Today, business owners face a very unique (and very modern) problem. You may be an expert in your trade, with an extraordinary product or service. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re equally as proficient when it comes to marketing your product or building your brand on social media. Nowadays, that could spell certain doom for your business. You may be a pro at what you do – that doesn’t mean you know how to build a loyal following of organic, engaging followers or how to create original content. Iconogram Group, a Long Island-based digital marketing company, recognized that particular dilemma and pounced on it. By considering the various components that go into a successful commercial Instagram or Facebook – (compelling content, distinct imagery, brand voice, etc.) – Richard Bruckner and Jill DiVito, co-owners of Iconogram Group, began discussing with business owners how they could provide their companies with a memorable online presence. As a result, their business would flourish. And flourish they do. Michael Kelly, of Investment Science LLC, is one of those beneficiaries. “Iconogram Group easily saves us 60-100 hours a week and an inconceivable amount of money by producing all of our content and managing our pages and brand reputation.” And while saving time’s an exceptional goal for any business owner, it’s really the quantifiable impact on revenue that makes Iconogram Group stand out. “There’s been a direct correlation between Instagram posts and increases in sales,” says Jennifer Dwyer, PR manager of Moon Wax Handmade Soaps (another of Iconogram Group’s clients) “…there’s no point in pretending that a unique social media doesn’t have an incredible effect on sales. Digital marketing is modern capitalism, period.” Digital marketing is arguably the most critical way to influence customers and create brand awareness in an age of 24/7 connectivity. The days of Madison Avenue advertising and Mad Men-style martinis at dimly-lit lunches with executive clients are but a fossilized portrait of a long-gone, antiquated civilization. Nowadays, you need a distinct and unforgettable digital footprint. This requires a shrewd, savvy and perceptive finger on the collective online pulse. It means generating content that entices those coveted and desperately needed clicks. It means creating a specific impression in a digital landscape that’s saturated with millions of other competitors, all vying for the attention of the sacred consumer. It’s a delicate, refined art unto itself, an idiosyncratic balancing act best left to the professionals. But like any kind of art, this seems like a craft that’s less a matter of instruction and more of an inherent, almost biological instinct. You need an eye for recognizable aesthetics, a voice for boundless, interminable branding, and an ability to enrapture an online population consuming smartphone content at an astounding rate. “We don’t chase followers,” says Bruckner, “…we give brands an identity, and help them provide value to the community that they serve.” Interestingly, the genesis of Iconogram Group was a simple matter of individual versus professional efficiency. As per Bruckner: “I was working for a company that was paying a hefty salary to a social media manager who was getting no results. We ended up trying a few agencies, but none of them were getting even close to the results as I was on an Instagram account that I was managing as a hobby. Once I realized how much I could help businesses gain exposure and name recognition to their brand as well as traffic to their website, I knew I had something extremely valuable to offer.” 81% of Americans own a smartphone. And they spend an average of 8.8 hours viewing that screen on a daily basis. Go to the nearest train station, bus stop, house party or restaurant. You’ll see people with their heads tilted down and their thumbs flicking their screens at rapid subconscious, practiced intervals. Need a ride? Press a button on your phone and a car will be outside in minutes. Want to see a movie? Open up an app and buy tickets in seconds. Looking for a job? Punch in your zip code and choose from the thousands of listings at your fingertips. Our phones are our lifelines, and we’ve programmed our minds, hearts and souls into their hardware. When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you do? If your answer isn’t “pick up my phone,” you’re either a highly unique individual or a liar. We’re living in the digital age, and as a result, every business must adapt, or fade into irrelevance. Recognizing that need is how a company like Iconogram Group managed to carve out a notable place at the digital marketing table at such a meteoric rate. The distinction is simply in the results. It doesn’t take an expert in commerce to discern that going above and beyond towards delivering on a promise is often what contributes to a company’s success. And that’s what’s giving Iconogram Group the edge over their competitors. While, in fairness, they’re still a relatively young enterprise, they have yet to lose a client for failing to deliver on their promises or for breaching the terms of their agreements. “We help businesses gain organic followers who actually engage with posts,” says Jill DiVito, co-owner and co-founder along with Bruckner. DiVito’s interest in digital marketing came from her own, personal pursuit of a genuine online community. After years of carefully developing techniques to gain enthusiastic, like-minded followers for her jewelry company, JMD by Jill DiVito, she realized her unique ability to fortify a business’s social media could be codified and used to benefit other businesses. “I was looking to gain followers that didn’t just follow, but followers that were interested in what I was posting, who would engage with the content, and that would discuss it, too.” At first, she didn’t know it – but this kind of influence, impression and dialogue within the stage of a company’s social media that she managed to get for her business’s page are the kind of results that Iconogram Group’s clients now pay them for. There are countless “services” on social media that will help you to gain followers on any platform. However, these “followers” are usually bot or spam profiles, non-user accounts with no human beings directing them that serve no purpose for your brand. Through a proven system of content, logistics, and various social media intricacies, Iconogram Group places an emphasis on gaining organic followers. As a result, there’s a built-in network of actual human beings viewing and responding to and engaging with content. Each post becomes a virtual advertisement for your products or services. With enough sharply-crafted content, these virtual advertisements evolve into elevated sales. It’s the digital age, alright. And no business can afford to discount the virtues, however stubbornly they may be clinging to the past, of digital marketing. Nowadays, your brand’s social media is more than just a supplemental bonus. We simply can’t afford to view them as side projects or optional. Your business’s very survival depends on it. You can find Iconogram Group on Instagram and Twitter.
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