#RWC2015 Is Almost Here

admin September 17, 2015 Comments Off Miscellaneous, Social Media

The 2015 @RugbyWorldCup gets underway tomorrow and, as always, Twitter will be a great way of staying in touch with all the action.

This year, Twitter hopes to be at the heart of the tournament like never before, bringing fans closer in ways that simply weren’t possible four years ago.

There are plenty of ways to stay connected through Twitter and there will be a few special features making an appearance for the event.

There are, of course, special Rugby World Cup emojis.

Twickenham Stadium will also house a giant screen displaying fan’s tweets and vines.

And for England fans, the o2 Arena in London has been transformed into a canvas for a spectacular 3-D projection mapping light show. Fans can Tweet their messages of support using #WearTheRose and they will be projected onto the roof of The O2.

There’s TONNES more stuff going on over on Twitter. Take a look at their latest blog post to check it all out.

Enjoy the World Cup everyone!

We’re going to whisper this, but – “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”

admin September 9, 2015 Comments Off Blog, Hints and Tips, Online Advertising, Social Media

It’s September, which can only mean one thing…It’s CHRISTMAAAAAAAS!

We’re truly sorry for the content that follows – it’s festive and early – but it’s true to say that as a marketer, you have to be ready. In fact you had to be ready yesterday.

Christmas is the biggest online marketing opportunity in the calendar and to not have a proper plan in place for the coming months is almost scandalous.

In the UK alone, £636million was spent online just on Christmas day last year. Across the world, online traffic increased from the festive period on 2013, a trend that is only set to continue this year.

Don’t believe us? Check out this ridiculously informative infographic that proves how online retail is increasing.

We also can’t continue without a mention for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, because they are a HUGE deal too. Last year, Black Friday was the biggest day for online sale…EVER! Sales were up by 92% than on the same day in 2013. Just make sure you’re prepared for the demand.

Visits to retail websites on Cyber Monday were also up by 39% from 2013 to 2014, so with the demand for bargains rife at that time of year, it might be worth considering offers of your own to bring in valuable customers.

So now you know how important it is to get your social and online campaigns planned, so what are you going to do about it?

Remember, when you’re setting out your schedules, remember to include deadlines, dates to publish, platforms and to make sure all personnel is in place to deal with the incoming traffic.

Here are a few ideas of what to plan:

Blogs – make your blogs relevant to your products or services. Ask questions, encourage engagement and educate your followers.
Social posts – get your Christmas Day messages and images ready now. Schedule them well ahead of time so that no one forgets to do it at the last minute.
Special offers – if applicable to your business, do you want to roll out discounts and specials heading in to the festive period?
Online advertising – what Facebook posts and tweets are you going to promote? What’s the budget? Decide now!

Be timely with everything, don’t leave anything too late. People are incredibly organized in this day and age with purchasing abilities at their fingertips, so to get ahead of your competition is vital.

Be decisive and stick to your plans as much as possible. Of course, factors can change, so don’t be afraid to move things around and re-plan along the way. But that’s why it’s vital to begin planning and run with it before you end up just doing a few slap-dash campaigns for the sake of it.

You might even want to stick to a theme, an idea, a single campaign. Penguins worked for John Lewis.

What kind of subjects should you be planning blogs and social posts about? How about…

Order deadlines
Special offers
Opening hours for the holidays
Highlight great products or services
Last minute ideas
Something for the kids – a Santa message maybe?
Post Christmas sales
How your products/services tie in to the festivities

Feel ready to spread festive cheer this year and don’t make your Christmas campaigns a last minute rush. If you enjoy the festivities, so will your customers!

PS: Over 40% of consumers expect an online response to queries within an hour, so also make plans to deal with an influx of inquiries. Keep up your customer service with prompt and helpful responses.

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Here are a few resources that you might like to use for your social campaigns.

Free Festive Stock Images

Christmas Song Lyrics – y’know, for all your cheesy blogs…

Free Christmas Fonts – just double check each license before you download

Gifs, gifs, gifs

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

admin August 19, 2015 Comments Off Blog, Facebook, Online Advertising, Online Advertising, Social Media

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

сialis generique

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 –

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

admin August 18, 2015 Comments Off 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?

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?

admin August 12, 2015 Comments Off 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.

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.

Top 5 Facebook Updates

admin July 22, 2015 Comments Off Blog, Facebook, Social Media, Updates

As Facebook are constantly announcing new updates, Kong Digital have put together a list of the top five most recent updates to help you understand what these changes mean.

1. Facebook adds Snapchat-style stickers and sliding filters to app

Facebook has begun allowing users to add filters and stickers to their pictures which are very similar to the features which Snapchat offer.

The update which is being rolled out gradually to users of Facebook’s iOS app will allow user to add text to a picture, change its colour and position on that picture, see how filters looked before and after using sliders, and also add stickers, all of which are popular features on Snapchat.

2. Sign Up for Messenger, Without a Facebook Account

This update allows users to avail of all the features Facebook Messenger offers without creating a Facebook account.

To access this, users most click on the “Not on Facebook” option provided and sign up using their name, phone number and a photo.

3. Instagram search and explore page

Instagram’s new Explore page will allow users to discover trending Tags and Places as they occur.
The improved search feature makes it easier to find the people, places, and tags you’re looking for by providing sections including; Explore posts, Discover People Curated Collections and Trending Tags.

4. Facebook Pages Can Now Show How Quickly They Respond To Customers’ Messages

Following Facebook’s introduction of “Saved Replies,” which allows Page admins to compose, save and reuse message responses to quickly respond to incoming inquirespublicisecan now publicize how fast they respond to these inquiries.
The new “Response Rate” feature will show a Page’s responsiveness information to Page admins and if the response rate is high, it will also be displayed to Page visitors through an icon below the cover photo.

Following Facebook’s update of taking into account who has watched a video and how long for, the focus is now on taking into account the users interactions with these videos.

This includes determining whether someone found a particular video interesting or not based on their actions, such as choosing to turn on sound, making the video full screen, and enabling high definition.
These actions allow Facebook to determine what videos users like to see, enabling them to show similar videos and also placing these videos higher up in the user’s news feed.

5. Taking into Account More Actions on Videos

Following Facebooks update of taking into account who has watched a video and how long for, the focus is now on taking into account the users interactions with these videos.

These actions allow Facebook to determine what videos users like to see, enabling them to show similar videos and also placing these videos higher up in the user’s newsfeed.

5 things that caught our eye this week

admin June 26, 2015 Comments Off Blog

It’s been a busy week both online and in the Kongalytics office, so we thought we’d just give you a quick round-up of all the things we think are noteworthy from the last seven days.

Got anything to add? Let us know.

Taylor Swift will take over the world –

Taylor’s great isn’t she? This week she made Apple backtrack over its decision not to pay artists during users’ trial periods of its new streaming service Apple Music. She has since decided that she will allow her hit album ‘1989’ to be streamed.

Basically, the online world can’t get enough of Taylor and want her to fight all of their battles.

Soccer and Vine go hand-in-hand –

More soccer clubs are taking up social media opportunities and it has to be said that many are getting better at it too.

The Premier League’s Watford FC has become the latest club to join Vine and plan to add more exclusive content to their ever-growing online presence.

Dropbox hits an all time high –

There are now over 400 million registered users of Dropbox, which is a staggering number of people across the world using its cloud services.

They also proudly let slip that 1.2 billion files are synchronised every day. We’ll leave you to digest that number!

We’re big fans of Dropbox so it’s great to know that the company really is hitting the big time.

Who’s the Twitter boss? –

It’s hotting up in the battle for Twitter’s CEO title. After Dick Costolo announced that he would step down on July 1^st, it was expected that Jack Dorsey would take over at the top, but Twitter bosses have warned that he must let his position within Square go first.

‘Take your dog to work’ day is a great as it sounds –

Oh yes, this one’s a winner. People took their dogs to work and then snapped away and posted plenty of pictures online. Need we say more?

Happy #BringYourDogToWorkDay ! Who else brought their pooch with them?! pic.twitter.com/l9oF9Wssgg

— Verge Campus (@VergeCampus) June 26, 2015

Take Your Time – Facebook makes algorithm changes.

admin June 22, 2015 Comments Off Social Media

Facebook has had another change of heart – it’s decided to alter its algorithms, again.

Whereas previously, content was presented in news feeds to those who interacted more often with the pages, it will now take in to consideration the amount of time spent looking at the posts.

Facebook seem to be recognizing the fact that we don’t all comment, like and share whenever we take an interest in something. Whether that’s down to embarrassment or fear of ‘over-liking’ we can’t be sure, but the fact is that people do take the time to look at external links and photo albums, especially within the Facebook app.

Before all the marketers start jumping up and down with joy, no, this isn’t going to mean that your ad spend can decrease. Take some comfort in that it also doesn’t mean it needs to increase.

In their blog announcement, Facebook very clearly stated: “We do not expect Pages to see significant changes in distribution as a result of this update.”

This does seem like a contradiction, doesn’t it? Facebook is saying ‘ok, we’ll make sure more people see content that they are interested in’, but it’s making a pretty plain statement to highlight that this won’t increase reach.

Perhaps images are the key to this update. Create bold, eye-catching images that people won’t scroll past too quickly, and you might just notice that a few more people begin to interact with you.

As always, Facebook is trying to make its platform more interesting, image driven and newsworthy. Keep this all in mind when putting together your creatively genius posts!

Catch up with the Facebook blog post about this update here.

9 Best Practice Tips for Facebook

admin April 29, 2015 Comments Off Blog, Social Media

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Top Practices for Facebook Posts

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