Originally known as the go-to app for recipe ideas and decor inspiration, Pinterest has now evolved into something far beyond that. For businesses, it represents a major opportunity to grow. The app has been seeing crazy spikes in adoption ever since the pandemic, growing by many millions of users every year. In fact, it now has 433 million active users. Not to mention 83% of users have made a purchase from content they’ve seen on Pinterest. So, how can you make the most of Pinterest marketing? How does Pinterest work? Pinterest often gets labelled as a social media app, but in fact, this is not true. It’s a visual search engine. That’s part of the reason why it’s so powerful. Keywords play a major role in the success of your Pinterest marketing, so if your content isn’t optimized for pinners’ searches, you may be missing out. There are three vital components of Pinterest: Pins, Boards and Feed. The Pin: This is the main component and is usually an image, design or video visual. Each pin contains a link, which can direct a user to a website. You can also add a title and a description. Adding pins allows users to explore the products and services you offer. The Board: When you create multiple pins, you can then add them to a Pinterest board (which resembles a scrapbook or gallery). Usually, users will group similar pins together and create a theme. For example, you might have a board highlighting your latest arrivals or inspiration for a new product. The Feed: A Pinterest feed is similar to a Facebook or Instagram feed. It displays all the pinning activity from the people you follow, along with paid Pinterest ads, promoted pins and pins the algorithm thinks you will like. Users can either search for specific terms to discover content or just explore their home feeds which are auto-generated. The basics of Pinterest Marketing: 1) Brand your profile You first want to make sure you create a business Pinterest account so that you have access to analytics, rich pins and more. Then you need to take the measures to brand your Pinterest profile so that it’s easily recognizable as belonging to your company. Each social media platform has its own customization features to allow you to add your own touch to it. Here are the main steps you should take to up your profile: Upload a cover board Upload a profile picture Optimise your description with your keywords Choose five boards to showcase at the top of your profile Brand your board covers Verify your website 2) Work on your keyword strategy Just like any other search engine, Pinterest is all about keywords. Your goal is to make your pins show up in the feed when users use a relevant term. If your pins don’t have a relevant keyword in your description (or if you don’t even have one), they will never show up in the feed. It’s really important to think about how you can connect your content to the right keywords. Do some research on upcoming trends, and brainstorm what your target audience would be searching for on the platform. Once you’ve done that, you can use those keywords in your pin titles, 3) Create eye-catching visuals Pinterest is a visual platform, so effectively using it for business means producing high-quality, engaging visual content to share. Pins on Pinterest are essentially links, so if you produce high-quality visuals, your potential followers can click through to your site, note your business and visit a sales page. First of all, you want to make

You’re scrolling through Instagram, and then you see an ad for this bag that you really like. You notice that there’s a ‘View Products’ tag underneath, so you decided to click on it. It takes you to a page where you see the bag in all these enticing images, so you decide that you absolutely need it. You select ‘View on Website’ and from there you decide to purchase the item. You may or may not know it, but you just experienced social commerce in action. What is social commerce? Social commerce is the process of selling products and services directly through social media. With social commerce, the entire shopping experience, from product discovery and research to checkout, takes place right on social media. So what exactly is the difference between social commerce and e-commerce? Ecommerce broadly encompasses the process of buying and selling goods online. The model is convenient, but it’s far from perfect. Over 50% of all internet traffic is from mobile devices, and mobile users have a much higher cart abandonment rate than desktop users. As buyers move to the small screen for everyday purchases, streamlining your checkout process is key. This is where social commerce comes into play. It removes the drop-off points that can result in abandoned transactions. Why you should take advantage of it 1) You can reach a wider audience Global eCommerce sales are predicted to grow to $1.6 trillion in the next three years—an increase of over 100% compared to 2020. While that’s great news, it also means that you need to find ways to market your products worldwide. With over 4 billion people active social media users across the globe, you can build a brand with a global reach. 2) It creates a frictionless experience Buying over social media is made simple by features like in-app checkout, Buy buttons (available in the US only), and instant messaging facilities. By using social commerce, extra steps in the purchasing process can be cut out. These extra steps often lead to customers losing interest in a purchase because they create more friction. With social commerce, customers are less likely to abandon a purchase when they are allowed to remain inside the app from discovery through to checkout. 3) Make the most of social proof 89% of online shoppers read reviews before hitting the add to cart button. So before clicking “Purchase,” consumers must trust a brand, and they will therefore check previous customer reviews, compare items, and even consult with other buyers. Social commerce comes with integrated social proof in the form of user-generated content. Comments, likes, shares and following will influence potential customers. So when other social media users are directly exposed to that when shopping, it speeds up their decision-making by building trust. Shoppers want to buy from brands they trust with a strong online presence, which is where social commerce comes in. It opens new opportunities for businesses, so if you’re not taking advantage of social commerce, you may be missing out on potential revenue streams!

Are you looking to take your Instagram to the next level? Instagram collaborations could be the answer. Collaborations on Instagram are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to grow your following and promote your brand online. So, what are they, and how can your business benefit from them? What are Instagram Collaborations? Instagram Collabs is a feature on Instagram that allows users to collaborate with one another. Using this feature, you can co-author a Feed post or a Reel with another user. More people will be able to see the post because it will display both of your handles and appear on both of your accounts. That means you get to benefit from collective engagement from each other’s communities. Instagram content creators often use this feature to collaborate with other creators and engage each other’s communities. Brands can also use this to announce their collaboration with another brand or even collaborate with a content creator. Benefits of collaborations on Instagram 1) Increases your reach An Instagram Collab post helps you to reach the audience of the other user because it appears on both of your profiles. As a result, it will be simple for you to introduce new people to your brand. If enough people are interested, you might even gain a large number of new followers. 2) Boosts engagement In addition to showing up on both your profiles, an Instagram Collab post also collects the engagement from both your communities. That means the likes, views, and comments collected from the other user’s profile get counted toward the total engagement rate for the post. This engagement can quickly build up since they’re coming from two different communities. Additionally, when a post gets really high engagement, the Instagram algorithm will push for your post to be visible to more users. 3) Builds your brand credibility Collaborating with another business can build your brand credibility. Not only does this exposure show people that you’re legitimate, but it also has the potential to boost your ranking on Google. This is because if the brand you’re collaborating with is posting your website all over their own website thanks to the collaboration, you are increasing your backlinks. And when Google sees that you are backlinked by another credible source, your ranking will be boosted. 4) Increases sales with minimal investment! Getting featured on an Instagram account with a large following can help greatly increase your sales. If the post you share is a product or an offer (for example a coupon code), you will be able to directly track the increase in sales from that particular collaboration. The best part of collaborating on Instagram with another brand is that it requires very minimal (if any!) capital. It’s an extremely cost-effective way to get your brand out there. In conclusion, Instagram collaborations have a high rate of success when it comes to growing your audience and engagement, as well as increasing your sales. That’s why a well-thought-out Instagram strategy is an extremely valuable marketing tool for your business. Need help from the experts? Contact us today!

High-quality leads are the backbone of every thriving business. You need leads to generate sales, but not all leads convert into customers. Some leads have a higher chance of becoming paying customers than others. And because acquiring leads costs your business money, you want to make sure you have a sound strategy. In fact, the goal of your lead generation campaign should be to attract high-quality leads and filter out the ones that are less relevant. So how can this be achieved? What is a high-quality lead? A lead is any person who indicates interest in a company’s product or service in some way, shape, or form. A high-quality lead on the other hand is someone who is further along the sales funnel and has a higher chance of becoming a paying customer. The better the quality of a lead, the more likely that a buyer is well informed about your product or service and is ready to make a purchase. Not all leads are created equal, which is why you need a way to classify them to make more sales. Here’s how you can do that. 1) Decide which channel you want to advertise on Make sure the advertising platform you are pursuing is perfect for your organization before you begin with the precise methods and strategies that can result in receiving a ton of new leads into your sales funnel. For example, if you’re a B2B business, LinkedIn could be the ideal platform for you as it lets you reach professionals. On the other hand, if you’re a B2C company looking to run a lead generation campaign to get more people on your newsletter, then Facebook advertising is the sound choice. Before you spend your hard-earned money on advertising to acquire leads, make sure you outline your marketing goals beforehand and choose the right platform to allocate it to. 2) Ask qualifying questions in your lead forms Adding qualifying questions in your lead forms can help you better qualify your leads. By making the forms more difficult to complete, you’ll inevitably raise the proportion of leads who are actually interested. We’ve found that this works particularly well with Facebook Ads. For example, if your goal is to get more newsletter sign-ups, you can ask your leads what type of content they’re interested in. If you’re in the B2B sector, you can ask what is the biggest challenge their business is facing. Obviously, don’t ask too many questions that will put off a potential customer, but select the most important ones that will help better qualify them. 3) Provide high-quality value Providing contact details should be treated no differently than asking someone for money to buy a product. What are you giving in return? Make sure you offer and communicate a clear value exchange with your potential customers. It is important for people to know what they are signing up for and what they will get in return for giving away their personal information. Make sure your ad title, creative, copy and call to action button all clearly communicate the value of the offer and signal the next steps. For example, you can provide webinars, e-books, and online tutorials that include in-depth information your customers wouldn’t find elsewhere. 4) Follow up on leads quickly When it comes to following up on leads, the famous quote ‘you snooze, you lose’ applies. If you don’t want to miss out on great opportunities make sure that your sales team is instantly notified when a lead is generated or that they can easily find the details of all of your leads once a

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!