.

Take a look at some of the top Facebook video statistics from 2016.

All of these numbers reiterate what I’ve been saying.

So add this strategy to your marketing campaign to improve the relationship between you and your customers.

Run a contest or sweepstakes

Promotions are a great way to get the attention of your customer base.

Everyone wants something for free, so give the people what they want.

First, you’ve got to understand the difference between a contest and a sweepstakes.

A contest means that the customers need to put forth some sort of effort to win.

There’s a judgment involved in selecting the winner based on skill.

A sweepstakes means that the winner is completely random.

Personally, I recommend running a contest as opposed to a sweepstakes because it gets the customer more involved and genuinely interested in your brand.

If they enter a sweepstakes, all they do is enter and forget about it.

I would recommend running your contest through social media platforms.

When analyzing the top benefits of social media marketing, we can see that the list applies directly to our discussion about customer engagement.

Developing loyal fans will help increase your revenue.

Running your contests on social media will also increase exposure for your brand.

One suggestion could be a photo contest on Instagram.

I like this technique because it’s so easy.

Plus, it encourages user-generated content.

Tell your customers to post a photo that relates to your business.

The user who has the most likes on their picture will win the contest.

Now your brand is all over social media exposed to people who may not have known about you before.

So in addition to improving engagement with your existing customers, you have the opportunity to acquire new customers at no cost.

It’s two birds with one stone.

Here’s an example of a contest that Infiniti ran on social media.

Using a hashtag to enter the contest can also help increase the chances of your promotion going viral.

Contestants know that their photo will be compared to other customers, so they’ll have a chance to check out all of the other entries as well.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re running a contest.

• Make sure the rules are clearly posted
• Set a deadline
• The prize needs to be relevant to your brand
• Allow mobile users to participate
• Your hashtag should be creative and unique
• Make sure the contest is shareable on social platforms
• Announce when you’ve selected a winner

Since contests are so easy and inexpensive to run, I recommend doing this frequently.

Just because the contest is over, it doesn’t mean you can’t start another one up right away.

In fact, running these promotions often will give your customers a reason to keep entering and keep them actively engaged with your brand.

Post on your Instagram story

Take advantage of everything that Instagram has to offer.

Don’t just post to your profile.

Add photos and videos to your story as well.

Similar to Snapchat, anything on your Instagram story lasts for 24 hours.

So be active and add to it every day.

These are my top suggestions for what you should put on your story.

• Promotional information and discounts
• Social proof
• Content from your website
• Behind the scenes clips of your company workspace
• New product launches
• Introduce your staff

All of these will keep your followers engaged with your profile.

If you want to run an enhanced version of Instagram story, you can go live on this platform as well.

We already discussed the importance of this strategy when we talked about Facebook Live.

I recommend using Instagram live story for something different than your Facebook strategy.

With Facebook, you should host a weekly stream.

But with Instagram, you should go live when you’re at an event or doing something cool.

This will create an authentic interaction with your viewers.

As a result, they will stay engaged with your profile and brand.

Write a double opt-in landing page

Here’s a strategy that’s often overlooked.

To increase customer engagement, you need to acquire customers who want to be engaged in the first place.

Here’s what I mean.

If your customers can create a profile or join your subscription list with just one click, you may get some people who aren’t genuinely interested.

Making customers take an extra step to join a list will increase engagement.

The best way to do this is with a double opt-in landing.

So when a customer subscribes to your email list from your website, make them confirm their subscription with a welcome email.

It will help you filter out people who don’t want to be engaged.

Double opt-in emails will also improve your open rates.

While you may end up with fewer subscribers if you implement this strategy, you’ll get more active subscribers.

This will make it much easier for you to apply the other engagement tactics that we discussed.

Conclusion

Improving your customer engagement strategy will positively impact your revenue.

Not sure where to start?

Follow the tips that we outlined.

Start by developing interactive emails.

It’s easy. Just continue to email your current subscriber list but include videos, GIFs, live shopping carts, and menus to increase engagement with each campaign.

Schedule a time each week to go live on Facebook.

Interact with the viewers who comment on the stream.

This is a perfect opportunity for you to connect with your customers in real time.

Run a contest or sweepstakes that encourages UGC.

Contests will give the customers a reason to interact and engage with your brand.

Take advantage of the Instagram story feature as well.

Another way to make it easier to engage with your customers is by filtering the most viable candidates to your subscription list.

Create a double opt-in landing to ensure that your customers are interested and actually want you to keep engaging with them.

What type of content will you include on your Instagram story to increase engagement with your current customer base?

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Social Media Project Introduction and a Quick Update

I wanted to provide an update on a few of the things happening in my business.  I typically do this on a monthly basis.  

However, beyond just a normal update, I also want to provide a few more details on the social media project that I mentioned briefly in my last post.  I'll dive into what the social media project is and why I'm doing it.

First, let's jump into what happened in the last month…hopefully some of these updates will be useful to you in your own business.

Monthly Update

Even though I no longer give income numbers, I still want to give a general update on what I've been up to. 

Business sale

As mentioned last month, I was able to find a buyer for my “Home Goods Brand” through EmpireFlippers.  We agreed on a price and started the due diligence period.

Unfortunately, the process has taken much longer than anticipated.  We agreed on a price in early October, and now it's near the end of November and things are still in limbo.

The primary reason is that the new buyer is located in Canada and needed to get a US business entity and US bank account set up.  Anything that involves attorneys, accountants, and the government can take a long time.

However, I'm happy to say that in the past week the new buyer was able to get everything set up and we are now in the process of transferring everything over.  I was hopeful it would happen this week; however, due to Thanksgiving…I expect everything to close out next week sometime.

Fitness Brand

I'm excited for the future of this brand.  This is the brand that I've building the Facebook page for (see my post on 10,800 followers in 17 days).  We are seeing some really high engagement with this audience; especially, in the new private Facebook group I created last month.

This new private facebook group already has over 500 members and it's INSANELY active.  Here's an image showing the top posts in the past 30 days.

Getting 50 or 60 comments and 100+ likes/reactions is HUGE for a group of around 500 people.

By comparison, here is the Niche Pursuits private FB group with over 16,000 members.  The top posts are not anywhere close to as engaging as the top posts for my fitness brand:

I think it's great that I have a 16,000 member private FB group, but I wish the engagement was much closer to that of this newly formed group in the fitness niche.

In addition to jumpstarting the social media presence of this brand, we are also working on a few new products.  We are currently manufacturing 3 new products that we plan to sell on Amazon and through our own website.  

In addition, I'm working with a partner to create a membership website that people will pay $10 a month for (hopefully).  We plan to make the private FB group part of the membership along with a few other information/digital “products” that we believe people are willing to pay for.

I'm hoping to launch the new membership area in December.  

The plan is to the leverage social media to grow this membership product.  (This will likely include both organic reach and paid ads on Facebook).

Social Media Project

I've mentioned the social media project and have been in the planning stages, but what exactly is it?  Ah, that is the question!  I share my 10 point plan and explanation of it below…

So, I sent out a survey a few weeks ago asking people what their experience and concerns are with social media.  I was trying to get a feel for what the interest level was in learning about social media.

Here's some of the response I got:

Most people are getting none or very little social media traffic to their sites; over 70%.  So, there is room for this type of traffic growth for most people.

Nearly 80% of people are open to seeing strategies for both free and non-free strategies.  I think this is realistic for most business owners…free is great, but if you can pay and convert at a profitable rate, that's great too.

I'm not surprised to see that most people are interested in Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube.  I plan to focus on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest throughout this project.

This is just a small sample of over 200 responses to this question.  The answered varied from just knowing how to get started, to finding a way to truly convert social media traffic into customers.

The ideas I got were all over the board.  Some people wanted me to conduct this project in a similar fashion to the Niche Site Projects, while others wanted larger group training.

So, after taking into consideration the feedback I've gotten, here's what I've decided to do for the social media project.

10 Point Plan for the Social Media Project

1. I plan to share my strategies and what's working for me as I try to build a social media following on various platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest will be the focus) and as I find success in monetizing those followings.
2. I do NOT plan to take on students and make this project reliant on how others perform.  All the “coaching” will simply be publicly available to anyone that reads my blog posts.
3. I do plan to post at least twice a month with either updates OR social media strategies.
4. I do NOT plan on letting this project go on forever.  This project will last 6 months (until May 2018) where I'm providing regular updates.  After that, I don't plan on blogging twice a month about the social media project (but may still provide occasional updates).
5. The 6 month goal for the project: See how large of a social media following I can get AND see how much revenue I can generate through that social media following.  I'll be updating these 2 stats at least once a month: social media following size and revenue attributed to my social media following.
6. I do NOT plan on focusing my efforts on growing the social media following of NichePursuits.com…that would seem disingeneous.  This project and my social media efforts will be focused on a niche outside of NichePursuits.com.  In other words, I can't leverage my “fame” from NichePursuits.com to this other niche.  The niche I will be focusing on is in the fitness space, and I've never revealed the domain publicly.
7. I will not be revealing my domain or social media profiles publicly.  I'll simply be sharing the strategies I learn and growth statistics.
8. I would like to share the opinions of other experts.  So, I hope to bring on guest posters or interview others that have had great success in social media.  If you are one of those people, please reach out to me and let's figure out when you can share your knowledge.
9. I do want to hear success stories from you.  Even though I'm not coaching anybody one on one, I still hope that others will be following along and implementing some of these strategies on their own.  As you do, I hope you will reach out to me and let me know that you are seeing success!  If it makes sense, I'll ask a few of you to write guest posts for me to share your success stories.
10. Overall, I want this to be a fun and enjoyable experience as we all learn together!  You can interact with others following along with this project right here in the Niche Pursuits Private Facebook Group.

How can you participate?

Just because I won't be coaching anyone, doesn't mean I don't want you to feel like you can following along and participate.  Please apply the strategies I share (like this strategy from last week), and let me know how it's going!  Send me an email or post in the private FB group.

I hope the private FB group can be a hub where participants interact and learn from each other.

Final Thoughts

As shared last week, this project is already under way!  I was able to grow a brand new Facebook page from 0 to over 10,000 fans in 17 days.  However, that was just one idea and I haven't really scratched the surface of what could be done and how to monetize that following.

Overall, I hope you are excited to join in and follow along with the social media project!  Even though I won't be coaching anyone one on one, I think just putting myself through the project is the best way to see what happens when someone focuses on social media project.

I hope over the next 6 months that I'm able to share a few things that I learn along the way so that you can apply it into your own business.

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