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22 Jun, 2023
Discover the fascinating world of design psychology and how visual appeal influences user perception and engagement. Uncover the secrets to creating impactful web experiences.
By The Admin Team 05 Mar, 2023
In today's digital age, social media has become an integral part of our lives. People spend countless hours scrolling through social media feeds, liking, commenting, and sharing content. Social media has also become an essential tool for businesses to connect with their audience and promote their products or services. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of social media marketing and how it can benefit your business. Increased Brand Awareness Social media is a great platform to increase brand awareness and reach a wider audience. With billions of active users on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, businesses can reach a large number of people with their content. By creating engaging and shareable content, businesses can increase their brand visibility and attract new customers. Better Customer Engagement Social media provides businesses with an opportunity to connect with their customers on a personal level. Customers can interact with businesses through comments, direct messages, and posts, and businesses can respond to their queries and feedback. By engaging with their customers, businesses can build a loyal customer base and improve customer satisfaction. Targeted Advertising Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow businesses to target their ads to specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. This targeted advertising can lead to better conversion rates and a higher return on investment (ROI). Cost-Effective Marketing Compared to traditional advertising methods like print, TV, or radio ads, social media marketing is relatively low-cost. Businesses can create and promote their content on social media platforms without spending a lot of money. This makes it a cost-effective way to promote products or services and reach a wider audience. Improved SEO Social media can also help businesses improve their search engine rankings . When businesses share their content on social media, they increase the chances of getting backlinks to their website. Backlinks are important for SEO, and businesses with high-quality backlinks are more likely to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). Valuable Customer Insights Social media platforms provide businesses with valuable insights into their customers' behavior and preferences. By analyzing metrics like engagement rates, reach, and impressions, businesses can learn more about their target audience and create content that resonates with them. Competitor Analysis Social media also provides businesses with an opportunity to analyze their competitors' marketing strategies. By following their competitors on social media, businesses can learn about their strengths and weaknesses, and create a strategy that differentiates them from their competitors. Social media marketing is an essential tool for businesses to connect with their audience and promote their products or services. It provides businesses with an opportunity to increase brand awareness, engage with customers, target their ads to specific audiences, and analyze valuable customer insights. By leveraging the power of social media, businesses can improve their digital marketing strategy and grow their business.
By The Admin Team 05 Mar, 2023
In the world of digital marketing , email marketing remains one of the most effective and efficient channels for businesses to engage with their customers. Despite the rise of social media and other digital channels, email marketing continues to offer a high return on investment (ROI) for businesses of all sizes. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of email marketing and provide tips on how to create an effective email marketing campaign. Reach Your Target Audience One of the primary benefits of email marketing is the ability to reach your target audience directly. By building an email list of subscribers who have opted in to receive your messages, you can ensure that your marketing messages are being delivered to people who are interested in what you have to offer. Unlike social media, where algorithms may limit the reach of your posts, email marketing allows you to reach your audience directly and more reliably. Cost-Effective Marketing Another advantage of email marketing is its cost-effectiveness. Compared to other marketing channels, such as print or television advertising, email marketing is relatively inexpensive. There are no printing or postage costs associated with email marketing, and many email marketing platforms offer affordable pricing plans based on the size of your email list. Build Relationships and Customer Loyalty Email marketing allows businesses to build relationships and foster customer loyalty by providing valuable content, promotions, and other incentives. By sending personalized messages that are relevant to the interests and needs of your subscribers, you can create a sense of trust and establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. This, in turn, can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business. Measure Your Results Email marketing platforms offer a range of metrics that allow you to measure the success of your campaigns. By tracking metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, you can gain insights into what is resonating with your audience and make data-driven decisions to improve your future campaigns. Automate Your Marketing Many email marketing platforms offer automation features that allow businesses to create automated email sequences based on subscriber behavior. For example, you can set up a welcome email series for new subscribers or create an abandoned cart email sequence to encourage customers to complete their purchase. This can help streamline your marketing efforts and ensure that your subscribers are receiving timely and relevant messages. Tips for Creating an Effective Email Marketing Campaign Build a Quality Email List The success of your email marketing campaign depends on the quality of your email list. To build a quality list, you should focus on attracting subscribers who are genuinely interested in your products or services. You can do this by offering incentives such as exclusive content, discounts, or free trials. Personalize Your Messages Personalization is key to the success of your email marketing campaigns. By addressing your subscribers by name and sending messages that are tailored to their interests and needs, you can increase the likelihood that they will engage with your messages and take action. Create Compelling Content The content of your emails is critical to their success. Your emails should be visually appealing, easy to read, and provide value to your subscribers. You can do this by including educational content, entertaining videos, or special promotions. Optimize for Mobile With the rise of mobile devices, it's important to ensure that your emails are optimized for mobile viewing. This means using responsive design that adjusts to different screen sizes and ensuring that your content is easy to read and navigate on a small screen. Test and Refine Your Campaigns Finally, it's essential to test and refine your email marketing campaigns regularly. By tracking metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, you can identify what is working and what needs to be improved. By making data-driven decisions, you can continuously optimize your campaigns and improve your ROI. In conclusion, email marketing remains an essential tool for businesses to engage with their customers and drive revenue. By building a quality email list, personalizing your messages, creating compelling content, optimizing for mobile, and testing and refining your campaigns, you can create an effective email marketing strategy that delivers results.
By The Admin Team 05 Mar, 2023
In the world of digital marketing , content is king . Content marketing has become an essential part of any business's marketing strategy, and for a good reason. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of content marketing and provide tips on how to create a successful content marketing strategy. Why is Content Marketing Important? Builds Trust and Credibility Content marketing is an excellent way to establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. By creating high-quality content that educates and informs your audience, you can build trust and credibility with your target audience. When customers trust your brand, they are more likely to become loyal customers. Drives Traffic to Your Website High-quality content can also help drive traffic to your website. When you create content that answers your audience's questions or solves their problems, you are more likely to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This can lead to more organic traffic to your website, which can lead to more leads and sales. Generates Leads and Sales Content marketing can also help generate leads and sales. When you create content that is relevant and valuable to your audience, you can attract potential customers to your website. Once they are on your website, you can use lead magnets like e-books, whitepapers, or webinars to capture their contact information and nurture them into paying customers. Increases Brand Awareness Content marketing can also increase brand awareness. When you create high-quality content and promote it through various channels like social media, email marketing, or influencer marketing, you can reach a wider audience and get more eyes on your brand. This can lead to more brand recognition and ultimately more sales. Tips for Creating a Successful Content Marketing Strategy Define Your Target Audience The first step in creating a successful content marketing strategy is to define your target audience. Who are they? What are their interests and pain points? What motivates them to make a purchase? By understanding your audience, you can create content that resonates with them and drives engagement. Choose Your Content Formats The next step is to choose your content formats. Content can come in many different forms, including blog posts, videos, podcasts, e-books, whitepapers, webinars, and more. You should choose the content formats that align with your audience's preferences and your brand's goals. Create High-Quality Content Once you have chosen your content formats, you need to create high-quality content that educates, entertains, or solves a problem for your target audience. Your content should be well-researched, informative, and well-written. You should also aim to create content that is unique and different from what your competitors are doing. Promote Your Content Creating high-quality content is not enough. You also need to promote your content to get it in front of your target audience. You can promote your content through various channels, including social media, email marketing, influencer marketing, and more. You should also optimize your content for search engines to increase its visibility in SERPs. Measure Your Results Finally, you need to measure your content marketing results to determine what is working and what is not. You can use tools like Google Analytics to track your website traffic, engagement metrics, and conversion rates. You should also analyze your social media metrics to see which content is resonating with your audience and adjust your content strategy accordingly. Content marketing is a vital part of any digital marketing strategy. By creating high-quality content that educates, entertains, or solves a problem for your target audience, you can build trust and credibility, drive traffic to your website, generate leads and sales, and increase brand awareness. By following the tips outlined in this blog post, you can create a successful content marketing strategy.
By The Admin Team 05 Mar, 2023
In our previous blog post , we provided an overview of the different types of digital marketing, including Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) . In this follow-up post, we will delve deeper into the importance of PPC and how it can benefit your business. What is PPC Advertising? PPC advertising is a form of digital advertising where you pay each time a user clicks on your ad. It allows you to target specific keywords and demographics to reach your target audience. Google Ads and Facebook Ads are the two most popular platforms for PPC advertising. Why is PPC Important for Your Business? Targeted Advertising One of the main advantages of PPC advertising is the ability to target specific keywords and demographics. This allows you to reach your target audience with precision and ensures that your ad is seen by the people who are most likely to be interested in your product or service. Measurable Results PPC advertising provides measurable results, allowing you to track your ad's performance and adjust your strategy accordingly. You can track metrics like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and return on investment (ROI) to see how your ad is performing and make data-driven decisions to optimize your campaign. Cost-Effective PPC advertising can be very cost-effective, especially compared to traditional advertising methods like TV or print ads. With PPC, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, which means you're not wasting money on advertising to people who aren't interested in your product or service. Quick Results PPC advertising can deliver quick results, allowing you to see an immediate increase in website traffic, leads, and sales. Unlike SEO, which can take months to see results, PPC advertising can start driving traffic to your website within hours of launching your campaign. Brand Awareness PPC advertising can also be used to increase brand awareness and reach a wider audience. Even if someone doesn't click on your ad, they will still see your brand name and logo, which can help to build brand recognition and credibility. Tips for Running a Successful PPC Campaign Keyword Research Keyword research is a critical step in any successful PPC campaign. You need to identify the keywords that your target audience is searching for and create ads that are relevant to those keywords. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to research keywords and their search volume. Compelling Ad Copy Your ad copy should be compelling and encourage users to click on your ad. Use attention-grabbing headlines, clear calls-to-action, and highlight the benefits of your product or service. Your ad should also be relevant to the keyword and landing page it's linking to. Landing Page Optimization Your landing page is where users will be directed after clicking on your ad. Make sure your landing page is relevant to the ad and includes a clear call-to-action. It should also be optimized for conversions, with clear and concise content, easy navigation, and a user-friendly design. Budget Management Set a budget for your PPC campaign and monitor your spending closely. Make sure you're getting a good return on investment and adjust your budget as necessary to optimize your campaign. A/B Testing A/B testing involves creating two versions of an ad or landing page and testing them to see which one performs better. This can help you optimize your campaign and improve your results over time. In conclusion, PPC advertising is an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. It allows you to reach your target audience with precision, deliver quick results, and provide measurable results. With the right strategy and execution, PPC advertising can help you increase website traffic, generate leads, and boost sales for your business.
By The Admin Team 05 Mar, 2023
In our previous blog post , we briefly touched on the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a critical part of any digital marketing strategy. In this follow-up post, we'll dive deeper into why SEO is so essential and provide some tips on how to optimize your website for search engines. Why SEO is Important Increased Website Traffic The primary goal of SEO is to increase your website's visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). By optimizing your website for relevant keywords, you can rank higher in search results and drive more organic traffic to your site. Organic traffic refers to visitors who find your site through a search engine, rather than through paid advertising or other means. Improved User Experience SEO is not just about optimizing your website for search engines; it's also about providing a great user experience. A well-optimized website is easy to navigate, loads quickly, and provides valuable content to users. By improving the user experience, you can increase engagement and reduce bounce rates, which can lead to higher rankings in search results. Increased Credibility and Trust When your website ranks higher in search results, it can improve your credibility and trust with potential customers. Users are more likely to trust websites that appear at the top of search results, as they see them as more authoritative and trustworthy. By optimizing your website for search engines, you can build trust with potential customers and establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. Cost-Effective Marketing Compared to other forms of digital marketing, SEO is relatively cost-effective. While there are some costs associated with hiring an SEO professional or investing in SEO tools, the long-term benefits of increased traffic and improved user experience can outweigh the costs. Unlike paid advertising, which requires ongoing investment, SEO can provide long-term benefits with minimal ongoing investment. Tips for Optimizing Your Website for SEO Conduct Keyword Research Keyword research is the process of identifying the keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for. By identifying these keywords, you can optimize your website's content to rank higher in search results. Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to identify relevant keywords for your business. Optimize Your Website's Content Once you have identified relevant keywords, you need to optimize your website's content to include those keywords. However, it's important to avoid keyword stuffing, as this can actually hurt your SEO efforts. Instead, focus on creating high-quality content that includes relevant keywords in a natural and engaging way. Improve Your Website's User Experience As we mentioned earlier, user experience is an essential part of SEO. To improve your website's user experience, focus on improving site speed, optimizing for mobile devices, and creating easy-to-use navigation menus. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to identify areas for improvement. Build High-Quality Backlinks Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. They are an essential part of SEO, as they signal to search engines that other websites consider your content valuable and authoritative. To build high-quality backlinks, focus on creating high-quality content that other websites will want to link to. You can also reach out to other websites in your industry and ask them to link to your content. Monitor Your SEO Performance Finally, it's essential to monitor your website's SEO performance regularly. Use tools like Google Analytics or Ahrefs to track your website's traffic, rankings, and backlinks. By monitoring your SEO performance, you can identify areas for improvement and adjust your strategy accordingly. Conclusion SEO is a critical part of any digital marketing strategy. By optimizing your website for search engines, you can increase your website's visibility, improve user experience, build credibility and trust, and drive more organic traffic to your site.
By The Admin Team 05 Mar, 2023
Digital marketing is a term that refers to any form of marketing that utilizes digital channels and technologies to reach and engage with customers. As more and more consumers spend time online, digital marketing has become an essential part of any business's marketing strategy . In this blog post, we will explore the different types of digital marketing and provide tips on how to create an effective digital marketing strategy. Types of Digital Marketing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords. It involves a combination of on-page and off-page optimization techniques to improve your website's visibility in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. On-page optimization includes optimizing your website's content, structure, and code to make it easier for search engines to crawl and index. Off-page optimization includes building high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites, social media marketing, and other techniques to improve your website's authority and relevance. Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) PPC is a form of digital advertising where you pay each time a user clicks on your ad. It allows you to target specific keywords and demographics to reach your target audience. Google Ads and Facebook Ads are the two most popular platforms for PPC advertising. To create a successful PPC campaign, you need to identify your target audience, set a budget, create compelling ad copy, and optimize your campaigns based on performance data. Content Marketing Content marketing involves creating and distributing valuable content to attract and engage your target audience. It can include blog posts, videos, social media posts, infographics, and more. The goal of content marketing is to build trust and establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. To create an effective content marketing strategy, you need to identify your target audience, understand their pain points and interests, create high-quality content, and promote your content through various channels. Email Marketing Email marketing involves sending promotional messages or newsletters to your subscribers' email inbox. It is a highly effective way to nurture leads, promote your products or services, and build customer loyalty. To create an effective email marketing campaign, you need to build a targeted email list, segment your subscribers based on their interests and behavior, create compelling email copy, and measure your campaign's performance. Social Media Marketing Social media marketing involves promoting your brand or products on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. It allows you to engage with your audience, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your website. To create an effective social media marketing strategy, you need to identify which platforms your target audience uses, create compelling content that resonates with your audience, engage with your followers, and measure your social media ROI. Tips for Creating an Effective Digital Marketing Strategy 1. Define Your Goals and Objectives The first step in creating an effective digital marketing strategy is to define your goals and objectives. What do you want to achieve with your digital marketing efforts? Do you want to increase website traffic, generate more leads, or boost sales? Once you have defined your goals, you can develop a strategy that aligns with them. 2. Know Your Target Audience To create a successful digital marketing strategy, you need to understand your target audience. Who are they? What are their interests and pain points? What motivates them to make a purchase? By understanding your audience, you can create content and campaigns that resonate with them. 3. Create High-Quality Content Content is the backbone of any digital marketing strategy. To attract and engage your target audience, you need to create high-quality content that educates, entertains, or solves a problem. Your content should be relevant, informative, and well-written. 4. Optimize for Search Engines SEO is a crucial aspect of digital marketing. Optimizing your website for search engines can increase your visibility and help you reach your target audience. Digital marketing is a crucial aspect of modern business. By incorporating all of these strategies into your digital marketing plan, you can improve your visibility, attract more traffic to your website, and grow your business. Whether you're a small business owner or a large corporation, digital marketing can help you reach your target audience and achieve your business goals.
By Trevor Arilotta 01 Sep, 2018
Forms are the linchpin of all mobile interactions; it stands between the person and what they're looking for. Every day, we use forms for essential online activities. Recall the last time you bought a ticket, booked a hotel room or made a purchase online — most probably those interactions contained a step with filling out a form. Forms are just a means to an end. Users should be able to complete them quickly and without confusion. In this article, you’ll learn practical techniques that will help you design an effective form . What Makes For An Effective Form The primary goal with every form is completion. Two factors have a major impact on completion rate: Perception of complexity The first thing users do when they see a new form is estimate how much time is required to complete it. Users do this by scanning the form. Perception plays a crucial role in the process of estimation. The more complex a form looks, the more likely users will abandon the process. Interaction cost Interaction cost is the sum of efforts — both cognitive and physical — that the users put into interacting with an interface in order to reach their goal. Interaction cost has a direct connection with form usability. The more effort users have to make to complete a form, the less usable the form is. A high interaction cost could be the result of data that is difficult to input, an inability to understand the meaning of some questions, or confusion about error messages. The Components Of Forms A typical form has the following five components: Input Fields These include text fields, password fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, sliders and any other fields designed for user input. Field Labels These tell users what the corresponding input fields mean. Structure This includes the order of fields, the form’s appearance on the page, and the logical connections between different fields. Action Buttons The form will have at least one call to action (the button that triggers data submission). Feedback Feedback notifies the user about the result of an operation. Feedback can be positive (for example, indicating that the form was submitted successfully) or negative (saying something like, “The number you’ve provided is incorrect”). This article covers many aspects related to structure, input fields, labels, action buttons and validation. Most points mentioned in this article have visual do and don’t examples. Input Fields When it comes to form design, the most important thing a designer can do is to minimize the need for typing. Reducing input effort is essential. Designers can achieve this goal by focusing on form field design. Minimize the total number of fields Every field you ask users to fill out requires some effort. The more effort is needed to fill out a form, the less likely users will complete the form. That’s why the foundational rule of form design is shorter is better — get rid of all inessential fields. Baymard Institute analyzed checkout forms and found that a too long or too complicated checkout process is one of the top reasons for abandonment during checkout. The study found that the average checkout contains almost 15 form fields. Most online services could reduce the number of fields displayed by default by 20 to 60%. Many designers are familiar with the “less is more” rule; still, they ask additional questions in an attempt to gather more data about their users. It might be tempting to collect more data about your users during the initial signup, but resist that temptation. Think about it this way: With every additional field you add to your form, you increase the chance of losing a prospective user. Is the information you gain fro m a field worth losing new users? Remember that, as long as you’ve collected a user’s contact information, you can always follow up with a request for more data. Clearly distinguish all optional fields Before optimizing optional fields, ask yourself whether you really need to include them in your form. Think about what information you really need, not what you want. Ideally, the number of optional fields in your form should be zero. If after a brainstorming session, you still want to include a few optional questions in your form, make it clear for users that those fields are optional: Mark optional fields instead of mandatory ones. If you ask as little as possible, then the vast majority of fields in your form will be mandatory. Therefore, mark only those fields in the minority. For instance, if five out of six fields are mandatory, then it makes sense to mark only one field as optional. Use the “Optional” label to denote optional fields. Avoid using the asterisk (*) to mean “optional.” Not all users will associate the asterisk with optional information, and some users will be confused by the meaning (an asterisk is often used to denote mandatory fields).
By Trevor Arilotta 04 Jan, 2018
Today, when searching for information about a business, you are very likely to get your answer within the search results. Whether you’re looking for the phone number for Starbucks Customer Service, the weather in Chicago, or information about cupcakes, you search, and “bam!”, there’s the answer, without you needing to even click through to a website. See what I mean below...  McDonalds Customer Service Phone Number
By Trevor Arilotta 19 Oct, 2017
Recap In the last post we discussed advertising on social media to attain the broadest reach. Now, in the final part of this series, we are going to discuss the most difficult, and perhaps most important part of social media marketing - patience. Know your end goal Before we jump in I want to add some context to this conversation. In this series we've been discussing social media marketing - If you are attempting to improve your brands social media presence and you've landed on this page and haven't read the rest of the series I highly recommend starting with the first post, picking the right social media platform . Go ahead and read through the rest of the series before continuing, it'll be worth it. Awesome, now that we've all caught up we can continue this last post together. This post is about patience so why did I title this section "Know your end goal"? Because before you do anything, on social media or otherwise, you need to know why you're doing it. Maybe you want a larger audience for your vlog series about flags, maybe you're writing a book and want to have an audience to sell it to, or maybe you just want to generate more brand awareness. This is important because your overall tactic will be the same, provide value to your followers, but what content you provide will change based on what your end goal is. Whatever your end goal is though, it's important to know it's not going to happen tomorrow. You need to deploy patience. Attention is better than impressions Many, if not most, brands on social media are focusing on the wrong thing. They are chasing the followers. That little number is what drives them. Getting that 100th, 500th, 1,000th, 5,000th follower is exhilarating and all of their actions map to that. The issue is not that they want to increase their followers, a larger audience is important, but how you grow your audience and what type of audience you have is the key. This series has been about growing your audience, growing through providing value . Provide real value, and engage with your audience. Care about your audience and what you can give to them, not that number on the side of your profile. I don't care if you're talking to 200 or 200,000 people, your only focus should be providing that group of people something of value. If you take this approach to growing and interacting with your followers you will likely grow slower than others, but what is important isn't the number of followers your page has, it's about the attention you are getting. The difference between you and your 500 followers on Facebook and Rick's Pizza with 1,600 followers is that when you post something you get genuine engagement and each post is getting 300 likes and a flurry of comments where Rick's Pizza may be getting 150 likes and a handful of comments on every post becuase their audience just doesn't care about what they have to say, there's no connection. You're focused on your followers, Rick's Pizza is focused on their follower count.
By Trevor Arilotta 18 Oct, 2017
Recap In the last post we discussed how to include our audience in the conversation to expand our user engagement. Now we are going to discuss the benefits of paid advertising on social media. What is social media paid advertising? Social media advertising is a way to target audiences on specific networks through demographic information so targeted consumers can see your brand in their feeds. And it works really well when done right. But pushing paid content in front of random social media users isn’t going to immediately work or perform well at all. You have to be strategic with your ad spend, content selection, targeting frequency and audience demographics. Why should I pay to advertise, aren't hashtags enough to expand my reach? You can definitely generate interest and expand your audience organically, such as using hashtags. However, with so much content going up it's impossible for all of your content to be seen by the majority of people. In fact, every single minute there are literally millions of posts being created on Facebook, and hundreds of thousands of tweets and Instagram posts. The statistics range but on average less than 50% of your organic (non-paid) posts are actually being seen by your audience. This is why it's so important to follow the instructions in the last few parts of this series, but if you really want your brand to have a place on social media you will need to utilize promoted listings and ads. So should every post be promoted? No. Just like with hashtags, it's a very useful tool but you need to be smart about when you utilize it. Studies have shown that as many as 46% of users will unfollow brands posting promotional messages too frequently. Don't get carried away. Remember, your goal with ads is the same as it is with your normal posts - we aren't trying to sell people right from the ad. We want to get in front of a lot of people and create awareness about who we are and what we do. If done properly you will gain a bunch of new followers and then next month, after providing a ton of value through engaging organic and paid content, they will be more receptive when you ask them to book a photography session or sign up for your wine tasting.
By Trevor Arilotta 17 Oct, 2017
Recap In the last post we discussed how to properly utilize hashtags to grow your audience . Now we are going to learn how to interact and connect with our followers. Have a conversation. Social media is an important aspect of any brand. According to HubSpot, social media produces almost double the marketing leads of traditional outbound methods, but you can’t do this by simply creating a page and mindlessly posting updates. You need to have a two-way conversation with your audience on social media. You need to engage them not just as your buyers, but as people and really help them achieve their goals whether it be answering a question or finding a business partner. It's not all about you. When you're posting on social media, remember that 80% of your posts should be adding value and brand building, in other words, not promoting your product or service, but helping. The remaining 20% of your posts, however, can be self-serving, endorsing products or upcoming events. As a brand, you should share news and ideas, even if they aren't yours. The idea is to educate, inform, and "delight." Engaging in conversation shows that you’re not just a cold organization disconnected from their buyers; it shows you are listening, understand, and care about their concerns on a human level. Contests. Contests are another great way to increase user engagement because not only does this reward loyal fans, but also it creates excitement and will get users to visit your page frequently to check if they've won. Different contests can be structured to target the engagement that you would like from your audience. A ‘vote to win’ contest would get you likes, but not as many comments as the more challenging contests that would require you to write a tagline in the comment box. Call to Action. Call to actions instill psychological nudges that help marketers drive their audience to respond the way that they want to. One thing that most business owners or marketers tend to miss when they update their Facebook page is not having a ‘call to action’. Your audience tends to respond better when they are given specifics as to what to respond to. What do you want people to do? Do you want them to comment? Click the like button? Share something with their friends ?  Try sharing a blog post and asking people to comment their opinions. Or if it's summer time post a picture of the beach and ask what their weekend plans are. You can post a picture of some employees having a conversation captioned "We love Monday - Joe and Stacy are catching up over some coffee. How's your Monday morning? #monday #coffee".
By Trevor Arilotta 14 Oct, 2017
Recap In the last post we discussed how to capture your audiences attention . Consistently post the right content at the right times. Now we are going to go over how to get our content in front of more people to grow our audience. What is a hashtag? A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by what was once referred to as the pound symbol (#). Hashtags categorize content. When you click on a hashtag you will be able to browse posts that have been tagged with it. Attach one to your own photo or video and it will become discoverable to anyone searching that hashtag. How likely it is to be seen by other users depends on the platform, how often the hashtag is used, how popular your post is (like & comments), and how strong your following is. Why do we use hashtags? It makes your own content discoverable and allows you to find relevant content from other people and businesses. The hashtag allows you to connect with and engage other social media users based on a common theme or interest. Hashtags can increase awareness, getting your content seen by more people than just followers and increase your social shares. By simply incorporating #hashtags into your social content, you can expand your reach and increase your audience How do we use hashtags? Less is more. This is very important to remember. There are virtually unlimited hashtags already being utilized in the social media space, that doesn't mean we need to use 25 on every post to be found by the most people. In fact, as a general rule, posts with one or two hashtags perform significantly better than posts with 3 or more. As with all rules, this does vary slightly by platform but it is a great general rule to keep in mind. Keep it simple. Using a hashtag that is long and difficult to spell or pronounce, will probably not give you a good result. However, an unclear, never-used or generic hashtag will also not get the results you want. Your hashtag should be short, precise and simple to spell. It should give your audience a clear idea about the topic of the conversation. The key is finding out to what topics your audience can relate. You need to find the ones they are already talking about. Utilize trending hashtags. A trending hashtag is a hashtag topic that has become very popular. Trending hashtags are continuously changing according to the latest trend. When you see a trend that relates to your business, engage in it by using the tag. By using a trending hashtag in your content update, you can get your message seen by a much larger audience. Before you use a hashtag in your social media post, make sure it adds value to your existing conversation. If your post does not add value, it is likely to be ignored and lost in an ocean of posts. If you have a truly informative post, more and more people will re-share it and it will increase your overall brand awareness.
By Trevor Arilotta 13 Oct, 2017
Recap In the last post we discussed how to pick the right social media platform(s) and why you need to learn the psychology of said platform in order to position your offering effectively. Now we are going to go over how to keep your audiences attention. When to post. Believe it or not, there are better days and times of the day to post your content, and it changes from platform to platform. If you're not posting when your audience is prime to receive it then everything else is useless. There are countless resources online that will give you stats and reasons for when you should post to certain platforms, and I will go over the research results below, but when it comes down to it the best way to know is to look at your own stats and do some A/B testing. Now, in the last post we used Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so we are going to continue with those in our examples throughout this series. These platforms all have native analytics or you can use a third-party like Hootsuite Analytics to see when your posts have the highest engagement. Try posting the same or similar content on different days and times and see when you get the best results. As a starting point, use the data below. CoSchedule pulled data from 20 different studies and found the best times for each site. Again, I would primarily use this as a starting point and do your own tests on your audience to get the best results. Facebook : The best time to post on Facebook is 1-4pm late into the week and on weekends. Saturday and Sunday at 12 - 1pm Thursday and Friday at 1-4pm Wednesday at 3pm The best general times, regardless of date, are 9am, 1pm, and 3pm. Twitter : The optimal times to tweet are 12–3 p.m., with a peak best time at 5 p.m. During the workweek is the best, though some niches might have more active audiences on the weekend. Monday - Friday at 12-3pm and 5pm Wednesdays at noon and 5-6pm Experiment with 2-3am, 6-7am, and 9-10pm The best times to tweet in general to increase retweets and clickthroughs are Noon, 3pm, and 5-6pm. Instagram : Instagram audiences are engaged throughout the week. Mondays should maybe get a little more attention. Monday and Thursday at any time other than 3-4pm Videos any day from 9pm - 8am Experiment with 2am, 5pm, and Wednesday at 7pm The general best times to post on Instagram are 2am, 8-9am, and 5pm.
By Trevor Arilotta 12 Oct, 2017
Let's do this! In this 6 part course we are going to go over the basic building blocks of social media marketing so that you will be better able to communicate with your audience and convert followers into customers. Keep It Simple Unless you are a social media marketing company (chances are, you're not), don't get carried away. You don't need to try to be on every single social media platform right away. By picking one or two social media platforms to focus your attention on you will learn the intricacies of that platform and keep fro m spreading yourself too thin. Know your audience. There's something very important to understand - you can sell your product, or service, on any social media site. What you can't do is use the same strategy on every platform and think it's going to work. A post on Instagram won't work if it's just recycled fro m Facebook. Each platform speaks to its user in a different way, and you need to learn the language.
By Trevor Arilotta 25 Aug, 2017
Genesis Designs was founded in 2011 as a website design and development company. Our goal at the time was simple - help local small businesses get better websites at a cheaper rate. Over the last 6 years we have done exactly that, helping small businesses all over the US get professional, conversion driven websites. Over the last 7 years we have expanded our offerings as our knowledge and capabilities have grown. We now provide top tier website maintenance services with all of our conversion driven websites. We also offer Search Engine Optimization services to drive more traffic to your website. After all, what good is a high-converting, beautifully designed website if no one can get to it. We've been doing this for a while now and we are great at it, but it's not enough. We are always striving to give our clients more. When we agree to take on a client we aren't just saying we will build you a nice website or that we're going to help you get some more people to your site, we are becoming a lifelong brand ambassador for you, which means we really believe in you and your product and will do whatever we can to help you grow. We are passionate about what we do, the services we provide, and the companies we work with. Often, our clients would inquire about their social media or marketing campaigns, even though we didn't officially offer those services they knew we were knowledgeable and may be able to help. Because we care about helping all of our clients as much as possible we have consulted with a number of them on their social media plans and/or marketing campaigns and have helped them see great results. Over this last year we have really taken a step back to reflect on where we started, where we are now, and where we are headed. What we realized is that we are no longer just a web design company, we are a full service digital marketing agency. As a full service digital agency, we now offer social media consulting , social media marketing , and search engine marketing services to all of our clients. So, why the name change? Why not just add our new services, adjust our tagline, and keep doing what we're doing? It's actually quite simple, while we love the name 'Genesis Designs' and the original meaning behind why we chose it, we've simply outgrown it. It no longer represents who we are or what we offer. When we begin working with a company we audit their entire online presence - their website, directory listings, social media profiles, everything. We audit them as a company, find out where they want to go, what they want to achieve, and then we devise a plan to get them there. If you would like to see what we can do for your business, you can set up a free consultation or call us directly at (585) 204-0421 .
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