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Category: Digital Marketing

  • Importance of online reputation management

    Importance of online reputation management

    How important are online reviews and recommendations for your business? In terms of sustainability and growth immensely important. When you consider all the various digital platforms that allow for reviews and or recommendations, this is a huge influence on your business whether you like it or not. The process cannot be ignored and must be managed effectively to have a positive impact on your enterprise.

    If you want to see a visual representation of this information please scroll to the bottom.

    Lets take a brief look at some of the statistics as of 2019.

    • 90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year, with 33% looking every day.
    • 82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, with 52% of 18-54-year-olds saying they ‘always’ read reviews.
    • The average consumer reads 10 reviews before feeling able to trust a business, more when the buying decision is complicated.
    • Only 53% of people would consider using a business with less than 4 stars, however, all 5 stars can raise red flags.
    • The average consumer spends 13 minutes and 45 seconds reading reviews and or recommendations before making a buying decision.
    • Among consumers that read reviews, 97% read businesses’ responses to reviews. It is all about the thank you culture. It also allows for review management.
    • 67% of consumers have now been asked to leave a review for a local business – with 24% of these being offered a discount, gift, or cash in return.
    • Read on for more knowledge on how reviews and recommendations will grow your business.

    As the stats have clearly shown that online reviews is an ever-more-common part of consumers’ purchasing decisions. But, with reviews now being a huge part of online search results, a poor star rating or the feedback of unhappy customers can be hard to miss. However it can be managed and turned into a positive reflection of your business or brand.

    Let’s look at some key trends in 2019.

    In 2018, consumers aged 18-34 were leading the charge for reviews and consistently coming out on top in terms of their review-reading and activity. However, the demographic has widened. It is worth noting that the younger age group becoming less likely to research a local business online and directly look for reviews and recommendations.

    Across every age group, those that do read reviews are doing so far more regularly – with one-third of consumers searching for a business or solution every signal day. With two-thirds of consumers always researching reviews and recommendations prior to making a buying decision,  including a huge 93% of consumers aged 35-54.

    Reviews will have a colossal impact on the behavior of consumers, and it’s clear to see that a business’s online reputation strongly affects whether customers choose to use a company. Positive comments about a business will influence 91% of consumers. While 82% will be put off by a poorly managed negative review. As mentioned earlier an average consumer will read at least ten reviews before feeling able to trust a business, so businesses with lower review counts or negative feedback within their top reviews risk losing a significant proportion of potential customers to competitors with better online reputations.

    The report finds that trustworthiness is crucial to consumers – but how can this be the case when fake reviews are becoming more and more common. Human beings are the most dominant species on the planet as we learn quickly. Consumers are already knowledgably on how to identify the authenticity of reviews. It would be nice if they felt able to trust that reviews were accurate and legitimate.

    97% of consumers not only read the reviews but any conversations between the reviewer and the business, making it extremely important for businesses to ensure they are monitoring their reputation across every review site, and responding quickly and professionally to any feedback. Have you identified which sites you need to be on?

    The number of consumers writing reviews is growing, with businesses reporting that two thirds of their consumers have written reviews. With the average consumer now leaving 6-8 reviews a year.

    Need help with a strategy to encouraging your customers to review and recommend?

    Book a Free Consultation

    Many businesses are incentivizing, bribing consumers to leave a review. Be cautious with this strategy as many platforms will remove these or all your reviews if this is against their policies.  

    How do you track the multitude of ways for consumers to find information about local businesses online?

    It’s important to consider how behavior differs among different segments of consumers. 75% of 18-34 and 35-54-year-olds search for a local business on a weekly basis, with the younger age group a little more likely to look every day. Over 55s are far less likely to search for nearby businesses regularly.

    However, it’s not as simple as saying that younger consumers search for local businesses more than over 55s. In fact, consumers aged 18-34 are less likely to have made a local search in the past year – with 15% saying they’d never searched. Could this indicate that some younger consumers are interacting with businesses in a different way – perhaps opting for online-only businesses, or finding nearby businesses through recommendations, and discoveries on platforms such as Instagram or Facebook?

    Top Devices for Reading Reviews.

    1. PC or Mac
    2. Mobile internet browser such as safari
    3. Tablet
    4. Mobile app.

    After reading a positive review, consumers are most likely to go on to visit local businesses’ websites. While this has declined compared to the 2018 report, local businesses’ websites remain a critical part of the journey for consumers. This could be a direct influence of Google’s objective of providing all the information for the viewer without having to leave their search engine.

    Negative reviews can happen to anyone. But, how you deal with them can help consumers understand what your business stands for, and what they should expect by choosing you. While you may receive a poor review for a customer that doesn’t like your service, always stay polite, and respond quickly to provide further details and a clear solution to anyone who may be reading. A bad review doesn’t need to be a disaster.

    Online reviews are undoubtedly a critical tool, but with the growth of recommendations on Facebook, as well as the growth of Nextdoor, and the normality of influencer recommendations, online reviews could be losing their place on the pedestal.

    But remember, it’s not enough to focus your attention on just one review site. 70% of consumers look at multiple review sites when choosing a local business.

    Unsure of how to strategically manage your online reputation, please get in touch for a free initial consultation.

  • Are hashtags still important to your business growth on social media?

    Are hashtags still important to your business growth on social media?

    On some social media platforms hashtags have been around since they were launched and with others such as Facebook and Linkedin they were adopted by the social platforms.

    However just because they have been around for over a decade do they still have relevance today?

    Like many marketing communication mediums, social media is noticing that people are becoming increasingly wary of spam posts and the ever-increasing noise as more and more businesses try to extract business growth from numerous social media platforms. Technology changes by the hour too. Nothing stays the same for long in the digital world. Also, with some demographics, an element of distrust has crept in and some are switching off to social media. So, what is the value of the hashtag in the shifting digital landscape? Let us explore a little of the history of the humble hashtag and what it can really do for you and your business.

    Instagram

    Hashtags are the lifeblood of Instagram. Instagram has always let users include long strings of tags in their posts. They help the algorithm understand the content of the post. However, in order to get the most out of them on Instagram, you need to do some clever thinking and some out the box considerations.

    This is even truer if you work in an incredibly busy industry. Many are struggling to cut through the noise in digital spaces cluttered with similar ideas and accounts. Using synonyms can help you cut through the noise in an overcrowded digital space.

    Far better to do it right, then just getting it done.

    On a regular post, you can use a maximum of 30 hashtags. However, on Stories, you can use a maximum of 10. Again, while Instagram is the most hashtag-friendly site, you don’t want your posts to look spammy. You can actually use hashtags to enhance the content of your post.

    As a business, your goal is to use the right combination of hashtags to achieve maximum reach. On the other hand, you don’t want to weigh your posts down with so many hashtags that they look pushy and clunky.

    Regardless of how you use them or your opinion of hashtags, they remain a key part of Instagram. They are how users find relevant content on the platform.

    Linkedin

    LinkedIn introduced hashtags in 2018. However, as this site is different from other social media sites, the way you might engage with hashtags on it is a little bit different.

    When you use hashtags on LinkedIn, you make your content more discoverable. You also raise the chances that people who are interested in your content or company will come across it.

    However, as LinkedIn is primarily a platform for professionals to connect, it is important to keep your tags professional. While Instagram is known for its aesthetic-driven landscape and Twitter is known for its raunchy and irreverent culture, the kinds of things that do well on Twitter will likely not impress your boss or sponsors on LinkedIn.

    On LinkedIn, you can add hashtags to your posts, headline, and summary.

    Twitter

    In 2007, they began being used on Twitter and quickly took over the social media sphere. However, their use on Twitter is a bit different than on Instagram.

    On Twitter, you have to find popular tags. What is popular is generated by the audience and can’t be latched onto by businesses. On Twitter, you really have to know what you are doing. You have to know how the Twitter landscape works and what is popular on it.

    Twitter is where the hashtag was born. Here is a look at the first tweet ever, sent in 2006, by creator Jack Dorsey.

    While this can be difficult to figure out, it has definite rewards. There are also free tools like Hashtagify which you can use to do basic hashtag research on Twitter. If you do not know what is trending, you are largely wasting your time. However, once you put in the time, you can unlock entire communities.

    Facebook

    The Facebook hashtag is a bit of a different story. No one is really sure how exactly they work. We know that the site supports the use of them, but what exactly they do for posts on the platform is unclear, some claim it helps the algorithm understand the post content. However, you also have to factor in the attention span of your audience, will they read them? Will the hashtags distract or enhance from the content.

    Facebook is definitely not as hashtag-friendly as Instagram. This means that you have to understand your audience, what they want to see, and how they use hashtags. In order to accomplish this, you have to know what they are searching for. When they search, you want to make sure you pop up.

    Overstuffing posts with hashtags after hashtag is generally not recommended across all platforms. However, this is especially not useful on Facebook. It is best to figure out which few hashtags work best for your brand and then use them to build a campaign over time.

    Youtube

    YouTube has been late when it comes to the use of the hashtag. In 2018, they introduced this feature. They can appear and be clickable in both video titles and descriptions. This is part of YouTube’s new strategy to try and ensure viewers can access the content they want and avoid the content that they do not wish to see.

    A part of this is limiting how many you can use. In fact, including more than 15 can lead to the platform ignoring all of the ones you used. If YouTube thinks your content is spam, it may remove it.

    Keep in mind that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world after Google. This update makes its vast library of content even more searchable. How hashtags are used on the site is critical to YouTube SEO.

    Are hashtags important to business growth

    What part do hashtags really play?

    Hashtags are still going strong, however, this is not the end of the story across all social media platforms. If you are considering them the be-all-end-all of your campaigns, think again.

    You should use hashtags only when you have worked out what tags will effectively get you the engagement you need. This involves both clever research and testing. However, leveraging hashtags properly can work wonders for your digital brand, especially on mobile.

    If you are just starting out, you can take a look at the hashtag encyclopedia on Hashtags.org. It gives you definitions of hundreds of them across many niches. It can even help you figure out how to use them.

    Final Thought

    Don’t be shy about testing things out. Constant testing and exploration are key when it comes to finding the perfect hashtag to use in any situation.

    After being introduced on Twitter over a decade ago, hashtags have played a huge part in social media. Many sites, for example, YouTube and Instagram, act as massive search engines. Hashtags help people find the content they want to consume.

    However, their influence and use are not the same across all platforms. How you use them, how many you use, and which you choose will ultimately depend on your goals, your business, and the platform which you are using.

    Are you a hashtag hater or do you love them? Let us know why below…

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  • Social Media a tool for business growth!

    Social Media a tool for business growth!

    Always start with planning.

    If you want to attract and engage social-media fans and followers — and convert them into paying customers — you need to map out a clear, goal-oriented social media plan. If you don’t, it will be obvious to your fans and a target market that you are disorganized. In addition to damaging your brand, you’ll risk losing sales by sending your audience to your competitors.

    If you’re starting from scratch, it can feel overwhelming.

    You know that others have been successful at social media marketing, but there are so many moving parts that creating a plan of your own can be daunting. If you are brand new to social media and looking for a straightforward way to start, follow the simple advice below.

    Steps to Social Media Marketing Success

    Research and know your audience. What topics and interests are they are most social about? What problems are they trying to solve? What are their pain points?

    Use the same social networks as your audience. Are Facebook and Twitter their platforms of choice? Do most of them use Pinterest and Instagram? Go where your target audience is to create awareness, engagement, and brand ambassadors.

    Identify your KPIs (key performance indicators). They measure progress toward your goals. What do you want your social media efforts to accomplish? What does success look like in quantifiable terms?

    Write a social media marketing playbook. The playbook should detail your KPIs, audience profiles, brand values and persona, campaign concepts, promotional events, contests, content themed around benefit sought, potential contingency plans, etc. Make sure to tailor strategies that are unique to each of your social media channels.

    Align the people at your company with the plan. Get everyone on board with your strategy. Divide responsibilities among your team, such as who is in charge of posting to your blog and each social media network, who will respond to comments and @mentions, and who will own metrics tracking and reporting.

    Set aside some time at the beginning of each week to prepare. Take 30-60 minutes to schedule tweets, Facebook posts, LinkedIn posts, Pinterest pins, and other social media content. Come up with some original ideas, links to your own content, and links to outside content that is useful or interesting to your audience.

    Develop a content marketing calendar. Use one of the example spreadsheets that we have created as a starting point to plan content topics, headlines, related links, desired scheduling, name of authors, etc. However please see further on about potential pitfalls.

    Treat all of your social channels differently. Don’t post the same message everywhere – remember who the audience is on each platform and how they interact. What works on Facebook will fall flat on Twitter, and vice versa.

    Assign someone to act as a customer service rep. It’s vital to be responsive to user-generated content, comments, and feedback (positive or not). CRM (customer relationship management) is fundamental to social media marketing success and business growth.

    Schedule metrics reporting. Reporting metrics can occur weekly, monthly, or bimonthly depending on your goals and desired outcomes.

    Reanalyze your plan on a regular basis. If something in your plan isn’t working, switch it up or do some split testing to determine what your audience responds to better. Use 2 versions of your content simultaneously and measure to see which one is more successful and use it going forward.

    Need Support with your social media planning?
    Book a free 30 mins business growth session

    Why Social Media for Business Growth?

    The great thing about social media is that it is potentially an excellent way to spread your word of mouth and if you are not geographically restricted, the world is your market. It is worth pointing out that some social platforms are now restricting your audience viewing through their algorithms, however where there is a will there is a way.

    Although not free, as social media takes time and knowledge to create the right content, it is still relatively low cost compared to TV, Radio and large scale print advertising.

    When managed correctly, social media offers small businesses a cost-effective way to reach their customers.

    It’s a trade-off though. What you save in dollars you’ll invest in time. You have to be smart and efficient with the resources you have to achieve the results you need.

    Social media is all about connecting with your audience on an authentic level. To do that, you have to intimately understand your current and potential customers, you will have done this as part of your planning and research process.

    For any business growth strategy to work, you need to segment your audience, what do they look like, what problem are they looking for you to solve? What are they interested in besides your solution? Distinguish individual character profiles by age, gender, interests, profession, etc. Write down the details and find images that represent your target audience and review it on a regular basis. What makes business growth hard is the humans, we like to change our minds often.

    Next, crystallize your message. Based on your defined target audience, what are the key problems or concerns you can address or solve? Expand on and define those pain points for each character and write it under each profile.

    Now that you’ve defined your audience and message, take the time to find out which social networks they prefer.

    All social media channels are not created equal. It may look like they are the same but each provides a slightly different solution.. It is important to understand the differences so you expend your efforts on the right channels.

    Coordinate Your Social Channels

    If you treat each social media platform as a stand-alone effort, your success will be limited. Your networks should work together to provide an integrated uniform tone of voice. This also applies to the seven P’s of your marketing mix.

    Your website is your brand’s home base. Coordinate your social media efforts to push people to your website where they can buy your product or service.

    Use your blog to establish your brand’s voice and share information. It’s also a valuable opportunity to engage with your site visitors and lead them through your sales funnel.

    You can optimize your website and blog for social media by adding a few easy elements to your design.

    Include a call to action (CTA) in all of your content marketing. Content marketing is about engagement, a call to action will improve your engagement.

    You want advocates of your busines and using them to spread your word of mouth, your blogs should have a share option to encourage your fans to spread the word.

    When people come across valuable content, they want to share it with their friends and followers. If you don’t have sharing buttons, you’ve lost that opportunity to reach a wider related audience.

    A quick break from social media. If you haven’t started an email marketing campaign, I encourage you to start one now. They are still an extremely important tool to stay in front of current and prospective customers.

    Get Started, but Start Small

    You’ve defined your target audience, you know where to reach them and you’ve optimized your other marketing touch points. It’s time to get social.

    This is one of the most important pieces of advice to keep in mind, so listen up! Start small.

    Social Media takes time and energy, which are precious resources. Set yourself up for success by starting with a manageable load. I suggest you choose one or two platforms to start with.

    The best way to guarantee consistency is to incorporate social media into your daily routine. Block out the time on your calendar, turn off all distractions and dedicate time to managing your social media accounts. Do this in one or two different time slots every day.

    In your first month or two, expect to spend a minimum of 15-30 minutes a day on social activities. You can increase the time as you see fit.

    Remember those audience profiles and sample messages? Use them to determine what original and curated content you’ll share and create an editorial calendar to keep track of that content.

    A Quick Note About Content Calendars

    A lot of businesses use content calendars to create a month of posts (for Facebook, Google+ or any other channel) ahead of time and then submit it for review. This seems organized and diligent, which is great however, you must review the stats of any content to ensure you are adapting and improving your posts. Always review prior to creating the content for the next month, or at the very least adapt an plan based on metrics received.

    An alternative is to create two types of posts you want to test or creating your posts daily, or at least weekly.

    Listen and Share

    Social media conversations are happening all around in real time.

    Social listening is an excellent tactic to monitor what people are saying about your business. Respond to comments, mentions and feedback even if they’re negative. You want to turn that negative into a positive!

    In addition be aware of what your target audience are listening to and sharing and join in the conversation with your own tone of voice.

    This is where the content calendar may require changing during the month.

    Consider joining groups and communities to target specific demographics. Initiate and participate in more conversations by asking questions and posting comments to updates by others.

    Continue to personalize your brand by welcoming new followers and thanking them for sharing your content or offering a compliment.

    The last step is the most critical: Measure and analyze your results.

    Above all, be intentional about your social activities. Success is not about chance, it’s about strategy and tactics.

    Still unsure take a look at our simple guide to socail media.

    When using social media for the growth of your business, the most important thing to remember is that social media is a marathon, not a sprint. Use this introduction to social media guide to start your social marketing efforts. Define your audience and choose the best platform to reach them. Do your research, integrate your social media icons and links, share your (and others’) content and keep track of how things are going.

    Need help with the management of your social media marketing
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  • Using the psychology of color for successful business growth!

    Using the psychology of color for successful business growth!

    When it comes to business growth, i is a case of looking at many aspects of your marketing communications. Have you considered how your customers subconsciously perceive you through your choice of colors in your marketing communications?

    Through the process of semiotics, people are influenced by colours, especially in content marketing.

    It is important that the subconscious message is the same as the conscious message to ensure maximum effect with your marketing messages.

    Used correctly it will make you stand out from the competition.

    However, at this point, it needs to be said that the colour palette needs to be unique to your business and not a one colour fits all. How do you hope to stand out if you are just copying others without matching the colours to your brand message and values?

    Colour can send a very powerful message and help you stand out from the crowd. It’s a powerful marketing tool once you understand how it triggers psychological reactions, influences mood, and prompts people to take action.

    You need to find a starting point if you do not already have brand colours for your business.

    Colour psychology:

    When it comes to marketing communication especially on social media, we all know attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.

    Your customers are constantly bombarded with marketing communication and can get bored in seconds. With this in mind, standing out with great content is difficult. You have to gain and then keep their attention very quickly, varies reports claim anything from 1-4 seconds.

    A powerful message via an eye-catching visual will be the difference between your marketing being noticed and actioned and being missed as part of marketing blindness. The correct use of colour plays a massive part of this.

    Why? Studies have shown that in many people colours trigger different emotional responses in the subconscious brain.

    Now I hear you say if we all follow the psychology of colour we are all going to create the same and add to marketing blindness.

    This is where you combine your brand values, marketing communication, the problem you are solving for your audience with the following colour suggestions. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, that’s what makes the rule, and of course, you need to consider the country of your business as minor changes might apply. But as a great rule of thumb, the following is a proven theory:

    Choose RED on social media posts

    Red is considered a powerful, dynamic colour, ideal of you want to grab attention fast and stop people in their tracks. Red is said to portray,

    · energy & speed

    · youth

    · warmth

    · love

    · strong emotions

    However, depending on the combined message red can have a darket aggressive side, due to its semiotics of being associated with blood, stop traffic lights and danger in general. Therefor be aware of the combined message when using this colour in any marketing materials.

    Consider when you see a sale or discount sign. Traditionally it is red for a reason. However, ensure your image associated with red is amazing as red can cheapen your brand with its bargain-basement image.

    Consider the shade of red you will use for your messages. Try softening its impact by adding a complementary colour. Add green for Christmas holiday promotion posts or blush pink for a romantic Valentine marketing campaign.

    Be BLUE with your imagery

    To evoke feelings of:

    · trust & professionalism

    · respectability

    · a safe pair of hands

    · reliable & dependable

    · healing

    · calm

    It’s these emotions that make it the most popular colour with medispas, aesthetic clinics and holistic practitioners for branding.

    Research shows that blue is the top choice (43%) for reliability, followed by black (24%)Make these emotions work for your business when creating content marketing such as social media imagery.

    Trust is represented by research as follows, most chose the colour blue (34%), followed by white (21%) and green (11%).

    Embrace YELLOW on social media

    Yellow evokes the following in the subconsious mind:

    · happy and joyful

    · positive & optimistic

    · lift their spirits

    · cheerful & warm

    · friendly & youthful

    If you are looking to make your social media content go viral, Harvard Business research have found those with positive tones are more likely to go viral. What thoughts come to mind when you think of daffodils waving in a spring breeze, fluffy chicks or the blazing summer sun. Are you smiling already?

    However with most aspects to life, there is a negative side, too yellow can make people feel anxious, self-critical and depress our self-esteem.

    How do we feel about green?

    Would you agree with the following:

    · harmony & balance

    · restfulness & peace

    · growth & renewal

    · stress busting

    · nature

    · tranquillity

    · positive environment

    Green is the colour of the moment evoking our planet, and organic values. If you’re talking about a natural, organic well-being product or service, then choose green as your hero colour for your image. Combine it with a palette of earthy brown tones if you want your social posts to inspire balance and harmony.

    An extremely popular colour on social media is pink when you consider the emotions it evokes you can see why numerous businesses adopt a pink theme to their content marketing. It inspires emotions of:

    · love & romance

    · caring & nurturing

    · empathy & sensitivity

    · gentleness & innocence

    · femininity

    Although pink is a shade of red, it doesn’t demand attention in the same manner. You could consider using vintage pastel sorbet hues to create a vintage or retro vibe, throwback Thursday

    Again two tales to every colour. Too much can err on being too girly and immature, so if you love pink introduce a contrasting or complementary colour to some of your communications.

    Now is Black a colour? Yes!

    If you want your images to look and feel:

    · sophisticated

    · contemporary yet elegant

    · luxurious· powerful & authoritative

    · glamorous & high end

    · manly

    High Quality Black makes a bold statement, especially on social media and websites.

    A black and white image can stand out from the crowd on Instagram or Facebook, just be careful what you mix it with.

    If you stick to just black & white, you may project a little negativity because of the emotions of sadness black can create.

    And not including any colour photos or imagery is very restrictive when you’re marketing your business and want to showcase your services.

    Orange emits thoughts of:

    · fun & extrovert

    · energy & vitality

    · warmth

    · positive & optimistic

    · freedom

    · good value

    Personally, you may not be a fan of orange, but it is a colour you should consider. On the colour wheel, orange is created by mixing red and yellow. So psychologically it combines the best of both colours: the happy, fun associations of yellow with the power and excitement of red.

    However, as with red, use orange sparingly. Too much can cheapen your brand and make your marketing communications look desperate.

    Are your brand and business with values of spirituality? Then consider our next colour Purple.

    Along with:

    · luxury & sophistication

    · creativity· individual

    · intuitive

    You will see many holistic or well-being businesses embracing the purple due to its associations with spirituality, energy and creativity. Purple is also associated with royalty and luxury goods so it’s a popular colour with high-end businesses.

    Last but not least we have white, which like black may not seem to be a colour. It speaks volumes on:

    · purity & innocence

    · simplicity

    · luxury

    · cleanliness & calm

    · sophistication & exclusivity

    White is probably the most important ‘colour’ you can use on your social media.White is clean, calm and ordered (which is perhaps why doctors wear white coats – as being blunt it’s not the most practical of colours).

    White is excellent at creating contrast. A plain white background with a distinctive font stands out from the crowd for its simplicity. And it speaks volumes.Use white in your content marketing when you want to evoke luxury, exclusivity, and purity whether for organic pure products or top end retail.

    Don’t get carried away with white as too much can cause feelings of isolation, loneliness, and emptiness.

    Colour is powerful in marketing

    Still, wondering whether the colour of your content and social media marketing needs careful thought when marketing your business? Have a look at some marketing strategies that work and apply your color knowledge


    Take a look at the research:

    Researchers asked which colour people associated with certain emotions:

    · Safety: Blue came out on top (28%), followed by black (16%) and green (12%)·

    Cheapness: Orange came first (26%), followed by yellow (22%) and brown (13%)·

    Fear/Terror: Red came in first (41%) followed by black (38%)·

    Trust: Blue (34%), followed by white (21%) and green (11%) when looking for trust·

    Fun: Orange was the top choice (28%), followed closely by yellow (26%) and then purple (17%)

    This is why understanding colour psychology then using it correctly on your social media and other marketing is crucial to the success of your business.

    Get it wrong and you may send the wrong message out about your brand.

  • Google My Business A must have

    Google My Business A must have

    How important to the growth of your business is Google My Business?

    For those not in the know Google My Business is similar to your Facebook Page/ Instragram page within Google. If your customers use Google to find any services or products that you offer then it is paramount that you take advantage of this free tool and claim your business name. Google My Business (GMB) gives you a presence across the full range of google search websites and apps such as Google search, Mobile search, Local Search and Google Maps. GMB gives you an opportunity to provide valuable information to current and potential customers through your business listing, other than your time, it is totally free. It is potentially a great way to move up the google search results without a need for a search engine optimisation strategy. That said you will need to have a GMB strategy, but by comparison to a SEO plan, it is plain sailing.

    Google is in the business of providing information and selling adverts, GMB was developed to make it easier for searchers to get the information they need, quickly and conveniently, often your GMB profile will appear well above your website in search results. Your business’s address, opening hours and contact information will appear in your Google My Business listing, without the need for someone to click through to your website and go looking. Put simply, it allows potential customers to more easily find you, and contact you.

    As a business owner, you might already have a whole bunch of online real estate that requires your attention: there’s your website, your Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, the list goes on. Isn’t Google My Business just another page you’ll need to remember to keep up to date? You will see why it is so important to review the stats and keep it updated.

    How Important is Google My Business?

    As mentioned previously Google’s entire business model is based around being unquestionably the single best search engine (and sell adverts but based on what you are looking for). If you didn’t find what you were looking for quickly and easily, every time you searched Google, you might eventually try using a different search engine! Therefor everything Google does is for the searcher’s convenience, even google ads.

    As for all businesses to grow and make informed decisions Google needs data and information. If a person searches in Google and then leaves the search engine to visit a website they lose valuable intel on what that person is then doing.

    However if Google can provide 80% of what customers are looking for such as a phone number, an address, reviews or opening hours for your business, then there is no need for them to click through to your website – those details are provided in your Google My Business listing, right there in the search results.

    Many business owners that I meet and work with have asked is a bad thing that people are not clicking through to my website?

    You have to look at what the customer is trying to resolve, if they want simple information then why have the added time to click to your website. However if they are looking to purchase something from your website they will still click via the website button in GMB.

    You could consider it excellent customer care as you are helping the customer find what they want as quickly as possible.

    Of course, your GMB will also come up in results when people search for what you do not just your business name. The more customers then click on one of the GMB functions the more likely you will then appear in the next persons search for a similar solution or product.

    For these reasons, setting up a Google My Business listing and managing the listing is absolutely essential for every enterprise.

    Benefits of a Google My Business Listing

    If someone is searching for your business name, then they are already aware of your business – perhaps even a returning customer – so your full Google My Business listing will display in the search results. You’ve probably seen these listings before, to the right of the search results:

    However, what if someone is searching for what you do or a solution to a problem.

    best thai restaurant, mechanic near me, pool shop open sundays

    Each one of these searches results in a “three-pack” result above the standard organic search results.

    You’ve probably seen these three-packs before as well – a map with three local businesses pinned onto the page. Those business details are pulled from each business’s Google My Business listing. In fact, the backbone of Google’s entire Local Search directory is Google My Business.

    Simply setting up your Google My Business page can be enough to get you featured in a three-pack result. And the fact that these three-packs appear on top of the standard organic search results makes them critically important.

    However, keep reading as there are a number of other benefits to having a Google My Business listing:

    Helps Your Website Rank Better

    Google My Business is essential for Local SEO as it enables your business listing to appear in local search results for queries specific to your products or services. Even broad queries with large search volumes display local results in the three-pack, and this is something small business owners can capitalise on.

    Control Your Information and Service Offering

    At the very least, use Google My Business to put basic information about your business into Google’s Local Search index. But Google My Business also offers a range of additional tools to help you attract and inform local customers. For example, you might add information like product lists, accepted payment types, menus and prices, plus interactive features such as photos and reviews. You can even add coupons and special offers for your visitors.

    Manage, Showcase and Respond to Reviews

    Most potential customers will want to see what others think of you before buying. One of the most important elements of a Google My Business listing is Reviews. Google has recently started a campaign to recruit users as “local guides”, rewarding them when they rate and review local businesses. High-quality, positive reviews from your customers will improve your business’ visibility and increases the likelihood that a potential customer will continue with their actions and purchase something from you.

    Learn More About Customers

    The Google My Business platform enables local businesses to learn even more about their customers by including a lot of extra analytics data you won’t find elsewhere. For example, on Google Maps, you can access information on where requests for driving directions to your business originated from. This might be useful information that can help you target new customers in the area, or potentially target a new suburb to expand into as your business grows.

    It takes less than 15 minutes to complete the basic GMB listing. Make a start with the basic then please make sure that your business has an up-to-date and detailed Google My Business listing. You are missing out on one of the best free (and guaranteed!) ways of appearing in the Google search results. I have a couple of clients who have seen double figure growth in their business from a GMB strategy.

    Google My Business pages are not complicated, but they are important. While you may feel like it’s just one more web page to keep on top of, Google My Business should go to the top of the pile as one of the most important.

    Unsure then here is a step by step guide on

    How to set up a Google My Business Account.

    If you would like some help with your GMB strategy, then please book for a one hour consultation and I will explain how to get the most out of your GMB listing and grow your business awareness. I am confident I can coach you in one hour for you to then implement your own GMB plan of attack.

  • Which Social Media Video Platform?

    Which Social Media Video Platform?

    Video is not the future video is now. Across all demographics and the major social media platforms, the correct video content is an extremely powerful form of digital content with the power to transform your business. In fact, latest stats indicate that 72% of people would rather learn about a product or service through video.

    Whilst YouTube is the grandfather of social media video for both creators and audiences. Has it been replaced as the go to video platform?

    Tiktok is possibly to new and although it has over a billion users there appears to be a narrow demographic.

    IGTV on the other hand is about a year old and has gained some ground on YouTube, especially when you look at how Instagram is pushing IGTV.

    With this in mind let’s look at YouTube and IGTV, both offer certain benefits and limitations to growing your business.

    As a business you want to know which is better for the growth of your business. As I always say, you need to consider the following in respect to the needs of your own business, test and measure the results.

    Sharing Your Video Content To Other Mediums

    If sharing your content via other mediums of communication such as your website, emails etch then YouTube is the one for you. It’s easy to share YouTube videos all over your social network and all over the web. Embedding YouTube videos in articles and blogs is also easy.

    IGTV does have the option to copy a link to the videos but playing the video outside of Instagram is difficult and as of yet they have not developed the level of sharing that YouTube offers.

    Going Mobile

    While you can access IGTV from a web browser, Instagram is primarily a mobile app, designed to be viewed on mobile phones. With this in mind you have to be aware of the orientation of your videos and the viewing space on a mobile devise. This means that the thumbnails of the videos you have uploaded to IGTV will be displayed differently than on your YouTube channel.

    If you want video content that can be viewed around the web and on both desktop and mobile, YouTube is a better choice.

    Know Viewing Habits Of Your Audience.

    If the vast majority of your audience is on Instagram, then using IGTV just makes sense. After all, sending most of your audience on one platform to another platform to enjoy your video content can make for a drop off in viewing figures. Yes, you see many Instagram influencers attempting to send viewers to Youtube for numerous reasons, but until your audience are advocates and will happily move social media platforms, safer to show your videos on their preferred platform,

    Instagram are currently forcing IGTV notifications into audiences’ feeds to help change the behaviour of its users. Therefore there are benefits from using IGTV over the regular Instagram video post. This will help to both keep your current Instagram following engaged and grow your presence.

    Being Found On The Internet.

    If being found in search engine search results such as Google and Bing, then YouTube is a far better option. Most search engines will show video results in their results. Indeed we tested this very theory with a couple of random videos on very unrelated topics and with very little effort managed to get the videos listed on page one of Google results. YouTube is still the go to place to learn via video. If your marketing content includes how to videos, tips, advice etc then YouTube is still where you want your video content.

    Instagram is only searchable within Instagram, and IG content cannot be searched for on Google. Also, while YouTube allows you to search by keywords and creators, it is not easy to search by creator when it comes to IGTV.

    The Length Of Your Videos

    At present IGTV videos can be between 15 seconds and 10 minutes long. Unless you have a verified account, then you can post videos up to an hour long. Although not many of us need to post videos longer than an hour. Depending on your audience the average video viewing time can range from 20 seconds to 10 mins.

    Most viewers prefer shorter video content, even if it means creating the whole content in parts. You will see many YouTube videos created in parts to keep the audience engaged. There are other strategic benefits to creating a series of shorter videos rather than one long video.

    However, if the nature of your business and subsequently your video marketing content dictates that you need videos of over an hour then YouTube is the social media video platform.

    Vertical Video

    If your audience loves to watch their videos in portrait and using the whole screen, then IGTV is your social media video platform of choice. Remember to record/make your videos in the same orientation as your viewing platform. YouTube videos can be viewed vertically, but it doesn’t look as good as it does on IGTV.

    Monetization

    At the moment, YouTube videos can be monetized and as of yet IGTV videos cannot. Therefore, you see some of the major Instagram influencers either trying to entice on IGTV with a video tasty to ultimately drive audiences to YouTube. The alternative is for an Instagram influencer to gain finance via brand sponsorships. YouTube creators, however, have had the option to monetize their videos through Google Adsense for years and years.

    You need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing time before you can make use of YouTube’s Monetize feature.

    Analysing Your Data.

    How important is it to your business to have detailed marketing management information? If you are looking for in-depth statistics and analytics about your video content performance and audience, YouTube is the way you want to go. While IGTV does offer some analytical info, it is nowhere near as comprehensive as YouTube’s analytics.

    Which you choose will depend on how important in-depth analytics are to you and how much detail you truly require. If IGTV gives you enough of a big picture that you can use the data to improve, it is a fine solution for you. However, if you want as much detailed information as you can have, YouTube will be able to show you much more.

    Which Is Best For Your Business?

    Ultimately, which social media platform wins for you depends entirely on the needs, priorities, and goals of your business. It will also depend on your content. Which platform will serve your content best really depends on its genre, length, and intended audience.

    As I said at the beginning If you are unsure, try both. See in practice which network gets you better results and closer to your goals. You don’t necessarily even have to pick just one. If you learn how to leverage one or both sites properly, the true winner will be your business.

    Final Thoughts

    Don’t assume that you can upload the same kinds of content on both platforms just because they are video sharing platforms. They are both different and will come with different audiences, pros, and cons.

    Then of course there is TikTok?

    The fact that IGTV caps video length can be a blessing or a curse. However, if you choose to focus on IGTV, you will need to be much more selective about what gets posted and much more aware of its aesthetic values.

  • Disappearing Google Reviews

    Disappearing Google Reviews

    I have noticed that a couple of my clients have had some of their google reviews disappear, it has never happened to any of my clients previously.

    Have you recently had some Google Reviews disappear? I bet you are struggling to get any sense from google or even a reply?

    Google did announce at the end of July that a bug did occur with Google My Business reviews.

    Although many people speculate about how the Google algorithm works, very few have in depth knowledge.

    I took time to dig around numerous articles, some are from google partners, I have compiled a list of reasons why your review may have been removed.

    While Google doesn’t outline every aspect of their spam detection algorithm, they do provide specific Google review content guidelines. If you clicked on the link you will see how easy it is for a customer to leave a review that may then get removed.

    How does Google manage all the reviews being posted, it applies a review filter. You want to know how the filter works? It appears that the filter runs periodically and takes down reviews that they deem illegitimate. The filter does not run in real time which means you could have a review stick to your listing for months and then vanish at the same time as several other reviews.

    I would recommend regularly monitoring your reviews against the following and act accordingly:

    A URL in the review?

    If there is a URL in the review, the review filter will more than likely consider it spam and remove the google review. It seems google believes there is no need for a URL in any review.

    Was there a phone number in the review?

    There is no need for a phone number in any review, so the filter classes it as spam and removes it.

    Frequency of reviews?

    It is wonderful that you are getting customers to leave reviews, however, if you are too good at this and they are all leave a review in a short space of time then the filter might consider that you are using fake reviews.

    Do you have reviews in other places online?

    Many of us ask customers to leave Google reviews to help with Google My Business ranking. If you have loads of reviews on Google My Business, but none on Yelp, Facebook, etc., this could be a cause for the deleted reviews. Google considers this a good indicator of spam – or maybe your over-coach your customers about how to leave a review for your business. Instead, mix it up – ask for a review of your business on Facebook and other sites from time to time.

    Did the review appear elsewhere on the internet?

    Spread your reviews across several online platforms. If a customer is happy to leave reviews on numerous platforms, ask that they do not copy and paste the same review. If you have testimonials on your website paraphrase the reviews. Make sure customers are not copying and pasting previous reviews and write their own.

    Is the reviewer a manager of your Google My Business account or Google+ page?

    Never write your own review or anybody who has access to your GMB page

    Is the reviewer your employee?

    Never have employees leave a review.

    Conflicts with the IP address.

    A huge majority of the time reviews get filtered due to issues with the IP address of the person who left you the review. This is difficult to manage as most do not know where their IP address originates from nor can they control it. We have had incidents where local people have left a review, but their IP address has been in a different part of the world.

    Are you asking customers to leave a review whilst at your business?

    If they are using your wifi, they could all be using the same IP address. Far better to give them your Google review URL.

    Was your review written from a location that is TOO far away from your business location?

    Make sure your GMB is correctly configured to allow international or long distance reviews.

    Were there multiple attempts to post the same review?

    If a review was flagged and deleted by Google, then the customer adds the same review again – it will be removed again.

    Do many of your reviews originate from the same online location?

    Yes, it is nice to send clients to your testimonial page to encourage them to then click on a link and leave a review. However, it is possible that Google records the referring URL and sees that all of your reviews are coming from a website. Far better to send your customers the GMB review url.

    Do you have multiple business locations?

    Do you have multiple locations and multiple Google My Business pages? Customers are great! They love your service and products and they want to tell the world about you. They love you so much that they visit the Google My Business page for every location your business has in the metro area, eager to leave their review. Unfortunately, if the reviewer left the same review on multiple business locations, the duplicates (or all) will likely be removed. It seems the same if only one of your locations is getting reviews.

    Do you have an abnormally large amount of reviews on your Google My Business page?

    You can be penalised and be a victim of your own review success. If your business has way more reviews than other businesses in your industry and city/area, this could be cause for concern. Consider this your business has a catchment of 20,000 people but you have 2000 reviews, don’t be shocked when many of them get removed. Especially if no other business in your area has the same level of reviews.

    Did the reviewer remove their review?

    A customer might be a repeat customer and have a different experience and choose to remove their review rather than change it. On behalf of a couple of clients I have contacted their customers to see if they would redo a review and they mentioned they took it down. Silver lining it gave my client a chance to fix a misunderstanding and the review is now back up.

    Does the reviewer have a blank Google account?

    Fake profiles commonly do not contain a name, photo, or other information. Real accounts are never completely blank. When a business gets numerous reviews from empty accounts, this is a trigger that the reviews were created by bots and are fake or paid.

    Did the reviewer delete their Google account?

    A user must have a Google account to leave a review. When a Google account is deleted, the associated reviews are deleted as well.

    Have you been active on Google My Business lately?

    Your Google My Business profile needs to be an integral part of you digital marketing strategy. Ensure you are on there at least once a week. You do not want to have an unverified account.

    Do all of your reviews look and sound the same?

    Ironically if the reviews are too perfect and appear to be mass produced, there’s a very good chance you will trigger the review filter to remove some of your reviews. Ask for a Google review but don’t coach your customers on the writing of any reviews.

    Was the review “clean?”

    Profanity, hate speech, offensive language and personal attacks are not allowed in reviews. This type of content will definitely trigger the filters and the review will be removed. If there are reviews on your Google My Business page that contains any of this type of language, you should request to have the Google review removed ASAP.

    Are you offering incentives for customers?

    If Google finds out and it is amazing how they do, that you are offering discounts, coupons or free products to entice customers to leave you a review, not only will your reviews be removed you may have your profile suspended.

    Is your Google My Business Review missing because of a Google Error?

    These are situations that can happen but are rare occurrences. If you’re missing reviews on your Google My Business page, one of the reasons above is much more likely to be the reason for your missing Google reviews. If this is the case it is very hard to get it back.

    There you have it, my findings on potential reasons why any Google reviews may disappear. Of course you also want to know is it possible to retrieve any missing reviews. The quick answer is it appears not, personally never had any success.

    If you have had success would love to hear your process.

    Plan of action moving forward. I would recommend creating a file if you do not have a CRM system and copy your reviews. Set a regular time to copy the review and the name of the customer who wrote it. If you are getting into hundreds of reviews, then you need to work out the ROI of review management.

    To finalise, yes, it is a pain to work hard to provide excellence only for the review to disappear. I would focus on continuing to provide excellence and getting more reviews.

  • Email Marketing how to make it sustainable

    Email Marketing how to make it sustainable

    What Makes an Effective Email Marketing Campaign?

    Despite all the hype still associated with Social Media, email marketing when done correctly will drive sales. However, get your email marketing wrong and all that hard work to increase your database will be wasted.

    For any email marketing campaign to be effective it needs to written and targeted for a specific segment of your audience and add value. Very few emails will cover the needs of all your audience. Consider the journey of your audience where do they start when receiving an email from you?

    You want your email to stand out and be read, think about how many emails your audience are receiving, yours needs to be special to stand out and have something of interest for them to open. Here are a few things your next email campaign should have.

    From, Subject and snippet.

    Depending on your email delivery system you can change the from so that your audience is confident that it is coming from someone they trust and will open the email. Subject this is like the News headlines of a paper or online article, you need to grab their attention, however, do not lie about what is inside the email. Snippet using the same analogy as before this is the subheadlines and extends from the headlines and further convinces your audience that inside this email is something of benefit to them.

    Personalization and Imagery Where possible Marketing emails need to be personalized to the reader and filled with interesting graphics. Who wants to obtain an email that is addressed “Dear Sir/Madam” what message is that sending to your audience. As humans we are extremely visual and busy, nobody wants to read a wall of text, remember a picture speaks a thousand words. If you must use a thousand words, drive them to a blog, use the email to entice and raise their interest. Great visuals always help your recipients quickly understand what you are trying to convey.

    Responsive Design If you are using a mass email provider like Mailchimp or constant contact, they all have the facility to preview what your email will look like on a mobile device. Most of your audience will vet your email on their phone, and then either open it via their phone or wait until in front of a PC. On average 67% of your audience will read your email on their phone. Consider this when designing the content of your email and the subsequent length of it on a mobile device.

    An Appropriate Call-to-Action to achieve your objective. You have managed to gain the interest of your audience to open your email. Why did you want them to open it and what do you want them to do now that they have opened it?

    It is paramount that you have a meaningful call to action that gives the reader a benefit. What do you want them to do? Read more and send traffic to your website. Feedback on a product? Etc.

    In summary combining all the above takes skill, knowledge and understanding of your audience. You may find that you need to segment your audience and send a series of emails during one campaign.

    At this point we have not discussed the follow up emails to those that open but don’t click, those that don’t open and those that open and click on certain call to actions. As this is very dependant on each business and difficult to have a general discussion. However, these points should be ready and prepared as part of any email marketing campaign.

    If you would like support with your next email marketing campaign please do not hesitate to get in touch.