Online Marketing’s Biggest Disruption: Coronavirus

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or been leading a monastic existence, there has been no escaping news about the coronavirus or, as it is officially called, COVID-19. Even in the fields of marketing, both on-ground and online, major tech events had to be canceled and giants such as Uber, Facebook, and Apple have already said that their revenues will likely take a dive because of lowered demand for their products and issues with their supply chain that is all connected to China, where the virus has been said to originate.

On the digital marketing front, COVID-19 is seen to have a huge impact on ad revenues. The New York Times stated through news website Axios that for the first quarter of 2020, ad revenues will take a 10% decrease because of “uncertainty and anxiety about the virus.” Industry analysts predict that Google and Facebook will also suffer from ad revenue decreases.

Indeed, the fear and uncertainty that is being experienced in the real world are also affecting the ecosystem of the digital world. What digital marketers will have to deal with now is how this crisis will continue to affect the industry in the long run, as there seems to be no end in sight for this health crisis.

 

The virus has affected retail

Whether we’re talking about on-ground brick and mortar stores (that still of course, advertise their businesses through digital marketing) or e-commerce sites, the retail industry has been severely affected by this coronavirus, as their supply chain has been dealt a huge blow. Factories in China have not resumed full operations, which has only aggravated earlier concerns brought about by the tariff policies of the Trump administration that have been enforced since last year. In March, Seattle, which houses operations of REI and Amazon, has also been home to some patients afflicted with the virus. An Amazon employee has been tested positive for COVID19, while REI, one of the US’ largest outdoor equipment retailers, had to close three facilities in the Seattle area after it was discovered that two employees have been in contact with someone that has the virus.

Concerns around the virus's impact on supply chains have been brewing for weeks as COVID-19 spread through China. Across retail, concerns have mounted. Sellers on Amazon's marketplace are reportedly struggling to bring goods into the country.

As a Berkeley Research Group report noted, the virus shut down factories and kept workers home in China, while also stalling travel, reducing both production and shipping of goods. Indeed, by late February, the COVID-19 outbreak had rendered almost 9% of container shipping fleets inactive, according to Alphaliner. Chinese manufacturing indices hit their lowest point since the Great Recession, the result of manufacturing operations staying closed after the Lunar New Year break to stem the spread of COVID-19.

(Via: https://www.retaildive.com/news/the-impact-of-the-coronavirus-on-retail/57352)

 

E-commerce has suffered

At first, many industry observers thought that since people are opting to stay home instead of going to stores, e-commerce can take advantage of the situation with more people purchasing more through online channels. However, that has not happened since the production of goods has been affected since most factories in China have not gone back to operating in full capacity. Moreover, the logistics and delivery of online orders have also been severely affected. It’s highly likely that goods ordered online will arrive late.

Chinese ecommerce platforms such as Alibaba and JD.com are hiring thousands of temporary workers, as government-imposed travel restrictions have increased consumer demand for online grocery delivery services. Meicai, an online food retailer that delivers fresh produce straight from farms to restaurants and stores, announced a few days ago that it was looking to hire 6,000 truck drivers and 4,000 sorting handlers to supplement its regular workforce that cannot keep up with demand. The Chinese government has asked delivery people to wear face masks and conduct temperature tests on themselves.

(Via: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/coronavirus-disrupting-the-global-economy-including-ecommerce)

 

Online marketing

Researchers and experts in the field of digital marketing say that if there has been more careful spending by companies of their digital marketing budgets during this time because of the coronavirus scare, any unspent money could most probably be reallocated for the remaining months of the year. However, this is still uncertain as nobody is sure of when this health issue will end. Thus, it is really inevitable that online marketing spending may take a bigger hit if the COVID19 concern worsens. If there is an industry that may continue to thrive precisely because of this crisis, that will be anything connected to home entertainment. People will be more cautious about getting out of their homes, so streaming services, video games, and similar platforms can thrive. Your business may even consider investing a bit on these platforms because there’s a huge growth potential on them.

The World Advertising Research Center said in its Global Ad Trends report on ad spend last week that if the crisis remains contained, advertising spend would be delayed until later in the year. The group forecast last week that advertising spend would reach $660 billion this year, but that figure doesn’t include potential impact from the coronavirus since, if it’s contained, that displaced spend would be reallocated for later in the year.

(Via: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/how-coronavirus-could-impact-advertising-spending.html)

 

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Online Marketing’s Biggest Disruption: Coronavirus Find more on: ASGM

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/digital-marketing/online-marketings-biggest-disruption-coronavirus

Does Length Really Matter With Website Content?

Throughout the recent but very dynamic history of SEO, there have been different opinions when it comes to the length of content and use of keywords. SEO software that analyzes search results after providing word count information has already been available and was supposed to inform users of the importance of word count. After all, many people still think word count is important. This may be because various correlation studies through the years have revealed that Google tends to award high rankings to web pages of a certain length and that more links are acquired by longer pages.

However, correlation studies have not really proven themselves in terms of long-term results. For example, a 2012 study claimed that the best content length that Google can effectively optimize is 1,500 words, which for today’s standards can already be considered a tad too long. Thus, we ask: Are word count and content length still relevant points to consider in SEO for 2020?

 

What does Google say?

Google is one of the major (if not the biggest) players in the SEO industry, so whatever the heads of the organization say is pretty much the law in SEO circles. A recent tweet from Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller downplays the role of word count in better page rankings. Rather than presenting articles or content that ramble or go off-tangent just to reach a certain length or word count, content providers should instead focus on targeted content that visitors and users will find most relevant. Understanding what users are looking for when they type in a search and using these learnings to beef up your content will be appreciated by Google more than putting fluff and overextending explanations just to reach a certain word count.

John Mueller tweeted that matching the word count of top ranked sites will not help a page rank.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/word-count-for-seo/348164/)

 

Should you trust the tools?

These days, various SEO sites have page length as one of their default offerings in their auditing tools. However, these features can be deceiving because websites that are really structured to contain other kinds of content like videos, audio files, and pictures, this having few texts, will be flagged as poor because of “low word count.” Some tools will go on and recommend that Google needs to see 1,000 words every page, which should be very challenging for sites that do not really want to be text-heavy.  After all, you wouldn’t want to stuff your website with unnecessary text just to fulfill the recommendations of these tools. Thus, we recommend taking the advice of these tools with a grain of salt.

In your question above, if you start adding tons of content only to appease the tools, you could create a bad user experience and spammy experience for search engines.

You may pass the automated audit but you could also be doing damage to yourself.

Your instincts sound right, but I also don’t know what your website is so I cannot review it to see.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/site-audit-low-word-count/341467/)

 

Support for longer content?

Two studies related to content length should also be taken into consideration. In 2018, an analysis of digital marketing tool Ahrefs revealed that in the 2 million websites they audited, the best performing ones are not necessarily the ones with the longest content or the ones with the shortest, but those with “median” length of 800 words. On the other hand, a 2016 Dean and BuzzSumo review of 912 million blog posts showed what we may already know: Sites with long-form content attract more backlinks. This means that if you aim for more visits, go for median-length articles, and if you want more backlinks, go for long-form content.

It seems what might be ranking the website is not so much the content length itself (though it for sure helps to be competitive with the Page 1 results), but firstly the amount of links the page received.

Guides, skyscrapers, pillar pages, and content hubs make the most interesting link targets, thus it is recommended to create the most conclusive, interesting, and in-depth piece of content on the web and run an extensive outreach campaign for it.

Making it sexy might not even need more words – but more targeting, better graphics, or detailed results of market research.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/revisiting-word-count/316335/)

 

So, what is it really?

Digital marketers have become obsessive with clear-cut rules, and this is true in the area of content length. With our need to understand algorithms and having to adhere to best practices, we want to achieve precise results as what has been experienced by successful sites. But we should also consider that when it comes to the question of how long content in the page must be to be ranked high, there might not be one precise answer applicable to all websites.

The question of how long a piece of content should be is divisive because there really is no right answer. Actually, it’s worse than that. There are a lot of right answers. People have short attention spans, so writing concise, 500-word blogs is the way to go, right? But if you look at the top result for just about any search, you’ll find the word count rarely dips below a thousand. So longer must be better, then. Well, you can’t argue with the fact that most readers only get about halfway through a piece of content, and that many don’t even scroll to begin with. The reality is that there’s no ideal length for content, because length in itself doesn’t mean anything. What does matter is how well you’re answering the question, or addressing the needs of your reader.

(Via: https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2019/10/28/its-not-about-length-seo-content-trends-stay-ahead-2020)

 

To always be updated with what’s going on in SEO and get the best practices to work for your business’ website, get in touch with All Systems Go Marketing. Click here so we can help you with your online marketing needs.

Does Length Really Matter With Website Content? is republished from All Systems Go Marketing

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/hvac-seo/does-length-really-matter-with-website-content

Avoid These Mistakes in Social Media Marketing

With the phenomenal rise of social media and its widened role in commerce, it is inevitable that it has become a battleground for digital marketing efforts among competing companies. With more than 3 billion people using social media all around the world, businesses are on a relentless quest on how to successfully optimize platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram in promoting their offerings. Consumers, ready to shop with money to spend (or their credit lines), have access to the best brands and latest trends on their fingertips. Moreover, studies show that 37% of social commerce users also do research on social media before they make their final purchases.  So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that business owners and digital marketers spend more effort in making a dent on social media.

With all this effort, some succeed, some don’t. So, what are some successful businesses on social media marketing doing right and what are the others doing wrong?

You may be barking at the wrong tree.

Some digital marketers prefer to cast a wide net, believing that a wider net is bound to catch more fish. So instead of focusing on low hanging fruit – the segment of the audience who have shown interest in their product or service, some try to reach out to a broader audience in the hopes of attracting new customers. Moreover, inconsistent tracking and lack of data can also cause businesses to have skewed data on their target audience. Thus, instead of getting in touch with those who genuinely need your product or service, you get people who may or may not be interested in the first place.

The first stage of any social media marketing campaign is to define your target audience. You certainly can’t search for “them" if you have no idea who "they" are.

If you are lucky, you may already know the types of people to whom you sell your products. Of course, having a general idea and being able to give a tight description of your typical customer are two different propositions.

(Via: https://influencermarketinghub.com/find-your-target-audience-social-media/)

 

Your black hat practice of buying influence will bite back.

To inflate figures of the number of followers and traffic, a lot of digital marketers make the mistake of buying likes, shares, and followers. In fact, this practice is still pretty much rampant these days, not only because social media platforms do regular cleanups of fake accounts that will make your wrong practices obvious (e.g., losing thousands of followers in a day), but also because real customers will sense when a page has more bot followers and fake reviews than authentic ones. Legitimate companies will always go for organic growth in their social media assets. Paying for fake followers will make your legitimate audiences lose their trust in you.

Facebook officially took action against buying likes in 2015 by updating its algorithm to automatically recognize and remove suspicious engagement activity. Since then, they’ve removed millions of fake or inactive Facebook accounts.

Beyond this Facebook policy, buying likes has a larger negative impact on your marketing and advertising efforts.

(Via: https://adespresso.com/blog/buy-facebook-likes/)

 

You put engagement in the back burner.

By customer engagement, we don’t just mean chatting with your customers and liking their comments and reviews. Engaging customers may be through polls, contests, and of course, regular status updates. Your social media marketing efforts will be most likely in vain if you don’t give your audience compelling reasons to interact or engage with you.

Social media has become an important part of every modern business's marketing strategy. But coming up with relevant, interesting content to post is only half the battle. The other part is engaging with your followers to keep them coming back for more.

(Via: https://www.business.com/articles/engaging-on-social-media/)

 

What you share isn’t valuable to your audience.

Eight in every 10 people using the internet have at least one social About 80% of internet users have at least one account on a social media platform. That means that If the content you share on your social media channels strikes a chord with your followers, there’s a high possibility that they will share it with their own network. And those in their networks who will appreciate your content may also follow you in return.

 

The studies also mean that there is a science to creating shareable content. No, it’s not an exact science, but, by following certain guidelines, you dramatically increase your chances of getting your content shared by playing to the wants, needs and psychology of your audience.

(Via: https://www.jeffbullas.com/10-ways-to-create-contagious-content-for-your-social-media-marketing/)

 

You’re on an island.

Whether it is to establish your brand or spread brand awareness, having partners is very important to your social media marketing strategy. Looking for partners with products or services that complement your offerings will result in a mutually beneficial relationship. These partnerships will allow both parties to grow their follower base and in turn, make more people aware of both brands. Now, if you’re resolute in operating by yourself, be ready to let go of huge opportunities enjoyed by businesses that are open to collaborations and partnerships.

As a result, the discussion has shifted much more in the “partnership” direction, as brands actively seek out thought leaders and influencers who can help to advance key business priorities. There is expected to be much greater alignment in goals and strategy, as well as much more “give and take” about what steps need to happen next.

(Via: https://blogs.oracle.com/marketingcloud/making-sense-of-social-media-sponsorships-and-partnerships)

 

All Systems Go Marketing is a one-stop-shop for all your online marketing needs. Avoid these social media marketing mistakes by getting in touch with us about your digital marketing strategy today.

The article Avoid These Mistakes in Social Media Marketing is republished from https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/social-media/avoid-these-mistakes-in-social-media-marketing

Getting Results With Local SEO

Are you a small business wondering what options you have in the highly competitive and expensive world of online marketing? You might want to consider putting effort in local SEO. Still on the fence? Consider these figures:

• Local searches constitute 46% of all Google searches
• Every day, local businesses are being searched by 58% of mobile users
• 88% of mobile users search for local businesses once every week
• Of all mobile users, 72% of them patronize a store within five miles of their vicinity

Thus, if you want your small business to gain even just a bit of prominence in your area, it is crucial to adhere to the best practices of local SEO, starting off with making sure your local business’ website is optimized so that when a targeted local audience does a search, your website appears on the first page, if not the top, of search results. These searches usually happen on Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Yelp on both mobile and desktop devices.

If you are targeting an audience within your community, local SEO is what will get your website noticed and in turn, bring in more customers for your business. So, how do you do local SEO right? Here are some factors you need to look into:

Your NAP needs to be cited

NAP, which stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number, needs to be cited on search engines. The more NAP citations you have, the higher your chances of ranking high. That’s because Google and other search engines consider a high number of NAP citations as proof that your business is authentic and legitimate. Having NAP citations in as many online directories and legitimate websites is a great practice to establish yourself in local SEO.

However, having a consistent NAP is also important to the user journey as online directories and social bookmarking sites aren’t just used by Google, they’re used by humans too.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/local-seo/why-nap-user-experience-are-crucial-to-local-seo/)

Get your link building strategy rolling

Link building is not just an important aspect of a general SEO effort, but in local SEO as well. By having strong links, you will be given direct referral traffic as you effectively improve your reputation and brand visibility. To build links effectively, try to be featured in directories, whether they’re of start-ups or of the more prominent brands in your industry. Local community and city websites can also be tapped on for more links, as well as local businesses that are complementary, not direct competitors, to your own.

So, by incorporating local link-building, there will be more chances of consumers visiting your brick-and-mortar store on the same day they found your business online with a local search.

(Via: https://www.business2community.com/seo/7-local-link-building-strategies-guaranteed-to-boost-your-business-02276642)

Are you on Google My Business? How about Bing Places?

A high ranking in local searches would require you to have an optimized profile on listings of all major search engines.  It’s a good thing that Google My Business provides local businesses with detailed instructions that they can follow to successfully optimize their online presence. A complete profile and an accurate location on map applications will help a lot in ranking high on these platforms.

Google Business is a free platform that displays business information on Google search and Google maps. This platform allows business owners and marketers to control information that’s displayed about their business and feeds this into Google’s knowledge database to increase understanding about your brand online.

(Via: https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2020/02/19/how-optimise-your-google-business-page)

Don’t forget the other sites

Yes, we’ve mostly mentioned Google My Business and Bing Places, but in our introduction, we have also mentioned sites that specialize in business listings, like Yelp and other cloud software directories, not to mention business directories and forums that cater specifically to your area. Also, don’t forget to optimize your business’ profiles on social media so that those looking for recommendations on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook can get substantial information on your business.

Basically, think about local business listings as a sort of a digital-era phonebook. Nowadays, whenever people need information on a certain kind of business, they’ll most likely look for it online. Local business listings can introduce them to a variety of companies offering the kind of service or product they need, based on the potential customers’ area.

(Via: https://www.globaltrademag.com/the-importance-of-having-local-business-listings/)

 

All Systems Go Marketing offers a wide range of digital marketing solutions perfect for your local HVAC business. Get in touch with us about your digital marketing strategy today.

Getting Results With Local SEO Find more on: All Systems Go Marketing

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/hvac-seo/getting-results-with-local-seo

What to Look Out for in Digital Marketing This 2020

Digital marketing is one of the most, if not the most dynamic sector in the larger field of marketing. Because of its close ties with and reliance on technology, any advances of the latter also means a lot of changes affecting its landscape.  Thus, there are always new techniques, trends, and tools being pioneered, which then makes digital marketing more effective in catering to the constantly developing needs of the customers. In 2020, in response to these developments, some trends are predicted to take over digital marketing.

Digital Assistants and Voice Searches Poised to Rise

Voice search and digital assistants may have been in the market for years already, but users may have been initially slow in adapting to the technology. Digital marketing industry insiders predict that 2020 will see more people warming up to them, with voice search set to make up half of all online queries.

This is because of the sense of urgency among consumers is fulfilled by voice searches. Web users, a considerable number of shoppers, expect automatic answers and have a low tolerance for anything slow. As the internet and smartphones have offered instant solutions to anything their users want, they have gotten used to this and have transferred these expectations to everything in their lives, including the need to have seamless experiences when using digital platforms.

Voice queries also affect SEO in the sense that you would need to optimize your website, so your featured snippets and zero-click searches are compatible with digital assistants like Alexa and Siri. After all, these digital assistants read back only the first entry on the search engine results page, as position zero is already occupied by rich snippets.

A study from Microsoft on consumer adoption of voice technology in 2019 shows that most people are using voice search.

Microsoft’s 2019 Voice report analyzes the adoption and usage of voice-enabled technology, such as smart speakers and digital assistants.

According to the report, 75% of households will have at least one smart speaker by 2020.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/72-of-people-have-used-voice-search-through-a-digital-assistant-in-2019/304781/)

 

Video is the King of Kings

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d most probably heard of the industry catchphrase, “Content is king.” So, the next question is, what is the most popular form of content, which is, therefore, the king of content? The answer is video.

Videos have steadily ascended into popularity, thanks to social media platforms Facebook, YouTube, and over the past year, Instagram (which also happens to be under the Facebook umbrella). With so many products of these companies including video elements, video as a form of content will only get bigger in 2020. HubSpot revealed that in a study, close to 50% of its users prefer to get video content from the digital marketing efforts of the companies they follow.

According to a research study from Common Sense Media, more than twice as many young people watch videos every day as did four years ago, while the average time spent watching videos—primarily on YouTube—has roughly doubled, to an hour a day. Video's popularity has exploded, while text takes a back seat. It is increasingly obvious in the industry that text-based content is saturated, and that if a company isn't willing to give it at least one year and invest considerable amounts, they shouldn't spend much time on traditional Google based SEO.

(Via: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/untapped-territory-youtube-google-search-130000757.html)

It’s Not Only Likes and Shares for Social Media Anymore

While it used to be that social media is primarily for networking, telling the rest of the world how fabulous your life is, and secretly getting jealous of vacation and wedding pictures invading your feed, other activities such as shopping, playing games, and watching live events have also become possible. Thus, it is not surprising anymore that digital marketers must step up their social media strategy or they might get left behind.

Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook already host virtual shops where users can purchase items. Thus, companies can now incorporate these online stores to their social media profile. With the rise of social (media) commerce, shopping has become easier and more convenient, with fewer steps, a faster checkout procedure, and decreased chances of lost or abandoned transactions.

In recent years, social media analytics has witnessed widespread adoption due to its ability to drive business performance in key areas that make an impact. With businesses increasingly relying on data from social platforms to make key decisions, there is a growing need to deploy the right analytics tools and solutions to analyze and draw insights from the data. By leveraging advanced social media analytics solutions and tools, business leaders can mine social data and apply insight to drive their marketing and customer management efforts.

(Via: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200221005008/en/Social-Media-Analytics-Boost-Marketing-Performance-Customer)

 

For your online marketing needs, trust All Systems Go Marketing to support you. Get in touch with us about your digital marketing strategy today.

What to Look Out for in Digital Marketing This 2020 Find more on: ASGM

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/hvac-seo/what-to-look-out-for-in-digital-marketing-this-2020

What’s Ahead in Facebook Marketing

These days, a lot of people have already shunned Facebook, opting to deactivate or delete their accounts.  Whether it’s either because of fear that personal data on Facebook is not secure anymore or because of Facebook’s ruined reputation with its ties to Cambridge Analytica that has made it a major purveyor of fake news, it feels like the era of being considered cool if you have a Facebook account is already a thing of the past.

But then, among social advertisers, Facebook is still considered the best platform to put your digital marketing efforts in. It has become essential for marketing strategies to include Facebook, or they would miss a lot of potential customers. Moreover, businesses are willing to pay top dollar in Facebook advertising. After all, customers being acquired through organic means is virtually impossible already, having been taken over by paid and boosted advertising.

Thus, in 2020, despite the Facebook backlash, businesses realize that a solid Facebook plan is still important, perhaps more important than ever before. To help those who are still doing so, here are some trends that are seen to affect Facebook marketing in 2020.

The rising cost of Facebook ads

Truth be told, most businesses can still afford Facebook ads. However, it should be noted that every year, the cost of these ads has steadily risen. Unfortunately, the law of supply and demand has tipped towards the social media giant’s favor, as the number of advertisers has risen in the millions for the past couple of years, despite user account figures appearing flat in the US. As a business, Facebook must capitalize on this rise in advertising businesses, thus the more expensive ads.

However, there may be some strategies to lower FB ad costs:

Understanding how Facebook works is the first step to reduce your Ad spend. Knowing your customer comes close second. So, now that you have a fair understanding of how Facebook charges for advertising, what can you do about it?

(Via: https://www.business2community.com/facebook/marketing-on-a-budget-heres-8-ways-to-lower-facebook-ad-costs-02278800)

The rise of AI, AR, and automation

The past few years have seen Facebook putting a load of investments in artificial intelligence (AI) that aims to o help develop advertising performance on their platform. Also, Facebook has introduced Augmented Reality Ads, allowing users to “experience” things while viewing ads. US users have been known to be very interested in augmented reality, which presents a great opportunity for advertisers.

It looks like Facebook is doubling up its efforts to be an authority in AR with its acquisition of a British company.

Facebook Inc. reportedly has acquired London computer vision startup Scape Technologies Ltd. in an apparent move to build out its augmented reality capabilities.

(Via: https://siliconangle.com/2020/02/09/facebook-acquires-computer-vision-startup-scape-technologies/)

Facebook gets serious on mobile

According to Facebook, a bulk of its ad revenue is from mobile advertising, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise that the company will put more effort into (and tied to the first point, also try to get a bigger ROI) mobile ads. Mobile ads only contain a URL and headline without a description as desktop ads have.

And it seems the social media giant's efforts are rewarded, with ad revenue increasing to record numbers, thanks to mobile advertising.

Last year, the company said that about 94% of its total ad revenue came from mobile devices, underscoring its near-total dependence on smartphone advertising.

(Via: https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/facebooks-ad-revenue-rises-25-to-record-207b/571362/)

Ads from the News Feed to Stories

Since Facebook started its prominence in social media marketing, its News Feed has always been where its ads get rolled out. However, with the rise of its Stories feature, it seems that the platform will also be putting ads on that, for good reason: 500 million Facebook account holders use Facebook stories. It will not really be a shock if Facebook will encourage more businesses to post ads on Facebook Stories, and advertisers are expected to hot on this trend’s trail.

Ads that are designed specifically to the Stories format are performing better – simply running your news feed ads, or cuts from your TVC assets, in Stories won’t bring you the best results. Visually engaging ads enable brands to tell their story in a more expressive manner, capturing and holding the attention of today’s easily distracted consumer.

(Via: https://www.clickz.com/story-ads-are-creating-new-opportunities-for-advertisers-but-what-makes-a-good-story/260033/)

 

For assistance with Facebook marketing, trust All Systems Go Marketing to support you. Get in touch with us about your digital marketing strategy today.

 

 

The following post What’s Ahead in Facebook Marketing is republished from All Systems Go Marketing Blog

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/social-media/whats-ahead-in-facebook-marketing

Don’t Forget These Important SEO Factors

Do you still remember a time when search engine optimization or SEO meant publishing lots of articles with your targeted keywords present in each sentence? You may cringe at the thought, but yes, it wasn’t really long time ago when company blogs and websites would be filled with content of questionable quality and don’t have a lot of substance. And guess what? A lot of companies pinned a lot of their hopes on this kind of content, expecting their search engine rankings to be on the high end.

Of course, these days, those strategies don’t have a chance of working, as SEO has evolved into a dynamic combination of science and art. Digital and online marketers are now required to understand the factors that directly affect rankings in search engines, prioritize the intent of search engine users, and publish only content that attracts both users and search engine algorithms with high quality and value.

These days, to rank high and above the competition, you need to understand that search engines consider particular factors as they evaluate and rank a site’s content. Let’s talk about the most important of these factors: content, links, and site structure.

Content still rules

Perhaps one of the most common adages attributed to digital marketers is “Content is king.” That line turned from expert opinion to a commandment in 2011, when Google rolled out its algorithm update named Panda. During that update, Google declared that from then on, content will be the primary factor they will consider when ranking websites. Any piece of content to be published online, in whatever form it will be in, should have depth about a specific topic, should be written well, and provide value to the person reading it.

Optimizing content during creation is done by ensuring that your content is audience-centric and follows the recommendations laid out in the previous section.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-101/content-important-seo/)

How are your links?

There was also a time in SEO’s 20+ year history when it was all about links. All efforts were exerted to make sure a site has loads of links, as it is deemed that the more links a site contains, the more important it is.  That practice has experienced minute changes, because as it was before, links are still counted, like votes in an election.

However, site rankings are now affected by the quality of links being used for the purposes of ranking. Thus, now it’s not just all about the number of links, but the quality – relevance, meaning – of these links to where they are linked to.  After all, search engines have also utilized link ranking, a method of ranking links where their relevance and popularity are measured accurately.  Thus, practitioners of old habits like stuffing links to their sites for the sole purpose of having an inflated number of links can suffer from link rot.

Link rot is two things:

1. The natural disappearance of links.

All links eventually disappear. This happens when publishers update a website.

2. A gradual reduction of link power that every link undergoes.

New pages push older pages away from the home page, reducing link power.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/link-rot-solutions/349270/)

Site Structure

With most SEO efforts exerted on researching and targeting the best keywords, other considerations such as the structure of the website take a backseat. However, it should be noted that website structure should not be ignored, as it greatly affects SEO. But to be clear, a website’s structure is NOT about how it is designed or how it appears physically, but rather on how its individual pages are arranged and inked. The organization of the pages should be in a way that must make it easy for both Google (and other search engines) and users to navigate the website. Site structure also includes the structure of your pages’ URL, as events such as renaming, rebranding, or site revamp or migration can affect this.

The most common reason to change the structure of your URLs is during a company rebranding, site migration or redesign where some site defining element like domain name, product types, topical focus, or platform changes no longer allows you to keep the same URLs.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/changing-url-structure/325249/)

 

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.

The article Don’t Forget These Important SEO Factors is available on https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/hvac-seo/dont-forget-these-important-seo-factors

There’s More to Online Marketing Than Facebook and Google

Let’s admit it: In the world of online marketing, only two names are really being given all the attention and effort: Google and Facebook. Because of the popularity of these two platforms, it seems that businesses have already focused all their resources on them. But we should note that while investing a lot of marketing effort on Facebook and Google will reward you, you can look beyond the two as there are other platforms where you can possibly find success with your digital marketing efforts.

You might wonder, “Well, I should only focus on productive pursuits, so why really bother with other platforms when Facebook and Google are already sure wins and I’m in the dark of what will happen if I invest in other platforms?” But then, you also need to consider that potential customers may see ads on those other networks and not be part of the usual Facebook and Google crowd. Thus, you may be successful in increasing awareness of your brand when people see you in other locations of the world wide web.  Let’s check on these other alternatives.

Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft may be a household name when it comes to computers, but its online products are not that successful. Bing, Skype, and Edge nay be known to a lot of people, but it ends there as brand awareness doesn’t really equate to a lot of use. Microsoft Advertising used to be known as Bing Ads is a surefire way to reach people who are more loyal to MS’s search engine Bing than to the dominant Google Chrome. What’s more, running ads on Microsoft Advertising will also allow your ads to be seen on AOL and Yahoo.

What’s great about Microsoft Advertising as well is that it’s not too difficult to use, especially if you’re already familiar with Google AdSense.

Microsoft Advertising search ads might look similar to Google Ads, but it’s important to remember the differences.

(Via: https://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/3-major-differences-between-google-ads-and-microsoft-advertising-02281540)

 

Amazon

If you don’t know yet, Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer. If you have a business, you can use the Amazon platform to sell your products, as well as run ads of them. The platform is brimming with sellers that may most likely sell similar products or services like yours, and you can distinguish yourself from the competition by running Amazon ads.

However, it’s no longer the case that Amazon advertisers are focused entirely on direct response goals, and marketers should be looking at the brand-building potential across both display and search ads in order to get the most out of the platform.

(Via: https://searchengineland.com/the-importance-of-building-brand-awareness-through-amazon-advertising-328791)

Quora

You might be wondering what a question and answer forum are doing here as a platform you should consider for online marketing. For those unfamiliar, Quora is similar to Reddit or Yahoo and Google Answers in the sense that people who have questions (about anything, really) log on to the website, ask their question and wait until other people who may have more knowledge about the subject answer. All answered are posted, although one answer will be given the spotlight as the “Best Answer” and will usually appear directly below the question, making it easy to find.

You can advertise on Quora as it allows you to do so, and you can run your ad along with questions that may be related to your business.

Quora last month launched a new beta with Lead Gen Forms Ads, enabling advertisers to gain leads directly on Quora’s platform. Quora Lead Gen Forms information is delivered via a downloadable CSV in Ads Manager within 180 days, or it automatically adds each new lead into advertiser’s CRM. Quora also has an integration with Zapier.

(Via: https://ppc.land/quora-launches-lead-gen-forms-ads/)

AdRoll

One of AdRoll’s features is IntentMap, which follows 1.2 billion shopper profiles. These shopper profiles contain trillions of intent data points through which IntentMap makes daily AI predictions totaling over 80 million. With IntentMap, potential shoppers are being “encouraged” to convert from being shoppers to actual buyers. Businesses can also run ads and launch email campaigns and online promos.

Since those humble beginnings AdRoll has grown into a much more sophisticated, AI-powered, big data company. But regardless of its new size and sophistication, AdRoll is still about helping marketers advertise and win new customers.

(Via: https://instapage.com/blog/how-to-use-adroll)

Taboola

Taboola is different from other platforms named earlier in the sense that it’s a native advertising platform. What this means is that Taboola allows you to promote content on other blogs, with the ad looking like the content of the website it is run on.  Although there is a disclaimer that your content is an ad, most people don’t mind it as they usually click on the link. And in a recent development, Taboola has merged with another native advertising platform, Outbrain.

Digital advertising platforms Taboola and Outbrain are merging to create a bigger competitor to Facebook and Google

(Via: https://www.adnews.com.au/news/taboola-and-outbrain-merge-to-take-on-facebook-and-google)

 

If your HVAC business is interested in advertising outside Google and Facebook, All Systems Go Marketing is a one-stop-shop for all your online marketing needs. Get in touch with us about your digital marketing strategy today.

There’s More to Online Marketing Than Facebook and Google See more on: http://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/social-media/theres-more-to-online-marketing-than-facebook-and-google

What’s Up With SEO in 2020

It has been known for quite some time now, but now, it is a sure thing – SEO and algorithm changes rolled out by search engines can spell a huge difference among companies and their performance. With more marketing efforts now being implemented online, digital is not just an afterthought or a value-added service, but a crucial factor that has separated more successful companies from the struggling ones.

This was proven true in 2019 when ASOS went from being one of the most profitable online fashion websites to experiencing close to a 90% drop in profits after launching a rousingly wrong move in digital marketing. The company in April 2019 launched 200 versions of its website to suit the shopper’s location. While this move was seen by the company as positive as it was supposed to make the visitor’s experience more customized, it clashed with Google’s efforts to combine its display results. Users did not also appreciate their time in their localized sites, causing them to spend only a short amount of time in them, which in turn, also made Google rank ASOS sites lower in their results. This should serve as a lesson to websites to be keen in the direction Google takes.

For 2020, here are some developments digital marketers should pay close attention to:

Mobile pages need to speed it up

Searches done on mobile devices have reached peaks of popularity. Most internet users do more searches with smartphones and tablets compared to laptops and desktops. This shift in popularity may also be attributed to Google’s push to improve the load speed of mobile sites.  Thus, it is expected that page load speed’s significance as a ranking factor will continuously rise in 2020.

Page load speed is a Google ranking factor – and since it’s using a mobile-first algorithm, we know that mobile load speed is what matters.

It’s important, but note that your page load speed is really only going to affect your rankings if you’re in the bottom range.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/semrush-guide-to-mobile-seo/344365/)

 

Do you know BERT?

Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, otherwise known by its acronym BERT, uses machine learning to improve Google’s comprehension of the what the user thinks of when he or she does ambiguous or complex queries to the search engine. BERT went live in October 2019 in the US and will be rolled out to other areas and in other languages in 2020 and is expected to have an effect on page ranking and other items such as the quality of snippets, excerpts, and other information that is displayed on Google’s SERP.  BERT is set to benefits websites with high quality, detail-rich content of their products and services.

Currently, BERT only analyzes search queries, not websites. However, the update may have a major impact on how your site ranks for certain keywords. Because the algorithm is better able to understand the specific meaning of each word in a search, the top results will be closely related to the intent behind the search.

(Via: https://www.business2community.com/seo/how-does-googles-bert-algorithm-update-affect-your-websites-seo-02284305)

 

SERPs to be more important

All companies in the know have been trying to beef up “dwell time,” or the time visitors spend on a particular platform. With so much content offerings and diversification, some of the internet’s biggest names such as Google and Facebook have made drastic moves to ensure that their users can get whatever it is they look for on their sites and never leave. But then, Google is at an advantage in the sense that since everyone wants to rank on their site, it can dictate and implement its whims to the sites that do not have much of a choice but follow.

Since 2019, Google has tried to integrate more third-party content directly in their search engine results pages (SERPs). While it used to be that simple links appear in the results pages, there are now maps, snippets, graphs, videos, and images as well. This has resulted in users not having to click on through a website of a brand, as they may have already seen what they’re looking for in Google’s SERP.

The SERPs determines how your site appears on Google’s first page.

For example, let’s say you rank your site on the first page of Google for the keyword “how to start a website”.

That’s great… until you see that SERP features push the #1 result to well below the fold.

(Via: https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/serps)

 

Does your website EAT?

Finally, E-A-T, which stands for Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness is also expected to play a bigger role in search engine ranking. With the ongoing evolution of Google’s core algorithm, websites that involve content from experts with the greatest authority will surely be highlighted by Google as those that will satisfy the needs of the user the best.

Google uses a variety of signals as a proxy to match what humans are looking for, and in that regard, E-A-T is a ranking factor, Slegg said. However, Google does not assign pages an E-A-T score — it is simply a term Google created to teach quality raters what to look for

(Via: https://searchengineland.com/a-quick-guide-to-understanding-googles-quality-rater-guidelines-329501)

 

If your company needs support in rolling put effective SEO strategies, All Systems Go Marketing provides solutions to all your digital marketing challenges. Get in touch with us about your digital marketing strategy today.

What’s Up With SEO in 2020 is republished from www.allsystemsgomarketing.com

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/hvac-seo/whats-up-with-seo-in-2020

How Lead Generation Works

The Internet is a vast wealth of resources that serves different purposes. Whether you browse for leisure or to earn a living, there is so much potential from the web where you can tap different niches for a profit. While social media marketing is a hot topic right now in the business world and being exploited by just about anyone, the first thing that can make or break any marketing efforts online is generating leads.

Lead generation is the act or process of determining and cultivating a possible target market for specific goods or services. A classic example of not making use of lead generation is the annoying cold-calling phone telemarketers who disrupt our day or night with their monotonous pitches. Other times these telemarketers directly call businesses and reach out to a qualifying point of contact, which is very much different from cold calling where you just dial a number and try your luck after speaking with the person. In lead generation, although you are calling people out of the blue, their names and information have been supplied to you after some surveys or such where these people expressed interest in a category where your business fits in.

The ultimate success of any business to business (B2B) marketing strategy or program revolves around lead generation. How many new qualified leads resulted from your marketing efforts? How much did it cost to generate each new qualified lead?

Qualified means the prospect is genuinely interested in your business, wants more information on your solutions and expects to make a purchase soon.

Every B2B marketer continually looks for innovative, lead generation approaches. The challenge comes from finding the right combination of campaigns that produce the greatest number of qualified leads at the lowest cost.

And when you ask the experts what strategy in generating leads works best, these are the answers:

Which Lead Generation Strategies Work Best?

In multiple studies, these inbound strategies consistently rank near the top regarding generating quality B2B leads:

• Email Marketing

• Content Marketing

• Search Marketing

• Social Marketing

(Via: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2017/04/06/lead-generation-tips-from-a-pro.html)

So, what are the elements that constitute a great lead generation? After all, you should have some sort of a plan before doing anything else, right?

To understand lead generation, it’s important to first understand the mechanics of the lead generation process. The best lead generation campaigns contain either one or all of the following components. From a tactical perspective, a marketer needs four crucial elements to make inbound lead generation happen.

These components include an offer, a call-to-action, a landing page and a form.

An offer

Firstly, you need something of high value to offer your audience. Your offer needs to be not only informative but of interest to your specific audience; you need them to want to download it.

A call-to-action

A call-to-action (CTA) can be text, an image or a button linking directly to a landing page for people to easily find and download your offer. 

A Landing page

A landing page is different to your other web pages. A landing page is a specialised page that contains information about one particular offer and includes a form for the user to fill in to access the offer itself. 

A form

As we’ve mentioned above, your form will sit on your landing page. The information you’re asking for in your form should reflect the perceived value of the download. Try and keep the form as short as possible.

(Via: https://www.hitsearchlimited.com/news/what-are-the-4-elements-of-lead-generation-id0530)

Now that you have a plan in place, how can you ensure that you’ll be able to generate successful leads that can elevate your business and your profits?

Make a plan. Every lasting change begins with a plan, and a plan is often the result of a vision. When you visualize your success and the life you want to lead, you can outline your plan and set yourself up for success.

Track your activities. Tracking holds you accountable and allows you to stay consistent. When you work to regularly track your activities—whether it’s in your CRM or on your calendar—it’ll eventually become second nature. 

Change takes time, so be patient and keep working toward adopting this successful habit.

(Via: http://rismedia.com/2017/04/06/secret-successful-lead-generation/#close)

Businesses make use of lead generation in various ways and they have all been proven to deliver varying levels of success depending on how well you executed your plan. And the best thing about this is that you need not do the actual generation yourself because many companies offer to do it for you at a set price depending on how much data you want and the extent of lead generation involved. If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a try and realize your business’ fullest potential that you won’t be able to achieve if you just rely on your product or service to speak for itself.

The post How Lead Generation Works is available on https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/content-marketing/how-lead-generation-works

Traveling Made Easy With Google Maps

Traveling has never been easier than it is now, with technology to save you from every possible mishap along the ways. From planning to your actual travel and until you get back home, you can do your research online without even requiring the services of a professional travel agent. You can book your plane flight online, or perhaps a cruise ship tour, a train ride, etc., you can do it all from the comfort and convenience of your smart gadget. Even booking your hotel or Airbnb accommodation can be done in a snap. As a result, you get to save lots of money you can spend on something else.

One of the most popular travel buddies right now is Google Maps since you can easily travel foreign countries with its help. Wherever you are in the world, you can count on Google Maps to help you get to your destination in the fastest and safest manner. This web-mapping service offered by no other than Google makes way for faster and easier navigation. It features streets maps, satellite imagery, and even 360° panoramic view of streets so you know exactly what to look for when you get to your destination.

Perhaps more than any other innovation-in-your-pocket, Google Maps has changed the way people travel. As long as you're connected to the Internet (and, with a little forethought, even if you aren't) you can't get lost anywhere, and loads of people use the review feature to find bars, restaurants, or shops to explore. But what happens when you zoom out—like waaay out? Well, the feature still works, even on the continental level. That's right, you can review and rate all 17.2 million square miles of Asia, if you please. And plenty of people have. Here are some of the most entertaining reviews of all seven continents.

(Via: http://www.cntraveler.com/story/google-maps-reviews-of-entire-continents-are-bizarre-and-hilarious)

Google maps first came to be as a tool to help people navigate the world especially busy city streets and even the suburbs to rural areas. But today, you can even review oceans and continents with its help.

You can find virtually anything on Google, and it appears that now includes reviews for Earth’s continents and oceans.

Ever wondered what the internet thinks about the entire continent of Europe? North America? What about the Atlantic Ocean?

Well if you look up these locations on Google Maps you can now find some helpful reviews and star ratings. I use the term “helpful” somewhat loosely, because users are having more fun with this bizarre feature than anything.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-maps-now-lets-review-continents-oceans/193511/)

However, the threat of coming across fake businesses and get scammed is possible as the discovery was made that Google Maps contain fake listings. Although the number is not that high, there is still a slim possibility that you end up with these fake listings and get hurt or scammed in the process. Why does Google allow this thing to happen, if indeed proven true?

Google announced last week that they had recently conducted a study to research the actors behind fake listings on Google Maps.

The study points out that “geographic proximity is the coin of the emerging localized-search realm,” which matches what I observed with the Possum update in 2016. This major algorithm update was responsible for making proximity to the searcher the #1 ranking factor for local search. This drives up the incentive for companies to create fake listings, since they need more “locations” in order to monopolize the search results and maximize exposure.

There were some things I saw in the study that were very helpful to know:

• Most of the listings that got suspended were in India and the United States (74 percent of all the listings observed in this study).
• 40.3 percent of the listings were in industries that are on-call, like plumbers, locksmiths and electricians.
• 54 percent of the suspensions in the United States were in the following six states: California, New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois and New Jersey, while these states only account for 39.9 percent of the population.

The study also looked at listings that were suspended due to marketing companies abusing the verification process and obtaining ownership of the listing without the consent of the business owner. This happens a lot in the restaurant industry, where marketing companies will create a copy of the business website and put a booking/ordering link on it, then charge the business owner for all orders placed via their system. They then take ownership of the listing via Google My Business, and the business owner is stuck paying for transactions from any customer finding their local listing on Google.

(Via: http://searchengineland.com/google-really-keeping-fake-listings-off-google-maps-272913)

The statistics from this research is somewhat dubious considering Google only looked at suspended listings and haven’t gotten to the bottom of it yet. The best thing one can do is exercise extra caution when using Google Maps especially when looking up a particular restaurant since most fake listings concentrated on this industry. But this is a serious concern that Google need to look into deeper along with representatives from the restaurant business who are often the victim here. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier and not expose us to unnecessary threats we are not yet ready to deal with. Knowing Google, they will do their best to settle this issue once and for all and bring back the lost trust of the people that were already affected.

Meanwhile, you can still rely on good old Google map to take you places without the fear of every getting lost again. Go to uncharted places and discover new towns and cities you've only heard about in books or seen on TV. Experience life first hand and reward yourself with the gift of travel and all those memorable experiences that will last you a lifetime.

Traveling Made Easy With Google Maps is republished from All Systems Go Marketing

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/social-media/traveling-made-easy-with-google-maps

It’s The Quality Of The Content That Counts

The Internet is littered with various type of contents that sifting through its long list of website and posts may look like an impossible task to the untrained eye. Fortunately, search engines, especially Google, have developed a method in classifying and ranking these contents, so that web users can find related posts to the keywords they have typed in the search box.

For your business to stand out amidst the competition, it has to have that wow factor and meet specific requirements in order to rank first. You can’t just expect to rank high in search engines if your content sounds rubbish and lacks substance. While you are not expected to write poetic and classic pieces like literary masters do, the content you post should be at least creative and engaging enough aside from containing relevant and useful information in your field.

No matter what kind of marketer you are, content matters.

The reasons for this are manifold. Yes, there’s content marketing, which has long been called the “new black” in the marketing arsenal. Content marketing has risen to prominence for a slew of very, very good reasons. It’s customer-centric, rather than sell-centric. It’s about you rather than me, and it’s the marketing of attraction rather than interruption.

Content has also become popular due to the democratization of media. Everyone can do it (though doing it well is another story entirely). Blog? Podcast? Video? All you have to do is own a phone.

Media channels are flooded with content, especially social media. Can you imagine what these platforms would be like without any content in it? And when browsing through your newsfeed, the thing you least like is reading about fakes news or lousy content that shouts spam. You don’t want to waste your time on these clickbait contents. Modern consumers want to read about something informational, where they end up one information smarter than they did before opening that link.

Content isn’t just for marketers. Content originates across the organization, primarily in public-facing functions such as sales, HR, customer service, product development and in the executive suite.

The culture of content is arising not just because brands are publishers, but because employees are publishers, too. Some will shrug this off this as noise rather than signal, but the proliferation of channels, platforms and devices is further enabling employees to speak on behalf of the brand.

Add to that requests from teams in social media, sales, thought leadership, real-time marketing, recruitment and customer service, and the demand has never been higher for continual content creation, refinement, repurposing and reformatting.

Content can help elevate numerous functions, from social selling to diverting calls from a call center to most cost-efficient digital channels. Smart organizations evangelize this message for cost savings, employee empowerment, thought leadership and other benefits.

(Via: http://marketingland.com/content-matters-no-matter-type-marketer-217413)

The contents your brand post speak a lot about your company and people will base their opinions depending on the message you communicate to them.

Online contents also reach a global audience. Your content should be friendly enough that people of all walks of life and nationalities can relate to or at least target a specific industry or niche and try to build your expertise so people listen (or read, in this case) everything you talk about something in that field.

Brands are no longer merely peddling products, Ané Honiball reckons. They’re producing, unearthing and distributing information.

Do you remember the big hoo-ha years ago about subtle product placement in movies or on TV? Well, the big shift from traditional to native content is no surprise, really, given the fact that gripping content is hugely effective in adding value to the user experience.

We’re seeing everyday how cleverly designed content marketing strategies morph into powerful relationship building and brand positioning tools. It’s a great way to take businesses – both large and small – to the next level. Brands are no longer merely peddling products; they’re producing, unearthing, and distributing information.

(Via: http://themediaonline.co.za/2017/06/is-content-marketing-the-new-black-with-brands-becoming-content-publishers/)

It’s all about the user experience now. Consumers don’t just buy things or avail of services because that’s what they see on ads but more so because they benefit from these brands. Consumers support a brand they believe in, and they can only learn more through quality content a brand posts about their products and the mission and vision of the company.

It’s like hitting two birds with one stone actually. Aside from ranking high on search engines and be seen by your consumer-base, engaging and quality content helps you streamline your traffic so you target the right people with your posts and most likely make a sale after or change their perception about your brand for the better. If you think about it, there is so much more to quality content especially that so much in the world has gone digital. People check the web first for many of their needs, which is why taking the time in crafting contents that stand out from the rest and really speak about your brand is a great investment over time.

It’s The Quality Of The Content That Counts was originally seen on www.allsystemsgomarketing.com

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/content-marketing/its-the-quality-of-the-content-that-counts

Google: Modern Digital Spy

We all value our privacy. Of course, who wants to get all their garbage exposed for the entire world to know? But sorry to burst your bubble because you have been spied on for a long time now without you knowing. Sorry to break the news to you if you don’t know about it yet. But can you help it if you just love the web? It almost has all the answers you are looking for and best of all, you can have it in an instant. Google Chrome is perhaps the best search engine there is mainly because Google has crafted various related services that make life a breeze and it’s so easy to use too. It contains millions of articles and links that people may find useful in their daily lives.

Unfortunately, this beloved browser is hiding a deep dark secret. It’s been spying on us all along. For the past 18 years that Google has been around, it has taken note of all your Google searches – yes, all. It remembers all the things you’ve asked Google for, even those naughty questions you are too embarrassed to ask another person, even to a doctor. It’s really scary to have all your deepest darkest secrets archived by no other than a tech giant like Google who won’t have second thoughts of selling it to third parties if the price is right.

During the hoo-ha, one of the spooks with whom I discussed Snowden’s revelations waxed indignant about our coverage of the story. What bugged him (pardon the pun) was the unfairness of having state agencies pilloried, while firms such as Google and Facebook, which, in his opinion, conducted much more intensive surveillance than the NSA or GCHQ, got off scot free. His argument was that he and his colleagues were at least subject to some degree of democratic oversight, but the companies, whose business model is essentially “surveillance capitalism”, were entirely unregulated.

He was right. “Surveillance”, as the security expert Bruce Schneier has observed, is the business model of the internet and that is true of both the public and private sectors. Given how central the network has become to our lives, that means our societies have embarked on the greatest uncontrolled experiment in history. Without really thinking about it, we have subjected ourselves to relentless, intrusive, comprehensive surveillance of all our activities and much of our most intimate actions and thoughts. And we have no idea what the long-term implications of this will be for our societies – or for us as citizens.

(Via: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/18/google-not-gchq--truly-chilling-spy-network)

Although it is quite a common knowledge today that we are being watched online, some are still oblivious to this chilling fact. Billions type in questions on Google on a daily basis. The same can be said for the billions of Facebook users who log in daily to their SNS accounts. All your queries, likes, comments, posts, etc. all leave a digital footprint that people inside the organization can use to their advantage, whether to be sold to third-party businesses for instance or even tapped by the government for information during disasters or terror attacks.

Google claims it wants to help you in every way possible. They are a search engine, a smart thermostat, a map, a video site, a place to create content and socialize and much more.

The list goes on and on with what they do and offer based on their many acquisitions.

What they don’t tell you in any way obvious, is that they scan every slice of Google that you use. All that information . . . becomes part of your “permanent record.” They argue it’s useful in order to customize your experience.

Google is doing everything they can to subvert your right to be forgotten. They seem to know literally everything you’re doing and what the temperature in your house is.

Remember, this is the same Google that was fined millions of dollars by several different countries when they literally stole IP addresses and WiFi passwords from citizens’ homes as they drove by in their quest to map the world. By this time we are all exhausted by the mind-numbing targeted ads and content we receive. Who is that really useful to? To them of course.

(Via: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/what-yahoo-hack-taught-facebook-9205897)

In reality, spying has been a part of Google’s plan all along. It has worked like a data vacuum alongside Facebook and many others in compiling personal data and browsing habits of consumers either to be sold to data brokers, businesses, and even the government for a profit. Every single one of your searches is added to your permanent online dossier and the list just adds up as you continue to use these platforms today, tomorrow, and in the future.

The only way to fight this practice is to walk away from it all. But then, can you really do it in a world that is quickly becoming digital in all aspects as the days go by. Unless you decide to live off the grid, you need these modern conveniences as you communicate with people and basically survive. It’s a tough call, really. Your best recourse is to limit the amount of personal information you share online and never forget that you are being watched since studies show that when people know they are being observed, their behaviors change and becomes more calculated leaving you less room to make careless mistakes.

The following blog post Google: Modern Digital Spy was first seen on https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/

source https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com/content-marketing/google-modern-digital-spy

Breaking The Internet With The Help Of Social Media

We all hear the term “breaking the Internet” once in a while. That’s when someone or something does something really mind-blowing that virtually everyone on the planet who uses the web is talking about it all at the same time. Celebrities and performers are often responsible for this amazing phenomenon but it can also be other prominent figures in various niches. Some even end up as funny memes that stays on the annals of the web forever.

Aside from becoming a sensational star, you can also break the Internet as a means to promote and grow your brand. The potential is limitless if you just know how to market your brand right. And what better way to let the entire world know about your brand and what you offer through social media. SNS may have its many flaws but it proves to be a helpful tool in tapping the right market and delivering the essence of your brand. You can be all over the Internet once you capture the attention of the countless SNS users all over the globe. For instance, Facebook is not just a great platform to connect with friends but it is also a great avenue for entrepreneurs to target consumers via Facebook Ads and Facebook Retargeting.

Whether you’re building a brand on social media, marketing a business event, or campaigning for a cause, you’re fighting everyone else for space — not just your immediate competitors.

In today’s market, social media noise is a serious problem, hindering a company’s reach on the powerful marketing medium.

What’s more, today’s audience is constantly interrupted and have begun to show signs of ad aversion.

It makes perfect sense to focus a great deal of your time and effort in social media marketing because a big chunk of Internet users are on social media too. However, there are millions of competitions too for the attention of the public. Even traditional advertising is no longer that effective in promoting your brand. If you don’t know what you are doing, you might end up wasting your time, money, and effort in a fruitless endeavor that may even send you to bankruptcy.

Social networks have grown more crowded, and users’ attention spans have dramatically dropped. About three years ago, Ogilvy predicted that reach for brand content on social would eventually drop to zero.

You could rely on social media ads if it wasn’t for the surge in usage of ad blockers, or your audience telling you they hate ads.

Despite these drawbacks, several brands are managing to engage communities and drive business through social networks.

(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-media-noise/197377/)

Don’t underestimate the power of quality and straight-to-the-point content. While consumers like seeing flashy banners and logos sometimes, the new breed of consumers now also want to know more about your brand and what they can get from you before deciding to click that link to your website. If the content you post can capture the consumer’s divided attention, then you may be on to something good.

Social media has become one of the most effective marketing tools ever. It’s created an entirely new sub-genre of marketing and has become a digital publicity beast. If you’re a business owner developing a marketing strategy, including social media to boost your company’s brand awareness is a no-brainer. But before you start creating profiles for your company, you need to determine which platforms would be best to promote your brand and improve your organization’s name recognition.

When choosing the right social media channels to focus on, you should consider the type of products and services you offer as well as who your target audience is. Additionally, each platform has different groups of users characterized by certain demographics, so having a solid understanding of each channel’s reach is crucial to your overall social media strategy.

(Via: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/boost-brand-awareness-social-media-01864156#A7gI4jhffA6J87qm.97)

It’s pretty obvious that there are different types of social media platforms and it targets different demographics too. Facebook is an all-time favorite by many of all ages while LinkedIn is used sporadically by professionals when they are looking for work or needing to hire employees. Instagram focuses on the visuals and Twitter alongside the former is mainly used by older Millenials who like flaunting on social media.

The bottom line is, it’s the type of content you post that matters whenever you use social media. Creating customized content is non-negotiable knowing that various social media platforms differ. Once you understand what posts to publish in what platform, what keywords to use, etc. you won’t have a hard time breaking the web and catapulting your brand to fame and fortune, which is the reason why you are in business on the first place.

The following blog post Breaking The Internet With The Help Of Social Media is republished from www.allsystemsgomarketing.com

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