#marketing 3 ways to grow your business in you locality

Growth is essential for businesses to stay alive. There’s no need for greed to enter the picture, but growth- growth is what you should be all about.

The more people you can reach, the more potential clients your work gets in front of. There are a few simple ways that you can grow your audience (without buying followers) and increase your client list.

Partnerships

Partnerships are a wonderful way to quickly grow your audience. And I do mean partnerships- not sponsorships, not paid campaigns.

Find people that are in niche’s adjacent to yours whose work you admire. Find businesses that get you excited about their product. Look around your current community and ask yourself who love are a personal fan of and why. Those are the people you should partner with.

There’s nothing wrong with a partnership that makes you money, but the word partnership means at its core that it should benefit both parties. Working with people that you admire gives you a chance to show your value to new people, as well as offer value to the other party. It’s also a very genuine way to grow your audience. Disingenuous growth is easy to spot a mile away.

Speaking Opportunities

What better way to share your message with people than to actually share your message? Scout out speaking opportunities to get yourself in front of new people. Great places to start are your cities commerce department, small business communities, applying to speak at conferences, and Facebook groups in your niche.

You can also put on your social media or website that you are available for speaking gigs. See if anyone contacts you. There’s a lot of power in opening yourself up to speaking gigs, and it’s an easy way to get your work in front of a new audience.

Think Local

It’s wonderful to have big picture goals for yourself and dreams of taking over the world. We’ve all got to start somewhere though, and it’s easier to become a big fish in a small pond first. Take every opportunity that comes your way to make an impact in your local community.

Become the go-to person in your city for your niche. Reach out to people and companies of all sizes in your city and ask for coffee to introduce yourself. Attend events that focus on the local community- things like volunteer days, council meetings, and traditional networking and business events are all good.

Being seen and interacting at these events will show that you are a person of note, and people like to know people of note.

Growth does take time, but with these strategies, you can make it happen for yourself. Implement them all at the same time for the best results (though you might cut into your sleep a little bit.)

What are some ways that you have found successful for growing your company

A straightforward step by step way of of setting up your Facebook live-streaming for your church

Setting up Facebook Live for a church is relatively straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

  1. Create a Facebook Page:
  • If your church doesn’t have a Facebook Page, create one. Make sure to set it up with the necessary details and a profile picture.
  1. Access Facebook Live:
  • Open the Facebook app on your phone or tablet.
  • Go to your church’s Facebook Page.
  • Tap on the “Live” option (usually represented by a camera icon).
  1. Adjust Privacy Settings:
  • Choose the audience for your live video. You can make it public, visible to friends, or specific groups.
  1. Set Up Your Camera and Microphone:
  • Ensure your device has a good camera and microphone. Most smartphones have sufficient quality for live streaming.
  1. Choose Video Orientation:
  • Select between landscape or portrait mode based on your preference and the space available.
  1. Add a Description:
  • Write a compelling description for your live video. Include details about the church service or event.
  1. Select Location and Tag People:
  • Optionally, you can add a location to your video and tag people who are part of the event.
  1. Check Internet Connection:
  • Ensure you have a stable and strong internet connection. A Wi-Fi connection is preferable for better quality.
  1. Preview Your Video:
  • Before going live, Facebook allows you to preview your video. Use this to check lighting, sound, and framing.
  1. Go Live:
    • Once everything looks good, tap the “Go Live” button. Your live video will start broadcasting to your chosen audience.

As for gadgets, you can enhance the streaming quality with some affordable accessories:

  • Tripod: Stabilize your phone with a tripod for a steady video.
  • External Microphone: Improve audio quality with an external microphone if needed.
  • Ring Light: Enhance lighting conditions, especially in dim environments.

These accessories can all be easily found online, or at local electronics stores in Ghana. Always test your setup beforehand to ensure a smooth live streaming experience for your church community.

Komdigital

10 simple ways to create contents for your social handles that works results and maximize sales for your business

  1. Customer Testimonials:
    Share positive feedback and testimonials from satisfied customers. Authentic testimonials build trust and credibility, influencing potential customers to consider your product or service.
  2. Behind-the-Scenes:
    Offer a glimpse into your company culture or the making of your products/services. Humanizing your brand can create a connection with your audience, making them more likely to support your business.
  3. Product Demos and Tutorials:
    Showcase your products or services through engaging demos or tutorials. Highlight key features and benefits, addressing potential customer questions and concerns.
  4. Limited-Time Offers and Promotions:
    Create a sense of urgency by promoting limited-time offers or exclusive discounts. Encourage followers to take immediate action, driving sales and fostering a sense of exclusivity.
  5. User-Generated Content Contests:
    Run contests encouraging users to create content related to your brand. This not only boosts engagement but also generates user-generated content that serves as authentic testimonials and showcases your product in action.
  6. Educational Content:
    Share informative content related to your industry. Providing value through tips, guides, or industry insights positions your brand as an authority, attracting an audience genuinely interested in your products or services.
  7. Flash Sales and Surprise Deals:
    Surprise your audience with flash sales or exclusive deals announced through your social media handles. This can create excitement and a buzz around your brand, driving immediate sales.
  8. Interactive Polls and Surveys:
    Use polls and surveys to involve your audience in decision-making processes. This not only engages followers but also provides valuable insights into their preferences, helping tailor your offerings for better sales results.
  9. Highlight Company Milestones:
    Celebrate business achievements and milestones. Whether it’s an anniversary, reaching a follower milestone, or launching a new product, these moments create positive sentiment and can drive sales.
  10. Collaborations and Partnerships:
    Partner with influencers or other businesses for collaborations. This widens your reach to new audiences and leverages the trust these influencers have built with their followers, potentially leading to increased sales.

Remember to adapt these content strategies based on your audience’s preferences and the platform you’re using. Consistency and authenticity are key to building a loyal following and maximizing sales on social media.

In social media page management – 10 detailed steps to optimize full page managements for audience building and sales awearness

  1. Define Your Goals:
    Clearly outline your objectives for audience building and sales awareness. Whether it’s increasing followers, driving website traffic, or boosting sales, having specific goals will guide your strategy.
  2. Understand Your Audience:
    Conduct thorough audience research to understand demographics, interests, and behaviors. Tailor your content to resonate with your target audience, creating a more engaging and relevant experience.
  3. Consistent Branding:
    Maintain a cohesive visual identity across all posts, profile pictures, and cover photos. Consistent branding builds recognition and trust, making your page more appealing to potential followers and customers.
  4. Optimize Profile Information:
    Ensure your bio is clear, concise, and includes relevant keywords. This helps in searchability and provides a quick snapshot of your brand, making it easier for users to decide whether to follow or engage with your content.
  5. Content Calendar:
    Plan and schedule posts in advance to maintain a consistent posting frequency. A content calendar helps you stay organized, align posts with strategic goals, and ensures a varied mix of content types.
  6. Engaging Content Mix:
    Diversify your content to include a mix of images, videos, infographics, and text. Encourage audience interaction through polls, questions, and calls to action, fostering a sense of community around your brand.
  7. Utilize Hashtags Effectively:
    Research and use relevant hashtags to increase the discoverability of your posts. Create a branded hashtag for your business to encourage user-generated content and community participation.
  8. Leverage Paid Advertising:
    Invest in targeted social media advertising to reach a broader audience. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer detailed targeting options, allowing you to tailor ads to specific demographics and interests.
  9. Monitor Analytics:
    Regularly analyze page insights and engagement metrics. Identify high-performing content and adjust your strategy accordingly. Track follower growth, post reach, and conversion rates to measure the success of your efforts.
  10. Community Engagement:
    Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions. Foster a sense of community by acknowledging and appreciating your followers. Encourage user-generated content to enhance brand advocacy.

Remember to adapt these strategies based on your specific industry and target audience, and continuously iterate as you learn more about what resonates with your followers.

Social media and it’s negative impacts on students and their mental developments

Introduction

With the advancement of technology, social media has become an integral part of our daily lives. More than ever, students are using social media to connect, communicate and learn about the world around them. However, the rise in social media usage has also led to a rise in internet threats. These threats can impact not only the academic performance but also the mental development of students. This research paper aims to explore internet threats, specifically social media, and their negative impacts on the mental development of students at school.

Internet threats

Internet threats are a range of threats that come with the use of the internet. These threats can range from hacking, identity theft, phishing scams and cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is one of the most prominent internet threats, especially among students. Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, intimidate or cause harm to another person. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have become breeding grounds for cyberbullying, making it difficult for schools to control or monitor. Cyberbullying can cause severe psychological consequences that can negatively affect the mental wellbeing of students.

Negative impacts of social media on mental development

In recent years, there has been an increasing concern over the impact of social media on mental development among students. Social media has been found to have negative impacts on students’ mental health. A study by the Royal Society for Public Health found that social media use was associated with anxiety, depression, poor sleep quality and negative body image. This is because social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat are filled with photoshopped images that set unrealistic beauty standards, leading to body shaming and low self-esteem among students.

Social media usage is also linked to cyberbullying, which can have a severe impact on the mental health of students. Cyberbullying can cause depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts among students. Cyberbullying on social media is particularly harmful because it is pervasive and persistent, with the potential to reach a much wider audience than traditional forms of bullying.

Social media usage can also lead to addiction, with students spending hours upon hours scrolling through their newsfeeds. Addiction to social media can lead to poor academic performance, lack of social skills and isolation, which can negatively impact mental development.

Conclusion

In conclusion, social media has become an integral part of the lives of students, but with its rise has come a range of internet threats that can severely impact their mental development. Cyberbullying, addiction and negative body image are just some of the negative impacts of social media usage among students. It is essential for schools to educate students on the safe and responsible use of social media and to provide a safe space for students to discuss any concerns related to their mental health. Only through concerted efforts can we ensure that social media usage among students does not have a negative impact on their mental development.

Understanding Facebook Ads

About Facebook
Facebook probably doesn’t need much of an introduction – launched in
2004, the social network now is the largest social media platform with
more than 1.7 billion monthly active users worldwide. The company
today is more than just a social network – Facebook acquired messaging
app WhatsApp and started its own successful messenger. They also
bought photo-sharing platform Instagram and the virtual reality company Oculus VR.
Since most Facebook users log into the site every day and engage with other users,
brands and content, the platform knows a lot about their users. For advertisers Facebook
is one of the most attractive online channels, because it lets them utilize their rich user
data to target very specific audiences. And since most companies and brands are already
present on Facebook, ads are a great way to build a following and boost engagement for
the content they share.
What Facebook ads look like
Here you have four different choices – you can create an ad that features a single image,
a single video, or multiple images that are displayed either in a carousel format or as a
slideshow.
Single Image Single Video/Slideshow Carousel

Facebook also offers a new, more immersive ad experience on
mobile. They call it Facebook Canvas. Canvas looks like a normal
mobile news feed ad, but once a user taps to open the ad, he or
she is taken to a full screen experience (videos, images, text,
products) that the advertiser can customize. To learn more about
Facebook Canvas, go to canvas.facebook.com.
Here is an example of how cruise company Holland America Line
used Facebook Canvas to advertise a Caribbean getaway:
What objectives can I meet with my Facebook ads?
You can optimize ads on Facebook based on what specific
objective your campaign has. Generally, Facebook distinguishes
three different kinds of objectives that follow the traditional user
journey from awareness to conversion:
1. Raising awareness: This includes campaigns to raise brand awareness, local
awareness and to maximize reach.
2. Consideration: These are ads that drive traffic to your website, boost the
engagement of your posts, increase app downloads or video views and help you
collect customer data (leads) to use in follow-up campaigns.
3. Conversion: These are ads that increase the conversion on your website or online
shop*, advertise specific products to users who have interacted with your shop
before*, or get people to visit your local store.
*These campaign objectives require you to add a few lines of code to your website, which
will then implement the Facebook pixel on your site. To learn how to create a Facebook
pixel and how to add it to the code of your website, have a look here. If you want to track
the actions that happen inside your mobile app as a result of your ads, your developer
should implement a piece of code called App Events. Point them to Facebook’s developer
site to learn more.
Based on past user behavior data, Facebook will show your ad to those people in your
target audience who are most likely to perform the action you want them to.

What targeting options does Facebook offer?
Facebook offers a variety of targeting options that you can combine to build a specific
audience:
Location Target users by country, state, city, zip code, or the area around
your physical business.
Demographics Target users by age, gender, education, and the languages they
speak.
Interests Target users by interests, based on profile information, pages,
groups or content they engage with. You can choose from
hundreds of categories like sports, movies, music, games, or
shopping. You can also target users who like specific pages.
Behaviors Target users based on what Facebook knows about user
behavior, such as the way they shop, the phone they use, or if
they plan to buy a house or a car.
Connections Target users who like your page or app and their friends.
Custom Target existing customers based on data (e.g., emails, phone
numbers) you provide. You can also create Lookalike Audiences
– people who are similar to your existing customers.
What is the minimum budget to advertise on Facebook?
When you set up your daily budget on Facebook, the minimum daily budget depends on
what your ad set gets charged for.
The ad set gets charged for… Min. daily budget
Impressions $1
Clicks, likes, video views, post engagement $5
Offer claims, app installs and other low-frequency events $40
If you want to set up a lifetime budget instead, i.e., a total budget for the duration of the
campaign, your minimum budget is calculated by multiplying the minimum daily budget
by the number of days the campaign lasts.
How to get started
Click here (and then click on “Create an Ad”) to start advertising on Facebook, and here to
access Facebook’s documentation that describes every single ad type.
Social Media Advertising Guide

Case Studies

⚫Bupcakin’ Bake Shop in Berkeley, California
wanted to grow its business both with consumers
and businesses in the area. The company targeted
its ad to people aged 18–55, living within 5 miles of
the shop who were interested in weddings,
flowers and cupcakes. Over the course of one year
the campaign generated 4.5X more sales than
print advertising.

⚫NBA team Orlando Magic wanted to promote
single-game ticket sales and decided to reach their
existing database of customers and website users
using Facebook’s “Custom Audience” targeting. In
addition they reached local basketball fans by
targeting people in Orlando aged 18 and older
with interests in live events, Orlando Magic or
basketball. The campaign led to a 84% higher
return on the money spent (‘ad spend’) than all
other advertising channels.

⚫Gaming company King wanted to increase
downloads of their mobile app game Candy Crush
Saga. The company tested both ads featuring a
single image and ads using Facebook’s carousel
format with multiple images. The test showed that
the carousel ad led to 1.4X more Android app
installs and lowered

Instagram Ads

About Instagram
Instagram is an online and mobile social network for photo- and
video-sharing with more than 500 million monthly active users
worldwide. Users can share photos and videos publicly and privately on
the Instagram app and through other social networking platforms such
as Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook. Instagram started out with photos that
were square shaped but now is open to pictures in any aspect ratio as well as videos with
up to 60 seconds.
For Advertisers, Instagram is a fantastic platform to tell a company’s story in a visual and
engaging way. Successful campaigns do not sell products or advertise big discounts but
bring a product’s or brand’s authentic heart and soul to life. Advertisers have to carefully
balance the information and the inspiration value of their campaigns to encourage the
community to like and share their ads.
Since Instagram was acquired by Facebook in 2012, the
advertising platforms merged and most of the advertising and
targeting options are the same for both platforms. Similar to
Facebook ads, to run ads on Instagram, you’ll need a Facebook
Page for the brand or product you are promoting.
What ad types does Instagram offer?
Similar to what we have seen for Facebook, we can classify
Instagram’s ad options based on what the ads look like and
what objectives they have. All Instagram ads will be placed in
the user feed, both in the browser and the app version.
What Instagram ads look like
Here you have the same three choices you know from Facebook
ads – you can create an ad that features a single photo, a video, or multiple photos that
are displayed in a carousel format.
Single Ad Video Ad Carousel Ad
Social Media Advertising Guide

Getting your Blog to be interactive and user friendly.

Social sharing buttons are handy tools for website owners who want to increase traffic and brand awareness. You can choose a particular button style that complements your website, or rearrange the order in which the icons are displayed. In some cases, you can even track how they’re used to further improve your site.

These buttons allow your visitors to share your posts and pages on their social media accounts without navigating away from your site. Make your content easy to share by adding buttons and customizing how they look.

Use sharing button icons or text

Social sharing buttons are everywhere. They’re so common that we recognize their symbols at a glance, even if they look a bit different from one site to the next. Sometimes they’re presented in colorful icon formats, while other times they’re housed within formal text boxes, or displayed in a text-and-icon style.

The look you choose depends on your website’s theme and the design choices you’ve made. For example, a rainbow of icons pairs nicely with images of sprinkled cupcakes on a bakery site, while simple black-and-white text-style boxes are more suitable for a prestigious accounting or legal-services website. The latter option won’t clash with your site’scolor scheme or logo hue.

How to add and customize buttons

So, how do you add share buttons to your site? Start by setting them up with just a few clicks:

  1. Sign in to your WordPress.com site and open My Sites.
  2. Under Configure, click Sharing, and then click the Sharing Buttons tab.
  3. Select which services you would like to add buttons for.
  4. Under Button Style, select how you want these buttons to look. You can also choose if you want to display the Reblog or Like buttons under Reblog & Like.
  5. Click Save Changes to save your work.

After you save your sharing settings, return to your site to see how they look. You can play around with different customizations.

For example, the label text that appears above the buttons reads “Share this:” by default. Rather than using the default label setting, you might want to customize the text to say “Please share:” or “Like what you see? Share it!”

To tweak this message, select Edit label text at the top of the Sharing Buttons tab and type in your custom text.

Reordering how sharing symbols appear

You can also change the order in which share symbols appear.

To add or remove sharing symbols, go to Edit sharing buttons and click on the social media channels you want to include. If you don’t want to display a certain channel, click on it again to make it disappear. Alternatively, if you want every social platform to appear, but don’t want to overwhelm your site’s theme with icons, hide some of them in a dropdown menu labeled More.

Changing sharing settings on WordPress.com

Another option is to rearrange the order of your buttons from the most important, popular, or relevant to the least (depending on personal preference or the preferences of your audience). You can omit or add certain buttons (or leave them out altogether) with each published page or post.

After all, your static pages, such as About Me and Contact, don’t really benefit from being shared on Google+ or Pinterest in the way that your blog’s images or your website’s how-to posts will.

Following your blog’s sharing stats

A great benefit of using share buttons is the ability to track how often they are used via yourwebsite’s stats. These stats tell you how many shares your site receives, what type of posts your visitors prefer to share, and which buttons are used most often.

Armed with such information, you can make adjustments to your posting habits and reconfigure your sharing buttons to improve stats and increase traffic.

Stats showing the total number of shares

Now you know how to add sharing buttons to your posts and how to customize their appearances. With customized sharing buttons, you can expand your website’s reach, engage in more social media conversations, and draw in additional visitors.

Using Videos on Social media for promotion

Video Promotion
Video promotion provides a different dimension to your social media campaign. Whilst content and images are static, a video can provide entertainment and education in a faster and for some users more interesting way. Even if it is not something you have initially done with your Facebook page, it might be good to try and create a video that is in alignment with your brand and see what kind of feedback you get.
Video Promotion I
Following are the different types of videos that you can create −
Videos that educate
Creating educational videos in your industry is a great way to show validation in what you do. This could be from picking a topic and teaching people about it to uncovering truths about questions people have been asking you on your page.
Videos that inspire
Inspirational videos convey the most powerful messages on the Internet and tend to be the ones that go viral the most. By telling a story or showing the story with music and captions, you can convey an inspiring story that people will remember.
Videos that entertain
Entertaining videos are a great source of fun. Especially, they tend to break the monotony of working continuously. These short videos give people a break from their routine work and bring smiles on their faces.
Promoting your video
After spending the time to create a video and putting it on Facebook, it would be a good idea to run a paid campaign so you can extend your reach. The goal should be such that the video is high on content value. This will lead people to like your page and share the video on their wall. Once you have posted the video, either go to the ads manager or in the video post, click boost photo. Applying the steps required to boost your page, you can also create an effective boost campaign for your target demographic.
With the steps required to apply the ‘call-to-action’ buttons, you can also create a watch video call-to-action on the top of your Facebook page. This directs people to the video post following a click