Saturday 30 May 2020

Explore More Platforms for Your Content

Content marketing has been found out to be a very crucial and effective strategy in making it big in ecommerce these days. But then, because if effectiveness has been proven, a lot of businesses have used the tactic and squeezing the usual social media platforms to the hilt. As a result, it has become a challenge to stand out when it comes to content marketing in social media. Aside from that, reports have also revealed that there has been a steady decline in content social sharing since its heyday back in 2015.

So, beyond the usual social media platforms like Facebook and your blog, you may need to employ more creativity and explore other platforms that you can also utilize. Who knows, these underutilized channels can be your springboard towards content marketing success.

Targeted Email Marketing

These days, email marketing has become a bit underused, having experienced high in popularity in the mid-2000s. With increased security concerns over phishing email scams, it's not a wonder why consumers have shied away from emails. But then, you can jump on this opportunity to send personalized and targeted content to their inboxes and possibly delight your recipients. Emails, after all, can be used to promote or continuously communicate with prospective customers. Carefully managing your email list, making sure it is updated, can help you focus on reaching out to the right people.

In simple words, it is the practice of creating and sending out highly customized/personalized emails to a specific segment of your email list. This is done with the aim of getting the most wanted response from your subscribers. When a small business leverages targeted email marketing the right way, it increases the chances of generating leads and sales via email.

(Via: https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/targeted-email-marketing/)

 

LinkedIn

If you are not active on LinkedIn, you are missing out on a golden opportunity, especially if you have businesses as your target market. Competition across most social channels has become so cutthroat and loud, so LinkedIn gives your brand a platform to market without too much fanfare and, with the right tactics, more effectiveness.

With over 500 million users, LinkedIn is a powerful social media marketing tool that should be a significant part of any B2B marketing strategy.

(Via: https://medium.com/@digitalfreakau/how-to-use-linkedin-for-business-marketing-741ea0159d14)

 

Annual Reports

Another effective method to market your content to other businesses would be annual reports. The official nature of these reports gives a lot of credibility to your company, not to mention prospective business clients can really dive deep into your business. What's more, annual reports need not be text-heavy. They can also come in video or online presentation formats. Get creative and explore your options on how to present this information in a palatable way to your target market.

Many businesses don’t recognise the hidden value this annual communication holds. Given that the piece is shared with a wide base it is a unique opportunity to stand out from amongst the crowd, highlight your competitive advantages and achievements, and at the same time, impress and engage with stakeholders and shareholders. Finally, when done right, you can communicate bite-sized pieces of good news, future goals and performance stats that readers will remember and can spread wider via word of mouth.

(Via: https://mih.com.au/your-annual-report-is-an-important-marketing-tool-make-the-most-of-it/)

 

Educational Content

Although there has been a noticeable drop in social sharing, educational content continues to rule. If you have educational content, there may be opportunities for this to be syndicated, and that can open more doors for your brand to be recognized.

Educational content that is unconditionally proffered by a company is a low-cost means to enable brand exposure and foster engagement with the general public, prospects, competitors, and existing clients or customers.

(Via: https://everyonesocial.com/blog/educational-content/)

 

Earned Media

Most marketing efforts these days are so focused on social media and SEO that sometimes, tried and tested tactics such as public relations and earned media are already forgotten. Having your business published in industry publications and having a PR agency use all its channels (including social media) can get your business more credible exposure.

Clearly, if consumers are deploying effective algorithms to block unsolicited advertisements and content, this is indicative of a shift towards relevant and compelling content. It further illustrates a clear level of socio-cultural resistance to the ubiquity of irrelevant, often invasive content being propagated. Audiences today judge a brand’s or a product’s worth on a variety of factors and not just merely based on advertisements that emulate its merits.

(Via: https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/media/the-great-comeback-of-earned-media/74406137)

Do you feel restricted and clueless about how to properly strategize your HVAC online marketing efforts? Let All Systems Go Marketing help you.

The blog article Explore More Platforms for Your Content See more on: ASGM



source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/content-marketing/explore-more-platforms-for-your-content

Tuesday 26 May 2020

Have You Tried Interactive Marketing?

If you are a native of traditional, old-school on-ground marketing, you would be very familiar with interactive marketing. Brand activation activities, brand ambassadors appearing in trade launch events are just some examples of successful interactive efforts in the field of marketing. But for online marketing, interactive efforts may still be in its infancy, but they already show promise. There are already e-commerce sites that have rolled out interactive marketing campaigns and proved successful.

Interactive marketing arises when events are designed from actions taken by people's interactions towards a site. Most online marketers have appreciated the content produced by interactive marketing because users get to experience something more lasting, which then causes better brand recall and awareness and increases the chances of these users to share their experiences on social media.  People enjoy experiencing interactive content, while businesses gain more insight into their customers as they get information about what “clicks” with these people.  There are some interactive marketing initiatives that you might want to consider for your marketing strategy this year.

 

Text content

Although interactive content has evolved to include elements of AI and augmented reality, we can always rely on text-based content. But then, you wonder, how can something as seemingly one-sided as text be interactive? You’ll be surprised to discover the wide array of text content that can be made interactive – from quizzes, surveys, polls, and embedded calculators, all of them are in text form and will require responses from people, which makes up the interactive element of these content types. The answers of other people can be usable for you to see so many information related to your customers – from the demographics to the preferences of the people who engaged with your content. Just like that, you got yourself a lot of data about your target market!

As you learn about your current customer base and build your audience, you may have to change elements of your business. Utilizing what you’ve learned, you can create new offers and engagement opportunities that will help you retain existing followers while winning the favor of people who have never heard of your brand.

(Via: https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/5-best-practices-for-creating-stellar-customer-surveys-02283442)

 

Chatbots

In the world of online marketing, chatbots have long been recognized for their effectiveness in customer service. However, you can also use them to improve your marketing efforts. After all, Hubspot says, “If we choose the right path…bots might be the best thing to happen to marketing yet.” Chatbots can be effective interactive marketing tools because they initiate engagement with customers, enable interactions between customers and your brand, and allow you to reach a wider audience.

Research says that more than 53% of buyers would probably buy from a business that they can communicate with, via message. Messaging as a channel is not just fast, but a whole lot easier and feels like a conversation for a lot of people. If you, as a business owner, are looking for ways to scale your marketing strategy (paid or organic) in 2020, conversational marketing through chatbots and live chat is the way to go.

(Via: https://customerthink.com/top-trends-of-conversational-marketing-in-2020/)

Interactive videos to capture users’ attention

Video marketing has proven to be effective, so why not take it to the next level by adding an interactive element to it? Interactive videos are more shareable, relatable, and engaging compared to their one-way counterparts.  Interactive videos can come in the form of live streams where views can comment in real-time, webinars where people can ask questions and participate in polls, and interactive storytelling videos where users can influence the story by choosing how the story ends.

Video is where brands are grabbing consumers' attention, and marketers are integrating their brand messages in videos to help users discover and buy their products. Video marketing, initially popularized by YouTube, has gone on to dominate most social media platforms, such as Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram. Video marketing must add value to customers so as to appeal and stand out on these platforms.

(Via: https://www.martechadvisor.com/articles/interactive-marketing/what-is-the-future-of-video-marketing-2020-and-beyond/)

 

AR

When you mention interactive marketing done online, you have to mention augmented reality (AR). They are prime examples of interactive content, but beware: They come with a pretty steep price tag.  If your business has enough financial resources, you may want to include AR to roll out immersive experiences for your customers.

Augmented reality (AR) is an emerging trend within marketing and sales strategies, one that allows brands to give their customers unique experiences with the convenience of tapping into their mobile devices.

Mobile has become one of the most significant media types through which consumers interact with brands and make purchase decisions. AR gives you another tool in your belt when it comes to driving sales and enhancing brand value through mobile devices.

(Via: https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-platforms/augmented-reality/5-ways-to-use-augmented-reality-in-your-marketing-strategy/)

 

Are you thinking of involving interactive elements in your HVAC marketing? Get in touch with us and we’ll help you roll it out as effectively as possible.

The following blog article Have You Tried Interactive Marketing? was first seen on http://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com



source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/hvac-seo/have-you-tried-interactive-marketing

Friday 22 May 2020

Get Some Diversity in Your Online Marketing Efforts

Digital marketing has progressed in leaps and bounds through the years, but if something works for your business, it is most likely that your business will stick to that strategy. When your business grows with the same marketing campaigns rolled out annually, you might not feel compelled to push the envelope or challenge the norm. After all, why fix what ain’t broken?  But then, this comfort zone will most likely lead you to be complacent, which will cause your site to underperform and eventually experience a decline.

Yes, it is inevitable that your business will face stagnation and regression if you don’t adapt to the dynamic nature of online marketing. You need to try and be more open to adopting a more robust strategy. And what better way to do this than to be aware of new opportunities and try to see if they are applicable to your business. What are these developments that can make your online marketing efforts more diverse?

 

Why not try proximity marketing?

Though proximity marketing has been around since early 2013, there have been recent developments like Google Beacons that could make your online marketing efforts more effective and practical. Beacons can send out signals to a limited area, which means that gadgets like mobile phones can be targeted and get marketing messages depending on their location. This technology is now used widely like in malls and commercial districts where people in the area get SMS that inform them of special offers and discounts.

Now, backed by recent advances in mobile phone technology, location-based marketing—also sometimes referred to as location-based advertising or proximity marketing—is one of the hottest trends in marketing, and it is only going to grow as mobile carriers roll out 5G cellular networks this year.

(Via: https://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Editorial/Magazine-Features/In-Modern-Marketing-Its-All-About-Location-Location-Location-139419.aspx)

 

Ecommerce strikes up a conversation

Chatbots are currently hogging the spotlight, rightfully so because businesses have discovered the promising opportunity that conversational commerce provides. Your business can be integrated within platforms such as Facebook through chatbots, allowing you to engage with your audience on the app of their preference. Because chatbot integrated can also include your other social media assets, your website, and external messaging apps, you can cover all your bases and have a platform that is always available to your target audience, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

As younger generations demonstrate an increasing desire for quick and efficient 24/7 service, the opportunity for chatbots continues to grow. The chatbot market size is projected to jump from $2.6 billion in 2019 to $9.4 billion by 2024 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.7%.

And although the chatbot market is being tapped primarily by major companies and businesses, individuals have also started looking to chatbots as a means of engaging in alternative social interactions and everyday conversations.

(Via: https://www.businessinsider.com/best-ai-chatbots-online-robot-chat)

 

Optimizing voice search

Voice search optimization (VSO) is also something you need to look into, as there have been more pieces of evidence that prove its efficacy.  According to comScore, of all searches to be performed in 2020, 50% will be through voice searches. Moreover, Gartner also foresees that screenless searches will comprise 30% of all searches in 2020. Finally, Google also revealed in its study that 72% of people with voice-activated speakers claim to use their devices daily. You can definitely take advantage of these trends in VOS to benefit your business.

Voice search basically allows users to say their queries out loud rather than typing them into the search box to get the results. The speech-recognition technology precisely understands what users are saying and then delivers the best-matching results orally. Reports estimate that about 41 percent of adults perform at least one voice search every day. According to ComScore, 50 percent of total searches will be voice searches by 2020.

(Via: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/343036)

 

Are you thinking of making your online marketing strategies more diverse? Allow us here at All Systems Go Marketing to help you. Get in touch with us now.

Get Some Diversity in Your Online Marketing Efforts was first seen on http://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/



source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/local-seo/get-some-diversity-in-your-online-marketing-efforts

Monday 18 May 2020

Are We Living in the Era of UGC?

If your business’ objective is to reach new customers and engage with your existing ones, you may find that the most effective way to do that is to speak their language. But then, there’s an option to actually involve them in your marketing strategy, and that will be quite exciting for both you and your audience.

User-generated content or UGC has been on a steady increase in popularity as a worthy option for businesses to use in their online marketing strategies. UGC is readily available, with customers always ready to use their smartphones to capture anything, and whatever they produce – photos, videos, stories, blog posts – accumulate to an astounding volume of content that businesses with the right mentality may use.

Another great thing about UGC is that content comes from the vast spectrum of people with social medial accounts. Thus, if you are targeting a market based on a particular ethnic background, gender, social status, etc., it is highly likely (actually, more like 99% possible) that you can find content produced by people who have exactly the same profile as your target market. And when you use that UGC, your audience will feel that you are using native content rather than blatant marketing materials.

With these benefits UGC provides, it is the right time to look deeper into what UGC opportunities are available so you can use them to your advantage.

Social Media Content

The number of photos and videos shared by social media accountholders are by the hundreds of millions every day. A large majority of content also mention brands and businesses. When your business is mentioned in a Facebook and Instagram post or a tweet, that already counts as UGC.

If someone posts a picture of you on their Instagram feed or in their Story, they’ll likely tag your brand, so be sure to keep an eye on your mentions to see who could be talking about and tagging your brand. If you see a tag, repost.

(Via: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/6-tips-to-help-you-generate-and-utilize-ugc-on-instagram/565186/)

 

Reviews and Testimonials

A portion of social media content mentioned earlier is reviews and testimonials. Whether they leave reviews of your business on a third-party site like Google or Yelp, or on your own website, or on social media, this also counts as UGC. These are very effective types of UGC since they serve as social proof. A good word can encourage those who have read it to try your business, and therefore give you leads to new customers.

Your product or service will be fresh in the minds of your recent customers so this is a great time to ask them what they think of their experience.

Bear in mind that recent customers are only going to be able to comment on their experience with you up to this point. This isn’t a bad thing. Securing testimonials from customers at all stages of their relationship can help you address and overcome a wider range of objections.

Use drip campaigns to automatically send emails to recent customers after a set time to secure their testimonial.

(Via: https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/06/strategies-customer-testimonials-content/)

 

Video Content

Video UGC like Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, and now, the trending TikTok are basically free video content that any enterprising business may use to beef up their online marketing efforts. Videos are a visual medium and have been proven to be effective among social media users.

User generated content is a great technique to include in your video marketing because it brings the viewpoint of consumers into your strategy. Not only that, people like to watch user generated content!

When a real person is talking about your product, and getting excited about it, this can create excitement in consumers watching the video.

(Via: https://www.wyzowl.com/user-generated-content-video-marketing/)

 

Interested in including UGC for your marketing plans? Let our experts help you. Get in touch with All Systems Go Marketing.

The following post Are We Living in the Era of UGC? Find more on: www.allsystemsgomarketing.com



source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/social-media/are-we-living-in-the-era-of-ugc

Thursday 14 May 2020

It’s All About the # (Hashtag)

If your business has done digital marketing for some time now, it is inevitable that you’ve encountered the ubiquitous hashtag. The hashtag, as it is known in contemporary social media, has come a long way from its earlier uses as the “pound sign” on telephones to its current use as a way to categorize various topics on social network platforms.

On the internet, the hashtag was commonly used by users of the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) application, when they would label specific topics in channels with hashtags. But that was way back in 1998, nine years before social media pro Chris Messina used the same symbol, this time on social media platform Twitter. Two years later, the use of the hashtag was made official by the platform, with other social media following suit.

If your business engages in online marketing, you need to understand the power of hashtags so that you can harness its strengths, avoid its weaknesses, and possibly use them as part of your strategy to stay on top of your e-commerce competition.

 

Do Hashtags Drive Engagement?

From a digital marketing standpoint, engagement is supposedly one of the most important ingredients to success. One camp says that hashtags help in engagement as they link brands to the consumers who use this symbol. Hashtags can be searched on all social media platforms, but Instagram and LinkedIn users have an extra feature as they can “follow” a particular hashtag so that they can be updated on their newsfeed of any activity under that hashtag. When you use hashtags that are relevant to your brand, you can easily reach out to your potential customers who normally may not be exposed to your business yet, and of course, to your current customers.

Interestingly though, a 2020 study found that hashtags on Instagram do not really propel that much engagement, especially in particular platforms like Instagram.

Compared with other social media platforms like Twitter or Snapchat, where almost anything goes, Instagram runs a tight ship. It has a clear set of community guidelines banning nudity and other offensive content, and it blurs sensitive content if some users take issue.

(Via: https://mention.com/en/blog/instagram-hashtags-engagement/)

 

Hashtags can be helpful

A lot of social media account holders may use popular and generic hashtags to boost their engagement figures, but that may not provide you with the same impact if you want to build a genuine audience. Moreover, keep in mind that popular hashtags are used by more businesses as well, which means increased competition for you. Thus, you need to make sure to use only the most relevant hashtags to your business, but at the same time also consider only those that people actually use and search. You wouldn’t want to use hashtags that people never search for, would you?

Brands must not only rely on the popular hashtags now, but also must be aware of emerging trends among consumers and influencers. This helps optimize your hashtag usage so social media users don’t miss your posts.

To increase their reach among an increasingly global market, more brands use social media analytics tools to change their hashtag marketing strategy and keep up with shifts in trends the second they happen. To get the most out of your hashtag marketing, you’ll need to define your goals.

(Via: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/hashtag-marketing-tactics/)

 

So, how creative should hashtags be?

Hashtags are a way for social media users to have fun while being connected to topics they are passionate about. As a business, you can also display your creativity when you use hashtags. Don’t be obliged to put the name of your brand in your hashtag; instead, try to look into the hashtags that involve your line of business. Those that reference your business or brand can be considered, and if the connection of the hashtag and your brand is witty or pun-ny, it is highly likely that your audience will engage with you.

The creativity in this hashtag campaign was a fantastic way to raise awareness for an important cause. However, the most exciting element of the strategy was that it made crucial information accessible to everyone. You didn’t need a doctorate or a high literacy level to learn more about breast cancer.

(Via: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/hashtag-campaigns/)

 

Trending is not that bad

Earlier, we talked about not going with overused and too popular hashtags. But taking advantage of a trending topic is not that bad, too. Your posts can go viral if you use trending hashtags that could be related to your industry. If you can relate hashtags that people religiously follow, like #motivationmondays to your brand, it is highly possible that you can tap into a larger audience, some members of which may actually be interested in your product or service.

By using a trending hashtag in your content update, you can get your message seen by a much larger audience. More and more people can see your updates rather than just your fans and followers.

(Via: https://www.socialpilot.co/blog/how-to-use-hashtags-effectively-in-social-media-marketing)

 

To know more about the latest and most effective trends in digital marketing, trust us at All Systems Go Marketing to get you up to speed.

The following article It’s All About the # (Hashtag) Read more on: ASGM Blog



source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/social-media/its-all-about-the-hashtag

Tuesday 12 May 2020

All Systems Go Marketing Shares Information On The Latest Trends In Facebook Advertising

La Mesa, California based All Systems Go Marketing is reaching out to the community to share information on the latest Facebook advertising trends. An expert in the field of online marketing, the company’s insight offers their community an excellent perspective on the subject.

Despite having fallen afoul of a good portion of its users, Facebook still remains as one of the best platforms to concentrate one's digital marketing efforts. Today, the platform has become an essential part of any marketing strategy as well as the one that has proven to be the most effective in terms of attracting new potential customers. This does not mean, however, that digital marketing on a platform like Facebook is either an easy task or an inexpensive one. Companies have to invest a significant amount of time and effort to see quantifiable results, and even then there are no guarantees that they will achieve their desired goals.

Craig Wright, a representative of All Systems Go Marketing, says, “The advertising costs on a platform like Facebook have steadily increased over the past few years, reaching a point where current rates are at the most expensive they have ever been. This does not mean, however, that the time and financial investment is not worth it. However, you definitely want to rely on experts to develop and carry out your marketing strategies rather than trying to put them together and execute them yourself.”

Wright states that, as good as Facebook is as a platform to reach new customers, companies have to rely too heavily on paid and boosted advertising to see any kind of appreciable success. Achieving organic growth on this platform has become virtually impossible over the past few years, with the most well-established businesses drawing in most of the customers, leaving small and mid-sized businesses struggling to increase their visibility.

“Trying to build an advertisement campaign on Facebook without a clear understanding of the platform and its users is just a waste of money,” says Wright. Even with an advertising plan in place, businesses can struggle to see the benefits of their effort unless they understand how to connect effectively with their customers through this platform, and most importantly, the strategies that work best on it.

A good example of this is the Augmented Reality ad campaign. Facebook has put a lot of effort into building a good AR experience that allows users to have ‘experiences’ while viewing ads. With AR being the hottest new concept on the platform, it is only natural for this kind of ad to do the best. As such, building a campaign around this idea may be a sensible course of action.

Another marketing strategy that always seems to come out ahead of the others on Facebook is the mobile advertisement campaign. According to Facebook, a bulk of its ad revenue comes from mobile advertising, and as a result, they put a lot more effort into mobile ads than they do with any other area of marketing. Unlike desktop ads, mobile ads only contain a URL and headline (without a description of the product), which means that these campaigns must be thoroughly and cleverly thought-out to attract the user's attention with minimal information.

“Mobile advertising is far more complicated than just taking your desktop ad and converting it to a smaller format," says Wright. “You must think of the aspects that make your product special and condense this information into something that works in this information-restricted format. If this doesn't sound like something you want to do, then you may want to look into story-featured ads, as these seem to be the new up-and-coming thing on this platform.”

According to Wright, ever since the rise of Facebook's Story feature, it seems like the platform will soon shift their focus to this aspect of their online experience. This may be for good reason, given that 500 million Facebook account holders use Facebook’s Stories. With this in mind, and given that these ads feel more personal, All Systems Go Marketing is not surprised that story ads are performing better than their counterparts. At this point, it will not be a shock to anyone if Facebook starts encouraging more businesses to post ads on Facebook stories.

The one detail to keep in mind when transitioning into this or any other new marketing strategy is that it is always best to rely on professionals to plan and carry out these ad campaigns. The digital marketing experts at All Systems Go Marketing state that they are well-equipped and prepared to help business owners in this endeavor. They invite business owners all across the US to reach out to them in order to begin building their advertising campaigns on Facebook.



from Press Releases at https://www.pressadvantage.com/story/35455-all-systems-go-marketing-shares-information-on-the-latest-trends-in-facebook-advertising

Sunday 10 May 2020

Businesses, Beware of Influencer Fraud

The dynamic nature of online marketing has made it such an exciting field to explore. Unfortunately, it also means that it is also susceptible to more unscrupulous elements that aim to victimize businesses that simply want to take advantage of all the benefits online and social media marketing offer. Particularly on Instagram, one of the most vibrant platforms on digital marketing these days, a challenge for marketers has risen: influencer fraud.

With the newly installed power given to so-called influencers, or accounts with a substantial amount of followers that are believed to have an impact on the latter’s spending decisions, an opportunity has become available for cybercriminals to cash in on this trend by pretending to be influencers victimizing both their followers and businesses alike. Instagram (and Facebook, as IG is a Facebook company) has put the effort into controlling influencer engagement fraud, although those efforts may not be enough anymore. Let’s look into the various events that have affected the otherwise promising world of influencer marketing:

 

Has the government done anything?

The answer to the question is an absolute yes, but then if the question were, “Has the government done enough,” it would be a no. The government, through its agency the Federal Trade Commission, has rolled out guidelines for influencers, requiring them to put a disclosure notice on all sponsored posts. However, the guidelines have not been as effective as they were intended to be. For example, a campaign of US department store Lord & Taylor had them employing 50 Instagram influencers who they required to post about a dress. However, the company didn’t require those IG influencers to disclose the sponsored status of their posts. The case ended in a settlement, with the FTC banning the business from “misrepresenting that paid ads are from an independent source.” However, no fines were required to be paid.

The FTC is especially critical of companies that have pressured influencers to hide the fact that their endorsements are paid advertising. In 2016, video network Machinima settled a deceptive advertising complaint with the FTC for not disclosing that it paid YouTubers to make endorsements of the Xbox One, and telling them to position their opinions as independent reviews. The settlement, which also did not involve a monetary penalty, has done little to deter native advertising on platforms today. The FTC is now calling for “codifying elements of the existing endorsement guides into formal rules so that violators can be liable for civil penalties.”

(Via: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/12/21135183/ftc-influencer-ad-sponsored-tiktok-youtube-instagram-review)

 

Who is responsible?

So, who has the ultimate say on how influencer fraud should be controlled? It’s none other than Instagram’s parent company, Facebook. Instagram the platform and its users are so prone to fraudsters that in a very short amount of time, for example, five minutes, any user of the platform can inflate his or her followers and like count by the thousands simply by purchasing them. Facebook has done some action to abolish this fraudulent practice of when it took in 2012, with fraudulent users getting blocked. Since then, fraudsters have become advanced, and safeguards against them have not progressed as fast.

The longer people stay on the platform, the more ads they are shown — and the more ad revenue Instagram can make. It is in Instagram’s interests to make life easy for influencers by allowing them to achieve huge follower growth and engagement, in order to keep them on the platform rather than risk losing them to competitors like YouTube and Twitter.

(Via: https://www.cityam.com/influencer-fraud-buck-stops-facebook/)

 

Influencers expose the system’s weaknesses

Who better to expose the fault of Instagram as a platform than influencers themselves?  A blogger sent to deliver a message to her followers to not believe everything they see on social media and be more discerning on what the accounts they follow stand for by staging a fake vacation. Natalia Taylor filled her Instagram account with pictures of her having the time of her life in Bali, only to reveal later that she just took the photos in an IKEA.

Her first post with a "Bali" location was captioned "The queen has arrived," and shows Taylor in what seems to be a glamorous setting. Other photos showed her lounging in a luxurious bath and preparing to pop a bottle of champagne.

(Via: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/natalia-taylor-youtuber-bali-vacation-ikea-fake/)

 

Just say no

As a business just starting your journey on social media marketing, you cannot afford to be connected with fake influencers, only to be duped by them in the long run. You need to be alert in spotting real influencers and separate them from fake ones who will only cause trouble. There are some easy steps to sport fakes, but then you have to know the red flags to be alert for.

They are often bots or real people who purchase their likes and followers to help raise their engagement artificially, making them appear to have a strong following and thus a good influence over the market. That's not the reality, though, and you’d get better results by opening your window and throwing your cash out into the street.

(Via: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/345854)

 

Looking for experts to assist you in the highly competitive world of online marketing? Let us at All Systems Go Marketing help you. Get in touch with us about your digital marketing strategy today.

Businesses, Beware of Influencer Fraud Find more on: The All Systems Go Marketing Blog



source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/social-media/businesses-beware-of-influencer-fraud

Friday 8 May 2020

All Systems Go Marketing Launches New Google MyBusiness Site

Continuing its outreach to HVAC owners throughout North America, HVAC digital marketing specialist All Systems Go Marketing has launched a new Google MyBusiness site, located at: https://allsystemsgomarketing.business.site/.

Founded in 2001, All Systems Go Marketing has decided to practice what it preaches when it comes to local SEO by creating one of the best, but least known vehicles on the web, the Google MyBusiness site.

All Systems Go Marketing

"If you've done absolutely anything at all in terms of local SEO, you probably understand that the 'Google site' is a nice add for pretty much any user of Google's MyBusiness," said Craig Wright, Owner and Sales Manager at All Systems Go. "While these sites are maybe not the highest end web assets ever created, they are majorly significant for small business owners that are starting out. Not only is this a Google property, it's also free for verified users."

Much like its HVAC owner client base, ASGM has for the majority of its existence relied on word of mouth and client referrals to generate new business. But, as competition in the digital marketing space has ramped up, it's more important than ever to take advantage of every social media property available. Recent major successes with HVAC clients during the Covid19 pandemic has shown that ASGM's brand of digital marketing is more effective at generating affluent homeowner customers than ever.

"This shutdown has enabled our clients to add more installation customers than ever, at a very low cost," said Wright. "It surprised us enough that we realized we needed to push ourselves a little in terms of self-promotion. Frankly, our story is one that is not often told."

ASGM has long made its reputation on its skills as an SEO company, but its relatively recent move into Facebook and Google advertising has created massive opportunities for clients.

"I'll admit that we were a little myopic in terms of focusing on SEO only through the first years of our company," said Wright. "But the digital ad space has proven again and again to be an incredibly cost effective vehicle for attracting customers that own their home, especially with the high level targeting we are able to do with our system."

In a recent release, ASGM noted that during this majorly difficult time for the business community, with major chains and small businesses closing up shop, HVAC owners that have stuck with their marketing plan are finding their appointment books filled with installation jobs and are literally having to turn down business in some cases.

"You never want to use terms like 'gold rush', but I've never seen anything like it. Naturally, a pandemic is something we've all never seen, but I couldn't have expected this," said Wright. "All business owners hate risk, of course, but those that decided to take the risks and go against the grain are the real winners here, sometimes setting their business up for months."

HVAC owners are part of a group of businesses classified as "essential services", which means they have continued to operate while other businesses remain closed. Fortunately, many of ASGM's clients that have paused their ad campaigns have still benefited from the 'idle hands' of homeowners looking to renovate because of SEO campaigns.

"I always say this in digital marketing: advertising is a fish, whereas SEO is 'teaching the client to fish'," said Wright. "Although it does take a lot longer to get results from a brand new SEO campaign, once a campaign has been successful, it can allow the client to 'turn off' the ad spend and do incredible business just from organic traffic. It's the gift that keeps on giving."

All Systems Go Marketing is an HVAC-focused digital marketing firm located in La Mesa, CA, just outside of San Diego. For more information about growing one's HVAC business with digital marketing, contact them anytime at 1-888-471-2746.



from Press Releases at https://www.pressadvantage.com/story/36021-all-systems-go-marketing-launches-new-google-mybusiness-site

Wednesday 6 May 2020

Catching Up on What’s New in Digital Marketing

When you want to know what the weather will be like on the weekend, you call out to Alexa for a forecast. Wondering what restaurant to reserve for your Friday night date? You scan reviews on Google and Facebook. When you don’t have anything to do on your way to work, there’s always Instagram or Facebook stories to keep you up to date with what’s going on with your friends and people in your social network.

While these acts may already be second nature to us and we don’t think about actually doing them anymore, these behaviors are already trends that are changing the industry, greatly affecting how eCommerce works and how brands are strategizing on positioning themselves in this hectic and competitive marketplace.  Companies have realized that they need to understand the behaviors of their consumers so that they can integrate them into their marketing efforts. They need to choose which of these behaviors are most important so that they can implement their digital marketing strategies effectively.

Automation has become automatic

Despite a lot of business occurring digitally nowadays, brands are still expected to be in control of all digital outlets they possess with all the promptness people expect from online businesses. You may ask if that’s possible, and it actually can be, with the array of automation tools like chatbots driven by artificial intelligence. These tools can easily handle customer interactions without feeling overworked like human customer service representatives, not to mention they can champion your brand, putting it in the best possible light. Thus, automating posts and even your customer service platforms can provide a lot of conveniences to your business.

Automating marketing campaigns on various social platforms allows you to become more efficient in maintaining cohesive brand identity across multiple social networks.

Automation helps maximize your chances for engagement and exposure by ensuring posts are consistent, optimal, and timely.

(Via: https://www.business2community.com/social-media/5-reasons-your-business-needs-social-media-automation-02287912)

 

Mixing business with the personal

It used to be that businesses’ idea of personalizing only involves using the first names of customers in their emails. But with the steady progress of everything online, it cannot also be helped that personalization has also undergone drastic enhancements. Customers now demand personalized content, with more targeted email segmentation and customer data collected in every opportunity.

The desire for personalization, however, seems to be in a bit of a clash with another desire of most customers, privacy.

The research, from Episerver, found that while 53% of global consumers want brands to place a higher priority on respecting their online anonymity in 2020, 61% want companies to prioritise personalisation as much as they did last year, according to Episerver’s fourth-annual Reimagining Commerce research report.

The survey of more than 4,000 online shoppers in five countries reveals personalisation – when brands use customer data to provide a relevant digital experience to individuals – is positive for both retailers and customers.

(Via: http://www.netimperative.com/2020/02/online-shoppers-desire-personalization-but-demand-privacy/)

SEO strategies get mature and sophisticated

SEO has also been evolving in breakneck speeds – what was applicable in 2018 may not really be as effective this year. With the collection of customer data becoming more advanced, as well as their behavior, getting observed more keenly, the most competitive businesses will depend on SEO efforts that exercise the sharpest foresight of the future.  Of course, SEO is continuous in its evolution to complement Google’s changes as well.

Last week, Google pre-announced their first core update for 2020. From health and finance to travel, all sectors are seeing a huge change in terms of SERP results.

(Via: https://www.bbntimes.com/companies/best-seo-trends-and-strategies-15-experts-reveal-their-secrets)

 

Shopping gone social

Social media is not just an avenue to engage with current customers and attract new ones. While it is still one of the most effective engagement methods, social media platforms have also been hosting online stores. A lot of businesses still primarily sell their offerings through their stores on their websites, but social media stores have also started to amass a following. With stores now on social media, the journey of customers from getting wind of your products to buying them on the platform is therefore shortened.

Social commerce and influencer-generated purchases are both growing according to the survey. Episerver found that roughly 20% of consumers bought something “directly because of a social media influencer’s product post.” The numbers are considerably higher, roughly 50%, for Gen Z and Millennials. In addition, 31% of consumers bought something directly from a social media ad, which was a 10-point gain over last year.

(Via: https://marketingland.com/consumers-like-their-digital-commerce-to-be-mobile-social-and-personal-with-a-side-of-amazon-276585)

 

Make sure you are never far behind the best practice and trends in online marketing. Let us here at All Systems Go Marketing get you up to speed so your online business can reap all the benefits.

Catching Up on What’s New in Digital Marketing is courtesy of All Systems Go Marketing



source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/social-media/catching-up-on-whats-new-in-digital-marketing

Monday 4 May 2020

HVAC Owners Avoid Panic And Win With All Systems Go Marketing

Amid a worldwide pandemic, with millions of people either locked down or furloughed, optimistic signs are beginning to appear.

Typical behavior during a major world disaster might be to simply shut down, lock up and wait for Government assistance, but it's a luxury most HVAC companies do not have.

Across the United States and Canada, HVAC owners continue to run their businesses, taking care of emergency jobs, and operating as "essential businesses" with team and customer safety as a top priority. What's surprising is that for some of these companies, operating with a "business as usual" approach has paid dividends - sometimes at an unprecedented level.

"When this shutdown started I immediately called all of our customers to make sure everything was OK, and to adjust our service levels for customers that were risk-averse," said Craig Wright, owner of All Systems Go Marketing, an HVAC-focused digital marketing agency in La Mesa, CA. "Certainly, there were those that decided to shut down their marketing programs, which was very understandable considering the overall panic at the time."

While Wright expected quite a few clients to pause their services, and peel back their efforts to acquire new customers, he was surprised to see so many providers sticking to the plan, and pushing ahead.

"I had spoken to a few other agency owners in different spaces, and was prepared for a crunch, but it really never came for us," said Wright. "Maybe it's a tribute to what we do, but it was also clear that we were in a situation where there were major opportunities for wins."

A key opportunity for Wright's clients was that with a major shutdown across hundreds of industries, digital advertising costs were astonishingly low as demand from competitors all but dried up.

"The market is the market, for sure, but it didn't really make a lot of sense to me that companies would cease their digital ad spends in an environment where homeowners have a lot of time to spend on their computers," said Wright. "What resulted was a literal fire sale across almost every platform."

An additional and somewhat surprising opportunity came from affluent homeowners, a prime focus of ASGM's customer targeting system. Suddenly idle and with more time to spare, these customers began to look at improving the place they'd be spending the most time - their homes.

"Really, this whole thing has been kind of a perfect storm for our less risk-averse HVAC clients," said Wright. "I mean, to have ad costs fall through the floor exactly at the moment the most affluent customers are looking to change out an air conditioner or add an air purifier is pretty mind-blowing."

The results of this perfect storm has enabled ASGM's clients to grow during a time when other businesses are in full contraction mode.

"When you talk to an HVAC owner that has to cut their ad spend because they're running at full capacity, it definitely makes your day," said Wright. "What's funny is that now I'm almost worried that clients that kept on are going to get used to these startlingly low ad prices. It's really wild!"

Wright says he sees ASGM's clients as partners instead of customers, which takes the pay-for-performance model to a much higher level.

"Our work is completely customized depending on the client and the client's needs," said Wright. "HVAC owners tend to be pretty straightforward folks, and if you can show them good results, they tend to stick around for the long haul."

HVAC owners that are interested in driving affluent customers to their shop and profiting when others are fearful can contact ASGM on the telephone at 1-855-957-2746 or via email. Visit their website at https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/.



from Press Releases at https://www.pressadvantage.com/story/35928-hvac-owners-avoid-panic-and-win-with-all-systems-go-marketing

Saturday 2 May 2020

Quality, Optimization, and One More Factor

For as long as search engine optimization (SEO) has been in existence, the debate on what factor is the most important to rank on the first page, if not claim the top spot, has been ongoing. There are those who say that the quality of content is the most important thing being considered by search engines that affect a website’s ranking. They argue that you will rank on top if you have the best quality posts on your brand’s blog.

Those who oppose this way of thinking opine that this is oversimplifying the rather complex nature of SEO, as a high ranking on SEO include skills, money, efforts, and strategy, among other factors. Others also say that this is too arrogant, considering that if quality is the only factor for SEO ranking, then it must be that those sites in the second pages onward have content of inferior quality. This is arguably incorrect, they say.  Let’s see if the quality argument really wins or if other factors are important as well.

Quality Versus Optimization

When you type in a keyword on a search engine like Google, then you click one of the results and you start reading the article, page, or site that you clicked, you are already in the process of evaluating what you’re reading, asking if the content you are reading is the information you were looking for, if you are understanding what you are reading, if you are interested in what you’re reading, and if the information is accurate and from a trustworthy source. These questions are related to writing quality, can be measured by search engines, and ultimately impacts our web browsing experience. When what we read is interesting, accurate, and contains the information we were looking for, Google knows that because it has tracked how long you stayed in the page and that you reached the end of the page, ,meaning you finished reading the entire page or article.

So does this mean that quality is the top SEO factor? Yes, in a way, but definitely not the only factor, and in some circumstances, get superseded by other factors. If you notice as well when you’re the search engine user, there are some pages that get prime placement in the search engine results page, but when you click and actually read the pages, the content is disappointing and bland. This can really make you reconsider whether indeed, quality is the only factor that will get you those high rankings.   Those other factors include keyword inclusion, link building, and for some, money because they appear as paid ads. To conclude, quality is a top factor, along with a number of another factors, never the only factor.

When creating quality content, one of the first things to consider is what will Google consider quality? Google is constantly making efforts to enhance their search results – this means providing more quality and informative content that will be beneficial to searchers.

This is where quality content can become a bit tricky.

What do your consumers want to know?

(Via: https://seoforgrowth.com/importance-quality-content-seo/)

 

Optimization

Now, let’s talk a bit about optimization. This is where things like keyword inclusion comes in. After all, when we read a piece of content, we do not really think of how many times a certain word or phrase is mentioned. We think about those keywords when we are thinking about what to type in Google or our favorite search engine. But then, once we are already provided with results, we click on the ones we fancy and evaluate the article’s quality as mentioned earlier. We don’t remember those keywords anymore.

However, search engine robots have keywords as their primary consideration in ranking a webpage. So, then, an optimized piece of content is for search engine robots to appreciate and a high-quality piece of content is something that is for readers to appreciate. If a piece of content is not optimized, then even if it is of high quality, you as a reader may never get to read it because the search engine will only put in the second or third page of its search results. On the other hand, an optimized piece of content that doesn’t have a lot of quality will get read for a couple of seconds, only for the reader to click on the X  at the upper right corner of the window to close it.  So, there is a sweet spot where quality and optimization converge, and that should be the meeting point all content marketers, website administrators, and business owners should aim towards.

And now that search engines, particularly Google, have recognized the popularity of mobile search, you may seriously consider optimizing your digital assets for mobile.

A few years ago, Google only assessed your site’s desktop version when ranking and crawling pages. However, with the rise of the mobile landscape, that changed. Given that mobile users spend more time online than desktop ones, Google decided to provide them with more appealing and relevant search results.

That’s why it rolled out the Mobile-First Index in 2018. In other words, Google has started crawling the web from a mobile browser view. And, if your site doesn’t meet its standards, chances are your rankings will go down.

(Via: https://www.socpub.com/articles/importance-optimizing-your-landing-pages-mobile-16946)

 

One last factor: Links

One more major factor that affects SEO rankings is the number of links. The more links and article has from other pages, the higher the probability that Google and other search engines will move it up on its rankings and cause a rise in traffic. It does not really matter if not a lot of people click on these links, as those search engine robots will spot them just the same. A quality link from a site or page that has high authority can send an article from the recesses of Google’s SERP to the first page.

So you may ask: Which brings the links, the content’s quality or its degree of optimization? Both. If an article doesn’t get optimized, it doesn’t get the attention of other websites that can possibly give the article some backlinks. If the article isn’t written well, then obviously no one will link it to their pages, no matter how Google champions it on their SERP.

Google isn’t going to give you a major ranking boost for having a lot of outbound links in your content. However, a user engaging with your content is going to spend more time on the page and trust your message more if you link to reputable third-party sources. Likewise, Google’s team of Search Quality Raters are going to be looking for this when they assess the quality of publishers’ pages, which means this is clearly something Google expects to see (more on this later).

The key term there is ‘reputable’ because Google will notice if you’re linking to a bunch of questionable websites and this is where link penalties come in. Luckily, you can protect yourself from any potential penalties by using the right link attributes.

(Via: https://www.business2community.com/seo/do-outbound-links-matter-for-seo-02288937)

 

Do you still need more assistance with your SEO efforts? Get all the SEO expert care your business needs with All Systems Go Marketing.

Quality, Optimization, and One More Factor See more on: All Systems Go Marketing Blog



source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/hvac-seo/quality-optimization-and-one-more-factor