Now of course we all know that as a brand your entire existence depends on how positive customers view you. Your brand’s literal job is to make people want to buy from you. So a negative comment on a public forum can be very not good. 

A whole lot of negative comments are even worse.

Dealing with negative comments and feedback on social media is something a lot of brands misunderstand. 

Most Companies traditionally do not hear from happy customers very often or even hear from customers generally. So, if companies suddenly start getting a lot of people complaining, seemingly about the same issue (in a very public setting), companies will think it must be a very serious issue. This can often be not the case. For example, if you exist on Twitter or god forbid Tumblr. (why would you do that to yourself) for any amount of time you become aware, that is part of the platform’s culture to dogpile and spam attack for the smallest and stupidest of reasons.

Dealing with negative comments brings up the interesting dichotomy that now exists due to modern internet culture. This dichotomy is: to apologize or not to apologize.

The internet is full of tearful videos and statements from creators and brands apologizing for something or other. These apologies are for all things from awkward miss management of PR, to broken products, to the latest huge harassment scandal from say .. Blizzard Entertainment. In fact, apologizing is a whole industry, one apology video can spawn 500 analysis videos and keep the news cycle busy for a good few weeks. 

The most common sentiment among internet users these days is that apology videos mean nothing. They are just some fun sideshow to watch as the person apologizing goes down in flames. 

This is due to the repeated and provable insincerity of the apologies. I.e James Charles. Cough.

So, when your brand gets negative comments how do you handle it? 

I suggest the following. 

The first thing you have to do is be able to tell the difference between an actually unhappy client and someone just being annoying. The internet is a wide and amazing thing and is full of all of humanity. There are accounts dedicated to tweeting at the president of America photos of feet. There are accounts that will make haikus out of your comments if they fit a certain format.

So the reason why being able to tell apart legitimate complaints, and one dude with five email accounts and a grudge, is important as each circumstance has a completely different handling style, and have completely different outcomes for your brand

So the normal, standard, in theory, polite way of handling legitimate complaints and small negative comments are as follows:

• Don’t ignore the negative comments, reply as soon as you see them/ are able to
• Be polite, self-explanatory
• Personalize your message, respond to the actual individual issue, do not send out a general corporate message
• Explain yourself, you want your explanation in writing
• Learn from your mistakes, don’t do it again?
• Don’t make false promises, you will get caught ou and this will show you are insincere 
• Take it out of the spotlight, maybe thank them in the comments, and then request they move to DMs as opposed to doing the whole thing in the comments?
• Generate positive comments   <- be careful of the timing this last one there has been some embarrassing results when done wrong

If the customer has a legitimate complaint then deal with it like a decent human being. All of the steps above are just that. 

BUT

The Second more interesting issue is dealing with negative comments that are not legitimate. These can be from anything from special interest harassment campaigns to just one person with seven bots. These can be from people who have misread one tweet and are now convinced that your small cupcake company is stealing pet cats. Or they can just be very bored people who want attention and free stuff. Or, worse, a combination of all three.

In these situations, apologies will not help you, in fact, they are often viewed as signs of weakness or admission of guilt and in the long run, will make your situation so much worse.

Often if you are being dogpiled for something that you are quite sure isn’t something bad, the only real option is to batten down your hatches, and ride out the storm. These will classically only be very bad for maybe a week until something else pops up and the mob moves on.

If you attempt to apologize to that kind of mob, your apology will never be enough for the angry responders. This is because they have already made up their mind about you, nothing you can say will change this. Your apology is an admission of guilt. So the best you can do is double down and stick to your guns until the other party gets bored. That way the followers who do believe you are not in the wrong will feel vindicated that you didn’t bow down and will keep following you. 

If you apologize you lose the support of your side and do NOT gain the support of the other side. So you are stuck between a roc kand a hard place

Lastly, you must remember that good old Marketing saying: all publicity is good publicity. 

If you want more slightly humorous takes on branding in the modern climate of social media, check out our other blogs https://byter.com/2021/06/17/6-humorous-tips-for-personal-branding/

Hopefully, you never end up on the receiving end of an internet mob. We believe in you!

Have fun!

People will weep and complain that the algorithm is throttling them etc etc, without actually knowing if the algorithm is actually doing that. The one advantage of this obscurity is that it is incredibly hard to game the system. No one actually knows what they are doing.  No one can tell you exactly, for sure, a step-by-step successful strategy for Instagram.  There are as many different strategies as there are users.

But, despite saying this, there are some things that will always help your Instagram page grow consistently.

1- Use carousel posts 

Carousel posts are simply posts that have more than one image in them, users swipe left to see them. You can put up to 10 images now. These posts are great for driving engagement, as users spend more time on them as they have more to see, and also they need to tap the photo to see what is next.

According to Hootsuite, carrousel posts drive 3x the engagement and 1.4x the reach of other post types.

2- Put Instagram story stickers

Instagram stories have a wide variety of interactive stickers you can use. these stickers range from polls, questions, sliders, to time stamps, countdowns.  These stickers are a fun, engaging, and awesome way to get feedback from your target audience. 

If your audience interacts with your stories this tells the Instagram algorithm that manages who sees your content that they are worth showing to more people  

3- Pay attention to hashtags 

Hashtags are primarily used for post categorisation. Swap your hashtags around regularly to make sure that they match the content of your post. There is currently a debate going on about whether using the full set of 30 hashtags or only using a few is the most successful. If you use all 30 hashtags then your post will pop up in the recent under more categories. But then there is a rumor that the algorithm punishes the use of all 30 hashtags with less reach. This last assumption is neither confirmed nor denied so do with that as you will.

4- Interact with members of your community online

When you tap on a hashtag Instagram will take you to all the other posts under that hashtag. If you look at the top posts section they will all have a lot of likes and will probably be from already successful accounts. If you go to the recent section you will get the most recent sets of posts regardless of the size of the account. Interact with those posts in a positive manner and you are more likely to get known in the community and that interaction will mean more people will come back to check out your account.

5- Check Instagram Analytics 

under the Instagram insights tab you can see rough statistics about your audience. This can help you understand which of your posts performs best and what type of content your followers enjoy seeing from you. Of course, being exactly accurate about what posts do best can be a little difficult since the data is quite simple, but it can help you point in the right direction

Instagram purposely keeps its algorithms a secret so as to prevent anyone from gaming the system. Because of this, no one can give you a surefire, exact step-by-step way to grow your accounts. There are simply methods that have been tested and over time have bought slow-burn success.

Remember kids, people promising you instant overnight social media success are the same people selling the overpriced courses. The only real way, apart from the lucky ones, is to turn up every day with something of value to give your audience.

Good luck fellow plodders!

Instagram is attempting to monetize itself in a similar way to youtube, by creating its own version of the partnership program. Interestingly, Instagram and Facebook are rolling out new and innovative ways in which creators can monetize their content, all while throttling the organic reach any new creators or small accounts will get.

Until recently Instagram has relied on basic advertising for revenue, but they are attempting to make the monetization all-pervasive to incentivize users to remain on the platform longer. Many of these rollouts will benefit already established big creators but will not really help smaller beginner creators. But despite this facebook held their first Creator week declaring the importance of creators to the platform and their promise to support them.

So below is a summary of the latest Instagram features for monetization

1. Instagram Affiliate Tool

One of the major launches is the news that Instagram is beginning to roll out a native affiliate tool. This new tool will enable creators to discover new products available for purchase in the app, then share them with their followers and earn commissions for any subsequent purchases that they drive.

The new process will enable eligible creators to choose from products available in the app to add to their posts. And if users tap through on their post, and go on to make a purchase, the creator will get a commission – so it’s essentially an influencer marketing process without the creator having to do any of the negotiation or leg-work to put the incentive deal in place.

The keyword is “eligible”. Of course, Instagram will not allow any old creator to enter into affiliate partnerships, as that might result in some embarrassing situations. But Instagram has not specified what makes you eligible yet. It will very likely be some kind of combination of follower count and verification or something like Twitter. 

The affiliated content will have a special ‘eligible for commission’ tag so the potential buyers can know that by purchasing that product they also support their favorite creator.

Currently, this tool is tested with US-based creators such as Kopari, Benefit, MAC, Pat McGrath Labs, and Sephora and it is planned to expand to more creators in the future. 

2. Creators Instagram Shops 

The beginnings of the shopping tools on Instagram date back 2 years ago when they first introduce Instagram Checkout and after a few iterations and rollouts, the platform has evolved in providing dedicated Facebook Shops. and also Instagram Shops, for each of the networks respectively that mostly use the same platform in the backend. 

Instagram Shops are extremely valuable for Creators who sell their own products. It is probably the most innovative mobile and e-commerce solution that makes it easy for the sellers and also for the buyers to make a quick and secure purchase right on their mobile phones. 

Instagram rollout a global option allowing Creators to link Instagram shops not just with their brands business profile but also with their personal accounts in order to expand the reach of their product lines

Creators can use Bravado/UMG, Fanjoy, Represent, and Spring to make new product launches and excite their Instagram followers. This will be available at the end of the year. 

3. Instagram Live Badges

These seem to be very similar to twitch donations for those of you familiar with that platform

Instagram badges are a feature that allows you to show support to creators during a live video. When you purchase a badge during a live video, a heart icon appears next to your name in the comments.

Once badges are purchased:

Badges will remain next to your name during that live.

Your hearts are highlighted in the comments field during that live.

Your Instagram name appears on a list visible to the creator of that live video for up to 90 days.

If you ask a question during that live, your question will be highlighted to the creator.

If you make a comment during that live chat, your comment may be pinned by the creator.

Also similar to this is Facebook live stars. These again your audience can send to you while you live stream For every Star you receive, Facebook will pay you $0.01 USD.

In the hope to boost interaction, Facebook is launching Stars Challenges. This allows Creators in the program to earn payouts from Facebook in the form of free Stars, if they meet certain milestones, such as broadcasting a certain number of hours or earning a set number of Stars within a designated time period

4. Waiving commission

Last but not least, Instagram has removed any commissions until the end of next year. ‘Products where users pay creators directly we are waiving all fees through the end of next year,”

… Which means, that once the year is over… you will be paying Instagram commissions. So yes, these new tools are very interesting and will probably be very beneficial to creators. But these new updates will be making Instagram more like a streaming platform, pay to play. These new updates will very likely skew the benefits towards pre-established creators 

What is it?

Otherwise known as the marketing mix. This marketing mix is a combination of factors that can be controlled by a company to influence consumers to purchase its products. The 7Ps acronym helps you sum up all the things in and around your product that you need to take into account when trying to market it. 

The acronym was originally coined in the 1960s as 4 Ps: 

1- Product, 

2- Placement,  

3- Price, 

4- Promotion.

Then, in the 1980s the other three more were added: Physical evidence, People and Processes.

When you have a product and you are attempting to figure out how to sell it, you need to ask yourself these questions about it. The 7P acronym is a simple mnemonic to help you to remember all the aspects of your product so that you do not miss a crucial part.

The 7 Ps

1- Product

What is your product? What problems does your product help solve for customers? Why is your product the best one to solve it? 

2- Price

What is the price of your product?The price of your product is based on what your customers are prepared to pay.Otherwise known as your customer’s perceived value of your product, and should of course result in a profit for you.

3- Place

Where your product is displayed and sold? How does this solve a customer problem? It could refer to anything from a warehouse or a high-street store to an e-commerce shop or cloud-based platform. With the invention of social media stores on facebook and instagram it is becoming increasingly easier to shop and advertise online

4- Promotion

How are you marketing this? Promotion refers to your advertising, marketing, and sales techniques. Influencer based? Are you going to do product placement in movies? Are you going to pull complicated marketing stunts?

5- People

The ‘people’ element of the 7Ps involves anyone directly, or indirectly, involved in the business-side of the enterprise.Your staff, your customer service.

6- Process

Describes a series of actions that are taken in delivering the product or service to the customer. Examining the process means assessing aspects such as the sales funnel, your payment systems, distribution procedures and managing customer relationships.

7- Physical Evidence

Physical evidence often takes two forms: evidence that a service or purchase took place and proof or confirmation of the existence of your brand.Validation essentially refers to visual aspects or quantifiable features of your brand, such as your website, your logo, business cards, a sign on your building, the brand’s headquarters and equipment, and your social media presence.

The 7 Ps are used by companies to identify key factors for their business, including what consumers want from them, how their product or service meets or fails to meet those needs, how their product or service is perceived in the world, how they stand out from their competitors, and how they interact with their customers. 

Good luck and happy marketing!

Reels are a relatively new feature on instagram, installed on the platform in the middle of 2020. These 15-30 second video format was created to compete with the success of tiktok. Because of their relative newness to instagram has put a more user friendly algorithm on them. Meaning, if you make reels, instagram will show them to more people, instead of throttling the reach, like a standard post. So obviously,  you want to make reels… a lot. BUT! You aren’t a content creator! You have other stuff to do! How are you supposed to keep coming up with short video ideas regularly? Also, please don’t make me dance.

1-  One word: Audios

Because instagram reels is copying tiktok, when creators make a reel, the visual and the audio is separate. The audio can be shared, or reused by other creators. This is how you get trending audios. Instagram has also recently introduced a stitch feature, again imitating tiktok. This feature allows you to put your video next to a pre-existing video, allowing you to piggyback off other creators. 

So, the key to being able to churn out the reels is: save audios.

As you scroll through reels you will notice the same audios being used again and again, byt different content creators. This is called a trend, follow trends. As a small content creator all you have to do is save the audio and repeat the trend. You do not need to search up trends, simply scroll and if you notice an audio being used a lot save it. The interesting thing about a lot of these audios is that they are usually pretty self explanatory as to what you have to do visually. And before you panic, no, they are not all dancing.

If you save sufficient audios, all you then have to do is go to the saved audio section and scroll through and select an audio. If you lack inspiration, simply look at what other creators have done with that audio, and it will become very clear what you can do. This strategy allows you to create original content for your online presence 

2- timelapses 

A very simple idea for reels, if you are a creator of things, is timelapses. All you have to do is set up your phone, film yourself making an item or product, then speed it up. People are always fascinated by the process of making things. It is a very easy reel idea that should not interfere too much with your everyday work. You also do not need to do timelapses of your product, you could sit your phone in your office window and catch the street life below you. You could do a timelapse of your fingers typing on the laptop if you have a boring office job. Timelapses can be 

3- vlogs

Lastly, you know youtube vlogs. On youtube, these are usually over 10 minutes, and are very often high production value. But on reels you are limited to 15- 30 seconds. All you need is to take a few very short clips or photos of your day as you go, and at the end of the day string them together with a popular audio and tadahhh! Instant reel! You can do a voice over, or simply text, or text to speech. It is a growing phenomenon on TikTok, micro vlogs of a person’s day. It is very fast paced, very easy to make it look exciting, and you do not need to actually show all of yourself, or even talk to camera. if you are not able to film all throughout your day, you could simply capture specific moments that you think might look good, like if you went to get coffee, or went to a park over lunch, simply capture a 15 second shot of it

On instagram people want aesthetically pleasing videos. Instagram is the platform for impossible beauty standards, but also a shallow appearance of authenticity.  So keep in mind when you make your videos the word “aesthetic”. Put a good filter, film the most visually interesting part of your day. Catch a sun beam on your coffee mug. Zoom in on some flowers. But remember above all, the more you do them, even if they suck at first, you will end up being a genius at reels. 

What’s your favorite tip for content inspiration?

Good luck! And reel them in