Tag Archive for: Social Marketing

Twitter Marketing: Is it Right for Your Brand?

/in , /by

Twitter has proven to be an incredibly powerful marketing tool for certain brands. It can be a great platform to increase awareness, engage with customers, and grow your business, but it isn’t right for everyone. Each social network is unique in its targeting, reach, and overall marketing abilities. When making the decision whether or not a specific platform is right for your business, an analysis of both yourself and the platform needs to be done.

What to consider before marketing your business on Twitter: 

Are you B2C or B2B? 

This is one of the most important factors that should go into developing a social media marketing strategy. In general, those searching on social media are at the very top of the sales funnel, but there are exceptions. Twitter is usually best for B2C companies, but it can work for B2B companies with the appropriate tactics. It’s becoming a central discovery hub for consumers, making it a great platform for displaying expertise, products, and creativity. News, retail, e-commerce, fashion, finance, travel, hospitality, sports, health and wellness are some of the top performing industries on Twitter. 

Who is your audience? 

This is the number one thing that should be considered before deciding to join any social media platform. If your ideal audience is millennials, Twitter is a strong choice, as 40% use it. As age increases, the percentage of use decreases. 27% of 30 – 49 year olds are users and 21% of 50 – 64 year olds are users. That doesn’t necessarily mean Twitter is a bad platform for reaching an older audience. It just means your actual strategy on Twitter would be different. It’s also important to note that 42% of users access the site daily. 

What is your brand’s persona? 

Establishing a well-defined brand voice is essential for Twitter strategy. Brand voice should be original, convey a message, reflect core values, and resonate with your audience in a personal way. Companies that convey their Twitter account in a lighthearted way generally have a leg up than those that keep it serious. Twitter users are most encouraging, engaging, and creative of all other social networks. Content that’s fun, snarky, and relaxed will always perform better on this platform. This also goes into deciding whom will be doing the tweeting for your company. It is possible to have more than one person running the account, but it’s essential to make sure they’re all in sync. 

What is your overall social media goal? 

If you only want to use Twitter to gain followers, promote yourself, and don’t care about what others have to say, it’s probably not the platform for you. This isn’t an account you can just put on autopilot. Regular engagement and interaction is vital for Twitter success. Scheduling tweets and never checking back is a huge missed opportunity. To maximize reach and keep your audience engaged it’s essential to check activity often, retweet relevant content, and jump in on trending conversations. Twitter is best for building relationships with customers, as it’s one of the most personable social platforms. Many companies utilize it for customer service inquiries, as it’s the best means of contact for many reasons. There are no hold times, it’s more informal, it’s public, and it’s in real time. Companies have the opportunity to respond to complaints immediately, which means problems can be solved that much faster. Since other users can see this happen as well, it showcases excellent customer service and may even save you from repeating them in the future. 

Final Thoughts 

Twitter can be a great platform for marketing and presents unique opportunities for both companies and customers, though it’s not for everyone. It’s simple to use, but takes frequent attention. Finally, it’s important to note that Twitter, just as all social media, is not an ultimate marketing solution. It should be used as a tactic, working in conjunction with other tools to support your overall marketing strategy. 

How We Can Help 

At Onimod Global we are experts in social media marketing. We know which platforms are best for brands, and create visibility for brands where customers are searching, interacting, and ultimately converting. Find out more about we do here, or contact us today here.

The Top Tips and Benefits of Content Marketing

/in , /by

The use of content marketing has grown exponentially in recent years. While the vast amount of content on the internet can be a positive, it’s also left the market extremely saturated. This means that the use of content is much less effective than it was in the past, which is not a positive. This doesn’t mean it should be abandoned, there are still many benefits to content marketing. It just means the content used needs to be valuable, relevant, and correctly leveraged. 

What is Content Marketing 

Content marketing is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on creating and sharing valuable or relevant information on a consistent basis for the ideal buyer persona. The goal is to build relationships with customers, drive organic traffic, increase conversion rates, and ultimately capture more sales. It’s important to know that content marketing is not promotional content. The modern consumer is hyper aware of sales pitches or anything in-genuine. Consumers prefer being educated and informed about products and companies, and are much more likely to believe other consumers over a company. 

Content Marketing Benefits:

Higher rankings

One of the number one things you can do to increase your search engine rankings is add more content to your site. Search engines, Google especially, likes to provide users with results that deliver exactly what they’re searching for. Consistently adding relevant, keyword rich content in the form of blogs or landing pages is the best way to provide that experience. Having more pages doesn’t always correlate to more traffic, but having more quality pages indexed can grant you more opportunities to rank for more search queries. 

Brand credibility

Having high quality content on your site immediately increases your perceived expertise, authority, and trust of your company. Users thinking highly of brands that they feel are answering their questions and providing useful and relevant information. Higher domain authority strongly correlates with higher search rankings. So yet again, producing consistent quality content will help increase organic traffic for all pages of your site.

Drive sales 

The first goal of your content should be to deliver some kind of value to the reader. After that has been done, you can use any remaining space to tactfully promote your product, service, or brand. Content can inspire requests for more information, trials, downloads, consultations, and sales. Highly targeted content can be one of the best ways to speed up the sales funnel, as long as it’s done right. Your content should never seem like a promotional advertisement. 

Content Marketing Tips:

Your content should be the answer 

Content should be based on questions potential customers might have. The more direct and detailed the answer is, the better it will rank on Google or other search engines. Most companies are well aware of their customers’ problems and pain points. This can be transformed into tutorials, how-to-guides, etc. For a piece of content to be effective it needs to be actionable. Inform your audience about specific steps to take or resources they need to carry out the advice you’re giving. Your answers can vary according to audience demographics. If you know your audience is split, segment your content strategy to target each group directly, instead of writing generically.

Use images and videos whenever possible 

HubSpot’s 2016 video marketing statistics report that adding videos to landing pages can boost conversions up to 80% and that users are 64% more likely to buy something online after they’ve watched a video about it. You can integrate videos into blogs or create them separately as their own entity, like a “vlog.” When people only spend 8 seconds deciding whether or not they’re interested in a piece of content, it helps to be visually stimulating. So even if you can’t include a video, images can be just as effective. 

Create and stick to a content calendar 

For content to be effective it needs to be consistent. The best way to ensure you’re posting regularly is by laying everything out in a weekly or monthly content calendar. It should be more detailed than just reminders to post. Include things like what your blog topics will be, what tags you’re using for each post, where everything needs to be shared, etc. This way when the time comes you’re not scrambling to think of content ideas. There are a number of tools that can assist with content calendars. CoSchedule, WordPress, and Asana are a few editorial calendar and project management tools, but it can be done a basic spreadsheet as well. 

Make sharing your content easy

This is one of the easiest tips to implement to a site. Social sharing buttons should fit in with the site’s theme and be prominently placed throughout blog posts and web pages. If the sharing process is complicated and time-consuming, no one will do it. It should be a simple, one-step to share process. There should be options to share to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and any other platforms that seem fitting. 

Always include a CTA

Strong call-to-actions are necessary in any marketing strategy. It’s unlikely users will go to your homepage, browse to other pages, or end up where you want them to be. They need to be told what to do with a quick link to it. Whether that be liking/following a social media page, sharing a post, subscribing, requesting more information, etc. It’s beneficial to A/B test your call-to-actions as well. Try different locations, colors, copy, etc. It’s important to make sure the CTA doesn’t interrupt the flow of content, though. It should seem like the natural consequence of the content. It should also be clear and easily clickable. 

No matter your ultimate marketing goal, content is always a valuable addition. It works, and that’s why it’s so widely used today. The key is to ensure it continues to work in a saturated market is by leveraging new and innovative tactics, like setting clearer content marketing goals and A/B testing various content. 

More from Onimod Global 

Sometimes, outsourcing your content marketing is the right choice. At Onimod Global we’re experts in SEO, social media, and content marketing. We create visibility for companies in the places their customers are searching, interacting, and engaging. Take a look at how we’ve helped other companies, and learn more about what we can do for you!

3 Digital Marketing Trends to Prepare for in the Near Future

/in , , /by

In a recent article from Forbes, there are some important trends in the digital marketing industry that marketers should be aware of. The digital world is always evolving: consumer patterns change, new platforms emerge, etc. Therefore, organizations must be prepared to adapt. The three key trends that Forbes focuses on in the article are social marketing, the talent gap, and video marketing.

Social Marketing:
If utilized correctly, social marketing campaigns can be very successful. Advertising on Facebook for example can turn a low cost investment into a high return on investment (ROI). According to the Forbes article, research has shown that “social users appeal more to offers and discounts, so even a simple 10% off to promote a product or service will greatly increase visibility.” Forbes also points out that the strategy is to “always find new mediums gaining popularity, as conventional outlets like news sites should be avoided.”

The Talent Gap:
According to the article, “the talent gap in digital marketing is the root cause of unsuccessful campaigns.” Not understanding the data, wasting money on ad spend, and not properly managing accounts are frequent problems in today’s industry. Many “traditional advertisers” don’t possess the same skill set and thinking process as the younger generation of digital marketers. Ultimately, it’s essential for organizations to find individuals who consistently deliver high ROI in a digitally dominated world.

Video Marketing:
Viral videos have a ton of power in today’s digital world, yet it’s very challenging to gain popularity online. Millions of users are streaming YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites daily. Forbes point of advice from video marketing is that “it’s not the big budgets that win, it’s the great ideas that create buzz.” If marketers can capitalize on this hot trend in video traffic, there will be high rewards.

Contact Us: For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

Content Marketing Tips: How to Use Live Video to Build Your Brand

/in /by

In this video, Entrepreneur Network partner Salma Jafri discusses how just how important live video is in 2017.

Live video is a great to maintain a two-way conversation with your audience — something you simply can’t do when you’re reading a script — and major social networks are taking note. Snapchat is now a multi-billion-dollar company with live news feeds, Twitter has invested heavily in Periscope, and Facebook is pushing its own live feeds. So, get on board now and learn how to use this tool in 2017, because it’s going to be bigger than ever.

Time to Spring Clean Your Digital Marketing?

/in /by

Yesterday brought the official first day of spring – Now is the time to dust off the old and get your digital marketing sparkling like new! Read more

Google Search Algorithm Update February 7th

/in /by

We just had some Google algorithm update a week ago potentially targeting spammy links I believe. And now a week later, around February 7th, yesterday, it seems there was another algorithm update. This update doesn’t seem specific to links or spam but rather just a normal unconfirmed Google update where ranking changes shift based on something changing at Google.

I do not believe it is related to the mobile bug because most of the automated tracking tools only track desktop search.

There is some chatter, the chatter in the SEO community is not YET that hot but it might heat up throughout the day as people check their analytics and tools.

An ongoing WebmasterWorld thread has these posts:

SERPs movements again in our vertical. We’re seeing some recoveries from previous penguin casualties and some domain crowding. Spam STILL having a huge positive impact.

Yesterday (Tue 7th) I saw a huge spike in organic traffic, ~30% over avg, and 18% increase from previous record day in November. It’s a Canadian financial-related site. Increases from both Google.ca as well as other search engines/

Here is a post on Twitter that even caught Gary Illyes attention:

Screen Shot 02-08-17 at 01.51 PM

 

And here are the tracking tools showing changes on the 7th, note Mozcast is well behind in terms of tracking so this might be related to the link spam update we covered last week?

Mozcast:

click for full size

SERP Metrics:

click for full size

Algoroo:

click for full size

Accuranker:

click for full size

RankRanger:

click for full size

Have you noticed any changes over the past 24 hours?

 

 

 

HT SE Roundtable

The Power of Social Media Marketing

/in /by

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks.

Social media itself is a catch-all term for sites that may provide radically different social actions. For instance, Twitter is a social site designed to let people share short messages or “updates” with others. Facebook, in contrast is a full-blown social networking site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining events and a variety of other activities.

How Are Search & Social Media Marketing Related?

Why would a search marketer — or a site about search engines — care about social media? The two are very closely related.

Social media often feeds into the discovery of new content such as news stories, and “discovery” is a search activity. Social media can also help build links that in turn support into SEO efforts. Many people also perform searches at social media sites to find social media content. Social connections may also impact the relevancy of some search results, either within a social media network or at a ‘mainstream’ search engine.

As long as you think of search and social media as separate projects and place them in silos, you won’t see the maximum impact for your business. Create a cross-functional process between the search and social so that you can integrate the search learning into social media, and the social media learning into search. The search keywords, social conversations, and the target audience behaviors are some of the key information that you should be sharing between the two.

The Bottom Line

It’s vital that you understand social media marketing fundamentals. Besides increasing brand awareness and establishing the legitimacy of the brand, social media marketing can affect the bottom line of a business by increasing sales. Learning about the importance of social media for marketing should also underscore why these efforts need to be continuous and the harm it does when social media marketing isn’t up to consumer expectations. Long story short, social media marketing is something that every business needs to do and needs to do well.

An integrated social media platform can enhance marketing campaign effectiveness, help improve brand building across the enterprise, and make a real impact on sales and the bottom line. Integrated social capability brings another great benefit by keeping the enterprise updated with the latest innovations in social media. Sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn are constantly innovating and updating their collaboration tools, content-sharing formats, etc. With integrating social capability, customers don’t need to change business functions in sales or marketing to catch up with these changes.

In today’s much-hyped world of social media marketing, integrated social capability can make a direct and positive impact on the business. Leveraging the power of content and social media marketing can help elevate your audience and customer base in a dramatic way. But getting started without any previous experience or insight could be challenging. Speak to an expert today at Onimod Global to learn how YOU can leverage your company’s social media marketing.

Ignore the Uproar. The Instagram Algorithm Change Is a Good Thing.

/in /by

Instagram recently dropped the news that it will be adapting a non-chronological newsfeed order, similar to its big brother, Facebook. Instead of sorting posts in a familiar linear order, the new algorithm will weigh in a variety of social signals, such as a number of post engagements. It will also consider content you liked before in an attempt to sort images in the order of “relevancy,” or as what Instagram perceives to be of most interest to you.

Instagram has already carved out its place among top networks for businesses, thanks to its almost exponential growth. What started as a teen photo-sharing app bought by Facebook in then-incredible $1 billion deal, the network is projected to rack in $1.86 billion in revenue this year as its user base growth outpaces general social network usage.

The update, however, has caused a storm of complains. It went as far as to prompt a petition on Change.org asking Instagram to leave its chronological feed alone. The outrage was mostly caused by comparing this change to Facebook’s algorithm. Notorious for discriminating business pages’ content, it upset many business owners when organic post reach plunged to unbelievable lows. In a lot of cases, Instagram was their network of choice because of its chronological order and an unlimited reach of posts.

However, the comparison of the two networks is unfair. Unlike Facebook, Instagram does not separate “personal” from “business” accounts. As of right now, a profile is a profile, independently of its use. So, this move is not discriminatory of businesses (I am looking at you, Facebook).

So let’s examine what this change in algorithm really means and whether it’s as scary as it looks to marketers.

Chronological newsfeed was truly effective only in two instances: businesses posted to Instagram every half an hour or their followers had a very limited number of handles they followed. This cannot be a widespread trend, because according to Optical Cortex data based on 20,000+ Instagram users, average number of people they follow is 822. So, for a majority of brand’s following those images most likely weren’t the first thing they saw; and that chronological order didn’t really matter anyway.

Now what really made a difference, and still will continue to do so, is getting ahead of the game with smart strategies. What you have (to continue) to do as a smart marketer is to focus on quality content that drives engagement.

Instagram was so gracious to let marketers know of its algorithm change before it kicked in. Use the little time that’s left with chronological newsfeed to jumpstart your new marketing strategy. Make an extra push to increase engagement now. Start to finally notice those comments people leave on your images! Respond to them! Use this as an opportunity to strike a conversation.

A lot of people who follow brands and celebrities will deliberately go to the handle to see what’s new. People follow Nike, Lexus or Kylie Jenner, because they know that each new post will be amazing (whatever their definition of amazing is). So, strive to make your Instagram account a mecca for striking visual content. This is the only way to ensure people won’t stop engaging with your content, whatever the algorithm is.

There are also a few other tactics you can employ to stay ahead of the curve. For example, if you are seriously using Instagram to grow your business, you already track and analyze results. You already know when your audience is online. You can still schedule your posts to go out at those times and increase visibility of fresh content.

Another reason to dive deep into analytics is to see which hashtags perform the best. Always test which hashtags improve engagement, always vary them to improve your odd of being discovered by a new group of people. Finally, constantly monitor trending hashtags (didn’t you already?) to see if any of the applicable and relevant hashtags are popular, giving you the opportunity to enjoy a remarkable rate of impressions. Yet, don’t go for an overkill. Don’t spam people with irrelevant content and thirty hashtags – that won’t increase your engagement or chances of being lovable.

Plus, while being strategic about your visual content (that has to rock their socks off), you should also become extremely strategic about your captions. It is proven that captions with a call to action are beyond effective in getting desired results. Do you want more engagement? Just ask for it! Foundr Magazine, for example, ends a lot of their captions with “double tap if you agree,” or “tag your friends.” What’s an easier way to gain numerous shares and an audience insight than to simply ask for their opinion?

Businesses that enjoy high engagement rates know their respective audiences very well. They know what type of imagery is catchy, what content needs to serve; and these companies have also figured out a context for consuming this content. They cater to their audience, so the latter wants to stick for the ride ahead.

Finally, don’t shy away from occasional boost. Employ the power of Facebook advertising capabilities on Instagram and target the right people.

So, after all, the change in algorithm might be for the better. If you post amazing content, it’ll be waiting for your followers in their newsfeed even if it was posted a few hours ago. Instagram user survey indicated that 60% of Instagrammers learn about products and services on the network and 75% take action after being inspired by an Instagram post. Now is the time to bring your A-game on.

instagram

H/T: Entrepreneur

Why Video is an Effective Digital Marketing Component

/in /by

Marketers are getting increasingly aggressive on the digital front. They are implementing innovative techniques to make their offerings more visible and appealing to the masses. To this end, it is time we seriously consider video as a new medium.

According to a blog quoting a comScore report, 64% of the visitors may purchase a product after watching a relevant video, while a Forbes survey reveals that 75% of executives watch videos

1. Classifying viewers

Your viewers are not going to be all of the same age and with similar interests. Your offerings, however, must be relevant to all – from fresh graduates to the veterans. So, you cannot expect one video to strike the same chord in every viewer’s mind. The trick is to understand the preference of different sections of your audience, and create different videos to target them simultaneously.

2. Getting a great videographer

A skilled videographer, who understands your requirement, is going to be your best friend in making appealing videos for your digital marketing activities. A good videographer can:

  • Capture and highlight the aspects of your offerings that your target customers should know and understand
  • Advise what kind of video you need – brand story, company introduction, customer testimonial, product demo, etc.
  • Make the video uniquely related to your offering by including actors or real people, animation or real videography, or a combination of various suitable components
  • Tell a story from the emergence of problem to its solution, and the result in the short video

3. Utilize social media to the fullest

For a successful video-based digital marketing campaign, presence on YouTube and other digital media is essential. The post says that 91% of the video snippets displayed on search result pages are from YouTube. Share your videos through Facebook, Twitter and other popular social media, with backlinks to your website brand page. Similarly, your website should offer links for sharing the video through various social media. By utilizing social media, you actually gain by leveraging every viewer’s reach.

4. Making a viral video

There is no particular trick to make a viral video. However, you can analyze all the popular viral videos to determine what makes people like them more than other videos. Presence of an influential personality is always helpful. Besides, most viral videos have an unusual or odd approach to story-telling. Focus on humor, children and/or animals, a tone; they are more likely to strike the right chord in your viewers’ minds. Besides, subtle reference to a current incident also works often.

5. Monitor video performance

Regular and frequent releases are good, but you also need to monitor the performance of your videos. Some of the common performance parameters are:

  • Number and type of viewers
  • Time spent on a particular video
  • Number of views per viewer
  • Click-through rate

6. In-house vs. professional studio

Depending on budgets and other factors, you can choose to hire a video production company or have an in-house team for the production. Usually, large organizations have an in-house team for video production. However, you can rely on video companies to produce highly appealing and effective videos for your digital marketing campaign.

So, consider videos a vital component when you think of digital marketing. All you need is to take the first step to enter this domain with conviction in order to reap the benefits.

Why Video is an Effective Digital Marketing Component

H/T: Martech Advisor