7 Social Media Marketing Trends for Your Business

1. Video content

There are many ways for businesses to utilize video content in their marketing strategies. For example, using educational videos can give businesses the opportunity to instruct their audience as well marketing to them. Explainer videos allow viewers to learn how to use your company’s product. Pinterest, for instance, offers an explainer video that demonstrates the benefits of using its social network. As for entertaining videos, keeping your audience entertained and engaged is important. Using short videos that have a purpose for viewers to share is effective.

2. Paying for exposure

Business are increasingly paying to advertise on social networks. Part of the reason is that organic social reach – those shares you can receive from family and friends – are not as effective in marketing as they once were.

Paying for advertising has the ability to allow you to reach a specific demographic rather than just relying on organic social reach alone. When businesses use Facebook’s advertising platform, for example, you have the opportunity to market to a particular age group, location and other parameters. On the other hand, while a Facebook post may reach some people who are interested, it can easily be shared with people who are outside your demographic and have no use for your product or service.

3. Social shopping

Patterns from previous years indicate selling via social networks is likely to increase this year. To some degree, it already has. For example, the Internet Retailer’s Social Media 500 report said that social commerce rose 26 percent from 2013 to 2014.

Another interesting statistic is that the ecommerce platform in Q2 of 2014, less than one percent of revenue could be attributed to social recommendations. By the time Q2 of 2015 arrived, that figure had increased 151 percent!

In addition, Business insider reported that ecommerce referrals by way of social media had increased nearly 200 percent between the first quarters of 2014 and 2015.

The reason for this growth is that “buy buttons” had been showing up on social networks such as Pinterest and Twitter, which allowed customers to purchase from these sites directly.

It’s incredible to think how much of a difference it can make when social networks include “buy buttons” on their sites and actually have people purchase a certain product right then and there. It’s not strange to think so, since most of the time people are on social or professional networks majority of the day.

4. Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is a software platform designed to help businesses market across multiple channels simultaneously. It is able to alleviate the need to perform repetitive tasks such as sending emails or marketing on social media sites.

This is something small businesses should consider using as some form of marketing automation software to keep up with the growing amount of content they will need to deliver to their customers and prospects.

Numerous options are available, but choose the one best suited to your needs and that won’t break your budget.

5. Facebook’s dominance

There’s no question that Facebook has made its mark in 2016 as the most dominant social media platform.

For those that didn’t know, Facebook’s fastest growing age demographic is people over the age of 55, it’s also the most commonly used amongst Internet users ages 65 and older, up from 45 percent in 2013.

Business owners should consider focusing their marketing efforts to those people who are 55 and older through Facebook.

6. Search

While most people are still using search engines to find information, many are foregoing this route and are performing searches on social media sites instead.

Part of the reason is that users are growing weary of text-heavy search results and gravitating toward visual content such as images or videos, each of which you are more likely to find on social media.

Users also search on social media because they know that they will receive information such as feedback, comments, and reviews from actual users more so than with a search engine. Internet users actually become discouraged searching through search engines because of all of the results it has to offer, when some people just want an answer or a link to the answer at an instant.

Needless to say, search engines are not going away anytime soon, it is important for small businesses to strategize about how they can be easily found both on search engines and in social media.

7. Mobile Marketing

Businesses are aware that having a mobile-friendly website is not a new concept. Marketers have been acknowledging how important businesses need to optimize their sites for mobile users. Nowadays, mobile-optimization is considered the norm and no longer an item to place on the back burner. Mobile searches have surpassed desktop searches, no one could imagine for that to happen, but it did. As a matter of fact, in 2015, Google’s algorithm started to penalize sites that were not optimized for mobile devices.

If your business is interested in implementing any or all of the trends above, reach out to Digital Marketing Sapiens in San Antonio, Texas at 210-582-5842.

This Article Originally Appeared on http://digitalmarketingsapiens.com/7-social-media-marketing-trends-business/

How To Use Instagram To Market Your Business

Instagram is a social media platform tailor made for reaching young audiences with photography and videos. About 90% of the 150 million users on Instagram are between the ages of 18 and 35.

Instagram, unlike most other social platforms, is primarily focused on images. This different strategy has many benefits for businesses and marketers!

When setting up a campaign, here are some of your options:

• Clicks To Website is an campaign setting where, when your image is clicked on, viewers will be directed to a specific part of your website.
• Website Conversion is an option where your audience is measured by how many people take specific actions on your website.
• Mobile App Installs gets people to install your apps.
• Mobile App Engagement focuses on getting more activity on your mobile app for those who have it.
• Video Views encourages more views on a selected video using specific demographics
• Reach And Frequency tracks a campaign’s reach within a specific niche audience that it is targeted towards.
• Mass Awareness provides impressions and placement at the top ad position.
• Page Post Engagement gets people to engage with your photo.

With so many different ways to take advantage of Instagram, it is a great outlet to reach your target audience and spread your awareness. But how exactly is your message viewed on Instagram?

1. Photo Ads: A photo ad is an advertisement comprised of a single photo. This acts as a snapshot of your company. In your bio, you can include your information, along with a call-to-action. It’s simple and clean!

2. Video Ads: A video ad is similar to a photo ad but, instead of a still photo, it has a video with sound for up to 30 seconds. It is a great way to have a quick, engaging commercial reach people who are interested in visual content.

3. Carousel Ads: A carousel ad brings a lot more to the table than a photo ad! A carousel ad can have multiple pictures, letting viewers swipe back and forth between the images, and a call-to-action slide that takes you to a website so you can learn even more!

The question is then, aside from ads, how else can I grow my business using this social media platform?

Social media contests are often times very successful. On Instagram, you can help your client base grow because of the surplus of likes, follows, and comments. Have followers post pictures with your hashtag, like a picture and comment, or do a series of tasks!

Remember to reference your Instagram accounts on other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Yelp, to help lead prospective followers to your account.

Another great way of growing your audience on Instagram is sharing it in person at your locations! There is no better way to grow an audience than by simply telling someone in person to join you on Instagram. Reminders can be sent out too using emails or post cards as well!

Instagram is a very powerful tool as it creates a connection between a picture and a product to the consumer. With over a 150 million people on Instagram, it is a great resource for those who want to show off what they’ve got and grow an audience!

By Sahil Maherali, Digital Sapien

This Article originally appeared on digitalmarketingsapiens.com

The Importance Of Having An Easy And Usable Website

Having a user friendly website is an important necessity with the new page of digital marketing. User friendly websites are necessary to help turn browsers into customers. A usable website must be:

• Easy to navigate through
• Familiar to other websites
• Consistent throughout the page
• Prevent errors and dead pages
• Must be clear to read and images crisp
• Flexible and Effective to the need of the browser

As for a business it is important to have a website that is user friendly and usable across all platforms to different types of users. Mobile users and desktop users are very different and it is important to have a website on the web that functions well for those who use their computers.

Avoiding Clutter And The Importance Of Simplicity

When creating a website it is important to avoid clutter. Visitors will not stay long on a website with an overwhelming amount of information and difficult to sort through. A website should be simple, easy to navigate through, and have a eye compelling image to capture the viewer.

Fitts’s Law

The concept of Fitts’s Law is an important concept when it comes to website designing. When UX (User Experience) designers help design a website they take eye tracking case studies to see how they can make the website more effective for users.

 

A simple case study example is the idea of the “Baby Face Text.” In this case study it proves that if the child is facing the text it will help lead to view reading the content on the page instead of focusing on the child. Other case studies such as “F-Shaped Patterns” mentions users who focus on the left side of the screen compared to the right side. In this case, it makes it easier for UX Designers to help create an effective website for their clients.

Familiarity To Other Webpages And An Easy Sitemap

Even though every person wants their webpage to appear unique, it is important to have consistent characteristics to other webpages. Many webpage designers should want their users to have a conscious guidance on how to navigate through a webpage without finding trouble. For example, 96% of webpages on the web have a navigation bar on the top of the screen to help navigate through the different pages on the webpage. This ties into having a helpful sitemap as it helps visitors cut to any page they need to get to. Having an adaptable sitemap with search engine optimization helps increase the rankings of your page.

Constantly Updating And Being SEO Friendly

Constantly updating your website is an important factor in helping your webpage stay up to date with information and help serve to your service or business’s ability. Social Media can easily link back to your website always bringing in new traffic as you update your website about raising awareness and conducting sales. Another important reason to constantly update your website is to be SEO Friendly! When Google Search Engines scan words on a webpage, they develop a list of keywords that will help your page in search rankings to increase its viability to those searching. Being SEO friendly helps you take advantage of that in which you can insert key words repeatedly, as long as it makes sense, into your blogs and updated writing. This is done to constantly stay at the top of search engines when people google keywords relating to your business.

The importance of having a usable and easy website cannot be emphasized enough as many businesses fail to convert visitors into consumers due to poor website management. Your webpage should give the customers a chance to learn more about you and the efforts you make into creating a user friendly webpage.

By Sahil Maherali, Digital Sapien

This Article originally appeared on digitalmarketingsapiens.com

Pollyhop Is Real!

For those of who you watch House of Cards on Netflix, you probably heard about Pollyhop!  Pollyhop is a fictional search engine created by the NSA. The framework of Pollyhop allows someone who has access to it to search  people’s digital records to view specific search habits or any information to help for a personal need. This helps someone (a person running for office, for instance) to get the results they want and steer people (voters) in the direction they choose.

This TV show concept is actually a true practice. Called Search Engine Optimization, SEO is a powerful tool to help pull traffic in your direction! To understand this concept let us take the city of San Antonio, Texas as an example.

In San Antonio there are over 4,100 restaurants not including all fast food joints and trucks. If there is a restaurant that focuses on barbecue foods that wants to help develop their brand, they can use digital marketing and SEO to help make them the best barbecue restaurant in San Antonio!

It’s important to have an SEO company or SEO agency find keywords to help you boost your internet traffic. Having a keywords listing will then help you use certain keywords such as “bbq food in San Antonio” or “restaurants in San Antonio” will help lead more people to your page. Analytics go through geographically to see what words people are using. It is important to use this to your advantage! If your restaurant is in a specific part of town you can use posts such as “barbecue in San Antonio” or get specific with keywords such as “barbecue restaurant in Stone Oak.”

This can work in your Internet marketing as well. San Antonio is a large city with many restaurants. Using social media and a mobile website can help direct traffic if short SEO  blogs are posted on the Internet and lead to your website.

It is important to promote your social media and ratings to your clients because 88% of people trust online reviews as much as personal reviews. All these Internet marketing and search engine marketing tools will help bring more clients to your business today!

This relates back to Pollyhop in that companies can use keywords to their benefit. Using “steakhouse in San Antonio” in your website copy can help you rank higher on search engines, causing more people to visit your mobile website or mobile app.

Search Engine Optimization works with search engines, social media, blog posts on your website, and apps which all need to be used effectively in your business!

This Article originally appeared on digitalmarketingsapiens.com

Digital Marketing Jargon: Part 2

If you commonly find yourself wondering what hashtags and impressions are, worry not. Businesses are beginning to understanding the benefits of digital marketing, but many seem to be confused about the internet marketing terms. Luckily we’ve compiled a series of web posts that will help you interpret the digital marketing jargon that will help your business grow and succeed. At the end of this series, you’ll have one page serving as an online dictionary for you, which will cover all the terms discussed in each post. To continue from last week’s list of jargon, here are a few vocabulary words you should also get familiar with.

Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) – Also known as conversion cost, the CPA is the ratio of the total cost of a campaign to the total number of customers.

Cost-Per-Click – The cost to get targeted traffic and direct traffic to your website. Every time a potential customer is directed to your website, you agree to pay a set amount.

Crowdsourcing – the practice of utilizing an online community to contribute to a project or campaign. This can be in the form of obtaining services, ideas, or content.

Dashboard – An overview of an existing application usually used for administrative purposes. A dashboard allows you to view the activity or summary of activity occurring within the application, and usually allows you to make customizable changes when necessary.

Engagement – Engagement is any form of response to a post usually in the form of likes, shares, and comments.

Facebook – A free social-networking site available on any device with internet capabilities and appropriate for anyone who is 13 years of age or older. This platform has 1.3 billion active users and is considered the leading worldwide social media platform.

iFrames – also known as frames, this tag allows multiple websites to exist on the same web page. These are usually used during log-in, sign up, or to entice website viewers to remain on your page.

Hashtag – Used on social media sites (primarily by Twitter and Instagram), a hashtag is a hash or pound sign (#) connected to a keyword or set of keywords that connect the post to other related posts on the site.

Impressions – The number of times a post, advertisement, or campaign has been visually seen by a user of that social network.

Instagram – A social networking platform that allows users to find, share, and discuss pictures and videos with an online community.

Leads – the amount of customers interested or inquired for the use of a product or service of a business.

Every week Digital Marketing Sapiens will release a new set of marketing terms that will make it easier for you to get comfortable and confident with the in-and-outs of online marketing. If you haven’t already, Click here to read Digital Marketing Jargon: Part 1.

Stay connected with us through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to be updated with new terminology that will allow your business to dig deeper into the power of digital marketing for your business.

By Ramil Rodriguez, Digital Sapien

This Article originally appeared on digitalmarketingsapiens.com

Reaching Your Audience On YouTube

Following only Google and Facebook, Youtube is ranked as one of the top three visited websites in the world.It’s not hard to understand why! This site is a powerful tool where users can upload, view, rate, share, and comment on videos. Youtube has a wide variety of content from video clips, television clips, music videos, movie trailers, original videos, and educational videos. Sixty hours of videos are uploaded every minute and four billion videos are played daily. The popularity of YouTubemakes it the perfect base for a business to market to any target.

What Are The Benefits Of Advertising On YouTube?

• Connecting with your audience – Video ads are a great way to connect with your audience in a unique way. Your video can be personal, a hard engagement sale, or other forms of engagement.
• Reaching the right audience– Reaching an audience is the most important part of creating a marketing strategy. No matter how great your advertisement might be, if it does not reach your target audience, it will not lead to sales. YouTubecanfocus your advertisements towards your costumer is with topics, keywords, or demographics as well.
• Measuring Analytics -The detailed analytics offered by YouTube is a great way to see how your advertisements are working.

There are two forms of advertisements on Youtube. These options are great ways to help get your ad the exposure and results you want.

1. In-sStream Ads– In-stream ads are advertisements hat display before, during, or after a video. This advertisement can include call-to-action overlays, cards, companion banners, and other ways for a viewer to land on your website. The company is only charged for an in-stream-ad if a viewer watches the entire advertisement.

In-Display Ads– In-Display-Ads are another way to get viewers to watch your advertisements. These ads are

1. brought up when people are searching on YouTube or browsing videos on YouTube. These advertisements appear near a video and are only charged if someone begins watching your video.

Reaching potential customers is easy with the correct steps in place! Keyword contextual targeting is an easy way to make sure that your ad gets to the correct viewers. Selecting demographics is also a great way to reach potential clients as well. For example, a barbecue set can be targeted for men over the age of 30. Topics can also be a great way to target a specific audience. For instance, a textbook company can target those who watch math tutorials. Affinity audiences and custom affinity audiences are a great way to also target interest based groups for your need and tailored to individual brands. In-market audiences are also a great way for those who are researching keyword products or services to ensure your product. Remarketing is the final strategy in which the advertisements will be based off of a search history.

YouTube is a great medium to display your message to clients through advertisements videos which are cost effective to make!

This Article originally appeared on digitalmarketingsapiens.com