Category: SEMProNews

SEMProNews

Ecommerce, Search, Social… and Conversational Space?

“When I look at the conversational space I think it’s going to have as much impact as ecommerce or search or social,” says LivePerson CEO Rob Locascio. “The conversational space is going to be just as big. I think you’ll see one day that there will be a trillion dollar company in this space and I want it to be us. The things we’re investing in right now and setting up for will allow us to do that. That’s what’s important.”

Rob Locascio, CEO of LivePerson, predicts that the AI-driven conversational space will ultimately have as much impact and be as big an industry as ecommerce, search, or social. Locascio was interviewed by Jim Cramer on CNBC:

Ecommerce, Search, Social… and Conversational Space?

When I look at the conversational space I think it’s going to have as much impact as ecommerce or search or social. The ability to talk to a machine and have a natural conversation, it’s in the collective consciousness of people. We all believe the Alexa type situation should happen with every company.

We do that with Delta and T-Mobile and all these big brands. What we’re looking at now is how do we take that to the world? LiveIntent is proprietary technology to look at the intent that a consumer is having with the brand. In terms of I want to buy something, we have a way to analyze that and then use machine learning algorithms to then scale those conversations. That’s what this is about.

Healthcare Companies Defending Themselves From Amazon Via AI

In Q4 we signed a couple healthcare companies. They want to talk about defending themselves from Amazon because Amazon said they want to go into healthcare. The way they think they can do that is scaling the conversations they are having with their customers and creating a totally different experience. You go to a doctor, you have an experience with them, you capture that on a messaging platform and an AI will help you with whatever is wrong with you. You want to process a bill instead of calling and being put on hold, you do that through a conversational experience.

They want to game change it. The only way they’re going to defend themselves is to get into the conversational space. That’s what they see and we’re the company they’re trusting to scale their operations with the conversational platform.

Conversational Space Is Going To Be As Big As Search and Social

The conversational space is going to be as big as search and social. I think you’ll see one day that there will be a trillion dollar company in this space and I want it to be us. The things we’re investing in right now and setting up for will allow us to do that. That’s what’s important. The Amazon’s and the Facebook’s and Apple’s, they’re in the space. Jeff Bezos made a big bet obviously in Alexa to say this is the way it’s going to be.

It can’t just be Amazon and Alexa. It has to be other companies getting access to that technology and that’s what we are providing. Who else is providing it? We’re one of the largest companies in the world to do this. Even though we’re not big tech, we are large enough to go ahead and go after them. We are large enough to go ahead and define a space and win it.

January 15, 2023
Is TikTok Replacing Google?

Digital marketing entrepreneur Eric Siu, asks an interesting question, “Is TikTok the NEW Google?” The idea is that younger people are starting to search immersive social apps like TikTok and Instagram directly instead of searching Google.

“Is TikTok going to replace Google? 40% of 18-24-year-olds report that they are using apps like TikTok to search for things like lunch. The engagement on Google Maps is also starting to grow down. In addition, people are now using fewer keywords to discover. They prefer immersive experiences instead.”

“Now, things are changing quite a bit because Google is actually starting to index Instagram posts and TikTok posts. If you use Google as much as I do for my business or you do any search marketing at all, stay tuned.”

August 8, 2022
How HubSpot is Using Surround Sound Marketing Strategy to Drive Sales

“There is a very smart individual at HubSpot named Alex Birkett based out of Austin, Texas,” says Scott Tousley of HubSpot. “He is working on this concept that is really starting to take off called Surround Sound Strategy. Essentially what that means is that it runs with the notion that marketers are selfish. All we care about is how do we drive more traffic to our website.”

Scott Tousley, Senior Team Lead of User Acquisition for all products at HubSpot, was recently interviewed on the B2B Growth Podcast by David Kelly, General Manager at Sumo Dojo. Tousley discusses how HubSpot is using Surround Sound Marketing Strategy to drive leads and sales:

Surround Sound Marketing Strategy Starting to Take Off

There is a very smart individual at HubSpot named Alex Birkett based out of Austin, Texas. He is working on this concept that is really starting to take off called Surround Sound Strategy. Essentially what that means is that it runs with the notion that marketers are selfish. All we care about is how do we drive more traffic to our website. I don’t care where it comes from. Whether it comes from search or social or referral traffic or email, it doesn’t matter. You’re always looking at how do I get more traffic to my website? The reality is that when we are trying to buy something you don’t go to one website. You go to multiple different websites when you are trying to make a purchasing decision.

For example, I’m in South Lake Tahoe right now. One search I just did recently was “best bars in South Lake Tahoe.” I wanted to see a list and I wanted to see some reviews from a couple of different websites. I also like to surf, so let’s say I’m in the market for a new shortboard. So I search for “best shortboards 2019.” First, I’ll read a listicle, then I will go back to Google and I will click on the next list. Then I will go back again and click on the next list. Then I will start to narrow my decision based on seeing the same thing over and over. Once I narrow it down I will do a versus search such as “lost puddle jumper” vs. “channel islands average joe.” I’ve narrowed my decision at that point.

We Want To Be At All Stages of the Purchasing Decision

What we are trying to do at HubSpot right now is figure out how to be everywhere. We want to be at all stages of that purchasing decision when people are searching for “what is the best blank that exists today.” Well, there are a ton of lists that are out there and a ton of review sites and HubSpot’s B2B software (has to be there). There are a lot of review sites just dominating search engines right now like Capterra, G2 Crowd, and Software Advice. A lot of those are pay to play. You have got to pay to get listed on what appears when you land via search. Most of them are.

But listicles are free. Not only are they free to get added to, but they are free to create. That’s one of the biggest things we are working on right now. How do we change our mindset from being so obsessed at driving traffic to our website? How do we make sure that HubSpot’s brand is everywhere when you are doing your product research and you are on many different websites? We actually sometimes prefer that we drive traffic to multiple different websites where we are listed versus just to our own. It’s good for social grouping.

Listen to the full interview with HubSpot’s Scott Tousley.

June 25, 2022
Google Ads Error Impacting Video Pages in Google Ads Frontend

Google Ads is experiencing a major issue, one that is impacting access to Video pages in the Google Ads Frontend.

First spotted by Search Engine Land, the issue has been acknowledged by Google and is impacting “a majority of users.” The issue happens when users try to access the Video pages, leading to an error message and red banner. The company says there is no work around, although it is working on a fix.

We’re aware of a problem with Google Ads affecting a majority of users. We will provide an update by May 19, 2022, 6:00 PM UTC detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change. The affected users are able to access Google Ads, but are seeing error messages, high latency, and/or other unexpected behavior.

May 19, 2022
Google Search Console Now Has Page Experience For Desktop

Google has unveiled a dedicated ‘Desktop’ section in the Page Experience reports of its Search Console.

Google had already rolled Page Experience for mobile, but is now adding the feature for desktop, and will soon use it as part of its desktop ranking system.

We’ll begin using page experience as part of our desktop ranking systems beginning in February 2022. The rollout will be complete by the end of March 2022. This ranking launch will be based on the same page experience signals that we rolled out for mobile earlier this year. We are also planning to help site owners understand how their desktop pages are performing with regards to page experience using a Search Console report which will launch before desktop becomes a ranking signal.

To help companies prepare for the changes, the company has provided additional information to help them optimize their sites.

January 20, 2022
SEO 2018 is All About Branded Search Queries

SEO pioneer and Moz co-founder Rand Fishkin was recently asked about the future of SEO and how SEO agencies and marketers should adjust to these changes. Rands says that SEO has changed to the point that the traditional SEO focus on generic related keywords for your products and services is becoming obsolete because of how Google now displays search results.

See below for highlights from Rand’s thoughts on the changing SEO landscape:

There is definitely this problem in the SEO space where the amount of opportunity in SEO (is lessened), because of Google entering all these business sectors and taking away of a lot of the clicks and trying to solve the searchers’ query before they ever click.

This means that you just don’t have as much opportunity to earn search clicks from this search engine anymore.

Branded Search Queries

How can we overcome that? I think the answer in SEO is pretty clear, which is the one thing that Google is not taking away from us, branded search queries. If somebody searches for StatBid or they search for Moz or they search for the North Face, that is a searcher telling Google to take me to this companies website. That’s a very very powerful undeniable signal that they want to reach your site. You’re getting 90% plus click-through rates on those.

If you can increase the number of people searching for your brand instead of drawing a smaller and smaller percentage of the people who search for outdoor jackets, because Google’s placing all these ads above the fold and trying to say these are the best outdoor jackets and having an instant answer and a featured snippet and all this type of stuff, yeah that’s that’s a big win.

Combining Classic SEO with New Stuff

I think for CMO’s and for marketing departments it’s going to be a combination of classic skill sets in SEO. First, how do we rank? How do we make sure that our site is technically optimized? How do we make sure that we’re doing good keyword research and keyword targeting? How do we create good content around all these things and solve searchers problems?

Then I think it’s also going to be some new forms of marketing that SEO’s are not generally familiar with, at least not historically. Those are things like creative that draws attention and eyeballs and interest. I think it’s a lot of storytelling. Great brands are built on the back of great storytelling and that is traditionally a big weak spot for SEO.

SEO Teams Need to Get Retooled

So yeah, I think there’s going to be a combination of new and old. That could mean that some (SEO & marketing) teams need to get retooled or new people need to be added. It could mean that agencies will have to upgrade those practices and I’ve already seen some agencies in the SEO world start to do that. I think serving existing demand is going to long-term not be as exciting as creating more demand.

November 30, 2021
Google Cloud Retail Search to Address $300 Billion E-Commerce Search Abandonment

Google is trying to help the e-commerce industry address a $300 billion abandonment issue with Google Cloud Retail Search.

According to Inc. search abandonment — where a user searches for a product but doesn’t click through to the results — costs the e-commerce industry a whopping $300 billion a year. Google is working to address that with its new tool, which has been in private preview, but is now available to all.

“Search abandonment is a costly industry-wide issue, but for startup founders and small business owners, it can be devastating,” Carrie Tharp, Google Cloud’s vice president of retail and consumer, told Inc. “With Retail Search, we’re able to help convert site traffic to sales and keep startups and small businesses from leaving money on the table.”

The tool brings the power of Google Search to a company’s own sites.

Retailers now have the ability to provide Google-quality search and recommendations on their own digital properties, helping to increase conversions and reduce search abandonment.

Cloud Retail Search should help Google as it continues to fight for cloud market share against its larger rivals, AWS and Microsoft Azure.

October 6, 2021
EU Gives Google Two Months to Clean Up Hotel and Flight Searches

Google has once again earned the ire of the EU, being given two months to clean up its flight and hotel search results before being penalized.

The EU has taken issue with how Google displays the prices for hotels and flights in its search results. The EU’s consumer watchdog agencies want Google to show fees and taxes as part of the final price, as well as clearly identify reference prices that are used in promotional discounts, Reuters reports.

“EU consumers cannot be misled when using search engines to plan their holidays. We need to empower consumers to make their choices based on transparent and unbiased information,” EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said.

Google is being given two months to make the necessary adjustments. If it fails to do so, there may be further discussion and possible sanctions.

August 26, 2021
Brave Search Enters Public Beta

Brave has opened its search engine beta to the world, following an invite-only early access.

Brave made headlines in March when the company announced it was working on its own search engine. Brave has made a name for itself as a privacy-focused company, with its namesake browser consistently winning rave reviews for protecting user privacy.

Needless to say, the company entering the search market could result in a major shakeup of the industry, especially with Brave’s clout and reputation. What makes its entry into the market so interesting is that it purchased Tailcat, an open search engine, to serve as the basis of Brave Search. Most competitors compile results from the top, existing search engines. DuckDuckGo uses this strategy, compiling results from hundreds of sources, in addition to results from its own web crawler.

By using its own web index, Brave Search’s results are independent of the other, Big Tech companies. This puts Brave in the unique position of having one of the only truly independent search engines on the market.

The search engine, while still in beta, is now available to anyone who wants to use it. The company sent an email to early testers today, informing them the beta was now open to the public.

Brave Search Email

As one of the early beta testers, I have been using Brave for weeks now and the results have been impressive. Compared to Bing or Google, Brave’s results are easily as comprehensive, although it sometimes offers even better prioritization of those results, in terms of relevance.

Add in a focus on privacy that is second to none, and I plan to continue using the search engine on a regular basis, and probably as my default — and you should too if you value your privacy.

Give Brave Search at search.brave.com.

August 22, 2021
Google Launches Search Console Insights

Google has officially launched Search Console Insights for all users.

Search Console Insights is designed to help webmasters, writers and content creators gain better insights into how their content is resonating with users. The new feature can also show where viewers/readers are coming from, including what people were searching for before landing on content.

Google made the announcement on its blog.

This experience joins data from both Search Console and Google Analytics with a goal of making it easy to understand your content’s performance. Whether you are a web content creator, blogger, or a website owner, and independent of your technical expertise, it can provide you with an overview and helpful insights on how your content is performing. This new experience will gradually be rolled out to all Search Console users in the upcoming days.

The new feature doesn’t require an Analytics account although, obviously, it will provide more insights with one.

July 30, 2021
Google Brings Free Retail Listings to Google Search

Google has announced that it is bringing free retail listings to the main Google Search results page.

The move follows Google’s decision to primarily include free listings on the Google Shopping tab. According to Bill Ready President of Commerce, that move resulted in a significant uptick in engagement between customers and merchants. This would seem to indicate that people are having better success finding what they’re looking for.

“Sellers of all sizes are benefitting from this incremental traffic, particularly small and medium-sized businesses,” writes Ready. “And we already see that these changes will help generate billions of dollars in sales for retailers and brands in the U.S., on an annual basis.

“Now, we’re bringing free listings to the main Google Search results page in the U.S., helping shoppers choose the products and sellers that will serve them best, from the widest variety of options.”

Given the impact the pandemic has had on the retail industry, this move will certainly help small and medium-sized businesses connect with more customers online.

November 11, 2020
What if Bing Became the Free Speech Search Engine?

Bing has a real opportunity to gain market share on Google for the first time in years. Half the country believes that Google is slanting its algorithm and search results to favor its own politics and ideology. There certainly is a lot of evidence for that. What if Microsoft’s Bing started marketing itself as the free speech search engine? Their TV ads could literally show competing search results between Google and Bing to prove that Google has a point of view. It would be the Pepsi vs. Coke of the digital age.

The public would eat this up. They are tired of mega tech companies trying to control information and manipulate us. Bing could take advantage of this by proving that they are the neutral search engine. They are the search engine that is merely showing the results based on a pure algorithm, not their political point of view. No one really wants their information filtered or sanitized by big brother. If Bing made this their marketing message they could gain significant market share.

After all, search shouldn’t be about ideology or political correctness or only the mainstream media. Search results should be based on non-political factors only. Tech behemoths shouldn’t determine what fake news is and then proceed to delete that news from top search results. That is subjective and leans toward groupthink, which is often wrong. Let the people decide what is real news. Many would say that Google has gone too far in “protecting” us by promoting certain viewpoints and not showing politically incorrect speech. Why would they do that? It certainly doesn’t make business sense.

This is why Bing has an opportunity to rapidly grow market share by becoming the search engine for all people of all stripes. Bing should announce that it is the free speech search engine that will display search results without inserting its political bias. It should say that it isn’t going to attempt to combat fake news because that is far too often a subjective exercise and is anti-free speech. Bing should say that it welcomes news sources from both the right and left, not just the mainstream media. If Bing became the Free Speach Search Engine, it could force Google to change.

Let the free speech search engine wars begin!

July 26, 2019
4 Inbound Marketing Tactics to Use for Your B2B Company

According to a new study by the Pew Research Center, eight out of 10 Americans now shop online. This means that the traditional ways of marketing—cold calls, trade shows, TV, radio—are not as effective as they used to be. In fact, more companies are now turning to inbound marketing to generate leads and close deals.

To stay ahead of your competition, it’s now essential to have a good inbound marketing strategy in place. Here are four B2B marketing tactics you should be using right now:

1. Create and Curate

Useful and well-written content is a powerful weapon in B2B marketing. Posting long-format articles and discussing issues more deeply attracts more visits to your website and leads to higher conversions. A study by Moz showed a distinct correlation between social shares and content length.

According to the data, readers love this type of content and are more likely to share it.

You should also post articles to your blog more frequently. A Hubspot report showed that businesses that blogged 10 or more times a month enjoyed three times more traffic than those that blog only once a month.

And, you can continue to reap the benefits of your old blog posts for years to come. Assuming that they’re good, consider repurposing older posts to generate more organic traffic by sending the content to your email list or posting them on social media.

However, creating good content takes time and effort, and sometimes a company might not have enough manpower to handle this. No need to worry, though, as curating content will work just fine. It’s a strategy that some marketers have used very effectively. Content curation involves sourcing content that is already on the web and organizing it in a meaningful way for your audience. Curating helps add new content to your site, builds value, converts readers, and helps generate traffic.

2. Collaborate With People Who Matter

Connecting and collaborating with experts and influencers creates more opportunities for your brand to be shared with a bigger market.

Look for authorities or influencers in your niche and reach out to them. Discuss how working together will benefit all parties involved. Invite an influencer to host a podcast, write a guest blog or take over your social media page for a day. This will add more quality content to your site and boost awareness of your brand.

3. Get Video Ready

Scientific research shows that most people process the information they see 60,000 times faster than what they read. So it’s a good idea to incorporate videos and eye-catching graphics in your marketing strategy.

In 2017, video became the most popular type of content on social media, and the demand for it will only continue to rise among consumers. Because of this, more companies are using the medium to showcase their product, disseminate information, teach consumers, and reach prospective clients.

Don’t forget other visuals like infographics and slides. Infographics have become popular over the last few years because they are an effective way of communicating a lot of data within a short time. These visuals are also easy to share and can be used to recycle your content and make them fresh and engaging.

4. Improve Your Site’s Speed and Load Time

A fast website is crucial for any business. People prefer sites that have a quick loading time. Studies have shown that consumers are only willing to wait three seconds for a page to load. Any slower and they are highly likely to abandon the site and search elsewhere. Plus, Google also takes into account the site’s speed in their rankings. So if you want to keep your visitors and rank high in search engines, make sure your website is optimized for speed.

Consumers today know what they want and how to get it. If you want to capture their attention, you have to step up your inbound marketing game. Adding visuals and writing longer posts are simple tactics but they can go a long way in generating leads and traffic.

[Featured image via Pixabay]

September 20, 2018
4 Snapchat Marketing Tips to Help You Rise Above Your Competition

Compared to the larger social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, Snapchat is a bit like The Little Engine That Could. That’s because it’s been underestimated by numerous brands and marketers alike. They dismiss Snapchat as a viable advertising tool because of its reputation for being a purely social platform, used mostly by teenagers and young adults. But the image-sharing app has the potential to generate leads and keep profits rolling in.

In the first quarter of 2018, Snapchat reported 191 million active daily users—that’s a lot of potential customers. One survey also showed that 86 percent of the platform’s users fall into the 13 to 37 age group and more than seven billion videos were viewed on it daily in 2016.

Despite these numbers, businesses are still not overly fond of Snapchat. A Clutch and Smart Insights study found that only 21 percent of businesses have Snapchat accounts. Compare that to the 89 percent of companies that are on Facebook, 80 percent on Twitter, and 56 percent on Instagram.

But this means that brands have fewer rivals and more room to maneuver on Snapchat. The platform is also evolving continuously, changing its user interface, featuring Stories for up to 24 hours, and adding eCommerce features. It’s also gaining popularity among older users as the teens who started using Snapchat when it launched in 2011 are becoming working adults.

Savvy marketers know that Snapchat can be a powerful tool for rising above the competition. Here are four tips to help you tap into the benefits of Snapchat:

1. Concentrate on a Younger Audience

Snapchat developer Snap Inc. designed the multimedia messaging app for teenagers. Recent data has shown that the company is doing a great job of keeping their young demographic engaged. A Pew Research Center study revealed that 78 percent of the respondents between 18 to 24-years-old are using the app. Meanwhile, only 45 percent of the same demographic use Twitter.

You can leave your competition in the dust by learning how to catch the attention of younger consumers. While a carefully worded call-to-action can be effective, creating an intriguing story or using entertaining filters in your Snap can exceedingly better.

In 2016, Taco Bell rolled out a comical Snap filter that turned the user’s head into a giant taco. The Cinco de Mayo promotion generated a whopping 224 million views. Now, image how that type of attention could change your business.

2. Launch Products and Push Promos

Snapchat has a high engagement rate. As a matter of fact, it gets almost 4 times higher engagement than Instagram. This makes it a great place to launch your latest products or to push promos. Makeup brand NARS launched their new product line to great success on the platform. The company drummed up excitement by giving followers a quick look at their new line. Snapchat allows you to create short, informal videos that look unpolished but relatable to more users.

3. Collaborate With Influencers

Influencer marketing is a very effective strategy. Companies can draw in a big audience because their content will be viewed by followers of the brand and that of the influencer. It’s a quick way of develop a large following in a short amount of time.

One company who successfully leveraged an influencer’s popularity was Audi. The car manufacturer partnered up with the popular show Pretty Little Liars and quickly amassed 115,000 followers on its Snapchat account.

You can also have an influencer take over your Snapchat account and make posts on your behalf for a specific time frame. For instance, music producer Pharrell once took over one of the Adidas events.

4. Keep Followers Interested Longer

Snapchat is all about drawing people in and engaging them. You’ll have better sales results the longer people stay on your page or account. Other social network platforms keep followers engaged by having them take additional steps, like clicking on a link to send them to another website.

Snapchat keeps followers interested much longer because they have integrated eCommerce features in the app itself. For instance, users can use the app to call people, make dinner reservations, grab an Uber, or explore brands and their locations.

With its impressively high engagement levels, business-friendly features and low competition from other brands, incorporating Snapchat into your marketing strategy could prove to be a worthwhile investment.

[Featured image via Pixabay]

September 10, 2018
7 Pinterest Marketing Tools You Should Be Using in 2018

Every year, millions of new websites are launched, and they’re directly or indirectly competing for the same visitors you are. That makes driving traffic your website, increasingly more difficult. Even major social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are having trouble generating organic reach. But that doesn’t seem to be a problem with Pinterest.

Pinterest has become more than just a visual search platform. It’s more of a search engine now where prospective customers go to look for products. Statistics have revealed that 93 percent of account holders use the platform to plan what they want to buy while 50 percent have actually bought something after seeing a Promoted Pin. And with 20 million monthly users, it makes sense for marketers to take advantage of Pinterest’s power.

These seven marketing tools are among the best for helping generate more website traffic with Pinterest in 2018:

1. Canva

You need captivating images if you want people to notice your Pins, and Canva is just the design software to help you achieve this. Canva offers ready to use Pinterest Pin templates with a variety of layouts to choose from. The layouts are customizable, so you can easily change the font, text, and background image. You can also add more graphics or take out elements that don’t fit with your vision or website theme. You can use the app for free and just purchase new images or assets for $1. However, a paid version will give you more designs and photos to choose from, as well as the option of saving your logo or brand to make designing a board go quicker.

2. Hootsuite

Hootsuite makes it possible for you to create boards, make a publishing schedule, and post pins directly to Pinterest from its dashboard. You can also manage several accounts using this tool, making it easier and safer for your team since you’re just using one secure workflow. This full integration on a single dashboard saves time and makes it easier to reach a wider audience.

3. PicMonkey

Eye-catching images are what sets Pinterest apart from other social platforms. Retailers and service-based companies will have more impact on this platform if they use a visual format for their content. PicMonkey is an online image editor that can help with designing and editing your brand’s images so that simple shots become more compelling. You can give photos a quick touch-up, resize images, create image quotes, and overlay photos with text. More importantly, it’s free so you won’t even need to hire a digital artist or invest in Photoshop.

4. PinFollow

You need a lot of followers to establish your brand’s credibility, influence, and popularity. One way to get more followers on Pinterest is to follow other Pinners and hope they will do the same. PinFollow will help you weed out which Pinners are not following you so you can unfollow these accounts. This will streamline your list and leave you with more loyal followers.

5. PinGroupie

One of the fastest ways to make connections on this social media platform is through groups, but finding the right group board to join is tricky. PinGroupie helps you establish the best Pinterest Group Boards for your brand. This tool lists live group boards, allowing you to reach out to the owners and see if they are willing to let you join or contribute to the board. PinGroupie also has an industry sorting feature that you can use to check what kind of content other brands are offering and see if there’s anything unique that you can provide.

6. Pinterest Analytics

This tool provides Pinterest users with the basic metrics about their Pins, like reach, impressions, and what people save from their website. It also shows how much traffic your site receives and indicates what your customers want. It’s very simple to use; just click on the stats icon on your Pins to get an overview of the essential metrics. You can use the tool to improve your marketing strategy and come up with ways to get more clicks, saves, and impressions.

7. Tailwind

Tailwind is one of the most essential tools you need to successfully market on Pinterest. This analytics and campaign management tool will help you do everything, from scheduling the content you need published, to pinpointing your most influential followers to determining the most popular pins. It can also monitor your competitors and track the engagements on your account. What’s more, it seamlessly integrates with Google Analytics.

[Featured image via Pixabay]

August 27, 2018
5 Things You Should Know About Marketing to Baby Boomers

Millennials have been on the radar of most marketers the past few years. While this is a large and potentially lucrative demographic, the most powerful group, at least when it comes to spending, is still the baby boomers.

Marketers understand that about 70 million people from this generation will be entering retirement over the next ten years. However, there are things that make baby boomers unique. For one, they are an affluent group and retirement gives them a lot of free time to shop and flex their spending powers. According to Forbes, boomers will inherit about $13 trillion over the next 20 years.

Companies should then be adjusting their marketing tactics to reach this large group of consumers. Here are five things you should know about marketing to baby boomers:

1. Baby Boomers Don’t Like to be Called ‘Old’

Just because baby boomers are mostly retired doesn’t mean they want to sit home and watch TV all day. Many people of this generation have the financial means and the desire to pursue the activities they didn’t get the chance to do when they were raising kids or part of the workforce. These retirees plan to travel to exotic locations, go on safaris, and skydive. While the marketing tactics you’ll need to use to get their attention may be different from other demographics, don’t assume that certain products and services won’t appeal to them just because of their age.

2. Baby Boomers Enjoy Reading Good Copy

Marketers should remember that baby boomers enjoy reading, so using trendy acronyms or Internet shorthand on ad copy will not be appreciated. Boomers want to see information clearly printed out, so don’t be afraid of old-school, text-heavy advertising methods.

A better approach for this generation is copy that’s straightforward, instead of today’s creative bells and whistles. Ad copy for boomers should address every possible question they might have. All the relevant answers and details should be included in direct mail ads, brochures, and on websites.

3. Baby Boomers Don’t Like to be Rushed

Aside from being more receptive to traditional marketing styles, baby boomers are also very careful when making purchases. Unlike the more flighty millennials, boomers consider each purchase an investment and will take time to study every product before making a decision. Their static budgets also mean this group is more careful about spending outside their limits.

Boomers need to trust the brand. They need to fully understand the product, identify with other users and develop a rapport with the seller before making a purchase. While salespeople and marketers might be able to close a deal with a younger demographic with just one or two calls or emails, they would probably take a longer time handling senior consumers.

4. Baby Boomers Prefer a Personal Touch

Retirees have more free time on their hands which makes them more inclined to have lengthier social interactions with family, friends, neighbors and even salespeople. This opens a singular opportunity for a sales team to create sincere relationships with these potential clients.

Sales teams should be prepared to invest time with a boomer. After all, the person at the other end has the luxury of time and willingness to listen and absorb your product’s features and value.

5. Baby Boomers are Tech Savvy

Marketers should remember that baby boomers grew up with technology. This generation has made use of a plethora of different technologies since the introduction of the first black-and-white television set. This makes them unintimidated by more recent technologies like the internet or social media. In fact, the baby boomer generation spends as much time online as they do watching television. Studies show that 96% of baby boomers use search engines, 95% use email, and 92% shop for products and services online instead of shopping in stores and shopping malls.

Graphic via dmn3.com

Statistics also show that baby boomers are the fastest growing age demographic on Facebook, with an 80% rise in users between 2010 and 2014. By marketing your business to this generation through the web or social media platforms, you increase your chances to interact and do business with them.

December 20, 2017
Machine Learning and It’s Impact on Search

The terms machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) have been cropping up more often when it comes to organic and paid search. Now a recent report by Acquisio has confirmed just how effective machine learning is for search results.

According to Acquisio, paid search accounts that have been optimised for machine learning have 71% higher conversion rates and have lower cost-per-click (CPC). But these were not the only benefits that accounts using machine learning enjoyed. The web marketing company also revealed these accounts were also able to reach their target spending levels and had lower churn rates.

The data implies that small marketing teams and CMOs now stand on an even playing field with more established companies now that ML is more affordable, effective and accessible to everyone.

This doesn’t mean that marketers should ignore organic search and original, value-laden content. Paid search might be the easiest way to rank high in search engines, particularly since AI will be doing the bulk of the work, developing campaigns that have greater odds of being seen by the right searchers at the proper time. However, organic search is more authentic and will last longer than paid searches.

The goal now is to understand how ML impacts the search system and how to take advantage of the technology’s evolution that made paid and organic searches more effective.

Paid vs Organic Search: Which Wins in the End?

There’s been an ongoing debate as to which is better – paid or organic searches. Interestingly, both have come out on top, but at different times and conditions. The results have depended on the type of research done and other outside factors. For instance, a study conducted in 2011 showed that organic search was more effective. However, paid search has outpaced its counterpart from 2013 onwards. But this appears to be due to the changes Google has made to its algorithm.

So which is better? Andy Taylor, the Associate Director of Research at Merkle, believes that flexibility is the best option. Instead of just sticking to one approach, companies should determine what search strategy is ideal for their business at the moment and the technology that’s currently available. After all, the ideal marketing strategy for your company now will probably change in a few months as customers change their expectations and technologies expand.

Machine Learning is Changing More Than Search

The rise of machine learning has also resulted in a shift to data-driven models instead of the conventional attribution models. This multi-touch attribution model (MTA) relies on an analytics scale that’s more descriptive and takes into account various touchpoint outputs, like ad interactions, ad creative, or exposure order. It also allows marketers to have a better understanding of how factors, like a distinct set of keywords and ad words, can affect a conversion.

But it’s not just search capacities that machine learning has an impact on. The technology is also being used to refine and make algorithm changes. It has been theorized that Google’s RankBrain utilizes machine learning to assess if the company has to revise its own rankings based on what the consumer searches for and whether the user was satisfied with the result.

Machine Learning Will Push for More Sophisticated Content

Because machine learning technology is developing more advanced SEM capacities and sophisticated algorithms, search engines are pushing marketers and content producers to deliver more refined content. This would eventually lead to search engines becoming more discerning to the quality of online content a company is putting out. This means producing high-quality content that particularly targets what the consumer is looking for becomes more vital than ever before.

Machine learning and AI are impacting every aspect of marketing. Companies should start understanding them and how to utilize ML-optimized tools effectively in their marketing campaigns.

December 7, 2017
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for Your Startup

Launching a startup is exciting for entrepreneurs, especially in this day and age where technology has made doing business easier and more efficient than ever before. Technology has opened up a ton of marketing methods that allow you to sell your products and services and build your brand. These days, a startup may be able to bypass traditional marketing tactics via print and TV but most will need to utilize a digital marketing strategy to reel in and retain customers.

If you have noticed the term “digital marketing” being used more often recently, it’s because this is the engine that drives today’s businesses, big and small. Digital marketing uses digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also mobile phones and other digital mediums to reach customers. According to Google, companies that use digital marketing strategies have 2.8 times better revenue growth expectancy than those that don’t. This is because customers rely heavily on the internet when it comes to making purchasing decisions.

With all the opportunities that exist online, startups should be asking the following questions: what are the digital marketing activities that require low investment but let you reap maximum benefits, and how can you create a digital marketing plan for your startup? Here are some useful insights to help you in creating a digital marketing strategy that will bring you closer to your goals.

Establish Brand & Web Presence

In creating a digital marketing plan, it is crucial to define a category for your product or service and map out its key benefits. Ask yourself this, “who is my customer and what exactly should they buy from me?” This is a necessary step in order to structure the right look and feel for your brand, from the name, logo, URL address, and others. You can then apply it to your digital marketing strategies.

Next is to establish your web presence. At least 80 percent of consumers use the internet to make their search for information more convenient. Create not just a functional website for your brand but also one that is accessible in multiple platforms including smartphones, tablets, and Smart devices.

Blog, Digital PR & SEO Marketing

Part of digital marketing is promoting brands and services through one or more forms of electronic media. This means you will need a rich blog site, a Facebook fan page, and a Twitter account at a minimum. Some businesses even create an Instagram account. These channels allow you to regularly communicate with your customers. Whatever it is you share on your profile, your followers will see, increasing brand visibility and retention.

Blogging should also be part of your plan. Around 53% of marketers say that blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority. Why not, when it is one of the best ways to increase traffic to your site. To further support your web presence and social media activities, you will need to plan out your digital public relation efforts, which include techniques like crowdsourcing. This will allow you to monitor your online reputation.

Digital marketing won’t be complete without incorporating search-engine optimization (SEO) and link building strategies. The main goal is to top the rankings in the search results when a customer types in keywords associated to your business. Early-stage companies should start with the on-page optimization of their site. Combine it with a strong social media presence, an engaging company blog, and strategic keywords and you’re looking at a plan that has a high potential for success.

Online Advertising for Greater Exposure

Lastly, your digital marketing plan should include the development of an effective online advertising program. Startups can take advantage of Google AdWords since it’s cost effective, flexible, and results-oriented. It is also highly-scalable, as it allows you to measure traffic to your site. You will know in real time what is or is not working for your online business. Thus, you will be able to find immediate solutions to improve your results.

Technological advancement has enabled more consumers to rely on handheld devices, web searches, and other online tools to make purchasing decisions. In today’s startup industry, you need to be competitive for your brand to be a hit. Get into the trend with digital marketing solutions. If you are not the strongest marketer, you can hire a professional outside of your organization.

July 26, 2017
Ways to Effectively Promote Your Business With Video Marketing

From search engine optimization, the next evolution of online marketing is video. While mobile phones and social media are invaluable, they have created a generation with a relatively short attention span. A one-minute clip can explain a topic more than a three-page thesis can.

This is probably why 70% of businesses that use video marketing for their ad campaigns have reported an increase in the amount of traffic to their sites. In fact, people tend to be more patient watching a video than sitting down to read text. According to statistics, the average length of an internet video is 2.7 minutes. Imagine what you can do with uninterrupted audience attention in that amount of time?

Facebook knows full well the value of video marketing. A staggering eight billion videos are being watched on the social media platform every day. And 45% of people worldwide spend more than an hour every week on Facebook or YouTube watching videos.

A video is much more likely to go viral in a short amount of time compared to written content or photos. In terms of organic reach, a clip is 135% better than photos.

But what type of video marketing should your company make? Here are some suggestions:

Company Information – This could also be your About Us video. In this clip, you should be able to sum up what your company is all about. Apart from being short—a maximum of five minutes would be ideal—your video should exude fun to retain the interest of your audience.

Employee Profiles – BuzzFeed is a great example of a company that includes its employees in their videos. As a result, they have developed their own respective fanbases. Customers also feel that they are part of the company after getting to know each staff member.

Raising Awareness – Another good use of video marketing is to educate your customers regarding the industry that you are a part of. It doesn’t matter if you belong in petrochemicals, education, or engineering. One example of useful content is to correct common misconceptions about the industry, or to educate them regarding your product.

Recruitment – If you are recruiting, video marketing would be a good platform to tell potential applicants what you are looking for. In this short clip, you should be able to share your company culture and vision. Another idea is to take a video of new recruits expressing their expectations for the company and why they applied for a job in the first place.

Virtual Tour – A virtual tour will give your customers the opportunity to view your business establishment or facilities. A short introduction of the employees and description about who does what will also be helpful.

Message From the CEO or Top Execs – It doesn’t have to be profound. Even a simple greeting during the holidays would be a great idea for a video marketing campaign. More than anything, this will present a “human face” to your company. People are always in awe of the CEO, but by letting people see that he or she is human like everybody else, it will make your business more relatable.

Video marketing is your best tool for rising above all of the social media noise. Of course, this means you may have to outsource this job to professionals. You can expect to pay somewhere between $1,000 to $5,000 per video minute for a low-cost option.

For small businesses, video productions will more likely be DIY clips, which can save an enormous amount of money. The good news is the huge number of downloadable apps online that you can have for free. With these programs, you can edit your clips for a more professional-looking video marketing campaign.

June 15, 2017
Don’t Overlook Voice Search in Your Online Marketing Campaign

The popularity of voice-activated smart assistants is gaining traction, especially with Apple hopping on the bandwagon with its Siri speaker due to be released soon. This is why businesses should include voice search in their online marketing campaign, rather than focus solely on text-based searches.

In fact, voice search marketing is described as the new norm, which would have been unheard of just five years ago. One major factor is the increasing efficiency of machine-learning technology in finding user patterns to anticipate their needs.

For instance, Amazon’s Alexa is billed to be capable of performing over 12,000 tasks, which is why it’s still the undisputed king in this increasingly competitive industry.

A Different Beast

In the past six months, 40% of mobile users have tried voice commands in asking questions or searching for products and services. Analysts believe this number will only continue to rise until such time when people won’t even be able to imagine how they survived without voice-activated apps in the first place, similar to how they feel about mobile phones today.

When it reaches this critical mass, Google will surely introduce an update to its algorithm that will take into account voice search in order to rank your page.

Voice search use among smartphone users in the U.S., as of October 2015*

For marketers, this would be an entirely different beast altogether. Whereas text-related keyword searches are much easier to document, recording how many people are looking for “best pulled pork sandwiches, Lexington, KY” using voice search will be a tall feat.

This will really turn the search engine optimization dynamic—which is the direct result of years of honing and polishing—up on its head.

Better Results

Unlike text queries, voice search will yield more accurate results. It basically pulls down the curtains, allowing internet users to skip one step. Instead of searching for “pulled pork sandwiches,” they can just go ahead and order the food from the best restaurant based on customer and critic reviews.

Instead of searching for a particular song you can’t get out of your head, it may be possible in the future to hum the lyrics and the smart speaker will play the whole song for you. This brings convenience to a whole new level, unlike in text searches where you have to choose and phrase your words in a specific manner to get the most relevant results—and still having to go to that particular website to order food.

Here are some quick tips to cope with the changes from text to voice search marketing:

Mobile Optimization – As voice search apps are gradually perfected, mobile optimization will become even more crucial. Website built with Flash will need to be redesigned and all websites will need to be responsive. Marketers will need to advise their clients of this major shift from traditional search to voice search. Another way to optimize the mobile experience is to make sure that their sites load fast. There’s no faster way to lose customers than a website that takes forever to display.

Snippets – In voice searches, snippets are short descriptions about the company or the brand. This gives the users a little bit of information before they move along or move forward. Using traditional SEO techniques, you will need to optimize so you end up high on the search engine results page for snippets.

Long-Tail Keywords – Voice search is different from text search in the sense that internet users will often talk normally as they would in a conversation, as opposed to using key phrases or keywords when they type on Google. This is where long-tail keywords are crucial because you can still reach your target market even with this major shift in the way people do their search.

June 8, 2017
How Social Media Marketing Improves Your Google Rank
In boosting your search engine ranking, it’s almost criminal to exclude social media marketing, especially given its pervasive presence online.

Last year, nearly 70% of people worldwide used social media in one form or another. Also in 2016, 2.34 billion people had a social media presence, and stats predict that this will increase to 2.67 billion by next year.

Number of social media users worldwide from 2010 to 2020 (in billions)

It’s not clear how Google really gauges social media when it comes to ranking websites. That’s understandable, considering the search engine has always been very secretive about its algorithms. What’s clear at this point, however, is that social media does help in driving traffic to your site, albeit indirectly.

The correlation can be found in the top ranking websites, which also have very strong social media signals. So even if Google says that social media shares don’t really count as one link, a large volume should account for something.

Below are just some of the ways social media marketing can boost rankings:

Cultivates Relationships With Customers

Social media provides an easy platform where businesses can directly interact with their customers. More than superficial interaction, it actually allows you to develop a relationship with your clientele. Successful use of social media even gives the power to the consumers to dictate how product value is offered. It’s not just about numbers, but rather making them feel that they have a stake in the company. Cultivating your customers through social media will drive more traffic to your site, resulting in a better ranking on Google.

Links to Your Website

The main purpose of social media is to raise awareness of your product or service. The main goal of Google, meanwhile, is to give the most relevant result when users submit a query. Posting your web address on your social media page—and asking your customers to share it—will also drive traffic to your website.

Businesses are always trying to figure out where their customers are, especially if their websites fail to get traffic even when they have existed for quite some time. Social media offers a ready customer base, with its almost three billion population. The trick is how to harness it.

Means to an End

You should keep in mind that social media is just a means to an end, as Google doesn’t really recognize any of it in its search engine results page (SERP). Knowing this, it’s important for you to make great content that can possibly go viral. YouTube, in fact, has become the battleground for marketers to create the next viral video. It may not directly lead traffic to your website, but it does make for perfect brand recall. Of course, knowing the attention span of Millennials, you’ll need to routinely churn out great content to be effective.

In sum, just remember these simple steps to boost your Google rank with social media.
- First, create an account on social media—particularly the big four of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube—which can help drive traffic to your website.
- Second, fill your social media account with great content, with proper search engine optimization techniques, to make sure Google crawls through the page and indexes it in their search engine results page.
- Third, make sure that the viewers or readers can see the share button to make it easy for them to post your content on their own social media accounts. Afterward, just wash, rinse, and repeat.
Customers, however, are not as keen to forgive on social media, as compared to websites, when the company fails to respond immediately. As such, it’s best to appoint an administrator tasked to respond to queries or complaints on your social media page so your customers walk away happy. This increases the chances of visitors recommending your business to their families and friends.
June 7, 2017