Category: Social Media

‘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

 

Top 5 Facebook Updates

July 22, 2015 Comments Off on Top 5 Facebook Updates 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.

The update is being rolled out gradually to users of Facebook's iOS app and the edit menu appears in the left-hand corner when a user uploads a photo                        Users can now add text, changes its colour and position on the photo, see how filters looked before and after using sliders and add stickers

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.

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 newsfeed.

Take Your Time – Facebook makes algorithm changes.

June 22, 2015 Comments Off on Take Your Time – Facebook makes algorithm changes. 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.

mouse_scrollIn 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.

lucy-stamp

 

9 Best Practice Tips for Facebook

April 29, 2015 Comments Off on 9 Best Practice Tips for Facebook Blog, Social Media

Top Practices for Facebook Posts

facebook likeWe all know that organic reach is in decline, that just means you have to work extra hard on creating great Facebook content that people will love. Struggling? Check out these top tips for a successful Facebook post:

  • IMAGES: Great images tell your story and are eye-catching. Statistics show that posts with images perform almost 40% better than those without. Also, bare in mind image sizes
  • INFORM: Make sure you’re giving useful, interesting and engaging information – something that people will want to start a conversation with you about.
  • SHORT AND SWEET: Recent numbers show that the average character count for a high performing post is just 40. Many profiles are using links with images to attract people and then just posting a small comment as content. See this example from Mashable.
  • TIME: Keep an eye on analytics that show when the best times to post are. That’s not to say you have to only post then, but maybe get out important messages at peak times.
  • TIDY: Consider removing URLs and unnecessary information from the main content of your post. Review it and ask yourself what it can do without.
  • HUMAN: Maintain a human approach to Facebook business accounts. People like to know that there are real people behind businesses and their social accounts.
  • INSIGHT: People love to find out things that they don’t already know. What exclusive and ‘behind-the-scenes’ content can you give them? Think of great imagery to complement.
  • ENGAGE: Got comments or posts to your page? Reply where appropriate. Even if you direct someone to the correct page of your website, they will appreciate the time you took to answer their specific query.
  • BALANCE: Obviously you need to push a sales post every now and then, but be sure to strike a balance between selling and informing.

11 Best Practice Tips for Twitter

April 29, 2015 Comments Off on 11 Best Practice Tips for Twitter Blog, Social Media

Top Practices for Twitter

If your Twitter account just isn’t working out for you, take a look at a few of the pointers we’ve put together. Make a tick-list. How many are you currently achieving?

 

  • IMAGES: Tweets with images perform approximately twice as well as ones without an image.
  • DIRECT: You’ve only got 140 characters – make ‘em count! If you want your followers to take an action, tell them.
  • TO THE POINT: Tweets less than 100 characters get better engagement on average.
  • TIME: There are ALWAYS people browsing Twitter, but lunch time shows a general peak in activity and engagement.
  • LOOKS GOOD: Use short URLs, stick to one hashtag and throw in a nice image – it’s easy to make a tweet look messy, so cast your eye over it one more time before you click send.
  • BACKSTAGE: Twitter is great for behind-the-scenes footage. There is free reign to talk about a single event all day, without your followers getting tired of seeing one thing covered.
  • CHAT: Don’t be afraid to reply to others, interact and converse about relevant topics.
  • REPLIES VS MENTIONS: Remember to put a “.” before an @ at the beginning of a tweet if you want everyone to see it. If you don’t, it will be a reply rather than a mention, and only followers of the account you tweeted will see it.
  • FORMAT: A good format to use for tweets is: Content. Link. Opinion.
  • ORIGINAL: Your own content gives better results for your analytics than retweets, unless you edit or ‘comment’.
  • TIMELY: People use Twitter to find out about things that are happening now, not last week. Keep it fresh, current and relevant.

Facebook Image Dimensions for 2015

April 8, 2015 Comments Off on Facebook Image Dimensions for 2015 Blog, Social Media

One of the biggest social media trends for 2015 is the extensive use of visual content. Deciding which images to use is a crucial element for any business and can be quite difficult to master.

Kong Digital has created a guideline to help your business understand the correct image dimensions to use when uploading and editing pictures on Facebook.

 

Facebook Cover Photo Size

Facebook cover photos are displayed as 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels high on desktop computers and 640 pixels by 360 pixels on smartphones. The image you upload must be at least 399 pixels wide and 150 pixels high.

Although your cover photo can be in a PNG, JPG or GIF format, Facebook suggest using a PNG format to get the best results.

cover-image-and-profile-pic-size mobile-cover-image

 

Facebook Profile Picture Size

For Profile pictures, uploaded images must be at least 180 pixels by 180 pixels. The picture which is cropped to fit the square available for profile pictures is then displayed at 160 pixels by 160 pixels. For smartphones the picture is displayed at 140 pixels by 140 pixels.

 

Shared Link Thumbnails

The Thumbnails for shared links on Facebook are scaled to fit within a box that is 484 pixels by 252 pixels.

shared-links

 

Images Uploaded to timeline

When an image is uploaded to a timeline it is automatically scaled to fit within a box that is 504 pixels by 504 pixels.

The orientation of the image also plays a huge part in determining how Facebook will display it.

Images which are horizontal (landscape) in size will be scaled to 504 pixels wide and images which are vertical (portrait) will be scaled to 504 pixels high.

single-image

 

Mulitple Images Uploaded to timeline

These dimensions vary depending on how many images are uploaded and what orientation the images are. Take a look at the examples below to see what dimensions are relevant to your uploads. (Click to enlarge)

multiple-images

Facebook Event Image Dimensions

For events created on Facebook, the cover photo uploaded is displayed at 784 pixels by 295 pixels. Images uploaded to the events timeline are scaled to fit a box within 470 pixels by 390 pixels.

The orientation of the image also plays a part in influencing how these images are displayed. For horizontal (landscape) sizes, the image will extend across 470 pixels and for vertical (portrait) images, the full image will be displayed, however, it will be aligned to the left and leave white space to the right.

 

Got any questions? Feel free to drop us a line on Facebook, Twitter or email.

Facebook Business Page Reach

January 20, 2015 Comments Off on Facebook Business Page Reach Blog, Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media

business-168-1024x614

If you are a business owner who utilises Social Media to grow your business, you have probably already seen some signs of decreasing organic reach on your Facebook Business Page. There are some indications from Facebook that this trend will continue over the coming months and businesses will have to pay to get their content seen by potential customers.

This may seem alarming and will probably frustrate you and your team, but don’t get too worried – instead look at what opportunities may arise from having more control over the target audience that will see your content.

At Kong Digital, we are strong believers in data analysis. Understanding what is happening in your social network provides you with knowledge that allows for smarter decisions on your marketing campaigns on a daily basis. Having insight into the behaviours of your online community across social platforms, online advertising and SEO is a powerful tool that will ultimately help you to win in your sector.

integrated-campaignsBy categorising social media and online advertising campaigns, you will gain a better understanding of the true demographics of the people who are most interested in the various aspects of your business. You can therefore make sure that your content is promoted to the best possible audience both demographically and geographically. Analysing your social and advertising data on a regular basis will provide you with the necessary insights to make better decisions and drive positive ROI.

Facebook is obviously looking to increase its revenue by making businesses pay to get their content seen, but by doing this they are also giving you control of your target audience. Whether your content is seen by 1000, 10,000 or 100,000 people, if they’re not interested in what you have to offer then you are wasting your time and energy.

That’s why we say “Take Control”! Understand your target audience, know what content drives engagement, recognise the signs that highlight what’s working and what’s not. Get started by allocating a small budget for your social advertising and start pinpoint targeting your potential customers and tracking the ROI of your social and advertising activity.

zuckerberg-quote-1024x576By taking control, you will greatly increase your ROI in terms of both time and money you have put into your Social Media and Advertising activity. You will also see a much better reach to engagement ratio, which in return will have a positive effect on your organic presence on social media and search engines.

We look forward to sharing more in-depth strategies over the coming months on how to get the best ROI from your Social Media and Advertising campaigns.

robert-stamp

What will 2015 bring?

December 22, 2014 Comments Off on What will 2015 bring? Miscellaneous, Online Advertising, Social Media

As ever, there are several predictions for the social media world in 2015. It’s an ever changing platform, so it’s in ways impossible to accurately predict, but it’s possible to recognise trends that could come to light in the near future.

So, what does 2015 hold? In summary, you can expect the following to happen in the coming 12 months:

– The importance of video will increase. Uploading creative video content directly to social media sites will be of increased value.

– There may be a shift away from direct social marketing in favour of building a social community and connecting with others.

– Mobile platforms will play a major role in 2015, with an increase in marketing apps and mobile versions of social networks. Instagram, for example, will capitalise on this trend.

– Paying for content distribution will be more common place and the reliance on organic reach will decrease.

– There is expected to be an emphasis on data analysis. Businesses should be taking more notice of what their collected data means and how it can drive them forward.

– Better data analysis will drive the plans for paid reach and a sensible spend will be beneficial to gaining valuable followers and customers.

– Making the most of the interactive nature of social media will grow. Simply pushing messages out will decline in favour of interaction and engagement.

– As has been the trend in the last couple of years, businesses will move a higher percentage of their marketing budgets to social media and online advertising.

For more opinions from social media experts, click here.

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