Crowdfire Blog

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How This Former US Marine Helps Grow Nonprofits Using Social Media

A career in philanthropy isn't everyone's cup of tea. Nonprofits often have limited resources, the work can be very demanding, and pay can be less than at for-profit corporations. For these reasons, many might shy away from nonprofit work. But not Clinton Cimring. Clinton, a lawyer and former United States Marine, has not only embraced nonprofit work but has made it his life. He works pro bono for a number of charities, handling operations, fundraising and event planning. Here's Clinton, sharing the story of his journey from US Marine to full-time volunteer and how he grows his nonprofits using social media and Crowdfire:

Starting Out

I was born and raised in South Africa and my underlying motivation for helping people stems from the experiences I had there. Seeing people suffering and watching my father do everything in his power to help them get back on their feet really influenced me. Although I knew I wanted to help people, I wasn’t sure how to until 9/11. On September 14th, 2001, at the age of 17, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. In 2003 I left to fight in Operation Iraqi Freedom I. My experiences there deeply impacted my life. Seeing the suffering of the people there made me realise the tremendous need for help and support throughout the world.

From USMC to Nonprofit

Unfortunately, my career as a Marine was cut short due to injuries I sustained in Iraq and in the US. I went on to finish my undergraduate studies and then entered law school. During my studies, I volunteered my legal services and took night classes so that I could volunteer for the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach, which was almost 100 miles away from my campus in southwest Miami. After law school, I took a job at a prominent law firm, but left to take over The Jessica June Children's Cancer Foundation, which at the time was facing dissolution. I have been running the foundation pro bono since November 2014 and take care of the overall operations, fundraising and event planning. I do the same for a charter school for at-risk young girls called PACE Center for Girls, and for a local no-kill pet shelter called Tri-County Animal Rescue. I also work with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, The Broward Health Foundation and the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital and Regional Memorial Hospital. I help with event planning, promotions, and internet marketing for these three charities.

Growing With Social

A lot of my work as a volunteer centers around organizing and promoting events. I first began using social media in 2007 to promote events for my cancer foundation. Social media is a great way of connecting with local, young individuals who are interested in meeting like-minded people and attending local events. Social media is also a fantastic platform for interacting with these young people and sharing their photos and experiences with people who would otherwise not have access to this information. This, in turn, helps promote our cause further. Crowdfire has been instrumental in helping us achieve this marketing cycle. The Copy Followers feature gives me the power to discover people who would likely be interested in contributing to our cause. By copying the most engaged followers of similar charities, I'm able to spread awareness in relevant circles.

Crowdfire has helped me build a supportive online community of 18,000 people, most of whom are locally based. A lot more people now know about my charities, our donations have increased tenfold, and we are getting more volunteers everyday.

I also use the Admirers feature to see who is most active on my accounts and to give the love back to my community! Plus, I use the Publish app to automate my social media activity. Now I don’t have to worry about running off during an event to post updates and can instead focus on more important tasks. Today, I use Crowdfire for all my social media activity — for the charities I'm involved with as well as my personal accounts.

Impact

Getting noticed on social media and not being lost in the crowd is a real task. With Crowdfire, I have been able to do just that. Some of my posts have been re-posted hundreds of times and have garnered massive amounts of attention for my charities. A promotional photo for an event that I posted through Publish using the Best Time features received thousands of likes on Instagram. This led to nearly 1000 people attending the event, and we raised about $15,000 more than we had originally projected.

*The best time is an auto-calculated time that determines when one's followers are most likely to be online. Posting at the best time increases the chances of engagement.

Crowdfire has also helped me build a supportive online community of 18,000 people, most of whom are locally based. A lot more people now know about my charities, our donations have increased tenfold, and we are getting more volunteers everyday. But the biggest testimony I have of the power of social media and Crowdfire is the story of Tiffany Rich. https://instagram.com/p/8ycGAMjDKY/ While managing the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Instagram account, I came across a photo of Tiffany, a 26-year-old college student from Brentwood, California who has cystic fibrosis and is on the donor list for a pair of lungs. Tiffany's number one dream was to meet Taylor Swift because her music had helped Tiffany smile through the darkest days of her life. In the photo, she was holding a sign with this wish written on it. I saw the photo on July 10, 2015 and used Crowdfire to do everything in my power to draw attention to this photo. This, combined with other factors, led to Tiffany meeting Taylor at the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara on August 15. Taylor Swift is now a spokesperson for cystic fibrosis and to this day, people continue to repost Tiffany's story with the hashtag #lungs4tiff.

The Road Ahead

Although I couldn't help my fellow Marines further, I'm doing my best to help those in need through my volunteer work. After dedicating this past year to full-time philanthropic work, I’ve decided that I want to make a more meaningful impact on a global level. The Peace Corps fits this objective perfectly and I’ll soon be leaving for a two-year commitment to teach English to children in Albania who have, until recently, not had any exposure to the outside world. I feel this will make great use of the abilities and knowledge I gained in the Marine Corps and in law school. I’m looking forward to continuing to help people on this next journey.

We hope you were inspired by Clinton's story of how he is making the world better, one step at a time. Do you have a Crowdfire success story that you want to share with the world?

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How One Aspiring Writer Built a Full-Time Career Using Social Media Marketing

Many people dream about leaving the regular 9-to-5 to pursue their dream career. But few actually do it, and even fewer ultimately find success when they do. After all, the decision to leave a comfortable life and start out on your own requires courage and hard work. Meet Patric Morgan, an award-winning author and blogger who has braved the odds to pursue his dream of becoming a professional writer. In addition to authoring four books, he has also written for publications like ​​The Guardian and The Huffington Post and has interviewed stars like Gareth Bale, Howard Jones and John Dawes. Here’s Patric, telling you how he left his day job and used social media marketing to build a successful writing career:

Starting Out

I've done a variety of odd jobs over the years — from cooking fried chicken at 3am to selling breakdown coverage to motorists in shopping malls. But I always dreamed of becoming a writer. I began publishing my own magazines when I was a teacher. When I left teaching, I did not pursue my writing career full time because I felt I needed a steady source of income. I started working for a company only to have my contract terminated a few weeks later. It was then that I realized I did not want to rely on other people to make a living. I decided to throw all my energy into working for myself and building my writing career. I'm glad I did. Today, I'm only accountable to myself and to my clients. It has taken a lot of passion, hard work and smart planning to get here. Social media has been a crucial aspect of my marketing strategy and one of the biggest contributors to my success.

Growing With Social Media

I started using social media in 2007 to promote my first magazine. I experimented with a number of quirky ideas to generate publicity on Facebook. One of them was a fictional character called Derek the Weathersheep, a sheep that gave out daily weather forecasts in the UK. The character gained so much popularity on Facebook that I eventually set up a spoof website (WalesOnCraic) using the same kind of humor. This website now gets over 1.5 million visits a year. Drawing in visitors through Facebook came easily to me, and that kickstarted my writing career. But I was still struggling with Twitter. I came across Crowdfire by accident while sitting on a beach a few months ago. It looked very handy when it came to Twitter marketing, so I downloaded it and spent the rest of the day engrossed in exploring it. I wrote my ebook “How My Blog Got 1 Million Visits in 7 Months” after downloading Crowdfire. I knew I had a potential best-seller in my hands and with Crowdfire, I had a way of getting it through to my target audience on Twitter.

"Using Crowdfire, I was able to sell a hundred copies of one ebook on the first night. While that might not seem like a big number, it propelled my book to pole position in its category, which created a snowball effect leading to even more sales."

I knew I could reach a large audience on Facebook and now with Crowdfire, I could reach my niche on Twitter as well. Reaching people will always be a challenge. Crowdfire helps me to steadily build a community on Twitter. One of its most useful features, Copy Followers, allows me to discover and connect with people who might be interested in my content or services. That, for me, is crucial on Twitter.

Impact

I struggled with Twitter before but now I'm building meaningful relationships not just for myself but also for my clients. When I publish a new book, Crowdfire allows me to pinpoint my target audience and showcase my work to the people who are most likely to buy it. Using Crowdfire, I was able to sell a hundred copies of one ebook on the first night. While that might not seem like a big number, it propelled my book to pole position in its category, which created a snowball effect leading to even more sales. Plus, because my Twitter audience is now more specific and meaningful, I'm also seeing a fantastic increase in my website traffic through Twitter — up from 1 percent of total traffic to 15 percent. And the cherry on top: this smart Twitter marketing using Crowdfire also gave me the opportunity to be interviewed on a top American radio show. This exposed me to a whole new group of followers — and also gave me a confidence boost!

Looking Ahead

I haven't looked back since the day I decided to take my writing career full time. I'm living my dream like I've always wanted to. Social media has played an integral part in my success and I am lucky to have this powerful marketing channel. Ten years ago, without social media, getting published as an independent writer would have been a monumental feat. I'm working on reaching out to more people who would be interested in my work and actively engaging with them.  I'll be focussing more on connecting with smaller, targeted audiences than on mass followings. When it comes to Twitter followers, quality trumps quantity for me. Crowdfire has proven to be a powerful marketing tool that has given me the power to not only discover these small, niche audiences but also to connect with them. Social media and Crowdfire have given me a real advantage over my competitors, and both will continue to play a central part in my marketing plan for 2016.

We hope you were inspired by Patric's story of how he left his regular 9-to-5 to build the career of his dreams. Do you have a Crowdfire success story that you want to share with the world?

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Introducing The Crowdfire Chrome Extension

Crowdfire is the best way to share great content to all your Twitter and Instagram accounts simultaneously. And it just got better. Today, we’re so pleased to announce the Crowdfire Chrome Extension. [Applause Break] You asked for it — we listened. And then we rolled up our sleeves and built a social sharing experience designed with you in mind. We’ve been testing it for a couple of weeks now, and we love using it. We think you will too.

Seamless Sharing

With the Crowdfire Chrome Extension, sharing the things you love on the web is simpler than ever. Crowdfire adds sharing functionality to your web browsing experience so intuitively, you’ll wonder how you ever shared without it.

[zilla_button url="http://www.crowdfireapp.com/extension" style="red" size="large" type="round" target="_blank"] Install In A Click [/zilla_button]

Let us show you what it can do.

Crowdfire From Anywhere

Compose and schedule posts directly from your toolbar, no matter where on the web you find yourself. When you click the Crowdfire icon, the content field auto-populates with the title and link of the current page.

The Best Of Times

Crowdfire defaults to the “Best Time” sharing option. We highly recommend sticking with this great feature, because it takes the guesswork out of scheduling your post. Crowdfire analyzes your followers’ activity and posts your content when they tend to be most active. This helps ensure maximum exposure and engagement. Can’t wait to share something great? You can still choose to post it right now, or schedule it for a specific time.

Share A Specific Snippet

Want to share a particularly profound line from an awesome article? Highlight and right click any piece of text to share that quotable quote with your followers.

Share Images In A Snap

When you hover over a picture (350px by 250px or bigger), a Crowdfire button appears in the corner of the image. Clicking here launches the compose window with the image already attached. Then you can customize the caption or just send it off with one click.

See What’s On Deck

One of the best things about Crowdfire is its “set it and forget it” simplicity. But you don’t actually want to forget what you’ve scheduled. Click “Go to Timeline” and we’ll zap you over to the Crowdfire web app to see all the great content you have lined up.

Plays Well With Others

Crowdfire seamlessly integrates with a growing list of third-party sites such as Twitter, Reddit, Hacker News and Slack web. Share posts and links even easier with these discreet additions.

See For Yourself

We’ve been working hard to bring you a better sharing experience. We hope you love our latest creation. The next time you see something you like, sharing it is just a click away.

[zilla_button url="http://www.crowdfireapp.com/extension" style="red" size="large" type="round" target="_blank"] Install In A Click [/zilla_button]

Crowdfire Chrome Extension is here to make sharing content an easy and seamless task. Experience it now:

https://youtu.be/Az9WMeZtEWc   As always, if you have any questions, email [email protected] or tweet to us @Crowdfire with #CrowdfireCares.

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From Passion Project to Successful Social Media Publication: How Geoff Desreumaux Did It

Finding your passion is one thing. Turning it into a sustainable career is another.

Geoff Desreumaux, founder and editor of WeRSM, has done just that. Long fascinated with Internet communication, Geoff started WeRSM (an acronym for We Are Social Media) in 2011 as a personal project with the goal of helping people make the best of social media. Today, it is one of the largest independent sources of social media news, reviews, tips and more. Here's Geoff telling you how he built WeRSM from a simple idea into a rewarding, full-time career :

  The Beginning of a Passion

In 1997, I came across Telnet. It was nothing but green dots on a black screen, but it captivated me because I could have conversations with people I had never met from all over the world. After I graduated college, I began exploring how the Internet could help me in my work. Emails were a great way to communicate with clients and colleagues, and websites were treasure troves of information. However, as a marketer, it was mIRC (Internet Relay Chat) that I really loved. I used it to connect with people and talk about ideas. So, when social media sprung up around 2005, I knew I had to get onboard.

WeRSM is Born

Because I loved social media, I began working in digital marketing. However, back in 2011, information about online marketing was scarce and I could not easily find quality resources for my work. I decided that if I couldn’t find them, I would begin creating them for myself and for fellow marketers. As, a result, WeRSM was born as a Facebook page where I shared news, tips and information. It quickly gained popularity and that motivated me to start writing. Since we are independent, we can talk about anything we like. This is vital because our mission is to help people stay on top of this fast-moving industry and inspire them to do more with social media. [caption id="attachment_4519" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Geoff Desreumaux[/caption]

Growing with Twitter

While Facebook continues to bring in a huge chunk of our readership, Twitter has also shown tremendous promise for growth in engagement and traffic.

Success on Twitter revolves around two basic principles: - Discover people with common interests - Engage with them

We used these principles to build a community for WeRSM. The importance of building an online community cannot be stressed enough because it is this community that will ultimately give you noticeable results. You need to discover, follow and engage with people to get noticed on Twitter. Crowdfire was instrumental in helping us do this.

I instantly took a liking to Crowdfire's easy-to-read interface. I could directly access important stats in order to understand what works, what doesn't and how to improve.

Our strategy has been to identify similar accounts that have the type of audience we want to engage with. We then use Crowdfire to make them aware of our brand by following them and then engaging with them. If they follow back and engage with our content, our goal has been met because we have now found users with whom we can potentially build long-term mutually beneficial relationships. Apart from WeRSM, I am also a digital and social strategist for an international agency. So, I also use the app personally to expand my network and find like-minded people around me who are active on Twitter and have interesting insights to share.

Impact

WeRSM would not be here today had our stories not been shared across social media. As a growth hacking aficionado, numbers are important to me. Crowdfire has helped us grow our Twitter following from 3,000 to over 14,000 today. In addition to this amazing growth rate, we have also seen very good retention. Most of the followers that we acquired through Crowdfire are highly engaged and active users and even share content directly from our website. Also, the amount of traffic we drive from Twitter has tripled since we began using Crowdfire. Today, WeRSM is one of the leading independent online platforms that shares news and insights about social media.

We are now growing at a rate of 15% every month, welcoming new contributors every day, and getting recognised in our industry.

Our readers come from all over the world and their feedback is that we are able to present even the most complicated features in a simple language that anyone can understand. Mission accomplished!

Looking Ahead

To be honest, it is a lot of hard work. I need to stay on top of news throughout the day so we can churn out useful content for our readers. As our team grows, it takes more energy to ensure that we consistently deliver quality. However, it’s all worth it when we realise that we have created something that thousands of people across the world will read and use to better their lives.

What started as an idea four years ago is now a full-time occupation that I love. This Steve Jobs quote inspires me to do what I do: "…the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do"

That is what I want to do in my own humble way, by offering valuable content to our readers and hoping that it helps them achieve their potential. This is only the beginning and we have a lot more to come. We are geared up to change the world!

We hope you were inspired by Geoff's story of how he turned his passion into a career. Do you have a Crowdfire success story that you want to share with the world?

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Meet The 20-Year-Old Who Helps Musicians Market Online

At Crowdfire, we’re big fans of self-made people. Their stories of persistence and growth can be rays of hope and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs. When we find out we were instrumental in helping them achieve success, we get a lump in our throat and start believing in unicorns again. So, when we came across the story of Aysh Banaysh we knew we had to share it with you. At just 20 years old, Aysh has built a successful online magazine (Eat More Cake) and a thriving social media business (Aysh Banaysh) aimed at helping musicians market their music. [caption id="attachment_4474" align="aligncenter" width="511"] Aysh Banaysh[/caption] Read on to learn how Aysh built a business out of her love for music and writing.

  How It Started

I grew up in Maidstone, UK and I’ve always loved writing and music. At 15, I decided to convert these passions into something that would interest people like me and help musicians as well. I started a music blog and began writing posts on music marketing tips and strategies. This further spurred my passion for music and I made a bold decision: at age 17, I left sixth form and moved to London to study music business at Access To Music — a music and media college that has trained the likes of Ed Sheeran and Rita Ora. It was here I realised there was a huge void when it came to marketing upcoming and independent musicians. I met passionate and talented artists whose main drawback was that they did not know how to market their music, especially online. As a music lover and a social media addict, I made it my goal to educate these musicians on social media marketing. I already had a music blog with a good readership and I wanted to turn this personal project into a business. Unfortunately, I was too young to be taken seriously as a marketing consultant.

The Turning Point

When one of my favorite teachers left the college, I felt directionless and unsure of what the future had in store. Determined to make a career in the music industry, I landed a digital marketing apprenticeship with an international music company. This proved to be a great decision. The way businesses handle social media marketing is much different from the way individuals do it, and the apprenticeship helped me understand how to apply these strategies to help musicians grow their audiences. It was a great learning opportunity and I became more confident about my skill set and value offering. Using the knowledge and skills I acquired in college and during the apprenticeship, I now offer social media management and digital marketing services to music artists, businesses, and bloggers. I enjoy this variety in my work and consulting for different people means no day is the same.

Building Social Communities

Social media is my primary marketing channel. I wouldn't be able to do what I do without social media, and I wouldn't be able to effortlessly grow and manage my social media without Crowdfire. I was introduced to Crowdfire by Jay Carteré, a good friend and a talented musician. As a freelancer, my biggest challenge was finding clients in order to maintain a stable income. Crowdfire helped me overcome this hurdle by making it easier to build a community of like-minded individuals from the music industry. I particularly love the Keyword Follow feature because it gave me the power to connect with similar people near me and build communities around specific interests and products. Building a solid community of people who are interested in your service or product is a crucial step for any marketer. As a social media manager, I run multiple Instagram accounts and posting different content at different times to different accounts was a tedious chore. Crowdfire's Twitter & Instagram scheduler made scheduling an effortless task. I now get a lot more work done with less time and effort.

Growing With Social

Had it not been for social media and Crowdfire, I probably wouldn't have been able to sustain this business and would've gone back to a full-time job. Since I started using Crowdfire, my Twitter following has increased by 2500%. I have also increased my web traffic and income by more than 500% respectively. But what’s more significant than this amazing growth is that I’ve built a strong music community online. I can now easily connect with artists and businesses who could benefit from my services. Even if they don’t convert into clients, Crowdfire has helped me connect with a very supportive group of artists, businesses, and music lovers, and that community is priceless.

The Road Ahead

Whatever lies ahead, one thing is for sure: I'll keep growing my community and teaching others about digital marketing and social media. That is my passion. Crowdfire continues to be a vital tool in my social media arsenal and I see myself using it to grow my business for a long time to come.

We hope you were inspired by Aysh's story of how she turned her passion into a career. Do you have a Crowdfire success story that you want to share with the world?

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How A 17-Year-Old Musician Built An Audience Of 300,000 In One Year

Danny Simm, an 18-year old from Manchester, England isn't like your average teenager. When he isn't presenting his daily morning show on Bolton FM, Danny works as a musician and a social media manager. His social media career took off in 2014 after he met Luke Potter, a budding young musician, who asked him to help him build a strong presence on social media. Danny has since grown Luke's Twitter audience to nearly 300,000 followers from 7000 followers in a year and has even gotten his profile verified. Luke’s videos now get as many as 40,000 views in the first week. Read on, as Danny takes you through his journey and shows you how he used the power of social media to share Luke's music with the world:

  How It Started

A few years ago, I was working at a recording studio that had a lot of instruments hanging on the walls. At the time, I didn't play an instrument, and I wasn't planning on learning, but there was this electric mandolin that caught my eye. I learned how to play, got my own mandolin and kept getting better at it. From there, I started learning more string instruments, studied music theory and eventually began touring with a musician named Luke Potter. [caption id="attachment_4244" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Luke Potter (L) & Danny Simm (R)[/caption]   At the time, Luke had an average presence and almost zero engagement on Twitter. He knew Twitter could be a useful promotional tool, but hadn’t worked out an effective strategy for sharing his music. It took him ages to get a decent number of views on a music video — about six months for 40,000 odd views.

The Turning Point

In January 2014, Luke and I decided to do a little experiment on Twitter. We created a Twitter account of a fictional band and through that promoted a new song called ‘She Got Me’. I targeted people who liked music by bands like Blink 182 and Sum 41 because our music was in the same genre as theirs. I then used Crowdfire to connect with them on Twitter and introduce them to our music. This simple process worked like a charm. Within two weeks, it overtook Luke's account in both engagement and growth. This, despite him being on Twitter for the past three years at the time. Impressed, Luke asked me to take over his social media.

Building An Audience

Twitter is my favorite social network and I’ve had a personal profile since 2012, but using it to promote Luke’s music was an entirely new challenge — especially for a 17-year-old with no professional marketing experience. I had two primary goals when I started working on Luke’s online presence:

Building a relevant audience

Creating fans out of listeners

Since music is such a subjective choice, my biggest challenges were finding relevant audiences and connecting with them in a personalised way. As luck would have it, I chanced upon a Twitter Direct Message sent through Crowdfire. I realised that direct messages would be a fantastic way to connect with followers and lead them to Luke's music. Using Crowdfire, I set up a couple of automated DMs asking followers to check out Luke's latest release. I made the messages as casual and relatable as possible — almost as if Luke were writing each individually. But, I still needed to find more listeners for his music. I looked up music charts in different countries and found artists that were similar to Luke, thinking that their audiences would probably like Luke's music as well. Crowdfire's Copy Followers feature made it easy for me to find and connect with these audiences. This process of Finding + Connecting + Directing worked beautifully. Luke didn't just grow online. He was now getting more listeners, being recognised by people at events and attracting record labels. He even got verified on Twitter!

Growing With Social

Social media is a powerful beast. If you know what you're doing, you can use it to build a solid audience for your work. For example, last year, Luke was recording in Sweden at the studio where One Direction recorded their debut album. Luke tweeted about it and got back to recording. Somehow, Niall Horan from One Direction ended up reading it and not only favorited, retweeted and replied, but he also started following Luke. As a result, the tweet went viral and today it still gets an insane amount of engagement. https://twitter.com/lukepottermusic/status/559348073756098561/photo/1 Since we started promoting on Twitter, our followers, views and revenue have all grown. But for Luke and me, it’s not about the numbers, it’s about the people. What matters is whether people are enjoying his music and engaging with him. That is exactly what social media has helped us achieve.

I love Crowdfire because it doesn't just get you numbers, it gets you fans who will engage with you, support you and eventually become evangelists for your cause.

Luke’s music now has an international audience, from the UK, to the US, to Australia, India, the Philippines and beyond. It’s amazing to see people from other cultures appreciating our music and supporting us.

Looking Ahead

Social media is going to play an even bigger part in discovering music and connecting with fans. When my mom was a teenager, she could never have sent a message to Tina Turner or Donny Osmond or see what they were doing every day. Now we have the means to communicate and interact directly with artists we love.

My career means the world to me and I hope to build it for a long time to come. Platforms like Twitter and apps like Crowdfire are revolutionising artist management, and I’m geared up for the ride.

We hope you were inspired by Danny's journey through music and social media. Do you have a Crowdfire success story that you want to share with the world?

[zilla_button url="https://docs.google.com/a/codigami.com/forms/d/1tqQdXiW_iU8qCLNwSVgeFiH7PH7lrmIgsG63wMAj_q0/viewform?c=0&w=1" style="blue" size="large" type="round" target="_blank"] Yes, I Do! [/zilla_button]

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How Jay Carteré Kickstarted His Music Career Using Social Media

Picture this: A passionate, young musician. Music has been his companion since he was a child and it only seemed right that he make it his life. There he is, in the big city, dreams in his eyes, armed with nothing but his talent and his passion. He toils away in a small room, day after day creating music he loves. Covers, mix-tapes, singles - he zips about from fairs to clubs to studios, hoping to catch the fancy of a record producer and get that golden ticket. And on his struggle continues. A career in the music industry is almost synonymous with struggle. If you are a musician, you probably know this struggle all too well. Meet Jay Carteré, a rapper, singer, producer, social media manager and author from London. By the age of 20, Jay had already released five mixtapes. Plus, he has been featured in the Huffington Post, has authored a book on song production and he runs his own video production and social media companies. It wasn't always a cake-walk for Jay. He has come a long way for someone who grew up with no money and who dropped out of college. Here's Jay telling you the story of how he worked his way up:

Started From The Bottom

I'm only 20 and I'm just getting started. However, it wasn't easy getting here. I’ve seen the struggle of having no money, of being a broke college student in London, of struggling to get my music heard, and that has definitely shaped me as a person. It's been a long road since the day I decided to pursue music. A difficult, long road. I first started dabbling in music when I was 13. I was good at English, so I thought I'd try my hand at songwriting. I found that I enjoyed it so I began making music with friends and made it my goal to be the best MC in school. I decided to pursue music seriously when I was 16. I saw artists like Chipmunk gain success in the music industry and that gave me hope. Recording studios were too expensive, so I bought some cheap equipment and built my own little studio

I love making music because I start with nothing but an idea which then turns into a song and a music video. I love that - creating art from nothing. Every song is better than the last and that spurs me on.

Releasing 'Caesar Augustus', my latest mixtape was the high point of my life. I believe it is my strongest piece of work to date. I’ve released 6 projects since then, and I’ve maintained the ethos of building everything myself be it video, production, mixing, mastering, or marketing. Apart from music, I also run a video production company called Coolcut Films and a marketing agency called JCMpire. I enjoy making films and doing social media management so I'm going to push these forward.

Social Media: Value + Love

That has been my social media mantra. Social media has allowed me to introduce thousands of people to my music who would have, otherwise likely been unaware. I started out with Myspace ages ago. I used it to get my music out there and that still is, my goal with social media.

If you're an upcoming musician, you NEED social media. It's the cheapest form of promotion and if you know what you’re doing or get help from someone who does, social media will prove to be a very effective tool.

Twitter is my go-to social network, that’s where most of my energy is spent. YouTube is also a massive part of my marketing efforts. Plus, I make sure to use Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat - the latter two are particularly big in the younger crowd, so it's crucial that I have an active presence on them. My core objective on these platforms is the same throughout - to provide value to my target audience and give back the love. I can assure you that if you have these two fundamentals in your marketing strategy, you will definitely see some interesting and promising results. I surely have.

Growing With Social

I wasn't proactive with my marketing initially. I realised that this was a major hurdle that I needed to overcome if I wanted to break out. I researched marketing, learnt how to better approach my fans and how to provide value to them. With this knowledge, I was able to offer social media services. This meant another source of income. As someone who grew up with no money, this was big. I use Crowdfire to introduce people to my music & my social media services and to give love back to my fans on Instagram. I do this by using the Copy Followers feature to follow people who are likely to enjoy my music and by using the Admirers feature to interact with my fans. I'm a huge proponent of interacting with one's fans. An action as simple as a like on a photo goes a long way in establishing a solid rapport. Before, my Twitter following was low and my engagement was mediocre. Within 6 months of kickstarting my marketing efforts and using Crowdfire, I reached nearly 20,000 new people on Twitter and Instagram. This growth translated to exponential growth in all aspects of my work. It helped me get more listeners for my music by driving traffic to my Youtube channel. It also helped me grow my mailing list by over 90% so far. What this essentially did was it helped me amass prospective clients. I have seen a 500% increase in leads and a massive 200% increase in actual clients. This goes to show that if you know what you’re doing, Crowdfire is a powerful growth tool.

The Road Ahead

I’d like to continue helping people grow on social through my social media services. I'm also going to write a book that will focus on helping readers with growth and engagement on Twitter. Plus, I will continue pursuing sponsorships for my music career and making great music that I hope people will enjoy.

Breaking out in music is a serious struggle and I've seen it first hand. To budding musicians, I'd say: Stop spamming people on Twitter with your music. Focus on giving people what they want. Value first, promotion next. Only then will people be willing to check out your music.

We hope you were inspired by Jay's journey through music and social media. Do you have a Crowdfire success story that you want to share with the world?

[zilla_button url="http://goo.gl/forms/uZjJ3crgu1" style="blue" size="large" type="round" target="_blank"] Yes, I Do! [/zilla_button]

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How Joel Brown Used Social Media To Build A Million-Dollar Blog

As of writing this article on the 18th of August, over 2.5 million blog posts were published worldwide. (source: Worldometers) Wikipedia tells us that there were over 75 million Wordpress blogs in 2014. If other blogging platforms like Blogger, Tumblr and Medium are taken into consideration, the total would surpass 75 million by a long shot. Plus, let's not forget individual websites. Bottom line: The blogosphere is massive. And millions of bloggers are battling it out every day to get their content out to as many people as possible. A 2014 article by LifeHacker tells us that the majority of bloggers make a meagre $3.50 a day. That's just $2.25 away from the international poverty line! In this bleak scenario, bloggers like Joel Brown are a symbol of inspiration to the millions out there. Who is Joel Brown? An Australian entrepreneur and life design coach, Joel Brown is the founder of one of the top motivational and self-development blogs in the world. Inspired by Jordan Belfort after a sales training, Joel started Addicted2Success in 2011 as a personal project to bookmark motivational content for himself. [caption id="attachment_4139" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Joel Brown[/caption] His passion then took that personal blog and elevated it to a global motivation brand that has seen over 57 million page views in four and a half years. What's more, he has even received six- & seven-figure offers for his blog; offers that he turned down. How Did He Do It? Social Media. One of Joel's most powerful allies was social media. He primarily used Addicted to Success Twitter to market Addicted2Success and then moved on to Facebook & Instagram. Within four and a half years, he grew his Twitter account from 8000 followers to 600,000 followers. This immense 7400% increase helped his blog traffic explode. Joel was able to achieve this momentous feat by consistently producing high-quality content and by using smart Twitter marketing strategies along with powerful social media growth tools like Crowdfire.

Here's Joel Brown telling you the story of how he used the power of social media to build a million-dollar blog:

[zilla_button url="http://blog.crowdfireapp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Crowdfire-User-Story-Joel-Brown-Addicted2Success.pdf" style="red" size="large" type="round" target="_blank"] Get The Full Story [/zilla_button]

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Instagram Analytics now on Stats - Numbers To Help You Grow On Instagram

This is the update you have all been waiting for - Instagram Analytics now on Stats! Since the past couple of weeks, we have been working hard to give you Instagram analytics on Stats. Gone are the days when you had to go to two different apps to get analytics for Twitter & Instagram. We have integrated Instagram into the existing UI to give you a seamless experience while you check your social media numbers. This way, you won't have to spend time familiarzing yourself with the interface and you can begin analyzing as soon as you fire up the app. Like with the earlier version of Stats, this update will be available on iPhone and iPad. And as before, it's completely free!

More Bang For Your Buck

Here's what you get with this update to Stats:

Add accounts that you wish to monitor. No limits to work with here!

Track their Instagram activity over a period of 7 days, 1 month or 1 year. You can also choose a specific time period for individual accounts

Get a bird-eye view of their activity when it comes to Number of Posts, Followers Gained, Likes, Comments and Tags.

You can then delve into a specific account and get detailed numbers for more metrics such as Unfollowers, Hashtags, Bio Changes and Filters. That's right. That friend of yours who denies using Valencia - well, you now have numbers to back up your claim!

Save a snapshot fo your analytics or export them to different platforms such as email, Twitter, Facebook and many more

Awesome! So how do I use Stats to grow on Instagram?

We knew you'd ask us that which is why, we have put together a tiny guide to help you win on Instagram with Stats. #1 Check your dashboard at least once a day Use the dashboard to keep a track of how you're doing on a daily basis. Plus, you can also use this to keep an eye on your competitors. If they see a sudden spurt in followers, likes or comments, go back to their Instagram accounts to see what they're doing. Likewise, use this during campaigns to see what works and what doesnt. #2 Number and day of posts A key aspect of any Instagram strategy is knowing how many posts to put out and when to put them out. Use the detailed graphof 'Media' along with that of 'Likes', 'Comments' and 'Tags',  to check which days get the most engagement per post. Also, use these graphs to see how your competitors are doing. #3 Filters Did you know that filtered photographs get up to 21% more engagement that normal photos? Use the filter tab to check which filter you and your competitors use the most. Correspond that with likes and comments and figure out which filter works best for you. as a rule of thumb, warm filters like Valencia and Mayfair get more engagement than cool filters such as Lo-Fi and Amaro. [caption id="attachment_4105" align="aligncenter" width="361"] Volkswagen seems to like Juno.[/caption] #4 Hashtags As with Stats for Twitter, do remember to check the hashtags tab of your accounts and your competitors accounts. Use that along with the engagement tabs to see which hashtags get you the most followers and engagement per post. [caption id="attachment_4102" align="aligncenter" width="540"] Zomato's hashtag graph[/caption] #5 Follower Data If you've organised an Instagram campaign or are doing a Copy Followers (an amazing growth feature of Crowdfire that helps you get more followers), use the follower and unfollower tabs to monitor your growth graph.

So, What's Next?

This is just the beginning. We have a ton of new features coming up and we are also working on an Android version of Stats. For now, do check out this version of Stats and let us know what you like, what you don't like and what you want in the next update. We're always looking out for ways to make Stats better and cooler :)

[zilla_button url="https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/stats-for-twitter/id984958311?mt=8" style="red" size="large" type="round" target="_blank"] Get Stats Now! [/zilla_button]

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We Might Be Down. But, We Won’t Let You Down

At the outset, we would like to sincerely apologize for the outage. Yes, Crowdfire is down at the moment. We know that you rely on Crowdfire for your important work. We understand the seriousness of the situation, your anger and disappointment. But, rest assured, our team is not going to sleep until we get it running! While our devs are at it, here are some quick points for you to note:

Our servers are acting up and that’s why the apps and the site is down

Posts scheduled on your Publish App won’t be posted as of now

Keep an eye on the Crowdfire Twitter handle for updates

We shall keep on updating this blog post with the status. In the mean time if you have any queries then tweet to us @crowdfire. A lot of you have reached out to us so please allow us some time to get back. We shall get back to each one of you. Update 1: After hours of hard work, brain storming and troubleshooting, we are pretty close to getting the app back up. Next update will definitely be to inform you that we are up and running. Update 2: And we are..........BACK!

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How This Small Business Grew Its Site Traffic by 2100% in 1 Month

Marketing today, is now more fluid than it has ever been. New social media platforms spring up every few months with each platform rolling out updates at breakneck speed. With a rising class of millennial users, social media marketing is the imposing Goliath you cannot ignore.

One viral campaign has the power to bring you millions of customers. If you aren't on social, you might as well be a brick-and-mortar shop around the corner.

Starting Out With Social Media: From 0 to 2100

To businesses that until recently ran successfully with traditional marketing channels, social media marketing might seem overwhelming. Many choose to opt out of the chaos. And then there are others. Businesses who take on social media marketing, arm themselves with a smart strategy and win.

Dollar Hobbyz is one such business.

A 13-year old small business owned by two brothers, Richard and Bradley Arkell, Dollar Hobbyz is an online store for RC vehicles and parts. Until February, their primary marketing channels were word-of-mouth, organic search, and PPC. However, being an online store, the Arkell brothers realised the potential that social media offered them.

Enter William Harris and Nathan Peck. Together, they revamped the social media presence of Dollar Hobbyz and what was once a barren social media profile changed into a strong, growing marketing channel.

We, at Crowdfire know how important social media is as a marketing channel and we believe that it is never too late for social media. So if you're a business that has yet to get social or if you're looking at revamping your social media strategy, read on as William takes you through the social media journey of Dollar Hobbyz. In this user story, you will:

Trace the journey of Dollar Hobbyz

Learn how William & Nathan built the social media presence of Dollar Hobbyz using their knowledge and Crowdfire - a powerful social media growth tool

[zilla_button url="http://blog.crowdfireapp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Crowdfire-User-Story-Dollar-Hobbyz1.pdf" style="green" size="large" type="round" target="_blank"] Get The Full Story [/zilla_button]

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How To Build A Community For Instagram Marketing

Instagram is definitely for the 'creative' ones. From amazing photography to awesome fashion designs, this is the be-all and end-all for all things beautiful. Of course, there's undeniably a barrage of selfies too (arrgh!), but I'll keep them out of this discussion for now. With more than 300 million users, Instagram marketing really needs constant and consistent effort from one's side to be able to use it significantly. Now, given that 20% of all internet users were on Instagram (yeah..that too in 2014!), achieving the desired user engagement can be a frighteningly daunting task. And with no dearth of immense talent, these figures can further plummet, that might make you feel a little..uh..lost. Well, to keep you away from such feelings, I've tried to compile a list of some steps you can follow to hit those engagement figures you've been targeting. A COMMUNITY - WHY? Well, because we're humans, that's why! Seriously, no kidding! Humans feel a sense of security in forming a community. Not just restricted to the real world, even virtual communities work wonders. Psychologists McMillan and Chavis in their 1986 study called "Sense of Community" made some really interesting conclusions that apply to the real world, and hence in its virtual counterpart as well:- Partnership: People who are a part of a community, be it for any reason, feel more connected to each other, almost as though in a relationship. Since, the cause is the same, the kinship has a psychologically positive impact that strengthens the bond and makes them feel special. Instagram communities are no exception to this. People get together to serve a common purpose - be it towards animal protection, fashion, or  reviewing music instruments. This way members of the community form an active closed group, interacting frequently in discussions or reviewing a certain product et al. By building boundaries, members establish trust and foster a sense of security. Some communities unanimously decide on their group merchandise like a representative colour or a t-shirt. For instance, PETA is a dedicated body for protecting and preserving animal rights. From campaigns to public forums, people express their concern for animals and spread awareness among other people. Capturing this essence, PETA actively pursues the cause even on social media. Their Instagram community ensures they keep up the engagement by doing exactly that - they keep up the engagement by posting, almost 4 times a day, humorous or heart-wrenching but definitely intriguing photos. Lesson: Post frequently. This way you give people a reason to keep looking forward to the next post from you. However, my analysis on Instagram suggests you post once every 2-3 days. This way, you space out your activity and consequently give more number of people more time to view your photo and like or comment. Influence: Members should feel they have influence over the community and the community should, as one single entity, have a sense of influence over its members. This way, people convey that they acknowledge and understand other members' opinions, beliefs, or needs, thus nurturing the kinship. [caption id="attachment_4037" align="aligncenter" width="469"] @debasreee[/caption] Now, consider @debasreee. She's an awesome comfortable-in-her-shoes YouTube vlogger who reviews cosmetic products by putting up videos very regularly and, in the process, interacts (very adorably!) with her fans. While offering valuable tips and insights into different kinds of products appropriate for different body types and characteristics, Debasree consistently maintains her chirpy vibe and energy levels! Her Instagram page is also engaging. Her beauty aside, what's interesting is her versatility. Some of her posts suggest hairstyles, makeup styles or products depending on aspects like the time of the day or the product she's reviewing, weather of the day, and sometimes, well.. her mood! And, with just the right number of hashtags and right amount of (amazing!) creativity. She also keeps a tab on which products her fans want her to review and she reviews them. This is especially important, since it harnesses the sense of influence I mentioned earlier - she reviews products (which requires extensive knowledge!) and interacts with her fans; her fans reciprocate the emotion by asking her to review products they like. Slick! The result? [caption id="attachment_4041" align="aligncenter" width="580"] All She Needs..[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4042" align="aligncenter" width="583"] Yup! They are all Orange![/caption] [caption id="attachment_4044" align="aligncenter" width="577"] Polka works..every time![/caption] Lesson: Use several hashtags. Hashtags basically expose your post to any person on Instagram (and that's 300 million plus!) searching for that hashtag. So, Debasree almost always uses #makeup, #beauty among others. Instagram allows you to use 30 hashtags in any post. But, as I explained in the fashion blog I wrote a while back, usually 9-11 is the magic number. Also, you can use branded hashtags for your community, e.g., #allsheneeds or #natgeo. Satisfaction: As the word suggests, this emotion is best felt when the member of a certain community feels h/she got what they hoped for when they joined it. I mean what better way to nurture a sense of belongingness than through the way of contentment, right? Consider Ultimate Guitar for instance. It's one of the world's largeset guitar community websites featuring guitar and bass tablature, chords, reviews of music and a wide variety of musical instruments, interviews with eminent musicians and video lessons. Phew! And, of course, that's not all. So, if you take a moment to think what this website is offering, you'd realise the power of a community. Being a guitarist myself, I have visited the website many a time. Heck, I bought my first electric guitar after reading a ton of well-documented, in-depth reviews about it. Their video lessons and tablature are spot-on and are updated quite frequently based on the requests of community members. So, if Johnny can't get Aminor (that's a chord!) right, all he has to do is post it on the community, and within days (maybe hours!) people would help him out. Fundamentally, what makes any community tick is participation. The emotional gratification is (oh! so) worth the effort you take to assist someone or be assisted, irrespective of the kind of quandary. So, every time one contributes to the community, that furthermore reinforces the Sense of Community McMillan and Chavis were talking about. Besides, I personally believe that's one of the most effective ways to understand the needs of other community members. Shared emotional connection goes a long way! Even marketing goes a long way! And, when it comes to community Instagram marketing, there's no beating these guys. Eg., if you look at the engagement strategy of @ug.official, you'd notice that they involve their fans very frequently..daily to be more precise. One of their signatures on Instagram is the 'Video of The Day'. Simply put, followers upload videos and these curated by the channel and one of them is featured as the video of the day. But why this idea works well everytime is because they @mention the follower whose video is chosen as the video of the day. As you can see in the snapshot above, @apevnyOO is mentioned by the official channel. This has a two-fold consequence: the follower mentioned in the post gets a notification, and hence a pretty (damn!/darn!) good incentive to post again; other followers of the channel see this post on their Instagram Feed that gives them a good reason to post and engage more often. Lesson: Using mentions in your posts is a great idea since it is an unmistakable way to garner attention while appreciating like-minded people with similar interests. This way you establish a two-way conversation, which usually leads to a positive outcome in a community set up. Also, you can at times involve more users by introducing an editor's choice round wherein the editor of the channel selects one video for featuring as the 'Video Of The Day' amongst thousands of other submitted videos. (as done by Ultimate Guitar). Alright, we just discussed some of the ways in which you can form a community and also engage other users in your activity or your brand. While these may not directly give you a hack to improve your engagement overnight, I'm fairly confident that these are tried-and-tested methods that work best and earn fruition over a considerably long period of time. Agree that these are really effective strategies for community Instagram marketing? Do you have better ones in mind? Leave your opinion, suggestions or doubts in the comments section below. And, as with happiness, share the article too!      

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How Crowdfire Uses Crowdfire

This week, we decided to show you your favourite social media tool in a whole new light. Sure, you use Crowdfire to keep your social timelines clean. You probably also use it to grow your network by reaching out to like-minded people. Maybe, you also use it to begin conversations on Twitter, to schedule your posts and to see how you are doing on social. All this and more. You’ve used Crowdfire to become a star on social media and you deserve it. You know how you use Crowdfire and how your friends use Crowdfire. What you don’t know is how the Backstreet Boys use Crowdfire. (Yes, the Backstreet Boys use our app. I kid you not) Okay okay, I misled you. We won’t be telling you how the Backstreet Boys use Crowdfire (we’ll get there one day). But, we do have a very interesting user story of our app.

How Crowdfire Uses Crowdfire

At Crowdfire, we believe in ’eating our own cooking'. Meaning, we believe in using our products as we would expect our users to. One of the simplest tests for viability of a product is whether its makers use it or not. If you don't derive a benefit from your own product, you've got issues. While this may not be applicable universally, when it comes to social media and internet, using your own product is quick, simple and efficient. If you’re a developer, you’ll know how to improve your product. If you’re a designer, you’ll know to create a better user experience If you’re a marketer, you’ll know how to sell the benefits of your app The importance of using your own product is huge, which is why we decided to show you how we use Crowdfire. In this video, you'll meet these amazing people from Team Crowdfire and learn how they use the app.

Watch the video here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-s8TyVDEL0&feature=youtu.be

How important is using one's own product? What would you do if you did not like the 'taste of your own cooking'? Let us know what you think and what you thought of the video!

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150,000 Downloads Later: How Nathan Chan Built A Magazine For Entrepreneurs

Journalism is a tricky career. Consumers are pampered with thousands of high-quality content pieces every day and being overwhelmed with content is a very real possibility. Plus, with publication big guns like Forbes and Huffington Post, breaking out in the journalism sector is a daunting task.

In this scenario of skewed demand-supply, Foundr Magazine is a glimmer of inspiration.

Started in 2013 by Nathan Chan, the entrepreneurship magazine has leapfrogged its way to the top. Foundr Mag sits alongside the likes of Entrepreneur and Wall Street Journal in the list of Top Business & Investing Magazines in the iTunes store. Plus, he has a loyal following of 234,000 followers on Instagram and 48,000 followers on Twitter. Followers, which have converted into inspired readers. Some of his readers have even gone on to build their own enterprises. Plus, Foundr Magazine has been downloaded 150,000 times.

All, in a span of 2 years and as a solopreneur.

However, it wasn't easy. While Nathan has now profiled the likes of Richard Branson and Arianna Huffington on Foundr's cover page, his first issue had a stock image on the cover.

[caption id="attachment_3935" align="aligncenter" width="769"] Then & Now[/caption]

Like any other early stage startup, growth was a major issue for Nathan. Having recognized the power of social media, Nathan set out to reach out to potential readers via Instagram and Twitter.

It worked. He grew his Instagram account to over 10,000 followers within 2 weeks and to 100,000 followers in 5 months. This in turn generated thousands of email opt-ins and subscribers. In fact, Nathan still maintains that Instagram growth is a major driver when it comes to getting more subscribers.

How Did He Do It?

The answer to his growth story lies in drive and strategy. His drive to help entrepreneurs combined with high-quality content and social media growth tools like Crowdfire, propelled this growth.

I had the opportunity of speaking to Nathan a couple months ago. He told me how he grew on Instagram using the growth & clean features of Crowdfire and how this growth translated into tangible benefits.

Hence, we present to you Nathan Chan's success story. Whether you're a budding writer, an entrepreneur or you simply have the drive to make it big, make sure you read his story here:

[zilla_button url="http://blog.crowdfireapp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Crowdfire-User-Story-Nathan-Chan-Foundr-Magazine1.pdf" style="red" size="large" type="round" target="_blank"] Get The Full Story [/zilla_button]

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How Online Shopping Just Got Better With Instagram

Instagram has always done the right thing - either at the right time or taking the right time. Growing from zilch to 300 million active monthly users in under five years, Instagram has made and will continue to keep making waves in the world of social media. The latest tide Instagram is riding on will ease the way you’ve been performing online shopping.

Just a month ago, Instagram announced that it is trying out different formats of advertisements that will help advertisers sell their products, or increase web sign-ups or even pump up the app downloads - all from within Instagram!

This development took place a day after Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom rubbed shoulders with the who’s who of the fashion industry at the 2015 CDFA Awards. Now, how these ads would work is something only time will disclose. For instance, the user may be asked to register credit cards, or may be instructed to download the app to access the ‘Shop Now’ feature, etc. Or something absolutely unimaginable as of today. For that, we’ll have to wait & watch!

Fundamentally, this strategy provides a major incentive for all product-based brands to advertise more actively to a wide variety of audiences that Instagram shopping caters to. And, with eCommerce stores moving to Instagram in droves more than ever, Instagram has jumped onto brand advertisement bandwagon. Big time.

For now, Instagram has released some sample screenshots of what the new feature will look like. Not too different from the existing ads on Instagram, the new button reads ’Shop Now’, ‘Install Now’, ‘Sign Up’ and ‘Learn More’ on the lower-right corner, as it looks right here:-

image source: Instagram

This is a very big visual change Instagram has executed, since the existing version of the app does not allow a user to insert links in captions associated with a post, except in the bio of the profile. So, most single-users and SMEs (Small & Medium Enterprises), would gain massively as far as click-through rates are concerned - all thanks to one single button!

What’s In It For Me?

Consider Vogue. It collaborated with rewardStyle to use Liketoknow.it that allowed them to sell a Steven Allen scarf online. Generally speaking, it’s a two-part execution:—

- Users like any post that is enabled with Liketoknow.it feature.

- Once such posts are liked, instructions related to price, stock availability, shipping details are mailed to the user.

And how did that work for them?

- Vogue recorded a surge of 5,000 the day it posted the photo; the usual increase rate is 2,000.

- 1.5 million emails were sent out every day to it’s 100,000+ users.

- The conversion rate for a Liketoknow.it email was between 1 and 2.5%

So, despite being an inconvenient way to shop, users did take the pains to buy products of their wish. Imagine what a ’Shop Now’ button would do to these statistics.

Takeaway: You too can try this out if you already haven’t. Or, you can re-strategise your marketing outreach plans to incorporate the new changes Instagram is about to release. Just check for overhead (and other) costs that you might have to bear before this idea takes off. But in any case, the buzzword here is quickly!

Another brand that does it right is Fox And Fawn. Been consistently ranked among the vintage stores by Time Out New York, @foxandfawn includes a link in bio for customers to view their products on their brand website. What’s interesting about them is the way they describe their products in conjunction with the dress they capture in their post. Take a look:-

Currently, they request customers to comment ‘Ring Me’ as a comment for a dress they desire to buy. @foxandfawn then collects their credit card information over a phone call, putting it on file along with associated shipping details. Done! And, once it sold, they comment on the post saying ‘SOLD’ and tag the buyer of the product.

With the ‘Shop Now’ feature soon to become a reality, their marketing strategy would become heck of a lot easier - they just need to post the product, describe it and redirect to the checkout page. Or better off - they can just put up the post and rely on the ‘Shop Now’ button to do the magic.

Takeaway: This model should really help if you are a relatively smaller brand and have multiple boutiques. This way different collections get more eyeballs in very convenient ways using old-school ways to reach out to customers. And hey, Old Is Gold, ain’t it?

Forever21 also serves it’s eCommerce purposes rather stylishly. Their profile, @forever21, integrates Like2b.uy for shopping. So, users can choose a dress, visit the link in their bio which would take the user to the actual page that displays options for buying and shipping.

Clicking on the link in the bio displays all the available products, displayed in the page shown below

Clicking on the same on the forever21 page ultimately takes you to the payment page, which is where you ultimately buy it.

While everything still looks quite simple, sometimes it isn’t that simple - you might have to scroll down quite a lot to find the same product on the forever21 catalog that you liked on the Instagram page - and it gets very frustrating. And this is exactly where the new features come in really handy!

Takeaway: Again, nothing too different from Liketoknow.it, try linking your products in the bio of your Instagram profile and see if it works. While you are the best judge and will ultimately decide for your brand, you’ll have to experiment before achieving concrete results. That’s because different ways work for different brands. So, put on your thinking caps and do your homework today!

What Difference Will It Make?

Well, quite a lot to say the least. But, two important advantages you’ll have are, it will:-

- Increase Targeting Possibilities: Gleaning data from its parent company, Facebook, Instagram will better aid advertisers in targeting users depending on their demographics and activity, apart from all the information brands currently have about their customers.

- Strengthen Smaller Businesses: Smaller businesses would definitely get a major boost from this move. Being a lucrative part of the entire advertising arena on Facebook, Instagram will also be proud about itself for introducing this feature. All you have to do is pay Instagram for your advertising space and leave the rest of the game to the Instagram API (i.e., ad buying interface).

So, now you know what Instagram’s been upto and what the online shopping experience for your brand can (hopefully!) gain from the future vision of the company. Agreed that none of these ways may work for you, but that’s exactly what you’ll have to consider sooner or later - be creative; see what works for your brand (read no plagiarism of ideas!)

Well, that’s all for now on this subject. But, do let us know what difference you noticed after linking your brand to your Instagram bio made. Or some other unique idea that suited your brand. And, as always, don’t forget to share!

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How A College Student Built A Successful Social Media Business

Meet August Erickson A marketing student at James Madison University and a successful social media marketer since 4 years, August Erickson is a marketing professional to be reckoned with - all at the age of 20. What started out as a few casual shout-outs to upcoming brands has now grown into a thriving social media business that companies are flocking to left and right. How did he do it? Having understood the importance of Twitter marketing and what works on Twitter lay the foundation to August's foray into the world of social media. The sizable following on his personal Twitter account attracted the attention of small brands who then began offering him freebies in exchange for a shout out. Realising the immense potential of Twitter, August set out to become a social media marketer. By using his innate knowledge of marketing and optimising it with Crowdfire, a powerful social media management tool, August engineered growth strategies for his clients. Growth, which in turn, translated into higher site hits, sales and even job applications! How much growth? Have a look at this graph which shows the scale of growth that some of August's clients have achieved after bringing him on board as a social media manager: One of the key aspects of August's growth strategy is to engage followers. By sending smartly crafted messages via Crowdfire's Automated DM feature, August not only gets a conversation going, but he also redirects followers to a particular brand's website. In short, he turns followers into customers.

If August Erickson's success story has inspired you to learn more and transform your social media presence for the better, make sure to read the full case study here.

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Crowdfire helped August Erickson build a thriving social media business & you can too! Want to grow higher on social?

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The Psychology Behind Instagram Marketing

One of the best subjects I’ve personally ever come across is psychology. The extent to which it aids one in understanding his/her own self and establish a foundation for generalisation is simply amazing. Among a myriad subjects under its purview, psychology has an interesting application in social media - what better than trying to analyse an entire generation based on it's behaviour, habits and tendencies.

I personally feel that among all social media platforms that I’m aware of, the one that makes for the most interesting subject for a psychological analysis and evaluation is - none other than - Instagram!

Thanks to more than 300 million monthly active users, Instagram is a mini universe in itself but is, nevertheless, as equally susceptible, if not more, to the laws of psychology as the real world. But, I’ll elaborate on three psychology findings that will help you decode as to why Instagram marketing is done the way it’s done. Let’s dive in!

Photo Is Mightier Than Pen

Ever wondered why it is so easy, so effortless to watch movies or plays as opposed to reading about them. That’s because that’s all you were doing - watching! And not reading it.

That’s what studies about the Picture Superiority Effect suggest. According to this effect, concepts are learned or grasped much more easily and are recollected through viewing pictures than reading about the same. In fact, only 10% of what we read is what we remember after a 3-day period whereas that in case of watching is a staggering 65%.

Actually, the dual-coding theory, proposed by psychology professor Allan Paivio of the University of Western Ontario, posits that picture stimuli are dual-coded: they generate both a verbal and image code, while word stimuli generates only a single code.

Besides, photos are perceptually different from each other as opposed to words, thus making it more likely for recollection. For instance, take a look at this infographic representing excellent coverage plans by Verizon:-

Observing and memorising facts were easy, weren’t they? Now, if we were to present the same facts in a more textual manner, it would read something like this:-

“Among the reported top four wireless carriers, Verizon’s network provides 100% 4G LTE wireless technology. In fact, Verizon covers around 97% of the U.S. population.” While that one-liner isn’t much to remember, there’s obviously a lot more observable information in that infographic that I haven’t mentioned here.

When you read all that information as well, I’m sure the mental processing ability required to memorise or recollect the information would be a lot more as compared to looking at its pictorial counterpart. One important point, though, is that the picture needs to be relevant to the content which reinforces the message from your data.

Lesson: Strategically combine text and pictures because that is used quite frequently for Instagram marketing, besides being the fundamental approach adopted by Microsoft PowerPoint. Take a look at a Batik Top by @foxandfawn and do pay attention to the caption it uses as an additive factor in advertising the top:-

[caption id="attachment_2803" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Batik Top @foxandfawn[/caption]

While the picture presents the dress, ‘demonstrating’ the waist-crop top, the caption describes the top using the same phrase ‘waist-crop top’. That just reinforced the top in your mind, didn’t it? Now, you wouldn’t forget having seen a Hawaii Batik Top designed by @foxandfawn. That’s a marketing strategy there. And, a good one at that!

The Rule Of Thirds

Pretty famous in the Instagram community, the Rule Of Thirds was first proposed/created by painters of the Renaissance period that titillates the viewer’s senses by doing something very simple: narrate a story through the picture by providing a background. They reasoned that the eyes do not stay fixed on a single aspect of the picture but roam around instead, exploring multiple aspects in it.

How does it work? Draw a pair of vertical and horizontal lines that divide the square-shaped Instagram photos into 9 small, equally spaced equal-area squares. Once this is done, you would have 4 different points of intersection.

The Rule Of Thirds simply states that placing the most significant or the most eye-catching aspect of a picture along these lines or at these intersection points usually results in very high user engagement, splitting the picture in 1:2 ratio, i.e., into one-thirds and two-thirds, instead of half.

Of course, that isn’t my conjecture. Studies suggest that when the subject is placed in the centre, it’s considered static - there’s nowhere else for the eyes to see because the subject is equally spaced with respect to all the sides.

But, conforming to this rule, the subject is closer to one of the edges, it forces the viewer to follow or travel in the picture, since the visual weight is balanced by the vast background of the picture.

Consider the image below. As in the picture on the right with the grid, the subject is placed at one-thirds from the right edge of the photo. Also, the most significant aspect of the subject, the kayaker in this case, is placed on the intersection or focal points.

As I just mentioned, the viewer is subtly given room to follow or travel in the direction of the movement of the kayaker. Because of this interaction, it makes for a captivating photo.

Lesson: You can place the product/brand mascot in conformity with the rule of thirds. For instance, the Paradiso perfume advertised on the Instagram account of Roberto Cavalli, @roberto_cavalli, is a good example because though there are several aspects in the photo, they all interact with each other, each having it’s own space.

The model on the left is near the left edge who very elegantly holds the perfume, while the actual product on the right has a sea in the background which gives some breathing space.

Colour Colour, Which Colour Do You Want?

Colours have always been an intriguing aspect of our lives. Each one speaks for itself and speaks something different. From arousing myriad moods to emotions, colours are a powerful tool to communicate at a deeper, more impactful level than pictures or text. But, why are certain colours doing well in the marketing space than certain others?

To give this discussion a more scientific treatment, our neuronal structure functions in tandem with colour-sensitive cones in our eye, retina to be more specific, that are more sensitive to certain wavelengths such as red, green and blue that have greater sensitivity than others because of their position in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Well, in English, that simply means that our retina, sort of, manufactures colours and the brain does the rest of the job. Which is why different people have a different perception of the same colour. Tricky, isn’t it!

But, why isn’t there concrete data to fall upon? Well, that’s because as I just said, the brain does most of the job and hence, our personal experiences, preferences, upbringing, and even cultural diversity significantly influence our perception.

Thankfully, there’s a reliable study called the Impact of Colour Marketing that, based on empirical data, suggests that 90% of snap judgments are based on just the colour scheme of the brand. Additionally, the ‘perceived appropriateness’ of the colours used also play a major role in colour selection by brands.

Psychologist and Stanford professor Jennifer Aaker, who through her studies on brand personalities, suggests that are five core attributes that go into determining the brand’s personality:-

So, colours play a major role in determining the sincerity factor - the likelihood that a viewer would perceive it to be sincere, genuine and a ‘good’ product - by conveying honesty or cheerfulness. Let’s take a small test

[caption id="attachment_3495" align="aligncenter" width="239"] Yellow - cheerful, childish - invokes honesty - PASS![/caption] [caption id="attachment_3496" align="aligncenter" width="484"] Black - Mysterious, frightening - invokes fear and uncertainty - PASS![/caption] [caption id="attachment_3497" align="aligncenter" width="509"] Blue - Trust, warmth - invokes the cool & rugged - works for Harley Davidson - PASS![/caption]

Lesson: Move over Fifty Shades of Grey (Please!). Keep in mind the product that your brand sells, and especially the target audience - which country is your target audience located in, which gender (Male or Female) and age bracket would your product appeal more to.. and sometimes even environmental sentiments (Strange?!?) Make notes:-

With likes as varied as the infographic suggests, there’s no one-stop solution to the which-colour-for-brand issue. Electronic products are no exception to this:-

The ‘button test’ strategy by Performable got 21% greater likes for the red button than the green one. Data suggests that the red button on the right side stood out on the green-dominated page, which wasn’t the case in the sample on the left wherein the green button blended within the greenish feel of the rest of the page.

Christian Louboutin used the colour combination (above) very well on his brand’s pencil heels for women by using a red lacquered outsole. While Red usually invokes energy, passion or desire, black is the unmistakable shade for mystery and even sophistication. So, watch, experiment & learn!

And, as for other brands and the reason behind the colour schemes they chose for their logo, here’s a self-explanatory infographic compiled by The Logo Company:-

Alright, there you have it. We just looked a little more into the three most important aspects of Instagram marketing - pictures, the subject/model orientation in the picture and the colour(s) of the subject/model/product in the picture. Yes, while there is no universal one-size-fits-all solution to brand marketing, it’s an art that brands have been trying to master by experimenting and re-strategising a lot, keeping in mind, hands down, the most influential aspect of them all - customers!

So, tell us how it goes for you. Oh, and while you’re at it, as always, share this knowledge!