Now admins can display more relevant data on the user page (5 columns vs. 3). Admins can also sort and filter any column to quickly find what they need.
Sort and filter users by clicking on the topic at the top of the column (name, team, role, status, etc.). Customize and choose up to five topics to display by selecting the gear icon to the right.
Admin: Bulk send activation email
Want to add new users but delay sending users their activation email until training day?
Admins can upload new users but opt to bulk send the users’ welcome email when the time is right.
Admin: Device Management supports more devices
Device management allows admins the freedom to control devices right in NextOS. Find a full list of supported devices here, but here are the latest additions:
Sarah Skidd is a Product Marketing Manager for Nextiva. Former small business owner and mom of a bunch of kids, Sarah’s a mix of strategist and boots-on-the-ground doer. Off the clock, she’ll sneak in a hike or bribe her kids to join her in Rummikub.
Building a robust online presence for your business doesn’t happen by accident; it takes a clear vision and purposeful action.
In 2023, companies aiming to leapfrog their rivals can’t simply let their brand take care of itself, nor can they chase every shiny new trend; those are quick ways to become just another face in the crowd.
If you’re looking to maximize your company’s online presence, you must start with the essentials before moving toward modern strategies used by successful brands to protect their online reputation.
Keep reading to learn how to join these frontrunners.
Why Your Business’ Online Presence Matters More Than Ever
The data speaks for itself: A 2023 Brightlocal survey found a whopping 98% of consumers turn to the Internet for information about local businesses, up 8% since 2019.
The top three positions in Google account for 54% of all clicks (via Brightlocal)
But with so many channels, platforms, search engines, and generative AI platforms like ChatGPT becoming widespread, where should a business owner start?
You guessed it: Google.
That same Brightlocal survey named Google as the most trusted review platform. In fact, 87% of consumers used it to check out local businesses in 2022.
Beyond Google, it’s important to monitor your online presence and where your customers are. Social media giants like Facebook and Instagram provide opportunities to connect with customers.
Depending on your business’ niche, review sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, and BBB can significantly influence consumer choices. Focusing on building your presence across the most important networks goes a long way toward building an exceptional customer experience.
Building Your Online Presence: The Basics
Boost search engine visibility with SEO
Did you know that less than 1% of users scroll past the first page of search results? Earning a top spot on search engine results pages (SERPs) isn’t just a badge of honor; it’s a necessity to ensure your business gets noticed.
That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in handy.
According to Backlinko, the top listing in a Google search result has an average click-through rate (CTR) of 27%. Using SEO best practices can help you reach these lucrative search result spots.
The top three positions in Google account for 54% of all clicks (via Backlinko)
SEO techniques include on-page optimization to ensure that your content aligns with the search terms customers care about. Quality mentions signal to search engines that your site is credible and authoritative.
Google also takes into consideration the user experience. It’s no mystery that top-ranking pages and businesses attract the most positive customer reviews.
If you have your content marketing formula perfected, you’re likely to reap the rewards. SEO increases your visibility on search engines, amplifies brand awareness, bolsters website traffic, and can lead to higher conversions and sales. Simply put, it launches you ahead of your competition in a big way.
Claim and optimize online listings
Claim your company listings
The foundation of building an online presence includes claiming and polishing your listings on platforms like Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and Yelp.
According to FreshChalk, Yelp appears in the top five search results for 92% of Google searches, including city and business categories. Think of Yelp as a digital doorway, especially if you’ve got a brick-and-mortar business. To maximize your reach, start with Yelp and Google Business Profile before venturing onto niche-specific platforms.
Optimize listings with great content and keywords
Next, upload vivid photos, craft engaging descriptions, target specific audience needs, and shoot the occasional video to give folks a peek behind the scenes. And always keep your operational hours up-to-date.
With 76% of people searching on their smartphones daily for local businesses, keeping your listings current and enticing will lure more of them to your door.
And don’t overlook the keywords that your audience searches for. Approach your listings like you would your website: If you’ve conducted keyword research for your website, apply the same approach to your listings.
Utilize all free listing features
Employ underutilized listing features that many competitors might bypass, such as promotions, GBM posts, and Q&A sections.
As Josh Pizarro, Google’s Strategic Partner Manager, puts it, “By not using all the free features Google offers, such as website creation, ad hosting, or GMB messaging, many businesses are missing out on business-building opportunities…regularly updated GMB profiles receive 5X more views.”
Build trust with reviews
Have you ever browsed a restaurant’s Yelp page before trying their famous lasagna or sifted through Google reviews before purchasing those “most comfortable sneakers ever”? You’re not the only one! Platforms like Yelp, Facebook, and Google aren’t just digital communities; they’re where people get real.
Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor are top review sites for B2C businesses (via Reviewtrackers)
But understanding the importance of customer reviews is only half the battle. Go the extra mile by attracting glowing reviews and turning them into a loyal fanbase of customers.
This is where businesses often miss the mark. It’s best practice for businesses to engage with reviews, whether they’re positive or negative. It demonstrates that you’re receptive and appreciate every customer’s journey. That extra step makes a difference, like that surprise “thank you” card that showed up in the mail.
Leverage social media channels strategically
Recent studies show that 31% of consumers discover new brands through social media. But while its potential is undeniable, embarking on every social platform isn’t the key — strategy is.
It all starts with getting clear about who you’re speaking to. Understanding your audience’s interests, where they live, what they do, and where they spend most of their time online is paramount. From there, you simply connect with them using the right messages within their preferred channel.
Each channel has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Social media platforms vary by audience and intent (via WordStream)
Deciding on which channel to build your online presence is as easy as identifying which one your target audience spends their time on.
Likewise, each platform has its own specialties, ideal content forms, and sectors from which it benefits the most. Each network operates through its own content algorithm to show users the content they prefer, but we suggest not worrying about that.
Instead, focus on producing content that your audience adores, promote it on the correct social media accounts, and the rest will follow.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
First, identify where your audience predominantly hangs out online. TikTok might be your playground if you’re a B2C brand with a Gen-Z audience, whereas LinkedIn could take a backseat. Conversely, posting long-form, serious content on Snapchat may not be the wisest course of action.
The strategy is clear: Match your social media profiles with your brand’s persona and audience.
Next, think about your content. Brands with a great social media presence show authenticity. They’re transparent, relatable, and consistently engaged. Incorporate a mix of images, videos, sharp industry insights, and influencer marketing.
Foster connections through email
As social media engagement rates continue to plummet and X (formally known as Twitter) draws continued controversy, focusing on marketing channels that you have more control over is more important than ever.
Engaging with your email list is the best way to build more direct relationships with potential customers. Being consistent and adding value to someone’s day via their inbox helps your brand stand out to consumers.
The research backs this up: Email marketing regularly outperforms social media ROI, delivering impressive engagement metrics such as click-through rates.
Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Online Presence
Experiment with AI tools for content
It’s impossible to miss the rise of generative AI tools and apps. Major players like ChatGPT and Bard can significantly streamline your marketing workflow, save you time, and multiply your output.
Whether brainstorming social media marketing ideas for your content calendar or optimizing your website, there are endless business applications for generative AI. If you’re not already using these tools, know that your competition is.
Optimize for the new world of AI-driven search
Search and local marketing are not immune to the influence of AI, either.
Informational searches will likely be the most affected as users adapt to these changing technologies. It remains to be seen how online search will shift, but it’s best to consider how a decrease in organic traffic or ad revenue might affect your business.
On the bright side, AI-assisted searches streamline how consumers find relevant businesses. As Triton Commerce forecasts, AI will help deliver more accurate results based on the user’s past interactions.
The future looks promising, but it’s up to business owners to fine-tune their online presence and ensure they remain visible and ahead of the competition.
Bing is already pushing its AI chatbot, and it won’t be long before Google incorporates Bard into its search engine. Reflecting on the potential effects AI may have on your business has never been more important.
Master the art of short-form video
Short-form videos are an extremely powerful tool in your content arsenal. Forbes highlights that they catch 66% of consumer attention, are 2.5 times more engaging, and are perceived as more genuine than longer videos. Whether it’s for TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts, the power of short-form video shouldn’t be underestimated.
Videos with killer hooks targeted at an audience’s specific needs can generate huge engagement. It can take time for businesses to master this unique style, but the rewards can be monumental.
If video production has you shaking your head, enlist the help of an expert who can help you produce content in this medium. Small businesses should consider engaging a freelancer who specializes in transforming basic video clips into highly engaging content.
Launch a podcast
Brands are constantly hunting for fresh platforms where they can truly be noticed and heard. Enter the world of podcasting, an avenue with growing potential to captivate new customers on a massive scale.
Data from InsideRadio underscores this: 75% of listeners trust podcast hosts more than their social media counterparts, leading to 60% of these listeners making a podcast-recommended purchase.
So why does podcasting offer such a unique edge?
It’s likely due to the feeling of having a conversation. Podcasts feel authentic, intimate, and genuine. This helps bridge the trust gap and allows brands to overcome skepticism.
The bad news is that starting a podcast is anything but simple. But with fewer businesses harnessing its power, podcasting is a relatively untapped channel. It’s a chance to stand out in a saturated market and foster profound relationships with your audience.
Maintaining and Growing Your Online Presence
Now that you have the basics covered, it’s time to grow and retain attention through digital marketing strategies. Your competitors are always active, so to stand out, you must actively work on your digital brand and turn visitors into fans.
Streamlining this process is simple and starts by focusing on these key strategies:
Stay consistent: Consistency is the key to brand recognition. Whether it’s your posting schedule, tone of voice, or visual branding, delivering a uniform brand persona across every touchpoint is important.
Engage: Think of your online presence as a community hub, with vibrancy coming from ongoing interactions. Rather than posting and ghosting, make an effort to answer questions, welcome feedback, and address critiques.
Team up with like-minded entrepreneurs: Brand collaborations and guest posts act like word-of-mouth endorsements. You expose your brand to an engaged community, gaining new loyal customers at the same time.
Invest in advertising: Digital ads help new brands struggling with organic visibility, and for established businesses, they boost existing sales, reach, and community growth.
Begin here for hands-on guidance on sustaining your strong online presence with effective marketing strategies. Each online marketing channel demands constant attention and care.
Maintain your profiles and track reviews: Keep business profiles fresh and accurate across all platforms. Stagnant or incorrect details can hurt your credibility and search ranking. Review feedback, address grievances promptly, and show gratitude for positive reviews.
Be interesting on social media: Brands that shine on social media platforms are the ones that engage their communities. Take part in brand-centric discussions and respond to comments and DMs.
Embrace multi-channel marketing campaigns: Sync your messaging across all channels, be it social media pages, your blog, emails, digital ads, or influencer collaborations. High-quality, integrated content campaigns yield maximum reach and engagement.
Choose the right marketing tools: Streamline the workflow of maintaining an online presence with effective tools. All-in-one social media management tools like Nextiva help small business owners monitor all social channels, engage with customers, and easily analyze social media performance.
2023 Growth Strategy: Building Your Brand’s Digital Footprint
Regardless of whether you’re a brick-and-mortar store or an online business, your web presence is more than just a virtual storefront; it’s the key to building, persuading, and retaining your audience.
Here’s a refresher on our most important takeaways:
Consumer behavior: A massive 98% of consumers turn to the internet to discover local businesses and before making e-commerce transactions.
SEO: It’s the magnet pulling consumers to your doorstep, with the top result garnering a 27% click-through rate.
Trust factor: Online reviews are today’s word-of-mouth, with 91% trusting them as much as personal recommendations.
Consistency and engagement: Your online brand voice should be steady, engaging, and evolving.
So, what’s next? It’s time to roll up your sleeves.
Seeking out a brand online is about to change in big ways. Bing’s new search engine features strongly recommend that people use generative AI. Google’s not far behind with Bard and its upcoming Search Generative Experience.
Basically, everyone’s search experience is about to change. Visitors won’t necessarily reach your homepage but rather an in-depth article that meets the needs of your target audience.
But if you’re struggling to keep up, Nextiva has you covered. Our platform consolidates your web presence across all digital touchpoints, ensuring you never skip a social media post — or a customer. Monitor your brand identity, engage in real-time, and analyze your performance, all from one dashboard.
Chris Reaburn is the Chief of Strategic Execution at Nextiva. Known as "Reaburn" by friends/family, he is responsible for championing Nextiva's brand and products into the market in support of the company's vision to change the way businesses around the world work and serve their customers. With his previous leadership roles in the communications industry…
It seems like a new social network pops up every month, and you’re missing out. If you feel this way, you’re not alone.
Social media is evolving with new social platforms, features, and usage trends. For small business owners, it can be challenging to keep up with the latest social media trends and successfully manage social media.
As you’re tuning up your marketing strategy, our guide to the top marketing trends on social media will get you up to speed on the social media landscape.
There are several key social media trends to note in 2023. They will help you to optimize your content marketing and engagement on various social media channels.
Top social media platforms
Based on the average number of active monthly users, the top social media platforms are Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp.
Social Network
Number of active monthly users (billions)
Facebook
2.95
YouTube
2.51
WhatsApp
2
Instagram
2
WeChat
1.3
TikTok
1.05
Trends in Video Content
TikTok: The king of short-form video
One of the top social media trends is short-form video.
TikTok is now a popular social platform, especially for younger generations. The app grew tremendously in 2022, exceeding 1 billion active users globally. TikTok’s users doubled from 2020 to 2022, surpassing other social media platforms.
In addition, TikTok’s short videos are popular with social media users. A February 2023 study by Insider Intelligence found that US adults spend about 56 minutes daily on TikTok.
This study reveals that creative marketing efforts engage the general TikTok community. Using a mix of hashtags, shorts, and audio tactics can expand your reach beyond the younger demographic (millennials and Gen Zs).
Small businesses should develop the habit of regularly posting on TikTok. Even businesses that are not a good fit for the app can find creative ways to use TikTok for marketing and brand awareness.
And it’s not all fun and play. Content creators earn their livings reviewing and sharing their hot takes on products and services. On the other side of the coin, brands reach a highly engaged audience to drive more product sales.
Social platforms continue to add more business capabilities. It’s common for utilities like clickable shopping links, integrated payment options, and ads integration to be included. These functions enable customers to do business without leaving the platform. Enabling them on your social media profiles enables your followers to find and purchase your products.
Rise of vertical video
Vertical video that is optimized for mobile users continues to rise across social apps. On TikTok and Reels, the vertical format consumes the entire phone screen. Instagram even allows users to post vertical photos natively.
Small businesses need to adjust short-form video content for vertical formats because many people access social media from their smartphones. Shorter vertical videos feel more immersive and command greater attention. The TikTok style of quick cuts and text or graphic overlays works well.
But don’t completely abandon landscape formats. You should use both vertical and horizontal orientations for different contexts. Even so, new video content should focus on the mobile-first vertical.
Live streaming and video content surge
Last year, most social media platforms experienced a surge in live and pre-recorded video content. Creators and brands alike engaged users with entertaining video content—fueled partly by algorithms that keep delivering content most likely to be consumed.
No doubt, video remains an effective way to showcase walk-through services and portray company culture. Live streaming gives a raw, unedited look into your brand. From product launches to behind-the-scenes, going live allows engagement with customers in real-time.
Videos that are less than one minute in length do well on TikTok and Instagram Reels. As video content grows in 2023, brands must create engaging videos for social apps.
Trends in Search
Increasing importance of local searches
While visual content is rising, optimizing content for search engines remains crucial.
People on social media still use Google and other search engines to reach ecommerce sites. Over 20% of sales occur online, so ensuring that your business appears in relevant local searches is critical to driving traffic and conversions to your site.
E-commerce continues to increase its role in all retail sales (via Tidio)
Small businesses should begin by building local SEO staples like a Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business). As they expand, more efforts can be directed toward writing blog posts and other engaging, informative content.
Google has been making rapid changes to search results lately. Local businesses should focus on making themselves appear within a “Local Pack” that features business profiles, online reviews, and location information. These are a big deal — they consume more “square footage” on the results page above the organic results. According to Semrush, they appear in 22% of searches.
Local Pack presence appears on approximately 22% of all Google searches (via Semrush)
In addition to your social media content creation efforts, incorporate relevant keywords that customers will use to find you. Adding videos and images helps earn more search traffic to your social media posts. While not directly related, social media strategies support content distribution.
Artificial intelligence fuels innovation in online searches
Beyond local searches, massive changes are coming to how people will search with Google or Bing with help from artificial intelligence (AI).
Search Generative Experience (SGE) aims to provide the most personalized results with conversational answers to people who are seeking recommendations. Succinctly, this means business owners need to rethink how they approach organic searches and produce the highest quality content that meets visitor intent, even if it’s particularly narrow.
If you haven’t already done so, ensure that you’ve verified your website on Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools so you can monitor how well your site appears in organic searches.
Screenshots of Google Search Console (left) and Bing Webmaster Tools (right)
Trends in Social Media Content
Emphasis on Brand Humanization
Consumers increasingly demand authenticity from brands on social media. Strategies that only focus on sales messages seem to be the old-fashioned way to connect with target audiences.
Share your brand’s story with team members so they can repackage your brand story when talking with others. Engaging with customers and showing behind-the-scenes activity will create a sense of approachability.
People like brands that support social issues and causes. So, showing values such as diversity and inclusion connect with customers’ beliefs.
When humanizing your brand, be careful not to overdo it. According to BuzzStream, 45% of customers unfollow a brand because of “too much self-promotion.” If you only promote your brand, customers will quietly ignore you.
Balancing selling with humanization is vital for small businesses on social media. Focus more on relationship-building than promotions alone.
Influencer marketing takes center stage
Influencer marketing continues to be a powerful channel for brands. Partnering with your niche’s nano- and micro-influencers and experts can expand your reach.
Nearly two-thirds of consumers trust influencer recommendations (via Shopify)
Due to high user trust in influencers, their organic recommendations convert well. Smaller influencers typically have greater engagement and more approachable pricing. Look for influencers who align well with your brand values for authentic co-marketing.
Quality content and hashtags in your social posts help tap into existing communities. An omnichannel strategy that balances your channels with influencer outreach is necessary, as it creates a multiplier effect for driving brand awareness.
Notable influencer Forrest Jones posted a video featuring a product to enhance Apple CarPlay (via Ubiquitous)
Incorporating user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) builds social proof and credibility for brands in an authentic manner. Your customers create the most interesting content about your business. This includes things like reviews and sharing on social media.
Making UGC an integrated part of your strategy can increase engagement and conversions. Your followers want to see real customers enjoying your brand in action. They resonate more than polished, stock-style images.
Ways to encourage UGC include running contests, creating branded hashtags, and leveraging reviews. Be sure to get the user’s permission before re-sharing their content. Also, proper crediting and attribution are a must. When featured appropriately, UGC shows tangible social proof.
The ‘Story’ content format works
As a social media trend, the Story feature, used across multiple platforms, is still a great way to share timely content and boost engagement. The format allows sharing things that are relevant at the moment versus permanent posts.
Stories expire quickly, making your promotions and events feel exclusive and urgent. Maintaining an active presence keeps your brand top of mind. Use creative templates and editing to make Stories better than basic phone videos. Quality wins over quantity in this area.
Leverage Stories for deals, product launches, event updates, and employee takeovers. The casual format feels authentic for behind the scenes. Interactive options like polls and questions encourage viewers to respond actively.
The best time to post Stories tends to be when people check their phones in the mornings and evenings (via Buffer)
Many social media platforms, including Facebook, have redesigned their apps to replicate Instagram’s Stories feature because of its ability to grab the attention of social media users.
The metaverse and augmented reality
On the horizon, the metaverse and augmented reality (AR) present new opportunities for social media marketing. As virtual worlds become mainstream, brands can establish their presence.
Early metaverse activations include virtual storefronts and meeting experiences like the one shown below of Microsoft and Meta. It’s still a bit too early, but with upcoming VR headsets from Apple and Meta, don’t completely write this off.
Example of a team meeting in the Metaverse from Microsoft (via Meta)
Larger businesses can use AR for social commerce by adopting it in showrooms and virtual stores. They can also create custom-branded filters on Snapchat and Instagram. Offering AR experiences allows customers to view products in their actual environments before they purchase.
For small businesses, the metaverse social media trend is less fruitful. Facebook and Apple are developing plans to bring a digital universe to everyday life—but we’re a long way from that today.
To future-proof your strategy, explore how emerging technologies position your brand as a leader, not a follower. Being an early adopter also lets you stay ahead as your company grows.
This social media trend is emerging but not yet mainstream. So, we don’t recommend making this the cornerstone of your social media strategy.
Aim for brevity in social media content
The content overload on social media has users scrolling past anything that doesn’t immediately grab their attention. This puts a premium on concise video content that delivers value quickly.
For businesses, this means that concise writing and editing are crucial. Here are some tips for writing something catchy for your audience:
Blog-style, long paragraphs don’t translate: Save longer posts for blogs and IGTVs.
Use bullet points: Lists make content more scannable.
Ensure quality graphics: Images and videos should be eye-catching and high-quality on visual platforms like Instagram.
Direct captions: Clear and clever captions reinforce your message.
Well-designed, snappy quote cards: This works well for driving thought leadership.
Beyond trends, specific platform updates also impact digital marketing tactics:
Twitter rebrands as X. Twitter’s rebranding to X will likely require businesses to change their website Twitter bird logos. The impact on companies with a social media presence on the app remains to be seen.
Facebook Threads. Though built off Instagram, it presents an environment that is similar to Twitter. Instagram users on Threads usually like photos and videos, but the app is subject to experimentation. However, as Jack Appleby states in his newsletter, a winning brand strategy on Twitter should also work on Threads.
Instagram ads: Ad placements in reels and Stories are gaining prominence. Recently, IG added more shoppable ad formats like carousels and longer videos.
YouTube Shorts: Short-form vertical video views skyrocketed. YouTube made creating and optimizing Shorts easier for more content.
LinkedIn videos: LinkedIn is embracing more video content with platform upgrades. Creators can reach business audiences with bite-sized videos.
Pinterest Story Pins: Story Pins are a vital component of Pinterest. They combine many pages with mixes of text, images, and video for visual storytelling.
Spotify podcast ads: You can reach podcast listeners with targeted ads using Spotify’s streaming ad platform.
How Businesses Can Stay Ahead
With social media’s rapid pace of change, staying agile and adaptable is vital for brands. Here are tips for small businesses to effectively integrate the latest:
Commit to learning: Continually browse social networks to understand users’ interactions and identify channels worth prioritizing. Use social listening and social media management tools to analyze conversations about your brand and target audience.
Schedule flexibility: Build a buffer room to test new formats as they emerge. Don’t lock yourself into rigid plans, because the market is evolving.
Focus on quality: Balance posting frequency with ensuring excellent content. Highly engaging, creative content will consistently outperform quantity alone.
Understand the experience: Before going all-in with marketing content, take the time to appreciate the surroundings. Discover what people like about the social platform before subjecting it to sales and marketing campaigns.
Partner strategically: Collaborate with savvy creators and partners to expand reach while ensuring that the brand values align. Seek out credible publishers and consider partnerships or, at a minimum, get inspired by what works to elicit engagement and trust.
… Social media trends will continue to evolve whether you like it or not.
The good news is that you don’t need to follow every trend. Consider your audience’s needs and desires and use data to adjust. Trends that flopped include Clubhouse for social audio, NFTs following the pandemic, and other overly ambitious blockchain-powered ideas.
The bottom line is that sharing your brand’s voice and story across social media in an authentic way helps you to rise above the rest, regardless of the format or platform.
You will see positive returns across today’s social media platforms with consistent effort. The algorithms reward the businesses whose posts make people stop, like, comment, and share. What will you publish that does that?
Cameron Johnson was a market segment leader at Nextiva. Along with his well-researched contributions to the Nextiva Blog, Cameron has written for a variety of publications including Inc. and Business.com. Cameron was recently recognized as Utah's Marketer of the Year.
Posting social media marketing content and hearing nothing but crickets is frustrating. Sparking meaningful conversations around your brand is among the biggest challenges content marketing teams face.
The secret to a great social media presence isn’t only content. It’s about fostering conversations, too. Keeping that dialogue flowing requires you to set the stage first.
For trend-setting brands, social media management isn’t just about posting; they’ve mastered the art of online conversation and shaping interactions around real-life experiences.
Ready to make the switch from monologue to dialogue? Read on to learn how to drive the social media conversation forward and get inspired by the best icebreakers out there.
Why Social Media Conversations Matter
There’s more than what meets the eye in social media. There are three reasons conversational content is an important consideration in a social media strategy:
1) Achieve news feed optimization. Every reply, like, click, and retweet contributes to your brand’s social media engagement. The traditional, reverse-chronological stream of social updates is almost nonexistent these days. Social networks use algorithms to surface content most likely to keep users active and interacting. This helps your next post reach a larger audience and fuel more engagement.
2) Personifying your brand helps you stand out. Out of millions of businesses, what makes customers do business with you? Being memorable is crucial to being considered trusted. One way to establish yourself is with conversational content. It’s a simple way to speak to your audience with empathy and direct language.
3) A unique point of view helps drive your marketing strategy. Successful brands carry distinct values. The old social media marketing playbook is to schedule static, corporate-sounding content. The modern digital marketing approach is to get the conversation going with clever, even controversial hooks from a compelling perspective.
Tips to Master Social Media Conversations
🤔 Understand your audience’s motives
Before the conversation begins, invest some time in understanding your community inside out.
Gain clarity on the pain points and passions that resonate with your followers. This helps build trust and genuine connections and leads to more fulfilling conversations.
Whether you have five followers, 5K, or 50K, dive into your social media platform metrics to learn more about your audience. Examine each post for what drives the most reach, comments, and shares.
Social media management tools like Nextiva provide invaluable insights into your audience’s demographics, interests, and behaviors across multiple networks, including Twitter (now known as “X”), Facebook pages, LinkedIn, YouTube, and many more.
🔄 Think of social media as a flywheel
It’s time to move beyond the outdated model of a rigid funnel. Treating social media as an isolated entity rather than an integral part of your marketing strategy is where you might be going wrong.
The objective is to use social media to raise awareness of and affinity for your small business. Online conversations are the tripwire to becoming trusted and considered and to driving sales.
This is where a marketing flywheel comes in handy.
A flywheel focuses on the momentum customers create as they promote and introduce others to your brand. Unlike a funnel, a flywheel promotes ongoing customer engagement and referrals.
The flywheel effect maximizes your marketing efforts (via HubSpot)
For brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce brands, initiating conversations from offline marketing can drive significant social media conversations. This can be done through in-store signage or collateral included in product packages, encouraging happy customers to engage with you online.
What’s more, incentivizing engagement is sure to drive even greater results. Offering rewards, even small ones, for social shares or comments shows your appreciation for their time.
Facilitate easy conversation starters
For people to engage with your brand, you must make your social media profiles, topics of conversation, and relevant hashtags visible. People need a subtle reminder of what’s in it for them — “Follow us on TikTok” isn’t enough. Convey why in the most concise way possible.
Consider a monthly focus on a theme or topic and promote it prominently in your social media bios, newsletter welcome emails, and during the post-purchase process, driving your audience to participate.
Here are five simple ways to promote your social media presence and events:
Social media bios: A primary touchpoint for your newest followers.
Product packaging: Reach customers who engage with your physical products.
Website or blog: Getting traffic from search engines? This is often the first impression of your brand. Promote your own social media campaigns throughout your website.
Email newsletters: Delight your loyal customers with an insider’s point of view. Consider public surveys, product review campaigns, and insightful infographics.
Industry-specific communities: Reach a targeted audience actively interested in your content or industry. By being altruistic in your intentions, you’ll build your audience.
Many campaigns miss out on the benefits of social media.
The best social campaigns get people talking, sharing, and reposting your content. If your marketing launch isn’t harnessing the power of social media, then you’ll miss out on impressions, reach, and engagement.
Try asking your customers an open-ended question to give them a simple prompt to engage. For instance, sharing information about what/why/how they use your product is a good start.
2) Monitor conversations about your industry
Stop talking about yourself. Seriously.
Be proactive and seek out worthwhile conversations occurring within the industry, but not about your company brand.
Participating from your personal social media account instead of your company’s can speak volumes about what you stand for. It telegraphs your passion and authority on the topic.
Tools like Nextiva’s social media software let you easily track and respond to mentions of your brand (and competitors). Taking this initiative allows you to highlight and share positive feedback while promptly addressing concerns or complaints when it matters most.
3) Go deeper with podcasts
Podcasts offer a unique opportunity to share long-form content and connect with your audience on a deeper level. By hosting insightful discussions, interviews, or storytelling sessions, you can establish yourself as an authority and extend the conversation beyond short posts.
Repurposed podcast video snippets can invigorate your Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn feeds as well, giving a much-needed boost to dormant algorithms on social media platforms.
If you’re in need of inspiration, some top branded podcasts include:
If you’re confused about what your audience wants to see from you, just ask! Using interactive features like question stickers or creating posts that prompt feedback can give you invaluable insights.
Better yet, give them options. Platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and X’s polling features make it easy and quick for your audience to provide feedback.
Don’t have a large audience? Use your business phone provider to dial a few of your best customers to gather feedback. In a warm and inviting way, uncover what prominent voices they follow on social media and why. This will often clue you into future topics worth digging into.
5) Utilize native engagement features
Social media platforms continuously roll out features that help you boost engagement rates. Here are some tactics that make it easier for your audience to engage with you:
Go live. Connect with your audience in real time. Showcase behind-the-scenes glimpses, host interviews, or simply have a candid chat. Live sessions encourage more active participation.
Post polls. Gauge audience opinions on various topics or gather feedback. LinkedIn and Twitter offer intuitive and easy polling tools.
Engage in Twitter chats. Unbranded chats build community and establish authority in your domain.
Host AMA sessions. Connect with your audience and address their questions, curiosities, and concerns directly.
Take this Chili Piper poll from their LinkedIn account, for example:
LinkedIn’s polling feature raises engagement and ignites conversations
By choosing a taboo topic and approaching it with candor, Chili Piper is able to connect with its B2B audience on a matter that is both professional and personal. This was one of their most engaged posts of the month.
6) Leave candid comments
For more engagement, simply liking comments won’t be enough.
Treat all comments as invitations to start a conversation and involve others. After all, that’s where half the fun happens.
Take the conversation further by engaging with your community and potential new followers on a hot topic. When a comment garners more likes than others, use the opportunity to amplify it and turn it into a conversation.
Don’t forget to have fun. Use emojis to convey your excitement, as well as well-played GIFs.
7) Enlist influencers and bloggers
Partnering with influencers and bloggers can be a game-changer for small businesses. As HubSpot reports, 31% of social media users prefer to discover new products through influencers as opposed to any other form of marketing. What’s more, 21% of social media users aged 18–54 have purchased products based on an influencer’s recommendation.
Percentage of each generation who bought a product based on an influencer’s recommendation in the past three months – (via HubSpot)
By tapping into their communities, you’re introducing your brand to wider audiences and aligning it with the trust and rapport that they’ve established. The result? Increased engagement, brand awareness, and conversions, all while fostering deeper connections with potential customers.
The project management app ClickUp recently teamed up with UX/UI designer Jan Mraz to showcase how he uses the tool. Using Instagram’s collaboration feature, they amplified their message to their nearly 250,000 followers, making this post one of their most-watched reels.
8) Amplify existing conversations
Whether your founder appeared on a podcast or was interviewed by a magazine, these off-social conversations can be amplified and distributed across social media.
Invite your social community into the fold by getting them involved. Repost snippets from the interview and ask your audience for their thoughts on the discussed topics.
9) Make memes your best friend
Nothing gets the conversation going like a relatable meme.
Take this Forma post that resonates with the emotional desires of their ideal customer. A well-crafted meme that relates to your business and uses humor to make its point is a win-win for everyone involved.
In another post, Metadata jumped on a viral Volvo Trucks ad featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme and made it their own. The post generated a higher engagement rate from their followers, opening the door to more conversations.
10) Optimize your content for each platform
Not all social networks are created equal. Optimizing your content for each platform can have a dramatic effect on engagement.
What goes viral on TikTok might not resonate on Snapchat. Instagram rewards visually appealing content, while LinkedIn thrives on professional insights and discussions.
By tailoring your content for each platform, you’re maximizing your potential reach and ensuring that it speaks the language of the platform’s user base. Increase the chances of driving engagement by aligning your content with your audience’s specific wants, interests, and needs.
Keeping track of social media conversations can be overwhelming, but only if you let it be.
Using social media management tools can scale your workflow and consolidate all of your online interactions in one place. Doing so will not only save you time — it’ll save your sanity.
Nextiva helps you stay on top of media conversations with ease.
Tools like Nextiva’s social media management platform are must-haves for small business teams that are tired of logging into each of their apps to stay connected.
Whether conversing in your DMs or answering pressing customer service questions via WhatsApp, being attentive to your customer’s needs is always easier when every conversation is in one place.
Plan ahead: social media conversations can go wrong
Some online conversations can get heated and do real damage if left unattended.
Save yourself the headache and put together a social media crisis plan. In it, provide specific scenarios, templates, phone numbers, and escalation paths for your team to make decisions with a cool head when the conversations go awry.
That’s why hiring a community moderator can be a wise investment. These individuals are responsible for starting and guiding conversations. They’re also adept at responding to negative reviews.
Having proactive strategies and guidelines in place prepares you for the worst and helps you build a solid online presence.
Conversations are the heartbeat of social engagement. They foster deep connections, elevate your brand, and transform followers into loyal advocates.
On a tactical level, it means incorporating a more distinct voice, fun emojis, and creative prompts to elicit a response from your audience.
Strategically, fortifying your marketing strategy with simple ways to ignite conversations adjacent to your brand helps you scale results. As we’ve seen with leading brands, fostering genuine connections is what it comes down to.
By getting to know your audience, harnessing the power of conversation starters, maximizing each platform’s features and algorithm, and using the right tools, small businesses can thrive in the dynamic world of social media.
Countless conversations are waiting to be had — are you ready?
Cameron Johnson was a market segment leader at Nextiva. Along with his well-researched contributions to the Nextiva Blog, Cameron has written for a variety of publications including Inc. and Business.com. Cameron was recently recognized as Utah's Marketer of the Year.
Sarah Skidd is a Product Marketing Manager for Nextiva. Former small business owner and mom of a bunch of kids, Sarah’s a mix of strategist and boots-on-the-ground doer. Off the clock, she’ll sneak in a hike or bribe her kids to join her in Rummikub.
Social media has become an integral part of any modern marketing strategy. Executing an effective social media marketing strategy takes more than creating a content calendar and posting scheduled posts on social media.
It requires careful planning, commitment, and optimization over time.
This no-fluff guide provides small business owners and marketers with a starting point to craft a robust social media marketing strategy.
Developing a Social Strategy
Effective social media strategies begin with well-defined business goals and objectives. Before diving into tactics, setting goals for what you wish to accomplish is essential.
Common business objectives:
Increasing brand awareness
Growing share of voice
Expanding social support
Achieving content distribution
Scaling digital marketing
Monitoring real-time trends
Aside from amplifying marketing efforts, social media enhances customer support, accelerates product innovation, and improves talent acquisition. It’s also a goldmine of market intelligence.
We suggest focusing on no more than a couple of business goals. Spreading yourself too thin may hinder your effectiveness. Start with one and expand as needed.
Setting goals
With clear goals established, the next step is conducting a social media audit of your existing social media presence. This includes taking stock of all current social media accounts, followers and content engagement rates, and competitors. The audit will reveal areas to improve and strengths to double down on.
The audit provides you with historical social media analytics. These social media metrics help you understand clickthrough rates, engagement rates, and audience demographics.
With this data, you can set achievable social media marketing goals.
Audience pain points
Before venturing too far into content planning, get deep into your target audience’s psyche.
Buyer personas can help here, but you should go a bit deeper in basing your audience’s content needs on actual statements and behaviors—not theoretical ones.
Where to uncover customer pain points:
Recorded sales calls
Customer support tickets
Customer surveys
Customer reviews
Social media comments
Competitors’ online reviews
With this data, real content formats emerge. Here’s how I’d approach these content themes.
If prospective customers ask many questions, consider investing more in information-based content, such as blogs.
If they ask for relatable examples of customers (references), you could ramp up customer case studies and testimonials.
If your sales team isn’t having as many conversations, you should invest more in brand-building activities like influencers, partnerships, and more.
From here, you can map out these types of content and which social networks and strategies are effective. For example, Instagram and TikTok attract younger audiences, while LinkedIn attracts professionals.
Measurement and KPIs
You need clearly defined benchmarks to know if your social media strategy is effective. Key performance indicators (KPIs) help you focus on the metrics that matter. If audience growth is vital, then followers are more relevant. But if engagement is critical, then engagement rates are better.
Common social media performance metrics:
Follower growth
Engagement rate
Impressions and reach
Attributed pipeline and revenue
Attributed website traffic
Brand mentions and share of voice
Having this strategic framework established, you can develop an effective social media marketing plan. And you can report on it to executives without drowning them in too much data.
Developing your content strategy
Content fuels all social media marketing. Map out the types of content you will create and share on each platform.
Anyone can create content, but only you can distribute it effectively. One approach to work with your social strategy is the atomization of content. This means taking a major piece of content like a case study and creating a wide array of smaller content assets from it.
Align content types with buyer journey stages like awareness, consideration, and decision.*
You can improve your business or brand awareness by following these steps:
Blog posts or articles: Provide detailed, informative content to help your audience accomplish their goals or share long-form stories and insights.
Educational videos: Show, don’t tell. Share videos and screencasts to spark curiosity about your brand and build authority. This kind of content should appeal to both prospective and existing customers.
Case studies: Provide specific examples of how your ideal customer achieves their goals with your product or service. It establishes social proof and builds trust.
User-generated content: Share photos and videos of customers showing authentic brand experiences. It could be as simple as testimonials, wearing swag, or co-hosted webinars.
Polls and surveys: Engage followers and collect valuable audience insights. The more provocative, the better.
Memes or humor: Use for low-effort, high-engagement social media posts that reflect your brand voice. Don’t take yourself too seriously, but monitor your engagement rates.
* People don’t make decisions linearly. Nevertheless, people must discover your brand (awareness), think about what it can do for them (consideration), and talk to sales or buy your product (decision). Ensure your social media content reflects this reality.
Integrating Social Media Outside of Marketing
An integrated social media plan addresses all aspects of social media to improve business.
Here are some business functions to include in your plan:
Customer support: Personalized customer care based on incoming mentions and direct messages.
Product development: Gather real-world insights based on customer and market reactions.
Talent acquisition: Attract top-notch candidates based on a high-value employer brand.
Social customer support
Customer support via social media is now more crucial than ever for small and mid-market businesses. It is a powerful tool to engage with customers, solve their problems promptly, and foster stronger relationships.
Here are some essential tips for efficient social customer support:
Monitor conversations: Keep a close eye on your social media channels. Respond promptly to comments, messages, and mentions to deliver effective customer service.
Use social media management tools: Use social media software to track customer interactions and ensure every request is answered.
Train your team: Ensure your team is well-versed/trained in the social media platforms you use. Train them to provide helpful, courteous responses. It’ll also help you handle criticism with grace.
Let’s illustrate this by comparing traditional and social media-based customer support.
Function
Traditional Customer Support
Social Media-Based Support
Response Time
Instant or up to 72 hours
Often instant or within a few hours
Engagement
Limited to one-on-one interactions
Public responses and one-on-one direct messages
Channels
Email, phone, live chat, and online requests
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp
Privacy
High
Limited
Product innovation and development
Social media marketing tools provide product teams with invaluable insights into customer feedback and can monitor competitors.
The following are two practical ways product teams can leverage social media for product innovation:
Customer feedback: New customers often share their experiences with products on social media openly and candidly. Product managers gain perspective on what customers want to do with their products and how they make them feel. This information can be used to improve how solutions fit into user’s lives.
Social listening: Tracking mentions of competitors and product names is a smart way to uncover potential product opportunities. It also provides a glimpse at potential risks and obstacles customers face. It also aids in market research into possible product features.
Talent acquisition
Social media has transformed the way companies connect with potential employees. In particular, it helps organizations become a top employer brand that attracts top candidates.
The following are specific ways social media can enhance your talent acquisition process:
Employer brand: Showcase your company’s culture, mission, and values, making it more attractive to potential employees. This increases your brand visibility and creates a positive employer brand.
Employees as advocates: Social media channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook make it intuitive for employees to build buzz for their employer from diverse voices and personal testimonies about joining the team.
Job advertising: With an impressive employer brand and enthusiastic employee engagement, recruitment marketing campaigns can be more effective with fewer ghosts and better candidates.
Tips to build a top employer brand
As much as the company can curate a professional online profile, your brand is in your employees’ hands.
Some tips for building a top employer brand are as follows:
Educate on what’s public vs. private: Develop a sensible policy for protecting sensitive/confidential company information. Disclose what’s shareable vs. not in company meetings. Ambiguity results in mistakes and fear of posting updates.
Encourage honest employee reviews: Make it a habit to share what you’re doing to make the workplace enjoyable and flexible for employee needs. Have a meaningful check-in with new team members after their first month, and suggest they share their experience with others on Glassdoor, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter.
Respond to employee reviews in meaningful ways: Respond warmly and professionally to all reviews. Be mindful not to debate; acknowledge, thank, and emphasize the upside when possible. Identify trends and bring them to the attention of the senior leadership team to improve the workplace.
Stay Focused With a Durable Social Media Strategy
Change is the one word that’s synonymous with social media management. New social media platforms, content types, and consumer behaviors—it moves quickly.
With a successful social media marketing strategy, you can creatively inspire your audience to action and improve your business from the inside out.
You’re going to face social media crises; you’ll have 15 minutes of fame—are you ready?
No matter how good your plan is, execution matters. Focus on the outcomes; ask yourself if you are helping your target audience or just posting social media updates.
At the end of the day, social media should help the business to strengthen across the board: customer service, marketing, recruiting, and brand. It has incredible reach if you place your bets on the table and pair it with ruthless execution (and patience).
With proper planning and commitment, a social media strategy gives small and medium-sized businesses a competitive edge.
Joe Manna was a senior content marketing manager at Nextiva. He blends his marketing acumen and deep technical background to improve people's lives with technology. His expertise helps companies large and small serve more customers. He enjoys a rich iced latte and a non-fiction business book when he's not pressing words.
Social media is much more than posting Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn updates.
Before it was dubbed “social media,” it was known as “community management.” As an expert who led social media for small businesses in 2008, I’ll break down everything you should know about effective social media management.
I’ve crafted this guide for small business owners and new marketing staffers who need to develop a social media strategy and get their organization firing on all eight cylinders with respect to social media channels.
What Is Social Media Management?
Social media management is the process of planning, creating, and publishing content across social networks to grow a brand’s online presence. Managing social media involves educating stakeholders, developing a marketing strategy, and establishing governance to ensure a brand’s voice and customer experience are conveyed across social media channels.
Included as essential parts of social media management are the following functions:
Social media and marketing integration
Business and platform-specific content plan
Social media performance analysis
Planning and creating content across multiple platforms
Website content promotion
Personalized customer support
Brand and review monitoring
Overseeing training and social workflows
Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? This is why social media responsibilities are often split among several members. As a small business or startup, this might be one person (or the business owner).
The two primary reasons you need social media management are to guide the organization through social media and reach a targeted audience with engaging content and personalized support.
Unlike 15 years ago, you shouldn’t automate your social media campaigns. It’s a bad look and ineffective at persuading your audience to care about your brand and take action.
Social media is the catalyst for multiple marketing strategies (via Gartner)
👉 Real talk: Your business should be on social media because your customers want you there, and there’s a specific business objective behind it. If neither of these is true, you probably don’t need social media management.
An effective social media strategy aligns with the brand’s overall marketing objectives and business goals.
Here are some key elements to consider for your social media marketing strategy:
Target audiences and personas
Analyze your existing customer demographics and create detailed buyer personas to determine your ideal customers on social media. Identify their age, location, gender, interests, pain points, and motivations.
It’s imperative to understand your audience’s media consumption habits. Refrain from making big bets based on hypotheticals (I’ve been burned before). Talk to your customers on the phone, get to know them as people, how they research brands, and why they use social media.
With this knowledge in hand, you’ll be ahead of 75% of others in the industry.
Relevant social media platforms
Research each social media platform and select the ones where your target audience is most active. Top platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok. Consider emerging platforms as well.
Instagram and Facebook are rated as the most effective for social media ROI (via HubSpot)
By default, you might feel you need to be everywhere. You don’t need to. If nothing else, claim your brand before someone squats on your name.
Follow the money and the market. Where are your prospects? Where do customers spend most of their time? If it’s Twitter or Instagram, great. But if they primarily use LinkedIn, tailor your social media content plan around that platform.
Lastly, try to enjoy how a social network functions as a user before going full throttle with marketing messages. There’s a little truth to marketers ruining everything.
Social listening and customer support
It’s crucial to set up listening tools to be responsive to inbound questions from customers and prospects. Connect every social media profile you have into one management tool.
Prepare a plan for how you’ll handle complaints and compliments. A smart strategy is to go from public to direct messages to provide customer service.
Over time, report on the number of brand mentions and specific campaigns stemming from your marketing efforts. Social media management tools can notify you of the growth or decline across your social media presence.
Setting measurable goals
Depending on your use case or stage of your business, you might not need metrics.
Hear me out for a second.
It’s okay to explore and experiment on social media. There’s not a sure-fire template or benchmark you need to hit to prove value in your business.
Figure out what makes some brands more attractive than a pack of Double Stuffed Oreos. What are the underlying dynamics — is it the graphics, the advice, or are prominent influencers juicing up the algorithm?
Without a big audience to start with, you will need to be creative. You will likely need to make a sizable investment in promoting your social media channels. And you will need to leverage platforms such as email, video, and even your phone system.
With that said, you’ll want to consider the industry and competitors when it comes to setting targets for your social media marketing program. With defined business goals and KPIs in mind, you can analyze the effectiveness of your social media efforts.
For instance, followers matter when your audience matches your ideal customer profile, but don’t do anything unnatural to play the system.
Consider tracking engagement, traffic, and even share of voice (market share) on a given social network.
Content strategy and posting schedule
At this point, you should know a few key items: your ideal customers, what they consume on social media, and your overarching business goals. These help you craft a well-rounded content strategy for your business on social media.
🛑 Now is the time to hit the brakes and think about the purpose behind your social media content.
It should not be to generate leads or sales. Yes, you read that right.
The goal behind your content is to be memorable and helpful to your audience. You don’t do that with gated webinars and whitepapers. Instead, focus on understanding the core reasons why people are interested in your product or service.
Trusted marketing advisor Gaetano DiNardi draws a line in the sand regarding “demand capture” and “demand creation.” You need both, but social media should be utilized to build genuine interest, trust, and affinity for your brand.
Digital marketing has transitioned from direct response, lead generation-focused marketing campaigns to a demand generation approach that covers brand awareness, demand creation, and demand capturing across the entire sales funnel.
Having that said, here are the types of social media content to post:
Hot takes on what’s happening in the industry
Tips and tutorials to solve specific pain points
Videos showing your solution or product at work
Casual interviews with top industry voices
Carousels and slides with original research and points of view
Customer stories and case studies with real faces and logos
Sneak peeks of your most recent email newsletter
Takeaways from conferences and industry events
Polls and genuine questions to ask your target audience
Unexpected moments of brilliance and creativity
Memes, newsjacking, and divisive topics, but proceed with caution
The content to post shouldn’t deviate much from your current content strategy.
Keep in mind that the goal is to earn trust and be memorable. When prospects realize they have a need, they’ll come back to you.
With a rough list of content ideas, map them out for each platform. Give yourself the flexibility not to post every day, but try to stick to a consistent cadence.
Pro tip: Each blog post you publish can be atomized or broken down into smaller assets so you can share various components that fit each social platform. You ought to ensure each post is optimized for your target audience so they can consume it easily without a high commitment.
Video-first social media content
Video is so important; you need to be proactive with ideation, production, and distribution. Social media platforms are increasingly rewarding video content. Whether you’re building up your audience, educating your customers, or posting Stories and Shorts, video is no longer optional.
Invest in building out your video team agencies alike. Align your video creation with your brand identity with a high-quality video. Focus on being valuable, authentic, and visually appealing.
While videos don’t have to be the center of your social media plan, they should still be a key component of it.
Utilizing paid social ads
Another area to consider is paid or performance marketing campaigns across social media. Most companies that want to grow will need additional social media advertising to distribute content to their audience.
Share of marketing budget based on program spend (via Gartner)
Take all your insights about your current customers and channel them into your paid social strategy. You don’t want to burn your budget on reaching “anyone in the U.S. 18+” as you’ll get nowhere. To be cost-effective, narrow your audience and set a daily budget.
Consider starting with a remarketed audience first until you nail down your brand’s social media campaigns.
Type of content to use for paid social:
Insightful case studies and customer testimonials
Video-based product tours with helpful context
Deep dives into how to do something faster or easier with your brand
Atomized blog content with a call to action to continue reading
Recycle previously successful organic (unpaid) social media content
Social Media Management Best Practices
Setting up profiles is just the start. Actively managing your accounts and interacting with your followers is crucial for social media success.
Monitor notifications: Stay on top of all mentions, comments, shares, and direct messages to identify opportunities for engagement.
Post consistently: Follow your content calendar to post regularly across your social media networks without long gaps between updates.
Implement a workflow: Develop processes between team members to streamline community management.
Use content creation tools: Social media management tools like Nextiva or Hootsuite help teams schedule posts, engage with followers, and monitor brand mentions.
Analyze past content: Identify post content that resonated well on social media platforms and recycle it in your scheduling tool.
By following thoughtful content marketing practices, your small team can actively manage growing social media communities as you expand your reach.
Remember that social media interactions are public, and potential customers are watching. Be cordial, prompt, and direct. The last thing you want is to copy and paste responses to people.
Types of Social Media Analytics
There are a plethora of built-in and third-party analytics tools to help track the performance of your social media efforts. Monitoring key metrics and optimizing based on insights is crucial.
Audience growth — Are your follower numbers consistently increasing? Does the audience resemble your ideal customer?
Engagement rate — Is your audience reacting to the content you post? This metric is expressed as a percentage of your reach.
Impressions — Was your content seen in your audience’s news feeds?
Reach — How many unique people could your social media content reach?
Website clicks — How much traffic is being driven to your site from social media? This metric isn’t always a good measure of success — think about your campaign objectives.
Conversions — When creating demand, you’ll begin attracting higher-intent leads. How many resulted in leads, pipelines, or sales from social media?
Look at performance trends over time and optimize your strategy accordingly. Consider analytics capabilities within your social media management software like Nextiva. Set up automated reports and dedicate time each month or look back at past data to achieve social media ROI.
Social Media Management Tools
Managing multiple social media accounts, engaging consistently with your community, and tracking performance is difficult without utilizing specialized social media management tools.
The primary benefit of a social media management tool is that it’s engineered to work with each social network for analytics, publishing, and even removals. It helps your team work from one dashboard instead of several distinct workflows.
We recommend budgeting approximately $300 per month for the best social media management tools and services. Plan for roughly $129 per month per user as your team grows.
Here are a few top picks:
Nextiva — In addition to its highly rated cloud communications platform, Nextiva has a social media management solution for customer service and marketing teams. It includes a ton of advanced features for a flat-rate price each month.
AgoraPulse — Ideal for businesses, especially those working with a lot of paid media and having to do content moderation. Like Nextiva, it also offers a unified social inbox, social listening, and reporting tools.
Sprout Social — Best for larger organizations and agencies with a rigorous approval workflow. Includes employee advocacy and brand monitoring capabilities.
The right social media management tool will optimize workflows, engagement, and analysis for an effective social media strategy. Consider both your budget and social media scheduling needs.
Final Thoughts on Social Media Management
A strategic approach to social media management is key for small businesses looking to drive brand awareness, website traffic, leads, and sales.
Social media has evolved a lot over the last 15 years. It’s crucial that your social media strategy endures and has room to adapt to changes in the market. Pay attention to the changes in the platforms, user feedback, and the pressing needs in your business.
Set relevant and attainable goals, invest in high-quality content, set up the proper workflows internally so you can support customers, and weather the storm when crises emerge.
Managing social media effectively is one of the top ways to bring your marketing strategy to life and scale your brand.
Joe Manna was a senior content marketing manager at Nextiva. He blends his marketing acumen and deep technical background to improve people's lives with technology. His expertise helps companies large and small serve more customers. He enjoys a rich iced latte and a non-fiction business book when he's not pressing words.
It hurts when a customer leaves a scathing, negative review about your business. It’s easy to lash out in defense of the company that you’ve built. So, what should you do to improve your online reviews?
In this guide, we’ll provide you with actionable steps to address critical online reviews and generate favorable reviews, as well as helpful tips to make customer reviews an asset of your brand.
Why Are Online Reviews Important?
Managing your online reviews is vital to your company’s growth — and the more you have, the more your business will grow. This is because most shoppers will read review sites before making purchasing decisions. In fact, 79% of people trust online feedback as much as personal recommendations.
It’s especially important for local businesses to get reviews to build customer trust.
Online reviews also help improve your SEO, as they will put you in a better light with search engines. The more reviews you have, the more likely Google will recommend your site during organic searches, eventually helping to improve your sales.
Tips to Improve Your Online Reputation
When you have a poor online reputation (or no reputation whatsoever), you can improve it in several ways. Here are some excellent tips:
Be mindful of the customer experience
The best way to get good reviews is a no-brainer: you must ensure your customers have a good experience with your product. Happy customers will ultimately reflect on your brand.
Negative reviews can offer solutions to improve your business. Start by looking at the recent feedback you have received. What are the most common complaints? Do people frequently mention high pricing or rude service? Find the areas needing improvement and provide products or services that will thrill your customers.
Monitor the reviews
Most people look at the average star rating when considering whether to buy a product or service. This is why you must keep a close eye on your ratings. There is a good chance it might become frustrating as your ratings fluctuate, but eventually, you may notice a pattern.
E-commerce businesses that respond or promote their online reviews on marketplaces like Amazon outperform those that take a passive approach.
“One of the things that we’re seeing is that successful entrants in these online marketplaces are the ones who are the most responsive to the reviews, who are most proactive in soliciting reviews, and who are doing the best job at what I would call online-marketplace hygienics.”
If you don’t have the time to go through every review yourself, there are certain tools and reports within review platforms that you can use. These solutions will alert you when customers mention certain keywords or assign a low rating, allowing you to solve a problem before it becomes prevalent.
Ask for customer feedback
What’s the best way to get more reviews? Ask for them. Many customers forget to write reviews, not because they don’t like the product but because they don’t think you need them. You would be surprised at the number of happy clients who want to leave a review when asked to do so.
While you are at it, make sure to educate your customers on how to leave a review. For instance, many new customers might want to leave a review but don’t know which online review sites to use.
An email and text message follow-up can go a long way to rack up more online reviews.
No one likes getting negative reviews, but let’s face it: someone will always be unhappy with your product. Sometimes, it might be due to a person’s pickiness or something out of your control. Other times, it might be something you can fix as a business owner.
Regardless, you need to address negative feedback. Your first thought might be to leave the review there and try to ignore it. However, potential customers will see the standing review and judge you based on how you respond. If it seems that you do nothing, it won’t look good.
When responding to critical reviews, always be professional and try not to blame the customer. Apologize for their bad experience, offer a way to resolve it, and suggest they contact you offline to take the issue out of the public eye.
Showcase the positive reviews
Often, a close eye should be kept on bad product reviews. However, this does not mean you should take good reviews for granted. If you only respond to bad reviews, you may give the impression that you are only interested in putting out fires.
You must show that you care about happy existing customers as well.
This can increase customer loyalty. One case study shows that 79% of clients expect a response within 24 hours, whether they give a good or bad review. Replying with a simple “Thank you!” won’t take much effort and will likely improve your company’s reputation.
It’s one thing to read and reply to a review; it’s a different matter to actively listen to it. It’s easy to go on the defensive when you see a bad review, but what if they are not entirely wrong? What if there is something you can do to make them happy?
Take a moment to cool your head and look at honest feedback. Is this a complaint that keeps coming up? If so, can you do anything to improve the customer journey? Take steps to fix the problem so it does not reappear in the future. This can help calm your nerves and prevent future negative reviews.
Personalize your responses to customer reviews
Many small businesses set up an automated response system for every review they get, good or bad.
That said, studies show that customers are more responsive to personalized surveys. No one wants to get the same automated response everyone else got, especially if they took the time to offer constructive feedback.
Rather than giving the same standard response to everyone, personalize responses based on the feedback you receive. This can help boost your credibility and make customers more likely to engage with your brand. This will also make the search engine see you in a better light, as you’ll be actively interacting with your customers.
Follow the rules
If you go on review websites, you must know one thing: each platform has its own rules.
For instance, it’s fine to ask for Google reviews from your customers, but Yelp frowns on it. Disregarding their rules may cause your page to get flagged.
The Federal Trade Commission also has a series of rules you must follow. First and foremost, you can’t offer financial incentives for generating positive reviews. For instance, trying to buy reviews on Yelp will negatively affect you in the long run. In addition, authentic reviews drive more customers, so playing by the rules will work in your favor.
If you’re looking to boost your number of reviews, there are a few methods you can use:
Claim and update your Google Business Profile
The stronger your online presence, the more likely you are to attract buyers. There’s no better place to start than by updating your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business). This is important because most clients search for services on Google before landing on your page.
It might be time-consuming, but make sure to add all the relevant information for your business, such as your phone number, address, description, products or services, pricing, etc.
Google likes transparent and consistent businesses, so if it sees recently updated information, it will drive clients your way. People will see that you are active and engaged online and, in return, will be more inclined to leave a review.
Plus, this will help you make a good first impression. If you keep your profile updated with your current business information, potential customers will be more likely to stick around.
While you can’t pay to get a positive customer review, nothing is wrong with offering an incentive for their time. The only condition is that it should not be specifically for good reviews but instead to encourage customers to give any kind of feedback.
For instance, if it suits your business type, you can consider giving a coupon, a voucher, access to a webinar, or a discount for their next order. However, remember that you need to be mindful of the platform you do this on.
For instance, while it may be okay to do this on your website or app, not every site allows it. Yelp often filters out the reviews given after an incentive.
Dominate your social media pages
A good way to draw reviews to your page is to make your presence known on social media. Dominate the platforms where most of your customers spend time. The most popular are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
One tried and true strategy involves alternating between informative posts and seeding customer reviews between them. This will provide value to your audience and show off social proof, telling others that your business can be trusted. You never know when someone’s feedback or word-of-mouth can influence another’s buying behavior. Make sure you post and comment as consistently as possible.
Most websites have a testimonial page, which is often added by the owner and is only for the clients to read.
You should add a designated section where customers can add reviews to draw more reviews. Doing so will make your website more likely to appear when people look up your service.
Adding a review section to your website also shows your visitors that you aren’t afraid of feedback. In addition, it’ll prove that you have nothing to hide and are open to making changes whenever necessary.
Ask for a review at the right time
There is a right time and a wrong time to ask for customer reviews. It’s important to be able to know which is which. For the most part, when it comes to getting reviews, you should ask for it when the memory is fresh in customers’ minds. This can be done by email, SMS, or any other contact channel customers prefer.
Follow up on customers who didn’t review
Many of the buyers who received a request for a review might not follow through with it. It may not always be because they don’t want to. It may be because they simply forgot about it. This is why you need to make sure you follow up on the follow-up, so to speak.
You may think your persistence will annoy them, but very few mind it. This is important because most clients only consider the newer reviews. Those older than three months are considered less relevant.
Make your website mobile-friendly
Nowadays, many people have their entire lives on their smartphones. They are quick and easy, and individuals often scroll through their phones to pass the time while commuting or on breaks. This is one unbreakable rule you must keep in mind when you are sending a review request.
So, when you send an email, ensure the link easily converts to a mobile platform. People might want to offer a review, but if they must continuously zoom in and out, they may change their minds.
Always make it easy for your promoters to leave feedback, regardless of which platform they choose to use.
The Bottom Line
Getting an occasional bad review is normal, even for top companies. However, with good online reputation management, you should be able to present your business in a better light. Reach out to those who left bad reviews and acknowledge the customers who left good ones.
Remember that ignoring a bad review is never a good idea. Listen to your clients, address their concerns, and try to find a resolution.
Doing so builds trust, which will increase your reviews and your sales.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joe Manna
Joe Manna was a senior content marketing manager at Nextiva. He blends his marketing acumen and deep technical background to improve people's lives with technology. His expertise helps companies large and small serve more customers. He enjoys a rich iced latte and a non-fiction business book when he's not pressing words.
One PwC study found that despite nearly 84% of business executives thinking customers highly trust their company, only 27% of them would agree. Trust is nearly guaranteed to build a supportive community around your brand and increase the rate at which customers come back to you time and again.
One quick measure of that is the number of reviews. Another measure is their star ratings. What else can you do to grow your business?
Integrating real customer feedback throughout your marketing strategy helps to shorten sales cycles, lower acquisition costs, and grow revenue.
So, let’s look at some of the most effective tactics to grow brand trust and sales.
What Is Review Marketing?
Word-of-mouth marketing has existed for as long as humans have been talking. If something is just that good, you’ll want to tell someone about it. People have always made personal recommendations to their friends, colleagues, and family.
The internet, however, has increased the reach and impact of word-of-mouth marketing. Customer reviews and referrals are valuable social proof that your brand and its offerings are credible and worth the money.
What consumers choose to buy is significantly influenced by reviews. Harvard Business Review uncovered that for every one-star increase a business gets on Yelp, it increases revenue by up to 9%. Positive reviews confirm the dependability and quality of a product or service. On the other hand, negative reviews frequently lead to distrust or deter clients.
Review marketing places a major emphasis on managing and maximizing the impact of these reviews to promote your business’s growth. And to some degree, they influence search engine rankings, too.
That means tactfully adding product reviews to product pages, email marketing campaigns, and throughout your homepage.
Actively managing customer reviews should be a cornerstone of your marketing strategy to improve a brand’s reputation, foster consumer trust, and sway purchasing decisions. It entails actively looking for, gathering, and marketing positive reviews from clients who have previously used your product or service.
How to Build a Review Marketing Program
Developing a review marketing strategy entails targeting channels where prospects discover and compare your product or service. Considering each review as a venue to build trust and credibility in your brand is crucial.
If you’re building a review marketing program from scratch, there are several tips to keep in mind.
1. Create a dedicated channel for reviews
Make it as easy as possible for your customers to leave reviews. Whether it’s a specific section on your website, a social media page, a third-party review site, or all of the above, ensure that your customers know where they can share their experiences.
Ideally, invite customer feedback through a review management tool or customer survey. From there, you can dedicate personalized customer support to helping those in need.
2. Encourage reviews
Don’t shy away from asking your customers for reviews. You can do this through follow-up emails after a sale or even with in-store signage reminding customers to leave a review.
Give it some time. It’s best to reach out several days after the sale to ensure customers are fully satisfied and have a perspective to share in an online review.
3. Respond to reviews
Acknowledging positive and negative reviews with a personal response is standard practice. Thank your customers for their positive feedback and address any issues brought up in negative reviews.
People have taken the time to leave their feedback — make sure you acknowledge their efforts since both types of reviews can help in the long run.
User-generated content (UGC) isn’t just something you can use without telling customers. It could upset an otherwise happy customer or potentially invite additional legal exposure.
If you intend to use a customer’s review or photo for marketing and sales purposes, you should get their consent first. This is where a photo release agreement can help. Here’s a free template to try — but check with your legal counsel first.
Additionally, don’t change the contents of their review in a material way unless they say it’s okay. Doing so could fall outside of the FTC’s Endorsement Guidelines.
This point isn’t to scare you — it’s to protect you so you can continue to use your customer reviews throughout your digital marketing.
5. Use reviews in your marketing efforts
Highlight positive reviews in your marketing materials. This reinforces your brand’s quality and shows potential customers you value feedback.
Consider the tactic of highlighting an unjust negative review. For instance, someone complaining about Shelby GT’s fuel economy could resonate with the company’s ideal customer.
Clever ways to use reviews for marketing:
Display ads
Lobby signage
Landing pages
Email signatures
Customer case studies
Demo thank-you pages
Drip marketing sequences
Paid social media campaign
6. Act on review sentiment
A core function of a review marketing strategy is to act on all customer feedback, whether positive or negative reviews. Reviews are a goldmine of information and messaging; be sure to use them to improve your products, services, and customer experiences.
With that said, it’s impossible to satisfy everyone. Unfit customers are a part of doing business. Never fear. How you handle negative reviews can still positively impact how people view your brand.
Ensure your brand’s presence on top review websites like Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor, Amazon, and Facebook. Claim your business online and describe your products, services, and what new customers need to know.
Most importantly, keep your business profile consistent and updated across all platforms. Use reviews to optimize your SEO strategy and online reputation.
Feature raving fans on social media
Consider sharing your strongest testimonials across social media in creative and compelling campaigns.
We recommend gaining permission to use a customer’s name and likeness for marketing purposes. Their enthusiasm and authenticity will help your business stand out. These assets also make for excellent creative images in social media marketing campaigns.
Use a professional review management tool
It’s incredibly time-consuming to check and follow up on a half dozen review sites. Plus, each review acts as a customer request of some kind that needs human intervention.
Should positive reviews go to a marketing member to personally thank clients and send them a $10 gift card? Maybe you want to instantly alert your contact center management team when a bad review gets posted.
Either way, you can automate the handling and care in a scalable, warm manner.
Reviews are influential in customers’ decision-making process. Track metrics such as reviews’ number, quality, and sentiment to refine your strategies. Use analytics to identify trends in feedback and optimize your marketing campaigns. The goal is to create a feedback loop that improves your brand’s reputation and sales.
No marketing plan should leave out review marketing. It’s a transformative approach to boosting your brand’s reputation and strengthening your content marketing effectiveness.
Likewise, reputation management requires a consistent effort to understand your audience, adapt to their needs, and deliver value across all marketing channels.
With reviews, you can build authentic relationships with your customers. Social proof boosts conversion rates and customer retention. Remember that building brand trust and increasing sales is an ongoing optimization process that works alongside your other digital marketing efforts.
Not all tactics will be equally effective for every business, so monitoring your results and adjusting your strategy is important.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joe Manna
Joe Manna was a senior content marketing manager at Nextiva. He blends his marketing acumen and deep technical background to improve people's lives with technology. His expertise helps companies large and small serve more customers. He enjoys a rich iced latte and a non-fiction business book when he's not pressing words.
Ever wonder how your voice travels seamlessly across the internet? The answer lies in a hidden hero: Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP.
SIP protocol orchestrates real-time audio and video, whether a phone call, video chat, or even a conference bridge.
Imagine it as the digital handshake that initiates and ends your online interactions, setting the stage for smooth and reliable communication. You’ll soon learn all about SIP protocol, including how it works at a technical level, its impact on businesses, and how it relates to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
What Does SIP Stand For?
SIP is short for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), which is a set of online standards that facilitate real-time voice, video, and other media to work over any high-speed internet connection. SIP protocol is the foundation of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as well as other meeting and collaboration tools.
Let’s break down the SIP protocol:
Session: This refers to a specific instance of communication between two parties, like a phone call or a video chat.
Initiation: This refers to the start of the session. SIP is responsible for establishing the connection between participants and negotiating the parameters of the communication, such as audio and video codecs.
Protocol: This is a set of rules and procedures that govern how devices communicate with each other. SIP defines the messages that are exchanged to establish, maintain, and terminate communication sessions.
Brief history of SIP
In the 1990s, tech experts at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) saw the need for a standardized way to manage online conversations. Drawing inspiration from existing protocols like HTTP and SMTP, they developed SIP, a simple and efficient framework for initiating, managing, and terminating real-time communication sessions.
Initially, SIP was primarily used for VoIP (Voice over IP) calls, allowing users to make voice calls over the internet. However, it quickly became apparent that SIP’s potential stretched far beyond phone calls. Soon, video conferencing, instant messaging, and even online gaming adopted SIP as their communication backbone.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standardized SIP in 1999 in RFC 3261. On a technical level, SIP carries VoIP traffic over either UDP or TCP on ports 5060 or 5061. By comparison, browsing the web typically occurs over ports 80 and 443.
SIP use today
You’re probably already using SIP without even realizing it. Those crystal-clear VoIP calls you make? That’s SIP in action. But it’s not just for phone calls. Video conferencing, instant messaging, and even online games rely on SIP to keep things running smoothly.
To use SIP, you need a SIP phone, which can be a physical device or softphone on your computer or mobile device. Then, it’s just like making any other call or video chat.
Companies that are evaluating whether they should replace their old PBX or retrofit it with SIP trunking should consider the advantages that SIP-based communications offer.
Cost-effective: Leverages existing internet infrastructure, reducing communication costs.
Scalable: Easily adapts to growing user bases and demands.
Unified communication: Integrates voice, video, chat, and other modes into one platform.
Mobility: Seamlessly switch between devices and locations without interruption.
Security: Follows standardized protocols and supports various security features.
SDP (Session Description Protocol) ensures compatible communication by negotiating media formats like audio codecs and video resolution between participants. This allows devices with different capabilities to communicate smoothly, guaranteeing seamless audio and video quality.
Security
SIP uses SRTP (Secure Real-time Transport Protocol) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) to encrypt media content (voice, video) and signaling messages. This provides end-to-end security, protecting against eavesdropping, tampering, and unauthorized access, ensuring confidential and trustworthy communication.
Presence
SIP provides real-time information about users’ online status and availability. This enables features like call forwarding and chat notifications based on presence, allowing for efficient communication management.
Conferencing
SIP facilitates multi-party audio, video, and screen sharing sessions. This allows for effective collaboration and communication in meetings, webinars, and online classrooms.
Telephone calls made over SIP are relayed over to the traditional phone network, from a SIP service provider like Nextiva.
An example of a VoIP phone call established with the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).
Session Initiation Protocol works with bidirectional communication. For every SIP message, one device sends a request, and the other device receives and later responds.
Responses are coded based on their message. Different preceding numbers in a three-digit sequence have different meanings.
For example, 1xx response codes mean the device received and is processing the message. Codes starting with 2xx mean completion, 3xx is used for redirections, 4xx is for authentication errors, etc.
The most common code is 200, meaning the action was completed successfully without further details. A SIP request or reply is relatively short, with just a few lines explaining the details of the call.
What is the role of a SIP registrar?
While SIP messages can contact another party directly, they usually go through a SIP proxy server—kind of like a switchboard.
The SIP server handles SIP requests and directs them to individual users. From there, devices establish trusted communication with each other. Where does a SIP request come from? Most likely, these requests originate from a SIP phone or a VoIP app.
A SIP registrar is similar to an address book. It associates the various users with the access points on the IP network where one can reach them. Notably, a user’s address is not an IP address, but a separate SIP address that resembles an email. This identifier is what allows multiple devices such as a smartphone or a desk phone to ring at the same time. A related but different type of server is a redirect server. It works similar to the post office’s change of address function, where it forwards mail to a new location. Like a registrar, a redirect server has a list of locations. But instead of making connections, the server sends a 3xx redirect message that indicates the site has moved. Related: What Is IP PBX? A-Z Guide to VoIP Servers & IP PBXs
Does SIP use TCP or UDP?
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) are different ways to send data packets. Both methods are called transport protocols. This isn’t a trick question — it uses both!
SIP often uses UDP for most communication, relying on TCP only when reliability is critical. Some SIP configurations may also allow specifying which protocol to use for specific types of messages.
It’s important to note that the underlying media streams for audio and video calls typically use separate protocols, like RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol), which ensures timely delivery of media data.
UDP
Used for most basic SIP signaling messages to set up and end calls. This allows faster transmission so calls can start quicker. However, UDP does not guarantee message delivery, so some messages (packets) may be lost.
TCP
Used for larger SIP messages or when reliability is critical. For example, TCP ensures the delivery of important setup information by resending lost packets. But TCP has more communication overhead than UDP, so that it may cause slower call setup times.
Differences between SIP and VoIP
If you’re researching how VoIP phone service works, you might be confused with all the acronyms. Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is a set of protocols used for voice calling over the internet, called internet telephony.
Internet phone service uses VoIP, which also utilizes the SIP protocol. Built into the core of VoIP is the SIP protocol, along with other open standards. You don’t have to choose between VoIP and SIP protocol, as they often come together. They function similar to HTTP and TLS; they are used in conjunction with each other to provide fast, reliable, and secure communication. A more direct comparison would be between PRI and SIP, with PRI representing an older form of establishing a communication channel as SIP does. Related: What is PRI?
Congrats, You’ve Now Mastered the SIP Protocol
Just like that, now you have a much better understanding of the SIP protocol and how it works. While technical, the concept is easy to digest.
Session Initiation Protocol is a critical set of standards to establish real-time digital communication. It helps two or more parties have a successful, productive interaction.
Unlike many of the complex protocols in telecommunications, SIP protocol is easy. It controls the beginning, end, channels, and users during the call. With this deeper understanding, you can fix common VoIP problems and prevent them from happening.
One of the most valuable features of the SIP protocol is trunking. Trunking allows you to provide SIP-based phone service to your PBX instead of completely overhauling your company’s phone system. It lowers costs and improves service. What could be better than that?
If you’re looking for SIP trunking in your business, consider Nextiva as your next SIP trunking provider.
U.S. News & World Report rated Nextiva as the best business phone service, making it the top choice for businesses across the United States.
Jeremiah Zerby is a marketing specialist at Nextiva. He spent three years on the front lines of technical support, troubleshooting internet and VoIP topics. He moved forward into the technical writing and content creation space. He’s helped set up hundreds of businesses and advised thousands of people with their cloud communications.
Legacy communications tech has profoundly impacted the digital communications infrastructure, with PSTN leading the way. How?
In this article, we’ll look at PSTN in detail, covering all aspects, from its history, basic setup, and how the technology works to some of the reasons for the global decline in usage, along with an overview of a better PSTN alternative.
What is PSTN?
PSTN is short for Public Switched Telephone Network. PSTN refers to the traditional telephone system used for voice-oriented communications. It consists of multiple interconnected carriers to reliably connect people through standard phone numbers.
This telephone network is known as analog, landlines, Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), or fixed lines. This system has been in general use since the late 1800s.
Using underground copper wires and circuit-switching, this legacy service has provided businesses and households with a reliable means to communicate with anyone worldwide for generations.
The roots of PSTN can be traced back to the late 1800s when inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray released the first usable telephone systems. These early phones used copper wires and could only communicate point-to-point.
Manual switchboards caught on in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These exchanges allowed operators to plug and unplug cords to connect calls manually.
A major change came in the late 20th century with automated switching, which eliminated the need for manual call handling. This is when the traditional PSTN came into play and later spread worldwide. Undersea cables and satellite communications further facilitated international voice communications.
The 1970s and 1980s saw another change in the public telephone network, where digital technology emerged. Digital switching systems replaced analog systems, allowing for better call quality and data transmission over telephone lines.
Despite all the innovations in PSTN, it remained an old, sluggish, and limited technology. The need for better communication, especially in the business environment, gave way to VoIP phones.
Landline usage has continued to fall since 2009 (via Statista)
PSTN phones are widely used and still accepted as a standard form of communication owing to their reliability and worldwide infrastructure. However, they’ve seen a steady decline over the last decade.
In fact, there are currently just 862 million fixed-line telephone subscriptions in use worldwide, the lowest this century.
Many telecoms have gradually replaced outdated PSTN infrastructure with modern IP-based networks capable of handling both voice and data traffic.
How PSTN Works Today
Think of a PSTN as a combination of worldwide telephone networks, including telephone lines, fiber optic cables, switching centers, cellular networks, satellites, and cable systems. PSTN helps telephones communicate with each other.
Put simply, when you dial a phone number, your call moves through the network to reach its destination – and two phones connect. To fully understand how Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) works, consider what happens when you dial a number from your phone.
From telephone handset to Central Office
Your telephone set converts your call (sound waves) into electrical signals and transmits them over network cables to a nearby exchange or terminal. The terminal collects these signals and determines where your voice (converted into electrical signals) goes next.
Central Office call routing
The call next goes to a tandem office (a regional hub that routes calls to distant central offices) or to a central office (for local calls). The central office routes the call through a fiber optic cable that converts the electrical signals into light pulses.
From the Central Office to the terminating number
The relevant center office picks up the light pulses, converts them into electrical signals, and sends them to the target terminal. The destination terminal forwards the call through sound waves to the appropriate telephone number.
It’s natural to be confused about how PSTN works behind the scenes. Remember that it takes a few seconds for your call to reach its destination via fiber optic cables and a global network of switches. It’s like changing buses to reach your final destination, only faster.
Nationwide calling is the norm, thanks to interconnected telephone networks. But since the lines were installed, telecom providers have since become pioneers in data networks, which operate faster and carry VoIP and other communication technologies.
PSTNs are all about switching, which forms the backbone of traditional telephone networks. When a call is made, switches create a wired connection between two phones, maintaining it for as long as the call lasts.
Here are the four main elements that make up the PSTN architecture.
The local exchange: A local exchange – consisting of one or more exchanges – connects subscribers to a PSTN line. Also known as a central office or a switching exchange, a telephone exchange can have up to 10,000 lines. All phones are connected to the local exchange in a specific area. The exchange identifies the number dialed to route the call to the correct destination.
The tandem office: Also known as a junction network, a tandem office serves a large geographic area with multiple local exchanges while managing switches between local exchanges. Let’s say you dial the number of a client living in the same city but in another suburb. In this case, your call routes to a tandem office from your local exchange. The tandem office forwards the signal to the local exchange closest to your client’s location.
The toll office: Every national long-distance switching takes place here. A toll office is connected to all tandem offices. For instance, if you dial a branch of your office in another city, your call will go through a toll office.
The international gateway: International gateways manage international call switching, routing domestic calls to the appropriate countries.
How Much Does PSTN Access Cost?
How much would installing and using a PSTN phone system in your home or office cost you?
Cost for Consumers
To get a PSTN phone connection at home, you need a telephone set and a PSTN provider. A decent phone can be bought from Walmart or Amazon for less than $60, while basic phone service with unlimited local calls costs up to $30 monthly.
If you need a plan with unlimited local and national calls, you can get one for less than $50 a month. You pay $90-$110 for the first month and then $30-$50 per month. Not bad for a single household phone line.
Cost for Businesses
Things change dramatically when you switch to companies. You need a separate line for each employee to get a PSTN phone system for your business. For this reason, most businesses prefer VoIP over traditional phone systems.
Small businesses with 10 employees or fewer can opt for a monthly plan for as little as $30 per month per connection. And, of course, you’ll need to purchase handsets too.
To connect up to 40 employees to the PSTN, a Key System Unit (KSU) is your best bet. It offers multiple features and is better than a regular phone line. Remember that a KSU is expensive to acquire; it costs approximately $800 or more per line
One of the types of PBX systems connects calls over the PSTN. Generally, PSTN is more used in residential applications and PBX systems in business environments. It offers call transfer, call conferencing, auto attendant, voicemail, call holding, and more business-specific features.
Since a PBX comes with hubs, switches, phone adapters, routers, and several telephone sets, it costs more. Most businesses use PBX phone systems because they’re easier to use. However, installing and managing them is expensive. Actual costs may vary depending on the number of features you want and the PBX’s complexity.
The installation and setup fee can be as high as $4,000. Monthly maintenance costs start at $600 and can go up to $2,000. The annual maintenance cost of a PBX can reach $10,000!
Analog-based PSTN phones are generally expensive. Most companies don’t like them and are switching to cloud-based phone systems.
PSTN Alternatives
PSTN systems offer a handful of features but aren’t particularly optimal for use in a business setting. It costs a lot and runs on old technology, both big red flags for faster and more efficient communication. On top, PSTN phone networks transmit limited data types.
PSTN vs. ISDN
Both PSTN and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) carry voice over traditional copper-based telephone lines or fiber optic cables but with some inherent differences.
PSTN
ISDN
Traditional analog phone system
Digital telecommunications system
Supports basic voice calls and limited data services such as faxing and dial-up internet connections
Offers high-quality, faster, and reliable voice, data, and video transmission compared to PSTN
Not suited for business communications or higher call volumes
Suited for businesses and advanced communication needs
Cheaper but fewer features offered
Offers high-quality, faster, and more reliable voice, data, and video transmission compared to PSTN
⚠️ ISDNs aren’t used these days. It was one of the first forms of higher-speed internet in the days of dial-up.
PSTN vs. VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is another modern, more advanced, and reliable alternative to the PSTN. It’s also known as IP telephony, broadband telephony, or internet telephony, but means the same thing: your voice transmitted through the internet — voice over IP.
Unlike PSTN, which uses a network of wires to route calls, a VoIP phone uses only a DSL or cable modem connected to the internet. The voice signal is converted into a digital signal that reaches its destination via the internet. However, if you dial a PSTN number from your VoIP, your call will be transmitted through an exchange.
VoIP works for all types of calls, data transfers, and more. The PSTN uses circuit switching to connect calls. Business phone systems use digital packet switching. Digital switching is more efficient than circuit switching because data is sent and received as needed. A permanent connection isn’t maintained for the entire duration of the call.
Plus, VoIP systems don’t use dedicated lines. Instead, the data packets use routers and the internet. Each data packet travels through the least congested and shortest path that PSTNs aren’t smart enough to do.
Because packet switching is efficient and cost-effective, businesses now widely use VoIP.
A 2022 study commissioned by Spiceworks Ziff Davisreported that 31% of organizations use a unified communications solution. This figure reflects a whopping 41% growth in VoIP since 2019. Lower cost, easier deployment, and more functionality make voice over IP the standard for business communications.
Here’s a closer, feature-by-feature comparison between PSTN and VoIP to ease your choice.
Feature
VoIP
PSTN (Landline)
Connection type
Transmits data via an internet connection. Voice is converted into a digital signal.
Transmits voice via dedicated POTS line. The voice data travels in the form of electrical signals.
Switching
Uses packet switching that doesn’t require a dedicated line.
Uses circuit switching that requires a dedicated transmission line.
Bandwidth
Uses bandwidth as per requirement. VoIP networks don’t reserve any bandwidth in advance and can work with as low as 10kbps.
POTS requires up to 64kbps, and all the bandwidth is reserved in advance.
Upgrading
Upgrading a VoIP phone system is rather easy. You need to increase bandwidth and update the software. No additional hardware is required except telephone sets.
Upgrading a PSTN telephone system is complex. You need dedicated lines, and you have to add new hardware, which makes upgrading a pain.
Setup cost
It costs between $700 and $1400 to set up and install a VoIP phone system for 30 employees. Actual cost may vary depending on the features and add-ons you opt for.
It costs between $8000 and $12000 to set up and install a PSTN telephone system for 30 employees. Actual cost may vary depending on the features and add-ons you opt for.
Call cost
You’re not charged based on distance. You get free VoIP to VoIP calls. International and mobile calls might get a little expensive.
Calls are charged based on distance. Local calls are cheaper as compared to national or international calls. International and mobile calls are expensive.
Monthly cost
The monthly cost per user can range from $20 to $40.
monthly cost per user can range from $30 to $60.
Maintenance cost
VoIP doesn’t require a lot of maintenance. But if you do, it won’t cost you a lot of money since you mostly deal with software.
If you use a PBX for your business. In the case of a normal PSTN connection, you’ll need minimal maintenance.
Long-distance calls
Long-distance phone calls are up to 90% less expensive than traditional phone lines. Rates are as low as $0.01 per minute.
Long-distance calls come with tolls, special calling plans, and unexpected costs — some rates as high as $6 per minute.
Add-ons
Most VoIP phone networks come pre-loaded with all the add-ons and features, such as voicemail, call conferencing, auto attendant, virtual faxing, line monitoring, and more.
You get basic features for free such as call waiting, caller ID, and others. However, you’ll be charged extra if you need more features like conference, 3-way calling, etc.
Biggest advantage
Cost-effective for businesses of all sizes in terms of setup cost, maintenance cost, monthly cost, or upgrade costs.
Call stability is one of the best features of a PSTN. You’d rarely experience a call drop or voice distortion.
Biggest drawback
Your VoIP phone system won’t work in case of a power or internet outage. Legacy alarm systems will require a VoIP adapter to function.
PSTN is expensive for businesses. You have to spend a lot of money on maintenance, upgrades, and hardware as your business grows.
Softphones
Supports softphones to make and receive phone calls on the go without a physical phone.
Softphones aren’t available.
Overall efficiency
VoIP is quite efficient in terms of data transmission as well as cost.
Quite inefficient when it comes to data transmission and cost.
You can use a softphone, an SIP phone, or your landline phone with an ATA. The SIP phones for businesses are available at different prices.
Telephone sets are inexpensive.
Integration
VoIP phone networks can integrate with any software or a third-party tool such as sales CRM or email marketing software. Interconnectivity isn’t a problem.
PSTN doesn’t support integrations.
Why VoIP Is Better Than PSTN
If you’re still using a PSTN, PBX, or just any tech running on Plain Old Telephone Service, consider these factors to invest in better business communications technology. Your wallet and customers will thank you.
1. Better Cost Savings
Switching from a PSTN phone network to VoIP is costly because you lose your existing hardware, but it will save money in the long run.
VoIP reduces local calling costs by a whopping 40%, and softphones can save your business up to $1,727 monthly. Switching from PSTN to VoIP can save you up to 65% monthly.
2. Better Customer Service
VoIP phone systems come with several features at no additional cost. These features add functionality to your customer service team, improving response times, and amping up daily resolutions.
For instance, with a call forwarding feature, you can automatically transfer calls to an available agent so your customers don’t have to wait.
87% of consumers want brands to do their best to provide a seamless experience, and half of consumers expect a response within 24 hours. If you’re a small business or just starting out, think of the impact good customer service can have on building your reputation from the ground up.
Happy customers mean better service, less stress, and smoother work processes, all contributing to employee morale, satisfaction, and productivity. VoIP plays a huge role in building and driving the pillars of productivity.
A joint study by Cisco and Sage Research has shown that unified messaging saves employees 43 minutes a day and mobile workers 55 minutes daily. Unified communications can help businesses with 100 employees reclaim up to 191 hours per day and $920,000 per year in productivity.
This powerful combination of customer satisfaction and advanced communications boosts a company’s overall performance and success.
4. Better Scalability
As you expand and onboard new employees, you need new phones. Using a PSTN means buying, installing, and adding new hardware and wiring for these phones. Costly, time-consuming, and slow!
Unlike traditional phone systems, VoIP is a better option for adding new lines as your business grows. Adding new connections is dead cheap, and you can do it instantly without upgrading the hardware.
If you can’t afford new telephones, your employees can use softphones on their computers, smartphones, or laptops. Scaling a VoIP phone network is also pretty easy compared to a PSTN network, which requires a lot of resources.
The Phone System Businesses Trust
The secret’s out. See why businesses ditched landlines for the cloud.
Here’s what you need to know before replacing your PSTN with VoIP.
Can a PSTN Phone Work with VoIP?
Yes, it can. Use an Analog Phone Adapter (ATA) that converts your traditional phone device into a digital phone set to use with your VoIP phone system. However, you cannot access all the features and add-ons of your VoIP network with a landline phone. It’s best to use a SIP-enabled VoIP phone in such a case.
How Do I Know How Much Bandwidth I Have?
One of the requirements to switch to VoIP is sufficient bandwidth. You need 100 Kbps per device. So for 100 devices, you need 10 Mbps bandwidth. However, ensure that your internal network isn’t congested; otherwise, you might experience network jitter.
What Equipment Do I Need For VoIP?
You need a reliable internet connection, a SIP-enabled device, and a reliable business VoIP provider like Nextiva. Our award-winning service team offers you telephone sets and all the necessary support.
Is It Hard to Use or Set Up VoIP?
No, not at all. You can get started immediately without training. VoIP desk phones work just like traditional phones, so anyone can use them. VoIP also works reliably on mobile phones and desktop computers with its full-featured business phone apps.
Ready To Switch To VoIP?
No matter how much you love your PSTN phone system, the tech is outdated and probably not a good fit for your business. You need a trusted, fast, and reliable cloud PBX– where Nextiva can help!
The POTS phones are great but are no match for a VoIP service provider. As some broadband networks phase out PSTNs, also known as PSTN switch-off, you’ll inevitably have to move on from PSTN. So why not sooner than later?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cameron Johnson
Cameron Johnson was a market segment leader at Nextiva. Along with his well-researched contributions to the Nextiva Blog, Cameron has written for a variety of publications including Inc. and Business.com. Cameron was recently recognized as Utah's Marketer of the Year.
Running the latest version of the app ensures you’ve got the latest features, enhancements, and fixes. Now, updating your app is as easy as hitting the “update” button.
New: Auto-accept meeting guests
Eliminate the need to manually accept your meeting guests. Click “auto accept guests” during scheduling, and your guests will let themselves in.
How to:
On the right menu, click the calendar icon and click the expand icon
Click the day/time of your meeting
Enter meeting details and click “Advanced options”
Select “Automatically accept guests”
How to: Create an instant meeting
Get everyone together right now in a virtual meeting. Make it face-to-face by turning your camera on.
Start an instant team meeting
Step 1: In the left menu, click Rooms and copy your personal meeting link
Step 2: Share your meeting link via NextivaONE text or team chat
Nextiva is the future-of-work software company that helps sales, service, and marketing teams achieve higher productivity and deliver better customer engagement. Nextiva’s cloud-based platform brings together business communications applications, intelligence, and automation to help companies build deeper connections with customers and manage all conversations and relationships in one place.
