Mailchimp & Facebook Ads

So this is - if not quite a game changer - definitely something new and useful and you should definitely be “on it”

If you have been diligently building up your email list then stop what you’re doing and spend 5 minutes reading this blog and watch their short 1 minute video.

http://blog.mailchimp.com/introducing-facebook-ad-campaigns/

Here’s the humongous takeaway

Facebook will generate a “like-minded” audience based on the emails in your list.

So if you’ve got a list of a thousand or so emails - Facebook will see if those emails are Facebook members (pretty likely) - will look at their Facebook behavior and then generate a similar audience to market your ads to - and you do all of this inside Mailchimp.

This is awesome.  I’m testing it as I write - the interface is super basic and easy to work through - minimum spend is $5 a day and Mailchimp doesn’t take a cut.

Think of how you can use this to get your message in front of the right people?

If you’d like help setting up a strategy - give me shout.

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Things You Should Know For 2017

Facebook

The platform's getting more and more business friendly.  If you’re not spending some of your time every month looking at how your business page is performing, you’re probably missing out.

Video

Continues to grow in importance - particularly on the aforementioned network.  Remember when you didn’t see the point of writing blogs?  Equate that to you currently not seeing the point of doing video.

Advertising

A little bit of money now goes a long way.  If you can’t find $50 a month to spend on digital ads then you’ve probably got bigger problems to worry about.  However, a $20 narrow.io account and a dollar a day on Facebook Ads will have a significant impact on your business.

Mobile

Google is splitting its mobile index from its desktop one and guess which is getting priority?  You don’t really need to understand that - what you do need to do is look at how your website performs on mobile, and if you’re blogging that you’re using AMP technology.  No idea what I’m talking about - you should probably get in touch.

Strategy

If you’d like help developing a plan that makes best use of your time and resources, drop me a line. If you’d like help setting up Facebook ads - get in touch with Molly at Taylor Digital Marketing - she's great.

It's Friday

I'm not going to be sending a regular weekly email this year, most likely it will be monthly or when there's something of particular relevance.

I wish you all a very profitable 2017.
 

Do you love music?  Tell us about your favorite track and we'll see if it fits one of our playlists: http://musicto.com

Image credit: Focus by Kenya Allmond on Flickr

Insights From Buffer's Social Media Marketing Report 2016 / 2017

Ok - here’s the skinny from a study of over 1200 marketers surveyed by the lovely people at Buffer.

Video

Still low hanging fruit - if you can get into it, even if it means pushing yourself out of your content zone, it’s going to give you a big advantage on your competition.

As with everything it takes time to get good at it so the sooner you start, the better - and hey - once you have it down - it's way easier to produce than text!

Facebook

Still huge & now most definitely a pay to play channel for businesses.  So long as you have a compelling offer, Facebook ads are the most cost effective way to get an idea in front of a potential customer.

Short & Sweet!

That's it - there's another 8 points that the report highlights and if you've got the time you can check them out here:

https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-2016

But for most of you on this list, if you do something in your marketing that advances your interaction with Video and Facebook you'll be heading in the right direction.  Give me a shout if you need some help with strategy or execution.

Dealing with Loss or Grief? Listen to this, it really helps you feel better.

Image Credit: Unsplash

Flossing & Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Did you see that report that says there’s no evidence that flossing works? 

Apparently the studies funded by Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson (a family company!) that said flossing helps to remove plaque, were discredited back in 2011.

Apparently what flossing is really good for is sustaining a $6 billion industry.

And This Is Relevant How?

The argument being used by Dentists to refute this report is that flossing is actually good for you but that most people are doing it wrong.

Here’s the tenuous link to digital marketing…

Content strategy works - but most people are doing it wrong!

Your Content = Your Teeth

I know it’ll come as shock to most of you but, content production is probably the easiest part of your marketing strategy.  

Oh sure, it takes a while to find the format that works for you and it takes even longer for you to get good at it, but nowadays there’s no barrier to producing and distributing content.

Your articles, videos, pictures & witty comments are just like teeth - everyone has them!

Promoting Your Content = Flossing

I’m not talking ad spends - although that’s definitely a good way of getting your content in front of people - I’m talking about what you do to ensure that other people will find, view and link to your content.

Remember you’re producing this stuff so that when someone comes looking for your services or products:

1/ they’ll actually find you because people will have linked to your content and the search engines see the links and think - this must be good stuff - so they put you higher in the search results and...

2/ when people do arrive on your site they see all this great information that answers their questions, demonstrates how wonderful you are and so they choose you to meet their needs.

What Should You Do?

Well, everyone’s different so your situation is likely unique but there are things to consider.

Technical stuff like targeting the right keywords, formatting content in the right way, getting the filename right on your video, things which are tedious and take longer than you wished they did, these are super important.

But the holy grail of generating links is creating a community that looks out for your content - that is kinda stoked you took the time to produce it, that reads it when they see it and shares and links to it.

You only get this by investing your time in them - by reciprocating, by creating real world loose relationships with strangers.

It requires you spending as much time (preferably more) on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc than you do creating your content in the first place.

Need Help?

We can help with the technical stuff - I have access to trusted people who know how to set things up and can take the tedious bits off your hands.  

As for the whole outreach, community building stuff, that will be unique to you and will require some strategy - that’s when you should talk with me.

Dealing with Loss or Grief? Listen to this, it really helps you feel better.

Image credit: Mikael Kristenson on Unsplash

The Juggernaut you Need To Be On

Facebook revenue: $6.43 Billion +59% on last year

Facebook profit: $2.05 Billion +186% on last year

(Oh yeah - and these are just figures from the last quarter!)

It’s About Mobile

4 years ago Facebook made exactly zero dollars from mobile.

Nowadays more than 1 billion people check Facebook from their phones every single day.

As a result, mobile now accounts for 84% of its advertising revenue, that’s $5.24 billion every 3 three months.

So what?

It means that advertising on Facebook works.

It means that ads have to perform well on mobile devices

It means that if you have a product or service that appeals to the general public, you might want to be thinking about how you can use the channel.

Feeling a little down? Listen to this, it really helps you feel better.

Image credit:  AT&T - 1968 rchappo2002 on Flickr

State Of The Internet 2016 - What You Need To Know

It’s my favorite data of the year - Mary Meeker’s State of the Internet report - check out my previous summaries from 2015, 2014, 2013.  

Here are this year's major takeaways:

Advertising

• Internet advertising is growing and Facebook is now a significant player.  
• If you’re going to advertise you’d better be using video and if you’re targeting 16 to 34 years olds you need to be using Snapchat

Social Networks

• Facebook continues to dominate and it’s betting the house on video.  
• Snapchat has exploded in the last year and you need to understand it if you’re targeting millennials

Imagery

• Both video and images are growing in importance.  
• Emoji & Gif use is going to grow twinned with the importance in messaging apps - check out Google’s new IOS keyboard.

Science!

• Voice recognition is almost here and it’s going to change everything!  
• Self driving cars are going to appear faster than we think.

The Rest Of The World

• Less important for local businesses but India and China are maturing fast.
• Western culture is going to be stunned at just how big these markets are.

What Does This Mean For You

People are going to experience your business on a mobile device, with a short attention span and they’re going to be influenced by rich media rather than text. 

If I was a B2C business this is what I would be doing:

• Cleaning up my website and removing any unnecessary messaging and options and distilling the front page above the fold into a single good looking call to action. 
• Looking at how to incorporate video into my messaging
• Experimenting with Snapchat
• Allocating a small budget and be playing with targeted Facebook Ads

Here are 4 more slides from the report - it's fascinating stuff.  If you have a spare hour I thoroughly recommend you have a read - the information is really well presented and you can read the slide deck online here.

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Feeling a little down? Listen to this, it really helps you feel better.

Image Credit:  Internet Trends 2016 by Mary Meeker