2021: The Year in Review at Octane

This past year, Octane Public Relations surmounted the obstacles that the COVID-19 pandemic tried to place on our company, employees, and their families. We built on the processes put in place in March 2020 addressing the continuing pandemic workplace and delivering remarkable results for clients. On top of our external successes, Octane developed positive changes internally. Let’s take a look at the highlights of 2021 at Octane.

 

Change in Leadership

After more than 20 years of co-leadership, Everett Hamilton became the sole owner of Octane Public Relations and Advertising this year.

“Octane was founded because we both had an interest in public relations. And for two decades, we kept that philosophy of targeted communications alive,” said Everett Hamilton, who is Octane’s sole owner and Chief Executive Officer. “I promise I will keep our vision alive.”

Mr. Hamilton provides leadership and vision for sustaining a successful and industry-lauded public relations firm in the District of Columbia. He has more than 20 years of experience in public relations, communications, and marketing consulting for the DC government, the federal government, and private sector entities. His rich experience includes expertise in reaching marginalized groups: African Americans, Hispanics, LGBTQ+, low-income and low-literacy residents, youth, and seniors.

Mr. Hamilton is a trusted partner and collaborator across Washington, DC, having served as Chair of the Edgewood/Brookland Family Support Collaborative Board of Directors, Vice-Chair of the DC Citywide Collaborative Council, and member of the Washington, DC Convention and Tourism Corporation LGBT Marketing Committee. He is a former member of the Marriott Customer Diversity Advisory Board, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Commission, and the DC Housing Finance Agency.

Keen on collaboration with communities, Mr. Hamilton infuses lessons learned into Octane’s philosophy and the language Octane uses to assist clients in reaching their goals.

 

Social Equity Division

A new division of our firm, Octane Social Equity, launched in 2021. The division develops comprehensive brand identities for companies and organizations, demonstrating their solid commitment to social equity, both internally and externally. Octane works with clients to present honest communication that diminishes ambiguity surrounding corporate policies, actions, and beliefs, which act as symbols of positive social change in our constantly evolving cultural landscape.

Octane has successfully developed social equity brands for national organizations across industries, including energy and power, health and wellness, the booming legal cannabis industry, and more. Here are some highlights:

 

What Drives Us

With client Pepco Holdings, the leading Mid-Atlantic electric and gas utility company, Octane developed a Corporate Impact Report, which presented overarching information about the company’s community and social good efforts in environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, and more.   

In tandem, Octane developed the What Drives Us campaign to communicate Pepco Holdings’ new level of commitment to diversity and inclusion that is aligned with its purpose, which is to power a cleaner and brighter future for its customers and communities. 

The brand rolled out across all utilities beginning with the release of the 2021 Community Impact Report and an inspirational What Drives Us video. Octane’s success in planning, packaging, and releasing the new campaign has since resulted in a spinoff effort, GROW Together, an initiative that recognizes that diversity fuels growth and makes each person stronger. It is a commitment to remain true, fostering a company and community that values and rewards team members for how they use their differences to make Pepco Holdings a better place to work.

 

B NOBLE and Rooted in Good

  • Curaleaf Holdings, Inc., a leading medical and wellness cannabis operator in the United States, launched its CSR division, Rooted in Good, as part of its larger commitment to advance racial and social equity in cannabis. Considering the harsh history of racism and the harm caused by the War on Drugs, Curaleaf wanted to ensure that it was doing its part to dismantle cannabis bias and provide equitable opportunities.

 

  • Octane developed branding, including the Rooted in Good logo, as well as a robust public relations and communications strategy to connect with key audiences and garner brand awareness of Rooted in Good via media and public relations opportunities. Led by Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility Khadijah Tribble, Rooted in Good delivers social impact by focusing efforts within three key pillars: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Social Equity; and Sustainability, ultimately achieving key goals through the company’s strategic social partnerships. 

 

Looking Ahead to 2022

As we embark on our 22nd year of serving DC as a leader in communication, we look forward to tackling important racial and social issues to help create an equitable future. We are an African-American- and LGBT-owned company that strives to connect with key communities and to keep people at the center of our work in the spirit of true diversity and progressive change. And we are so excited about the new year and the prospects ahead that will allow us to continue making progress!

Keeping Productive CSR Strategies Beyond the Holiday Season

Holiday Season 2021 will soon be a fond memory. Companies of all sizes have embraced the season as an opportunity to strengthen their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives dramatically. But come January 2022, many will trim down, or even abandon their CSR efforts.

That is not what an authentic sense of social responsibility is about. A year-round CSR strategy is essential to ensuring that your business maintains effective corporate social responsibility initiatives, which can also support your business growth. Your CSR strategy can be crafted to include your business goals, such as improving employee engagement, increasing investor appeal, and solidifying your brand reputation.

But as customers, employees, and suppliers place increasing importance on CSR, some leaders have started to look at it as a creative opportunity to fundamentally strengthen their businesses while contributing to society at the same time. They view CSR as central to their overall strategies, helping them to creatively address key business issues. 

 

For example, B Noble Inc. and Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. , a leading international provider of consumer products in cannabis, recently completed a national launch of a pre-rolled cannabis product called B Noble. Bernard Noble and Fab 5 Freddy partnered with Curaleaf to launch the B Noble brand in support of a shared commitment to the advancement of social equity in cannabis. The initiative provides an opportunity for those directly impacted by the war on drugs. 

B Noble was founded by well-known visual artist, filmmaker and hip-hop pioneer, Fab 5 Freddy, to raise awareness and create funding to defend people from cannabis-related criminalization. The brand is dedicated to telling the story of namesake Bernard Noble, who was arrested in Louisiana and sentenced to 13 years of hard labor in prison for possessing the equivalent of two joints. In 2017, Bernard’s case began to draw attention across the country, and he quickly became a national symbol for the need to reform the country’s unjust drug laws, sparking advocacy and a movement to free him. As a result, Bernard was released seven years into his sentence.

To call attention to Bernard’s harsh sentence, the B Noble brand partnered with Curaleaf to release two-packs of high-quality one-gram pre-rolls, symbolizing the two grams of cannabis for which Bernard was arrested.  

Ten percent of proceeds from the sale of each B Noble product will be donated to local organizations dedicated to advancing social equity and providing opportunities to those directly impacted by the War on Drugs in dispensaries in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, and Oregon.

This partnership with B Noble is Curaleaf’s first large-scale brand venture in alignment with its dedicated social equity work, as a part of its Rooted in Good corporate social responsibility program. Led by Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility Khadijah Tribble, Rooted in Good delivers social impact by focusing efforts within three key pillars: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Social Equity; and Sustainability, ultimately achieving key goals through the company’s strategic social partnerships. 

 

There are four types of CSR categories, and a CSR strategy helps you define which one is best for your business, ways in which you can implement it, and how to track the results of your efforts:

  • Philanthropic responsibility
  • Environmental responsibility
  • Ethical responsibility
  • Economic responsibility

A good CSR strategy builds a business case around how your chosen areas of CSR can integrate into your business growth plan, and makes sure that your initiative stays on track.

Here are the three main takeaways of a good CSR strategy:

Concentrate your CSR efforts. The greatest opportunities will come from areas where the business significantly interacts with society. These are areas where the business not only can gain a deeper understanding of the mutual dependencies and the where the highest potential for mutual benefit exists.

Build a deep understanding of the benefits. The key is finding symmetry between the two sides and being open enough to understand issues both from a business and a societal perspective.

Find the right partners. Relationships, particularly long-term ones that are built on a realistic understanding of the true strengths on both sides, have a greater opportunity of being successful and sustainable.

 

If you’re interested in developing a custom and impactful Corporate Social Responsibility strategy for your business or organization, please contact our team!

‘Tis the Season for Sales! Tips for Running a Successful Holiday Campaign

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, especially for small brands and local businesses! For them, holiday spending is key to a profitable year. According to an American Express Shop Small Impact study, roughly 75% of small business owners have said that they need holiday spending to return to normal in order to stay in business in 2021, and almost half of them expressed the need for above-average spending.

However, there’s good news. As we slowly rebound from Covid-19 restrictions, the National Retail Federation said that it expects holiday sales during November and December to rise between 8.5% and 10.5%, for a total of between $843.4 and $859 billion of sales.

Thankfully, it’s easier than ever for businesses to meet their end-of-the-year sales goals. Online holiday marketing campaigns can reach thousands — even millions of people — within a small business budget. To get results, business owners need to execute holiday campaigns to achieve maximum benefit. Here are a few tips for running an effective holiday digital or social media campaign. 

 

Define your Campaign Theme, Target Audience, and Goals

To define your campaign theme, conduct a SWOT analysis highlighting your brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Perform a SWOT analysis before you commit to any sort of company action, including a holiday marketing campaign. Use your SWOT analysis to discover recommendations and strategies, with a focus on leveraging strengths and opportunities to overcome weaknesses and threats.

 

Create a Marketing Plan

It doesn’t have to be exhaustive, but take time to execute the following steps to ensure a successful campaign:

  • Write a simple executive summary.
  • Set metric-driven marketing goals.
  • Create an actionable marketing strategy.
  • Create a public relations strategy plan.
  • Create a media outreach plan.
  • Set accurate key baselines and metrics.
  • Set tracking or reporting guidelines.

 

Create an Offer

What is the best offer you can advertise that will entice shoppers to consider and purchase what your company has to offer? Once you pin down the “deal”, consider the content that will grab attention and stand out in the crowded holiday commerce crowd.

 

Create a Landing Page

Draw from your offer, imagery, and copy to create a dynamic landing page for your campaign. Incorporate keywords that will be picked up by search engines. Search Engine Optimization is the process of getting traffic from free, organic, editorial, or natural search results in search engines. It aims to improve your website’s position on search results pages. Remember, the higher the website is listed, the more people will see it.  

 

Create Holiday Hashtags

Different types of hashtags tend to perform well on specific social media platforms, and some platforms see more success when multiple hashtags are used in one post. Creating a branded holiday hashtag or two can double your holiday social media campaign visibility, giving you better engagement and profits throughout the holiday season.

Keep in mind that the word “branded” is key to making this campaign a success. While you can use generic hashtags such as #happyholidays and #2021 on platforms like Instagram, these aren’t the hashtags that will generate significant results for you. You’ll need special hashtags that incorporate your products or service, relate to your brand, and are used consistently across social media platforms.

 

Incentivize 

Find an option that encourages customers to spend more in order to get that little something extra. Here are some ways to make this work for you include:

    • Make the free item a gift card or certificate, which encourages buyers to purchase from you again in the future.
    • Give samples as a gift rather than something full size.
    • Set a specific dollar amount that must be spent in order to receive the gift.
    • Offer a percent-off coupon for shoppers who sign up for email or text messages on future promotions.

 

Now go get ’em!

Just because your campaign is holiday-themed doesn’t mean the rules for marketing change. Your campaign still needs to abide by marketing best practices. Also, think about the holiday campaigns you’ve loved throughout your life. If you can draw inspiration from something you love, chances are you’ll be able to create something incredible. Ultimately, a lot goes into a successful marketing campaign; whether it’s digital or otherwise, it’s best if it comes from the heart.

Reflecting on the Benefits of Being Grateful

Thanksgiving 2021 shaped up to be far different than Thanksgiving 2020. We have lifted restrictions on travel and the things we can do in the District. Considering the shift we all have endured from 2019 to now, we should be very grateful!  

When we were physically distanced, it was the small things that mattered most to us during Giving Season, like a smile, a meal, a nap, or a neighbor who looked after pets. Reflecting on those small acts of kindness gives the brain a break and a new focus. That’s what makes the difference to your happiness! 

As we begin to celebrate 2021’s holiday season, new threats – real and perceived – loom large. The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the supply chain, making some items scarce, and those things we can find cost more. Rather than lessening, our anxiety levels are similar or higher than a year ago.

A study (What Good Are Positive Emotions in Crises? A Prospective Study of Resilience and Emotions Following the Terrorist Attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001) done in the weeks following September 11th found that resilient people were less depressed because they were able to experience positive emotions like love and gratitude. When we feel gratitude, areas of the brain light up that are involved with how we regulate emotions and relieve stress, and our brains get a deeper sense of reward from generosity—all qualities that are helpful today.

If that all isn’t enough, practicing gratitude can help you live a quality life.

The health benefits of practicing gratitude are wide-ranging — and maybe even a bit surprising. Research shows that the following activities may enhance your quality of life. An easy-to-remember acronym, HEART, has been suggested by the American Heart Association to help us all remember the steps to a grateful lifestyle:

  • Health: Think of what your body allowed you to do today. Maybe your feet enabled you to walk around the house or your arms allow you to hold a pet you love.
  • Eat: What nourishment did you provide your body today? What was your favorite meal?
  • Activity: Did you do something today that you really enjoyed? Take a moment to reflect on and savor it.
  • Relationship: Did you see or talk to someone today who brings you joy? Or are you planning to see someone on a video chat who fits that description? (Remember: The person in the mirror counts.)
  • Time: There’s no time like the present. Allow yourself to be grateful for the fact that you’re here.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that people who practice gratitude are:

  • More generous and helpful
  • More likely to offer emotional support
  • More likely to share their possessions
  • More willing to forgive others

Here is a tool you might find helpful.

Thnx4.org is a gratitude journaling platform that teaches people how to strengthen habits of gratitude and in turn enjoy the science-backed benefits of feeling and expressing gratitude.

Thnx4.org was created by the Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) at the University of California, Berkeley. It draws on decades of rigorous research showing that being more grateful predicts:

  • Better health, reduced risk of heart disease, and more restful sleep
  • Stronger feelings of social connection and relationship satisfaction
  • More satisfaction with life, more joy and optimism, and less anxiety
  • Increased motivation and productivity in school and at work

Gratitude is a choice that is yours to make. How often you practice gratitude is up to you, just like exercise. Some days, the effort it takes might be more than you can handle. But as reluctant exercisers know, it feels so much better after you do it, even when you thought it wouldn’t!

How do you plan to participate in 2021’s giving season?

Ideas for Fall Fun in and Around DC!

From vibrant foliage and waterfront views to family-friendly festivals, there’s an endless amount of things to see and do this fall in the District. Catch D.C.’s Halloween events and explore free and interactive museums across the city. Just make sure to save time to take in the sights along the National Mall in full autumn splendor.

Here are just a few of the wide variety of family-friendly fall events in and around the greater D.C. region.

 

Eye Spy Halloween Trains

Saturday, October 30 – 31, 2021 – 10:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. – Cabin John Regional Park

The popular Eye Spy Trains are back for Halloween. Great for families of all ages, Montgomery Parks’ Cabin John Miniature Train will take a ride through “Trainslyvania.”  To guarantee your seat on your ideal train date and time, purchase your tickets in advance on ActiveMONTGOMERY.org. Online ticket sales close one day prior to the scheduled ride. A limited number of tickets may be purchased on-site, but ride times will not be guaranteed. 

 

Celebrate Día de los Muertos

October 30, 2021 – 10:00 a.m. – Smithsonian American Art Museum

There is fun for the whole family during this virtual performance. Watch as Ballet Folklórico Mi Herencia Mexicana demonstrate several Mexican folk dances including El Toro Viejo from Sinaloa and the popular, El Son de La Negra from Jalisco. Learn more about Día de los Muertos as the dancers and explain the history behind their dance traditions.

Continue celebrating Día de los Muertos on SAAM’s Latinx Heritage Family Zone, where you can learn more about Día de los Muertos, make crafts, do coloring pages, and watch videos about this traditional Mexican celebration.

For more activities, check out the Family Zone for seasonal crafts, coloring pages, videos, and more.

 

Treasure Hunting in Wheaton Regional Park

November  6, 2021 – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Brookside Nature Center

Geocaching is a fun way to get outside and explore. With the help of a Park Naturalist, participants will hike Wheaton Regional Park looking for and finding caches. All attendees must register and pay. Make sure to dress for the weather and for natural surface trail conditions. Download the free Geocaching app before you come. Bring your cellular phone, water bottle and trail snacks. Registration for Treasure Hunting programs closes the Thursday immediately prior to each program date and directions to the trailhead/meeting place will be emailed to all registrants in advance. Rain cancels. 

 

Zoo Lights at the Maryland Zoo

November 19, 2021 – January 2, 2022  – 5:00 p.m.  – Maryland Zoo

Drive or walk through the Maryland Zoo‘s festival of wildlife-shaped lights. The drive-through is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays, while the walk-through is open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. If you choose to walk through, you can visit Zoo Central for snacks, hot chocolate, and free carousel and train rides.

Advance reservations are required. Purchase tickets on the website.

 

Downtown Holiday Market

November 19, 2021 – December 23, 2021  – 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.  – F Street sidewalk in front of the Smithsonian American Art Museum & National Portrait Gallery

The Downtown Holiday Market is celebrating its 17th year. Featuring more than 70 regional artisans, crafters, and boutique businesses of ethically produced goods, the market brings a unique and festive shopping village to the heart of downtown DC. Two blocks of F Street, from 7th to 9th, will be closed to traffic for the entirety of the market. There will also be a live stage featuring regional performers.

 

Juniors: The Roaring Twenties

November 20, 2021  – 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.  – Tudor Place Historic House & Garden

Travel back in time to learn about the women who lived and worked at Tudor Place in the 1920s. Create a 1920s character, plan a living history party and earn the Girl Scouts’ Playing the Past Badge. This program is perfect for girls and troops who want to get up and move, think imaginatively, explore local history, and have fun along the way.

Note: This is an in-person program. Please review the Tudor Place Health and Safety Guidelines before registering and attending.

 

Moomin Animations: Thrills + Cuddles – The Music of Moominvalley

November 20, 2021  – 10:30 a.m.  – National Children’s Museum

Join composers Samuli Kosminen and Jarmo Saari via live stream for a musical ride to the fantasy world of Moomins. Hear more about how the heart-warming score music of the award-winning Moominvalley TV series (Gutsy Animations, 2019) was made. Discover the most bizarre instruments used to create the perfect sound. Use your ears to watch scenes, discover the sounds different instruments make and learn more about the basics of composing.

This event will take place both virtually + in person:

  • To attend in person, please reserve tickets to visit National Children’s Museum for November 20, 2021, during the morning session from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.
  • To attend virtually, please visit the event page and register using the form provided. 

 

LuminoCity Festival: Shine Again

October 15, 2021 –  January 1, 2022  – 6:00 p.m.  – Roer’s Zoofari

Inspired by the traditional art of Chinese lantern festivals, the LuminoCity Festival features exhibitions of spectacular light art displays and is a celebration of cultures and the world around us.

The festival will be open on most Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from October 15 to January 2. The hours are 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Limited on-site parking will be available and parking tickets must be purchased in advance. Masks and social distancing are required, as is advance timed-ticket purchase.

 

Whether you’re looking for a fall date activity, family fun day, or something to enjoy a little “me-time,” be sure to get out and enjoy the festivities that Washington DC has to offer! Take in the beauty of the autumn leaves, crisp weather, and seasons changing – Happy Fall!

Measuring Your Website’s Success

After reading our blog on how to build a dynamic website, you now have one of your own. Congratulations! Your next step towards your business’ success is to learn how to best monitor your website’s performance, on its own and against competitors – especially with more than 1.8 billion websites on the Internet.

When you’re ready to understand how your website is performing, you must first look at your SEO (search engine optimization) and build a solid ranking on Google. Next, gauge the performance by measuring and quantifying the specific KPIs (Key Performance Index) on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis. 

Tracking key metrics over a specific time period will give you valuable insights, help you understand your audience behavior, and allow you to capitalize on opportunities while tracking improvements. 

 

Where are your visitors coming from? What content are they engaging with? Who are these visitors? How many visitors are they? When you use data to start to answer these questions, you can start to make informed decisions about how to effectively market to your audience and ultimately, convert your audience. 

– Andima Umoren, Digital Director

 

The Metrics 

Everyone measures success in their lives differently, but if you have a website, knowing what you should measure and monitor can mean the difference between growth and failure. Here are some fundamental metrics and how they help you improve your website.

 

Unique Visitors

Unique visitors indicates the number of individuals who visited your website at least once during the reporting period. If the visitor comes to your site multiple times during the reporting period, it is only counted once. However, if they visit your site again using a different device or browser, they will be considered a new visitor.

This metric gives you an idea of your website’s audience size during the period under review and is most accurate for pure visits, yet more accurate than page views. In the unique visitor metric, no matter the action taken, a person only represents one potential customer.

Keywords

The metric “keywords” tells you the specific words that visitors type into search engines to lead them to your website. This is a great way to learn to target a specific audience. You can also identify which keywords visitors type into the search box on your website, which helps your SEO, helps to determine your most popular content, and helps you understand the content visitors are looking for that might not yet be available on your website.

Pro-tip: To check which keywords you’re ranking for, you can use the Google Search Console. Just log in using your Google account and click performance on the left sidebar. This shows your ranking and specific keywords for your website. 

Time on Website

Time spent on the website is one of the major keys to the success of your content. It gives you the average time visitors spend on your website, and you can learn which pages are most popular (people spent the most time on) to help you identify content that your target audience is interested in. Addressing the content on these pages can help improve conversions and help you build a community of brand supporters.

Referral Websites

The Referral Websites metric tells you where your website visitors came from, in other words, were they referred from a search engine, social media, or another business site for example. Knowing the referral pathways can help you target your marketing campaigns to these pathways (which is great for SEO) or even to the types of consumers who frequent those referral sites.

Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate is the percentage of people who landed on your website and then took action. The action could either be by the visitor purchasing your products or services, donating money, or subscribing to your e-newsletter. Whatever the goal of your website, the conversion rate tells you the percentage of consumers who performed this action. Low conversion rates can indicate that the offer you provide is not compelling enough, the content may not be resonating, or the visitors you’re attracting is not the right traffic.

Bounce Rate

The Bounce Rate metric tells you the number of people who land on your website and then leave before investigating further. For example, instead of clicking on another page or blog post, users return to search engine results pages or proceed to another website.

This can mean that the page they land on does not engage them sufficiently or is not informative enough for them to bother remaining on your website. A high bounce rate is a content opportunity area that is critical to the success of your website.

Exit Pages

The Exit Page, just as it sounds, is the page visited last before leaving your site. Pages with high exit rates can help identify weaknesses in your site. Users are leaving these pages for a specific reason. Whether they’ve read something they don’t like or there simply wasn’t a clear next step for them to take, reviewing and updating these exit pages can help increase your business’ conversions.

 

Keep in mind that the trick to using these metrics properly is identifying which ones can help you specifically assess whether your website is meeting the needs of your business. It’s a good idea to focus on generating insights from the metrics you’re measuring—insights that you can convert into actionable knowledge for improving the user experience on your site. Now that you’ve got the tools, implement the practices that help you build a successful website! 

Reflecting on the Historical and Cultural Impact of U Street

While we’re continuing to navigate the pandemic, we’ve been fortunate enough to return back to some sense of normalcy within socializing. Many frequent restaurants and nightlife locations to catch up with family and friends. As a longstanding part of the Washington D.C. community, we have an understanding of the strong cultural vibrancy of the city. D.C. neighborhoods are historic, vibrant, cultural hubs for all communities. If you’re a native Washingtonian, you might be familiar with U Street as a popular nightlife destination. However, it’s important to also recognize the rich historical significance. Many don’t know that U Street was once the heart of Black culture in America, attracting patrons from all over the country, and creating a special place for locals. 

 

The U Street corridor was known as Black Broadway, which spearheaded D.C.’s Black Renaissance and acted as a national symbol of African-American sophistication, amid racial and political tension in America. From the early 1900s into the 1950s, U Street offered African-Americans a place to start their own businesses, with no Jim Crow law restrictions. Black residents supported hundreds of black businesses, which were also funded by the city’s oldest black-owned bank. African-Americans sent their kids to the country’s first African-American YMCA, worshipped together in neighborhood churches, and launched a huge racial activism movement to fight any trace of segregation within U Street’s Corridor. 

U Street was home to international jazz musician, Duke Ellington, and regularly hosted performers such as Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and more. At any given time, you could see the likes of Carter G. Woodson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora Neale Hurston, Dr. Charles Drew, among many others.

 

While the bustling scene died down a bit after the 1968 race riots, landmarks remain including the Famous Ben’s Chili Bowl, the Lincoln and Howard Theatres, and the African American Civil War Memorial. Because of its historic significance and contribution to American culture, the National Park Service has commemorated it by adding the Greater U Street area to the National Register of Historic Places. 

 

Present-day, U Street has become more of a cultural melting pot and is home to large Caribbean, Ethiopian, and other ethnic communities. So, next time you’re toasting with friends in U Street, remember the trailblazers that developed U Street into the bustling business community that it is today. Consider walking past the National Register and educating yourself, or paying homage at the Civil War Memorial. 

 

 

How to Create Impactful Blogs for Your Audience

We know that digital marketing strategy is critical to connecting with consumers in today’s climate. According to a recent inbound marketing report, nearly 80 percent of companies that use blogging as a part of their marketing strategy reported acquiring customers through their blogging efforts. 82 percent of businesses admit that blogging is critical to their business. That’s why it’s so important to put together a strong blog strategy that connects with your audience, and encourages them to engage with your company or organization. 

Here are three major ways to create impactful blogs for your business:

 

Incorporate Timely Topics and Conversations

Source: Hubspot 

It’s important to stay abreast of the current events and news that are relevant to your audience and incorporate them into your content. For example, if you are a fashion brand, and a major celebrity or influencer drops a fashion line, you might consider a review, or find another way to tie in the timeliness. You should also leverage national observances that pertain to your audience, and build engaging content around them. For example, if you’re a nutrition or food brand, you should incorporate Better Breakfast Month into your September planning.

Introducing conversational elements in your blog such as a comment section, or continuing a conversation on social media, can help engage your audience even further. 

 

Use Captivating Titles

Source: Hubspot 

Let’s face it. First impressions matter a lot. It’s how others judge what they’re not familiar with. Having a captivating blog title entices the reader to read your blog and reshare to their audiences. You could have the most valuable, ground-breaking content included in every post you write, but without an attention-grabbing title, no one would know. 

Additionally, titles can positively impact your Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which allows for the maximum number of individuals using search engines to come across your blog. You should craft your headline to include specific elements that help your post rank higher on Search Engine Results Pages (SER). This could help drive more organic traffic to your site.

 

Utilize Search Engine Optimization

Source: OpenVine Internet Solutions

Search engine optimization (SEO) allows your blog to get the most traffic possible. You can optimize your blog by utilizing keywords in your post. Google Adwords is a great tool to help you research strategic keywords and monitor what others are using in your industry. 

Try to include keywords in titles and subtitles, introductory and conclusion paragraphs, and metatext. Also, include hyperlinks and information relating back to your social media channels.

 

Make Your Content Digestible 

Source: StackLA

People don’t read content on the internet like they would read a magazine or book. And with our attention span getting shorter and shorter, it’s important to curate digestible content that’s easy for your audience to read and take in. 

Consider formats such as list-based articles, bullets and numbering, bolded subtitles, etc. Also, try to incorporate engaging visuals when possible, such as gifs, videos, and photos. 

 

How Can Social Media Benefit Your Business?

Most people understand that a strong social media presence is crucial to maintaining a brand or business during today’s day and age. Developing a strategy to connect through social platforms can be one of the most important, cost-effective, ways to maintain relationships with current and potential customers. 

To fully leverage the benefits that social media can provide, strategy and consistency are key. Below are four key elements to consider when developing a professional social media presence.

 

Determine the Proper Platforms

Source: https://skedsocial.com/blog/social-media-channels-for-your-business/

Part of developing a smart social media strategy is understanding the functionality of each channel and how they align with the organization’s goals.

For example, Instagram is the best place for high-quality photo and video content. You can also utilize the IGTV feature for longer videos, Instagram Stories for shorter daily content and engagement, and host live video sessions with your audience. Instagram is also great for connecting with younger audiences, including millennials and Gen Z.

Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, is the king of social media with more than 1.59 billion users mostly in Gen X and Y age range. Facebook provides a platform for connecting with family, brands, and friends. Nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults use Facebook. If you’re trying to reach middle-aged adults, this platform is definitely where you want to be. Facebook analytics tools are also very comprehensive and easy to use. The platform also offers live video sessions with your audience, and a story feature – similar to Instagram’s. 

Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube are additional platforms that should be researched and considered when developing your targeted social media strategy. 

Twitter is a platform that is fast-paced similar to a newsroom. Businesses can engage with global audiences, allow space for consumers to act as brand ambassadors, monitor competition, and handle customer service inquiries quickly and efficiently. 

The visual search engine and productivity tool, also known as the social platform Pinterest, holds an audience that is looking to be inspired and moved by content. Here, you can not only pin your products to your company’s board, but you can share blogs and create relationships by repinning informative posts from other users. 

YouTube is great for video content that focuses on the culture of your business, shares industry talks and podcasts that showcase your business’ organizational and community efforts, and highlights product launches. With 1 billion visitors monthly, YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine and the 3rd most visited website worldwide! Having content on YouTube also improves your business’ search results through Google.

 

Content Planning

Source: Sprout Social https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-content-strategy/

Planning your content ahead of time is one the most important parts of content strategy. It’s unproductive, unrealistic, and quite stressful to try and post in real-time, every day. For the bulk of your content, you can create a master content calendar that outlines your content per channel on a monthly or weekly basis. Of course, each channel speaks to a specific audience and can be used to help your organization reach certain business goals.

When you’re planning your daily content, consider weekly focus days. For example, maybe it would be beneficial to establish every Tuesday as “Industry Talk Tuesday”, where your audience can look forward to a post, short video, photo or quote that provides news and updates about your industry or business and is relevant to your brand. You can also try something more fun, like “Motivational Mondays” for example. This way, your audience can expect your brand to uplift them for the upcoming week!  

Additionally, you can incorporate timing hooks and observances into your planned content. A good example for a health and wellness company could be to develop a campaign for National Wellness Month (August) and Self Improvement Month (September), in addition to the regularly scheduled content. 

Maximizing Engagement 

Source: Hootsuite https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-engagement/

It’s one thing to be active on social media, but it’s another to actively engage your audience on a consistent basis. Engagement is what lets you know that your audience is paying attention to your content, and likes it! 

Engagement can be measured through likes, comments, shares, retweets, mentions, use of campaign hashtags and click-throughs. A key to maximizing engagement is knowing your audience. Research and analyze the types of content your audience responds best to, and incorporate that. For example, if you’re targeting millennials or Gen Z, it would be beneficial to include Instagram reels into your social media content strategy. Find ways to creatively integrate your content in a way that your audience will easily digest. 

Utilize engagement features such as questions, polls, contests and giveaways, and other ways to encourage participation. Show your audience that you value their engagement by quickly liking and responding to comments and messages, spotlighting responses to polls and questions, etc. Be sure to stay topical with your content, and when appropriate, chime in on current events that are relevant to your brand. Consider creating a funny meme or gif that people can react to. 

 

Cost-Effective

Source: Bakers Labs https://bakerlabs.co/using-social-media-as-a-cost-effective-means-of-marketing/

We’ll end with the reason that everyone is considering social media marketing in their business: cost-effectiveness! Social media campaigns produced by your team members, so there’s essentially no additional cost there. Content creation and monitoring tools themselves are many times free, and if not are relatively inexpensive and easy to track for ROI. Social media campaigns can assist in bringing down overall marketing spending. 

This is particularly relevant for regional businesses that use social media platforms such as Facebook to target exactly who they need to based on audience demographics.

 

Octane’s dedicated Digital Team has the professional experience to assist you with creating a social media plan for your organization, creating graphics, writing posts, and assisting you with creating and maintaining a social media presence and reaching your business goals. If you would like to schedule a consultation, please contact us! 

Do Your Part to Help Us Reach a Status Neutral World

We are a year and a half into the global coronavirus pandemic that has killed millions worldwide. In the 1980s, America faced a new and unknown epidemic that began with illness, which sparked fear and culminated in death. To date, about 37.9 million people are living with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and nearly 770,000 have lost their lives to causes related to the condition. Sadly, Washington D.C. held the highest rate of HIV and AIDS in a U.S. city for decades. 

While the virus impacts men, women, and children of all ethnicities, HIV and AIDS was, and still is, a condition that carries a stigma commonly thought to be associated with homosexual men. This began in 1983 when the CDC identified at-risk groups.  Without a basic knowledge of the new condition, the doors were wide open for speculation that led to stigmatization. 

Thankfully, through aggressive programs introduced by Mayor Bowser and the DC Department of Health, new HIV cases have dropped by about 79 percent. 

In December 2020, Mayor Murial Bowser released the District’s updated plan and community platform — Status Neutral — to end the HIV epidemic with DC Ends HIV (http://DCEndsHIV.org/). Status Neutral describes a world where HIV and AIDS are no longer transmissible and its damaging stigma has been removed. DC Ends HIV is committed to ending the HIV epidemic and supporting the best, most equitable health outcomes for all communities in DC.

Octane worked with the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration (HAHSTA) of the D.C. Government on the Status Neutral campaign, and produced the official video, which explains the full history and impact of HIV and AIDS, development of stigmatization, and our journey to combatting those and developing a Status Neutral world. Watch the full video here. 

“In DC, our status-neutral approach is to make HIV prevention and care available when and where people need it,” said Dr. LaQuandra S. Nesbitt, Director of DC Health.

In anticipation of Status Neutral’s launch day event, long-time AIDS executive and Status Neutral Project Lead, Michael Kharfan said, “[I am] excited for this conversation and advancing #StatusNeutral where people are engaged & supported regardless of their HIV status. Get into HIV care or prevention. DC is putting this pro equity and stigma-busting approach into practice”.

HIV is becoming more manageable and we’re getting closer to a status-neutral world. Octane is so proud of the impactful, important work we do with HAHSTA and now its Status Neutral campaign. Octane fully believes that we must all do our part to end the stigma. No group of people is more likely to get the virus than others. Behaviors carry the risk factors, not people. 

To understand HIV’s entire journey and how it impacts communities, please watch the full video here.

To know your status, go to getchecked.org for a free, at-home HIV test kit. For more information, visit sexualbeing.org