ARTICLE: Facebook Shares New Insights Into Emerging Trends in eCommerce and Digital Engagement

In 2021, as marketers on social and/or digital media, we're going to have to think differently. Facebook has recognized that.

In article by SocialMediaToday, in an effort to study potential shifts in social media, Facebook recently commissioned Ipsos to survey 12,500 people, ages 18–64, across 14 global markets.

Here are some of the bullet points:

• 90 percent of people say that are actively looking for ways to simplify their lives; 86 percent of those would pay for products or services that would save them time.
• What would those people do with that additional time? 65 percent say spend time with loved ones, 63 percent say get exercise.
• 82 percent say social media has allowed them to interact more and deepen their relationship with brands.

Click here for the full article, which includes an infographic of the survey's findings. 

Tips to improve conversions from your website

Creating a positive user experience on a website is a key component to a successful online marketing strategy. From that, how do you create a positive experience? Well, give the user what they're looking for.

In many cases, it's either one or two things users are looking for when visiting a website: information or to make a purchase.

So, if you're a business that sells products and/or services, lead the user right to where you want them to go. Don't frustrate them with multi-page navigation, just to help improve your bounce rate.

In other words, lead them to what's called the "landing page."

A landing page is a standalone web page, created for a marketing or advertising campaign. It’s where visitors “land” after they click on a link in an email, or ads from Google, Bing, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc., or similar places on the web.

How do you structure the landing page?

It's not complicated actually. You want to create the page based on what you want people or users to do once they're on the page.

• Say there is a product or products you're highlighting. Give all the pertinent information related to your product (cost, dimensions, function, etc.).
• If there are multiple options for your product, give them on your landing page too.
• Be sure to have a clickable call-to-action, such as "Purchase here" or "Add to Cart"

Remember. It's about the user experience. Make it convenient for them. Tell them what you want to do. Keep the user focused on what you want them to do and that is a conversion or sale.

ARTICLE: New Research Shows that 71% of Americans Now Get News Content via Social Platforms

What we learned in 2020 (among many things) was the power of social media and how quickly messages can be sent (true or false). Look at all the events we dealt with in 2020: George Floyd's death, COVID-19 pandemic, the election and so on.

Each of those events triggered massive social media usage to spread news and information (true or false).

And look what we've already had to deal with in 2021? The riot at the Capitol. Again, an event that triggered heavy social media usage. In many ways, we're still seeing it.

Social media has a power that has overtaken many of the people in the world.

According to an article by SocialMediaToday, new research shows 71 percent of Americans get their news via social media platforms, with Facebook and Twitter often being the go-to platforms. The research was done by Pew Research, which surveyed more than 9,200 Americans.

Again, social media has a power and is often criticized for how information or misinformation is spread. Thus it is still an important tool to use because data shows people still actively use it, despite a brewing lack of trust and frustration.

In other words, people are on social media. So do you.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

ARTICLE: How to Use Pinterest for Business: 8 Strategies You Need to Know

A few days ago, you may have read here on my blog about a change made by Pinterest to its platform: the launch of story pins (Click here if you missed it).

Here is an article from Hootsuite about how to use Pinterest and to help you find out if Pinterest is a viable option for you.

ARTICLE: New Report Underlines the Growth of TikTok, eCommerce, and Other Key Mobile Trends

In an earlier post, TikTok Announces New Policy Updates to Better Protect Young Users, TikTok is booming and highly popular.

A new report has been released and it details that growth.

Here are a couple takeaways from the 54-page report:

• "The average American watched 3.7 hours of live TV a day, whereas they spent 4.0 hours on their mobile device in H2 2020."
• "TikTok's average monthly time spent per user grew faster than nearly every other app analyzed, including 70% in the US and 80% in the UK - surpassing Facebook. TikTok is on track to hit 1.2 billion active users in 2021."

Check back and I'll break down the rest of the report.

Otherwise, here is the article from SocialMediaToday.

ARTICLE: TikTok Announces New Policy Updates to Better Protect Young Users

TikTok has announced several changes to its platform, specifically at the default privacy settings for its younger users.

TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, seeing massive growth over a couple billion users since its launch about five years ago. The platform, which focuses heavy on video, skews toward younger users, as young as 13-15.

Click here to read the rest of the article by SocialMediaToday. 

How to put together an email marketing campaign

In addition to social media, email marketing is another way to communicate with current or potential customers of your brand. What separates email from social media is that it is a direct communication. Maintaining that communication and connect is important.

But, because we're often flooded with emails, it's very easy for users to scan through their messages and can miss your message completely.

According to KWSM Digital, a business is six times more likely to get a click through from an email than a tweet. In addition, with 3.9 billion daily users, email has the highest ROI (return on investment) of any marketing channel. And, 59 percent of respondents say marketing emails influence purchase decisions.

So how can you be successful in email marketing?

• Establish goals. What's the point of trying to get a result when you don't know what you want to achieve? THIS IS A MUST. Ultimately ask yourself: where do you want users to go on your website and what do you want them to do? Lead them there.
• Build your email list. There are a couple ways to do this. One is to import contacts from a known list. Another way is to offer incentives for those who do sign up. If you do the latter, keep it simple. Don't bore them. Examples of incentives include quality content, discounts and/or free/express shipping. Once you figure out which you want to do, let people know about it.
• Plan your campaign. Shape your campaign to your goals, whether it's offers, announcements, events, educational information, newsletters.
• Be simple with your campaign. People don't want to bombarded. Think of it as you sending a message to a friend or family member. Make the email simple, easy to read and easy to format between desktop or mobile/tablet devices. Personalize it. Address people by name.
• Measure your results. IMPORTANT. Have to measure the performance, then adjust accordingly.

VIDEO: Sample of short ad

This is a sample of an ad I created that saw good performance.

It had an audience reach of 15.2 percent, good measuring stick is 15 percent. But it had an engagement of 5%; 2% considered good.

In 2021, engagement is my number one goal because I see it as a true measuring stick to a post's effectiveness. After all, when posting to social media, we often do it to get reactions, right?

This video, I believe, worked because it was short, which means it didn't impose on people's time, but also still got the message across. In addition, it left a bit of curiosity.

I included a horizontal video and a square.

New project

Incredibly exciting news to share. NASCAR has hired me for a digital project it's working on to enhance its website! I'm on cloud 9 about this opportunity.

ARTICLE: YouTube Ads for Beginners: How to Launch & Optimize a YouTube Video Advertising Campaign

I apologize for being repetitive. But I'm really driving home the point that video is going to be key in 2021 on social media and should be absolutely considered when putting together your social media and digital media marketing strategy in 2021.

In this article from HubSpot Academy, here are tips and samples on how to adopt YouTube into your digital marketing/advertising strategy.