Skip to content

Not all hashtags are created equal. There’s a spectrum of hashtags that range from highly popular to unknown and it’s important to use the correct ones. You might assume that each page should automatically use the most popular hashtags. You’d be wrong. While the most popular hashtags might have the most potential for impressions, they’re also more competitive and tend to be vague. A New York restaurant could use #Foodie and compete with every blogger and food publication on the map or use a more niche #NYCFoodie to stand out in front of a smaller crowd. Businesses should use hashtags that get enough traction, but are also not overly competitive. At the same time, they should be keeping their ideal customers in mind and not sacrificing potential business for more clicks. In this case, #NYCFoodie would appeal to more people in New York City (potential customers) rather than people all over the world looking at food.


I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Lewis. Michael is the Creative Strategist at Active Web Group, where he develops and implements digital marketing strategies. He creates content and implements public relations & link building tactics, while orchestrating paid advertising campaigns, and managing various social media channels to further all brand initiatives. He received his B.A. in Public Relations and Advertising from SUNY Buffalo State.


Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Since taking a Sports Marketing class in high school, I knew I wanted to work somewhere in the communications field, so I studied Public Relations at SUNY Buffalo State. After landing my first internship, I realized the ridiculously close relationship between PR and Marketing, which led to me diversifying my skill set. That prompted my start as the Marketing Assistant at Active Web Group.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

I’ve been a Social Media Marketer for about 3 years, where I’ve worked with clients of all sizes and industries. Constant involvement with content-driven organic strategies and paid campaigns have helped me develop a thorough understanding of just about all aspects of Social Media Marketing.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

My most interesting story is confidential (for now). Though I’ve always had interesting encounters with web developers. We work together when there’s a problem and since we know little-to-nothing about the each others profession, our solutions are always unconventional.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Just a couple of embarrassing typos. You definitely have to learn from your mistakes if you want to survive in the Marketing field…

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

It’s difficult to say, considering how businesses vary, but I’d have to narrow it down to Facebook and Instagram. Having access to Ads Manager is a total game changer because it has extensive targeting parameters that lead to stronger results and lower CPC (Cost-Per-Clicks).

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

Conduct Detailed Hashtag Research

Not all hashtags are created equal. There’s a spectrum of hashtags that range from highly popular to unknown and it’s important to use the correct ones. You might assume that each page should automatically use the most popular hashtags. You’d be wrong. While the most popular hashtags might have the most potential for impressions, they’re also more competitive and tend to be vague. A New York restaurant could use #Foodie and compete with every blogger and food publication on the map or use a more niche #NYCFoodie to stand out in front of a smaller crowd. Businesses should use hashtags that get enough traction, but are also not overly competitive. At the same time, they should be keeping their ideal customers in mind and not sacrificing potential business for more clicks. In this case, #NYCFoodie would appeal to more people in New York City (potential customers) rather than people all over the world looking at food.

Geotag Posts

Instagram’s algorithm prioritizes the user’s experience and location is no exception. Geotagging (or adding a location to a post) is a great way for local businesses to get the word out in front of customers within striking distance. This is a best practice for maximizing organic reach, but is not used nearly enough by most businesses.

Share Original Content

Instagram is saturated with content, which can make it difficult to get noticed. Sharing original, high-quality content is the best way to stand out and position your brand in the eyes of potential customers. There are so many pages curating content from other pages and many of them give credit to the original source. Sharing original pictures not only helps your posts stand out on user news feeds, but also provides a channel for curation pages to promote you.

Partner With Influencers/Thought Leaders

People identify with brands and personalities, not businesses. Influencer Marketing is a powerful, cost-effective method for getting your content out to a quality, relevant audience. Look at it this way, people tend to place Instagram content in 2 categories, entertainment (good) and ads (bad). People willingly trust bloggers and YouTube personalities and are paying attention to them. Finding a small group of influencers whose overall values align with your brand could be a powerful opportunity to find new customers.

Utilize Ads Manager

Advertising has become increasingly more important in the Digital Marketing world. Properly utilizing Ads Manager is one way to significantly growing your page’s presence and revenue. We’ve generated over 10x the amount of leads for clients using Ads Manager at a cost-effective rate, which helped them scale their business efforts for long-term success.

Pay Attention To Analytics

Data doesn’t lie, but it’s often ignored. The only way to optimize organic or paid content is by monitoring analytics and tracking performance. Analytics helps marketers see what they previously couldn’t, which opens doors to new trends and possibilities. We’ve run ads in the past and realized that customers of a certain age group were responding to a particular ad. With this information, we boosted out budget and targeted that age group, which resulted in a highly profitable campaign. All thanks to Google Analytics!

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

The movement would be centered on creating. Whether it’s writing, photography, or video, there’s something to be said about people who can create something they are proud of. There’s so much more media consumption than creation and I feel that more creation would only up the bar for better content.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

It would have to be Elon Musk. I think his innovative mindset and stellar tweeting abilities would make for an awesome breakfast buddy.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!