Archive for June 2017
3 Simple Tips To Get The Best From Google Analytics
People don’t arrive at a site, navigate to the right page and complete a goal. Usually they come back a few times before completing that goal.
Google Analytics is an extremely powerful tool that every site owner should be using. We use Analytics on all out websites because it gives meaningful insights such as how many people are viewing your site, how long they stay on pages, where the traffic is coming from and where users are exiting your site. This information can give us perspective on what’s performing well and what needs attention.
It’s quite easy to get basic information from Analytics such as page views, session time, and traffic source, but the software does so much more than just give fast figures. Used properly, Google Analytics is the only tool you need to streamline your website and online marketing efforts.
1 - Browser Report
Quite frankly, you’d be surprised at how many people out there are using outdated technology. It’s all well and good to build a beautiful website with parralax display and video content, but what if users can’t access this content because they’re still running Internet Explorer version 8.
To find out what technology your visitors are utilising, go to Audience, select Technology from the submenu, and click on Broswer & OS. This will show you what browser people are using to view your site. Ensure that your site is compatible with all the browsers listed so that all uses can view your site correctly.
2 - Mobile Performance
Mobile is the future of the internet, according to Google. The search engine has even started ranking mobile friendly sites higher than those that don’t perform well on mobile.
To get more insights on what devices people are using to access your site go to Audience and select Mobile.
Mobile Overview will give you information regarding conversion rates on mobile vs web, and Devices will tell you what handsets visitors use to access your site.
If you notice that your conversion rate on mobile is much lower than on desktop it may be time to take a look how your site responds to various mobile screen sizes and optimise.
3 - Annotations
Annotations are there to help you with good housekeeping within Analytics. Any time you change something on your website you should add an annotation so that you can link that change with a rise or fall in your Analytics reporting graph.
To add annotations, go to your Analytics reporting graph and click the dropdown arrow immediately below the graph. Here you will see previous annotations, click Create New Annotation to add new ones. Annotations can be set as public or private so they can either be viewed by anybody with access to that Analytics profile, or only by you.
Analytics can be a daunting tool to use if you don’t know the basics, but once you have an understanding of how to use it the information that you can glean is hugely important to optimising your site for better conversions.
Catching Up With Marketing Predictions For 2017
In the period between December 2016 and January 2017 we saw a barrage of articles posted online declaring “The 5 Digital Trends That Will Die in 2017” or “This Is What Advertising Will Look Like In 2017”. Now that we’re halfway through 2017, we thought it would be a good time to go back and review those predictions and see how many were accurate.
1 - Influencers Will Continue To Be Kings
Influencers have become essential to marketing campaigns over the past few years, and in 2017 they’re more important than ever. Getting an influencer to promote your brand or product is nothing new. Brands have been creating relationships with celebrities and sports stars for years, or sending their products to popular bloggers for a boost.
Influencer marketing is a little different. It involves identifying a person on social media that may not necessarily be a celebrity, but who is seen as an authority in their community and has a great personality. These people have become one of the most effective ways to reach customers.
What makes influencer marketing so attractive is that it gives brands the opportunity to create word-of-mouth buzz about their products. When used effectively, influencers create natural ways to entice your target audience, which is honestly almost priceless in marketing.
2 - Pop-up Ads Will Stop Annoying Website Users
In August 2016 Google declared that it would start penalising websites that feature large pop-up ads that obscure content by boosting the rankings of sites that don’t feature them.
But these pop-ups and interstitials seem to be as abundant as ever, and the copy on them seems to have become more pushy. Even top ranking sites like Wired.com still bombard users with large pop-ups.
Google started penalising only mobile sites in January this year, but there’s no word on when it will start affecting desktop versions of websites. There’s not much data yet on how many sites this has affected, if any. We’ll just have to wait for the reports.
3 - Live Video Content
Live content has become the internet’s new favourite, but is it a fad or is it here to stay? The ability to watch something happen live is appealing, whether it’s your favourite celebrity going about their mundane lives, or footage from protests. It’s the type of immediate content users have been waiting for.
Live video is now available through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. And people are utilising this technology more every day. At the moment the content seems to be mainly personal, with users sharing their own experiences in creative ways. As the technology becomes more common we hope to see more brands use it to reach consumers in creative ways.
You can never really tell what the future holds, especially when it comes to marketing, and even more so in the realm of digital marketing. We’ll keep our eyes out for new trends as the year progresses.
Chatbots - The Future of CRM
What a time to be alive. Every day we look around and see ever-improving technology that would have been thought only possible in science fiction a mere few decades ago. The promises of virtual reality and artificial intelligence are finally coming to fruition, and who knows what’s next; actual walking, talking robots or flying cars perhaps. Okay, I’ll reign in my inner sci-fi nerd now.
The latest advance in AI technology are smart chatbots that can help out customers with simple questions and tasks, thus possibly alleviating the need for large customer care centres in the near future.
Back in April 2016, Facebook released an open version if its Messenger app and invited developers to artificial intelligence chatbots that would interact with Facebook users. In these early days of chatbots, it was predicted that we would no longer need to make phone calls or write emails to companies in order to get essential information. We haven’t quite got there yet, but there are more and more chatbots appearing, ready to (at least attempt to) help consumers who need answers fast. Though the advancement of this new technology will no doubt be fraught with errors (and the inevitable memes that come with them), they do have the potential to be very useful.
Quick Communication
Looking for important info about a company’s offering? Usually you would need to scour their site and social pages in order to find the answer yourself, or if you can’t find the answer you would need to submit a support ticket and wait the 24-48 hours for them to get back to you, even worse - you may have to make a lengthy call to a customer service centre. Chatbots can easily disseminate simple information immediately, creating a quicker, positive experience with your brand.
They Will Only Get Better Over Time
As with all other technology-based innovations, as the technology improves, so the experience becomes better and costs are reduced. The more opportunities a bot has to chat with real people the more it will learn how about the nuances of language and give useful advice.
E-Commerce With Ease
Chatbots can help consumers make orders online. If you have a rough idea of what you want to buy, instead of browsing through pages and pages of products, you can ask a chatbot to show you all the products that match your criteria (such as colour, style and brand) as well as suggest related items. Retailer H&M’s chatbot helps you choose outfits by suggesting complementary garments and accessories, which adds to a better retail customer experience.
Poncho: A Popular Chatbot
One of the most popular chatbots today is Poncho, the weather cat. He’s available to chat on Facebook messenger at facebook.com/hiponcho/ and provides weather data including current conditions, 5 day forecasts, and specialised forecasts for runners. Though you can get weather details with one tap on your phone, Poncho adds a personal touch with his character and fun GIFs.
Chatbots are still in their infancy, but we’re looking forward to finding out what the future holds with this advance in AI technology. As we use chatbots more, they will learn more and be better equipped to give correct and relevant answers to our needs.
Practical Tips For Perfect Presentations
As marketers we spend a lot of time presenting our creative ideas in meetings. A great presentation can clinch that big new client, but a bad one can send them running a mile. Structuring your creative ideas into a presentation can be a daunting task, but using a few simple tricks you can create robust presentations that get the client excited about what you have to offer.
Use Less Words
It’s a presentation, so you need to present! It may seem like a basic tip, but so many people get this wrong. There’s more to a presentation than just your slideshow; you also need to speak and convey your ideas in a persuasive manner.
Presentations often get bogged down by large amounts of text, and when the speaker is simply regurgitating the content on the screen behind them, the audience tends to lose interest. If you’re going to say exactly what’s on the screen, you may as well hand out a typed document to your audience. Rather, place key phrases on the presentation slides and show your knowledge by presenting the ideas around them. Let the information breathe and let your audience listen to you.
Be Graphic
This one goes hand-in-hand with the point above and goes to show that effective presentations have fewer words on them. Use images, graphs, charts, maps, and video to get your point across. Your ability to explain the meaning behind these visual aids will give your audience the sense that you are an authority on the subject.
Avoid Templates
While PowerPoint templates may have helped you out when you needed to complete that project at the last minute in high school, using an obvious template in a professional setting will actually make you look like a high school student.
Templates are boring, they’ve been seen a thousand times before, and they just aren’t inspiring. Give your presentations a professional flare by adding custom design. If you’re not a designer, then outsource the work - just make it different. Try out alternative presentation software too: PowerPoint is not the be-all and end-all.
Make Every Slide An Event
Every single one of your slides should have a big impact. There should be no throwaway slides, no slides you intend on skipping over quickly, and nothing boring in your presentation. Treat each slide like an ad. Consider:
Is the headline eye-catching?
Does it have impact?
Does it make the audience want to find out more?
Speak With Your Body Language
While your slides are important, your body language when you present is vital. Even if you use all the tips above to make your presentation exciting, simply standing in front of the screen and talking will still be boring. You’re a presenter, not a tree; so don’t grow roots and stay in place. Use the space around you to move, gesture with your hands and use facial expressions to animate your speech. This ensures that the audience’s eyes are always drawn back to you and therefore they will listen to what you have to say.
