Month: August 2015

‘Drive’ Online Sales – Hit Customers That Are “In Market”

August 19, 2015 Comments Off on ‘Drive’ Online Sales – Hit Customers That Are “In Market” Blog, Facebook, Online Advertising, Online Advertising, Social Media

Last year, I bought my first car. It was an

exciting time, but as someone who likes to partake in a lot of research before making a purchase, it was also a little bit stressful.

I was looking for resources to make it as easy for me as possible and I naturally turned to online sources to assist my decisions.

After looking at various car sales websites, review sites and forums, I can honestly say that my head was fried.

I’m also a bit of a Facebook addict (maybe that goes with the job territory!) so as I was regularly flicking through my timeline, I noticed a gradual increase in targeted ads.

The one that struck me the most and sticks in my mind to this day was a Facebook ad to highlight the introduction of the new Ford EcoSport to the market.

Although we all like to think of ourselves as people who aren’t easily swayed by advertising, I have to say I was really taken with this

particular one. My thought process was something along the lines of –drive-online-sales-hit-customers-that-are-in-market

  • Yes, it looks nice and shiny
  • Ooh look, I could get credit and pay it off monthly
  • I’d be the first to have a new product – cool!
  • It would solve my undeniable problem of having no transport

Although I didn’t end up buying one, at the time the ads addressed all of my problems. Isn’t that what a targeted ad should do? It was near on perfect.

Having since done a bit of research into the Ford EcoSport advertising strategy, it turns out they did intentionally make big waves in social advertising that year. They focused solely on social ads to get the word out about their brand new product.

It worked a treat, as Ford sold all 500 limited edition cars before the campaign was due to come to and end. Check out more details on the Ford strategy here.

Facebook tends to agree that it is the ideal platform for sales leads in the automotive market. It reveals these stats as having a role in its influence to purchase vehicles:

  • 60% of people are “in market” for a car for at least 6 months
  • 27% of people report doing most of their vehicle research on a mobile device
  • More than 7 in 10 mobile-first consumers report feeling overwhelmed by all the information that is available
  • 65% of these mobile-first consumers worry that they’re going to make the wrong decision

It also highlights the potential problems that current advertisers face and how they can further capitalize on their advertising spend:

“By the last month before purchase, most people have narrowed down the type, size, fuel source, brand and other vehicle features for their car-purchasing decision. In fact, 59% of average car buyers have narrowed down their choice of vehicle to 1–2 cars by the last month before purchase. But this last month is when people say they are exposed to the most car ads on digital. This signals an opportunity for marketers to reach and influence car buyers on digital earlier in the purchase cycle, when they are still trying to decide on their choice of vehicle and features.”

Let these be small lessons towards understanding the needs of a potential customer. Go the distance to identify the problems that your products and services offer and be sure to address them in ads using imagery and clever wording.

While we agree that to only use one medium to advertise is a risky strategy, this success story proves that if done right, social streams are powerful selling tools.

 

 

Seasons Change and So Do Your Audiences

August 18, 2015 Comments Off on Seasons Change and So Do Your Audiences Blog, Facebook, Hints and Tips, Online Advertising, Social Media

Seasonal marketing – are you going to have to work harder when the sun comes out?

Sunny days get us all smiling and feeling refreshed about life. The birds are tweeting (in a literal sense!), the sky is blue and your office has an all-round good buzz.

But hold on a second – if everyone is out enjoying the good weather, who is spending time browsing your website or buying your products?

That’s where clever, seasonal online marketing comes in to play. We all see shop windows changing when the sun makes an appearance – they
go from autumnal and cosy to fresh and bright – and why should you online presence be any different?seasons

The truth is, research does show that you have to work a little bit harder in sunny weather to attract attention. Until everyone has access to a mobile phone screen that is non-reflective, browsing hours whilst sunbathing will be decreased.

Studies on markets in France have shown that rainfall has a significant, positive effect on online sales, with some areas seeing a 15% increase in online sales compared to dry days.

Similarly, a decrease in air temperature saw an increase in online purchases and when the highest temperatures were recorded, e-commerce slowed down on average.

So, what can you do about it? Here’s a few ideas:

  • Use social media to get in on the weather conversation. It might be small talk, but people will be willing to engage with a real-time post.
  • Use your location to snap pictures. Show everyone how lovely your shop/office/study looks in the glorious rays of the sun!
  • If you can relate weather to your products or services, go for it.
  • Consider changing your Facebook/Twitter/Google+ cover image to something bright and cheerful to match people’s moods. Try and keep it in line with your company branding though.
  • Capitalise on rainy days. Missed out on sales and visitors during sunny periods? When it’s gloomy, go get ‘em!
  • Plan your social posts around evening times when, even on a good day, people may be settling down for the evening indoors.
  • On a rainy day, give people something to do – hit them with a message that makes them want to take action immediately.

That’s just a few hints for you, so remember to reflect the seasons within your online campaigns.

To hide, or not to hide?

August 12, 2015 Comments Off on To hide, or not to hide? Blog, Facebook, Social Media

That is the question.

When you’re scrolling through your Facebook News Feed, the chances are you come across content from brands that you’re not all that interested in, so you might hide it from your News Feed.

But Facebook has noticed that a growing number of people are using the ‘Hide’ function to almost tick off things that they have seen and maybe even interacted with. This has prompted action from Facebook given the amount of negative page activity that was occurring.

It has to be said that Kongalytics has noted a growth in negative feedback indicating that there was a growing trend in hiding stories. Marketers can now breath a sigh of relief at the latest news, and take comfort in the fact that many brands are facing the same negativity on their hard thought-out content.facebook-friends

 

 

To reflect these changes in consumer behaviour, Facebook released the following statement:

"Hiding something is usually a strong indication that someone didn’t want to see a particular post. There is also a small group of people on Facebook who hide a very high number of stories in their News Feed. In fact, some people hide almost every post in their News Feed, even after they’ve liked or commented on posts. For this group of people, “hide” isn’t as strong a negative signal, and in fact they may still want to see similar stories to the ones they’ve hidden in the future.
To do a better job of serving this small group, we made a small update to News Feed so that, for these people only, we don’t take “hide” into account as strongly as before. As a result, this group of people has started seeing more stories from the Pages and friends they are connected to than in the past. Overall, this tweak helps this group see more of the stuff they are interested in."

Do be cautious though, this isn’t an end to Facebook algorithms making a negative dent on your reach – that will still occur although at least it may be for genuine reasons, which might give you a headache, but at least you can begin to take positive action.

You can read Facebook’s full announcement here.

lucy-stamp

 

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