Impressions - August 2019 - 24

"People say, 'We just gave them branded shirts.' I tell them, 'Dig deeper. What role did your
decorated apparel play in that campaign or contest, or how did it unite the community?'"
- Mark Coudray,
business expert and coach
For special campaigns, decorated-apparel industry veteran and
business expert Mark Coudray recommends creating a series of short
videos aimed at your target market.
"If you work with schools, target people who work in the PTA,
or with sports teams or clubs," he says. "Explain how they could use
decorated apparel or logoed products to get more supporters or generate more money for their institutions or groups."
2. Build a community by sharing insights with a defined target
audience. While you'll advertise special offers to your audience, focus
on answering their questions via replies or content marketing. Questions should get one-on-one replies; if your audience is chatting about
a particular issue or problem, provide content solving that problem.
"Share what you know to establish yourself as an authority in your
niche," says Destinee Wright, creative director at Charlottesville,
Virginia-based Destinee Marketing LLC. "The goal is a value-first
approach that builds trust and earns lifelong customers."
Bartolini suggests using Instagram stories, Facebook posts or tweets
to create polls to spur people to ask questions. "Once you've got a list
of topics, create useful written content to share with your followers,"
he says. "Use a site like Canva to create shareable infographics. You
can also make short videos or use Facebook Live."

P.24

i m p r e s s i o n s m a g . c o m AUGUST 2019

Create a content calendar and batch your social-media efforts by
using apps such as Planoly or Hootsuite. "That way, you have a bird'seye view of your activity and you don't have to worry about posting
by hand every day," Bartolini says.
While attending this year's F8, the annual Facebook developer
conference, Clement learned that "Groups" is a top priority for the
revamped Facebook platform, FB5. "Groups will be at the center of
the experience, as central as friends," he says. "This is a significant
opportunity for businesses to engage in an authentic, informal way
with more than 400 million people who currently are members of
groups that are meaningful to them, by providing useful content and
emerging as subject-matter experts."
Alternatively, businesses also can create their own Facebook Groups
and link them to their existing Facebook pages, which will - at least
in the short term - offer better reach.
3. Use product images and videos smartly. According to MySMN,
a digital marketing agency, 20% of people will read text on a page,
but 80% of people will watch a video. After watching a video, 64%
of users are more likely to buy a product online, according to Forbes.
In light of this trend, many social platforms have evolved their
algorithms, preferring video content over other formats. Similar to

http://www.impressionsmag.com

Impressions - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - August 2019