If you pay attention to the hype, you’ve probably noticed that some people in the content marketing industry are saying that email lists are a thing of the past.
With the increased popularity of social media marketing, email lists are slowly becoming obsolete, right?
Not even close. Building an email list is just as important today as it’s ever been. Frankly, comparing email to social media is the marketing equivalent of comparing apples and oranges.
When it comes to engaging your audience every day, social media wins by design (you’re tapped into your clients daily news feed, after all). When it comes to conversion, email still does a better job.
Forget About ‘One Size Fits All’
When it comes to email marketing, it’s important to keep your audience in mind constantly. Now, your business (like most in the world) is probably going to have a few potential types of ideal customers.
There really is no such thing as an effective all-encompassing message that interests everyone. This is where email really has a chance to shine. After all, posting on social media, while incredibly valuable, sends out a single general message.
When it comes to email, you have the ability to split your audience into separate groups and speak to them based on each group’s needs. If you’re looking to convert every potential customer that comes your way, it’s essential that you identify these buyer personas and appeal to these different groups.
That’s the whole point of email marketing segmentation – having the ability to give people exactly what they want.
Separating ‘Right Now’ from ‘Maybe Later’
Speaking of giving the people what they want, let’s talk about the sales cycle. Yes, building up a sizable email list is something you should be focused on. If you don’t have one, start working on it immediately. That being said, if you don’t understand your email list, you won’t be able to effectively target and convert your audience.
Now, some of your contacts are just browsing and extremely unlikely to be converted anytime soon. Why? Because they don’t need you right now. Those are the ‘maybe later’ contacts that sign up for your email list because they’re curious.
Being overly aggressive with them might actually end up doing more harm than good (the last thing you want to be seen as is a spammer).
The other group is contacts that need your product/service right now and are actively looking for a solution to their problem. By differentiating between these two kinds of contacts and using email marketing segmentation, you’ll be able to determine the appropriate kinds of emails to send them.
The first contact? They’ll just get a general email, nothing too aggressive. But that ‘right now’ contact? They’re getting targeted content that was designed for someone in their stage of the sales cycle.
The Real Reason You Should Use Email Marketing Segmentation
Frankly, you should be using email marketing segmentation – because it works.
According to the Lyris Annual Email Optimizer Report (PDF), 39 percent of businesses that segmented their email lists had increased open rates. Whatever your personal opinion is on the relevancy of email in today’s social media age, there’s no denying that if you’re trying to make the most out of your email list, segmentation is your best bet.
Of course, no one said that any of this would be easy. Creating accurate buyer personas can be pretty challenging, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing.
As if that wasn’t enough, knowing what to do with each group you’ve created requires tons of planning and talent (if you’re not sure how to get started, you’re in luck! Hubspot has a free buyer persona generator to help you get started).
Remember: email marketing segmentation is about more than just converting. It’s about understanding your audience better and (ideally) learning how to better serve them in the process.
So, what do you think? Do you think email segmentation is really worth doing?
Derek Halpern is well known for his ruthless testing, so it’s no surprise that you’ll find a well-designed opt-in box at the end of his posts.
You don’t always need an over-the-top offer. Sometimes just a simple blog subscription form will do the trick to increase your conversion rates.
5. Craft a compelling CTA in your conclusion
Graphics and forms will only take you so far.
If you don’t know how to write compelling copy, then your site won’t reach its full conversion potential.
If you want to learn more about copywriting, I suggest Neil Patel’s The Definitive Guide to Copywriting. It’ll prepare you well to start crafting copy like a pro.
6. Develop a content upgrade
Content upgrades are all the rage. But despite how many people talk about them, few put them to use on a regular basis.
When you make informed adjustments, you’ll set yourself up for success.
So many people want a high conversion rate without testing. Don’t be one of those people.
8. Use A/B testing to measure design effectiveness
Similarly to heat maps, A/B testing gives you the opportunity to understand your audience on a deeper level.
With this tactic, you can implement a couple of the conversion-boosting tricks shared in this article and see which one resonates best with your audience.
A unique content upgrade for each individual post you write may seem a bit time-intensive for solopreneurs or small teams. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on the concept.
The more you can get users to engage with your content, the easier it becomes to convert them into paying customers.
11. Use Tweetables to increase social shares
If you want to increase your social share conversions, you need to make it as easy as possible for readers to share your content.
The Click to Tweet tool makes sharing easier than ever. It’s a friendly way to remind people to post, while making the actual sharing process incredibly easy.
Essentially, our brains get overwhelmed by all the options to make, so we don’t choose any of them. This results in fewer conversions overall for your brand.
Reduce the number of CTAs included on your website and hone in your message to increase conversions.
17. Use social proof
It’s no secret that social proof – like result metrics and testimonials – works well when it comes to increasing conversions. But have you considered using them in your blog content?
Take a look at how GrooveHQ uses it to convert blog subscribers.
18. Put your opt-in above the fold
When you place something above the fold, it’s one of the first things your visitors will see.
So if you want to make subscribing a major goal, place the form in a prominent place.
Many leaders in the marketing space use this tactic. But it’s also utilized in other industries.
This is a more indirect factor, but it’s still one you’ll want to consider.
If your blog loads painfully slowly, you’re losing out on prospects before they ever land on your page.
Use a tool like Pingdom to test your blog’s speed.
Then, make an effort to increase your speed if you want to attract new prospects.
21. Show your friendly side in your copy
Spectacular copy makes the world go ‘round.
It’s the stuff that humanizes your brand and leaves people wanting more.
I love how Basecamp convinces me to keep reading with their friendly suggestions for other posts to read.
22. Pitch to subscribers during your post
If you’re posting in-depth content that’s thousands of words long, try adding a call-to-action or two right in the middle of the post.
Don’t do this randomly.
Find a natural way to work in the CTA. If you do this right, you’ll easily get your message in front of the scanners that won’t ever make it to the bottom of your content.
23. Write your content correctly
Ultimately, if you don’t adhere to accepted content writing principles, people will leave your site before you ever have a chance to convert them.
Keep these tips in mind:
Use descriptive subheadings.
Include bullet lists where applicable.
Incorporate images throughout the content.
Keep paragraphs and sentences short.
Write in a conversational tone.
24. Try different blog formats
From the type of structure you use to the media you include, there are countless blog formats and variations. And what works for one blogger may not work for you.
Do you advertise on Facebook? Looking for more efficient ways to manage your campaigns? Facebook ad tools can make a world of difference in the amount of time, effort and money you spend on your ad campaigns. In this article you’ll discover five Facebook advertising tools that save you time and boost your return on […]
Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week Snapchat Launches Native Video Ads: Snapchat’s new native video ad product, 3V, is “built from the ground up […]
Bing has updated its Bing Ads platform making it more customizable for any user with access to your company’s account.
Before these updates, when a user logged on to the Bing Ads platform, they were forced to reset the columns they preferred to view during their visit. No matter the customizations that were done in a previous session, the Bing Ads platform would reset to a default.
Program Manager Sarah Johnson writes on the Bing Ads blog that this latest update from the company should help small business owners who manage their ad accounts save time, even a few seconds at a time.
“Have you found that a second here and a second there adds up pretty quickly? We’ve fixed that. Now, you can pick the columns you want, arrange them in the order you prefer and save it for the next time.”
If multiple users have access to your company’s Bing Ads account, each user will be able to customize the platform to their liking.
Another update to the platform works hand-in-hand with this. Rather than each user picking columns they’d like to view on Bing Ads during their visit from a single list — a rather long list, too — Bing has organized the columns into categories.
The categories are broken down into things like Attributes, Performance, Conversions and Call details, according to Johnson’s blog post.
Users have the ability to organize the column view using drag-and-drop functionality. Once the user finalizes a look he or she wants, saving it only requires a few clicks. A specific column view can be saved with a custom name and then opened for the user’s next visit.
Bing Ads users who may have been flustered with having to change these columns for every visit they make to the platform to manage a company campaign are likely to find some relief with these updates.
If you don’t see these changes right away, don’t stress. The company says the changes will be fully implemented in a few weeks. But some users may have access to these changes now.
Do you have a Facebook group for your community? Are you considering starting a Facebook group? To learn how to use a Facebook group to build a loyal community that helps your business, I interview Jared Easley. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media […]
The problem with just starting out on Pinterest is that you don’t have an audience.
It is possible to get thousands of Pinterest followers, but when you first start out – how do you put your blog posts in front of a large audience?
The answer is participating in group boards.
Many people who organize group boards want as many contributors as possible.
Why?
The more contributors a group board has, the more pins it gets.
Group board organizers want their group boards to constantly get updated with more pins so they rank better on Pinterest’s search engine and generate more engagement.
Many contributors will invite you to pin on their group boards regardless of how old or new your account is.
All you have to do is polish your Pinterest account to make it appealing.
Here are some tips for polishing up your account;
Write an enticing bio
Choose a good avatar
Have a few boards with at least 10 pins to start
Once you have your Pinterest account polished up, look for popular group boards in your niche with numerous contributors.
Then, ask the owner of the group board to invite you as a contributor.
Here are some ways you can ask a group board owner to invite you as a contributor:
Comment on one of the owner’s pins asking if you can become a contributor
Email the owner of the group board
Send a private message to the owner on Pinterest
There are plenty of group boards with over 10,000 followers that would all be great places for you to promote your blog posts.
Once you become a contributor for a popular group board, look at how other people pin so you know what is expected.
Then, send a pin of your blog post.
While it is okay to pin your own blog posts on someone else’s board, you don’t want to over promote yourself because the owner of the group won’t be happy.
As you would with any social network, promote other people’s content as well as your own.
#2: Optimize your images to get more re-pins
The image you put up on Pinterest has a big impact on how far your pin spreads.
The more optimized your image, the more re-pins it will get – spreading your reach.
Here are some facts from a Curalate infographic on optimizing your pins for more re-pins:
Images that are reddish-orange get roughly twice as many re-pins than images that are blue
Images with multiple dominant colors have 3.25 times more re-pins than single dominant color images
Images with medium lightness are re-pinned 20 times more than very dark images
Images that are 50% saturated have 10 times more re-pins than very desaturated images
Vertical images with an aspect ratio between 2:3 and 4:5 get 60% more re-pins than very tall images
Images with less than 10% background receive 2-4 times more re-pins than images with more than 40% background
Images with a smooth texture are re-pinned 17 times more than images with a rough texture
Brand images without faces receive 23% more re-pins than images with faces
Not only can you optimize your existing images, but you can also create your own images and optimize them in the process.
Out of all of the types of images that get put on Pinterest, cool infographics tend to get a massive amount of re-pins and likes.
You can create an infographic containing information from your one of your blog posts – or start from scratch.
The choice is yours.
#3: Include a call-to-action in the pin description
Want more people to go straight to your blog from your pin?
Tell them to click on the image.
By including a call-to-action you will increase the number of clicks your image gets, and as a result, send more people to your blog.
At the end of my pin descriptions, I include a short call-to-action that asks people to click on the image.
Including the call-to-action has led to an increase in clicks and comments from other users, and it barely takes up any space in my pin’s description.
All you have to do in your call-to-action is tell people to click on the image above and the benefit (for mine, the benefit is to learn how to can write 10,000 words every day).
#4: Schedule your pins with ViralWoot
One reason why businesses prefer to use Facebook and Twitter is because of the available tools – such as Hootsuite and SocialOomph.
Pinterest was a different story – until ViralWoot emerged.
ViralWoot makes it easy to schedule pins in advance and provides you with multiple options for more efficient scheduling, such as;
Free bookmarklet—go to any website and click on this bookmarklet. You get to choose which picture you put in the pin. When clicked on, the picture will lead people to the website you were on when you used the Pin Scheduler bookmarklet.
Upload files from your computer or Facebook – if have a unique image that you took and want to put it on Pinterest this feature makes it possible.
Google Image Search—this feature makes it easy for you to get images from Google and schedule them. You don’t have to upload a Google image to your computer and then upload the file to ViralWoot, it skips that step for you.
After you choose the image, you will come to the ViralWoot dashboard where you can schedule your pin.
The final step is to choose the date and time that the pin will be published and then click “Schedule Now.”
ViralWoot lets you schedule up to 100 pins for free every month, if you want more you’ll have to pay.
Scheduling pins at different times gives you the power to promote your blog posts on Pinterest even when you’re not at your computer.
As you build your audience on Pinterest, you should start to schedule 10-15 pins per day so you can reach your audience more often.
#5: Grow a targeted audience
Your audience is the most important determinant of whether Pinterest drives traffic to your blog or not.
If your audience appreciates your content, they will visit your boards and engage with your pins regularly.
All of this engagement will lead to more exposure for your blog.
The secret to building an engaged audience on Pinterest is to target people who are active in your niche.
There are two main ways to build a targeted audience on Pinterest;
Look for successful people and brands in your niche and follow their followers
Look for successful boards related to your niche and follow their followers
For example, I look for successful Pinterest accounts in digital marketing with a high number of followers but also a good amount of engagement for their pins.
For instance, I would follow some of Social Media Today’s followers – with over 80,000 followers and lots of engagement.
If I wanted to get more specific, I could look for their top boards about digital marketing and exclusively follow the people who follow those boards.
Following the followers of ideal accounts and boards is a key part of growing a targeted audience on Pinterest.
What do you think?
What tactics have you used to drive traffic to your blog from Pinterest?
What tactic is your favorite?
Please share your thoughts and advice in the comments below.
Author: “Marc Guberti is a teenager entrepreneur, digital marketing expert, and author. He is the co-founder of Teenager Entrepreneur a movement that educates and empowers teens worldwide with the knowledge they need to become successful entrepreneurs.
Webinars are a powerful marketing tool for keeping in touch with leads during the sales cycle and building your reputation as an industry thought leader.
Next to in-person events, webinars rank as the most effective B2B marketing tactic, according to HubSpot. Sixty-seven percent of B2B buyers seek out webinars prior to making a purchasing decision, making webinars more sought after than infographics, eBooks, videos and ROI calculators.
Planning and executing a successful webinar, however, can be easier said than done. Are you putting together a webinar for the first time or disappointed in past webinar performance? Get your webinar game back on track with tricks for avoiding common webinar mistakes.
Webinar Mistake No. 1: Spending Too Much Time Focused on Your Product or Service
Solution: Client needs come first.
While this tip sounds pretty obvious, it’s easy to overlook.
Like all forms of content marketing, webinars need to fit within a broader strategic marketing plan and play to your audience’s genuine needs and challenges rather than simply highlighting a business product or service your company offers.
Let’s say you’ve got a great app for a common industry need. Even it’s a truly revolutionary app, no one wants to hear solely about your app for 60 minutes.
Respect your audience’s time and give them information they truly need in your webinar, recommends Forbes.
In this case, a discussion about industry problems and different solution strategies is beneficial – and you can use this conversation to position your business as a solution provider with a soft mention of your app.
Webinar Mistake No. 2: Over-Promising and Under-Delivering
Solution: Stay in your wheelhouse or co-present with a strategic partner.
You can’t be all things to all people, nor should you try to be. Focus on your specific area of expertise and partner with complementary companies to offer expanded services that address additional client needs.
For example, let’s say your company provides strategic advice to startups on SEO and social media. Your startup clients could probably benefit from information on how to target investors, but if you’re not an investor yourself, you’re probably not in a position to provide qualified advice.
Partnering with an angel investor or venture capital firm for a webinar is a great option for delivering valuable information that’s outside your area of expertise.
Webinar Mistake No. 3: Choosing the Wrong Presentation Platform
Solution: Test out options in advance.
One of the very common webinar mistakes is a low-quality webinar platform. It’s just as bad as a poorly designed website, and it makes your business look unprofessional and hurts your brand reputation.
My go-to webinar provider is ClickWebinar. It’s fully integrated and compatible with Adobe, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Flickr. Plus, ClickWebinar offers a moderated Q&A chat for enhanced interaction with participants.
Another popular webinar platform includes WebinarsOnAir, which runs over Google Hangouts. Whichever webinar platform you choose to use, test it out in advance with a practice run. Be sure you’re familiar with the platform’s different features and confident in its capabilities.
Webinar Mistake No. 4: Participation Rates are Low
Solution: Incentivize sign-up with a special offer.
In addition to the great (free!) information you’ll be offering about a common industry problem, you can further incentivize participation by sweetening the deal with special offers.
Offer the first 100 participants who sign up access to a free eBook or supplemental materials, like the slide deck or on-demand webinar replays. Allow sufficient time to get the word out about your upcoming webinar via emails and social media.
Even if you can throw together a webinar in 48 hours, you should be marketing the webinar at least two weeks in advance.
Finally, be sure that your webinar sign-up form is not reducing participation. As Adobe President Ken Molay points out in his whitepaper on webinar best practices, lengthy input forms kill participation rates.
Webinar Mistake No. 5: Scheduling Your Webinar Too Early (or Late) in the Day
Solution: Avoid workflow interruptions with a midday webinar.
While it’s impossible to find a single time that works for everyone, midday is a generally a great option for boosting participation.
Selecting a consistent time is especially important if you’ll be hosting a series of webinars over the course of several months.
For example, if you have a monthly or bi-weekly “lunchtime chat” webinar, scheduling for the same time (e.g., 1pm EST) will make it part of your participant’s routine and boost participation by making the webinar a recurring appointment on their calendar.
HubSpot recommends scheduling webinars at 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. Eastern time for maximum bi-coastal attendance.
Webinar Mistake No. 6: Failing to Capitalize on Leads
Solution: Continue engaging after the webinar ends.
Webinars have many benefits, but the role of the webinar in your lead generation funnel does not end once the webinar is over.
Stay in touch with participants by sending follow-up materials, requesting feedback, and letting them know about upcoming webinars. Segment your webinar signup list into three separate groups: those who signed up (but did not attend), those who attended, and those who attended and participated in the Q&A.
Target your follow-up accordingly based on the needs of each group.
For example, did a participant ask a really detailed question that you were unable to fully answer within the scope of the webinar? In this case, you’ll want to follow-up with an email or call.
Did a lead express interest but fail to attend? Send a follow-up email offering access to the slide deck or webinar recording.
Summer is officially here and the daylight hours are getting longer. Most people think of long, sunny days as a chance to kick back and have fun.
But for local business owners, it can be an opportunity to make the most of the business day.
According to Google research, 25 percent of small businesses change their summer business hours, extending their hours and staying open longer. Yet only one percent of local businesses have adjusted their hours on their Google My Business accounts.
Updating your summer business hours online may not seem like a top priority, but according to Google 4 out of 5 people use search engines to find local business information such as location and store hours. Furthermore the company claims only 37 percent of local businesses have created listings on search engines.
Google has been putting forth a marked effort to bring more small businesses online successfully. The company has recently been encouraging local business owners to update their information on Google My Business. And Google Maps is now telling users if a business is closed.
Now, the company is taking things even further with the launch of a new site that will help businesses check how their hours are showing up on Google. But the site does more than that. It’s a hub providing local business owners with tools and resources to get their businesses online.
This is a part of what Google calls the “Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map” initiative. Google explains on the site:
“With our new initiative, Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map, we’re teaming up with local leaders to create a program for 30,000 U.S. cities–all with the singular focus of getting local business info online and on the map. Every city will have a website like this one that businesses can visit for help. They can see how they show up on Google and build a free website of their own (free for one year). We’re also equipping local partners with free trainings and customized city materials to run workshops in town.”
It seems more and more people are searching online for information on local businesses and with a smartphone in nearly every pocket, mobile searches are also a big factor.
Google’s initiative and newly launched site could be a valuable resource for small business owners to help them get online and stay relevant.
Looking for new ways to reach people on Facebook? Have you explored custom audiences? Facebook custom audiences provide many ways to increase your chance of getting your content in front of the right people. In this article I’ll share how to use Facebook custom audiences to increase visibility and reach. #1: Upsell Products and Services […]
Instagram, like Pinterest, is relatively new to the social media world, but it’s proven itself to be a great resource for marketers. Instagram even surpassed Twitter in the number of active users, despite the fact that Twitter is significantly older.
Considering Instagram is owned by Facebook, this probably won’t come as much as a surprise. Since it’s also owned by Facebook, Instagram is powerful not only on it’s own, but when used in conjunction with Facebook, too.
That being said, this post focuses solely how to market your brand on Instagram, which is a different entity than marketing purely on Facebook. For beginners and experts alike, these 7 tips to build and market your brand on Instagram can help your followers and momentum take off.
1. Make Good Use of the Hashtag
Olive Garden created the hashtag “BreadNation” to create hype and promote their food truck.
While hashtag usage hasn’t really taken off on Facebook (and note: hashtags should be used sparingly at the most on Facebook), it’s a major component of Instagram for both marketers and casual users.
Hashtags on Instagram, like on Twitter, can be not only catchy, but also crucial to helping your images be in front of potential followers interested in what you’re discussing. It’s a great way to jump in on a hot topic or connect with new members of your target audience. And just like on Twitter, a catchy or clever hashtag can draw attention fast.
Branding your business with its own unique hashtag takes this one step further, encouraging users to post their own images and generating conversations centered around your brand and putting it in the focus of their followers, too. It’s actually possible, when done well and with enough momentum, to build an entire community around a single unique hashtag. Talk about building a brand, that’s an efficient way to do it; slap a hashtag on it to tell your users what your brand is all about.
2. Be Part of Your Community
Even if your business is relatively new and doesn’t have a lot of extra funds to donate, small acts of giving back to your community can make a huge difference. Whether it’s time, money, or effort, showing that you’re part of your community and that you care about it is a great strategy to market your brand on Instagram.
An example of how valuable this is: I chose my hair salon because I saw how involved with the community they were (though I admittedly saw this on Facebook, since Instagram wasn’t around then). They raise money through used-purse actions for breast cancer, for example, and attend multiple city and community events. That mattered to me.
A lot of businesses take part in community events or raise money for charities, even if they are just a drop-off point for charities (like toys for tots or Thanksgiving food drives). Snap a picture of your involvement and post it to your Instagram; your followers will take notice.
3. Take Followers Behind the Scenes
Instagram is one of the more casual social media platforms, making it the perfect place to present behind the scenes pictures of what’s really going on in your business.
Lush Cosmetics takes followers behind the scenes, showing a team member researching new and better products.
Taking followers behind the scenes through your images can increase their trust in your brand, give them an idea about exactly what your brand is, and increase their overall loyalty to your brand. It helps followers feel like they know you, and that’s gold.
Add a truly personal touch to your marketing on Instagram, showing followers what really makes your brand you.
4. Be Unique
Easier said than done, right?
I once saw an Instagram account that launched a brand to success. In this instance, a jeweler marketed her business by taking pictures of her dogs wearing her jewelry (I wish I could find this particular account again, because it was both smart and adorable). Aside from the fact that the jewelry was beautiful, clever and unique marketing made her business stand out while building her brand. This is a great example of why being unique matters.
Panera has several images all in a row of adorable kids with their products. The images are all eye catching and unique, and they feature unique images instead of just their food.
Thirteen year olds with an iphone have mastered the ability to create and edit high quality photos (and are admittedly much better at it than I am personally); attractive, high quality photos aren’t all that you need anymore, because if that’s all you’ve got, it just won’t cut it. You need images that are also eye catching and unique to stand out.
Think a dog wearing jewelry and you’re off to a good start.
5. Follow Your Followers
Remember the above #PaneraDate? Panera featured an image a user shared with that hashtag on their own Instagram.
This is a really simple tip that doesn’t require a lot of explanation.
People like feeling like they matter, and they’ll pay attention to a brand that pays attention to them.
When someone follows you, follow them back if you have the ability to (some users are private, but it never hurts to request to follow them). That being said, avoid “hearting” their really personal pictures unless you have a very personal connection with them; heart their pictures if it makes sense given the context of your relationship with them.
Even if you don’t follow them directly, follow their actions as much as possible. If they use your brand’s hashtag, consider sharing it, either on Facebook or Instagram. Show that you appreciate the engagement, and respond to comments on your own images.
Follow your followers, even if you can only follow some of their actions. It will pay off when you’re beginning to build and market your brand on Instagram.
6. Link To Your Site Off-Instagram
Instagram is great for building your brand, but part of marketing your brand is getting them off Instagram and to your actual business, too. On your Instagram profile, you should have a link to your main site and/or your Facebook in your profile.
In the descriptions of each image, there’s plenty of room for a description, a hashtag, and a call to action that sends them off Instagram to a specific page. You can aim to send them to a product page, to your Facebook, to your main website, to a blog post, anything. If you have a call to action, you can encourage they visit another site.
Not every post has to have a call to action, but when applicable, you should take advantage of the chance to stick a call to action in your description to send users off Instagram and potentially even get some conversions in the process.
7. Don’t Spam Your Followers
Facebook has come up with advanced algorithms to make sure that only a small percentage of your posts reach your target audience. As frustrating as this can be for businesses and Page Admins trying to market this way, in some ways it’s good—it keeps our content, as marketers, from spamming users so much they stop following us entirely.
Instagram does not have these advanced algorithms in place (at least not yet; they also get pictures individually posted, as there are no albums. Keep this in mind, making sure to space out your pictures, and to not completely overwhelm your follower’s feeds, especially considering that Instagram’s feed tends to be slower than the feeds like Twitter’s and Facebook’s.
Final Thoughts
Instagram is a big force in the social media marketing world, and it offers the chance for your brand to be a lot more casual and “transparent” with users. It also gives you the opportunity to present users with great visuals and imagery that will help stay in the front of their memory, especially considering no pesky algorithms will filter your content out.
Instagram, perhaps more than even any other social media platform, should keep the focus on who your business is behind closed doors and what it represents, much more than being about what your product is.
Do you have an Instagram account for your business yet? What marketing strategies have you found useful? Have you seen increases on Facebook thanks to Instagram? Leave a comment and let us know!
Want to win a free membership in the Social Media Marketing Society? Social Media Examiner has launched an exclusive new membership community designed to keep marketers like you on the leading edge of social media. And we’ve come up with two fun ways for you to get involved. First, what is the Society? The Social Media Marketing […]
We can barely walk down the street without bumping into a stranger on their smartphone.
So if you want to engage with your customers, you have to get mobile with your thinking.
Mobile marketing spend is predicted to hit $65 billion by 2019 in the US alone.
Ok you get it, mobile is kind of important these days.
But what can you do about it?
Let’s look at 9 mobile marketing trends dominating 2015 that you can make the most of.
1. Video ads are gaining popularity
Advertising on mobile phones has already seen lots of changes and this trend will continue.
Video ads on mobile phones will become increasingly popular as the screen size and quality of the phones get bigger and better.
Plus video ads are more engaging than pure image and text based ads. They allow you to tell a compelling company story and build a stronger brand.
This means they can help you get more customers.
2. We are hijacking popular apps
When marketing a mobile app, the best way to get exposure is to advertise on other popular mobile apps.
These are called mobile app install ads and this trend has been very effective in the marketing of apps.
This trend is not confined to promoting apps, it is an opportunity for companies to get creative and tap into super-targeted user groups.
3. Tracking ROI is getting real
The app ecosystem is not very well connected.
What this means is it becomes difficult to track ads after an app gets installed by a user.
As we move forward in 2015 the data collection from such apps will become clearer and it will be possible to track the fate of ads.
4. Interactive mobile ads are the better way
User engagement and acquisition can be taken to a higher level if the ads are interactive.
When users are presented with ads that they can interact with, it feels refreshing.
They like this feeling of being in control and the experience engages them on a more personal level.
When compared to other forms of ads, interactive ads have been found to be more effective in driving sales and app installations.
This trend is likely to stay around for a while as it is being implemented by a number of big businesses.
5. In-app promotion is growing
In-app promotion is becoming more mature than ever.
This is because user acquisition is getting harder and finding your intended audience is daunting.
This trend will have more to do with deep linking in the apps and controlling how ads are served with the help of programs.
As a result ads will become more targeted to users and time and resources will be saved in the process.
6. Native ads continue to gain traction
Native advertising is a trend that lets the ads emulate the look and feel of the websites they are posted on.
They typically take the form of blogs, videos, and infographics.
The main aim of native ads is to entertain and enlighten the viewers without explicitly promoting a particular product or service.
These ads often talk about topics that are in some way related to the product or service the company is offering.
For instance, a native ad about a cosmetic product will talk about skin problems and their remedies. Such ads are often labeled as sponsored or paid content.
Watch out for more of this on your mobile device.
7. Behavioral data helps target ads
Using behavioral data of users helps target ads and increase conversions.
The behavior pattern of the users is analyzed on the basis of their website preferences, shopping habits and several other data inputs.
The aim is to create a pattern so that the information can be used to present ads that interest a particular user.
User engagement and acquisition typically spike when an ad is uniquely targeted.
8. Location matters
For local businesses such as online grocery portals, rental car services and cab services location based advertising is a must.
User preference, purchasing-power, and tastes differ as you change locations.
This means generic ads don’t deliver the same returns as localized ads.
It is easier to present location based ads on mobile because tracking down the location of the device is simple.
9. Not every channel suits your business
There are several ad channels and you must know which one is best suited for your business.
If you have multiple ad streams going on at once, you need to be deliberate in tracking which one will return the best user acquisition.
Understanding this trend will help make better investment decisions.
Wrapping it up
The one-size-fits-all approach will not work in the world of mobile marketing.
Use these trends to your advantage, by picking the ones that work for you.
Guest Author: The blog has been penned by Ashni Sharma (@ashniapps) , an application developer working with AppsChopper. Blog writing is one of her hobbies and she makes it a point to share her knowledge and insight on the latest technological innovations, on-going trends, programming skills and much more. Her experience and expertise is evident in her writing which has inspired many budding developers.
It’s barely the end of June and it’s time to head back to school? This is either madness – or extremely savvy marketing planning. The back-to-school shopping season is the second-highest spending period in the year, behind the winter holidays. In 2014 shoppers spent $74.9 billion on back-to-school.1 That’s the annual GDP for the country of Costa Rica! And shoppers in the U.S. spend this in one three-month period.
Since when do crayons, superhero lunchboxes and jeans cost so much?
Sixty-five percent of the spend is actually back-to-college.1 What are college students buying for school? Technology, clothing and technology. The average college student will spend more than $900 on back-to-school supplies – and the main reason they increased their budget over last year is because of needing more expensive items like laptops and tablets.1
But it’s only June! Do I really need to start planning my marketing for back-to-school already?
Two stunning facts to consider (and then you can go back to tossing a frisbee in the sun if you want):
Most shoppers (two-thirds) begin shopping for back-to-school at least three weeks before school starts.2
School start dates across the U.S. vary by as much as two months.
Which means that as of June, there are back-to-school shoppers on the hunt already.
Should I go with skywriting to catch my customers on the beach?
You could try that – but we recommend the more sensible and reliable method of paid search marketing. The groovy thing about paid search marketing (using Bing Ads or Google Adwords to show up when customers search for the things you offer) is that people will see it anywhere they are, since 57% of back-to-college shoppers will use their mobile phone to shop3 and more than 60% of moms will use smartphones – mainly to look for coupons.4 This means it’s important to have your paid search campaigns customized and opted in for mobile users.
What do I need to know about paid search marketing for back-to-school?
My marketing colleagues at Bing Ads have created some helpful materials that will get you started. In the meantime, focus on these key things:
1. Start your search campaigns early.
Get your ads up in late June and early July to capture shoppers who plan ahead.
2. Budget appropriately.
Make sure you’re bidding highest during search activity spikes, particularly after the 4th of July weekend.
3. Use product ads.
These are the ads that show a picture of the product you’re selling. This makes it easy for shoppers to see what you’ve got – and to click to your site.
4. Add your phone number.
Call Extensions for paid search ads make this easy – and even easier for your mobile users, who are likely looking for your number anyway.
5. Be easy to find.
Most mobile searches are local searches – your customers are looking for you, which means they want to come and give you their money. Use Location Extensions in your ads.
6. Offer deals.
Shoppers love deals – from free shipping to buy-one-get-one to free returns. Make it easy for them to love you.
So if I get my ads on Google I’m covered?
Almost. Google Adwords is a smart and necessary place to show up – but so is Bing Ads. ComScore recently announced that Bing has reached 20% of the search market share. When you fold in the audience that the Yahoo/Bing partnership yields, the search market share rises to 33%. That’s one in three searches in the U.S. The little engine that could is…the little engine that is. And apparently many searchers on Bing do not use Google – so if you’re only advertising on Google, you’re missing a lot of people. See how many below.
Number of exclusive searchers on Bing by vertical
Audience data represents Bing Web and Yahoo US Web Search from comScore qSearch (custom), US, March 2015. Industry categories based on comScore classifications.
I always did like the crisp air and spiced pumpkin lattes of fall.
That’s the spirit! With some thoughtful planning now, you’ll be ready to capture all the back-to-school shoppers you can handle.
1. National Retail Federation 2014 Back-to-School Study
2. National Retail Federation, Monthly Consumer Survey, July 2014
3. National Retail Federation, Infographic: Top 2014 back-to-school and college trends, August 2014
4. Punchtab survey, Back-To-School Shopping & Decision-Making Moms, July 2014
Are you getting the most out of your LinkedIn personal profile? Interested in ways to drive traffic to your website? LinkedIn offers many overlooked ways to optimize your profile, helping more people discover you and promote your business. In this article you’ll discover 11 tips you might not be using on your LinkedIn profile, but […]
So we need content and lots of it if we want to make a lasting impression on social media.
Where do we find it all?
A big time-sucker for most social media managers comes from finding relevant, interesting pieces of content to fill up their social media calendar.
Not everything you find is solid gold, and wading your way through the noise to find thought-provoking content is tough.
That’s why I put together 21 of the top places you can find or create content to share on your social networks.
Create your own content
Creating your own content will ensure that you always have something new to share with your followers.
Although it’s more time consuming, creating content from scratch gives you more control over the message.
From photo to video, here are the places that make crafting new content easy.
1. Company blog
A company blog is a solid place to turn for social media content.
You have complete control over the topic you choose to write about, and when you share a link with your followers you’re driving potential customers back to your own site instead of someone else’s.
If you don’t have a blog to source content from you should consider starting one.
Wistia is a video hosting and analytics platform that makes it easy to upload videos to share across your social networks.
One of the great things about Wistia is the new “Learning Hub,” which has a ton of fantastic resources that help you get started with your own video marketing.
Although Vine is owned by Twitter, you can still share your content from the site to other social networks. In fact, the platform just recently announced a new share screen that contains a handful of updates to their sharing functionality, like the ability to send Vines directly to Tumblr.
7. Text updates
You don’t always need to share photos, videos or links with your audience.
Sometimes regular text updates will yield better engagement.
One example of a brand with great text updates is Denny’s Diner. The brand often garners incredible engagement on posts that are strictly text.
BizSugar operates just like Inbound and GrowthHackers, except the main subject is small business news and tips.
So check this site out if your audience needs tips on small business.
User generated content
Word of mouth marketing is very important for brands. That’s why it’s always a great idea to source positive content from your current customers or followers.
Take advantage of these strategies to find great user generated content to share.
18. Surprise and delight
This is a phrase that we use at Sprout Social. We find one of our top social fans or product users and surprise them with a box of Sprout swag.
Almost 100% of the time these people will mention it on social, and then we re-share their post.
Guest Author: Michael Patterson is a digital marketing specialist at Sprout Social, a social media management platform for business. He enjoys writing about social media and how users can optimize their efforts for long-term success.
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