How Online Reviews Can Make or Break Your Company

Many small businesses constantly chase great online reviews. Because they have become a critical part of the prospect’s decision-making process. But what are the mistakes that they should avoid in the process? And are fake reviews going to dismantle the entire system?

The Impact of Online Reviews on Businesses

On the Small Business Radio Show this week we speak to Jeremy Lessaris. Lessaris founded irevu, an online reputation management company. He discusses how reviews can make or break your company. He says that “a one star drop at a plastic surgery office can cost the company millions of dollars.” They are having even more of an impact because Jeremy adds that Google is now frequently listing reviews in some cases before organic search results.

According to Jeremy, consumers also “naturally gravitate toward negative reviews”. This is because they want to know the worst that can happen if they patronize that company. He believes that a lot of the positive reviews are getting discounted because some of them are the work of paid reviewers. To combat this, consumers are looking at multiple platforms for the trend of overall credible reviews.

Customers Are Paying Attention

Consumers do note how companies respond to negative reviews. Jeremy suggests not doing a “public break up where you lash out at the customer.”  Simply respond and show the customer that they are heard. He counsels that you should “try to take the emotion out of it and push the issue offline to resolve it”. Unfortunately, some consumers try to use a negative review to get something for free. He cites the fact that there have actually been lawsuits over people posting fake reviews to try to get something of value from that company.

Jeremy describes the best remedy for negative reviews is to get more positive ones to bury the bad. An effective way to get customers to give reviews is to ask for them consistently over and over again. He reminds us that “the growth of positivity is much more difficult that the growth of negativity” so companies need to work on this. Unfortunately, many companies don’t pay attention until they get multiple negative reviews. Jeremy reminds businesses that at their core, negative reviews are good feedback from the customer on how they are doing and where to improve their processes.

Are consumers going back to a place of only trusting professional reviews with all the fakes out there? Jeremy believes that Google and other review sites are spending a lot of resources reducing reviews from “like” farms. He does not believe consumer trust in peer reviews are ever really going away.

Listen to the entire interview on the Small Business Radio Show.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "How Online Reviews Can Make or Break Your Company" was first published on Small Business Trends

We want you: apply to Startup Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin 2019

You’ve worked hard to build your dream to this point, and now it’s time to launch your early-stage startup on a world-class stage and shift your momentum into high gear. If that description fits, we want you to apply to compete in the Startup Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin 2019.

Our early-stage startup pitch competition — known around the world — is the most effective way to place your startup in front of the investors, tech leaders and media outlets that can change the trajectory of your business in the best way possible. Oh, and the winning founders also receive $50,000. Sweet!

What’s more, applying to and participating in Startup Battlefield is absolutely free — no fees, no equity, no nothing.

Applying is easy, but the selection process is extremely competitive. TechCrunch editors with a keen eye for potential will vet every application and then select 15-20 companies to compete. Founders of those startups will receive six rigorous weeks of pitch coaching — you’ll work hard to craft your pitch, prepare your demo and be ready to strut your stuff with confidence.

When the big day finally arrives, each team will have six minutes to pitch to a world-class panel of judges — followed by a six-minute Q&A session. The founders who make it through to the second round will present again to a fresh set of judges. It’s a lather, rinse, repeat scenario.

One startup will emerge victorious, raise the Disrupt Cup and take home the $50,000 prize. The event takes place in front of a huge audience filled with investors, media and tech icons — and we record and live-stream the whole shooting match around the world.

Not only that, all Startup Battlefield competitors get to exhibit in Startup Alley for the entire show. Even if you don’t win the top prize, you still benefit from the exposure. Plus, you’ll join the ranks of the Startup Battlefield alumni community — now there’s an impressive group.

Since 2007, 857 startups have launched their dreams on the Startup Battlefield stage and gone on to collectively raise $8.9 billion while producing 112 exits. This alumni community includes companies like Vurb, Dropbox, Mint, Yammer and many more. You’ll be among their ranks…let the networking begin!

The Startup Battlefield takes place at Disrupt Berlin 2019 on 11-12 December. You’ve worked hard to build your dream — now take it to the next level. Apply to Startup Battlefield today.

Pro Tip: If you’re not quite ready to compete in the Battlefield, there’s more than one way to receive the VIP treatment at Disrupt. Use the same application and apply for the TC Top Picks program. If you make the cut, you’ll receive a free Startup Alley Exhibitor Package and stand in a bright spotlight of media and investor attention.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt Berlin 2019? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

17 Free Facebook Messenger Tags to Chat Blast Your Contacts

Today, I want to explain what message tags for Facebook Messenger bots are, and how you can use them to chat with your Messenger contacts in a free, legitimate, high-quality, highly scalable, Facebook-approved way.

Facebook’s own survey data shows that more than half of consumers say chat is their preferred channel to connect with businesses.

Mastering Messenger tags is an exciting tactic for chatbot marketing — a free way to automatically reach the 1.3 billion active monthly customers on Facebook Messenger to the tune of 80% engagement.

So let’s start from the beginning.

What Are Facebook Messenger Tags?

When a business uses a chatbot to automate conversations in Facebook Messenger, that business is plugging into Facebook Messenger developer APIs, whether:

1) as replies to customer inquiries or

2) re-engaging in conversation

Of course, if you’re using a visual Messenger bot platform like MobileMonkey, we’re running your chat messages through the APIs for you.

Let’s take a close look at these two use cases and where message tags feature big time.

Chatbot Replies to Your Contacts

When someone messages your business, your chatbot issues a “response” (that’s the technical term according to Facebook developer docs).

For 24 hours, any messages you send to that user can be classified as a response at no cost to your business. This is called Standard Messaging or 24+1.

Chatbot Re-engages Your Contacts

After 24 hours, your business chatbot can initiate a conversation to your Messenger contacts, providing it follows a few rules:

• Is it a promotional message? Better send that message as a Sponsored Messages ad.
• Is it a non-promotional message? There are 17 pre-defined tags that businesses must use to send a message to their contacts using Facebook Messenger’s developer APIs. Good news: Facebook does not charge businesses to send messages with any of the 17 non-promotional message tags.

Tantalizing, no?

Ready to learn all about Facebook message tags, yes?

Initiating a Free, Non-Promotional Message with Message Tags

There are 17 Messenger tags defined by Facebook and businesses can send these messages via chatbot in Messenger for free, at any time, without restriction.

Facebook describes it like this:

Message tags give you the ability to send messages to a person outside of the normally allowed 24-hour window for a limited number of purposes that require continual notification or updates. This enables greater flexibility in how your bot interacts with people, as well as the types of experiences you can build on the Messenger Platform.

You create the message, select a tag for your message (jump here to see how), and boom. Instant chat blasting to the contacts of your choice.

These messages are free. They are organic. They are legitimate.

Sending Facebook Messages with Messenger tags is an above-board and 100% white hat usage of Facebook Messenger.

… As long as you’re following the rules of each messaging tag, of course.

If you start using Messenger tags against their intended purposes, you could be banned from using Facebook Messenger.

So without further ado …

What Are Facebook Messenger Message Tags?

There are 17 message tags that businesses can use to send automated messages using the Facebook Messenger Send API:

1. Business productivity
2. Community alert
3. Confirmed event reminder
4. Pairing update
5. Application update
6. Account update
7. Payment update
8. Personal finance update
9. Shipping update
10. Reservation update
11. Issue resolution
12. Appointment update
13. Game eventTransportation update
14. Feature functionality update
15. Ticket update
16. Non-promotional subscription update

Facebook has decided what its messaging tags are and what they are to be used for.

Here, a brief explanation of what each of the message tags may be used for:

1. Business productivity – Notifications, reports, or reminders about your business such as an upcoming invoice, a performance report,etc.
2. Community alert – Notifying your community about an event, such as a safety reminder or an emergency alert
3. Confirmed event reminder – Sending a recipient a reminder or confirmation regarding an event that they’ve signed up for
4. Pairing update – Any type of match of two things — selecting a product, finding a dating match, or pairing with a parking spot at the right place and the right time.
5. Application update – This involves updating a contact about their application (such as a job application)
6. Account update – Send a message about news or updates related to their account with you, whether it’s a membership site or a shopping cart
7. Payment update – This is messages that involve financial information such as a receipt, product availability, or payment transaction information
8. Personal finance update – Another catch-all financial tag, usually for confirming someone’s financial activity with your business
9. Shipping update – This is for shipment notifications, arrival dates, delivery confirmation, or updates on arrival times
10. Reservation update – Using this tag covers any updates related to itineraries, reservations, locations, bookings, rental cars, or hotels
11. Issue resolution – These updates usually apply to a customer service issue that takes place in Messenger and cover a wide array of possible requests, information, or solutions
12. Appointment update – Send the recipient information about their existing appointment
13. Game event – This tag is used for game updates, whether it’s a live sporting event or a mobile gaming app
14. Transportation update – Flights, rides, or ferries, this tag is used for updates and information related to a recipient’s transportation
15. Feature functionality update – Use this tag whenever you want to update users with the latest information about your product’s features and functionality
16. Ticket update – Send updates about ticketed events including start times, cancellations, locations, refunds, or reminders
17. Non-promotional subscription update – This is the one message tag that requires that a business applies and is approved by Facebook. More on how to get approved for subscription messaging here.

Determine which of these Messenger tags is best suited for your particular purposes, and send a message accordingly.

Here’s how.

How to Send a Message with Messenger Tags

In MobileMonkey, go to Marketing Automation ? Chat Blaster ? New Chat Blast.

First, you’ll select an audience and then choose the chat dialogue.

Your chat dialogue, which you’ll create beforehand, needs to be in line with the Message Tag that you choose below.

For example, if you are sending a Community Alert message and tag, then your dialogue needs to be related to Community Alerts.

Next, you’ll choose between promotional message, subscription message, or Notification/Update.

Notification/Update is the one you’ll select to send a message with a Messenger tag.

 

Next, you’ll select the message tag that matches the type of content that you are sending.

 

That’s it.

Let the Message tags fly! (Strategically and appropriately, of course.)

The Rules of Sending Messages with Messenger Tags

Messenger tags are an unalloyed good — absolute positivity and a major benefit to your Facebook Messenger marketing.

But, just like anything, they come with rules. And that’s really what Messenger tags are, in essence — rules.

Messenger tags are themselves stipulations regarding what a message can say. All these tags are inherently non-promotional.

One of the limitations is that there are few use cases that Messenger tags apply to.

We have to work within this limitation for the time being. However, if you want to suggest additional tags, you can tell Facebook about it. It’s easy.

Go to the Facebook for Developers page on Message tags.

Click the Suggest a Tag button, and make your case.

You’ll need to describe the non-promotional use case and your intentions for using it, in 1024 characters or less.

There are basically two main rules that apply to Messenger tags:

1. All messages must be non-promotional in nature
2. Each message must conform to the category you select

What is promotional content? That’s kind of left undefined. Facebook uses these examples — ”daily deals, coupons and discounts, or sale announcements.”

 

Use your judgment. If it feels like promotional content, it probably is.

What if you want to send promotional content?

No problem. Use Promo Blaster.

But don’t use Messenger tags.

Why not?

Not to sound all sinister, but Facebook will find you and they will ban you.

My advice is don’t push the envelope.

What’s an example of envelope-pushing? Some marketers have tried to send an invitation to a marketing webinar to their contact list, and tagged it as an “event update.”

Not so fast. That’s not an event update. That’s a promotional play.

This is something I would advise against.

Facebook will spot that tag abuse and revoke your Messenger permissions as fast as a donkey snatching a carrot.

According to our best knowledge, Facebook Messenger effectively spots violations of the Messenger tags using machine learning and triggered by block rates and complaint rates.

Basically, if your messages start smelling suspicious, Facebook will manually investigate and take action.

Follow the rules. Avoid the risks.

And use Messenger message tags to your heart’s content.

Why Do Messenger Tags Matter?

Here’s why Facebook Messenger message tags are important. They provide a safe, free, fast, and effective way to reach your contacts at scale.

There are three main ways of automatically messaging your contacts according to Facebook Messenger policies:

1. Standard messaging (often referred to as the 24+1 rule) – If anyone engages with you from any channel, you can message or reply to them for up to 24 hours, even if the message is promotional.
2. Sponsored messages – A paid method of reaching your contacts with a chat blast.
3. Subscription messaging – Free engagement with users beyond the 24 hours, provided that the content fits is non-promotional in nature and the business has applied for an been approved by Facebook.

As great as each of these methods are, they have limitations.

1. 24+1 – Limited time and quantity of messages
2. Sponsored messages – Advertising has upfront costs
3. Subscription messaging – Receiving permission can take a long time and repeated requests

Facebook Messenger tags are the alternative to these methods, and they have the following advantages:

• You can send an unlimited number of them for an unlimited period of time.
• You can send them without needing subscription messaging permission.
• Facebook does not charge businesses to send messages using any of the 17 message tag (make it 16 if you don’t count subscription messaging).

Based on MobileMonkey analytics, we’ve determined that sending messages using Messenger tags is the least used of the sending mechanisms.

A lot of people are using 24+1 responses, subscription messaging, and sponsored messages a but not a whole lot of people are using tags.

Why is it used so little?

My hunch is that has to do with the apparent complexity — so many different tags what do they even mean?

But the complexity is superficial. Using tags is no more complex than piecing together a dialogue or creating a Messenger drip campaign.

Moreover, using Message Tags requires rethinking one’s approach to marketing. It’s not just about the Ra-Ra-Buy-Now of promotional content.

It’s also about the patient process of keeping contacts engaged, in-the-know, and updated.

Messenger tags matter, in essence, because they provide a natural, powerful, and non-promotional method of engaging with your audience.

Messenger Tags: Next Steps and Power Tips

Facebook Messenger Tags are an absolute asset to marketers who want to do chat blasting in certain cases, but don’t have subscription messaging, don’t want to spend money on promo blasting, and are outside of the 24+1 window.

Yes, there are rules in place. But those rules are actually a good thing, allowing you to market with a bit of reservedness.

Now you know just about everything there is to know about message tags for automating messages in Facebook Messenger.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "17 Free Facebook Messenger Tags to Chat Blast Your Contacts" was first published on Small Business Trends

Only 5 days left for super early bird savings at Disrupt Berlin 2019

Our super early bird countdown continues startup fans. If you don’t have your pass to Disrupt Berlin 2019 yet, it’s time to mach schnell — make it quick! Buy your pass now before the deadline strikes on 6 September at 11:59 p.m. (CEST), and you’ll save up to €600. Just five days left, friends. What are you waiting for?

You can save even more money with our group discounts. Buy in bulk, bring your whole team and leave no startup entrepreneur behind. You’ll save 20% when you buy five or more Innovator passes at once. Buy two or more Founder or Investor passes at once and enjoy a 10% savings.

We love Disrupt Berlin’s international diversity. More than 3,000 attendees from more than 50 countries gather to learn about and showcase the latest tech innovations and to connect, collaborate and move their business forward. Disrupt is the crossroad of now and future tech.

You’ll hear from an impressive array of tech leaders, makers, founders and investors on a range of hot topics. One example is Nigel Toon, the co-founder and CEO of Graphcore — a company that’s designing its own dedicated AI chipset. The company has raised more than $300 million from top investors, such as Sequoia Capital, BMW, Microsoft and Samsung. Pretty impressive, but even crazier — the tiny startup competes directly with giant chip companies, such as Nvidia, AMD, Intel and Qualcomm. It’s a race to see who can create the most efficient AI chip.

Director Roxanne Varza will be on hand to give us an update on Station F, the world’s biggest campus for startups. Housed in an historic monument (a beautiful building constructed in 1929), Station F is also a high-tech building and a cornerstone of the French tech ecosystem. Companies like Facebook, Naver (Line), Ubisoft, Microsoft and a host of others run incubators out of Station F, and its also home to more than 1,000 startups.

You can’t talk European success stories without talking UiPath. Currently valued at $7 billion, the company’s wild success comes from creating enterprise software that focuses on repetitive tasks and helps customers automate as many actions as possible. We can’t wait to talk with founder and CEO Daniel Dines — who started the company 15 years ago — about his automation journey.

There’s so much more to do at Disrupt Berlin 2019 and you can do it all for a whole lot less if you buy your pass before the super early bird price vanishes in just five days at 11:59 p.m. (CEST) on 6 September. Mach schnell!

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt Berlin 2019? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

Urban, the on-demand wellness platform, adds physiotherapy to its roster of on-demand services

Urban, the London-headquartered company that lets you book a growing range of “wellness” services on demand — spanning massage, osteopathy, to various beauty treatments — is adding physiotherapy to its roster in a bid to become a “one-stop-shop” for physical wellbeing.

The new pay-as-you-go physiotherapy offering will let you book a HCPC-registered physio via the Urban app or website for treatment in your home. With NHS wait times several weeks if not months for access to physiotherapy, Urban thinks it has spotted a gap in the market for people that need ongoing treatment or a quick appraisal for a recently sustained injury — and are willing to pay “out of pocket” for the privilege.

In a call with Urban founder Jack Tang and the company’s general manager for physical wellbeing, Joe Jarman, the pair explained that the new service aims to provide access to a private physiotherapist with as little as two hours’ notice, available seven days per week. It will initially be available in London, with a focus on central London where demand (and, presumably, ability to pay) is highest, followed by Manchester and Birmingham.

With that said, pricing is competitive with physiotherapy that is typically offered at a private clinic, and compared to arranging a home visit from a private clinic, it is considerably cheaper. That’s because, claims Jarman, Urban is able to cut down on travel time by clustering nearby bookings via its app in order to maximise potential sessions per day, similar to what it does for other existing Urban wellbeing services. Of course, it doesn’t have the same brick ‘n’ mortar overheads, either.

Jarman says that many of Urban’s physiotherapists work in the NHS during the day but are looking to earn additional income in the evenings and at weekends or want to transition into private practice.

Asked if a service like Urban could place more pressure on the NHS by stretching an already scare resource, he says that the sector as a whole is growing. This has seen a 22% increase in the number of physiotherapists since 2015. In addition, Jarman says one in every three GP consultations relates to MSK issues, and early access to an Urban physiotherapist could help lessen this.

Either way, it’s certainly true that at present and within its current funding and organisational structure, the NHS isn’t very well-positioned to provide speedy MSK-related advice or treatment. Physiotherapy is also an obvious extension to Urban’s existing osteopathy and sports massage treatments.

“We see physiotherapy as the final vital piece so that we can offer a complete package to attain good physical health,” adds Jarman in a statement. “If someone has a problem with their body, we make sure they get the right treatment plan – and they get to choose the time and place”.

Meanwhile, Tang says that now Urban has completed its suite for physical wellbeing, the startup’s attention now turns to “doubling down” on its beauty and body confidence category with more news to share “very soon”.

Spotawheel picks up €5M for its online used car dealership

Spotawheel, a startup operating in Greece and Poland with a car dealership model quite similar to Carvana in the U.S., has picked up €5 million in new funding. Backing the online used car dealership is Venture Friends, which led the round, with participation from Velocity Partners and unnamed “strategic” investors.

The investment includes both equity and debt financing, since part of Spotawheel’s business includes purchasing used cars upfront. It brings total raised by the Athens-headquartered startup to €8 million since launching in 2016.

“Used cars is one of the largest markets in value worldwide growing at a 5-7% rate annually, operating still primarily offline in a notoriously non-transparent way,” says Charis Arvanitis, Spotawheel co-founder and CEO.

This sees potential buyers fear buying a “lemon,” coupled with over-complicated processes, hidden-fees, and fragmented supply. The latter is largely a combination of private sellers via classified ads, and traditional offline used car dealerships.

“The lack of centralized control on the industry’s hugely fragmented seller structure, has prevented any meaningful innovation over the past 20 years, when the typical online classified ads emerged,” says Arvanitis. “That problem is even more evident in Europe, where car trade flows between countries make it much harder to control quality and trace cars history”.

To address this, Spotawheel offers an online B2C platform for used cars that Arvanitis says has redesigned the buy-sell process from scratch to create a “frictionless” and trusted buying experience. The idea is to bring e-commerce levels of convenience and protection to purchasing a used car.

“Customers can opt in for a test drive or have the car delivered countrywide under a 7-day return policy, while enjoying up to 5 years of limited warranty, the largest in Europe,” he says. This is underpinned by Spotawheel’s “predictive analytics” covering the condition and expected failures on a per car basis.

In addition, Arvanitis explains Spotawheel’s car sourcing model combines both debt-financed and marketplace practices, allowing the startup to source the best cars from private owners and B2B resellers across Europe. The includes deploying working capital purchasing vehicles upfront or via a commission-basis agreement.

10 Ways to Accomplish Your Top Sales Priorities

The internet has empowered the consumer/client, and this has changed the way sales pros go about their business. For companies training sales candidates, it means making these and other changes brought on by digital technology part of the process.

A new infographic by the RAIN Group, titled, “10 Ways To Achieve Your Top Sales Priorities” looks into what today’s sales pros have to prioritize moving forward. The top 10 list comes from a survey of 423 sales and enablement leaders.

As a company which specializes in training sales professionals, the RAIN Group has a scholarly perspective on the industry. And when it comes to training, 83% of companies don’t have an effective training system in place. With so many new developments, being able to implement these solutions is key to addressing the concerns of sales professionals.

What are the Top 10 Sales Priorities?

According to RAIN Group they are:

1. Improve the ability to communicate value: 70%
2. Improve productivity of sellers and sales teams: 65%
3. Increased business with existing accounts: 64%
4. Improve retention, repeat business, renewals: 62%
5. Improve sales opportunity approach and planning: 61%
6. Win more against difficult competitors: 56%
7. Improve seller’s ability to inspire with ideas: 57%
8. Improve sales manager effectiveness: 54%
9. Drive new logos/new accounts won: 53%
10. Optimize our sales process: 53%

Based on these priorities, RAIN Group has some valuable tips sales professionals and businesses can use to make them happen.

Tips on Achieving Sales Priorities

Value should be a priority. So, when a sales team or organization is set on delivering value for their buyers, RAIN Group says they are more likely to grow revenue. In the survey, top performers lead the way over other sales teams across the board in delivering value.

This includes focusing on driving maximum value for the customer (81% to 61%), developing sellers to be as valuable as possible to buyers (66% to 39%) and working collaboratively to create value in new and creative ways (47% to 21%).

Create a referral and retention machine with a multi-pronged strategy which includes proactive ways for finding new opportunities.

When these opportunities are created proactively, 83% of account managers say client satisfaction is significantly better. This, RAIN Group says, is because clients are looking for ideas and they want sellers to reach out to them.

So much so, 49% of very satisfied people with a product or service would consider switching to a different provider.

The next tip expands on the need to perfect your value proposition. This just doesn’t mean the product or service you are trying to sell to the client. It means value across the board, including the clients time. The research in the survey finds 58% of sales meetings aren’t valuable to buyers.

If you make the case to the buyer by addressing all of their priorities, you have a better chance. Make your case why it is important and urgent to move forward and why you are the best choice. This includes why they should believe in you, your offering, your company, and your ability to get it done.

Take a look at the full infographic from RAIN Group to find out the rest of the tips.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "10 Ways to Accomplish Your Top Sales Priorities" was first published on Small Business Trends

Want to Get More with Influencer Marketing? Here are 6 Ideas For You

Influencer marketing has already become an extremely popular form of marketing among brands. In fact, as of 2018, there were over 740 platforms focused on influencer marketing, which marked a major increase of over 320 platforms in just one year.

One of the major reasons for this is the high engagement rate that influencers get on their content. In fact, the average engagement rate of influencers on Instagram is about 1.87%. This increases to nearly 10.7% for those with less than 2,000 followers.

While influencer marketing can yield high engagement and ROI, you can optimize your campaigns to get even better results.

Influencer Marketing Ideas

Here are some techniques that can help you get the most out of your influencer marketing campaigns.

1. Discount Codes

Discount codes can instantly increase the popularity of your influencer marketing campaign. When people see that they can get their favorite products for lower prices, they’ll be more inclined to purchase them. This type of campaign can help you increase your sales and revenue instantly.

You can create unique discount codes for each of your influencers. When the influencers post these codes, you’ll be able to track how many purchases were made using each code. This can help you track the performance of each of your influencers too.

Additionally, you can use an affiliate program to pay your influencers. You can pay them a commission for each purchase that they drive. This way, they’ll be more motivated to promote your products too.

For instance, Daniel Wellington gave out free watches to their influencers and gave them each a unique discount code to track results.

Image via Instagram

2. Whitelisting

While the targeted reach of influencer marketing is excellent, to unleash its real power, you need to pair it up with paid promotions. Through whitelisting, brands can get access to the influencer’s account for advertising. This can help increase the reach of their content. It also allows you to be in control of which posts you want to promote.

Whitelisting allows you to turn your influencer posts into ads. They will look and feel like the original post except that they will be tagged as “sponsored” and you can add a caption and CTA to it. Just like other paid promotions, you’ll be able to see in-depth analytics of the post.

The benefit of amplification is that you can increase your reach, engagement, and sales. You can pick the objective and have full control over the ad spend supporting the amplification. However, the process of convincing the influencers to grant access to their accounts can be difficult. At the same time, you can’t access or even target the influencer’s audiences.

To solve this issue, you can use SocialCert, a tool by Lumanu. It allows influencers to share their data and permissions securely with brands and vice-versa. This way, it enables you to get the most out of your influencer marketing campaigns.

3. Brand Ambassadors

You may choose to collaborate with an influencer for a one-off campaign. However, the best way to do influencer marketing is by fostering strong relationships with your influencers. When you work with influencers for a longer duration, they’ll have a better understanding of your brand and your values.

Additionally, it’ll be easier to deal with them as they have worked with you longer. You may even want to consider making some of your influencers your brand ambassadors. They will be able to showcase multiple facets of your brand through their content as compared to a one-off collaboration.

You can use tools such as Twitonomy to keep track of your influencers’ posts to determine if you want to make them your brand ambassadors. It gives you detailed, visual analytics of their tweets, mentions, comments, and more.

4. Live Videos

The live video revolution on social media is here, and if you’re into influencer marketing, you shouldn’t miss out on it. When your influencers go live, their followers get a chance to interact with them directly in real-time. This can generate a lot of engagement and views.

When the influencers mention your brand or talk about it in a live video, you’ll be able to increase your brand awareness. The live videos could be Q&As, how-tos, product launches, and more.

For example, Starbucks wanted to encourage people to vote in the 2016 election. To do so, they partnered with Common, and the video was able to generate over 176k views and got over 200 shares.

Image via Facebook

5. Social Media Takeover

A social media takeover is when an influencer takes control of a brand’s social media account for a pre-decided duration. During this period, they come up with innovative content to promote the brand.

Not only can this generate a lot of engagement but it can even increase your reach. How? The influencer’s audience may also start following your social media handle.

However, you must ensure that you create a contract with agreed upon terms before the influencer takeover. This contract should detail the deliverables and scope of work  This will help to avoid any future issues.

The contract should clearly state the duration of the takeover and the extent to which the influencer can access your account. Once this is signed, you can go ahead with the collaboration.

For instance, Harper’s Bazaar partnered with Jamie King to promote their brand. She went live on Instagram while she was preparing for the Dior Cruise show, and this generated a lot of engagement for Harper’s Bazaar.

Image via Instagram

6. Testimonials

To get the most out of your influencer marketing campaigns, you should consider featuring influencers in your testimonials section. When people notice that an influencer has vouched for your brand, it’ll increase their trust in your brand.

All you need to do is give influencers your products or services to try for themselves. Then, you can ask them to review your products/services. You can feature their reviews in the testimonials section on your website or create social media posts about the same.

Alternatively, once you’ve collaborated with the influencers, you can use their posts as testimonials. This way, you’ll be able to make optimal use of your influencer-generated content too.

Final Thoughts

Influencer marketing campaigns can give you extremely high returns, including up to 18X in earned media value. However, you need to come up with unique ideas and strategies to increase your ROI.

Through live videos, social media takeovers, and testimonials, you can amplify your influencer marketing efforts.

Discount codes can help you boost the performance of your campaigns and even track how well your influencers are performing. Lastly, forming strong relationships with influencers and making them brand ambassadors can also improve the performance of your influencer marketing campaigns.

What other ways can brands get the most out of influencer marketing? Please share your insights in the comments.

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This article, "Want to Get More with Influencer Marketing? Here are 6 Ideas For You" was first published on Small Business Trends

90% of Well Rested Supervisors Say Good Night’s Sleep Positively Affects the Workplace

According to the National Sleep Foundation, staying awake for 18 hours straight makes you drive like you have a blood alcohol level of .05. And the longer you stay up beyond the 18 hours, the worse it gets.

Would you go to work with a .05 blood alcohol level? The answer is probably no. But if you are not getting adequate rest, you are not at your best and your performance will suffer.

A survey from Savvy Sleeper looks at how the mood, performance, generosity, and other qualities of supervisors are affected by poor rest.

The company surveyed a total of 5,350 participants, with 1,887 reporting they had supervisorial positions. For this particular survey, the research looked at 759 respondents who slept notably well or notably poorly. This the company says is to ensure the accuracy of the analysis of the topic in question.

General State of Rest Amongst Supervisors

In general, how well are bosses sleeping? In the survey, only 1 in 4 or 25% say they are well rested. More than half (55%) are in the middle, stating they are not notably well or poorly rested. But a noteworthy percentage (20%) say they are poorly rested.

When it comes to the average sleep both groups get every night, there is an almost two-hour difference. Those with enough rest sleep 7hr-15mn, and it goes down to 5hr-15min for those not getting enough rest.

The reasons they are not getting enough rest is work-related stress, pain, and soreness. And while both groups are affected by these explanations, the impact is higher across the board if the respond they are not well rested.

The impact is noticeable, as 90% of those who sleep well say it has a positive effect in their workplace. Those who didn’t sleep well (70%) say it has a negative effect at work. So, you can imagine what the working conditions will be for employees under both groups.

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Supervisors

The difference between supervisors who sleep well and those that don’t is quite dramatic. It can be as high as 30% in some cases.

If you don’t get enough sleep, you are probably grumpy. So, it is not surprising 75% of supervisors who sleep well are friendly with all their co-workers. And although it doesn’t go down a lot, only 63% of the poorly rested supervisors are friendly.

The benefit of good rest also results in better numbers for a positive mental attitude (67% to 37%), energy throughout the workday (67% to 21%), and patience with co-workers (60% to 46%).

As to the direct impact on employees, when the supervisor gets adequate rest, they do much better. Employees are 1.9 times more likely to always meet their performance goals and 1.8 times more likely to always meet their deadlines.

Productivity and Rest

For supervisors, better sleep equals more success. And this success is driven by the increased hours of productivity and focus as a result of quality rest.

In a 40-hour week, getting good rest results in four more hours of productivity and six hours of focus. And without the necessary rest, supervisors are finding it hard to fulfill their responsibilities.

More than two thirds or 67% of bosses without quality rest are struggling to fulfill their responsibilities. But it goes down to 49% for those with good rest, an almost 20 percentage difference.

As the data points out, getting good rest will not solve your managerial duties. In the report, Savvy Sleeper says, “So even though proper sleep can sharpen your cognitive skills and keep you on track throughout the day, being unable to stay on top of managerial duties seems to be a challenge for most bosses.”

Quality rest is one of the many tools supervisors have to use in order to keep their organization in tip-top shape. When you include it as part of your toolset, you will be better prepared to tackle many of the challenges which come your way throughout the workday.

You can read the full report here.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "90% of Well Rested Supervisors Say Good Night’s Sleep Positively Affects the Workplace" was first published on Small Business Trends