Let’s face it: Google dominates search. Most business owners understand that in order to be visible on Google, they must optimise their website and also dabble into Google Ads. However, the power of Google My Business is often overlooked. Google My Business is a free tool that makes it easier for searchers to find a local business through Google Search and Google maps. Aside from increasing your visibility in search, an optimised Google My Business listing also provides a better shopping experience for buyers and drives more traffic to your website, social channels and shopfront. Not nearly enough businesses take advantage of the platform and its powerful settings. So, if you’re ready to make the most of this free customer acquisition tool, then read on! Features to use to optimise your Google My Business page         1) Provide as much information as possible When it comes to adding information to your Google My Business profile, you want to be as meticulous as possible. The most important information to add is your business name, logo, address, phone number and business hours. You will also need to choose your business category. For SEO purposes, it’s important that you choose the category that is most relevant and specific to your business. For example, if you run a hair salon, then use that category rather than ‘cosmetology’. Another feature that you have control over is the ‘from the business’ description, which you can edit in the ‘info’ dashboard. When writing this section, use keywords that your audience searches to find businesses like yours, and focus on content that differentiates you from your competitors. Finally, take advantage of those specific attributes! Google enables business owners to list specific features and services about their business. If you’re a restaurant, you might want to add attributes such as ‘Happy Hour Drinks’ or ‘Vegetarian Options’.        2) Get reviews (and respond to them) If you had to choose between visiting a business that has 4.8 stars versus no reviews at all, which one would you pick? We like to think that the one with 4.8 stars is definitely more attractive. Google understands the power of other people’s reviews on influencing buyer decisions, which is why they are a key ranking factor in listings. If you don’t have any Google My Business reviews, don’t fret and start to ask around! Reach out to your loyal customers, friends and family to leave some great feedback, and make sure to always reply to them.        3) Add photos and videos One of the first things your customers will notice when searching your business is your profile picture. A study has found that listings with photos are twice as likely to be considered reputable and receive 35% more clicks. When uploading photos, focus on both high-quality content and user-generated content so that your business can be more relatable.        4) Regularly update and improve your profile Google Posts are a great way to improve your overall SEO strategy, which is why you should create them regularly. Posts are used to keep your customers updated and will also help to generate more organic link clicks. You can focus on promoting your daily specials, introducing some new stock or even share your latest blog – the opportunities are endless! Focus on demonstrating your brand’s personality and giving customers a reason to visit you. Optimising your Google My Business listing is an easy way to drive more traffic to your business. By sharing as much information as possible, you are increasing your customers’ confidence that your

Understanding the customer lifecycle can help you plan and execute successful marketing campaigns for your small business. A lot of business owners think that an online user doesn’t become a customer until they make a purchase. That’s far from correct; in fact, someone becomes a customer the second they enquire about your business. That’s why it’s so important to guide them through their entire customer lifecycle if you want to increase sales. So what is customer lifecycle management exactly? What is a customer lifecycle? A customer lifecycle describes the relationship a user has with a brand. It spans every stage of the journey, from the very first touch point to repeat purchases. Unlike the conversion funnel which is an end-to-end process, the customer lifecycle is a cyclical process instead. Rather than focusing on the stages of converting a customer, it spans the whole customer relationship, including multiple transactions and interactions. The process is made up of five stages: awareness, consideration, acquisition, retention, and advocacy. Awareness The awareness phase occurs when a prospect is first aware of your brand. This happens when they’ve become aware of a problem they need to solve, and come across your brand amongst others. Your customer is now doing research, comparing products from other brands, including yours, and reading customer reviews. That’s why it’s important to invest in social media marketing, SEO and other inbound and outbound marketing strategies to ensure your brand is visible. When the customer contacts you for more information in order to either enhance their education or obtain firm pricing, this stage is successful. Consideration During this stage, your client is out to gather and digest information, and you need to make it readily available to them. You may help them by offering information that makes weighing selections and comprehending features and advantages as simple as possible. You can also provide clarification by responding to their inquiries. If you’re an e-commerce website, product comparison tools work particularly well because it lets customers make like-for-like comparisons between products. Case studies and testimonial content work well too because it enables customers to put themselves in the shoes of an existing customer with comparable questions and requirements. Acquisition Having gained all the necessary information and be delighted with your brand’s customer experience, the prospect makes a purchase. They’ve officially converted and turned into your customer! But the work is far from being done. It’s not time to retain the customer so that they make repeat purchases. And how can you convince them to do that? By providing them value! Retention Continuing to give value is a key factor that can help retain your customers. They’ll stay loyal to your brand because they come back for more. They know that the quality of your product or service will satisfy them and that you’ll be there for them when their needs arise. In this stage, you’re also helping them discover new products and services available through your brand to satisfy more needs. Research has proven customer loyalty to lead to an infinite number of transactions, making it highly lucrative. Content that’s of interest to the customer, promotions relevant to their interest, loyalty programmes and customer feedback can all come into play at this stage. Advocacy At this point, a repeat consumer has established a strong, favourable association with your brand. Not only are they loyal to you, but they’re also telling all their friends and family about it. Reaching this stage definitely isn’t easy, but it’s worth it in the long run. To keep them at this point, you want to go above and beyond for them

Don’t underestimate the power of your blog to rank on Google. Writing blog posts for SEO helps you consistently get more traffic to your website from search engines. Since search engines are often the largest source of website traffic, blogs are an extremely valuable tool. Here are a few tips to follow so you can optimise your blogs for SEO and ultimately get more website traffic! Plan your content around your keyword research A lot of people out there simply guess what their blogs should be about. Don’t do this! There’s plenty of data at your fingertips that you can use to form a sound keyword strategy. By doing keyword analysis, you can determine which keywords your target audience is interested in. Some tools that can help you with this include Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush and Moz Keyword Explorer amongst a few others. When you plan your content, you can also do competitor keyword research. A competitor keyword analysis is a process of uncovering the keywords your competitors are ranking highly for in an attempt to create content that outranks them in search results. This will also allow you to find gaps in their keyword strategy. You can then outrank them for keywords that they’re not using but that your audience may still be searching for. Focus on your blog title The title of your blog post is extremely important for search rankings. Not only will the search engine focus on it heavily to determine the relevancy of your content, but it’s also the first thing that a user reads. To write a click-worthy blog title, make sure it is engaging. Play around with the words and look to grasp your reader’s emotion. Also, including your keyword in the title, and preferably at the start, is an absolute must. Make your blog easy to read Readability is an important factor to rank on search engines. Creating great content is important to engage your reader, but you also want your content to be easy to read. People will naturally want to skim your article, so don’t make it difficult by including distracting words and irrelevant information. Keep it straight to the point, and write shorter sentences and smaller paragraphs. Also, try to break up the text with subheadings and bullet points where appropriate. Make the most of internal linking The more links you have to your blog, the more valuable your article becomes to search engines. With this in mind, make sure you’re linking to other pertinent pages within your website. To create a contextual relationship between your web pages, keep the links relevant to your blog post. If you want to drive more traffic to your website and drive sales, then you need to optimise your blogs for SEO. With the simple steps we’ve highlighted above, you’ll understand why a good blog strategy is worth investing in. Ready to take your SEO strategy to the next level? Get in touch with us today!

Feeling overwhelmed with all the changes Instagram has been making lately? Don’t worry, we’ve got you! As social media specialists, we live and breathe Instagram. And guess what, we actually love keeping up with the latest changes on the platform and sharing our knowledge with you. So without further ado, here are the newest reels updates you should know about. 1. Instagram merges all video posts into reels Honestly, we saw this one coming a long time ago when reels completely took over the platform. Instagram is once again proving they are tripling down on video content with the announcement from Adam Mosseri that all new videos shorter than 15 minutes long will now be uploaded as a reel. So what does this mean for you? Well, in theory, this should make content planning easier for you and your business. Before these changes, there used to be four different video formats: Stories, Lives, Video, Reels. Now that they’re merging all videos, you will only need to plan for stories, lives and reels. And while images still matter, this transformation is proof that if you want to grow your account, reels are the way to go. 2. Introduction of reels templates This new feature allows users to copy the same Reels formats from existing videos. Instagram has now made it really easy for users to create reels, cutting down the amount of time it would usually take. Long gone are the days when you would need 5 different editing platforms to put together one reel! To find a template that you’d like to use, you first have to scroll through a few reels. Then, tap on ‘Use Template’ on the bottom left corner. This will take you to the Reels creation mode, where you simply have to record or add videos from your camera roll into the templated clip slots. Each of these placeholders already has time stamps set to match the piece of audio from the original clip. And finally, hit publish and you’re all done! 3. Dual camera In another attempt to keep up with the competition (this time for BeReal, which soared to the number one spot in the U.S. on Apple’s App Store charts), Instagram has introduced the Dual camera feature. This camera feature allows users to record content with their back-facing camera and record their reactions to the event with their front-facing camera at the same time. It is currently only available on Reels, but we’re certain that it won’t be long before it’s rolled out across stories. This feature is a fun way to stay authentic with your audience, which is extremely important for your online relationship-building. You can use it to give them a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what the day-to-day life of your business looks like. And remember, Instagram will always reward users who use their newest features…so if you’re looking for faster growth, try giving it a go as soon as you can! Instagram is constantly making changes to stay relevant as a social platform. We can only expect more changes in the future, and we’ll be watching closely to share all of the new reels updates with you. Stay tuned for more updates on Instagram’s newest features!

Most people are focused on increasing the number of followers on social media, without putting a big emphasis on growing engagement. Sure, it’s a great feeling when your account gets new followers, but without meaningful engagement, these new people following you won’t count for much. Hootsuite came up with a wonderful analogy that sums up how to approach social media engagement. It goes like this: “You should be treating social media engagement like a dinner party, welcoming people and encouraging conversation between the host and the guests.” This is pretty spot on, and above all, it makes social engagement approachable, real and applicable. So, with that said, what are some actual strategies you can follow to boost engagement on social media? Step 1: Measure what matters Align your metrics to your goals! This is absolutely crucial to make sure you’re actually taking meaningful steps that will get you the results you’re after. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to a social media strategy because every company’s goals are different. Therefore, what you use to measure the success of your campaigns won’t be the same as another brand, and will also alter depending on your goals. Depending on what you want to achieve, your social media engagement goals could look like this: Collecting feedback about your current products Developing brand awareness Increasing website leads Improving customer retention Once you have highlighted what you want to achieve, focus on the metrics that will help you to get there. Step 2: As obvious as it may be, BE SOCIAL! Social media was invented as a way for people to socialize online. With time, brands capitalized on its power to increase sales. But unfortunately, many of them lost track of what their customers actually wanted and focused too heavily on constantly selling. When you do this, customers can see right through it. To be engaging, you have to actually socialize, which means interacting with the people around you. Focus on having a two-way conversation with people on the platforms. Reply to comments, send your customers messages, comment on other brands’ pictures…engage in meaningful conversations with your audience and keep it consistent! Step 3: Monitor your impact You can’t tell how well your campaign is doing unless you track its performance. While it’s true that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter offer metrics such as likes and shares, it can be tricky as a business owner to actually understand how that impacts your business. Being able to quantify the return on investment is generally the biggest thing that holds brands back from investing in social media engagement. It’s often not quite as straightforward as measuring website clicks on an ad campaign, or sales from an email promotion. That’s why it’s important to find out exactly how impactful your social media strategy is. The main metric that you should track is your overall engagement rate (the total number of interactions divided by the total number of followers). The higher this rate, the better. Social media marketers often look for an engagement rate close to three percent, although specific rates will vary depending on your industry and goals. Step 4: Focus on quality content It doesn’t really matter how frequently you post if your content isn’t high-quality and engaging. If your followers don’t like, save or share your posts, then all of the engagement efforts that you put into scheduling and promoting them will be worthless. Basically, the goal is to always have high-quality and relevant content online. This can be achieved by finding out what people are interested in and then doing your best to deliver it

Facebook has launched a new way to navigate the platform, making it easier for its users to control what they see and discover. Facebook’s new Home and Feeds was introduced in July of this year. According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, one of the most requested features for Facebook has been a tool that ensures people don’t miss their friends’ posts. In his own words: “The app will still open to a personalized feed on the Home tab, where our discovery engine will recommend the content we think you’ll care most about. But the Feeds tab will give you a way to customize and control your experience further.” Let’s dig deeper into the two new feeds and what they mean for your business. What is Facebook’s Home Tab? The Home tab will display “Suggested for you” content in addition to a mix of posts from friends they’ve added, groups they’ve joined, and pages they’ve liked, much like how Facebook’s home page was arranged before the upgrade. Similar to TikTok’s “For You” page, Facebook will push fresh content and artists to users through algorithmic suggestions on the Home tab. Users will be able to edit short Reels videos from their homes and browse other people’s Reels and Stories. In general, when utilising the Home tab, you should be in the mood to view content that Facebook’s AI predicts you will enjoy, regardless of where it originates. What is Facebook’s Feeds Tab? Users won’t see any recommended content on the Feeds tab, which is found in the shortcut bar at the bottom of the Facebook app on iOS and at the top of the app on Android. Instead, they will be able to view articles, videos, and pictures in chronological order from individuals and groups they are familiar with. In this regard, the Feeds tab resembles an earlier version of Facebook, with some advertisements still being presented. Within Feeds, users can also personalize a favorites tab to exclusively show them posts from a select group of friends, pages, and groups they care most about. Users can add up to 30 favorites. What does this mean for your business? As with any other social media strategy, you should focus on creating quality content that speaks to your audience. Capitalize on the favourites feature to make sure that your audience consistently hears from you. While users will still be able to access content and discover new pages through the Feeds tab, you will be competing with posts from more than just your friends and story viewers, unlike with the Home tab. In addition to that, you can learn from Facebook’s Reels how to create videos that engage and inspire your audience, whilst helping you become a more visual platform. Facebook’s new home and feeds tabs is by no means the last update that Facebook will be making to its home feed. Users will have to continue to adapt, but across the board, the company’s Home and Feeds feed updates are designed to keep users engaged and engaged with that same content. We will continue to monitor the changes in the coming months, so make sure you stay up-to-date!

Instagram is officially starting to test its new creator marketplace, an online hub designed to help brands discover and reach out to creators about partnerships and campaigns. This is huge news for both businesses and creators alike, offering a new streamlined way to make money and taking influencer marketing to the next level. So what is the creator marketplace and how does it work? It seems that many of Instagram’s newest features are an attempt to keep up with TikTok, and this creator marketplace is no different. Similar to the competitor’s creator hub, Instagram Creator Marketplace is a dedicated space where creators can be discovered, connect with brands, and paid on the platform. It has four distinct features, which include: 1) Discovery Many brands find themselves searching the platform for hours trying to find the perfect influencer for their campaigns. The new marketplace makes this process so much easier by enabling brands to search for influencers based on categories. 2) Partnership Messaging Finding the perfect infleuncer is one thing, but keeping up with the back and forth communication in your DMs is another. With a special folder dedicated to partnerships in your inbox, you’ll never miss another opportunity to create the influencer relationship of your dreams. 3) Projects Within the messaging feature, brands will also be able to send the full scope of a project to the influencer. This will include all the important details, including deliverables and rates. 4) Payments Perhaps one of the most exciting features of this marketplace is the payments feature. In an attempt to capitalise on the growing creator economy, brands will now be able to directly pay influencers without ever leaving the platform. On the other side, creators can keep up with payments within a dashboard. Say goodbye to invoices not being paid on time! The creator economy is a booming industry, and the new Instagram creator marketplace is bringing this process to the next level. Creators will be able to efficiently connect with brands and receive payments in one place- making this marketplace a new standard in the influencer industry. Currently only available to brands by exclusive invitation, we’re excited to see what the future holds for this Instagram creator marketplace.

Google shopping ads are some of the most clicked ads that the search engine has to offer. Over the years, these ads have drastically improved, making them easier to set up and smarter at reaching the right people. In this guide, we’ll provide a detailed walkthrough of how to set up your products in Shopping ads. What are Google Shopping Ads? There’s a high chance that you’ve seen Google shopping ads in the past. They are the product ads that appear at the top of Google search results accompanied by a picture, a title, the price of the product, and oftentimes a review .Shopping ads don’t appear only in Google’s standard search results anymore, but are also visible on the Shopping tab, on YouTube, on partner websites and the Google Display Network. How to set up Google Shopping Ads 1) Create a Google Merchant Account The first step is creating a merchant account. Google Merchant Center is where your feed lives. It’s also where you can set tax and shipping rules, all of which are required before running Shopping ads. To set this up, you will need to: Have access to your domain registrar Know your tax and shipping settings Link your Merchant Center to your Google Ads 2) Create your Google Shopping Ads Once you have your Merchant Center account and product feeds created, you are now ready to create your first Shopping ads. To do so, follow these steps: Choose Sales as your campaign goal, then Shopping as your campaign type. Next, select your Merchant Center account. the country you want to sell your products in, and tick ‘Standard Shopping Campaign’. In general settings, set your campaign name, select Target ROAS and key it in. Finally, create your ad group by adding an Ad group name and setting your Bid, if applicable. What makes a great Google Shopping Ad? The secret to a winning Google Shopping Ad is building a great product feed. To create a product feed, you can do it manually using Google Sheets, or you can use a feed tool such as GoDataFeed that automatically pulls all your information. This is often the easiest method, especially if you have thousands of SKUs that you need to upload. When it comes to your product feed, here are the most important things you should focus on: 1) Product Title Your product title is the product name, and is the first thing users see when they visit your ad. This is arguably the most important aspect of your Google Shopping Ad, so you should spend time on making sure you craft the perfect one. Basically, you’ll want to include the most important information that customers want to know. You have a character limit of 150, so consider your title’s structure and word carefully, taking into consideration the fact that Google gives more importance to the words that come first. 2) Product Description Include a few keywords in your descriptions and make them pertinent. Consider which features and benefits are most crucial, then list them here. You’ll need to keep this really brief and direct. 3) Product Images Other than price, your product image will probably influence the amount of clicks your products get more than anything else. Make sure that you’ve cropped it according to requirements, and that it shows off your product’s most important features. In conclusion, there are a lot of different options when it comes to setting up and optimizing your Google Shopping campaigns. Getting the most from Shopping campaigns on Google requires some time and attention to detail, but we definitely think it’s worth

From 65 million users in 2017, to over a billion in 2022, TikTok is a force to be reckoned with. While a knack for dancing, good tunes and creative filters can give you an advantage on the platform, there are other things you necessary to grow on the platform. You need Tik Tok marketing know-how, and we can help you with it. Keeping up with all things social media can get overwhelming, especially when things are constantly changing. That’s why we’ve put together this ultimate TikTok strategy guide so that you can nail your videos and skyrocket your brand online. So without further ado, let’s get straight into it! 1) Stay ahead of trends Navigating trends on the platform for the best TikTok strategy is not an easy task. There are so many to keep up with, and the content produced changes on a daily basis. To stay one step ahead of the competition, you need to be keeping your ear close to the ground. Capitalising on trends often means you need to be one of the first to hop on the bandwagon, and to do this is not a walk in the park. While spending time on the platform and studying it is the best way to identify trends, there are tools that will give you a more in-depth look at the ones that are picking up steam. A good example is Exploding Topics. This platform’s mission is to identify trends before they take off, giving you a higher chance of going viral. 2) Be consistent with your creative content Consistency is key when it comes to TikTok. If you produce high-quality and consistent content, you will have a higher chance of being seen by your target audience. While it’s important to stay true to your business’s purpose on the paltform, don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone if you want to take things up a notch! 3) Work with micro-influencers on TikTok Every social media platform is baking micro-influencer marketing into its strategies, and TikTok is no exception. It’s no surprise that micro-influencers are just as popular on the platform as on other social media sites. A micro-influencer’s personal touch is perfect to create social proof with your audience. 4) Create a community Community is becoming a bit of a buzzword in marketing, but that doesn’t mean that it’s any less critical. If you want super fans for your brand, then nurturing an engaged audience is the key to success. If you’re familiar with growing an engaged audience on Instagram, then doing the same on Tiktok should come easy to you. Connect in the comments and pay attention to what people are saying. While it’s possible, we advise responding to every message and comment. This interaction will encourage repeat visits from users and establish a bond between your brand and customers that will enable them to recommend it to their close circle. 5) Have fun with it but know who your customer is The number one reason why TikTok users are on the app is that it’s fun! So don’t be afraid to get creative when you make videos. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to have a personality that’s only focused on having fun. Have a brand mission and persona, just like you would on Instagram or Facebook. It’s important that you know how your audience identifies with your brand, so you can cater to them accordingly. TikTok marketing isn’t just fun, it’s also incredibly effective. Ensure you’re being consistent, target the right audience and get creative while you’re at it (and never

You thought you took all the right steps with your digital marketing to bring your business on the path to success, yet they’re not bringing you any results…You’ve signed up to every social channel, you’re trying to stay on top of trends, and you’ve upgraded your website, but nothing seems to work. Does this sound familiar? If you’re struggling with digital marketing and starting to despair, we’re here to tell you that instead of giving up, you should get to the root of the problem. But we understand that doing so can be easier said than done. That’s why we’ve compiled the main 5 reasons why your digital marketing efforts might be failing your business. 1) You haven’t defined your goals Before you go into digital marketing, you must define your goals, otherwise, your efforts will be scattered and won’t bring the results you hope for. If you’re trying to grow your business, understand how much you’ll need to invest and how many customers will be needed in order to achieve your goals. If it doesn’t seem doable at the moment, start with a smaller goal and build on it. Research shows that half of all marketers don’t have clear objectives and just try different tactics until they see something that works. This is not the approach that you should be taking. Instead, we suggest clearly defining the big goals that you want to achieve, and then further breaking them down into actionable items with clearly defined KPIs. 2) You haven’t clearly defined your audience One of the most common mistakes made by businesses is not knowing their audience. Before you start doing any digital marketing, you need to define who your customer is and what exactly your target market is. When you do this, it’s important to dig really deep. Go beyond demographics, and really think about your ideal customer’s behaviour. Create a buyer persona and act as though this person is a real human being. Then, think about how to reach these people – do they spend their time on Tik Tok? Or do they prefer socialising on LinkedIn? Do they do a lot of research before buying something? If so, your best option could be to start a blog for SEO purposes. If you’re unsure how to do this, it’s best to ask an expert for help. 3) You are not analysing your data properly We live in the digital age, which means that businesses have a lot of data at their fingertips. When you’re doing digital marketing, you should be gathering as much data as possible from all channels. Once you have this information, it’s your job to analyse it and use it to make changes in order to improve your results. This is one of the most important things that marketers need to understand – but many don’t know how or when to do this analysis, or what metrics are important for them. 4) You are being impatient Forget what you’ve been told, there are no quick fixes when it comes to digital marketing. You have to be prepared to tackle it with a long-term vision in mind. Yes, putting money into ads will fast-track the process, but it still requires time and effort. Even if you don’t see the results immediately, press on. If you have the right strategy and yiu know your customer, there will come a day when everything will start to align and you will be able to reap the rewards. Invest the time and effort that’s required and don’t try to short-cut your way to stardom. 5) You have a