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5 Ways to improve Your Content-Marketing Strategy in 2016

Content marketing has evolved from a buzzword into a major component of marketing strategies for companies of all sizes. Thirty-seven percent of business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers have a documented content marketing strategy, and 61 percent of the most-effective business-to-business (B2B) marketers meet daily or weekly with their content marketing team.

Content marketing can produce amazing results when done correctly, and with 2016 right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to make sure your strategy is mapped out. While you plan and adjust, consider these points.

Related: 6-Step Blueprint to Master Your Digital Marketing in 2016

1. Think beyond just a blog.

Don’t assume that a blog alone will satisfy your content marketing efforts — infographics, eBooks, vlogs, webinars and podcasts are all examples of different forms of content that you can mix into your strategy.

Last year the amount of video from people and brands in Facebook’s news feed increased 3.6X year-over-year. Video is easy to share and a form of visual content that end-users love to engage with. The popularity of vlogging continues to rise as well, and I feel it’s a great way to let your prospects and target market into your world. I’ve got a vlog in development that will be launching mid-year in 2016 that I’m extremely excited about.

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2. Don’t be afraid to give out information for free.

Content marketing is a great way to position your business — and yourself — as an expert. Don’t be afraid to give your audience valuable information for free. When you provide pure value time after time, without asking for anything in return, some those people that have been absorbing your content will begin to convert into warm leads and then sales.

Market Domination Media, my online marketing agency, maintains a blog full of helpful information for business owners. A recent blog post we did about getting found on Google’s local 3-pack is an example of content that provides value without asking for anything in return. If the reader wants to join our newsletter, there is an option at the bottom of our blog posts, but we never gate content or write advertisements disguised as blog posts.

3. Every business — B2C and B2B — can benefit from content marketing.

Content marketing can work for everyone — both business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketing efforts. While the concept is the same, you need to tailor the approach for each a bit differently.

A business-to-consumer customer can be won over with compelling stories that trigger specific emotions, but a business-to-business customer needs to see value and data-backed information in your content.

  • B2C example: Budweiser’s Puppy Love commercial that debuted during Super Bowl XLVIII won America’s heart by using a puppy to trigger emotions. It has been viewed millions of times and delivered incredible branding exposure for Budweiser without even including their product in the video.
  • B2B example: An infographic from a VoIP provider that highlights the benefits of switching to their cloud-based service. Performance benefits, money saved and features can all be highlighted in a fun, easy to digest visual piece of content that’s packed with data.

Related: 5 Marketing Changes Small Businesses Need to Make in 2016

4. Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you gauge the success or failure of your content marketing.

It’s not always easy to track the return on content marketing, as only 21 percent of content marketers say they are successful at tracking return on investment (ROI). Every business is going to have different key performance indicators — it’s important that you identify yours before you start. Some examples of content marketing KPIs include:

  • Number of website visits: Total number of visitors you attract to your website via a particular piece of content or a specific campaign. Use Google’s URL builder and Google analytics to help you with this.
  • Content asset downloads: If you are using multiple pieces of content to push visitors to a download offer, make sure you track the number of downloads that originate form each content referral source. Pull poorly performing pieces of content and take note of what your audience responds to better for future campaigns.
  • Number of social shares: When determining what content is performing best for you, take a look at the number of social shares each receives. Use content that receives a high number of social shares as a benchmark — these are the styles of content and topics that your audience responds well to. Remember, Twitter has eliminated share counts, so your overall counts won’t include shares from that social network.
  • Bounce rate: A high bounce rate means that your visitors are landing on your content and leaving right away — and not visiting other pages of your website. This is an indication that your content needs to be a bit more compelling to trigger conversions and additional page visits.
  • Inbound links earned: Great content is shared and linked to by other websites. These are the types of natural links that benefit your search engine optimization (SEO) while staying within Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
  • Time on page: If you publish a large in-depth blog post and your analytic data shows that the average visitor stayed on the page for 15 seconds that tells you they didn’t find it interesting at all. Now, if the average time on the page is three minutes, then you know that piece of content is a hit with your audience, and it would be a good idea to make sure you have a very strong offer built into that particular page.
  • Cost-per-click (CPC): Let’s assume you spend $2,000 to promote a particular piece of content through multiple channels — SEO, pay-per-click (PPC), social media, email, etc. If you generated 8,800 website visitors your CPC would be just under 23 cents.
  • Number of leads generated: It’s important to track leads from every piece of content. For example, you might find out that blog posts that feature infographics generate three times the number of leads that your regular blog posts produce.
  • Cost-per-lead (CPL): You need to know exactly how much your leads are costing that you generate through content marketing. When you have this number and your conversion rate then you can quickly determine whether or not content marketing is a viable (profitable) options for your business.
  • Conversion rate: Out of all the leads your content marketing is generating, what percentage of them are turning into paying customers?
  • Revenue generated: One of the most important — how much revenue did your content marketing produce?

5. Make sure you diversify your online marketing.

Content marketing can produce amazing results, and it’s an incredible way to grow your business, but that doesn’t mean you should put all of your eggs in one basket — you should never do that.

You should be building brand awareness and generating website traffic, leads and sales from multiple channels — social media, email, pay-per-click, SEO and display ads are additional sources that you should be tapping into. This ensures that your business doesn’t come to a dead stop if one of the channels suddenly dries up.

Written by By Jonathan Long, Market Domination Media

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Business Web Solutions

4 Marketing Tips for Making Your Social Media Presence Stand Out on Mobile

20150810165227-ipad-social-media-facebook-instagramPeople now spend more time on their smartphones than desktop computers, according to KPCB’s latest data on Internet trends. Though many users rely on mobile devices to check email and text, many also use mobile devices to connect with their social networks. In fact, a study conducted by IDC and Facebook revealed that 70 percent of all Facebook users surveyed interact with social networks on their mobile device at least part of the time — and 61 percent do so each day. Similar research by comScore reveals that 92 percent of Pinterest users are mobile, as are 86 percent of those on Twitter.

Here are a few ways businesses can incorporate mobile marketing into a social media strategy to reach new customers, and deepen engagement with existing ones.

1. Customize your social media profiles for the mobile user.

If you haven’t checked out how your social media profiles look on desktop platforms, and iPhone and Android devices, it’s critical that you do so. Not only will this research allow you to gain a sense for the current user experience, you’ll see how your profile layout, content and format may be better optimized based on the specific social media network.

While many social media channels automatically make business profiles mobile-friendly, they don’t know which aspects of your business are most important to prospects and customers based on your unique brand attributes, and the competitive landscape. Customize your social media profiles to ensure that mobile users form the impression you want them to about your business. On Facebook, for example, this may mean “pinning” your most relevant post to the top of the page, so that content is always featured. Additionally, social media users place high value on referrals and recommendations from people they “know” — even if that relationship is limited to social media. Structure your social media profiles so mobile users see the recommendations and “check-ins” that others have left.

2. Optimize profiles so mobile users can find you.

Research by Google reveals that three out of four mobile searches result in some kind of customer activity — more than half of which takes place within an hour from the mobile search. Because so many mobile users check social media to find suggestions about nearby businesses based on their need and location at any given time, the ease with which your prospects and customers can find you on social media is key. Confirm that all of your social media profiles include your correct business location, hours of service, price range, and business category. Because customers may not know to search for your business by name, the accuracy of your category listing can act as a breadcrumb path that leads them to your business.

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3. Tailor your social media posts to a mobile user’s day.

Google research reveals that the majority of mobile search activity takes place from 3 p.m. and midnight. Tailor your social media activity to involve mobile users during these hours based on their search activity and location. Not only will the content be actionable for the mobile user, it can help you overcome your own business hurdles in the moment. If your restaurant experiences a lull in between lunch and happy hour, for example, a “flash sale” on social media that’s valid only for the next hour and targeted to users within a certain radius can help you drive traffic when you need it most.

4. Monitor social media engagement and react appropriately.

Social media listening tools allow you to monitor what’s trending on social media, and know when customers comment on your business. Track what your audience is talking about so you can be part of the conservation in a way that’s highly relevant. Use social media tools like Instagram and Vine to capture images that create a sense of place, mood and ultimately, familiarity for your mobile audience.

Social media and mobile now work in hand in hand — to the great benefit of small-business owners. By combining the mobile insights you have about your audience with your social media activity, you can customize your marketing messages to reach the exact audience you want in ways that are relevant, personal and strategic.

Written by By Kristen Gramigna, BluePay

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How to Create a Killer Instagram Ad in Under 10 Minutes

20150914075210-shutterstock-229799614

Instagram’s launch in 2010 was the equivalent to the new popular kid, “Ian,” moving to your high school at the beginning of the year.

Girls couldn’t stop commenting about his good looks and guys were thrilled that he’d compete for the starting goalie position in hockey.

Even though students had their loyalty to “Tyler,” the starting goaltender from the previous year, there was excitement in the air about Ian, the new kid in town.

When Ian led his high school team to the state championship in Buffalo, people didn’t forget about Tyler, they were just very bullish on Ian.

Instagram recently hit the 400-million-user milestone, which is 80 million more than Twitter. People haven’t forgotten about Twitter, but the mobile photo-sharing app is all of the rage.

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Fast forward to 2015, and Instagram has just rolled out advertising for all businesses. The photo-centric network is slated to pull in $600 million in advertising revenue by year’s end, according to eMarketer.

Just as Instagram matured over the years, so, too, had Ian. The goaltender went on to have a successful college hockey career. After graduating, he moved back to his hometown of Buffalo and became an entrepreneur by opening up a hockey shop, Ian’s Ice Shack.

Ian wanted to utilize Instagram’s social network creatively to grow his brand and bring in more business. He had used Facebook for advertising before but wasn’t sure how to set up an Instagram ad.

By following the nine steps below, Ian was able to become the first hockey shop in Upstate New York to start advertising on Instagram:

1. Connect your Instagram

On your business Facebook page, click on Settings at the top of the page. Within Settings, you will see “Instagram Ads” on the left-hand side. In order to get started, you will need to click on this tab and connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page.

2. Login to Ads Manager

You will need to be logged into your Ads Manager account within Facebook. If you have not yet set this up, you can simply follow these easy steps outlined by AdEspresso.

3. Download Power Editor

This is where a lot of people get lost. They try and set up the ad directly through Facebook’s ads manager, but you have to actually download Power Editor in order to create your Instagram advertisement. (Power Editor is in the menu at the top of the page, under the Ads Manager platform.)

Note: Make sure you are using Google Chrome, since this is the only supported browser for Power Editor.

Related: Dominate Facebook With This $5 Marketing Strategy

4. Create Campaign

After you download Power Editor, you are one step closer to creating your first Instagram ad!

Facebook perfectly outlines the next couple of steps, but within Power Editor, click the Manage Ads tab at the top of the page on the left. You will see an option right underneath that to “Create Campaign.”

5. Reach Your Target Audience on Instagram

During this set-up phase, make sure you choose an objective that is compatible with Instagram, which would include Clicks to Website, Mobile App Installs and Video Views.

You will want to take the following steps:

  • Create new campaign
  • Create new ad set
  • Create new ad

Note: These are the steps to create a brand-new advertising campaign. If you would rather place your Instagram ad in an existing ad set, be aware that you will need to go in and check “Instagram Placement” in that ad set’s settings.

6. Edit Ad Set Options

Under Ad Sets, you can set your budget, ad schedule, audience (for targeting purposes) and placement. Placement is where you will see the option to choose Instagram advertising. Make sure you select “Instagram Advertising” and deselect the other options, because this will be crucial for the next step.

You will then have the option to select which type of mobile device to serve your advertisement on.

Instagram recommends serving the ad based on link clicks to website/pay per impressions. For the sake of this article, we followed their recommendation.

Example:
Ian’s Ice Shack has a $250 monthly budget. For his audience, he would choose mobile users who live within a 15-mile radius of his store in Buffalo who are interested in hockey, the NHL and the Sabres.

This promotion is slated for a November 20th game, so his ad schedule would run three days prior to the big matchup.

Ian likes to come up with fresh creative that is time-sensitive, because he has seen that running the same ad for a long period of time can get very stale with users.

7. Syncing Facebook and Instagram accounts

After you have set up the parameters in your Ad Set options, on the menu to the left-hand side, you will see “Ads,” where you now have the option to select your business page that you will serve the ads from. After you select your business page, make sure to click “Use the Instagram account connected to the selected Facebook page.”

8. Creating the Ad

Now you are getting close to the finish line! You simply need to enter your website URL and text that will accompany your image. You have up to 300 characters, so make sure to create a memorable message.

Below the text fields, you will be able to upload your photo. Since Instagram is a photo-sharing app, visually appealing imagery can increase your click-through rate and lower your conversion cost. Take the time to strategize on a picture that will properly portray your brand along with the promotion you’re trying to market.

After you upload your photo and insert text that will hit on your marketing message, you will also have the option to create a “call-to-action” button that will be associated with the Instagram ad. For Ian’s sake, he wants to drive people to his website where they can download a coupon to redeem his special offer, so he will select “Download.”

Example:
Let’s stick with our hockey-shop example. Imagine an awesome picture of black Bauer skates contrasting perfectly on the white ice at the local rink. This is an example of a stellar photo that would do well on Instagram with the ad copy below:

“If the Sabres score 3 or more goals versus Ottawa on November 20, customers will receive 10 percent off any pair of Bauer skates the morning after the game at Ian’s Ice Shack. Visit our website and download the coupon to redeem this offer.”

This ad includes timeliness, relevancy to its target audience and a way to track the return on investment from ad spend with an in-store promotion. There is also the option to include URL tags and add conversion tracking, depending on your business objectives.

For Ian’s ad, he places a tracking pixel on the “Thank You” page after someone downloads the coupon. This allows him to monitor how many hockey fans download his coupon, versus those who actually redeemed the coupon in his store.

9. Upload Changes

After you have completed the aforementioned steps to create your advertisement, you will have to “Upload Changes” from the Power Editor. This will put your ad into review and if you followed the proper protocol, your ad should be up and running on Instagram within no time.

Game-Winning Goal

It ended up that hockey fans all over Buffalo saw Ian’s ad on Instagram. While they were watching the Sabres game, they were thinking of Ian’s Ice Shack.

The Sabres just happened to score six goals in their win versus Ottawa. The next morning, Ian had 11 new customers redeeming his coupon for Bauer skates, double the number of a normal day’s sales.

If you create an effective Instagram ad, you can score the game-winning goal for your business. Lace up your skates and get started!

 

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Inspiration for the Downtimes (Infographic)

If you are thinking about starting your own business, you will have to be persistent in the face of challenges and failures.

Check out this infographic (below) from the startup organisation Funders and Founders with recommendations on how to never give up on becoming a successful entrepreneur. For example, if it takes three months to field test an idea, then a 30-year-old who lives into old age has more than 200 opportunities to try out a concept for a company, Funders and Founders points out. Also, keep your expectations realistic. Even the legendary Michael Jordan missed over 300 crucial shots. Most of the time, success does not happen overnight or on the first try.

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Source: Funders and Founders