The Cloud9 Marketing blog covers trending digital marketing topics, industry tips and advice as well as, resort marketing tactics.

marketing-resolutions

New Years Marketing Resolutions to Stick To

Did you nail it with your marketing in 2017, or did you leave a lot to be desired with your online presence? In a world where marketing is changing as quickly as Trump’s latest piece of bad press its important to prioritize your marketing while being strategic in your approach. Although it’s hard for us to understand, not all business owners love marketing, some find it frivolous or  down-right cringe-worthy.  Whatever your blocks, fears or distractions with marketing may be, it is in your best interest to prioritize your marketing in 2018, here are some marketing resolutions to stick to.

Thou shall engage in live video

It’s all about live video in 2018, whether that be Facebook Live, Instagram Live for live streaming on Youtube, the story-telling and engagement possibilities with live video is beyond any other form of messaging at the moment. You may be hearing a lot of virtual reality and machine learning, these things are coming too but for now, the most interactive experience you can give your current and potential customers is the experience of live video.

Thou shall delegate my marketing if I’m unable to prioritize

Many businesses start the year gung-ho with marketing which slowly takes a back seat as the year goes on while other, more pressing business matters take priority. Just because marketing doesn’t scream and wave for your attention, doesn’t mean it isn’t important. If you find you’re constantly being called to other areas of your business, or are too busy to give marketing the creativity and attention it deserves, it’s time to delegate your marketing to someone else who can give it all the love it needs.

Thou shall understand my web analytics

So many businesses have a website and an online presence but have no idea how effective either are. Understanding your web analytics will be hugely insightful as to how your online marketing efforts are performing and ways to tweak and optimize current performance to be even more effective. Being able to navigate Google Analytics should be the very basic step of understanding web analytics. Having a clear picture of your online position, including a solid grasp of search engine optimization (SEO) will help your business immensely in 2018.

Thou shall invest in digital marketing

In the new year make sure to prioritize digital marketing, and by prioritizing it we mean, allocating money to this very valuable aspect of your business. In a world where social media dominates content and engagement you must pay to play to really reap the benefits. If you’re not ranking well on search engines for important key words you may want to consider Google Adwords pay-per-click advertising to get those coveted click throughs to your website. You can’t ignore the return on investment with digital marketing, it’s measurable, tangible and undeniable in 2018.

Thou shall be clear about my 2018 marketing strategy

A clear marketing strategy is the starting point for a successful year of marketing in 2018. Define your marketing budget, outline your marketing goals and create a strategy to help you achieve these. Your goals may want to consider revenue, customer acquisition, engagement and/ or brand awareness. The beginning of the year is the perfect time to get crystal clear on your marketing goals, schedule time to do this in the next few weeks right now.

As mentioned, marketing isn’t everyone’s jam however almost everyone understands the importance of a solid online presence backed by a goals-driven marketing strategy. If you’re ready to up-level your marketing game in 2018 and need help, contact the team at Cloud9 Marketing, we’ve got your back.

/by
facebook-algorithm

Decoding the Facebook Algorithm

As a marketer, the importance of Facebook is undeniable; however, the application of it can be hair-pulling at best and down-right tantrum producing at worst. What makes one post the talk of the town, and the next one an utter flop perplexes even the most skilled marketers at times. The magic behind the Russian roulette of Facebook posts is the almighty powerful Facebook algorithm. An algorithm is a formula or set of steps used for solving a particular problem. Facebook uses its algorithm to sort, sift and make sense of the huge number of posts that are created each day to ensure the user experience is one that is useful and enjoyable.

Facebook’s algorithm ranks posts using the following four steps:

Inventory- What posts are available at the current time to show

Signals- Looking at available data called signals, Facebook ranks the content. Data is pulled from who posted the story, the current time, what device it was posted with and how much time is spent reading a particular post.

Predictions- Using these signals, Facebook makes predictions based on what you will do with the post (how likely you are to comment, like or share).

Score- Facebook assigns each post a score based on all of these things, this score dictates the posts that are displayed in a newsfeed.

As a marketer managing client’s Facebook accounts, yielding top results for clients is a priority. Maximizing Facebook reach and enhancing engagement are important metrics that clients expect in the age of social media. Facebook will look for the following characteristics when assigning a relevance score to a post:

  • Who posted the story, how often they post and is there any negative feedback on the page or author?
  • How engaging the post is, how much time is spent on the content, and how many tags, comments and shares does it have?
  • The completeness of the page profile
  • Who generated the post, a friend or a business page?
  • How informative is the post?

All of these things impact the probability of a post being seen; the more engagement, the quality of the user, how useful and informative the post is, and how close the post creator is to the user will dictate relevance score and likeness to be seen by a given Facebook user. Friends and family posts are favoured over business page posts.

What Facebook likes

Creating content that is relevant, valuable and interesting is key to appearing organically in news feeds. Ensuring posts are informative, promote engagement, are positive in nature and are free of errors is important. It is proven that pages with a consistent posting schedule outperform ones that post randomly and sporadically.

Here are some things that the Facebook algorithm favours:

  • Posts with lots of likes, comments and shares (even better if it’s in a short period of time)
  • Posts with engagement from close friends
  • Posts that have other pages tagged
  • Posts with an active and engaged audience, creating a brand ambassador program or influencer marketing program is ideal for this
  • Links in posts
  • Users tend to prefer status updates, photos and videos the most
  • Videos uploaded to Facebook that get a large number of views or longer viewing session rank well (according to a 2016 Quintly study videos received a 109.67 percent higher interaction rate and 477.76 percent higher share rate).
  • Posts mentioning a trending topic
  • Posts from pages with complete profile information

What Facebook doesn’t like

Just as the Facebook algorithm favours certain types of posts, it also penalizes posts that don’t conform with its overarching values and mission. The following posts types and actions will negatively effect relevancy score and ensure your posts are at the end of the browsing queue.

  • Posts that are clickbait (click a link to take to another website)
  • Like-baiting, trying to get likes without providing useful content
  • Posts with spammy links
  • Repeated posts
  • Text-only posts or status updates
  • Posts that are hidden by users or are reported
  • Posts that ask for engagement (likes, shares, comments)
  • Over promotional posts

Recent Algorithm changes

Facebook is consistently updating its algorithms to ensure the user experience is high and to evolve with the changing landscape of social media. Here are some recent changes in 2017 that affect what people see and how they engage with Facebook content:

August 2017

  • Pages sharing false news can no longer run Facebook ads
  • Posts that pretend to be videos will be demoted
  • Posts with slow loading links will be shown less

May 2017

  • Posts with click-bate headlines will rank lower
  • Posts that link to low- quality websites will rank lower

January 2017

  • Authentic and timely posts will receive a better
  • Long engaging videos will rank better than short engaging videos

Staying up to date with Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm is imperative to ensuring you are delivering the best results to your clients. By ensuring content is relevant, timely, informative and engaging, utilizing videos and having a solid page presence and well functioning website are all fundamentals to hitting home runs on Facebook. Cloud9 Marketing are experts in Whistler BC on everything social media, any questions about Facebook algorithms or to see our social media management packages, make sure to contact us.

/by
strong-brand

7 Signs of a Strong Brand

Does your company exhibit signs of a strong brand? Besides being easily recognized by current and potential clients, a brand provides employees with direction, communicates values and purpose, and represents the sum of perceptions about a company. Branding goes far beyond logos and imagery and goes deep into a business’s identity, and how it wants to be perceived and experienced by people internal and external to an organization. Creating and maintaining a powerful brand is an art, and these seven signs of a strong brand are excellent indicators if you are on the right path.

  1. Purpose

Knowing your why will help define your purpose and be the core value of your business, a nucleus for everything else that’s created afterwards. Your purpose will help you stand out from competition and be a point of differentiation compared to other businesses in your market. Knowing your business’s why will help establish intent and make way for more functional goals such as the need to make money and the desire to provide the best service in your industry.

  1. Consistency

Consistency is important as it leads to brand recognition which is what all brands hope to achieve. Ensuring all communications are cohesive and relevant to the brand’s purpose will ensure consistency across all messaging both internal within the company, and external to potential customers, suppliers and competition. Consistency must be achieved by way of action (this forms part of the corporate culture), appearance and messaging. To address the visual aspect of brand consistency many businesses have style guides for reference and clarity.

  1. Emotion

By working with a customer’s innate desire to belong and be part of something, businesses can build a tribe of loyal followers who are emotionally tied to a brand. By connecting with your customers on a deeper and more emotional level you will strengthen your relationship, appeal to their emotions and increase brand loyalty.

  1. Flexibility

Although consistency is a core aspect of a powerful brand, flexibility will help brands stay relevant in today’s fast paced business world. To distinguish the two, consistency must be maintained at a high level, ensuring imagery, messaging and culture remain stable. Flexibility is important when it comes to executing campaigns, dealing with changing workforce dynamics and staying on top of industry changes.

  1. Internal Engagement

Employees are the face of any company and therefor need to be the most cherished brand ambassadors that you have. Ensuring employees are living and breathing the company’s brand, are signed up for the corporate culture and are aligned with the company’s purpose, will help create consistency across all areas of the organization.

  1. Loyalty

Loyalty is what keeps the business flowing and converts a one-time customer into a life long brand ambassador. Reward loyal customers and be sure to make them feel like they are part of something special. The cost to obtain a new customer is significantly more then retaining a current customer, encourage brand loyalty by showing your customers sincere appreciation.

  1. External Awareness

No business operates in a silo and having your finger on the pulse of your external environment, including your competition, will help strengthen your brand strategy and identity. Take a close look at your competitors and find out what they are doing well and not so well, can you improve on anything they are doing or learn from their mistakes? Anticipate market trends and ensure your brand is staying flexible amidst changing environments.

Not sure if your brand passes the test? Let us help you. Specializing in brand development and strategy Cloud9 Marketing can help your business achieve a brand that ticks all of the boxes.

/by
delegate-marketing

How to Know if It’s Time to Delegate Your Marketing to an Agency

We are a marketing agency, so of course we’re going to tell you that marketing your business is important. Unless you are offering the world’s most fantastic product or service, have no competition whatsoever and don’t care to improve performance or profits, marketing should be a priority. But as a business owner you may not have the skills, knowledge or know-how (or interest) to execute marketing strategies that work. It is important to understand when it is time to delegate any aspect of your business for the overall good, and marketing is usually one of the first areas to be handed over to professionals. Not sure if it’s time you left your business’s marketing to the pros? Here’s are some signs.

  1. Your Facebook Business Page Header hasn’t been updated all year

If your Facebook Business Page headers hasn’t been updated in months, if it contains pixelated or cropped images, or is some cheesy stock photo that doesn’t represent your business or brand, it’s a sign you are not using Facebook to its fullest potential. All of this is assuming you have a Facebook Business Page, and if you don’t, stop reading right now and hand over the marketing reigns to a professional this second. Facebook is an excellent portal for potential customers to get to know your brand, and your Facebook header is an opportunity to let them know what is new and exciting with your company, or to explore what it is that you stand for.

  1. Your last Blog Post was in 2011

If you can get past how silly the word ‘Blog’ sounds and get to the underlying function of a Blog, you will see the importance of it and hopefully stop neglecting this crucial part of your website. A Blog is a way to introduce fresh content to your website; search engines like this. Blogging about topics, products and industry news and events can help your business or brand gain authority, can provide value to your customers, and will provide you with more opportunities to be found on search engines. Don’t be that business that blogs once a year and then gives up. A regular and engaging Blog is an important part of every businesses content marketing strategy.

  1. You don’t have an Instagram Account

We know that the world of social media can be overwhelming, and that it’s hard to stay on the bleeding edge of every new social channel and update online. Instagram is now mainstream, and if your business is not using it yet, you are getting well left behind. We can’t think of too many businesses that wouldn’t benefit from an Instagram account. The visually appealing content is a great tool for story-telling and building brand awareness, and is the place to reach the millennial demographic. We get it if you’re scared of adopting new social channels into the mix, let us do it for you.

  1. Your website doesn’t display on mobile phones

Have you recently had someone tell you that your website doesn’t display well on mobile phones? Check yours right now, is it clear and easy to navigate from your mobile? If the answer is no, your website is not responsive, and you are potentially missing out on over half of web visitors because of this flaw. Mobile browsing minutes accounted for 70 percent of all browsing minutes in 2016. Websites should now be designed mobile-first, meaning appealing to mobile users before desktop users because mobile devices are what people are using to browse and buy online these days.

  1. You have no idea what SEO stands for

Do the acronyms SEO, SEM and SMM baffle your mind? If you don’t know what the all-important SEO stands for, it’s time for you to step aside and let the professionals handle your marketing. SEO stands for search engine optimization. Essentially it is how people find your business online (for an in-depth explanation, see here). This is such an important thing for the success and longevity of your business we cannot even begin to explain. Without SEO you do not exist to pretty much everyone on the internet. Period.

  1. You rather do just about everything else but work on your marketing

If you’re not jumping out of bed jazzed about marketing, you likely aren’t giving it the energy and attention that it requires. And why should you? You are running a business and probably have a lot on your plate. A good business owner knows when it’s time to part ways with different aspects of the business. If taking your dog out for a pee in the morning is more exciting than checking your web analytics, it’s time to delegate to an agency.

Lucky for you there are people that dream about digital design, study social media engagement and obsess about SEO. Here at Cloud9 Marketing we get our kicks from helping business like yours kill it online with tailored results-driven marketing strategies that get noticed. Can we help take your businesses marketing efforts to the next level? Schedule a one-hour free consultation and let’s chat.

/by
marketing-podcasts

10 Marketing Podcasts You Should Be Listening To

Want free marketing wisdom delivered from your cell phone or mobile device at a time convenient to you? Whether you listen to podcasts during your daily commute, while at the gym or when you’re relaxing at home, they are an excellent source of free information. Some of the best marketing teachers of today have podcasts that you can tune into about all topics from social media, to SEO, start-ups and business mindset tips. Even if you outsource your marketing to an agency like us, or let your staff take charge, having a broad understanding of marketing is important, and listing to podcasts is one way to knowledge-up.

Here are the 10 marketing Podcasts we at Cloud9 Marketing recommend to improve your marketing IQ and inspire you to take the marketing of your business to the next level.

  1. Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

This is a great podcast to learn the basics of marketing for small business owners. Amy takes large marketing concepts and makes them easy to digest in bite sized chunks. She also provides plenty of resources to create actionable plans based on her teachings.

  1. The Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn

Pat Flynn interviews the world’s leading marketing experts with the intention of inspiring his audience to learn from the best and launch their online business idea to add additional income streams to their repertoire. Pat’s jam is businesses that offer an opportunity for a passive income, and in his podcast he teaches you exactly how to do this.

  1. Mixergy with Andrew Warner

Mixergy is a podcast designed for business owners and entrepreneurs and interviews different successful entrepreneurs about how they started, and how to find purpose and vision in your business. There are over 1300 interviews with big-name founders to date.

  1. Social Media Marketing Podcast with Michael Stelzer

Social Media Examiner (SME) is one of the leading publications in the world of social media, and the Social Media Marketing Podcast is led by Michael Stelzner and other members of the SME team. This is the go-to podcast for everything new and emerging in relation to social, providing listeners with strategies, and actionable tips they can use to enhance their social media results.

  1. CopyBlogger FM

Copyblogger is another marketing institution and the number one source for information and wisdom about content marketing. Copyblogger FM offers short marketing lessons on topics such as email marketing, copywriting, content marketing, conversion optimization and more.

  1. Marketing School with Eric Siu and Neil Patel

Two gurus when it comes to online marketing, Eric Siu and Neil Patel offer listeners unconventional marketing wisdom to bring valuable, actionable and useful tips to business owners and entrepreneurs. This is no marketing 101, instead marketing school offers a cutting-edge curriculum which exposes the latest tips and tactics from those killing it with online marketing today.

  1. Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

In true Foundr style the Foundr podcast guides entrepreneurs on their journey, interviewing some of the greatest minds in business today. This podcast will teach you exactly what you need to become a successful entrepreneur whether you’re looking to bootstrap a start-up or raise VC money.

  1. Perpetual Traffic with Ralph Burns, Keith Krance and Molly Pittman

This podcast covers everything there is to know about leveraging paid traffic in business, from Google Adwords to LinkedIn ads. To learn how to get more online leads and sales this is the podcast to listen to. Strategies discussed in this podcast are actionable and easy to apply to businesses of all sizes.

  1. ConversionCast

Conversioncast is a spin-off of Leadpages, a landing page start-up which has exploded over recent years and is now an INC 500 company with over 40,000 subscribers. The podcasts gives insights into the company’s success and interviews feature real employees and their journey with the company.

  1. Marketing Over Coffee with John J. Wall and Christopher S. Penn

This casual and conversational podcast, which is recorded from a different coffee shop each week, discusses the latest marketing news and tips covering a broad range of subjects such as social media marketing, search marketing, SEO, affiliate marketing, copywriting and more. Another great feature of this podcast is they take listener’s questions giving further insights into the daily discussion.

Looking for some help in upping your online marketing game? Here at Cloud9 Marketing we specialize in helping small businesses clarify their brand and deliver results-driven digital strategies across industries.

/by
digital-advertising

The Future of Digital Advertising

Digital advertising spend is now swallowing up traditional advertising and for the first time ever, digital ad-spend surpassed television ad-spend at the end of 2016. With traditional ad revenue expected to stay flat for the next several years, digital ad-spend is seeing double digit growth, with a 20% jump in ad revenues between 2015 and 2016 according to Business Insider. With Google and Facebook at the receiving end of most of the digital revenues, and with augmented and virtual reality set to impact the online advertising world, there are big predictions for digital advertising between now and 2020.

As consumers become savvier (and more annoyed) with online ads, the technology and format of ads are changing to offer a more user-friendly and integrated experience. The future of digital advertising has arrived, and here are some trends we can expect.

Video Ads

It’s well known that video is the preferred format of 2017 and we will see an increase in video ads as we head towards 2020. Video is the medium of choice for online storytelling and engages and hooks an audience quicker than others online formats. Video ads have an average click-thru-rate of 1.84% which is higher than any other ad format, and four times as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it according to Hubspot.

Native Advertising

Native advertising is intended to fit the form and function of a website so advertising content appears seamlessly integrated, and in some cases, does not resemble an ad at all. Consumers are said to engage with native ads 20% to 60% more than standard display ads with increased engagement attributed to the authentic nature of the ads which complement the existing content on the site. Enterprise Innovation believes that native ad spend will increase to $53B by 2020, creating a more user-friendly ad environment for consumers online.

Influencer Marketing

The trend of influencer marketing is set to amplify over the coming years. Influencer marketing is a system where a business or brand uses paid promotion to leverage the social network of a particular influencer or influencers. Currently about 86 percent of marketers use this strategy however investment in influencer marketing is expected to double this year. What makes influencer marketing so powerful is that the promotion of a brand or product is coming from a trusted source. According to Convince and Convert the average business generates $6.50 for every $1.00 spent on influencer marketing.

Ad Targeting Gets Smarter

Currently online advertisements have the capability to target based on demographics, behaviours, interests and shopping patterns. With data mining a huge area of intelligence expansion, the technology for these contextual ads is getting smarter. Over the next few years online ads will not only be able to target users based on their experiences and actions online, but also on more deep-rooted desires and motivations. By targeting user intent, ads will become hyper relevant and increasingly engaging.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality technology is innovating at a rapid pace. From video ads we will see a shift to AR ads where users will be able to virtually try on jewelry or see what a coffee table looks like in their living room. Google Lens and Apple AR are two pieces of technology that will propel AR ads. Although AR technology is now accessed mainly by early adopters it is expected the number of AR users will increase by 35% a year over the next 5 years.

Mining Visual Data

The ability to view images that prospective clients are posting, sharing and engaging with online is becoming easier. With the enhanced capability of visual data mining, advertising will be able to take these insights and create relevant content for their target market. Tools like MetaEyes are making visual data mining accessible for marketers.

We’ve come a long way from traditional print advertising and even the tacky pop-ups ads of yesterday are beginning to lose their appeal. Mobile-friendly has evolved to mobile-first and the pay to play system for online exposure is now widely accepted. The future of digital advertising will create ads that intuitively understand a consumer’s actions and intent, and offer more relevancy than they have in the past. How can your business stay relevant in the world of online advertising? Let Cloud9 Marketing help you reach customers online using the latest trends and technologies.

/by
seo-questions

WTF is SEO? The Top 5 Questions We Get from Small Businesses

Out of all of the services we offer at Cloud9 Marketing, SEO certainly has the most confusion surrounding it. Not only do many of our clients not completely understand what it encompasses, but they often have unrealistic expectations on how quickly it works. Properly implemented SEO will help a website rank well on search engines, with everybody’s goal being that coveted first page spot. Results for SEO aren’t overnight, and it’s important for businesses to realize that its an ongoing process. Here are the top questions we get from small businesses about SEO.

#1 What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. In short, it’s how websites get found online with the common number one goal; to be displayed on the first page of the search engine results page. Keyword research, content marketing, back-linking and user experience are all aspects of SEO, but none will be completely effective without the other facets.

SEO is probably the most complicated aspect of online marketing. Involving so many layers and disciplines, some of which can only be properly employed by techy types with knowledge of web design and HTML.  With every business wanting more organic traffic, SEO is the way to get it. Of course you can pay to get traffic to your site, but organic Google rankings convey authority and trust, and SEO is how businesses get there.

#2 Should we pay for SEO in our business?

Although every online business could use SEO, not every business should allocate marketing budget to this area. In some cases, small businesses simply do not have the budget to compete with competitors for the top spots on search engines.

Businesses looking for immediate results will not benefit from SEO as SEO strategies take time (three months minimum for any impact). For small businesses operating in a competitive online space, who don’t have the budget to compete with online titans or who are seeking immediate results should opt for paid advertising, or other online marketing methods instead.

#3 What services does an SEO company provide?

Some SEO companies provide the gamut of SEO services while others focus on specific areas such as content creation, on-page optimization or link building. Having an audit done of your website is the first step to establishing your SEO needs.

Once you know what you’re dealing with, and understand the market in which you are competing, you can decide if and which SEO company can help you reach your goals. You may need someone who can cover every aspect of SEO from the technical to the content, to the links and authority; or you may simply need someone who can make some changes to the back-end of your website so it’s more search engine and user friendly.

#4 Can we do SEO ourselves?

There are some things businesses can do themselves to help optimize their website. Installing an SEO plugin such as Yoast can help ensure pages and posts are properly optimized for search engines using meta descriptions, title tags and focus key words. Blogging is an excellent way to increase organic page rank and can be done internally. By using popular key words for your business and industry you can generate more rankings for specific search terms. There are also a handful of free and cheap tools online that allow businesses to check their SEO status; MOZ.com, Ahrefs and Google Keyword planner are some excellent places to start.

#5 Why aren’t we getting instant results?

As a marketing agency that provides SEO services we are constantly abating client concerns about the lack of overnight results. It takes a minimum of three months for SEO results to flow in, and this can be even longer for websites that have had particularly poor performance or in ultra competitive market places. Patience with SEO is key. Understanding that SEO is a long game not an overnight miracle worker will help set realistic expectations when trying to improve your businesses SEO.

If you’re looking to rank on the first page of google and up your organic game on search engines, we can help. Cloud9 Marketing offers free SEO audits at no obligation.

/by
generational-marketing

Generational Marketing- Key Tips for Marketing to Each Generation

Do the interests, media consumption habits and digital savviness change between people of different ages? Of course they do, and for this reason understanding how to market to different generations is imperative. Generational marketing segments individuals by generation, assuming similar behavioural, psychographic and consumer habits common in people of the same generational cohort.

There are six living generations in North America today; however, for the purpose of marketing we usually discuss four, and they are: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y (Millennials) and Generation Z. Here are some tips and tricks to reaching each generational segment with your marketing.

Baby Boomers

Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 and are also considered the ‘me’ generation. Although they are embracing modern technology, they still consume a lot of television and just can’t seem to shake the voicemail. About 64 percent of this generation use social media, and Facebook is the best social media channel to reach Baby Boomers. Boomers like to watch the news, they consume content both on television and online (they love consuming information!), and they favour the desktop computer over tablets and mobile.

If you’re wishing to reach this demographic, print media, online, and Facebook are ways to do this. They’re still skeptical with direct marketing such as email, and the best time to reach them online is in the morning.

Generation X

Gen X includes people born between 1965 to 1976 who are characterized as having a strong work ethic while being adaptable with technology. It is suspected that 80 percent of Gen Xers use Facebook, making this the most powerful social media channel to reach this audience, although they do hang out on Twitter too. People in generation x still prefer desktops over tablets and mobile when consuming media, and they love consuming video content. Email marketing is another powerful marketing tool to reach gen xer’s and the best time to target them is in the evening.

Generation Y (Millennials)

Millennials have been all the hype lately and that’s because they are the most populous generation, and are now coming into their years of purchasing power. Millennials are born between 1977 and 1999, they are the biggest generation of entrepreneurs and are driven by experiences and lifestyle satisfaction over money and material possessions. Millennials are well versed in online shopping, are well connected on and offline, and can research information easily and efficiently on the internet.

Nearly 90 percent of millennials are on social media with the main channels (in order) being Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Only 59 percent of millennials are interested in the news, and they watch less television than older generations at 26.5 hours a week on average. Millennials are a mobile-friendly generation and the best time to reach them online is in the evening.

Generation Z

Generation Z, who are teenagers right now with the older ones coming into adulthood, are considered digital natives. This generation grew up with internet and smartphones, and has the best technology know-how out of any generation. Instagram and Snap Chat are popular social media platforms for Gen Z while the majority of them are on Facebook too. Youtube is consumed more than television and this generation is almost exclusively mobile, with the average Gen Z individual using their smart phone 15.4 hours a week. Video is the preferred media format and this generation responds will to memes, short videos and GIFS, and user generated content.

Understanding the behavioural patterns of your target market is essential, and generational marketing uses common characteristics of generational cohorts to identify marketing trends and opportunities. Cloud9 Marketing is a creative marketing agency based in Whistler, BC. We specialize in brand story-telling, graphic design and social media management. For help marketing your business, anywhere in the world, contact us today.

 

/by
facebook-business-page

7 Ways to Optimize Your Facebook Business Page For Success

Do you have a Facebook Page for your business? If so, are you optimizing it for success, or simply having it there because someone told you that you should? It doesn’t matter the type of business, every business should have a Facebook presence and a Facebook Business Page is the place to start. Here we will cover 7 ways to optimize your Facebook Business Page for success. With these 7 things in place, you will be properly established and ready to reap the benefits of a rock-solid online presence.

1. Use a Business Page, not a Personal Page

 

We often get asked if a personal page will do the trick, instead of a Facebook Business Page. In short, no. Although you may have a heap of followers on your personal page, a personal page simply doesn’t have the same functionalities and capabilities of a business page. The advertising, re-targeting and insight functions of a business page are instrumental in getting the most out of Facebook for your business. Invite your friends over to your business page, and begin building a following from there.

2. Make sure all of your information is complete

 

Your business page profile allows plenty of space to provide information about your business to fans and potential clients. Make sure to complete all relevant information such as general business info, contact info, your business story and hours of operation. Encourage clients and customers to leave reviews and create specific events and offers related to your business.

3. Have on-brand graphics

 

A Facebook Business Page is a great place to establish brand awareness and credibility. Use the space Facebook gives in the header and profile area to showcase elements of your brand and logo, and promote any events or offers. Often we see businesses using the prime header real estate with a photo, although this is visually appealing and better than nothing, use this space to draw people in, and promote what’s happening in your business right now.

4. Leverage Facebook ads

 

Facebook ads are the number one tool in your Facebook Business Page to drive traffic to your website, generate leads and convert sales. The sophisticated and easy to use ads platform allows you to indicate your advertising objective and build an ad campaign around your goals. Targeting capability allows you to target ads to specific areas, demographics, interest groups and more. You can also create custom audiences based on followers of specific pages, previous website visitors of your site, and email lists.

5. Be proactive with comments and engagements on your page

 

A Facebook Business Page should never remain idle. Make sure to be proactive with page engagements. Not only will this help your reach (how many people see your posts), it also shows good customer service. You can set up notifications so every time someone sends a message, comments, likes or reacts to a post, you will be notified and can act promptly.

6. Monitor the success of your Facebook efforts

 

Facebook Business Page has some great insights allowing you to track the performance of each post. You will be able to see the reach, post clicks and engagement for each post as well as monitor the pages of your competition to see how they are comparing with your page in terms of key metrics.

7. Be consistent

 

The key to success with your Facebook Business Page is consistence. By creating a social media content schedule you can know what you will be posting and when, and can schedule the majority of your posts in advance so it doesn’t take too much time away from your core business activities.

Not interested in managing your own social media presence? That’s ok too. We help businesses small and large implement results-driven social media strategies across industries. Ask us about our social media packages and how we can help you with your online marketing efforts.

/by
video-marketing
,

Why All Businesses Should Be Using Video Content

The online content world is changing and video is now surpassing text as the best medium to engage with your target audience online. YouTube is the internet’s second biggest search engine with over three billion searches a month, over one billion unique monthly visitors, and bigger than Yahoo, Bing, AOL and Ask.com combined. Even though video is such a powerful medium when you ask the average business they are not leveraging this format yet. Time constraints, difficulty level and unfamiliarity with video are key reasons why businesses are not jumping on this internet trend. Here we explain why it’s absolutely paramount that businesses use video marketing and why it’s not as difficult as most people think.

Engagement

Think of your own experience when engaging with content online. Are you more likely to read through a 1000-word Blog post or watch a two-minute video? Internet data proves that video engagement is higher than written engagement. According to the Content Marketing Institute users are 10 times more likely to engage, share, and comment on a video than they are a regular Blog post. Videos command more attention and therefor viewers are more inclined to interact with the video in some way. Videos also evoke emotion more quickly than the written word due to the varied signals (voice, expression, music, body language) compared to written posts. If you are looking to increase interaction for your business or brand, video is the way to do it.

Reporting

Reporting metrics for written Blogs posts are limited. You may be able to tell how many people clicked on a particular post, and the bounce rate (percentage of users that abandoned the site after viewing only one page) but that’s the extent of it. It is hard to know with Blog posts how many people read the first sentence only, who read half the article and who devoured every single last word. With video you can tell the duration of the video watched through a feedback loop that measures click-thru-rate, number of times watched and drop off points. These stats can be examined at a granular level so you can monitor behaviour on an individual basis. Recent stats show that 64% of viewers watch on average ¾ of a video (Brainshark); it is safe to say written content does not get digested as fully as video.

Search Engine Optimization

Adding video to your website can increased the likelihood of ranking on the first page of Google according to Comscore. Video not only enriches the content on your site which is positive for SEO it also provides additional opportunities to insert keyword labels, expand your site-map and back-links from YouTube will certainly help with your website’s SEO performance. With the increased usage of videos online the user experience on your site will increase. A video rich website will positively affect your site’s bounce rate, engagement and average page duration which will in turn help your website rank better in search engines.

Conversions

The most important reason to use video on your website is that it converts users better than any other medium. According to Search Engine Land, videos on retail sites kept visitors an average of two minutes longer and converted 30% more people. A recent study shows that 71% of marketing professionals believe that video converts better than any other medium. In a world where the average web-user is drowning in written content, video is the way to get ahead.

The good news is thousands of dollars of equipment and production software is not needed to create a powerful marketing video for your website. There is inexpensive online software that is easy, intuitive and effective if businesses want to have a stab at creating their own online videos. Here at Cloud9 marketing we create impactful and conversion-driven videos for our clients. If you see the importance of adding video as a component to your online marketing strategy but would rather leave it to the pros, contact Cloud9 today.

/by