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Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, Our Blog

2018 Digital Highlights and What’s Next for 2019

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Ready to take a trip down memory lane? I’m not being overly dramatic here. 2018 was the biggest year yet for digital marketers and Internet users. New features, updates, and releases overwhelmed us. From Yahoo! Messenger shutting to the launch of Instagram TV (IGTV), it was a huge challenge to adapt to these changes and make better strategies. But hey, we survived! 2018 Digital Highlights So why don’t we look back on the highlights that occurred in the world of digital marketing last year? Almost everyone has gone mobile Do you still remember our parent’s rants that we “use our smartphones too much”? Well, it’s true. No one can’t deny that we are becoming glued to our smartphones. According to Facebook, 94% of social media users access their social networking apps on mobile. In that case, digital marketers should consider creating mobile-first content. For example, square and vertical sizes images for Facebook mobile newsfeed Plunging of organic reach and referral traffic When Facebook announced the changes to its algorithm last year, the Page’s organic reach plummeted down. The new algorithm let us see what’s most important to us which are posts from our family and friends. And when the organic reach is getting lower, the referral traffic goes down too. This is the result when fewer people see social media posts from business pages. It means that social media is an engagement channel, not referral traffic. Marketing became vocal – literally The voice-response technology has rapidly emerged as one of the most disruptive forces to hit the industry in 2018 with the rise of Alexa and other voice-activated assistants like Siri (Apple) and Cortana (Windows). Marketers were fighting hard for their brands to be mentioned by these digital assistant devices as one of the suggestion when a user inquires because these assistants only deliver one search result per request. So it became a challenge when it comes to marketers optimizing their content for voice search. AR and AI In 2018, machines have risen. AR stands for Augmented Reality mixes augmented elements to a real-world view, thus creating added value to the users seeing it. Our smart devices are getting powerful time after time and social apps have integrated with AR. Big brands incorporate AR to better engage with consumers. On the other hand, AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. It was widely used by marketers as they found that it can be useful to them. According to Hootsuite, there are over 100 thousand Messenger bots active on Facebook. The tech giant released its predictive analysis to help marketers find insights faster making the chatbots effective when engaging with a user. Increased demand in micro-influencers Celebrity endorsements are effective. Big brands agree with this. But what about a business that’s starting to build their following? That’s where micro-influencer marketing comes in. With the power of a micro-influencer and a business/brand, they can form a tight-knit group of followers who are loyal to what they promote. Plus, it’s a cheap alternative to celebrities so brands can allocate their budget to other marketing strategies. The Verdict: 2018 was a rollercoaster ride digital marketers and I enjoyed it. What’s next for 2019? As early as now, we’re already going to face some challenges that will require us to act fast and do things right! Defining the fine line between real and AI Depending too much on AI and Chatbots is a big NO NO. People who get in touch with you on Facebook knows so much about customer service. They know when they are talking to an AI or a real human. If you your chatbot can create a seamless conversation with a customer, that’s better. But when the AI keeps on saying the same thing over and over again without progress, that’s when the customer will doubt if the brand really pays attention. Bottom line: Be careful with AI. Creating contents fit to all mediums of digital marketing This is a constant struggle for digital marketers throughout the years. How are you going to transform your ideas into campaigns that can perfectly fit into social media, IGTV and Youtube videos, PPC (Pay-per-click) efforts, and voice-based search? That’s a tough one, isn’t it? But you don’t have to be alone in this one. Careful planning, dynamically collaborating with your colleagues, or thunder brainstorming is the first step. Videos worth of the user’s time A person’s attention span is increasingly shrinking as we know it. In fact, the attention span of a goldfish is already much longer than a human being. But don’t worry, social media users spend most of their time watching videos so you won’t lose a single viewer. What you need to keep in mind though is the rule of thumb which is grabbing a user’s attention within the first 3 seconds. Be controversial, create a cliffhanger, pique their interest; do whatever it takes to make a user keep their fingers off from scrolling away from your video. Wrap up We also wrote an article about social media predictions which you can find here. Whenever a cycle ends, we start anew. The same goes for our digital marketing strategies. Indeed, 2019 is a digital marketing year to look forward to. Stay ahead of the curve this year. If you want to know more, talk to us at EmergeLocal for a free consultation. Photo courtesy: Rawpixel by Freepik

Our Blog, Social Media Marketing Philippines

Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2019

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Are your social media strategies ready for 2019? Just like the apps on our devices, the world of social media is at a constant update. Trending topics are always changing, the most tweeted topic last week may be mentioned lesser in the coming week or not at all. It’s the same case with the changes in social media platforms especially on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Changes that help users and marketers alike to interact and build their relationship with each other. We marketers have to think in advance, riding the trend-train to stay ahead and be the first to know the latest in social media marketing trends including the anticipated changes so we can be ready to take advantage of all the great features that the future will bring us. Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2019 Here are our predictions for social media marketing in 2019: Video Content Domination Users are more intrigued when they watch something that piques their interests and most of the time – their curiosities. Contents in video format have been evident on different social media platforms and will gradually dominate this 2019. The real challenge here is what you’re going to do to get your users to watch your content. People nowadays have minimal attention spans and they are bombarded with a ton of ads on a daily basis. So creating a strategy to capture the interest of your audience needs to amp up a bit. We have seen different artists release a vertical version of their music videos uploaded on Youtube which changes the game for music videos. In addition, the launch of Instagram’s TV (IGTV) feature which is a lot like a TV feature that can be used in broadcasting long-form video content has brought uniqueness to brands that utilized this feature. With so many opportunities to create videos, make sure that you’ll bring the right content to the right audience. Ephemeral Nature of Live Videos The use of live videos was first introduced in Youtube where YouTubers can broadcast themselves and interact with fans who are leaving live comments on the video with a time stamp. After a short time, this feature has taken over Facebook and Instagram and is being utilized widely by media companies and news portals alike. Live videos give more authenticity to the audience as they’re watching real-time videos. The only downfall is that it won’t go under post-production anymore, it’s an as-is content that you’ll show to your audience so technical errors must be closely kept away. Marketers in 2019 should focus on using live videos in showing the authenticity, relevance, and their trustworthiness by providing spontaneous contents while subtly promoting their brand to the users watching. With that being said, users will always look for live videos that show engaging and exciting content which attract them with their short attention spans. Social Listening People share everything on social media. From their ideas, recommendations up to their frustrations, you can find these on their social media posts. But how is this helpful for us marketers? Social listening is understanding your users on Facebook and other platforms by listening (or should we say monitoring) to their public posts to find all mentions of a brand or any other keywords relating to the brand. While social listening has been existing for a long time now, its real game in 2019 is that it will be used for lead generation and social selling. Only a few marketers realize the importance of social listening as they only perceive this as a way of customer service and reputation management. But it’s more than that, you can find people that are actually seeking for your product and services with their public posts. So include social listening to your 2019 strategies now, or if you already have, review them and make sure that you’ll meet your goal through social listening. Everything is Personalized With users filling out every opportunity for brands to know them, getting insights have been easier than before. All our activities on the internet are being monitored, and marketers are taking advantage of it to show you their offers through advertisements that match your interest or what you were doing from the past few hours. A user’s browser history, clicked links, website visits, social media posts, and other activities give brands an insight into what content they can show to them. Let’s say Netflix, for example, shows their suggested movies and series based on your taste or shows that you frequently watch. Then there’s Lazada and Shopee that show products similar to the ones that you’ve bought. Most importantly, Google and Facebook have algorithms that monitor our daily activities where they can insert ads based on posts that we recently liked or pages we recently visited. Marketers in 2019 should relate this also on social listening to increase the impact of personalization. Timeliness Social media never sleeps! This is what the future holds for social media marketing. The real-time communication approach to customer supports that are 24/7 and chatbots who replies in an instant is just one of the proofs that timeliness in brands is currently rising and will continue to grow in 2019. I’m not just talking about customer service here, but also the timeliness of brands in terms of their social media contents. One remarkable example here is the day Catriona Gray won the Miss Universe 2018 pageant. Every brand was racing to the edge right after the coronation just to post in time to all social media platforms. It was a battle of wit and relevancy to what was the most trending topic that day. It all paid off though, as every user liked, commented, and shared those posts relating to Gray’s victory. This is the power of being timely and in 2019, it will be more challenging to stay relevant as brands are using different tools to be just in time as much as possible. Micro-influencers going Macro Who said there can be no celebrities inside

Google My Business, Our Blog

8 Ways to Improve Your Google My Business Listing

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Have you tried searching for your business on Google but ending up with unappealing results? Your offline presence may be already established within the radius of your business location, but what about your online presence? Google developed a tool called “Google My Business” – a local business listing platform that is super powerful but often left behind by business owners It offers everything you need for a potential customer to find your business online, particularly on Google’s search engine and Google Maps. Let’s say when someone searches for a “skin care clinic in Pampanga”, you want your website to appear on Google search and Google Maps. With Google Maps location system, your customer will be able to see how far away you are and how to get to your clinic. It’s inevitable that Google My Business (GMB) gives business owners the chance to stand out from the crowd and build trust. Normally, it takes less than one week to verify your business on Google My Business. Once you receive your verification code postcard from Google, simply verify your account using the enclosed code, then your business will be officially live. But in order to stand out, you have to put that extra effort to reach your goal. 8 Ways to Improve Your Google My Business Listing Here are 8 ways to improve your Google My Business Listing: Check your basic info As obvious as it sounds when you have an established name for your business already, checking your business’ basic information is an essential step in improving your GMB listing. Make sure that the email address, phone numbers, and address are correct and up-to-date. If you’re going to update your contact information or moving to a new location, you should automatically update all of this info in your GMB dashboard. Update Your Business Hours Aside from the contact information and physical address, your business’ operating hours are also one of the essential information to have in your Google My Business listing. Secure the normal operating hours, then don’t forget to update them during holiday periods if you have any changes in your business hours. If so, make it on the top of your list so you won’t have grumpy customers not knowing that your closing time will be earlier during the holidays. Make your categorization unique Unless your business is a one-stop shop that caters for all, the selection of your business category is important in creating your GMB profile especially when you choose specific categories that represent what your business is and what you offer. For example, when your primary category is “Hotel”, you can also choose secondary categories that are relevant and can bring you to the right customers like “Budget Hotel” or “Near Airport Hotels”. Then you can also add the amenities or the added value services that can make your offer unique from your competitors. Include your Business’ Website Link, too! Of course, if you have your own website for your business, you don’t want it left in the dark. Put the link of the website beside the contact info and address to make the listing a well-detailed one. When a customer searches for your business, they also want to know more about your business or they might share the word to others, so putting that handy link of your website to your GMB listing is a must. Personalize your Description GMB’s feature “Business Descriptions”, gives you a chance to make a personalized description of your business that customers will see when they find you on Google. Described as the blurb “from the business”, it allows you to write up to 750 characters (but we advise you to limit to 250 characters to be short and concise). It is highly recommended to provide thoughtful content in a way that you can provide useful information when customers search for your business. So avoid using misleading words, emojis, promotions or putting your content in all CAPITAL letters. Keep it authentic. Make it visually appealing Your Google My Business listing should not only contain letters and numbers but also include pictures of your business! Adding photos is a great way to improve your listing. You can use pictures of the exterior and interior shots of the store, your products, and services, even your employees. This way, it can give your business an identity for the customers that will see them. With visually appealing images, it will make your customer visit that store immediately. Check Reviews and deal with the Negatives Google reviews boost your online search results, so getting a ton of comments and reviews can help you. But what if there negative comments and reviews on your GMB listing? Both positive and negative reviews should serve as a bridge with your customers and demonstrate your professionalism and how you really care for them. You show value to your customers when you respond to their positive reviews. While responding to the negative ones allows you to turn the table, or even better, understand what went wrong so your customers won’t experience them again in the future. When responding to reviews, focus on being positive, appreciative and keep a friendly tone. Include Frequently Asked Questions and their Answers In the question and answer section, you can put all the questions that are being constantly asked and make sure to put the correct and accurate answer. Questions like “What’s your most popular item/service?” and other specified queries for your business should be in the question and answer section of your listing. It will help your customer to learn more and lessen their effort to ask. Putting yourself in the shoes of the customers can help you identify what questions they will always ask. And there you have it! We know that after reading these 8 ways can seem overwhelming, but it’s not. We encourage you to embrace the importance of Google My Business listing (mostly for local SEO) in order to further succeed and survive in this market full of

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