By Victoria Stoklasa, CEO

We’ve all experienced “necessary evils” when managing businesses—filing complicated paperwork, negotiating contracts, or doing detailed taxes and financial reports. Well, if these are necessary evils, we at Bon Visto Media would call paid advertising on social media a “necessary awesome”.

Many platforms recognize that they are being used for business promotion, and they’re trying to put the “social” back in social media. Not only that, but the owners of these platforms know that companies will pay top dollar to advertise on social media because it provides a captive audiences and allows for users to share company content. A notable example of changes to social media is Facebook, which changed their algorithms so that news feeds are more likely to show posts from individuals’ profiles rather than companies' like pages. If a company wants to get seen, paid advertising is nearly inevitable.

Fortunately, paid ads on social media deliver results. Want a real-world example? Contently.com reported that Castrol Moto’s social reach went from 2.7 million to, once they started paying for ads, 14 million users. The effect is evident: Even if you just spend a single dollar each day, you’ll see more activity on your social media platforms...more likes, follows, comments, and so on.

There are no hard, fast rules about the best social media platform for advertising—it varies from industry to industry, and from company to company. We’ve talked in a previous blog post about knowing which platforms your audience is using, which is a crucial first step in deciding where to spend your dollars.

If your company is present on multiple platforms, don’t limit your ad spending to the obvious choices. While Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are obvious choices for ad placement, less common options can reap benefits if you want to reach a niche market. For example, Pinterest is a great platform for advertising to moms, since 80% of their users are female. Content curating websites offer an alternative solution—StumbleUpon, for instance, offers full-page native advertising in which your entire website becomes the ad.

Have you had success with social ads? Or, do you have questions? Leave a comment below!

By Victoria Stoklasa, CEO

One of the fun services that Bon Visto Media provides for clients is graphic design. We develop beautiful, engaging images for our clients’ prospective customers to click and share. One of the key elements of our graphic design is typography—the way the text looks in an image. As we’ve created images this past year, there were ten typefaces that we kept going back to. Here are our top ten fonts of 2014.

No, not the Lana del Rey song…although, this looks like how she would write. This script does have a youthful and feminine feel to it, making it great for communicating heartfelt messages.

The name of this font is awkward and unwieldy. But dude, look at how great it is. Most bold, black typefaces are too overwhelming, but the hollow stripe in the middle of each stroke gave the letters a much needed brightness. It’s almost jazzy!

There’s been a lot of love in the past few years for what I like to call “Where the Wild Things Are” typefaces, and Passion Tea was quite popular at Bon Visto Media. The gentle curve of the letters made it stand out from most wiry handwritten types and gave it a little more whimsy. (The fact that it’s named after one of our favorite beverages helps, too.)

Every time I look at this typeface, it makes my heart flutter. Couldn’t you see this on the cover of a children’s fantasy picture book? The curl and upward turn of the serifs deliver a bit more charm and magic than you would expect from a typeface.

We saw this style of typeface EVERYWHERE! It wasn't just in our designs; it was everywhere else, too! And why wouldn’t it be? It’s feminine, clean, and pleasant. If you want to class up your design while still being contemporary, a bold script was the way to do it in 2014, and Thirsty Script was our favorite.

While most people say Helvetica is the best go-to font, we want to make a case for Bebes Neue. It has the versatility that all designers crave—this is the sort of typeface that looks good big or small, bold or thin. Plus, it's tall, lending it an air of masculinity.

This slab serif font is one of our favorite ways to make a statement. It’s bold without being overwhelming, and it’s structured while still allowing for the implication of movement and energy. It’s the perfect combination of elements to make it one of the most exciting typefaces we’ve had the pleasure of working with this year.

What were your favorite fonts of 2014? Did we leave off your favorite? Leave a comment and let us know!

By Victoria Stoklasa, CEO

Voila--Bon Visto Media has started blogging! We are excited to have this platform to regularly share information with you. You'll be seeming blogs from me and the rest of the staff, covering topics in social media, marketing, and small business and start-ups. Pretty rad, huh?

Some folks might wonder why we have a blog when we manage things like Facebook and Twitter for our clients. In fact, we at Bon Visto also manage blogs...editing them, posting them, and promoting them. 

But showing off our blogging skills is only one part of our reason for blogging. Our big reason for creating a blog is that we want to educate you. Yes, you, reading this. Our mission is to help individuals and businesses effectively connect and communicate using social media. Even a basic understanding of social media will be beneficial to your business, even if you don't have time to manage everything yourself (which is where we come in).

In a word: Yes! In two words: Most definitely! In three words: Yeah, it should. In four words...okay, that joke is getting old.

Along with the reason we at Bon Visto Media have of educating the masses, another great reason for a business to have a blog is for SEO--search engine optimization. When a website is search engine optimized, it's easier to find and is more likely to show up at the top of searches. A blog gives your site more pages, and more pages means more opportunities for your site to show up in searches. Think of it as stuffing a ballot box...but less illegal.

A less measurable but just as valuable reason for a business to have a blog is to establish that the owners and managers are experts in their field. Think about it--wouldn't you much rather work with a financial advisor who could effectively communicate what retirement plans are available? Wouldn't you be comfortable working out with a personal trainer who has proven knowledge of what exercises are best for your body type? That's what blogs can do for you--prove that you know what you're talking about.

Does your business already have a blog? Leave a comment below and let us know! Or, contact Bon Visto Media to have us help with your blog and social media management.

By Victoria Stoklasa, CEO

We heard all the cool kids were writing blogs now. So, we at Bon Visto Media all did that sideways glance at each other (which was really impressive because we're all in different states, if not in different countries) and were like, "Should we start a blog?"

No, in all seriousness, we are starting a blog. Our first official post is coming in January 2015. If you want to keep up to date on our posts, you can consistently come back to our website (which sounds like a hassle); you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn; or you can enter your email below to get updates. 

So, try it. You might like it.