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Social Media Marketing for Business

Kristen Stack, Author at Heyo Blog

Meet Kristen Stack

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February 6, 2017

5 Ways to Make the Most of Facebook Lead Ads

February 6, 2017 | By | No Comments">No Comments

Untitled design (30)If you keep up with Facebook’s ever changing and growing ad platform, you may have noticed the Lead Ads option. Instead of sending potential sign-ups to a landing page and then hoping they follow through to fill out your opt-in form, you can collect their information right within Facebook. As a marketer, I’m thrilled about this new convenience.

Here’s how you get started.

  • Hit Create Ad.
  • Then click Collect Leads for Your Business.
  • Create your audience. The most important thing? Choosing specific targeting based on interests.
  • Set a small daily budget. I recommend $10 to start.  Then, once the ad starts performing, you can scale accordingly. If you invest less than this, you might not see get an accurate representation of the ad performance.

Step 1: Create your lead ads form.

Keep it as simple as possible. For example, if you don’t need location information, then don’t ask for it. Only collect the bare minimum. If someone clicks on your form, and is hit with a bunch of fill-in-the-blanks, they’ll exit without submitting their information.

For example, let’s say you’re trying to grow your text marketing list. You definitely want to collect first name and phone number; at the bare minimum.

When setting up your lead ads form, Facebook also requires the inclusion of a privacy policy. This helps new sign-ups feel secure in submitting their information.

Step 2: Assign a relevant post-submission landing page.

Where do you want your sign-ups to go after submitting their information? Maybe you want to send them right to a sales funnel; in hopes of making a small sale. Or, maybe you just to direct them to a blog post packed with tons of helpful content. While you have their attention, make the most of this interaction.

Step 3: Choose an applicable graphic.

In my personal experience, editorial images yield the highest performance, as they give the user something to relate to. If people aren’t familiar with your company, using a branded image will do no good. People just won’t recognize the image, and will therefore keep scrolling. Because the Lead Ads charge based on impressions, this will skyrocket your cost per lead. The more your lead costs; the less money you make on the interaction. However; if chosen correctly, the lifestyle aspect of an editorial will capture more attention and lead to more sign-ups.

Step 4: Get right to the point with an irresistible headline.

Offering a bonus in exchange for information? Make that very clear. Don’t beat around the bush, as this could reduce the amount of interest in your ad. For example, let’s say you’re offering one free 30-minute consultation for all new opt-ins. For your ad headline, use something like “First 50 Sign-Ups Get a Free Consultation!” The first 50 portion creates a sense of urgency, while the word “free” always catches the attention of a potential opt-in.

Step 5: Set up an autoresponder series for all new sign-ups.

When it comes to marketing and customer relationship management, you always want to get the most bang for your buck. Don’t just collect an email address or telephone number and then call it a day. You want to build a relationship with this lead. Nurture each sign-up by taking them through a welcome series.

In this series, be sure to include the following.

  • If there was an offer promised, deliver it immediately.
  • Let them know what to expect, communication wise. Will you be emailing once a week? Every day? If they know what to expect, they’re more likely to stay on your list.
  • Offer valuable information. A welcome series can also be treated like an educational funnel. Get sign ups comfortable with the language of your industry. For example, if I am promoting an info product called “How to Self Publish Your First Book in 60 Days,” I might want to use the terms ISBN, cover, paperback and manuscript in my welcome series. When you start familiarizing subscribers with the language of your industry, they will recognize an offer when it comes through.

Facebook Lead Ads provide a huge opportunity; as they simplify growing your list of contacts. Whether you’re collecting email addresses or phone numbers, this is definitely the way to go when looking to build a customer database. Once you collect this information, focus on nurturing your leads and segmenting according to predetermined factors.

When it comes to paid advertising in general, be sure to note the following rules.

  • Keep your eyes on the ROI from day one. Even if your budget is small, you need to know how your marketing dollars are performing and what kind of return you’re getting.
  • Split test different visuals, headlines, descriptions, and more. However, when testing one version against another, only test one element at a time. This prevents data from being skewed.
  • Remember, Facebook Lead Ads charge based on the number of impressions. With that said, eliminate any opportunity for unqualified views. For example, if you find that women 24-32 are responding best to your ad, tighten up your target audience.

Give Facebook Lead Ads a try for your business. It makes growing your list simple and convenient for the end user.

Kristen Stack

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December 19, 2016

8 Digital Marketing Tools That Will Help You Turn 2017 Into Your Most Productive Year

December 19, 2016 | By | One Comment">One Comment

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In December, if you snooze you lose. While some might be filling up on cookies and chugging down the eggnog, others are preparing for the year ahead. Smart marketers and entrepreneurs use this time for business planning. They lay out their entire year; or at the very least, the first quarter. They settle on initiatives and brainstorm content. If this is sounding familiar, you’re probably looking for ways to make the most out of the rest of the year.

Let me help you maximize your 2017 with these 8 easy to use tools.


Quickly create thumbnails, cover photos, blog featured images and more with Snappa.io.

In my opinion, Canva doesn’t even hold a candle to this tool. First of all, Snappa is much more user friendly. It’s easy to navigate and understand. Second, Snappa can help you create everything from ebook covers to YouTube thumbnails.

Beginner’s Tip:  Keep your social media covers cohesive. Open up several different tabs in your browser, and make your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn covers all at once.

Works best for social media marketers and bloggers.


Get 700+ title and topic ideas with Title-Generator.com.

Honestly, I’m usually not looking for a genius headline generator. More often than not, I just need to bounce around some ideas. I love this website. It’s a bare bones title generator. You plug in a word, and get 700+ titles and topics to work with. Keep in mind, these are not all relevant or grammatically correct. Use your best judgement, and at the very least, this tool will assist in the content brainstorming process. Out of every tool, this is probably my favorite.

Beginner’s Tip: Pages two and three usually have the more obscure titles. Page one will showcase a lot of headlines you could’ve come up with on your own.

Works best for copywriters and bloggers.


Decrease page load time with CompressJpeg.com.

To go back and compress all your blog images might take a bit of time; maybe more than you want to spend. That’s totally acceptable. Instead, use this tool for images in the future. It will help you greatly decrease page load time, as your images are now compressed down to the lowest possible size. This is an easy to use tool that will greatly reward your site performance in the long run.

Beginner’s Tip: To save time, upload a handful of images at once, then download all after compression.

Works best for bloggers.


Use Biteable.com to create viral video campaigns for social media.

Before finding this tool, I didn’t even touch video. Seriously, the idea of pairing homegrown footage, audio, music, and text together was completely overwhelming. I figured I’d leave it to the professionals, which more often than not, turned into me avoiding video all together. This tool has changed the way I view video marketing.

Beginner’s Tip: Develop a storyline before jumping right in to video creation. If you have a storyboard, your video will smoothly come together. 

Works best for social media marketers and content managers.


WebinarNinja.com is a video conferencing service that doesn’t overwhelm.

Current webinar software has its limits. In fact, even the most experienced webinar hosts struggle with current webinar platforms. I stumbled across Webinar Ninja a month ago. It took me less than five minutes to figure out how to navigate my account. I had my first webinar set up and running in less than 30. Save time with the new webinar platform to beat.

Beginner’s Tip: Run a test webinar before going live. Remember, make sure each webinar has a clear purpose. This isn’t like Facebook Live, where it’s ok to rant and talk without an outlined topic.

Works best for online personalities, content managers, and industry influencers.


SlickText.com helps you embrace the new mailing list.

You can probably agree; email is becoming a bit archaic. Will we ever terminate email lists all together? Probably not. But, the time has come to embrace a new communication tool: text marketing. Slick Text has dozens of easy to use features, such as text to win contests, drip campaigns, and picture messaging. On top of that, they offer message scheduling and drip marketing campaigns

Works best for marketers currently relying heavily on email and small business owners.


2017 is all about ClickFunnels.com.

If you would’ve asked me six months ago, the word “funnel” made me gag. It just seemed so cheesy and unprofessional. The only company doing a decent job was Infusionsoft, and their software was out of my price range and equally difficult to navigate. Enter Click Funnels. The back end takes some time to get used to, but once you understand the navigation, it’s a piece of cake.

Beginner’s Tip: Don’t create a funnel on the fly. Write down each step before even setting “foot” inside Infusionsoft.

Works best for anyone selling anything online.


Get the help you need with Upwork.com.

I resisted hiring for a long time. I tried to design my own websites, set up my own Facebook ads, manage my own schedule, etc. Let me tell you what; that gets old real quick. You get burnt out, and the quality of your work suffers. It’s not worth it. Especially when there are affordable experts out there, ready and willing to help. Get all the things that overwhelm you and hinder your business growth off your plate.

Beginner’s Tip: Look for the rising star freelancers. They are usually the most affordable, but still offer premium quality. Also, when looking to hire, get as granular as possible about what it is you actually need. For example, if you want to build a new website, map out some ideas and share examples of what you like. The clearer you are, the better. 

Works best for product managers, team leaders, and department heads.


Don’t just cruise through the rest of the year with these work enhancing tools. Instead, kickstart 2017 with a better sense of how to rule the digital world. I will be taking every single one of these tools with me into the new year. They’ve helped me exponentially grow my online presence.

Kristen Stack

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September 29, 2016

6 Social Boo Boos That Limit Your Personal Brand

September 29, 2016 | By | 2 Comments">2 Comments

If you want to make a living off your personal brand, you must cultivate digital authority. Naturally, you need to own the blogging and social sphere, as this is where most influencers live. You must have a Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. You should also have a home for all your unique content (cough, cough: blog.) Failure to master these platforms will stunt your digital growth.

redhead girl in red tartan dress with money on pink background.

In addition, the following social media boo boos will have you taking one step forward, three steps back. What’s the point of having a personal brand if you’re not making the most of every opportunity to engage? Run through this six point checklist, and make sure your efforts coincide.

1. Your ‘about me’ is comatose.

Keep it short and sweet. Be interesting, but don’t tell your life story. Remember, the thesaurus is your friend. Spice up your bio with unexpected verbiage or a tongue in cheek anecdote. For example, instead of calling yourself a “marketing specialist,” give “marketing groupie” a try. You want your brand to stand out. If your about me is blah, you’ll easily get lost in the mix. The words “specialist, guru, and consultant” are boring and overused.

2. Your profile photo is unrecognizable.

Stop trying to be someone you’re not. Here’s a great rule to follow when snapping a new profile pic. Would your friends and family immediately recognize that as you? If your mother was scrolling through Facebook, and saw that photo, would she instantly be like “There’s my son/daughter!” If your own mother thinks the photo is unrecognizable, everyone will.

Even on LinkedIn, your profile photo shouldn’t look stuffy. (Unless, for some reason, stuffy is your brand. In that case, rock the serious face.) Smile. Showcase your most natural self. Bottom line: make sure your mom knows it’s you. Don’t confuse your brand by using heavily filtered/altered pics.

3. You’ve got friends in low places.

If you went to my Facebook profile, and saw I was friends with one of America’s Most Wanted, you’d judge me. Don’t say you wouldn’t. In fact you might not want to do business with me — or even be my friend. Most people would avoid someone with an association like that. And, if they’re not  … might want to reconsider that friendship. On the other hand, if you’re aligning with key influencers, you’ll be considered an expert by association. Obviously it takes more than one social shout out, but if you constantly get retweeted by Seth Godin, you’re on the right track. More often than not, associate with digital thought leaders who will heighten your brand reputation.

4. You don’t know where your fans are.

Are you spending all your time on Twitter when Facebook boasts better engagement? Think carefully about how you divvy up your hours. Let’s be honest. You can’t equally commit 8 hours a day to each social platform. In fact, two might be pushing it. For this reason alone, know your audience. Where do they “live,” in a digital sense? In addition, find out what platform gives the best return. If thousands of your followers migrate to Instagram, but there’s no real way to quantify referral traffic or income from this source, look for an alternative. I recommend maintaining a primary social presence on one of the top platforms; and then maintaining 1-2 other sources.

5. You regurgitate content.

Do you always share blog posts that aren’t your own? Are you re-gramming like a fiend? Although it’s always good to spread the love, you still need to create your own unique content. The digital world needs your voice. Contribute original content on a weekly basis; at the very least. Keep your content marketing efforts fresh. On top of that, use social media to build a marketing web of communication. Promote your email marketing list on Twitter. Run a Facebook ad to grow your text marketing list. If all your channels are working together in one uniformed fashion, your efforts to grow your digital community will offer an exponential return.

6. You don’t follow 2-3 consistent brand themes.

If people know you as a personal trainer, but you regularly post about politics … might not be the best course of action. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but if you want to build a strong brand, you need to pick content themes. No one person can be an expert on 300 different topics. Attempting this does nothing for building authority. Do some soul searching. Ask yourself, “Where can I offer the most insight?” Pick 2-3 topics that showcase your talent and experience. Generally speaking, make sure these topics align or connect in some way. For example, I might pick branding, content marketing, and entrepreneurship as my three. Each one relates to the other. Don’t be too random. For example, if you’re trying to brand yourself as a cake decorating, oil changing, opera singing expert … you might have a hard time pulling off that trifecta.


Now here’s a question. Why social media? How do these digital platforms boost your personal brand?

  • You can engage in real time. Bonus: Some channels now allow you to go live with your content. This is yet another reason to use social media for brand building.
  • It’s like a “you” museum. Fans can get to know you at their own leisure.
  • The analytics are advanced. With Facebook specifically, you can see where your top followers live, how old they are, and what content they enjoy engaging with.
  • You can add and remove content as you please. Feel like an old post doesn’t represent you or your brand anymore? Go ahead and hit “delete.”

Remember, owning the internet doesn’t have to be difficult. But, if you’re not giving social communities a solid effort, you won’t ever build an engaged and loyal following. You’ll experience low brand interest. People won’t care about what you have to say, and your message most likely won’t be consistent. Your social community is counting on you for an above average effort; don’t let them down. Whip your social media prowess into shape by avoiding those six boo boos.

Kristen Stack

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September 6, 2016

7 Ways to Get Customers to Promote Your Brand Overnight

September 6, 2016 | By | No Comments">No Comments

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The less you spend on marketing, the better. That’s why Word-Of-Mouth marketing is still so highly sought after. This is, by definition, the oldest marketing method. It’s been around for centuries. We love talking about what we’ve bought, what we love, what we hate … just sharing our opinion in general helps us form an identity. Now, the question is: how do you capitalize on this human tendency? As a business owner, you need to find a balance between encouraging customer feedback and straight up soliciting reviews.

Don’t think WOM has a place in your industry? Think again.

Some top word of mouth marketing stats suggest the following.

  • Customers who were acquired through social influences have a 37% higher retention rate.
  • 72% of consumers say reading a positive review increases their trust in a business.
  • Brands that leverage social influencers to spread their message are seeing up to a 10X increase in conversion rate.
  • 92% of consumers trust recommendations from other people; more so than they do from brands.

Ready to rake in awesome customer reviews and churn up some word of mouth feedback? Learn these 7 tricks like the back of your hand, and put them into practice.

Offer an instant reward.
You’d be amazed at what people will do when an instant reward is on the table. Who wants to wait for their prize? Not me, that’s for sure. For example, if my hairdresser told me, right here right now, that I’d get $15 off my cut and color if I shared a selfie on Facebook and mentioned her in the photo, you better believe I’d do it. When comparing the 60 seconds it’ll take me to post that selfie to the $15 I’ll save, it’s definitely worth the effort.

Send out free product.
Give away free product in exchange for an honest review. Now, to prevent disappointment, be very clear about what you expect. If you absolutely need the review in exchange for free merchandise, make this apparent. Type up an instructional note, and place it in the package before mailing it out. Your note might look something like this.

Thanks for agreeing to review our product! 

  • Please review the product within one week of receiving.
  • Please post the review on your personal Facebook page, and tag us using @milliesoaps and #soapsbymillie. 
  • Be 100% honest. If you hate it, include constructive feedback in your review. Not only will your review help us promote the product, it will also help us understand how we can do better.

Ask questions.
Hop on Facebook, and ask for customer feedback. Post a product, and ask for fans to leave an honest review in the comments. This is probably the quickest way to drum up a bunch of buzz. In the middle of a customer crisis? Then wait it out. Doing this at the wrong time can encourage a ton of nasty feedback.

If you aren’t looking for product reviews, but want to gather a general opinion about your customer service or shopping experience, you can also ask questions along these lines.

“What can we do to make our shopping experience better? Comment below with suggestions.”

“We’re putting together our fall line! What would you like to see us carry?”

Run a contest.
Ask customers to share a photo on Facebook for a chance to win that product. Or, invite fans to tag people in an Instagram photo for a chance to win the pictured product. Above all else, focus on customer engagement. If you’re not regularly interacting with your social media fans, they won’t respond to this call to action. Be consistent, and focus on building a community. If you do this, everything else will fall into place. People will be lining up, eager to post a rave review.

Pay customers for how to tutorials.
If you have an amazing product, customers will want to rave about it. They’ll want to show others how to use it and why they love it. Find your most active customers, and then see which are most involved in the DIY community. This will take a bit more effort on the customer end, so don’t be afraid to spend a little for this project.

Post something like this on social media.

“Are you Youtube savvy, obsessed with our roses, and looking to make some extra shopping money? We want to see how you use our product! We’re currently looking to hire 25 members from our DIY community to film how to tutorials. Email us at videos@sandysroses.com if you’re interested. We’ll reach out if it’s a good fit.”

Offer a promo code in exchange for a review.
You can email the promo, or text it out in the form of a mobile coupon. You can either operate on the honor system, meaning you send out the coupon first, and just encourage customers to share their feedback online or, you can walk customers through a funnel that only rewards them with a coupon when they’ve posted their review. Personally, the second option is the way I would go. People have good intentions, but if you leave the task open ended, it will get pushed to the wayside.

Create a referral program.
This might not technically happen overnight, but with a little work, a referral program can help you auto generate extra revenue and word of mouth reviews. Once put into place, this program will keep the review process somewhat automated. Before launching it, test it out at least a dozen times. The last thing you need is a faulty referral program. People expect to get paid for their referrals, and you want to iron out any kinks in your system so this can happen.

So, what are you waiting for? Get to pushing that product, people. Don’t lose sleep over high cost promotional methods. Instead, loop your happy customers in, and ask for their honest feedback. That’s the quickest way to grow your business on a budget. Why spend thousands of dollars on so-so marketing methods when you don’t have to? Be smart with your spend, and you’ll be rewarded.

Kristen Stack

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April 26, 2016

How Businesses Use Picture Messaging to Increase Brand Loyalty

April 26, 2016 | By | No Comments">No Comments

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Pictures really are worth a thousand words. Think of it this way. Which campaign would garner more attention: a text only offer or a text offer with an eye-catching image? We live in the age of impatience.

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Kristen Stack

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February 17, 2016

A Formula for Startup Success: 9 Values That Fuel the Top Founders

February 17, 2016 | By | No Comments">No Comments

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Everyone wants to be a business owner. It’s like the new, hot thing. The word “entrepreneur” has been coined as cool. Don’t believe me? Hop over to Google Trends, and see for yourself. This search term alone has grown immensely in popularity over the past few years.

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