Audience

6 Reasons Why Online Contests Are an Effective Marketing Tool

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An effective marketing strategy can make or break your business, so it’s extremely important to utilize proper marketing tools in your campaign.

Recently, online contests are starting to change the digital marketing world. You have probably noticed this tactic on your Instagram’s Explore section, but have you considered including it in your own marketing strategy? Well, you definitely should, and in this article, we’ll tell you why it’s a good idea to do so!

So, without further ado, let’s strengthen your marketing strategy together!

1. Broaden your audience

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First of all, online contests are a way for you to gain more followers. A person who decides to participate in the contest will likely talk to their friends and family about it, share it on their social media, all of which will increase their interest in your brand.

Remember, every follower is a potential customer! So, growing your brand and promoting yourself by engaging with a broader audience will certainly do wonders for your business.

All in all, online contests will help you build a community around your brand, and they’ll certainly generate more traffic on your online platforms.

2. Build stronger relationships with your existing customers

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Getting new customers can be difficult, but there’s nothing harder than to keep your existing ones. In a world where the market changes so quickly, it’s extremely important to stay in touch with your customers.

With online contests, you’ll definitely be able to keep your customers interested in your brand by interacting with them. People seem to love these kinds of giveaways, so you can stop some of them from losing interest in your products.

So, don’t underestimate the power of a good online contest, and keep your customer satisfaction levels as high as possible! It’s an investment into creating a loyal client base, which will help you sustain and further develop your business. In addition, there’s no better marketing than free marketing that you’ll get when your followers start sharing the links to your contest!

3. You’ll gain access to important data

Online contests are also a great way to do some market analysis! That’s probably the biggest advantage of digital marketing. You’ll have access to various tools that can tell you more about the people you attracted to your contest.

You might notice that the newly acquired audience is completely different from your usual target group! Having the necessary data is the fastest way to improve the entire marketing campaign! So, do not miss the opportunity to gain access to useful info, and create your first online contest today!

According to sites like buyvotescontest.com, voting contests are the most popular type of online contests. Still, you should choose the type that best fits the nature of your brand! Whatever you do, make sure to be creative and start your contests on trusted media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. In this way, you’ll be able to access all the relevant data without any problem whatsoever.

4. Boost sales

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More followers create space for more sales! Every follower you get by running an online contest has the potential to become a new customer, so it’s likely that you’ll see an increase in profits after your contest has ended.

Of course, the goal of all marketing strategies is to increase sales. We’re not saying that an online contest on your page guarantees conversions, but if you’re doing it properly, it’s very likely to succeed in generating some additional profits.

Of course, to do it properly, you should consult a marketing expert or an agency, even if it means stretching your budget for a bit. Consider it an investment towards further development and growth of your company. It might seem a bit expensive now, especially when it comes to the prize, but it will certainly pay off once you see your sales skyrocket.

5. Get more people subscribed to your newsletter

If you’re struggling to get people to subscribe to your brand, then a social media contest is the optimal marketing tool for you! Having a “list” of people who are actually interested in your products can be extremely useful for managing your marketing plan.

So, a good tactic is to make every contestant subscribe to your newsletter to be able to join the contest. In this way, you’ll filter the people who are truly interested in your goods or services from the ones that are there just for the prize.

Therefore, you’ll gain some leads while promoting your brand to a much wider audience. All of this will increase your conversion rates and help you position your brand. Of course, make sure to set up a prize that’s related to your brand in some way. Just giving out an attractive prize is not enough! If the award ends up not having any relevance to your brand, then the contest will end up being disappointingly ineffective.

6. Increased engagement

A well-made online contest will majorly increase the number of likes, comments, and other forms of audience engagement on your page. So, use this to your advantage! Create a hashtag to promote yourself even more! A popular tactic also includes asking your audience to tag their friends on the post so they can participate.

Whatever you do, make sure to target your specific niche, and avoid being too spammy with your content. Unleash your inner creativity and think of the ways to improve engagement as much as possible!

As the number of participants increases, you’ll be able to really meet your audience and optimize your future content so it fits them. In marketing, your potential customers are everything, so make sure to find engaging ways to interact with them as much as you can.

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The conclusion

Overall, social media contests are a great marketing tool that can help you develop your business quickly. Having a digital contest will increase the number of your leads, improve your conversion rates, and it can be a giant boost to your sales.

Whatever you do, make sure to create a contest that fits both your brand and your budget, and get some professional input to get the optimal results.

Important SEO Trends To Know For 2020

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If you search the internet, you’ll see that SEO is currently the buzzword of the digital world and it’s not a shocking thing because who doesn’t want to rank high on the search engines? For those who don’t know, SEO stands for search engine optimization and this is the one factor that decides how your business runs on the internet. Good SEO leads to good ranking and good ranking means more visibility which is the one thing you and your business needs to gather more customers and increases sales.

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Especially if you are someone who runs an e-commerce store or if you are running any business that offers different services then yes, SEO is must-understand for you and you should also know about the latest trends of 2020 for SEO so that you can take your website or your business page on top of the search engine rankings. From keyword research to content creation, SEO covers it all and be careful because SEO is one vast term and before you take this matter in your hands, you need to know all and all of it.

You’ve got two solutions. First, you can spend some time and do some research on SEO and how it works (it’s vast so the research will take lots of time). The second solution, however, is a better one and it’s more of an investment, you can opt for SEO services from Digitrio or other such companies to make sure that you get the results real quick for your business.

Now, if you want to opt for the first solution then here are some important SEO trends you should know this year to win this ranking game.

1-Understanding your audience

Know what your audience likes, do they like videos, texts or images? You first need to make some extensive research on your audience, you need to interact with them and know what they are expecting from you. This way when they will enter a query on the search engine, your website will be the first thing that will pop in front of you. You might have the best content but if you are marketing it to the wrong audience, you will eventually fail and the content will just be a waste for you.

2-Creation of content

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Your content will always be your king no matter what your business is and no matter what your platform is. The sooner you understand this, the better it will be. Especially when we talk about SEO, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that your content is the key to good SEO. You cannot expect noisy or poorly written content to rank high on the search engine whether it’s Google, Bing or Amazon. Invest and hire the best content writer in town who can produce quality content for you while you do all the marketing. Together you two people can literally take the SEO market by storm if you know how to work with a plan.

3-Technical SEO needs your attention

With the passage of time, websites are becoming more and more complex which is why the wiser thing to do is to invest in technical SEO. For example, your website’s speed must speak for your business and your activeness. A slow loading website can throw you out of the first few pages of the search engines and it will be like you never even existed in the first place.

These are some of the major trends you need to follow for the year 2020. So, make sure to use the tips we just gave above and continue your struggles to rank high. Within no time, you will see the results on your own.

Location-Based Marketing: What Works And What Doesn’t

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When it comes to marketing, there are so many different channels you can use to reach new customers, grow your audience, and boost your business’s bottom line. But that doesn’t mean all marketing strategies are going to be right for you.
In recent years, location-based marketing has quickly become one of the most popular marketing strategies used by businesses to help capture consumer attention, pushing them to make an impulse purchase while in a certain geographic location.
In fact, in 2019, marketers were estimated to have spent well over $26 billion of geo-targeted marketing campaigns. But what exactly is location-based marketing? And how can you apply it to your business?
Keep reading, and we’ll understand in detail about this rapidly growing marketing strategy, and whether or not it’s right for you.

What Is Location-Based Marketing?

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According to Whois XML API, IP Geolocation based marketing uses a mobile device’s location feature to alert consumers about offers from nearby businesses.
So, for example, if you’ve ever been walking down the street and then got a PING on your phone, saying that a certain store within your vicinity has a good deal on, you’ve been targeted by location-based marketing.
In most cases, location-based marketing involves a business sending alerts to smartphones or devices via SMS to notify the device owner of any discounts or other purchasing incentives they may currently be offering.

How Does Location-Based Marketing Work?

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Geofencing is one of the main practices used to perform location-based marketing. According to Wikipedia, a geofence is a virtual perimeter defined within a real-world geographic area.
So when it comes to location-based marketing, a geofence can be established. And then, when a consumer crosses into this virtual boundary, an automated opt-in SMS alert can be sent to their device.
As with any form of digital marketing, the goal of location-based marketing is to capture the consumer’s attention and then covert him or her into a customer.
Although some marketers fear that this form of marketing is a bit too intrusive, others believe that it’s the perfect solution to bridge the gap between digital and physical advertising, while also promoting impulse purchases.

What Works For Location-Based Marketing?

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As I’ve mentioned, location-based marketing is going to be the best strategy for every business out there. For example, this type of marketing strategy isn’t going to work well for brands that operate remotely.
On the other hand, for brands that have an actual physical storefront location, location-based marketing can prove to be an extremely effective strategy. This is because these brands can use their location to create a geofence surrounding their locations.

Then, when a consumer crosses into this region, they’ll be sent an SMS alert.
Because of the fact that the consumer will be near the brand’s location, marketers can be assured that they’ll be delivering a relevant message to the right people at the right time.
When it comes to location-based marketing, this strategy is most often effective for brands such as local retail stores or restaurants.

However, this strategy is also highly-effective for seasonal brands or “pop-up” stores. This is because these types of businesses already rely on consumers’ impulse to buy at certain times.
At the same time, location-based marketing can also prove useful for tourism or travel-related companies, especially when we talk about geo-conquesting.

In essence, geo-conquesting is the act of building an audience based on a competitor’s existing audience. So, for example, if you run a travel agency in Miami, Florida, but you wanted to attract people who have previously traveled to Tampa, you’d be able to build a campaign targeting consumers who’ve previously visited a similar travel agency in Tampa.

In turn, by offering a discount or promotion to those who’ve visited your competitor, you’d be able to attract them to your office location in Miami.
So with that said, let’s now take a look at when location-based marketing isn’t going to work for your brand.

What Doesn’t Work For Location-Based Marketing

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Any marketer who uses a targeted approach knows that every marketing strategy has its own limitations. And of course, location-based marketing is no different.
For example, location-based marketing isn’t going to be a good strategy for brands with locations that don’t get much foot-traffic or those that are situated in densely populated areas.

On one extreme, you simply won’t be able to gather enough data to build an audience if the location doesn’t get enough visible exposure from consumers throughout the day. And on the other hand, if the area is too densely populated, you’re going to have trouble deciphering potential customers from people who are passing through or simply living in that area.
Location-based marketing is also ineffective for brands that sell products or services that can be found virtually everywhere.

In this case, brands won’t be able to benefit from location-driven marketing strategies simply because consumers will be able to acquire their products or services pretty much anywhere they go.
Lastly, location-based targeting isn’t an effective strategy for businesses that deal with sensitive information, such as banks or healthcare providers. This is because there are many policies surrounding these types of businesses, which stipulate how marketers are able to use opt-in permissions.

This simply works to protect consumer privacy. But at the same time, it makes it impossible to run a successful location-based marketing campaign for these types of businesses.

Running A Successful Location-Based Campaign

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Again, location-based marketing isn’t for everyone. In some cases, this strategy simply isn’t going to be effective. And in other cases, there’s simply too much legal compliance surrounding some businesses that make it impossible to run a successful campaign.

But on the other hand, for businesses that are located in high-traffic areas or those that offer unique products or services, location-based marketing can be one of the most effective ways to reach the right people at the right time.
In fact, location-based marketing ensures that you’re serving ads and content to audiences that are nearby and relevant to your business, making it more likely that you’ll be able to gain new customers, and in turn, boost your business’ bottom line.

Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

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Today, for an advertising campaign to be successful, a business must not overlook digital marketing. The online advertisement form has taken over the industry and has already helped millions of businesses find success. However, it takes a lot of time, effort, and hard work to create a successful strategy, and people often tend to overlook certain elements or fail to recognize their importance.

Luckily, this can all be avoided with learning, careful preparation, and making smart choices, so here are the 5 most common mistakes many businesses tend to make.

1. Failing to Determine a Goal

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Developing an effective online marketing campaign is crucial for success Having a clear goal of what you want to achieve with it is of the essence since it will allow you to plan and build your entire strategy around it. By failing to determine your goal before anything else, you will be unable to utilize the best tools for the job and will not know how to develop an optimal strategy.

2. Not Choosing a Target Audience

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While it might seem nice to have customers from diverse demographics, locations, and different walks of life, it is not something that will boost your business and profit. Depending on what services or products you are offering, you need to choose a target audience that will truly be interested and willing to spend their money. Trying to reach many types of people might also result in a financial loss since you will be paying for ads that are targeted at people who have no interest in becoming your customers.

3. Neglecting Current Customers

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So many businesses only focus on increasing the number of new customers that they completely forget to pay attention to current consumers. This mistake can be detrimental to one’s business since it might lead to customer dissatisfaction, loss of trust, and ultimately consumer loss. It might also cause damage to your reputation, so never forget to keep engaging with your users.

For example, you can create interesting content, write informative blogs, share relevant posts, and include them in your newsletter. This way you will show your consumers that you care and appreciate them, which will ensure they stay loyal to your brand. You can also send personalized birthday offers, develop loyalty programs, and respond on social media platforms to maintain that positive connection.

4. No Smartphone Optimization

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Each day, the number of smartphone users is drastically increasing and more people are using these devices to get information, conduct product research, and shop. According to a recent study, around 51% of smartphone users have said that they discovered a new business via their phone. Making your website mobile-friendly will not only boost your visibility but also increase your traffic and meet potential customer’s expectations, increasing their satisfaction.

5. Overlooking Analytics

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Ignoring and not utilizing analytics can greatly hinder the success of your campaign. Not only do analytics enable you to track website traffic, but it can also allow you to study your audience and monitor the effectiveness of your content across all platforms. It can be of great help for remarketing, retargeting, and extending your reach.

Conclusion

Always remember that success does not happen overnight and that creating a successful campaign takes a lot of planning and time. By being knowledgeable and well-prepared, you can avoid making major mistakes and make sure you succeed.

7 Best Practices In Writing Better Social Media Content

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Content writing for social media seems to be a big thing today, especially in building a brand online. From promoting a cause to securing an online fan base, the content plays a critical role. But the ever-changing social media algorithm matched with the fast-phased social media users makes it a lot harder to come up with compelling material.

It would entail time, effort, and even money just to hit the likes and shares that you are aiming for. But without a properly planned content, all your investments would be of no value.

Sure you can use every writing tool available online, like wordcounttool.com, albeit those will only be helpful if matched with clear your goals.

In this post, we will share with you the best practices in writing social media content that will help you build a competitive brand online.

Know Your Audience

Image source: pixabay.com

If you want to write compelling material, then you should know your audience first. Writing while you have your readers in mind will help you adapt to the style that is relevant for them.

If possible, know the demographics of your followers. If you know, for example, the age group of your target readers, then you’ll be able to speak to them effectively.

Speak Like an Expert

You’ll only be able to write material that relates to your audience if you know what you are writing about. Flowery words would be of no use if you’re not getting into the meat of what your readers want to know.

You need to research the topic you want to write about. If you want to write about a product, for instance, familiarize yourself with its specs. This way, you would be able to confidently come up with accurate content.

Observe a Proper Voice

Writing for social media is far way different from doing it for an actual website. Writing for a website needs a professional and formal tone, whereas work done for online media needs a casual voice. You need not do a technical tone, what you need is something your readers can understand.

Remember that the reading habit of users is highly affected by emotion. If you are writing as if you are speaking to your audience, then your material will surely resonate with them.

Also, remember to keep a consistent voice throughout your social media material and posts. Infuse your brand or personality in your interactions on social platforms. This would help your audience connect with your posts emotionally and identify them as yours.

Observe Proper Grammar Usage

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This is a basic rule. Although creating content for social media is not as formal as other kinds of content online, it is still essential to write in a way that conforms to the basic rules of grammar usage. We all know how impatient users are. If your write up doesn’t make sense to your readers, it will be easier for them to scroll down and leave your post.

If you are not confident with your grammar and want to check if you are writing properly, there’s a bunch of tools online that can help you.

Keep it Clear and Concise

Writing long sentences is a taboo when it comes to online media. Just like what I have just done. Instead, I could have just said:

“Writing long sentences is a taboo in writing for social media.”

When creating, most of us are guilty of filling our sentences with unnecessary words. We think that long sentences would impress our readers, but it would not. More often, it will only confuse them and make them lose interest in your content.

The same goes for this type of material. If you want better engagement, you should write clearly and concisely. Remove fillers that complicate what you want to say.

Add Graphics

Most users like visuals. Images, graphics, and videos are of great help if you want to attract more audience to your content. Not only they are more engaging, but they also tend to tell stories quicker than words alone. They can even stand alone and still garner good engagement.

Next time you decide to post, accompany it with striking graphics that would best outline what you want to say.

Optimize Your Content

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Optimizing your posts seems to be a very technical task. But learning just how to do it is a good investment to grow your reach on social media. Try to do search engine optimization (SEO) by adding in your content keywords that people are searching for online. This would help your webpage rank in search engines and have better engagement. Though it may take time to do this, it will surely benefit you in the long run.

How To Promote Yourself Online

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Social media is a great way to start promoting your business on the web. While these platforms are a perfect tool to build your foundation in this turf, you are not limited to them. To reach out to your audience, you might have to extend your efforts away from social media. Read on and see how to get started.

Blogging and Vlogging.

Social media revolves around brief content. For instance, Twitter limits the posts you can write to only 140 characters, and users can easily bypass any post that is very long on Facebook. However, advertising yourself entails more than just posting snippets. By starting a blog, you get the chance to develop detailed content and express yourself better to your audience. You should also engage in blog submission.

A blog enables you to blend text, graphics, images and expound more on the ideas you wish to put across. Vlogging allows people to see your face and personality while allowing you to speak about what you like and develop unique content in video format. You should keep these two within the stipulated limits, but that still offers you more freedom. Aside from that, developing content helps for SEO.

Web-based Career Fairs.

Creating connections on the web does not have to be done through the people following you and the shares you get on social media. Web-based career fairs and networking occasions can jump-start your career and allow you to display your curriculum vitae and raise any valid concerns to the right people about various issues affecting the industry. Be well prepared for these occasions by having your cv ready, doing some homework on the people involved and understanding the industry details. It also helps to think of some questions and comments during the preparation so that you can authoritatively participate in the conversations. What other thing can help you grow? Enrolling for an online master of science in communication advances your skills and opens doors to several networking opportunities all over the nation, with both like-minded individuals and prospective clients.

Hosted Internet Events.

It is not right to participate in online marketing occasions only. If you have a massive following on your blog and social media platforms, you could try holding your event. It does not have to be as sophisticated as a web-based fair or networking event, but it is a fantastic method of gathering some useful contacts and brainstorm about some hot topics. Consider doing it based on a blog in that people post their thoughts on a specific topic after a week or month. You can take advantage of online tools such as InLinkz to get a record of all participating bloggers. One good thing about these records is that they make it straightforward for new entries to join and everyone gets traffic as a result of it.

References:

https://www.zineone.com/one-to-one-marketing/