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How to Use Social Media to Expand Your Online Business

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How to Use Social Media to Expand Your Online Business

Small businesses all over the world understand that social media is here to stay. You need to look at the social media demographics across platforms to see that! However, this does not imply that you have had the opportunity to invest the time and effort required to build a proper presence on the relevant networks.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google Plus are all popular social networking platforms. Not to mention the numerous other little websites that can be found on the internet today. Everyone wants their business to be recognized on social media.

Here are all of the social media marketing tips you’ll need in 2021.

How to Increase Your Social Media Presence the Right Way

Having a good, or even excellent, social media presence can help your business grow like wildflowers. However, this will only happen if you build a significant following and learn to provide what they want. Here are some great ways for any business owner or marketer to boost their social media presence and help their brand grow.

1. Choose the Right Platform for your Business

Since Facebook turned public in 2012, social media has expanded, with thousands of networks dedicated to anything from connecting with classmates to social action.

Thus, with so many options, how can a company choose the best ones? Most experts advise joining the most popular, and choosing the proper ones depends on your audience and your objectives. Here are some resources to get you started:

  • Facebook: the most significant platform, has 2.89 billion active monthly users, and the site is ideal for businesses that want to generate leads and build relationships. If you’re a beginner to the network, check out this guide to advertising on Facebook.
  • Instagram: Instagram was created in 2010 as a mobile photo and video-sharing application, allows users to upload photos and videos directly from their phones. It was bought by Facebook in 2011 and has since grown to become one of the world’s most popular photo-sharing applications, with estimated 1.4 million users.
  • Twitter: This platform is speed and ideal for businesses whose primary audience is under 50 and who need to stay on top of time-sensitive content such as big news, promotions, and trending topics.
  • LinkedIn: It is the business networking platform that can be used by both B2B and B2C businesses to establish trust, authority and engage audiences.
  • Pinterest: The photo-sharing website is an excellent platform for businesses with a strong visual image. It’s more for social discovery than social networking, and it’s excellent for driving sales since so many people use it to plan purchases.
  • Snapchat: One of the fastest growing social networking sites despite rumours of Snap being in trouble a few years ago. Businesses can leverage Snapchat by offering promotions, personalized content, and building relationships with influencers to drive brand recognition and loyalty.
  • TikTok: TikTok, a social media phenomenon, has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to its popularity among influencers and celebrities, it is the first app not owned by Facebook to have 3 billion installations. The platform’s usability, colossal music database, and one-of-a-kind filters entice a younger population.

2. Set your Goal and Objectives

Setting goals and objectives is the first step in increasing your social media presence. It indicates that before you start posting, be sure you know what you’re pursuing. Make sure you understand how each platform works, what audiences you can reach where, and what your goals are, and you’ll be off to a good start.

Set objectives that comply with the SMART framework. They should be precise, quantifiable, reachable, relevant, and time-bound.

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

3. Understand Their Needs

Understanding your audience’s demands will allow you to communicate with them in a more personal way. Knowing what they like to read about and what they believe in can help you figure out what you should provide them. Once you understand this, you can provide them whatever they want, which includes getting them to your website to learn more about your business.

4. Know your audience

One of the benefits of using social media for the company is that you can micro-target your audience. But first, you should determine who your target audience is.

Start by gathering information about your present consumers. Then, using social media analytics, dig even more profound. You’ll quickly learn who is purchasing from you and interacting with you online.

Insights from Hootsuite Powered by Brandwatch, you can discover granular information such as the most popular hashtags, referral sites, and even particular social writers for terms relevant to your brand.

After you’ve established your target, you can create buyer personas to help you identify the best methods to communicate with them. We have a free buyer persona template to get you started.

5. Produce Valuable Content

It would help if you also ensured that you provided the most valuable material for your blog and social media accounts. Having the most excellent content promotes your business and website, bringing in more consumers and money.

Whatever your target audience is, the content you provide should always be of good quality and relevant. You should analyze popular content formats and promote a video, photos, and other types of visual content as much as possible since these are popular with all demographics and audiences.

6. Find Tools to Schedule and Automate Posts for more engagements

It takes effort and attention to stay active and present on social media. However, content writers can use automation technologies to automatically publish and plan posts up to a month in advance.

These programs, which include Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer, MeetEdgar, and BuzzSumo, can save you time by helping you to plan and schedule many articles at once. They also make it easy to monitor your networks and respond to notifications immediately.

7. Engage your audience in relevant ways

These programs, which include Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer, MeetEdgar, and BuzzSumo, can save you time by helping you to plan and schedule many articles at once. They also make it easy to monitor your networks and respond to notifications immediately.

You can interact with your audience in a variety of ways, such as:

  • Comment on posts
  • Start and participate in conversations
  • Share relevant information
  • Share user-generated content (UGC)
  • Ask and answer questions
  • Post polls and follow up with the results
  • Address complaints and criticisms
  • Show appreciation for customers

8. Seek relationships

We could debate all day about whether your following count is a vanity statistic.

However, having 100 followers who regularly connect with you and your work is far more helpful than having 10,000 who ignore you.

It may sound cliche, but don’t forget to include the word “social” in your social media presence. The beauty of social media is that you can create relationships with people from all around the world instantly.

9. Always active to customer’s complaints efficiently and provide Q&A’s

If you receive a complaint about your website, deal with it as soon as possible. Even if it isn’t, respond and be professional. Ensure to take excellent care of them by responding to the queries as soon as possible and offering excellent customer service.

You should also ask and answer questions on your social media channels and website. Use a commonly asked questions area to assist you in efficiently addressing their questions.

10. Stay Active

Inactive social feeds are a negative look for businesses, plain and simple. Instead of allowing your Facebook or Instagram account to build dust, you must “show up” with new content every day.

Some quick tips to help you stay active include:

  • Social scheduling and automation are being used to save time and energy.
  • Select and rank your social networks based on the location of your target audience.
  • Find methods to repurpose content so that you aren’t continually trying to reinvent the wheel.

Staying engaged on social media doesn’t have to be a time-consuming task. You can post content and reply to customer problems without wasting time by scheduling or simply blocking out 10-15 minute chunks throughout the day. You can also plan your activities around the best times to post on social media to increase engagement.

Final Thoughts

You should now have a better knowledge of how social media may help your eCommerce website or your business. Keep in mind that not all of the content or techniques mentioned will work for your business. Try each one, learn from your performance, and continue to improve. It’s now up to you to include social media into your small business marketing plan.


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YouTube Ad Specs, Sizes, and Examples [2024 Update]

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YouTube Ad Specs, Sizes, and Examples

Introduction

With billions of users each month, YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine and top website for video content. This makes it a great place for advertising. To succeed, advertisers need to follow the correct YouTube ad specifications. These rules help your ad reach more viewers, increasing the chance of gaining new customers and boosting brand awareness.

Types of YouTube Ads

Video Ads

  • Description: These play before, during, or after a YouTube video on computers or mobile devices.
  • Types:
    • In-stream ads: Can be skippable or non-skippable.
    • Bumper ads: Non-skippable, short ads that play before, during, or after a video.

Display Ads

  • Description: These appear in different spots on YouTube and usually use text or static images.
  • Note: YouTube does not support display image ads directly on its app, but these can be targeted to YouTube.com through Google Display Network (GDN).

Companion Banners

  • Description: Appears to the right of the YouTube player on desktop.
  • Requirement: Must be purchased alongside In-stream ads, Bumper ads, or In-feed ads.

In-feed Ads

  • Description: Resemble videos with images, headlines, and text. They link to a public or unlisted YouTube video.

Outstream Ads

  • Description: Mobile-only video ads that play outside of YouTube, on websites and apps within the Google video partner network.

Masthead Ads

  • Description: Premium, high-visibility banner ads displayed at the top of the YouTube homepage for both desktop and mobile users.

YouTube Ad Specs by Type

Skippable In-stream Video Ads

  • Placement: Before, during, or after a YouTube video.
  • Resolution:
    • Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
    • Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
    • Square: 1080 x 1080px
  • Aspect Ratio:
    • Horizontal: 16:9
    • Vertical: 9:16
    • Square: 1:1
  • Length:
    • Awareness: 15-20 seconds
    • Consideration: 2-3 minutes
    • Action: 15-20 seconds

Non-skippable In-stream Video Ads

  • Description: Must be watched completely before the main video.
  • Length: 15 seconds (or 20 seconds in certain markets).
  • Resolution:
    • Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
    • Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
    • Square: 1080 x 1080px
  • Aspect Ratio:
    • Horizontal: 16:9
    • Vertical: 9:16
    • Square: 1:1

Bumper Ads

  • Length: Maximum 6 seconds.
  • File Format: MP4, Quicktime, AVI, ASF, Windows Media, or MPEG.
  • Resolution:
    • Horizontal: 640 x 360px
    • Vertical: 480 x 360px

In-feed Ads

  • Description: Show alongside YouTube content, like search results or the Home feed.
  • Resolution:
    • Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
    • Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
    • Square: 1080 x 1080px
  • Aspect Ratio:
    • Horizontal: 16:9
    • Square: 1:1
  • Length:
    • Awareness: 15-20 seconds
    • Consideration: 2-3 minutes
  • Headline/Description:
    • Headline: Up to 2 lines, 40 characters per line
    • Description: Up to 2 lines, 35 characters per line

Display Ads

  • Description: Static images or animated media that appear on YouTube next to video suggestions, in search results, or on the homepage.
  • Image Size: 300×60 pixels.
  • File Type: GIF, JPG, PNG.
  • File Size: Max 150KB.
  • Max Animation Length: 30 seconds.

Outstream Ads

  • Description: Mobile-only video ads that appear on websites and apps within the Google video partner network, not on YouTube itself.
  • Logo Specs:
    • Square: 1:1 (200 x 200px).
    • File Type: JPG, GIF, PNG.
    • Max Size: 200KB.

Masthead Ads

  • Description: High-visibility ads at the top of the YouTube homepage.
  • Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher.
  • File Type: JPG or PNG (without transparency).

Conclusion

YouTube offers a variety of ad formats to reach audiences effectively in 2024. Whether you want to build brand awareness, drive conversions, or target specific demographics, YouTube provides a dynamic platform for your advertising needs. Always follow Google’s advertising policies and the technical ad specs to ensure your ads perform their best. Ready to start using YouTube ads? Contact us today to get started!

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Why We Are Always ‘Clicking to Buy’, According to Psychologists

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Why We Are Always 'Clicking to Buy', According to Psychologists

Amazon pillows.

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A deeper dive into data, personalization and Copilots

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A deeper dive into data, personalization and Copilots

Salesforce launched a collection of new, generative AI-related products at Connections in Chicago this week. They included new Einstein Copilots for marketers and merchants and Einstein Personalization.

To better understand, not only the potential impact of the new products, but the evolving Salesforce architecture, we sat down with Bobby Jania, CMO, Marketing Cloud.

Dig deeper: Salesforce piles on the Einstein Copilots

Salesforce’s evolving architecture

It’s hard to deny that Salesforce likes coming up with new names for platforms and products (what happened to Customer 360?) and this can sometimes make the observer wonder if something is brand new, or old but with a brand new name. In particular, what exactly is Einstein 1 and how is it related to Salesforce Data Cloud?

“Data Cloud is built on the Einstein 1 platform,” Jania explained. “The Einstein 1 platform is our entire Salesforce platform and that includes products like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud — that it includes the original idea of Salesforce not just being in the cloud, but being multi-tenancy.”

Data Cloud — not an acquisition, of course — was built natively on that platform. It was the first product built on Hyperforce, Salesforce’s new cloud infrastructure architecture. “Since Data Cloud was on what we now call the Einstein 1 platform from Day One, it has always natively connected to, and been able to read anything in Sales Cloud, Service Cloud [and so on]. On top of that, we can now bring in, not only structured but unstructured data.”

That’s a significant progression from the position, several years ago, when Salesforce had stitched together a platform around various acquisitions (ExactTarget, for example) that didn’t necessarily talk to each other.

“At times, what we would do is have a kind of behind-the-scenes flow where data from one product could be moved into another product,” said Jania, “but in many of those cases the data would then be in both, whereas now the data is in Data Cloud. Tableau will run natively off Data Cloud; Commerce Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud — they’re all going to the same operational customer profile.” They’re not copying the data from Data Cloud, Jania confirmed.

Another thing to know is tit’s possible for Salesforce customers to import their own datasets into Data Cloud. “We wanted to create a federated data model,” said Jania. “If you’re using Snowflake, for example, we more or less virtually sit on your data lake. The value we add is that we will look at all your data and help you form these operational customer profiles.”

Let’s learn more about Einstein Copilot

“Copilot means that I have an assistant with me in the tool where I need to be working that contextually knows what I am trying to do and helps me at every step of the process,” Jania said.

For marketers, this might begin with a campaign brief developed with Copilot’s assistance, the identification of an audience based on the brief, and then the development of email or other content. “What’s really cool is the idea of Einstein Studio where our customers will create actions [for Copilot] that we hadn’t even thought about.”

Here’s a key insight (back to nomenclature). We reported on Copilot for markets, Copilot for merchants, Copilot for shoppers. It turns out, however, that there is just one Copilot, Einstein Copilot, and these are use cases. “There’s just one Copilot, we just add these for a little clarity; we’re going to talk about marketing use cases, about shoppers’ use cases. These are actions for the marketing use cases we built out of the box; you can build your own.”

It’s surely going to take a little time for marketers to learn to work easily with Copilot. “There’s always time for adoption,” Jania agreed. “What is directly connected with this is, this is my ninth Connections and this one has the most hands-on training that I’ve seen since 2014 — and a lot of that is getting people using Data Cloud, using these tools rather than just being given a demo.”

What’s new about Einstein Personalization

Salesforce Einstein has been around since 2016 and many of the use cases seem to have involved personalization in various forms. What’s new?

“Einstein Personalization is a real-time decision engine and it’s going to choose next-best-action, next-best-offer. What is new is that it’s a service now that runs natively on top of Data Cloud.” A lot of real-time decision engines need their own set of data that might actually be a subset of data. “Einstein Personalization is going to look holistically at a customer and recommend a next-best-action that could be natively surfaced in Service Cloud, Sales Cloud or Marketing Cloud.”

Finally, trust

One feature of the presentations at Connections was the reassurance that, although public LLMs like ChatGPT could be selected for application to customer data, none of that data would be retained by the LLMs. Is this just a matter of written agreements? No, not just that, said Jania.

“In the Einstein Trust Layer, all of the data, when it connects to an LLM, runs through our gateway. If there was a prompt that had personally identifiable information — a credit card number, an email address — at a mimum, all that is stripped out. The LLMs do not store the output; we store the output for auditing back in Salesforce. Any output that comes back through our gateway is logged in our system; it runs through a toxicity model; and only at the end do we put PII data back into the answer. There are real pieces beyond a handshake that this data is safe.”

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