Visual content is key n the world of social media. We all know that visual content is key to selling any product or service. Images are exceedingly powerful vehicles for engaging, reaching and converting prospects. It’s possible you can be leveraging this highly effective tool in your content marketing more.
6 Ways To Incorporate Visual Content Into Your Brand
Here are six creative ways you can start making your material more visually appealing.
1.Use Infographics
Who doesn’t like a good infographic? Surely you have seen at least one in the last week on social media. These images pull together information and display it in a visually appealing way. If you have a lot to say in one post, think about how you can flip it into a fun, story telling, informational graphic. And, they are extremely share-worthy.
2. Don’t Ignore The Meme
You may be thinking that memes are a little overdone and cliché, but they work. They are popular, often shared and loved by almost everyone for good reason. When you see a meme you can relate to or that makes you laugh, you want to share it with your friends. If you can leverage this for your business by creating your own funny or relating images, you’ll increase content engagement right away.
3. Get to know GIFs
Visual content comes in more formats than photo and video; what about the in-between? You can animate images and turn them into GIFs (Graphics Interchange Formats), which is simply taking a series of images and bringing them to life. You can also use GIFs to display information in a more compelling way; they don’t always have to be humorous, if that isn’t your brand’s voice.
5. Quality over quantity
While you should try to use an image for almost every piece of social content, make sure they are of good quality. Don’t use a blurry photo or bad photo just to have an image with your post. Also, always make sure you have the rights to the photos you use.
6. Make Text Visual
Make your content and copy visually appealing as well. Think about how your audience would like to read information. Do they like narrative paragraphs, bullet points, bold text placed over images? Make sure you know your audience and appeal to them in a way they would enjoy.
These suggestions are just a handful of the many ways you can incorporate visual content into your marketing strategy.
What methods have you tried that have been successful?

Watch out for social media fails, and learn from these lessons.We all know that the social media world is always changing, and that makes it hard for companies to keep up, even corporate experts. Unlike traditional journalism, social media posts are thrown online before they have gone through editing or approval. This can be dangerous and turn into some embarrassing social media fails and mistakes. Let’s look at some of the biggest hashtag and social fails, and learn from their mistakes.

6 Corporate Social Media Fails

  1. MasterCard's Hashtag

C’mon PR world, you know trying to convince journalists to do something with a hashtag isn’t going to cut it. A PR firm representing this company tried to require them to mention them on social media to get press credentials for the Brit Awards. They wanted journalists to use #pricelesssurprises. Well, MasterCard got a priceless surprise back and not the results they hoped with some angry journalists.
Lesson learned: Tread lightly with journalists and traditional news.

  1. McDonald's tries #RonaldMcDonald

McDonald’s should know to tread lightly with social media. This resulted in almost all the hashtags being used to bash the new mascot makeover and their food. Maybe they should have kept Ronald looking the same, and spent a little more time on the menu.
Lesson learned: Stick to what you know.

  1. Smucker's Deletes Comments

We all should know this: never delete comments unless absolutely necessary. Smucker’s didn’t like their response on social to their announcement against labeling for GMOS. Their answer to the problem was to delete comments. Anyone should know this is only going to make your already angry audience much more furious.
Lesson learned: Respond, don’t delete and know your audience.

  1. American Apparel Photo Fail

Cool images don’t always cut it if you don’t consider where they are from. American Apparel posted a fireworks photo on the 4th of July, and it was actually the Challenger space shuttle explosion that killed seven people in 1986.  This obviously was an oversight of someone who didn’t know.
Lesson Learned: Don’t grab from Google images without knowing where it came from.

  1. DiGiorno : #WhyIStayed

This one was all about trying to join a trend, but in turn was extremely inappropriate. Following Janay Palmer Rice's decision to stay with NFL player Ray Rice after a domestic violence instance, the hashtag #WhyIStayed was trending on Twitter. DiGiorno tried to jump into the conversation and tweeted, “ Why I Stayed, You Had Pizza”.  Within minutes the tweet was deleted and they had apologized, claiming it didn't know what the hashtag was about before tweeting.
Lesson learned: Know what trending hashtags are about before jumping on board. Take time to research and understand what it really means.

  1. Tide Hashtag Fail

Tide joins this list with their hashtag “#cleanwins”. They tried to tie their brand into the NFL season. Unfortunately this hashtag turned into a confusing amount of religious tweets, tweets for natural cleaners instead of tide and some football tweets, none of them really making sense for the brand.
Lesson learned: Don’t make your hashtag too vague and think about how it could be used against you. If your brand doesn’t fit with an event, don’t force it.
This concludes our journey of some rather prominent hashtag and social media fails. For your own social content, just remember, keep your communication authentic and do your research before jumping on trends.

Colors change our experiences; they add to our senses; they make us feel certain ways. There are many factors that affect our  preferences for colors, including our tastes, experiences and upbringing. Think about your company's logo color. What color fits the mood? If you are a Yoga studio and want to make people feel at ease and calm, don’t make your logo bright red. How many times have you seen a spa with orange or red lettering outside? Does it make you want to go in?  Your color must fit your branding and messaging.
Psychologists have studied how we are affected by colors for years and found a strong correlation between colors and emotion. This drives home the point that choosing the right color is crucial in how your brand is viewed. When choosing the colors that will represent your brand, you want to imagine how your customers will feel about your company.
Take a look at the info graphic below, created by Colourfast, to  test your logo color. Is it conveying the right message?

Colors in Logo Design 

So, does your company's logo need a makeover? Share the colors your business uses and why you chose them on Facebook or tweet us your favorite company logo @SeafoamMedia!

Yesterday we shared our take on boosting conversions a website; inspired, in part, by the hip hop genius Jay-Z. This led to a moment of search engine optimization tomfoolery that we wanted to share with you. Behold, the first and perhaps only hip-hop song to come from Seafoam Media studios, 99 SEO Problems.

99 SEO Problems

If you are having conversion problems, I feel bad for you a ton.
I got ninety-nine problems but a click ain't one!

You fell for the trap, shady SEO
Promised the world but your ranking’s still low.
The sites not showing, no one know you’re there
Search engine penalized like it’s just not fair.
Site’s been coded and blogged
Only to see its rankings clogged
Working the algorithm, playin’ games
But SERP rank never match their claims
No follow, no index, non-reciprocal link
Shady plug-ins that just won’t sync.

If you are having conversion problems, I feel bad for you a ton.
I got ninety-nine problems but a click ain't one!

Black hat SEO tricksters want to stop my flow
They can’t stop me, all I do is grow.
I’ve got trusted hubs giving me mad link love.
Crazy smart code, that’s what I’m made of.
I work it, I own it, SEM’s my game
Getting sites to the top, winning mad acclaim.
SEO is what I do, search engines know my handle
White hat practices only, never a scandal.
I work hard, I play hard, Google loves me a lot
I speak to the humans, I speak to the bots
Want to know who’s winning the SEO game?
Just one thing to say, son, Seafoam’s the name.

If you are having conversion problems, I feel bad for you a ton.
I got ninety-nine problems but a click ain't one!

Awareness-Interest-Conversion equals Revenue Funnel Graphic Seafoam Media St LouisIf you re having conversion rate problems, I feel bad for you a ton. I got ninety-nine problems but the conversion ain't one!  ♪
People build websites for lots of different reasons. Sometimes it is because they need a way to create awareness for their brand. Others need a vehicle to drive sales. There are some sites that exist to sell people on their level of expertise and service while others promote a brand new idea. From apple orchards to zoologists, and all points in between, the web has become an invaluable tool for countless businesses; each looking to maximize their traffic to their specific site. Traffic, in and of itself, isn't enough to warrant the effort of a quality site. If your traffic is not converting then it may be pretty worthless. In the modern age of the internet, websites are not meant to act as billboards or placeholders. They are dynamic tools that can generate new customers and drive revenue, but only if they are optimized to convert.

How To Boost Your Conversion Rate

Create Your Sales Funnel

The first step to boosting your conversion rate is fairly simple to verbalize, but often harder to put into practice. Step one is to take a good look at your sales funnel and then build a page around it. Do you have an expensive product or service? Is your concept somewhat difficult to explain in simple terms? Or perhaps you offer a risk free trial or money back guarantee. Either way, it is important to understand what brought your customer to the page and contrast it to what you need the consumer to do; then build a page that combines these two needs.
For example, if you are a divorce attorney, chances are you want a visitor to your site to fill out a contact form. In contrast, a visitor to your site is going through an emotionally fraught time and probably needs to feel secure in your expertise. They probably won't just pick the first site they see, and may investigate a number of attorney sites. How do you set yourself apart and land that conversion? If you have an good understanding of your sales funnel you will seamlessly guide the visitor from awareness of your practice, to interest in learning more and finally to the conversion, or in this case a contact form. You can do this by building a page that highlights your experience, builds trust in your service and offers a risk free consultation to alleviate any monetary fears. In taken a second to understand your customers needs you have boosted your conversion rate.

Keep It Simple & Be Clear

It is easy to want to dump a TON of information on each page. After all, you want your customer to know just how awesome your product and service is. You want to tell the world every last detail about your process so they know that they are making the right choice. You want to alleviate every reservation they may have with a full dissertation on your brand... and you will lose the conversion. With a clear and concise value proposition you will land more conversions than if you put every thought on to paper. Put yourself in your customer's shoes and ask these questions, "What's in it for me?" and "Why should I choose this company over any other?" Then try to answer those questions as simply and succinctly as possible.
The internet is a busy place. You have a limited amount of time to make your pitch and land your sale, don't waste it by making your potential customers jump through hoops to get what they need. If you can answer those two questions better than your competition you will boost your conversion rate and see revenue soar. When you answer these questions, make it easy for your customer to complete the conversion with simple forms with minimal fields and/or easy checkout processes. Simple and streamlined will garner far more conversions than random, but slow to load bells and whistles.

Test, Test and Then Test Some More

A common mistake that companies make is to assume that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow. The internet is a vibrant, dynamic and ever changing place and websites must evolve to meet the changing needs of the consumer. The best way to ensure that your message is being heard is through A/B testing of your pages. Creating similar pages with slightly different headlines, text, imagery and layout can give you a good understanding of what appeals to your visitors, and what doesn't. There is no magic wand to ensure great conversion rates, but strong A/B testing can come close.

Build Trust

Needless to say, there are a more than a few sites on the world wide web and not all of them are as scrupulous as you are. Chances are a visitor to your site has been burned by false promises or a shady site that has left a bad taste in their mouth or an overflowing spam filter. One of the easiest ways to increase your conversion rate is to showcase your satisfied customers and highlight your trustworthiness. The bigger commitment (monetarily or otherwise) your product requires, the more important this is to providing legitimacy to your brand. Customer testimonials, video demonstrations, no risk trials and money back guarantees (when used in tandem with clear and concise value propositions) can alleviate many customer fears and help lead to higher conversion rates.
All of these tips can be summarized in one easy sentence. In order to boost conversion rates on your website you must have a clear understanding of what motivates your customer from general awareness to final sale, and maximize your page accordingly. It is easy to say, but sometimes harder to put into practice. If you aren't sure where to begin, Seafoam Media is happy to help. We dig demographics, rock at customer retention and outshine at optimization. What can we say?  If you are having conversion rate problems, I feel bad for you a ton. I got ninety-nine problems but the conversion ain't one!
 

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We love doing good things here. All it takes to set your business on the path to growth is a conversation with Seafoam.
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