Tag Archives: social media

Sales and selling never stops. What you are doing today impacts future sales the next quarter and beyond. Recently, we have heard of companies and non-profits pulling back on their marketing based on success to date, cash flow, lack of resources and/or business leader fatigue, among other things.

We know it is the end of another very long year, and you may be tired and lacking in energy and resources. But going dark isn’t the answer. There are ways to continue marketing efforts with less cash, less effort or less time. Build momentum and keep it going.

Be smart about what you’re doing today – impact future sales tomorrow.

Get the most out of your marketing efforts in a consistent, strategic way.

For instance, if your busy season is Q1, use Q4 to set your strategies, and get your ideas and materials ready so all you must do is hit “go” when you’re at the peak of utilizing your manpower in other areas throughout Q1. Have your plan for next quarter all ready to work for you.

As an example, we have already approved plans and strategies, are securing paid media schedules, and developing creative assets for Girl Scouts Texas Oklahoma Plains’ (GSTOP) Q1 initiatives. Doing this now means they can simply hit send when they are at their busiest time in January – gearing up for Girl Scout Cookie Sales time!

Here are six other ways to market now and help yourself later:

  1. Run a brand campaign. You can keep it simple or gear up for a big push. Just make sure you do something to get and keep your name out there. Always remember that new clients or customers take time to make a decision and do research before buying.
  2. Make a list so you can check it twice. First, create a list of prospective audiences to whom you can market. Then, build on this base list. This can include:
    a. Past customers / clients
    b. Prospects or past website visitors
  3. Check Google trends. Find out what main keywords may be trending that relate to your business. Spend now to get noticed and included in these trends.
  4. Develop or redesign your website. Do not wait for Q1 to jump back on this task. Get it done now so it is ready to launch in Q1. 4th Quarter is the perfect time to refresh and update the content on your website.
  5. Send those emails. E-mail marketing is cheap and easy but halting your monthly communication will affect results when you start back up. Don’t lose momentum. Don’t rest and count on past success to continue. If you’re not consistent, your sales won’t be, either.
  6. Stay active on social media. Your audience is listening, even if passively. Be consistent and engaged. Build your audience now, so they’re with you when all your big news hits next year.

So, when is a “safe’ time to put the brakes on marketing your brand? Around a quarter to … never.

Building and maintaining a successful brand requires continuity. Consistent marketing creates and sustains trust with your audience. Don’t stop marketing your brand when cash and/or resources are low. Don’t stop marketing your brand based upon success to date.

Your brand doesn’t wait while you’re tired. Your brand deserves continuous marketing effort, in some way, to make an impact both now and in your future sales. Don’t ever stop.

Stop and start marketing is not an option for successful brands.

Get out there and keep rocking your brand. Call us to help. The Porch is always ready to roll.


We are in Q4 of 2021. Whaaattttt? Don’t panic-spend the rest of your marketing budget! Maximize your your remaining 2021 marketing budget through the end of the year by thinking smart and acting smarter. This isn’t our first rodeo, so we see this every year. And we get it: marketing is one of the first line items asked to be cut for next year. How do you combat that mindset? Spend wisely with what’s left in your remaining 2021 marketing budget because budgets are being scrutinized before being renewed. So if you’ve spent your marketing budget wisely this year – showing brand impact and growth – you’ll have a better case to make for 2022’s marketing budget numbers. How can you maximize your remaining 2021 marketing budget and get more done? First, start with the help of your marketing partner.

Where can business leaders find real value in the fourth quarter 2021?

Marketing partners. Small or large, your team can help you plan and carry out the most efficient and effective way to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to Q4 spending. Partners can help you in these 7 ways to maximize your remaining 2021 marketing budget:

First Maximize Your Remaining 2021 Marketing Budget by Using it to Set Up Your 2022 Plans and Budgets

  • Forge marketing budgets and marketing plans for 2022. As objective professionals with your business’s success in mind, marketing partners will research, employ best practices and take great care in detailing your path to success. Not just for Q4 2021, but next year as well. Marketing partners tend to think both short-term gains AND long-term momentum, which ultimately means growth and sustainability for your business.

Then build a winning team

  • Next, build a marketing team that is set up to succeed. From your marketing plan for next year, and your budget, identify the gaps you have needed to execute your plan. Provide resources for finding the talent and tools to fill those gaps. Whether you’ll need new team members, new tech or new skills, make sure you’ll have it covered ahead of time. Being reactive about getting things done at the last minute because of poor planning benefits no one.

Seize Opportunities for Brand Impact

  • Then, capitalize on existing opportunities to shine. Q4 is full of events, inherently built into the holiday calendar. And fall is often trade-show season. And, your marketing calendar can include multiple opportunities for touch-points with your audience around the holiday season
    • Sponsor events at trade shows for exposure to a broader audience
    • Community events around the holidays are great local, grassroots places to connect with your audience
    • Partnering with a charity is a tangible way for your business to give back to the community
  • Also, give direction but stay out of the weeds when it comes to social media. Maximize your time, by providing social marketing content in the form of access to your asset library (photos, graphics, brand guidelines), as well as any messaging documents, previous collateral and press releases. Your team can build successful, impactful social media and “speak as the brand”. If you are wordsmithing copy and micromanaging design from your team, you’re wasting resources, not maximizing them. One big time suck that every business owner and leader needs to take off their list – editing social media content before it is posted. As a business leader, is this the best way to spend your valuable time? Ask your marketing partner to handle this for you.

Adopt a Continuous Improvement Mindset

  • Most importantly, fine tune your website. Q4 is the perfect time to assess the strength of your website. Ask your marketing partner to help you:
    • Assess your digital situation. Prune your content, evaluate and fix underperforming pages and links
    • Fine tune your SEO (search engine optimization) so that your content answers the questions that people are asking. Draw customers to you with smart, precise content
    • Update the look and feel of your website to reflect modern times and modern UX behavior (user experience). Your site should be responsive (able to change to fit desktop, mobile, ipad, etc) and use common structures to guide site visitors along their customer journeys.
    • Start content marketing. This means setting up a blog on your site, if you haven’t already. and get your marketing partner to ghost-write weekly content – which can then also be promoted on your social media channels. Content marketing, as this is called, is one of the most important ways to keep your site fresh and “indexing” higher on Google. The more you establish your voice of authority in your business space, the more your site is recognized by Google and recommended to others for that knowledge.
  • Don’t forget to reward your loyal clients/customers. It’s not always about finding new customers. In Q4, make it about retaining your strong client base for 2022. Remind them why they’re with you.
    • Identify your top email subscribers, top social media followers, etc. and create a marketing campaign that is created for and target to them on the channels where they interact with you.
    • Create direct mail holiday messaging and snail mail a heartfelt message and perhaps a reward (like a gift, discount, or plus-up) just for being loyal members, subscribers, clients.

Maximize Your Remaining 2021 Marketing Budget When it Counts – The Holidays

  • What is your holiday plan? Counsel with your marketing partner and then execute on holiday season activity via direct mail, email marketing, text campaigns and social media. Create a sale, a promotion, or an experiential event for your customers and invite them to experience your brand during the holidays. Introduce a simple as a holiday discount, or hold a fun a pop-up brand experience as part of a neighborhood or even city-wide event. Your marketing partner can help you discern what opportunities are best-suited for your company.

Maximize your remaining 2021 marketing budget to win, yes even in Q4

Smart marketing leaders can continue business growth during this time by working with smart marketing partners to maximize remaining 2021 marketing budgets. How do they do it? They don’t waste valuable resources – the most valuable being THEIR TIME. Spend your valuable time wisely on the big things that will grow your business for next year – and your marketing partners can handle the details for you. As we like to say “spend time ON your business not IN your business” to maximize your impact as a leader.


The secret to business success for 2022 is to start planning for it now. Many of our clients are reviewing their business plans, marketing plans and strategies for achieving their goals. Planning ahead for next year is a valuable way to invest in your business. You can know ahead of time what to do next and be proactive – not reactive. Making and having plans helps you guide your actions with efficiency and effectiveness.

Planning Ahead for Next Year, Now

Rounding the corner on Q3 2021, now is the time to plan for business success in 2022. So dust off your business plan. Does it still resonate with your goals for success? First, take the time to review the foundation of why you started this business in the first place. Make sure it still makes sense for you, for your time and energy, and for the market. Update it if you need to.

Next it is time to draft your marketing plan for 2022. Where to start? Look at your business revenue goals for the year. That number helps guide your marketing spend. Companies in 2021 spent 8.6% of topline revenue on marketing. Whatever your percentage is, don’t let this number be subjective. It is black and white.

Once you have your number, create a marketing plan. Without a roadmap, the squirrels and shiny objects will be your focus. Don’t let that happen. Staying on track to business success is much easier with a plan. Build your plan around repeating and expanding around prior success points, and adding new tactics that make sense. The plan you create can be annual or quarterly, but it can encompass many things: creative campaigns, paid advertising, PR, content or a new product or services launch. A solid marketing plan will create focus and executional excellence around several tactics working together toward a common goal. This approach will ultimately save you money, by getting you more bang for your buck.

Invest in Your Business Success

Invest in your business the smart way – and we don’t just mean monetarily. Your focused thoughtfulness and the time spent on your plan will be repaid. First, focus on your business successes by continuously improving your plan and your execution of the plan. How did your tactics for a specific campaign fare? Track and measure your results each quarter, and implement your findings into the next quarter’s plan to continue success and build momentum. Invest in the things that work. Pivot toward the successful strategies. Experimentation within the framework of your marketing plan can help you home in on insights that will get you to your revenue number for 2022.

Define Your Goals So You Can Reach Them

Define messages, targeted audiences, goals, strategies, tactics, timeline and budget. How can you reach your goal if it is not clearly defined? How detailed you are is up to you. What we have found on the Porch is that the partners that have defined their marketing budgets and plans have been successful. Being thoughtful upfront about your goals in all areas of marketing your business can set you up for business success in 2022 and beyond.


From Facebook to Twitter, the digital-sphere is a fantastic focal point to any strategy.

Now that school is around the corner, it’s time to refresh your digital marketing strategy for your school, academy, or university. From experiencing a pandemic to entirely transforming a new academic environment for students and staff, the marketing and communications strategies that used to work for your district “pre-covid” may not work in this ever-changing 2021 environment. It is now the time to be pro-active, adaptive, and present to meet the increasing expectations of today’s families. 

Practice #1: Start a School Blog 

A school blog is a wonderful way to display the activities that students participate in and around the school. It’s also a great place to distribute advice and share the community’s voice. The blog will give outsiders an inside look on the programs and events that the students participate in. Connecting with the school’s community will emphasize how much the directors care about the students and faculty, while promoting conversation. It will also let more people organically find your school when searching for their children’s next academic steps. Overall, creating a blog will strengthen your school’s brand identity.  

Practice #2: Enhance the School’s Website 

Times are changing, and so should your website! Making an inadequately designed website and not thinking about the user’s experience will produce site traffic and static action. Like the director of Front Porch Marketing, Julie Porter states, “create a clean, user-friendly website.” This will increase the school’s reputation and lead to more engagement. Just remember to keep it simple to navigate and creative. An easy way to accomplish this is to rebrand logos, create a color scheme that seamlessly translates throughout all pages, and habitually update the navigation tabs.  

Practice #3: Make Social Media Accounts 

Posting on social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, create opportunities for parents and guardians to find your school organically. People can easily share, like, or comment on your posts to help create more popularity quickly. As your account grows, the more recognition and traffic your school develops. You can achieve this by devoting time into capturing professional videos and photos of events and activities.

A great example of this is with one of our clients, Faith Family Academy. As Christine Finnegan, our media relations director states, “be consistent will all messaging throughout your platforms.”  In addition, you can connect with your audience by responding to their comments and other members can add reviews.

Graduation at Faith Family Academy
2021 Faith Family Academy Graduation

Practice #4: Begin an Email Drip Campaign 

Emails are increasing in popularity due to people relying on the digital-sphere to stay in the loop. This upward trend in email reliability is the result of them being tailored to user preferences and behaviors. This personalization helps users see information related to their interests rather that unfavored topics that are being pushed upon them through advertising.

By asking current families and interested families for contact information via a survey or sign-up sheet, users can subscribe to an email list and look at automated content daily or weekly. This proves to be an easy strategy for reminding and promoting members of future academic and recreational events. Email workflows truly provide a personal touch to electronically reach each community member. 

Practice #5: Promote School Events 

Events, such as an open house, are a great way for newcomers to meet the faculty and staff. It also helps families understand if their values align with the school’s and if the school fits their expectations. Parents and guardians will also be given the opportunity to explore the campus for the first time.  

Additionally, back-to-school kickoffs are a wonderful way to understand what people personally look for in a school and its curriculum. Having organized school events with informational pamphlets to give out aids prospective families to secure their decision of coming to your school. Whether you share the events via social media or on the website, the end result allows you to increase engagement and nurture relationships with newly inquiring families.   

Conclusion 

The expectations of parents are higher than ever. It’s crucial that your school’s digital marketing strategy adapt alongside them. As the fall semester comes right around the corner, use these best practices to ensure that your digital marketing strategy is future-proofed.  


2021 moved consumer shopping from brick and mortar to eCommerce – most likely for good. Increased demand for online shopping turned retail into an Omnichannel experience over night. Right at the cusp of experiential retail taking over, many retailers pivoted to eCommerce. So online was the only experience in shopping last year for many. Some stores and services even stayed exclusively eCommerce for the better part of 2021 – and remain so still.

Moving a brick and mortar business to eCommerce – like a restaurant, a doctor’s office, a clothing boutique – isn’t easy, and in 2020 many retailers moved their businesses years into the future in an instant. How exactly did they do that?

Pivoting from bricks to clicks

While planning to add the services of tele-health such as video sessions and text therapy, our client Apple Counseling sped up their timeline when 2021 presented them with a situation where their services were more in demand than ever. Yet, in-person brick and mortar was not the preferred method for experiencing mental health services.

By putting the infrastructure in place to accommodate many types of digital health services, and a robust new website, Apple was able to pivot quickly from exclusively brick and mortar to ecommerce. Going forward, they’ll keep the digital services they’ve added as they open their offices back up to in-person sessions. This new hybrid model is one that is being replicated all over the world of retail.

How to incorporate brick and mortar to ecommerce into your business model

Making ecommerce part of your long-term strategy is a smart move. eMarketer estimates that ecommerce sales grew 27.6% in 2020. Start by assessing how your customers use your business. For instance, if you are a restaurant, what percentage of your business is already take-away and to-go orders? What are you doing to maximize this experience for your customers already, and how can you streamline it or plus it up to make it better? Increase your eCommerce sales by adding new ways to order like website, social, text or 3rd party apps.

A consumer Incisiv survey  indicated that 80% of shoppers expect to continue to use contactless and curbside pickup this year. Can you repurpose part of your brick and mortar space to make it easier to fulfill your eCommerce orders? Instead of a clothing boutique, can you make your merchandise accessible on-line?

Our client GNB, a women’s clothing retailer, quickly built out website and Instagram last year to showcase her customer’s favorite brands and fulfilled orders in a new way. Now that she has opened her brick and mortar up in a new space, she is keeping the online store in place to continue to cater to the wider audience she developed when she was exclusively online.

Your Business Strategy Pivot

When you move from in-store to on-line you’ll need to perhaps rethink your business plan to accommodate a regional versus local audience. Rely on your social media analytics for demographic information to guide your choices. Cater to the right audience. Think about the yoga studios that pivoted to teaching class online, or the wineries that now offer Zoom tastings with professional sommeliers.

Your “physical” space might become an order fulfillment center, or a showroom only. Showrooms are a growing choice for retailers (like Sephora) to show off a smaller portion of their total inventory. Customers can then place their orders in the showroom. Or, return to pick them up in a few days or have them sent to their home. But the customer will have had the chance to interact with your retail brand in person to some extent.

Your New Brick and Mortar to eCommerce Product Mix

Products that factor into an eCommerce retail business versus an in-person retail business may vary. Consider shipping, logistics and storage when rethinking your product or service mix. Think about what consumers are looking for – the needs of the market. How your brand can make your customers’ lives easier in some way?

Marketing for a digital-first business

With an eCommerce-first model, more of your budget will go to digital improvements in your website, digital marketing and social media. Upgrade not just the look of your website to really give customers the feel of your brand – upgrade your SEO. Search engine optimization can help the right customers find you on search engines. Use a combination of keywords, content marketing, targeted digital marketing and social media. Optimizing how you talk about your business online can help new customers find you faster.

When your brand transitions from brick and mortar retail to eCommerce, you can reinforce your brand’s benefits with your current customers while growing a new audience online. Then the convenience of online retail opens up a whole new world of potential business. With some thoughtful strategy and a digital marketing plan, your retail business can capitalize on this trend, and you can double down on your brand smoothly and successfully moving from brick and mortar to eCommerce.


Seamless, sharp, and sophisticated. That is the vision that Front Porch Marketing has for you and your brand as we share why you should style your Instagram highlights.

With the right color scheme, design, and icons, you can drive more views and engagement with your Instagram bio at little to no cost.

If you are looking for a push to execute this vision and wow your audience the next time, they see your page, this is the blog for you!

The Vision

When you open up your company’s Instagram page, what is the first thing you see? Most likely, your eyes go to the colorful posts or maybe a bold profile picture with a strong branding icon, but acting as an overlooked middleman is a row of highlight icons. Currently, there may be as little as 0 or as many as 100 on your page – the sky is the limit.

Truly, the only limit that is regarded is that only up to 100 pictures can be posted within a story highlight, but highlights – much like a reel – should be seamless, sharp, and sophisticated and not fragmented, sloppy, and cluttered. Most importantly, they should be an extension of your brand’s story.  

The Highlight

Many take a lot of time and effort to create the perfect “story” to post on Instagram. Whether it includes colorful gifs, a unique poll, engaging videos, or a giveaway you are extending a vision to viewers about your brand and its values. What is disheartening about all that time and effort is that it dwindles in significance alongside the 24-hour frame that stories are set on. Plus it requires the utmost strategic thinking.

Now, with story highlight reels you are able to make the stories on your Instagram stay permanently on your profile for viewers to enjoy at any given moment. By adding this extra step to your Instagram branding strategy, you are able to strategically use a prime location on your bio and create an immediate place of engagement with users.

Step 1: Be Seamless

What is great about engagement is that you can cast the vision for what viewers see and find different ways to resonate with them. For example, aesthetics are incredibly favored amongst millennials and are a growing target market for many companies. Thus, considering aesthetics on all social media platforms allows you to connect with this audience and others like it.

To create a seamless experience for users, use highlights to promote content that can showcase your products or services, express your brand, drive traffic and market your business. If your profile has bold colors, seamlessly transition the same color palette to your story highlights while also extending a nod to your brand as a whole. If your posts have a color scheme, extend it to your highlight to establish immediate brand recognition or go with a splash of color to draw in your audience with a double look. No matter what you choose, think about your brand as a whole and embody that within your highlight story covers – the first picture that viewers see on a highlight reel.

Step 2: Be Sharp

When it comes to your story highlight covers, always use high-definition content and think “succinct” when it comes to titles. There is a 10–11 character count rule of thumb when it comes to highlight covers. The more characters you use, the higher the chance that your highlight title will end up with an ellipsis instead of the word you were trying to promote. Whether you use CTA words like “events,” “promotions,” “sales,” or “giveaways,” be consistent and above all, do not be misleading in any way.

Step 3: Be Sophisticated

Last but not least, when it comes to Instagram story highlights create a look of sophistication. By using sites like Canva, Unsplash, and/or Pinterest, there are 100’s of highlight cover designs that are pre-made and ready to go at a moments notice for you and your company. No matter if you choose icons, HD pictures, graphic designs or a color palette, always keep your brand at the forefront.

In Conclusion

First, to bring your Instagram to the next level, revamp the look of your Instagram’s aesthetics with a seamless, sharp, and sophisticated look. Second, when it comes to highlight covers think about what story you want your viewers to plug into. Third, see your platform through the viewers eyes to see which highlights you want them to engage with first.  In summary, bring the middleman to the forefront.


Chances are you have seen a post or two about what days and what times are the best for posting on social media. And in fact, they are all probably right, and probably wrong. You see, the best time and place for YOUR social media is totally dependent upon your followers.

Short Cuts to an Optimal Social Media Time and Place Posting Schedule

What people want is a quick fix to their social media. A set-it-and-forget it system that they can follow that requires the least amount of work. But social media is not a broadcast channel like television, radio, or a print ad. Social media is supposed to be SOCIAL. Your social media channels are the place where you can actually have one-on-one conversations with people who love your brand already. How do you know they love you already? They’ve chosen to follow you, haven’t they? So talk with them when they are sitting there ready to have that conversation.

Sure, there are general guidelines for posting on social media channels, many of which have to do with putting yourself in someone else’s shoes for a moment. When are people most likely scrolling thru Instagram? What are people doing on their lunch break besides eating? (hint: scrolling thru Instagram) What’s the last thing that people do before they go to sleep at night, while they’re laying in bed? (another hint: scrolling thru Instagram) You get the picture. So how do you determine what social media channels and times are the best for your brand? When can you maximize a conversation with your followers going forward? The short answer is “the past”.

The Right Channel for Your Social Media

Each social media platform has a specific and different purpose. By offering a little bit different perspective and content on each channel of social media (instead of using the channels to broadcast like a tv or radio station) a company can show their many sides and offer a more nuanced look at their company, much like you would develop a friendship with a real person and grow to appreciate the many facets of their personality. So after you’ve given your social media channels a spring cleaning, start looking at your analytics.

Social Media Analytics

Every platform you post on for your brand has some form of analytics. You can see a surprising amount of information about your followers in the insights part of your dashboard, whatever the platform. One of the most valuable pieces of information in there is when your followers are on the platform. Start there. Your followers might be the breakfast crowd, in which case 6:15 – 8:30am is a good time for you. Maybe your followers are night owls in which case, program your posts (or manually post them) after 9:00pm.

With 63% of American users checking Instagram at least once a day, and 74% of American users checking Facebook once a day – according to Hootsuite – , you’re sure to find at least one and probably more than one heavy use time in your follower insights.

Scheduling platforms like Hootsuite, Buffer and Planoly make it even easier – they look at the analytics of your followers and tell you the best times to post without the research. Taking advantage of these low-cost automation platforms can save you valuable time, so you can concentrate your efforts on content creation.

Past Performance

Look at your social media feed on any channel as an indicator of what to post in the future. Which posts did well? What type of content got the most likes or comments? Do more of that. Look to your past performance to guide your future endeavors.

What are your competitors doing?

Competitive research is not just for branding and creative. Take a look at what your competitors are posting – what, when and where – when you’re setting up your optimal schedule. Look for patterns in not just your own feed, but in the similar feeds of your competitors and do more of what they are doing the best.

Post, Rinse, Repeat

Testing your content in different forms and at different times will also provide key insights when scheduling the best times and places for your social media as part of your content marketing plan. There is no one-size-fits-all best time solution that will fit every grand, as your brand’s best time and best platform are just as unique as your branding.

With a little effort upfront, you can glean insights into your audience that will not only increase your engagement, but actually help your followers even more. They have questions they want answered and you have the answer – so use the information that is readily available and answer that question sooner.


The Clean Up 

Spring cleaning comes in many forms but have you extended it to your social media? Although this sounds like an odd notion, tidying up your social media ensures that your online platforms are building up daily engagement and generating leads. 

When you don’t pay attention to your social pages, your platforms become dated – something that should always be a priority to avoid. 

By focusing on these five points in your social media, you can make sure to revamp your social presence, renew your look, and refocus your brand strategy.

When it comes to spring cleaning, start out with the basics. Your logo! Are your colors dated? Should you go brighter? Bolder? Is your logo still considered modern? These are all questions you should ask yourself to make sure that your company is putting their best foot forward and aligning with today’s day and age. 

The Header 

The header is one of the first things that your viewers will see when they come to Facebook and LinkedIn! When you look at it, ask yourself if the picture is…

  1. High quality? 
  2. Modern or dated? 
  3. Reflecting the season your company is in? 
  4. Updated with the awards and certificates your company has gotten throughout the year? 
  5. Used across all platforms? 

Once these questions are answered, your social media strategy is that much closer to being polished.

The Bio

The bio for your company may be short and sweet or long and informative but is it as updated as possible? Are there new hashtags you want to include that are easily found? Are there any typos you may have missed the first time you wrote it? 

No matter how fantastic your bio may be, the smallest writing error can cast doubt about your capabilities to be detail-oriented. This is a mistake you never want to have reflected in your platforms.

The Feed

When it comes to your feed you want to make sure that it is an extension of your latest brand strategy. If your brand is bold then extend that message through bold colors, sharp photos, and succinct captions. If your brand is playful then extend your brand through bright colors, whimsical photos, and emojis. 

Now that you know what you want your feed to look like, look at it from a grander scale.

Do the last posts reflect a past brand strategy? Do you want that to be the first thing that viewers note? Or do you have a new brand strategy that you want to promote and want that to be the focal point? 

Whatever the case, you will want the most current brand strategy to be noticeable at first glance. Take the time to see your company from the eyes of your viewers.

The Website

When your customers look for your website, are they able to find it easily? If not, you may need to revamp and renew the list of keywords that is used for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on each page.

By using the most up-to-date keywords, you’re able to make sure that your site is found in an easy manner. Decreasing the level of friction for customers to be able to locate your website and find the information they are looking for is important because it can be the difference of gaining or losing a lead. 

You’ll also want to make sure that all the tweaks that you make on your social media platforms are extended to your site. If you made the colors brighter on your logo, extend that color palette to your site. If you modernized your feed, make sure that your photos and messaging on your site reflect that change. For every action there will always be a reaction.

The Conclusion

No matter how big or small your spring cleaning is, always keep your brand at the forefront. Taking the time to be detail-oriented, using these focal points, and putting your brand first is sure to create a springtime glow for you and your company.


A branded Facebook page has the power to be a gathering place, a showcase or a conversation starter for your company. As a part of your social media marketing, a Facebook Business page is a very good addition to your digital asset family to connect with your customers and build a following for your business.

Why should your brand be on Facebook?

Here are five good reasons why your brand should consider being on Facebook, and a few suggestions on how to use this social media channel and it’s features to build your business.

1. Your next customer is looking for a local business just like yours

Potential customers are using Facebook to find a new favorite neighborhood restaurant, plant store, realtor or dentist. You might not think of it this way, but Facebook is a search tool just like Google. People use Facebook to ask their friends about their experiences with businesses all the time…in front of all their other friends. They use Facebook to look up your business to see what your food looks like, what your office interior looks like, what people say about you, and more.

Facebook

Facebook organically suggests brand pages to people who are located nearby. Facebook also suggests brand pages to people whose friends already like that page and engage with that business. If your brand is not on Facebook, you’re not benefitting from this simple suggestion.

If your business is on Facebook, friends can recommend you easily, give you good reviews and chat about you with their circles. Facebook is a good way to be a part of the conversations that are already happening between friends all over the country…but especially in your local trade area. By having a page, you can present your brand to your community and host those conversations.

Local customers are also looking for events in their area, and Facebook Events – another great Facebook feature – helps you easily create and post an event page with its own URL and mechanism for inviting people right on Facebook. Have a fun outdoor pop-up event next month? Build an Event page and share it. Need volunteers for a non-profit help day? Facebook Events can rally neighbors to help.

2. Engage Your Employees Digitally to Show the Human Side of Your Company

You want people to think of your business as a person that they like. They need to connect to faces, names, voices and personality. Showing the human side of your business endears your brand to your customers, and creates loyalty. You already accomplish these things in your place of business with your own employees, so extend this personality and corporate culture onto your page, giving your employees a digital way to connect with the company. This both gives them the emotional reward of connectivity and shows their friends publicly what a great company you are.

Your employees are your ambassadors. Highlight their accomplishments and their awards on your company’s page, and their networks will see that engagement as well. Value your employees publicly to build positive company culture not just among your current employees, but with your future employees.

3. Your Future Employees Are Keeping Tabs on Your Company

When you use Facebook to showcase your company, you are speaking directly to not just your own employees, but to their communities containing your future employees. Convey the personality of your company and attract new employees who are already a good culture fit.

Facebook also has another helpful feature called Facebook Jobs. Companies with a Facebook Business page can build a job post easily and immediately post it into the Facebook Jobs bank. Your followers will be the first to see your job posting – which also resides as a post on your business page. Who better to be your next employee than someone who already knows all about your brand? Facebook jobs also appear in Google search and display job local to the searcher.

4. Your target demographic is on Facebook

Do you know who your customers are? Facebook Insights can help you discover the demographics of your customers, to better market to them. When people like, visit and comment on your page, you can gather information from their Facebook profiles that is helpful for your business. Using this information, you can pivot what your business does to meet your customers’ needs.

For example, if you are a CPA and your Facebook followers continue to ask you what seems like the same tax question over and over – that might be a cue to write a blog post on your website that addresses that very topic. Then, share that page on Facebook so that your followers get the information they need. And voila, you are the voice of authority and their hero.

5. Build Your Digital Presence with Facebook Traffic

On Facebook you can present information and tell stories about your company a little bit at a time; much like you would become good friends with a person over a period of time by sharing little stories about yourself. These stories give weight to your SEO and give your company better Google Search Ranking.

You can drive traffic to your website from your page. Sign up new email list subscribers. Build your authority in your field by curating and sharing relevant and useful articles. In addition, offer special sales to customers, incentives for activity on your page and hold contests or promotions.

Facebook Business pages are one of the important tools many small businesses use in their digital marketing plan. In conclusion, with 2.4 Billion active Facebook users, more and more small businesses are utilizing a Business page to connect with their customers – and future customers – through daily conversations and brand story telling.


With the ever-growing presence of technology in our world, social media is something that should not be overlooked. It should actually be at the forefront of your business, giving people an idea of what you are all about and hopefully prompting them to become customers! Whether you are skeptical about the use of socials to generate business or have an active presence on all platforms, there is something to be learned for everyone! Here are some ways you can boost your business on social media:

Engage in Comments Timely

Simply put, you want engagement! Facebook and Instagram use this as a primary factor when determining what to display. Posts that have more comments are displayed more prominently within feeds and pages.  Also note that the faster you respond, the more likely others will too, which can spark a conversation and increase engagement. Some companies employ a social media monitor whose primary focus is to react timely to comments.

Measure On-Platform and On-Site Success

Google Analytics is an excellent tool to see if your social media strategy is measuring up. It tracks follower growth, engagement, distribution, and on-site performance. Analytics also measures on-site behavior, so you can see the average time a user spends on your website.

Improve Search Engine Ranking

Good news- social media can improve your search engine ranking! When your social media share rate increases, your domain authority increases! This leads to an improved search engine ranking. Hence, more visits to your socials will also increase your social media page ranking, improving your chances of being one of the top ranked pages.

Drive Traffic

Relying on only your network to drive traffic is completely nonsensical! Social media expands your brand reach and generates traffic organically. If you don’t have a profile yet, create one and use it to share customized content. You want to make sure your audience can seamlessly share your content!

Conclusion

Using social media to boost your business is as important, if not more important, than other business-boosting tasks. Front Porch has provided these tips as a way for you to dive deeper into your social strategy. We want to see you succeed with your socials!