If you’ve been on Instagram lately, you would’ve noticed the blue ticks slowly popping up next to some of your favourite influencers’ names.  Meta Verified is an exciting new feature that was announced by Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, in early 2023. It’s an important step towards combating fake news and misinformation online. In this blog post, we tell you everything you need to know about it. What is Meta Verified? Meta Verified is a subscription bundle designed for creators on Instagram and Facebook, which offers a range of features including account verification (indicated by the blue check badge), protection against account impersonation, access to exclusive stickers, increased reach, and the option to get support from human agents. This subscription bundle is available at a monthly cost of $14.99 USD. It is currently being rolled out in Australia and New Zealand, with plans to expand to other countries in the near future if it is well received. To be eligible, you must: Be at least 18 years old Have a profile associated with your full name and a profile picture that includes your face Have a government-issued ID that matches your name and picture Have two-factor authentication set up Unfortunately, brands do not yet have access to this verification feature, but hopefully, it will soon change. What are the benefits of getting Meta Verified: Protection from impersonation: When a user becomes Meta Verified, their account will be protected against impersonation. This means that others won’t be able to create fake accounts using their name and image, helping them maintain their online reputation and preventing potential damage to their brand. Access to support agents: One of the key benefits of Meta Verified is the access it provides to human support agents. If users have any issues or questions about their account, they can contact a support agent directly for assistance. This can be especially valuable for creators who rely on their social media accounts for business purposes. Increased reach: Meta Verified also offers an expanded reach for creators. When a user becomes verified, their account will be given increased visibility in search results, making it easier for potential followers and fans to discover their content. This can help them grow their audience and increase their overall online presence. Why is this important for your business? As a brand, staying on top of new social media features like Meta Verified is important for maintaining a competitive edge and staying relevant to your audience. While the feature is not currently available to brands, it’s still important to understand and utilize it as part of your social media strategy. By working with micro-influencers who have been verified with a blue tick, you can increase the visibility of your content and get it in front of more eyeballs. This can be particularly valuable if you’re looking to reach a specific niche or demographic, as influencers with verified accounts will likely have a dedicated and engaged following. Additionally, by partnering with verified influencers, you can enhance your brand’s credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of your target audience. As such, it’s important to stay informed about new social media features and how they can be leveraged to enhance your brand’s online presence.

When it comes to SEO, keyword research is an essential practice that must be done right in order for your website’s search engine optimization efforts to reach their full potential. Unfortunately, many people don’t know where to begin when performing keyword research or they don’t fully understand the nuances of this important task. In this blog post, we will explain the basics of what keyword research is and how you can use it to drive organic traffic to your website from search engines like Google. Why is keyword research important?  Keyword research is important because it is the foundation of any successful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. By conducting keyword research, you can identify the words and phrases that people use to search for information related to your business or industry. This information allows you to create high-quality, relevant content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. Keyword research also enables you to optimize your website and content for search engines, making it more likely that your content will appear at the top of search results for your target keywords. Additionally, keyword research can help you identify new opportunities for content creation and marketing, and can inform your overall content strategy. It is an essential step in creating an effective SEO strategy that drives traffic, engagement, and ultimately, business growth. The 3 key steps: 1) Make a list of broad topics relevant to your topic The first step of SEO keyword research is to make a list of broad topics relevant to your topic. This is important because it helps you narrow down the search results and target specific keywords more effectively. For example, if your business has a website about sports merchandise, your broad topics might include baseball, basketball, football, and soccer. Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and think of the pain points they are trying to solve. 2) Expand each topic with phrases  Once you have identified these topics, it’s important to then create a list of related subtopics or phrases that could be associated with those broader categories. You can use various tools such as Google Trends or Google Keyword Planner to help identify which subtopics are most popular with users and would be the best fit for your content strategy. Additionally, it’s helpful to pay attention to any long-tail keywords that may have lower search volume but still have a high chance of bringing in relevant traffic from potential customers. 3) Analyze the strength of your keywords  The third step is to analyze the strength of your keywords. This involves assessing how competitive the keywords are, how often they are being used, and how much search traffic they are generating. It’s important to use a keyword research tool like Google Trends or Moz keyword explorer to get an accurate picture of the competition for each keyword. Additionally, you can check your competitor’s website rankings and backlink profiles to determine if their keywords are generating significantly more search traffic than yours. Once these factors have been assessed, you can then create a list of optimized keywords that will be used as titles and meta tags in content marketing campaigns. From researching how customers interact with your website to identifying micro and macro trends, keyword research is a valuable part of any SEO strategy. By following this guide to keyword research, you’re sure to benefit from the increased discovery, traffic, and engagement on your website, which ultimately leads to better business growth. By finding the right keywords that optimize your visibility while catering to your target audience, it will be easier

Creating an effective social media calendar is a simple but important step to staying organized and consistent with your social media marketing. A good social media plan should include content ideas, strategies, and regular maintenance of your accounts. By following the steps below, you can easily create a comprehensive social media calendar that will help you stay on track with all of your plans for success. What is a Social Media Calendar?  A social media calendar is a tool that can help you plan, organize, and execute your social media strategy more efficiently. It allows you to schedule your content in advance, ensuring that you are consistently posting high-quality content that aligns with your brand message. It also enables you to plan for important dates and events, ensuring that your social media efforts are in line with your business goals. By using a social media calendar, you can save time, stay organized, and be more strategic with your social media marketing efforts. Plus, you can track the performance of your content and adjust your strategy accordingly, leading to better engagement and a more effective social media presence overall. Step-by-step guide on how to create one:  Step 1 – Outline Your Goals: Before you start creating a social media calendar, it’s important to outline the goals that you want to achieve by using the platform. Is the goal to drive more website traffic? Increase brand awareness? Generate leads? Knowing what your goals are will help you come up with content ideas and strategies that will be tailored to achieving those objectives. Step 2 – Choose The Right Platforms: Not every platform is right for every business or organization, so it’s important to choose the right ones for your specific needs. Consider factors like who your target audience is and which platforms they use most often. Once you have chosen the platforms that fit best, create separate columns in your calendar for each one. Step 3 – Schedule Content: Now it’s time to fill in your calendar with content! Start by creating evergreen content such as blog posts or videos that can be shared regularly throughout the year. You should also add seasonal or holiday-specific content when appropriate. Finally, try to incorporate user-generated content as much as possible; this type of content is great for boosting engagement on social media. Step 4 – Monitor Your Results: When it comes to social media marketing, analytics are key! After posting new content, take some time each week or month to monitor how well it performs in terms of likes, shares, comments, etc.. This will give you valuable insight into what types of posts work best with your audience and which ones don’t so that you can adjust accordingly in the future. Our Favourite Tools to create a Social Media Calendar 1) Trello  With Trello, you can create boards for each platform and use lists and cards to organize your content ideas and schedule. You can also add due dates, labels, and attachments to each card, making it easy to keep track of important details and assets. Trello also offers collaborative features that allow you to work with your team and streamline your workflow. Plus, its drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to move cards around and adjust your schedule as needed. Trello is a user-friendly and flexible tool that can help you stay organized and on top of your social media content planning. 2) Social Sprout With Social Sprout, you can easily create and schedule posts across multiple platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. It also offers a built-in content calendar that allows you

LinkedIn is a powerful platform for business owners and professionals. It’s the perfect place to build relationships with potential customers, partners, vendors, and more. Building an organic following on LinkedIn doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. Here are three tips that will help you grow your brand’s organic following on the platform in no time! 1) Create Quality Content The key to growing an organic following on any social media platform is to create quality content that resonates with your target audience. When creating this content, it’s important to keep in mind the interests of your ideal customer. What topics would they find interesting? What topics do you think will engage them? Once you have identified these topics, create content around them that is not only informative but also entertaining and engaging. 2) Post Regularly and Strategically The key to any successful social media strategy is consistency. You want to make sure that your followers stay engaged with your content and don’t forget about your brand. That means posting regularly—ideally at least once or twice a week. To maximize engagement, be strategic about what you post and when; try to post during peak times when more people are likely to be online (e.g., early morning or after work). 3) Engage With Others It’s important to not only publish content but also interact with other people on the platform. Find accounts that are similar to yours and start engaging with their posts by leaving comments and liking their content. This will help you build relationships with potential customers as well as other businesses in your niche. Additionally, make sure to respond promptly and politely if someone reaches out to you directly via messaging or comments—this will show them that you care about building authentic relationships. 4) Share Your Content On Other Platforms Finally, make sure to share your content across multiple platforms for maximum exposure. Whenever you post something new on LinkedIn, share it on Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media channels you’re active on. This will increase your chances of reaching a larger audience and getting more engagement from potential customers who may not be active on LinkedIn but follow you elsewhere online. Growing an organic following on LinkedIn can be a daunting task for business owners but it doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming! By creating quality content that resonates with your target audience, engaging with others regularly, and sharing your content across multiple platforms, you’ll be able to grow your brand’s organic following quickly and efficiently! So what are you waiting for? Get started today!

If you’re like most business owners, you want to get more people to visit your website and make a purchase. But how do you go about doing that? One of the best ways is to optimise your landing page for conversions. A successful landing page should be designed with one goal in mind: getting visitors to take action. Here are five tips to help you create an effective landing page that will boost your conversion rate. 1. Use a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA) Your call-to-action is one of the most important elements on your landing page. It should be concise, clear, and visible – making sure that it stands out from the rest of the page. Make sure that it’s easy for visitors to understand what they need to do next in order to convert. 2. Utilise Visual Content Visual content helps to capture attention and keep people engaged with your page. This can include images, videos, GIFs, infographics and more – anything that helps make your message easier to digest and more visually appealing. Studies have shown that visuals can help increase conversions by as much as 80%. 3. Provide Social Proof Social proof is a great way to show potential customers that others are already using and enjoying your product or service. Whether it’s customer testimonials or reviews, case studies or awards – showcasing social proof can be an effective way of boosting conversions. 4. Focus on User Experience (UX) Design UX design focuses on creating a positive experience for users when they use a website or application – making navigation smoother and providing them with relevant information quickly and easily. A well-designed page should be easy to navigate and provide visitors with all the information they need without having to click through multiple pages or search around unnecessarily. 5. Test & Monitor Results Lastly, testing is essential to optimise your landing page. You should continuously test different elements on your landing page – such as layout, copywriting techniques, visuals etc – in order to determine which strategies are working best for you. Monitoring results will also help you identify areas where you could improve further in order to boost conversions even more effectively over time. Optimising your landing page is one of the best ways to boost conversions online – but it isn’t always easy! Fortunately, with some knowledge of UX design principles, visual content creation skills, A/B testing software capabilities and more – business owners can take full advantage of their website’s potential by following these five tips provided above.

Staying ahead of the curve is key when it comes to marketing success. With platforms like Instagram constantly changing, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest trends in order to maximize your reach and engagement. In this blog post, we’ll be discussing five upcoming Instagram marketing trends that you should keep an eye out for in 2023. 1. Influencer Content Influencers have become an integral part of social media marketing, and this trend is likely to continue into 2023 and beyond. As influencers gain more followers, they are becoming more powerful in terms of marketing potential. Businesses can use their reach and credibility to create content that resonates with their target audience. 2. User-Generated Content (UGC) UGC has become increasingly popular over the past few years, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. This type of content is effective because it allows businesses to showcase authentic stories from real people who use their products or services. This helps build trust with potential customers as well as strengthen relationships with existing customers. 3. Augmented Reality (AR) AR has already begun making its way onto Instagram in recent months, and this technology is expected to become even more prevalent in 2023. Brands can use AR to create immersive experiences for their followers by allowing them to interact with virtual objects or play games directly on their phones or tablets through Instagram’s camera feature. 4. Video Content Video content has been gaining popularity on social media platforms for some time now, but experts believe that this trend will increase even further over the next few years. Videos are a great way to engage with followers and show off products or services in a creative way that photos simply cannot do justice! 5. Social Commerce Social commerce—or selling products directly through social media—is rapidly becoming one of the most popular ways for businesses to reach potential customers online. In 2023, we expect to see more brands taking advantage of this trend by utilizing tools such as “buy now” buttons on posts or stories directly within Instagram itself! As technology continues to evolve at lightning speed, so too does the world of digital marketing—especially on Instagram! By staying ahead of these upcoming Instagram marketing trends in 2023, businesses can ensure they stay competitive and make full use of all the opportunities available on this powerful platform. Keep an eye out for these five upcoming trends so you don’t miss out on any potential opportunities!

You’ve worked hard to build your brand, and you want to protect it. But what happens when a competitor starts using your brand name in their Google Ads? Is that even allowed? The short answer is yes—but let’s take a closer look at the situation and explore the details of this complex issue. Why Do Competitors Use My Brand Name? It’s no secret that competition between businesses can be fierce, and some companies may be tempted to try and capitalize on the success of other brands by leveraging their name recognition in their own Google Ads. By using your company’s name as a keyword for their ad campaigns, they can piggyback off of the buzz surrounding your brand and potentially siphon off some of your potential customers. It’s not fair, but unfortunately, it does happen. Is it allowed? Google has an advertising policy that states competitors are not allowed to use another company’s trademarked brand name in ad text, or display URLs without explicit consent from the trademark holder. This means that if someone is using your brand name without your permission, it would violate Google’s policy and should be reported. However, understanding how this works isn’t always straightforward. In fact, there is one loophole: Even if your brand name is trademarked, competitors can still purchase it as a keyword. And when they do, they may be able to get their ad to appear on the SERP when someone searches for your particular business. So what can you do about it?  The good news is that there are steps you can take to protect your brand from competitors who are trying to take advantage of its success. For example, you can set up a trademark infringement alert with Google which will notify you whenever someone attempts to use your brand name or trademark in their ads. This will allow you to quickly address any potential infringements before they become an issue. Additionally, if the competitor is utilizing other deceptive tactics such as false advertising or misleading claims about your product or services, then taking legal action may also be considered. You should also make sure that your own website and AdWords campaigns are optimized for maximum visibility so that customers searching for products or services related to yours don’t get drawn away by competitor ads featuring your brand name. Make sure you’re using keywords effectively and engaging with customers through social media channels so that they know exactly where to find information about your brand when searching online. Protecting your brand from the unfair competition is essential for any business owner looking to maximize their online presence and increase visibility for their product or service offerings. Take the necessary steps to ensure that competitors aren’t taking advantage of the success of your company’s name by setting up trademark infringement alerts with Google, keeping an eye out for deceptive tactics such as false advertising or misleading claims about products or services, and optimizing website content and AdWords campaigns for maximum visibility. Doing so will help ensure that customers searching for products related to yours don’t get diverted away due to competitor ads featuring your company’s name – giving them only one choice – yours!

After testing it out with selected users over the last few weeks, Instagram has officially announced that it will be rolling out its new in-app scheduling tool to all business accounts! Here’s everything you need to know about it. Ever since the rise of Instagram, business owners and creators have long relied on third-party tools to schedule posts on Instagram. This is why the new scheduling tool will likely be a game-changer for everyone who uses the app. Instagram’s new post-scheduling option will enable you to schedule photos, carousels and Reels directly in the app, up to 75 days in advance. Here’s how to use it: Once you have created a post, tap on ‘Advanced Settings’. That’s where you will see a new “Schedule this post” toggle Select the time and date you want the post to go live You can then navigate back to the Instagram post flow and tap “schedule.” To view all your scheduled posts, you can tap on the top-right menu toggle where you can reschedule posts if necessary What are the advantages of this new in-app scheduling? As business owners, your time is often split between so many things. And while a strong social presence to push sales should be at the top of your priority list, it doesn’t mean it should be all time-consuming. The new Instagram scheduling tool will allow you to manage the posts you put out in a more efficient way. The automation aspect allows you to bulk create and schedule content so you can spend the rest of your time working on other things. One of the ways you can take advantage of scheduling posts on Instagram is to publish more consistently during prime engagement periods. Identify when your audience is most active and routinely publish content during those hours. Should you still use a scheduling tool? So the question begs: is it still worth keeping that monthly subscription to your scheduling platform? In our opinion, yes it is. The Instagram scheduling app is such a handy new tool, but it doesn’t allow for the management of your entire social strategy. If you’re posting across both Facebook and Instagram, you might find that using the Instagram in-app scheduling tool takes up more time than if you were to do it on one platform for all your social profiles. Additionally, certain scheduling platforms give you access to in-depth data that Instagram analytics doesn’t show you. This is extremely helpful to make data-based decisions to guide your social strategy. So if you’re still on the fence about trying Instagram’s in-app scheduling tool, we recommend giving it a go and seeing how it works for your business.

A blog can be an extremely valuable tool for your business. You’re likely to dedicate a good amount of time to identifying and generating the best information to provide to your target audience, so you want to be sure your blog gets the traffic it deserves. But while creating highly valuable content is the most important aspect of a successful blog, the bad news is that even if your content is the best in your niche, it won’t ever have a chance at reaching your ideal readers…unless you learn how to properly promote it first! With that in mind, here are our top ideas to promote your blog and boost your website traffic. 1) Do a website audit First things first, you need to conduct a comprehensive technical website audit before you officially start to promote your blog. A glitchy, slow-to-load website is your ticket to a high bounce rate. 2) SEO Optimise your blog pages Once you’ve completed the website audit and fixed all of the errors that cropped up in your findings, it’s now time to start working on your blog’s internal search engine optimisation (SEO). With good SEO, it will be much easier for a blog to rank high on search engine result pages and attract more traffic. 3) Use email marketing Email marketing can be one of the most effective ways of promoting your blog and converting visitors. This blog promotion strategy helps you notify readers of new blog posts or share any good news easily. Personalizing messages for blog readers can also improve engagement on a blog by fostering genuine relationships with them and keeping the audience interested with excellent material. 4) Repurpose your content Save time and put a new spin on previously published content with repurposed content. One big benefit of this approach is that instead of coming up with content from scratch, you may save time, effort, and money by recycling older content. You can also add interest and appeal to a wider audience by adding value and targeting new keywords. 5) Take part in guest blogging Since you’re already blogging on your own website, why not lend your expertise as a guest blogger? A guest post is a fantastic method to promote your business and get people to visit your blog. This method also helps to establish yourself as an authority figure and connect with other thought leaders in a niche. 6) Share your blog on social media Social media can be a great tool to help you promote your blog. After all, the number of people who follow you on different social networks is a good indicator of your professional credibility and authority. Consider including an eye-catching image or video, especially on more visual platforms like Instagram, and link it back to your blog. 7) Invest in paid advertising Despite the fact that we all prefer free things, paid advertising has some advantages. Paid advertising spaces may increase visibility and bring more visitors to your blog. Ads on search engines like Google are one way to employ paid advertising to promote your site. These marketing strategies can also show your advertisement to visitors who have already been to your website, giving them a polite reminder to return. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to promoting a blog. Give these strategies a go, see which works best, then adjust accordingly and keep improving until you reach your desired results!

Black Friday has put itself on the map as one of those days that businesses and consumers look forward to. But between increasing competition in the online space and rising customer acquisition costs, your offer, more than ever, will determine how effective your marketing campaigns are for this Black Friday. Don’t worry though, you don’t need to slash your prices by 70% or start planning months in advance to make sure you get the most of it. With this guide, we’ll go through some winning Black Friday strategies you can implement to see your sales skyrocket for Q4. 1) Create a bundle for your products One of the simplest methods to provide customers more value and raise the average order value at your store is by bundling products. This is how you’ll be able to maintain a healthy profit margin for your company. There are multiple ways you can bundle your products. For example, you can do a ‘new product bundling’, which entails mixing new products with well-known merchandise to gain some exposure for the new product. You can also look at doing ‘cross-sell bundles’ where you sell a complementary product as an add-on to the main product. You can tailor your product offerings according to the preference of your customers to align with their wants. 2) Send loyal customer-only offers and sneak peeks Black Friday is a great time to reward your most loyal customers. Use Black Friday to send targeted messages just for members, such as additional discounts or limited access to new collections and so on. The key to getting this right is to personalise your messages according to what stage in the funnel each customer is at. For new members to your program, send offers along the lines of, “Black Friday deals for our newest loyalty program members only!” For regular or VIP customers, use phrases like, “For our favourite customers!” or “Just for our loyal customers.” Be sure to send the best deals to those customers that are willing to spend more. 3) Make gift-giving easy Black Friday means that the holiday season is soon approaching, so a lot of people out there are looking for great deals before Christmas comes. With gift-related upselling and cross-selling, such as gift-wrapping services, personalized cards and greetings, and the option to choose a target delivery date for the item to arrive, you can make this simpler for both new and current clients. 4) Launch an offer on social media While some buyers like the excitement of the hunt, others like to make plans in advance and take advantage of early bird discounts. By promoting your sales on social media, you can draw in both types of customers. Businesses may create excitement and increase foot traffic to their stores on Black Friday by publishing countdown timers, previews of exclusive deals, and other interesting material. Furthermore, interacting with clients on social media is a terrific approach to address any inquiries they may have regarding your Black Friday deal. In conclusion, Black Friday is a great opportunity to use the power of digital marketing techniques to make the most out of it. Taking the right steps to prepare for it will help you sell your best this holiday shopping season.