Blog

While social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and even Instagram have all been accepted by marketers as essential business tools, there is one platform that’s often left out of the mix: Snapchat.

A question we should all be asking ourselves is if, in ignoring this platform, we’re limiting the reach and overall potential of our campaigns. Could incorporating Snapchat into the group actually be the secret to unprecedented campaign success? Yes, according to the experts!

Snapchat has gained enough of a following since its launch that it can no longer be reasonably described as a passing phase - it’s becoming mainstream, and is especially popular with the younger generations. Facebook’s CEO even offered to buy the company for a whopping 3 billion Dollars! It seems that Snapchat is here to stay, so why not use this to your advantage?

Using Snapchat for business effectively

Unsure of how to ensure your Snapchat marketing campaign is a success? Here are some great tips:

Know Your Audience

70 percent of Snapchat users are female, and 71 percent are under 25 years old, according to Adweek.

Get Creative

Snapchat’s unique feature is the time limit, so get creative and use this to your advantage by sending product teasers.

It’s not Just About Photos

It’s about video too. Video is one of the most important forms of rich media when it comes to consumer engagement. New York-based frozen yogurt shop 16 Handles was reportedly the very first business to use Snapchat as a part of their marketing plan, but since then many others have jumped on the bandwagon, with brands such as the World Wildlife Fund and Audi demonstrating just how effective this social platform can really be. However, despite, this, Mashable reports that just 1 percent of marketers are using Snapchat to promote their business or brand - it’s time more of us embraced the platform and reaped the benefits.

While more businesses are using online directories than ever before - and the market is expected to grow by around 0.4 percent by 2016 - this method of digital advertising is still heavily underutilised by many small and medium businesses who place too much importance on SEO and SMM alone. Here are some of the key benefits businesses could enjoy through placing an advert in a global online directory:

Improved Outreach

There are many benefits of blogging to a global audience, yet many businesses shy away from international marketing due to the stresses and hassles of optimising content for foreign audiences using different keywords, key phrases, and cultural references. Placing an ad in a worldwide online directory is one of the most effective ways to reach new audiences without alienating.

Local Reputation

While advertising to a global audience can be beneficial, word-of-mouth marketing is still a major player when it comes to building a local reputation. It’s important for businesses to promote themselves, their products, and their services to the local community through location-based advertising on online directories, encouraging customers to spread the word in the locality.

Increased Visibility

At a time when on-site content marketing is proving to be so effective, many businesses are becoming sucked into the SEO world and are failing to see that, for SMEs, SEO isn’t everything. Optimised web pages should be used in conjunction with digital advertising forms such as online directories that work to introduce consumers to businesses they may not have found otherwise.

Together, these three primary benefits do what they’re supposed to - they bring in business. A study by the The Editor & Publisher Co found that more than half of all business owners who advertise in online directories plan to renew their ad when it expires due to success and overall satisfaction.

We all want our websites to look good, but could you be making some classic mistakes with your user interface that could be harming your conversion rates, your sales, and, ultimately, your profits? In the digital age, it’s not enough to have a good-looking website. The purpose of a website has evolved significantly over the years, from simply a source of information to something that is responsible for business growth and development. Regardless of your content, your products, and your marketing strategies, your user interface can make a huge difference when it comes to business success.

Here are just some of the reasons why having a good user interface is vital to business:

Information Placement

The information you provide to consumers regarding your products and services is hugely important, but at the end of the day it all means nothing if your website visitors don’t even see it. Smashing Magazine reports that a whopping 77 percent of first time visitors won’t scroll, which means that anything you place below the fold is unlikely to be viewed. If there’s content that you specifically want your visitors to see, place it above the fold. Some information that should always be placed above the fold includes company name, benefits for consumers, and website navigation.

Image & Text Layout

Does it matter where you place your images in relation to your content, and vice versa? Yes! There have been many studies undertaken that focus on eye tracking, and the findings are largely consistent. One of the most important conclusions is that we have a natural tendency to look at faces. This is something we can use to our advantage, by placing important content close to facial images. Tracking maps also suggest that our eyes are drawn to wherever the person in the image is looking, so we can use images as a way of attracting website visitors to specific sections and areas of the web page.

Font Considerations

Using bold text is a very effective way of drawing the eye towards certain buzzwords. However, there’s a time and a place for being bold. A study called ‘Evaluating the Usability of Search Forms Using Eyetracking: A Practical Approach’ found that using bold labels on online forms - newsletter sign ups, for example - increases the time a visitor spends looking at the text by up to 60 percent. We don’t want our visitors ‘hanging out’ in the wrong places of the website. We want them to spend most of their time looking at the products and services on offer and making
purchases.

Click through rates (CTR) are perhaps one of the most effective ways of measuring marketing success, and all small to medium sized businesses should be tracking their CTR to determine what aspects of their promotional campaigns are working to attract new customers, and which areas show room for improvement.

Quite simply, a CTR is the number of your targeted audience who have taken action and clicked on a link, either in social media marketing, online directory advertisements, banner ads, or email newsletters. CTR is almost the exact opposite of a bounce rate, which tells you how many website visitors exit before navigating to other internal pages. It’s obvious that the higher the CTR the better, but what else do businesses need to know about click through rates?

SEO is Key

Search engine optimisation is one of the key aspects when it comes to increasing click through rates from search engines. A study by Google found that web pages that rank highly receive higher CTR than those with lower ranks. Typically, Google’s first position result receives a 31 percent CTR on average, dropping to 14 percent for second place, and 9 percent for third place. CTR drops even further, with second and third page results dropping to 3 percent and 1 percent respectively.

Rich Media Boosts CTR

Banner ads are typically one of the least effective forms of digital advertising, but when used correctly, a traditional banner ad could really help to improve your CTR. Research has found that businesses who use rich media in their banner ads - images, videos, and audio, for example - typically receive higher CTR and improved user engagement than those who do not. The average CTR for a banner ad is 0.12 percent, which can be boosted by up to 267 percent by using rich media.

Click through rates can be a very valuable resource for small businesses who are striving to form better connections with their audience. Through a more thorough understanding of what consumers want - what sparks their interest, what encourages them to take action, and so on - businesses can tailor their marketing campaigns to appeal to specific demographics and, ultimately, improve sales.