Local consumer review report now available

The "Local Consumer Review Survey 2022" has been released by BrightLocal.com, a company that specializes in local SEO strategies.

In the introduction, the report says, "Every year, the 'Local Consumer Review Survey' explores the ways in which consumers use online reviews to choose, trust, and understand businesses offering services in their local area.

"Since its inception in 2010, the report has aimed to help local businesses, consumers, and marketers understand the impact customer reviews can have on consumers, and see which trends change each year.

"While 2020’s survey saw a big focus on how COVID impacted consumer behavior towards reading and writing reviews, this time we’ve asked more questions around fake reviews. This is to see if the reputation of the main review sites is as clean as they’d like to think it is."

If you'd like to see the full report, here is the link.

Here are some of the highlights from the report:

• More consumers are reading online reviews than ever before. In 2021, 77% 'always' or 'regularly' read them when browsing for local businesses (up from 60% in 2020).
• 67% will consider leaving a review for a positive experience, while 40% will consider leaving a review for a negative experience.
• 89% of consumers are 'highly' or 'fairly' likely to use a business that responds to all of its online reviews.
• 57% say they would be 'not very' or 'not at all' likely to use a business that doesn't respond to reviews at all.
• More consumers use Google to evaluate local businesses than ever before. In 2021, 81% did, but the year before that, just 63% did.
• The top sources of fake reviews, according to consumers: 1) Amazon; 2) Google; 3) Facebook.
• Only 7% of consumers say they're 'not at all' suspicious of reviews on Facebook.

Digital insights to know for 2022

Hootsuite and We Are Social’s newly released digital report offers insights about social media, search, ecommerce, advertising, and more.

The report, which is 300 pages, consists of data from 230 countries and territories.

300 pages!? Don't worry. There is an abbreviated version of the report.

Among the topics covered are social media usage, social media advertising, including advertising on TikTok, and ecommerce.

Here were some of the highlights regarding social media usage:

• 4.62 billion people in the world have a social media account, an increase of 1.7%.
• Average time spent on social media is 2 hours, 27 minutes. That is up two minutes.
• Average number of social media platforms used: 7.5.
• Men outnumber women on social media: 53.9% to 46.1%.
• The top five social media sites are Facebook, YouTube, What'sApp, Instagram and WeChat. TikTok is sixth.

Here are some of the highlights regarding social media advertising:

• Social media ads accounted for 33.1% of the world's total digital advertising spent.
• Marketers spent $23 billion more (an increase of 17.4%) on social ads compared to 2020.

Here are some of the highlights regarding TikTok advertising:

• More women than men use the app (57% to 43%).
• Potential ad reach on TikTik: 884.9 million users.
• Potential ad reach on TikTok among those 18 and older: 15.9%

Here are some of the highlights regarding ecommerce:

• Almost 60% of internet users around the world bought something online every week.
• The five main channels for product research were: search engines, social networks, consumer reviews, brand/product websites and price comparison websites.

To access the abbreviated version of the report, click here.

If you have the time to go through the entire 300-page report (more power to you!), click here.

Are you saying the right things in your email?

With all the recent changes to online privacy and mail privacy protection, a greater emphasis is going to be need on engagement on the web, especially within emails.

If you're not familiar with Apple's Mail Privacy Protection tool, simply, it's a tool that'll mask your computer's identifiers, such as IP address and location. The purpose of this is to protect consumers from having their data tracked without their permission or knowledge.

It's great for consumers, bad for marketers. There have been solid arguments - pros and cons - on both sides. We won't get into that here. But if you'd like to dig into the background, check out this blog post: Apple's iOS 15 update is now available; what does that mean?

In a recent blog by Litmus, Guide to Calls-To-Action (CTAs) in Email Marketing, it goes into great detail how to improve your email marketing.

Here is a highlight from that blog.

Wording or language says a lot. "Click Here" or "Buy Now" would seem like great CTA language. According to Litmus, "it really doesn’t give a reader any incentive for taking action. It doesn’t describe the value or what will happen if, in fact, they do click the link."

Here are some examples of more descriptive, enticing calls-to-action:

• Shop fall collection now
• Access your account
• Get 50% off today
• Start testing
• Learn more
• Start planning
• Show me how
• Run faster

Twitter unveils major event calendar

It's asked all the time, but it always bears repeating: When is the best time to post on social media?

It's such a vague question because every platform, every user, every business is different. The best you can do is go by averages, especially what you see on your particular channels.

Twitter has offered a helping hand with the creation of a major events calendar to help build marketing campaigns.

It is an interactive calendar that allows users to search by month and by region of the world.

Here is the link to that calendar.

Do you know where your web traffic comes from?

Knowing where your website visitors come from, i.e., how they get to your site, is valuable information, especially if you're running any kind of digital advertising/marketing campaign.

A great way, not to mention a free way to do so, is using what are called UTMs or a Urchin Tracking Module.

UTM parameters are variants of URL parameters used by marketers to track the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns across traffic sources and publishing media. Google offers this FOR FREE! (https://ga-dev-tools.web.app/campaign-url-builder/)

The variants are:

• Website URL
• Campaign ID
• Campaign source
• Campaign medium
• Campaign name
• Campaign term
• Campaign content

This is an example of a UTM link: https://www.cfihope.org/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=job+recruitment&utm_id=job+recruitment

As you can see, Google UTM tool gives you a full link for your new customized link, which then can be tracked in Google Analytics.

It is recommended you use link shorteners, more so on social media.

Here is a video to help you get started: UTM Tracking - Step by Step Tutorial for Beginners

Set to be guest panelist at Minnesota marketing event

In September, I'll be a guest panelist at the ICSMAX Minnesota Marketing Summit in Minneapolis.

It is Sept. 15 at the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel. The Annual Minnesota Marketing Summit is an opportunity for 200 brands based across the state to join expert creatives, agencies and marketing directors to exchange ideas across digital, experiential, print and brand marketing.

Join five panel discussions and two presentations in person this fall to review best practices, hear from emerging leaders and established giants in the region and come away with solutions, ideas and contacts. 

The panel I'll be on is called "Storytelling in Marketing."

A brand’s ability to tell compelling stories that resonate with their consumers is a powerful tool that helps evoke communication between the two. Panelists discuss how they have incorporated emotions, experiences, and shared ideas to create effective and authentic storytelling, and how this has not only strengthened brand initiatives, but their understanding of the consumers that they serve.

Full agenda to be finalized as date gets closer.

To register or see more information, click here.

True or false about text message marketing

It's been noted on this blog that text messaging could become a new avenue for marketing ideas.

Recently, podium.com talked to Neil Patel, founder of Neil Patel Digital. He is known for his work in digital marketing and social media and as the creator of Ubersuggest.

Patel was asked about seven myths related to text message marketing. You can read his responses in the entire report here. Here are some of those myths with my thoughts.

Myth: Text message marketing isn't effective

Statistics have shown that 98% of all text messages are opened, and 95% of SMS messages are opened and responded to within three minutes of being delivered.

Compare that to average email data. The average open rate for emails is 18%, and engagement is much lower than that. On average, email click rates are between 2-5%. And this is not including recent changes to privacy policies with email providers such as Apple Mail.

Myth: Text message marketing is only effective for big companies

Local businesses have the upper-hand in one area that is tougher for big companies to meet: personalization.

Local businesses and likely their owners are embedded and involved in the community. Several reports over the last several months are showing consumers want more engagement, and, more importantly, personalization.

Those supporters of local businesses are often more loyal because of the trust built.

Myth: Text message marketing is a one-way street

Again, text messaging provides personalization and trust-building opportunities. The key to keep in mind is the same as with email marketing. The person has to opt-in to being contacted via text, which data shows they are more willing to do so than with email. But, equally important is to not bombard them. Learn what your customers want and, more importantly, how often.

Myth: Text message marketing is spam

Like previous myth, text message marketing isn't spam ... as long as the person or persons opted into it. Be mindful of that. If you're not sure, there are plenty of resources to help you understand the legalities of text message marketing, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act or TCPA.

Instagram launches test of algorithm-free news feed

When social media was introduced nearly 20 years ago, users' newsfeeds were organized by reverse chronological order.

As time passed and the industry evolved, the shift went to setting up newsfeeds based on users' activity and preference, hence algorithims.

Of late, the call to go back to the chronological alignment has grown, and recently Instagram began testing that very option.

In an article posted by socialmediatoday.com, Instagram revealed in a video how it plans to work.

News to share

Excited to share that I have been added to the seminar lineup for the 2022 Wisconsin Association of Community Theatre Conference on April 2.

I will be giving a presentation about website design, analytics and functionality.

http://www.wact.org/

Is your website working?

The answer to this question goes beyond if it’s running or not. To find that out, you need to dive deeper into your website’s functionality. Are visitors to your website finding what they’re looking for? Is there a clear call-to-action on your site such as buying tickets or donating? How are people finding your website? Is your website searchable?

There is a tool to get those questions answered. The tool? Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free tool that helps you better understand the traffic coming to your website, how they’re getting there and what they’re doing on the site. Knowing this information provides valuable insight to help increase awareness of your organization and create better ad spending.

In this seminar, you’ll learn what Google Analytics is, what it offers, what data you should pay attention to and a lot more. Plus, you’ll learn better website structure to help make your website standouts above the others.

What social media users want in 2022

You don't need to look far to realize what kind of growth video on social media has gone through.

TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, Snapchat Spotlight, are just some of the examples. According to a recent article by Sprout Social, video and social media will likely go hand-in-hand in 2022.

Here are some statistical highlights of Sprout Social's latest report:

• More than half (54%) of marketers say that video is the most valuable content type for achieving social media marketing goals.
• Video is also the most underutilized format across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, comprising 14%, 11% and 5% of each network’s content respectively.
• 93% of companies have acquired new customer(s) via social media video.
• Half of social media users prefer video over other types of content.
• 85% of social media users want more videos from brands.
• People share video content with friends twice as much as any other type of content.
• 58% of viewers will watch the entirety of a business’ video if it’s less than 60 seconds long.