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Showing posts with label Off-Page Optimization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Off-Page Optimization. Show all posts
11 April, 2014
Google+ Marketing: Four (4) Ways To Market Your Brand
Google+ is a great tool employed by
many businesses not just to boost search engine rankings but also to introduce
and promote their brands as well. The platform has several competitive features
that guarantee higher brand visibility and improved brand awareness to
customers.
How To Market Your Brand Through
Google+
Learn which avenues to use to further
market your business. Here are four (4) of them.
1. Google+ Page. Google+
Business Pages work similarly like Facebook Pages. The former has its list of
followers whereas the latter has its own fans. With Google+, the layout of the
page is cleaner and more focused giving it a slighter edge against its
competitor. It provides better opportunity to engage with its users due to
neater discussion threads and varied topics of interest. It also has an upper
hand in terms of integration with other Google products. Promoting videos has
never been easier with its integration to Youtube, the most popular
video-sharing website today. Boosting up your posts and increasing your
credibility has never been simpler with Google+ authorship.
2. Google+ Hangouts. A hangout is a good way to connect with people in real time
via “conferences”. It can be private with a certain group of users
participating in or it can be made public and live in front of a global
audience in a form of Hangouts On Air. You can launch product demos, do how-to
videos or conduct trainings online with less preparation and effort. You can
invite influencers and host a Q&A gathering to highlight the most-talked-about
industry news and trends. You can also record webinars for free compared to
having to pay a monthly subscription fee!
3. Google+ Events.
Events provide an excellent opportunity to schedule and share different types
of occasions for your company. There is its integration with Google Calendar
which makes it relatively effortless for the interested parties to respond to
your invitations. Then there is real-time photo stream where guests can
contribute photos collectively. Additionally, there is Events On Air that
allows your event to go public. Finally, there’s the chance to incorporate
Hangouts On Air so that once the live broadcast has started, you can simply
copy and paste the embed link to your Google+ Event invite for all the
attendees to see and click.
4. Google+ Communities. This is a good technique to build your reputation as a
leader in your niche. For instance, if you are a digital marketing agency in Manila,
let this be a hub to encourage participation from various digital marketing
agencies in the Philippines as well as enthusiasts and advocates around the
globe. Use this to share, interact and develop your authority in your field.
27 March, 2014
Is Facebook really falling?
Every time we speak about social media, two
sites are ubiquitously mentioned: Facebook and Twitter. The runner up is, hands
down, Google Plus, but it is still way behind the first two. Every online
marketing plan includes interaction on Facebook and Twitter, and it is not rare
to see heads banging when Facebook makes a move and, say, changes the image
sizes of the social network. Community managers usually growl for a while when
that happens.
If you have worked at a digital agency for
a while, you know it.
What would you say, however, if I told you
that, based on a suggestion by George Aguayo, one of the SEO guys at InTechCenter, Facebook glorious days might
be counted? Yes, I am serious. See for yourself.
Despite the fact the picture is from Google
Trends, which is not an official web counter for Facebook, the giant social
media site appears to be showing a decline in its use. As you know many users
do not type www.facebook.com on their web browsers directly. They prefer to
open up Google and search for Facebook so they can just click through to their
site. The graph might not be too inaccurate.
Why is this happening? Thisarticle on Time gives some more light about the phenomenon and why it could
be happening. The extremely short version, for those who won't click-through
and read, is that Facebook is a fashion, and, like every fashion, it will
eventually fade away.
Yet what affects users will eventually
affect us, marketers, too. Have you asked yourself what would you do if
suddenly Facebook stops being the social media vehicle you could use for
marketing your site or business? If you haven't, then maybe it is time to start
building your plan B.
Some companies and blogs seem to begin
taking measures about this situation. LifeHackeris already on Diaspora*, for example. There is also an evident raise on the
use of Google Plus company pages.
It is too soon to tell yet, but, as George
commented, it could be a great idea to start diversifying your social media
locomotives.
24 March, 2014
The dos and don'ts of social media for businesses
If you want to
promote your company and ensure that it gains online visibility then you can
consider social media contests that are not only an effective medium but free
as well. Similarly there are several other social media strategies that you can
use to get more traffic, generate leads and sales while there are a few things
that you have to avoid to get maximum benefits.
Have a plan
If you have a goal in life then you need to
have a plan so that you can work towards it. The same applies for social media
strategies for small businesses. Of course there are some merits to random acts
of kindness, but remember that random is not a word that you can associate with
social media today.
Set
boundaries
It’s important to have your rules set in
place; from age limits to location specifications, entry period etc. You should
also make this information easily visible to your contestants so that they
won’t miss it. This will make sure that there is no misunderstanding and
confusion throughout the contest. That’s the reason setting boundaries is
critical right at the onset and you should also make it a point to stick to the
rules you have set.
Add value
Social media should be looked at as an
additional medium of communication. It’s important to add value to your content
so that you make a mark with your clients, users and fans alike. If you are
trying to cater to the fans then think of ways and content that will make them
sit up and take notice. Once that’s done your users will keep checking on
things to see what else you have to say. Bear in mind that your social media
pages are not to express your personal interests but should be tailor made for
your customers.
Stay
authentic
If you want to maintain your business identity
and make your mark then it’s important to stay authentic at all times. Let your
online presence express your true beliefs. It often gets tricky but think of it
from your audiences’ point of view. Once they find you they need to know what
they should expect. That’s why authenticity and consistency is the key.
Build your
network
The big idea of social media is to set up a
network with your audience. It can be a grave mistake to set up a Twitter or
Facebook page, add some press releases and forget all about it. The good thing
about social media is that you have access to your present and potential
customers. Make the most out of it by starting forums and groups with a
community manager who constantly interacts with them. You are also well served
by following industry experts and joining groups with common interests.
Ask
questions
Do you want to get hundreds of comments on
your posts? Then there’s only one way to go about it; ask them direct
questions. Keep the questions relevant, simple and conversational. Don’t make
them about your own opinions and use visual imagery wherever you can so that
users will pay attention and want to engage.
Avoid
multiple profiles
It can get very tricky to manage multiple
profiles, no matter how hard you try. But it doesn’t have to be an all or
nothing philosophy where you live out your life on social media. However if you
have chosen to be on a particular platform then you should take the effort to
understand security settings. It will help you keep tabs on things you want to
post privately and publicly.
Avoid
spamming
Spam is a put off, be it with emails or social
media. Don’t overdo things because posting the same content over and over again
can get you reported and your page runs the risk of being shut down. You can
also turn your fan base away from you.
Negative
feedback should be taken on the chin
If you are on social media there’s bound to be
some kind of negative comments. It’s tempting to filter them out so that you
protect your brand’s reputation. But that will not be taken kindly by consumers
who like to know that all types of voices are heard. Hence it’s a good idea to
listen to the negative comments rather than just deleting them. You can try and
understand why you are getting this negative feedback in the first place and
respond politely. It can actually help you address the issues people have and
it will lend you credibility.
Use more
than one network
If you have found a good article or piece of
content, you can share it on different platforms you are on. It shouldn’t be
exclusive to any particular medium. That’s the way it works with social media
today. But you have to remember that the content shared on Facebook might have
to be dressed up differently to be shared on LinkedIn. The tone of every
network has to be kept in mind when doing that.
Don’t get
into promotional overdrive
Brand accounts are followed because people
like to build a relationship with them. They are looking for an experience with
a brand and don’t want to be bombarded with advertising every given opportunity.
Your content on social media cannot be just about your brand; it can include
things from your site or other sites, which might have similar interests. It
will be an interesting mix of things for your users.
Don’t hide
behind your logo
This is the time to come out from the shadow
of your logo, and share personalities behind the brand. Your users find it
easier to relate to people behind the brand as they can relate to them and it
builds invaluable trust too.
Don’t be
robots; share your voice
You might be using social media to promote
your brand but you will find that bringing in some personality into it will add
to the success of your campaign. You can easily do it by offering your
expertise on a relevant subject or just thanking them for re-tweets. You can
also share some personal details and build a level of familiarity with users.
Of course have an opinion, but try and stay a human voice rather than sounding
like a robot.
Author bio:
I am Ramya Raju a freelance web design writer with 8 yrs of
extensive blogging experience on a variety of online publishing and
social-media platforms. I generally write high-quality articles on travel,
photography, SEO, Web design, English courses, and generic topics too. I’m also
an extrovert with a passion for photography, anthropology and travelling to
different countries to learn the culture and living of the local inhabitants. Website: http://www.colorcharacter.com/uk/services
18 March, 2014
Best Digital Marketing Strategies for 2014
12:01 AM
Digital Marketing
,
Local SEO
,
Off-Page Optimization
,
On-Page Optimization
,
SEO
,
Technology
,
Web Designing
9
comments
In this
contemporary world, internet use becomes more and more prevalent with each
passing day. In recognizing this reality, many business owners are interested
in learning what types of digital strategies they need to implement in order to
accomplish all of their professional goals in 2014. While there are a variety
of different internet marketing techniques that can help businesses experience
continual growth and expansion, the following three can be particularly
helpful:
1. App Development.
These days, more
and more businesses are developing their own apps, and for good reason. Apps
give businesses an opportunity to become an integral feature of their
consumer's electronic device. With an app, business owners can provide
customers with information regarding new products, sales, and any other data
that is relevant to the goods and services it is attempting to advertise. If
your business wants to excel in the world of app development during 2014, the
key will likely be the implementation of a mobile app development strategy. These days, more people are purchasing mobile
phones than personal computers, a fact which makes the development of mobile
apps seem both practical and important.
2. Web Design.
Although web design
has grown common and prevalent enough to now constitute a career, its relevance
and importance has not yet grown old. In fact, web design may be more important
now than in previous eras given the steady increase in internet use. In order
to ensure that your business maintains an edge over its competitors in 2014, it
is important that you pay attention to each component of your website. There
are many, and some of them include your font, background, content, functionality,
and use of widgets. Generally, it is a good idea for business owners to seek
assistance from professional web designers when working on its site. Doing so
can help ensure that you have an aesthetically appealing and functional site
capable of catching and keeping the attention of prospective clients.
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
The use of
effective search engine optimization techniques is one of the best digital
strategies your business can use in 2014. Although broadly defined, search engine
optimization is basically a process that involves the implementation of
specific strategies that will help a website, blog, or video reach the top of
the search engine results pages. There are a variety of SEO strategies your
business can employ to accomplish this purpose, and some of them include the
creation of great content, anchor text, internal linking, external linking,
social media optimization (SMO), and online reputation management (ORM).
Conclusion
If your business is
serious about expanding its online presence and sphere of influence in 2014,
utilizing proven digital strategies will be the key to its success. By
attending to the three techniques listed above, your business will likely
witness the increased conversion rates and expanding customer base that you
want. Good luck!
14 March, 2014
An Overview of Email Marketing for Startups
The United States sees countless new
startups launch every day. Such new companies must contend with a wide variety
of issues. Typically, a startup's handling of these issues directly affects its
chances of success. Most of these companies operate online, and online startups
must engage their customers. Engagement occurs through various marketing
tactics, of which there are many. For the best results, startups need to
utilize multiple options at their disposal without going over budget.
Effective
Marketing Wins; Ineffective Marketing Dooms
A company that engages its customers
effectively will see results. Otherwise, those that don't could fail to attract
customers from the start. Ineffective marketing can doom even the best products
and services online. Too many companies figure this fact out the hard way.
Therefore, effective marketing is required, so startups need to utilize the
best methods. They must walk the line between cost-effectiveness and great
marketing, though. Finding the middle ground here isn't always easy.
Email
Marketing Benefits For Brand New Startups
Without a doubt, startups need to use
email marketing in order to target potential customers. Engaging customers
through this method couldn't be any easier. A new company still needs email
marketing tips to avoid making mistakes. However, the benefits of such
marketing tactics speak for themselves. Emails cost pennies on the dollar to
send, and thousands of emails can be sent at once. Potential customers are
reachable around the world without requiring tons of time.
How
does email marketing work?
Email marketing is commonly performed by
utilizing mailing lists. These lists contain the email addresses of thousands
of consumers and potential customers. Sometimes, companies acquire these lists
from advertising services. They might even compile their own list from users
that sign up for regular emails. Either way, a startup must know how to utilize
these lists in order to succeed. The idea that mass-sending emails leads to
success is a slightly misguided notion these days.
Quality
Beats Quantity For Email Marketing Today
Startup companies need to send quality
emails to potential customers to see results. A consumer won't respond well to
an automatic message filled with advertisements. Likewise, they don't like
being spammed with countless messages per month. A company needs to
strategically craft these emails and send them out on occasion for maximum
effectiveness. It doesn't make sense to customize each email for a recipient.
Then again, emails should make customers feel like they were singled out.
Most companies find email marketing
relatively simple and straightforward. Plus, these startups often see great
success with this method. It's a low-cost, high-return investment that's proven
useful time and time again. New companies should heed email marketing tips from the professionals to avoid issues. Like other tactics, there are wrong ways to handle
this situation. No startup wants to purposefully doom itself before it can
build a large customer base for its future success.
25 February, 2014
Hire a social media manager
Do
you still doubt if to hire a social media manager for your business? In such
case you lag behind the time too much. I can convince you, that it is just
necessary if your goal is to reach better results and to support the level,
which you are on. Social media manager not only saves your money and time, but
helps to develop and to make your business competitive as well. The world
technologies update with the speed of the wind, and it means that you must
constantly get new knowledge, track the changes, and so on. In order to master
all these things you must work in this field every day, but it will greatly
distract your attention from your basic work and as a result your business will
fail. Besides, are you sure, that you are able and have enough time to attract
customers, visitors, if you are business owner? I am sure you are not. That is
why don't spare money for professional social media manager, it will be much
cheaper for you than to do it by your own or to hire some unreliable manager.
Hire only professional and reliable person.
So
what are the main reasons to hire a social media manager? Here is the list of
the most important reasons.
Your
manager will work out the appropriate business strategy, plan, which will guide
your actions in right way. With the help of it you can have an excellent,
actual and valuable content, which will attract many readers, who are your
potential customers and clients. Manager knows for sure what to add, to delete
or to change in your content in order to satisfy public interests and demands.
Hire
a person, who perfectly knows the appropriate and necessary platforms for your
business, because social media is always in the process of development and
almost every day some innovations appear in this field. You will gain good
profits from such professional. You will become more competitive in comparison
with other businessmen. Your social presence will much increase.
Social
media manager will work out the brilliant content strategy. He will make your
content engaging, interesting. People will join you with pleasure if your
content is worth it and if they feel comfortable while reading.
Manager
knows how to take the most out of social media, using different techniques,
methods, tools, etc. These tools will help you to grow the business and to save
money as well.
He
will boost SEO optimization, because he knows much about search engines and
what content is appropriate for them. Thanks to it you will drive traffic,
create a popular and good reputation of your site.
Responsibility
is the main aspect too in business. If many employees have an access to the
same account, it is almost impossible to find out who sent the message and so
on. However, when you have one social
media manager, he is totally responsible for his actions. So the level of the
work quality gets better.
I
hope you now see it is necessary to hire a professional manager in order to
grow your business constantly. I wish you good luck.
10 February, 2014
Twitter is a marketing platform - but avoid some scheming things
No doubt, Twitter
became one of the most popular social media site. Thousands of people daily
visit it, and about 50 million tweets are sent per day. This micro-blogging
service has a large audience, so there are many possibilities to develop your
own business, to drive traffic and advertise your products here. Twitter has been a marketing platform for a
long time. And it is not a surprise for anybody, that this website is
constantly used by many internet businessmen for commercial purposes. Anyway,
day after day, we face to many difficulties in such kind of marketing, but
often ignore them. There’re some moments on Twitter, which we should avoid, in
order to save and develop our business activity. These details seem not very
important, but actually the whole success depends on them. So let’s look
through some of them.
Don't send the auto direct message to the users, whom you want
to attract to the purchase of your product. It spurns your potential customers,
especially if you've hardly got acquainted.
These users are new for you, and your task is to hold down them, not to
lose them. That’s why do it gradually, finding out their interests and
preferences at first. Then you can indicate a link to some interesting article
in the message to you future customer. Remember the main conditions: your
actions shouldn't be annoying; your slight suggestion must suit your followers'
interests; distribution of your messages mustn't be automatic.
Don’t be excessively active in self-promotion. It looks not very good, when you speak only about yourself and your products. Twitter is a place, where you constantly interact with people, so you must not only speak, but listen as well. When you find out, what your follower is interested in, you can satisfy his needs by way of involving a piece of the necessary information for him into your blog. In such way you will really insensibly attract the follower’s attention to your goods.
Don’t hide the background of your business. Be more personal in relations with your customers, but don't overdo with it. You can show in pictures or in some article your working process, development. You even can allow acquaintance with your employees. Such actions will merit trust and define profits from your potential customers. Be honest and open with people.
Don’t use jargons and cuss words. Some users try to use such methods in the marketing, but actually it looks not good and pushes off the customers. In such case it is better to use official language rather than the dissolute one. However, remember, that your language must be maximally available to the audience.
Don’t tweet too often. Active position is welcomed in marketing on Twitter, but it shouldn't look like spam. If you write a message, make it consistent and targeted for the audience. Provide it with the individual valuable information. Don’t send the same message to the different people. It is a sign of a bad tone.
Don’t forget about Twitter etiquette. Don’t show a great desire to make a profit from people. Don’t be annoying. Don’t thank them constantly for their activity. Don’t point out everywhere only the link to your website. It looks suspicious and persistent.
Don’t be excessively active in self-promotion. It looks not very good, when you speak only about yourself and your products. Twitter is a place, where you constantly interact with people, so you must not only speak, but listen as well. When you find out, what your follower is interested in, you can satisfy his needs by way of involving a piece of the necessary information for him into your blog. In such way you will really insensibly attract the follower’s attention to your goods.
Don’t hide the background of your business. Be more personal in relations with your customers, but don't overdo with it. You can show in pictures or in some article your working process, development. You even can allow acquaintance with your employees. Such actions will merit trust and define profits from your potential customers. Be honest and open with people.
Don’t use jargons and cuss words. Some users try to use such methods in the marketing, but actually it looks not good and pushes off the customers. In such case it is better to use official language rather than the dissolute one. However, remember, that your language must be maximally available to the audience.
Don’t tweet too often. Active position is welcomed in marketing on Twitter, but it shouldn't look like spam. If you write a message, make it consistent and targeted for the audience. Provide it with the individual valuable information. Don’t send the same message to the different people. It is a sign of a bad tone.
Don’t forget about Twitter etiquette. Don’t show a great desire to make a profit from people. Don’t be annoying. Don’t thank them constantly for their activity. Don’t point out everywhere only the link to your website. It looks suspicious and persistent.
Follow these tips and you will have good results.
09 February, 2014
Google+ Marketing: Five (5) Reasons Why Your Business Should Be On Google+
The search giant launched its own
social network on 2011. Its intent is simple: to make online sharing better and
introduce a new way to connect with people that matter most. However, with Facebook
and Twitter topping the charts in the social networking industry already, what
makes Google+ different?
Why Should Your Business Be On Google+
Learn why you should consider Google+ in
your digital marketing strategy.
Here are five (5) reasons how it can greatly benefit your business.
1. Better
SEO Rankings. One important
feature of Google+ is that Google, the search engine, will treat your posts the
same way as it will do so on regular webpages. So if you post content to
Google+, it will rank higher in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) as
opposed to doing the exact same thing to another platform like Facebook. It will
stay there longer as well which makes it a perfect avenue to promote your brand
regardless if you are a digitalmarketing agency in the Philippines or a telecommunication firm in India.
2. Higher
Brand Visibility. It
is a perfect opportunity to introduce and promote your company. For instance,
try typing “Starbucks” on the Google
search bar. You can easily see on the right side of the SERP a link to Starbucks’
Google+ page as it shows the number of its current followers, profile image and
its recent Google+ post activity. Its hashtag feature (type “#starbucks”) is magnified too as you can
quickly identify which users are talking about Starbucks’ products and
services.
3. GoogleAuthorship. Authorship is
the driving force behind Author Rank which is one of the 200 ranking signals
that Google uses. Its birth roots back to Google’s goal to eliminate spam and
duplicate content. As your business utilizes this feature, it will build your
credibility more as it allows you to link your Google+ profile or page to the
content you create thus letting the search giant know that the article actually
originated from you.
4. Deeper
Engagement. Engagement is a
necessary metric in online marketing as it can very well dictate how effective
your brand is to your customers. Google+ has Hangouts and Communities that will
help your business engage with your followers on a more personal level. You can
broadcast conferences and webinars with the former and host rich conversations
and shared interests with the latter.
Integration to Youtube. With
Youtube being the best video site to date and its comments now powered by
Google+, your reach can be guaranteed to multiply massively.
16 January, 2014
5 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Mobile Content Marketing
A lot of people that invest in SEO know all about the benefits of online content marketing. The problem is, even the SEO pros miss out on the big opportunity to get better and faster results by not taking advantage of mobile content marketing.
What is mobile content marketing?
Mobile content marketing is almost like content marketing online, expect that you are targeting your content to a mobile audience. With mobile content marketing you are creating articles, images, video, and more just for your mobile website and mobile app users.
So why would you want to invest in mobile content marketing and what are the benefits?
A great way to repurpose website content
SEO marketers and small businesses are always looking for ways to recycle the content they already have. Why not do it by sending this content to your mobile app or mobile website users. It’s a great way to save time and reduce content creation costs. Just remember to resize your content appropriately. Mobile app users will have a hard time seeing your large images on their tiny smartphone screens.
Greater customer loyalty
When you consistently send helpful and interesting content to your mobile users, they take notice. You are giving your customers a reason to be loyal to you since you’ve helped and entertained them so much in the past. This is really helpful when it’s time to actually send your marketing message to them. You will find that your customers are more receptive to your marketing messages than if you were to just send them cold.
Easy way to increase revenue
Each time a customer opens your email or enjoys an image by you, you have the potential to increase your revenue. Mobile content marketing is just another way to get in touch with your customers when they are on the go. Take this as another opportunity to introduce your products and services to customers that may need you right now.
Higher engagement from customers and prospects
Your customers get bombarded all day with messages from other businesses. To compete in today’s market, you have to find any way you can to always interact with your customers and prospects. There is no better way to do this than by sharing useful and helpful knowledge all the time.
You are always where your customers are
The truth is, mobile app and mobile website users are on the go. This is the perfect time to talk to your customers when they aren’t right in front of their computers. Never before have marketers had the opportunity to be with their customers at all times. It’s just too easy and too cheap to stay in touch with customers with the help of mobile content marketing to ignore it.
13 December, 2013
Main Problems in Digital Marketing
Electronic commerce
Due to low prices and great assortment of goods and of
course to convenience of online shopping consumer expenditures have risen to
high levels. According to data for the last 12 months in the USA people
spent on online buys more than 304 billion dollars. Among them 100 billion was
spent on travelling and other 110 billion on retail purchases.
Companies which work only with online retail (as eBay, Amazon) were able to
make real business empires due to electronic commerce. For example, Amazon has
110 millions unique visitors per month. But such triumphal march of electronic
commerce means that a regular offline shop is under the threat. In other words,
retailers which can’t hold their market part now will have more and more
difficulties in future.
Different products categories move to online with different speed, and that
makes new difficulties for retailers who work with different categories, for
example, big supermarkets. Nowadays about 30% of electronics are sold thought
the Internet and only 1% of everyday goods.
Moving of whole channels to the online world can have some influence upon
prices and it can promote lowing of them. Internet allows finding the necessary
goods on the lowest price.
Social media
ComScore data show us that part of social media according to the time which
user spend in the web is higher than part of web-portals. Last year in November
in the USA Facebook attracted 150 million unique users. It had 10% part from
the whole number of minutes, which users spent in the Internet. But social
networks are not only Facebook. The same month LinkedIn had 41 million users,
Twitter – 40 million, Google+ had 29 million and Instagram and Pinterest – more
than 25 million.
Users’ activity rise in social networks puts market members before new
challenge: how to use new channels in order to communicate with consumer.
People often expect from social networks a word of mouth effect. But there are
a lot of questions. For example, how much does “a fan” of goods or brand cost?
What is better: paid popularity in social networks or the earned popularity?
How is it possible to calculate the profit which was received from investments
to social media? Today they do a lot of studies in order to have answers to
such questions.
ComScore offers a special service which is called “Social Essentials”, it helps
to measure quantitatively productivity of marketing efforts in social networks,
based on the demographic and behavioral composition of the audience of one or
another brand in social media. Such tool also shows coverage and frequency of
advertising views in social media. These options give a chance to companies to
link their actions in social media with the desired consumer behavior,
including brand involvement and buying activity. They also allow measuring the productivity
of the current campaign.
But social media can be not only a promotional platform, market researchers
think about how to make them a data source about the consumers’ minds. Some of
them even believe that in the next five years social networks will completely
replace the buyers’ surveys.
Increased cost of digital advertising
Spending on advertising is rapidly flowing to the Internet. According to
the IAB data, in the third quarter of 2012 online advertising increased by 18%
compared with the previous year. In the first three quarters of 2012 the growth
was 15% it is more than 3.8% of the general increase of advertising costs during
the same period in all media, in which the research was conducted. The IAB
report points to significant growth in different formats, especially in the
mobile Internet (+92%), video (+18%), search (+17%) and banners (+12%). The
only exception is the multimedia advertising (here we see the recession in 34%)
There is a hypothesis that the high cost of such advertising leads to the rejection
from this format in favor of others, especially video, which allows you to transform
30-second video into 15-second easily and inexpensively. At the same time,
advertisers and agencies are more and more concerned with the limitation of
available advertising space and time. Many say that price for thousand shows of
the video often exceeds the price for ads on TV.
It is clear, however, that the more exact the targeting will be the more
consumers will be involved and the faster the video rate in the Internet will
live behind the price for ads on TV.
Audience targeting or specific publications
The availability of strange platforms and exchanging
them in real time helped to the spreading of such phenomena as buying audience
through the computer via cookies. According to some rates, about 20% of all
display ads views are buying with the help of auctions in real time. This
figure will continue growing. The advantages of methods of buying the audience
are well documented.
But there is a negative side too: publishers are anxious about the trend
towards lowering the prices for ads. This, in turn, led to the creation of
private SSP which make possible the acquisition of specific audiences on web
sites with the help of program. There is a hope that it will help publishers to
protect their premium prices, but giving the opportunity to advertisers to
enjoy some advantages of buying audience at the same time.
06 December, 2013
4 Incredible Tools to Host a Contest On Your Facebook
Social media in general and Facebook in particular have come a long way in terms of reach, importance and its effect on brand and business popularity. Today, Facebook not only offers profile and fan pages but allows embedding of third party applications which enhances its functionality. These applications are entrenched within the Facebook fan page via code, widget or tab making the task of engaging, managing, measuring and converting the four social media metrics a breeze.
One of the popular applications which can be synched with Facebook fan page is "Contest". The contest app creates instant buzz and coerces users to participate, and thereby increase brand value and customer loyalty.
Mentioned below are some of the trendy contests.
- Photo contest by far is the most popular. As an administrator, you can ask users to submit a photo, vote for others and "like" company page; a prerequisite to participate. The idea is to engage users through voting. It is easy to set up and the images offer a visually soothing experience.
- The second most popular way of engaging users via contest is "Scratch & Win". Instead of using a physical tool such as a coin to scratch, users simply scratch online, with the help of mouse to view result. Timer can be set up so that a participant can enter only once in 24 hours.
- Creating an interesting timeline contest is the next on this list. However, it does have limitations and may not be the right way to analyse page metrics. This type of contest will not generate leads because of its inherent workings.
- Caption contest is a great way to engage users and generate user content. Businesses can set up this type of contest by uploading the image which could be a product or advertisement, and ask users to express their views.
Listed below are four incredible tools to host a contest on Facebook.
1. Agorapulse
This versatile, intuitive and easy to use marketing and CRM suite is one of the favourite tools of many administrators and marketers. The reasons for its popularity are many.
So what makes it the choice of community managers? Here are the reasons.
- It helps gain more fans through a gamut of apps such as quiz, instant prizes, contests, coupons and sweepstakes.
- Using these apps translates into efficient people engagement which in turn means more fans.
- On the other hand a contest application generates amazing number of opt-in leads.
Although, Agorapulse is an enterprise class tool, it can also be used by mid and small-sized businesses, non-profit entities and even NGO's. A free trial is available for a limited period. However, the basic price structure starts at $29. Agorapulse apps, especially contest, help marketers turn fans into customers. With this tool managing information whether email submissions or polls is a breeze. It can be synched with CRM and email software very easily.
2. Woobox
Woobox is another amazing Facebook tool which allows administrators and marketers to built instant buzz with contest application. Create innumerable intelligent and intriguing contests. Let your creativity go wild. Mentioned below are some of the "contests" which can be created with Woobox.
- Photo contests, where users can participate and vote for the best media.
- Audio/video contests - If you are a marketer or a community manager for a company this type of engagement can instantly catapult a brand to dizzying heights.
- Article, poem, short story contests are some of the other options which every administrator should exploit.
Some of the important features of Woobox are:
- Sweepstakes - An interesting app which allows community managers to collect entries and pick winners in the most transparent way.
- Coupons - They are simply compelling. It forces users to interact. Coupons have a randomly generated code, offered during seasonal sales, festivals and entry to exclusive shows.
- HTML Fangate
- Poll - This application promises unbiased fan/user inputs whether it is about a brand or service
- Instagram and Pinterest tabs offer a quick way to post images of new products and get instant feedback in the form of followers.
3. Votigo
Votigo is an all in one marketing tool for Facebook page. It offers comprehensive features with maximum customization in terms of look, feel and back end storage of information collected from the fans. It can be used as an application or tab. In either case the user information is stored in a separate database. Some of the engagement tools that it offers are: user or self generated contests such as photo, video and essay. It also offers other routine apps like sweepstakes, polls, input forms and a host of other interesting ways to generate fan page likes.
Salient features of Votigo -
- Better conversion and more Facebook likes.
- It offers compelling apps for Facebook.
- Apps typically translate into high profile viral branding.
- High conversion factor leads to significant increase in customers.
4. Social Prize
Social Prize is yet another tool which is simply brilliant in terms of engaging with fans, building trust, creating brand hype. A must have tool for every marketer. One of its interesting features is the "cash giveaways", a kind of contest which can be setup in minutes and offers instant brand recognition.
Social Prize offers a two prong strategy.
SHARE TO WIN -
The contest app can be easily embedded as a widget. Administrators need to simply copy paste the code. However, its simplicity doesn't make it less effective. On the contrary it offers an array of tools to monitor the success of contest through online statistics. It also offers several interesting features such as downloading and building leads, creating user generated content and customization of contests, prominent among them the feature which recognizes a single winner each day.
GROW YOUR BASE -
Email lists, content created by fans/users through social engagement like contest app makes sure the company never runs short of customers. In other words, a fan base which grows consistently.
30 November, 2013
How to include media in social posts to attract more attention
Online Buyers have become habituated to being ready with common posts from businesses
on social media. Businesses wanting show up from the community require including
visual content such as images and videos (media) into their content marketing tactic.
Including media is a superior way to boost your social media approach. Posts
that include media on the globally most well-liked social networking sites are being
paid more interest and engagement.
Use this reality to your leads by
centering your content on related photos and even video. Your followers will be
more eager to share these types of posts with their contacts or friends as
well. They are good conversant that their followers will like it rather than
just only a plain text post. But acquire creative with your photos! Keep them multi-colored,
rich, attractive and efficiently so users will really desire to share it and
engage. Add an intellectual sentence to go with it, a link for more information,
and you are sound on your manner.
Once you have created your own
videos, you will wish for to put them where it will get the most views and
bring you back the more visits. The emperor of all the video sharing sites is
YouTube. That is where you will wish for all your videos to be put in. Confirm that
you are creating a good looking channel with your information so visitors can locate
more of your videos when they visit again. Also, be ensuring to have your
website address listed on your YouTube channel page. When your video is
uploaded in YouTube, create a description post including your landing page link
or update on your other social media pages telling users about the video and provide
the link to it.
It's no doubt media posts
gain more attention from social media users! This means that you should be creating
an aware attempt to use high-quality, engaging photos/videos in the content you
end up sharing on all social networking sites, together with good content,
landing pages, etc.
Here are few causes to
publish media for your business marketing strategy.
- Post with suitable media acquires 90% more entire traffic.
- Including media in a press release or blog post boost views by over 50%.
- 50% of clients are more expected to think or contact a business when a media shows up in local search results.
- In an online store sites, 70% of customers speak the quality of a goods picture is “very important” in picking and baying a manufactured goods.
At the end of the day, marketers heed
more about how their social media usage is reaching particular business goals, such
as drive more website traffic. So, can visuals be used to amplify website
traffic as well, even if the link appurtenant a media only lives in the media description.
This shows that social media experts who are using attractive photos/videos to
their lead can raise traffic to their websites, just as long as they keep in
mind to put links in content! You have improved
the quantity of visual content you post on all social networks. You are observed
that you’re nearly all visual content performs superior than other kinds of
social updates.
28 November, 2013
How Pay Per Click Ads Can Help You Become An Intelligent Marketer
Marketing
is all about understanding the target consumers. What do they like? What do
they dislike? And what are the elements that can help you touch them
emotionally? If you work in a PPC company,
you must work with a lot of Google search page ads. PPC helps you learn a lot
of things and as a result, you become a smart marketer.
In
this article, I will highlight the ways in which pay per click makes you a
smart marketer.
#
PPC helps you make crucial strategic decisions: When you invest in PPC, you
basically pay Google to acquire customers for your business. Therefore, it is
important to know that you are investing money in the right place. Let's assume
that you sell products to both B2C and B2B customers. Now, if you see that your
online B2B sales is much better than that of B2C, you can go through the
offline sales reports to find out whether this is true for offline sales as
well. If both online and offline conversion rate show that you have more B2B
customers than B2C customers, you can pay attention to B2C marketing campaign
and discover the flaws hindering your business growth.
Without
PPC, it is not possible to measure the success of a marketing campaign. Some
tactics like SEO, banner ads, word-of-mouth advertisement bring traffic as
well, but you can never be sure how many customers are actually visiting your
online and offline store. PPC gives you a solid figure. For example, 100 people
clicked on the ad and visited the site. Google Analytics will tell you how many
of them clicked the “buy now” button. In fact, you can also track how many
people are buying offline as well by placing a simple survey form on the
website. A simple question like “do you love our online shop or prefer our
store at your locality” can help you get the statistics easily.
You
can also optimize business process by paying attention to users' behavior once
they reach your site. For example, some businesses let customers buy their
products from the site and some additionally offer “call to order” facility.
PPC tracking can help you find out what customers are really doing. Are they
clicking the “buy” button or do they prefer to call? If the result shows that
customers like to call because it saves their time, you may hire a few more
telecaller executives to handle the incoming calls.
#
You can form a better marketing strategy: PPC helps you understand your
customers and gives you an opportunity to find the best sales pitch. The idea
may seem surprising, but search engine result page ads make you fail first and
then bring you to the path of success. There is no “guessing” in PPC marketing.
Suppose, a client asks your professional PPC company in India to
publish 5 ads with 5 different catch-lines. Some of them will fail miserably
and some will bring you a certain number of customers. So, you fail and learn
what does not appeal to your target audience. You don't have to guess, as the
conversion tracking tools give you data regarding your success ratio. Once you
know what works and what does not, you can use this knowledge for offline
marketing, e-mail campaign and SEO articles.
#
Make data-driven decisions: PPC marketing is a learning process. Some of
your ads will fail, but you have to scan them and try to understand why they
failed. It can be content, time of ad, placement or something else. If one ad did not work a couple of months
ago, it does not mean that it will not work ever. You have to test and think
what you can do with the ad to make it perform. For example, you may have
posted a discount offer ad when other leading merchants were offering discounts
as well. Why don't you offer a flash discount for 24 hours? Modify the content
and make sure that the ad stays live for 24 hours only. The discount remains
the same, but since you tell customers it is for “24 hours only”, they will
flock to your site.
#
Boost your analytical skills: Pay per click ads make you a great analyzer.
You don't only pay attention to the performing and non-performing keywords, but
also analyze factors like CTR, conversion rate, cost per acquisition etc. The
more data you gather about your marketing campaign, the more easily you can
manage budget and compose better ads in future.
PPC
makes you a knowledgeable marketer. You know exactly how much you are spending,
from which locations customers are coming to your site, what age group prefers
your products/services and how many customers are actually buying from either
your online or offline shop. Thus, you not only become smarter but gradually
start improving the investment-profit ratio of your clients. As a result, more
people start hiring your PPC company for their online campaign management.