Social media marketing opportunities

As I have mentioned there are several marketing opportunities on social networks like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and many more. Social advertising can be used to convert strangers into customers by using content created for ads that show up on Facebook, Instagram etc. Unfortunately, a lot of companies and small businesses are still are not tapping into the opportunities that social media presents. As times change and technology progresses, businesses need to use such marketing opportunities to reflect the trends of their targeted audience. Every business should consider social media marketing to bring in further success. Ultimately, the shift in the use of social media has completely changed the objective of any successful marketing plan, the following are examples of marketing opportunities provided by social networks.

There are several marketing opportunities like having increased exposure, creating increased traffic and attention to a business or brand, helps improve sales or services, opportunity to grow a fan base that include loyal customers, and creates opportunities for partnerships with fellow brands. Every social media network has different opportunities for marketing, therefore, it is critical to understand what the objective is and use them properly. Using social media network allows businesses to gain research and information that can be beneficial to understanding their audience, through the use of ads, likes and polls businesses can gain market insight. These tools grant the ability to measure conversions based on posts on various social media platforms to find the perfect combination for generating revenue.

Another opportunity granted is the ability to save money as social networking marketing is cost effective. Social media marketing is the most cost effective aspect of marketing for any business whether big or small. Almost all social media networks offer free profile creation and any advertising done through them are half the price of traditional marketing plans, therefore the investment is cheaper compared to traditional marketing. Not only is it cheaper but it is less time consuming than regular marketing tactics. In fact, just six hours per week can be enough to generate increased traffic. In the end, any company that devotes at least an hour a day to developing their content and marketing advertising strategy may start seeing the results of their efforts fairly fast. Ultimately, there are several marketing opportunities on social media networks that every company should either invest time or money into. 

How to take #OOTD pictures

How many times have you scrolled through Instagram and seen girls take these awesome #OOTD pictures? If you follow me, then you know I love posting mirror OOTDs, so much that I have a highlight dedicated to them. When it comes to actual OOTD pictures, you do not need a glam squad, or a professional camera to get a really great shot. I wanted to share 10 of my personal tips to getting an Instagramble shot of your OOTD. 

FIND A LOCATION

I like to take all my outfit pics in front of plain white walls. This keeps the focus on my outfit, keeps my feed cohesive, and allows my outfit's colors, textures and details to pop. It seems like a lot of effort but it is actually not, look around your neighborhood and you will notice how many plain white walls there are. Often times, I will be driving to work, the mall or home and notice so many spots for OOTD pictures around me. When all fails, I like to use my garage door as the background. 

LIGHTING

Even if you have your entire picture, pose, props and outfit planned down to the details, lighting can make or break the shot. Natural light is best for #OOTDs and selfies too. I like to have the light in front of me and try to avoid having too many shadows on my face. Another factor is choosing the right time to shoot your shot to avoid being too bright or full of those unwanted shadows. 

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Often times, people ask me how do I pose so naturally, and the truth is that for every good picture there is about ten silly faces. Nailing just the right pose can be hard. I like to practice in a mirror so I know which poses work best for each outfit and my body type. Try to remember the poses that make you look and feel your best. Learn your best sides and most flattering angles. For example, I am only 5 feet tall and have very wide hips, so I avoid pictures that are straight on, I like to angle my hips and rest all my weight on the foot not facing the camera. Another tip to elongate your body is to create triangles, whether with your arms or legs. 

HAVE SOMEONE HELP

People are usually surprised to know that a lot of my pictures are taken by my mom, dad, or my bestfriend. Often times, what I like to do is take a pic of them first, lining up the shot exactly how I want it to look. I show them the picture, we swap places, then it is easy for them to recreate the shot easily. This comes in handy when you want an exact shot done in a certain way. Often times, I show an inspo picture at the same exact spot to make it even easier to recreate. Another tip, is having whoever is taking your picture talk to you to achieve those cute effortless candid's. My bestfriend will say things like walk, twirl, look left, and make me laugh, to achieve different shots. It might feel ridiculous at the time, but a laugh makes for a great picture. When in doubt go for a hair flip. Trust me, anything is better than a forced smile or an unnatural pose.

SET TO SQUARE

If you plan to upload your #OOTD directly into Instagram, use the square option on your phone or take the picture with enough space to crop it into a square. That way you’re sure to have all the details in your final shot, because how many times have you had a great shot but you have to choose between your full head or your shoes. 

TRY DIFFERENT ANGLES

Is your straight on picture just not working? Try taking some from a little above or a little below. Different perspectives make a huge difference. Recently, I have started to flip my iPhone upside down when I want to look taller, or I am trying to achieve that perfect kick picture. 

TRY SITTING DOWN

There is no rule that says the picture has to be standing up, so try a seated pose from time to time. I especially love them because they make my legs look longer, if I pose my legs slightly towards the camera. 

TAKE A TON OF PICTURES

Have whoever is taking the pictures keep snapping all while you’re making small, slight movements. This will give you a nice variety of pictures and poses to choose from. How many times has your body looked amazing but you smile is a little off? To avoid this, make small changes with every click, this gives you more options to choose from. 

DONT FORGET DETAILS

Do no wrap your mini shoot without getting a few pics of your jewelry, bag, and shoes so you’ll have even more gorge feed. Recently, my bestfriend took an up-close of my top and the shot was gorgeous. 

EDITING 

Once all the hard work is done, the fun process begins. I personally love editing my pictures and playing with the different colors in the shot. The reality is that no matter how great a camera you use, no lens is better than the human eye. Therefore, I like to use either Lightroom, Snapseed, or VSCO to enhance my pictures, which also helps you create a cohesive aesthetically pleasing feed. About a year ago, I learned how to make my own presets in Lightroom, which makes editing a 1, 2 step. Once I select the pictures I like, I import them to Lightroom and simply apply the same preset to all, which makes it easier to narrow down to the ones I want to post. 

I hope my tips can help any girl or guy, who often struggles to create OOTD content. Let me know if you have your own tips and tricks, I am always looking for new ideas. 

Choosing the Right platforms

Social media was once thought of as a fad, yet has created a significant impact on the way businesses market their brands. However, despite all the potential social media marketing has, businesses still struggle to fully embrace its effectiveness. Yet, though there are several success stories, there are still many social media challenges businesses need to understand that do not come from textbooks. In fact, there are several challenges that businesses face when using social media marketing such as not knowing which social media outlet to use, failure to understand the meaning behind hashtags, not knowing their audience, and not creating engaging content. 

As I have mentioned, Facebook is the leading social media outlet for businesses to create pages, events, and advertise. In my opinion, not using the right platforms or using them incorrectly is the greatest challenge businesses face with social media marketing. Very few businesses research their target markets thoroughly enough to identify the platforms where their target audience is active. Not understanding a business’ audience means marketers are wasting efforts and resources on platforms that are not bankable. Investing in the wrong platforms can exhaust a business budget, time and efforts. Additionally, several businesses fail to even start a Facebook page and spend all their time and efforts on Instagram, which does not hold the same audience size and engagement as Facebook. 

Moreover, in order to avoid these challenge businesses must understand their audience and how to reach them properly. For example, if you want to establish a personal connection, Twitter is your best bet. On the other hand, Instagram is great if you want to force influencers to spread brand awareness. Learning about your audience and where they are most active is vital to any marketing plan. For the most part, humans are visually stimulated beings, therefore creating good content for Facebook is essential. In the end, if you do not create a strong presence on the right platforms, a business can lose to their competitors. 

58 Gourmet

First stop on the Welcome to the Real Miami Tour is 58 Gourmet, located in downtown Doral. I stumbled upon this place when I was looking for "cute" coffee shops in Miami and it definitely does not disappoint. This family owned Venezuelan bakery is meant for any girl that loves coffee and girly Instagram-able locations. The wallpaper is to die for and the furniture gives it a very European coffee shop vibe with probably the best lighting for selfies or a quick spontaneous photo shoot. An added bonus is the delicious coffee and pan dulce they sell, because how sad would it be to visit a cute place with nasty or mediocre food. For me to say it was delicious is a pretty big deal because though I am a coffee connoisseur, I am not into sweets at all. But there was definitely something about the pan dulce and the nutella croissant, I highly recommend for everyone to go visit and support this small business.

 

Welcome to the REAL Miami: A series of Places to go

Welcome to the REAL Miami. 

I wanted to share with both locals and tourists, the real side of Miami that is not Miami Beach or Wynwood. Locals and tourists can agree that the best things to do in Miami extend beyond lounging on the sand though, spending some time on the best Miami beaches is fundamental to life in the 305. Yet, as locals we have noticed in recent years, many areas in Miami have stepped up their game with new restaurants, art, shops, and fun things to do. Since I am always chasing the next cool instagrammable spots, I dare you to join me checking off these essential Miami experiences in this Journey called 

Welcome to the Real Miami. 

Budget & Bougie

Let’s be real, we all want to look classy, expensive and well put together, but, often times our wants don't meet our wallet's need to stay green.  

While I believe that some expensive fashion items scream wealth and individuality, I also know some tips for looking bad and bougie on a budget. This post is not about how to show off that you have money but rather how to look expensive, powerful, and put together. 

Before we go on, you may be wondering why do I care to look more expensive? For me, dressing to look more expensive is less about trying to impress other people and more about feeling confident, well put together and polished everyday. Ultimately, when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you attract positivity into your life. In fact, studies show that dressing well, does in fact effect our performance and makes us feel better about ourselves and more confident. So, here are a few tips to looking more expensive. 

1. Wear all black

2. Dress Monochromatic

 

3. When buying basics, stick to black, white, gray or camel tones.

4. Always wear the right size.

5. Avoid wearing distressed or ripped jeans.

6. Add gold jewelry to elevate any outfit.

7. Presentation is key, always take care of your clothes by ironing, washing and steaming them properly.

8. Only splurge on pieces that are inter-wearable to create a volt of staple pieces.

9. Avoid wearing too many labels and mixing labels. You don't want to be a walking ad.

10. Invest in quality over quantity. Do we have nothing to wear or have we spent too much money on high quantities, rather than high quality pieces? 

11. Wear a structured bag.

12. Keep good personal hygiene.

13. When in doubt simple is better. 

I hope these small tips are helpful enough to make subtle changes in your day to day outfit selections and always remember to ...

dress for the life you wish to live. 

Why invest in social media marketing

As times change and technology progresses, businesses need to create marketing action plans to reflect the trends of their targeted audience. Every business should consider social media marketing to bring in further success. Social media is controlled by customers, which means that businesses can benefit from a social media marketing action plan to enhance their brand. Each social media outlet holds their own value to businesses as they all target and function differently, yet cohesively. Ultimately, the shift in the use of social media has completely changed the objective of any successful marketing plan.

In order for any business to create a productive social media action plan, it must focus on engagement with users and get involved in active listening through the use of social media.  There are two different types of active listening, participant listening (asks for feedback and comments through business social media outlets) and unobtrusive listening (searches on conversations regarding the business product or services). Additionally, statistics show that customers prefer social media marketing as it allows them to rate and get information on products through users like themselves. Roughly around fifty percent of social media users have made buys solemnly based on social media brand recommendations.

Yet, a very small percentage of businesses have or use both social media marketing or even use social media outlets to reach their customers. Therefore, it is important to understand and acknowledge both the pros and the challenges presented by social media marketing. Some of the key positives of using social media marketing include brand recognition and authenticity, lower marketing costs, building customer trust and feedback and breeding brand communities. Though, social media marketing has its perks to create customer loyalty and build brand awareness, it is still a participation in public unedited conversation forums. Businesses need to construct a social media marketing plan that is prepared to handle negative conversations and feedback. Ensuring that what they post and how they interact creates a professional brand to its user. Additionally, businesses need to fully understand and educate a themselves on the use and rules of social media use in order to avoid legal implications. 

Unfortunately, businesses must be aware of difficult customers who seek to write bad reviews when the opportunity is presented (aka Karens), but writing down a set of rules will manage and overcome these challenges. As a result, once a business understands the main purpose of social media marketing, it can do a lot to increase your traffic and grow the success of the business. To sum it up, businesses who do not engage in social media marketing, miss out on a huge opportunity to connect with potential customers.