Strategically using social commerce is critical to ensuring that your brand can attract and retain customers. More and more people are shopping online and nearly every social media platform has made online shopping features available.

What is social commerce? 

Social commerce considers the entire customer lifecycle as it happens on your social media channels. People can discover your brand, explore products, and even purchase directly on the app – no need to redirect them to your website to buy.

It’s no secret that making your customers’ purchasing experience as easy as possible leads to more sales. If a potential customer needs to go through too many steps to purchase, they might give up on the whole idea and not buy.

That’s what makes social commerce so convenient. Customers go through minimal steps, experience minimal friction, and still discover and purchase from your brand. 

Why should you care about social commerce? 

Social Commerce is here to stay. The world has shifted and eCommerce now accounts for almost a trillion dollars in annual spending in the U.S. alone. Combine that with a major increase in the expansion and usage of social media in the aftermath of 2020.  While your website is part of the shopping experience, social commerce gives you another platform to convert customers. Websites and social commerce go hand-in-hand in creating a five-star experience for your audience.

An omnichannel approach, including social media, websites, and maybe even hosting a webinar or creating a video, will help you reach all of your audiences’ shopping personalities – from the impulse buyers watching an Instagram video to the analytical shoppers that need to study every detail on your website before they purchase a product.

Nearly every social media platform has a way to include commerce as part of your marketing strategy. From Facebook Shops to Instagram Checkout, the possibilities are almost endless on how you can use social media to promote your brand.

Let’s not forget that an active and engaged community on social media can lead to customer loyalty. After all, 53% of Americans who follow brands on social media are more loyal to those brands.

Don’t underestimate the power of customer loyalty. Ensuring a strong relationship between you and your customers on your social media channels can lead to more revenue for you. 65% of your company’s business comes from existing customers, so it’s not a relationship you can afford to lose.

How can you make new customers into lifelong fans using social commerce? 

While social commerce can be used for awareness, consideration, and conversion stages of the customer lifecycle, it can also be used to retain customers (and turn customers into raving fans). 

Let’s take a look at 2 different strategies you can use to boost customer loyalty.

1. Encourage UGC

User-generated content (UGC) is key to recognizing your customer’s experience and providing social proof to your audience that your product is well-liked by people like them. 93% of marketers agree that consumers trust content created by customers more than content created by brands. People trust people. 

UGC can expand your audience to new people. When someone posts about your product on their Instagram story, there’s an opportunity to reach potential customers. Now that a new audience is aware that you exist, the next step in their journey would be to check out your brand’s Instagram profile. But that might only happen if the original sharer tagged you in their Instagram Story in the first place. So how can you encourage people to tag you?

Re-sharing UGC on your profile can encourage your customers to tag you in their posts. When customers constantly see that you interact with your audience and share their content, they will be inspired to join in on the fun.

You could also promote a specific branded hashtag and ask followers to use it. This can make it easier for you to find posts that contain your brand and interact with your existing customers.

Let’s take a look at ModCloth, an online clothing retailer. The brand’s Instagram account asks followers to put the branded hashtag #MyModCloth on their social media posts. This strategy encourages people to take Insta-worthy photos of themselves in ModCloth clothing. In return, ModCloth features these UGC photos on their Instagram story.

2. Implement a loyalty program

Social Commerce Specialists know it’s not enough to get new customers. They need a plan to earn more revenue through their existing customers. These strategies usually include repeat purchases, upsells, and cross-sells. But there’s one strategy that stands out because not only does a business get more revenue, but it leaves your existing customers feeling appreciated.

Enter the customer loyalty program. Implementing a loyalty program amongst your existing customers encourages them to return to your business. This often forgotten piece of a marketing program is a phenomenal way to use social commerce to boost loyalty.

A customer loyalty program rewards customers for purchases or engaging with your brand. One popular option is for customers to earn points which can then be redeemed for discounts, free gifts, or exclusive access to new products. 

To automate this process, you could use different social media tools, which also help with data and analytics tracking to make sure your social commerce campaigns are actually working – or adjust accordingly. Here’s an example by one of the most well-known examples by Starbucks.

Starbucks has one of the most popular loyalty programs. The coffee company makes sure that their customers are using it though. It implemented “Star Days” for a whole week and every day had a new reward for customers using the Starbucks loyalty program.

Star Days built on the current relationship with their customers – whether or not they were participants in the loyalty program. Notice how the social media post had two call-to-actions; the first is asking existing customers in the loyalty program to check out the app, and the second is encouraging people not in the loyalty program to join.

The strategy was to continue to build relationships with their customers and encourage them to participate in the loyalty program. It’s fair to say that Starbucks has many happy and returning customers.

Final thoughts 

Attracting new customers is important, but you could earn far more revenue by using social commerce to boost loyalty among your audience with a unique ability to blend building relationships while selling products at the same time.

You can use these strategies to reward your audience with recognition, five-star customer service, and loyalty program benefits. They will pay you back in kind with glowing reviews, user-generated content, and lifelong loyalty. Request a demo today to learn more

About the Guest Author
Raul Galera is the Partner Manager at ReferralCandy and CandyBar, two tools helping small and medium businesses run customer referral and loyalty programs. He’s been working in the tech sector for the past seven years and regularly writes about marketing, eCommerce and tech.

The post Using Social Commerce to Boost Customer Loyalty appeared first on TINT.

Fortunately, a number of technological advancements have made the proposition of implementing a social ecommerce solution far more accessible. Here are a couple ways that you can take advantage of UGC to drive social ecommerce strategies.

Create a Feed of Curated Customer Product Shots

You’ve done a lot of work of cultivating a passionate group of customers who love your product. Now it’s time to let these folks become unofficial spokespeople for your brand by showcasing authentic photos of them using your products. That’s exactly what a curated feed of customer product shots does.

By searching brand specific hashtags, handles or keywords, you can quickly discover UGC from these fans to be repurposed on your branded website. This is where a platform like TINT can help you excel by giving you the ability to collect the most engaging, relevant and impactful content across 15 different channels. And you can then showcase these amazing customer photos on your website with an out-of-the-box gallery on your website.

Furthermore, rather than a catch-all gallery for UGC, savvy brands implement a product gallery of consumer-generated content that showcases their products in real life. This kind of social proof helps to increase purchase conversions and decrease cart abandonments because users can actually see what the product looks like in real life.

Make Those UGC Images Shoppable

It’s one thing to have a nice photo wall of happy customers for online visitors to see. It’s another thing entirely to have those images actively work a prospect through the purchase funnel.

Too often, these images are posted in insolation from the rest of the site—while the images may serve as visual candy to inspire potential purchases, they are often not connected to the specific product that’s featured in the photo. So, a potential customer may be ready to make a purchase but have difficulty in actually finding the product they want to purchase. This is naturally more complicated on a mobile shopping experience, when screen real estate is at a premium.

The solution? Make those UGC images featuring your products shoppable. Do this with TINT by adding product call to actions (CTAs) and hotspots.

With a product CTA, the request to make a purchase is always visible on the photo. Some brands favor this very forward way of marketing as it clearly illuminates that the product featured in the image can easily be purchased with a quick click. For those companies that feel a product CTA takes away from the overall aesthetic of the photo, a hotspot strategy is one way to link the image to the product while preserving the experience.

Either way, making those consumer photos shoppable is one way to take UGC to the next level. And instead of having to tag every product manually, take advantage of TINT’s deep learning algorithm HUE to quickly scan the social content produced by your audience and automatically map the images to your product catalogue to make them shoppable.

Secure User Rights to Repurpose UGC

While UGC is the lifeblood to any good social ecommerce program, one point must be emphasized: you must secure the rights to repurpose consumer photos throughout your product galleries.

In a world where memes catch like wildfire and digital assets are so easy to lift, it’s imperative for brands to protect themselves from copyright infringement. This means that you must have explicit permission—that is documented—in order to use and repurpose the content that your customers create. After all, the last thing you want is consumers who love your brand to be turned off because you reused their photos without permission.

With TINT’s out-of-the-box user rights management platform, your company can repurpose UGC legally and safely throughout your marketing channels. Simply identify a piece of social content that you want to reuse and the platform can kick off a process to reach out to that user, secure their permission to reuse the photo and document their acceptance.

Furthermore, the TINT copyright detection algorithm can quickly identify if that user was the actual creator of the asset. This safeguard helps protect your brand from using any photos that the social media user didn’t actually possess the rights to.

TINT Can Help with Social Ecommerce

If your brand is looking to take the next step with social ecommerce, TINT is here to help. Our platform not only offers ways to create social image galleries, but also empowers you to create clickable hotspots and CTAs to help a prospect go from interest to purchase. This is done while protecting your brand by securing permissions from your consumers to repurpose their photos. Request a demo of the TINT platform today.

Header photo by Anete Lūsiņa via  Unsplash.

The post Implementing a Social Ecommerce Strategy on Your Website appeared first on TINT.

For 2018, we’re doing it a little differently and ranked our favorite marketing campaigns overall. Bookmark this page for inspiration for your next marketing campaign!

Suave Reveals TV Tricks in Hair Commercials

Suave claims “74% of millennial women think hair shown in ads is unachievable” and proceeds to expose these tricks in a Youtube video, such as using green screen tactics and voluminous hair extension. The video switches gears to show Suave providing their line of hair care to models so they can style their own hair and clips of the models’ positive reactions are recorded.

Suave used the models’ reactions as a type of testimonial to show an authentic perspective of their products. People are more likely to trust these types of testimonials over those same claims made by the brand.

This video generated over 435,000 views in under 2 months, with comments like “Do it again, @Suave! I love a little dose of reality amidst all of the glitter!” and “Suave, buy it today!”.

[banner_link_cta text=”Try the Best UGC Platform” link=”https://www.tintup.com/”]

#MeToo Movement

While the #MeToo Movement started in October 2017, it is still one of the most successful and continually trending hashtags, gathering over 12 million Facebook posts, comments, and reactions in just days following the the first post, including high profile celebrities like Lady Gaga, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lawrence and Cara Delevingne, to name a few. The hashtag then immediately picked up on Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.

The #MeToo Movement is a hashtag on social media that demonstrates the harm and prevalence of sexual assault and harassment. The movement quickly gained traction and spreaded from social media to several in person marches, charity events, and conferences.

Purdue’s #PurdueDayofGiving

We’ve talked about Purdue’s successful Day of Giving last year, where they raised a whopping $28.2 million using social media. That was their all-time record, until this year. Purdue raised nearly $10 million more than last year, totalling to $37 million!

Purdue’s Day of Giving is a 24-hour online and in-person donation drive. The aim is to raise money that will then be reinvested into the school’s initiatives, programs, and activities.  Students and faculty alike use social media to promote the Day of Giving to create buzz around the campaign because the more buzz, the more donations. The social posts are redisplayed on a TINT social feed on Purdue’s website. Anyone who uses the hashtag #PurdueDayofGiving will populate their feed, which also auto-updates in real time.

[banner_link_cta text=”Try the Best UGC Platform” link=”https://www.tintup.com/”]

Always #LikeaGirl

Like the #MeToo hashtag, the #LikeaGirl hashtag is not brand new, but is still regularly generating thousands of posts from fans. The “Like a Girl” campaign was first introduced in a commercial asking people to run and fight “like a girl”, who then reenacted these actions unstably. When young girls were brought out, they ran and fought with all their might.

As we grow to be exposed to gender stereotypes, the implication of doing things “like a girl” is doing things weaker. This spoke to millions of women who chimed in and posted their own photos with the hashtag “LikeaGirl”.

When a brand releases a campaign that can connect with people on a deeper, emotional level, people want to be a part of it. To connect with people, it is critical to create a one-on-one interaction with them, by creating an opportunity to join the conversation with a hashtag, reposting images, and replying to comments. Being associated with a powerful and inspirational message that is shared millions of times leaves not only a lasting impression on the Internet, but a lasting impression on everyone who sees it and everyone who is involved in it.

The post Best Marketing Campaigns of 2018 appeared first on TINT.

Wait…what? That pancake/breakfast place is serving burgers now?

This is exactly the reason the International House of Pancakes team decided change their name from IHOP to IHOb (International House of Burgers) last week. People saw IHOP solely as a pancake and breakfast spot for quick weekends with their family.In reality, IHOP is open until 10pm, with some restaurants open 24 hours. An analyst found that 50% of IHOP customers only go in for breakfast. IHOP wanted to communicate to customers that they stretch far beyond pancakes; they sell lunch and dinner as well.

How IHOP turned into IHOb

IHOP first pulled this stunt through Twitter by posting a tweet revealing that they “flipped their name” and asked people to guess what the “b” meant. This immediately turned #IHOb into a trending topic on Twitter, with hundreds of thousands of people tweeting and retweeting #IHOb, compared to about 20,000 tweets in 2017. Even media and news outlets began to pick up on the flip and created news segments specifically for the chain. IHOP didn’t stop at their name change. They deleted their @IHOP account and created a IHOb account where they are periodically tweeting.

This trending topic clearly shows the power of social media. People are constantly sharing and forwarding trends on the Internet, leading to widespread visibility for a company. Curiosity, interest, engagement, and fun was sparked with the IHOb campaign. A sort of game was created when the restaurant asked their Twitter followers what they thought of the change. When one person shared their guess for the “b” in IHOb, others chimed in.

Key Takeaway

The main takeaway is short and simple. People tend to respond very well to engaging and social oriented ads. This is why social media and other user-generated campaigns work. The most effective and reliable advertising strategy is still word-of-mouth. Whether this be a guessing game like IHOb, or using UGC like many retailers, people enjoy being part of a social group.

People enjoy sharing and tweeting their own thoughts. People enjoy seeing others share and tweet their thoughts. When companies use new and exciting ways to share content, customers tend to respond. There has been an oversaturation of brand created content and brands selling to people. When these companies craft new and engaging ways to market to their audience, a human relationship that is created, instead of a business to consumer relationship.

What’s Next for IHOb

While it’s still too early to tell whether this stunt will increase sales, It is safe to say that their social media strategy paid off big time. It will, however, come to no surprise if IHOP begins to see and influx in lunch and dinner customers. Their campaign was so successful and prevalent that it not only sparked customers’ interest, but their curiosity to try the breakfast chain’s other menus.

Test out a new social media strategy by trying UGC with TINT now!

The post How IHOb Maximized Their Social Media Strategy appeared first on TINT.

Look:

As the marketplace is getting more crowded, modern customers are spoiled with the amount of branded information they receive daily from all sides, so they don’t trust companies who keep a focus on their products, not their customers.

To make your customers want to buy your products, you need to make them trust your brand first. If you want to stand out from the crowd, authenticity isn’t an option these days.

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It is harsh but true: 84% of millennials don’t trust advertising messages; 78% of customers believe brands are not open and honest; 42% of users claim to distrust brands.

The bottom line? Customers crave for authenticity. According to a study by the Boston Consulting Group, customers identified authenticity as one of the top qualities that would attract them to a brand.

Thus, boosting brand authenticity is a must, and here is the list of ways how to do it on Instagram, one of the fast-growing social media platforms:

1. Think About Your Customers First

No matter what your business sells, you need to put your customers first to boost brand authenticity (and grow revenue).

If you pay attention to your customers and their needs, they will return the favor twice.

When it comes to Instagram, it’s not just about sharing and seeing photos, it’s about building visual social interactions with other users.

What does it mean? People are obsessed with receiving approval from others via the Internet.

If you publish content on your IG account, that’s great. And if you think about your customers, that’s even better!

To stay authentic, you need to like and comment on your potential customers’ posts and encourage their content creation as they have put effort into it. Another proven way is to remember their names:

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Holding real one-on-one conversations is a great way to build authenticity, so you need to keep your customers in mind while running Instagram accounts for your business promotion.

The takeaway: Instagrammers crave for genuine likes and comments, so be interested in their content (not promoting your product), and they will never forget you.

2. Leverage User-generated Content

Truth to be told: customers don’t like professional photos that seem too good to be true. The survey by Ipsos OTX has revealed that 69% of respondents believe media people lie as they want to sell products, brands, and ideas more effectively. In plain English, people don’t trust overly polished images.

But:

Don’t try to make your marketing look like something that isn’t marketing.

In fact, 70% of the time, they can tell the difference between consumer-created content and brand-created content. Thus, trying to trick your customers isn’t a way out.

The solution? Rely on user-generated content!

Instagram users upload more than 80 million photos daily. Instagrammers enjoy producing content, so user-generated content marketing is on the rise without a doubt.

Brands like Starbucks and GoPro publish UGC, and it gives great results. For example, Starbucks often post user-generated content with an author’s tag, and it keeps the audience engaged as Instagrammers want to be featured on top accounts to increase their popularity.

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Regramming posts with Starbucks-related hashtags, the company has achieved amazing results as their campaign allows nurturing customer relationships and, therefore, build trust.

Any proof needed?

The Day of Giving at Purdue University is an annual event that generates an organic buzz, so it has become a perfect time for boosting engagement. By implementing a TINT feed onto a dedicated page on their site, Purdue University raised $28 million in 24 hours with the power of UGC.

While big companies don’t have to ask their customers to produce UGC, it can be a problem for small businesses to leverage user-generated content. Thus, they need to seek out ways to encourage UGC.

UGC doesn’t require much money and effort, and it is 35% more memorable and 50% more trusted than traditional branded content, so it’s worth giving a try.

The takeaway: track your brand mentions to find UGC and share it on your profile to create a sense of authenticity.

3. Create the Sense of Urgency with Live Stream

Ephemeral content is not a marketing buzzword. It’s a trend that allows marketers to hook and keep their audiences interested. More and more brands post content that disappears within 24 hours to provide followers with interesting and urgent content without spamming them on the main feed.

Yes, going live has become important.

Why going live is crucial? As a part of the ephemeral content, it creates a sense of urgency, and followers are more likely to join your stream in order not to miss something important.

As Salesforce has revealed, live streaming improves ‘brand favorability’ in viewers, so it must become an important part of your marketing plan. When companies go live, they showcase company transparency and, therefore, build trust.

Examples?

One of the fastest growing indie athletic apparel brands in America, Beyond Yoga, nailed Instagram marketing. Keeping up with current trends, the company makes the most out of popular updates, and it leads to great results.

Online shoppers are afraid of buying items that won’t suit them, so sellers should do their best to avoid deterring people. Beyond Yoga knows it, so they opt for showing off their products with Instagram Live Stream, and it helps customers understand what they can expect after buying their products.

Live streaming requires time and effort as you need to produce high-quality content in real time. Customers understand it, so the payoff is huge as live videos allow you to give your customers another unique reason to follow you and maintain genuine relationships with your followers.

The takeaway: No matter what you want to live stream, whether doing your product review or sharing behind-the-scenes episodes, going live is a proven way to raise the potential of FOMO (fear of missing out) to grab your followers’ attention.

4. Handle Negative Feedback

Running a business account on Instagram, it’s nearly impossible to avoid getting negative feedback even if you have the best product ever. You just can’t suit everyone’s needs and expectations.

Nowadays customers flocking to the platforms where they can complain about your product or service and get a response. Leaving a feedback on social media is easy as customers can reach you wherever they are.

Yes, your customers want to be heard. Instagram has become an important part of customer service, and selling your products isn’t enough to boost authenticity.

Still, wonder why should you care about complaints on Instagram?

It’s about your reputation.

When your customer posts something about your brand on social media, be sure the whole social media audience can see it. And what is more, news of bad customer services reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service experience.

Building the customer trust and loyalty is hard, but regaining is even harder. In fact, it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience, according to Glance.

Moreover, dealing with negative feedback is a way to hold already-existed customers. The same survey revealed that 70% of unhappy customers whose issues were resolved in their favor said they would return to purchase from that company again.

So, how to handle the negative feedback the right way?

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Obviously, you put much effort into creating and promoting your product, but maintaining great relationships with your customers is a must if you want to attract new loyal customers and keep already-existed ones.

Listen to your customers and their thoughts and boost brand authenticity.

The takeaway: Negative comments show that you’re a true, honest brand. Don’t hasten to delete negative comments – show your potential clients that you care about them and try to solve the problem quickly.

5. Stay Active Online

Social media marketing has changed the way companies and customers communicate. Your followers crave for a two-way conversation.

It doesn’t require much time or effort for a consumer to contact a company through social media. Modern customers can ask a question once the idea strikes them – in the morning, while working, on the way home, or in the middle of the night. And they expect you to react quickly.

Yes, people value their time.

As specified in the LivePerson report, 71% of visitors expect to access help within five minutes when making a purchase online, while 31% expect this help to be immediate.

Most companies claim they take care of their customers, and when they don’t reply to their requests fast, they fail. As Andrew Sykes, CEO of Habits at Work, says: “Great companies are ones where ‘what they say’ and ‘what they do’ is a perfect match.”

If you have decided to run a business account on Instagram, get ready for being available 24/7. The faster you reply, the better. Otherwise, it decreases the level of brand authenticity and leads to negative results.

The takeaway: turn push notifications on in order not to miss important comments, requests and direct messages.

6. Collaborate with Influencers

Traditional advertising doesn’t work anymore. For customers, most ads are deceptive, intrusive, and disruptive. People prefer to rely on opinion leaders when it comes to making purchase decisions.

Some statistics to back it up:

• 88% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
• 71% of consumers feel more comfortable making the purchase decision after researching user-generated reviews
• 49% of consumers state they rely on recommendations from influencers when making purchasing decisions

Opinion leaders aka influencers have already established their authority in a niche and can influence their followers. Instagrammers love, follow, trust them and, therefore, listen to their suggestions.

Thus, influencer marketing has become a goldmine for marketers to promote their brand without investing in advertising.

But:

Many marketers believe it costs big bucks to collaborate with influencers.

If you believe reaching out to influencers takes a lot of time and effort, you should understand the difference between micro- and mega-influencers first.

For a variety of reasons, collaborating with micro-influencers gives better results without spending much budget. As you enter an already-established communication, you can reach a potential niche-focused audience and deliver the genuine message about your product fast.

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Influencer marketing has boomed over the past years, and it’s not a problem for any business to find a perfect opinion leader to collaborate. Moreover, it gives an opportunity to stay genuine while promoting your product.

The takeaway: collaborate with micro-influencers to save your time and budget.

7. Send Branded Freebies

Who doesn’t love contests and giveaways?

It’s in human’s nature to want something for free. If you have ever come across a contest on Instagram, you may notice how much engagement it causes.

Instagrammers want to be rewarded for their likes and comments, so they love contests. And marketers know that running giveaways is a way to gain trust. Moreover, you don’t have to invest much if you send branded freebies as prizes.

Obviously, giving out your product samples is cost-effective. However, sending branded freebies has another benefit as it leads to converting followers into customers.

Look:

73% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after trying it.

Giving something for free is a proven way to gain customers’ trust, but organizing branded giveaways helps to increase customer retention.

Let’s take a look at Passion Planner, a company that helps people achieve goals. Being active on social media platforms, they actively promote the product on Instagram, and organizing easy-to-enter giveaways is one of their strategies.

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When running a giveaway, remember it should be genuine to build trust and boost authenticity. Thus, picking your friend as a winner isn’t an option. If you struggle with calculating results, you can rely on professionals to identify the winner.

For example, you can turn to MC2 (Programming) to order a custom script to select the winner as it’s easy and fast. After all, delegation helps to escape the stress without sacrificing your authenticity.

The takeaway: running giveaways is a perfect way to increase your following, attract new potential customers, and build brand loyalty.

In Few Words

Prioritizing brand authenticity matters.

Artificial ads bombard customers from all sides, trying to sell products even if they aren’t good enough. People are fed up with lies, and being honest with your customers is a proven way to keep them and attract new ones.

More and more brands set foot in Instagram marketing, so knowing ways how to boost brand authenticity is important to stand out from the crowd.

The post 7 Surefire Ways to Boost Brand Authenticity on Instagram appeared first on TINT.

The ability to access your accounts and communicate with friends, family, and followers all in one place is so valuable in this fast-paced world.

And, having the chance to converse and communicate with their audience and customers with the click of a button is hugely beneficial to businesses of all sizes in this day and age where instant connections are a must-have.

In light of the hunger for social media apps that let us carry around our networks in our pockets, GetApp have put together a ranking of social app leaders.

The list features 25 cloud-based business apps for all sorts of operations – think social media, HR, marketing, and everything in between – and guess what? We’re sitting pretty at number eight. ?

For the purpose of this post, we’re only going to delve into the top 10.

So how does the ranking work?

GetApp uses five different data points to determine an app’s ranking. Each data point is worth a grand total of 20 points, so, if an app is super-duper in all areas, it can get a total possible score of 100. The data points take into account user reviews, different integrations that are available, availability, media presence, and security.

Let’s dig a little deeper before we get stuck in.

1. User Reviews – GetApp takes into account the total number of reviews an app has along with its average rating. The better the reviews, the better the ranking in this section.
2. Integrations – this covers the number of integrations available with other apps. The more integrations, the higher the ranking.
3. Mobile Platforms – taking into account how available it is on Android and iOS, as well as its rating in Google Play and the Apple Store. The more availability an app has, the better it ranks.
4. Media Presence – this takes into account the number of social fans and followers the app has on Twitter and Facebook. The more followers an app has, the higher up the list they go.
5. Security – GetApp also measures how secure an app is. The more secure the app, the better the ranking.

Each section can land an app up to 20 points, but each one also comes with its own weighting. For example, if two apps come neck-and-neck with a score, their rankings in certain categories will be given more weight. Security is the most important, while media presence is the least important.

So without further ado, let the games begin.

10. Percolate

In at number 10 is Percolate, a digital marketing campaign management app that allows users to plan and analyze campaign results.

Its features include an easy-to-use and customizable calendar and planner where you can bring together all your campaigns, organize them, and create collaborations with other businesses.

The real USP of Percolate is its ability to personalize your campaigns by using data from your target audience, objectives, and brand identity to make sure your campaigns are well and truly a part of your brand.

With the in-built calendar, you can schedule content across a range of social channels, share content internally with fellow team members, and create a storage space where you can keep all your collateral in one safe place.

9. TweetDeck

The desktop social media app TweetDeck comes in at number 9. Once downloaded, it becomes your personal browser for keeping up to date on the latest news and trends across all your designated social platforms.

As well as Tweeting out the latest updates, you can also see all of your activity, messages, and streams in one place at the same time.

8. TINT

Oh look, it’s us!

TINT places at number 8 in the rankings (#1 if you’re measuring it on social display). Our social media marketing app was built for brands who want to reach their audience in new and innovative ways by bringing together all your user-generated content in one compelling place.

Real-time social media visualization? We got it covered. Want to gather together your hashtag campaigns in one place? That’s our jam.

7. AgoraPulse

Swooping in at number 7 is AgoraPulse, a social media management tool that helps you manage and organize your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.

The app has been designed specially to help businesses manage their communications via private messages, comments, and Tweets while they’re on the move. With it, you’re able to deal with your social media in less than 15 minutes a day.

6. SproutSocial

Climbing the list to take up the 6th spot is SproutSocial, run by digital marketing legend Neil Patel.

The app provides a home for all your social media management tasks to help you focus on growth and engagement.

Key features include the ability to publish drafts, team content calendars to streamline your message, monitoring with a specialized inbox, deep analytics that give you detailed reports on your social profiles, the ability to collaborate on the spot, an in-built CRM, and a HelpDesk, where you can turn conversations and feedback on social media into customer service tickets.

5. Easypromos

Taking the middle spot at number 5 is Easypromos, an app designed especially for digital promotions. With the easy-to-use interface, you can set up, run, and manage digital campaigns that run across a number of different social platforms.

Inside the app, you can engage with your audience, generate leads, and gather feedback from your campaigns using a variety of performance-focused tools on offer. With it, you can easily run sweepstakes, contests, quizzes, and surveys to build awareness of your brand and grow your user base.

4. Oktopost

Oktopost comes in at number 4. This is another social media management platform that allows businesses to manage their presence on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Designed specifically with B2B marketers in mind, the app specializes in tracking social posts in order to convert users into leads, and the data gathered can easily be synced up with big-name marketing platforms (think HubSpot and Marketo).

Oktopost also features an in-built employee advocacy board, where marketers can share social content with other members of their team.

3. Zoho Social

The bronze medal position is held by Zoho Social, an app that helps marketers working in huge organizations grow their social media accounts and keep track of them over a number of different platforms.

As well as insights based on engagement, Zoho Social gives marketers predictions on how many people will likely see their posts, and suggest ideal times to publish content.

In the dashboard area, you can see real-time updates through instant notifications and glean statistics that are specific to different platforms.

2. Buffer

In second place comes scheduling giant Buffer. This app allows users to schedule and share pictures, content, and videos across social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

The easy-to-use interface is what makes Buffer such a coveted platform, what with its ability to simply publish content posted in your Buffer queue at the best times throughout the day. You basically just drop in links, stories, and updates to your queue and sit back and watch your social channels grow.

1. Hootsuite

Taking the top spot is Hootsuite, another social media management platform that allows you to schedule out posts, videos, and stories at the best times.

As well as featuring an in-built “publisher”, where you can schedule specific posts to go out at certain times, you can also create personalized feeds that showcase conversations in different hashtags. This means you can easily monitor campaigns and get involved in them all from the same place.

The emergence of so many social apps has meant businesses can really start to connect with their audiences on a personal level.

Being able to manage campaigns, research analytics, and grab data with the click of a finger means businesses are more likely than ever to deliver successful campaigns that their audiences can’t wait to devour.

And, as GetApp’s list shows, there is a whole range of apps that support all different kinds of needs. Whether you’re looking for an easy-to-use app to monitor campaigns with, a place to schedule all social media, or a platform to bring together user-generated content in a compelling place (hey, that’s what we do!), there is a social app out there for you.

The post GetApps Ranks The Top 10 Social Media Marketing Tools of 2016 appeared first on TINT.

Social media accounts are a juicy target for criminals and pranksters who are seeking attention at the expense of your brand’s trustworthiness. Account hijacking is on the rise–companies and celebrities whose social media accounts have recently fallen victim range from Mark Zuckerberg to the NFL. Indeed, social media security is “something companies cannot afford to ignore.” Here’s a quick rundown of how you can secure your brand’s online presence and prevent someone from stealing your audience and damaging your reputation.

1. Secure your Humans

The human aspect of internet security is becoming more important as phishing attacks grow in popularity. Phishing is a class of online scams that try to fool someone into giving away sensitive information, and it’s how most data breaches happen. Guessing passwords and breaking into accounts is a lot of work compared to picking up a phone and saying, “Hey, this is Steve from I.T. Can you please log in to FakeNewHRsystem.com with your usual password? We’re rolling out a new HR system.”

Generic scam emails and phone calls tend to be less imaginative and easier to spot than xxxxxx, but it gets tricky when the communications look exactly like those you normally receive from trusted colleagues or companies. These targeted scams are on the rise, and they are called spear phishing attacks. Attackers personalize their fake emails and phone calls so that they appear more authentic and believable to the chosen target. Email addresses can be spoofed to look as if they are coming from someone you know. So can phone numbers. Profile photos, personal details, and language styles can be lifted from someone’s public social media profiles (or scammed from private ones).

Ironically, this trend toward targeted scams echoes current trends in targeted marketing. Authenticity is key. As the saying goes, “people trust people,” and hackers aim to abuse that trust. So before you lock down your branded social media accounts, it would be a good idea to raise awareness throughout your organization of the threat of phishing attacks, with a particular focus on what spear phishing looks like. Make sure your organization’s Chief Officers also know about the increasingly common “whaling” threat–phishing attacks that target executives and people with the most access to an organization’s sensitive information.

Once your team is familiar with the human threats involved with securing your brand’s online presence, it’s time to protect against the technical threats.

2. Audit Your Brand’s Online Presence

How many social media accounts does your company own? Answering this question is often surprisingly hard. Did someone in marketing create a branded MySpace account ages ago that has been left unattended? Do multiple company Facebook accounts exist that have administrative access to your Facebook page? Facebook scams are common, so each account floating around that has access is a potential risk.

Spend some time searching for your company on each platform and compile a list of all your company’s social media accounts, from Facebook and Twitter to Vine and Snapchat. Remember to also look for blog and content management accounts like WordPress, Medium, or Blogger. A clever way to discover long-forgotten accounts is to search your company’s email inboxes for “registration” or “confirm your account” emails. While you’re at it, add those email accounts to the list of accounts to secure–if your email gets compromised, then an attacker can use it to reset passwords and gain control of other accounts.

3. Ensure you Have Access

Who in your organization can log in to your social media accounts? Which email addresses were used to sign up for each of these accounts, and who has access to those email accounts? Take the time to gather this information so that you can log in to each account. If you have trouble logging in, reset the passwords. These steps are necessary to secure the accounts.

If you find the number of accounts and passwords overwhelming, you might consider using a password manager, a software application that allows your computer to “remember” your passwords for you. Do some research into which password manager will best meet your company’s needs. If you share account logins across teams in your organization, search for a team password manager. Or if one person is managing all of your social media accounts, an individual password manager like LastPass, KeePass, or 1Password would suffice. Choose whatever solution seems best for you and your budget. Any password manager will be much more convenient (and more secure) than managing your logins yourself. As you log in to each of your brand’s social media accounts, have the password manager remember the details and keep things organized.

4. Update your Social Media Passwords

Now that you can log in to all of your brand’s social media accounts, it’s time to lock them all down. If you saw identical or similar passwords recurring among different accounts, change them so that they are unique (because password reuse is dangerous). Manually creating and remembering multiple unique passwords is impractical, so having a password manager generate and remember strong passwords for each of your brand’s social media accounts is a lifesaver. A good password management solution also helps with access control and account transfer. If your brand’s social media staff ever leave the company, the accounts they managed can be easily recovered from the team’s password manager.

5. Don’t forget Email

Your email accounts are your last line of defense. They allow you to reset passwords for any accounts you signed up for with each email address. Even if you create strong, unique passwords for your brand’s social media accounts, an attacker who accesses your email can reset passwords for accounts connected to that email address. So, you must secure them as well. Create strong, unique passwords for each email account you can find, and set up two-factor authentication on them as soon as possible for an extra layer of defense.

6. Create an Extra Layer of Defense

Passwords are often a weak point in the security of online accounts. They can be leaked, scammed, shared, cracked, or easily guessable, so you shouldn’t rely on them entirely. Instead, you should add another layer of defense: two-factor authentication. That means you need two things to log in to an account: your password (something you know), and your phone (something you have).

Apps like Google Authenticator let you connect online accounts to your phone, which then generates single-use tokens that you use to log in with alongside your password. That means if an attacker guesses your password or tries to reset it, he will be unsuccessful since he doesn’t have access to the phone in your pocket. If you need more flexibility, you can take advantage of services like Authy, which lets you share two-factor authentication tokens between devices within your organization.

7. Chill?

Enjoy your new digital safety net, but remember to stay vigilant. Security threats to your brand won’t stop when you leave the room.

And now that your content channels are locked down, why not confidently display the conversation with TINT? Our content display technology’s enterprise-grade security tends to make hackers sad, compliance teams happy, and marketers even happier. Just be sure to use a strong password or sign in with one of your newly secured social media accounts when you sign up 

The post Social Media Security For Brands: 7 Easy Ways To Get Started appeared first on TINT.