Social Media Marketing | NextGen Skopje

Why Every YouTuber Should Be On TikTok

by NextGen | May 24, 2020 | Social Media Marketing

In this blog post I explain why every YouTuber should be on TikTok. I hope this content is useful for all YouTubers and brands who are interested in developing a presence on TikTok.

Misconceptions About You TikTok

Let’s first talk about some common misconceptions about TikTok. It is really sad that those misconceptions are circulating the internet and are deterring people from joining TikTok, even thought TikTok is an amazing platform with lots of opportunity for everyone.

TikTok is just a lip-syncing app

The most common misconception about TikTok is that TikTok is a lip-syncing app. This is totally not true today. It is really annoying that so many people still believe that TikTok is a lip-syncing app. I think this misconception originates from the fact that TikTok started as a lip-syncing app a few years ago and then it was known as Musical.ly.

However, ByteDance bought Musical.ly. and turned it into TikTok in 2017. In recent years TikTok has grown to become much more than a lip-syncing app. If you log-in TikTok and use it for a few minutes you will realize that there is a wide variety of content on the platform. The lip-syncing videos are definitely not the majority of videos on TikTok today.

TikTok is not a serious platform

Another common misconception about TikTok is that TikTok is not a serious platform. Some people say that all TikTok videos are just jokes or teenagers fooling around. While many videos on TikTok are funny and light-hearted, there are also many serious creators and serious brands who are doing very well on the platform with serious content.

On example is Dr. Julie Smith, she is a psychologist and mental health expert. So, obviously she creates very serious content. She has over 700k followers!

Another example is the account of PD Marketing. They are a marketing agency that creates videos about marketing on Tiktok. They have over 400k followers!

Therefore, if you are a serious brand or a serious content creator you should dismiss TikTok as a joke.

TikTok is just for kids

Another common misconception about TikTok is that TikTok is only for kids. It is true that the audience on TikTok is a little bit younger than the audience on other popular social media platforms. However it is not just kids on TikTok! Based on data released directly from TikTok, about 26% of the users on the platform are between the ages of 25-44. This doesn’t sound too young to me! There is almost a billion people on TikTok and many of them are in their 30s or 40s.

TikTok will eventually shut-down like Vine

And the last thing that I want to mention in this blog post is not really a misconception but a rumor. There is a rumor that has been circulating online that TikTok might eventually shut down. Some people think that TikTok will disappear similarly to how Vine disappeared. This makes some content creators and brands doubt whether they should join TikTok. Why go through the trouble of creating good content for TikTok if it is going to disappear in a couple of years? However, I completely disagree with that attitude!

First of all, we do not know for sure if TikTok will disappear in near future. I personally do not think it will disappear. Even if it does disappear, it is not a waste of time to join TikTok today. It is worth making an effort to create an audience on TikTok because you can move that audience to YouTube or other social media platforms.

Why Every YouTuber Should Be on TikTok

I understand that every content creator and every brand wants to have presence on multiple social media platforms. Successful YouTubers want to develop a presence on other platforms and they normally choose Instagram as their secondary platform. I am really surprised by this. Why Instagram? TikTok should be the secondary platform for YouTubers not Instagram!

TikTok and YouTube are both video platforms

I have watched many videos of business coaches on YouTube. Most of them have very helpful business channels on YouTube. Towards the end of their videos they ask you to follow them on Instagram. Then you visit their profile on Instagram and you see the business coach on the beach playing volleyball and drinking Piña-Coladas. That doesn’t make sense!

People should have a consistent presence across all social media platforms! If you are a business coach on YouTube, your profile on Instagram should also be professional. But, this is hard to achieve for YouTubers on Instagram because Instagram is a platform that is focused on pictures, not videos.

Therefore, the first reason why every YouTubers should be on TikTok is because TikTok and YouTube are the only two major social media platforms that are focused on video. That means that you can use your YouTube content and re-purpose it for TikTok! This is a lot easier to do than creating new pictures for Instagram. I re-purpose my YouTuber videos for TikTok all the time and it takes me only a few minutes per day to do this. Therefore, I think that TikTok is the easiest secondary platform to develop a presence on if you are a YouTuber.

It is easier to grow an audience on TikTok

Another reason why I think every YouTuber should be on TikTok is because I think it is a lot easier to develop an audience on TikTok than YouTube. TikTok is a new platform, it is not as saturated. Therefore, you can develop your audience on TikTok and then hopefully some of your followers on TikTok will also subscribe to your channel on YouTube.

In my example, I uploaded my first YouTube video on March 10th and I started my TikTok account on the April 8th. Therefore I started YouTube and then after a month I started TikTok. Today is the 24th of May and by today I have 133 subscribers on YouTube and 530 followers on TikTok. So, for me TikTok grew 3-4 times faster than YouTube!

How I Use TikTok

I started my YouTube channel earlier this year because I wanted to share my experience in digital marketing with other entrepreneurs, marketers and online personalities out there. But, my channel didn’t really grow much in the first month. Then, in early April I decided to join TikTok. By that point I already had many videos that I had recorded for YouTube that I could share on TikTok too and I saw TikTok as a good secondary platform to help me grow my YouTube channel.

I use the same footage for TikTok and YouTube. I record videos with the primary intention to share them on YouTube, therefore I need to make few adjustments to them before I can publish them on TikTok.

Shorter duration

The first adjustment that I need to make is to shorten the videos because on TikTok each video can be up to 59 seconds long. I one video weekly video for YouTube and each video is about 10 minutes long. I take that weekly YouTube video and cut out 7 one minute segments to post on TikTok that week. Then I post one short video on TikTok each day.

Horizontal orientation

The second adjustment that I need to worry about when I post YouTube videos on TikTok is the fact that on YouTube the videos are horizontal and on TikTok the videos are vertical. That means that when you take a YouTube video and publish it on TikTok you will get a big black box on top of the video and below the video. You need to put something in those black boxes in order to make the video look better on TikTok.

In the top black box I normally put the title of the video. While in the bottom black box I normally add a sticker. However, the bottom black box is not that much of a problem because all the hashtags and the captions that you use for the videos on TikTok will appear in the bottom black box. Therefore, half of the bottom black box will be covered by those items.

Music

The last adjustment that I make to my videos in order to make them more fun and interesting for people on TikTok is to add music to them. TikTok has a very large music library, but I there are a few ambient songs that I like and use a lot for my TikTok videos.

Thank you for reading this blog post about why every YouTuber should be on TikTok! I have also created a video on this topic. Click here to watch the video on YouTube. Watch the video for more detail about this topic. If you are completely new to TikTok and would like to learn more about this platform click here.

Posting Frequency Recommendations For Social Media

by NextGen | May 3, 2020 | Social Media Marketing

Most of us marketers understand the importance of posting frequency for achieving success on social media, however most of my clients seem totally clueless about this issue. To be honest with you, most of my clients had never even thought about the optimal posting frequencies for their brands before starting to work with me. I decided to write this blog post in order to create more awareness about the importance of posting frequency.

Why Posting Frequency Is Important?

Posting frequency is one of the trickiest decisions that you will have to make for your social media strategy. There are many factors that you need to evaluate carefully when making this decision. Also, you need to understand the significance of each factor for your brand and your audience. If you make the wrong decision about your posting frequency you will end up posting too frequently or too infrequently, and both of those scenarios can have very negative consequences for your business.

Posting too much, or too frequently can have the following negative effects on your social media presence:

People will get annoyed by you and unfollow you.
Your followers will feel overwhelmed with the amount of content that you produce.
Social media networks will show your posts to a lower number of your followers because social media networks like to maintain a variety in user’s feed.
Your profile will look like a content dump and therefore it will not be attractive to new potential followers.

Posting to infrequently can also have several negative effects on your social media presence:

Your followers will forget about you if you don’t see any posts from you in a while.
You will get labeled as “inconsistent”, which is one of the biggest sins on social media.
Social media networks will show your posts to fewer people because they will think that you are not serious about growing your brand.
Your profile will look abandoned and therefore it will not attract new followers.

5 Factors To Consider When Selecting Posting Frequency

1.The amount of time you have available to create good content consistently.

When debating the posting frequency for your brand the first thing that you need to ask yourself is how frequently you can create good quality content for each social media network and have the bandwidth to do that consistently.

For example, I decided that I have the time to do one good quality long video for YouTube per week and seven good quality short videos for TikTok per week (so that means one videos for TikTop every day). I made this decision taking into consideration the fact that I have about 5 hours per week available for making videos. I spent the rest of my time on marketing activities for my brand (which is very important) and on client work (which I really enjoy).

To be more efficient with your content you can post the same content across multiple platforms. You can post the same picture on both Instagram and Facebook, or post the same short video on both TikTok and Instagram. However, you need to adjust the content appropriately for each platform because the content requirements such as size, aspect ratio, orientation (horizontal or vertical) are different for every platform. YouTube videos are horizontal while TikTok and Instagram stories videos are vertical. Also, please remove any links form the photo captions on Instagram because it is not possible to link out of Instagram. It is a common mistake for marketers to copy over exactly the same caption, with links, from Facebook over to Instagram.

2. The Average Shelf Life Of Posts On Each Social Media Network

Tweets have very short shelf life, a tweet is considered “old” after only an hour or so. Therefore, some brands, for whom Twitter is an important network post “only” 100 times per day. While posts on LinkedIn and YouTube have a very long shelf life of a few days. Some YouTube videos are even considered “evergreen” and they keep getting views months or years after they have been posted. Therefore, when selecting the posting frequency you should consider the shelf life of posts on every network.

3. The Number Of Followers You Have On Each Network

The more followers you have on a network the safer it is to post more frequently. For the networks where you have less than 1,000 followers you should be very careful not to overwhelm your audience by posting too frequently.

4. The Average Age Of Your Followers

Younger people generally tend to spend more time on social media than older people. Therefore, if your target audience is mid-career professionals or older you should air on the side of caution and post less frequently.

5. Whether Your Brand Is a B2B Or a B2C Brand

B2B stands for business-to-business, while B2C stands for business-to-consumer. An example of a B2B brand is a furniture company that makes office furniture. While McDonalds is probably one of the best known B2C brands and they sell fast food directly to customers. B2B brands tend to post less frequently than B2C brands.

What is TikTok? – A quick intro to TikTok

by NextGen | Apr 18, 2020 | Social Media Marketing

In this blog post I will give you a quick introduction to TikTok. First I will explain to you what TikTok is, second I will share with you what I love about it, and third I will share with you its the biggest downside in my opinion.

I have been managing TikTok profiles for about a year. This blog post is based on my experience managing TikTok profiles. I decided to write this blog post because many of my clients have become increasingly more interested in developing a presence on the platform.

1. Introduction to TikTok

TikTok is an app that is available in the AppStore and on GooglePlay. It is also the hottest new social media network! According to a report published by Sensor Tower, the leading provider of market intelligence and insights for global apps, TikTok was the second most downloaded app worldwide in 2019. It was second only after WhatsApp. So, in 2019 it was downloaded more than Facebook or Instagram!

Profile Example

The profile layout in TikTok is very similar to the profile layout in Instagram. Your profile picture and you user ID are at the top. Then there is a row of numbers that includes the number of people who you follow, the number of people who follow you and the total number of likes that you have received on the platform.

Under the row of numbers there is a row of buttons. The row of buttons consists of an“Edit Profile” button, a button to link your TikTok profile to YouTube and Instagram, and a button to view your saved posts. The middle button is the most important in my opinion. You can use this button to help people find you on Instagram or YouTube.

Content

TikTok is unique because it is a platform for short videos. Other well established social media networks are mostly focused on pictures. More specifically, on TikTok you can post videos up to 1 minute long. It is very important to pair those short videos with appropriate music from TikTok’s extensive audio library. In addition to music, the app offers a variety of other features such as special effects, filters, stickers, transitions etc. You can turn your ordinary videos into very interesting videos on TikTok. Those features are a lot of fun to use, but be careful to not over-use them.

2. What I Love About TikTok

Organic reach vs. paid reach on social media

Marketers like to use social media networks to drive brand awareness and reach potential new customers. There are two ways to reach people on social media, through organic or paid reach.

Organic reach is the number of people who see your content without paying for distribution. When you post something good on Facebook you would expect the Facebook algorithm to work well and show that content to a bunch of people who would be interested in seeing it. But, that is not how the well-established social media networks work nowadays. When you post something on your business page on Facebook, that post will be shown only to people who have already liked your page and a few of their friends. When you post something on your business profile on Instagram that post will be shown primarily to people who already follow you and only a few additional new people.

Paid reach includes the people who see your content as a result of paid promotions. As Facebook and Instagram have grown over the years the organic reach on those networks has been decreasing and it is almost non-existent bow. Therefore, in order to reach new people on those well-established social media networks nowadays you have to pay for it.

Organic reach on TikTok

The thing that I love the most about TikTok is the fact that it is not as greedy as Facebook and Instagram. If you post something on TikTok that post will be shown organically to a good number of people. If you post something really good on TikTok it will be shown to many people on the platform.

Marketers work very hard to create good-quality engaging posts for clients. It is very satisfying when our good work is rewarded with good organic reach. I love the fact that TikTok still does that, you can still achieve good organic reach for your posts on TikTok!

3. The Biggest Downside of TikTok

TikTok is different than other social media networks because it is a platform for sharing short-videos, not pictures, text or links. In my opinion, the fact that TikTok requires a different content type is the biggest downside of the platform.

Most of my clients struggle with creating content for TikTok. Brands are just not used to thinking about creating videos for social media. They are not there yet! My team has also struggled with creating short, authentic, videos for clients for TikTok.

I hope you found this blog post helpful! I have also recorded a video about this topic for my YouTube channel. Click here to watch the video. If you need help with social media for your brand, click here to learn more about the social media services that we provide.

4 Tips to Boost Your Engagement on Instagram

by Sofi | Oct 21, 2019 | Social Media Marketing

High Instagram engagement can help you increase your brand exposure and create better relationships with your customers, which can ultimately lead to increased sales. Even if your strategy is posting high-quality content on a regular basis, we assure you that’s not good enough. There are many other things you can do to engage your followers. So, here are four recommendations on how to create more engaging Instagram posts:

#1 Add long tail hashtags

When you post your content to Instagram, add long tail hashtags. Make sure they are relevant to your brand and industry, and don’t make them too general or too specific. Posts with too general hashtags will easily get drowned in other posts, while posts with too specific hashtags will be harder to find. Try to think like your audience and imagine what type of hashtags they are most likely to search for. Using the right long tail hashtags on your Instagram posts will help you attract and engage many followers.

#2 Use emojis

Emojis may not seem so relevant, but they can actually make a big difference when it comes to Instagram engagement. A study by the Social Media Lab found that posts with emojis had a 15% higher interaction rate, which means that using emojis on your Instagram posts can result in higher engagement. However, if you think that emojis are not really right for your brand or industry, then it’s better if you don’t use them often or at all.

#3 Add location

This one might seem like a no-brainer, but many users forget to add location to their posts. Adding location can increase your visibility to people that live in a specific place and to people searching for content related to that place. This is true for both posts and stories. So next time you post something on Instagram, don’t forget to add a location.

#4 Add a call to action

Adding CTAs to your posts is another way to boost engagement on Instagram. This means that to be more engaging your posts should include some kind of CTA statement that encourages your followers to take action, such as: click the link in bio, answer this question, tag your friends, etc. You can also include CTAs in your stories by using question or poll stickers for example. Make sure you include CTAs in your posts more often, but be careful not to overdo it because you will risk becoming annoying to your audience.

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If you want to learn more, read the following articles on this topic:

How to Create Successful Social Media Ads

by Sofi | Dec 21, 2018 | Social Media Marketing

Social media advertising is one of the biggest social media trends, and it can benefit the growth of your business. The reach of organic content is slowly declining. Paid social makes sure that your content is getting in front of the right people. This form of advertising targets a specific audience that you outline with customizable demographic information. However, you need a strategy for paid social media advertising in order for it to work and be worth your time and money. This includes taking ad spend, content selection, and audience targeting into consideration. Here are some tips on how to create successful social media ads.

#1 Choose a Paid Social Goal

Every brand has a different goal. Prioritize your goals, and decide which one to attack first with your social media campaign. There are five common paid social goals: increase traffic, increase visibility, increase engagement, increase lead generation, and increase sales. Each one of these goals will require a different action from your target audience, so your ad needs to direct your audience on what action to take. Using social buttons helps provide the consumer with shortcuts to desired actions. Facebook and Instagram even include options for pre-set goals that affects how, when, and to who your ad is shown.

#2 Choose a Social Platform

Each social media site caters to a specific kind of content with a specific audience. So, you should run ads on sites that your target audience uses. Facebook has multiple ad formats that make it great for business-to-consumer campaigns. Instagram is suitable for increasing web traffic sales and driving awareness. Twitter heavily relies on gaining new followers, which can grow awareness and drive clicks to your website. Because of LinkedIn’s specific demographic, it is a better platform for business-to-business campaigns. Researching where your competitors’ ads are being displayed can be helpful in deciding which platform to use as well.

#3 Blend in With Organic Content

Although you want your ad to grab attention, it is not always helpful for an ad to stand out. When deciding what type of content to display, it is important to make sure that your ad content blends in with the organic content on users’ feeds and walls. Generally, people are aware of when they are viewing ads, and too many ads from your company might lead to people unfollowing you. Posts that stand out as paid social as opposed to organic content will draw more negative attention to how often they are being posted. It is important for your brand to not stand out as spammy.

#4 Choose a Bidding Strategy

One great advantage of social media ads is that they can work on any budget. However, bidding too high might be unnecessarily wasting money while bidding too low could make for an unsuccessful campaign. Researching the best days and times to run your ad can help cut costs while ensuring your ad runs when your audience will mostly likely see it.

#5 Analyze and Adjust

With any marketing strategy for your business, one of the most important steps is analyzing the results of your campaign and adjusting future campaigns based on your findings. You can view insights as to how well your ad is performing and the results in quantifiable actions during and after its duration. So, take the time to adjust your paid social media ad while it is active if the insights are showing that it isn’t reaching your audience. Afterwards, look closely at what was successful about the ad and what can be better changed for next time.

How to Use Instagram TV for Your Business

by Sofi | Sep 14, 2018 | Social Media Marketing

As one of the leading innovative social media platforms, Instagram released it’s newest feature over the summer: IGTV. This feature allows users to take longer videos in a vertical format suited for mobile devices with enhanced discoverability through channels. Instagram took advantage of the statistics revealing more people are watching digital videos than television, with mobile videos accounting for the majority of mobile data traffic. Using a simple and intuitive design fit for your mobile device, anyone can create content on IGTV. So, how can you utilize IGTV for your business? Check out these tips.

#1 Build stronger connections with customers
Use these longer and more permanent videos for deeper storytelling behind your business. IGTV allows for videos up to an hour long, and it stores them on your personal channel. This can be used to a brand’s advantage by showcasing other dimensions of your business without being limited to one type of content, length, or format. Sharing stories that resonate with your customers will build a stronger relationship between them and your brand. Meaningful connections that show the human side of your business are longer lasting.

#2 Create a better mobile experience
With 800 million users, it’s important to cater to the mobile Instagram user in a way that best suits their mobile experience. One of IGTV’s biggest boasts is the vertical format that perfectly fits mobile screens. Do not repurpose and upload old horizontal videos. Instead, start fresh and take your time creating new content that embraces the vertical format. Online audiences are more in touch with amateur videography than that of professionals. Vertical videos feel more personal, less produced, and are therefore more appealing to your audience.

#3 Know when to post
The general social media tip of knowing what times are best to post to reach your audience still applies. Instagram is currently giving IGTV priority by adding notifications for new videos, so users scrolling through their feed will instantly know when you upload content. This makes posting when your users are most likely using the app very important. Now is the time to take advantage of this new feature’s extra promotion. Be one of the first to step out and use IGTV! Consumers will remember that.

These tips will help you take advantage of IGTV as a feature. However, you might be wondering what kind of content will help you grow your business on IGTV. Check out these video content ideas.

#1 Frequently Asked Questions
Do your current and prospective customers continually ask the same questions on your posts, website, by email, and by phone? You can film a weekly Q&A answering all of the frequently asked questions you collect. This provides your customers with important information with a personal touch that can build their relationship with your brand. With some luck, you can save customer service time as well!

#2 Behind the Scenes
Everyone feels more connected to a brand when they can see what happens behind the scenes. You want your audience to respect your work and feel loyal to your brand. Bringing them behind the scenes, even digitally, makes people feel included. Customers want to see the real you, and using IGTV provides a more authentic approach.

#3 Product Reviews
Most likely, your Instagram followers follow you because they are already interested in your product. IGTV is a great way to give more in-depth product reviews that are visually appealing and personal. Tag other accounts that are relevant or included in your product reviews to make them aware of your content to increase reach.

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