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Social Media Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Tips
Can Google Ads or Facebook Ads Help Your Service-Based Business?
- by Meaghan
Are you wondering if Google Ads or Facebook Ads are the way to go for your service-based business?

To answer this question, we first need to understand the purpose of each ad type:
- Google Ads allow you to reach potential customers when they’re trying to find a solution.
- Facebook Ads (or Meta Ads as they’re called now) are shown to users when they’re on the platform checking out their friends’ posts and updates – they’re better for brand awareness and getting traffic to your website than for getting bookings.
*Remember, Facebook/Meta Ads post to Instagram too. Placements are configured when creating the campaign.

Let’s review the benefits of using Google Ads or Facebook Ads to get your services in front of the right people.

The Argument for Google Ads

Google Ads help to get your business in front of the right people at the right time. When people search for a solution to their problem your product or service addresses (whether they know it exists or not), your company can show up at the top of their search results with an ad on Google.

Currently, Google uses “Ad” in bold letters to show the user which are ads versus the organic search results (a result of SEO). They’re usually the first few results and a few more towards the bottom of the page.

Google Ads are targeted ads based on search queries. This means that people searching for what you offer will be more likely to click through and find out more about your business, call you, or send you their information. With Google Ads, you customize your ad targeting so that it shows up for specific keywords related to your business.

The Argument for Social Media Ads

Social media has transformed how consumers interact – it has become an integral part of business. Through social ads, businesses can tap into this space and create relationships with their customers that may not otherwise exist.

Using social media ads, you can show tailored content specifically to certain groups of people based on audience targeting. It’s a great way to create engagement between customers and your brand – which can ultimately lead to more purchases due to stronger relationships.

Depending on your chosen objective, social ads can get more traffic to your website, create brand awareness, capture leads, promote an app, or get people to convert (in my experience, the sales objective is best for retargeting warm leads).

Facebook and Instagram ads work really well for brand awareness and traffic. They’re also great if you have a download or quiz for lead generation. One Facebook Lead Ad I created for a health coach with a digital download gathered hundreds of email addresses in a month with less than a $100 budget. Over seven months, they spent about $500 in ad spend and brought in over 1,300 leads in the form of email addresses.

Should You Use Google Ads or Facebook Ads?

There are several things to consider when deciding which type of digital ad is the best fit for your business.
- Budget is obviously a major factor. Pricing varies between the two and across social media networks, but both are cheaper than traditional advertising methods like television commercials or radio spots.
- How much time and effort can you put into creating and managing the ads?
- Advertising goals – Do you want website traffic, people to engage with your posts, leads, purchases, or something else?
- What type of audience are you trying to reach? This includes demographics like age, location, and interests, but also where your potential customers or patients are in their journey to make a purchase or schedule a consultation.
Ultimately, it’s important to remember that both types of digital ads can effectively achieve your business goals if managed properly. To be honest, you should probably be using both, and maybe even LinkedIn Ads too.

Here are some more of my insights that will help you when deciding to use Google Ads or Facebook Ads:
- Social media ads are often easier to manage for beginners but do require design work upfront and tweaking throughout the campaign term.
- Don’t waste your money on DIYing Google ads if you don’t have time to check on the ads and keywords weekly at the minimum. It’s better to hire a professional who knows what they’re doing.
- Running larger campaigns across multiple platforms may be preferable if you need maximum exposure.
- If building relationships with customers is most important to you, then investing in social media advertising would make sense over relying solely on Google Ads.
When it comes down to it — test the different options to determine which is most effective for your business goals.

Need help with your online ads? I’m certified in Google Ads Search, and we’ve helped clients create digital ads for several years now. Reach out if you’re ready to take the next step in your online marketing!

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Social Media Marketing, Social Media Tips
Should You Use Hashtags on Instagram?
- by Meaghan
As social media continues to evolve, one of the most talked-about topics right now is whether or not to use hashtags on Instagram. I’m sure you’ve seen influencers dancing around on reels lately, telling you that hashtags are a waste of time and no longer work.

I disagree.

The Argument FOR Hashtags on Instagram

Hashtags tell Instagram what your content is about. They’re a great way to categorize posts, making them visible to users who otherwise may not have found you. However, generic or overly used hashtags like #acupuncture or #yoga are often flooded with other people’s posts, decreasing their effectiveness. Do some research and identify several “long-tail” hashtags like #acupunctureforfertility or #therapeuticyoga.

I’ve discussed the importance of using regional hashtags to improve your local social media presence, so I won’t go into it too much here. The basics are to search neighborhoods, town/city names, and abbreviations for your area to find your local hashtags.

The maximum number of hashtags allowed per Instagram post is now five. It used to be 30, but in February 2024 Instagram rolled out this change. Since you are limited to only five hashtags, make sure they are relevant and directly related to your content. Using none at all will leave your content hidden from potential viewers.

Evaluate Your Hashtag Performance with Instagram Insights

While celebrities and influencers with thousands to millions of followers may not find it necessary to use hashtags, your Instagram Insights will give you a better idea of what’s right for your account.

In the above screenshot, you can see there were 878 impressions from hashtags compared to 423 attributed to Home, Profile, and Other. That’s more than half and is reason enough for me to continue using them.

Check out the insights on your single image and carousel posts to see how many impressions are from hashtags versus from the home feed. This will give you an idea of whether using them has been worthwhile for your account up to this point. You may find out that hashtags aren’t really working for you, in which case I’d recommend doing some hashtag research to find some new ones.

Get Expert Help with Social Media Management for Your Small Business

Ultimately, quality content will encourage others to follow your page and turn followers into customers or patients, not hashtags. But remember, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to using hashtags – it all depends on what works best for you!

Need help managing the social media accounts for your small business? Tidal Creative Group can help! Learn more about our services here and if you don’t see something that works for you, feel free to email [email protected] to discuss other options.

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Social Media Marketing, Social Media Tips
Instagram Pinned Posts – What to Pin on Instagram and How to Pin
- by Meaghan
If you’re like most small business owners, then you’re always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to market your business. And if you’re not already using Instagram, then you’re definitely missing out! Instagram is a great way to connect with your customers and share images of your products, services, share a peek behind the scenes, and so much more.

One of the newest features – and coolest to my marketing-focused mind – is that you can pin posts to your Instagram profile so that they stay at the top of your feed. Instagram pinned posts are front and center for new people first checking you out and those long-time followers who are finally ready to engage more with you.

The question is what to pin. Should you share your most engaged posts, a sales pitch, an educational reel, or something else?

In this blog post, I’ll show you how to set up your three pinned posts on Instagram and a few ideas of what you should be pinning to get the most value out of them.

What to Add to Your 3 Instagram Pinned Posts

Instagrammed pinned posts are a great way to address HubSpot’s Flywheel model that replaces the marketing funnel of days past.

The idea of the Flywheel is to “Attract, Engage, and Delight” the strangers who become prospects, then customers, and eventually promoters of your business. It keeps your business growing. You can learn more about the HubSpot Flywheel on their website.

Back to the Instagram pinned posts…

The three posts that you pin to Instagram should move people along in their buyer’s journey and help them to build a relationship with you and your brand.

Following the Flywheel, let’s look at a few options. The types of posts listed could overlap in multiple steps of the Flywheel:
- Your newest post
- An educational post with a CTA to send you a DM
- A post that quickly shares what you offer
- A Q&A thread post to keep the conversation going
- A client testimonial
- A post that sets the tone for the rest of your feed (colors, fonts, design, etc.)
- A post that explains how people can get started
- An introductory post that shows why you’re the right person to work with
- Your most engaged post or reel
Use a mix of single-image posts, carousels, reels, and videos in your top 3 pinned posts. People absorb information better in different formats so trying to connect in multiple ways is always helpful.

How to Pin Posts to Instagram

The process to pin posts on Instagram is simple to do the first time and when you want to switch out your pinned posts to something else in the future.

Here are three easy steps to set your pinned posts on Instagram once you’ve identified them:
1. Go to your Instagram profile and tap the post.
2. Click the ellipsis (…) and tap “Pin to your profile.”
3. Repeat for the other two posts.
That’s it! You can confirm the three posts that are pinned by the pushpin at the top right of the images on your profile.

Removing pinned posts is just as easy. Click the post you want to remove, tap the ellipsis, and tap “Unpin from your profile.”

Need help with your Instagram strategy?

In addition to our done-for-you services, we also offer digital marketing consulting and coaching. This option saves you some money and allows you to handle digital marketing yourself. Click here to schedule a 20-minute discovery call. Your first 20 minutes are free!

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Blog, Social Media Tips
How Website Load Time on Mobile Affects Your Facebook Page’s Reach
- by Meaghan
Earlier this week Facebook announced that they’ve once again changed the algorithm delineating which content to show in users’ News Feeds. Content shared from websites with slow load times on mobile will decrease in views over the coming months.

“During the coming months we’re making an update to News Feed to show people more stories that will load quickly on mobile and fewer stories that might take longer to load, so they can spend more time reading the stories they find relevant.”

While this should fire you up to check on your own site’s load time, don’t forget about the OPC (Other People’s Content) that you’re sharing. If you share a lot of OPC from a slow moving website, your Page’s overall reach will begin to lessen.

Facebook went on to say that the user’s “current network connection” will also be considered. If the user has a slower network connection, and the web page URL you’re sharing has a long load time, it will appear lower in their News Feed. Obviously, you don’t have control over their network connection, so the focus is on the time it takes your website to load that page on mobile.

Testing and Improving Your Pages’ Loading Times

The first thing you’ll need to do is check mobile load time. Facebook provided a list of Best Practices to Improve Mobile Site Performance that included a few options for evaluating current load time. Below is an example of the information you’ll receive on PageSpeed. This tool was easy to use and very self-explanatory. It even provides suggestions on how to optimize your page further.

I also tried a few of the other tools on Facebook’s list. Instead of an overall grade, many gave me specific load times and were honestly overwhelming with the amount of data provided. Those tools are more for a developer, while the data from PageSpeed offered suggestions I could follow through on myself with a little bit of digging.

As a site owner, this may feel frustrating, but looking at it from a user perspective this algorithm change makes sense. Improving your website for a better mobile experience is necessary in today’s world, especially if you want to reach your audience on Facebook. According to Venture Beat, 56.5% of users only log in to Facebook from mobile. Another eye-opening data point – there are over 1.74 billion mobile monthly active users on Facebook. If you don’t speed up your pages load time over the next few months be prepared to see your Facebook referral traffic fall.

If you don’t improve your loading time over the next few months, be prepared to see your Facebook referral traffic drop. Now more than ever before is the time to consider the user experience of your website.

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Blog, Social Media Tips
How to Educate & Entertain Your Prospects with Videos and Images
- by Meaghan
When it comes to building a relationship with your customers, visuals – specifically videos – are your best option. In this Social Media Day Recap, you’ll hear from various experts on how to educate and entertain your prospects with video and images while guiding them through the buyer’s journey. Read on or watch the video below to learn how your brand can build solid relationships with your audience through the use of video content.

How to Invite User-Generated Content on Snapchat

Mark Kaye, a host on the radio station 95.1 WAPE in Jacksonville, is a Snapchat influencer. During his session, he talked about how to involve your viewers and encourage them to create content. User generated content can then be used in other ways. He made a “12 days of Christmas Mash-up” by asking followers to send him one word that they like most about Christmas. He then took all of the clips and pulled them together to make a video.

Casie Shimansky from Cisco discussed their employee advocacy program. They enlist employees to conduct daily takeovers of their Snapchat. Selected employees are given the password to Cisco’s Snapchat and encouraged to post to their story. Their posts include snapshots of their days while working at Cisco, their favorite products, and more.

Focus on a Problem in Your YouTube Videos

Roberto Blake is a Designer, YouTube Creator, and Marketing Consultant. He recently hit the mark of 1,000 YouTube videos on his channel. Roberto noted how 80% of adults over 25 years old are watching videos on YouTube. To build your brand on YouTube, he recommends owning a problem.

You can look at YouTube as oversaturated, or work to own the problem or solution that your company solves. If you’re not sure what to create your videos about, Roberto recommends starting with a Twitter search of #_____problems (fill in the blank with your industry). Try to address every stage of the buyer’s journey. Create content answering your company’s FAQs to save your sales team time from answering the same questions over and over again.

How 100 Facebook Live Videos in a Month Evolved to Two a Week

Nasdaq’s Head of Social Media, Anna Gonzalez spoke about how they’re using Facebook Live in their content strategy. Their social team consists of three people, but that didn’t stop them from creating 100 videos in one month. A few other months they were pretty high up there with their video count too. They’ve scaled back now and publish about two a week, but they collected a lot of data to analyze during those high volume months.

Anna pointed out that a view is counted after three seconds of a person watching your video. Keep this in mind when analyzing your own videos. Experimentation on Facebook Live is a must, especially with their ever-changing algorithms.

Influencer Marketing and Instagram

Marketing expert Kenny Harper is Co-Founder of Rock My Image in Jacksonville. He talked about influencer marketing and how 92% of those who have worked with influencers see it as successful. To be the best influencer you can be, he says to be consistent. That doesn’t mean daily postings but stick to a schedule.

Chad Israel from Hertz Rent a Car gave real-life examples of how their brand is partnering with influencers. There doesn’t have to be an exchange of money; many influencers will collaborate on a trade if what you are offering is valuable to them. In their case, a rental car. Working with influencer Matt Pierce, Hertz invested about $3,000 in trading a car for two months. Chad said that the return on investment was about $200,000! That’s from images and video assets that the influencer created. This example showed that you don’t need a huge budget to work with influencers.

The final speaker at Social Media Day Jacksonville was Curtis Midkiff from Southwest Airlines. Previously a DJ, his entrance with a Yankees cap and Jay-Z playing in the background only made sense. Curtis reminded everyone about social listening to gauge audience sentiment. He said you need to have a plan but be flexible, adapting as necessary.

Tieing back to part one of my recaps, Carlos Gil said, “The word fun is often lost in marketing.” When creating content of any kind remember to make it enjoyable. People don’t want to see advertisements. But if you make it a pleasurable experience, they may not be so apt to jump away to the next thing online.

[bctt tweet=”The word fun is often lost in marketing. – @carlosgil83 #SMDayJAX” username=”meaghanmae”]

Read and/or watch part one of my Social Media Day Jacksonville Recap: Biggest Takeaway from Social Media Day Jacksonville – Video is a Major Key

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Marketing, Social Media Tips
How to Find Powerful Hashtags for Social Media
- by Meaghan
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had two yoga teachers ask me about how to use hashtags on social media. Technology is often not high on the priority list for many yogis, and I’m gathering that very few in our industry know how to attract new students or customers by properly utilizing hashtags.

If you grew up with social media this may not apply to you, but you still may learn a new way to find powerful hashtags that can help to get your brand noticed. Skip down to the section on Finding Hashtags if you already know how to use them.

Hashtag Basics (or #basics)

Hashtags help you to get noticed. If you click on a hashtag on Twitter, it jumps you to a stream of every tweet with that hashtag. Same goes for Instagram and Facebook. Someone that is interested in yoga is likely to scroll through photos/posts with #yoga. If you’re using #yoga too, they’ll see your image.

Try to use only two per tweet, maybe three max. You should be using them in EVERY tweet you post.

On Instagram put your hashtags in a comment below your caption. You can use up to 30 on Instagram.

For Facebook, a lot of people don’t use them. I’ve even had some people ask me why I was using them there and almost get defensive like I wasn’t following the “Facebook rules.” But, these were individuals who don’t work on digital so, poo on them! If you do use some in your Facebook posts, three is a good number. Test it out and see how your audience takes to it.

LinkedIn is another place where many users aren’t used to seeing hashtags, but you should still be adding them to your posts. The hashtags on LinkedIn help to categorize posts and allow new readers to find your content.

Finding Hashtags

You’ll need to find hashtags that are relevant to what you’re sharing. So if your post is about writing a book use tags like #amwriting #fridayreads #amreading, etc. You can find new ones to use by looking through the streams of others using these hashtags. Click a photo in the hashtag stream you’re viewing and see what other tags that user listed.

If you are targeting a geographical area, use relevant hashtags to your region, i.e. #StAugustine #JaxBeach #Jax. Again, if you look at other people’s posts, you can find new hashtags to use on yours.

Here’s a trick to finding new hashtags on Instagram:
Go to the search section on Instagram and click the Tags tab.
Type in the hashtag you want to find more about (using yoga in my example). You can see from this screenshot a list of other relevant hashtags.
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Click one of the tags and then read the Related hashtags at the top of the page, you can scroll to the right for more. This can be a rabbit hole and lead you to find tons of new relevant tags.
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Hashtag research will lead you to new accounts you may want to take notes from and follow. Reviewing what works for others in your industry is smart. Check out what are other yogis are using that appears to be gaining traction for them.

Another way is to start writing a word and see what tags auto-populate.

When looking for hashtags to use on Twitter, I often consult Hashtagify. It provides you with a popularity rating of a particular hashtag and gives a web of relevant hashtags. Again, this can be a rabbit hole and can lead to an overwhelming amount of results. I use Hashtagify weekly to find new hashtags to use on social media.

Finding hashtags is something you want to revisit regularly. New ones are popping up constantly, and you’ll want to test and reevaluate the ones you are using every so often.

Do you have any other ideas about how to find new hashtags?
Let me know in the comments below!

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