Tag Archive for: Digital Marketing

3 Tips for Facebook Video Success

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As most are aware, video is the best performing content type across all platforms. But each platform comes with its own set of unique strategies and tactics to succeed. On Facebook in particular, creators usually find that the community connects with you on a deeper level, through finding similar interests and passions. Engagement is generally higher and more meaningful than other channels. 

Recently, Facebook released three best practice tips when it comes to creating video content that will be the most successful on their platform. 

1. Include a 3-5 second trailer. 

Capturing users’ attention is one of the most crucial aspects of content. When it comes to video, the first 3-10 seconds of the video are extremely critical. You want to make these moments visually interesting because users will make a split second decision around what they want to engage with and spend the time watching. Including a 3-5 second trailer at the beginning of the video can help captivate and hold your audience. 

Facebook advises to take advantage of Creator Studio to see where your viewers are dropping off. To do this open up Video Details by clicking on your video in the Content Library of Creator Studio. Then check the Audience Retention curve and uncheck “only include views over 15 seconds” to see where people are dropping off in the first few seconds of your video. They also recommend to look at your retention curve often and work to improve it over time. This will ultimately help increase your reach on Facebook. 

2. Edit your videos with a 4:5 aspect ratio. 

It’s essential to optimize the video for whatever platform you’re sharing it on. Today, most people are watching video on mobile in vertical orientation, rather than turning their phone to landscape. This is why you want to frame your visual story and build for vertical format. Edit your videos using a 4:5 aspect ratio, as this seems to work best for videos on Facebook. 

3. Engage back with your community. 

Engaging with your viewers is just as important as creating the content itself. Joining in on the conversation in your comment section of your posts creates a good relationship with your audience and helps maximize your reach. Leaving long-form comments, like sharing special insights or answering questions can also help to spark even more engagement on your posts. 

Facebook also shared 5 things to keep in mind when creating videos: 

  • Engaging: You want to create videos that spark meaningful interactions and authentic shares. 
  • Original: You don’t want to create videos that are clickbait or shared from a third party.
  • Relevant: Capture people’s attention with things that are relevant to their interests. 
  • Consistent: Create videos that people will want to seek out and return to regularly. 
  • Retentive: You can drive longer views by creating high quality videos and are 3+ minutes long. 

Final Thoughts 

Facebook offers a unique combination of storytelling tools that makes it one of the best places to share things about your brand and grow your audience. That, combined with video content, makes Facebook one of the best places for social media marketing. Here we’ve discussed best practices for creating videos on Facebook, but there are a number of other factors that go into being successful when it comes to social media marketing. 

At Onimod Global, we’re experts in all areas of digital marketing. If you need additional assistance in the Facebook ad space, or any area of digital marketing, we can help. Learn more about who we are and what we do, and contact us here today. 

We also release the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. 

Your Guide to Instagram’s Newest Feature, Guides

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Back in May of this year Instagram had rolled out a new “Guides” feature to only a select few influencers. This week they have now made this available to all users, giving everyone a new way to share themed content on their Instagram profile. 

Here’s everything you need to know. 

What are Instagram Guides? 

At its release, Instagram explained they wanted to offer a way for users to “easily discover recommendations, tips and other content” from their favorite creators, public figures, organizations and publishers. They in turn launched Guides, which allowed creators to share more long-form content in a dedicated tab on their user profiles. Guides make it easier for users to follow a curated flow of posts with commentary – which makes it great for almost “blog-like” content that incorporates text and visuals. See below:

Image Source: Instagram

Where Can I Find Instagram Guides? 

To access an Instagram Guide, visit a creator’s profile and you’ll find an icon resembling a newspaper next to the standard posts icon. 

Image from: Later

Users will also be able to share Guides via Stories and Direct Messages, expanding their possible reach even further. Guides will also be available in users’ Explore tab. 

How Do I Create a Guide? 

To create a Guide on your Instagram profile:

    • Head to your Instagram profile and tap on the ‘+’ icon at the top left of screen
    • From the ‘Create’ menu, select ‘Guide’
    • You then select which type of Guide you want to create – ‘Places’, ‘Products’ or ‘Posts’
    • From there, you select the posts you want to add to your Guide (either yours or content from other users) and put them into your collection
    • You can then add a title and description, and change the cover image if you wish

Additional Updates 

Instagram announced another new update that will be very valuable for brands. Before, users were only able to search names, usernames, hashtags and locations. With today’s changes, users will now be able to search keywords to find content relevant to their interests, mirroring a standard search engine. 

Instagram says their ultimate goal is to allow users to continuously browse without having to leave the app. 

Final Thoughts 

This feature can be easily utilized for brands across all industries. If you already create a blog for your website, you can easily re-curate that content and optimize it for Instagram Guides. Not only will this expand your reach, but it will also increase your content engagement due to the face that users no longer have to leave the app to read your blog. Instagram Guides bring a whole new way to curate and consume content, which opens up huge opportunities for e-commerce, story-telling, educating and just creating brand awareness in general. 

More from Onimod Global 

We’re experts in everything from social media marketing and content creation, to SEM and SEO. If you need assistance in any area of digital marketing, we’re here for you. 

Learn more about who we are and what we do, and contact us here today. 

We also release the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here.

Influencer Marketing Tips: Finding the Right Influencers for Your Brand

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Influencer marketing allows brands to easily break into the consumers’ circle of trust in a way that feels more organic and welcomed. It’s relevant, reliable and relatable, making it an extremely effective marketing tool for brands. 

Are you looking into influencer marketing but not sure where to start? Here are our top tips to help guide your search and create a successful campaign. 

1. Know the type of influencer campaign you’re going to run. 

As you begin mapping out your marketing plan, identifying the specific type of influencer campaign you want to run is crucial. This will in turn help you connect with the best influencer and help you reach your campaign goals. Different types of influencer campaigns include: 

  • Gifting. This entails giving the influencer free products in exchange for shoutouts, mentions, posts, etc.
  • Guest posting. The influencer would get to create a post for you that you would then be shared directly on your page.   
  • Sponsored content. You would pay the influencer to share your content or create content that is somehow tied to your brand. 
  • Contests/Giveaways. Using contests as an incentive to get influencers to mention your product, brand or share your content. 
  • Takeover. You would be allowing the influencer to completely take over your social media page for a set amount of time. 
  • Affiliates. Share affiliate codes with influencers so they can earn money each time a user comes through their funnel and purchases from your brand.
  • Discount codes. Allowing influencers to give discount codes for your offerings to their own followers. 
  • Brand ambassadors. Partnering with an influencer who would then regularly promote your brand in exchange for discounts, deals and additional perks from you. 

2. Research influencers relevant to your niche. 

A great place to start finding influencers is by looking at famous, well-known or respected figures in your industry. This will not only increase the reach of your message and build more brand awareness, but drastically enhance your authority within the industry as well. While this can be difficult for smaller brands, it’s not impossible. You just have to prove why you stand out from others in your industry and get in contact with the proper people. 

To support this strategy, set up Google alerts for industry terms to see who is regularly writing content about important topics in your industry. You can also try browsing forums to see who might be regularly answering questions related to your industry. 

3. Research competitors’ influencers. 

It’s not uncommon for influencers to work with two competing brands, as long as both brands agree to it. So, to find influencers that are likely to work with your brand, look for those who are already working with brands like yours. Another benefit of this is that since they already create content or write about others in your industry, you won’t have to do much educating on your niche. 

Finding these influencers should be fairly easy. You can browse industry-related hashtags on different social platforms to see who is already sharing content and engaging with competitors. You can also look through competitors’ pages to see if there are any influencers working with them that look like they would be a good fit for you as well. 

4. Find influencers that already share your audience. 

It’s not necessary for an influencer to be directly tied to your industry to be effective. Influencers who share your audience can provide just as much value. Actually, working with influencers in an industry that overlaps or is complimentary to your own can help you extend your reach even further. It also connects you to your audience in a space that isn’t already saturated with messages from your competitors. 

To find these influencers start by doing a target audience analysis. This will help you to fully understand your ideal audience, their needs, interests and other sites they frequent. This can help you to then identify other non-industry-related influencers that your audience already follows. 

5. Audit potential influencers’ following, reach and engagement metrics. 

Once you’ve identified a few different influencers you’re considering, start evaluating their authority. Or in other words, determine if they have a large enough reach to help you accomplish your campaign goals. An influencer analysis consists of looking at factors such as: 

  • Number of followers 
  • Engagement rate of their followers 
  • Type of regular content 
  • Quality of content 
  • The depth of niche coverage 

Final Thoughts 

A strategically planned influencer marketing campaign that leverages the influencers most relevant to your goals, audience and niche can lead to big results for your campaign and brand as a whole. 

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.

10 Ways to Audit Your Website to Increase Your Search Rankings

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When it comes to SEO, consistent tracking, testing and measuring is crucial to verify your strategies are effective. This includes auditing your website to ensure there are no errors holding you back. 

Here is a checklist of 10 things to audit on your website that can help increase your search engine rankings. 

1. Make sure your pages can be indexed. 

The most crucial aspect of SEO is making sure your pages can be found. You never want to block important pages by mistake. To ensure all your pages are available to be found you should: 

  • Check your index status on Google. Use the index status report in your Google Search Console to see the number of pages Google has crawled from your domain. You want to see that the page count has continued to increase over time. 
  • Check your robot.txt file. Do this by adding /robot.txt to the end of your domain to ensure there are no pages that are “disallowed.” 
  • Review site and URL errors. This is something you can also do through your Google Search Console. Locate the site and URL errors report and see if there are any problems. 
  • Search your website. Simply do a Google search for site:yourdomain.com and you can retrieve a list of indexed pages. 

2. Secure your website. 

In  a recent update, Google announced that it favors websites encrypted with HTTPS. So if you haven’t already, now is the time to make the switch. HTTPS provides encrypted communication with a web server. You can secure your website with HTTPS using SSL.  

3. Check your meta data. 

When pages are crawled by search engines, Noldex meta tags can occasionally be inserted. As a result, this will block Google. Check the source of a page for the code <meta name = “robots” content =”noindex”> and make sure this does not exist on your pages. 

4. Check your link profile. 

A large part of SEO success depends on earning links from trusted domains. You can conduct a complete backlink audit through Google Search Console, Ahrefs or SEMrush to track your backlinks and monitor your progress over time. 

5. Optimize page load times. 

Every digital marketer is aware that search engines favor faster sites. Not only that, but a slow site increases the likeliness of visitors bailing early. You want to aim your page log time in 3 seconds or less. Here are some tips for optimizing site speed: 

  • Use speed testing tools. 
  • Evaluate WordPress plugins. 
  • Reduce image file size for optimum performance. 
  • Remove any redirect chains. 
  • Speed up your Javascript. 

6. Eliminate any duplicate content. 

Duplicate content dilutes the authority of the primary URL and threatens the capability of your search rankings. Be sure to use canonical link tags to combat things. This lets Google know which is the primary URL to pages containing duplicate or similar content. 

7. Remove low valued pages. 

You want to ensure pages that are indexed by Google contain rich, original content and relevant keywords. You can accomplish this by de-indexing low valued pages. You obviously need campaign-specific landing pages, but if they’re not robust pages, they only harm your search rankings. Remove them from the index and redirect these pages to content-rich URLs by using a 301 redirect. 

8. Generate useful links. 

A well-planned internal link structure brings a number of benefits to your overall search rankings. Here are some additional tips for optimizing your site’s link structure for SEO. Also be sure to use descriptive anchor text, making links that feature the same keywords as the page they link to.  

9. Optimize for mobile. 

Google has been favoring mobile-first site designs for a while now, meaning it’s critical to appear in mobile searches. A few ways to ensure your site is optimized for mobile is by: 

  • Using responsive design. You can update your site to feature responsive design that creates an optimum experience regardless of screen size. 
  • Using Google’s testing tool. The Google Search Console offers a mobility usability report that identifies problematic pages and gives you a score for mobile friendliness. 

10. Master the basics. 

Continue to implement the fundamental SEO tactics, such as: 

  • Using unique title tags. Be sure to write unique title tags that include a keyword phrase to accurately describe the topic of your pages. 
  • Implementing relevant keywords. Always include keywords you’ve selected in your headings, subheadings, body copy and URL appropriately. 
  • Creating meta descriptions. Lastly, indexed pages should always include a meta description that features keywords to encourage readers to click through. 

More from Onimod Global 

Struggling with your SEO or any area of digital marketing? Contact the experts. We specialize in SEO and helping our clients dominate organic search and map results. Learn more about us and contact us today!

4 Ways to Use LinkedIn Stories to Promote Your Brand

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LinkedIn has recently rolled out their own stories feature, following Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. For many, Stories are now preferred over standard feed posts when it comes to consuming content, meaning LinkedIn Stories may be a great new way to reach your audience, especially for B2B companies. 

For marketers looking to utilize this new feature to promote your brand, here are 4 of the best ways to do so. 

1. Share Professional Tips 

Majority of LinkedIn users use the platform in a professional manner. Looking for networking connections, industry news, trends, ect. The goal of LinkedIn Stories is to build a strong and professional network for your brand. Sharing professional tips is one of the most effective ways to do this. 

For a product-based company, you can share product development, show how to use your products, answer questions, etc. If you have a new product, making your audience feel like they’re a part of the process, creating a connection and making it more likely they’ll purchase the product when it’s released. 

For a service-based company, you can show how you solve your audiences’ pain points. An innovative way to do this is my holding an “Ask Me Anything” session on LinkedIn Stories. Users can send in their questions about your services. It’s easy to answer in real time and you can describe your services in greater detail than if it were a standard social media interaction. This is a great way to build a relationship with your audience members and demonstrate your expertise.

2. Highlight Achievements 

It’s encouraged to share awards and accolades on LinkedIn, this can be both personal or company-wide. For example, if a member of your staff gets a promotion, wins an award or gets an article published, you can share that information on your company LinkedIn story. Similarly if your company wins an award, won a high-profile partnership, released a new product/service, etc. you can share that as well. Be sure to include a call-to-action to learn more either online or offline so your audience can view your wins. 

3. Go Behind the Scenes 

Everyone loves to feel like they’re getting a special peek at something, no matter what it is. This also allows you to show off a more casual side of yourself and your company. You can show your or other team member’s work environment or team members interacting, create a “day-in-the-life” series, share different tools or apps you use to boost productivity, ect. This is just an additional way to allow your audience to feel more connected with you, creating a better relationship and ultimately, solidifying loyalty. 

4. Share Customer Testimonials and Stories

When it comes down to it, people trust people over brands. And today, online reviews have a great impact on potential customers. If you receive a great customer review, take advantage of it and share it on other platforms. If it mentions a specific team member you can also use it to give them a shoutout of praise on LinkedIn that they could potentially share on their personal profile. Even better, if a customer is willing, they can tell a personal story of how your product, service or company in general helped them. This can ultimately help make your brand feel more relatable. 

Final Thoughts 

LinkedIn Stories really just presents a new way to reach your audience. Most social media users are looking for quick information and in a less formalized form. Because this feature is still fairly new, this is a great opportunity to jump ahead of your competition and get out in front of your target audience before them. 

More from Onimod Global

If you need assistance with social media marketing, we can help. We’re experts in everything from SEO and SEM to social media marketing and website development.   To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here. To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here.  

7 Social Media Graphic Design Tips

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No matter what you’re sharing on social media, it always performs best when paired with striking visuals. So here are some social media design tip best practices to help your content stand out amongst the crowd. 

1. Determine Your Goal 

Usually, the main goal when using social media is to grab user’s attention and get them to engage in some way. No piece of content will ever cater to all social media users, so the most important factor is figuring out what works for your audience. Here are some questions to get you started when determining the goal of your social media graphic: 

  • Who is my target audience? 
  • Which platforms are they using the most?
  • Which devices are they on most frequently? 
  • What is the message I want to spread?
  • What emotion am I trying to invoke? 
  • What action do I want my audience to take after seeing this graphic? 

2. Be Consistent 

You want to maintain consistency across all design elements and branded materials so that your target audience can clearly recognize who it’s coming from. Whatever graphics you create and share should essentially be an extension of the same brand they see on your website. Be sure to incorporate your brand’s colors and fonts into your designs and avoid anything content that doesn’t accurately reflect your brand. 

3. Tell Your Message Visually 

Majority of people scroll through social media slightly distracted and only for a few minutes at a time. Try to use visuals with minimal text to capture attention and get your message across as quickly as possible. Statistics have shown that people can recall information about 55% more efficiently when it’s paired with a relevant graphic. That’s why you want to choose visuals that evoke a specific emotion you want your audience to feel. Possibly a visual representation of a pain point you know your target audience is experiencing, or that pain point being solved or relieved. 

4. Avoid Color Discord 

Make sure you’re choosing colors that complement each other, avoiding color discord. Combine contrasting colors to make your graphic a scroll-stopper. The most eye-catching color combinations are those that oppose each other on the color wheel. You also want to avoid using colors that might clash with your own branding, as well as the branding of the social platform you’re using. For example, Facebook’s signature blue. When you’re already competing for attention with the color schemes of other ads, you don’t want to compete with the colors of the site itself. 

5. Establish a Visual Hierarchy 

It’s important to establish some sort of visual hierarchy throughout your design. A visual hierarchy is the use of size and color to emphasize one item over another to draw the viewer’s eye to a certain item above others. Basically, you want to give visual clues to what’s most important in the graphic. Emphasize your message by focusing on the most significant phrases. The title text should have the largest font size, then subtitles, body copy and so on. You should also highlight any sort of CTA that might be included as well. 

6. Be Sure to Use Correct Sizing 

Every social platform requires images with different sizes, specifications and image types. When creating your design you need to identify which platform(s) you’ll be sharing it on. You will most likely have to resize the graphic to fit the specific dimensions of every platform you’re planning on sharing it. This can seem like a tedious task, but this is important for optimization and to ensure important elements of your graphic aren’t cropped or distorted. 

7. Keep it Simple 

Because social gives designers a much smaller canvas to work with, overcrowding can happen fast. You want to avoid overcrowding because it hinders user experience and can make it difficult to get your message across. You can avoid this by: 

  • Using large illustrations 
  • Limiting typeface to 2 fonts 
  • Sticking with 2-3 colors 
  • Utilizing white space to contrast the main bold, colorful element 

More from Onimod Global 

Needing assistance with graphic design, branding or social media? We offer high-end design and branding for your business.

Visual identity and marketing materials are our specialty. Bring an in-house graphic design team to your business with Onimod Global. Learn more about who we are or contact us to bring your digital marketing strategy to the next level today. 

6 SEO Techniques to Enhance Your Search Traffic for 2021

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As marketers, we’re always looking for new ways to improve and enhance our strategies, especially when it comes to SEO.  

Here are 6 link building SEO techniques that will not only increase the amount of traffic you drive to your website, but the quality as well. 

1. Create and maintain a strong blog strategy. 

It’s not enough to have created a blog calendar if you’re not sticking with it. It’s essential to consistently post blogs that are valuable and relevant among your audience members. Your goal is to get people to want to link back to your blog content. This is one of the best ways to organically generate inbound links. Ultimately improving your search rankings and generating more traffic back to your website. 

2. Utilize infographics. 

People love consuming and sharing visual content. An easy way to get topics for infographics is from your already created blog posts. There are also plenty of online tools that can make graphic creation easy, such as Canva. The goal is to create infographics with valuable information and data that people will share and link back to you as the original source. 

3. Link back to other blogs on your blog. 

A blog is ultimately a social tool. The more you link to others, especially when you do it in a consistent, opportunity-driven way, the greater the likelihood of one of the other bloggers will return the favor. 

4. Write guest blog posts.

Similar to linking to other blogs, you can shop your best performing blogs around to others it would be a good fit for. If you find a taker, it’s just another opportunity for another inbound link back to your site. 

5. Curate and publish helpful resource lists. 

Resource lists are great link bait and increase your chances of getting a featured snippet on Google. Creating a comprehensive resource list makes it easy for other sites to link back to in their own content. Both which are great for your rankings and traffic. 

6. Consistent brand monitoring. 

Consistently perform searches for your name to see if there are any mentions floating around that you’re unaware of. If you find some in a place you want to be, contact the owner of the site to see if you can turn that into an inbound link. And if you find one that might be negative and unwarranted, get that removed, so it doesn’t harm your reputation or SEO. 

Final Thoughts 

At Onimod Global we understand how vital SEO can be. Search engine optimization is our core attribute and a pillar of our strategy. We develop  organic search engine optimization campaigns that deliver increases in organic traffic through an increase in natural rankings on major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. We are a trusted Google Partner and continually excel with their products. If you need assistance with SEO, or in any area of digital marketing, contact us today. 

The Best Times to Post on Social Media for Your Business

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As a business, the goal of posting on social media is to generate brand awareness, engagement and drive more traffic to your website. To optimize your social media marketing strategy, the times you post on social media does matter. A well-timed post can lead to greater reach, more likes, comments, shares, etc. It is important to note that optimal times do vary based on industry and user trends. But in general, there are times of the day users are more engaged than others. We’ve put together a guide for the best times to post on each social media platform, making it easier to find your sweet spot for optimal performance in your specific industry. 

Facebook: 

Reaching people on Facebook isn’t as easy as it once was. Organic traffic has been on the decline over the last few years due to it becoming mostly a pay per click platform. That doesn’t mean it should be ignored, however, as there is still massive opportunity. 

During the week, the best time to post on your business page is between 1pm and 4pm. This is likely because it’s the time of day when users have some downtime at work are browning their desktop or scrolling through their phone screens. 

The best days of the week to post on Facebook are Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Weekends in general show the highest levels of engagement. And Sunday at 3pm is the single best time to post on Facebook. 

Twitter:

With Twitter, timing is everything. The lifespan of a tweet is only 18 minutes so you only have a short period of time to make sure you’re reaching the right people. 

The best time to tweet has shown to be between 12 and 1 pm. Workdays seem to drive the highest engagement, with Wednesday being the single best day. Tweeting during lunch every week day can help increase your general social media engagement. Additionally, the weekends have shown to be the worst days of the week to tweet, driving the lowest engagement. 

Instagram: 

Instagram has recently changed its algorithm for how the platform ranks posts on users’ feeds. In general, it has made driving traffic and engagement difficult for pages with small follower numbers. It favors “recency,” but does not use chronological order. It shows users posts they believe they will be more likely to engage with. This makes it even more important to post during the time your followers are most engaged. 

If you’re marketing or selling products, the best time to post on Instagram is 11am to 1pm during the week or evenings from 7pm to 9pm. Because Instagram is favored on mobile, most users tend to avoid it during the work day. When it comes to days, the best performing are Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with Wednesdays driving the highest levels of engagement. But the single best time to post on Instagram has shown to be Saturdays at 5 pm. Overall, Sundays are the worst days to post. 

LinkedIn: 

LinkedIn’s algorithm is very different from all other social media platforms. Oftentimes, it will show posts from weeks ago. This makes it even more important to create compelling content that will stand out amongst the crowd. 

Considering most LinkedIn users are business professionals, the best times to post are between 10am and 11am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Weekends and after office hours tend to be the worst times to post. 

Final Thoughts

It’s important to note that this is all a general guide. To be successful on social you really need to know your own audience. Consider their age, their location, their challenges, pain points, etc. It’s also essential to continue to test and optimize. You never want to get complacent because things are constantly changing, especially when it comes to social media. 

If you need assistance with social media marketing, we can help. We’re experts in everything from SEO and SEM to social media marketing and website development.   To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here. To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here.  

 

8 Do’s and Don’ts for Email Marketing Campaign Success

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Email marketing is one of the best ways to remain top-of-mind with your audience. According to Campaign Monitor, email is capable of driving a 4400% ROI and $44 for every $1 spent. The opportunity email presents is endless, but creating a successful strategy right off the bat isn’t so simple. While no one expects their campaigns to fail, the truth of the matter is it’s not as easy as just sending an email out to a massive email list. There are specific steps to take in order to reach success. With that in mind, here are 8 do’s and don’ts to keep in mind when creating your email marketing campaign. 

Do: 

Put together a targeted email list 

No matter how great your email is, if it’s not reaching the right people, you won’t be generating any leads. Which is why it’s essential to take the time to create a well-thought-out email list. It’s best to choose those who have already interacted with you in some way. It’s much more effective to send emails to a smaller group of people that are actually interested in your business, rather than a large group of users who likely have no need for what you’re offering. The best way to go about building this list is by asking users to subscribe when they land on your website. There are many ways to go about this. The most effective ways are either using a subscribe button throughout your site or with an exit-intent popup that will give them the option prior to leaving a webpage.

Use an eye-catching subject line 

One of the most essential components of a successful email is the subject line. Without an engaging subject line, users won’t be compelled to open the email. Here are some tips for creating a solid subject line: 

  • Keep it short and sweet. Studies have shown that the best performing subject lines are 40-50 characters long, so be sure to use your characters and spaces wisely. 
  • Make the point clear. You don’t want to be vague or misleading, this can result in getting flagged as spam, which completely defeats the purpose of sending emails in the first place. Tell your readers what to expect when they open your message. 
  • Personalize them. Adding a reader’s name to the subject line can help draw in their attention and increase engagement. 

Make the body of your email short and sweet 

The same goes for the body of your email. Nobody wants or is going to read a multi-paragraph long email. Your email copy should be just long enough to get your complete message across. Here are some additional tips for writing an email body that will keep your reader’s attention and lead them to convert: 

  • Include a strong lead. 
  • Don’t come on too strong, make your reader comfortable. 
  • Personalization is key. 
  • Find additional ways to make readers engage such as including surveys, polls, videos, images, etc. 

A/B test 

A/B testing is essential for any marketing tactic. This is when you create two or more versions of a digital marketing asset, change one variable and test them against each other to see which performs best. Try out different subject lines, messaging, fonts, colors, images, CTA’s, etc. 

Don’t: 

Purchase an email list 

This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in an email marketing campaign. This can seem like a quick and easy way to grow your list and prospects, but in the end, it’s usually just a waste of money. Generally, people don’t appreciate getting unsolicited emails from companies. These users are much less likely to open or engage with your emails since they’ve had no prior connection with your business. This can lower the reputation of your company and decreases your chances of connecting with qualified buyers. 

Use a one-size-fits-all approach 

Everyone is different, you don’t want to use the same type of messaging for everyone. Which is why you should always segment your lists into different groups of people. At minimum, you should have two: those that are existing customers and those that are not. You can get as detailed with your lists as you want, such as a list for those that have subscribed to you but have never purchased, those that have subscribed but haven’t made a purchase in a few months, etc. The most important part is that you change up the messaging in your emails to cater towards the segment you’re sending it to. 

Bombard your recipients 

While following up on your initial email is important, sending out constant emails only turns off your recipients and will result in them unsubscribing or flagging your messages as spam. Experts usually suggest to wait at least three days to follow up from an initial email to send a follow up. Following the second email, you should wait around three weeks before sending another unless your reader answers with specific questions, in which case, respond immediately.

Leave your email address unbranded, generic or anonymous

With people getting hundreds of emails a day, you don’t want to let yours get lost in the spam folder. People like to know there’s a real person behind an email they’re engaging with. Avoid making use of email addresses like marketing@yourcompanyhere or customerservice@yourcompanyhere. These look fishy, and email filters are increasingly registering them as spam. Using your company name or your actual name shows your recipients your legitimate and personable. 

More from Onimod Global

If you’re needing assistance with your email marketing strategy, or in any area of digital marketing, Onimod Global can help. As experts in SEM, SEO, webdev, email marketing, social media and more, we’re sure to help find the solutions your company needs.  To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here. To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. 

Why Live Video Should Be a Part of Your Digital Marketing Strategy

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Finding new tactics to add into your marketing mix can be tough. It can be even harder to stand out  when it seems like all companies are using the same tools and strategies.  

One of the best ways to differentiate yourself from the competition is by using newer platforms that not everyone has transitioned to yet. While live video is now used by many big brands, it hasn’t made its way to everyone yet, especially small businesses. 

Videos in general generate the most traffic and engagement of all types of content. Live video content quickly gained traction and data showed that people were spending 3x longer watching live video compared to pre-recorded content. 

If you haven’t already added live video into your marketing mix, it’s the perfect way to start stepping up your social game. 

Why You Should Start Going Live  

1. Increased Engagement 

A Vimeo study found that 80% of consumers would rather watch a livestream about a product than read content marketing posts. Not only do more people prefer live video, but it also adds two elements that pre-recorded videos don’t have: FOMO and real time audience interaction. People hate feeling like they’re missing out on something. It’s even better when they can get their comments and questions read in real time and hear the person respond. It makes users feel more included, increasing engagement significantly. 

2. More Qualified Leads 

Not only do more people engage on live video, they also convert more. The same Vimeo study found that 67% of the livestream audience made a purchase following the session. That is a huge conversion rate in comparison to other content traffic. 

3. Better Authenticity 

With a live video there’s no cuts or retakes. It shows people’s and brand’s most authentic selves, which resonates best with consumers today. This builds more trust and long-term relationships among you and your audience. 

Where to Go Live

1. Instagram

Instagram holds to be one of the best places to go live. There are over 100 million daily users, it’s simple to navigate and it notifies your followers when you go live. Lives can last up to an hour and you can save them on your story for people to view later. 

2. Facebook 

Facebook is also one of the most popular platforms to go live on. Facebook Live is good for face-to-camera videos, as well as live-action shots from events. Broadcasts can last up 

to four hours and in addition to the usual video analytics, you’ll also be able to see the number of live viewers, people reached, reactions, comments and shares. It also notifies your audience when the stream begins and at the end of the broadcast, the video is added to your profile or Facebook page. 

3. TikTok

This is one of the newest platforms, but the fastest growing, with over 800 million active users. If you have a younger audience, this is the perfect place to go live. Live video streaming allows TikTokers to connect with their followers in real-time using comments. It can also help you monetize your account if your live stream audience sends you virtual “gifts.”  The best part about live videos is that you can cover a lot of content through them since TikTok hasn’t yet restricted their duration.

What to Share on Live 

1. Behind the Scenes

No matter the product, service, industry, etc. consumers love seeing how things are created. Live videos give consumers the opportunity to get sneak peeks of how their favorite things come to life, which can help solidifying sales and loyalty. 

2. Q&A’s 

Question-and-answer formats are great for driving high levels of traffic and engagement. If you invite high-profile guests onto your live streaming shows, you can receive lots of interaction from fans. People love getting special insights and tips from influencer and industry leaders. 

3. Events 

Like we said before, people love to feel included. Live streaming events can let people that couldn’t attend in person, feel like they’re still a part of it. This can also create a lot of excitement around the event as well. 

4. Announcements and Promotions

Live video really helps people feel like there is a VIP experience as they got to see something live on video before it hits the “shelves.” Consider teasing whatever new thing is happening in your business as a live stream using exclusive words to describe the sessions ahead of time to drive traffic. Create excitement around call-to-action like asking for feedback or sending a limited amount of product for people to test out. By doing so you create an eager group of people ready to buy new stuff you teased out to them.

More from Onimod Global

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.