by John Heida | Oct 18, 2021 | SEO, Social Media
Online marketing campaigns have become more effective in driving engagement, conversions, traffic, and revenue to businesses. Companies can acquire more internet users to either support or spread the word about their brand.
Now, digital marketing continues to be a more popular approach to promote brands, products, and services. However, there are various factors that businesses should consider to ensure that their online campaigns end up victorious.
1. Website Responsiveness
Last year, it was reported that there were 4.28 billion unique mobile internet users, indicating that over 90 percent of the world’s population uses a mobile device to go online. The statistics suggest that you must implement effective website responsiveness for your business’ platform to ensure a successful online marketing campaign.
It is essential to consider a website design that automatically adjusts to a user’s screen ratio. For example, people shopping online through their mobile devices should still see the products they’re buying without having to change, zoom in, or double-tap their screens. Web designers must consider optimizing your website into a platform pushing for a mobile-friendly approach.
2. Content Effectiveness
People go online for a primary reason: to look for information. Therefore, content effectiveness should be on everyone’s priority list to ensure an online campaign ends up victorious. As content has the power to make people interested, blog writing has to be one of the most effective ways to lock in people’s attention online.
Although users appreciate the content, it’s worth noting that they also value their time on the internet. It’s better to keep articles concise yet informative to ensure that no one has to spend too much time reading information they don’t need. Try to master producing articles with relevant details, turning your web visitors into potential leads and buyers.
3. SEO Management
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become a vital part of online marketing campaigns. Leading search engines would need to rank web pages based on their content and use of keywords, producing a list of the best websites to click on a search result. The goal is simple: the higher the rank, the more users click on the website, resulting in better chances for an online business platform to succeed.
Several SEO practices make up a successful internet marketing campaign. One is good content. Another is a user-friendly website, and lastly is the proper use of keywords. Search engines like Google have disqualified some websites for overusing or overstuffing some keywords to get ahead of the competition. SEO always encourages businesses to play fair, which then leads to good results in the end.
4. Social Media Management
Social media is now part of producing a successful business campaign online. As there are more people on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, it has become ideal for businesses to cross-post between their website and social media accounts.
Keeping in mind that there are four billion users online on social media, the platform does give your brand a significant boost. It also allows a creative approach for taking advantage of the internet to drive a more successful campaign.
Conclusion
Online marketing is a relatively new approach to promoting business. However, a study in 2019 suggests that search traffic generates at least 65 percent of the total eCommerce sessions, where 33 percent of those were organic, and the remaining 32 percent were paid searches. Therefore, digital marketing may be the future of online business platforms, securing a better way to engage, convert, and produce revenue for companies of all sizes.
Silo Hill Media is a digital marketing agency near Boise City, offering tailored solutions and local SEO services for business owners. Our mission is to work with our clients, structure a solution for their problems, and implement it to achieve their objectives. Schedule an appointment with us today, and let us know how we can help!
by John Heida | Aug 21, 2021 | Email Marketing, Social Media
It’s 2021, and the argument can be made that email marketing is dead. People are not checking their emails apart from professional work-related reasons. And, it’s probably justified if you’re one of the people that are starting to move away from email marketing. But, we’re here to tell you that this isn’t true. Email marketing continues to be one of the best forms of marketing out there. Here are a few reasons why email marketing is not going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
Marketing is costing companies a fortune these days. According to Statista, Microsoft has spent $20.12 billion in 2021 alone on marketing, and the year isn’t even over yet. This goes to show how important marketing is even to a fortune 500 company that pretty much everyone on the internet already knows about.
In a world where companies are spending billions on marketing, email is a refreshing sight. Email marketing is completely free of cost. It doesn’t matter what email provider you’re working with. You’re entitled to an unlimited number of emails per month.
Evidently, this also results in a tremendous ROI. Even if you’re spending money on email marketing in the form of automation software, mailing list, etc., you’re still going to get a lot more money back. Litmus conducted research back in 2019, which indicated that a company could get a revenue of $42 from an investment of just $1. This ROI is amazing, and there’s practically no other form of marketing that is able to replicate it.
2. No Regulating Body
One of the best parts about marketing via email is that there’s no organization restricting your efforts. Yes, there are some times that an email spam detection algorithm will place your emails in the recipient’s spam folder. Regardless of that, Campaign Monitor tells us that 90% of emails are going to end up in the recipient’s inbox. However, when we talk about Facebook, there are some severe visibility caps being put on your posts. Only 2% of your posts are going to end up in front of your followers. This is due to the platform’s preference for paid advertisements. This means that if you’re not paying Facebook, your followers are not going to see your posts.
3. Enormous Audience
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms have millions of unique monthly visitors. This number is great for marketing departments which is why companies put money into these platforms. However, there are three times more email accounts as compared to Facebook, and Twitter accounts combined. Pretty much everyone has multiple email accounts. You need an account to do pretty much anything on the internet. So, the amount of email account out there is a lot, a lot more than social media accounts.
Closing Thoughts
So, if you’re still under the misconception that the popularity of social media is the final nail in the coffin for email marketing, you’re wrong. This form of marketing continues to be one of the most effective means to get the word out to your customers. If you’ve abandoned the hope of getting customers through email marketing, you should have a talk with your marketing department about investing in it again.
by John Heida | Aug 5, 2021 | Reputation Management, SEO, Social Media
It doesn’t matter what your business does. The entire foundation of a company revolves around how happy your customers are with your product. Keeping them happy is important but not more than making sure customers aren’t unhappy. An unhappy client goes on to Twitter, Yelp, Google My Business, and literally every other platform they can find to bash your company endlessly. Such incidents are bad for your company’s image and require some reputation management. If you’re wondering how you can counter such negative reviews and get out of the situation without looking like a bad guy, you’re at just the right place. Here are three ways to respond to negative feedback.
Start Your Investigations Immediately
One of the worst things you can do to an angry customer is making them wait. So, when you notice that a customer left a negative comment anywhere, start off by replying to them. You don’t need to provide any details. You just need to tell them that you are looking into it. A simple message saying, “We’re sorry. We’re currently looking into your issue and will notify you as soon as we have some news,” goes a long way. Not only does it calm down the frustrated customer, but it also tells your audience that you’re quick at responding to problems whenever they come up.
Admit Your Mistakes
Let’s be honest; mistakes happen. Cyberpunk 2077 is a brilliant example of an amazing company making mistakes. They released an unfinished product with tons of bugs that rendered the video game unplayable. What did the developers do? Well, they started off by releasing a 10-minute apology video explaining that they made a mistake and are currently doing what they can to fix them. It was shallow, and no one really believed it, but it was an apology, nonetheless. If you know someone from your company made a mistake, own up to it. No one likes petty excuses and arguments coming from an organization. If you don’t admit your mistakes thinking that it’s bad PR, the one negative comment is going to turn into a dozen.
Offer Refunds, Exchanges, and Gift Coupons
So, the deed is done. You made a mistake, and you owed up to it. That’s progress, but the customer is still unhappy. They spent money to purchase your product/service and didn’t get their money’s worth. Well, in such a situation, you need to offer refunds, exchanges (where applicable), and gift coupons. These may seem like a waste of company resources, which they somewhat are. However, such measures ensure customer retention and are one of the best reputation management strategies in the market. Tons of fortune 500 companies, especially fast-food chains like McDonald’s, are using this trick to ensure customers keep coming back.
Closing Thoughts
A lot of companies think reputation management is a waste of time. We’re here to tell you it isn’t. Having a bad reputation on the internet is enough to kill your entire business. People go online and research before buying a product. That’s basic consumer behavior. If all they see are angry customers, the probability of them still purchasing from you drops down to zero.
by John Heida | Feb 20, 2021 | Facebook, Instagram, Social Media
While some social media platforms have come and gone, (MySpace, Google+, Vine, and more) the fact is, social media is not going away any time soon.
Businesses that want (and need) new customers need to embrace the current trends. The current trends are social media!
Right now, if you are a business-to-consumer company, you should be on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google My Business. If you are a Business-to-business type of company, you should be on the same platforms as well as LinkedIn. It should be a priority to be where your customers are. And I can promise you, they are not looking through a phone book anymore.
Your future customers need you on social media so they can choose you over your competitors! It is as simple as that.
Here are some other great reasons why you should be on social media and working hard to keep it up to date:
The more you are on social media interacting with your customers, the more visibility you will get. The more you keep your customers happy, the more they will be willing to use their own social media to promote you!
You can properly gauge what your customers think about you
If you are not on social media, you will be living in a bubble…and that bubble will only be with those around you. You cannot properly gauge your customer’s opinions about your product or service if you live in your own little bubble.
With social media, it is real-time. You do not need to wait to send out surveys or postcards to figure out what you are doing right or what you are doing wrong. You can use social media to make immediate changes to address customer concerns if they have them.
You can share customer success stories
Social media is the fastest way to share when you have made a lifelong customer. Not only do people love reading positive reviews of your business, but it is much more likely that they will use your services or buy your product when they see their friends happy that they did.
You can share a new product and/or service
Imagine being a restaurant and having a new menu item. You can share that picture of the beautiful dish and get an immediate response. The same can go for almost any other product or service. Even though we believe websites are key and extremely important in your overall marketing strategy, just simply posting the new item on your website may not be seen by several people for quite some time. Social media bridges that gap in a great way.
It is free!
Print, radio, and television ads cost a lot of money. Most businesses do not even touch those types of media because of the costs. Social media is free to sign-up and use, and if you were to choose to use any of them for paid advertising, the cost is very minimal, and the reach is far and wide. On many platforms, you can specify the demographics of who you are trying to reach as well.
While there is no cost to use the various social media platforms, admittedly the time to engage on social media the right way could be time-consuming. And yes, in business, time is money. There are companies, such as Silo Hill Web, that are experts in social media and can free you of that time commitment and let you run your business as you do best.
In conclusion, if you are not using social media it is time to start! It is as simple as that.
by John Heida | Feb 2, 2021 | Facebook, Social Media, Website Design
If you have a business, you need to also have a Facebook page. Facebook is the #1 social media platform in the world! Having a page, and using it correctly, means you can get in front of many potential customers. Not only that, but you can keep building long-term relationships with your existing clientele. Facebook has great page insights that allow you to really dig deep into your post analytics. It is also a huge money saver when starting out. The positives far outweigh the negatives. If you do not have a Facebook page yet, go get one now and then come back to this article to find out why it is not all that you should be doing!
1. Audience LImitations
Even though Facebook boasts over 2.7 billion active users, not all of these are your potential customers unless you are selling something as common as water. Thankfully, Facebook does allow you to focus your ads on specific
demographics to narrow in on your clients, but not everyone is on Facebook. In fact, many are giving up Facebook to lessen the stronghold it has on their lives. Also, it is estimated that roughly 30-45% of internet users do not use
Facebook at all.
Do not get me wrong, social media is here to stay. It is a great source for pushing your business information and advertisements. But Facebook is still limited.
2. Hard to Find All the Info
Have you ever gone to a Facebook business page to look and see what they offered, and couldn’t quite find it? Granted, you can scroll and scroll and scroll and may come to a post that tells you exactly what you are looking for but many do not have that much patience. I know I do not! I will look around for a short time and if I do not find it, I will look for the link to their website. This brings me to #3.
3. Websites Are Not Going Away
The worldwide web has changed quite significantly over the past couple of decades, but one thing is for certain, websites are not going away. If a business wants customers, it is imperative for any, regardless of the size, to
have a website. A website can be whatever a business wants it to be, from a large business card giving basic information to a full-on product catalog and e-commerce store. The sky is really the limit to what can be done on websites but the same cannot be said about a Facebook business page.
4. It is not your page!
Just because you are the one who may have started your Facebook business page, and the page may have your business name on it, it is not yours. If you get removed from Facebook (or remove yourself) your page goes away too. Also, your page must adhere to their community standards. If it does not, they will remove it.
In Conclusion
I do not want this information to keep you from using your Facebook business page as much as possible. It is a solid place to keep in contact with your customers and find new ones. It should be included in your broader marketing strategy. But do not let it keep you from exploring your other much-needed options as well. Make sure you budget for having a custom website built and getting it to the top of the search engines. Also, do not forget the other social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. These must be included in your broader marketing strategy as well, and must all be kept up-to-date.
