How New Facebook Changes Could Impact Social Media Marketing

Recently Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook announced that he would change the site’s algorithm to begin to promote more personal content rather than news or other types of posts. That means that the average facebook user will see more posts from family and friends in their newsfeed and less from brand posts with few comments. Facebook has stated that this algorithm change will have no direct impact on how advertising works on the site but businesses are expecting some definite changes in their organic reach.

New Facebook regulations on data could mean that Facebook users will see less material from media outlets and businesses that show up organically in their newsfeed. Brands that typically rely on their organic social media marketing practices may have to focus more on other strategies or adjust their techniques in order for followers to see their posts as often as they would like. Some are predicting that social media influencers will be more important than ever in order to get the word out about new products on Facebook.

Brands can benefit from learning more about the new algorithm, how it affects an individual Facebook user’s newsfeed and what they can do to counteract any negative effect it will have on their social media marketing. It would be a mistake to assume that the changes won’t have any impact on your marketing plan because you could begin to see a drop in organic reach. Putting your social media efforts into a variety of different strategies can help prevent the change from drastically affecting your brand.

Social Media Newsfeed Changes

Zuckerberg’s intention with changing the Facebook algorithm was to minimize that amount of fake news articles that had been circulating on the website and causing deep political rifts online. Facebook at one point had these type of news articles getting the most shares and engagement in a way that reinforced people’s existing beliefs. Zuckerberg made the algorithm change in spite of the risk of losing short term user engagement so that friends and family would interact with each other instead of sharing divisive content.

While the algorithm will be great for personal interaction, it may be problematic for businesses that are hoping to reach people organically. People on Facebook will see less posts from businesses they follow if they are not paid ads and are simply natural posts. Instagram is also starting to use an algorithm that looks similar to Facebook’s so it is likely that social media sites will show less organic content from brands and businesses and more from friends and family as the year progresses.

The good news is that influencer posts won’t be affected as much as brand posts because social media influencers are posting with their own personal account. Even though they are promoting various products, they are also normal people that Facebook and Instagram won’t recognize as a business. It will become more important than ever for brands to partner with social media influencers who can get their content seen by a bigger audience online.

New Marketing Impact

In the past, sites like Facebook and Instagram presented content in chronological order but with changes in algorithms over the past few years the sites have more control over what content is viewed by users. The algorithm Facebook introduced in 2016 as well as this new algorithm both are designed to limit the organic reach of certain pages. It means that businesses need to focus more on paid ads in order to have their content seen by a large audience.

Companies that focus more of their marketing strategies on paid ads as well as influencer marketing will not be impacted as much by the algorithm change. Businesses with an existing understanding and relationships with influencers will probably see their marketing strategies succeed. Facebook has made no changes to paid ads and will allow brands to purchase advertisements that are guaranteed to be seen in a user news feed.

It will be a good time this year for brands that have no experience with influencers to become more familiar with how the system works. It is important to figure out what your brand’s niche is and which influencer has a lot of existing followers in that niche. The influencer needs to be able to blend your brand or product narrative seamlessly with their own in order for you to see the most benefit.

Even though it might be alarming to businesses to discover that their organic reach is likely to take a big loss, it doesn’t mean that social media marketing will be much more complicated or less effective. It simply means adjusting where you focus your marketing strategies and taking the new algorithm into account. As long as you are aware of how the algorithm works you can use the right kind of marketing tools to keep boosting your business.

The post How New Facebook Changes Could Impact Social Media Marketing appeared first on SEM Blog.

source https://www.emarketed.com/blog/new-facebook-changes-impact-social-media-marketing/

The Benefits of Voice Search Marketing

While your marketing plan might encompass different types of platforms such as social media, google advertisements and mobile optimization it is also important to consider voice search. While most people focus their marketing on desktop and mobile searches, they fail to realize that voice search is growing in popularity and it is becoming more crucial than ever to include it as part of a marketing campaign. Voice search is only going to grow more important over time and marketers need to start developing their voice marketing strategies now to stay competitive.

Internet trend reports show that 20% of mobile searches were made using voice search in 2016 and that number only continues to rise. With new products and more refined technology, digital assistants are becoming a more typical and frequently used household item. Companies like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon all have their own versions of digital assistants that deliver information to users quickly and effectively.

Technology companies and retailers are noticing the growing trend and starting to take advantage of voice search popularity. Companies like Walmart are providing options for customers to shop using a digital voice assistant. As retailers recognize the importance of voice search, businesses need to incorporate it as a part of their optimization campaign for better marketing results.

Optimizing for Voice Search

Now that one in five searches are made using voice search, it is part of the average person’s daily life. SEO marketers may already realize that optimizing for voice search is slightly different than optimizing for a traditional search. That means they will have to adjust elements of their strategy if they want to reach people doing a voice search.

By 2020 voice searches are expected to account for 50% of all online queries so that means some serious changes to the way marketers optimize. Voice search assistants such as Siri or Alexa keep track of the way people search and their personal data in order to deliver customized user experience. People often prefer how quickly they can search for something and get the information they need.

One of the reasons that voice search optimization is different from traditional SEO is related to the way people search for things using their voice. Since people can simply talk to their voice assistant instead of typing in questions, they tend to use more natural language. That means your usual keywords and phrases might not be effective for voice search because they don’t reflect the way a person would ask a question out loud.

As people shift to voice search more often than typing out their queries, marketers will need to adjust their keywords to include question words such as “why, how, what and where”. While these are usually omitted from a typed in search, they are more often present in a voice search. Marketing specifically for voice search with these terms will mean that your business will be available as one of the results when someone asks their personal assistant for a product or service related to yours.

Being Available to Customers

One of the positive things about voice search is that people tend to use it when they need something specific and immediate. People are more likely to use a desktop search for something that they want to research and spend some time looking into. A voice search helps them make a quick decision about an item they need to buy or some relevant information.

People involved in a voice search are more ready to make a purchase than those researching information on a desktop. They are looking for products or services that they need in the moment such as a nearby restaurant to order dinner or some household supplies that they need to replace. Optimizing for voice search means that your company will be at the top of the results when customers want to make a purchase.

As more and more people begin to rely on digital assistants and other voice search options, businesses will need to make sure they incorporate strategies for voice optimization so that they aren’t left behind. Only optimizing for desktop keywords means you are missing a significant portion of the searches that could potentially bring customers directly to you. Focusing at least some portion of your marketing strategy on voice search could mean bringing in new customers on a regular basis.

Marketing online is so competitive it is important to always stay ahead of the game and voice searches are the newest trend that is likely to become a staple of internet advertising. Spending some time and investing in voice search optimization will help you reach more people and gain more loyal customers. When your company comes up in the results of a voice search you will be able to quickly increase brand recognition and sales as well.

The post The Benefits of Voice Search Marketing appeared first on SEM Blog.

source https://www.emarketed.com/blog/benefits-voice-search-marketing/

5 Tips for Interacting with Customers on Social Media

 

In the marketing world today social media is bigger and more important than ever before. Brands need to have a great social media presence and a part of that is making sure that you connect and engage with customers so that they remain loyal and interested in what your company is doing. People online expect great customer service along with interesting and engaging content which means interacting with customers whenever you can.

Interacting with customers can mean responding to comments, re-posting their content or having a conversation online through direct messaging. Customers want their voice to be heard especially if they have questions, concerns or issues with your brand. Even light jokes or humor can be a great way to connect with customers so that they have a positive image of your brand.

Customer interaction on social media can be a crucial aspect of marketing. Here are 5 tips for interacting with customers online-

1. Be Prepared to Always Respond

If people online want to communicate with a brand you need to make sure that you are always available to respond to them. Make sure to have social media staff that can read comments and write an appropriate response in a short amount of time. Customers don’t like being ignored and will be more interested in a brand if they can communicate with them in a timely way.

2. Have an Official Response for Major Concerns

Even though many of your interactions with customers will be positive, at times there will be genuine issues that you need to address. When customers have complaints or major concerns about your product or service you will need to respond in an appropriate way. If you have an official response prepared for these situations you are less likely to deal with too much backlash.

The most important thing is letting customers know that their concerns are being heard when they have questions, a complaint or are alerting the company about a particular issue. You should have a response that directs the customers to more information so that they can have a better understanding of the issue and how to deal with it. Having a prepared response can make it easier to respond quickly and efficiently to each customer so that they aren’t waiting too long for an answer.

3. Post User-Generated Content

Aside from responding directly to comments, there are other more creative ways to interact with customers that will keep them engaged and boost the positive opinion of their brand. Posting content that users have created can get people more involved in your social media site and excited about your company. When your content is created by customers it makes them feel that they are part of the topic and add value to your brand.

An easy way to find user-generated content is to hold a contest asking followers to post photos with your product and provide a prize for the best photo. This not only gets people to know your brand better but it also gives them incentive to share photos of your products and spread the word about the company. Followers will have more of a reason to love your brand and connect with you.

4. Avoid too Much Promotional Content

In order to get users to engage and interact more with your brand it is helpful to avoid making every post about self-promotion. Obviously the goal of social media is to promote new products and market your brand but followers will get bored and lose interest in your page if it is too heavily promotional. You will need to be more creative and conversational to get people to respond positively to the content that you post.

You can create posts that simply ask questions, talk about life matters, or discuss current events so that content is not always focused on selling something. Sparking a conversation is the best way to get people to interact with you and remember your brand. As you attract more people through engaging content you can add in the occasional promotional post to push your products as well.

5. Track Your Interactions and Look for Patterns

An important part of social media is making sure to analyze the results of everything you do to see what works and what doesn’t. Take the time to track the kinds of interactions you have with customers to see what gets the best response. Keeping track can also help you ensure that you are always responding to customer concerns and don’t leave any question unanswered.

Analyzing which posts performed the best and which comments got the most positive response can help you tailor your social media presence. You will be able to learn how to adjust your technique and get the most out of your interactions online.

The post 5 Tips for Interacting with Customers on Social Media appeared first on SEM Blog.

source https://www.emarketed.com/blog/5-tips-interacting-customers-social-media/

Web Marketing News February 2018

We’ve been blogging on the web marketing industry since 2007. A lot has changed in that time! Here’s a recap of all the stuff that we think will impact your business online that’s happened recently.

1. Google Launches Beta Version of Brand New Search Console

   Google has rolled out the beta version of the new and improved search console and so far we’re liking how it looks. It was built from scratch and the way the data is presented allows you to easily toggle on the clicks, total impressions, average CTR, and average position.

   To access the new console click here and then click the “Try the new Search Console” link. See below for what that looks like.

   

   The most promising new feature is access to 16-month-old historical data. It enables year over year comparison which is great.  So the new search console currently includes index coverage, performance, and the ability to upload a new site map. All of the other features remain in the old version.

   Some stats we found on our site that were interesting: 273k impressions over the last 12 months (this is how many times we’ve shown up in search results), out of that number 64k were on mobile, and lastly we received 505 clicks from Google search. For the last year in total we have received just over 25k in visits. Some views below from the new console.

    

   

   

   The new search console will also help you validate newly fixed AMP URLs. The updated AMP status report will provide details into the specific Errors.

   As of now, the above-mentioned tools and features are the biggest highlights of the new search console. But it’s still in the beta and many tools and features are yet to come, so stay tuned.

2. You Can Now Add Videos To Your Google My Business Listing

   Google was testing a new video feature in early January that allowed business owners and customers to add videos, related to the business. Allyson Wright from the Google My Business advertiser community announced that they have fully rolled out the video feature and now all business owners can add videos to their listing. These videos will be visible on Google Maps and local search results. Some important points to consider:

   • Videos up to 30 seconds in length are supported.
   • Videos will appear in the overview tab of the GMB Dashboard.
   • Customer uploaded videos can be found in the “customer” tab.
   • Merchant uploaded videos can be found in the “by owner” tab.
   • All videos can be viewed together in the “videos” tab.
   • After upload it could take up to 24 hours for the videos to appear. Once live, they will display where local photos do.

   The process to add videos is same as photos. Go to your GMB dashboard, click photos on the left and instead of adding photos, add the link to the videos. We just posted a video to our page so the video should be live within 24 hours.

3. Page Speed Will Officially Be A Ranking Factor In Google From July 2018

   It’s 2018 and if your web page takes more than 10 seconds to load, then you are far behind! Nobody likes to wait minutes just for your page to load — they will simply hit the back button. Personally I hit the back button sooner!

   According to this study, 53% of the users will abandon sites that take more than 3 seconds to load. So it came as no surprise when Google announced that site speed will be a ranking factor within the mobile search results in July 2018.

   If you are not sure about your site’s speed, you can use the Google’s “Test My Site” tool. This tool uses a standard 3G connection to replicate what most people are using to surf the web using mobile. It not only tells you about your site speed but also gives suggestions on how you can improve. Our home page loaded in 5 seconds which Google says is “good” but according to the above study it’s “not good”. We NEED to improve our page speed ASAP. I’ll post a followup blog on how we improved our website speed and provide some insight into how we did it.

   

4. Important Google AdWords Updates For February 2018

   There’s a ton happening in the AdWords world. Here’s the important stuff:

   • The Dynamic search ads allow you to target the entire website or domain name so that you can target a broad audience. However, Google has made some significant changes to it and the changes will go live soon. To know exactly how it will affect you, click here.
   • Google made changes to their algorithm for AdWords sometimes increasing budgets by 2X. Find out how advertisers are responding to it and does it really change anything within AdWords … find out.
   • Google and Facebook get the biggest slice of advertising cake. A recent study revealed that 25% of the global advertising spend goes to Google and Facebook. However, the number may drop soon as people are starting to allocate their ad budget to different platforms.
   • Google is officially removing the Adwords Review extension and all the performance data will be deleted by the end of February 2018.
   • Last year we saw shocking reports that YouTube ads were running alongside some inappropriate videos. It scared advertisers. Addressing the issue, YouTube has now made it mandatory for users to have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours  of viewed content if they want to monetize their content (more below on this).
   • Remarketing is one of the best marketing weapons in your arsenal. Here’s a great guide on how to utilize it to the fullest.
   • What is Doubleclick adoptive re-marketing and how does it work? Find out more here.
   • Manually selecting placements to run display ads may seem like a good option, but it is not the right solution to click frauds. Also, it causes you to miss the flexibility of automated placements.
   • Remarketing is good but only if done in a balanced manner. Many advertisers overdo it and as a result, annoy the users. Although Google can’t tell advertisers to stop targeting a particular user, they may give the power to the users to block re-marketing ads coming from a specific advertiser.

    

5. Youtube’s New Monetization Policy, Not A Bad Decision

   

   Recently, YouTube has announced that it will demonetize all the small channels on the platform, as per the site’s new eligibility criteria channels need to have more than 1,000 subscribers, with at least 4,000 hours of watching within the past 12 months.

   The decision came after Logan Paul’s ‘suicide video’ incident. According to the company, the decision of demonetizing the small channels is taken in order to, “prevent bad actors from harming the inspiring and original creators around the world who make their living on YouTube.” The channels that fail to meet these criteria will no longer be able to monetize and will lose access to tools and features associated with the YouTube partner program by next month. If any channel fails to meet the criteria but, later if they manage to pass it, will be automatically re-evaluated in the new criteria. All the new channels joining the platform will have to, manually apply for evaluation.

   Though many are criticizing YouTube’s new policy and terming it as “favoritism” for big channels or “penalty” for small channels, we feel it’s not a bad decision.

If you’ve made it this far YOU are my hero. May the Google gods bless your website.

Warm regards,

Matt Ramage
Chief Emarketed Guy

The post Web Marketing News February 2018 appeared first on SEM Blog.

source https://www.emarketed.com/blog/web-marketing-news-february-2018/

Google Event Recap – Leadership & Coaching

My trip to Google was great! It’s always inspiring to visit a Google office. I’m blown away that this company was started by two guys going to Stanford just twenty short years ago. Emarketed and Google are the same age! But in case you didn’t know, we’re much smaller.

Due to the nature of the content and method the trainer used to coach us, it was tough to capture it live on social media. So here’s a recap:

• Interestingly enough the event didn’t promote Google at all. Besides the free swag and being in the cool space in Santa Monica, I was not pitched on Google. At previous visits it was a pitch fest.
• The event was all about leadership and coaching. Our coach for the day was G.A. Bartick. He’s been consulting with Google for the last 5 years. He was great! He kept us engaged for the day and memorized all our names (there were about 30 in the room). He would call on us throughout the day so we had to be on our toes. Because of this, most of the room was present for the talk (I.e. Not checking email/Instagram/texts every 2 minutes). It was a good strategy for sure to keep the room engaged. He told us his secret for memorizing our names. Here it is:
  • Step 1: Listen – Really hear the person when they give you their name. If you’re like me, you can forget within a nanosecond. So he said you really have to listen and be present.
  • Step 2: Name Association – Think of someone you know in your life who already has that name and link the two. Or make something up that’s funny. I tried it out later that day when I met a guy named Jesse. Since no Jesse’s came to mind, I thought of him as the legendary outlaw, Jesse James. Another example from the event was a lady named Tiffany. He pictured her with a ton of sparkly jewelry all around her.
  • Step 3: Repetition – Try and use their name a few times when you first meet them. Don’t overdo it, but do say it a few times. You can overdo it in your imagination. So with Jesse, over the course of a few hours, I repeated his name several times to myself. And now it’s stuck.
• The role of a coach/manager IS to continuously improve the performance of the team. Something he suggested we do at the end of each day is ask ourselves if we improved our team.
• More highlights from the day:
  • Catch people doing more things right and fewer things wrong.
  • Coach to the future, not to the past.
  • Managing expectations can be broken down into 3 key components:
    1. Set
    2. Monitor
    3. Reinforce

• • The Skills Transfer Process – With this one, he gave an example of doing a sort of trick with transferring a pen cap to different hands. He showed Larry from the audience how to do it and then walked away. Larry wasn’t able to get it. It was clear that was the wrong way of managing this process. Then he went through the below process which was clearly the better way to manage.
    1. Explain
    2. Demonstrate
    3. Practice with Coaching
    4. Observe
    5. Feedback

• One on One’s – His organization advocates doing them monthly. I’ve been doing this quarterly for years with my staff but have been lax over the last 12 months. The monthly plan sounds like a lot of work, but it does feel like the right way to go. He gave us a short process we can follow:
  • Purpose of the meeting
  • Outline
    • Last month’s action items
    • Last month’s goals
    • Last month’s results
    • This month’s goals
    • This month’s action items
  • Input – As you explain what you’ll be going over for the meeting, you ask if there’s anything they’d like to discuss.
  • Transition – Is it okay if we start…
• He also asked the person that we’re reviewing to take notes and send this to us after the meeting. This is good for many reasons such as a paper trail of the meetings and to make sure they’re  listening and on the same page.
• And lastly be the tortoise not the hare. Check out the video! Don’t rush things. Be present. Be yourself. I really liked the video and discovered it was created by Issimo.

Thanks for taking the time to read my recap. I hope you have a fantastic rest of the month!

Warm regards,

Matt Ramage   

Chief Emarketed Guy

 

The post Google Event Recap – Leadership & Coaching appeared first on Emarketed PPC & SEO Blog.

source https://www.emarketed.com/blog/google-event-recap/