Meet Anthony!

These next few weeks of blogs are going to be a little bit different. Aside from us providing you with social media and marketing tips and tricks, we are going to introduce you to our amazing team here at Jarja Media!

Our team is consistently growing and we want to connect with as many of you as we possible can.

This week we will be introducing you to Anthony, the Director of Marketing and Operations. Continue to read on to learn more about him and what he does!

Q: What is your position at Jarja Media?

A: I am the Director of Marketing and Operations

Q: What brought you to Jared James and Jarja Media?

A: Jared reached out to me 6 years ago to help launch the marketing side of Jared James and eventually Jarja Media

Q: So, tell us a little bit about your background

A: I started my career in marketing at a terrible time (as if 2020 wasn't bad enough), I graduated in 2008 where I was forced to go back to school as a graduate assistant and work for the student activities office creating marketing materials for the various clubs and organizations. From there I went on to work at a few marketing agencies working on brands such as Bombay Sapphire, Corzo, Dewar's, Grey Goose, Cazadores, Nestle Waters, Poland Spring, Kelloggs, Campbells and probably my most favorite brand; D'USSE cognac. My team and I worked on the launch of Jay Z's cognac in secret for over a year, building the brand from the ground up. It was one of the more rewarding moments of my marketing career.

Q: What do you like to do in your free time outside of work?

A: I'm the king of hobbies (as my wife calls me). I trail run, golf, snowboard, play video games, build PC's, spend time with my awesome boys AJ (4) & Frankie (2) and wonderful wife Jessica and our first baby Brooklyn (8).

Q: If you could let people know one thing about yourself, what is it?

A: I love marketing. I truly mean that. I look at everything with a marketing eye. I watch movies/tv and am always thinking "I wonder how much the brand paid for that placement" or "that ad didn't communicate what it wants me the consumer to do or feel". I love thinking from the brand side and what that communicates to the end user.

Q: And lastly, if you could give any advice to young boys and girls out there, what would it be?

A: Be yourself, everyone else is already taken!

The 5 W's of Relationship Building Marketing

There is an old adage that states, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Now, this is normally said in a playful or sarcastic manner, but there is definitely some truth to it. When it comes to working as a real estate professional, who you know is a major part of your livelihood. It’s very hard to be good at what you do without creating connections with people that will either buy/list with you or refer someone to you who will. Relationship building is an integral part in your job, so let’s take this back to elementary school and talk about the 5 W’s of relationship building marketing.

To begin discussing the 5 W’s of relationship building marketing, we have to dispel the notion that advertising and marketing are the same thing. Advertising and marketing ARE NOT the same thing. Advertising is a subcategory of marketing and it makes up a very small piece of the huge pie that is marketing. When you are truly marketing yourself and your business, you are using multiple avenues to grow your brand. And while social media has most definitely helped to create these connections, it doesn’t have to be the only avenue you take, you can take the back roads too! Jared James likes to say that there are different ways that you can pay for this. The first is check equity. This is when you are physically putting money towards growing the brand. The other is sweat equity. Sweat equity is about putting in the work to get your brand know. When you are working on relationship building marketing, sweat equity is key to the development of relationships that will create business for you. Now that we’ve got that straight, let’s get into the 5 W’s of relationship building marketing (end rant).

WHy:

Now, I’m going to mix things up a little bit here and I am going to start with why it’s important to have relationship building marketing. To start, if you do not have relationships in this business, essentially, you have nothing. People want to work with people that they can relate to. Creating these connections is crucial to showing people that you can relate to them and that they can trust you with their business. Relationship building marketing can also get you business by association. Not only will building these relationships get you referrals, but being associated with certain people can get you business from their sphere as well. So now that we know why it’s important, let’s move on to what.

WHAT:

Mixing it up again… Let’s talk about what relationship building marketing actually is. Now we’ve discussed what marketing actually is, and we’ve discussed that sweat equity is the key factor to relationship building marketing, but how do you tie this all together? Relationship building marketing for us means that we are going to use multiple different avenues to create, maintain, and leverage relationships that we have to create business. Now a lot of the leg work in this is going to require some sweat equity, but we can also put some money towards it by running ads once the relationships have been built.

WHO:

When you first start relationship building marketing you might ask yourself, “Who the heck am I going to start with?” Think about the local businesses that you go into multiple times every week. Do you know the owner of your favorite coffee shop, breakfast spot, hardware store, or restaurant? If not, that is a great place to start. In fact, sit down and write down a list of at least 25 different businesses that you go into on a regular basis. Then write yes and no at the top of the page and check off whether or not you know the owner of that business and they know you. Your goal is to keep growing this list and to check off yes as many times as you can. Then we can talk about where and how we are going to grow these relationships.  

WHERE & HOW:

Let’s start with where we are going to create, maintain, and leverage these relationships. First of all, the physical where is going to be at the place of business of the person who you are creating the relationship with. You will need to physically go into the business and speak with the owner of the business. Tell them why you enjoy going to their business. Ask them questions about their business (why they got into that business). Then, once you find something that you can relate to, relate it back to why you got into real estate. Be genuine with them. One of the biggest faults that you can make is creating relationships strictly to get business for yourself. You should want to create relationships in the community because you love the community. The business that it brings you should be a bonus.

Once that relationship has been created, you can ask that business owner to shoot a quick video with you. For the most part, it’s free advertising for them so they most likely won’t say no. Interview them about their business for 5 minutes or so. Then, once you have that video, you can post it on your social media accounts (either organically or paid). This is going to do a few things for you. First of all, you are building a relationship with the owner of that business. They are going to be more likely to send people your way knowing that you have helped them out as well. It’s also going to show potential clients that you know the community well and that you have an interest in the community, which in turn will get more people to want to work with you.

WHEN:

Now when the question “When?” comes up in terms of marketing, the answer should be “ALWAYS” Especially when it comes to relationship building, the train should never stop. This is part of what you should be doing on a daily basis. This is why it is so important to systematize your business. If you’re only marketing yourself when you have no business, what are you going to do when the business you just marketed runs out? Only marketing yourself when you have no business creates a vicious cycle of peaks and valleys in our flow of business. As a real estate professional, you want to make sure that you always have business coming in, and the only way to do that is to make your marketing a part of your daily routine.

Now that you know the 5 W’s of relationship building marketing, it’s time to go out there and start building those relationships. I know that it can seem a little bit daunting or uncomfortable to get started, but the only way to get started is in fact, to get started. Don’t worry about having a massive database by next week, build relationships as they come. This is a snowball effect, not an avalanche. How do you eat an elephant?... One bite at a time.

Creating Conversations

For the past couple of months, Jared James has been saying over and over again that real estate professionals need to get ready for the surge. A lot of agents have been skeptical of this, but guess what? The post-lockdown surge is here. An article from CNBC stated that not only have loan applications gone up 54% since early-April, but they are also up 9% from this time last year! Now how do we leverage this surge to generate business?

Here at Jarja Media, we definitely understand the importance of creating a call to action in your marketing but the numbers DON’T LIE. Over 90+% of home searches start online, however, 72% of people will work with the first agent that they have a conversation with. Because of this, it is absolutely essential that we are striving to create real estate based conversations with as many people as possible. Let’s talk about 3 steps that you can take to create conversations and ultimately, convert that lead.

STEP #1: Start with a shared observation

Think about this step as getting the ball rolling. Creating a shared observation is a way to get a foot in the door to be able to build a conversation off of. This shared observation is a statement that no matter who you are, you are going to be able to relate. For instance, a good shared observation could be talking about finally being able to get a haircut after months or being able to sit down at a restaurant. The shared observation is a statement that whoever you are starting the conversation with, will agree with.

STEP #2: Call to Converse

After you have gotten the ball rolling with the shared observation, it is now time to give the ball a push with a call to converse. What this means, is that you are going to ask some sort of question based on their answer to the shared observation that is going to keep this conversation moving forward. For example, if you stated that it had been months since you last got your hair cut, and they agreed, now you can ask if they are going to do anything different with their hair now that it has gotten so much longer and they have options. With these calls to converse, the goal is to continue to push the conversation towards having a real estate based conversation. Once the topic of real estate gets brought up (which it most likely eventually will), then it is time to begin step #3.

STEP #3A: Acknowledge and Affirm (If it turns into a real estate based conversation)

Once the conversation has turned into a real estate based conversation, it is now at a point where the person you are having a conversation with will have some pretty strong opinions. You MUST listen to these opinions and affirm these opinions, regardless of how much you may disagree with them. For example, if someone were to discuss putting a lowball offer in on a house, you have to acknowledge this and act like if you saw everything that the media was saying, you most likely would put a lowball offer in on a house too. You could also discuss how you wish that you were able to put lowball offers in for people that were accepted because you would be able to do so much business. Now that you have acknowledged and affirmed, you can show your expertise and teach them why their opinion may or may not be correct. In the lowball offer example, you can teach them how there is very low inventory on the market which causes prices to increase, rather than decrease.  

STEP 3B: What to do if it doesn’t turn into a real estate based conversation.

If the conversation doesn’t turn into a real estate based conversation, make sure to follow Jared James’ 5 Steps to Get Referrals From Your Sphere of Influence. Check out his video by clicking HERE !

How to use technology to create a call to a conversation:

So now that you understand why you should be creating a call to conversation and how to do it, now how do you create these without having to go one by one? How can you do this at mass? There are a couple of different methods that you can use. The first is a mass emailing service like Happy Grasshopper. Happy Grasshopper will allow you to send out emails to everyone in your contacts while also making sure that these emails are not getting sent to spam. The other method that you can use is a CRM with texting capabilities like the Jarja CRM. Sending out a mass text is an easy and convenient way to reach a lot of people in a short period of time.

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Even as things are starting to get back to what seems like normal, it is evident that there are going to be a lot of major changes to many industries. In real estate especially, creating real connections and making sure that you are on top of your follow up is going to be absolutely essential. Statistically, for every 41 real estate based conversations that you have, 1 of them should turn into a transaction. So get out there and let’s focus on creating calls to a conversation.

Want more? Check out Jared James’ new blog, How To Create Business Post Covid Lockdown.

What Is A Hashtag And Why Is It So Important?

What once was called the pound sign for calling a family member is now a social media phenomenon known as the hashtag. A hashtag (#) is a label that is used on social media to make it easier to find posts with the same theme or specific content. A lot of people use hashtags to reach their target audience and to help their members filter through information.

Did you know that hashtags were first created almost 12 years ago? Ever since the hashtag was created, it has become very rare to see a social media post that doesn’t use them, especially on Twitter and Instagram. It was first used to create and categorize groups and have rapidly become more popular from there. Not only have hashtags become an extraordinary marketing tool for businesses, but also for organizations, celebrities, and to individual people looking to grow their following. 

Hashtags are important for many reasons. For instance, using hashtags helps with branding and visibility. If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, you NEED to start using hashtags. Let’s look into a possible scenario where hashtags can help with your branding and visibility. You are a real estate professional who posts videos on Instagram every Monday recapping events that have happened over the weekend. You call this video, “The Monday Recap.” A great hashtag to use for all of your followers to find your Monday recap videos would be, #themondayrecap. Using this hashtag allows your current followers to know how to access these videos. These videos can also be shared throughout the entire Instagram platform. This is a great way to brand yourself and show visibility to Instagram users. Not only can you create personal hashtags like this one, but you can use popular hashtags such as #realestate in your posts to build a more broad following. However, you will need to do your research to figure out what hashtags in your industry are the most popular.

When it comes to researching hashtags, you must know who your audience is and what they enjoy the most. If you are just throwing random hashtags that you see in posts every once in a while, you are wasting the space for hashtags that could help brand you the right way. Instead, go through your audience and see what hashtags they are using and choose the ones that fit best with the content you are posting. Not only should you research your audience, you should research your competition as well! What hashtags are they using? Is the competition low or high (how many people are using this hashtag)? Now we are not saying to copy their exact hashtags but this is a great way to get a hint on what your current and  potential audience is looking for. When it comes to researching specific hashtags, you need to know if the hashtags are high or low in competition like mentioned previously. Some great sites for this would be Hashtagify and Brand24. We recommend using a mix of both high competition and low competition hashtags. 

You may be asking, “how many hashtags should I be putting in my posts?” 

Well, when it comes to the amount of hashtags you should use, the maximum is 30 but do not use that many!! It is recommended to use between 8 and 11 for the best engagement on Instagram and 2 on Twitter. When it comes to Facebook, hashtags are not recommended as you do not have to search for a specific hashtag to see a specific post, you can just simply search for a keyword without the hashtag symbol (or pound sign if you miss the olden days). 

Once you have done your research and have your set of hashtags, start exploring and taking note of your engagement. If you are seeing a higher engagement with the new hashtags, this means you are on the right track. If you are seeing that your engagement is decreasing and you are losing followers, try switching up the keywords. You do not need every single post to have the same list of 10 hashtags. Just make sure the keywords you are using correlate with the post you are creating. 

All in all, it is going to take a lot of trial and error before you know what exactly works. In this day in age, what worked last Tuesday doesn’t necessarily mean it still works today. Social media is constantly evolving so stick with it!

-Courtney, Marketing Assistant

Common Social Media Myths DEBUNKED!

Many people think that having a social media presence is automatically going to give you amazing results overnight. I mean, we get it, social media is constantly evolving and with all of the marketing and advertisements you see on a daily basis promising you, “amazing results fast”, it is just completely bonkers. Social media needs to be used strategically and with realistic expectations about what could and could not happen. 

The truth is, social media marketing takes time. No successful entrepreneur or influencer became famous overnight just by having an Instagram. It takes a patient person to build a presence online. 

One of the major myths that we see on a daily basis is that social media marketing is going to give you an instant following. With all of the information that we have access to everyday, there tends to be a ton of misinformation on the do’s and don’ts of generating business through social media. Let’s take a look at some of the myths of running your social accounts. These myths can seriously impact you and your business, so it is a necessity to be able to tell which ones are truly myths and which ones are full on bogus. 

Do you think that you are believing too much of what you see from your favorite entrepreneurs or influences? Continue to read on to find out the real truth.

“I need to be on every social media platform”

Now this is a major false assumption that even “social media experts” like Gary Vaynerchuk like to tell their audience. No matter what, each business’ audiences are different from one another. If you are finding that your audience is mainly on Facebook or Instagram and you start to expand to other platforms like Snapchat, there is a high chance that you will lose your current customers’ interest. If you really think about it, social media’s power is the ability to help you connect and build relationships with your ideal clients, so if your community is not actively using a platform, why put your valuable time and effort into it?

“I have to post multiple times a day”

Remember: Quality over quantity is KEY in social media. You do not need to annoy your audience with multiple posts a day. However, it is very important to be consistent. In addition, no one wants to hear only your voice all the time. Reposting and sharing other content not only helps voice your opinion in a different way but it also can help with branding and connecting with other business’. 

“Facebook is overrated and outdated”

This is simply not true, yet it’s still heard all the time. According to Statista, research shows that the most active users on Facebook are between the ages of 18 and 34. If your audience is within this age range, you need to be including Facebook in your social media strategy. 

If this doesn’t change your mind, then what about Facebook’s user base being roughly seven times greater than the entire population of the United States? Facebook is one of, if not the biggest networking outlet out there. USE IT!!!

“Blogging is not worth it” 

Not a chance! I mean hey, you’re reading this, aren't you?

Blogging is a necessity when it comes to your business... believe us! I mean think about it, blogging is a social media channel in itself. Blogging not being worth it may be a myth, but SEO most DEFINITELY is not! When you have a website that is updated regularly with blog posts that are high quality with topics of your audience’s choosing, your overall website can perform great in the search engines. Having a blog gives you content that you can share across other platforms that will drive your audience back to your website. For instance, you always see people sharing posts on Facebook and if you look deeper into the site, you can see the number of times it was shared. Many of these posts are shared thousands of times and yours could be one of them.

Now that we’ve busted some of the most outrageous social media myths out there, it is time to take your social media marketing to the next level. At Jarja Media we offer plenty of tools to help jump start or continue your business. To find out more, head to www.jarjamedia.com/whatwedo to schedule a free consultation with our sales team, or you can give us a call at (203) 877-1500 to get started!

-Courtney, Marketing Associate

The Do’s and Don’ts for a Successful Marketing Strategy

Are you looking to improve your social media strategy but don’t know what to do? Are you just getting started with your business and need the power of social media to help brand yourself? Do you need help when it comes to knowing the proper etiquette for social media? If you answered yes to any of these questions then continue to read on!

Today we have compiled a list that we would like to share with you when it comes to the do’s and don’ts for a successful social media marketing strategy. This list should be something you have easy access to so whenever you are working on your marketing, you know what to do and what not to do. Let’s begin.

DO set goals for yourself. It is always important to have a plan before execution. For example, how many people would you like contact with per day? How many leads would you like to generate? What should your main focus be for this month? Being able to answer all of these questions beforehand will help you stay on track and focused. This is also a great way to measure success!

DON’T just wing it. Just like jumping to conclusions, it can affect how you do things. It will be very difficult for you to measure your progress without a strict timeline. Sometimes just “winging it” can work but for your business’ sake, it won’t. 

DO engage with your audience. Learn to engage on a more personal level, just like you would at a networking event or social gathering. One-on-one communication to potential prospects is what you need for a successful business. 

DON’T broadcast. This is a bad way to build relationships and show your true value. Your marketing department is already blasting messages through other types of channels so try for something different and more personable! Don’t get us wrong, you need generic marketing messages to be going out, but just don’t forget about the more one-on-one tactics. 

DO add value. When engaging with prospects on social media, you need to remember to add value in your conversations. Remind them what it is that you can do for them to help build their trust. Passing on something that can help them solve a problem is what you should be doing. 

DON’T just sell. Not only is social media a perfect place to sell what you are offering, but it also is the worst place to finalize the deal. You shouldn’t be blindly selling through social media. If you are trying to sell them right on the get-go, then you are missing out on building a trusted relationship with them for the future. It is okay to speak with someone via social media but don’t forget to move the conversation to the phone or at least to email to close. 

This list is something to keep in mind when using social media marketing. Each of these will have a significant impact on your overall performance for your business. As we all know, social media is bigger than ever before so it is important to know what works. Engaging on social media is all about finding that balance of not coming on too strong on a sale and engaging enough to source qualified leads. Use this list to help you find that balance!

If you have more do’s and don’ts for social media marketing, comment them down below, we’d love to hear them!

Also, don’t forget to follow us at @Jarja_media on Instagram to stay in the loop!

-Courtney, Marketing Associate

5 Instagram Stories Your Followers Will Actually Care About

So, you’ve finally decided to utilize one of Instagram’s best tools: the story. That’s great! Instagram’s story feature is a fantastic way to connect with followers not only because it’s the most popular feature (and almost impossible to ignore), but because it’s one of the only ways to get organic engagement without the influence of Instagram’s algorithm. That means, regardless of how Instagram interprets your relationship with specific followers, your content is being promoted across all of your followers no matter when you post.

So, what should you post? Great question! Below is a list of engaging Instagram story ideas that you can implement in your weekly posting schedule.

1. Drive users to your content. Finding it hard to get acknowledgment on your most recent post? Don’t take it too hard- Instagram filters all of its user’s feeds based on what the platform deems most important to the user. This means your content may not be showing up across your follower’s feeds as frequent as you’d like. Create a story highlighting your new post and drive your followers to that post.

2. Offer a sneak peak. Got something brewing behind the scenes? Reward your loyal Instagram follower base by giving them a head’s up on something new and exciting you’re working on. This will encourage them to keep tabs on your social posts, increasing your engagement.

3. Take followers behind the scenes. Sometimes all your followers need is a reminder that you are, in fact, a human. Build a deeper, more intimate connection with your followers by letting them feel as if they’re part of the team.

4. Poll your audience. Polls are a relatively new feature, but don’t let that discourage you from using them. Polls are a fun way to engage your audience, whether it’s on a business-related topic, or a fun question.

5. Incorporate user-generated content. Have you noticed that users on Instagram are mentioning you, your brand, or your product? Share user posts on your story to encourage potential clients to give your product or brand a try. You’d be surprised how user-generated creates a sense of trustworthiness.

So, what kind of story will you post first? Whichever story you decide to post first, just know your followers will appreciate the engaging content.

10 New Instagram Features You May Not Know About!

With the social media environment constantly changing, it is no surprise that Instagram is one of those to stay ahead of the game. Instagram is also known for randomly adding and removing features so it can be daunting to try and keep up with them all.

Lucky for you, I’ve compiled a list of 10 new Instagram features you may not know about and how to use them. With this list, you will be an Instagram superstar in no time!

1. Instagram Stories Countdown Timer - I just had to begin with this new feature because it is my all time favorite! Within your Instagram story you can now add a functioning countdown timer for anything you have coming up that you want to bring attention to. This is an amazing marketing strategy, especially if you have an open house coming up that you want people to know about. Using these on a regular basis will help get people excited for your upcoming events and more. Additionally, your followers can subscribe to the countdown timer where they will receive a notification when the countdown is complete.

To use this feature all you need to do is create an instagram story and click the sticker icon located at the top of the screen. Then, you would select the ‘countdown’ sticker option and enter a title of your choosing. You even have the option to change the color of the icon so it will match with your personal aesthetic.

2. Instagram Quiz Sticker Feature - Us here at Jarja Media were ecstatic when we found out that this was a new feature. It is pretty similar to the countdown sticker, but instead of a numbered countdown you can ask multiple choice questions to your followers. This can boost engagement with your followers and allow people to get to know you more. This is also an amazing marketing strategy because you are engaging the audience and allowing them to engage back. You can ask any kind of question you’d like and the audience will then be able to see if they got the answer right or wrong.

To use this feature it is just as simple as using the countdown sticker. Once you create a new Instagram story you would click the sticker icon at the top of the screen and select the quiz option. From there, you can customize the sticker to your choosing with your multiple choice questions and answers. Pretty cool, huh?

3. Removing Followers - There are constantly robots and fake accounts that will try and follow you no matter what. A lot of these fake accounts come from using specific hashtags or engaging with the wrong accounts. These accounts won’t comment or like any of your photos making them what we like the call, “ghost followers”. They will just follow your account and stay there which can damage your overall engagement rate no matter what type of account you have. If you have low overall engagement, Instagram won’t like it thinking that the content you post isn’t very good and limit the amount of people that see it. Ooof!

However, don’t you worry about those ghost followers, there is an easy solution to this fix without having to download a random third party phone application that could damage your account even more. All you need to do is go to your followers list and if there are accounts that you believe are these ghost followers, just click the three dots next to the blue follow button and instantly remove them. Not to mention, the account won’t ever know if you removed them as a follower. Some may not like this strategy because you will be losing followers, but it will increase your engagement rate which is a lot more important in the long run!

4. Donation Sticker - This new feature is what some may say, “hot off the market” since it JUST came out this week. This feature helps make it just that much easier to donate to your favorite non-profit organizations. Some of the non-profit organizations they list include: St. Jude, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, The Innocence Project, GLAAD and more!

To use this feature it is just like the previous stickers we’ve mentioned where you would create your story, click the stickers icon and select the ‘donations’ sticker. Here, you can customize where you’d like donations to go and any additional information you’d like to share with your followers. When you officially post your story with the donation sticker your followers can click the button, send out a donation and once they are done it will change from “donate” to “donated”. Pretty awesome!

5. Close Friends - This feature is pretty cool too because here you can reward your most engaged followers. You can compile a list of people and start sending each other exclusive stories apart from your followers. You can also use it for your business and put your most loyal fans or customers onto the list. Only you and your list will see these specific stories and a green icon will show that it was sent to only them for your reference.

To use this feature you would head to your Instagram profile and click the icon on the top right made of three horizontal lines. You then would select ‘close friends’ and select the people you’d like to be on the list. After you created your list you then would create a story and once you are ready to share, click the ‘close friends’ green icon on the bottom to send to them only. You can change up your list at any time, too!

6. Sharing Posts to Stories - This feature has been out for a few months now but not everyone knows about this awesome feature. You can now share any Instagram post (including your own) to your Instagram story. Once it is on your story and shared, the image becomes a clickable link that will take any user who taps on it straight to the original image post. This is a great way to send traffic from your story to the image you want shared to your followers.

To use this feature just navigate to the post you wish to share and click the airplane-looking icon on the bottom left. Instantly, the image will be created as a story where you can further customize the look of it or simply keep it as is! You can also edit the story to include texts, gifs, locations and more. Lastly, you would share it just like any other story post and “voila”!  

7. Uploading Multiple Images & Video to Stories - I can’t be the only one to find it frustrating to only be able to share and send photos one by one, but not anymore! This new feature allows you to upload multiple images and videos to your stories at the same time. In the past, you would have to share and customize each photo one by one making it super tedious to even share images in the first place. Now you can select up to 10 images at a time, customize them as a group and then share the images all at once.

To use this feature head to your stories camera. In order to access your camera roll just swipe up, click the ‘select multiple’ icon and then select up to 10 images and videos to add to your story. When you have your selected images, click next and edit them to your liking.

8. IGTV - This feature also has been out since 2018 but didn’t do well until the beginning of 2019. When it first became a feature it totally flopped because of its complexity to its users. Within this list, this feature is by far the most difficult to understand so don’t stress if you don’t understand it right away, you are not alone! IGTV is where you can upload longer videos that can range anywhere from 1 minute to 60 minutes. This is a great feature for those who are actively posting videos on YouTube because you can then post them right on your Instagram for all of your followers there.

To use this feature there are a few steps you need to do. To create your very own IGTV channel, just click the IGTV icon in the top right-hand corner right when you open the Instagram app. Next, just tap the cog button on the right side of the screen and select ‘create channel’. From there, Instagram will put all of your bio information including your profile picture and followers account and add it to your channel.

Once you have your channel, you can instantly add videos. All you would need to do here is access your IGTV profile, click the plus icon on the right to access your camera roll and select the video you would like to upload. Remember, the video needs to be vertical and at least 10 seconds long. Once you reviewed your video, click ‘next’ and fill out your video title, description and choose if you’d like for it to appear on your Facebook page. Once this is done, click ‘edit cover’ and upload a cover image from your camera roll or choose a cover from the video you uploaded. From there just click ‘done’ and then ‘post’. Now you have uploaded your very first IGTV video! Woo!

9. Name Tags - Just like Snapchat where you can add people through QR codes, you can now do that through Instagram. It is the same exact concept where you can share your account with others simply by creating an image that can be scanned from your phone. This feature is an effective tool to use at networking events, open houses, parties and more to spread around your social media.

To use this feature head to your profile and click the three horizontal line icon like mentioned earlier. Simply select ‘name tag’ and from here you can stylize your name tag and download it straight to your phone to share. On this same page you can scan your friends’ name tag to follow them instantly, too.

10. Your Activity - Lastly, this feature can be pretty daunting because I don’t know about you but I am constantly checking and engaging on Instagram. This new feature shows you the amount of time you spend on Instagram per day right down to the minute. Yikes! But, if you are finding yourself to be spending too much time on the app, there is also an option where you can set up a daily reminder that will notify you when you’ve reached your pre-defined time limit.

To use this feature just head to your profile, click the same horizontal line icon and select ‘your activity’. However, if your Instagram account is under a business account and not a personal account, you are not able to see this feature. As a business, the app is wanting you to be engaging constantly so I can see why that is. Remember, social media is ultimately what is helping you get your name out there so if you’re spending a lot of time on the app, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing!

Now I know all of this might be too much to understand at the moment and that is okay. Like I mentioned earlier, Instagram will constantly be evolving so you can’t possibly be able to know when these features are happening.

Here at Jarja we are constantly checking up on the social media world so if you ever feel too out of the loop you can keep checking up on it here with us!

-Courtney, Marketing Associate

How to Overcome Facebook's New Targeting Rules

Whether you already have heard about the Facebook changes or not, this is definitely something to continue reading about.

On March 19th, The Washington Post put out an article stating that Facebook agreed to now overhaul their targeted advertising system for job, housing and loan ads after receiving discrimination complaints. With this, it means that we are not able to target people with things like job titles, age, income and even location. However, there is time to think about this because Facebook says the change will not be conclusive until the end of the year. Now, if you put it this way, it’s almost as if men magazine companies cannot target men, even though they are the primary target. Same thing goes for women’s magazines targeting women: it is simply not justified anymore. Unfortunately, this is the kind of world we live in now where anything you say or do can be seen as discriminatory. This is now the new norm and just like everything else in life, you need to find a work around and move on. Here is where we can now see the true difference between a great marketer and just a great Facebook ads person. The true difference between the two is having the actual skill and being able to continue your work even with such obstacles. Now, we can sit around and ask the same questions over again about how this does and does not make sense, but instead we have compiled tactics on how to overcome these new rules. Just like you, we have the mentality of where if something becomes difficult, we still keep on moving.

Start using your custom Audience on your Facebook Ads. The custom audiences are the uploads of those lists that come directly from your database whether it be from your CRM, Google Contacts, Outlook, etc. All you need to do is export that list out of your database and import it into Facebook. For a complete step-by-step on how to do this, click here.

Contact people who have previously engaged with your earlier ads. Just like mentioned previously, this change will not take effect just yet. Between now and the end of the year we need to be doing everything possible to be creating more engagement on our page and with our ads so that we have a larger audience to ultimately choose from. If you’re not sure how to go about this, then this is where the third tactic comes in.

Try Brand Marketing rather than solely prioritizing direct call-to-action. Brand building is what matters and allows you to get into whatever it is you want to get into. We need to be more intentional on this which will then create more engagement. This way, we can ultimately retarget these people afterwards when a lot of the targeting goes away at the end of the year. Ultimately, brand is giving you value, content and education for all of your followers. For example, try posting videos or even making a podcast! Try doing something similar so then this way you can educate listeners to get more people to follow you and your brand. Think of it this way: direct call-to-action is momentary, brand marketing is long term. Which one would you rather have?

Start using lead ads on Facebook. Lead ads are where they click on what you’re offering and then a pop-up box shows with their information already auto-filled since Facebook has that information in its system already. This makes it that much easier for you since it is one touch. One step production is everything right now in the market with Amazon now offering 1-click shopping. It is now 2019 and with technology being so fast and advanced nowadays, this is exactly what the people ultimately want.

Lastly and most importantly, DO NOT GIVE UP! Great marketers like yourself are able to figure it out. It is also important to remember that you are not alone. This brought up a lot of talk and attention all over that everyone is scrambling for a solution. With this, all we can do is stay calm and figure it out together. If you don’t have the time or patience to work this out on your own, we can help you, complete the form below for a consult of one of our marketing programs.

-Courtney, Marketing Associate

Surprise! Technology is Invading Our Personal Lives Again

Oh, technology. You never fail to really just creep us all out. First that really human-looking robot named Sophia, now this. Thanks.

“Imagine if your website or mobile app could see exactly what your customers do in real time, and why they did it?”

This is a very real, very ominous quote pulled directly from the website of Glassbox, the developers of the newest (and creepiest) marketing analytics tool.

Let’s back up for a second and talk about why companies need consumer analytics. The simplest answer is: they want to make money. Easy enough, right? In order to make money, companies need consumers who are compelled, through the company’s marketing, to purchase some product or service. Based on the product the company is selling, they will likely already have a target demographic in mind, whether that target is millennial females who take interest in politics, or 40-50 year old men who have concerns with thinning hair (if you’re thinking this is specific, you have no idea how specific you can truly get). Now, businesses can purchase information about their demographics, or use in-house tools to find out, on the most granular level, what really sells to their demographic. When a business is able to understand consumer groups, or their demographics, they are able to identify opportunities to create a more robust marketing strategy.

So, now that a business has the information they can create marketing campaigns to appeal to people who might like their product based on comparable interests, OR directly tap into this pool of people, who are proven to have interests in x, y, z, and promote their product. Cool. Though, still kind of creepy that some guy in a cubicle somewhere knows where you live and what brand of paper towel you use. But, we digress...so, what do these campaigns actually do? Well, that’s up to the individual company and the company’s goal in their digital marketing campaign. One example, which we’ll focus on, is directing traffic to download an app.

Say a company wants people to download their new fitness app. You’re a runner in your mid-20’s. You follow a lot of fitness blogs, you “like” a bunch of running pages on Facebook, your Amazon wish-list has pages of athletic wear, you’re subscribed to long-distance runners on YouTube, you recently purchased a Garmin watch, and you frequently use hashtags in your content like #marathonlife or #run. Congratulations! You’ve been targeted by this company. You’ll likely begin getting advertisements for this brand new fitness app. You’ll think “wow, this looks interesting,” and you will download it. Score one for the marketing department of this fictional company- their strategy was executed and, as a result, their app was downloaded by you! While not a “sale” per say, the goal of this campaign was to direct consumers to download an app.

Great! You downloaded a new app that seems pretty useful, and the company that developed this app just gained a new customer. Now what? Well, the analytics don’t stop there. Companies need to know what parts of the app you like the best, which are most useful, and which they can expand on. How do they do it? Well, they can push polls on consumers, but let’s be real- we ignore those. What about app reviews? Those are not entirely accurate, and also we ignore those too. So, how is this information collected?

Well, dear readers, that is where Glassbox comes in. And yes, even the name is creepy. Glassbox, the first of this particular type of analytics firm, literally SCREEN RECORDS users on apps. While the company can’t access your front or rear-facing cameras, they can certainly access every aspect of your screen while you’re using the app.

Back to the app you’ve just downloaded. The company decides to hire Glassbox to give them insights into their current users. How does that affect you? According to The Atlantic:

“Glassbox’s software records video of users’ screens as they use apps, then compresses and plays back the footage for analysis. This “session replay” becomes a record of every keyboard press, everything they type, the error messages they see, the amount of time they spend on each page, and so on. Session replays are versatile documents”

Now, you might be saying “well, that’s reasonable, I probably agreed to that in the terms and conditions when I downloaded the app.” We hate to say you’re wrong, but you’re wrong. Glassbox never required any of its clients to alert users to the fact that….you know, THEY’RE ESSENTIALLY BEING SPIED ON.

We know we’ve been speaking in hypothetical terms this entire time, but don’t get us wrong….this company is very real, and there’s a very big possibility that you’re using an app right now that is screen recording your every move. There’s no official list of companies that employ Glassbox (womp, womp), but there have been numerous articles published naming companies from Abercrombie & Fitch, to Hotels.com, to Singapore Airlines. While this may seem innocuous, imagine the kind of data you’re entering into these websites. No, not your shirt size, or your favorite vacation spot, but your credit card information, home address, and maybe even your passport number. Yep, creepy. To make matters worse, Glassbox has claimed that this information is “blurred out,” but there have been reports that the blurring effect doesn’t cover all information, exposing thousands of guest’s personal information.

To see it all in action, check out the below Youtube video that shows the type of information that was pulled for Air Canada:

Uploaded by Luke M on 2019-01-04.

Yep, that’s all of your data being recorded by some random person sitting in a cubicle. Maybe the worst part? Companies not only collect this data without your knowledge, but can also monetize it as well, which begs the question: where’s OUR cut?

Are you upset? Creeped out? You should be. There is no known list of apps that use Glassbox, and you, as the consumer, have no idea which of the apps you use on a daily basis are recording your information. Luckily, after catching wind of this, Apple has issued a warning to developers regarding the violation of privacy terms and guidelines. We’ll see what happens with that.

In the meantime, the only thing you can do is put your tinfoil hat on and wait for all of this to blow over. Just kidding, this type of technology is not going away. In an industry that literally thrives off the data of consumers, it’s almost certain that your privacy will be taken advantage of in some way or another, whether you know about it or not. Now, while this would be an interesting time to start a conversation about the dark, looming cloud that is mass-consumerism, we’ll leave this blog post as it is.

For now, be safe out there, folks. If you’re entering any of your personal data on your apps, think twice.