Social media has become such a dominant force in today’s culture. According to Statista.com, the average person spends about 136 minutes on social media daily.

With social media becoming so popular, many businesses take advantage of it through the promotion of their businesses. Common social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are the most well known. However, there has been a rise in the popularity of the new social media app called TikTok.

This leads to the big question: Should I use TikTok for my business?

What Makes You Different?

Customers buy from the person they connect with.

Social Media MarketingRick YoungDecember 18, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCMarketing 101, Branding

Google Reviews: Dominate Local Business

Stop wasting your time with Yelp.

Social Media Marketing, SEORick YoungDecember 9, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCGoogle

LinkedIn Events

Since 2002, LinkedIn has been the go-to social media platform for the business-savvy crowd. Widely embraced as “professional Facebook”, LinkedIn sees 303 million active users in any given month, placing it among the most popular social media platforms as we round out 2019.

But that doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lazy. If anything, LinkedIn continues to seek out novel paths of innovation, the latest of which arriving in the form of its brand-new Events tool.

Social Media MarketingRick YoungNovember 21, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCLinkedIn

Unfold Your Social Media Stories

Squarespace's recent Unfold acquisition is the answer to your question. In the realm of spontaneity, small and medium businesses have been struggling to build their brand presence with minimal marketing revenue spent.

TikTok Advertising: Changing the Game

In 2016, the video sharing app, Tik Tok, was launched. Within just one year, they accumulated over 100 million users, and launched internationally, setting the stage for global competition with the likes of Instagram and Snapchat.

In 2019, many businesses are just learning about Tik Tok for the first time, but in the first quarter of this year, it became the most downloaded app on the apple store.

Top 3 Tips to Be an Instagram Star!

Although one of the younger social media channels, Instagram has already grown to be one of the most popular. The U.S. featured 104.7 million users in 2018, only about 10% of the 1 billion users worldwide [RY1]. But every day, businesses log onto Instagram with no clue how to stand out, even if they’re doing well on other social media platforms. As a starting point, these three top tips will set you directly on the path to becoming an Instagram star.

Social Media MarketingRick YoungNovember 2, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCInstagram

The Art of SEO: More is More

One of the questions we always get is “Do you do SEO?” It’s usually asked as if it was a buzzword picked up casually in conversation, something that closer resembles a Holy Grail than a marketing discipline.

In short, the answer is yes, we do SEO.

SEO, Social Media MarketingRick YoungNovember 2, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCSnapchat, TikTok, Marketing 101

Business: A Story of Humans

For the past several years, I haven’t gone a single month without saying something along the lines of “Your customers aren’t buying from a business, they’re buying from you.”

This sentiment that I often share with clients, prospects, and colleagues is all too often lost in the modern-day world. For the vast majority of our clients, they fall in the small or medium-sized business bucket. These are individuals who are going out there each and every day, sharing their experiences, telling their story, and connecting with others on a more intimate level.

The End of an Era?

The past few years have been rough for Facebook from a PR standpoint. From Russians using its platform to interfere in the 2016 election, to the selling of user data, to the infamous one-day outage, and more, the mega-corporation has become an easy target for public distrust. All of these events have led to to the latest bit of news surrounding Facebook: Congress clamoring for a breakup.

Social Media MarketingRick YoungNovember 2, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCFacebook, Instagram

Marrying Marketing & Sales

Often, we find that when we speak with a potential client, they’ll frequently say something along the lines of “I don’t need marketing. I need sales!” If we had a nickel for every time we heard that one.

But the truth is that there’s a reason why every successful Fortune 500 company has a distinct department for both (and sub-departments within those departments). So, today we’d like to talk about why it’s important to marry marketing and sales together.

Review Management 101

This past week, two of our clients received negative reviews on their Google listings. The first is an on-again/off-again client whose website we designed, whereas with the second, we’re actively helping them generate a positive digital reputation.

Small Business Marketing Essentials

Believe it or not, starting a small business is always a huge step forward. Despite the plethora of competition, in time, you’ll find that you have much more freedom, cash flow, and ownership than you ever would working for a much larger organization.

For me, one of the early lessons I learned is that I can’t do it all. For instance, you might be effective at running the day-to-day operations of your business, however, marketing might be a foreign concept.

But it doesn’t have to be daunting. As a matter of fact, there are four easy ways to launch your digital marketing strategy.

Black Friday's Hottest Marketing Trend

During this time every year, countless consumers begin the process of crossing off their Christmas shopping. For many, including several friends and family members, Black Friday becomes the unofficial kick-off ceremony for said shopping spree.

Last week’s Black Friday shopping extravaganza led to consumers achieving a record-breaking $6.22 billion in online sales. As a matter of fact, just in the lead-up to Black Friday, Thanksgiving Day has become “the fastest growing shopping day” of the year, seeing an impressive 28% year-over-year growth.

Building a Brand

When I was in college, one of the first marketing concepts I learned was about the power of a brand. “A brand is a promise,” my professor would say. “It’s a promise to your customers to uphold certain values that represent how you want to do business and be seen by the rest of the world.”

These values can range from creating the expectation of excellent customer service to following a code of ethics with each transaction. The important thing is that those values are consistent throughout a business’ life.

‘Tis the Season

With Halloween just a mere eight days away, the holiday season is soon to follow. During this time, many retail businesses will be extremely busy as countless holiday shoppers stop buy to purchase gifts for their loved ones.

Some see this as the time to scale back on marketing because business is going so well that there’s no need to get the word out anymore. We’re here to tell you differently.

Social Media MarketingRick YoungNovember 2, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCMarketing 101

“Say, “Cheese”!”: Experiencing Instagram Culture

This past Saturday night, I attended Jack's Pumpkin Nights Pop-Up near Goose Island. For me, the experience left much to be desired.

But as I looked around, I realized that this event was never built for someone like me. It’s built for the Instagram Culture.

Social Media MarketingRick YoungNovember 2, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCInstagram

Heighten Engagement

When starting a business, it’s easy to fall into the trap of “I need to be 100% business-oriented all the time.” Many people see owning a business as they’re brainchild, so they want it to be just perfect.

News flash!

People don’t like that.

Social Media MarketingRick YoungNovember 2, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCTwitter, Marketing 101

Goodbye, Google+

It was only a matter of time, but now, Google+ has officially been marked for execution.

Although it started out promisingly enough, Google+ never really amounted to more than a discounted Facebook clone. And it’s surprising, really.

A platform designed by one of the greatest companies in the world should’ve had continents full of user data, preferences, and other resources need to create the best social media platform to ever exist.

Social Media MarketingRick YoungNovember 2, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCGoogle

Expats for a Week

For those who have followed us on social media throughout the week, you’ll know that Maria [Rizzo] and I just returned from vacationing in Positano. However, you may not know that this is the first vacation we’ve attempted to take in a little over a year and a half.

Admittedly, I was pretty high-strung going into it. When I thought of all the emails I receive on a daily basis, the thought of it just seemed nauseating.

Social Media MarketingRick YoungNovember 2, 2019Rizzo Young Marketing LLCExpats