editor, Author at Mediastreet

In News

How to Make Your Website and Social-Media Presence Bulletproof Against Algorithm Changes

April 2, 2019 No Comments

Experiencing a decline in Web traffic and social-media reach? Here’s how to fix it.

It happens almost every year without fail: organic reach on social-media posts drop, and Google comes out with yet another algorithm change that causes a decline in Web traffic.

The reasons for these updates are pretty simple. For social-media platforms, it boosts revenue because it forces users to “pay-to-play” if they want to see any sort of business results from the platform.

For Google, the company wants to provide users with the best possible answer to any question they search for, so the old-school way of “gaming the system” in terms of search engine optimization “hacks” is becoming less and less viable – causing many innocent casualties along the way.

The good news is there are ways to easily combat this decline for every entrepreneur from small-business owners to startup founders. Here’s where to start.

Web Traffic

1. Create pillar content.

We’re now seeing the pendulum swing in the opposite direction when it comes to content consumption. Now that people are getting overwhelmed with too much online content, they’re looking for more thorough, in-depth content to avoid toggling between 10 different articles to find the answer they want.

This is why pillar content has grown so much in popularity in recent years. Defined, pillar content is a long-form, in-depth piece of content on one topic that could technically be disassembled into a handful of standalone pieces. If you haven’t begun creating pillar content yet, it could be the secret weapon you’ve been looking for against Web traffic decline

2. Optimize your site for mobile.

With 52 percent of all Web traffic now coming from smartphones, Google has made it clear websites should now be optimized for mobile. If you haven’t already, begin browsing around your website on your phone to see where you need to make key changes to enhance your user experience on mobile.

3. Always keep user experience at the forefront.

In everything you do, be sure to keep user experience at the top of your mind. With all of the competition online today, it isn’t enough anymore to only have great content. Your content also needs to look good and load fast. This is why having stunning graphic design and great photography in your blog content and on your site goes such a long way.

4. Have a specific focus for your website.

The days of keyword-stuffing and trolling for traffic are long gone. Today, Google wants its users to be directed to the very best websites in any niche the user is searching for. If you’re a bike repair shop, then be sure your entire website and blog is filled with bike-related content, as opposed to unrelated topics. Write about your hobbies on your own time – on your website, you’ve got to stick to your niche.

Social Media

1. Know that you’re going to have to spend money.

The first thing you have to realize is, nowadays, in order to succeed on social media, you’re going to have to invest money into it. The days of free social media have come and gone – and with the precedence Facebook is setting with their pay-to-play business model, it’s unlikely the trend of slashing organic reach will slow down.

2. Hop on new features early.

One of the savviest things you can do to combat lower organic reach is hopping on the new features social-media platforms release early. For reference, an example of a new feature would be Facebook rolling out Facebook Live or Instagram rolling out Instagram Stories.

On top of the benefits of having less competition for attention earlier on within these new forms of content, they’re also given priority in terms of organic reach because the companies want more users to become familiar with them. This happened when Facebook launched both native and live video, when LinkedIn rolled out video, when Instagram launched Stories, and more.

3. Social media is no longer a volume game.

Across the board, social-media platforms have adopted an engagement-based style of algorithm, which selects the content it will display based on engagement as opposed to strictly sticking to chronology. Because of this, sharing on social media is no longer just a volume game – it’s a quality game. The highest quality content rises to the top of news feeds.

To start, be mindful of the content you share. Put your all into every post you publish, measure which content is performing best, then double down on the style that is.

As an entrepreneur, it can be daunting to see a decline in Web traffic or organic reach on social media. But it certainly isn’t impossible to reverse. In the coming year, begin fighting against the algorithms by applying the tips laid out in this article. Best of luck.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Dakota Shane

Sourced from Inc.

In Jobs

Chinese Marketing Exec. (Fluent Mandarin)

April 1, 2019 No Comments

BusinessinChina.ie, part of Unique Communications, is a small dynamic marketing agency that helps Irish companies do business with China, and Chinese companies do business with Ireland.

We are now offering an exciting IMMEDIATE opportunity for an enthusiastic and ambitious Marketing Intern to join our friendly and hard-working team for a 3-6 month internship (depending on your experience) and with the potential for a full-time position on completion of the internship, depending on your performance.

At Business in China you will work on a range of China focused client projects as well as some exciting internal projects inc. digital magazine publication, video production, website and social media management.

Responsibilities:

Your responsibilities will be all-encompassing and will include market research in Ireland and China, assisting in developing Chinese marketing plans, Chinese social media marketing (wechat, weibo, youku), online and offline marketing & PR, and assistance with general office administration, etc.

This is an excellent opportunity for the right person to gain excellent hands-on marketing experience in a small progressive and dynamic company.

Our office is conveniently located in the Guinness Enterprise Centre, beside the Guinness Storehouse, in the heart of Dublin and close to all transport links.

Requirements:

• Fluent Written & Spoken Mandarin & English

• Experience of English-Chinese translation

• Relevant Marketing/Business Qualification

• Knowledge & experience of Chinese Social Media & ecommerce (inc. Weibo, WeChat, Youku etc) & Online marketing channels

• Experience in Chinese travel agents/Chinese tourism sector of benefit

• Good understanding, knowledge of and contacts in Chinese market

• Interest in Ireland, marketing, tourism, magazine/website article writing

• Excellent Communication & Computer Skills

• Very strong attention to detail

• Strong Initiative, Ambition & Self Motivation

• Willingness to commit to internship

How to Apply:

Please email your CV with full details of any previous relevant projects &/or work experience and your role and responsibilities.

What date are available to start the internship?

What is your current visa? Student or Graduate, and expiry date?

In Jobs

Event Manager

April 1, 2019 No Comments

BEcause Experiential Marketing, 10 Lad Lane, Dublin 2

Managing operational and administrative functions to ensure specific projects are delivered efficiently. Providing leadership, motivation, direction and support to your team. Travelling to on site inspections and project management.

Click HERE to apply for this job.

In Jobs

Promotional drivers required. 25+. Flexible Hours

April 1, 2019 No Comments

Brandface are looking for hard-working, fun-loving drivers for promotional campaigns, events and brand activations. We have a huge range of fun and exciting campaigns, and we are looking for great people to assist with the logistics around these events and activations.

Flexible hours to suit your schedule. Lots of work available for the right candidates. Even more work available for those keen to work on brand activations themselves.

Opportunity to earn great money, working on some really fun campaigns.

Requirements:

Van driving experience

Full Drivers Licence

Must be 25+ years of age

Promotional/Event experience is advantageous, but not essential

Click HERE to apply for this job.

In Jobs

Digital Marketing – eCommerce – PPC Executive

April 1, 2019 No Comments

About House of Ireland

House of Ireland is one of Ireland’s leading retailers of Irish and international luxury giftware, crystal, clothing, jewellery, china and linen. With our flagship store on Lower Grafton St. in the centre of Dublin and travel retail stores in Dublin Airport and in Belfast City Airport, House of Ireland showcases over 200 internationally recognised brands including Waterford Crystal, Belleek, Newbridge Silverware, Barbour and Swarovski.

Digital Marketing – eCommerce – PPC Executive

We are looking for an experienced Digital Marketing executive to join our e-commerce team. You will work with a Web Developer and Front-end Digital Media Designer to grow House of Ireland’s online sales across all channels. You will work closely with our Senior Management team in terms of our overall e-commerce development. We are looking specifically for dynamic candidates with strong PPC & SEO skills and experience who have the ability and desire to manage House of Ireland’s Digital Marketing efforts to increase online sales internationally.

Responsibilities:

Build online sales through House of Ireland’s website, Facebook, Amazon, Google Shopping, eBay & other 3rd-party channels.
Develop and implement Digital Marketing campaigns using PPC, Display Advertising, Remarketing, Google Shopping, Email, Video, SEO and Social Media Advertising (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter etc.).
Measure and report on campaign performance using Google Analytics and social media analytics.
Manage website content appropriately for SEO, produce ad content for PPC campaigns, develop blog content and manage product database (images, descriptions and product findability).
Manage contact database and increase subscriptions through web-marketing initiatives.
Collaborate with Graphic Designer/Front-end Digital Media Designer and Web Developer to develop content for frequent email marketing newsletters and improve overall website performance and UX.
Ensure a consistent multi-channel approach between digital and in-store marketing/PR.

Skills and Experience Required:

Third Level Degree or Masters in Digital Marketing or a related field.
A Google Adwords Certificate in Search, Display and Shopping would be advantageous.
A minimum of 2 years experience in Digital Marketing.
“Hands-on” demonstrable expertise and experience in use of Digital Marketing tools, in particular: PPC, SEO tools, Google Shopping, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Webmaster Tools and eCommerce Link Building.
Excellent knowledge and experience of PPC advertising through Social Media and measuring impact of advertising campaign.
Excellent communication skills and problem-solving skills.
Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

Click HERE to apply for this job.

In News

LinkedIn brings lookalike audiences to B2B marketing

April 1, 2019 No Comments

By Andrew Blustein

LinkedIn has added lookalike audiences to its ad offerings after beta testing the tool over the last year.

Lookalike audiences are nothing new, as Facebook has shown. LinkedIn’s director of product, Abhishek Shrivastava, said it “took us some time” to build the tool.

Marketers could already go to a platform like Facebook to discover new audiences using existing customer data. LinkedIn is now offering that for B2B marketers by making it easier to find company names or job titles.

Audience templates, another new offering, streamline the process of finding audiences. According to Shrivastava, it’s a one-step process that separates audiences job titles and functions into 20-plus templates.

LinkedIn has over 610m users and, according to Shrivastava, it has seen over 30% growth in the number of sessions per user over the last year.

“Because of all this activity happening on the platform by our members on an increasing basis…it allowed us to tap into a lot of the signals that have allowed us to create the lookalike product, which requires a lot of signals to do the modeling of who are users,” said Shrivastava.

LinkedIn also announced it will integrate Bing data for the first time into its ad products. Marketers can now leverage Bing data with LinkedIn’s interest-based targeting tool it launched in January.

“If someone searched for an article on digital marketing trends, that would map them to a category of being interested in marketing,” explained Shrivastava. “That list of categories is what we are exposing within our campaign manager on LinkedIn, to allow our customers to create campaigns to reach people who are interested in that particular topic.”

Shrivastava said connecting Bing and LinkedIn data “gives marketers the best of both worlds”.

By Andrew Blustein

Sourced from The Drum

In News

3 Reasons Your Small Business Should Be Creating More Visual Content

April 1, 2019 No Comments

By Jeff Shuford

Are you using platforms like Facebook and Twitter to grow your small business? Are you hoping to attract more customers by using social media marketing, yet find yourself wondering whether your efforts will be rewarded? Increasing your social media marketing ROI (return on investment) might not be a matter of posting more often, but instead changing what you share on social media.

Small business owners who increase the amount of visual content that they share on social media can significantly improve their audience engagement rate. Potential customers are more likely to engage with visual content versus text-based content. If you need convincing of the power of visual content for your small business, bear the following three essential truths in mind:

Retention Matters

If you want your small business’s target audience to retain more of your marketing materials, it is imperative that you start sharing more visual content with potential customers. The human brain retains visual content easier than text-based content. Start sharing brand visuals like infographics via social media and there’s a good chance you’ll increase your marketing ROI in the process. For instance, if you are launching a new mobile application, you would want to craft attractive graphics that lead your potential users to your mobile applications splash page or directly to your app store listings. Imagine that you are launching a beauty health line and need to engage with more of your potential purchasers. It would be imperative to create marketing materials that would persuade likely customers to not only inquire but also to try out your products or services. Simply put, perception equals reality.

Conversions are Critical

If you want to boost your conversion rate as a small business owner, it’s time to double-down on visual marketing opportunities like video marketing. Video content converts buyers at a faster rate than static content like blog posts and articles. Increase your small business video marketing this year, and the odds of increased sales are in your favor.

Visual Content is Engagement on Steroids

For small business owners wanting to increase audience engagement rates on social media, visual content creation is a must. Not only is visual content retained better by your target audience, but they’re also more likely to engage with your brand online thanks to your visual content. Start creating custom images using a tool like Canva.com and watch your social media engagement rates go through the proverbial roof.

These are just three of many reasons your small business should be creating more visual content for social media marketing. Develop a detailed visual marketing strategy and build a library of visual images you can use daily.

By Jeff Shuford

Jeff Shuford is a nationally syndicated columnist whose monthly column appears in more than 44 regional newspapers. Shuford is one of fewer than five millennial African-American syndicated columnists in the United States, and one of the country’s youngest syndicated columnists overall.

Sourced from Black Enterprise

In News

Culture secretary commissions study into ‘opaque’ world of online advertising

March 29, 2019 No Comments

By John Glenday

The UK government has moved towards launching a formal investigation into the ‘largely opaque and extremely complex’ online advertising industry and the power wielded by Facebook and Google on the digital ad market.

It comes following the publication of the Cairncross review, which highlighted how tech giants like Google and Facebook are the root cause of the crises facing publishers.

Culture secretary Jeremy Wright told the House of Commons yesterday (Tuesday 12 February) the Competition & Markets Authority has been commissioned to study the digital ad ecosystem to establish whether there are grounds to launch a full investigation into practices prevalent in the industry, a process which would legally oblige the tech firms to hand over sensitive financial information.

Wright also said had asked the Charity Commission to investigate whether publishers can be afforded charitable status to aid local and investigative journalism.

A third tier of efforts to reform the sector will see civil servants conduct a parallel investigation into regulation of the online advertising space as a whole, a process which could result in new regulatory powers to enforce fair play.

Shadow culture secretary, Tom Watson, said the government was united in its desire for major technology companies be more accountable to parliament.

“Even in these dark days of Brexit and increasing division in politics, there is one man who is uniting this house: Mark Zuckerberg,” he said.

“He insulted us all when he refused to attend the [Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport] select committee. He may think the UK market and our institutions are not a priority for him. But I hope he knows there is now a new resolve that transcends our party differences to deal with the abuses by his company and others.”

Feature Image Credit: Digital ad market under a microscope over Facebook/Google monopoly

By John Glenday

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Dutch MPs call for transparency on Facebook political advertising

March 29, 2019 No Comments

Sourced from DutchNews.nl

Dutch MPs have almost unanimously backed a motion calling on the government to pressure Facebook to come clean about political advertising ahead of the provincial elections in March.

Only the right-wing VVD and anti-Islam PVV opposed the motion which urged ministers to call for more transparency in political advertising. This transparency is necessary, MPs say, because ‘social media, including Facebook, offer a platform to political fake adverts’ at both election time and on other occasions.

Facebook said at the end of January that it would bring new political advertising rules and tools introduced in the US and UK last year into countries which are holding significant elections this year.

These measures will not, however, come into effect in the Netherlands before the end of March, after the provincial elections.

MPs say Facebook should come clean about the origins of political advertising three weeks ahead of the provincial vote on March 20.

Facebook has said its new rules will be in effect in Europe ahead of the EU parliamentary elections which take place between May 23 and May 26.

Feature Image Credit: Depositphotos.com

Sourced from DutchNews.nl

In News

Good News – AAI add another 50 seats for their April #AAIToolkit seminar

March 28, 2019 No Comments

Free to AAI Members – please register your attendance

€35 + booking fee for non-members

Join us for a once off conversation with Paul Hughes, Patrick Ronaldson, Richard Carr and Patrick Hickey, the original Rothco Founders and Partners

on Tuesday 2nd April 2019 8.30 a.m. – 10.00 a.m.
at Core, One Windmill Lane, Dublin 2

The discussion “Rothco: The Highs and Lows” will illustrate experience and work from across the years, and will be facilitated by Tom Kinsella Managing Director – Homes, AIB Group