by Marelise da Silva | Aug 14, 2020 | Social Media Marketing
When it comes to digital marketing, marketing and sales departments, business owners, corporate companies, and new business start-ups need to stay on top of the latest trends. YouTube is an ever-popular part of internet marketing strategy.
YouTube Fulfils Social Media Marketing Requirements
Because videos can convey emotions that connect with those of your audience, they leave a more lasting impression. With over 2 billion active users, YouTube is a valuable marketing tool to promote your brand and drive conversions.
YouTube makes branding a breeze, as you can choose your own channel name and customise the banner with images and colours that identify, promote, and link back to your website.
Interacting with your audience is made easier with the addition of links to your social network pages and website on your channel art. You can guide your viewers with playlists, analyse their reactions to your videos, and even embed your videos into your website.
Save Time with YouTube’s Smart Replies
As with all content marketing replying to your fans as their base grows is crucial. Touching base used to be rather time-consuming. But, thanks to Google’s “cross-lingual and character byte-based SmartReply model built for YouTube and implemented in YouTube Studio”, it is much quicker now. (Users of Gmail will be familiar with this time-saving gem.)
Currently available in English and Spanish, Smart Replies scans your video comments – taking into consideration the text, lack of punctuation, abbreviations, slang, and emojis – and then prompts you with suggested replies which you can use with just one tap!
To align with your brand, Smart Replies takes it a step further by incorporating your conversational style and tone as it learns that over time.
Award-Winning Solutions
WSI OMS in South Africa will support you and your business if you want your social media marketing for the rest of 2020 to knock it out of the park! Contact us, and we will manage your YouTube community with you.
by Marelise da Silva | Aug 11, 2020 | SEO
Your SEO strategy is a massive part of your digital marketing effort, and if you’re spending time on link building, there are a few things you need to be aware of that could get you into serious trouble with Google’s spam team. In our latest blog post, we take a look at the types of links that get you penalised and how to avoid getting penalised.
A quick recap of link building terms
Inbound links
Inbound links are clickable links from any other site that links back to your site; that’s why they are often called backlinks. They bring traffic to your website.
Outbound links
The exact opposite of inbound links, outbound links point to other websites or webpages.
Manual penalties
Also called manual actions. Google can demote or remove a website (as a whole) or pages of a website that engage in spammy, unnatural link building which goes against Google’s terms. Webmasters are informed of such actions on the Search Console and the webmaster then has an opportunity to fix the problem and send a reconsideration request.
Link Schemes
Any link that attempts to manipulate the Google ranking system may form part of a link scheme. These include buying or selling links, using services that automatically create links to a site, and excessive link exchanges. Link Schemes are set out under Google’s quality guidelines.
Common link penalties you need to avoid
Spam links
Whether it is pure spam that adds no value to where it is posted, or user-generated spam that is created by posting in forums, discussions and blogs, Google does not like spam links. If your link building strategy includes adding your link to discussions and forums, you need to be very careful to only mention it when it is relevant and useful and directly related to the content you are commenting on.
Paid links
Google does not play well when it comes to the practice of buying and selling links. If you’re paying someone to add your link to their site or being paid to add a link to your site, then you’re going to get penalised. If you decide that you want to buy links, be sure to mark them as “no follow” links that will be excluded from your rankings. In general, the best idea is just to avoid this practice.
Private blog networks
Also called link networks, this is basically a network of sites that are all owned by one person and used primarily to link to each other. This tactic isn’t always effective because all the sites need strong inbound links to have an influence on ranking, and even if done correctly, Google still sees this as manipulative behaviour and may penalize you for using this strategy.
Low quality, foreign and irrelevant links
If you use links from low quality websites, sites that are irrelevant to your content and masses of foreign links, Google will pick up that you’re trying to cheat the system and will penalize you. The idea is to improve your ranking by proving that your website is relevant and useful so these types of links won’t contribute to your rankings and may hurt your link building efforts.
Business directories and bookmarking sites
While not all directories are bad, there are many web directories that are really low quality and if your website is listed on low quality directories or bookmarking sites, you need to remove it or disavow it to avoid penalties from Google.
How to avoid getting penalised
If your website is a source of quality information that has value to users, you really don’t have to do too much to avoid penalties from Google. The number one rule is to create valuable, quality content that will earn you organic links and improve your ranking.
Here are some more tips to help you avoid penalties:
- Don’t try to get links by paying for them or exchanging goods, services or links for them.
- If you’re promoting something, use the correct attributes to tell Google what your relationship with that page is
- Diversify keywords and don’t just dump keyword anchors in your text wherever it can go. Incorporate links in a natural way or leave them out of your content.
If you need help with your SEO, link building or digital marketing strategies, contact WSI OMS to discuss our service and package options.
by Marelise da Silva | Aug 10, 2020 | Digital Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing
The importance of having a social media presence in business is increasing. With an estimated 3.6 billion people currently on social media platforms and using them regularly and efficiently, every business needs to have a social media marketing strategy. Using a digital marketing agency to manage your social media will help you successfully promote your business’ brand across social media channels more efficiently in less time. Here are the services that a digital marketing agency will utilise to grow your social media following:
Social Media Optimisation
Social media optimisation is the digital marketing strategy of creating and improving your social media plan to get measurable results by:
- Using inbound marketing attract customers to your social media profiles
- Staying up to date and capitalising on current trends
- Building relationships with current and potential customers
- Encouraging page interactions by using like, share, tags, etc.
- Driving relevant traffic to your website
Online Community Management
Outsourcing your community management to a digital marketing agency is beneficial to your business for the following reasons:
- Community managers are up to date on social media channels with what they can offer and how they can potentially work best for your brand.
- Offering a new perspective and fresh ideas to make your brand stand out in the evolving social media world.
- Your social media is consistent by always being updated and that someone is responding to questions and comments.
Use a digital marketing agency to manage your social media marketing and don’t join the thousands of dormant accounts that are embarrassing and that were supposed to be populated.
Contact us today to help you with your social media strategy & other digital marketing services WSI OMS offers.
by Marelise da Silva | Aug 3, 2020 | Website Design
You’ve worked hard to build your business, but if you want customers, then you will need a website for them to visit. Hiring a web designer or a digital marketing agency is as important as hiring any other professional like a plumber or accountant. Web designers know how to make your site ‘sticky’ by creating simple navigation, providing valuable and up-to-date content, and reducing clutter.
Here are three reasons why you should consider hiring a professional web designer to build your website:
Looks aren’t everything
You can waste hours using a DIY web design program to create a visually appealing website, only for it not to work functionally. A web designer produces a website that aligns with your brand and optimises user experience to keep your customers on your website. They will do all the tedious and time-consuming work for you, such as researching your competitors’ websites, generating a content marketing strategy aimed at your target audience, and designing a high-quality site.
Responsive design
Have you ever accessed a website with your smartphone and found that it isn’t user friendly or doesn’t work at all? Responsive design ensures that your website is optimised for different devices so that you don’t have to choose between desktop or mobile sites. Google is also focusing on mobile-friendly websites, as more people tend to use their mobile devices to search the internet.
SEO knowledge
A web designer knows how to optimise SEO because only a successful website will have a good search engine ranking. A web designer will ensure that the content, keywords, and links on your site will be search engine friendly while also visually appealing to get a better ranking.
Web designers have the knowledge, tools, and access to more technology to create an attractive and dynamic website, and essentially saving you time & money.
Contact us today for more information on web design and other website services WSI OMS offers.
by Marelise da Silva | Jul 27, 2020 | Facebook, Social Media Marketing
As more businesses seek to boost their online opportunities amid the COVID-19 lockdown, Facebook has launched 15 new, free Blueprint courses that cover a variety of key elements. As businesses worldwide are shifting their focus online, many do not know where to start. To help with this transition, Facebook Blueprint, which is their business education program, aims to educate you on the fundamentals. These courses are free, and the lessons are straightforward, contextualising concepts with storytelling and providing downloadable materials to assist in applying what you learn into practice. The full list of new courses can be viewed on the Blueprint platform. Have a look at some of the latest additions.
Digital marketing: Courses to Help Businesses Maximise Their Online Opportunities
Select your social media channels
This course will help you to understand the social media landscape, choose the optimal social media channels, and create a social media map for your business.
Tell your business story
The lessons explain what a brand is, why it is important to have a consistent brand, and how to create a brand for your business.
Map the customer journey
The aim is to define a customer journey, describe how the customer journey relates to your marketing efforts, and create a map for your customers’ journey.
Set marketing goals
Understand SMART goals, set and create SMART marketing goals for your business, and learn how to measure your progress against your SMART goals.
Create and manage a content calendar
The course covers the importance of a content calendar, how content calendars work, and how to create a content calendar for your business.
Facebook’s Blueprint courses offer some great insights into social media and digital marketing. Some may cater for a wider audience, so you might come across certain topics you have already mastered, but you might also gain a new perspective on things, which can cause you to reconsider or re-evaluate components of your strategy. Need help with your digital marketing and social media? Then contact WSI OMS today.
