Digital Marketing Archives

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7 Essential Digital Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners

February 12, 2023/in Digital Marketing/by Allen Stafford

Audio Version — 7:55

Why is Digital Marketing Important for Small Businesses?

As a business owner, you may have pondered the question, “why is digital marketing important for small businesses?” After all, if you have a storefront, you probably assume that customers should come and buy from you. While that may be the past business model, today’s savvy small business owner needs to leverage digital marketing to take advantage of free to low-cost online tools to help drive traffic to their business.

Digital marketing is important for small businesses because it is low cost and often free. Digital marketing presents a host of tools to allow business owners to connect with customers and potential customers, communicate special offers, and measure their results in real-time, rapidly changing their advertising strategies. It’s not to say that, as a business owner, you should abandon traditional marketing strategies. However, leveraging digital marketing strategies can complement your traditional techniques and often exceed the results you would get with traditional advertising and marketing methods.

I get it; you wear many hats as a small business owner, and trying to figure out the ins and outs of the digital marketing space seems challenging enough. But trust me when I say this is crucial to running any successful business. Digital marketing can be intimidating if you need help to know where to start; for this reason, I have put together a high-level list of 7 digital marketing tips to get you on the right path in your marketing journey and increasing your business revenue.

Create a Mobile-Friendly Website

With over 6.6 billion smartphones worldwide and their continued growth, it’s crucial to ensure that you have a website optimized for mobile devices. If you have a non-mobile-friendly site, you may lose out on potential customers using their phones to browse the web and find businesses like yours.

Mobile users are often in a rush and want to save time trying to figure out how to make an online purchase or fill out an inquiry form on their phone—they’ll move on if they can’t get what they need quickly and easily. Additionally, having a mobile-friendly website can help increase click-through rates (CTRs) because users only need one tap instead of two clicks when they’re browsing using a smartphone versus a desktop computer; this makes it easier for people visiting from their phones since there aren’t any extra steps involved once they land on your site through Google or another search engine listing.

Using various tools makes it easy to check if your site is mobile-friendly. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to determine if your site is mobile-friendly; enter the URL, and the tool will tell you how responsive it is.

Optimize Your Local Listings

Getting your business listed on Google, Yelp, and other local directories is the next step in optimizing your digital marketing. It is vital to ensure the information about your company is correct (address, phone number, hours of operation).

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from working with small business owners over the years, it’s this: customers love nothing more than seeing a physical address when searching for businesses online! So make sure that if you have an office or store location, it appears prominently in all the places where people are looking for businesses like yours—including Google Maps.

Another great way to get your business in front of people is through local directories. Many are out there, including Yelp, Angie’s List, and many others. The key is to make sure that your business is listed on these sites so that when people search for things like “best day spa near me” or “best dentist in Riverside,” your business will show up!

Leverage Email Marketing to Drive Sales

Email marketing is still one of small businesses’ most effective and inexpensive digital marketing channels. It’s a great way to connect with customers, build relationships and trust, and drive sales.

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience regularly. When you send out emails that are relevant to your customers’ interests—and don’t spam them—you increase the chances that they’ll read it in their inboxes (and learn something) versus deleting it right away because they’re tired of seeing constant ads in their inboxes all day long!

Create an Online Presence with Social Media

If you’re a small business owner, social media is likely one of your best digital marketing tools for reaching new customers. It’s free to set up an account on any of the major platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter—and there are many ways you can use these channels to promote your business and engage with customers.

Social media also allows you to connect with other businesses in your industry. If they share similar goals to yours (like growing traffic), then it might make sense for both parties involved to work together on promotional, content, or advertising campaigns. By partnering together, you have the luxury of sharing audiences with the goal of gaining more followers and, ultimately, more customers.

Focus on Customer Experience and Engagement on Social Media

A fundamental way to improve your customer experience is by listening to and responding to your customers promptly. Your social media presence should reflect this and allow for interactions between you or your customer service team and your customers.

An excellent example is Amazon reviews. If someone has an issue with their purchase, they can write about it in a review they leave on the seller’s page on Amazon. Attentive sellers respond with helpful information or an apology if there is an error (like if they sent the wrong product). You can also see how companies like Apple do this—they have been known for responding fast when customers have questions about products or services offered through Apple Stores around the world.

The critical takeaway for deploying a digital marketing strategy of listening to customers through social media is that you can respond quickly—in real-time—to their concerns and work fast to solve their problems.

Engage in Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is partnering with influencers online (or offline) to promote your brand. It’s a great way to build credibility and reach new customers simultaneously, but it can be difficult for small businesses without a track record or a small budget.

To get started with influencer marketing, establish a presence on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. You need people who follow those channels for this strategy to work! Then find influencers who are active within your niche and reach out to them by commenting on their posts or asking them questions about what they like about your industry. Once you establish a relationship with the influencer, ask them if they would be interested in collaborating on something related to their interests. Most often, it’s what their social media channel is all about.

For example, let’s say you operate a day spa business and wish to increase your clientele. You already have a presence on social media and are looking to collaborate with an influencer to help grow your followers and generate new business. Your strategy to partner with a viable influencer is to seek one that frequently posts on health and beauty or meditation and mindfulness topics. However, one word of caution: influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers may cost you more than smaller (micro) influencers. It’s wise to begin with micro-influencers and move up to major influencers as you grow your business.

Use Content Marketing for that Personal Touch with Digital Marketing

In today’s digital world, there’s no doubt that content marketing is the best way to compensate for the lack of personal touch. Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to build trust and authority for your business, attract new customers and keep existing ones happy. It can help you promote your brand and educate customers about products or services they may still need to be aware of (like yours). Content marketing also helps answer customer questions about your product, services, and business.

Final Thoughts on Digital Marketing for Small Businesses

If you’re a small business owner, the world of digital marketing can be overwhelming. There are so many platforms and strategies to try that it’s easy to get overwhelmed or discouraged by all the options. But don’t worry, like riding a bike, you get up, pedal, and if you fall off, you get back up and keep going. Eventually, you’ll get the hang of it and begin to see the results of all your efforts.

You don’t need to be an expert at everything immediately; start with one thing at a time, whether building an email list or setting up Facebook ads for your store. Don’t be afraid of failure or making mistakes along the way; those experiences will only strengthen you in the long run as long as you keep moving forward with new ideas and strategies until something finally sticks (and even then, keep experimenting!).

Digital marketing is an excellent way for small businesses to reach customers and grow their businesses. However, it can be challenging to do well. Creating a successful digital marketing strategy that works for your business takes time, patience, and dedication. These seven tips will help guide you on your journey toward becoming an expert in this area!

B2B website quality ranking article image header of woman discussing web development

22 Factors that Improve Your B2B Website Quality SEO Ranking

August 23, 2021/in Digital Marketing/by Allen Stafford

Audio Version — 12:31

How do you build a high-quality B2B website according to Google?

Quality is a subjective concept. The Oxford dictionary defines quality as:

The Standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.

The definition of quality can vary from person to person, and what is quality to one person might not be for another. However, Google apparently has an opinion about what quality means to their search algorithm and how they define whether or not your B2B website can rank high in the search engine results pages (SERPS). Google determines that poor-quality websites are ranked low or not even ranked altogether, while high-quality websites and content receive a higher organic search ranking.

When Google released its Panda update in February 2011, it shook the internet. Panda was a major algorithm update that penalized low-quality websites by reducing their rankings and rewarding websites with “high-quality” content.

Google carefully guards the exact ranking signals in their algorithms to prevent people from gaming their system. However, the search engine giant has listed 22 factors that can improve the quality of a website, increasing the chances that quality websites will rank higher on SERPs than those with lower quality content. Keep in mind, though; the factors are just guidance for creating quality B2B websites and content. They are not exact measurements of Google’s algorithm.

22 Factors that Contribute to Developing Quality B2B Websites and Content

Trust

Trust is critical for getting visitors to take action on your website, whether to stay and read your content, make a purchase from your site, or return to your site. ECommerce websites are especially susceptible to building trust and credibility, given they are transactional websites and gather a person’s financial information.

With so much misinformation and disinformation available across the internet and printed media, you need to be extra vigilant when creating trustworthy content. Do you trust the content you present in your article or blog post? That’s the one question you should ask yourself when assessing your content or website for trust.

Topic Depth

Google is concerned about delivering relevant and valuable content to its readers. An excellent way to tell if an article on your website offers value is to look at its depth. In other words, is your article written by an expert or an enthusiast that knows the subject well. Or is the article written with too few facts or ideas; is the article shallow in nature?

Some B2B firms tend to lean toward the shallow side of content writing. Their business leaders or marketing managers believe that quantity is better than quality. Nothing could be further from the truth. Focus on developing articles with depth that subject matter experts write within your business or by third parties.

Duplicate or Redundant Articles

Google’s algorithm favors websites with original; articles; these websites get recognized as the first site to post the original content. Any other website that copies the content and posts will not rank for that particular article or rank very high in the SERPS.

Google also looks to see if your site has duplicate content or similar content but slightly different keywords. Google will deem any website with duplicate content or similar content but somewhat different keywords as a low-quality website.

Comfort Disclosing Financial Information

Not all transactional websites are created equal. You have probably visited a few poorly designed websites that looked a bit “shady.” You thought to yourself that there is no way you would input your credit card information to make a purchase on the website. If a website is questionable to you, leaving you reluctant to provide financial information, Google probably sees the same thing and ranks the site as low quality.

If you’re collecting visitors’ financial information to complete a transaction, be sure your website is credible. There’s nothing like arriving at a website to make a purchase to see that they have not updated any content in months; they have broken links and poorly written content.

Error-Free Content

Before the Panda release, writing blogs or content was primarily based on quantity and not quality. Blogging “experts” would state that it was okay to have a few spelling and grammatical errors in your writing, as long as you are consistent with your content postings. A lot has changed since the release of Google’s Panda. Google’s algorithm for quality website content considers such factors as spelling, style, and whether there are factual errors in your content.

If you are not sure about errors in your writing, solicit the help of an editor who can review your content before taking it live. Also, make sure that you fact-check your information because Google will penalize you for articles with factual errors.

Reader Interest Topics

When you arrive at a website, you think that the content is carefully thought out and created with the reader’s interest. Unfortunately, this is not the case with many websites.

Web admins are looking to drive traffic to their website for several reasons, and most often, it’s to lure the visitor into a page filled with ads or links to click to other websites. That is how these websites generate revenue; with ad clicks. When auditing your website for quality content, ask yourself, “is my content and articles driven by a genuine interest of my audience, or am I just generating fluff content to game the SERPs?”

Original Content

To Google, a quality website offers original content. As discussed earlier, duplicate content does not help your website rank higher. Google wants to see authentic content and information on your website. Are you offering original reporting, research, or analysis to your visitors?

Page Value Compared to Other Pages

Does your page offer substantial value compared to other pages in the search results? If you are writing about Marketing Control Tools, does your page provide more value than any other page that offers similar information? You may have to compare what other websites have posted about the topic to what you wrote.

Your page may offer a deeper insight into the topic, with interactive elements like a calculator and a downloadable supplemental document or tool, or possibly a marketing control tools forum to give readers a place to discuss the topic. All of the ideas, as mentioned earlier, add value to the user’s overall experience when looking for information on, for example, marketing control tools.

Quality Control

Do you or your marketing content team have a quality control process for reviewing your site’s articles? This concept ties back into what we’ve already discussed above, are you eliminating errors, poor grammar, and spelling. Is your article or content delivering value to your reader versus what other search results are providing?

UnBiased Article

One way to ensure that you offer valuable content is to provide at least two perspectives or sides to your writing. Articles that offer just one view are biased and can lead your site to rank lower than other sites with the same content that articulates opposing sides of the story.

Recognized Authority

Is the website a recognized authority on the written topics? That is, are you writing topics that belong on the website? For example, imagine a B2B website that is a contract manufacturer for personal care products. You should write content about personal care topics.

Suppose you are writing about topics that are not related to personal care. In that case, Google may not recognize your B2B website as an authority on the subject, thus lowering your search ranking or simply not ranking your website.

Mass-Produced Content

Some content across the internet is mass-produced or outsourced to a large number of content creators. Thus, the content spreads across an extensive network of websites, and individual web pages do not get the needed attention or care that a well-crafted document on a single website or page receives. The warning here is that your duplicate content is spread all over the internet, reducing the value for readers. Google frowns on this type of content creation behavior.

Content Editing

Is your article or content appropriately edited, or does it appear sloppy and rushed? When it comes to B2B websites and their content, many B2B marketers are concerned with just getting some content on their website, thus editing plays a backseat to their content strategy or is non-existent altogether.

To ensure that you have a fighting chance for being ranked for a higher quality B2B website, have your articles and content edited by either an in-house editor or outsource it to freelancers like those found on UpWork.com.

Recognized Authoritative Source

Google wants to know if your website is a “go-to” (authoritative) source for information. Do people in your industry or market recognize your B2B website as an authority on the subject matter? For example, if you are a logistics company and regularly post articles and content about business-to-business logistic services, are there other websites that link to your website? Do your customers (and non-customers) recognize you as an authority in logistics?

There is room for many authoritative websites across all industries. You can become an authority in your industry by posting valuable content to which other websites will want to link.

Comprehensive Topic Description

Does your content or articles present a thorough description of your topics? Again, the idea is that when posting articles on your website, are the articles complete? Do your articles or content offer insights to your readers that similar articles on competing sites in the SERPs do not?

Are your readers gaining value from visiting your site and reading the articles? Do you provide value to your readers with your writing? Keep that in the back of your mind when you are developing your content.

Beyond Obvious Information

Does your article or content provide insightful information or analysis that is beyond the obvious?

Can you begin to see the pattern in this list for developing quality B2B websites? Google wants to make sure that content creators create unique and original content that delivers value to their readers.

Page Recommendation

Would you recommend your webpage to a friend or bookmark the page for yourself? The act of sharing or bookmarking a page signifies some value in the content for the reader.

Too Many Ads

Many websites want to drive any traffic to their pages. B2B websites are no different if executed poorly. Google will recognize if an article has too many ads placed within it, causing a significant distraction for the reader.

Again, Google wants to deliver value and high quality to its readers. Pages with ads that shroud the articles do not signal quality content, but rather the opposite, as Google sees that article as bait for the ads.

Print Expectations

Would you expect to see the web article you are reading published in a credible print publication like a magazine or a book? Let’s face the fact that not everyone is a world-class writer, me included. However, you can tell if an article is suitable for print within a newspaper, magazine, or book over pieces that do not make any grammatical sense or have poor spelling.

Google is not asking you to become a published author. Again, they want websites to deliver well-written, thought-out articles that provide value.

Avoid Short, Unsubstantial Articles

Google likes long, thought-out articles that offer your readers specifics. As a B2B firm, is your content helping your readers solve challenges to their problems? Is your content delivering valuable insights into your products and how they can help your readers? If you answered no to these questions, you might want to revisit your articles to see where you can improve the ones falling short of delivering valuable insight.

Detailed Web Pages

There’s nothing more frustrating than arriving at a web page to find very little information or detail on the page that is relevant to a search query. When designing your B2B web pages, place a good amount of attention on creating detailed pages with proper navigation and valuable content.

User Complaints

Do your readers or customers complain about your webpage? Are there missing elements, poorly written content, or hard to navigate or find information? Google wants to deliver the best quality to its readers. Poor design and a lack of depth in your site’s content can turn readers away. Make sure that you create a quality B2B website that readers will want to come to, stay, and share with friends.

Conclusion

The days of simply placing anything on your website and spamming with keywords are long gone. Google emphasizes creating quality websites that deliver value to its readers. Yet, google even recognizes that assessing their algorithm for site quality is a difficult task. While it is nice to hit every one of the 22 factors above for creating a quality B2B website, keep in mind that very few websites achieve everything on the list. Instead, focus on developing unique content and delivering value with little to no page distractions, especially distractions from too many ads.

Since Google does not disclose their exact strategy for their search algorithms, they recommend following the 22 factors for developing quality B2B websites. However, Google notes that websites with several low-quality ranking pages can cause the entire website to drop in SERP rankings. The advice here is to make sure that all of your pages are delivering high-quality content.

Choosing the right social media platform article header image of social websites

Choosing the Right Social Media Platform for your Business

May 11, 2021/in Digital Marketing/by Allen Stafford

Audio Version — 8:19

The Rise of Social Media Platforms

Digital technology, devices, the surging popularity of the internet, and the human need to stay connected have given rise to many social media sites and other virtual communities over the past 20-years. Social media’s popularity continues to accelerate with no sign of slowing soon, allowing marketing professionals to connect their brands with customers.

Ninety-two percent of marketers in companies with more than 100 employees plan to use social media for marketing activities in the coming years, according to statistca.com. The current data shows that more than 91% of marketers use social media platforms to connect with customers. With so many different social media sites, the question remains, should you be on every platform, and how do you select the right social media platforms for your business?

In this article, I guide you through choosing the right social media platform for your brand and answer the age-old question of should you be on every platform, specifically, the popular ones.

When Your CEO Tells You the Company Needs to be on All Social Media Platforms

It’s a story that transcends social media itself — or it feels that way at least; your CEO walks into the marketing office and cluelessly suggests that the company should have a Twitter presence. You look perplexed, thinking to yourself that your high-target value does not congregate on the social media platform. You quizzically ask, “Why?” He responds, “Because XYZ company is on Twitter, and I think we should be too.”

The CEO exits your office, leaving you confused and bewildered. You ponder the idea of whether you should add the platform to your marketing communication mix or how you’ll inform him that you should not waste marketing resources to explore that platform.

If this scenario sounds remotely familiar, you’re not alone. I cannot tell you how many CEOs I worked with that suggested which social media platform I should direct the company to because their wife, kids, or friends suggested the social site. CEOs — or anyone for that matter — armed with just a little knowledge of social media can be and are dangerous enough to derail your marketing strategy — or stall your plans temporarily.

I am going to arm you with information for choosing the right social media platform for your company. Then you will have the necessary information to help persuade your boss why you should or should not participate in specific social media platforms, perhaps saving valuable marketing resources.

Why Marketers Use Social Media: Advantages and Challenges

Social media has proven to have advantages and challenges for marketers. Advantages include:

Social media offers a targeted and personal approach to consumers, allowing marketers to create and share tailored content with specific target audiences and communities.
It provides a channel for dialogue (complaints, compliments, and needs) between customers and the brand.
It’s immediate and timely. Marketers can reach customers anywhere and at any time, making social media indeed a global communication channel.
Social media is cost-effective compared to print or television. Small businesses can embark on a social media campaign for almost zero marketing costs.
Social media platforms are best for encouraging customer engagement and sharing, allowing marketers to expand their brand message and content through a word-of-mouth strategy.

Conversely, social media presents a few challenges for marketers. The biggest challenge is walking a fine line between promoting the brand and engaging customers with relevant content. Because consumers drive social media through their positive and negative interactions, brands need to earn the right to be on any specific platform. Marketers that jump right into social media promoting products are often met with resistance by consumers. To gain acceptance and trust amongst consumers, making them a part of the brand conversation, marketers need to produce targeted, valuable content for consumers to digest.

Before you can create valuable content, you need to know where your customers congregate online and what they value. Thus, the question remains, what are the right social media platforms for your business?

Finding the Right Social Media Platforms

Identify your key customers

Determining the right social media platform requires that you understand your audience. You need to know their likes, dislikes, needs, and where they “live” online; what social media sites they frequent. In other words, you need to identify your ideal buyers, also referred to as buyer personas.

Research the Channels Audience

If you are new to marketing or have not yet identified who your ideal customer is and where they may spend their time online, you will want to research each channel you plan on engaging. Researching each social media channel may be daunting, considering thousands of social sites exist, ranging from the mainstream ones like Facebook and LinkedIn to niché social media sites like Reddit and smaller, specialized online communities.

High-quality third-party online sources are also suitable for researching social media statistics and the types of consumers that utilize the platforms. The following are a few research websites for learning more about social media platform audiences and trends:

eMarketer. Part of Business Insider Intelligence is a research firm targeting decision-makers such as CMO’s a comprehensive source of information on operating in a digital world, offering transparently sourced and vetted data from thousands of sources.
Pew Research Center. Pew Research is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world.
Social Media Examiner. The information on this website helps businesses discover how to use social media to connect with customers, drive traffic, generate awareness, and increase sales.

Top Social Media Platforms Demographic Overview

The chart below offers a glimpse into some demographic data about the listed social media platforms. It’s an excellent place to begin your research in your potential audience demographics. However, keep in mind that to improve the success of generating a following on the social media platform, you will need to develop a few profiles of the ideal buyer (personas) to develop better content that engages your audience.

I have included several mainstream social media sites along with a few niché platforms. As a general rule, if you are unaware of what platform to start with, it’s good to craft your messages on the most popular social sites. For example, Facebook and YouTube are the most prominent social media platforms, with 81% of users stating they have used Facebook and 69% reporting using YouTube at some point, according to the Pew Research Center.

However, the top two most active social media platforms marketers use to connect and promote their businesses or products are Facebook and Instagram. Below is a list of leading social media platforms ranked according to popularity for marketers, based on the Social Media Examiner’s 2021 Industry Report. The demographic data comes from the Pew Research Center.

Social Media Demographics and Stats Chart

	Facebook	Instagram	LinkedIn	Twitter	Snapchat	YouTube	Pinterest	Nextdoor
Users	2.7B	854.5M	740M	187M	265M	2.1B	459M	27M

Adult Men	61%	36%	31%	25%	22%	82%	16%	10%
Adult Women	77%	44%	26%	22%	28%	80%	26%	16%

White	67%	35%	29%	22%	23%	79%	34%	15%
Black	74%	49%	27%	29%	26%	84%	35%	10%
Hispanic	72%	52%	19%	23%	31%	85%	18%	8%

<$30K	70%	35%	12%	12%	25%	75%	21%	6%
$30K-$49,999	76%	45%	21%	29%	27%	83%	33%	11%
$50K-$74,999	61%	39%	21%	22%	29%	79%	29%	12%
$75K+	70%	47%	50%	34%	28%	90%	40%	20%

High School or less	64%	30%	10%	14%	21%	70%	22%	4%
Some College	71%	44%	28%	26%	32%	86%	36%	12%
College +	73%	49%	51%	33%	23%	89%	37%	24%

Urban	70%	45%	30%	27%	28%	84%	30%	17%
Suburban	70%	41%	33%	23%	25%	81%	32%	14%
Rural	67%	25%	15%	18%	18%	74%	34%	2%

Data Source: Pew Research Center 4/2021

Summary

Since the explosion of the internet and digital technology, social media has gained and continues to gain popularity. The question marketers have is, should they be on all social media platforms or narrow their choices down to a few high-target value sites? Suppose your company has the resources to deploy content to all of the significant and niché social media sites. In that case, the answer is, yes, participate in all of the social platforms. However, the reality is that most firms do not have the resources and must narrow their selection down to the right social media platforms for their business and products.

Understanding who your customers are by developing two to five buyer personas can help you narrow which platform is right for your message. Targeting the different social media platforms requires research and sometimes trial and error in crafting the right message for the right audience.

African American businessman and woman looking at digital tablet

Why Traditional Marketing and Digital Marketing are the Same and Different

April 4, 2021/in Digital Marketing/by Allen Stafford

Audio Version — 5:21

Traditional and Digital Marketing are the Same

Here’s an activity to try. The next time you are in the office or socializing with friends, ask them to explain the difference between traditional marketing and digital marketing. Chances are, you will be at the receiving end of either a confused or blank stare. Then, follows either the utterance, “I do not know,” or, more likely, your co-workers or friends try to fumble through an explanation. Side note: this activity will not work effectively on an actual digital marketer or marketing professional in general.

The reality is, there is no difference between the two types of marketing. Yes, you read that correctly. There is no difference between the two types of marketing. Before you start murmuring ill-will toward me under your breath, please read on.

The American Marketing Association defines marketing:

“as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

Before we can create, communicate, and exchange offerings that bring value to customers, we need to “create” a customer. Thus, Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, profoundly stated:

“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”

Therefore, marketing (and innovation) aims to “create” a customer by creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for the customer. The only difference between the two marketing terms — traditional and digital — is the channels used to communicate, deliver, and exchange a firm’s offerings and value to the customer.

What are digital marketing channels? More specifically, what is the definition of digital, and what are the advantages of digital marketing channels over traditional marketing channels?

Digital Marketing Channels Defined and Its Advantages

Bud Caddell, a digital strategist, defines digital and its advantages for marketers as:

“a participatory layer of all media that allows users to self-select their own experiences, and affords marketers the ability to bridge media, gain feedback, iterate their message and collect relationships.”

In other words, digital offers marketers a way to understand their customers’ behavior while giving customers a path to exploring and discovering content they engage with and like.

Traditional marketing and digital marketing are no different from print, radio, or television marketing, all of which are communication channels under the marketing umbrella. Rob Stokes, an author of eMarketing, identifies two fundamental ways that differentiate digital marketing from traditional marketing.

The two fundamental differences are audience segmentation and measurability, giving digital marketing channels an attractive advantage over traditional marketing channels.

Audience Segmentation

Digital marketing channels allow marketers to precisely and frequently segment audiences in real-time. What this means for marketers using digital media is that they can make changes to their marketing campaigns and strategies almost instantaneously.

Traditional marketing channels would take much longer, if it all, to rival the speed or precise accuracy of digital marketing. Additionally, the cost of targeting and measuring traditional media channels’ effectiveness is expensive compared to its digital counterpart.

Several ways that marketers segment with digital channels include customers:

geolocation
browsing behavior
age
gender
likes (affinity group, found in google’s analytics platform)
type of digital device they use

Measurability

Digital channels also allow marketers to measure a customer’s digital journey, which includes:

What they watch.
Which web pages they visit.
Their interaction.
Their sentiments toward products and brands.

Brands can measure the success of a campaign and determine which ones performed better than others much quicker and at a fraction of the cost than traditional marketing channels.

Summary

Marketing is “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” Firms can achieve communicating their value and offerings through either traditional or digital marketing channels. Thus the two types of marketing are the same in terms of a marketings definition.

However, marketing through digital channels gives the marketer an advantage of accuracy, speed, and reduced costs over its relative, traditional media. The faster pace and accuracy allow marketers to quickly make changes in their strategy, further serving customers more accurately and at an affordable cost. Hence, the difference between the two types of marketing.

Going Viral: Five Content Categories That Increase Your Chances

April 2, 2021/in Digital Marketing/by Allen Stafford

Audio Version — 10:12

Going Viral, the New Black

Marketers and brand executives dream of taking their content viral, infecting viewers with their messages in hopes of gaining market share, brand recognition, and hours of free advertising.

Marketers learned that digital video and other digital content are an alternative to traditional media at tremendous savings after Evian Water posted their Babies Rollerblade video online. According to research conducted by the author of the book Viral Marketing: The Science of Sharing, Karen Nelson-Field, the video became a viral sensation garnering millions of views in the United States and globally,

The 2009 Evian Babies video opened the doors for marketers exposing the reality that viral video success is attainable, but with the right mix of content.

What Does Going Viral Mean?

Nelson-Field points out, in her book, that millions of videos get produced and uploaded annually, yet not all videos or digital content go viral. There are more viral losers, so to speak, than viral winners.

Defining viral is not an easy task. There is no set number of content-shares or specific views determining if one content is more viral than another. Even videos that gain tens of thousands of views in their first few hours of uploading and then dwindle are still considered viral videos. Because going viral is an enigmatic concept, I offer a broad definition of viral:

“The frequent sharing of content, still image or video, that spreads rapidly through a population of unique individuals.”

One thing is for sure, Nelson-Field points out, going viral requires content to be engaging. In an earlier article, Creating Engaging Videos and Their Optimal Lengths, I touched on the topic of what makes videos engaging and how high-engagement correlates with increased chances of going viral. Content, specifically video content, that elicits high positive arousal-emotions outperforms all other emotions. Content that evokes exhilaration with positive high-arousal emotions exceeds videos with just high-arousal emotions, according to Nelson-Field. Additionally, her findings show that videos that are high-arousal, positive, and demonstrate personal triumph are likelier to deliver shared success.

However, be aware of negative, high-arousal content. As discussed in my earlier article, content that incites negative emotions gets shared. Nelson-Fields’ research demonstrates high-arousal negative emotions go viral. However, the negative video’s impact is unknown to brands. Brands that decide to experiment with high-arousal negative content need to tread lightly as the negativity could harm their brand image. See the Research Highlights section below for some of Nelson-Field’s viral marketing research findings.

Content Categories That Increase Your Chances of Going Viral

While there is no magic formula for making your content go viral, we have learned that high-arousing positive emotions that evoke exhilaration have a high probability of going viral. Additionally, video content that demonstrates personal triumph has a higher chance of being shared over other creative content.

Since not all content becomes viral content and that most brands do not necessarily focus on delivering high-arousing positive content, other avenues can help take your content to the next level and increase the likelihood of getting shared. As Nelson-Fields points out from her viral marketing research, less contagious videos can be winners as well. The key here is to seed and support your content through multiple platforms and even online paid advertising.

The following categories can improve your chances of increasing content shares and possibly taking your meme, video, story, or image viral.

Facts

Content that speaks about the “facts” gets shared amongst like-minded people more often than content perceived to be factual. However, people ignore facts, hence the rise of the “fake news media” and “alternative facts” comments in the past several years regarding U.S. politics.

Side Note

I placed the word “facts” in quotes because in this instance, “facts” may be subjective, specifically with today’s political climate against actual facts and in support of “alternative facts” amongst like-minded people in specific political circles.

If you plan on posting “facts” as a content piece in hopes of making it go viral, a recommendation is to know your audience first. Do they subscribe to actual, provable facts or “alternative facts?” Knowing the difference between your audience will increase the likelihood that your “factual” piece of content — image or video — will go viral.

The meme below demonstrates the polarity of the alternative facts meaning. George Washington’s original quote was, “I cannot tell a lie.”, however, to drive the point that alternative facts are not facts but untruths, the meme points out the incongruent message from Washington and spread across social media as a viral meme.

Incongruity

Content that strays from the norm and displays things that are typically incompatible, inconsistent, or in disagreement tends to go viral more often than congruent content. For example, the cat and mouse (rat) video below (from the article Creating Engaging Videos and Their Optimal Length.) demonstrates the incongruent behavior of a rat chasing the cat. The rat chasing the cat is counterintuitive to what we know about the predator/prey relationship between the two animals; thus, we are amazed, amused, and bewildered when we see the incongruity. As a result, we want to share the video content with others.

Copyright Viral Hog

The key with incongruous content for your brand is juxtaposing two incompatible or odd items that appear counterintuitive to people into your content video or visual piece. But be careful that the imagery does not negatively harm your brand image.

Humor

Humor is another category that requires careful audience analysis. What one person or culture finds humorous, another may think offensive.

The current theory on humor is the incongruity-resolution theory. In short, the I-R theory infers that humor occurs when presented with incongruent or unexpected information, which then the incongruity becomes resolved through further details, hence the punchline in many jokes.

When it comes to humorous content, it’s vital to know your audience. Take, for example, the VW commercial below. The young lady enters the car, “rips a fart,” and then her date introduces two other people already seated in the back that the offending girl did not initially see when entering the vehicle. The commercial was viewed and discussed by millions of viewers in the United States. However, if this type of content aired in many middle east countries, it would be deemed offensive content and possibly backfired for the brand.

Inspirational

Content that is positive and demonstrates triumph over tragedy ranks high on the viral sharing list. People like to be inspired and like a feel-good story. In 2011, a news video of a homeless man, Ted Williams, went viral with millions of views and shares. Williams, at one point, was a radio announcer that became homeless due to alcohol and drugs. A news reporter videotaped Williams and learned that he had a “golden voice.” That video (below) went viral, and Williams became a national icon as he received numerous job offers for voice work. Here was a rag to riches story that moved millions of people.

Incorporating inspirational messages in your branded content could help boost your chances of going viral. The caveat, though, the content piece must be authentic and sincere. Inspiring content that appears fake or forced can leave your brand looking inauthentic, causing viewers to see your brand negatively.

Psychological Insights

A few years ago, research about the relationship between profanity and intelligence opened the gates for internet goers to share viral memes about the subject. The idea that something frowned upon in society had a positive spin to it was counterintuitive.

For decades, society viewed people who cussed as uneducated or low-class. The study demonstrated the opposite based on the researcher’s findings. People, specifically those who regularly used cuss words to color their communication, began sharing the news via social media platforms.

The content was incongruous to what people initially thought about the subject, but it filled a need for curiosity about human behavior. In other words, the psychological insights packed a double punch to help the content go viral; it was incongruous, and it provided insights into human behavior.

Content that offers psychological insights or knowledge and studies about how people behave often tends to get shared amongst social media platforms, especially if they provide additional viral elements, like incongruity.

Summary

Marketers want to take their video and other content viral in the hopes of appealing to a broader audience at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. However, not all content goes viral. More videos fail to go viral than those that end up spreading across social media platforms with millions of views and shares. Yet, we still do not have a clear definition of what it means to go viral other than a rapid sharing of content across social channels with thousands or millions of unique people.

Improving your chances of going viral may rest within five categories: facts, incongruity, humor, inspiration, and psychological insights. Positive messages that inspire, specifically those content pieces that show triumph over tragedy, do best when it comes to viral content.

Brands can improve their chances of going viral, not only by producing content that fits one or more of the five categories but by seeding their content across the internet. In other words, brands that promote their content through varying social media platforms and utilize paid ad placement have a better chance at taking their content viral.

Research Highlights

The following highlights are summarized from a few select chapters of the book, Viral Marketing: The Science of Sharing, by Karen Nelson-Field.

Book Chapter	Research Highlight
CH. 3	Content that draws a high-arousal positive emotional response is shared more.
CH. 3	Generating arousal with video content is useful for both commercial and non-profit organizations to achieve sharing success.
CH. 3	Videos that evoke feelings of exhilaration tend to be shared more than any other high-arousal positive emotion.
CH. 3	If you choose the high-arousal negative space, proceed with caution. Little is known about its long-term consequences for the brand.
CH. 3	Focus less on creative appeal and more on emotional appeal.
CH. 4	Using babies in your content outperform many other creative devices , but only when the video evokes high-arousal emotions.
CH. 4	Of all possible creative devices, videos that display personal triumph appear most likely to deliver sharing success.
CH. 5	High-arousal positive videos display more branding than the other groups, yet still share the most.
CH.5	The level of branding present has no effect on the degree to which a video will arouse viewers.
CH. 6	More than 90% of viewers do not share.
CH. 6	Less contagious videos can be viral winners too if they are well seeded and supported. It depends on your definition of success.
CH. 7	Videos that elicit high-arousal emotions cut through the clutter and are remembered most.
CH. 7	The most commonly recalled positive emotion is exhilaration.

Image of video blogger for engaging videos article - Allen Stafford

Creating Engaging Videos and Their Optimal Length

March 15, 2021/in Digital Marketing/by Allen Stafford

Audio Version — 8:58

The Web – A Visual Medium and Engaging Videos

Humans are visual creatures. Our survival depends heavily on visual cues for fundamental behaviors like locating food, a partner, and shelter. We also rely on visual cues for complex actions like parental care and the forming of social hierarchies.

In a 2004 research paper by Indiana University School of Law professor William C. Bradford, he notes that 5% of the population are experiential (tactile and role-play) learners, 30% of the people are verbal learners, with the remaining 65% of the population being visual learners.

It is no wonder that MTV — the music television cable channel that first aired on August 1, 1981, grew in popularity, broadcasting “visual” interpretations of artists’ music. Record producers probably knew that by exposing music fans to music videos, they could reach a potential 95% of their audience.

Fast-forward to 1990, when the first WorldWideWeb browser developed for the NeXT Computer lead to the graphical internet that we know today. The web is a visual medium for the most part, and the birth of social media sites like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube have helped fuel the graphic revolution, specifically amongst the video medium.

There are over 500 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute. It is no wonder that YouTube is the second most searched website in the world after Google. Facebook users watch over 100 million hours of videos daily on the social media site. There are tens of thousands of other videos watched and uploaded to other social media sites and private and public web pages daily. With so much video distributed throughout the internet, it makes it challenging for marketers to cut through the noise and grab your already waning attention span.

Whether a marketer should produce engaging videos or not is a pointless discussion. Of course, engaging videos must be part of your marketing strategy. The question is, how do you get viewers to engage with your video content, and how long should your video run?

What is Engagement?

The concept of online engagement is reasonably new, and pundits have not locked in consensus on the idea of what exactly constitutes engaging online content. According to research published in the MIT Sloan Management Review titled, Creating Online Videos That Engage Viewers, the authors — Dante M. Pirouz, Allison R. Johnson, Matthew Thomson, and Raymond Pirouz; professors of marketing at Western University of London, Ontario, Canada — offer a broad view of what constitutes engagement:

“We…define engagement as behavior that includes sharing but also extends to other forms of measurable user involvement.”

The other forms of measurable user involvement — noted by the scholars — include commenting, favoriting, and liking. In other words, engagement is anytime a viewer interacts positively or negatively with your content or, in this case, your video.

In their research, Pirouz et al. dispel several myths about online videos. Their results show that neither professionals nor amateurs are better than one another in creating compelling content for accumulating views. So, you do not have to run out and hire a professional actor to represent your marketing video; anyone can do the job.

Additionally, the study finds that:

Branded videos are liked more but disliked more as well.
Adding cute babies and animals does not increase engagement either.
Attractive people do not increase engagement.
Sexually suggestive videos also do not increase viewer engagement.
Satire, associated with hyperbole, increased views and comments, yet it induced anger. If you are looking to generate outrage, satire may be an option for you.

What Makes Engaging Content?

In their research, the team discovered that the number one element that increased positive engagement — views and likes — was the element of surprise. Interestingly, surprising yet frightening videos garnered more views and likes than videos with just an element of positive surprise. The team does point out that fear-inducing videos increase views but at the cost of generating negative attitudes toward the videos. The key is to produce videos that induce fear and surprise, not frightening videos like those found in horror movies, which decreased engagement the researchers found.

When looking at ways to invoke surprise, the researchers looked at hyperbole (exaggeration), incongruity, and novelty. They discovered that while hyperbole and surprise increased views and comments, it incited anger. That may work for political marketing campaigns, but not necessarily for brands looking to create a positive image.

The best approach for engaging videos, according to the researchers, is to pair the element of surprise with either something novel that viewers have not seen or show something counterintuitive or incongruent that also demonstrates surprise. For example, I conducted a non-scientific experiment on a Facebook group with over 27,0000 members. I posted varying videos to test the findings in the engagement study. The video that received over 200% more likes, comments, and shares was a video (shown below) of a cat attempting to chase a rat; in turn, the rat chased the cat down the street. The video displayed an element of surprise (the fact a cat would run from a rat), and it was equally out of place or incongruent to what we know about the relationship between a cat and rat or rodent. In other words, the video displayed visuals that are counterintuitive to how we see the world, and that alone created the elements of surprise, novelty, and incongruity.

Copyright Viral Hog

Does Video Length Impact Engagement?

The current assumption is that shorter video lengths improve viewership. That is, if your video time is short, then you will attract more viewers. The thinking coincides with recent studies that indicate people today have about an 8-second attention span, shorter than a goldfish. Add in the reality that 4,000 to 10,000 ads and messages bombard us daily; it makes sense to think that shorter is better when it comes to competing for attention.

Despite all of the noise and clutter that competes for our daily attention, shorter video length does not necessarily impact viewer engagement. What impacts engagement is content. Set aside most social media platforms’ hard video length limits; you are bound by them regardless of content and viewer attention span. You should direct your focus toward the type of story you want to develop and communicate.

Researchers discovered that shorter videos are not necessarily the most engaging in research conducted by Google’s Unskippable Labs initiative (see video below). What engages viewers is compelling brand stories, specifically amongst the Gen Z and Millennial demographics who have an anti sentiment toward being sold. Unskippable Labs found that the longer the ad, the greater the brand awareness and consideration of the brand offerings. The caveat, though, with longer videos is to develop a compelling, emotional story. The unskippable Labs study shows that longer video cuts (30-seconds and 2-minutes plus) increase brand favorability. An increased interest in a brand with the longer video allows more time to develop an emotional connection between the brand and the viewer.

Shorter ads, like 15-seconds, showed ad recall; however, they did not change a consumer’s mind in regards to liking a specific brand.

Copyright YouTube.com

What is the Optimal Video Length for Engaging Viewers?

While the Unskippable Labs study measured videos up to around the 2-minute mark, another study conducted by Wistia concluded that the optimal length for a video is between 2 to 3-minutes. Engagement exponentially drops off after the 3-minute mark.

For best the optimal video best practices, it is best to keep your marketing video under 3-minutes. For brands that want to tell a story, the 2-3 minute video range is optimal without introducing the brand until after the 1-minute mark. For brands looking to halo their brand name and build brand recall, shorter videos, like 15-second videos, do well.

Summary

Video is a fast-growing medium for marketers. The challenge is knowing the right amount of time a marketing video requires before viewer engagement falls-off. Studies show that the optimal video length for engaging videos is 2 to 3-minutes for brands looking to increase brand favorability amongst their viewers. Anything longer than 3-minutes, then viewer engagement drastically drops. Brands looking to increase brand recall do better with shorter videos that are 15-seconds.

image of online shopper for website credibility article

Nine Elements That Help Boost Your eCommerce Website Credibility

February 8, 2021/in Digital Marketing/by Allen Stafford

Audio Version — 5:03

Consumers and Website Credibility

In the 1990s, when graphical browsers graced computers with a way to view websites, web surfers became enamored with the technology and their ability to visit, or surf, websites for information. When businesses began using the digital channel to sell their products, many consumers lacked trust in eCommerce websites. Studies have suggested that a consumer’s intention to purchase online directly correlates with their trust level for a particular website. With over 6-billion indexed web pages (as of 2020), web surfers and consumers have plenty of places they can find themselves online.

One of the many challenges small to midsize businesses face with digital marketing is projecting credibility through their website. It’s no longer true that if you build it (a website) that “they” (consumers) will come. They may come, but they will not stay, let alone make a purchase from your website if it appears to lack credibility.

What is Credibility?

Credibility is the quality of being convincing or believable. It refers to how trustworthy and legitimate your website looks. Credibility is a primary consideration for consumers and web surfers when deciding to use or make a purchase from your website. Below are nine elements that can help boost your website’s credibility.

Nine Ecommerce Website Credibility Elements

Professional Looking Website
Although it is subjective, websites that appear professional and not appear to be built by an amateur do better in the credibility department. A clean, professional website communicates stability to the consumer; it demonstrates that you have an organized process and are serious about doing business online.

Company Address and Phone Number Readily Available.
Your company address and phone number in prominent places on your website communicates to consumers that real people are operating the business. It also communicates that you are easily accessible.

About Page
Consumers want to see the human side of your business. The “About” page offers insights into your company. It also tells the story about how your company started and its business purpose and goals. In other words, your story. It’s also a good idea to show images of real people working within your company to give the consumer a sense that real people are behind the scenes doing the work.

Authentic Testimonials
Having testimonials is an excellent way to present credentials. It’s social proof that people are willing to buy from your business or visit your site and use your services. Testimonials also provide potential consumers with the confidence that someone else is satisfied with your product or services. Testimonials with names are acceptable. Adding a photo to the testimonial is even better. However, video testimonials are the best way to convey trustworthiness to potential consumers.

Reputable Sales Channel
For eCommerce websites, having a reputable sales channel helps build credibility. Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento are excellent shopping cart and eCommerce platforms. Pair that with Amazon.com or eBay.com, and you even add more credibility to your eCommerce store.

Associations, Affiliations, Awards
Adding the logos of any association or affiliation or any other organization you are associated with will boost your website’s credibility. The same applies to any awards you may have as a company. All of these show consumers your commitment to your business.

Third-Party Reference or Endorsement Links
Suppose other credible websites endorse you on their website. In that case, it’s a good idea to link to their endorsement of your business. By doing so, it’s an excellent way to assert your credibility without tooting your own horn.

Updated Content
Keeping your content updated is a way to show that your business is active. A news or blog section and even your social media pages that are not regularly updated communicates to consumers that nothing is happening within your business. Keep the content flowing regularly. Developing a content calendar is an excellent way to stay on target.

Error-Free Website
Websites with grammar and misspelled words communicate a site or company that is unprofessional. While many readers may not pick up on the errors, the few that do can cause you plenty of grief. Errors also extend to broken links, malfunctioning online tools, and other parts of the website that underperform your brand’s promise.

Summary

Developing a website is only one part of your company’s digital marketing strategy. To successfully get customers to purchase from your eCommerce website, it must appear credible. Following the nine tips above provide a good starting point. As research has shown, customers that perceive a website as credible will most likely engage and purchase from that website.

Digital Marketing Channel article header image

Five Common Digital Marketing Channels and How They Are Used to Engage Customers

January 2, 2021/in Digital Marketing/by Allen Stafford

Audio Version — 12:07

Digital marketing, to many small business owners and B2B leaders, is still something of an enigma. They acknowledge its existence and importance but often do not understand how the digital communication channel, and all that it offers, functions to their benefit. These leaders understand terms such as SEO, analytics, PPC, and social media. However, they fall short of understanding how each digital channel operates independently and together to deliver customers and profits at a fraction of traditional marketing channels’ cost.

Without overwhelming the reader with elaborate details, this article addresses the most common digital marketing channels and how they communicate their brand value and engage customers. The list is not exhaustive but a primer for business leaders looking better to understand the digital landscape and the types of information and content typically communicated to their audiences.

The Digital Marketing Channels Advantage

Digital channels, more commonly known as digital marketing, is marketing that uses digital technology or digital media. The medium has revolutionized marketing due to its unique ability that allows the marketer to target online customers precisely. Before the digital marketing revolution, marketers would create advertisements that broadcasted to large target audiences. The firms would distribute their marketing campaign through print advertisements, radio, and television. In other words, marketers engaged in undifferentiated marketing — or marketing where the firm created a single message for their entire target audience.

The commercial advertisement below demonstrates a typical ad that firms would broadcast to millions of viewers with the hopes of increasing brand recognition or increasing sales. However, the single message ad to their entire audience was challenging to track. Companies did not have an easy way to track their audience reaction or target specific demographic groups like they do today with digital media.

The following commercial for Friskies Cat Food from 1969 aired over television to a broad audience with the hopes of capturing cat owners with little to no control for specific targeting based on precise demographics or psychographics.

Now, imagine the above commercial advertisement distributed through digital channels. Marketers would have greater control over who, where, when, and how viewers watched the ad through advanced analytics and online targeting tools, like google analytics. Today’s digital tools provide advanced ability to target and track customers with precision results due to the rise in popularity of the internet.

As online expenditures increased, more customers turned to online retailers for their purchases. According to Statistica.com, There were nearly 228 million online shoppers in 2020, with a steady yearly rise in new online shoppers, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. People turned to online retailers to avoid going out to physical stores for fear of exposing themselves to the virus.

With digital technology and online shoppers, digital marketing implementation gives marketing managers access to tools that specifically target online customers. Furthermore, marketers can target specific customer segments with digital targeting tools based on personal interests and affinity groups (groups of people with similar interests). The precise targeting and analytics allow marketers to measure their campaigns, often in real-time, and determine the success or failures of those campaigns. In other words, marketers can determine what’s working and what is not working. Monitoring campaigns in real-time saves the marketing department resources while fine-tuning low-performing campaigns or duplicating their successful ones.

Popular Digital Marketing Channels

While digital marketing is an umbrella term for all digital marketing functions and technologies, people often categorize digital marketing into a few popular categories. These categories include:

Social media marketing.
Search engine optimization/search engine marketing (or SEO/SEM).
Display advertising.
Email marketing.
Content marketing.

Each of these digital marketing categories provides a different way to communicate through their respective digital channels.

Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing (SEO and SEM)

Purpose: SEO helps drive organic traffic to your owned digital assets. In contrast, SEM helps make your products and services discoverable to customers.

Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are often confused by people who do not fully understand the two strategies’ contrast. While SEM includes SEO, SEO focuses on driving traffic to your website organically. In other words, SEO is the practice of using keywords and different strategies to improve your company website’s chance of showing up on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

However, SEM does include SEO as part of its strategy and has paid and non-paid activities. As an example, purchasing ads through Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns is part of SEM. So is developing engaging video content for your YouTube channel and creating a social media influencer strategy.

In short, SEM is the practice of making your products discoverable through the SERPs and other digital channels.

The example below shows Google’s search engine results for the keyword bookshelves. Notice the images in the upper Google Ads feed? Five different ads for bookshelves appear, followed by the organic listing for websites that offer bookshelves. The ad images result from deliberate ad placement (or paid advertisement). The information below the ads is organic results, a product of SEO. Together, the ads and organic results are part of a firm’s SEM strategy.

Social Media Marketing

Purpose: Helps brands connect with their audience in a non-sales way to better understand their audiences’ likes and dislikes. Also, to provide content solutions to the audience’s pain points.

As its name implies, social media are social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, to name the more popular ones. Social media channels help brands connect and engage with their customers. Social channels like Facebook are excellent places for the brand to interact and “listen” to their customers.

What is meant by social “listening”?

Social media platforms allow customers to comment and brands to ” listen” or read their comments and respond to understand customers’ likes and dislikes better.

The example below shows the Facebook feed for Nordstrom’s department stores. In the feed, customers leave comments, likes, and dislikes about Nordstroms as a social media specialist responds, allowing a two-way dialogue between the retailer and customers.

Social media platforms are more for engagement and less for selling. The social channels are ideal for delivering content that helps solve customer’s problems without a hard sell. The example below comes from Southwest Airlines Facebook page. Their social media team shares research from a Harvard University study on mask usage and the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The virus is a topic that weighs heavy on almost every passenger’s mind when flying during the pandemic.

You can look at social media as a friend’s backyard barbeque social gathering. Friends and family attend the event and socialize, sharing stories, ideas, and helpful solutions to problems they may openly discuss. Rarely do you see or hear a guest delivering a sales pitch to people at such social gatherings. They may share their places of employments and discuss what they do. Still, people generally do not attend a friend and family gathering to conduct hard sales.

Display Advertising

Purpose: Display advertising helps build brand recognition and target specific customer segments online to deliver your product offerings.

Display advertising is advertising represented and broadcast through websites, apps, and social media. Display ad formats may include text advertisements, images, flash, video, and audio.

Distribution of display ads occurs through websites that partner with ad platforms, such as Google. They may also appear in your email inbox or through apps on your phone. The example below shows display advertising through the Google Partner website.

As part of a search engine marketing strategy, the primary purpose of display advertising is to deliver your brand message or product offerings to website visitors.

Email Marketing

Purpose: To stay connected with your customer base or help potential customers move along the marketing funnel toward conversion.

Email marketing is one of the oldest and most cost-effective forms of digital marketing. Early on, Email marketers would purchase or harvest email addresses and broadcast product messages, filling millions of recipients’ inboxes. Later, legislation passed prohibiting marketers from sending unsolicited Emails.

Today, marketers are leveraging Email to customers who sign-up to receive information about your company, products, or helpful solutions to their problems. Marketers use Email to connect to customers, to keep them informed about new products, specials, and to better their lives with the products.

The newsletter below is one example of email marketing. Petco, a popular pet store (in the USA) selling various items for pets, sends their newsletter to current customers. The newsletter keeps their customers informed about new or on-sale products and helpful information about keeping their pets safe and healthy.

Content Marketing

Purpose: To provide valuable information to customers or potential customers about how products and services may solve their pain points. Content is more informative than sales-oriented.

The fifth popular form of digital marketing is content marketing. It has been the buzzword in digital marketing for several years now. However, content marketing is not new. Companies like Coca-Cola have been content marketing for over a century.

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach where content is created and distributed, intending to attract customers to a product or service. The key to content marketing success is that the message does not overtly advertise the product or service. Instead, content marketers focus their message on delivering informational or educational content to increase interest in a product.

Content may be in the form of a written article, video tutorial, infographic, case studies, or any communication that helps inform or solve a customer’s pain point.

The advertisement for Carnation Milk below is an example of content marketing in 1943. During World War II, food was in short supply in Europe. To help send food to their allies, the USA launched a program promoting gardening at home, which encouraged Americans to plant food for their use while the government sent food supplies to Europe. The Carnation Milk company was one of many advertisers that took advantage of the Victory Garden campaign by promoting their product using content marketing.

In the example, Carnation discusses the benefits of growing your food along with a helpful recipe using their canned milk. The content addressed how consumers might prepare a meal with the food they grow and a can of milk.

Summary

Whether you call it marketing or digital marketing, it is all the same. The only difference is that digital marketing uses digital channels to communicate brand messages. These digital channels are found in various formats across all digital devices yet serve a specific purpose for delivering brand content. Additionally, the digital marketing advantage is that brands can target specific customer segments and get fast analytics to better serve their customers.

Catapult Your Sales by Setting the Right Facebook Ad KPIs

March 6, 2020/in Analytics, Digital Marketing/by Allen Stafford

Audio Version — 13:35

Measuring Facebook Ad KPIs

If you have ever spent money advertising and promoting your product or service on Facebook, you undoubtedly had an objective in mind. For example, maybe your goal was to generate $10,000 in sales from a specific campaign or that you wanted to sell 500 units of your product or, perhaps, sign up ten new clients.

Whatever your goal was, have you ever measured your ad campaign performance relative to your objectives? That is, did you establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine if you are on track toward reaching your goals? Don’t worry; if you have not, you’re not alone.

As social media advertising spend amongst business owners and marketers increases yearly (see eMarketer.com chart below), so does the competition. To give you a competitive advertising edge, I discuss several Facebook ad KPIs to monitor when advertising on the social media platform. I also discuss why they are essential to your sales success.

What Are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

Before I dive into the Facebook sales KPIs, allow me to provide an overview of what a KPI is; for those that need a refresher explanation, of course.

A KPI is a strategic objective that targets where you want your company to be by a specific date. It helps you monitor where you are at the present moment with where you want to be in the future.

One example of a KPI may state,

“We will increase revenue for product “A” by 10% by the end of the second quarter.”

Notice that the stated objective is to increase revenue for a specific product. The target is a 10% increase by a particular date. The more specific you write your KPIs, the easier it is to measure them.

Facebook Ad KPIs

As part of an ongoing ad campaign management process, I recommend two essential metrics for your Facebook advertising success. The first metric is the Cost-Per-Action (CPA) metric.

Cost-Per-Action (CPA)

Cost-Per-action, sometimes referred to as cost-per-acquisition, is perhaps one of the critical KPIs that you want to track for ad spending. CPA allows the advertiser to pay for only the actions a user makes due to your ad.

An action can be any one of the following:

Purchase from your E-Commerce site.
App download.
Newsletter Signup.
Registration for your webinar or conference.
Or just about any other activity that requires a visitor’s engagement.

facebook call to action image example for facebook ad kpis article

A sample ad from Facebook desktop news feed shows the advertiser using CPA advertising to increase downloads of their article.

For example, you can use CPA to monitor and control costs for visitors who click on your ad link versus paying for cost-per-impression (CPM).

Note

Depending on your ad and desired action, CPA could cost you less than deploying a CPM ad strategy.

A high CPA cost can lead to higher costs and indicate that your Facebook ad is not performing well. However, the caveat is, you may experience a high CPA in the initial days that your ad is running. It is best to allow your ad to run for at least three days before checking the CPA. Suppose your ad CPA is still high after a few days from its initial launch. In that case, you need to make adjustments to your ad visuals or headline, target group, or Placement.

Example Facebook CPA Ad KPI

A written Facebook CPA ad KPI may read like the following:

Reduce Facebook CPA by 20% over the next three months.

The KPI assumes that you are past the initial ad launch by at least three days and that your CPA is higher than usual. Note that the KPI has a strategic objective to improve ad costs. It states a measurement strategy to reduce costs and has an explicit target within the next three months.

CPA Calculation and Formula

To calculate CPA, divided the advertiser’s cost by the total conversions (or actions taken due to your ad).

As an example, let’s assume that the total cost to advertise is $1,000 for a campaign. You receive 25 actions for that $1,000 campaign.

CPA= $1,000/25

Your CPA in this example is $40 per action. Some may regard this as expensive. However, compared to industry benchmarks, if you are in the auto, home improvement, or finance and insurance industry, the CPA is considered lower than average. If you are in the apparel industry, your CPA is high, and you must make adjustments to reduce your costs.

Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

The clickthrough rate (CTR) metric is vital to monitor, especially for ads running two weeks or more. Although CTR is a simple metric, it is a telling one.

A CTR drop may indicate that viewers are passing on looking at your ad in their Facebook feeds. Like products, ads have a shelf life too. For example, suppose you experience a 1.6% CTR for beauty products with a specific ad. In that case, your ad performs at the industry benchmark. If your CTR drops to below 1.6% and continues to decline over time, it may be necessary to change your ad’s visuals or the headline, or both.

Suppose your ad does not generate any clickthrough. In that case, it’s also an indication that there are possible issues with your ad’s visuals, headline, or target market. One suggestion is to turn your ad off and run several ad tests to determine which ad generates an increase in CTR.

Example Facebook CTR Ad KPI

An example Facebook CTR KPI may read something like the following:

“Increase our CTR on ad “X” from 0.8% to 1.4% over the next three weeks.”

CTR Calculation and Formula

To arrive at the CTR, divide the total number of clicks by the total number of impressions.

As an example, let’s assume that your ad received 200 clicks from a total of 1,000 ad impressions. That’s a 0.20% CTR rate; it’s low for almost all industries where on average, the CTR is 0.90%. In this example, you missed your 0.8% CTR (as noted in the above KPI example) and would need to adjust your KPI and tactics to reach the 0.8% CTR before trying to accomplish the 1.4% CTR. Your new KPI may read like the following:

“Establish a 0.8% CTR benchmark in the next two months.”

On the other hand, if you reach your KPI, you will want to set new goals.

Optimization

To optimize is to make something as good as possible. Our goal is to consistently “tweak” the ad until it is as good as possible for Facebook ad optimization. When optimizing an ad, aside from changing the visuals and copy, headline, or call-to-action (CTA), there are five key optimization areas to focus on:

Age
Gender
Country/Region
Placement
Frequency

Additionally, for new Facebook ads, it’s best to allow the ad to gather data for at least five days after launching the campaign before you begin the optimization process. For older advertisements that were once successful and are now showing a lower CTR, take a look at the visuals, copy, or headline before optimizing any of the above criteria. (See the section on CTR above.)

Age

You’ll launch your ad campaign targeting a specific age group. However, you may find that your highest converting age target group is something else. Facebook allows advertisers to target subscribers from the age of 13 to 65+.

As your ad matures, examine your best-converting age groups. Are they what you expected? Did you discover an entire age segment with a higher conversion rate than your initial age target group? The strategy with age is to move your entire budget to the highest converting age demographic.

Two possible key performance indicators for age demographics may read like the following:

“Increase CTR in the age demographic (ad your age range here for the best converting CTR) to 35% conversion within the next 30-days.”

“Increase sales in the secondary age demographic by 5% in the next seven days.”

The first KPI addresses the highest performing CTR age demographic. In contrast, the second KPI addresses growing the second-highest age demographic to increase your revenue.
Once you have established your highest conversion age demographics, the focus should be on growing the second-highest demographic by optimizing your ad visuals, headline, color, or copy.

Gender

Facebook allows the advertiser to target a specific gender, men and women. Following the same guidelines as with the age demographics section above, examine which gender category is converting more. Suppose one gender demographic is higher in conversions. In that case, it may be wise to move your ad budget toward that gender category.

Your product may not be suited for both genders. If it does apply to both genders, optimizing the ad for the poorly performing gender demographic may be required.

An example KPI for this demographic may read like this:

“Improve conversions for (gender with low conversions) by 25% of the higher-performing gender category within two weeks.”

Country/Region

Targeting different countries or regions can pose challenges for new advertisers. It can also pose challenges for advertisers entering into new markets. The more regions/countries you target, the more the ad can potentially cost you or not perform as well due to a variety of reasons.

It’s best to begin your ad campaign targeting one specific region, providing that your product or service is suitable for that region. Allow at least five days to pass before reviewing the CTR for the ad. If your ad is performing poorly, your options may include optimizing the ad image or headline.

Once you have mastered and increased the Facebook ad CTR of a specific region, begin experimenting with other same language regions. If you target countries that are non-English speaking, your ad will need to reflect the native language.

Two possible key performance indicators for the country/region metric may read like the following:

“To increase ad conversions in (name of country) by 25% in the next two weeks.”

“To enter into new territory (name territory) and have sales earning $500/month by the end of February (or whichever time frame you decide to specify).”

Placement

The Placement KPI (or Place) is one of the 4P’s of marketing. Placement identifies where you promote your product or service.

Facebook offers several ad placement locations on its desktop and mobile platforms. The key is to find the optimal Place on their platform that delivers the highest conversions for your ad.

As a general rule, ads performing lower than 1% conversion may need further monitoring and continue to underperform, optimize the ad, or eliminate its Placement.

Another good practice is swapping the low-performing ad spot with a higher-performing (converting) ad to see if the Placement is driving down conversions or the ad itself.

One possible KPI for Placement may read like this:

“Increase ad conversions of the Facebook right column ad to 10 complete sales per week by the end of the month.”

The KPI assumes that you are running several ad placement spots and want conversion improvement on the right column ad.

Frequency

Frequency refers to the number of ad impressions shown to an individual. Frequency becomes essential when the ad shown continues to increase and your conversions begin to decrease. The cause is likely one or several of the following:

Your ad has been seen too many times by the same target group.
Your audience size is too small.
The ad’s image needs refreshing.
Your offer is “tired,” and you need a new offer.

Frequency also correlates with increased ad costs. As your frequency number increases, so too does the cost of the ad.

A possible KPI for Frequency may read like this:

“To reduce our ad Frequency from 8 impressions per person to 3 impressions per person by the end of the week.”

The KPI addresses the increased impressions the ad has and the goal of reducing the impressions per person to reduce ad expense and increase conversions per impression.

Frequency Calculation and Formula

Calculate Frequency by dividing the number of impressions by the ad Reach (how many ad exposures per unique individual).

Summary

Facebook advertising can be lucrative for your business if executed effectively. Setting useful KPIs, monitoring them, and making the necessary adjustments along the way to correct for low-performing ads is essential to your ad success. The key to successful optimization is to monitor and fine-tune your progress consistently. When something is not working, test and adjust until it does work.