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

blogging-cloud9

When I mention blogging to clients, it’s usually met with eye rolls. I often hear statements like, “Blogging is just a big waste of time” and “how does Blogging actually translate to ROI?”. I can totally understand why people don’t like blogging. If you’re not a writer, and you’re busy with other aspects of the business, making time to blog is simply not a priority. That being said, according to many experts it’s the cheapest and most effective way to increase the search engine optimization (SEO) of your site and get found online by potential customers. If you aren’t convinced about blogging, read on…

Blogging helps with search engine results

Search engine algorithms determine where your website ranks on the search engine results page (SERP), and SEO is the process of optimizing your website for better placement. One of the key factors search engines look for when ranking a website is fresh updated content. There is no better way to add new and relevant content to your site then in a Blog. And if you don’t like the word Blog feel free to change it to Latest News, What’s On My Mind, or some other original description. The purpose of a Blog (or whatever you call it) is to bring that fresh and unique content to your site so it gets indexed by search engines and your page ranks better organically.

Blogging drives traffic to your website

I’m pretty sure you would agree that you’d like more traffic coming to your website. Producing regular blog posts is kind of like fishing; you put the information out there on the web, and wait for somebody to bite. Every time you post a blog and share it on social media, you’re casting your content into a sea of potential customers. The more content you generate the more likely people will find it and visit your site, or link to your content from a relevant website. Companies that Blog receive 97% more links to their website than companies who don’t according to Hubspot. Inbound links are one of the key signals search engines look for when ranking a website.

Blogging generates leads

Correctly curated blog posts can be excellent lead generators. Adding a call to action to every Blog post in the way of a link, form or pop-up will encourage people to take action on your site. According to Huffington Post businesses that use blogs receive 67% more leads than ones that don’t. If you want leads and you don’t want to pay for them, blogging is an affordable and effective way to convert leads into customers.

Blogging establishes credibility

No matter what your industry is, you likely want customers and clients to think you have more credibility, experience or know-how than your competitors. Blogging is a great way to establish this credibility in the online domain. By publishing blogs on your social media, and key industry sites you’re showing potential customers that you know what you’re talking about. As you build authority in your industry or niche through blogging, your brand recognition and trust sky-rockets in the minds of potential clients and customers.

The most important thing to remember about blogging is that results don’t happen overnight. Blogging is a long term plan that must be implemented consistently and strategically for desired results. Many companies who understand the value of blogging, from small family-run business to Fortune 500 companies, choose to outsource their content creation. Blogging is one of the most affordable ways to get people to your website, but it needs to be done right and it does take time. At Cloud9 Marketing we have a team of writers who are experienced at crafting content that drives traffic and brings results. Contact us today and find out how we can help your business with blogging.

Facebook Advertising

Whether you are a new start up or a multi-national corporation, Facebook advertising is a tool that can’t be ignored. With 1.71 billion monthly active users and 1.13 billion daily active users in June 2016, Facebook is an undeniable force when it comes to connecting with your target market. With recent algorithm changes organic advertising (posts that aren’t paid for) are seeing a declining reach. Due to the large number of businesses using Facebook as a marketing tool, Facebook wants to ensure people’s timelines are not cluttered with spammy sales pitches therefor serious advertisers now need to pay to have their content seen. The upside to this is Facebook advertising is it’s affordable, laser focused and highly effective. Here we discuss more about what Facebook advertising is, and why you need to be using it.

What is Facebook Advertising?

Advertisements on Facebook are built in a business page, therefor in order to start advertising on Facebook a business and a personal page are needed. When creating a Facebook ad, you are essentially generating a Facebook post which will be displayed in the timelines or the right sidebar of your desired target audience. A new integration also allows you to have your ads displayed on Instagram. Facebook advertising is completely customizable and affordable. You can create an ad on Facebook for as little as $1 a day.

How Does It Work?

Facebook ads can be built via the Publishing Tools tab on a Facebook page, by boosting a post or with a Business Manager Facebook Account. A Business Manager Account that features an Ads Manager portal gives you the most control and insights when advertising with Facebook. When building a Facebook ad, you first select your advertising goal; examples of these include driving more traffic to your website, getting people to download an app, getting more page likes or generating phone calls to your business. Once your goal is defined you can select an audience. Audiences can be selected using location and demographic information, by remarketing to website visitors, targeting those who have submitted lead forms plus many other methods. After defining an audience, the budget and duration of your ad can be selected.  Finally, media (photo or video), and text can be added to create the perfect ad to reach your desired customers or clientele.

Why You Need to Be Doing It?

Simple put, people spend a ridiculous amount of time on social media. In the US, people spend nearly two hours a day on social networks. Organic reach on Facebook is a thing of the past and recent data shows less than .5 percent of Facebook fans will actually see your posts and updates. Facebook offers laser targeting allowing you to reach motivated customers when they’re online. Businesses can target location, demographics, age, gender, interest behaviour and connections. To get even more granular recent purchasing behaviour, life event targeting, look-a-like audiences and remarketing ads can also be used. Never has advertising been so cost effective and precise as what we are seeing with Facebook advertising.

Businesses around the world are seeing enormous results with Facebook advertising. If you haven’t started yet what are you waiting for? Let us help you achieving your online goals and reach your target market through Facebook ads. Contact Cloud9 Marketing today to learn about our affordable and effective social media packages for companies big and small.

digital marketing ipad

How to use Hashtags

There is a lot of confusion surrounding hashtags. They seemed to pop up out of no where and now have over run the social media space. Hashtags done properly can be immensely powerful marketing tools but when used carelessly can be extremely annoying and possibly detrimental to your online reputation. We could sit here and bore you with the history of the hashtag, and how they’ve evolved in the digital space over the years but we will leave that to PaultheTrombonist in his hilarious video History of the Hashtag # while we enlighten you on how to apply hashtags in each of your social channels like a Pro.

What the #eck is the purpose of a hashtag?

Love them or hate them, hashtags are here to stay. There are many examples out there of hashtags done well (and probably even more of hashtags gone bad) but overall they serve three main purposes:

  1. To filter and categorize information
  2. To connect with people and unite messages
  3. To add to a brand

Here at Cloud9 Marketing, we represent a lot of businesses in the tourism industry here in beautiful Whistler, B.C. We obviously want people across social media platforms who are interested in travelling and visiting places like Whistler to view our posts. Because of this, we always ensure to append #Whistler to our posts. Other common hashtags we use are #ski #snowboard #adventure (you get it).  By doing this people interested in these topics can simply click on one of the above hashtags and all of our beautiful and engaging photos and posts will appear. If you went on Twitter or Instagram right now and typed in a hashtag that interested you (like #winewednesday for example), you will see thousands of posts all displaying the hashtag and theme.

If you run a business and want to connect with potential fans and followers, hashtags are an excellent way to do so. Say you have an online dog treat business and want to get more people following you on social media and ultimately order dog treats on your website. Conducting initial research on popular hashtags used in your industry on sites such as Tagboard will give you a good idea which tags will be popular with your target market. By consistently appending these hashtags to your posts you will get more likes, comments, shares and retweets simply by people interested in and following those hashtags.

Hashtags are also great tools for branding. If you have a promotion you are running or want to communicate your slogan or brand strengths in your posts, appending them as hashtags is a great way to communicate the message to your fans and followers. Take Coca Cola for example, their recent Share a Coke campaign has penetrated the social realm and the hashtag #ShareACoke has been appended to all of their relevant posts. The more your social community notices branded hashtags the more likely they are to engage with them.

Are they for all social channels?

Hashtags were born on Twitter, and are still important additions to any post on this channel although generally only one or two can be included due to the character limitations. Instagram is also the perfect platform for hashtags and relevant and trending hashtags are sure to increase engagement of your posts. Instagram has a maximum of 30 hashtags per post but it’s recommended to insert 5-10 relevant, trending and catchy tags. Unlike Twitter and Instagram, where hashtags unite the entire community of users, Facebook hashtags generally only unite current friends and followers, or large brands who don’t have their setting set to private. For that reason, individuals don’t use hashtags as much on Facebook as brands do however if you’re going to use them, it is suggested to keep them minimal, 1-2 shows the most engagement.

Hopefully now we’ve demystified the hashtag and you are ready to put them to use in your own social media strategy. Still confused or need help with your online marketing- we are here to help! Contact Cloud9 Marketing today and find out how we can assist you.

search engine optimization SEO digital marketing

Marketing has come a long way in the last few years, if you ask people in the industry many would probably agree there have been more changes in marketing in the last 5 years, then there has been in the 50 years prior. With the explosion of the internet, uptake of mobile and ability to seamlessly track and monitor advertising spend and ROI online, it’s no surprise businesses around the world are diverting their budget to digital in 2016. Here are some key Marketing Stats that are so important to the way a business markets their products and services in both the B2B and B2C space, they simply cannot be ignored.

  1. In 2016 67% more leads will be generated by companies with an active blog

Content marketing is essential for optimal SEO performance and is the best way to drive traffic to your website. Blogging about useful, informative and engaging information that is relevant to your target market will drive traffic to your website, ultimately increasing conversions for your business.

  1. The average person now spends more time online then TV and all other media combined

This should come as no surprise. Smartphones, tablets and computers have become an extension of people’s bodies and people now turn to the internet instead of traditional media like TV, print and radio to get information.

  1. Total spending on Internet advertising is predicted to grow 12.9% next year. The Internet will become the largest medium for advertising in 2016 (ahead of TV)

Internet advertising is cost effective, highly targeted and traceable. These three features along with potential reach have seen the internet surpass TV for total ad spend.

  1. Social ad spending has doubled over the past two years.

Social media advertising is easy, cheap and effective. With platforms like Instagram now offering ad functionality, total social ad spend is expected to continue with double digit growth over the coming years.

  1. By 2019 mobile advertising will represent 72% of all US digital ad spending

As smartphones become more functional, and websites more mobile-friendly consumers will increasingly use their mobile to research and purchase products and services online.

  1. Digital marketing spend is forecasted to account for 35% of total budgets in 2016.

How much has your business allocated to digital marketing this year? Companies have noticed the value of online marketing and larger portions of budget are being spent on digital marketing.

  1. The top four channels for increases in digital marketing spend last year were email marketing (61% of marketers increasing spending on this channel), social media (49%), mobile marketing (40%), and SEO/PPC (38%)

Most businesses have a combination of email marketing, social media, mobile marketing and PPC as part of their digital marketing portfolio. It is getting rarer for companies not to leverage all four of these components to varying degrees.

  1. Mobile commerce is growing fast, 87% of internet users now have a smartphone – mobiles are revolutionizing business

Around the world smart phones and mobile uptake is becoming the norm presenting an enormous opportunity for mobile advertising.

  1. 93% of shoppers buying decisions are influenced by social media

Although social media is not known as the best conversion platform it is absolutely essential for brand awareness and influencing customers to choose your company over the competition. To increase conversions, social media advertising is very effective.

  1. Marketers who have prioritized blogging are 13x more likely to enjoy a positive ROI

Content marketing is commonly agreed by marketing experts to be the most important SEO element and those who commit to prioritizing blogging are seeing results.

There is no longer a question of having an online presence or not, and a website that’s not producing fresh content, or a social media presence that’s sitting stagnant, can do more harm then good online. The question now is having the right mix of online marketing components for your business to ensure you are reaching clients with the right message at the right time.

At Cloud9 Marketing we specialize in creating customized digital marketing strategies for our clients in Whistler BC and around the world. Whether it’s social media, SEO, web design, graphic design, content marketing and blogging or branding, we deliver results-driven, customer-centric and highly engaging digital marketing services communicating unique brands to the right people at the right time.

handshake

As a marketing agency in Whistler, BC we are commonly asked how we manage competing clients in an unbiased and equitable way. Although we represent clients from around the world, the bread and butter of our clients are local businesses here in Whistler. Due to the resort town nature of the community, the main industries that require digital marketing support are tourism and hospitality, retail and real estate. As you can imagine, because of the limited number of industries in Whistler that require marketing support, many of our clients compete, either directly or indirectly with one another. Here we hope to address the issue of representing competing clients, and how we ensure integrity and professionalism when doing so.

Individualized Strategy

As I’m sure you can appreciate, no two businesses are the same. Even a real estate agent operating in a competitive marketplace targeting the same clients has unique selling points and competitive advantages that differ from their competition. Our job as a marketing agency is to focus on these distinct competitive advantages and create an online marketing strategy that is in alignment with your business’ goals and objectives. In short, no matter how similar two businesses may be, each online marketing strategy is comprised of a different marketing mix and each business differs from its competition giving us the marketing juice needed to create a customized strategy and online presence.

Your success = Our success

As a marketing agency our business thrives on creating happy clients. This is intensified due to the size of the community, the nature of online marketing and our competitive business space. Whistler is a small tight-knit community and this makes it absolutely essential to keep clients happy. In small communities there is no anonymity; people talk and a business’s reputation is everything. Ensuring our clients are kept happy by implementing results driven digital marketing strategies is crucial to Cloud9’s success.

As a digital marketing agency our space is online. This means our work is out there on the internet for anyone to see, interpret and critique. Being exposed in this way is another reason why it is in our best interest to ensure our clients succeed. Your successful presence online is a testament to our capability as online marketers. Having clients with thriving online marketing strategies is simply good business for us.

The competitive nature of our industry is another reason we need to do everything we can for our client’s success. Since we don’t lock our clients into contracts, we need to continuously deliver on our promises or face losing clients. We are not only competing with marketing agencies in Whistler but with hundreds of thousands of agencies around the world. It is our priority to ensure our clients see the benefits in choosing us right away to keep long term clients.

Industry Experts

An advance of representing clients in the same industry is our knowledge and expertise in that industry which ultimately benefits clients. Due to the homogeneity of Whistler’s main industries we have become resident experts in the local tourism, hospitality and real estate industry. We are constantly staying on the pulse of trends, events, statistics and news allowing us to stay relevant and informative to your target market. Although the message you communicate to your audience may be different from your competition, the core industry trends and information is likely the same, and our understanding of your industry is an important asset.

Ethics and Best Practices

Finally good old fashioned ethics and best practices are flag posts that ensure we always have your best interest at heart. Delivering an honest, authentic and transparent service are values we stand by and our values drive what we do every day. Striving for your success is our number one priority. We want to make you happy, we want your business to succeed and we want to create a long-term and rewarding relationship with you – these are the things that get us out of bed in the morning!

If you’ve ever been concerned about how agencies deal with competing clients hopefully your fears have now been abated. Although we can’t speak for all digital marketing agencies, the words published above are our truth and are part of the reason why we’re a growing and thriving marketing agency in Whistler, with a base of long term loyal clients whose businesses we are strongly passionate about.

google-search

Google has just made a big change to the way it displays search ads which could have significant impact on your business. The right hand side of search results will no longer display search ads and will only display Product Listings Ads (PLAs) on highly commercial searches. Find out what this could mean for your business, and how you can utilize these changes to your advantage.

In the past a search engine result page (SERP) would show three paid advertisements above the organic listings, a handful on the right hand side and some underneath the organic results. With the new changes, up to four advertisements will be displayed above the organic search results and there will be no ads shown to the right of the results, except for PLAs in highly competitive commercial searches (such as insurance or airfares). According to Google, the click-thru-rates (CTRs) of ads on the right hand side was poor and this new change is expected to benefit advertisers in the long run, while creating a more user friendly search experience for browsers.

The biggest change this will have for advertisers is unless you are in the top four positions- it is very likely your impressions and CTRs will diminish. Competition for the top four spots will increase resulting in higher bids needed to obtain these spots. Those businesses who do manage to snag a spot in the top four ad results will likely see an increase in impressions and CTRs. Businesses who don’t have a budget to position in the top four will need to be more selective with their keywords and compete on words with a lower CPC or will face being buried underneath organic search results.

These changes will also affect organic search results as an additional ad displayed above organic results will limit the space for organic results on each page. This and the increase of ad extensions will encroach on dwindling organic search result space. Some experts believe the new changes may actually increase the CTR of organic results on the first page as the portion of web traffic that click on right hand ads (5.61%), may now click on organic results instead. Either way vying for that sought-after first page of Google will be more difficult for organic and paid results alike.

The new changes will take on the same layout as mobile searches and will affect advertisers across all languages and around the world. The changes were rolled out on February 18th 2016, and were some of the biggest changes Google has made to the SERPS in years.

So how can you use these changes to your advantage? Paid advertisers need to be selective on their key words and bid competitively. Maintaining a high quality-score through relevant ads, keywords and landing pages, using ad extensions and maintaining strong click thru rates will help secure a top spot. Those selling products can take advantage of the product listing ads to the right and top of the browser. Businesses relying on organic search results need to ensure their SEO strategy is rock solid to compete for a first page rank. As users become more sophisticated and business categories become more competitive it will take expertise and strategy to be displayed on the coveted first page of Google.

Need help with your Adwords (PPC) or SEO? Cloud9 Marketing creates and implements results driven digital marketing strategies using the latest trends and innovations in online and search engine marketing. Contact us today and see how we can help you.

build-a-website

Previous So You Want To Build A Website? Part One.

If you’ve bought a domain and have registered for web hosting the next step is to decide how your site will be built. Do you want to build it yourself with a simple drag and drop site? Would you prefer great customization with a theme? Or would you rather have the entire site coded from scratch? Web design is the most costly part of creating a website so it’s important to understand your options and be realistic with your skill level and time constraints. Having a set of goals and a budget on hand can determine which direction to go. Below are the different methods of building a website, theirs costs, and their advantages and disadvantages.

Building a Website

DIY

You don’t need any technical aptitude or coding experience to build a website these days. Web design platforms like Wix and Squarespace make web design accessible to even the most computer illiterate souls. These websites are essentially free to build and have some customizability enabling you to realize your creative vision with little or no expenditure. They are considered closed source platforms so don’t allow a lot in the way of flexibility and customization. The ease of use and affordability make sites like Wix and Squarespace great for Blogs and basic websites, but poor for sites that require customization.

Use a Theme

This is a relatively affordable way to build a website and offers great customization and support. WordPress is an example of a platform which features thousands of pre-coded themes ranging from free to hundreds of dollars. WordPress is an open-sourced platform allowing customization and flexibility. This is where it’s handy to know some html and css, or have a web designer on board that does.

Relatively web savvy people can create a website with WordPress, however the learning curve is steep and you’ll need to weigh up the cost of your time building the site versus hiring someone to do it for you. Hiring a web designer to build a WordPress site or similar is common. This can cost you between $500- $10,000 depending on the complexity of your site (pages, functions, additional coding/CSS).

It is worth mentioning that many people struggle with the decision to find someone local our out-source overseas (this can cost only a few hundred dollars). While it’s true you can get a website made relatively cheaply in countries like India, I think most people would agree if something were to go wrong, a local face and name to support you is invaluable. I’ve heard numerous stories of people getting their websites designed off-shore who live to regret it!

Develop from Scratch

The third option is to hire a web developer to create you a website from scratch. Unless you are a Fortune 500 company or require complicated functionality not supported by pre-existing themes, this is probably not required. Web developers are professionals who build the bones of the website using coding and PHP to create a site from scratch. This can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the site.

Get Noticed

There is no point having a website sitting on a slice of cyber real estate unless people can find it. Many would agree, getting noticed is the most important part of being online (you’ve worked so hard to hang the streamers, blow up the balloons, and bake the cake- now you need people to actually come to the party!).

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the art of getting found online and Search Engine Optimization is the science behind it. The complexity of SEM and SEO is far beyond the scope of this article but essentially involves building links, creating and optimizing content and installing proper codes into the back end of the site. This is just the start of what it takes to have your website get noticed online.

Building a website may be one of the biggest decisions your business will make and is the most pivotal aspect of your online strategy. There are over 3 billion internet users around the world. If you want a share of the online market place, a well built and optimized site that is in alignment with your online goals should not be overlooked.

Need more information on building a website? Contact Cloud9 Marketing and let’s discuss your brand’s online strategy and web design goals.

build-a-website

Building a website can be an overwhelming task, especially if you don’t know the first thing about web design. Like many people, web design may be a mystery to you- you can appreciate the final product but how the heck did it get there? You aren’t alone in your perplexity. Although building a website is becoming easier today with pre-coded themes, templates and drag and drop sites; these conveniences in some instances actually make it harder to accomplish your online goals in the long run.

So where do you start? It is important to ask yourself the following questions which will help determine your goals and the best direction for your website project.

  • What will be the main purpose of my website? (Convert sales, make advertising revenue, brand awareness)
  • How will people/ customers find it? (Social media, Search Engines, Yellow Pages)
  • Do you have any online competition?

A business without a website is an anomaly these days. However a business with a well-built and properly optimized website is just as rare. That leaves a lot of middle of the road, poorly designed sites that are doing a heck of a lot of nothing out there in cyber space. A website is the first step to a presence on the internet, and an important anchor for the rest of your online efforts. For this reason, it is essential to build a website that will get you where you want to go- as quickly as possible.

Buy a Domain

This is the easiest step. You probably have some idea as to what you want your domain to be. It could be your business name www.mikesplumbing.com , a set of keywords describing your business, www.whistlermaintenanceplumbing.com or another combination of words that relate to your business, brand or product offering.

Once you have an idea of which domains you like, go ahead and register them on sites like www.godaddy.com or www.domain.com. You will need to select your extension (.ca, .com, etc.), and have a list of alternatives to avoid disappointed when your #1 choice is taken.

Domains are pretty cheap these days and you can expect to land one for $10 to $20 a year.

Host your Domain

Next you’ll need to arrange web hosting. This is essentially the server where you will park your domain. Besides providing a place for your website (and all of its contents) to reside, web hosts ensure the website is running smoothly, updated properly and that the bandwidth and data transfer are performing as they should. They will also provide customer support if you are experiencing technical difficulties. A poor web host will neglect your site which can result in it being offline or not operating effectively for periods of time, with no support when you need it.

You can expect to pay between $10 and $100 dollars a month for web-hosting depending on the nature of your site and the level of hosting you require.

The next step, Building Your Website, is the most costly and time consuming part of the process. With your website goals in mind, let’s move along.

Next: So You Want To Build A Website? Part Two.

marketing-agency

Marketing is fun in the beginning. It’s all about ideas and vision and finding incredible ways to get your product or service out to the world. This is why so many businesses undertake this momentous task themselves. What businesses fail to realize in the honeymoon stages of a marketing plan, is how much work is actually involved, and how hard it is to stay focused. Once the ink has dried and the glow of a new idea begins to fade it’s easy to abandon ship, switch direction and never achieve anything worthwhile in the end. Marketing is an essential function for any successful business and hiring a marketing agency is the best strategy to reach your goals – here’s why…

Lightning Pace of Trends and Technology

Technology and trends are moving so fast that by the time you’ve familiarized yourself with the latest SEO tactics Google’s algorithms have changed once again. As a business owner, or with an internal marketing department, it can be hard staying abreast of the latest technologies and trends. There is just too much other work to distract. Marketing Agencies live and breathe change and innovation, it’s what sets them apart from their competition. It is a blatant waste of time for business owners to stay on the bleeding edge of innovation – of course having an idea of what is happening in your industry and how technology is changing is important – but staying on the pulse of everything new and trendy is best left to professional marketers.

Agency Wide Skill Sets

Marketing Agencies are often collectives of highly skilled strategists, brand specialists, web and graphic designers, copy-writers and bloggers, and social media managers. Business owners and internal marketing departments very rarely have the same extensive skill sets as agencies. When out-sourcing to a Marketing Agency you can leverage all of the skills and experience in that particular agency. This is great for long term marketing plans as well as one off projects. Not only can Marketing Agencies cover a broad range of projects they can do so with trained expertise.

In it for the Long Haul

Persistence is the key to any marketing plan’s success. Results cannot be expected over night. Marketing Agencies have experience executing marketing plans. They know that taking small consistent steps in the direction of your goals and vision are key to long term success. Too often when businesses execute their own marketing plans they get impatient if results aren’t immediate. Marketing agencies have the skills and experience to execute marketing plans but also have the understanding to step back, re-evaluate and shift focus if necessary.

It’s Cheaper

When you look at the hourly rate of a Marketing Agency or the cost of a one off project you might gasp. Although the hourly rate may appear more than the hourly rate of an internal marketing coordinator or manager, when you look a little harder you will find out-sourcing is a lot more affordable. When hiring a staff member internally there are many fixed costs that you may fail to consider. Taxes, vacation and sick pay, CPP contributions and health benefits can be as much as the base salary. Considering recruitment, training and human resource issues the costs of an internal marketing department can escalate very quickly. When you hire a Marketing Agency you are generally not doing so on a 40 hour per week basis. An Agency may be able to do the same amount of work as an internal team in a fraction of the time.

Finally, licenses and software programs to support marketing efforts can be costly and time consuming. Marketing Agencies generally have licenses to all the required software already, and may pass on a nominal charge for you to use them. This saves businesses the stress of training staff on various software programs plus the ongoing cost to upgrade and update the programs.

Outsourcing to Marketing Agencies is becoming more common as today’s marketing environment becomes more complex. Here at Cloud9 Marketing in Whistler, BC we operate as a marketing collective with a team of freelance web designers, graphic designers, social media coordinators, photographers, strategists and bloggers. When we receive a project from a client we have a full team of experts on-hand to get the job done quickly and professionally, using the latest tactics and technology. As many business owners strive for a better work/life balance, out-sourcing is becoming an essential way to achieve this lifestyle. Let Cloud9 Marketing rock your world by turning your marketing dream into a reality.

 

 

social-media-goals

You are probably tired of hearing how important social media is for your business. If you are like many you may be wondering how the effort spent on social media actually translates to a return on investment (ROI). It is not uncommon for business owners to delegate social media efforts to front-line staff, or take a stab in the dark themselves, with no notable results. Like any business venture, setting measurable goals is essential for ensuring the hours spent posting and tweeting is time well spent. Setting SMART goals on the most important social media metrics is essential for achieving results. Don’t recall SMART goals from Business101? They are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. Below are 5 social media metrics with an example SMART goal for each.

Followers/ Likers

Think of Followers and Likers as your audience. These are potential customers who are interested enough in your brand to tune in to what you say and do. There are two ways to generate followers and likers, organically and through paid advertising. Organic followers are the cream of the crop as these people are genuinely interested in your brand and took their own initiative to follow what you do. Paid advertising is a great way to boost your followers/likers and social media advertising is targeted so you can ensure you are recruiting your target market through these ads.

GOAL: To increase followers/likers organically by 10% between September and December 2015.

If you currently have a following of 500 people a 10% increase would equate to an additional 50 followers. This is easy to measure and a 10% increase should be achievable for most businesses.

Reach

Reach is an important metric when posting on a Facebook Page. Reach is the number of people who saw your post. Don’t confuse reach for impressions. Impressions are the times your post was viewed keeping in mind your post could be viewed multiple times by the same person. Facebook algorithms have changed significantly over the last few years and organic reach is harder to achieve. To get the furthest reach on Facebook you need to pay for advertising. Measuring your paid reach is a good way of assessing how effective your Facebook ad campaign is.

GOAL: To reach 1500 people with Facebook ad XYZ between Sept 1st and Sept 15th 2015

As your ad runs you will be able