The Importance Versus Annoyance of Two-Factor Authentication

Do you use two-factor authentication, or some other form of advanced password protection for your social media accounts?

Have you ever been locked out of your account due to advanced protection measures?

Two- or multi-factor authentication adds an additional level of friction to the log-in process, which can be frustrating day-to-day, as you need to use a secondary device to access your account. But at the same time, it’s one of the best ways to protect your account from hacking – as is reflected in this new survey by Beyond Identity.

The Psychology of Color in Marketing [Infographic]

Your brand, and how it’s utilized in your marketing, must be done in a careful and thoughtful manner, and the colors that you use to represent your brand and products are very much a part of this consideration. Different colors trigger different psychological responses, and smart use of color can have a big impact on perception, and can even drive action from your audience.

To glean more insight into the impact of different colors in your marketing efforts, the team from LuxurySoCalRealty have put together this infographic, which looks at the various ways in which color can and should be used in marketing.

The Psychology of Color In Marketing and Branding

 The 45-Minutes Instagram Engagement Plan

Are you struggling to dedicate the time required to maximize your Instagram engagement? Want to learn how to achieve social media success in just 45 minutes per day?

The team from The Social Momma share their Instagram engagement strategy in this infographic.

Hobby Ideas for Music Lovers and How to Get Started

Photo via Pexels

Are you looking for a new hobby? If you have a particular fondness for music, consider building your new hobby around a music-related activity. You could learn an instrument, start a music blog, or teach yourself how to record and produce music. You never know, your hobby might even turn into a job one day! Pursuing your passion for music is a great way to spend your leisure time. Here are some tips shared by EmmanuelFonte.com to help you get started with your new music hobby!

Choosing a Musical Hobby

When people think about music as a hobby, they imagine playing an instrument or learning how to sing. But there are many other ways to enjoy music in your free time. In fact, simply listening to music is a hobby in itself! Here are some other music-related activities that can make for rewarding hobbies:

  • Collect vinyl records.
  • Start a music blog.
  • Interview local musicians for a podcast.
  • Write song lyrics.
  • Compose and produce electronic music with your computer.
  • Learn to DJ.
  • Collect band merchandise.
  • Teach music.
  • Read artist biographies and memoirs.

Turn Your Hobby Into a Business

If you’re an entrepreneur at heart, you’re always looking for ways to monetize your hobbies. Thankfully, music hobbies are great candidates for monetization. Consider building a business around your new hobby! Making the leap from hobbyist to business owner just requires a few legal steps. For example, you’ll need to register your business with your state and choose a business structure. Creating an LLC could be a good idea if you’re looking to limit your personal liability and gain special tax advantages. As long as you understand your state’s specific regulations, consider getting an LLC on your own with the help of online formation services.

Learn New Skills

Don’t limit yourself to hobbies that you know how to do already. One of the best parts about picking up a new hobby is the chance to learn! Challenge yourself by picking a hobby that lies outside your existing skills and experience. There are countless resources available online that can teach you whatever you want to learn about your new musical hobby. For example, SkillScouter suggests several online DJ courses that will teach you how to hone your mixing skills.

In the beginning, learning a new musical skill will feel very exciting. But you should be prepared to face some kind of motivation dip as your learning progresses. This is where many people call it quits and start looking for a new hobby to try. Make a commitment to push through lulls in your motivation so you can keep learning and improving!

Connect With Other Creatives

Collaborating with other creatives is a great way to advance your music skills and uncover exciting opportunities in the music industry. And if you’re looking to take your hobby professional, collaboration is essential! Music Industry How To suggests a number of ways to collaborate with other creatives in the music industry. You could co-write music, remix each other’s songs, put on a live show together, or create a collaborative Spotify playlist.

Even if you’re not interested in making money with your music hobby, collaboration is great for learning new skills and maintaining your motivation. Look for online music communities where you can connect with other artists. Online platforms offer all kinds of collaboration opportunities, whether you’re looking to find a producer or simply chat about music with like-minded hobbyists.

If you have a passion for music, start experimenting with some musical hobbies! Music-related hobbies are great for exercising your creativity, working your brain, and winding down after a long day at work. Pick up an instrument or head to your local vinyl shop. Whatever hobby you choose, it’s bound to be rewarding!

Are you looking for a new home that suits your new-found music hobby? Let Emmanuel Fonte help you find the perfect property for you, your family, and your love of music. When you’re ready to get started, get in touch by calling (206) 713-3244.

Twitter Shares Insights into Music Engagement Trends

Music is a key cultural driver, and as such, it can also be a prominent vehicle for trends, memes, communities, and other engagement.

This means that it should also be on the radar of marketers looking for new opportunities to expand their reach on social platforms – and Twitter is a key medium for tapping into trending music discussion.

A Guide for Creating Instagram Reels

Here are the video specs, tools and Reels core features that any creator can use as a reference or learning guide for creating Instagram Reels.

The Internet Every Minute (2022 Version)

It’s amazing to consider the amount of connected activity these days, as we become increasingly reliant on the internet for social connection, entertainment, work, shopping, etc.

That’s become even more evident in recent years, with the pandemic sparking a new shift to working from home, which means that, increasingly, more and more people are reliant on the web for virtually everything they do.

How Often Should You Revisit Your SEO Strategy

Another guest article from the incomparable Mary Aspen Richardson.

The rules of SEO change frequently. As a website owner, you have an obligation towards your business to update SEO regularly. However, doing an audit is not an easy task. And most of all, it is not a quick task. While you want to ensure everything is working as intended, you do not want to overburden yourself with unnecessary audits out of fear that something might be wrong. At the same moment, you don’t want to allow a considerable time gap between two audits. That is why we want to discuss how often you should revisit your SEO strategy.

Understanding the timing and knowing when a change is necessary is crucial. With that in mind, let us delve deeper into the subject and bring it closer to your understanding.

What drives the change in SEO?

A famous saying goes, “If it is not broken, do not try to fix it.” When it comes to doing an SEO audit, we first need to ask ourselves what is not working. The timing of an SEO audit depends on the changes to your website.

Once you understand when changes occur, you will know exactly when to perform an SEO audit. Here are the most common situations that require an SEO audit.

Google algorithm update

Every time Google changes its algorithm, you need to be aware of the changes and review your SEO strategy. They constantly strive to improve user experience, and SEO rules always change. A website’s search rating often goes down after an algorithm update because the game rules have changed. That is when you need to refine your SEO strategy to keep up with the changes.

Your website received a penalty

You might receive a Google penalty if your website does not operate within the SEO rules. That will negatively impact the search rating of the website. There are two types of penalties you can receive:

  • An algorithmic penalty – this is an automated penalty that Google sends if your website does not abide by the algorithm rules;
  • A manual penalty – is issued by a Google employee that manually inspected your website;
Google penalty is a serious issue, and you need to address it as soon as possible by updating your SEO.

penalty may happen on the keyword level, URL level, hostname level, domain-wide, or your entire website might get delisted, which is the worst-case scenario.

You need to review your SEO strategy immediately and make changes when this happens. To make sure these things never happen, you should avoid:

  • keyword stuffing;
  • buying links;
  • posting spam content or content of no value;
  • linking to and from unsafe websites;
  • cloaking or sneaky redirects;
  • hidden text on pages;

There is a change in your marketing strategy

When you decide to build a website for your business, that happens with specific intent. The intent is aligned with your marketing strategy, and your website needs to reflect that. That means that the SEO strategy must fully comply with your marketing campaign’s needs. When the marketing strategy changes, so do SEO requirements. For example, you might want to pursue old sales leads with a different approach or focus on a different market.

At that moment, you need to do an SEO audit to make sure it is in sync with the needs of your business.

Rebranding a business

Businesses often decide to go through a rebranding process. When that happens, the old SEO strategy becomes obsolete. It is a similar case to changing your marketing strategy. The business now goes in a different direction, and it will perhaps target different audience groups.

Moving your website to a new domain

If you decide to move your website to a new domain, it is imperative to do an SEO audit. This type of change may easily result in losing website traffic, and it may hinder the productivity of your business. However, if you carefully approach this change by revisiting your SEO strategy, you have a high chance of making the transition without any consequences to the website’s rating.

Updating content on your website

If you have been running a website for a long time now, there is always a chance that some of the content has become outdated. People are interested in new things or simply want a different take on old content.

Content optimization is crucial because the content is the sole point of interest for your customers.

A common strategy that will generate more interest is if you decide to make your old content more engaging. However, if your audience changes, you must also optimize your content.

The competitor’s strategy changed

As you change your SEO strategy to engage more people, so do your competitors. It is crucial to monitor competitor websites and their marketing approach. You need to be aware of all the changes they are making. When a significant change occurs, it would be a good idea to analyze it and understand its reason. Furthermore, you should also revisit your SEO strategy to see if there is anything you should change.

Launching a new product

Whenever there is a situation where you are launching a new product or an offer, your SEO needs to be updated. This is important because you want your product to be available to the customers as soon as possible.

When to take a holistic approach to search engine optimization?

So far, all the changes we covered are mostly partial changes triggered by a specific situation. However, you can also take a holistic approach to SEO and do a full audit. This is a requirement because so many changes may happen, and you might not detect them on time.

If you wish to rank on the first page of the search results, it is imperative to revisit your SEO strategy in a timely manner.

As a rule of thumb, you should do a full SEO audit every 3 to 6 months, depending on the size of your website. This excellent strategy will allow you to catch some mistakes on time and correct them immediately.

Revisit your SEO strategy on time

Change is natural, and it is necessary for progress. Everything evolves through changes, so do not look at this process with a negative approach. This is your opportunity to improve your website and make sure it is ranked high. As long as you do regular maintenance and revisit your SEO strategy on time, you have nothing to worry about!

Photos Used:

https://pixabay.com/illustrations/search-engine-optimization-3014143/
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/content-marketing-website-web-seo-3679757/
https://pixabay.com/vectors/false-error-is-missing-absent-x-2061132/
https://pixabay.com/vectors/podium-rostrum-victor-victory-win-2026694/

Social Media Marketing Myths You Should Stop Believing

an iPhone with a social media folder full of social media apps

Another great guest post from Mary Aspen Richardson.

Social media marketing is a crucial aspect of any business these days. If you ignore it, you risk losing a lot of profit and growth. However, there is a lot of misinformation about what social media can or cannot do for you. So, we will talk about social media marketing myths you should stop believing.

1. You Can’t Adequately Assess Social Media Marketing

It is usual for folks new to social media marketing to get lost in the data. This is because there is just too much data, and it is hard to go through it all. However, while it may be hard to find, it is there; you just need to know where to look. And if you don’t know where to look, or you’re just new to social media marketing, the best approach would be to hire professional digital marketers or a social media manager. They will know what to look for to measure your marketing accurately.

A person holding a phone with social media marketing statistics displayed on it

However, you must be careful who you hire to help you assess your social media marketing. Another reason this social media marketing myth exists is that inexperienced marketing companies often mislead their clients because they don’t know what they’re doing. Also, if you don’t want to work with professionals at all, there are several digital tools available to assist you in tracking your marketing. 

2. The Audience Will Come To You

We’d all love to be able to go on any social media platform and gain new customers solely on the strength of our products or services. That, however, is impossible. You can’t simply target the platform with advertisements and hope for new customers. Social media marketing relies on a mix of organic and paid advertisements, and for that to work, you must follow your target audience. Instead of choosing a platform just because it has the most users, you should do some preliminary research. Determine which platform your customers use and where they spend the most time. Then, you can create an account and attempt to establish a social media presence.

Furthermore, different social networks will employ different methods to offer advertisements to consumers. For this reason, you need to examine your customers’ interest in the platform and how they engage with it. This is the only way you’ll be able to create a compelling social media marketing campaign and boost your following. Not only that, but knowing your core customer is essential if you want to work on your numbers and attract more followers.

3. You Must Be Present on All Social Media Networks

You may have heard that you must have a social media presence on all major platforms to succeed. That is, however, not the case. Trying to be on all major platforms at once can even hurt you. Managing your social media accounts can be time-consuming and frustrating, and it may end up costing you more than it’s worth. You can’t be everywhere at once, just as in real life. Consider concentrating on one or two platforms if you’re just starting a social media strategy. Make sure that you are giving those platforms all of your attention. Only once you believe you’ve saturated one platform should you move on to another. For most businesses, reaching all of their potential customers on a single platform takes years. Therefore, take your time with just a couple and see where it goes.

It is a good idea to concentrate on only one or two platforms for social media marketing.

4. Only Certain Brands Can Benefit From Social Media Marketing

Many wrongly believe that only companies selling distinctive goods (like clothing, shoes, and jewelry) can benefit from social media marketing. But that is not true. Almost any company can gain from incorporating social media marketing strategies. All you need to do is devise an effective social media marketing strategy. Dental care, property, employment, and decorative items are all regularly promoted on people’s social media feeds. It’s important to stress that virtually any company can benefit from implementing a social media marketing strategy. It doesn’t matter what it is that they’re selling. The only necessary thing is to zero in on your target customer. Everything else will take care of itself.

5. Social Media Advertising Is Expensive

Some people would let you believe that social media marketing is only effective if you spend a lot of money. However, social media can be incredibly affordable if you do it the right way. With some planning, your business can thrive on social media without putting a massive dent in your budget. The amount of money you will need to spend on social media marketing is going to depend on three factors:

  • How large is the target area of your ad? Are you looking for local customers or international ones?
  • How much money do you want to spend on one day of advertising?
  • How many days do you wish your ad to run for?
A person holding burning bills

Caption: Social media ads can be inexpensive if you know what you’re doing. So stop believing such social media marketing myths.

6. Quantity Over Quality

You’ve undoubtedly heard that you must post regularly to operate an effective social media marketing strategy. While this isn’t precisely a social media marketing myth, since quantity is vital, taking that phrase as an absolute may force you to concentrate on the wrong things. Striving for more posts is counterproductive if you ignore the quality of your posts. We’ve seen far too many businesses read a social media marketing guide and then approach it as if it were a quota to fulfill.

Companies will begin spamming empty and hollow posts that do not connect with their audience to meet the required quantity of posts. Many businesses get caught up in the rat race and lose sight of what makes them unique. The best approach to standing out on social media is to be loyal to yourself and concentrate on quality. And with that said, hopefully, now you how what social media marketing myths you should stop believing.

Meta description: If you want to improve your marketing on social media, here are a few social media marketing myths you should stop believing in.

Keyword: social media marketing myths.

Images used:

https://unsplash.com/photos/lqyqm2ICIcY
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