Native marketing is marketing that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears. In other words, native advertising is promoting your products and services in a way that's succinct with the platform you're on.
Do you use a similar tone across all social media platforms or use a different tone when you're on Facebook than you would on Twitter? And how do you change the tone when you're trying to attract new leads versus trying to convert them to clients?
I answered:
You do, yes.
Facebook is all about storytelling and content. Articles, videos, images etc. People open up their Facebook app to see stories from their friends and businesses they're interested in.
Twitter is about conversation. It's the only "true" social network because it's all about talking to people, answering and asking questions, responding in quick, real time.
Instagram is the only place where people pay a LOT of attention to a single image. As in, people literally look at them and don't skim over like on the other social networks.
LinkedIn... nobody knows what they're doing... but their release of LinkedIn Pulse suggest they're moving in to the content curation genre. But how they'll make that work in a B2B environment, I have no idea yet.
Let’s expand on that a little bit.
Lead Generation Vs. Conversion
The difference between lead generation and conversion is this;
During lead generation people have no idea who you are.
That means they don’t care about you or what you have to say. They are only interested in how you can benefit them.
You must meet people with a benefit to them. A solution to their problem. When you show that you understand their situation and have an answer for them – then they will be primed to find out more about you. In the lead generation stage, it is 100% about what you can do for them.
During lead generation people have no idea who you are.
That means they don’t care about you or what you have to say. They are only interested in how you can benefit them.
You must meet people with a benefit to them. A solution to their problem. When you show that you understand their situation and have an answer for them – then they will be primed to find out more about you. In the lead generation stage, it is 100% about what you can do for them.
When you have a lead and you’re in the conversion stage it is about building a relationship. This is the know-like-trust stage. Now people are interested in you. They want to know more about you, and what you do.
That isn’t license to talk about yourself all the time, but rather to relate to them. To show that you understand them, that you have helped people like them and to have a personality that people can start to build a relationship with.
Matching Your Tone To Your Marketing Channel
Every marketing channel has its own native communication style (tone), and you need to match your tone to the platform you're on. Have a think about why someone is on that particular site in the first place. What is there purpose there? How can you fit in with that?
There is a time and place to stand out, but you need to stand out while looking congruent. If your language and tone has a mismatch with the platform, people immediately put barriers up because it looks like a promotion and a waste of their time reading.
Let’s explore the biggest platforms and how to approach each one.
There is a time and place to stand out, but you need to stand out while looking congruent. If your language and tone has a mismatch with the platform, people immediately put barriers up because it looks like a promotion and a waste of their time reading.
Let’s explore the biggest platforms and how to approach each one.
How to Write Awesome Facebook Posts
People are on Facebook to nosey in to their friends (and ‘friends’) lives. They want to see pictures, hear stories and live through other people’s emotions.
The best Facebook posts will use real pictures or video (when was the last time a friend posted a stock photo on Facebook?), and tell stories. When scrolling through the newsfeed, your post should look like everyone else’s personal posts.
The best images are pictures of people, individual or groups. Examples of good Facebook posts include client case studies, attached to a real image of them. Pictures of yourself, detailing your own struggle and how you can empathise with your clientele, because you’ve been through what they’re going through. Photos of groups smiling work really well for group training.
Here's an example of a post that looks unnatural. I'm attracted to the red of the tomatoes but as soon as I can tell it's a stock photo, I lose interest:
The best Facebook posts will use real pictures or video (when was the last time a friend posted a stock photo on Facebook?), and tell stories. When scrolling through the newsfeed, your post should look like everyone else’s personal posts.
The best images are pictures of people, individual or groups. Examples of good Facebook posts include client case studies, attached to a real image of them. Pictures of yourself, detailing your own struggle and how you can empathise with your clientele, because you’ve been through what they’re going through. Photos of groups smiling work really well for group training.
Here's an example of a post that looks unnatural. I'm attracted to the red of the tomatoes but as soon as I can tell it's a stock photo, I lose interest:
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This next image on the other hand looks natural in the news feed. It's a real person and the image invites me to learn more about what's in the text.
Top Tip: People use Facebook to emote. Scroll through and nearly every post – especially if you ignore ones coming from businesses – will be happy/sad/angry/etc. So you need to put emotion in to your posts too. This is done through story.
How to Write Engaging Tweets
People are on Twitter to have real time conversation, join in on the news cycle and like Dan said in the Facebook Group (<-- yep that's the second invitation), a real ‘social network’ where you converse in almost real time.
Twitter is the place where you can jump in to a stranger’s conversation and it’s not considered rude. Ask questions, converse and interact around topics that interest you. Pose questions to your followers.
If your clients are on Twitter, talk to them. Just start conversations and interact with as many people that you know as possible.
Here's an example of a Tweet with low engagement. The user doesn't ask any questions, say anything funny or elicit a response:
Twitter is the place where you can jump in to a stranger’s conversation and it’s not considered rude. Ask questions, converse and interact around topics that interest you. Pose questions to your followers.
If your clients are on Twitter, talk to them. Just start conversations and interact with as many people that you know as possible.
Here's an example of a Tweet with low engagement. The user doesn't ask any questions, say anything funny or elicit a response:
It may be raining, so why not try a home bodyweight training session! Your Level Fitness provides bespoke... https://t.co/ABSeRl02fz
— Your Level Fitness (@YLFUK) May 10, 2016
This tweet on the other hand, doesn't even have an image but it's been retweeted and favourited lots of times.
Can someone be my personal trainer
— Sammy (@SammyAlbon) May 9, 2016
Or
second option
just lend me their six pack
Top Tip: Twitter only works when you have interaction. The followers of people you interact with get pulled in to your conversations. So focus on your closest contacts and converse with them regularly, their followers will start to join in and follow along.
How to Get More Instagram Likes
People are on Instagram to look at pretty pictures.
That means you need to have high quality images on Instagram. High quality doesn’t have to mean professional, but it needs to be interesting. People are the most attractive thing to have in a photo. Humans are drawn to look at other people’s faces, so pictures of people will always get attention.
Because of the nature of Instagram, where you scroll past each picture one by one, people will tend to at least glance at every picture, so make your images eye catching and draw the person in.
Don’t try and say anything important in the picture; that can be done in the description. Someone needs to be stopped in their tracks scrolling through first. So focus on getting attention.
Which one of these catches your eye?
That means you need to have high quality images on Instagram. High quality doesn’t have to mean professional, but it needs to be interesting. People are the most attractive thing to have in a photo. Humans are drawn to look at other people’s faces, so pictures of people will always get attention.
Because of the nature of Instagram, where you scroll past each picture one by one, people will tend to at least glance at every picture, so make your images eye catching and draw the person in.
Don’t try and say anything important in the picture; that can be done in the description. Someone needs to be stopped in their tracks scrolling through first. So focus on getting attention.
Which one of these catches your eye?
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The face, right? That's OK. Me too. It's just part of being human.
Top Tip: Use hashtags to get in front of your audience. Potential clients are not posting to #fitfam – that’s to impress other Personal Trainers. Figure out where THEY are – depending on your market – and use THOSE hashtags.
How to Get More Snapchat Followers
People are on Snapchat for excitement. It’s a fast action platform.
To be honest I’ve never used Snapchat so I can only hypothesise from what I have seen. What I have seen is this – you have a fraction of a second to capture someone’s interest, and unlike other platforms, if you don’t capture it straight away, it is gone forever.
That means you need to have explosive – attention grabbing – content.
I don’t know how much value Snapchat has for business right now. At this stage I think it is a younger audience, probably not your target market, but it looks set to be a growth platform and if it keeps up, eventually everyone will be on there.
Young people are always the early adopters, 5 years ago your parents were not on Facebook…now your grandparents are!
Josiah Novak, a fit pro who knows more about Snapchat than me was kind enough to give us this advice!
"First and foremost Snapchat is going to dominate the social media landscape very very soon. I look at it as a "live stream/reality TV" where you get a chance to be your authentic self while still providing a ton of knowledge and value.
I have 2 things that I do on Snapchat each day (life lessons and fitness advice) and in between I show my daily routines, meals, family activities, etc. I also encourage feedback from my audience by opening up my Q/A and answering each question with a video response.
Plus, SnapChat is a great way to make quick videos for other Social Media avenues. For instance, I can make 10 second videos on Snap...save them and put out a 40 second video on Facebook by combining them all together.
To be honest I’ve never used Snapchat so I can only hypothesise from what I have seen. What I have seen is this – you have a fraction of a second to capture someone’s interest, and unlike other platforms, if you don’t capture it straight away, it is gone forever.
That means you need to have explosive – attention grabbing – content.
I don’t know how much value Snapchat has for business right now. At this stage I think it is a younger audience, probably not your target market, but it looks set to be a growth platform and if it keeps up, eventually everyone will be on there.
Young people are always the early adopters, 5 years ago your parents were not on Facebook…now your grandparents are!
Josiah Novak, a fit pro who knows more about Snapchat than me was kind enough to give us this advice!
"First and foremost Snapchat is going to dominate the social media landscape very very soon. I look at it as a "live stream/reality TV" where you get a chance to be your authentic self while still providing a ton of knowledge and value.
I have 2 things that I do on Snapchat each day (life lessons and fitness advice) and in between I show my daily routines, meals, family activities, etc. I also encourage feedback from my audience by opening up my Q/A and answering each question with a video response.
Plus, SnapChat is a great way to make quick videos for other Social Media avenues. For instance, I can make 10 second videos on Snap...save them and put out a 40 second video on Facebook by combining them all together.
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SnapChat allows some fun emoji/editing that can make pics more exciting and creative. YouTube was, for a long time, the only way to get your video content out there...but people don't watch long YouTube videos.
However, they will watch your Snap Story all day - so it's a great way to build credibility and get people to buy in to who you are and what you do" I would suggest adding Josiah on Snapchat and studying what he does to get a better idea yourself. |
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Top Tip: You can’t link out of Snapchat, so it’s value is mostly building rapport and attraction with people who already know you. Focus your snaps on your existing audience as a way to connect. Use other platforms for first impressions where it is easier to capture someone’s details.
How to Get More LinkedIn Connections
Why are people on LinkedIn? Generally for professional reasons. I don’t know anyone who scrolls their LinkedIn feed 10 times a day like they do other social media, but when they are on there; they tend to take everything more seriously.
The new LinkedIn Pulse feature allows you to post content to LinkedIn. This is a relatively new feature by LinkedIn and likely due to gradual move over to becoming a content platform like Facebook.
When you write a post on Pulse, all of your connections see it. Be sure to add a call to action to your posts to view your site (So you can retarget them on Facebook) or to sign up to your email list. Here's an example post I did to test the ROI of LinkedIn marketing.
The new LinkedIn Pulse feature allows you to post content to LinkedIn. This is a relatively new feature by LinkedIn and likely due to gradual move over to becoming a content platform like Facebook.
When you write a post on Pulse, all of your connections see it. Be sure to add a call to action to your posts to view your site (So you can retarget them on Facebook) or to sign up to your email list. Here's an example post I did to test the ROI of LinkedIn marketing.
And when you publish an article, all of your connections get a notification like this:
Top Tip: People do not sit and interact on LinkedIn for hours. Use it as a platform to display content that drives people to your email list. If you get an opt-in, you can interact with people in future. Unlike Facebook, the majority will not be on LinkedIn every day.
How to Get More YouTube Subscribers
YouTube is a search engine. People go to YouTube to find out how to do stuff. You can also build a following using YouTube with your own TV channel, but initially people will likely find you through search.
To maximise the benefit you get from YouTube, create content that people are searching for. Answer the questions that people have, with links to your website or email list.
Use our handy guide: How to Get More YouTube Visitors
YouTube videos do not need to be professionally edited. You’ll do better posting 10 iPhone selfie videos than you will spending the same amount of time editing 1 video to be ‘perfect’. People want to connect with people…not media production companies. Make it watchable, eliminate background noise, but remember that finished is better than perfect.
To maximise the benefit you get from YouTube, create content that people are searching for. Answer the questions that people have, with links to your website or email list.
Use our handy guide: How to Get More YouTube Visitors
YouTube videos do not need to be professionally edited. You’ll do better posting 10 iPhone selfie videos than you will spending the same amount of time editing 1 video to be ‘perfect’. People want to connect with people…not media production companies. Make it watchable, eliminate background noise, but remember that finished is better than perfect.
Top tip: Whenever anyone asks you a question, in person, online or in the pub – that is a potential YouTube video. If one person has that question, it is likely that many people have the same query…and are SEARCHING for an answer.
How to Get More Email Subscribers
People use email to communicate with people they know, and work with.
If you turn up in someone’s inbox, you have their undivided attention. You can only open 1 email at once.
The headline is where you battle for attention, so make your headlines are interesting, relevant and create curiosity. As soon as someone clicks, you have 100% of their attention, so you can go in to the meat of your message.
Make sure to write an email to subscribers in the same way you would to a friend. When was the last time your boss sent you an email full of pictures, with a banner headline and all sorts of colours in it?
If you turn up in someone’s inbox, you have their undivided attention. You can only open 1 email at once.
The headline is where you battle for attention, so make your headlines are interesting, relevant and create curiosity. As soon as someone clicks, you have 100% of their attention, so you can go in to the meat of your message.
Make sure to write an email to subscribers in the same way you would to a friend. When was the last time your boss sent you an email full of pictures, with a banner headline and all sorts of colours in it?
Top Tip: The headline is the most important part of an email – curiosity is key. Once you have someone, just send a normal text email like you would if you were sending an email to one person. Pictures, banners and colours scream advert.
Summing Up
With all of these different channels, and each having their own style, it begs the question of whether you should be on every channel or not?
My opinion is that you should spend some time on all of them and then choose 1 or 2 main lead generation channels and 1 or 2 main conversion channels and master those. Don’t try and post to every single one forever. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Commit and go deep on your preferred channel.
Posting to 58 different social media channels might seem like a good idea because you’re getting your message out there, but remember the ultimate purpose. You want to generate business, and have enough time left over to actually do some delivery (training people).
The less time you can spend, while getting the greatest return, the better.
My opinion is that you should spend some time on all of them and then choose 1 or 2 main lead generation channels and 1 or 2 main conversion channels and master those. Don’t try and post to every single one forever. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Commit and go deep on your preferred channel.
Posting to 58 different social media channels might seem like a good idea because you’re getting your message out there, but remember the ultimate purpose. You want to generate business, and have enough time left over to actually do some delivery (training people).
The less time you can spend, while getting the greatest return, the better.
