9 Ways to Use Twitter's New Photo Collages in Your Marketing

More marketing doesn't always mean better marketing. More display ads? More irrelevant emails in my inbox? More sponsored selfies? I'd pass on getting more of those things any day.

That being said, "more" can also open lots of creative opportunities to engage with your visitors, leads, and customers. Take Twitter'srecent addition of photo collages for example -- more photos per tweet (up to four, total) means you have quite a few new ways to turn fans into customers.

Here's what a photo collage in a tweet looks like: 

Even though brands can only post photo collages from their iPhones at the moment (Android and Twitter.com versions should be available soon), this new feature is great news for companies looking to try new things on their social media accounts. If you're feeling a little stuck on getting started with Twitter collages, we brainstormed a few ideas below that you can try out for your company. 

Remember, whatever you're trying out with Twitter collages should relate directly back to yoursocial media marketing strategy -- and your larger marketing strategy, too. So once you connect the dots between your marketing strategy and Twitter tactics, you can go to town testing out any of the following ways to use collages on Twitter.

1) Preview Excerpts of Gated Content

Before people give over their information in exchange for a piece of your content, they want to know what they're going to get from you. Sure, if your landing pages are in tip-top shape, your visitors should always have a good idea of what they're about to download ... but enticing people to click on your landing page links on Twitter is a whole other story.

With the new collage feature, you can give a little sneak-peek of what's behind a landing page form. If it's an ebook, for example, you could include the cover and two screenshots of important pages inside. If your followers like what's in the collage, they'll be more likely to click through to your landing page and download the full content. Here's an example of a tweet we recently posted that promoted some downloadable marketing charts:

2) Feature Favorite Fans and Influencers

If one of your Twitter goals is to develop a passionate community, you can use Twitter collages to engage with several community members at once.

Feature up to four photos of your top fans in one tweet, and then use the rest of your tweet's character allotment to build your community however you see fit. Maybe include the #FollowFriday hashtag to help them get more followers. Maybe you can use the tweet to introduce them to each other. Or maybe, you just use the tweet to tell the rest of your following about them. Whatever you end up deciding, using the collage to feature followers could be an excellent community-building tool.

3) Teach People How to Do Something 

140 characters might not hold enough space to teach someone something ... but 140 characters and four photos might. Have a quick how-to post with four simple steps (or fewer)? Turn each step into a picture and post each picture in one tweet.

Using collages for quick tutorials lets you showcase your industry know-how to a large audience -- and if people enjoy your helpful content, they may turn into blog readers and engaged leads. Like in the first idea, this one is all about giving your followers a sneak peek of your brand's personality and overall content to eventually convert them into passionate readers, fans, leads, and/or customers.

4) Showcase Quotes From Blog Posts

Do you want to promote a piece of content that has lots of tweetable takeaways and quotes? Create one tweet with several of the quotes as images. Here's an example of what that could look like -- though you'd need to add several more photos to make it a collage: 

The collage feature gives you lots of creative wiggle room when promoting quotes. You could have four quotes from four different people, or you could have several quotes from one person, or two people and two quotes ... you get the point. Because of the way the collage works on Twitter, the possibilities are endless for showcasing compelling quotes. 

5) Repurpose List Items From Blog Posts

Want to entice people to click on your latest list post? Instead of resorting to an Upworthy-esque headline, you could feature a few of the list items into collage pictures. This is just another version of the sneak peek strategy we've talked about before, so I won't go too in-depth here, but just know that it can be a great option for promoting blog posts on Twitter.

6) Promote Events

Need to get people to attend your next webinar, Twitter chat, or in-person event? Use collages to feature your speakers or the most enticing sessions. Each collage section could be a quote from each speaker or a quick one-sentence explanation of a popular session or even some of the questions you'll be asking in the Twitter chat.

Here's an example of how we've promoted a recent Partner event at HubSpot HQ:

How many collage sections you use is up to you, but think about how the collage layout can lend itself to event promotion.

7) Serve Up Case Studies

People who follow you on Twitter aren't just random people who may buy from you some day -- you have leads, opportunities, and customers following you, too. So you may want to post some content on Twitter that'll help them in their buying stage.

For example, you might want to post a collage about a case study. Use one collage square to feature the customer or partner, then show the before and after content in the other two slots. If you don't have visuals to support the case study, you can also feature before and after stats and/or quotes from the customer. Prospective customers will be excited to discover visual, engaging content that can help them find out if your company is a good fit for them.

8) Showcase Your Company Culture

Sometimes, you'll need to promote your company's vision and culture on social media to reach your long-term branding and recruiting goals. Use the collages to feature pictures from company outings, your office space, or team events -- interested prospects and potential employees will get a much better idea of your culture with a collection of photos instead of the one-off tweet.

9) Promote Winning Contest Submissions

Hosting a contest where multiple people can win a prize? Use a collage to announce the winner. If you have user-generated content, you could use one collage square for the photo of the winner and the other for the winning entry. Or, just use photos of each winner in one collage. Just be sure you’re tagging the winners, too!

Like with the rest of these ideas, there are lots of ways you can feature winning contestants -- it all depends on how creative you want to get.

What other ways would your brand use Twitter collages? Share your ideas with us in the comments.

Courtesy: Hubspot

How to market your branded Facebook page

It’s getting tougher and tougher for brands to make an impact through organic means on Facebook.

In a recent tweak to the news feed algorithm, companies that run Facebook pages have seen a substantial drop-off in reach as Facebook prioritises content from users who your followers engage with the most.

That’s not to say that it’s now impossible to get your unpaid posts seen by your fans, it’s just that they’re more likely to only be seen by users who regularly engage with your page.

I discussed the pros and cons of this at greater length in the above linked article. Indeed the news feed change has scuppered many small publishers and businesses with little-to-no budget, but then again there’s an argument to say that if your content is engaging enough and tailored for your specific Facebook audience, then you shouldn’t see too much of a drop-off.

Everybody needs a little push now and then though. I run a Facebook page for my own music review website. I don’t make any profit from it, I just do it for the love of being mean about Skrillex. 

Previous to the algorithm change each of my posts would easily be seen by at least 100-150 users. In the last few months however this has dropped off substantially to around 20. The Facebook page was a great way to engage with readers as it provoked a lot of interesting and funny conversations. This isn’t the case anymore.

Whether you feel this is down to the quality of content, or whether you feel that Facebook has been unfair with this change or not, it’s difficult to argue with Facebook’s commitment to providing its users with a more personalised, tailored experience.

However, and this is a big however, Facebook has made it incredibly easy to market your branded page and its posts.

As I said above, I don’t run my page for profit, but I am willing to give it that extra little push with a few quid I have lying around. 

This is a how-to-guide, looking at the process of creating three different types of ads:

• To promote an individual post.
• To get people to Like your page.
• To drive clicks to your website. 

As I’ll be using my own Facebook page, I’ll even show you the results afterwards.

Promote post

One of the first things you may want to try, being as it’s the most prevalent call-to-action in the administrative version of your page, is ‘Boost Post’.

This brings up a small pop-up which can be used to target users and set your budget.

As further proof that organic reach for pages is non-existent, here there’s an option to target the post directly towards your existing fans. This is a good option if you want to remind your existing audience that you do indeed still exist.

The more you spend here, the more friends of your fans will see it. This however may not necessarily mean that your post will be seen by people likely to care about your brand.

Instead I’m going to choose people through targeting.

As you can see you can specify by location, gender and age, but also perhaps more importantly interest. Here I’ve targeted fans of artist pages who I feature in the article I’m promoting and a couple of rival publishers.

You can set the budget, how long the post will run for and then it’s just a simple input of your credit card or PayPal details then you’re away.

The minimum spend is £5 which Facebook estimates will make my post be seen by 1,300 – 3,300 people. You can choose to increase this at any time for as little as a £1. 

I’ve chosen to spend £9 (estimated reach 2,000 – 5,200) and run the promoted post for two days.

Results:

• Post engagements: 24
• Reach: 8,031
• Average cost per engagement: 37p

Here’s how the engagement breaks down further:

I’m not going to be making Pitchfork or NME shudder in their winkle pickers with these kinds of numbers, but with a fairly minimal spend I did get my post seen by 8,000 people more than normal. As you can see from the breakdown below, before I boosted it, the post had only been seen by 34 people.

Now you’ve entered the world of paid Facebook marketing by boosting a post, how about creating an advert to promote the entire page?

Get more Page Likes

You can access ‘Advertise’ from your page’s dropdown menu.

This brings you to Facebook’s own marketing overview, featuring case studies and FAQs. Click on ‘Manage Your Ads’.

Here is your ads dashboard, where you can see the progress of your campaigns, run reports and change your account details. You can create an advert from here.

This is where you can make a choice as to the results of your campaign.

We’ll be angling for Page Likes here. If you run multiple pages, you can choose which one to market below.

It’s then possible to add images from your desktop to create your advert. The recommended size is 600 pixels x 225 pixels. Stick to this because your image will be fitting into a specific Facebook ad format. You can however choose up to six different images to create a variety of ads.

Here is basically how the ad will look. 

This is where you can enter your headline text and write your ‘attractive’ ad copy in the text box.

Scrolling down the page will reveal demographic options and a handy little meter that will tell you how broad your targeting is.

Once you’ve set your audience, at the bottom of the page you can finalise the remaining details of your ad. Name your campaign something memorable if you’re running lots of different ads, set the budget accordingly (this big spender will be using £3 per day for two days) and schedule your start and end dates if it’s not running continuously.

As a final note, leave the Bidding option on ‘Likes’ as this is what your current advert is optimised for.

Results:

Facebook promised me between seven to 10 Likes with this campaign. Let’s see how it worked.

• Likes: seven
• Reach 2,166
• Average cost per Like: 86p

Yep, seven Likes, exactly as predicted. I spent just under a one pound per Like. Is it worth it? Well it seems quite expensive just to get someone to Like the page, when there is no guarantee that person will even see future posts from it. 

I could probably get similar or better results from running campaigns on other social channels to drive traffic to the Facebook page. Then again, at a cost of only £6, that’s 2,166 users who have potentially become aware of my ‘brand’. 

In order to achieve results that I’m happy with, I have to think about why I’m running the Facebook page in the first place. Personally, it’s in order to drive traffic to the website. Let’s see how we can achieve this.

Website clicks

You can access adverts that provide ‘Clicks to Website’ in exactly the same menu as above.

Enter your URL and upload an image (this time the recommended size is 600 pixels x 315).

Then you can write some ‘stunning’ ad copy. As you can see I am definitely not trained for this skill.

Once the advert is up and running you can change the image, its position and the text as much as you like. Each time you do this, Facebook has to review the ad, but in my experience this takes a matter of minutes.

The other key feature here is the call-to-action button that you can embed in the post.

I’ve gone for ‘Learn More’ and because I’ve referenced the Kaiser Chiefs I will link this call-to-action to the URL for the Kaiser Chiefs review on my site. 

There are other options too.

Just ensure that the call-to-action relates to the page you’re sending them to. For instance if it’s ‘Shop Now’ link to the product page that you’re advertising.

As with the Facebook Likes ad, you can then scroll down to specify your audience. I’m choosing not to target Kaiser Chiefs fans as I feel this is a little baity, but I am targeting Star Wars fans.

Finally set your budget and time-frame, then you’ll be up and running as soon as you receive confirmation. Again this didn’t take long at all.

Results:

Based on a spend of £10 over two days (£5 per day):

• Website clicks: 24
• Reach 27,372
• Average cost per click: 42p

In terms of driving traffic to my website, this was obviously the most successful of the three, however its biggest achievement was its reach.

There is obviously a heck of a lot of testing that needs to be done when it comes to running any ad campaign. The three attempts above were only my first forays into Facebook marketing. 

Next time I run a campaign I might test different demographics, interests, what time of day or day of the week the advert runs, different types of images, calls-to-actions… there really are endless ways to find the perfect formula that works for you.

The important thing to remember is that you don’t need a massive budget to achieve an extra boost in reach nor is it particularly difficult to create and maintain an ad campaign.

I spent around £30 over the last week on three different ads. Before I started, my weekly page insights told me I had reached 40 people. After a week, it now says this:

We run an excellent and thoroughly up-to-date training course on Facebook marketing that goes into far greater depth than the above. Book your place here: Facebook Marketing for Brands.

Christopher Ratcliff is a Writer at Econsultancy. You can follow him on Twitter or connect via Google+ and LinkedIn. 

Courtesy: Econsultancy

Google's Keyword Encryption Coming to PPC Data Near You

These past six months, Google's been a hypocrite. They encrypted keyword data for organic search, but left AdWords keyword data untouched. It seemed like the company was taking up a "pay-to-play" model for keyword data ... which didn't seem to be very Googly.

Recent developments, however, suggest that they'll soon become much less hypocritical. According to sources at Search Engine Land andGhergich & Co, Google's going to start encrypting AdWords keyword data for third-party platforms -- though Google did not confirm these reports. This means soon, you'll see "Not Provided" creeping into your third-party PPC analytics (which will most likely include Google Analytics). Google AdWords reports should remain unaffected. Obviously, if you're running paid campaigns with other search engines, those'll still come through to your analytics -- this is just limited to Google AdWords.

Are you thrilled about this update? Bummed? There's not much you can do to get around this all -- you're playing by Google's rules if you want to use their search engine for marketing purposes. Luckily, if you've reacted appropriately to the organic data changes, you should have set yourself up nicely for this update.

What's a Marketer to Do? 

Over the past year, Google's tried to make organic search more about topics and less about keywords. Instead of stuffing blog posts and website pages with keyword after keyword, you should be focusing on creating relevant content answering questions about a search-friendly topic. But it was still tempting for paid marketing managers to go after specific keywords -- after all, they could still access the specific keyword data in their analytics.

Now, with this change, paid and organic search strategies will focus on one thing: delivering content on subjects, not keywords. So if you've been changing your organic search strategy and reaping the benefits of the change, you should already have a decent idea of how to change your paid activities in similar ways. 

If you haven't reacted yet to Google's new encryption updates, check out this post we wrote back when Google encrypted organic search keyword data. Though paid search keywords will now be off the table, it still has lots of great suggestions for marketers looking to pivot their strategy. 

Regardless of what position you're in, remember that while having less data is frustrating, reacting to these changes is part of being a marketer today. Moral of the story? You've got this. Just like you've weathered through the previous Google updates.  

What do you think of this update? Was this all just a matter of time? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. We'll continue to monitor the news for more updates as they unfold.

Courtesy: Hubspot

Nostalgia Ahead! What Your 20 Favorite Websites Used to Look Like #TBT

I just picked up a new hobby. I call it "Waybacking."

It's kinda like Googling, but even better. Using the Wayback Machine, I can see what my favorite websites looked like two years ago, four years ago, or even 16 years ago. (My, they have come a long way!)

It's nice to see the humble beginnings of very successful websites today -- especially when you're in the middle of planning a website redesign and need a little confidence. Every company starts somewhere, and you don't always need to nail your logo, colors, or tagline on the first try.

So without further ado, I'd like to present you with 20 of my favorite websites, but way back in their early days:

1) Google

Remember when Google was in Beta? Just picture Larry Page back in 1998 saying, "Our goal is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful." Do you think they've reached their goal in 2014? I do.  Tweet about Google.

2) Apple

Remember the iBook? Colorful, customizable -- I'm talking back when Elle Woods was rocking a cotton candy pink one in Legally Blonde. As Steve Jobs once said, "We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them." Which version of Apple.com would you rather lick? If Steve had it right, you'll want to lick both.  Tweet about Apple.

3) Microsoft

In 2000, Microsoft's website looked an awful lot like the Windows 2000 you know from your friendly desktop computer. You'll see the same fonts, same colors, and same iconic imagery. Today, Microsoft's website looks more like Windows 8.1 with a heavy focus on the tablet. Forget "the year of mobile," we're now in the era of mobile ... and that's not changing anytime soon.  Tweet about Microsoft.

4) Mashable

This is not a joke. Yes, Mashable was once covered in a gradient background and had one author: Pete Cashmore. Now, the site is highly visual and has multiple authors pumping out content daily. It's also interesting to see how the general theme of "Web 2.0" evolved into social media, tech, business, entertainment, and even politics.  Tweet about Mashable.

5) HubSpot

In 2006, the tech and marketing world was focused heavily on surviving and succeeding in a web 2.0 world. (In fact, here's HubSpot's very first blog post, which elaborates on that exact topic.) Small businesses were popping up all over the world, focusing more on brain size, not wallet size. Today, HubSpot still caters to small businesses, but also medium and enterprise businesses, as well.  Tweet about HubSpot.

6) BuzzFeed

Literally starting out as your 'feed' for popular 'buzz,' BuzzFeed was created to help users find their favorite things including movies, music, fashion, ideas, and technology. The site still achieves this today, but with a more visual and interactive approach. This seems to be the trend for websites in 2014. Would you agree?  Tweet about BuzzFeed.

7) The White House

In 2000, Bill Clinton was the President of the United States, Al Gore was Vice President, and whitehouse.gov had a very different look and feel. I personally love the sandy, textured background with the scripty font on top. Were they going for that nostalgic "Declaration of Independence" look? Oh, and we can't forget about those patriotic flags on either side of the White House. These were actually animated (like a MySpace profile GIF) so the flags would wave. Today, the White House brand remains classy, but modern, with a focus on educating U.S. citizens on pressing issues.  Tweet about the White House.

8) TED

I'm really impressed with 2003's TED.com. Why? Because they really nailed visual content way ahead of their time. The website in 2014 looks more modern, but still focuses heavily on images.  Tweet about TED.

9) Skype

Okay, I understand the gradient thing was popular in the early 2000's ... but Skype's logo was once red?! Who knew? Another fun fact: Skype was created by the people who brought you music downloading service, KaZaA. I didn't know that, either, until I read it on their website from 2004. I guess you learn something new every day.  Tweet about Skype.

10) AOL

Oh, AOL, you nostalgic beauty. I miss hearing your "You've got mail!" greeting (but only after I've listened to that dial up internet sound for 20 minutes). In 2014, AOL is taking the news aggregator approach to accompany your morning coffee and daily email routine.  Tweet about AOL.

11) Ask Jeeves

Ask Jeeves -- another oldie, but goodie. Did you ever ask your questions on askjeeves.com instead of google.com back in 2000? I know I did. I just couldn't resist the cartoon butler! Still taking the Q&A approach in 2014, Ask Jeeves is now called Ask. Why did they change the name? I don't know. Why don't you go to ask.com to find out?  Tweet about Ask Jeeves.

12) Blockbuster

Sticking with the theme of "oldie, but goodie," I give you Blockbuster. Remember back in 1996 when Blockbuster was a thriving business? You could rent movies, music, books, and even video games for your Sega Genesis system. Today, Blockbuster takes the simplified approach, offering videos on demand to compete with companies like Netflix and Hulu.  Tweet about Blockbuster.

13) Coca-Cola

Talk about timeless branding! Coca-Cola's website from 2000 doesn't look too shabby compared to many of the outdated websites listed here. Coke really understood the importance of visual content and simplicity in 2000, and they still do today.  Tweet about Coca-Cola.

14) Pepsi

It's not easy to achieve a timeless look like Coca-Cola has. Since 2000, Pepsi has changed a lot, including its logo, fonts, and colors. Although Pepsi has always recognized and emphasized music as a strong persona interest, the 2014 approach is much more modern and visually appealing.  Tweet about Pepsi.

15) Macy's

Nice graphics, Macy's. Are those clip art images from Microsoft Word's 1999 collection? They're super snazzy and go along so niceley with your green logo and color scheme. I find this very interesting because according to Wikipedia, Macy's present day logo was designed in 1988, long before the website was created.  Tweet about Macy's.

16) Amazon

Before looking up Amazon's website in 1999, I assumed the colors, logo, and layout of the website remained unchanged. It looks like I was wrong. In 2000, Amazon's logo changed to feature an arrow from A to Z, which is the logo you know and love today. Additionally, Amazon's site features a lot more Amazon-specific products in addition to products from third-party sellers.  Tweet about Amazon.

17) Yahoo!

Yahoo! has had many ups and downs since 1999, including a drastic redesign ... multiple times over. The 2014 website looks like a completely different brand, but still aims to be your go-to place for checking email and reading news with your morning cup o' Joe.  Tweet about Yahoo!

18) Tumblr

Speaking of Yahoo!, let's see how Tumblr has changed from the early days to 2014, after Yahoo! acquired it. I have to admit, I think "tumblelog" is the most adorable name for a blog post. This word was used to help differentiate Tumblr from other blogging platforms. Tumblr has always been much more visual, and more social, with shorter-form content.  Tweet about Tumblr.

19) Pinterest

Remember when Pinterest was invite-only? Although Pinterest hasn't changed all that much since 2010, the logo sure looks different. You'll notice the images are also much bigger now that the white border has been eliminated. Do you still use Pinterest the same way you did in 2010?  Tweet about Pinterest.

20) Reddit

The final website I want to showcase on our tour down memory lane is Reddit. Is it just me, or is Reddit pretty much the same as it was nine years ago? Yes, the site is slightly more visual and it now features ads, but the structure is the same. Redditors seem to love the simplicity of the site, so I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Tweet about Reddit.

Which of these websites shocked you the most? Are there other websites you wish we included here? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Courtesy: Hubspot