Showing posts with label Digital Pro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digital Pro. Show all posts

Unknown 14:18 , , , , ,

Social Media and Search Engine Optimization

Social Media ContentConsumers are researching products and services online, relying on recommendations from their friends on social networks, and checking reviews of products and services before making a purchase.
-78% of consumers search online before buying a product and 66% of these people purchase on the internet (Hubspot)
Build Relationships through Online Marketing
People do business with people they like, know and trust.  Through content and Online Marketing, you can improve relationships, build trust and increase sales with lifelong customers.  True relationship marketing is when you focus on helping people, providing the information they are looking for, providing answers to their questions, and providing awesome customer service.  When you do all of this, sales and business occur naturally.
We will help you provide the relevant and imperative information on your website and blog that current and potential customers are looking for.   By providing answers to their questions, solving their problems and fulfilling their needs through content and Online Marketing, customers will look to you for the information, products, and services they need.
Social Media
By sharing your content and information from your website and blog to your social networks and email subscribers, you will continually expand your reach.  Your customers and followers will start to recommend your products and services to others in their networks too.  You can use your content to connect and engage with your followers on social media networks.
Search Engine Optimization
People use search engines and social media to find content.  Search Engines now rank websites based on new, relevant and fresh content that is published, consumed and shared.   With the use of keywords and phrases in your content, on and off page SEO, and other Search Engine Optimization best practices, your content will begin to rank higher and higher based on the goals set in your marketing plan.
-Content Creation is cited to be the most effective SEO tactic – MarketingSherpa’s 2011 SEM Benchmark Report
Online Marketing ConversationMeasurable Results through Online Marketing
We understand that the overall goal of online marketing is to build relationships with customers, enhance brand awareness, grow followers and subscribers, drive traffic, generate qualified leads, complete sales and increase your return on INVESTMENT.  We also understand that most small businesses do not have the time, resources, expertise or staff to implement and maintain an excellent Online Marketing plan.  You can achieve all of these goals through an Online Marketing Plan put in place through your website and social networks with the help of Redwood Valley Technical Solution’s Online Marketing Consultants.
Strategic Online Marketing Plan
Together we will create an Online Marketing Plan just for your business to:
  • set measurable goals that include clear objectives and strategies
  • use keyword research and analysis to create relevant and imperative content
  • share your information via social networks and email blasts
  • track and measure results
  • monitor your brand and reputation
  • provide reports with emphasis on goals set forth in the marketing plan
Online Marketing Packages are available to fit your business needs and are fully customizable as well!
We will become a part of your team and provide the time, resources and expertise in Online Marketing to make your business succeed.
We know every business has a different marketing budget, we would love to discuss a plan that fits your needs! 
Contact Us  for pricing information and to implement Your Online Marketing Plan Today.  Complete the form below and we will get in touch with you!
We also offer Social Media Marketing Plans to help you connect and grow your social networks and engagement, Click here for details!
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Why Social Media Marketing?

Unknown 11:34 , , , ,

 

 

What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing is the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites. To some entrepreneurs social media is the next big thing! It is powerful if used correctly and must be taken advantage of for marketing social media platforms, which are new channels for your brand’s voice and content.

How does social media marketing work?

You can use social media to help reach several business objectives, but the best social media strategies are those that focus on a more narrow rationale for social. What do you want to use social media for? Awareness? Sales? Loyalty?

For social media to be successful, one needs to take into consideration key measures. Are you going to measure ROI? Who will you be interacting with? Who is the target market? What are their demographics? What are you about? Prove that you are more than just a product or a service; you deliver an experience when people engage with your brand. Lastly a content or a channel plan needs to come into action and be distinct.

How will social media marketing benefit a brand?

Your brand will be easier to access for new clients, it will also become more familiar and recognizable to existing clients, thus, brand loyalty will improve. A study published by Convince and Convert found that 53% of Americans who follow brands on social media are more loyal to that brand.

Social media is cost effective. Even the paid advertising through twitter and Facebook are relatively cheap depending whether you set budgets or not.
Every social media platform you exist on is another path leading back to your site. The quality of your content will determine the interest generated. More traffic creates more leads, resulting in more opportunities.

Every post made on a social media platform is an opportunity for clients to convert. Each post creates a chance for someone to react, every reaction may lead to a site visit, which could eventually lead to a conversation. This means conversation rates will become higher. Interacting in social media channels humanizes brands and this is important because people like doing work with other people not companies.

Interacting with your clients on a regular basis shows good faith. When people want to brag or compliment a company they turn to social media. Though this also applies for when they want to complain about a company, so it works both ways this depends on you. The more people that are talking about you on social media, the more valuable and credible your brand will seem to prospective clients. Every customer interaction online is a chance to demonstrate the level of customer service you provide. If a customer complains, you can apologize publicly, if a customer compliments your company you can thank and recommend more products. Personal experiences let them know you care.

With social media, you are able to gain valuable information regarding your target market and what they’re interested in. You will be able to monitor user comments to see what they think of your business, this will help to improve you marketing to them and will result in an increase of sales and new clients.

In all I am able to say that social media has become a platform that has increased communication for companies and creates strong brand awareness, which improves customer service. Additionally, social media serves as a relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns and I would highly recommend becoming part of this movement.



Ready to start promote your business by Social Media? Get in touch with us via our Contact us!
 

About Author: Veronique is a young strategy driven Account Manager with a Graphic Design degree as well as an Honours in Brand Leadership.  
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Animated video | A science well worth it

Unknown 11:23 , , ,



I am sure if you’ve ever considered having an animated film; Web Video or video produced, your first reaction to the price was to have your jaw drop just shy of the floor, followed by an experience similar to a cardiac arrest. After you’ve come to, you politely refuse, only to be confronted with a heftier price-tag when you seek out a ‘second opinion’ of sorts. The question then arises in the back of your mind, “Why is it so expensive, and is it even worth it?”. The answer to the latter part of that question is yes, it is well worth it to produce an animated video. The former, however, is a bit more complicated and requires a bit more explanation as to why it is worth it to pay an arm and a leg to have an animated video.

WEB VIDEO IMPROVES YOUR BRAND RECOGNITION

Video is a very memorable medium when used in conjunction with sound as it stimulates the audience in ways which standard print media does not. It also allows one the opportunity to make use of catchy gimmicks and jingles to improve the overall impact further. Furthermore, because Web Video is a visceral and audible medium, it creates an opportunity for what I like to call associative encoding, or ‘brainwashing’; and while it sounds horrible, associative encoding is a powerful marketing tool to facilitate the recall phase of memory. It is the reason for when we hear or see the term ‘Running,’ that we immediately think of the Nike brand and their range of athletic footwear.

WEB VIDEO STRENGTHENS YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE

SEO is heavily reliant on content. Images reign supreme as the best tool for reaching audiences on social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter and linkedIn; among others. It remains to be said the supplementing these images with video will improve not only the ranking of your images and content, or the visibility of your online profile, but also diversify your content marketing portfolio – which, in turn, keeps your audience interested in the content you provide online.

WEB VIDEO BOLSTERS THE SIZE OF YOUR ORGANISATION

I believe that if used correctly, Web Video could give smaller companies a greater competitive edge over their larger, financially strapped competitors. If the capacity to do the work is available, small enterprises could attract much larger clients. Breaking even to justify the cost of the Web Video or the work force is much lower in this instance, and thus, turning over a profit also become easier.

WEB VIDEO IMPROVES YOUR STATUS

There is a certain status that comes along with having an animated video. In my experience, when dealing with the average consumer, as well as other small businesses, Web Video often prompts for a “wow, that’s fancy,” type response. It is probably because only the larger organizations would have had access to animated projects in the past due to the extremely high costs involved with the new technology back then. With the reduction in production costs by over 380% since the advent of the animation industry and the less complicated nature of the programs and software, even the most technologically challenged consumer could have an Web Video produced at a fraction of the cost.

WEB VIDEO REDUCES TIME SPENT ON SUPPORT

There are a thousand other things that animation could be beneficial for, but I believe that this is one of the most-important benefits of animation. As service-centric companies, time is our most-valuable commodity. When we spend most of that time supporting and providing information about a product that is relatively unknown to the consumer market, other areas in our businesses start to suffer – which is never a good thing.
As a firm believer in business automation, animation allows us to automate a segment of our business that is very difficult to replicate without the actual use of a person on the other end of the line. by automating support, we not only tailor content so that the product or service is understood exactly as it was intended to be used, but also it allows us to step away from supporting the product or service, but focus on selling it.
Animation allows us to create fancy looking tutorials or screen casts with step-by-step information, guiding our clients and customers through processes without having to get involved in the support process.

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

In my next article, I will be delving in a bit deeper and explaining what the actual process behind animation is and how we can use that to our advantage. In the meantime though, consider the benefits of animation, and if it is in line with what you’re going for, then I seriously recommend having an Web Video produced. it would be a step in the right direction. Your business and your bank account will thank you for it. If you enjoyed this article or would like to share your experience with animation, please do so in the comments section below, and don’t forget, share this with your friends and family using the social links below.


Ready to start promote your business by Web video? Get in touch with us via our Contact us!
 

Author by: Kyle bridges a gap between a deep understanding of visual and auditory communication, creative processes and business.


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Online Video Views Jump 43% in One Year, Internet TV by 388% [Report]

Unknown 15:49 , ,

As a nation, the U.S. watched, or started to watch, 38.2 billion videos in Q2 2014, that's an increase of 43% year-on-year, and contributes to the massive growth of online video consumption compared to 2013. Not only are online video views up, online TV viewing increased by 388%. Monthly unique views for online TV are up by 146% year-on-year, and by an incredible 85% in the last six months alone.

The downside is that we're not watching videos anywhere near to completion, especially on smartphones and tablets. In its biannual look at the state of the U.S. digital video space, Adobe's "U.S. Digital Video Benchmark Report" indicated that videos viewed via a desktop or laptop were 3x more likely to watch a video at least three-quarters of the way through than those viewed on mobile devices.

Highlights of Adobe's Digital Video Benchmark Report Q2 2014

  • Video views via OTT devices and gaming consoles have increased by 194% in the last year.
  • Smartphones and tablets account for 26% of all online video viewing.
  • Videos watched to 25% completion on a laptop or desktop are 3x more likely to reach 75%
  • Mobile devices were responsible for 26.6% of videos starts, up from 18.6% in 2013.

Impressive Growth in Online Video Views (Free-to-access)

Online Video Views Jump 43% in One Year, Internet TV by 388% [Report]
Adobe are reporting a new record for the number of total online video starts for Q2 2014. The previous record has been smashed and now stands at 38.2 billion, an increase of 43% compared to the same time-period in 2013.
Drilling down further into the study reveals more impressive metrics for the industry. For instance, the number of total online video starts (which Adobe clarifies as "any browser-based, unauthenticated video start"), saw an increase in growth of 47.3% year-on-year, which Adobe calculates as a 9.4% acceleration in growth over the quarter.
Online video is becoming the norm for accessing news, sport, entertainment, resources, and advice, and any brands that fail to set a strategy for producing authentic and engaging video content will find themselves falling far behind their competitors.

Massive Growth in Online TV Views (Authentication Required)

Online Video Views Jump 43% in One Year, Internet TV by 388% [Report]More viewers than ever are watching online TV in their living rooms via Connected TV's, OTT devices like Chromecast or Roku, or via games consoles. Adobe confirms that the amount of online TV watched per unique visitor is up by nearly 55% YOY across all types of streaming devices.
 
Why the big jump? The Winter Olympics, March Madness, and the World Cup definitely contributed to the amount of streaming TV that was consumed in Q2, but sporting events aside, the shift from bedroom to living room represents the ubiquity, and accessibility of the devices used by all family members these days.

OTT devices and gaming consoles like the PS4, and Xbox really are becoming the vehicle of choice for watching online TV. Between them, consoles and OTT boxes saw a market share growth of a staggering 194% compared to 2013. By comparison, desktop-based viewing dropped by a significant 41%.

Smartphones Vs Tablets: The Smaller Screen is Winning

Online Video Views Jump 43% in One Year, Internet TV by 388% [Report]One in four viewers are watching online video content via their mobile devices, which represents a market share year-on-year increase of 57%. The mobile device of choice for watching videos is the smartphone, rather than the tablet, with phones enjoying a 59% YOY growth of share.
 
Smartphone usage accounted for 13.6% of video starts, while tablets accounted for slightly less at 13%. Apple's iOS accounted for more than half of all online TV views on mobile devices.

Brands need to ensure that their websites are built to be responsive on mobile devices, and they also need to ensure that any video content hosted on their own site is mobile-friendly. Video consumption via smartphones and tablets is only going to increase, and brands and their developers need to keep on top of new video technologies so they can be sure that the content they publish performs to its maximum capability on all platforms.

Video Ad Consumption Up By 26% on 2013

Online Video Views Jump 43% in One Year, Internet TV by 388% [Report]Video advertising is also doing extremely well, according to Adobe. It confirmed that viewers watched 2.08 ads per video start, an increase of 25.8% on Q2 2013. Sports content really pushed up the average, with the FIFA World Cup contributing to an increase of 66% in the ratio of video ad starts.
 
Obviously, the opportunity for more ad engagement around sports content is huge, but with the right type of tracking and measurement via programmatic software, brands can identify other content where the viewer may be more responsive to the products or services being advertised.
Report: Adobe PDF

 Are you Ready to start for web video marketing? Get in touch with us via our Contacts. 
 
 
About the Author: Carla Marshall is the Managing Editor of ReelSEO, and the Community Manager for the ReelSEO YouTube Channel.
 
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Successful B2B Marketing Video Strategy

Unknown 15:15 , , ,


A lot of video marketing conversations revolve around B2C topics, but in this week's Creator's Tip, we discuss B2B, or Business to Business, marketing, and give you three tips on how to do it right.

Making B2B Marketing Videos That Engage An Audience

Did you know that 92% of B2B customers watch online video? Or that 43% of that demographic use online video to research services or products for their own business? Oh, and it may interest you to know that 54% of that research is done on YouTube. So, how to do you make your B2B videos stand out?

1: Make Your B2B Marketing Video Stand Out From the Crowd

According to Google. around two-thirds of B2B companies will research multiple brands while researching a product or service. The reputation of the brand they are researching very much counts towards a purchasing decision, and one of the most effective ways of building up your own brand's reputation is by creating high quality, professional, well-made online video. 76% of B2B marketers use video content marketing as part of their digital strategy, so you'll need to create content that stands out from the crowd.
At the very least, you should have a video that tells the business consumer the story of your company, or your main product or service. This will lend credibility to you brand, and give you the potential to start building up that relationship with your future customers. Here's a great example from GE that introduces the brand in a very relate way:

2: Optimize Your Videos so Potential Customers Can Find Them

Your potential clients know what they want, but they may not know that your company produces it. When optimizing for search, made sure you are using industry keywords to be found. You may be the biggest name in your field, but if the person searching for you has never heard of your brand, and that's the only keyword you have optimized for, then they are not going to find you very easily.
Don't miss out on potential sales because you didn't take the time to understand what terms and phrases your potential customer base is searching for. Think about what advice or answers people are looking for, and create and optimize content around that.

3: End Your B2B Video With a Very Strong Call to Action

Marketing videos generally have a point to them, one of which is to generate leads. So, make sure you guide the potential customer into taking the action you want to by adding an annotation to your video with a link to your website. This could be a link to a newsletter sign-up, or to a product landing page, or another URL that will trigger some kind of action.


 Are you Ready to start for web video marketing? Get in touch with us via our Contacts. 
 
 
About the Author: Carla Marshall is the Managing Editor of ReelSEO, and the Community Manager for the ReelSEO YouTube Channel.
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Facebook Ads vs Promoted Posts

Unknown 10:30 , , , ,

Facebook Ads vs Promoted Posts: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Facebook Ads vs Promoted Posts: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Targeting your audience on Facebook is not only painful, but confusing – especially if you want to go down the ‘organic’ path.

Hey, I can’t blame them, as any business with interested parties and dollar driven investors want return on their profits. So whilst I don’t agree, I can understand why Facebook has made it difficult for business owners to connect with their followers unless you show them the money.

Understandably, several individuals are unhappy with this new paid approach, including Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, who was extremely vocal when presented with a price tag of $3,500 in order to promote a message from the Dallas Mavericks Facebook Page to their followers.


But with over 1 billion users, Facebook’s juggernaut position (which is essentially a monopoly) allows them to impose these monetary protocols, so for now, we’re stuck with playing by their rules.

So there are two key methods of advertising your business on Facebook: the standard Facebook ads and the more recent introduction of Promoted Posts. So let’s observe the two options and determine which will suit your business.


Facebook Advertising

This is easily the number one method Facebook relies on to generate the bulk of its revenue. They allow you to place paid ads which are then displayed to your targeted audiences.
When you establish an advert, you can narrow down your audience by using demographic factors such as age, sex, location etc. But that’s not all, you can even go down to specific interests such as whether you want them to like ‘cooking’ ‘gardening’ which Facebook then uses to estimate the size of your target audience.  The number of individuals to whom the ad is actually served depends on your budget and there is no guarantee that anyone will click on your ads.

Facebook Ads 
 
Like Google, Facebook allows you to set a budget so you don’t blow a couple of hundred or thousand within the first few days. Your budget can be as low or high as you want and Facebook also commits to helping you achieve your advertising goals by displaying your ads to the most relevant audience.


So let’s summarise the Pros and Cons of advertising:
Facebook Ads pros and cons

As you can tell, the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages, however, you should still be mindful of a couple of factors. Given the cost effectiveness of establishing Facebook ads, the platform is infiltrated with a number of ads and as a result – some come across as spam. Secondly, ads are a distraction and some of the savvy web users have discovered a few methods to block these ads.

Despite these minor issues so to speak, Facebook ads are definitely an effective medium for advertising especially since the cost per click is significantly lower than what you would pay with Google Adwords, plus it’s a great way to generate ‘likes for your business.
What if you already have enough likes? Well, let’s turn our attention to Promoted Posts then…

Promoted Posts

Think of Promoted Posts as something which is in between a standard post and an advertisement. The concept is straight forward, you select the post you want to promote, and just click on the ‘promote’ button next to the ‘comment’ and ‘share’ buttons.

The promoted posts will occupy up to a third of the news feed making them very visible. Take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of Promoted Posts:

Facebook Promoted Posts pros and cons 
 
As you can see the advantages overshadow the disadvantages making this a good method for getting your message out there. The lone caveat I will add is that you require a following / likes to see any real benefit from this method.

Comparison between Facebook ads and Promoted Posts

So now that we’ve analysed the two methods of advertising, which one is better for your business? Well, that will depend on the situation. So here is the overall summary between the two:

Comparing Facebook Ads and Promoted Posts 
 
Although both options have their advantages and work equally well, it all comes down to the environment and what you’re trying to do. If you have minimal likes, start off with Facebook ads to develop likes and get targeted followers. Once you’ve got a fan base going, start to use your Promoted Posts to show off your events, promotional offers, news and given you have targeted followers, these readers will be inclined to read the post and even share it across their network.

So, what’s your favourite method of advertising on Facebook – Ads or Promoted Posts? Have you tried either of these methods? I’m keen to hear your success stories or feedback on how one method works better than the other.

 Are you Ready to start for facebook marketing? Get in touch with us via our Contacts.

Source: http://socialmouths.com/blog/2013/05/14/facebook-ads-vs-promoted-posts/

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Email Marketing

Unknown 10:16 , ,


How to Push Send and Grow Your Business

Email Marketing strikes many as old-fashioned. More fashionable venues like social media and mobile marketing get all the attention, and some people will even try to tell you that email marketing is dead.

Unfortunately, reality doesn’t agree. In fact, with a strong content marketing approach, email is more powerful than ever thanks to social media.

Why?

Because it moves the conversation about your business to a more personal environment — the in-box.

 

Email provides you the most direct line of communication for conversion to sales … which is why the most savvy online marketers have no intention of giving it up any time soon.
It’s also amazingly cost-effective. With an ROI of around 4,300% (according to the Direct Marketing Association), email practically pays for itself … and saves a tree or two. It’s what you use when you want to move from “conversation to commerce.”

 What makes email content work?


All of us are far too familiar with email newsletters that waste our time, pitches that annoy us, and downright spam. Those don’t work.

What works is a value exchange — your valuable information for your prospect’s valued time. Your subscribers need to know they can trust you … that you’re not a soulless self-promoting spam-bot.

Good email content deepens your relationship with your audience through effective subject line writing (getting your messages opened), your distinctive voice (getting those messages read), and delivering quality, niche specific content your prospect needs and shares with others (inspiring referrals and word-of-mouth).


Are you Ready to start for Email marketing? Get in touch with us via our Contacts.
 

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger.
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