Breaking Down Why CPMs Rise During the Holidays

This article was previously published at Social Media Today. You’re running campaigns as usual, good ones. Campaigns that have succeeded in the past. Some might have even returned best-in-class results. All of a sudden, though, the cost of those same strategies and campaign structures increased in October, and your November numbers are even higher. What […]

Beyond The Platform: Shortcuts to Social Media Success

Best practices are ever-changing. Tweet with an image to increase engagement. Instagram now lets you post 16:9 photos, so fill the screen. Don’t ask for likes on Facebook. Vertical video performs better than horizontal on mobile. The weekly and monthly updates are a constant barrage that, in all honesty, aren’t always worth keeping up on. […]

7 Tips for Creating Content with Instagram Carousels

Instagram insta-grabbed headlines this week with the announcement that its 600+ million monthly users can now upload up to 10 photos or videos within a single post. This update brings immediate opportunities for marketers from both performance and creative standpoints. The feature is very similar to that of Instagram stories. However, some things warrant more […]

Breaking Down Facebook’s Latest Algorithm Update

Facebook recently announced changes in its evaluation and ranking methods concerning branded posts and profiles appearing within users’ News Feeds. It was a very official, albeit humdrum, way of saying that the platform will show its users more content that A, they like on a regular basis, and B, their friends engage with on a […]

We Gathered & Gave

On November 21, our entire team came together for Gather & Give, a massive 1-day project aimed at showing gratitude for both our clients and our team. Throughout the day, we generated enormous amounts of content, shared social media tips and tricks via livestream, and ended the day with a Thanksgiving feast that featured every company on […]

The Social Lights Celebrates 5 Years in Business

The Social Lights, LLC is an independent social media marketing agency headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. Over the past 5 years, they’ve grown from a two-woman shop to a team of 12 and counting. “Since this time last year, revenue growth is up 51.3%. We’ve grown to 12 employees (4x last year) and moved into a […]

Social Media: 4 Factors to Focus on in 2015

In 2014, we saw video apps take off (mobile video impressions grew 350%), new networks like Yik Yak and ello emerge, and a movement toward high quality images and “Images for Information” instead of plain text or standard images. We also saw some epic social media wins and fails. Winners included NASA, the ALS Foundation, […]

To hashtag or not to hashtag?

Each social media platform has its own set of best practices when it comes to hashtags, and we think it’s time someone put together a little cheat sheet to keep track. When used in the correct way, hashtags help amplify your content and create valuable engagement. This quick graphic will help you determine whether or […]

5 Key Takeaways from #SMBMSP72 – Social Media Case Studies

This month’s Social Media Breakfast kicked off as it usually does – with coffee, bagels, and bacon! We all got our tweeting fingers ready and dug in to case studies from Jaclyn Grossfield, Lee Odden, and Casey Hall. Here are 5 things we learned from them: 1.     Get to know your audience (like, really know […]

Klout Perks

On Friday, I received a fun surprise in my inbox: I was intrigued, so I signed into Klout (which I haven’t done in AGES) to see what this Perk was all about. Sure enough, there it was, waiting for me to claim it. In two easy steps: 1)   Learn More, which took me to this […]