We live in the interconnected digital age. Technology and access to the world are available at our fingertips. The first thing you probably do when you wake up each morning is to check your social media accounts. You see what family and friends are doing and get updates from the entrepreneurs that you follow and are connected to. You take a little bit of what you see from others and model your social media accounts and postings to best portray you as a person and entrepreneur.

While there is a lot of good stuff happening online, there are definitely some things and strategies that you don't want to model. The ability to portray an edited version of someone's life has led to fake personas and an unrealistic look at entrepreneurship. It's not uncommon to only see the good in someone's life when you know there's a flip side. You know that there is more than that and it turns you off. What you see is the pinnacle of an entrepreneur's success but they leave out the 100 other steps it took to reach that success.

You need a loyal audience and customers to build a business that stands the test of time. You get loyalty when you make a deeper connection. The deeper connection comes from authenticity because people already know there's more to the story. Here are four ways you don't want to portray yourself online. They won't form deeper connections and make the impact that you're trying to make with your business.

The "Hustle 24/7" Entrepreneur

You see this almost daily. The entrepreneur that's always posting about their hustle efforts. They work on their business all the time and portray that strategy as the only way to be dedicated. They work long hours each day, on weekends and won't enjoy the little pleasures of life -- all in the name of entrepreneurship.

First, you know it's a front. There are only a few entrepreneurs who actual work that hard. Names like Gary Vaynerchuk and Elon Musk come to mind. Second, why build a business to have it turn into a job for you? The best businesses are built with balance. Life and business intersect in harmony. Portraying yourself as always hustling won't build a real connection with your audience.

The "Always on" Entrepreneur

These entrepreneurs portray themselves a lot like the first. They are always in "entrepreneur mode." It's all they talk about and think about. When they see other entrepreneurs posting about enjoying life through things like TV shows and other mindless enjoyments, they are quick to attack. They make others feel like they don't care about their business if that's not the 100 percent focus of the entrepreneur. Don't portray yourself this way because not only will you lose your audience, you'll lose your friends.

The Flip-Flop Entrepreneur

This is the entrepreneur who does something new every week. Two months ago, they were a Snapchat expert. Last month, they were a Facebook Messenger bot expert. This week, they're a Bitcoin millionaire and expert. They chase the latest trends. You see this person and realize they haven't figured it out yet.

You will be respected and followed when you build a deep foundation on a topic. When you build your business with structure and work hard every day to make yourself more of an expert on your topic. Don't portray yourself as flaky by constantly chasing trends.

The "Look at Me" Entrepreneur

This entrepreneur is always posting things that scream "check out how amazing my life is all the time." They only share their wins and accolades. They never share anything that portrays themselves as less than a superstar. People won't believe it and they'll see right through it.

Arrogance tends to push people away. Share your wins but also share your disappointments. Show the full picture and you'll get a lot more respect.

It's easy to get lost in the power and attention that comes from being followed and talked about online. It tempts you to be something other than yourself. Don't fall for it. People know the real thing when they see it.

Many physical retailers continue resisting ecommerce. These businesses are hesitant to venture online, fearing they’ll dilute their existing business model or confuse customers but ignoring mounting evidence that brick-and-mortar shops without an online business are seriously risking failure.

The internet continues to grow as a means of effective advertising and marketing, and retailers that want to survive are using it. Whereas only 60 percent of retailers were using social media strategies in 2013 that number is now believed to be well above 70 percent. If you aren’t using social media or other online marketing approaches, you’re part of the minority.

The key to being a successful retailer in the coming years will lie in your ability to connect with the new generation of millennials and even younger people who now hold massive buying power in today’s economy. And, quite frankly, if you aren’t using online marketing tactics, then you’re missing out on this very important demographic. Already, 72 percent of millennials research an establishment online before walking in to shop.

You can leverage online marketing to maximize offline sales -- here are some helpful strategies and tangible takeaways.

1. Build an online community.

One of the best strategies is to build an online community around a subject matter or niche that’s related to your core product offering. If you’ve primarily been a brick and mortar retailer and now you’re venturing into the online world more, I always recommend content marketing of some kind, since so many people are consuming content now.

You’re eventual goal should be to pump out material on a regular basis that highlights your expertise in the type of business you run. For example, think of a big company that offers tax preparation services. It runs a blog that features stories about new tax rules or tips on tax exemptions. Perhaps this company holds a networking event with speakers who can answer questions about taxes.

You can do all this even if you’re new to ecommerce. By building an active community, you’re simultaneously creating an owned media outlet that can then be leveraged to promote your retail experience. The idea is to make sure people know that they can not only turn to you for finding a certain type of product, but also trust you to generate opinion about that subject so they can understand it better.

2. Use Google AdWords (and other paid advertising).

In order to reach today’s customer, you have to think like them. If you were a potential customer who didn’t know your business existed, how would you discover the business? Sure, you could drive by and see it, but millennials are more likely to search for something on Google.

If you want to reach these searchers – which could potentially be a group of thousands in your immediate geographical area – then you must invest in paid advertising. Google AdWords will probably give you good bang for your buck.

3. Connect the dots with email.

If you aren’t asking customers to sign up for some kind of rewards program, you’re missing out on the opportunity to build a valuable contact list. You should be collecting email addresses at checkout.

When you collect emails, you can then build an email list that can be used to advertise deals, share news, and promote special in-store offers. When users have access to such deals, they may be less likely to shop online for a certain product and more likely to wait until visiting your store.

4. Make web design a priority.

Last but not least, your web design is a direct reflection of your business. Specifically, you need to pay attention to mobile web design. While you may not think of web design as a component of Internet marketing, it certainly is. Just consider that 57 percent of users won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile website.

People who put together mobile sites nowadays have it down to a science. Everything from load times to placement of certain items on your smart phone screen heavily influences whether or not someone makes a purchase. Do your homework, hire someone with experience in this area, and put together something strong that helps you transition to the online world.

In the end, the path to success is clear. If brick and mortar stores want to survive the ongoing shift to an ecommerce-based economy, they need to invest in ways of optimizing their online experience. How your site looks and how you communicate with the communities you create is almost as important as how much customers connect with your product. If you leverage the online world right, you’ll keep customers that Amazon is only too eager to snatch away from you.

Anyone interested in selling products online might find the prospect of designing a website storefront with a shopping cart and credit card processing intimidating. At one time, creating an online store required programming knowledge and lots of money. But today, there are many easy to use and affordable, full service ecommerce providers perfect for the small or home-based business.

Not sure what to expect from an ecommerce software provider? For the most part, providers offer shopping cart solutions for your new or existing web site, allowing you to easily build, edit, and maintain your online shop, and collect orders without any programming or HTML knowledge.

Most providers offer everything you need, including hosting, templates and more. Or, you can integrate them into your existing website. Most of these offer payment gateways and use of their credit card services, as well as allow you to use PayPal. Some charge transaction or set-up fees and others don’t. They all offer a free trial, which gives you the chance to test them all to find the one that best suits your needs.

1. Volusion

Volusion is my top recommendation, not only for the low price, but all the bells and whistles that come along with its affordability. There is ample support, fraud protection for your customers, options for credit card processing as well as accepting PayPal payments, and many website templates to choose from. Further, it offers responsive design, mobile ecommerce and social media integration (i.e. Facebook store). Basically, Volusion offers everything you could want or need to run a successful and effective ecommerce store. Volution offers many plans starting at only $14 per month (you can test it with a free 14-day trial).

The lowest cost plan features:

• $14 per mo (free 14 day trial)
• 100 Products
• Unlimited Storage
• No Transaction Fees
• 1GB Bandwidth
• Online Support
• Mobile Commerce
• Responsive Templates
• Free Slideshow
• Mobile App
• Facebook Store
• Social Media Tools
• Automatic Tax Rates
• And more

2. Shopify

Shopify is also another top recommendation because it is so customizable. Within the typical ecommerce solution and hosting, there is a Shopify App store (much like Apple’s) which allows you to shop for and select add-on applications for your Shopify site. For example, Shopify offers buy buttons for Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. It provides everything you need or you can integrate into your existing website or store. It offers mobile options as well. In addition, you get great support, fraud protection, options for credit card processing and many website templates to choose from.

Plans start at $29 per month but that includes unlimited products and 24/7 support.

• Starts at $29 per mo
• Free trial
• Unlimited products
• 24/7 Support
• Discount codes
• Website/Blog
• 100+ themes
• Mobile commerce
• Social media integration
• Email marketing
• and more.

3. Big Commerce

Big Commerce is another well-priced and fully stocked ecommerce service provider. It offers fraud protection, varying credit card processing features and a wide selection of website design themes, including responsive design, and mobile ecommerce. It also offers a wide range of support options and the ability to show product images in varying ways. Big Commerce offers unlimited products, storage and bandwidth, and the ability to sell on Pinterest and Facebook, as well as Google Stores on the bigger, Pro and Enterprise plans.

The least expensive plan features:

• $29.95 per month (15 day free trial)
• Unlimited products
• Sales up to $50k per year
• 24.7 live agent support
• 100+ design templates
• Social media connectivity
• Mobile ecommerce
• And more

4. 3DCart

3Dcart is an ecommerce solution targeting those who wish to sell a larger amount of products. It includes many of the bells and whistles as the other providers such as mobile ecommerce, social media integration and more.

The Mini Plan offers:

• $19.99 per month (you can test with a free trial)
• 200 products
• Up to 4000 visits a month
• $25 in free ad credits
• Social media connectivity
• No transaction fees
• 24/7 tech support

5. Fortune3

Like other providers, Fortune3 offers everything you’d need to set up an ecommerce store with six plans to choose from starting at $9.95 a month. A few other providers offer gift cards, and Fortune3 give you the ability to sell and accept gift certificates. Plus there is Facebook shopping integration, email marketing, and the ability to create an affiliate program. What’s different from other providers, is that Fortune# includes all features in all plans. The difference between the plans is the number of products. The two most expensive plans have set up fees as well.

The Starter plan features:

• $9.95 per month (30-day free trial)
• 20 products
• Unlimited support
• No Set-up Fee
• Unlimited storage and bandwidth
• No transaction fee when you use Fortune3 credit card services

Imagine placing a Snapcode on the door or window of your store. A customer scans it, and an augmented reality (AR) image pops up on their smartphone. Lens Studio is a new desktop app from Snapchat (NYSE: SNAP) which lets you create Lenses to bring in the real world.

Snapchat Lens Studio Puts Augmented Reality in Reach

Lens Studio is a new way of creating Lenses so the Snapchat community can interact in the real world. The studio has been designed to simplify the creation of objects so they can be transposed using AR.

Snapchat has a young user base (mostly teens), but if your small business caters to this demographic, integrating AR is one way to interact with them. It is important to note more than $264 billion is spent annually for products bought by and for teens in the United States. The more ways you use to engage your customers, the better your chances of succeeding.

The new app makes AR more accessible. The company wrote on its blog, “With the launch of Lens Studio, we’re excited to make Lenses more accessible to creators, and experiences within Snapchat more personal and diverse.”

Lens Studio

With Lens Studio, Snapchat has opened its AR platform to the world. Creators and developers can use the application to place interactive 3D objects on images and videos with QR Snapcodes.

If you want to try Lens Studio, all you have to do is download the Mac or Windows version and start creating. The company says the app has been designed so even beginners in 2D animation or professional artists can start using it with easy to use guides and tools.

Once you create your image and QR Code, you can start promoting it as another marketing tool for your business. The one drawback is, it still has the 24 hour limit of Snapchat content.

What is Augmented Reality?

Unlike virtual reality, augmented reality (AR) brings superimposed computer-generated images with live direct or indirect views of physical real-world environments over your view of the real-world. So if you point your smartphone or another device in a particular location, it enhances your perception of reality.

The Pokémon craze that swept the world last year is an example of this. But it has infinitely more applications than gaming.

As a small business owner, using Lens Studio or another AR platform is one more way you can engage with your customers. And in most instances, these technologies are free. So have a go at it, and give your customers one more reason to walk through your door.

Social media is a tricky business. It seems so simple on the face of it and you may have launched your business profiles thinking that everything would take off if you only started posting. Sadly, that is rarely the case and many small business owners have hit their head against the wall trying to make headway, without any real results.

Don’t worry, it isn’t nearly as mysterious as you may be fearing. While social media has a tendency to change and adapt to new trends and features, not to mention shift with the way that users themselves choose to use it, there are some actionable social media tips that you can put into play right this second to begin seeing results.

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Actionable Social Media Tips

Hire a Social Media Manager

This may seem like trite advice but it is actually a really good strategy. Not to run your social media campaigns, but to teach you how to do it. Here is what you do: put out an ad for a temporary social media manager.

Set the contract for as long as your budget allows and specify that part of the job will be setting up a campaign and showing you how to continue it once the contract ends. Watch the steps carefully because that is how you will learn.

Use a Productive Social Media Scheduling Solution

Yes, you need to be there interacting with your social media community on a regular basis, but there’s other work to be done too! You cannot quit everything and just socialize (especially if you cannot afford to hire a social media manager just yet).

So what you do? Scheduling social media updates is the answer. You can even schedule social media updates 6 or 12 months ahead: Think about holidays, for example! You’ll be busy but you need your social media account to remain active, so use the slower seasons to schedule social media updates for the holidays.

There are a few solid social media scheduling solutions out there.

Get a More Comprehensive Dashboard

Once you are ready to launch your campaigns, you will want a solid dashboard where you can schedule posts, watch analytics, etc. There are plenty of options right now for a social media dashboard. I’m currently using Cyfe.

Set Smaller Goals and Build From There

When you are talking about a big business it is good to look at long term goals and then set milestones and plans to meet them. For small businesses that don’t have an entire marketing team and millions in the budget on hand, making smaller goals and focusing on those is a far better idea.

Set little milestones to work on and monitor your progress. For example, instead of saying, “I will have 10,000 followers by the end of the year on Instagram” try “I will grow by at least 100 followers per month.” If you overshoot it, hey… good for you.

Go To Where Your Customers Are

Guess what? The platform you chooses matters… a lot. Facebook, for example, is popular with people over the age of 30, particularly those over the age of 40. But if your target audience is under 25 you have next to no chance of reaching them there. They are almost entirely on Instagram and Snapchat.

The same goes for Twitter, which is becoming more a home of influencers than normal users. Where are the highest concentration of women? Pinterest. Where can you launch potentially viral content? Reddit. The list goes well beyond the basics and if you don’t know where your audience is hanging out then you won’t be able to reach them.

Quality Over Quantity (But Quantity, Too)

Striking a balance here can be really hard. On one hand, you want to be able to post often enough that your profile grows. But on the other, crappy content is still crappy content.

If you are just churning out useless posts like inspirational quotes or jokes, especially if you don’t have a fair amount of original content, you are nothing more than a glorified bot account. You may have noticed the best brand social media sites out there are the ones that manage to really engage with their customers. So post often, post consistently, but only post good stuff.

Don’t Get Too Bogged Down In Analytics

Analytics are helpful and most brands use them in order to measure their progress and results, while coming up with new campaigns using that data. They are great to have. But they are also not everything.

The truth is that unless you are a well versed social media mogul, you probably aren’t going to understand the majority of the figures analytics give you. The important ones are the more basic: growth over time and how it correlates with strategies in play at each peak. You may also be able to learn more about your demographic, such as when they are most active.

Learn the Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle is simple: for every 100 percent of your content, 80 percent should be engagement, 20 percent should be promotional.

See? Easy. I won’t even bother going further into it.

Think Visually

Another no brainer, visual content is pretty much the only way to go. It won’t make up all of what you post, but it should make up most of it.

Posts with visual media are more likely to be shared, commented on, saved and reach viral status. All of these are things you want, so invest most of your time in visual forms of social content.

Get Involved In the Community

This is one of the best things you can do. You are a local small business. You have ties to the community where you operate. So start getting involved: go to festivals, reach out to local news, engage with people via geolocation, get involved in local charities.

Have some actionable social media tips for small businesses looking to get into the game? Let us know in the comments!

Even with all our technology, we still prefer solutions that have a human touch. That’s why we use Siri on iPhone, voice assistants like Alexa or Google Home, and chatbots.  We like to feel like we are interacting with someone real. In turn, this sentiment has started to influence the way we shop.

Voice assistants and chatbots are being used to shop more efficiently. For instance, Alexa can find you shopping deals just with a voice command, or help you order a pizza without ever having to grab your phone. This conversational element mixed with eCommerce was coined conversational commerce by Chris Messina, former Uber developer.

Conversational commerce is the future of eCommerce and search engine optimization as we know it. That’s why social media tools and platforms are being optimized for building conversations online. For example, the launch of Facebook messenger ads shows how serious Facebook is about strengthening the platform’s conversational commerce capabilities. This type of ad is ideal for eCommerce stores to jumpstart their conversational commerce strategy.

Here, we’ll define Facebook Messenger ads, tell how to use them, and take them to the next level. Let’s get started!

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What Are Facebook Messenger Ads?

This July, Facebook released Messenger ads to expand its ad reach. With Messenger’s 1.2 billion monthly active users and counting, it’s no surprise Facebook decided to launch ads in that space. Also, according to a study, Facebook Messenger is one of the most popular messaging apps, followed by WhatsApp and Skype.

Messenger Ads provide a more conversational way to interact with a potential customer. Instead of sending a new target audience to your eCommerce site, you’ll be able to send them an automated message through the Messenger app. Then, you can continue the conversation manually or use a bot to guide users through the purchasing process.

Alternatively, you can also use Messenger Home as a place for ads with other objectives different from ad messages. For instance, you can run a conversions campaign with a Messenger Home placement. Your ads would show on Messenger’s homepage, and users would be able to click and visit your site.

Messenger Ad Features

There are 3 different ways you can advertise your products with Messenger ads: newsfeed (click to Messenger), sponsored messages, and Messenger home placement. Let’s dive into each one of them.

Newsfeed Facebook Messenger Ads

Newsfeed Messenger ads allow you to advertise on your target’s newsfeed, but, instead of sending users to your site, you’ll be able to redirect them to a Messenger conversation. The ad creative process is similar to other types of ads, in which you can use a combination of images and videos to promote.

The only addition is the ability to create an automated message reply which will be triggered by clicking the ad. To get started with newsfeed Messenger ads, select the Messages ad objective:

Then, select Click to Messenger under the Messages section on the next page:

The optimization ad delivery will be Messenger replies. The ad will look something like this:

Then, you’ll be able to find the message setup section at the bottom of the ad creation page. There, you’ll be able to create a custom automated message with suggested predefined replies or buttons to take users to your site:

The initial automated message can show as an image and text, video and text, or text only, so you have many different options to A/B test. Note that you can add multiple buttons or quick replies to provide users with different options to choose from.

For instance, if you’re selling evening dresses with a slideshow of different products, you can set up three different buttons asking users if they are interested in short, long or mid-length dresses. Each button would have a different URL, and it would take users to the appropriate website section.

Sponsored Messages

This type of Facebook ad targets users that have an existing Message conversation with your business. The ad delivery optimization is by impressions, and they don’t have a traditional ad setup. You’ll only get to use images and text, or text only — no video — to promote your products. Thus, the Message setup section is the only section available. The good news is that you’ll still be able to stack quick replies or buttons to give users different options to choose from. See below an example of sponsored ads:

To set up Sponsored Messages, select the Messages objective as you would for Newsfeed Message, but this time select the Sponsored Messages option on the next page (using the Ads Manager):

Then you’ll be able to set up your messages and/or text on the next screen.

Messenger Home Placement

This is just a placement option for ads with any ad objective — it doesn’t have to be set up with a Messages objective. Users clicking on ads with this placement can go directly to the advertiser’s site if that is the campaign objective.

How to Use Facebook Messenger Ads

Now that you know how to set up Messenger ads, let’s discuss beneficial ways to use them.

Guide Users’ Tailored Product Recommendations to Increase Conversions

Many times, websites can be overwhelming, especially when they are packed with inventory. Using a combination of Messenger ads and chatbots, you can provide users a tailored product suggestion that can avoid them getting overwhelmed. Also, by offering a custom suggestion and engaging with a customer, you’ll be able to create a higher brand sentiment.

Let’s say you own a large eCommerce women’s shoe store and you are trying to sell your latest collection which includes sandals, pumps and sneakers for women. So, you create a Messenger ad to better guide users to the right section of your site (pumps, sandals or sneakers) and provide a tailored recommendation that falls within those sections.

You’ll be able to set up the first message with Messenger, but the trick is to connect a chatbot to guide users through the whole process. To do this, select the “send a postback” action under buttons. Then add your chatbot’s block name on the “bot payload” section.

Retarget Customers Who Didn’t Make a Purchase

There are many reasons why a user might opt out of completing a purchase. Some of these reasons may be related to unanswered questions about the product, quality doubts or just second guessing due to a high price. What better way to convince those doubtful users than to engage in a conversation with them?

Using Facebook Messenger ads and chatbots, you can create a conversation that feels natural and gets the potential customer to feel more confident buying from your store. For instance, this might be a great solution for a fine jewelry company. The conversation can provide more information about the products and, at the same time, guide them to the right product or products.

Conclusion

There are many other ways to use Messenger ads to your advantage. The key is to test different strategies to find the one that works best. Don’t be afraid to experiment with something new and get ahead of the competition!