7 Proven Techniques to Improve Your Conversion Rates
We’re entering the last quarter of the year which means it’s the last push to get the numbers up before the end of reports. Increasing brand awareness is important for your business but if you’re getting ghosted when people check out your website, there’s a disconnect along the way. We’re here to help you. Whether it’s to increase conversions on your website or for social media campaigns, we’ve researched the best techniques to improve your conversion rates and thrown in one or two of our own techniques.
Why Your Conversion Rate Matters
Apart from the obvious reason as to why conversions matter (hello, sales!) It’s important to think about WHY you’re not converting.
Oftentimes, there’s friction or resistance along the buyer’s journey which stops customers from making the purchase.
No one likes friction.
Much like a journey from your home to a holiday destination, we want everything to be a smooth journey.
When something happens along the way, we get frustrated and end up being in a foul mood.
The same applies to your website or social media campaign. We want to make the journey as smooth as can be. We’ll dive into parts of the journey where people fall off and how to fix it going forward.
Conversion Pitfalls
Before we look at the seven techniques that’ll improve your conversion rate, we need to mention the common pitfalls that happen in the buyer’s journey that prevent you from making that all important sale.
When people search for the solution to their problem, they have expectations.
If they land on your website and the loading time takes longer than two seconds, that customer will immediately press the return button and choose your competitor.
We’re impatient humans since the introduction of technology so the term “slow and steady” wins the race doesn’t apply here.
If you’re loading time isn’t the problem, the next pitfall is your messaging or your website design.
Every touchpoint that the customer lands on needs to have a consistent message and navigation on your website should be easy to follow.
These are some of the common mistakes that with a slight change, your conversion rates can improve.
Now it’s time to learn our techniques for improving them.
7 Techniques To Improve Your Conversion Rates
We’re finally at the part you’re waiting for.
The techniques.
These are the techniques we use at GoViral that allow us to get amazing results for our clients time and time again.
Let’s go.
1. Remove Distractions
Less is more. You might want to answer every single question your potential customer has and add more information but if there’s too much going on, it can get overwhelming.
Focus on
- The headline and subheadings
- The offer and the benefits
- The CTA
- Testimonials and reviews
- The visual aspect that shows what you’re offering.
Anything else is secondary and just adds more confusion than clarity.
Site speed is extremely important for both the customer and google so less really is more.
2. Have strong CTA’s (Call to Actions)
Your CTA’s should be strong but don’t be afraid to play around with them to make them more enticing. Instead of just writing, “buy course here”, you could write “Yes, I want to buy the course”.
Starting a CTA with a yes can be effective psychologically because we’re setting the offer in a positive light.
Remember to A/B test different CTA’s and design elements to see what works best with your customer’s.
Have fun with them but also be clear with what you want them to do.
3. Build trust and credibility
Social proof like reviews and testimonials are the most effective ways to help conversion rates.
No one wants to be the first person to use a product or service.
The reason why testimonials and reviews work is because of the psychological aspect of social proof. We rely on others to survive and look to others to see “what’s in”.
If we see someone else liked the product and had a positive experience, we also assume it must be good.
4. Customer Service
It seems simple but if a customer gets to your page, navigates smoothly, sees the testimonials, but just has ONE more question they need answered before they convert but can’t find anyone or anything to help them, they aren’t going to hand over their money.
There’s different buyer types and all of them have a need that must be satisfied before they convert.
Make sure your website answers each need or make it super easy for them to contact you.
5. Add callouts or sitelinks to increase conversions
Callouts are highlighted snippets of text that appear alongside a search result, often containing information like prices, features, or special offers.
Sitelinks are additional links that appear below a website’s main search result, providing more specific options for users to click on.
The reason why these are effective for conversion rates is because they make search results stand out and easier for the customer to find what they’re looking for.
Remember we said friction is the LAST thing you want in the buyer’s journey?
6. Your keywords aren’t strong enough
We hear a lot about keywords and SEO but why is it important?
Keywords are the words your customers are searching for to fulfill their need.
They bridge the gap between your customers intent (what are they looking for) and your businesses’ offer.
Optimizing your website with the correct keywords can also improve your search engine rankings, making your business more visible.
To avoid targeting everyone, add negative keywords so that you’re including only relevant searches.
7. Audience targeting
If you’re struggling to get your landing page or website in front of your ideal audience, you mightn’t be targeting correctly.
Not only should you be targeting based on your audience’s demographics but also psychographics, what are their interests and hobbies, and behaviors.
By tailoring your content and messaging to them and using segmentation to divide them into smaller groups based on shared characteristics, you have a higher chance of conversion.
GoViral Conclusion
Sometimes, it’s the smallest part in the buyer’s journey where people drop off but with a simple fix, your conversion rates can increase.
When viewing your overall strategy, think of all the touchpoints your customer comes into contact with. By implementing this seven techniques, your customer will flow much easier to your offer.
If you need help developing an easier buyer’s journey, Contact us!
GoViral Case Study: Timing PPC Campaigns for In-Person Events
A common question among marketers: how far in advance should I advertise an in-person event? When should I start using my PPC advertising budget? At GoViral we’re committed to learning from experience, so let’s take a look at the numbers from three recent events.
When Should I Start Advertising an In-Person Event?
Over the past few years we’ve helped one of our clients, a global leader in business and consumer electronics, advertise their presence at in-person industry events.
When our client attends these events, they want the best bang for their buck. Their end goal is leads. Getting face time with existing and potential customers is invaluable.
But even priceless marketing activities are limited by budget. Regardless of your budget’s size, you need to think carefully about how and when to spend it. So let’s take a look at lead time. How far in advance of an event do we see results for booking in-person meetings?
Our Results from Three Recent Events
For each of our three most recent events, we launched our PPC campaign at a different point in advance of the event date. One campaign started 17 weeks before, one 4 weeks, and one just 3 weeks before the start of the event.
Keeping in mind that we define a lead as someone who schedules a meeting with our client during the event, here are the results of total number of leads acquired by campaigns of varying lengths.
As you can see, we acquired more leads with a shorter timeline ahead of the event. In other words, more time did not translate to more leads.
Furthermore, the Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) decreased as the lead time decreased. How much did we spend to acquire each lead? Considerably more when we started earlier.
Takeaways for Advertising Events with a PPC Campaign
Our overall takeaway? Don’t assume advertising an in-person event earlier means your results will be better.
There are other factors besides the timeline to consider, of course. But one thing is clear from our results: most of our leads for in-person events were acquired in the three weeks immediately before the event.
Our experience has shown that PPC campaigns for in-person events can find success even when limited to the month leading up to the event, and in fact we have had most success acquiring leads during that time.
Further Considerations
As with all marketing advice, your mileage may vary. Consider your specific situation and make strategic decisions accordingly.
Maybe your event requires early registration, or maybe there’s a competing event in a different city on the same dates. In those cases, you might want to start earlier.
Remember that a marketing campaign requires careful planning, including consideration of the buyer’s journey and other factors specific to your business.
However, if you find yourself starting your advertising efforts just a few weeks before your event, don’t despair! There’s still time to get results.
Looking to advertise an in-person event? Let us help you! Tell us more about your project and request a proposal.
Intro to NFTs for Marketing
What’s the deal with NFTs? You may have heard “non-fungible tokens” defined as digital artwork, but the applications of NFTs are so much greater. Here we explain what NFTs are, and how you can include them in your marketing strategy.
What is an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible token. No, it doesn’t have anything to do with fungi. Non-fungible means the token is unique and can’t be replaced or duplicated.
And what’s a token? A token is a cryptographic asset that lives on the blockchain and acts as a certificate of ownership.
In short, an NFT is a unique certificate of ownership.
NFTs are not synonymous with digital art. An NFT can represent art, either digital or physical, but it can also represent music, images, or clothing. Almost anything can be tokenized.
Why should I care about NFTs?
The movement from Web2 to Web3 promises to empower individuals by giving them ownership over their content and data. This includes decentralizing control—from a few large companies to individuals—through technology such as blockchain.
NFTs, which use blockchain for ownership verification, have become a symbol of the greater transition to Web3. An enthusiastic market for NFTs exists, waiting for brands to embrace decentralization and the shift in ownership from the few to the many.
Reasons to Use NFTs for Marketing Purposes
First things first, NFTs are relatively new, and the NFT market can be volatile. Think carefully before you use NFTs for marketing, and keep in mind there isn’t a long history to draw on to define best practices. That said, let’s take a look at how you can use NFTs for marketing to build your brand awareness, increase customer loyalty, and create new sources of income.
1. Increase Brand Awareness
You can use NFTs to build awareness around your brand. Awareness can be difficult to measure, but it’s essential to your success. If you create and sell NFTs in conjunction with a new product or service, you can gain attention while also communicating your brand’s values.
More and more, customers care about your values, and investing time and energy in NFTs can show that you’re committed to decentralization and individual ownership of content and data. In short, that you believe in the democratization of the internet.
Norwegian Cruise Line recently minted six NFTs to mark the launch of a new class of cruise ships. The initiative created buzz and attention for the brand, and communicated Norwegian’s commitment to freedom, flexibility, and cutting-edge technology.
2. Convert Customers Into Evangelists for Your Brand
When you’ve engaged a lead enough to become your customer, it’s time to delight them. One way to do this: create NFTs out of the building blocks of your brand. For example, you can mint a series of unique versions of your logo, or the original hand-drawn concept for your brand’s visual identity.
Think of this as pulling back the curtain for your loyal customers to more deeply connect with your brand. Giving them the opportunity to own a piece of your creation story will demonstrate your openness and transparency.
3. Raise Money by Monetizing Exclusive Content and Experiences
Once you have a group of loyal customers who evangelize your brand, consider using NFTs to monetize exclusive content. Evangelists may be willing to pay for videos, how-to articles, or other content they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
Exclusive content can make your evangelists feel appreciated. You could set up an NFT that unlocks this content, much like a one-time charge for premium membership. You can also hold in-person events in which ownership of an NFT acts as a ticket for admission.
Take Anheuser-Busch’s recent event, NFT Beerfest, which gave Budweiser NFT owners a chance to tour their flagship brewery, participate in giveaways, and enjoy live performances.
Interested in using NFTs for marketing but not sure how to get started? Share your ideas with our GoViral Blockchain team, and we’ll be in touch!
5 Tips for Marketing to Gen Z
Gen Z is entering adulthood, and their buying power will soon become the largest of any generation. But Gen Z’s habits, and especially their relationship to technology, diverge widely from Millenials, Gen X, and Boomers. What do you need to know to market to this group successfully?
Generation Z was born in the late 1990s to the early 2010s (exact years vary depending on who you ask), and is rapidly coming of age. By 2023, Gen Z will number 74 million people in the United States alone.
Ready to learn how to market to Gen Z and convert them into customers?
Follow Fundamental Best Practices First
First things first, there’s no magic formula. Not all members of Gen Z think and act the same, and pretending they do won’t help much. With inbound marketing, there’s no substitute for defining buyer personas based on your business’s target market.
When strategizing about marketing to Gen Z, create at least one buyer persona in this age group. Remember, your Gen Z persona does not represent an entire generation. They represent the interests, problems, and desires of one type of person who could become your customer.
Also, always consider your perspective and goals as a business. If your product or service appeals primarily to retirees, for example, you may not need a Gen Z buyer persona. On the other hand, if your brand aims to solve problems for people entering adulthood, you may need several.
Now that you’ve considered buyer personas, let’s talk strategy. We know Gen Z is diverse and has varied interests, but what collectively sets them apart from previous generations? Our top 5 tips will help get you started.
1. Strive to Entertain
Members of Gen Z are the first “digital natives,” people born and raised with technology at their fingertips. In part because of this, they tend not to distinguish as much between different types of content. Consider that years ago, video advertising used to come only during scheduled commercial breaks. Gen Z’s reality is much different.
They have been bombarded with content their entire lives, with marketing messages taking many different forms. It’s necessary to stand out to get their attention. One surefire way to do this? Entertain them.
Content that grabs the viewer’s attention within the first few seconds is best. Consider video tutorials for social media, behind-the-scenes content giving an honest look into your brand, and helpful resources framed with a sense of humor.
2. Use Short-Form Video
Gen Z consumes more videos than their older counterparts, particularly short-form. Given their high usage rates of YouTube and TikTok, they often expect short videos with features such as music, visual effects, and text overlays.
Include video marketing in your strategy from the start, and keep your videos to 15 seconds or less for best results. Instagram Reels and TikTok work well for your polished videos, while Instagram stories can help create a more personal connection with your audience.
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3. Highlight Your Brand’s Values and Beliefs
On average Gen Z cares more than older generations about what businesses stand for, and how they contribute to the greater good. Before marketing to Gen Z, consider your brand’s values and vision, and think about how to communicate them to your audience.
If you haven’t already, make the mission of your business publicly available. Better yet, incorporate your beliefs into your content strategy so viewers start to associate your brand with those values.
As a side benefit, the more you care about the content you create, the more authentic it becomes. Gen Z views brands skeptically, looking for proof of their values in what they do, not only what they say. So stick to your mission and spread the word about how you’re trying to make positive change.
4. Create Community
Brands often fall into the trap of marketing on auto-pilot. But especially with social media marketing, don’t forget communication goes both ways. Gen Z expects to interact more than previous generations.
Consider interactive options such as polls, quizzes, and Q&A sessions. Solicit feedback and monitor comment sections for opportunities to start conversations.
Other ways to jumpstart community include influencer marketing, which can help your audience see themselves in your brand, and user-generated content, which gives your audience a stake and a feeling of belonging.
In the near future, Gen Z might help accelerate a more fundamental change in social media. Research shows they are more comfortable with community-based platforms such as Discord and Twitch over more traditional social media.
5. Consider TikTok
When it comes to which social media platforms to focus on, the old rules no longer apply. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can still give you results, but don’t stop there.
One of the top social networks for Gen Z? TikTok. Fully 60% of TikTok’s users are in Gen Z. Known for less formal and more spontaneous content, TikTok can help your business connect with customers on a human level.
Joining a new social platform can also help refresh your brand image. Given TikTok’s emphasis on short-form video and humorous content, it’s a great place to experiment with tips 1-4 on this list.
Ready to take your business to the next level? Subscribe to our newsletter below for monthly updates and marketing tips.
10 Graphic Design Best Practices for Beginners
Humans are visual creatures, and the look and feel of your marketing content is critical to its success. Here we outline our top 10 best practices for graphic design.
What Is Graphic Design?
Graphic design is the use of artistic elements such as images and text to communicate ideas visually. Successful graphic design connects with the viewer, clearly communicates ideas, and looks visually appealing.
In marketing, graphic design may be used for presentations and proposals, brand logos, email headers, social media posts, and much more.
Whether you are a one-person show and graphic design is a small part of your job, or you have a large team with multiple graphic designers, it’s valuable for everyone working in marketing to know the basics. Below we’ve collected our best practices for graphic design. Bookmark this page to refer to our top 10 tips when designing for yourself or for clients.
Top 10 Best Practices for Graphic Design
1. Know Your Audience
The number one concern at GoViral is our audience. Think about your buyer personas when creating graphics. What are their expectations for the look and feel of marketing content? What elements might make them feel positively toward your product? How can you communicate your message without confusing them or turning them off?
2. Let Color Theory Be Your Guide
Color is one of the first elements the human brain registers when looking at a piece of design. Colors create an emotional response in the viewer and can be strongly associated with memory. We know you can’t read your buyers’ minds, but brushing up on the basics of color theory can help guide you in your color choices.
3. Choose a Font That Fits Your Voice
Fonts communicate much more than just the words you type. Like all elements of graphic design, your font can create an emotional response in the viewer. Broadly speaking, serif fonts such as Times New Roman have “tails” on the ends of letters, making them more suitable for traditional or formal communication. Sans serif fonts such as Helvetica have no tails, giving them a cleaner look often described as modern or less formal.
Also consider the spacing, both between lines and between characters (kerning). Is your text easy to read? Are the spacing and size of your font consistent?
4. Make Layout Decisions Thoughtfully
When designing graphics, think carefully about where you decide to place visual elements such as images and text. Consider the overall balance of your design. Are the elements distributed in a visually appealing way? Do the alignment and size of the elements help the balance or seem to make it unbalanced?
Also think about order and organization. Is a viewer likely to read your text in the order you intend?
5. Use a Grid for Precision in Spacing and Alignment
Graphic design software such as Photoshop and InDesign usually includes an option to overlay a grid on your workspace. This can help you maintain consistent alignment and spacing throughout your design. No more guessing whether the borders of two elements line up, or whether the space between lines of text is consistent.
Grids can also help give you direction as you design. A blank page can give you too much choice: the option to place your elements virtually anywhere. A grid will give you a manageable number of defined options, all of which will promote balance and order in your design.
6. Use Visual Hierarchy to Guide the Viewer
Similar to how layout and grids can help increase understanding, the visual hierarchy of your design guides your viewer and communicates the relationships among your ideas. Visual hierarchy refers to the order of importance of your design elements. Broadly speaking, the most important element should be the largest in your design, and size should decrease with importance.
For example, if you’re designing for a company that recently rebranded, the new logo may be the most important element. This may be followed by the tagline and finally by the disclaimer or copyright (usually tiny font size).
7. Use Negative Space to Your Advantage
Negative space, also called white space, is necessary in graphic design. Without white space in text, we wouldn’t be able to distinguish individual letters and words from the background. Design is not a challenge to cover every pixel of your digital canvas.
White space lets your design breathe and gives your viewer a fighting chance to receive your message. It also supports visual hierarchy (see #6) and reads as more sophisticated and refined.
8. Use Contrast
In a similar way to white space, contrast can help you direct the viewer’s attention to the most important design elements. Contrasting colors enhance the visual beauty of your design and naturally attract attention.
Consider using contrast to communicate opposing ideas as well, such as empty and full, positive and negative, and simple and complex. As with all of our tips, don’t use contrast just for the sake of it. Make sure it’s serving your design and your messaging.
9. Personalize Your Design
Personalizing your marketing content can help you reach your audience more effectively. There are different levels of personalization, but the best place to start is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Consider at least tailoring your content to your buyer personas, or take it one step further and change your copy depending on where the viewer is in the buyer journey.
Personalization helps you connect to your viewers and speak to their specific needs. Learn as much as you can about your audience so you can make an informed decision about the level of personalization that’s right for them.
10. Take a Break
Working too hard for too long can leave you exhausted and ineffective. Remember you’re a human, not a machine. Stepping away from your computer for a few minutes or switching to another task temporarily can help you recharge and regroup. Sometimes the best ideas come when you stop trying to force them.
Taking a break can also give you the opportunity to share your work in progress with a trusted colleague. Get a second set of eyes to test whether your design is accomplishing what you want it to.
With more than ten years’ experience in inbound, brand-love marketing, the GoViral team is always ready to share what we’ve learned. Sign up for our newsletter below for monthly updates and marketing tips to help you win over customers and grow your business.
What You Need to Know to Personalize Your Marketing Content
Every time you use your mobile device, you swipe through countless paid ads and branded posts. Most of them you don’t even notice, but some ads stick with you. What’s their secret?
Often the secret lies in personalized marketing. These ads are not created specifically for you, but they seem personalized because they are created with people like you in mind.
What exactly is personalized marketing?
Simply put, personalized marketing means targeting your content to those who would find it most interesting, and crafting specific messages for individuals or groups of customers.
Personalized content is carefully tailored to meet your target audience’s interests, covering topics that interest them, speak to their passions and address their needs.
Content that speaks to you tends to stick with you as a consumer. And for brands, personalization can get you a much higher conversion rate, turning the whole interaction into a win-win situation.
Personalization as a Path to Brand Loyalty
These days, brands dream of building loyalty among their customers. Customer loyalty creates a sense of community, increases customer retention, turns repeat customers into brand ambassadors, and much more.
Personalization can unlock this loyalty.
Customizing your content gives your customer an experience relevant to their career, passions and challenges. The path to falling in love with a brand starts with feeling heard and understood.
6 Ways to Implement Personalization On Social Media
Social media platforms provide numerous options for targeting and customization. Anyone interested in sharing their brand with a public audience can take advantage of these features. You can target everything from age and gender to specific interests.
Apart from this, social media platforms already know a lot about what users like—from what products they are looking for at the moment to what topics they are most likely to engage with.
So the more you think about your consumers and put yourself in their shoes, the better your content becomes.
Does this sound like a lot of work? Never fear, you can start with a few easy steps that will immediately improve your interactions with consumers.
1. Start with a study of your target audience
Each action your customers take teaches you more and more about them. Get as much information as you can about those you are addressing.
Your main goal at this stage is to get an initial, overall idea of the customers you are targeting.
2. Segment your audience
Now look into all the data you have about your audience and spend time mapping your buyer’s journey if you haven’t already.
Combining your data and your mapped buyer’s journey, break down your overall target audience into smaller groups, accounting for behavioral, geographic and cultural factors. Once you have your audience segments, it will become more clear what you as a brand can say to each of these groups to engage them and demonstrate how your product can help them.
3. Practice social listening
You can never know too much about your audience and your market. Take time to scan social media and set up alerts for mentions of your brand or relevant topics.
Use any mentions of your brand or relevant topics as an opportunity to manage your reputation, communicate with your audience, tailor their experience and find user generated content. Take a look at some examples of user generated content on TikTok in our guide to using TikTok for your business.
While doing this you will get to know more about your consumers and find new leads, both of which you can use while targeting with personalized ads.
4. Use retargeting ads
This one is obvious, but still incredibly important. Create ads for various products that match the preferences of what customers previously purchased, and/or what content they engaged with while browsing the internet.
5. Personalize your support via social media
Having a distinctive, consistent voice always matters. But it matters even more when you are directly communicating with your customers. The more you know about them (within the bounds of decency), the better you help them, the friendlier you sound, and the more they will remember interacting with your brand.
6. Create personalized occasions for interactions
With each interaction you can learn more about your consumer, and there are ways to encourage the type of engagement you need to gain this knowledge. As ordinary as they sound, polls, surveys, and quizzes have long been an effective way to learn what makes your customers tick.
With clever usage of these tools you show your customers that you care about their opinion, you encourage them to interact with your brand, and at the same time, you learn more about their preferences.
Personalization Case Studies
1. Verve Health’s personalized chatbots
Verve Health Co. gives personalized workout advice based on user feedback. Interactions like this make consumers feel special and give them the information they seek as fast as possible.
2. AirBnB’s personalized quiz
Participants answer questions to find out what kind of traveler they are. When they’re finished, they get personalized travel recommendations based on their results, with the option to share them and/or book a stay with Airbnb.
3. SEMrush and retargeting ads
After you set up a free SEMrush account, you get retargeted with a Facebook ad offering you a toolkit on how to use the service to its fullest.
Personalization in a Nutshell
The importance of personalization grows with each day. Consumers expect it, brands strive for it and social media platforms give you every opportunity to deliver it.
If you put in the effort to personalize your communication, the results will not be long in coming.
Digital marketing never stops evolving, and the most successful marketers are always finding new ways to craft a positive customer experience. Sign up for our newsletter below to stay in the loop on current trends.
What’s better for your business: Facebook or LinkedIn?
As a marketer, choosing which social media channel to focus on is always a puzzle. Many are left scrambling their heads with a multitude of doubts like “Where do I start?”, “Which platform gives me the best ROI on my efforts?” or “Is one platform better than the other?”
While asking questions about different platforms is normal, it isn’t smart to gamble your way out. The key to a successful marketing campaign is identifying your target audience and your marketing goals.
Among dozens of social media platforms, Facebook and LinkedIn are popular choices with marketers. Let’s break down what works best for your business.
LinkedIn is a professional network that was initially founded as a recruitment platform. Over the years, it developed to mimic many features similar to other social networking sites. For example, you can share status updates, send private messages, and connect with people.
On the other hand, Facebook was intended to be a platform for people to share and communicate. However, you can now find plenty of new features that let businesses reach their target audience. One survey by the company found that 74% of American consumers use Facebook to discover new products and brands.
So what are the differences between the two platforms?
Statistics
When it comes to numbers, Facebook is the clear winner.
There are 2.8 billion monthly active users worldwide on Facebook, while LinkedIn’s number stands at 64.7 million.
According to reports, the most active age group on both platforms is 25 to 34-year-olds. However, due to its popularity, Facebook has a broader range of users. 10% of Facebook users are under 18 or over 64. The reason behind this is that Facebook is for everyday users, but LinkedIn caters mainly to professionals.
B2B or B2C?
Undoubtedly, LinkedIn is a more robust B2B platform. Since the platform was designed for networking, it is a go-to place for business-driven individuals. Which also makes it easy to identify key decision-makers and target them directly.
Social selling is embedded into the platform. Reports suggest that LinkedIn has the largest share of B2B display ad spending.
While Facebook can be B2B, it is recognised more as a B2C platform. If you want to reach consumers directly, Facebook is the preferred choice. Not only it is a perfect place to generate brand awareness and engagement, but it also provides you 10X more prospects.
According to reports, marketers see the highest return on investment on Facebook. The networking site wins in numbers hands down, but LinkedIn generates tangible leads.
Thought Leadership
When it comes to thought leadership, LinkedIn beats Facebook relatively easy. The platform promotes business conversations, and one of the ways brands gain credibility and visibility organically is by thought leadership.
Through thought leadership articles, brands can educate, prompt conversations, and push to action. These programs increase website traffic and subscribers, thus helping with lead generation and brand awareness.
Marketers see more success with thought leadership content on LinkedIn compared to Facebook.
LinkedIn Groups vs Facebook Groups
On both platforms, groups are where businesses can connect with prospects and other like-minded users. Before engaging in groups, marketers need to ask themselves –
“Which platform is my target audience mostly active on?”
Keep in mind that users engage on different platforms with different motives. On LinkedIn, conversations revolve around work-related topics, whereas on Facebook, users connect to share their personal opinions on various topics like food, lifestyles, hobbies, etc.
Let’s look at an example. If you want to create awareness about your latest blender, targeting users in cooking groups on Facebook will get you the best results.
However, LinkedIn is a better bet if you’re providing a high-priced service like personnel management.
Facebook Ads Vs. LinkedIn Ads
In terms of variety, Facebook and LinkedIn fair equally. Both platforms offer a diverse range of ads types like carousel, video, dynamic and lead ads.
Targeting capabilities for ads on both sites rely on user input and content relevant to the information provided by them. So, you can easily target users based on basic information like job title, company, age, location, etc. However, Facebook also targets based on their life milestones, behaviour, and other personalized information.
Who wins? Facebook or LinkedIn?
You decide!
Our verdict is that despite sharing standard features, Facebook and LinkedIn have different audiences and intentions.
Which platform you want to use for marketing depends on your industry, target audience and goals.
Another essential thing to remind every marketer is – you don’t have to choose. You can always select Facebook for user engagement and LinkedIn for targeted lead generation.
All we can say is the winner lies in the eyes of the marketer!
Do you want professional guidance? GoViral has now a whole decade of experience specialising in inbound marketing and we can help you improve your business. Contact us to learn more!
Best Marketing Practices for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
The world-famous shopping weekend – Black Friday and Cyber Monday – has always been an excellent opportunity for businesses to maximize profits. Along with boosting your revenue, it is also an opportunity to build brand awareness and visibility.
However, it can be challenging to get noticed when you are practically competing against every other business out there. And this year, we only expect it to be busier. Online shopping is a preferred option for more and more buyers in the pandemic.
A clear and thoughtful campaign with the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) strategies will ensure that your brand stands out this holiday season. But no matter how great deals you offer, buyers won’t know about them without a solid marketing strategy.
To help you get ready for BFCM, we put together a few best practices for marketing your sale this year.
Stand Out by Giving Away “Extra Perks”
We always say that content is your biggest weapon to hold your audience’s attention. But with 116.5 million emails sent out on Black Friday, your email will likely get lost in the endless space of offers and promotions.
To stand out against your competitors, you need to offer your buyers better deals. Consumers expect businesses to put out the best deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, you can get in the game earlier with “early access” Black Friday deals. Promoting deals a week early as an “exclusive offer” is a popular strategy to increase visibility.
Some companies have already started promoting Black Friday deals along with Thanksgiving offers. Another clever tactic used by businesses like Levi’s is giving extra perks like “Free Shipping” if you subscribe to their emails.
Not only does it increase sales, but it also helps you grow your database of engaged customers.
Target Engaged Contacts More Often
An engaged contact is someone who has interactions with your marketing emails. Interactions could be actions like opening the emails, checking out the offers on your websites, or purchasing.
For example, only send multiple emails to contacts that previously opened your email but didn’t buy anything. The chances of these contacts making a purchase are higher than someone who never opened your email.
Emailing only engaged contacts more often results in higher open-rate, click-through rate and increase in sales. Tools like Mailchimp lets you keep track of the engagement data of your marketing emails.
Leverage All Your Social Media Channels and Website Pop-ups
Even though email marketing is the highest-converting channel, social media is your best friend for faster visibility of your BFCM campaign. Promote your offers on every channel, including paid ads.
Sometimes, just a social media post can create a huge impact. Take a look at how this simple Instagram picture posted by fashion brand ASOS to promote their Black Friday deal was well received by their audience.
The key to boosting sales for the website is to have your promotion take all the attention instantly. One of the ways to do this is through pop-ups. Usually, businesses use pop-ups to garner more engaged contacts. Still, many users often find them to be intrusive to their experience.
However, buyers don’t seem to mind when pop-ups include special offers. An important thing to remember is to set up the signup offer in the pop-up is the same as your most significant sale of the year, so your customers aren’t confused.
Send Multiple Emails on High-Volume Days
One of the basics of email marketing is “don’t spam your contacts”. But as we mentioned earlier, customers get inundated with emails on high-volume days – Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Your subscribers will most certainly miss it if you send only one email on these days. Send multiple emails to avoid getting buried in the inbox and make the most out of your email marketing campaign.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
Revamp Your Product Pages
Ask yourself: “Is my products display compelling buyers to make a purchase?”
Check your product pages and categories, and make sure the images are attractive and the descriptions are accurate. Invest time in beautifying, simplifying or adding detail to product pages to make them more compelling and streamline the buying process.
Elevating the design and look of your page reflects the value and increases the conversion rate.
Make the Checkout Process Simpler
Bringing attention to your webpage is only half the battle. Your buyer journey is complete when the buyer purchases your products or services.
You are responsible for providing a better user experience, especially when your buyer wants to cross the finish line. One of the areas to focus on is the checkout page, and making checkout faster and easier will lead to high conversion rates.
One way to make checkout easier is enabling Google Address Auto-filler, and it makes the process seamless and eliminates unnecessary distractions. Making buying process easy for your customers will help them focus on completing their purchase faster.
More Offers Throughout the Sale Season
With the holiday shopping experience extended into Cyber Monday, you must offer discounts consistently throughout the season. Sales continue to spike when businesses keep offering more compelling offers throughout the week.
Let’s take a look at how Amazon does it. The company has created segments like “Deals of the Day”, further split into ‘Available’, ‘Upcoming’, ‘Missed’ and ‘Watching’. In doing so, it pushes a sense of urgency amongst buyers and attracts more customers.
The key is to give consistent offers shoppers can’t get enough of!
In conclusion, ready or not, Black Friday and Cyber Monday e-commerce is coming. There is no ‘one size fits all’ campaign for it. Look around, see what others are doing and figure out what works best for your marketing plan. We hope you found some strategies you can apply to your business this year.
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