Think Outside The Box: 3 Social Media Strategies to Increase Engagement

Social media is no longer optional -- it's necessary.

When it comes to social media, you'll either have a lot of success engaging with customers, or little results for content you thought would thrive. But as long as you're posting, your social media will excel, right? It's not always that simple. Sometimes you have to look outside the box to find a strategy that works. Here are 3 tactics to help increase engagement on your social media.

Explore the World of Reddit AMA 

When you think of Reddit, what do you think of? Internet trolls? Know-it-alls? What a lot of companies might not realize is that Reddit's AMA (Ask Me Anything) is an easy resource that, when used correctly, can actually help your business develop an identity through community and dive into some pretty interesting and fun conversations. 

Now, you might be asking, how? Well, the key is to pitch your topic as being deserving of an AMA. A lot of the time you'll find actors, musicians, politicians, scientists, and celebrity figures hosting AMAs, but it's pretty common for regular users to host as well. 

For example, in this AMA from 2015 a small business owner left his job to develop his own software company. While that might not be as captivating as someone like Elon Musk hosting an AMA, there is a huge audience on the platform who are dying to read and listen to stories about regular folks who have riveting stories to share. Promoting your AMA's on socials could bring in interested users / potential customers and allow them the opportunity to ask questions about you or your business.

Learn the Art of GIFs and Memes.

Unless you've been living under a rock since 2012, you should know that GIFs and memes have become the language of the modern internet. So how do we implement this phenomenon in a way that feels relatable to your audience instead of cringey?

First, you have to understand your audience. Are you trying to appeal to one generation or multiple? Not every type of humor is going to connect with all generations, so you should make sure you know who your GIF or meme is meant to target. 

Secondly, know what kind of GIF/meme you want to make. 

Traditional: GIF/Memes are common memes you see when scrolling through social media. They usually contain mainstream images or clips from a scene from a television show or movie, a notable celebrity, images of animals, or a viral image. They often connect to the latest popular trends, hot topics of conversation, and even current events.

Dank: GIF/Memes involve outlandish or out-of-context jokes that walk the line of dark and light humor. Dank memes tend to parody traditional memes by applying them in a way that's new and a little unorthodox. Dying or out-of-date memes are often chosen to fulfill this role. 

Edgy: Edgy GIF/Memes usually entail dark humor that is designed to push social norms and shock its audiences.

Wholesome: Wholesome GIF/Memes tend to be less about humor and instead focus on a positive and uplifting message.

Finally, it's time to design your GIF/Meme. There are hundreds of websites that make it easy to design and create GIFs and Memes. A lot of GIF/Meme design websites such as Giphy.com or Imgflip.com are free to use and already have preloaded templates for users to edit and re-word however they want. OR if you want to make your own meme from scratch, they also provide users with the resources to turn their photos and videos into the next viral trend! (Here's to hoping right? 🤞)

Take advantage of Poll features.

One of Twitter and LinkedIn's underused features is Polls. 

Polls are a quick and easy way to get followers to engage and interact with your company (not to mention a way for you to get insight on your industry). The options are endless. Some creative uses include letting followers make decisions for you, voting on an item to go on sale, or asking opinions on current events occuring in the industry. 

And the even better part? POLLS GENERATE COMMENTS! Everyone has an opinion, so if you manage to ask the right question, followers and even non-followers will likely be influenced to explain why they voted the way they did, present you with detailed information, and open up conversations on the topic at hand. No matter the industry, polls are the way to go.

Want more tips on how to engage followers? Follow That Random Agency on social media or connect with us by sending a message below!

Bop or Flop? - YouTube Shorts

Imitation is the best flattery, and it's no secret that social media platforms love to imitate each other. As soon as a new, innovative app or feature is introduced, the rest of the platforms are on it like hawks 👀 

One example is the rise of TikTok and the subsequent push toward short-form video that has ensued across the rest of the social media world. 

Stay tuned for a blog post on the strategy and psychology behind that phenomenon. For now, we're exploring whether YouTube Shorts have been successful for creators and companies, in order to make the ultimate ruling: bop or flop.

Bop (and Flop?): The algorithm

Let's just dive right into the good stuff: how well does the Shorts algorithm work? Shorts were only introduced in the U.S. in 2021, so there isn't much concrete data yet on their performance, but there are some sources we can take a look at.

According to a July 2022 video from YouTube's Creator Insider channel, the platform says they researched differences in performance between channels that only made long-form content and channels that made both long-form content and Shorts. They found that channels that made both were actually growing faster.

The demand for short-form video has been on the rise over the last three years, but is it only creating surface-level success for creators and brands?

A Reddit thread from March of 2022 asks users, What has been your experience with YouTube Shorts? Commenters say they occasionally get quick viral views on their Shorts, but it doesn't lead to a reliable increase in subscribers. A few users say they've had great experiences with creating Shorts, but most are dissatisfied. 

And actually, looking back to the Creator Insider video, there are also many comments from creators saying that Shorts have actually hurt their channels. Here's one from Cinecom.net, a channel with over 2.4 million subscribers.

Flop: 60-second limit

With the Instagram Reels limit of 90 seconds and the TikTok limit of 10 minutes, only allowing 60-second videos on Shorts can be a bit of a drawback. It's still short-form content that will keep people engaged, but 60 seconds goes fast when you're creating the video. It's very possible that YouTube will increase the length in the near future, but until then, creators will have to remain a little limited with time.

Bop: Monetization

YouTube is giving 45% of ad revenue right back to creators. 

It was just recently announced that starting early next year, Shorts will be a part of the YouTube Partner Program, meaning those who qualify will get a chunk of the ad revenue from Shorts. 

In order to qualify, creators must have at least 1,000 subscribers and either 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days or 4,000 total long-form watch hours. For creators who don't qualify, YouTube is creating tipping and paid membership features.

Flop: Changes to the interface

Lastly, adding Shorts to the YouTube app has significantly changed the interface and user experience. The Shorts tab has now taken the place of the Explore tab, which allowed users to discover recommended videos and see the current trending videos. The Explore page still exists, but it isn't as easy to find.

A side note also related to interface: the Shorts creator seems to have many of the same features and abilities as TikTok and Reels, including the option to add trending sounds and songs to your video. We'll call that a mini bop.

At the end of the day, some users might seem disillusioned by their Shorts experiences, but if you're a creator or brand already creating consistently on YouTube, why not experiment? There are always engagements and impressions to be gained from video content, and short-form video is undoubtedly here to stay.

If you're having trouble navigating the world of short video, reach out to us below to learn how we can work together! And let us know in the comments: what do you think of YouTube Shorts?

The Power of (Canva) Brand Kits

Canva is quite possibly THE most popular tool when it comes to quick, easy, and efficient online design tools. If you don't already know about it, you're about to. In 2021, Canva had over 75 million users who used the platform for whatever reason it may be. The program is popular with (you guessed it) content creators, students, small businesses, and more. Although anyone can sign up for a free Canva account, there are several paid package options with upgrades.  

So, let's say you're a Canva Pro Member. But are you really utilizing all the features Canva offers? One key feature us avid users might not be taking advantage of is the ability to build a 'Brand Kit' directly into your team's space! The good news is, now you know about it. And some even better news is we're about to dive into the pros of Canva Brand Kits and the best practices when using them. 

The Basic Brand Kit

There are three main features you're able to utilize in a brand kit: logos, fonts, and colors. 

1. Logos

Logos Icon in Canva

Tired of uploading your logo every time you need to use it? Or scrolling through your recent uploads trying to find it? Here's your solution. With the brand kit feature, you're able to upload your logo and any other version of it you may need right to your brand kit. After uploading your logo(s), they'll be readily available to you in the ˜Logos' section of your utility bar (as shown to the right). 

PSA: If you manage multiple clients with various logos, this just might be your hail mary. 

2. Fonts

We can't tell you just how many fonts are in Canva, and who knows the amount that aren't. The majority of brands have their favorite fonts, but who wants to find those fonts every time you go to use them? Not us! 

Another great feature of Canva Brand Kits is the ability to pick fonts for your kit that will always be available to you when you look for them. In addition, as a pro member you can upload your own fonts if Canva doesn't have them available to you. 

3. Colors

Styles Icon in Canva

Just as we mentioned before, the same goes for colors. There is an endless number of colors to choose from and, again, every brand usually has a few colors in their palette. This is a great addition to the brand kit, as you're always able to find just the right shade of the color you need to match your brand when creating content. When you're creating content, find your way to the 'Styles' section of your utility bar and your brand kit colors will be there for you. 

Brand Color in Canva Example

For content creators, such as our Social Media Specialists, this is a great feature when creating content for multiple brands. The Canva Brand Kit allows us to separate our clients' brand colors, similar to the one you see for Random, and we can easily find our clients' brand colors to use for content creation. We LOVE a brand kit. 

4. Templates

A newer addition to the Canva Brand Kit is the ability to create pre-approved branded templates to help your team stay 'on brand' when creating content. Creators within your team on Canva have access to these templates which can be especially useful for business owners who use freelancers or are starting to grow their social media team. By utilizing the brand template option, your team will have an easier time staying consistent with your style guide and your feed will thank you! 

The Canva Brand Kit can be a major life - no, TIME - saver. No more scrolling endlessly through your files, memorizing font names, or referring back to your internal brand style guide to find that identical hex code. 

Love the idea of creating content with Canva for your brand but not so sure you want to take on the task? Contact us! Our Social Media Specialists are expert Canva users and know just how to help to give your brand a level-up.

Social Media Management: A Break Down

Social Media Management isn't for everyone When you sit down and really think about it, there's a lot more that goes into creating content for your business (or other businesses in our case) than you may think.

Do you have a content strategy? Is your brand voice coming across through your posts? Are you using the right photo sizes? Are you on the right platforms? These are just a few of the questions to ask when evaluating your business's social media. 

So, where do you even start? We're going to cover the basics of social media management to help you understand where your practices may be lacking or to help you find a good place to start! 

Let's break it down, shall we?

We're going to make this short and sweet. Here's our absolute essentials to learning how to manage social media pages:

1. First things first, a content strategy. Ever heard of it?

To ease the stress of wondering how you're supposed to come up with ˜all these posts' for your company's social media, start at the beginning. Take the time to create a content strategy. The content strategy incorporates who your brand is, who your audience is, what you want to communicate to them, and how. Although it may seem overwhelming and a bit time consuming, a content strategy will ultimately save you some time in the end AND keep your brand on track for when you create posts in the future. It's all about a consistent brand (and visually appealing graphics)!

To get started, take a look at this blog post that may spark some ideas when creating your content strategy.

2. Pick and choose your channels wisely.

It's easy to be on every social media platform there is to reach anyone and everyone. We get the appeal. But reality is, each platform has its own niche, and maybe your company doesn't quite need to fit every niche in the book. Find which platforms work best for you and your goals. A few things to consider when choosing which channels to focus on: 

Need some more guidance? Check out our blog post to learn why Pinterest could be a great platform for your business

3. POV: You actually plan ahead.

Plan, plan, plan. We can't stress this enough! Sure, certain events and announcements may be last minute additions, but for the majority of your content, consider planning out your posts ahead of time. Content calendars are a practice in themselves, so find what works best for you and your team. There are endless ways these can be done: weekly, monthly, maybe even further out, it's up to you! Find your preferred practice and make it a recurring thing. We promise it's worth it in the long run. 

4. Ah, more planning.

Get ahead of the game. Now that you have your content planned out, take it one step further and schedule your content ahead of time! There are so many content scheduling tools out there, so use them. Signing up for a scheduling tool like Agorapulse or Later.com, just to name a few, will help you tremendously. Because who wants to manually post every post they create? Not us! 

5. Don't forget to engage.

So, you've posted your content, and now people are responding, tagging, and sharing your posts. Community management on your social media pages is a whole different ball game. Find what works for you, but make sure you're interacting with your audience and creating conversations around your company to keep them engaged. Whether you're simply liking replies or responding to comments and questions, it's important to foster relationships with the users on your pages to keep them coming back for more interaction.

6. Hope you like data!

Last, but not least, utilize available analytics. This is where you learn most about what's working and what isn't. By checking in with your metrics, you'll learn how to grow your page even further. Analytics can be found in-app or even on a third party website (like the one you're using to schedule content ). Find whatever works best for you, but make sure you're analyzing your data, and doing it consistently! 


Now this may feel overwhelming, and we won't lie to you, it can be. Soak it all in, and start slowly. We believe in you. Good luck out there! 

If this sounds like something you want someone else to deal with you're in the right place. Social media management is something we spend a lot of time learning how to do and how to do it well. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you grow your business! 

How to Leverage Pinterest for Your Business

We've already shared why your business needs to be on Pinterest. (Have you read it? Are you on it already? Good!)

Now that you're there, you may be asking yourself: where do I go from here? How do I grow my business with Pinterest?

Remember that Pinterest is more of a search engine than a social media platform like TikTok or Instagram. Users come to Pinterest to discover new products, recipes, and ideas, rather than purely for socialization or entertainment. So, it's important to make your Pins as searchable and clear as possible.

Top Tips for Pin Creation

Use SEO in Pin Titles

Text is Best

Strong Images and Brand Visuals

Clear Board Descriptions

Quality over Quantity

Use Hashtags

Solve People's Problems

IGTV and Video

How to Sell on Pinterest

Influencer Campaigns

Shop the Look

List Items as Individual Pins

Claim All Accounts

Use Product Pins

Organic vs. Paid

Looking for help with your Pinterest strategy and content creation? Reach out to us below!

Your C-Suite Needs to Be On Social Media

Random begs, encourages, implores you: get your leadership team on social media. Even if your company already has a robust social presence, your leadership team needs their own. Here's why.

Employee Advocacy

In case you missed it on the Random blog, we wrote a whole post on why employee advocacy is key for your company's growth. Let your leaders lead on social media as well“it will inspire employee engagement with the advocacy program, demonstrate the initiative's importance, and model behavior.

Thought Leaders

Buzzy term, but it matters. Leadership can establish themselves as top-of-mind, influential, and trusted sources of information through a conscious social media presence, boosting company prestige and their own marketability.

Company Character

As more and more businesses flood the market, consumers and collaborators alike want to know: why buy from your company? Why work with your company? The ethos and character exemplified by your leadership on social media will influence those integral decisions. 78% of employees prefer to work with a company whose C-Suite is active on social!

Brand Loyalty

Humans love humans, and people prefer to buy from a face or presence they recognize and enjoy. 82% of consumers are more likely to trust a company whose C-Suite is on social and 77% are more likely to buy.

For Executives Who Hate Social Media

Don't worry, we see you, and we understand.

  1. It doesn't need to be personal.
    Your life is your own, and you don't always need to be on! Keep your private life private.
  2. It doesn't need to be clever.
    Social media, communications, or PR teams can curate and recommend posts and content for C-Suite members to share.
  3. It doesn't need to be a constant stream.
    Have a consistent weekly posting cadence, but no need to stress about being Gary Vee and posting multiple times a day, every day. He is an outlier!

If you need help building a social media strategy for your leadership team (or your business as a whole), give us a shout below.

A Guide to LinkedIn Employee Advocacy

LinkedIn Employee Advocacy isn't exactly what it sounds like; while we at Random are all for providing people with ample benefits, robust lines of communication, and developing a healthy work-life balance, employee advocacy on LinkedIn is about your employees advocating for your business. It's the LinkedIn equivalent of an influencer campaign, but (often) virtually free.

Employee Advocacy Statistics

Pretty good, huh?

Step One: Establish Clear Goals

A successful employee advocacy campaign begins with a clear goal. There are many functions an employee advocacy campaign can serve: 

Step Two: Find Your Ambassadors

Which of your employees should you recruit to be your first employee advocates? If you're a small company, the answer may be everyone! If you're a large company, start with leadership and your most social-savvy team members.

If the company's top brass get on the employee advocacy train, it's far more likely that other team members will follow suit and understand the importance of your advocacy campaign.

Social media masters will make the launch of your new initiative smoother. Think also about what teams would have the biggest impact on social media. Sales, marketing, and human resources are all excellent places to start. After onboarding your experienced employees, over time you can add those who are more apprehensive about social media. Provide lunches and seminars to educate new additions, and enlist your first recruits to help teach and train as you grow your employee advocacy network.

No matter what, remind employees of how their participation in an advocacy program benefits them: greater power and influence in the company, and a larger professional reputation.

Step Three: Content and Contact

Recommend content to your new employee advocates. Content could include articles, polls, quizzes, sales, job listings, photographs, statistics, fun facts, surveys, events, webinars, and more.

Follow the 4-1-1 Rule for every 6 pieces of content:

Be sure that no more than 25% of the content your employees share is company related. Your audience will lose interest quickly if employees exclusively share dry company content. People on all social platforms want content that they'll find useful and interesting.

LinkedIn Elevate, GaggleAMP, Bambu from Sprout Social, and Hootsuite Amplify are just a few of many tools that can be used to manage employee advocacy. However, if these aren't feasible for your company due to price or company size, sending a simple weekly email to employees with recommended articles to share, company information or blogs, and promotional content will suffice. If you use an email, be sure to include headlines, short shareable blurbs about the content, and native links to allow employees to share with ease and clarity.

Step Four: Report Results

Be sure to continue to monitor growth and results, ideally with a report at least once a month to ensure your strategy is working.

If you use an employee advocacy tool, monitoring the impact of employee advocacy will be relatively easy! Otherwise, you'll have to manually pull data from your employees' posts, such as link clicks and engaged demograhics, as well as other KPIs such as sales, website traffic, and job applicants.

Check out these great employee advocacy tools: https://www.oktopost.com/blog/top-10-employee-advocacy-tools/

Step Five: Longevity

Employee advocacy is a long game. Keep the ball rolling by reporting successes and growth to employees, adjusting your campaign strategy as needed, and offer fun reward initiatives for engaged employees.

Finally, good luck! If you'd like to chat more about employee advocacy or any other social media needs you may have, reach out to us below.

Pop-Culture Potential: A Brand Guide

Pop-culture is a quick moving, not-so-well-oiled machine, it can be actually quite chaotic, but that's the world we live in and you better be ready for the ride!

Keeping up to date with the latest trends is a job in itself and who really wants more work hours? However, with Gen Z as the up-and-coming generation of well, everything, it's important to note what they enjoy in relation to social media content from brands. So, that's who we'll focus on for this lesson specifically. Let's get into it...

First Things First: Pop-Culture - The Lesson

Whether you're still in school or in the working world, welcome to Pop-Culture 101. Learning what pop-culture actually means is the first chapter in this lesson.

What is 'Pop-Culture'?

Pop-culture includes an array of current trends, it's everything from what's the latest in music, celebrity appearances, TV shows, movies, trends on social media, memes and GIFs, you name it. If it's current, popular, and trending on any socials, it falls under the category of pop-culture.  

Still not quite getting the full picture? Let us provide some examples.

Each of these represent a piece of pop-culture (mainly at the time we're writing this). You see a plethora of pop-culture references if you scroll through any social media site, but what about this could be important to brands?

Why Should Brands Care?

Take it from us, it does NOT have to be all business, ALL the time. Social media gives anyone and everyone, including brands, free range to express themselves.

As a brand, especially with a younger target audience, adaptability and relatability are two important factors that play a part in connecting with your audience. Yes, displaying your products, services, whatever it may be is a large part of what you do on social media. That doesn't have to go away, but an additional layer can come into play here.

Being relatable to your audience ropes them in and keeps them wanting more, but more importantly builds a trust and connection with your audience. Seeing brands in the loop of the latest trends shows users you're listening, you care, and you want to be the best brand you can be for them.

Building a trustworthy, relatable brand persona is just as important as the high-quality products or services you offer to them. It really does come down to knowing your audience.

Let's Talk Twitter

Twitter is a platform that users come to for entertainment, updates, and conversation. These users are not afraid to be genuinely themselves, including some unfiltered comments (that may or may not hurt your feelings).

According to Twitter, nearly half of all Tweets sent over the course of the year in the US came from Twitter users aged 16 to 24. Let me rephrase that, nearly HALF of ALL Tweets in ONE year from the US came from JUST Gen Z users on Twitter. Not only do they contribute to the majority, but they're the ones starting the trends and continuing the momentum.

So, when you're scheduling next month's content and you click the little blue bird, channel your inner Gen Z (or grab the nearest one). Is this content going to appeal to them? Will this start conversation? Can we continue the conversation with them once it begins?

For a more visual representation, let's check out some of these brands that took pop-culture into consideration in their social media strategy on Twitter:

McDonald's:

Short, sweet, simple, yet relatable! McDonald's took their brand and put a pop-culture twist to relate to their audience. The phrase didn't have to go that hard, was popular for quite some time between several social media sites. Round of applause, Dons.

Oreo:

Oreo really brought astrology into it Heard of an astrology girl? Oreo sure has. Astrological conversation has been on the rise and obviously being noticed. We wonder what Random's Oreoscope would be Mission accomplished.

DiGiorno:

DiGiorno, a brand we all know and love in the grocery aisle and at home. DiGirono takes their Twitter to the next level with a constant humorous tone. They consistently reply to Tweets that may relate to their business and keep their audience entertained while drawing them into their account persona.

Now, after seeing how brands put this thought into action, it may make sense, it may not. But the main takeaway here refers back to knowing your audience and how to scale your brand on each platform.

It's important to note - Twitter is just ONE platform of many that brands need to consider when it comes to trends and being relatable to their audience. If we were to outline each platform, this would be a novel, not a blog post.

The Latter

You may be asking yourself, how in the world am I going to keep up with these trends? Yes, trends change like Cher from Clueless, but there are few things you can do to try and keep up with the latest trends:

That's a Wrap

Well, we've come to the end of Pop-Culture 101 *Insert disappointed ˜awww' audio*. We know, we know, no one wants to leave quite yet. But we have a lot of work to do! We look forward to what the future holds when it comes to brands and their pop-culture references.

We'll leave you with some inspiration: Harry's House is off the charts, #JusticeForJohnny, Obi Wan has made its way to Disney+, find us on TellerTok, and we kissed Pete Davidson goodbye from SNL.

With that, you know you love us, XOXO Random (Your first pop-culture reference test)

It's Time for More Diversity in Digital Marketing

Gen Z is the most diverse generation in American history. Consumers' expectations are changing and marketers who are slow to adjust will quickly lose market share. In a recent research study by Quantilope, Gen Zers made clear that they want brands to step up their efforts around representation. 76% of Gen Zers said they feel diversity and inclusion is an important topic for brands to address, compared to 72% of millennials, 63% of Gen Xers, and 46% of Baby Boomers who felt the same. 

First, let's define it. What exactly is "diversity"?

At its most basic definition, diversity is the involvement of individuals representing more than one national origin, color, religion, sexual orientation, etc. The value of diversity, however, is much deeper than that. It's about inclusion. It's about welcoming and celebrating the unique voices that have always been present and worthy of being represented.

According to HubSpot, racial and ethnic minorities make up 40% of the U.S. population, 4.5% of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ, and more than 40 million Americans have a disability. Even with their significant presence and purchasing power, these groups are not represented equally in marketing.

What does successful inclusive marketing look like?

Inclusive marketing describes campaigns that embrace diversity by representing people from a variety of backgrounds. Some of these campaigns may have the goal of breaking stereotypes and making social commentary, but others just reflect the real world (HubSpot).

Many companies have implemented more inclusive ideals into their marketing in ways that successfully represent the diversity of voices in their audience as well as boost their brand.

Brands can grow financially while promoting positive and affirming representation of diverse groups of people. It's a win-win, friends.

One example of successful inclusive marketing is Microsoft's We All Win ad.

The video features kids with physical disabilities as they play video games with Microsoft's adaptive controllers. Microsoft is effective at emotionally connecting with the audience and depicting the real-world stories of these kids with disabilities, while still promoting their brand.

Another example is Google's The Picture Perfect Life ad.

The ad gives tiny glimpses into the lives of real people. Google features individuals from a variety of ages and races and challenges viewers to question your lens, because one picture does not tell a whole story.

Why should brands care?

More and more, consumers are expecting companies' online marketing to be diverse and inclusive. Customers are actually more likely to support and be loyal to brands that promote diversity.

A 2018 study from Heat Agency analyzed ads from 50 brands and scored them on their diversity efforts. The research found that the brands that scored the highest had an average of a 44% stock increase over the previous two years and were 83% more likely to see a boost in their brand reputation scores.

When brands commit to their diversity efforts, it benefits the brands and the consumers. Again, nobody loses here.

Inclusion in online marketing is even more essential than in traditional marketing as younger demographics are the primary audiences for many digital advertising campaigns. As kids and young adults are finding their places in the world, it is so impactful for them to see themselves represented in the content they view online, even in the ads they come across.

Brands have to improve on inclusion in their digital marketing in order to keep up with the growingly diverse consumer market and truly connect with their audiences.

How can brands take a step in the right direction?

Showing genuine stories is essential. A great first step to take is reaching out to real customers and even employees with unique stories and backgrounds to learn what your brand means to them. This will provide insight into the diversity of people that exist within your audience and inform ways to emotionally connect with them in your marketing.

No matter what, keep your customers or clients at the center of everything you do. This is a good rule for every aspect of your business, not just marketing. Without customers, brands would not exist. Seek to understand your customers' unique stories and struggles, and search for ways your company can celebrate those stories and ease those struggles.

Diversity and inclusion in marketing require direct action and deep transformation of brands' current marketing strategies. But it is worth it to equally and accurately represent the diverse communities that exist in our society.

If you are ready to transform your digital marketing strategy and boost your brand, contact us today to learn how our team can help you.

How To Use Hashtags on Facebook

Since its creation, the hashtag has become a centerpiece of social media. Hashtags allow your posts to be searchable and more visible, so they should be a staple in your social media strategy. You may already know how to use them on Instagram and Twitter, but you might be asking: what's the deal with hashtags on Facebook? We've got answers.

#SocialListening

Before you can know how to use hashtags in your own Facebook posts, you should learn from the best. Follow popular pages and businesses to learn how they are using hashtags. You can also analyze your competitors' hashtags to see what they use and when and why they use them. Lastly, take a look at some of your followers' posts to get a sense of what they talk about, and then you can choose tags for your own posts that target your audience's interests.

#KeepItBranded

Give your posts an extra layer of branding by using one or two original hashtags consistently. For example, a branded hashtag for Random could be #TheRandomBlog. Including a tag unique to your business in your Facebook post leaves the audience with a sense of who you are and an opportunity to check out the other posts you've made with the same hashtag.

#LessIsMore

You've probably seen plenty of Facebook posts that are so loaded with hashtags you can barely make sense of what the user is trying to say. Basically, avoid doing that. On Facebook, fewer hashtags equals more engagement. Try to limit your tags to no more than three per post.

Source: sproutsocial.com

#BalanceItOut

When including multiple hashtags in a post, balance the popularity of the tags. Use a hashtag generator like this one from Inflact to find hashtags by keyword, photo, or URL and see how often they're used. Choose a mix of tags that are popular (in the millions), average (100k-500k), and rare (less than 100k). Use hashtags related to your industry and the audience you are trying to reach.

#BeSpecific

Be sure to use hashtags that are specific to the topic of your post, your business or industry, and the audience you are targeting. If your tags are popular but not relevant, your post might be more visible but it won't reach your target audience. If your tags are too obscure, nobody will be searching for them. Finding the delicate balance between relevance and specificity might take some practice, but the result is worth it. Check out some more hashtag tips below.

#ShortAndSweet

Another part of choosing and creating hashtags that takes practice is the length. If your tag is too wordy, it will be difficult for users to read. Here's an example of what not to do: #internationaltravelerandphotographer. Long hashtags like this can often be broken down into smaller ones that will generate more engagement: #international #travel #photographer. To make tags even easier to read, you can capitalize the first letter of each word in the hashtag.

If you're ready to start leveraging hashtags for your brand, contact us today to see how our team can help you build a custom hashtag strategy for your business.