by Francois Muscat | Jan 6, 2020 | Facebook, Social Media Marketing
Holidays are a good time to boost sales for your business as consumers find it easier to justify purchases around holidays than at most other times. But, with every other business targeting the same holiday periods with offers, standing out from all the noise can prove challenging. Smart marketers are leveraging the power of social media marketing. And, Facebook Advertising, in particular, to position their brands in front of target customers. Here are the top six benefits of using Facebook Advertising to boost your holiday marketing efforts:
It Puts Your Brand and Marketing Messages in Front of More People
People are always on the look-out for great deals on gifts throughout the festive season. So, by enhancing your reach through paid advertising on Facebook, you are certain to generate a much higher number of website visitors and, hopefully, conversions.
It Helps You Target the Right People
You can ensure that your marketing budget is well-spent with Facebook’s accurate targeting options. Target by gender, age, interests and more.
It Gives You More Ad Formats to Test With
From canvas ads to slideshow ads and everything in between, the Facebook advertising platform has gone out of its way to allow marketers to really get creative.
It Enables You to Compete with the Bigger Players in Your Niche
Why should you consider running Facebook ads during the holidays? Because you can be 100% certain that your competition is! The only way to keep up is to follow suit – and do it better.
It Spreads Your Marketing Messages During a Time People Are Most Likely to Buy
At any other time of the year, people will think twice before purchasing something – even if it is offered to them at a decent price. During the holidays, however, people are ready and often looking to make a purchase. Entice them with a worthwhile offer, and you are highly likely to convert them with minimal effort or spend.
Gives You the Tools to Set Your Own Budget and Track How You’re Spending It
Facebook advertising allows you to choose your budget from the get-go, so you are always aware of what you are spending.
Facebook Advertising has some of the highest conversion rates in online marketing. If you aren’t yet, it is high time you put them to work in your business. With our expertise and years of experience with online reputation management, digital marketing, and social media marketing, at WSI OMS we are the perfect people with work if you’re looking to make ground quickly. Contact us to discuss your needs.
by Francois Muscat | Dec 14, 2019 | Blogging, Digital Media Marketing
Blogging might be an integral part of digital marketing but, unfortunately, not everyone is a born blogger. We’ve created a guide that will help you to not only write better blogs and target the correct audience, but that will also help you to stay on-trend and improve your reputation as an authoritative source in your industry.
Digital Marketing Guide to Being a Better Blogger:
Topics and Targeting
If you know who you are writing for and you pick topics that will speak to them, you have half the battle won. Take some time to find your audience, research them and brainstorm topics they will be interested in. Once you’ve determined your audience, you can alter your tone of voice and address pain points they might be experiencing. By speaking to the correct people in the correct way and providing answers to their questions, you’re paving the way to becoming a “go-to” source for issues they experience.
When brainstorming topics suited to your audience, be sure to maintain a balance between evergreen content and trending topics:
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- Evergreen content will rarely become outdated and can easily be updated with minor changes. It includes topics that will drive traffic to your blog, long after being published (nothing time-sensitive goes in this category).
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- Trending topics may have a shorter life span, but if the topic is relevant for a short time, it can drive a surge of traffic to your blog, especially if the content has an edge of exclusivity to it. However, don’t rely exclusively on trends to drive the majority of traffic to your blog. If you do, you’re setting yourself up for a large time investment in creating new trendy content all the time.
Writing
Here are a few valuable tips to keep in mind when you are writing:
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- Start with an outline for your post (that will guide your writing) and if this outline can be valuable to your audience, incorporate it into your post. You don’t need an outline for every post, but the more complex your post, the more valuable this roadmap becomes to your audience.
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- Keep your writing concise, but don’t under explain topics. Add just enough information so your post is clear but easy to digest.
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- Keep SEO principles in mind when writing. Also, remember to incorporate keywords into every part of your post, including the title, descriptions, headers and captions. Earn links from other sites by incorporating (and citing) authoritative data and quotes from industry experts.
- Schedule time to go through old posts and update outdated information, maintain links and improve on existing content.
Content
Blogging and content creation is not only about the written word. You can experiment with different types of content to keep your audience engaged. Try using video and images to liven up your posts and if possible, display statistics in a visual format like an infographic.
Your content should cover a variety of topics that range from the following:
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- Tips and resources (to teach your audience and alleviate pain points),
- Information on your products and services (where you can include discount codes or special offers), and
- More personal posts such as success stories and insights into your business.
Use your network
Part of being a better blogger is to understand how to leverage your network. Promoting your content on every possible medium is a start, but you can reach a wider audience by partnering up with contacts in your network and giving them exposure to your followers in return. Invite contributors to help you with the content workload, and offer to be a part of their content creation plan in return. The principle is to create a community that is mutually beneficial for all members instead of ruthlessly competing with other content creators.
Becoming a better blogger should be on your priority list for an improved digital strategy, and once you’ve incorporated these essential principles, blogging will become a much simpler task to take on. Click here to find more of our resources on blogging and digital marketing.
by Francois Muscat | Dec 13, 2019 | SEO
According to statistics, around 42% of South African internet users watch videos on their smartphones. It is no wonder why countless brands are turning to video marketing to really make a splash within the digital realm. While creating video content is one thing, the real challenge comes in when it is time to promote it. SEO for video marketing is different from SEO for regular content marketing. Here is what you need to know.
Focus on SEO for Your Website
Optimising a video for search is heavily dependent on the digital marketing authority of your website itself. Therefore, if your on-page and off-page SEO is great, there is a much higher chance that your video will rank better in search results.
Choose the Right Video Hosting Platform
The video hosting platform that you opt for should be decided based on what you wish to achieve with the video. For instance, if the goal is to promote brand awareness, you should consider YouTube or Vimeo. If you are striving to increase the number of visits to your website, then it is better to embed the video on your website itself. There are many alternative hosting platforms that allow for this.
Write a Transcript
Think about how many people may want to view your video but do not have their earphones handy. Also, Google is unable to ‘scrape’ content from videos effectively yet. Hence, the reason why it can be beneficial to include a transcript below the video. This will likely improve web page rankings and your video’s rankings all at once.
Need help with video marketing SEO? Here at WSI OMS, we specialise in all aspects of digital marketing including SEO, inbound marketing and social media marketing. Contact us now for more information on how we can assist you.
by Francois Muscat | Dec 12, 2019 | Instagram, Social Media Marketing
Instagram – a marketer’s best friend. If you want to expand your reach and to attract a bigger audience online, Instagram is the way for you to go.
However, Instagram requires creativity. So, we’ve listed a few ideas for you to get started on creating unique and engaging video content:
Set a Goal for Your Video
Your short video (of one minute) needs to be compelling. This can be challenging as you don’t want to lose your audience’s attention. You need to decide what goal(s) you want to achieve by posting the video. Are you trying to attract more followers? Do you intend to attract more traffic to your website? Try to be specific with the video’s tone and feel.
Tell Your Brand’s Story
Every business has a story. The best way to attract your consumers’ attention is to create a video that tells a story. Plan your video to ensure that you optimize each second by dividing the content into three different parts:
- The beginning,
- The middle, and
- The end.
Stay focused on your end goal.
Setting the Stage for Your Video
You don’t need a fully equipped set up to create a professional looking video. You can create a masterpiece with your smartphone if you follow a few basic guidelines during filming. The most important aspect to consider is the lighting. Try to find natural light in your space.
Filming Your Video
You need to decide on the type of camera you are going to shoot with. Your smartphone’s camera would be ideal or a DSLR camera. We don’t recommend that you use Instagram’s camera function as it limits your shooting capabilities. Shoot in either portrait or landscape mode with the shot always focused on your subject.
With the many different types of videos around that you can experiment with, you can enhance your Instagram page and create a winning video marketing campaign with these simple steps.
If you have found these four tips useful, and you want more of the same, contact us today for more information on how to enhance your online presence.
by Francois Muscat | Dec 2, 2019 | Social Media Marketing
With 2019 coming to an end, it is time to consider your social media marketing strategy for the upcoming holidays. If you want to stand out from the usual kitsch festive season advertising, here are five different tips and tricks to place you ahead of the game:
Give Your Customers the Head Start
You can start by letting your customers know that you are there to make their holidays better. Reconnect with your existing customers as early as possible – without the hard sell. During the festive season, you can start aggressively advertising by making offers your customers won’t be able to resist.
Give Your Social Media Platforms a Festive Season Makeover
In order to get your customers hyped and excited for the festive season, give your Facebook chatbot (and your other social media avatars) a fun holiday makeover to showcase your customer appreciation. You’d be surprised how engaging such a simple action can be.
Consider Collaborating with a Like-Minded Social Media Influencer
To generate better results (and to potentially boost your sales), reach out to a popular social media influencer who can help you market to a wider audience. Brainstorm one or more fun and creative collaborative campaigns you can execute during the holiday season.
Go Live on Facebook
You can use holiday-themed Facebook Live videos to engage with your audience. Facebook tends to favour content that generates social interaction, particularly conversations between people in the comments on the page’s posts. Gather your team together and come up with ‘out the box’ fun and creative ideas to engage with your customers and to ensure that your brand remains not only at the top of their feeds, but also at the front of their minds.
Create Holiday-Themed Content
Draw up a social media calendar for the weeks leading up to Christmas and New Year. Come up with holiday-themed content based on your brand’s goals for this period. You can look at running a competition or two, creating fun themed surveys for your customers to complete or even posting funny holiday memes. Need some inspiration for your year-end marketing? Contact us today for more information.
