I’m a senior in college getting ready to graduate with a degree in English. I’m extremely lucky because I’ve already been offered a job as a junior copywriter at a digital ad agency in Boston. Truth be told, I landed the interview thanks to my uncle, who worked there for years. It’s very exciting.
That being said, I’m also nervous about it because most of my academic experience is in classical literature and creative fiction. In fact, almost all of my best writing is captured in short stories. My roommate, who interned at a PR agency, said that writing for the web is much different.
As I began to do research, I realized she was right. Worse is that writing for the web seems way more technical than I expected, especially what everyone calls “SEO.” It’s obviously too late to take classes for these things. I don’t necessarily know that I’ll be writing for the web but it makes sense to know, right? How should I get started?
You shouldn’t be too worried, since you’ve already been offered a job. The agency is likely to provide you with all the coaching you need, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing research. Taking the initiative will definitely pay off.
The first thing to do is understand the basic difference between copywriting and content writing. As the author explains, copywriting is at its core about selling an idea or an experience directly related to a branded product or service. Content writing is about informing, educating, and/or educating users. Both forms of writing strive to motivate users toward action and/or influence their thought process. Working at a digital ad agency is likely to present opportunities to develop both skills.
Something else to consider is the impact of collaborating with clients for the first time. Whereas client interaction isn’t always necessary with content writing, it’s a major aspect of successful copywriting. An author at Forbes shared five tips for managing client expectations, which are almost universally applicable. The key takeaway is to rely on effective communication. Fortunately, professional copywriting means you’ll have plenty of chances to refine your communication skills.
It’s a wise decision to learn more about search engine optimization (SEO) since it remains an extremely important investment for businesses. And despite what you might have assumed, it’s not all that difficult to understand. A contributing author at Clutch.co succinctly covers the basics in his beginner’s guide to SEO. Everything boils down to website structure and backlink profile. In other words, how a website is designed and organized is just as important as who reads it and decides to cite it as a reliable source. The two are intrinsically related.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a person or group that couldn’t benefit from positive SEO. Thanks to the digital age, businesses can now tap into global talent. For instance, a growing startup based in Singapore could leverage SEO in Brisbane to help them establish a digital presence for a recently launched production facility. It’s possible that you could experience something similar while working at your own digital agency.
The last thing to remember is not to underestimate the value of creative writing. While short stories might seem irrelevant, you’d be surprised how well the experience can translate. Your copywriting career will depend on sharing ideas and people crave a compelling narrative.
In today’s world of work, social media is a huge part of a company’s success. But because it’s so relatively new to most people, it can be extremely tricky to get right. Here are seven tips to help keep your social media strategy on the right path.
Get Well Versed In Successful Copywriting
Copywriting is a key feature of social media management. To drive engagement up, not only does your content have to be captivating, but your voice should be engaging, interesting and appropriate. Good copywriting is a skill best learned through practice, so get used to studying other successful copywriting in order to find a formula that works.
Consider Branching Out Into Other Forms Of Content
Today’s world is very visual, and reading words may not be engaging enough anymore. Consider graphics, pictures, videos, or even careful use of memes and jokes to make you feed more appealing and encourage engagement from followers.
Work On Public Speaking
In spite of the fact you may predominantly be working from behind a computer screen, it’s still important to build your confidence in public speaking if you’re working in social media. This is particularly a useful skill in terms of social media outlets like Facebook Live, Instagram Story and Periscope, which are high impact in terms of reach and engagement.
Know Your Audience
It’s well known that a bland and broad social media strategy is far less likely to be successful. Know specifically who you’re trying to reach and engage with and make your posts speak more specifically to them. As a social media manager you’ll likely be interacting one-on-one with customers, so skills like verbal empathy and being a good conversationalist are extremely important.
Be Experimental
The world moves very fast nowadays, and sticking to just one strategy on social media is a sure-fire way to look tired and behind the times. Trying new things is essential, and keeping up with internet culture can really help keep your feed fresh and encourage people to come back to it time and time again.
Maintain A Sense Of Humour
It can be easy in such an important position to take the job very seriously. While professionalism is highly valued, social media runs on funniness, so it’s imperative to keep things light and amusing. Not only will it endear your followers to you, it also hugely ups the chances of going viral.
Remain Authentic
There’s nothing worse than inappropriate use of slang and internet in-jokes. It’ll just make you look like you’re trying far too hard. Instead, maintain a tone of voice that feels natural and that you’re comfortable with. People generally dislike fakeness, so being yourself I actually a huge boon to social media management.
Annie Walton Doyle writes for Inspiring Interns, which specialises in sourcing candidates for internships and graduate jobs.
Dentsu-owned digital agency Isobar and its onetime creative leader, ECD Kenny Rennard, have gone their separate ways after just under two years.
An agency spokesperson confirmed the move.
“Kenny Rennard is no longer with Isobar,” the rep wrote today. “We continue our focus on digital transformation, powered by creativity, and solving complex business challenges through digital marketing, ecosystems and products. We wish Kenny all the best in his next venture.”
It’s not quite clear at the moment why Rennard left, and the rep declined to elaborate. But our sources tell us the agency’s other ECD, Ricardo Salema, will be running its creative team moving forward.
The 11-plus-year Isobar veteran got the VP, ECD bump around the same time Rennard moved from Digitas Boston in 2016. The two were Isobar’s first executive-level creative leaders.
Now, we have to confess a bit of ignorance regarding the Isobar organization—namely, the fact that it was a joint project between Deloitte, WPP and software company BroadVision before being acquired by Dentsu back in 2012.
That last link serves as a pretty good case study of what the agency actually does, as is this more recent example: a VR-powered music video by aspiring Meat Loaf opener and frequent InfoWars guest William Patrick Corgan, better known by his stage name Billy.
In other Isobar news you may have missed, the agency’s former first-ever chief creative officer of the Americas, Fred Saldanha, became one of Arnold CCO Icaro Doria‘s big new hires in Boston last month. Should be interesting to see where that one goes.
Gone are the days when social media was used solely for connecting friends and family. Social media has now become the norm for all types of businesses to market and sell their brand. Yet even in the current social media climate, businesses still struggle to fully use online mediums successfully. As a founder and CEO of two successful online businesses, I have first-hand experience of what works (and what doesn’t) in the social media business world. My experiences and mistakes can help both young entrepreneurs and well-established brands alike create and cultivate their successful online businesses.
Understand Your Audience
As I planned my social media strategy, one of the first lessons I learned was how important it is to understand your audience. The more I knew about my audience’s age, occupation, motivations and worldviews, the more I was able to create and time posts that resonated with them. And the questions I find useful to ask myself as I engage with my social accounts are: “In what ways am I helping my audiences? How does my product improve the lives of my audience?”
Remember that social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, aren’t simply broadcast media. They are engagement media, which means they are also listening networks. I use several methods to listen to my audiences, including Google analytics and staying on top of trending hashtags and social mentions. I also regularly conduct YouTube and Twitter searches. I have found that these tools help me understand what my readers are interested in and predict what content may spark their imagination.
Understand Your Social Media Platforms
I have also learned that I need to tailor my social media strategies according to the social channel I am using. Because each social media platform has its own unique traits, your content and strategy may work for one platform and not another. For example, I experimented using image-heavy content on all of my social media channels. While images were successful on Instagram and YouTube, they were less successful on Twitter.
By way of illustration, on one of my sites, we posted this following fact on all of our media accounts: “On average, cats spend two-thirds of every day sleeping. That means a nine-year-old cat has been awake for only three years of its life.” Although we posted the fact on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with the same image, it received more likes and shares on Facebook and Instagram than it did on Twitter. This isn’t to say that you should never use an image on Twitter. Once again, listen to your audience. If you think an image will help connect you with your audience on Twitter, then use an image.
Understand Post Timing And Frequency
Along with knowing your audience and the dynamics of social media platforms, a successful business will know when to post. I have found that even high-quality messages posted at the wrong times will go nowhere. In contrast, a high quality-quality message posted at the right time can lead to more shares and likes. For example, I created very high-quality Pinterest posts, but I haphazardly posted them. The result was a mediocre Pinterest account.
Once I scheduled posts more consistently and spaced them out, my Pinterest account quickly received more attention and repins. I specifically implemented an editorial calendar that both helped keep me on schedule and helped me plan for special days and holidays.
Understand Your Marketing Niche
A company’s marketing objective will also affect the timing and frequency of social media posts. Specifically, a company’s post will change depending on whether the company is focusing on the following types of marketing: brand, media or e-commerce. The below chart explains the various types of marketing, tips specific to that type of marketing, as well as how often to post.
• Brand Marketing
What it is: More than just promoting a logo, brand marketing is building awareness for your company and creating campaigns that drive influence acquisition.
Post frequency: 1-10 times per month
Do: Post something new and novel, like a stance on issues
Don’t: Rely heavily on scheduled, template-like posts that cause your brand to seem disingenuous
• Media Marketing
What it is: Media marketing is a form of internet marketing that uses social networking websites as a marketing tool.
Frequency: Daily
Do: Utilize social media management tools to help stay up-to-date and relevant; post content that is interesting or newsworthy; streamline your focus into the topics that relevant, sharable and pertinent to your audience
Don’t: Post anything and everything without direction
• E-commerce Marketing
What it is: Short for electronic commerce, e-commerce marketing is the process of distributing, buying, selling or marketing goods and services through electronic communications or networks.
Creating An Effective Influencer Brief: The 11 Must-Include Items & 4 Common Mistakes To Avoid
In the simplest sense, an influencer brief is a document that a brand or agency provides an influencer after he/she has contractually agreed to participate in an influencer marketing campaign. Typically a one-page long document, an influencer brief is a resource meant to assist an influencer when he/she creates sponsored content for a given campaign. The document offers an overview of the campaign’s purpose and spells out what is expected of the influencer.
An effective influencer brief is one that an influencer can clearly understand and follow, and leads to measurable campaign results. Conversely, both an arduous influencer brief or one lacking sufficient detail can lead to a poor performing campaign.
The best influencer briefs lay the foundation for successful campaigns and productive ongoing relationships with influencers. Here we’ll outline 11 essentials every influencer brief should include and examine 4 specific influencer brief mistake marketers should avoid.
The 11 Essentials Of Every Influencer Brief
1. Name of the advertiser/brand
Although self-explanatory, an influencer brief should start by stating the name of the advertiser or brand running the campaign. The inclusion of this crucial information lessens the chances that an influencer may confuse an influencer brief with another document related or unrelated to the campaign.
2. Social media account or accounts the influencer should use to publish sponsored content
Beyond stating each platform that sponsored content should be published on, an influencer brief should include the exact social media accounts an influencer should use to publish content.
Many influencers maintain more than one account on the same platform and therefore specific account handles should be stated to avoid any confusion.
3. Description of the sponsored content an influencer has agreed to publish (and corresponding dates)
In conjunction with stating the social media account(s) an influencer should use to publish sponsored content, an influencer brief should explicitly outline the sponsored content an influencer has agreed to make and when each piece of content must be published.
For instance, for an Instagram exclusive campaign, a brief should include the number of Instagram posts and Stories an influencer has agreed to create, as well as the date and time each piece of content must be published. Any other deliverables like tagging the brand’s official Instagram account or using a specific branded hashtag should also be included.
4. A synopsis of the campaign goals
Like the saying, “Without a goal you can’t score,” an influencer brief should clearly and concisely provide an influencer with a campaign’s purpose and goals. Whether a brand wants to advertise the launch of a new product, raise brand awareness overall, or both, an influencer should be clearly informed of a campaign’s goals so he/she can structure content accordingly.
Without clear direction regarding what sponsored content should convey to followers, an influencer is ill-equipped to properly serve a brand’s needs. The failure to state clear campaign goals can result in sponsored content that’s either ineffective or unrelated to a brand.
5. A list of messaging points that an influencer should include
Critical to an influencer brief is the inclusion of specific talking points an influencer should follow when discussing a brand and its products. By providing an influencer with clear messaging points a brand prepares him/her to deliver on the campaign goals. Specific messaging points like, “The cookies are organic,” serve to fulfill larger goals like providing audiences with useful product information.
One trap of messaging points is offering too many, which can result in the deterioration of any given point’s impact.
To avoid sponsored content that is overly branded or annoying to audiences, marketers should limit the number of messaging points influencers must include in sponsored content. For YouTube or blogger content, messaging points should be limited to up to five. On Instagram, only one or two messaging points should be provided.
6. A list of messaging points that an influencer shouldn’t include
Just as important as including messaging points that an influencer should highlight is the omission of talking points detrimental to a brand’s image or campaign goals.
In an influencer brief, marketers should provide any specific messaging points that an influencer must not state verbally or in written form. This could include discussing a specific product the brand doesn’t wish to advertise in the present campaign or any reference to competitors.
7. The specific CTA an influencer should use
Whether the verbal and written inclusion of a discount code or a statement asking followers to check out the brand, a specific CTA should be included in every influencer marketing brief.
Similar to providing a list of messaging points, the inclusion of a CTA ensures that an influencer delivers on a brand’s specific goals.
8. Any contest or giveaway rules
In the event that an influencer’s sponsored content takes the form of a giveaway or contest, an influencer brief should clearly include necessary rules and guidelines so influencers aren’t left to explain contest rules in a way that could be inconsistent with the brand’s intentions.
Additionally, contests and giveaways typically need to follow legal as well as platform guidelines. It’s important that the influencer brief and/or brand does not get flagged for running a contest improperly.
9. The tracking link and/or landing page that an influencer should use
Almost all influencer campaigns include tracking links that document user actions related to campaign ROI, such as product purchases, downloads, or sign-ups. To ensure that an influencer includes the correct tracking link within sponsored content, any necessary tracking links should be provided in the brief.
10. A reminder of the FTC guidelines influencers (and brands) must meet
Within the past year, the FTC has become increasingly active in enforcing proper disclosure of sponsored content. To ensure that an influencer’s sponsored content meets FTC guidelines, an influencer brief should include both an FTC guideline reminder and the specific language the influencer should use for disclosure (e.g. paid partnership with).
11. Any brand assets an influencer should include
Brand assets such as a logo or slogan that an influencer should include in sponsored content should be stated in an influencer brief.
Marketers should also indicate when, where, and for how long a brand asset should appear in sponsored content. For example, if the brand wants its logo to appear within the first minute of a YouTube, this requirement should be outlined in advance.
The Most Common Influencer Marketing Brief Mistakes
1. Failure to provide an optimized and highly compelling CTA
Crucial to every influencer marketing campaign is the inclusion of a compelling CTA that social media users should perform after consuming sponsored content. The failure to include a clear CTA, or the inclusion of CTA that’s confusing, can result in a low-performing campaign.
If an influencer’s followers either aren’t offered a next step or are given instructions too cumbersome to follow they’re likely to disengage. A focused CTA should, therefore, be included in every influencer brief.
2. Providing an influencer too many messaging points
Although it’s important to provide an influencer with clear talking points, requiring an influencer to mention a long list of points can result in sponsored content that bores or confuses his/her audience.
Arguably, the inclusion of two essential messaging points in sponsored content is more powerful than including three. The inclusion of several points lessens the impact of any given point and can result in sponsored content that feels inorganic or forced.
3. Creating an influencer brief that doesn’t allow for creative freedom
An influencer brief is a crucial part of clearly communicating and in turn fulfilling campaign goals. However, brands should remember that influencers are often better equipped to connect with their audiences than a brand. Therefore, in the interests of a high performing campaign brands should give influencers creative freedom by providing only one to two essential talking points and a succinct list of campaign goals to meet.
4. Presenting FTC guidelines as optional
In the interests of a brand and the influencer it’s working with, an influencer brief should always present proper FTC disclosure as an expectation an influencer must follow, not an optional recommendation.
No one is born knowing how to write great sales copy. Copywriting is a skill that can be learned – by anyone. So, if you have just started a business and you’re wondering how to write the words that will get people to buy your product, just know that you can learn copywriting elements that will drive sales.
I’m going to share with you seven copywriting techniques that the pros use. Before I do, though, I want to explain the difference between copywriting and content writing. They are often confused. And, while there is some overlap, and good copywriting is helpful in content marketing, it’s important to know the purpose of each.
Copywriting vs. Content Writing
Copywriting and content writing are both used as a way to connect with your audience online. But they have very different purposes.
Copywriting is writing the advertising or marketing copy that is intended to drive sales or drive a specific action. Common uses are in emails, landing pages, sales letters (or sales pages), and ads
Content writing is writing the content that is intended to entertain, educate or inform an audience online. Common uses are in blogs, eBooks, white papers, and informational web pages.
The two types of writing involve different skills and techniques. While it is possible to be great at both, a good copywriter is not necessarily a good content writer and vice versa. Incorporating elements of copywriting into your blog content will help your articles stand out, be read, and convert subscribers.
Great Copywriting Will Turn Your Idea Into a Successful Business
You have a product or service. It’s not a business until someone buys it. How do you get them to do that? Tell them a story, in words that produce an emotional connection. That story is told through your sales copy.
Words have the power to turn your idea into a successful business. Delivered to your audience at the right time and in the right format, impactful sales copy drives sales.
Using our Simplified Search course as an example, here is our big idea statement: Any online business owner can understand and implement SEO best practices by using Simplified Search because it demystifies the search engine optimization process and teaches simple strategies anyone can use.
When you can state precisely what you are selling, who it’s for, the problem it solves, and the benefits to your target customers, it becomes easier to write your sales copy. To keep your copywriting on track, refer to your big idea statement often.
2. Know Your Audience
When you know who your audience is, how they think, what they need, and what they are passionate about, it makes it easy to talk to them like a friend. Friends always have their best interests in mind. You know their pains, and as a trusted friend you recommend only the best answer to their problems. When you write from that vantage point, your message will come through as authentic, honest, and persuasive.
3. Write Compelling Headlines
An effective headline stops readers in their tracks and draws them in. It gives the idea of what the article, email message, or offer is about, but it leaves just enough unsaid to make readers curious. But how do you take boring topics and create exciting headlines?
Effective headlines have one or more of these elements:
Make a promise
Elicit an emotional response or curiosity
Appeal to your specific niche
State a promise or proposition
Establish credibility or authority
Communicate benefits
4. Use Bullet Points
Bullet points synthesize ideas into small easy-to-digest bits. They make sales copy and web content easy to read. They tell the reader, “If you get nothing else out of this article, at least I’ve given you the best information right here.”
Bullet points are effective because people typically don’t read an entire article. They skim or scroll, looking for clues to what the article or page is about before they invest their precious time.
They look for headlines, subheadings, and bullet points to get to the heart of what they are about to read.
Bullet points are surrounded by white space, drawing the reader’s eye toward them like a magnet. They tell readers at a glance what the benefits are and why they should buy your product.
Again, I’ll refer you to Ray Edwards’ How to Write Copy That Sells. He offers templates for 21 types of bullet points and suggests that your sales copy include a mix of each type. Some bullet point types that you’ve undoubtedly seen in great copywriting include:
The “wrong” bullet – stating a commonly held belief and stating that it’s wrong, followed up by stating that your special offer will explain why.
The “themed sequence” bullet – listing pain points or stumbling blocks that are holding your reader back from achieving their goals. Or, listing hints about the solutions your product offers without going into details.
The “reverse hook” bullet – states a fact such as a statistic that is impeding the reader’s success and then states how they can use that information to meet their goals. Often the latter part – the solution – is in parenthesis.
The “truth about” bullet – states that you are going to tell the truth about something controversial and then states how you are going to shatter their beliefs.
The “probing question” bullet – asks the reader questions about whether or not they know something.
5. Limit Your Reader’s Choices
A confused mind says “no.” When writing sales emails, landing pages, sales pages, and even blog articles, guide your readers toward conversion by limiting the possible actions. In sales emails, include links only to the landing page you want to direct them toward. Don’t include links to follow your blog or follow you on social media.
Landing pages by definition should contain no other places for the reader to click other than to opt in to your offer. Sales pages should only contain a button to buy your product or service and a “no thanks” option. In blog articles, it’s a little trickier because a blog page has many options to click. However, make the main call-to-action bold or in image form, so it draws the reader’s attention.
6. Risk Reversal
When you take the risk of purchasing your product off the shoulders of your buyer and assume all of the risk yourself, you eliminate most of their objections. People want to be guaranteed that they are making a good decision. A strong guarantee tells your buyers that you are so confident in your product that you are willing to pay them back (maybe even double their money back).
There are techniques for creating an irresistible guarantee. They include restating how the buyer is to use the product, the offer’s benefits, and what they can expect. Essentially, you continue to sell in the guarantee and then end with your risk reversal. An example is “Order my Simplified Search course, watch every module, download the worksheets, join my SEO community, and put the tactics into practice for 90 days. If it doesn’t improve your understanding of SEO, then I refuse to keep your money.”
7. Ask for the Sale
Never assume someone will buy just because you’ve laid out the offer, the benefits, and your guarantee. You have to ask them for the sale. Connect the dots for your reader.
You’ve told your story, you’ve laid out the product and its life-changing benefits, and you’ve assumed the risk. Now tell them to make a decision. Tell them you know where they are in their decision and the pain they feel by remaining in limbo. Then tell them how it will feel after they make the right decision to purchase your offer.
Examples of closing statements that drive sales:
Make the decision now to get different results.
I’m waiting to support you on the other side.
It’s time to make a decision, what will you do?
If you stay the same, nothing changes. Where could you be a year from now?
Put These Copywriting Tips to Use
Now you see how writing sales copy for your specific audience and addressing their pains is easier when you keep a few copywriting elements in mind. Grab their attention with curiosity-invoking headlines, use bullet points, limit their choices, offer a rock-solid guarantee, and ask for the sale. How will you use these tips in your copywriting? I encourage you to not only use them in future sales copy, but go back to your landing pages, emails, and sales pages and see how you can drive more sales with compelling copywriting.
Time moves faster on the internet. Last month’s memes are about as relevant as a 1920s vaudeville show. Even a bona fide viral phenomenon from just a few years ago seems quaint and dated.
Twitter and Facebook are only 12 and 14 years old, respectively. But they’re aging at internet speed. And right now they’re having a midlife crisis. Instead of buying a sports car and taking up craft brewing, though, that crisis is manifesting as existential dread and intense soul-searching.
The people who run the platforms are publicly examining their purpose and societal impact. More importantly, the people who use the platforms are asking tough questions:
What am I getting out of my time spent here?
Who is this platform structured to benefit?
Should I be trusting my data with this platform?
Is this a positive or negative thing I have let into my life?
As marketers, we have to ask ourselves the same questions. And we should add one more: Is our social media marketing valuable to our audience?
If we’re not adding value, we’re adding to the problem.
Social media is in crisis right now. But that doesn’t mean marketers should abandon ship. It means we have to do our own soul-searching. We need to take our social media accounts off of autopilot and approach them mindfully. Here’s what marketers should consider as we weather the social media midlife crisis.
How Does Your Social Media Marketing Make People Feel?
A recent Hill Holliday report found that a majority of 18-24 year olds were at least considering abandoning social media. Over a quarter said that social media hurts their self-esteem or makes them feel insecure. Thirty-five percent said there was too much negativity, and 17% said they were considering quitting because social media makes them feel bad about themselves.
Connecting with your brand on social media should make a person feel better. They should feel that your brand shares values with them, is paying attention to them, can help meet needs and solve problems.
It’s worth evaluating what your brand is posting on social to make sure it’s helping spread positivity. The old days of scaring or shaming people into buying a product are more than over. The overarching message of any brand on social media should be some variant of: “This is what we’re like. If you’re like that too, you’re awesome. Here’s some help you didn’t even know you needed. Here’s something to make your day a little brighter.”
Is Your Brand Using Social Media to Be…Well…Social?
Let’s be honest with ourselves, shall we? No one opens their Facebook app saying: “Gosh, I hope I have some satisfactory brand interactions today.” People use social media to connect with other people — you want to see if your high school best friend had her baby, check out your uncle’s kitchen remodel, or see pictures of your parents’ second honeymoon.
Most brands on social media have been pretty lousy at giving people that type of person-to-person interaction. Which explains why people are moving their conversations out of the public eye, into private groups in apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
How can brands be more social on social media? It starts with transparency and honesty. I love Wendy’s’ sassy Twitter account as much as the next jaded Gen X’er, but snark only takes you so far. Use your social media posts to introduce the people behind your brand and the values they stand for. Then aim for meaningful interaction: When someone reaches out to the brand, make sure the reply is prompt, personal, and useful.
Is Your Brand Connecting with People Your Audience Trusts?
At the heart of it, there’s a limit to how well your brand can connect with individual people. Even when you’re honest, transparent, and engaging, a brand is still not a human being.
The relationship dynamic will always be a little strained.
That’s one of the many reasons why influencer marketing works so well. Influencers can co-create content with you and amplify it to their audience on a much more personal basis than your brand could manage on its own. Find the people your audience already follows — in other words, the ones they want to interact with. Then work with these influencers to bring their audience great content that only your brand could have helped create.
Working with influencers helps put the personal, social touch back into social media marketing. It puts the emphasis of your brand interaction where it belongs: person to person.
When social media platforms first launched, most of us jumped right in. We found our high school classmates. We connected with friends from college. We added co-workers and family members and friends of friends, and we shared everything. Over time, we developed routines. Now, people are finally starting to analyze just what social media means to them. Most will keep their accounts open — but the majority will change the way they interact with the platforms.
Sound familiar? Most brands jumped headfirst into social media, developed routines, and then many of us went on autopilot. Now it’s time to question what we hope to get out of social media, and whether our tactics are getting us closer to those goals. And most importantly, making sure our goals match what our audience wants from us.
Google has been spotted testing a new feature which allows Google My Business pages to publish offers directly to search results.
This feature is built into Google Posts, which has been available to all businesses with a verified GMB profile since last summer. Google Posts lets businesses publish short messages, which appear in Maps and search results when the business name is searched for.
Until now Posts were limited to plain text, multimedia, or events. In the example below you can see Google is testing a new type of post for offers.
An offer includes the following components:
A photo
Up to 300 words of text
Post title
Start date/time and end date/time
Optional coupon code
A link to the offer
What businesses may appreciate most of all is that it doesn’t appear to cost anything to post offers. Of course, they will not be shown as widely as paid ads, but they still give businesses the opportunity to push sales in search results without having to pay Google for it.
Not everyone is able to replicate this feature, which indicates it’s still in the testing stages.
Email marketing is the cornerstone of many marketing programs.
Email marketing is the cornerstone of many marketing programs. It can make engaging with and retaining customers much easier with high-powered tools like automation and personalization. And using mobile-friendly email templates ensures that no matter what device your customer uses to view them, your emails will always look great.
Campaign Monitor has created an infographic, “24 Email Marketing Stats You Need to Know” to help you understand just what value email marketing brings to a small business. For example, for every $1 spent, email marketing brings in $44; for one of the highest ROIs of any marketing tactic.
Personalized messages bring results
A high ROI is fantastic, of course, but with a powerful marketing tool like this, there are even better reasons for email marketing. By using an email service provider, you can create emails that are personalized for each customer, helping them to connect with your business.
The more your customers engage with your business and emails, the more likely they are to purchase from you. Emails with personalized subject lines are 26 percent more likely to be opened. And personalization doesn’t stop at the subject line.
You can add images and content that are specific to each reader to keep them interested in what your business offers. The more you can send emails that your customers want to see, with information that they’re looking for, the more likely they’ll stay your customer. Using data you already have about them can help you to personalize emails a little bit more. Keeping your data updated, by using signup forms or surveys, can help you collect the information you need to do this.
Automation saves time and engages customers
Automation, creating a series of emails once and sending them out automatically when certain criteria are met, can help keep customers coming back for more. Sending out welcome emails, reminder emails, VIP emails or even birthday emails can help to hold your customer’s attention, and lead to sales.
As a matter of fact, automated emails can generate 320 percent more revenue than non-automated ones. Using automation and personalization together can make marketers’ lives a little easier since they need to only create an email once to have each person get the version they need, and sent when they need it.
Since email open rates increased to 68 percent on mobile devices in 2016, it’s important to make sure your email can be read on any device. Just about everyone has a mobile phone and reads their emails on it these days. The easiest way to do this is to use a template that’s already set up to work on mobile devices. This way no special coding is needed and your customers will have an easy-to-read and useful email. Plus, you’ll still be able to use personalization and automation, the end device won’t change how they work.
Email marketing stats worth knowing
From personalization and automation to a high ROI, email marketing can make staying in touch with customers a breeze. And, it will help to not only convert leads to customers but help retain the customers you already have. For more useful and fun email marketing stats and tips, check out the infographic below.
Take back control of your information with these easy steps.
Google, just like Facebook, collects a lot of personal data about its users. While many of us might have put that thought to the back of our minds, this week one web developer reminded us of the true extent of Google’s great data grab with this eye-opening Twitter thread.
The post went viral, unsurprisingly, given that the details it contained: Google tracks every journey you make, it logs every video you watch on YouTube, and it even knows your tastes.
It doesn’t actually send any of this data outside of its own four walls. Instead, Google hordes it all so it can learn more about you, and better target the adverts you see and the services you use.
If the thought of a single company having all that information in one place makes you uncomfortable, then not only can you stop Google from tracking your every move, but you can also delete all the previous data it has been collecting on you. (Alternatively, you could download it (although we wouldn’t recommend it).
How to see everything Google collects on you
Since 2016, Google has allowed every user to see all of this information through a privacy website called My Activity. This will show you a timeline of every interaction you’ve made through one of Google’s apps – whether it’s watching a video on YouTube or asking for directions through Google Maps. Prepare yourself, it’s a bit scary.
Google uses a lot of the data it collects to help it work faster – that’s why when you start typing in Google Search, it seems to instinctively know what you’re looking for. This can be useful, but comes with a tradeoff: Google records and remembers every search you make through Google, Google Now or even Google Maps. It doesn’t share this with anyone, but stores it for its own services.
To stop Google recording every search head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen.
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You’re now in the main settings screen. The first setting is called Web & App Activity. Turn this off and then click on the word Pause. Also untick the box below that says Include Chrome browsing history and activity from websites and apps that use Google services.
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Stop Google tracking your location
Google tracks everywhere you’ve been either from devices where you’ve signed in to Google Maps or through an Android device. Users with iPhones or Apple devices will find that Apple automatically limits this tracking considerably so you won’t have the same terrifying map of locations as Android users.
Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and you’ll find Location History. Turn this off and then click on the word Pause.
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Stop Google tracking which smartphones you use
Google stores information about every Android device that you sign into, the idea being that it can better recommend apps and services the next time you have a new device.
Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and you’ll find Device Information. Turn this off and then click the word Pause.
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Stop Google recording your voice
Every time you say ‘Ok Google’ to your phone or smart speaker Google saves that request so you can go back and review it or delete it. Google says that it saves these in order to improve the way your devices respond to you.
Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and you’ll see Voice and Audio Activity. Turn this off and click Pause.
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Stop Google tracking every YouTube video you watch
When you’re using YouTube Google is recording every search and every video that you watch. The idea being that it can better recommend videos you might enjoy watching.
Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and you’ll see YouTube Search History and YouTube Watch History. Untick both of these boxes and click Pause when each box appears.
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Stop Google creating a profile of you for advertisers
Google shares surprisingly little with advertisers in terms of your personal information. Rather it uses all of that information to create a rough anonymous profile of your interests. It is this info that is then used to target ads for products you might like. To see your advertising profile click here.
You can also turn off ad personalisation or tweak your own interests if you’re not happy with the adverts that you see. You can also scroll down and change your profile which will usually be a gender and a rough age range.
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Download all your Google data
Soon to be everyone in the EU’s legal right, Google already lets you download all the data about you that it currently holds. While this might make interesting reading, once the data is on your computer it is now arguably less secure than it was before, so treat it with care.
You can now pick and choose the type of data you want to download and in what format.
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Delete all the data Google currently has on you
This is, remarkably, pretty easy.
Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now head to Delete activity by. Simply click on the date range and select All time. Now click Delete.
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To delete all the location data Google has on you head to your Timeline by clicking here. In the bottom right-hand side you’ll find a rubbish bin, click on it and then click I understand and want to delete all location history.
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To delete all the device information being collected on you click here. Now on the right-hand side click Delete All.
