Rising Social Media Platforms You Should Try

Marketers are already familiar with the Big 3 social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Marketers love them because they provide an easy way of promoting and sharing products and services.

However, new social media platforms are created all the time. While they don’t have the same popularity as the Big 3, a handful of alternatives can give them a run for their money. If you’re an early adopter of fun and new social media platforms, your business can benefit with these alternatives.

Here are some rising social media platforms you need watch to take advantage of being an early bird.

TikTok

TikTok was previously known as Musical.ly and is very popular with young users. According to studies conducted by Sensor Tower, TikTok was the 4^th most downloaded app in 2018.

TikTok is all about creating short videos that play on a loop. Users love them because the app makes it easy to add music, filters, effects and more.

The app got a bad rep because some people think that it’s just a lip synching app for kids. However, if your audience is between the ages of 16-24, then it’s a great platform to promote your business especially if it is related to fashion.

Lasso

This is basically Facebook’s version of TikTok. It was released in 2018 and users can create short videos with fun filters and effect. They can also log in to their Facebook and Instagram accounts to cross-post their videos. A feature allowing to cross post with Instagram is coming soon.

Lasso might not be as popular as TikTok right now but it could rival it’s competitor soon. If your target audience uses TikTok, you should keep an eye out for Lasso.

Vero

Vero is an Instagram alternative that boasts no ads, no data mining and no algorithms. This platform allows users to share photos, music, TV shows, books, links and others. An interesting feature allows users to choose who can see their post by choosing from categories such as: close friends, friends, acquaintances or followers.

There are no ads on Vero but brands can still work with influencers on the platform and even add a “buy now” button to their posts.

Because Vero is touted as “no ads” it has being called the authentic social media platform. This is a good choice for companies that want to build more meaningful relationships with their audience. Users can use the platform to share a wide range of content so it’s a good venue to find out what your audience likes.

SteemIt

SteemIt is a blockchain based blogging and social media platform that rewards users with cryptocurrency for creating and curating content. The platform works by rewarding users when they upvote content. They can also be paid when they upvote the content of others. They can then exchange their digital Steem tokens for real money.

Steem is seen as a Reddit alternative where people post about technology topics. However, you an share any type of content on SteemIt and it can cover many different topics. SteemIt today has a small user-base. However, marketers can still use it as an additional channel to share their content and grow their follower base while getting paid at the same time.

Caffeine

Caffeine is similar to Twitch that was created by a team of ex-Apple designers focused on gaming, entertainment and creative arts. The app allows you to create live broadcasts for friends, followers and viewers can interact with you in real-time using comments and emojis.

You should seriously consider using Caffeine because according to Livestream, 80% of users would rather watch videos live from a brand than read a blog. This means live streaming content from apps like Caffeine can generate a lot of attention and interaction. This app is not just for gamers. You can use it to demo a product or service, hold a Q&A session, give a tour of your company and other viewable content.

These 5 rising social media platforms can be a good alternative to the already crowded space that’s being occupied by the Big 3. Jumping early on can give you a competitive advantage.

A Sydney Social Media Marketing expert can help you reach out to clients and interact with them.  We help you create persuasive pages and content to give your brand advantage over the competition.

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Ecommerce Metrics That Are Always Overlooked

For many entrepreneurs, data is everything. When you’re starting out an online store, you’re usually concerned with binary decisions that will make it easier for you to launch your business. You need to decide what product to sell, who your audience is and how to reach them, building a website and putting the proper tools in place to make it easier for people to find you.

In the early days, focusing on building a solid foundation so that you can successfully launch your business is understandable. But after your launch date, you need to step up your game further. You need to evolve from business builder to data analyst. Once your ecommerce store is up and running you need to make strategic decisions so that you can boost revenue, reduce cost and acquire more customers.

Knowing how to make sense of the data plays a big part in your business decisions. Informed decisions can help you improve your ecommerce store so that you can act on areas that need change or optimization. To do this successfully, you need to keep track of these metrics.

Customer lifetime value (LTV)

Customer lifetime value (LTV) is very important but always overlooked. This metric helps you determine how much profit you will earn during the average customer lifespan. Knowing the value of each customer will help you determine budgeting, strategy and help with forecasting. More importantly, it can help you understand how much money you spend in acquiring customers but still remain profitable.

It can also help you with decisions when it comes to strategies related to customer retention and frequency.

The basic formula for computing LTV is by taking your average order value and multiplying it by your purchase frequency. The product of this equation (customer value) is then multiplied by your average customer lifespan. To make it easier, analytics tools like Compass and OrderMetrics can calculate and report on LTV for you.

Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) or in some platforms as CPA or cost per acquisition helps you understand how much money you spend to convert or acquire new customers. This metric is important because it tells you how much money you need to spend in order to acquire a customer each month.

Calculating CAC is easy. Just divide the total costs associated with acquiring customers with the total number of new customers acquired over the specific time period when the money to acquire was spent. Example of costs include: paid ads, content creating, direct emailing, etc.

Once you know CAC, evaluate it with LTV to know how much money you’re spending to get new customers against how much money you will make during the duration that they are your customers. If you find that you’re spending more than you’re going to make, you have a problem that needs to be addressed.

Page Load/Speed

Page load time or page speed refers to the time it takes for your website to load fully for visitors. Online business owners need to remember that since they can’t meet their customers personally; their website is the primary tool for creating a good first impression.

Slow loading websites can affect customer experience. It also affects your bounce rate and high bounce rates affect your competitiveness in Google Search Results Page.

Revenue by Channel

You should also check revenue by channel to help fuel your business growth. Knowing where your money is making a bigger impact can help you make informed decisions about future marketing growth and strategies.

For example, if your paid Facebook ads are making more revenue compared to your email marketing campaigns then you need to shift more of your budget to Facebook and dial back on your email marketing campaign.

Google Analytics can give you an acquisition report so that you can access conversion rate and revenue data by channel. OrderMetrics and Glew are also good alternative tools for this metric.

You need to pay attention to data to build a profitable and sustainable business. Understanding ecommerce metrics can help you optimize resources, shape strategies and make informed decisions.

Take advantage of the online shopping boom with the help of a Sydney Ecommerce Web Designer. We customize your ecommerce store specifically for your business and we have the expertise to ensure that your project is a success.

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How To get More Sales With Email Marketing

Are your email campaigns not delivering what you were hoping for? Are you wondering where you went wrong with your marketing campaign?

If you’re scratching your head wondering where it went south, you’re in the right place because we have some of the most relevant and actionable email marketing tips you can apply in order to get more sales.

Subject Line

It all starts with the subject line. According to studies, it takes humans 100 milliseconds to form a first impression. The same is true for your subject lines. Email recipients judge them at a glance so you need to catch their attention quickly.

According to Experian.com, personalized subject lines have 26% higher open rates compared to non-personalized ones. Good examples include:

• Hey (First Name)! BOGO sale ends today!
• (First Name), we don’t want to stress you out but…
• “You almost missed out on…”

Be Straightforward

People in today’s digital world don’t have time to read long emails or even long subject lines so it should be short and blunt.

Let customers know from the very beginning what it’s all about. Everybody’s inbox is full so you have tough competition. If you want receivers to open your email, be straightforward.

Take a look at these examples:

• Best Things To Do In Chicago
• 60% off on (insert product or service)

Provide Value

You have to make it worth your client’s time to make them click your email. Even though it’s short and condensed, your email should tell them why your product or service will benefit them. If you want to captivate your audience and make them loyal, you have to put the focus on them.

Tell them the benefits of your product or service and how they will profit from it. Use educational content in your email or send links to video or product guidelines. Provide value so that they will hold your company in good esteem.

Use Powerful Language

Words like limited,” “new,” “exclusive,” “free” and “now” can push emotional buttons of readers. These words can lead to higher conversion rates because they can push a customer’s emotional trigger.

Use Behavioral Psychology

The truth is, marketing is all about 3 key factors: FOMO, an effective CTA and providing something valuable.

• FOMO or fear of missing out is one of the best content marketing strategies you can use for your brand. Setting a strict time limit works well as a marketing strategy. This is literally giving them an offer that they can’t refuse. Example, 30% off your shopping cart until 12 midnight only!

Remind them throughout at the start of the week and then count down as the time limit expires so that they start purchasing like crazy.

• Always include an effective CTA in your email newsletters. People get a lot of emails every day and you want them to click yours. Remember the following when you want to improve your CTA game: make it personal, be clear about the benefits they will reap and create urgency.

• Always tell them the value that you offer. Tell them the benefits of your products and how you can profit.

Include An Unsubscribe Option

Providing an unsubscribe option is not only good email marketing practice it is also required by law by the SPAM Act. Gmail makes it easy for marketers because they include an unsubscribe link automatically in the email header.

If you want to keep your emails away from the spam folder, you need to include an unsubscribe button to avoid triggering spam filters.

Optimize Email For Mobile

According to  WebsiteSetup.org, mobile devices are the preferred gadgets of today’s shoppers. Their study shows that 54.3% of all client visits to their site came from mobile devices like phones and tablets compared to 34% from desktops.

This means that desktops are experiencing a decline so marketers need to embrace the modern era and optimize emails for mobile users.

There are many other ways you can boost sales with email marketing. Putting these strategies together can help your business get more leads and boost sales.

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Basic Principles Of Effective Web Design

Good web design is judged by users of the website and not by the owners. There are many factors that impact the usability of a website and it’s not just about how it looks, it is also about how well it functions.

Websites that are not designed properly tend to perform poorly and experience sub-optimal Google Analytics metrics. This means they have high bounce-rates, low page visits and low conversion.

So what is good website design? Here are some of the principles that make a website aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, functional and engaging.

Purpose

Good web design caters to the need of the user. Are your guests looking for information, entertainment, interaction, or to transact business? Each of your web pages needs to have a clear purpose and to fulfill a specific need of your visitor in the most effective way possible.

Communication

Users of a website tend to want information quickly. They want to know what your website is all about and you need to be able to communicate this early from the get go.

Your information needs to be easy to read and digest. Some good practices include using a headline and sub-headline to make it easier for users to skim through relevant content and bullet points to help cut through the waffle.

Typography

Fonts like Sans Serif, Arial and Verdana are easier to read online. A good font size for easy online reading is 6px and stick to a maximum of 3 typefaces in a maximum of 3 point sizes to keep your design streamlined.

Colours

A well conceptualized colour pallet can go a long way. Complementing colours can create balance and harmony and contrasting colours makes it reading easier on the eye. Vibrant colours can create emotion and should be used sparingly such as call-to-action buttons. Lastly, white/negative space is an effective way to give your website an uncluttered and modern look.

Images

We all know that a picture can paint a thousand words so the right image can help with brand positioning and connecting with your target audience.

If you don’t have high quality photos, consider buying quality stock photos to make your website look professional. You can also use infographics, video and graphics to effectively communicate your message.

Navigation

Navigation is about how easy it is for users to take action when in your website. Some strategies include simple page hierarchy, bread crumbs, designing clickable buttons and following the 3-click rule which means users can find what they need within 3 clicks.

Grid-Based Layouts

Placing content anywhere in your website will give it a haphazard or cluttered look. Instead of a messy look, go for a grid-based layout where you arrange content into sections, columns and boxes that line up in a grid for a neater and balanced look.

F-Pattern Design

According to eye-tracking studies, users read websites using a “F” pattern. This means that what we see is the top and left side of the screen with the right side rarely seen.  Rather than force an unnatural flow, web designers need to design websites that work with the reader’s natural behavior and display information in order of importance.

Load Time

Websites that are slow to load slowly have high bounce rate. To make websites load faster include optimizing image sizes (size and scale), combining code into a central CSS or JavaScript file (this reduces HTTP requests) and minify HTML, CSS, JavaScript (compressed to speed up their load time).

Mobile Friendly

Websites aren’t just viewed on laptops and desktops. They are also viewed in mobile devices. More and more people are accessing websites through their smartphones and tablets. This means that web design has to be responsive so that they can be viewed by mobile devices.

Sydney Web Designers can give you a website that embraces these principles. Avail of our custom web development for your new website.  

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