Jeff Ber Discusses How Social Media Helps Smaller Nonprofits Stand Out

Jeff Ber has extensive experience in business management and is currently focused on smaller Nonprofit organizations. By discovering the overall impact social media has on business, Jeff Ber examines its ability to create awareness for smaller organizations.

Recognizing Smaller Organizations

Most nonprofit organizations are grassroots-oriented. Even with financial help, small organizations are often resourceful by necessity. Nonprofits that focus on the environment, youth development, and animals are usually smaller than other nonprofit organizations and need to maximize their awareness.

The impact of nonprofit organizations can be felt on a community level. For example, the United States currently has 1.3 million charitable nonprofits that help those who need necessities such as food and shelter. While many of these organizations are easily recognizable, spreading the word about smaller businesses often takes time and hard work.

There are many ways to market a small nonprofit organization, including donations in the organization’s name and hosting events and fundraisers. However, to reach a larger segment of the population, Jeff Ber has noticed the widespread effect of social media.

Philanthropy And The Internet

Social media is not just for posting pictures and chatting with friends. By using social media to spread awareness, charities and nonprofits benefit in ways that can’t be done outside the internet.

Online avenues for philanthropy are hardly new. Crowdfunding, for instance, has encouraged other users to donate money directly to the organization. Newsletters updating a select group of interested people can also play a part in donations.

Retailers who are affiliated with certain nonprofits or charities often benefit from online giving portals. By linking their online store or business to a foundation or charity, a percentage of a customer’s money is used for a good cause. The percentage that is donated, however, is usually up to the retailer.

According to America’s Federal Trade Commission, online businesses or organizations that advertise donations must be extremely transparent. Canada’s guidelines may be even stricter. Information provided to the donors should outline where the money is going, potential fees, and timing.

Social media is a natural next step for raising awareness because it can reach individuals on a broader scale while encouraging involvement. Nonprofits that create business pages for their organization can be easily accessed on social sites. Linking to others in the community or using SEO tactics to expand their presence can create curiosity and interest among new individuals.

There are several social media channels to choose from in 2021, and each platform can reach a slightly different audience. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others have slightly different methods to spread awareness. Depending on the nonprofit organization, this can be used to find specific groups who may be interested. Using social media marketing can cut down on an organization’s risk of seeming “spammy” by presenting its services to the right people.

How Does Social Media Create Awareness For Small Nonprofits?

Social media is unique in its ability to engage large segments of the population. In addition, spreading awareness does not have to be done through paid advertisements or asking for donations.

Contests

Nonprofit organizations can raise awareness through promoting contests or other types of involvement. For example, the “bucket challenge” was used to spread awareness of ALS by encouraging individuals to dump a bucket of ice on top of their heads. Videos of people engaging in the bucket challenge spread far and wide throughout social media channels.

Response Time

Social media makes it easier for individuals to connect directly to the organization. By directly messaging the organization, people interested in knowing more have someone to chat with. Since many people prefer using online methods of communication instead of talking on the phone, this is a particularly efficient form.

Spreading Information

Updating posts on social media is likely to draw attention. Organizations that post relevant information on a daily basis can reach more people. This is a way to boost awareness without spending money. When an organization can save money on marketing, finances can be used elsewhere.

Advertising Events

Sponsoring and promoting a foundation’s event online can gain real-life engagement. By using social media to involve real-life interaction, nonprofits can then share photos of the event online. This circular form of marketing is especially beneficial for spreading awareness because of certain tagging features and cross-promotional posts.

Feedback

Using social media can help organizations understand what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Messaging apps and statistics articulate trends in the way a foundation is being run. A small nonprofit knows it needs more awareness and user engagement if there are no clicks or messages. If a part of the organization seems unnecessary or difficult to understand, direct messaging can help an organization process feedback.

The Impact Of Social Media

Social media is increasingly used as a tool to promote brands. When charities and nonprofits use social media to raise awareness, they involve the public in a worthwhile cause. Since social media is easy to use and interactive, an increasing amount of individuals are getting involved.

Smaller nonprofits do not have the same resources as bigger foundations such as the Salvation Army or Goodwill. With less funding, marketing costs are drastically cut. Expenses for nonprofits largely depend on the organization itself. Depending on the kind of cause and individual effort needed, limiting expenses may be crucial.

Social media has helped smaller nonprofits in their mission to benefit communities. By providing statistics and world-known platforms, nonprofits can raise more money and volunteers to support the arts. In addition, many charities and nonprofits are struggling through economical hardship, and promoting these foundations can help everyone involved.  

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Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/jeff-ber-discusses-how-social-media-helps-smaller-nonprofits-stand-out/

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The 3 Essential Ingredients For Long-Term Happy Clients

The 3 Essential Ingredients For Long-Term Happy Clients written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing

 

Agency Spark Podcast with David Gersh

The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode is designed to spark ideas you can put into practice for your agency today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here!

In this episode of the Agency Spark Podcast, Sara interviews David Gersh, founder of Outreach Local Marketing.  Previous to starting Outreach, David built and sold 3 other businesses over the past 25 years. His main focus in those businesses was sales & marketing.

Questions Sara asks David Gersh:

• Tell me a little about your story and how you’ve launched and sold three businesses prior to where you’re at today?
• Do you have a niche or do you work with a range of local businesses?
• What’s been the most successful marketing tactic for growing your agency?
• How have you made the combination of direct mail and cold calling successful?
• How do you keep getting long retainer clients while other agency’s struggle?
• Is there an area or tactic that you see a lot of local businesses wasting their marketing budget on?

Learn more about David Gersh:

• Outreach Local Marketing

Like this show? Please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts here!

 

This episode of the Agency Spark Podcast is brought to you by Unstack, a no-code marketing platform and ecosystem.  Start building a site today for free by visiting their website. 

Stop waiting on developers and leveraging multiple tools to manage your marketing stack.  With Unstack, you get a no-code website builder, landing page builder, A/B testing, forms, analytics, contact insights, payments, memberships, blog, and more all in one platform.  Start building a site today for free by visiting this link and receive 20% off for six months when you sign up.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/the-3-essential-ingredients-for-long-term-happy-clients/

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How The 3-Day Weekend Lifestyle Gets You The Life And Legacy You Want

How The 3-Day Weekend Lifestyle Gets You The Life And Legacy You Want written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing

 

Agency Spark Podcast with With Wade Galt

The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode is designed to spark ideas you can put into practice for your agency today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here!

In this episode of the Agency Spark Podcast, Sara interviews Wade Galt. Founder of the 3-Day Weekend Club, Wade helps people create the life, lifestyle & legacy they most desire. Pulling from 15 years experience as a productive employee and over 20 years as a software company founder & owner, corporate consultant, sales coach, accountability expert, superstar recruiter, provider of mental health counseling (psychology) services, life coach and 4-day entrepreneur – Wade teaches others to create the life they most desire personally & professionally.

Questions Sara asks Wade Galt:

• What is the 3-day weekend club and lifestyle all about?
• What are the first couple steps when working towards a 4-day workweek?
• What advice do you have for those who work from home?
• How do you help people learn how to delegate?
• When should someone know when it’s really time to grow and scale their business?

Learn more about Wade Galt:

• 3-Day Weekend Club Website

 

This episode of the Agency Spark Podcast is brought to you by Unstack, a no-code marketing platform and ecosystem.  Start building a site today for free by visiting their website. 

Stop waiting on developers and leveraging multiple tools to manage your marketing stack.  With Unstack, you get a no-code website builder, landing page builder, A/B testing, forms, analytics, contact insights, payments, memberships, blog, and more all in one platform.  Start building a site today for free by visiting this link and receive 20% off for six months when you sign up.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/how-the-3-day-lifestyle-gets-you-the-life-you-want/

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Getting Started With Influencer Marketing for Your E-Commerce

Are you trying to think of a new marketing strategy that can get your brand out there and noticed by more people? Maybe this is the case. Or perhaps you have already tried influencer marketing and are interested in commencing a new campaign. As one of the most current methods of advertising, you’ve come to the right place to establish how to set up an influencer campaign for your e-commerce.

With our lives rapidly moving more and more online, as an e-commerce brand, it’s definitely worth taking advantage of marketing through influencers on social media.

Why influencer marketing?

In the digital age that we live in today, whether an e-commerce business or not, influencer marketing is a strategy that can reap incredible results. In fact, as many as 90% of marketers say that influencer marketing has been an effective form of marketing.

By finding ambassadors that can represent your brand on social media, you can reach a much larger, yet potentially more relevant audience. Not only can you increase brand visibility with influencers, but you can reduce marketing spend as this can be a low-cost advertising alternative. 

So, without further ado, let’s establish how you will get started with an influencer campaign.  

Planning

As with any new campaign or strategy, the first thing you need to do is to sit down and set out a plan. From an outsider’s perspective, it can be easy to assume that influencer marketing is a fairly simple strategy, requiring little time or effort.

But, what makes the best campaigns stand out from those that are unsuccessful, is the planning that has been put into them. Consider the following elements within your initial planning process:

Define your goals

You’ll want to strategically plan your campaign by asking some simple questions. Start by considering why you are commencing an influencer campaign. What do you want to achieve through influencer marketing?

By defining your key objectives from the beginning, you can start to outline some key performance indicators (KPIs). These can be tracked along the way to measure the success of your campaign.

Some common aims from brands partaking in influencer campaigns would be to increase brand awareness, grow social media followings, and increase content creation, to name a few.

Target audience

The next step is to establish your target audience. Who do you want this campaign to reach? Your brand may attract a wide variety of audiences, but it’s important to understand who this exact campaign is to be directed at.

Are you releasing a new line or product that would spark interest from a clear group of consumers? It’s important to create a buyer persona, taking into consideration the characteristics of your target audience like age, gender, location, and interests.

Budget

Budget is a big thing when it comes to influencer marketing, as you can spend as much or as little as you like. It’s all about the impact that you make. However, your budget will help to determine the type of campaign and size of influencer that you can work with.

So, how much do you intend to spend on this campaign? Make sure to not forget about hidden costs like shipping, handling agency fees, etc.

Timeline

The final stage of defining your plan would be to consider timings. Do you have a specific timeline to adhere to? This will also impact your influencer search, as many will have their schedules booked up far in advance.

Think about whether your product is to be released in line with a special holiday or event, maybe a festivity or a season. Brands will often want to work on a campaign alongside a particular sale or promotion too.

By defining your timeline and these other key elements of your campaign, it’s going to really help with the next step of influencer discovery.

Finding influencers

When it comes to your influencer search, there are a few ways that you can go about doing this. Again, this is dependent on factors previously defined, like your budget and timeline. Also, you should consider whether Instagram influencers or  YouTube influencers are best for your campaign. Don’t forget, there are influencers across all different social media platforms.   

The three methods to choose from would be:

·  searching yourself, directly through social media

·  using an influencer marketing platform

·  working with an agency

Of course, there are pros and cons to each. And without going into too much detail, let’s quickly touch on this.

Conducting the influencer search manually can be time-consuming. However, for those brands with a small budget and that are only intending on hiring one or two influencers, this could be a perfectly reasonable method.

On the other hand, you could try using an influencer marketing platform to search for influencers. These platforms offer several types of subscriptions, often with a free option, so they are typically affordable to a variety of budgets. 

From the discoveries you learned during your planning process, you can input these and let the platform do the rest. Platforms like Heepsy have dedicated search filters that allow you to choose the qualities to search by, with AI-driven data to provide profile insights to be analysed.

The third option of working with an agency can be totally out of the question for some. Although agencies create some of the greatest campaigns, they are generally expensive and only of interest to those with a large budget. Agencies will conduct all of the work, from start to finish, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on your needs.

Tracking your campaign and measuring results

Whether you’re new to this or not, you’ll be eager to find out how to establish whether the campaign was successful, right? Well, in influencer marketing, success is relative. Remember those objectives that we talked about?

Sure, your sales may have boosted, so the campaign brought success to your business. But, if your main objective was to increase brand awareness in a new location – was this reached? This is why your goals will need to have clear ways of measuring them.

In order to track the success of the campaign, I’d recommend working with a tool like Google Analytics. This is probably the most popular tool out there, especially amongst e-commerce brands.

If the campaign appears to be running well, then remember to check in with your influencers and let them know of their great work. Equally, if there are issues, you’ll want to communicate this clearly too.

When the campaign is over and it’s time to collect all of your data to establish success, you’ll first need to determine the total investment that you put into the campaign. This is absolutely everything that you spent money on, not forgetting about things like shipping!

Then, you should look at data on:

·  sales and revenue

·  web traffic

·  new social media followers

·  impressions

·  influencer discount codes used

When looking at these, your success will be determined based on whether they met your initial goals and also outweighed the original investment that you put into the campaign.

Influencer incentive and discount codes

Unfortunately, we can’t cover everything about an influencer campaign in one article. However, as an e-commerce brand, it’s important that we go over influencer incentive.

A popular technique is to use trackable discount codes that are personalized to every individual influencer working on your campaign. These are so popular for the many benefits that can be gained to the consumer, influencer, and you!

For the consumer, a discount is always going to be attractive. Also, they are eager to use these codes when they see them, though worry that they may not be available at a later date.

For the influencer, they will typically work on a commission-based incentive, where they earn per person that uses their link. This usually encourages influencers to create even better quality content.

For your brand, these links are not only attracting more traffic to your website but increasing sales volumes too. You’re also benefiting from the increased content creation, and quality of it too.

When it comes to campaign analysis, trackable links are the perfect source. You can identify where your website traffic is coming from, pinpointing which influencers are bringing the most. These links will require UTM’s to be set up, which is much more simple than it sounds, don’t worry! You can then access data to analyse their success through Google Analytics, or another similar tool.

Make sure to keep your codes short and concise. They should be personalized to influencers, for example, EMILY20.

Conclusion

As social media continues to boom and online shopping becomes increasingly more readily available, the benefits of influencer marketing to e-commerce brands are undeniable. No matter your business size, type, or budget, it’s a strategy worth investing in.

As long as a thorough planning process is conducted and you find the right influencers for your brand, then you are guaranteed success with your goals!

For more information about how to conduct an influencer marketing campaign, or for some help getting started, then head over to Heepsy! This influencer marketing platform will help you to find influencers and ace your first campaign!

Author: Olivia Adie

Bio: Olivia works on the Marketing team at Heepsy, an influencer marketing platform that helps you to find influencers for your campaigns.  

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Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/getting-started-with-influencer-marketing-for-your-e-commerce/

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Weekend Favs June 27

Weekend Favs June 27 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.

• Rev– Supercharge your next online conference or webinar with resources designed to make your virtual events more engaging, inclusive, and successful.
• Livestrom-Experience the all-in-one video engagement platform to create and manage your online meetings, video conferencing, webinars, virtual events, and screen sharing.
• Blurweb – Secures your sensitive information while live screen sharing or recording videos. saving hours of video post-editing time

These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/weekend-favs-june-27-2/

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How To Guide The Perfect Customer Journey

How To Guide The Perfect Customer Journey written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m going to be talking about part one of a three-part solo show series I’m doing about the marketing hourglass. In part one, I’m talking about guiding the perfect customer journey. In part two, I’m going to be talking about planning your content by the customer journey stage. Then in part three, I’m going to wrap up the series with what I’m calling a content planning workshop. Here’s part one.

Key Takeaway:

Traditionally, the marketing and sales funnel takes a large target group and gets a few clients out of it (i.e. the funnel analogy). It suggests the journey is linear. The funnel concept won’t ever go away, but about ten years ago I defined what I think is still a much better approach – I call it the Marketing Hourglass. It borrows from the funnel shape but turns it on its head after the purchase to help intentionally account for the idea of creating a remarkable customer experience.

I developed the Marketing Hourglass as a tool that can help you create the picture for your client’s overall marketing strategy. In my opinion, it’s a more holistic and increasingly effective approach in the “era of the customer” we live in today. Instead of creating demand, our job is to really organize behavior, and I believe this behavior falls into the seven stages I discuss in this episode.

Discussion points:

• [1:03] Comparing the traditional marketing and sales funnel vs. the marketing hourglass
• [2:22] What the seven stages of the marketing hourglass are: Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, Refer
• [3:16] Breaking down the marketing hourglass stages into steps
• [5:04] Mapping out the customer journey and building your marketing hourglass
• [7:33] Understanding the awareness stages
• [9:46] Thinking about the customer transaction
• [11:55] Creating strategic partnerships

More About The Duct Tape Consultant Network:

• Check it out here.

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Monday.com.

There are a lot of tools out there to help companies get work done. We recently switched over to a tool called Monday, and we love it. Monday is more than just a project management tool. You can use it in many ways to run your entire business, marketing, sales, task management, even recruiting, and certainly project management. Check it out yourself here.

 

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/perfect-customer-journey/

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Creating Content For Every Stage Of The Customer Journey

Creating Content For Every Stage Of The Customer Journey written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I’m going to be talking about part two of a three-part solo show series I’m doing on the Marketing Hourglass. In part one, I talked about guiding the perfect customer journey and the marketing hourglass. In part two, I’m going to be talking about planning your content by the customer journey stage. Then in part three, I’m going to wrap up the series with what I’m calling a content planning workshop. Here’s part two.

Key Takeaway:

Content can’t be viewed as a bunch of one-off projects. The creation of it needs to come out of one comprehensive strategy. Because it is such an important piece of the marketing puzzle these days, it needs to be incorporated in every phase of the customer journey.

As discussed in part one of this three-part series, I’ve developed the Marketing Hourglass which consists of seven stages: Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, and Refer. These phases will get a person from their first encounter with your business and then past your point of purchase where they not only turn into a customer but a loyal fan and advocate for your business. As a person moves through the customer journey, you must hit them with content throughout the process to keep them engaged with your business, and the best way to do this is to match the content you’d like to develop with the various phases of the Marketing Hourglass. In this episode, I share how to create content for every stage of the customer journey.

Discussion points:

• [2:22] Stages of the customer journey in the marketing hourglass
• [3:13] Creating your content road map to answer your customer’s questions at the different stages of their journey
• [4:20] Walking through each stage of the customer journey with this content mapping method using an example, fictitious business I created

Resources mentioned:

• The Ultimate Marketing Engine

More About The Certified Marketing Manager Program Powered by Duct Tape Marketing

• Check it out here.

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network.

If you are a consultant or agency or coach, do any of these points ring true: do you have trouble getting in front of enough ideal clients? Are you constantly being forced to compete on price? Are you working too hard and not making enough money?

I’ve got a free book for you. It’s called the 7 steps to scale your practice or agency without adding overhead. If you want to grow your practice, it doesn’t have to be that hard. Download a copy for yourself here.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/content-for-customer-journey/

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5 Questions You Should Always Ask Before Embarking on a Magento Project

Once you want to start developing an ecommerce store, you will prefer to go ahead and use Magento as the platform. That’s because Magento is offering some unique features, which will assist you to develop a fully functional online store without any challenges. However, it will not be possible for you to set up the Magento store on your own, as it requires some development expertise. This is where you will need to get in touch with a Magento developer or a Magento development agency. Here are 5 of the most important questions that you will need to ask from the Magento developer or development agency. The answers you get to these questions will help you to determine that you are going forward with the right service provider in order to get your Magento store developed.

How many years of experience do you have with Magento? 

Magento has been there for quite some time. Web Design company Lilo told us that it also takes time to master Magento. Due to the same reason, you should think about working along with the most experienced Magento developer out there. You will need to ask and see how many years that your developer or development agency has with Magento. This will help you to make sure that you are handing over the project to the most seasoned v developer.

When you are hiring the most experienced Magento developer, you can expect to go through a smooth process. That’s because the experienced developer knows what has to be done in order to provide the assistance that you want. This will provide you the chance to save development expenses significantly. On the other hand, you will also get the opportunity to get your online store delivered to you within the shortest possible period of time.

Have you worked with similar online stores?

When you are trying to get your online store developed with Magento, you should check and see whether the developer is having similar experience in the past as well. That’s because previous experience will help the developer to help on your project within the shortest possible period of time. That’s because the developer will need to go through the basic steps and provide the assistance that you want. 

If the developer has previous experience, you should ask to provide some references. By going through reference provided, it is possible for you to get a better understanding about the skills and the talents of the developer in terms of implementing functionality within the ecommerce site.

When you hire a developer, who has worked on a similar project in the past, you will get the opportunity to save hours of your time. On the other hand, you will also be able to cut down the expenses that you will have to bear in order to get the Magento based ecommerce store delivered to you.

How do you ensure quality? 

A developer or a Magento development agency should be in a position to provide an online store that doesn’t contain any bugs. Otherwise, you will have to spend more time and money to get the bugs fixed. On the other hand, this will also lead your customers to dissatisfaction. This is why you should ask about the methodology that the Magento ecommerce developer is following in order to ensure quality. 

You will need to check and confirm whether a solid testing plan is available for the developer to follow. The test plan should not just focus on the functionality of the Magento store. It should also cover up security, performance, and many other factors. In case if your Magento store is developed with poor code, you will have to suffer form it in the future. Therefore, you will need to make sure that you are not getting any such output from the Magento developer that you are working with.

Are you a Magento partner? 

It is a good idea to hand over the Magento developments to a certified Magento partner. That’s because certified Magento partners are in a position to deliver a better experience to the people who are trying to get their Magento based ecommerce stores developed. This is one of the very first questions that you need to ask when you are working with a Magento developer or a Magento development agency.

If the answer to your question is yes, you should double check that as well. That’s because Magento is listing all the solutions partners on the website. You will be able to go through the list of partners and pick the best Magento solutions developer out there. You will be able to filter the Magento partner based on the location, region, industry specializations, product specializations, number of Magento certified staff, and Magento partner level. Even if you have to spend more money to get a Magento certified developer, the decision you take would be a worthy one. That’s because you will be able to end up with receiving better returns at the end of the day.

What is your Magento development process?

You should also ask for information about the Magento development process that the service provider you select is following. This will help you to end up with getting some useful inputs about the approach that the developer is following in order to help you with getting your Magento online store developed.

The best Magento developers would usually take some time in order to determine the needs that you have. Then they will start working on the Magento developments. You should also check the project management style and the communication style that the Magento company is following.

Final words

Now you have a good understanding on how to locate the best Magento development team or the Magento developer out there. Make sure that you take your time to ask these questions. You can evaluate the answers that you get and end up with going for the right service provider.

The post 5 Questions You Should Always Ask Before Embarking on a Magento Project appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/content-sections/tools-and-tips/5-questions-you-should-always-ask-before-embarking-on-a-magento-project/

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How to Create an Ideal Work Environment as a Social Media Manager

If you want to be more productive and see better results as a social media manager, you need to have the right work environment. A good environment will make you feel more comfortable, help you stay more focused, and might even relieve your stress.

So what does this environment look like, and how can you create it from scratch?

The Limitations of a Traditional Office

First, if you’re working in a traditional office, there may be strict limitations on what you can customize. Someone else may be in total control of the layout of the office (and your workspace), leaving you practically unable to make meaningful adjustments.

If this is the case, you’ll need to focus on making the changes you can – and potentially pushing for more flexibility, such as with a remote work arrangement.

Understanding Personal Differences

Much of the advice in this article will be universal, providing benefits to the majority of social media managers. However, it’s important to recognize that different people have different preferences; for example, some people want ambient music playing while working to achieve peak productivity, while others prefer total silence. If a certain feature of your work environment makes you feel better and helps you work more efficiently, don’t let anyone’s advice tell you to change it.

Positioning and Privacy

One of the most important elements of your work environment is going to be its general positioning and, by extension, the amount of privacy it affords you. For example, if you’re working in a café, you may not have much control over where you’re seated – and you’ll be surrounded by other people. For some, the gentle hum of background noise from other people can be comforting, boosting productivity. For others, it would be much better to be in a fully closed room of the house, completely separated from common traffic.

Organization and Cleanliness

You’ll also need to think about the organization and cleanliness of your work environment. When it comes to organization, it’s all about putting together a consistent system. You’ll need to invest in filing cabinets, drawers, folders, and other items that help you keep your physical materials organized – and you’ll need consistent rules to follow to ensure those materials never turn into a mess.

It’s also important to invest in reliable carpet cleaners and other cleaning supplies if you’re working from home. If your home office is dusty or dirty, it’s going to decrease your morale and make you more productive – even if you don’t realize it right away.

Furniture, Devices, and Accessories

Next, you’ll need to invest in furniture, devices, and accessories that have the power to shape your working experience. This includes things like your desk, your chair, and even your computer and extra monitors.

Personal preferences play a huge role in your selections here, but there are some high-level features you’ll need to keep in mind when making any of these decisions:

• Comfort. If you’re uncomfortable, you won’t be able to do your best work as a social media manager. There’s such a thing as “too comfortable,” of course – if you’re relaxing in bed, you won’t be able to do your best work either. But you should have a setup that allows you to sit and work in a way that’s natural for you.
• Posture. Did you know that the posture you keep throughout the day can have a significant impact on your health? It’s important to invest in furniture and other items that allow you to maintain a healthy posture at all times; for example, an ergonomic, supportive chair and a desk at the proper height can make good posture almost automatic.
• Efficiency. You’ll also need to think about efficiency, especially with your choice in devices. A modern rig with ample processing power and memory, complete with an extra monitor, will help you get more done every day.

Other Environmental Factors

You’ll also need to consider other factors that will influence your environment and affect your working style, including:

• Visuals. What do you see when you look up from your computer? For most people, some combination of natural scenery, personal photos, and artwork are ideal for distressing and decompressing.
• Sounds. Your soundscape can influence both your mood and productivity. Do you want gentle music? White noise? Loud instrumental pieces?
• Scent, temperature, humidity, and more. There are dozens of ways you can influence your environment, so experiment to find the qualities that work best for you.

It’s going to take some time to perfect your working environment. Some of your strategies might not play out the way you think – and there will always be new elements to discover and experiment with. Keep making tweaks and improving if you want to remain on an upward trajectory.

The post How to Create an Ideal Work Environment as a Social Media Manager appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-create-an-ideal-work-environment-as-a-social-media-manager/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/how-to-create-an-ideal-work-environment-as-a-social-media-manager/

11 Timeless Digital Marketing Strategies For Law Firms

Like any other business, law firms also need to be marketed appropriately to bring in more clients and enhance profitability. Therefore, building marketing strategies that deploy relevant, modern, and unique tactics to help you stand out from the competition is vital.

It is important to understand that going online isn’t just about building a digital presence. Unfortunately, 49% of law firms say their most effective marketing strategy is buying web leads.

There is no denying the real business benefits to be had from digital marketing, namely good ROI, better branding, credibility, and more leads than you’ve ever had before.

Read ahead to see what you can do to build a good digital marketing strategy for law firms.

1. Design A Content Marketing Plan

The sheer amount of content produced and consumed daily is a testament to its importance and why marketers from any industry must focus on it.

As a law firm, it is essential to include non-digital collateral in your content marketing plan where physical branding for targeted customers can significantly facilitate a robust digital campaign.

This includes videos, articles, infographics, press releases, and more.

Put this content on your website or social channels to have a unique and highly engaging presence that helps you stand out in your industry against your competitors. A well-thought-out and detailed content plan allows you to schedule your content production, test results and plan when and where to use it.

2. Use Social Media Platforms

Social media is a huge part of our lives, making digital marketing highly relevant and necessary for businesses. It is also a highly dominant advertising tool, requiring you to focus on it.
It would help if you had a detailed understanding of various platforms and how to target potential clients on Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, or Instagram. Then, create content relevant to your niche and present yourself as an authority on the subject matter to persuade your customers and earn their trust through deliverable promises.

3. Website Optimization

Website optimization is necessary to ensure your website ranks as high as possible when clients search for terms linked to your law firm. It is connected to good content, SEO optimization, digital advertising, etc., and continues to attract trackable leads.

Research your field-relevant strings that customers search the most for. Then, create pages with unique content, reciprocal and backlinks, and frequent content relevant to current SEO requirements.

4. Data Analysis

Data analysis forms the core of whatever combination of marketing strategies you use to make changes. Use facts and numbers to gauge the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns through A/B testing for content and copy, user response, and ROI.

Since there is a high chance of bias when the marketing developer analyzes the campaign data, it is best to have multiple people do this. You can employ an auditing consultant or third-party marketing agency for data analysis for your law firm.

5. Create A Mobile-Friendly Website

With over 6 billion active smartphone subscriptions worldwide, it is essential to create marketing strategies that ensure mobile friendliness. You have to create an effective mobile layout that caters to the high population that uses smartphones to browse through your website and inquire or book appointments.

Ensure your CTA buttons are visible on the phone and the site pages load quickly to capture users’ attention immediately.

6. Boost Client Reviews With Automation

Reputation management is essential to build trust and authenticity among your customers and grow your brand name. One of the best ways to do this is through client reviews and boosting the positive ones through automation that establishes credibility for your brand.

7. Retarget Past Customers And Leads

Most people call it social media listening, but marketers know it as retargeting. This is where people search for something on Google and see ads for the same service on Facebook and other platforms.

You can advertise to people who have shown interest and visited your website previously.

The traffic to your website automatically increases as your site grows. However, only a handful of these would be ready to buy from you. Those who are not yet employing your services are at the beginning of the cycle. They need retargeting to compel them to hire your services in the future.

8. Use PPC Ads

PPC ads are a fast way to make your law firm’s website visible on Google searches when you advertise on it. Tell Google the keywords you want to bid on and pay when someone clicks on your ad for an effective PPC campaign. The PPC ads data helps you determine your target market’s interest and alters your marketing campaigns accordingly.

Create landing pages specific to the ads to keep the audience engaged, giving them exactly what you promised in the ad. Also, expect to spend time on your PPC campaign in monitoring data, testing landing pages, refining, reviewing, etc., for effective marketing.

9. Publish Blogs

It might seem that people don’t read blogs anymore, but they do, and publishing blogs frequently can help your brand. Through relevant articles on topics involving law and policies, you can establish expertise and authority. Any new keywords and content you use alerts Google that your website actively provides relevant content.

Create a schedule for publishing to maintain consistency and ensure that there is a built-in blogging platform on your website to maintain design consistency.

For example, write about topics pertaining to your legal expertise, common questions, or client queries to showcase your knowledge. Additionally, include a CTA in all your blogs and create content that your audience wants.

10. Online Directories

As outdated as directories may sound, they can help your brand as large corporations fund online directory websites and invest a lot into SEO. As a result, if you have a profile here, your ranking can improve.

Since most of these websites offer free listings, you can enhance your SEO efforts in an affordable way.

11. Email Marketing

One of the best ways to stay in touch with your audience and create brand awareness is through emails. Build your email list with targeted customers and send frequent newsletters with updates on your firm, best legal practices, etc.

You can also provide links to your recent blogs or comment on some recent court ruling to give them a new perspective.

Conclusion

Digital marketing strategies are essential to use in this day and age, regardless of industry. As a law firm, these techniques can help you build your reputation and credibility among your target audience.

Digital marketing allows you to expand your reach and improve your chances to get clients to hire your services, ultimately improving your profits.

The post 11 Timeless Digital Marketing Strategies For Law Firms appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/digital-marketing/11-timeless-digital-marketing-strategies-for-law-firms/

The post 11 Timeless Digital Marketing Strategies For Law Firms appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/11-timeless-digital-marketing-strategies-for-law-firms/

How to Use Social Media Strategically in 2021

How to Use Social Media Strategically in 2021 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

With half of the world’s population now on social media, it’s rare you’ll find a brand or business not using it to grow an audience, generate leads, and increase sales online. 

Social media hasn’t gone away, it hasn’t died out, it has a place, and it’s here to stay, so let’s talk about how to use it in 2021.

Some of the questions that I received when social media was brand new I still get today:

• How do I find time to do it?
• What’s the ROI?
• How do I make it pay?
• Can I sell?

People still see social media as this disconnected piece of marketing that you have to go figure out and play in. Just like every other facet of marketing — social media needs a strategy too.

Social media is just another channel, it is another part of marketing. So how does it fit into your overall objectives? You may actually end up realizing that you are wasting your time in a lot of what you’re doing with social media because it doesn’t help achieve your objective of growing your business or getting more clients or the things that we tend to want to do in marketing. I think a lot of people bought into, “I have to be there, I have to be in all these new places or I’ll be left behind.” In some cases, your clients aren’t there and you can’t physically participate and do well there without watering down your other efforts.

Why businesses use social media today

Let me ask you this, what’s the main reason you use social media today? My guess is, some of you are going to say, “I don’t really know,” and I think that’s probably the most honest answer. I can tell you that brand awareness and community engagement and content distribution are the biggest reasons that people use social media today. Sales, lead generation, and customer support are not far behind because those are the things that we want to do the most, but I think you have to realize that there’s a place for social media today, and you just have to understand where that is.

On the flip side, I read a statistic recently from GlobalWebIndex that 71% are more likely to purchase products and services based on a brand’s social media presence and referrals, so it does have the power to help you meet your objectives. I think the thing that has become painfully clear today that maybe wasn’t a few years ago, is that it’s really not about the tools or the platforms. It’s really all about meeting your objectives.

How to meet business objectives with social media

So how could social media meet your business objectives? Well, first you have to outline what those objectives are. Is it to get a certain number of new clients, is it to launch into a new service area? Is it to launch a brand or a new product campaign? Is it to build a community?

If you think about those as some of your objectives then you could start saying, “Okay, well how could we tie that then to marketing objectives,” because sometimes it’s very difficult to go from launching a new product to how does Twitter help us do that? If you think about some of the marketing objectives, like:

• Increasing awareness
• Driving traffic
• Re-engaging current customers
• Generating leads
• Growing revenue
• Boosting engagement
• Building community
• Social selling
• Offering support to existing customers

Those are marketing objectives that actually can be accomplished quite nicely through the right use of social media today.

Think for a minute. What would be your top three marketing objectives for 2021? Once you have those, it’s simply a matter of saying, “Okay, how could social media help me do that? Here’s a list of specific tactics that we are going to use in order to have social media accomplish those goals.”

Let’s say, you want to expand into a new market segment. Well, the strategy for that might be to use social media to discover and build relationships with influencers or brand ambassadors. Then, you could just break that down to a project. Create a list using Twitter lists or using something like BuzzSumo. Use an influencer platform like Upfluence to find people who fit your brand and manage your influencer campaigns.

Make it a plan to reach out to 10 of them a day about potential partnering. You just break it down into very specific things and just ask yourself again and again, “How can social media help me do that?” You may have noticed by now, I haven’t mentioned a single platform yet. I will actually get to that but I think that this is the element that is missing, that we don’t understand how we’re going to use it and why we’re going to use it so that we can make these proper decisions about when and where. What are some of the tactics or some of the things that you can do in social media based on the stages of the buyer’s journey?

For example, for our stages, I talk about the Marketing Hourglass; know, like, trust, try, buy, repeat, and refer. I’ll even add an eighth step to that. For a lot of companies, social media can be great for hiring as well. Paid social, paid Facebook ads, and paid LinkedIn ads can be a really great way for people to come to know you or know about your content. There’s no question that showing a personal side on a social platform is a way for somebody to identify with or like your brand.

Telling stories on social media is a great way to build trust, which is a step we need. You can make offers for certain types of businesses having a special or a sale or a holiday event as long as you are providing value and engagement in other forms. This is a very legitimate way of using social media. Doing things once somebody buys from you, like creating a Twitter video and just saying, “Hey Bob, we really appreciated working with you.” Or, “Hey Bob, here’s your finished product. We’re shipping out today.” That kind of stuff is a great use of social media to generate repeat business.

Then, there are all kinds of ways that you can use social media. Say, creating a Facebook group of your customers or your champion customers and creating something special or different or unique or custom for them. Then from a hiring standpoint, the greatest thing is most of your employees are on social media so you can use their networks, in some ways, to help recruit and maybe create some sort of formal program. If you think about using social media not as just this megaphone that gives you an audience but for your very specific marketing objectives, business objectives, and then meeting certain intent throughout the customer journey, you can develop a strategy that makes some sense.

What social media platforms you can use today

The amount of social media platforms to choose to be active on keeps increasing every year, but you don’t have to conquer them all. In fact, it’s best if you only choose the two or three that are really relevant to your business and that you can align your business objectives with.

Twitter

Twitter makes it easy to distribute your content. And, there are over 326 million average monthly Twitter users globally for you to share that content with. 

There are a ton of reasons to choose to use Twitter as one of your social media channels. It’s free to use, it allows you to offer quick customer service and support, it can be used as a search engine tool for competitive analysis and for prospects to learn more about your business, and it allows you to directly communicate with your audience.

Facebook

Facebook is a place for audiences to connect with businesses big and small. In fact, two-thirds of Facebook users report visiting a local business Facebook Page at least once a week. Facebook also offers in-depth paid ads and highly-customizable targeting features. 

The social media platform has launched features similar to Instagram like Facebook live and Facebook stories. These are great features to educate and communicate with your audience on Facebook.

LinkedIn

As one of the most important B2B social media platforms, LinkedIn is a channel that can help you attract more eyes on your business. LinkedIn is one of the most popular social networks for professionals and entrepreneurs. You can use the platform to showcase your business in multiple ways – if you are the face of your business, having a personal presence is important. You can also create a showcase page for your business and distribute content there as well. 

Instagram

Instagram marketing is competitive, but not impossible. Instagram offers a massive reach for brands with an advertising audience of more than 1.16 billion people – coming in at the third largest social media platform.

Today, 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business. And it isn’t only consumer products that benefit from having a presence on Instagram. More than 36% of B2B decision-makers use Instagram when researching new products or services. This makes Instagram a great channel to showcase the products or services your business has to offer

Clubhouse

Clubhouse is a relatively new social media platform focused on live audio. As a business owner or marketer, Clubhouse offers some unique advantages that make it worth considering. You can learn about your audience’s concerns and desires directly from them. It’s as close to a real-life conversation as you’re going to get on a virtual platform.

On Clubhouse, you don’t have to chase down your target market every time you log on. Your audience is already there and they want to engage in a conversation with you. Because of the real-time nature of the content and the ease of bringing people into the discussion, it allows you to have meaningful conversations and build know, like, and trust with your audience.

TikTok

TikTok is a video-sharing social network with over 800 million monthly active users and an average daily view time of 52 minutes. Right now, TikTok is experiencing a period of exponential growth which means there’s a huge audience ready to be tapped into. Brands who’ve successfully pivoted to TikTok early have reaped huge brand awareness rewards, often with very little investment. 

Creating viral content on TikTok is much more attainable than it is on a platform like Facebook or Instagram. The video-sharing platform has a huge trend culture, but there are trends in every niche making it possible for your business to shine within yours.

How I approach social for my business and myself

I’m going to wrap things up by just talking about a couple things that I’m doing. People, for some reason, like to know what tools I’m using or what platforms I’m using. I will say, for a marketing consulting business like mine today, we are focused primarily on Facebook and Instagram. We certainly participate in LinkedIn, but Facebook and Instagram are the ones that we spend more time on because we feel like we can get the best type of engagement. We have limited resources so we want to go deeper in a couple places.

With the days of auto-publishing everything and going out and curating hundreds of posts, and making sure that you’re posting three times a day, Facebook has basically said, “We don’t want that. We don’t think that’s worth very much. If you do that we’re not going to show your content to very many people.”

Really, the approach that we have taken in Facebook is we want to promote on the business page. I have a personal page and a business page and those two both serve a business function for me. The personal page is more on the personal side of John Jantsch, the author, where the business page is meant to be more straight up Duct Tape Marketing stuff. Now, there’s some crossover upon occasion but that’s how we try to split it up. Now, as far as content goes, about 30% of the content is our ongoing content, the content that we’re producing on a daily and weekly basis.

About 25% is curated content from other sources, 25% is straight up business goals so we’ll promote a product, a new podcast episode, a webinar, an event that I’m doing that I want people to take advantage of because they may opt-in. It’s straight up business goals that we’re trying to meet. We will boost or advertise most of the content. Then, we like to look at, say, another 25% is about people, and culture, and personal observation. We round that out with our ongoing content that is on our editorial calendar. A fourth is curated from other sources, a fourth is aimed at meeting our business goals, and about a fourth is just people, culture, goofy stuff. That’s the mix that we like to go with on Facebook right now. That seems to be a good mix to create engagement and to create views, and to create comments. Then, we put routine or consistent advertising into Facebook as well, primarily as the two categories of our own ongoing content and of the content that supports our business goals.

As far as Instagram goes, Instagram recently introduced a business page type of account. You get some more insights and you get access to the advertising platform. I was on Instagram very, very early on and so I had an account that I just called Duct Tape Marketing. I used it as much as anything as a personal account but it had the Duct Tape brand.

I converted that to a business page and then I created a new page, John Jantsch, that I am sharing my primarily personal rambling of travel pictures and things of that nature and then sticking with promoting things much like we do with our Facebook content on Instagram on the business page. I recommend that you look into creating an Instagram business page if that is a platform for you.

Tools to consider using to amplify your social media strategy

As far as tools go for social media scheduling and management, I am and have been for many, many years a big fan of Buffer. A new social scheduling tool I’ve recently been testing out is MissingLtr – the platform offers quite a few more features than Buffer like advanced performance analytics, content curation, and more. However, I find myself actually publishing directly on the platforms a lot more now. It’s not maybe as efficient but I think you get the most bang for your buck. 

Facebook seems to like you to do that, especially if it’s videos or native videos or native photos that you’ve uploaded from your computer. Those seem to get shown more than anything else. Facebook and Twitter actually have some pretty good insights. Now, when you go over to the business side on Instagram you’ll actually get some analytics there. Really, from an engagement standpoint, either Buffer or MissingLtr are really great tools to monitor and respond to things of that nature.

A couple of tools that I often use for content creation are Canva and Headliner. Canva has tons of different templates you can use to create clean, unique graphics for Instagram to promote something like a new blog article or an upcoming webinar. Headliner allows you to easily create videos to promote things like a new podcast episode or blog article.

That’s kind of my take on where we are in social media. It’s all still about meeting objectives, both business and marketing objectives, and looking at the platforms that really allow you to do that. Again, I think half of these tools that are out there will do most of what you want and so it’s a matter of making a determination about the business objectives and marketing objectives you’re trying to meet. Just set up campaigns, set up tactics that are based on your strategy and you will ultimately win.

Answer this one question if you’re trying to make a decision about social media today: is the use of this tool or this practice or this tactic going to benefit my customers? I think if you can say “yes” to that, then you will always find a return on investment.

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/social-media-2021/

The post How to Use Social Media Strategically in 2021 appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/how-to-use-social-media-strategically-in-2021/

Weekend Favs June 19

Weekend Favs June 19 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.

• Twiso– Engage better with your audience and get more leads with professionally designed videos. We’ll turn your webinar, into a stunning video with a single click.
• CoScreen-CoScreen enables you and your team members to share and edit any app windows simultaneously on a joint workspace. Stop giving up your privacy and grant remote control to individual windows.
• PepperType – Your virtual content assistant that helps you generate quality content within seconds.

These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/weekend-favs-june-19/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/weekend-favs-june-19/

Rethinking Innovation With A Simple 5-Step Framework

Rethinking Innovation With A Simple 5-Step Framework written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with Carla Johnson

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Carla Johnson. Carla is a world-renowned storyteller, speaker, and author of a new book called RE:Think Innovation: How the World’s Most Prolific Innovators Come Up with Great Ideas that Deliver Extraordinary Outcomes. Having lived, worked, and keynote on five continents, she’s partnered with top brands and conferences to train thousands of people on how to rethink the work that they do and the impact they can have. 

Key Takeaway:

People often think innovation isn’t sustainable or even attainable for everyone, so they make it much harder than it has to be. Consistently coming up with great ideas isn’t a talent one is born with or a skill that takes years to learn — there’s actually a framework you can apply. Today, there are so many opportunities for companies to innovate in even incremental ways which can ultimately lead to big, impactful changes.

In this episode, Carla Johnson and I discuss why we need to rethink what innovation is and a simple framework that guides people through the innovation process.

Questions I Ask Carla Johnson:

• [1:15] Can you give us your meaning of “innovation”?
• [4:01] How do you get people to think about the evolution of ideas or incremental steps that are innovations?
• [5:16] What are some of the major things that tend to get in the way of people’s ideas?
• [6:04] What do companies when the innovation is obvious, but the innovation may also cannibalize the business or the profit?
• [7:42] Is it time that we have an innovation department?
• [9:55] Can you talk about the innovation process and structure that you’ve created?
• [15:01] Can you dive into the idea of “citizen innovators” that you used in your book?
• [16:58] Where do you personally go to look for innovation?
• [18:57] What lessons can we learn from crisis and innovation?

More About Carla Johnson:

• Website
• Her book — RE:Think Innovation: How the World’s Most Prolific Innovators Come Up with Great Ideas that Deliver Extraordinary Outcomes
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

More About The Duct Tape Consultant Network:

• Check it out here.

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Monday.com.

There are a lot of tools out there to help companies get work done. We recently switched over to a tool called Monday, and we love it. Monday is more than just a project management tool. You can use it in many ways to run your entire business, marketing, sales, task management, even recruiting, and certainly project management. Check it out yourself here.

 

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/rethinking-innovation-framework/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/rethinking-innovation-with-a-simple-5-step-framework/

Create 6-Figure Months With Your Coaching And Education Business

Create 6-Figure Months With Your Coaching And Education Business written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing

 

Agency Spark Podcast with With Jason How

The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode is designed to spark ideas you can put into practice for your agency today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here!

In this episode of the Agency Spark Podcast, Sara interviews Jason How. Jason is the Managing Director of Agency J (https://agencyj.co/), a digital marketing agency that has produced $10M+ in verifiable revenue for clients, including education institutions, insurance carriers, and eCommerce companies. He also served as an enterprise consultant to Hootsuite’s most valued enterprise customers. In his free time, he enjoys writing articles and sharing his knowledge with others.

Questions Sara asks Jason How:

• How has education changed your life?
• Tell me about your niche and why you chose it?
• How has COVID effected the online courses industry?
• How do you help your clients stand out in a crowd?
• What are some of the best practices for online courses?
• What advice do you have on making our messaging and ads relevant?
• What advice do you have on effectively structuring online courses?

Learn more about Jason How:

• Personal Blog
• Agency J

Resources mentioned:

• Todd Brown

 

This episode of the Agency Spark Podcast is brought to you by Unstack, a no-code marketing platform and ecosystem.  Start building a site today for free by visiting their website. 

Stop waiting on developers and leveraging multiple tools to manage your marketing stack.  With Unstack, you get a no-code website builder, landing page builder, A/B testing, forms, analytics, contact insights, payments, memberships, blog, and more all in one platform.  Start building a site today for free by visiting this link and receive 20% off for six months when you sign up.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/create-6-figure-months-with-your-education-business/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/create-6-figure-months-with-your-coaching-and-education-business/

No More Cookies? The Changes Coming To Google Ads in 2021

It’s long been known that Google wants to drop support for third party cookies on Chrome, and the day is finally coming. But what other changes are Google bringing in for 2021 and beyond?

On May 27th 2021, Google held their Marketing Livestream, which highlighted many of the changes coming to Google Ads in the coming months.

Most of these changes are well known to marketers, such as the end of third party cookies. In the nearly hour and a half long online presentation, there was a lot to take in.

In this post we’ll take a quick look at the important changes coming to Google Ads and how they affect digital marketers.

Cookies OUT, FLoC IN

The headline change is the end of third party cookies. Long touted as a major problem for preserving online privacy, third party cookies will be phased out by 2022.

But what about their replacement? 

The Federated Learning of Cohorts, or FLoC for short, has been presented as a new way to preserve user anonymity online, but to still allow marketers to target demographics by genuine interest.

FLoC works by putting individuals under a demographic umbrella, or cohort, as opposed to keeping individual information. The theory is that the anonymity of the crowd means that no unique identifiers are kept on a specific user, but that we become part of a collective.

Is FLoC an improvement?

There is a lot of controversy around the switch to FLoC, with many maintaining that actually, it’s more of the same, or, worse, it actually gives businesses more information about you.

Privacy focused browser, Brave, which already blocks third party cookies and embedded ads, is also blocking FLoC. The reason is that Brave feels that additional information is shared without the informed consent of the user. You can read their full press release on the matter of FLoC on the Brave site.

Additionally, Mozilla Firefox and Safari will also not use FLoC when it is introduced. But Chrome still has the majority market share, with 67% of users choosing Google’s browser.

The issue for most is that FLoC presents new issues, rather than dealing with the existing problem of privacy. 

As an example, if you have an account with a website, your FLoC activity will be available to them, giving this company increased insight into your online habits. An issue referred to as cross-content exposure.

So, is FLoC a total fail from Google?

Well, it does seem that the overwhelming majority of tech publications and companies are not entirely enthralled by the incoming changes to tracking. From a user perspective it’s not looking too good.

For digital marketers, it pretty much means business as usual. Google Ads will continue to target your chosen demographic and location. In fact, Google reckons that ads will be at least 95% as effective as they’ve always been. So that’s good news, right?

New integrations

During the Google Marketing Livestream 2021, there were a lot of interesting stats. Many of these highlighted how the Covid-19 pandemic has changed how many companies do business, and how a lot of these changes are here to stay.

Some of the key ones related to the past year are:

• Online retail searches grew x3 during the last quarter of 2020
• Curbside pickups grew by 3000% during the pandemic
• Searches for ‘in stock’ have grown by 800%
• Local business searches have been growing 80% year on year

In short, more of us rely on the internet for our retail fix than ever before. And, perhaps tellingly, we want efficiency in our online transactions.

Of course, Google has been paying attention and announced an interesting new integration for ecommerce and retail.

During 2021, Shopify integration will be introduced to Google Shopping accounts. What this means is that if a business uses Shopify to sell their goods, shoppers can checkout from right there on Google’s results page.

Google will also be adding a ‘Deals’ section to their Shopping section, making it easier for searchers to find businesses offering discounts, offers and more. 

In the hard hit travel industry, Google will also be introducing a more optimised experience for hotels, flights and travel experiences.

Hotel and flight booking extensions are already available on Google Ads, and the search giants will also be adding details about travel safety in the Covid era, such as whether borders are open or what precautions may be required by airlines/border agencies. 

Video and image search results

Another change is that advertisers will be able to include images in their pay per click Google Ads, giving searchers an extra incentive to click.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, Video action campaigns will be rolled out to help advertisers convert more customers on YouTube. Although the TrueView for YouTube ads has been running for several years, Video action will be an upgrade with more space for text and options to integrate your video ads in more places. 

With images and video being shown to be effective for grabbing people’s attention (just look at the growth of Instagram and TikTok), this looks set to be one of the good ideas coming out of Casa Google in the coming year.

Performance Max

Another new feature, and one that has actually been rolled out in beta since late 2020, is Performance Max. This offers marketers an easier way to maximise their ad reach, with multiple ad formats available from within one campaign.

Performance Max uses smart bidding, with the theory that the platform can identify the best opportunities for marketers across their ad portfolio. So, if it looks like display or video is a wiser choice right now, Performance Max will adjust to target those over search to maximise the ad budget.

Does it work?

So far the feedback is generally positive, although Google is tweaking some of the performance insights prior to rolling out the finished product. 

Trust tokens to prevent fraud

The on-going problem of ad fraud has been addressed by Google, although it wasn’t mentioned in the Google Marketing Livestream 2021. 

For those not in the know, ad fraud and click fraud are the challenges of preventing non-genuine or invalid clicks from negatively impacting ad spend. Factors such as bots or malicious human clicks can cost advertisers thousands of dollars a month, and it has long been a problem that markers feel Google could do more about.

So, are trust tokens the answer?

Strangely, trust tokens actually act like third party cookies, which are the very tech that is being retired by Google. These tokens are issued by ‘trusted’ websites, to users who perform verifiable activity. This can include completing captchas or even just completing a checkout or watching a video.

The jury is still out whether it will have the desired effect, as it hasn’t been unveiled yet. But, two experts in the field of ad fraud are unconvinced.

As Dr Augustine Fou, an independent ad fraud investigator says, “These changes to Google’s tracking methods won’t affect ad fraud. They certainly won’t decrease it.

“Although they’re experimenting with new trust tokens, success depends totally on the honesty of the trust token issuer.”

And Ilan Missulawin, co-founder and CMO of ClickCease, says, “The trust tokens initiative does nothing to stop repetitive clicks from business rivals, which is a large part of the click fraud problem that we see. 

“Although there does need to be a wholesale change by the major ad platforms in the way they manage fraud filtering, I don’t think trust tokens will be as effective as they hope.”

A busy 2021 for digital marketers

There is a lot to take on board, but not to worry. Google is rolling out changes throughout 2021, with some of these not expected to happen until early-mid 2022.

With a lot of the new features in beta mode, advertisers are being given an opportunity to opt-in or to play with new features before they go live.

Some of the plans such as FLoC and trust tokens may yet see a delay or postponement before they go live. With such a big industry backlash, it shouldn’t be ruled out that we might yet see something else be presented as a solution.

However, many changes are already in place such as Performance Max. So it is definitely time to get used to the new features and changes coming to Google Ads in 2021.

The post No More Cookies? The Changes Coming To Google Ads in 2021 appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/search-engine-optimization-2/no-more-cookies-the-changes-coming-to-google-ads-in-2021/

The post No More Cookies? The Changes Coming To Google Ads in 2021 appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/no-more-cookies-the-changes-coming-to-google-ads-in-2021/

Networking Reimagined With Plain Sight Founder James Chapman

Networking Reimagined With Plain Sight Founder James Chapman written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with James Chapman

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview James Chapman. James is the Founder & CEO of Plain Sight, a localized, social networking platform that connects people with the type of people you’re looking for both online and in physical spaces.

Key Takeaway:

The traditional way of networking is often random, awkward, and transactional.  Plain Sight is the future of work connections. It’s a social networking platform that helps people grow their network with relevant connections based on their skills, goals, and interests.

In this episode, James Chapman and I discuss the problems with the traditional methods of networking and how Plain Sight aims to solve the existing drawbacks that other virtual and social media platforms have today.

Questions I Ask James Chapman:

• [1:03] What moment prompted you to decide the world needs another social networking platform and an app and build it?
• [3:01] So from a networking standpoint, what do you think has changed and how has the pandemic impacted it?
• [4:57] What role does Plain Sight play in solving existing problems other virtual networking and social media platforms have?
• [5:59] How does Plain Sight combat or filter out the kind of unwanted sales pitches people get all the time on LinkedIn?
• [7:06] Can you tell us about the virtual and in-person aspects of Plain Sight?
• [10:45] How people should think about approaching networking in general?
• [12:34] What’s the long-term plan and business model for Plain Sight?
• [17:02] If I wanted to get on Plain Sight as an individual or a physical space, where would you direct me?

More About James Chapman:

• Plain Sight
• LinkedIn

More About The Certified Marketing Manager Program Powered by Duct Tape Marketing

• Check it out here.

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network.

If you are a consultant or agency or coach, do any of these points ring true: do you have trouble getting in front of enough ideal clients? Are you constantly being forced to compete on price? Are you working too hard and not making enough money?

I’ve got a free book for you. It’s called the 7 steps to scale your practice or agency without adding overhead. If you want to grow your practice, it doesn’t have to be that hard. Download a copy for yourself here.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/networking-reimagined-plain-sight/

The post Networking Reimagined With Plain Sight Founder James Chapman appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/networking-reimagined-with-plain-sight-founder-james-chapman/