Take Note Of These Mobile Marketing Stats Today & Create Better 2017 Campaigns!
Unless you’ve been living in an outback tin shack for the past decade, chances are you’re well aware of the significant increase in mobile growth trends. However, what should you be aware of for the coming year ahead?
Below, we share five of the top mobile marketing stats every business should know, in order to capitalise on advertising in 2017!
Mobile Everything!
According to Laura Beaudin from Bain and Company, the average smartphone user interacts with their mobile 13 times per hour. Interestingly, consumers identified that 60% of the ads which they deemed influential in helping make a purchase, were viewed on a mobile device (Think With Google, 2017).
The Future of Mobile Advertising
By 2019, it has been predicted that 72% of all digital ad spending in the US will be represented by mobile advertising (eMarketer, 2015). Meanwhile, according to Salesforce, 57% of marketers believe mobile apps are vital to a cohesive customer journey.
Capitalise On The Growth Of Mobile Users
Everyone knows that mobile use has grown exponentially in recent years, and yet surprisingly, only 13% of marketing budgets are spent on mobile advertising (Bain and Co, 2016). In 2017, make it your goal to prioritise a mobile advertising budget.
Image Source: Marketingland
Keep Mobile Content Short
Customers have short attention spans (approximately three seconds), so think about which platform your content is best suited to. If you’re advertising with video, make sure it grabs the attention of your target audience straight away and delivers the right message in a short period of time.
User-Friendly Content Is Essential
Above all else, it’s also important to ensure your mobile marketing is user-friendly! According to Google, 61% of users will likely give your company the flick if your mobile site is too difficult to use, and 40% will actually go to your competitor (McKinsey and Company, 2014)!
As you can gather, mobile marketing is essential to the success of your business. By keeping an eye on mobile marketing stats and trends, you can ensure you stay ahead of the competition and create strong campaigns for 2017!
You Can Now Advertise Through Instagram Stories!
It seems that barely a month goes by without an update to Instagram’s advertising options, and now the social media platform have announced another interesting development! Brands can now advertise through Instagram Stories!
Yep, that’s right! Just like ‘Stories’ – which allow users to share pictures or videos from their day for a 24 hour period – companies will soon be able to grab the attention of their audience via full-screen promotional ads. The newest development has already been tested by 30 of the world’s biggest brands – including Maybelline New York, Asos, Nike and Netflix – and has been used by Airbnb to roll out awareness of its newest and largest product launch: Trips on Airbnb.
Given that more than 150 million Instagrammers now use the feature daily, and that brands make up one third of the most viewed Stories on the platform, this latest announcement makes a lot of sense!
So How Will These Ads Appear To Viewers?
According to Instagram’s James Quarles, their system will use relevancy to display ads to users.
“It will look at interactions, liking, time spent, exits,” Quarles explained. “Did someone move onto the next story, or did they leave the Stories tray entirely? All of those are great signals and give us a great sense of people’s behavior and the relative performance of the ad.”
As noted, advertisers will be able to advertise through Instagram Stories in the coming weeks, and will also be able to access valuable insights (such as reach, impressions, replies and exits) via the Business Tools section.
2017 Email Marketing Tips – Don’t End Up in The Spam Folder!
Anyone can shoot off an email newsletter to a client, but not everyone can achieve a good response rate. So what can you do to make sure your emails don’t get banished to the land of no return (in other words, the dreaded trash or spam folder)? Glad you asked! Check out these 2017 email marketing tips to find out more!
Carefully Consider Your Email List
Have you got a strong hub of email contacts? That’s great! But just because you’ve got the option to send your marketing emails out to a huge network of followers, doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best contacts to choose from. Think carefully about who your strongest followers are, and what sort of audience your content will make the biggest impact with.
As well as this, it’s also vital to plan the best time to send out your newsletters or marketing. For example, did you know that Tuesdays to Thursdays are considered the most popular days for sending emails? According to various studies, Tuesday is the number one choice, followed closely by Thursday and then Wednesday. That said, your contacts are also going to be slammed with competing newsletters on these days so you might want to experiment with emailing on a Monday or Friday.
Avoid Ending Up In The Spam Folder
While it’s natural that some customers may opt out of your content, having clients mark your emails as spam is a bigger problem; one that can have truly negative consequences for your business. To try and avoid this happening, consider the following:
Are you sending emails too frequently? According to Smart Insights, almost 50% of customers mark emails as spam due to high frequency. In fact, a 2015 study from DMA revealed that the majority of people believe it is best to email a contact only several times per month (36% believe 2-3 times per month is sufficient).
Have you enabled email authentication? If not, turn it on immediately! This can help protect you from hackers who may be sending out spam from your account without you even knowing.
All in all, spam email is a huge issue and not a position you want to find yourself in. Whether intentional or not, if your customers are hitting ‘spam’ instead of unsubscribing, you’ll want to spend some time investigating why this is happening. By sending your content to the best possible audience, on the right days, and not overwhelming them with too much at once, you should be on your way to a better response rate!
2017 Website Tips to Adopt and Avoid!
How did your website rate in 2016? Did you see the conversions you were looking for, or were people bouncing off your website faster than a kid who’s just found out it’s dinner time? Read our 2017 website tips to find out how your business can better stand out in the New Year!
Things To Consider:
Long-Scroll Layouts Vs Excess Tabs
Once upon a time websites contained lots of individual pages under different tabs and links, but these days you might have noticed a distinct shift away from this. Nowadays, your average website implements long-scrolling; where businesses will list multiple sections all on the one page. For example, instead of clicking on an ‘about us’ and then ‘awards’ tab, a website might choose to put all of this information on one landing page, under multiple headings.
And it really is a simpler process – particularly for those who are scrolling on their phones. Being able to keep scrolling down to see all the relevant information for that page, as opposed to getting lost in the depths of multiple tabs, is a much more user-friendly experience.
On that note, if you’re looking to test the user-friendliness of your website there are plenty of online service providers (such as those below) that can assist you with valuable feedback. Some may even provide a free trial as well! We recommend you give the following a try:
Reassure Customers with Numbers
Have you won a number of awards, or helped hundreds of local customers with their product needs? Don’t be shy of boasting your achievements – these figures can persuade a potential customer that you’re not just another average Joe. Show them why they should come to you!
Video, Video, Video
Yes, video content is a big deal, and if you don’t yet know it your business is likely suffering! Just like a picture can paint a thousand words, a video is even easier on the eye of your potential customer. For example, instead of filling your site with text heavy content about your product, try adding a video at the top that clearly demonstrates how the product works, and shows it being used by a real person (even better, add a testimonial of a customer who has used your service or product).
Things to Consider Avoiding:
Homepage Carousels
Although they add an interesting visual dimension to your website, carousel designs can actually reduce your SEO rankings; as they lack content that Google can crawl (unless each image is labeled). Likewise, slow loading times for high-res images can also be enough to drive people away before they’ve clicked any further. This is not to say that you should definitely steer clear of these types of ads, but it is important to weigh up if they are the right choice for you – after all, according to a 2013 study from Erik Runyon, only 1% of people actually click on a carousel ad.
When designing your website (or having it designed for you), put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer and ask yourself:
- Is it easy to find what I’m looking for?
- Could navigation be better?
- Are there too many tabs?
- Are the colours and fonts consistent?
- Do I have too much block text on each page?
- Does my layout look dated?
With just a few questions such as these, you’ll be on your way to creating a website that is functional, user-friendly, and unique to your product. If you need a hand with getting on the right track, give our web experts a call on 1300 332 256.
3 AdWords Christmas Tips To Prevent Extra Stress
Whether you’re going away or staying close to home, one thing is certain – you want the holiday period to go as smoothly as possible! So for this reason, we’re sharing our ‘Top Three AdWords Christmas Tips’ to make life easier!
#1: Download the AdWords App
If there’s one thing you do before the end of the year, make sure you download this app! Not only will it allow you to more easily monitor your budgets and daily bids on-the-go, but you’ll also receive real-time alerts if your budget runs out or your ads are disapproved. According to Google’s AdWords blog, the app will also allow you to:
- Ensure you don’t miss out on key shopping dates.
- Make time-sensitive changes to your campaigns, or pause them if necessary.
- Easily adjust budgets and bids for campaigns that are performing above average.
- Review daily performance metrics, allowing you to “understand how your campaigns are performing and if you need to make any last-minute adjustments.”
#2: Take Note of Your Campaign Timing
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, ‘time is money,’ and this is especially true in terms of your Christmas AdWords campaigns. During the holiday period it’s crucial to make sure your ads are scheduled during the most optimal times. For example, if you’re running a Christmas campaign, make sure it begins in the week before Christmas so you can convert more of the excess traffic coming through.
#3: Ensure Your Campaigns are Tightly Grouped
While it’s definitely an important consideration all year round, making sure your campaigns are tightly organised becomes even more so during the holiday period. According to WordStream, strong account and campaign organisation “makes it easier to coordinate, adjust, and run time-sensitive campaigns,” while also ensuring an increase in your Quality Scores.
To ensure your campaigns are organised at the optimal level, try containing seasonal products within unique ad groups, and tightly theming your keywords.
Whatever your plans are for the holiday period, you can breathe a little easier with these three AdWords Christmas tips. The key is to ensure you’re well organised before Christmas hits, and then sit back and watch the conversions roll in!
Looking for an expert to help you plan your AdWord campaigns this Christmas? Reduce your holiday stress by allowing one of our Get More Traffic experts to take a look at your account. Call us today on 1300 332 256!
8 Black Hat SEO Techniques You Should Run Away From Now!
Know what to look out for, and avoid.
If you’re looking for ways to increase the search engine result rankings of your website, there is one tactic you should avoid at all costs – Black Hat SEO. Yes, I know it may be tempting when you’re desperate to increase your search engine result visibility, but believe me, it’s not worth it. Google will penalise you, and it could lead to your site being de-ranked, failing to show up in results for days or weeks, and thousands of lost traffic.
So what are some of the most common Black Hat SEO techniques you should be wary of? See below!
- Keyword stuffing
Putting keywords into your copy that appear more times than what would seem natural, or adding irrelevant keywords to your alt image tags. - Paid links
This one is quite self-explanatory – people have offered to pay you to put one of their links in a piece of content. Whether you see this as advertising, Google still considers it a link scheme – which is not good. Paid link penalties also apply to paid gifts – for example, if someone gives you a gift for purchasing their links. - Invisible/Hidden Text
Essentially this is the same as keyword stuffing, only the user makes these keywords ‘invisible’ – for example, adding white text on a white background. - Doorway Pages
As their name suggests, these pages are created solely for the purpose of ranking for a keyword and then pushing visitors through to the alternative webpage. You’ll notice that the original ‘doorway’ page serves no real purpose, and has little relevant content. - Scraping
Again, this one is pretty self-explanatory and refers to stealing content or data from a competitor’s website for your own page/profit. In some cases, scraping is also used to extract email addresses and then spam those users. - Link Farms
Operating either as a single website, or a group, Link Farms exist for the sole purpose of increasing the popularity of another website. Although these pages may look pretty regular at first glance, you’ll soon notice that there is little content, and instead, a large amount of links hyperlinking to random websites. - Negative SEO
Also known as ‘reporting a competitor,’ this form of Black Hat SEO is somewhat different in that it is usually used maliciously against a competitor, to try and hurt their rankings. A user may do this by falsely reporting you for copyright, hacking into your website and changing things around, or using link farms to point links at your site in an attempt to have you penalised. Nasty isn’t it?
The good news however, is that Google works quite efficiently to detect negative SEO attempts. You can read more here, from seopressor. - Cloaking
A method that presents two different versions of the same website, in an attempt to boost keyword search engine ranking. For example, while a website may display Flash content to viewers, it may, on the other hand, be displaying HTML content to search engines.
Instead of the above techniques, try using White Hat Seo tactics. Unlike their darker counterpart, White Hat includes optimisation strategies and techniques that follow Google’s guidelines and focus on humans as opposed to search engines. If you believe your account has been attacked by malicious Black Hat strategies, or you see other websites following this route, file a webspam report through Google Webmaster Tools.
If you’re looking to implement these strategies, give our Get More Traffic experts a call today on 1300 332 256. We can help increase your conversions and search engine result visibility without the need for any dodgy techniques!
Meet Zoey, The Digital Chatbot Who Can Analyse Your Facebook Ads!
Want to know how your Facebook or Instagram ad campaigns are performing? Just ask a digital chatbot. Yes that’s right, in the latest artificial intelligence advancement, ‘AI-Powered Ad Assistants’ are now on their way to replacing digital analysts!
Created by the team from Automate Ads, the Advertise.ai Zoey robot is a free chatbot which can be used through Facebook Messenger. Once installed, just type your questions, or select an option from Zoey’s suggestions. For example, if you want to know what the best age group by CTR was for the last week, just type in the question and see the data in a matter of seconds!
In a matter of seconds she can answer your questions, showing you anything from how many clicks your campaign had in the last week, to which country performed best in the last 30 days!
Other questions Zoey can answer (according to Andrew Torba from Automate Ads) include:
- How are my ads doing this month?
- How many impressions in the United States yesterday?
- Best gender by CPC this month?
- How much did I spend on ads this year?
- What happened on my ads account in March 2016?
- CPM last month?
- Best locations last week?
- What was my CTR today?
- Can I see a performance summary of last month?
- CPM yesterday?
Although Zoey is currently used with Facebook Messenger for Facebook/Instagram ads, Andrew Torba has revealed that there are plans to add Google AdWords and Twitter ads in the near future.
“Soon, you’ll also be able to chat with her from Slack and ask about data from any channel including Google Adwords, Twitter Ads, Google Analytics, and Automate Ads’ attribution tracking data. She will also soon be able to use this data to send you actionable suggestions to improve ad performance,” he said.
With these incredible advancements, there’s no limit to what we might see in the future. To keep up to date with industry news as it arises, be sure to subscribe to Get More Traffic today!
Twitter and Periscope Opt for High Quality, Non-Smartphone Video
Say hello to Periscope Producer!
In a bid to one-up their competitor Facebook, tweeting giant Twitter have announced a new live-streaming feature for their social media platform Periscope. Known as Periscope Producer, the app takes live-streaming to a whole new level; focusing on higher quality content from professional cameras (as opposed to smartphones).
Announced last week, Periscope Producer will allow broadcasters to stream any, and every, type of live video directly to their Periscope following. The obvious benefit to this is that advertisers and brands can create high-quality video or adverts, and then share them by tweet, without being constrained by the limitations of a smartphone.
In a statement last week, Periscope CEO Kayvon Beykpour explained their goals for the new feature.
“Allowing people to create and share produced live video on Periscope has always been part of our vision and opens up new types of content for everyone to watch live. High-quality, produced live video can now be shared anywhere through a Tweet,” he said.
So, Who Will Benefit?
The introduction of Periscope Producer suggests a move toward targeting those interested in TV-style videos, such as YouTube stars and major brands. Already, Louis Vuitton and Xbox have jumped onboard, while ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, Fusion, Walt Disney and the Emmy Awards have also been announced as new media partners.
Periscope have also revealed that Producer is perfect for live-streaming film previews and award shows; allowing users to participate without having to be there in person.
But that doesn’t mean smaller businesses can’t also get onboard! While the feature may not yet be available to all, there are many benefits that everyday brands could one day reap from Periscope Producer. Imagine being able to live-stream a product launch, or an awards night to your followers? And all in high-quality footage that doesn’t rely on your smartphone! It’s definitely an incentive.
Although Periscope is far from having the popularity of Facebook, it’s clear that they (and Twitter) are working to change this.
What are your thoughts on Twitter’s new Periscope Producer feature? Would you use it to share events and product info for your business?
Sell Your Products on Facebook Marketplace!
Could this be the end of Ebay & Gumtree?
In their ever increasing push to provide users with everything they need on the one site, Facebook has now introduced a buy/sell platform named ‘Marketplace.’ As the name suggests, the new feature will operate much like Ebay or Craigslist; allowing buyers and sellers to interact, search via location, and upload product listings directly from their phones.
While Marketplace is not a revolutionary product, it is without a doubt a fantastic tool for small businesses! For example, imagine you’re a small business owner who is working from home, creating handmade jewellery and accessories. Now, instead of having to sell your products through expensive websites that take a huge chunk of your profits, or having to join multiple buy/swap/sell Facebook groups, you can easily list your items through Marketplace.
Additionally, if you’re already trying to increase your product conversions through paid Facebook advertising, why not also mix it up with some free product listings on Marketplace?
Other great things about Marketplace:
- Easy to upload photos and descriptions straight from your phone
- People can search for products via location
- Easy communication between sellers and buyers
- Easy to keep track of previous and current transactions via the ‘Your Items’ section
- Items can be posted simultaneously to both Marketplace and selected Facebook groups
While it’s extremely unlikely that we’ll see Marketplace completely take over sites such as Ebay or Gumtree, it could possibly steal some of their users. After all, how much easier is it to do everything on Facebook – for free – as opposed to swapping between different platforms? If there are going to be specific sites affected, my guess is that those such as Etsy could be given a run for their money.
As Marketplace is so new, it’s expected that it may take time to iron out some of the technical creases – some of which have already arisen. Shortly after announcing the new feature on Monday, Facebook’s Marketplace was flooded with some rather interesting, and inappropriate, sale items – including guns, babies, and hedgehogs!
As Facebook is currently working to fix these issues, Marketplace may be slightly delayed in its re-release.
At present, Marketplace is only available via the Facebook app to those 18 years and older in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand; however, the feature will roll out to additional countries and desktop users in the coming months.
Want to try Marketplace for yourself? To get started, simply tap the Shopping icon at the bottom of your Facebook app!
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Not Just For Friends…Why Your Business needs Facebook!
Wondering which social media channel is best for your marketing strategy? We’ve got the stats that will prove why your business needs Facebook!
Did you know that the average internet user has approximately 5.54 social media accounts (Global Web Index)? It’s pretty incredible how spoiled for choice we are when it comes to social networking, however even with so many platforms now available for our personal and business needs, Facebook remains the clear champion.
What began as a small college-community platform in 2006, has since evolved into a mega billion dollar company worth $56.7 billion! What’s more, despite what you may think about Facebook being a platform for friends and cute cat pictures, it’s more popular than ever amongst business owners and entrepreneurs! Don’t believe me? According to statistics, more than 2 million advertisers use Facebook globally for their business needs!
As of last quarter, Facebook was found to have:
- 1 billion + monthly active users
- 874 million monthly mobile users
- 728 million daily users!
Some other stats you might not be aware of?
- 80% of daily users are from outside USA (Social Bakers)
- 8 new users sign up for Facebook every second (Wordstream)
- Over 1 billion people use Facebook via their mobile every day (up 22% year on year)
- Over 1 million people use Messenger every month (Facebook, 2016)
- Facebook Messenger chatbots are becoming more and more popular, ordering everything from Pizza and flowers, to Ubers and breaking news!
- Videos are the most shared post type, with an average of 89.5 Facebook shares (Mari Smith)
- In July of 2016, Facebook shares had risen more than 200% from their 2012 price (CNN Money)
- Video content has an organic reach of 135% higher than that of image posts (Social Bakers, 2015)
It’s no surprise that Facebook is a marketing wonderland for advertisers – after all, what other platform has such a gigantic reach across both desktop and mobile? From small trades and home ‘Vloggers’, to entrepreneurs and celebrities, it seems Facebook works across every industry you can think of!
That said – crafting your online presence takes work, and you need to be savvy about the way in which you market your content. One of the best ways to do so, is through the power of video. For example, while text and even images can find themselves getting skipped over or lost in the black hole of Facebook’s algorithms, video is the one medium that is still reaching audiences globally.
Take for instance these stats:
- people who watch product videos are 64% more likely to buy a product online (comScore)
- 36% of online consumers trust video ads (Online Publishers Association)
- 92% of mobile video consumers share videos with others (Invodo)
- Video now appears in 70% of the top 100 search results listings (Kissmetrics)
When you look at stats such as these, it’s easy to see how Facebook and video can give your business the winning edge!