Local businesses are trying to figure out where to allocate their marketing dollars. As more advertising options open up online, businesses can target customers like never before. Social media provides a way to stay in touch with existing customers and build an audience, while email and search provide options to nurture and develop new relationships.
Here are a few recent items of note, to help you better understand your business’s online marketing and keep up with some of the latest industry news.
Google Ranking Mobile-Friendly Sites Higher Starting April 21
by Owen Williams, The Next Web
“The company says that the change will have a “significant impact” on all mobile searches in all languages worldwide, but as a result Google says that users will find higher quality results.”
OUR TAKE: If you don’t know if your site is mobile friendly, now is the time to make this a priority. When Google makes changes like this, it can have a real impact on local businesses and the way people find them on search. You can do a quick check here. If you find that your site is not mobile friendly, contact us to help get it fixed. Mobile is continuing its encroachment on our lives, as more and more of our online time is spent on our phones and tablets.
Improve Your Facebook Ads with Lookalike Audiences
by Social Times
“What if you could target people who have characteristics that are similar to the people who visit your website, or even better, the people who are likely to make a purchase or fill out a form? Say hello to lookalike audience targeting.”
OUR TAKE: If your business takes the extra steps necessary to create custom audiences, you’ll have a distinct advantage over your competitors. If you’re already using Facebook ads, incorporating custom audiences drills down on your targeted demographic, spending your ad dollars where they have the most impact. As people visit your website and then move along without purchasing, you can capture their information and target them later on Facebook. Further, as you build this new audience, you can also create a “lookalike” audience that pulls in Facebook’s tons of data points to create an audience that is similar to that of your website visitors. This is a great way to start branching out on a larger scale to reach new customers.
A Lack of Social Tech Skills is Killing Your Company’s Potential
by Dave Hawley, AdAge
“The business world has a crippling lack of technology skills, and the cost to the U.S. economy is staggering. According to a Harris Poll commissioned by learning company Grovo last year, only one in 10 U.S. workers consider themselves proficient with the digital tools they use every day at work.”
OUR TAKE: For many local businesses, social media can be a big help to building a community of loyal fans and customers. In addition, employees who are “social savvy” can often bring new ideas to the table, taking existing marketing or advertising tactics and putting a social spin on them, to help resonate with an online audience. By giving your employees some latitude when it comes to online activities, you can not only help build your brand, but also end up with happier workers.
That’s what we have this week. Follow us on Twitter to keep up to date on the latest developments to make sure your business is plugged in.
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