Author: Kris Marie

Digital News Alert: Facebook Gaming Creator Pilot Program
By Kris Marie

Digital News Alert: Facebook Gaming Creator Pilot Program

With the incredible growth of the gaming industry and the huge propensity of teens, twenty-somethings, and millennials to watch live video game events, more are figuring out they want a piece of the pie.

There is a site called Twitch.tv which is all about live streaming video games. There are audiences watching these games on Twitch which is a social media platform.

Facebook Creator Pilot Program

While Twitch has been growing over the past 5 or 6 years, few others have really jumped on the bandwagon. YouTube took part, but other major social media platforms did not take it very seriously.

That is changing now.

Facebook who is seeing a lift in their newest video sector, is going to bring forth the Gaming Creator Pilot Program in a deal with ESL.

The Gaming Creator Program will:
improve discoverability
incorporate presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Oculus
Offer tools that streamers need to make a living streaming games on Facebook

Facebook wants to enable direct payment to streamers.

The gamers on Facebook’s platforms will be able to lifestream via 1080p/60fps and will work alongside the Facebook streaming team.

The debut of the program on Facebook didn’t go quite smoothly as there were technical issues. However, the reach Facebook can offer is much more than Twitch can do.

It will help ESL by bringing greater exposure to eSports.

What this Means for Businesses:

If you are targeting gamers and those in this age range, you will have a bigger audience to market to and connect with via the powerhouse of Facebook.

Now you will have more opportunities outside of advertising on Twitch or YouTube.  Facebook, Instagram, and Oculus will be part of the group.

Conclusion
Livestreaming is soaring right now and in the gaming arena it is a global adaptation. The combination of the power of live streaming with the tremendous community of gamers on Facebook, you can expect fireworks.

Top Lesson Learned from Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk
By Kris Marie

Top Lesson Learned from Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk

Entrepreneurship can be a rollercoaster.  Some days you have big highs and wins and others are quieter than a church.

One part is consistent, there are hurdles.

There are even hurdles when you are first thinking of trying to go into entrepreneurship.

You don’t have time, or you have a family, or you don’t know which idea to start with.

Gary outlines a full list of the hurdles in his book Crushing It! and I have something to say about that list! Continue reading →

How to Find Legitimate Social Media Influencers
By Kris Marie

How to Find Legitimate Social Media Influencers

As the term has been thrown about more and more, we are sure you’ve heard of “Influencer Marketing.”  If not, here’s a quick 411:

Influencer marketing refers to individuals who have a strong community of followers (social media communities including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc) who are engaged with the influencer by commenting, joining an email list, and following the advice of these individuals.

Ok, now that you’re caught up a bit, let’s jump into the newest stat that came out.

Influencer marketers centralize upon one age range with 75% of influencers being between 18 – 34 years of age.

With this fact intact, this mostly means those in and around that age (although there are exceptions) are listening and consuming the messaging of the influencers in that age category.  (Probably somewhere from 14 – 40 years old)

How to know if an influencer is a good one:

There are many Instagram accounts out there with high numbers of followers.  This may seem like the perfect influencer for your product.  However there are some important steps you should follow to be sure you are connecting with the right influencer.

  1.  Look at the most recent posts.  How long ago were they posted?
    1. An active Instagram should be posting at least every day or every other day.  If the most recent post was more than one week ago, then check the frequency of posts.  If the most recent was 1 week ago but then from there the posts were coming everyday, it could be there is some reason for the lapse but it will go back to normal shortly.
    2. If the Instagram posts are erratic, once every other week or a longer time in between posts, then skip this one.
  2. Start looking at recent posts.  How many likes do they have?
  3. How many comments do the recent posts have?

The likes and comments on posts on an Instagram profile should be pretty consistent and a strong percentage of the number of followers an account has, somewhere between 5 – 10% of the number of followers.

The above three steps will definitely help in deciding on influencers.

You can repeat the above steps on other social platforms for influencers.

 

Bernie Williams Performs at the NAMM Foundation LIVE
By Kris Marie

Bernie Williams Performs at the NAMM Foundation LIVE

Bernie Williams, Yankees Great and holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in the Performance Arts from the Manhattan School of Music, a prestigious music school in New York, made his way out to the big NAMM fest in California.

About 2 years ago, Bernie set out to achieve a goal he promised himself and his parents he would complete.  That was to get his degree from a higher education institution.

Bernie did just that as he expanded on his love for music and jazz performance.  It wasn’t easy and he had a lot of homework to keep up with.  In the end, it was all worth it.

Watch below as Bernie performs with his ensemble from the Manhattan School of Music, LIVE at the NAMM Show for 2018.

He will also be performing at The Carlyle, a well known music spot in Manhattan from March 6 – 10th, 2018.  Get your tickets while you still can.

By Kris Marie

Daily Digital Tip #29: The Secret Google Analytics Trick You Need

Google Analytics is an amazing tool filled with a great deal of data when it comes to website traffic.

As you begin becoming involved with digital marketing campaigns, the data will expand even further.

You need to be sure everything is organized if you want to know how particular marketing campaigns are truly performing.

Thankfully, there is a special trick you can use.

Let’s say you setup an ad campaign online to point to a product page on your store.  If you are marketing via Google AdWords, Facebook marketing, Twitter, etc, you will not be able to tell which method worked the best.

This can be chaotic!

So we have a special trick for you to use and it is free!

We discuss that free tool for Google Analytics in the video below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTCnl9FY-Tc

 

Don’t miss our other Digital Marketing Video Series!

Social Media Marketing Tips Video on Pinterest & Google+

E-Commerce Tips #1 – Shipping Tips and Tricks

E-Commerce Tips #2 – Conquering Mobile Commerce

E-Commerce Tips #3 – Stop Cart Abandonment

 

Crushing It – by Gary Vaynerchuk Book Review and Recommendation
By Kris Marie

Crushing It – by Gary Vaynerchuk Book Review and Recommendation

I’m the type who must read a book in detail, word for word. I’m not a skimmer nor a chapter skipper. When I read a book, I want to take it all in and see what it’s about to understand the message the author is sending out plus the sub-messages and the sub-sub messages.

A Glimpse Behind the Curtain

There have been books that I start reading and can’t wait to pick back up. There are others that I am counting the pages to the end of the chapter so I can put it down for a while.

There are even still other books that I begin reading and do the very uncharacteristic chapter skip. When this starts happening, you know the book is about to be closed.

Lately, the books I’ve come across have been problematic in terms of holding my attention. From the start, I can tell the tone of the author just doesn’t jive with my mindset. You may think, that could be a good thing to present an opposite point of view. However that’s not what I particularly mean. It often seems to hurt my mindset which up until that point, was feeling positive.

Do I Follow Gary Vaynerchuk?

Fast forward to today, I’m an avid consumer of the GaryVee experience. I follow him on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc. I’ve watched the Daily Vee, not religiously but I do catch episodes that resonate with current situations as they become available.

I heard about his newest book which would be dropping in January 2018. Crushing It! You must understand, Gary started this set off with Crush It! a book written 9 years ago speaking about the power of a number of social media platforms.

This book, Crushing It! is apropros as it now documents the 9 years which have gone by, the good and the bad and the impact Crush It’s message had on many different individuals. The title is actually a description of the stories of these individual success stories inside.

Are all the success stories about people making millions on social media? No.

Are all the success stories about people who struggled, found Crush It and suddenly saw the proverbial lightbulb? Maybe. Continue reading →

We Have an Advance Copy of Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk
By Kris Marie

We Have an Advance Copy of Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk is starting off the new year in 2018 with a very exciting release.  It’s the release of the second in a series of books titled, Crushing It.  This book is not due out until January 30th of this year, however it is already listed on Amazon as a best seller!  Gary’s fans love him.  Plus he also has some special contests going on where those who purchase a certain quantity of books will be entered to win a lunch with Gary.  That is definitely something worth entering.  The amount of wisdom and knowledge Gary has is staggering.

I will be reading and reviewing Crushing It! for all our great readers to let you know if it is a good idea or not, to buy this book.  There are a lot of books out there, is this one going to be worth the read?  Watch the video below to get the details on this upcoming review and a sneak peek at this new book we just received.

Thank you again to Harper Collins and Gary Vaynerchuk for making this happen!

Social Commerce – The Connection Between Social Media and E-Commerce 2018
By Kris Marie

Social Commerce – The Connection Between Social Media and E-Commerce 2018

You’ve heard people look to reviews from peers and even strangers before purchasing a product or service. This is why social media is so important when it comes to shopping, online and offline.

Here’s just how important it can be and why your business should be utilizing social media.

According to 16best.net:

  • 87% of customers say that social media helps them decide what to buy.
  • 25% seek advice on social networks when choosing clothing
  • 90% of followers try to reach out to brands via social media.

In today’s era many millennials and even baby boomers are either discovering brands via social media or going to social media to see how they can interact with a brand they like.

You want to see if there are any special promotions or deals going on and to also see if others purchased/reviewed a product you are perhaps thinking of getting.

If a positive review is found on mobile devices when you are shopping around, companies can see an increase of 133% in conversions compared to no reviews or negative ones.

Not only are you looking reviews but more than half off US consumers go to social media for customer service and feel any issues they have were resolved.

So how does social media translate into a dollar value?

Let’s look:

Shopify says the following:
When a Shopify store user is referred by Facebook the average spend is $40
When referred by Pinterest? $80

[Don’t Forget to Get Your Selling On Pinterest Guide for 2018 FREE Here]

The demographics of today’s social shopper might surprise you:
Male: 61%
Female: 39%

You can find many more details on the social commerce landscape including:

  • Demographics
  • Top social retailers
  • Adoption of social media by platform and industry
  • Which industries benefit the most from social media
  • Top selling social media products
  • User behaviors
  • The List goes on

Check out this incredible social commerce infographic from 16best.net

Social Media and E-Commerce Infographic 2018

Instagram has New Activity Status Feature – Here’s How to Turn It Off
By Kris Marie

Instagram has New Activity Status Feature – Here’s How to Turn It Off

Instagram has added a new feature, for the app, but not new to the world of social media.

Brinkwire reports Instagram will now let your friends and followers know when you were last checking the app.

It won’t show everyone, however, it will show to people you have direct messaged and those you tagged in your Instagram stories. You will in turn be able to see when those people were also last on the app.

It will look like this:

This new feature is automatically enabled for all Instagram users.

Luckily, you can turn it off if you would prefer that information not be seen.

Know that if you turn it off, you will not see when others were last on either.

You can turn this off by going into your settings options and finding the “Show Activity Status” button.