It almost feels like this was overdue. But the results, for so many in eCommerce, were disheartening. Those who may have been coasting by running with help from content mills, or worse, using AI tools, may have seen their rankings drop precipitously, and overnight. 

It almost feels like an “I told you so” moment. Over a year ago, I published “AI and SEO: What Not to Do,” as a caution to those that were hoping, with starry eyes, that AI was the answer to all their woes. 

It seemed like it, didn’t it? You could ask one of those tools to write you a completely SEO-optimized, 5000 word blog or CMS page and it would do so in about 25 seconds.

But, like so many things in life, if it seems too good to be true, it is. And it was.

So let’s unpack what this new helpful content update entailed and why and how this will affect netizens. 

Google’s Going After Spam

All in all, to summarize this as neatly as I can for anyone reading this, Google is sick and tired of low-quality content. 

What is low quality content? Consider the following. 

• Does it answer a question succinctly? 

• Does it offer data or details that might support any claims it makes?

• Is anything in the post, publication, or on the page proprietary? That is, is the information unique? 

• Does the content contain original or user-generated photos or videos?

Any content – AI-generated or otherwise – that does not accurately and succinctly answer a search query can broadly be categorized as “low-quality” or spammy. 

Also, have you ever been reading a post and thought to yourself “When is this going to get to the point?” If so, you are not alone, and have been a victim of “fluff content.” 

Fluff content contains a lot of words and is very watery with respect to information density. What information it contains might be accurate, but is likely to be unoriginal and is padded with a whole lot of text that just doesn’t need to be there. 

Moreover, this “helpful content update” has been aimed expressly at any publisher that was generating massive sums of content, at scale, simply for the purposes of ranking effectively in search engines. 

One common “trick” that is a terrible failure in Google’s eyes, is the use of a page that promises to answer a question but then goes on and on with low-quality, spammy, fluffy filler content that ultimately reiterates the question a million and one ways but never actually answers anything. 

Now, here’s something that it’s very important to define. Both humans and generative AI engines can produce low-quality content. 

With humans, it’s usually just fluffy content that doesn’t actually answer the question and is long for the sake of being long. Remember, longer is not better unless it actually answers the questions and provide information. If you can answer a search query in 300 words, you’d better do so. Making it longer is not only not better but will likely get you penalized. 

This brings us to the use of AI in content generation. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. It’s not something you should be doing. At best, you should be using those tools for research, and honestly, I personally wouldn’t even do that. The results are too unreliable to take seriously. At least Google gives you a bunch of options to sift through so you can, you know, use the brain – the way we have been doing for 200,000+ years. 

I’m sure there are SEO wizards out there that have had great success with AI. The big names all seem to have cracked the code, right? You know, Neil Patel, Matt Diggity, et al. I’m just going to be honest. I think it’s substance-less hype. 

Google has been savage with this last update and it looks like some websites have really tanked. I can’t prove this, but my guess is that no small portion of them were using AI to partially or wholly generate the information on their websites. 

In my experience – and I may not be Patel or Diggity, but I am no stranger to how SEO works – AI is not only not good for content generation, it is downright bad. Not only is it repetitive, it is clueless, frequently inaccurate, and wholly incapable of producing original, experiential content. Forget the fact that it lacks the human element. That’s not a ranking factor. But accuracy? Originality? Those sure are, and AI just can’t pull it. 

Now, there’s another layer to all of this. It has to do with AI content checkers. There are so many of them out there, and many of them are accurate, so accurate, in fact, that they sometimes flag human-written content as AI if it contains pointless, redundant, reiterative phrases. 

Which means it’s a matter of time before Google’s algorithm crawls and checks for, if not immediately strikes out, whatever it flags as AI-generated content. 

I think I’ve made my case. You need to be accurate and succinct with whatever content you publish. And, for the love of search engine optimization, stop using AI. How many cautionary tales must litter the halls of erudition and haute couture before we recognize that there are no get rich quick schemes? They just don’t work. At least not in the long run. 

A few other things go into this, by the way. In addition to cracking down on garbage quality content, Google also says that:

• Buying expired domains and reviving them with the intention of capitalizing on previous DA is now considered spam, and will incur a penalty.

• Parasite SEO, or allowing third-party websites to publish low-quality content with the intention of piggybacking off of the domain with the higher authority, is now considered spam, too.

So, now let’s get pragmatic. You have a website that tanked. What can you do now? 

Your Rankings Tanked: Now What?

As with literally everything in SEO, this is a long-term game. If your rankings dropped but you previously had good rankings, you know for certain your content is usable and not duplicate, and you don’t use AI, the best suggestion I have is to wait it out. 

I know it sounds like non-advice, and I know it’s painful to hear, but if you have good content, and previously had good rankings, you should start climbing the rankings once more. Give it like 3 months. If nothing improves by then, you can come back to the drawing board. 

Now, if you know you’re guilty, and have been using AI this whole time, or farming out content production on an industrial scale to a content mill, then don’t hide your head in the sand and hope the tribunal will pass you by. That is not going to work, not this time. 

You need to take a deep dive into your website and either completely revise or entirely replace pages, blogs, and copy anywhere and everywhere you know it was written by AI or a content mill. 

It’s a lot of work, but nothing in life that comes cheaply is worth having. Or, as Thomas Paine said, “What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives everything its value.” I couldn’t say it better myself.

Anyway, my point is this is a lot of work, and if you tried to game or cheat the system, well, I don’t have reassuring words for you, and neither does Google via this Helpful Content Update. You’re going to have to do this the hard way, like everyone else has been doing this whole time.

The post About Google’s March Helpful Content Update appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

Platforms that were once thought irrelevant for advertising are now changing the landscape, and other platforms are losing their effectiveness. If you want to make money on social media this year, the following guide on the top converting social media platforms of 2024 should tell you where you need to put your advertising budget.

Social Media Platforms With the Highest Conversion Rates This Year

As always, each social media platform has its strengths and weaknesses as far as advertising is concerned. That’s doubly true in eCommerce, where shoppers are heavily relying on trust signals and value propositions both on the ad and in your store, in order to checkout successfully.

That being said, we have last year’s data and it paints a pretty clear picture as to the platforms that are converting the best:

TikTok

With its massive user base and respectable 1% industry wide conversion rate, TikTok looks like the place to be in 2024 as far as social media advertising is concerned. While it still lags behind in certain select niches (typically ones that lean commercial or industrial), normal retail businesses are thriving on the platform.

Why does TikTok convert so well? It’s a combination of factors really.

In the past I’ve written extensively on TikTok’s AI algorithm, and while some would say the platform is getting a bit more “corporate” and saturated, it still enjoys probably the best organic content serving system of any social media right now, and that intuitiveness extends to its ads.

Ads on TikTok look natural. They are often fun and engaging and aren’t trying to be overly salesy. Many feature ordinary TikTok users and are casual, which is attractive to younger buyers specifically. With the help of its algorithm, broad match targeting becomes extremely effective, which means you can create relatively “top of funnel” ads on TikTok that still get really high conversion rates, which flies in the face of the traditional marketing funnel system.

Do yourself a favor and make TikTok advertising part of your 2024 marketing strategy.

Pinterest

I’ve gone to bat for Pinterest for years. As a long time user of the platform, I always believed it had a lot of potential, specifically for eCommerce.

A few years ago, when its organic algorithm was still very favorable, I considered it one of the best places online for raw organic marketing.

It seems Pinterest invested a lot of time and money into shifting things in the other direction, and while I was at first dubious, it seems to have paid off. Pinterest is enjoying record growth right now, and is now considered one of the best places to advertise for eCommerce brands in 2024.

For eCommerce businesses, Pinterest ads get a wild 1% to 8% conversion rate across all industries on average. This is a far, far cry from only a few years ago, when Pinterest was the industry laggard at a measly .3% conversion rate on average.

Why the stark about face?

First, Pinterest has gone to great lengths over the last couple of years to improve its basic feed, prioritizing quality content and seamless visuals over everything else. While it did try and trend hop a little with its own version of Shorts / Reels, it has remained largely true to its original intent of being an image board website with social elements.

However, as eCommerce has exploded, its natural features have lent itself well to being a shoppable platform. Pinterest has its own kind of SEO (much like TikTok…), which means users can optimize pins in order to get found in the organic searches within the platform.

As we know with Google, where there’s an organic search component there is plenty of room for advertising.

However, unlike Google, Pinterest’s user base (and searches) seem to revolve around shopping. This means that virtually all user related data on the platform has some kind of eCommerce bent to it. Thus, to do ad research one need only look at the free Pinterest Trends tool, find some high volume keywords that are going parabolic due to a trend or seasonality, and run ads to products that match those trends.

This simple formula is giving Pinterest a massive leg up in the industry. As a business, Pinterest grew over 10% year over year in 2023, while many tech companies were shuttering their doors. In 2024, make Pinterest advertising a part of your strategy if you are in a Pinterest-friendly niche.

Twitter (X)

Historically, Twitter (X) has not been a great place to advertise. However, since Elon Musk took it over and shifted the focus of the platform (for one, to actually make it profitable), there has been a change.

Right now, Twitter is actually beating out Facebook on average conversion rate.

There are likely several reasons for this. First, there is a very specific kind of user on Twitter and therefore brands that are still willing to advertise there likely have a strong grasp of what their users are looking for. Recent changes in the way ads are served also means users are much more likely to see ads that resonate with them, whereas in the past Twitter had some of the worst ad targeting of any social media platform.

The second key reason why Twitter is improving here is its shift in user demographics and purpose. For many years Twitter was more of a social app where news, politics, and sports were some of the dominant topics of conversation.

Since Musk’s takeover and transformation to X, the entire platform has changed significantly. There is more of an emphasis on brands and brand interaction, entertainment, videos and other media, and fun in general. While the platform has lost users, the users it has gained are more likely to purchase and trust X as a platform more than the previous user base. This leads to a higher chance of clicking on ads and converting.

Facebook

In any conversation of social media advertising, you can’t ignore Facebook. While its user base is slimming down and its conversion rates are not as stellar as they were in past years, the platform still has a solid shoppable intent. Facebook users are well accustomed to ads at this point, as well as browsing through Facebook Marketplace to find odds and ends.

Facebook’s strength is still in its robust targeting options and ability to reach certain demographics that other platforms can’t touch. Specifically, Google and TikTok.

Even with its decline, the platform still enjoys one of the largest social media user bases, and much like Google itself, Facebook (or Meta, rather), enjoys a wide distribution network. Facebook ads can be seamlessly served on Instagram and WhatsApp, with all that implies in terms of stories, reels, and in-feed ads, and everything else.

The fact that Facebook Shop is still widely used and trusted, and that you can advertise your product catalog, makes this an attractive option for eCommerce businesses. Of course, Pinterest and TikTok have shop catalog functionality too now, however Facebook comes with the largest suite of targeting options and a user base that, on average, enjoys more disposable income.

Unlike Pinterest and TikTok, Facebook is also the place to be for B2B advertising on social media as well. There’s still plenty of reasons to utilize Facebook advertising if you are in the eCommerce space.

Is Conversion Rate The Right Key Performance Indicator?

It’s difficult to say, as everyone’s goals are different when it comes to advertising. Let’s compare some of the most important KPIs in order to see why platform conversions are typically among the most valuable:

ROAS: While ROAS, or return on ad spend, is often looked at as the definitive metric in terms of ad performance, it can vary wildly across industries and even across ad groups within the same campaign.

Here’s how you interpret the value of ROAS:

• ROAS > 1: You’re earning more revenue than you’re spending on the ads, indicating a profitable campaign.
• ROAS = 1: Your revenue is equal to your ad spend, meaning you’re breaking even.
• ROAS < 1: You’re losing money on your campaign, as the cost of the ads is more than the revenue they’re generating.

The problem with going with ROAS as your definitive metric is a couple large purchases can heavily skew ROAS. It’s not a bad thing of course to make a few thousand dollars off of only like a $50 spend, but the question is, can you consistently drive that kind of return or was it just a one off?

When ROAS is the key metric, it helps to observe it month over month for at least a few months running. That way you can better gauge if the campaign is profitable or not.

Revenue: Another important KPI is revenue, naturally. However this also can be somewhat misleading because the revenue you generate is heavily tied to the amount of ad spend you are using and your ROAS as well. Just because a campaign isn’t driving a lot of revenue doesn’t mean it’s not working. You simply may need to up your ad spend.

Conversion Rate: Looking at your rate of conversions can tell you a lot about how a campaign is performing and whether or not it is valuable for you. Number of conversions and the rate at which those who click on your ad convert will not only show what channels are performing the best for the amount you are spending, but where you might want to think about increasing budgets (or in some cases pulling back). The same ad won’t convert the same on different platforms, and some platforms seem to have a limit to how well they convert because of the shoppable intent of the platform.

What is shoppable intent? Basically, it’s the likelihood that someone on the platform will click on an ad and buy. Last year, platforms like Facebook and TikTok had high shoppable intent – these platforms are seen as places to be social but also places to shop, in other words. This influences how well someone will convert regardless of what’s being sold or how nice the creatives are.

Engagement rate, click-through-rate, and other KPIs are also important, but it’s easy to see why social media conversion rate is the industry standard for judging whether or not a social media campaign is truly successful.

What About Other Social Media Platforms?

There are plenty of places online to advertise. If you want to focus on a large amount of conversions and a high return, the options above are going to be your best bet.

However, depending on your niche and target user base, there are other platforms that are worth considering. Instagram of course is still viable, as is Linkedin, which is also growing as a platform.  YouTube and Twitch are great places to advertise if you are selling personal tech items, however you have to weigh the costs of higher CPCs and also the need for higher quality creatives here.

If you’re looking for an easy to manage place to advertise where you are likely to see great CPCs and plenty of conversions, TikTok and Pinterest are your go-to platforms this year, depending on your niche of course. As always, do your homework and look at all of your KPIs, and formulate a smart targeting strategy before throwing ad spend at anything.

The post Top Converting Social Media Platforms of 2024 appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

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Setting a strong foundation is crucial in various fields, whether it’s architecture, industrial design, or SEO. Just like a well-built structure, a solid foundation provides stability, support, and durability.

In architecture, the foundation ensures that the entire building stands firm and can withstand external forces. 

Similarly, in industrial design, a strong foundation sets the groundwork for the functionality and aesthetics of a product. 

SEO: A Solid Digital Marketing Foundation

When it comes to SEO, establishing a solid foundation is essential for long-term success. It involves laying the groundwork with strategic keyword research, optimizing website structure and content, and implementing technical SEO elements.

Your website will be well-structured, simple for search engines to access, and offer a seamless user experience if it has a solid SEO base.

You may build a robust platform from which your online presence can develop and thrive by devoting time and effort to laying a strong foundation. This will help you effectively reach your target audience and accomplish your online goals.

But what, exactly, makes up the foundation of SEO? What are the building blocks or the bricks that, once layered atop one another, will ultimately lead to online discovery and success?

That’s what we’re here to help you find out. In this post, we’ll list out the key SEO fundamentals that you must know and apply in order to build a successful SEO campaign that doesn’t just increase your traffic, just provide you with relevant traffic that will eventually end in more leads and sales.

1. The Cornerstone: Keyword Research

The cornerstone holds a significant place in the world of architecture, symbolizing the beginning, strength, and endurance of a structure.

Similarly, in the context of SEO fundamentals, the cornerstone represents the crucial element upon which the entire strategy is built.

Historically, cornerstones have been marked with inscriptions, dates, and symbols to commemorate important events and signify the values and purpose of the building.

In SEO, the cornerstone of keyword research sets the tone for your digital marketing efforts, guiding the direction, relevance, and success of your online presence. By laying a solid cornerstone of keyword research, you establish a strong foundation that ensures your content aligns with user intent, boosts your website’s visibility, and contributes to long-term growth and sustainability.

Just as a well-laid cornerstone supports and strengthens a structure, thorough keyword research forms the bedrock of your SEO strategy, setting you on a path to digital success.

A. Understanding the Role of Keywords in SEO

Keywords are the building blocks of SEO. They are the words and phrases that users enter into search engines when looking for information, products, or services. 

Keywords provide structure and direction to your SEO efforts. By understanding the significance of keywords, you can optimize your content and website to align with user intent, improving your chances of ranking higher in search engine results.

Think of keyword research as the plans to build that Millennium Falcon. In them is a carefully laid out plan or strategy on how to go about finishing this massive undertaking.

Without this plan, you’d be just as lost trying to create a successful SEO campaign as you would be trying to piece together those 7541 pieces into something remotely resembling the famous ship that Luke called, “A piece of junk.”

B. Conducting Thorough Keyword Research

Now, effective keyword research involves thorough investigation and analysis. You need to identify the keywords that are relevant to your business, have significant search volume, and align with your target audience’s search behavior.

Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz Keyword Explorer can assist you in discovering valuable keywords related to your industry and uncovering new opportunities for optimization.

C. Selecting Relevant and High-Performing Keywords

Just as you would need to know which LEGO piece effectively goes into which section of the Millennium Falcon, you must choose the keywords that perfectly fit your SEO strategy (in other words, the most relevant and high-performing keywords).

Consider factors such as search volume, keyword difficulty, and relevance to your content and target audience.

It’s essential to strike a balance between broad keywords that attract a larger audience and long-tail keywords that cater to more specific search queries.

By selecting the right keywords, you ensure that your content aligns with user intent, enhancing your chances of ranking well in search results and driving qualified organic traffic to your website.

2. Laying the Foundation: On-Page Optimization

Despite the fact that LEGO bricks are designed to fit and interlock with one another (to help them avoid falling apart), who doesn’t remember a time when their personal creation disintegrated in their hands even as they were trying to build it up?

Just as a solid foundation is crucial for any LEGO structure to stand tall and stable, on-page optimization serves as the bedrock of your SEO strategy. This stage involves fine-tuning various elements on your website to maximize its visibility and relevance to search engines and users alike.

A. Optimizing meta tags (title, description, headers):

Meta tags play a vital role in informing search engines about the content of your web pages. Start by crafting attention-grabbing and keyword-rich titles that accurately reflect the page’s content. 

Then, incorporate relevant keywords strategically to improve your page’s visibility in search results.

Additionally, optimize meta descriptions to provide a concise summary that entices users to click through to your page.

Finally, utilize header tags (H1, H2, etc.) to structure your content and highlight important sections, making it easier for search engines and users to navigate.

B. Crafting compelling and keyword-rich content:

Content is the heart and soul of your website, and creating high-quality, compelling, and keyword-rich content is paramount to your SEO success.

Focus on providing valuable information, answering user queries, and addressing their needs. Incorporate your target keywords naturally throughout the content, ensuring a seamless flow.

Aim for a balance between optimization and user experience, making the content engaging, informative, and easy to read.

C. Optimizing URL structure and internal linking:

URL structure and internal linking are often overlooked but can significantly impact your website’s search visibility.

Optimize your URLs to be concise, descriptive, and include relevant keywords. This not only helps search engines understand your page’s topic but also improves user experience by creating user-friendly and memorable URLs. 

Additionally, implement a well-thought-out internal linking strategy, connecting relevant pages within your website. Internal links improve website navigation, distribute link equity, and help search engines discover and index your content more effectively.

By focusing on these on-page optimization techniques, you are laying a solid foundation for your SEO strategy. Just as every LEGO brick contributes to the stability and structure of the Millennium Falcon, each on-page optimization element works together to enhance your website’s visibility, user experience, and search engine rankings.

3. Strengthening the Structure: Technical SEO

Once you have laid the foundation with on-page optimization, it’s time to strengthen the structure of your website through technical SEO.

Technical SEO focuses on optimizing the technical aspects of your website to improve its performance, crawlability, and overall user experience.

A. Optimizing website speed and performance:

Website speed and performance are crucial factors that impact both user experience and search engine rankings. 

While you won’t be putting in effort to have your website run slightly over 12 parsecs, you’re ultimate goal should be to optimize your website’s loading time by minimizing server response time, compressing images, and leveraging browser caching.

Improve page load speed to ensure that visitors can access your content quickly and efficiently. A fast-loading website not only enhances user satisfaction but also sends positive signals to search engines, potentially boosting your search rankings.

B. Ensuring mobile-friendliness and responsive design:

With the increasing use of mobile devices, it is vital to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and has a responsive design.

Mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor in search algorithms, and a mobile-responsive design ensures that your website adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and resolutions.

Optimize your website’s layout, font sizes, and interactive elements to provide an optimal user experience across various devices. This approach not only improves your website’s visibility on mobile search results but also caters to the growing mobile audience.

C. Implementing proper URL canonicalization and redirects:

URL canonicalization refers to the process of selecting the preferred URL when multiple URLs have the same or similar content.

Implementing canonical tags helps search engines understand which version of the URL should be considered the authoritative one, preventing duplicate content issues.

Additionally, ensure proper implementation of redirects, such as 301 redirects for permanent URL changes or redirecting outdated pages. Redirects help preserve link equity and ensure that users and search engines are directed to the most relevant and current content.

By strengthening the structure of your website through technical SEO, you are ensuring optimal performance, accessibility, and crawlability.

4. Scaling New Heights: SEO Analytics and Performance Measurement

Now that you’ve gotten most of the structure built and optimized, the next thing you have to consider is that to truly maximize the potential of your SEO efforts and continually improve your digital marketing strategies, it’s crucial to monitor and measure the performance of your SEO campaigns.

By leveraging analytics tools and tracking key performance metrics, you gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your SEO strategies and can make data-driven decisions to optimize your website’s performance.

A. Setting up analytics tools for SEO tracking:

The first step in scaling new heights with SEO analytics is to set up robust analytics tools to track and measure your website’s performance.

Google Analytics is a widely used and powerful tool that provides comprehensive data on various aspects of your website, such as organic traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates.

Ensure that you have implemented the necessary tracking codes and configured your analytics tool properly to gather accurate and relevant data.

B. Monitoring key performance metrics and KPIs:

Once you have your analytics tools in place, it’s essential to identify and monitor key performance metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your SEO goals.

Some important metrics to track include organic traffic, bounce rate, average session duration, conversion rates, and keyword rankings.

By regularly monitoring these metrics, you can assess the impact of your SEO efforts and identify areas for improvement.

C. Analyzing data to refine SEO strategies and drive results:

The true power of SEO analytics lies in the ability to analyze the data and extract meaningful insights. This is why many successful companies often choose to undergo a regular SEO audit.

Dive deep into your analytics reports to identify patterns, trends, and opportunities. Analyze the performance of different keywords and pages to understand what drives traffic and conversions. Utilize segmentation to gain insights into user behavior based on demographics, devices, or traffic sources.

With this information, you can refine your SEO strategies, optimize underperforming areas, and capitalize on successful tactics to drive better results.

Remember, much like the intricate workings of the Millennium Falcon (or any spaceship, for that matter) the success of your SEO campaigns relies on continuous monitoring, analysis, and adjustment.

By setting up analytics tools, monitoring key metrics, and analyzing data, you gain the knowledge and insights needed to propel your SEO efforts to new heights. With a data-driven approach, you can refine your strategies, improve your website’s performance, and ultimately achieve your digital marketing goals.

Is Your Site Ready for Take Off?

Think back on that moment when you were able to put on the final piece to that LEGO structure or build that you spent hours working on. How did it feel to see that project come to fruition?

Just as LEGO builders take pride in their creations, if you invest time and effort into applying and mastering these SEO fundamentals, you can take great pride in the growth and success of your digital presence.

Remember, SEO is not a one-time endeavor but an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring, adaptation, and optimization. Embrace the journey of building your SEO strategy, and don’t be afraid to experiment and iterate along the way. With a strong SEO foundation, you position your website for long-term success and establish a solid framework to support future growth and expansion.

May the force of SEO fundamentals be with you as you continue to build, optimize, and thrive in the ever-evolving digital landscape. Happy building!

The post Brick by Brick: Vital SEO Fundamentals to Lay the Foundation of Your Digital Marketing appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

What is an organic social media agency and how can one make an impact on your business? The simple answer is, organic social media agencies focus on user engagement, follower growth, and brand-building as opposed to website traffic and sales.

Confused? Don’t worry, I’m going to break down everything you need to know below so you understand exactly what organic social media services are, and how they can help you grow your store.

Paid vs. Organic: Two Sides to Social Media

Social media platforms are unique in that they offer two distinct kinds of marketing opportunities.

Most people are familiar with the paid side of social media marketing: ads.

These are the sponsored and promoted posts that wind up in your feeds. You may not even be following these brands or pages, but they manage to appear on your feed anyway because they are essentially paying for platform real estate.

By leveraging the different targeting options available on these social media platforms, advertisers can essentially serve ads to relevant audiences in the hopes of getting clicks and sales.

Although social media ads are viewed as spammy for some people, they actually have a relatively strong success rate, especially when you start looking at the ROAS (return on ad spend) generated by professional social media marketers, which can range anywhere from 2x to 20x depending on the niche, products, and platform.

Obviously, social media ads are effective otherwise no one would bother to pay to advertise.

While paid social media is often very effective at generating website traffic and conversions, this isn’t the only kind of marketing available on these social media channels. This form of marketing is what we call organic, because it doesn’t rely on any ad spend.

Organic social media campaigns typically have different objectives than their paid counterparts. Specifically, brand-building is the main reason why a business would want to focus their time and energy here.

What exactly does organic social media even look like? Are these kinds of campaigns even effective or worth it? These are some of the questions we’ll be looking at below.

How an Organic Social Media Agency Develops a Campaign

When you build out a paid social media strategy, marketers utilize the business manager or ads manager of the respective platforms. There, ad sets are built out, targeting and budget is added, advertising creatives are developed, and the ads are set live.

The organic social media campaign process works completely different.

With organic social strategies, there is no targeting. No budget, no ad sets, no ROAS or conversions.

This can be tough for some marketers (and business owners) to wrap their heads around. How do you know what to implement and what to track if there are no ad sets or conversions?

The important thing to note about organic social is that it is just a fancy way of referring to social media how it was meant to be used.

An organic social media campaign essentially seeks to mimic the natural behavior of a successful business on a given social media platform, backed by a strategy that aims to achieve specific goals.

To properly conduct a successful organic social media campaign, you need an entirely different skill set than in traditional promotional advertising.

Not only do you need to have a masterful grasp of the way the actual social media platforms work from the user perspective, you also need to understand community management, you need to know what drives engagement across multiple different industries, and you need to be able to communicate a brand’s story effectively.

No easy feat!

With organic, there’s no pay to play. Which means every follower, every like, has to be won off of genuine connection.

The following FAQ dives into some of the specifics with these kinds of campaigns and what kind of value they can bring to eCommerce businesses like yours.

Organic Social Media Agency FAQ

Is organic social media worth it?

Absolutely. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are the watering holes of the Internet. It’s where everyone hangs out. Many of us use these apps every day to stay in touch with family, window shop, stay on top of the latest news, plan for vacations and holidays, find romance, and much more.

It only makes sense that if you are a serious brand that’s trying to grow, that you would want to get in on the action.

What is an organic social media agency?

Not all agencies manage organic campaigns. Some just post on social media, and others do social media advertising.

Organic social media agencies specialize providing strategic solutions, specifically when it comes to building a content strategy that drives engagement. Organic agencies must be able to build content calendars, grab attention with high-quality creatives, and really listen to merchants and their needs in order to stay relevant and on brand.

If conversions aren’t the focus, what is the most important organic social media metric to track?

The key organic social metrics will differ depending on the goals you have in the campaign. Some businesses may just want to increase their follower count, while others are really interested in telling a certain story so that customers perceive them a certain way. In general, one of the most important metrics that an organic social media agency will track across all platforms is reach or impressions.

The logic behind this is, the greater your impressions, the larger the audience that is receiving your content and therefore the more people that have a chance to engage with you meaningfully.

Engagement metrics, likes, followers, these things can fluctuate, but should see a steady increase as impressions increase.

What are the different types of organic social content?

Informational, storytelling, engagement focused, and memes are the most common examples of organic social media content. There is some cross-over between these different categories, however, as most organic content needs to be engaging in some way and typically helps to tell your brand’s story, even if in a casual way.

Can organic social drive revenue?

We do not consider organic social media campaigns to be primary revenue drivers for businesses. However, they can be looked at as a way of supercharging all of your other marketing efforts through an holistic approach.

For instance, even if your rankings are solid and your Google PPC ads are performing well, there will always be a certain segment of users that will check on your social pages to see how active you are. This is an important trust signal for many people, especially online shoppers.

A dead social media page does not do your business any good.

Also, as your social media efforts scale, the higher the likelihood that you will generate conversions organically. Once you acquire a large number of engaged followers, anything you post becomes a potential sales funnel. Organic TikTok, for instance, is one of the more lucrative social media plays for some businesses right now. It all depends on your niche and how big of a following you already have.

What platforms are best for an organic social media campaign?

This is dependent on your target audience. You want to be active where your audience is active.

If you sell industrial plumbing equipment, TikTok might not be for you. On the other hand, you might see great success on Reddit or Facebook.

Conversely, if you exclusively sell fancy gaming equipment, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch would all be great choices.

You generally want to avoid sinking too much time and money into platforms where you won’t see much traction. If your audience isn’t active on the platform, you have no reason to be there.

However, it is worth noting that there is a social media platform for just about every industry and business, at least from an organic perspective.

How long does it take for an organic social campaign to work?

This is a fairly common question across most marketing services but it’s a loaded one. Organic social media campaigns, much like SEO, PPC, or any other form of marketing, are continuous. They must be constantly worked on to slowly increase performance over time. Once you reach a certain goal, you move onto the next goal.

So if you are interested in social media, don’t think of it in those terms. This is your brand, which means it should be continuously marketed and strengthened.

Do I need an organic social media agency?

That depends. If you have a solid in house team or marketing person that is already growing your socials and seems to get great engagement, maybe not.

However, most organic social media campaigns take a lot of work. Mapping out a strategy, building a content calendar, making the creatives, scheduling posts, watching the metrics.

Chances are, you aren’t properly staffed to manage a social media campaign. There’s a big different between running an organic social media campaign and just “posting” on social media.

If you want your social media accounts to shine with engagement and cool content that resonates with your target audience and helps you build your brand, an agency that specializes in organic social media is not a bad idea at all.

Don’t Neglect Your Social Media

I hope this FAQ answered some of the important questions surrounding organic social media and how you can use it in your marketing efforts.

The main thing to remember is, never let your social media accounts sit idle. People follow your pages for a reason, they expect brands to reciprocate by posting announcements and engaging with them.

While a professional social media strategy is always preferred, at least set aside some time every week to connect with your audience and let them know you are active. It will go a long way.

The post Organic Social Media Agency FAQ appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

We’ve put this guide to the top converting social media platforms of 2023 so you know where your business can make the most impact.

Why Go For Conversion Rate?

There are plenty of reasons to be on social media. Brand building, engaging with your followers, customer feedback, A/B testing products, increasing traffic to your blog.

At this point, social media marketing should be a core part of your holistic marketing strategy, no matter what industry you are in.

However, we understand how important revenue streams are, and if there is one good reason to invest time and energy into social media, it’s to increase revenue.

This is why conversion rate is the metric you want to look at.

Social Media Platforms With The Highest Conversion Rates

Not every social media platform is ideal for eCommerce and has a reliable conversion rate. While ads can be served on literally every social media platform, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are all profitable.

It is somewhat dependent on the niche you are in, of course. You also have to take brand equity into account, as a brand that already has a dedicated following can go pretty much anywhere online and achieve a healthy ROI through advertising.

Generally speaking, however, you’re going to want to go where the conversion rates are highest across multiple industries. The gold standard eCommerce social media platforms, in other words.

Before digging into each individual top converting social media platform, I should throw out an important disclaimer. Unless your ad strategy is mapped out correctly and if the ads are properly optimized, you’re still not likely to achieve a healthy ROAS.

Those who are familiar with how Facebook ads used to work back in the day, for instance, probably remember how easy it was to toss a couple dollars into a random product ad and get a 20x ROAS. Those days are long gone: if you want your social media ad strategy to pay off, you have to be smart and strategic.

Also, results vary across platforms depending on the audience being targeted, so some brands are better off on TikTok even if Facebook still retains the conversion crown.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at each platform and highlight why they convert so well:

Facebook

Despite the popularity of TikTok as well as recent changes to Twitter that make advertising somewhat smarter, Facebook still enjoys its place as the top converting social media platform.

But why? People still use Facebook?

Apparently so.

While it might not be where Gen-Z hangs out, or where we source our memes from (thank you Twitter), Facebook is still on a majority of mobile devices and is widely used by people of all ages to stay in touch with family and friends, read up on the latest news, and follow brands.

Facebook not only has a massive user base, ads on the platform still convert higher than anywhere else on average.

This is due in part to the advanced targeting options that are on Facebook. While Meta has scaled back some of the more detailed targeting options in recent years, there are still plenty of ways to capture very specific niche audiences in your ad groups.

If you are able to put together creatives and messaging that resonates with your target audience, you can get really solid traction with Facebook advertising, because you can get so granular with the targeting.

Instagram

Under the same umbrella as Facebook, but with a slightly different audience.

The Instagram platform caters to a younger, more hip crowd than Facebook in general, while enjoying most of the same targeting options. Since the platforms are connected, you can often serve the same ads on Instagram as you would on Facebook in the same campaign, although this isn’t always the best route.

Instagram is another one of the top converting social media platforms of 2023 due to its extensive user base as well as the visual nature of the platform. Ads served on Instagram flow seamlessly in the feed, so they are not all that intrusive.

Marketing on Instagram is the way to go if you are in fashion, jewelry, and similar retail niches. For more commercial and industrial advertising, you will want to stick to Facebook.

TikTok

Insanely popular, TikTok is the place you want to be if you are an eCommerce business trying to scale with the help of social media.

While the platform is top in terms of popularity, it isn’t yet top in conversions or ROAS.

This is due to a number of factors.

There is more disposable income on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The user base on TikTok skews young, which means not everyone has as much money to go around, especially for higher ticket items.

The Gen-Z crowd is also less responsive to ads in general. This means you have to work harder for less conversions on TikTok.

Your creatives have to be on point and your messaging has to be perfectly crafted for your target audience if you really want to drive revenue with TikTok advertising, which is one reason why so many businesses are turning to influencers and TikTok ad agencies to do the heavy lifting for them.

Even with all of these hurdles, TikTok is still one of the best places to advertise on social media if you want conversions, dwarfing the likes of Reddit, Linkedin, and Twitter. If you have a hot product and a creative agency behind you, there is money to be made on TikTok.

Pinterest

Last but certainly not least, Pinterest is another great social media platform for consistent conversions in eCommerce. While not nearly as effective as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, Pinterest does have its place.

In certain niches, according to Pinterest, the platform enjoys the highest eCommerce conversion rates of any social media platform, with 50% of Pinners having made a purchase off of a promoted pin. How well that translates to your own brand and products is another story, but there can be no question that Pinterest is a perfectly viable advertising outlet in certain niches.

If you want to get into Pinterest advertising, I would recommend the following niches:

• Furniture
• Fashion, especially women’s fashion
• Wedding dresses or wedding planning
• Home decor
• Gardening and landscaping
• Jewelry
• New Age, including crystals, tarot, Wiccan, herbal, and astrology products
• Health and wellness, including herbal supplements
• Fitness equipment
• Cooking

These would be your main areas of focus, as they comprise the bulk of the content found on the platform. There are of course exceptions, but this is a good starting point.

The reason why Pinterest advertising is so effective is because, much like Instagram and TikTok, the ads mesh well with the visuals. There isn’t much of a distinction between a normal feed post and an ad on Pinterest, so if the messaging is correct, the person scrolling through their Pinterest feed is likely to just click the ad without even realizing it is one.

Other Social Media Options?

If you are looking for high conversions, the platforms above are where you want to put the bulk of your attention. However, if you already have a foothold on these platforms and want to expand your reach, there are a few other options worth considering depending on your niche.

• Reddit: High conversion rates in select eCommerce industries. Ads should be super niche since Reddit is a platform based around small niche topics, which the ads are then served to.
• Snapchat: Decent conversion rates and not as much competition as other platforms, with great targeting options. Not as large of a user base as the top contenders but a respectable choice if you want to unearth a new revenue stream in 2023.
• Twitch: While very niche, this can be a lucrative advertising platform if you are in the gaming, electronics, sporting, or similar niches. Pretty much the diametric opposite of Pinterest in terms of target audience, if that helps.
• YouTube: Conversion rates are fairly reliable on YouTube and most industries are able to be targeted due to the wide range of interests on the platform. Creatives here need a bit more polish than other platforms, and CPCs are usually higher as well, but could be worth it depending on your brand recognition and how popular your products are.

If you want a reliable and straightforward social media revenue stream, Facebook or TikTok are probably the best options. However it never hurts to expand your marketing horizons.

Will the social media landscape look the same way next year in terms of conversion rates? It seems that things are shifting faster and faster every year, and with platforms like Twitter being vocal about wanting to draw more advertisers, it is entirely possible this list could shift by next year.

The best thing to do if you are an eCommerce store trying to take advantage of these social media platforms is to establish a strong foundation on a solid platform like Facebook and slowly expand or pivot based on how the market changes.

The post Top Converting Social Media Platforms of 2023 appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

However, the question is, “Does storytelling really work? How? And Why?”

Branding through Storytelling

In his book Building a StoryBrand Donald Miller iterates that “Story is atomic. It is perpetual energy and can power a city. Story is the one thing that can hold a human being’s attention for hours.”

He tells the story of how Steve Jobs was let go by Apple back in 1983. They had just launched their computer Lisa, and released a nine-page ad in the New York Times that spilled all the technical features that the computer was capable of.

In other words, it was essentially nine pages of technical terms that virtually no one would understand.

No surprise, Lisa bombed, and Steve was let go.

Several years later, when Steve returned to the company after running Pixar, a change was noticed in the way that Apple marketed their brand. Gone was that nine-page press release detailed technical specs and features of the Apple computer. Instead, what we got were cool, hip, and entertaining ads that spoke to us at a deeper level.

Look at where Apple is today, and you’ll see the huge difference that storytelling can have on a company.

But what is storytelling in marketing and branding, really? How does it work? And how, exactly, do businesses benefits from it?

1. Resonance: Marketing, Branding, and The Hero’s Journey

I was first introduced to the concept and idea of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth, or the Hero’s Journey, back in college. Back then, it was simply a lens through which to study and review books, movies, and television. Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered Donald Miller use this very concept and apply it to the world of marketing and advertising.

The Hero’s Journey is a concept that describes the basic pattern found in many stories, myths, and legends. It follows the journey of a hero who is called to leave their ordinary world to embark on an adventure that leads them to face a significant challenge. The hero is aided by mentors and allies, but also faces obstacles and enemies that they must overcome to succeed.

By following the Monomyth pattern, writers and storytellers can create a compelling story that resonates with audiences. The journey of the hero can be an inspiration to people facing their own challenges in life, encouraging them to face their fears and emerge victorious. The Hero’s Journey is a timeless concept that continues to influence and inspire writers and audiences alike.

In other words, telling stories to build your eCommerce brand is a great way to resonate with your ideal customer or client. It’s a timeless method to create a deeper connection between you and your customers, one that will have them coming back for more.

In his book, The Golden Theme, Brian McDonald (a story consultant and instructor at Pixar, Disney, and Industrial Light and Magic) says that “Letting people know they are not alone in their suffering is one of the primary responsibilities of a storyteller.”

Understanding who your customer is, where they’re coming from and what they’re struggling with is imperative to successful branding and marketing.

When you’re able to write the copy for a Facebook or Google ad that has your customers thinking, “That’s me!” that creates a connection that’s deeper than any grandoise technical advantage your product can muster.

Stories that focus on the customer as the hero resonate louder and connect deeper.

Once you’re able to establish that connection with your customers, your branding will have gone to a whole new level (as companies like Apple, Nike, and Coca Cola have proven).

2. Clarity of Messaging: The Mistake Most Companies Make with their Storytelling

In Building A StoryBrand, Donald Miller talks about how story is a sense-making device. In contrast, because it was full of technical jargon, Steve Jobs’ nine-page ad was nothing more than a list of difficult terms that were near impossible to understand and comprehend.

However, after he had returned from running Pixar, the first campaign that he ran with Apple contained only two words that were strewn on billboards all across America.

Those two words were: Think Different.

We spend almost every waking moment of our day processing tons of information about the world around us. Asking customers to spend more of their brain’s processing power to try to understand a complicated and spec-heavy ad will only turn their attention away from you.

Essentially, it’s all noise.

As Donald Miller puts it: “[s]tory is the greatest weapon we have to combat noise, because it organizes information in such a way that people are compelled to listen.” Storytelling is able to accomplish this because “[i]t identifies a necessary ambition, defines challenges that are battling to keep us from achieving that ambition, and provides a plan to help us conquer those challenges.”

The one big mistake that most businesses make in their storytelling is they paint themselves as the hero in the story.

This is is wrong.

This is essentially what pre-Pixar Steve Jobs did with his nine-page ad. He painted Lisa as the hero of the story, listing down all the wonderful things it can do. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Remember, the job of the storyteller is to let the audience know that they are not alone. And the best way to do channel that in your branding and messaging is by being customer-centric.

Your business is not the hero in the story.

The customer is.

Your customer is Luke Skywalker, dreaming of escaping Tatooine and becoming a pilot, and struggling with trusting in the Force. Your customer is Remi, whose dream is to become a chef in France. He is Coco, trying to convince his family to allow him to pursue his dream of becoming a musician. She is Mulan hoping for people to see her and accept her for who she is.

What does that make you, the business?

You’re the guide. The mentor. The one that will lead them towards the Holy Grail, the Golden Fleece, the fires of Mordor.

As a business, your role is to be Luke’s Obi-Wan, Frodo’s Gandalf, Katniss Everdeen’s Haymitch, Coco’s great-great grandfather, Hector. You’re there to help your customer solve their problem and achieve success.

Making this mindset shift will bring more clarity into your messaging and allow you to reap the biggest benefit of storytelling For eCommerce brand building.

3. Increased Revenue: Plus True Brand Loyalty & Recognition

Recently, Netflix release a documentary series entitled Pepsi Where’s My Jet?. The series covers the story behind the Leonard v. PepsiCo case that sparked a huge controversy in 1990’s due to what some might consider as a case in false advertising.

The story is that in the 1990s, PepsiCo aired a series of commercials to promote their Pepsi products and point system. One commercial featured an AV-8 Harrier II jet as a prize for seven million Pepsi points.

A business student discovered that he could buy the points for $0.10 each, totaling $700,000 for seven million points. He then convinced investors to help him buy the remaining points and claimed the jet by sending his points and a check to PepsiCo. However, PepsiCo denied his request, stating that the commercial was a joke and the jet was not a prize available through the point system.

Before this controversy happened, Pepsi was a major player in the cola wars and had built their brand around ads that were centered around telling their customers’ story in pretty much the same way that Apple ran their campaigns.

It was the storytelling in these ads that built Pepsi and Apple’s loyal followers.

Who can forget, after all, all the Mac VS PC ads that ran back then? They were simple, straightforward, and spoke to Apple’s customer base through the culture that they were trying to build. These ads didn’t talk about technical specifications between a Mac and PC. Rather, they focused on who Mac users were, what they did, and how the Mac solved all their computer-related problems and challenges.

One of the best examples of storytelling in branding that I’ve seen recently are the ads for Grammarly. Each ad tells a very specific story of people trying to write something, whether it’s a college essay, a company email, or a wedding toast, and how Grammarly can help them solve their problem.

The ads position their customers as the hero, and Grammarly merely the guide and mentor that will do their spelling and grammar checks for them. And it works!

In Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller talks about how they’ve helped many of their clients “double, triple, and even quadruple their revenue after they got one thing straight–their message.” Your brand messaging relies on the story that you’re telling your customers.

It’s no secret that storytelling techniques have been widely used in branding and eCommerce to create engaging and memorable experiences for consumers. By crafting a narrative that resonates with their audience, brands can create a sense of relatability and authenticity that builds both trust and loyalty. Storytelling can also help brands differentiate themselves in a crowded market, highlighting their unique values and mission.

Moving forward, then, think about what story it is you’re telling your customers. Are you placing them as the heroes in that story? Or are you focusing too much on yourself?

Start crafting your branding and messaging from the point of view of the customer, and start building story content around that narrative. Before long, you’ll start to notice a change in the way that your customers interact with you and your brand, and you’ll be able to truly increase your brand awareness, and eventually your revenue, online.

The post Are You Telling the Right Stories? The Benefits of Storytelling For eCommerce Brand Building appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

This, of course, is a valid question. After all, why should we continue using email when there are platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok that can reach thousands (if not millions) more people?

The answer is more complicated than one might initially think.

While social media and other types of socially-driven platforms continue to be tremendous sources of traffic, there’s still nothing quite like email and email marketing. In fact, despite all these social platforms present today, they simply don’t hold a candle to the timeless and tremendous benefits of email marketing.

And here’s why…

The Problem with Interruption Marketing and Paid Advertising

A couple of decades back we saw the rising and flourishing of the TV industrial complex, where businesses would market to audiences through the form of commercials that were strategically placed during and in between the many different shows airing.

The way that ads worked back then (and still sometimes work today) is that they literally interrupted your regular programing to serve you ads about cereals, cars, cleaning supplies, and whatever else paid for placement in the studio’s schedule that week. This is what Seth Godin called “interruption marketing”, where the goal was to get an ad in front of people while you had their attention, and hope that this translated into sales.

Fast forward to today, this method is still one of the main ways that ads are served, whether through search engines, YouTube, or social media.

Sometimes this works, and people are grateful to have been served an ad that really caters to their specific interests. Many times, though, it doesn’t work, and people simply get annoyed every time they see an ad that they just keep on scrolling through.

It’s one of the reasons why you’ll receive thousands of impressions for your ads, but turn only a fraction of those impressions into leads or sales.

Despite this, many companies continue to just pour in the cash to pay for more ads, hoping that eventually they’ll stick.

The problem is, if you’re a small business, or a startup, you can’t possibly put up that much cash upfront, let alone compete with all these big companies that are putting up high bids just so that they can saturate the market with their ads.

So what’s a small business owner to do?

Enter Permission Marketing

So just what, exactly, is permission marketing?

Seth Godin, who authored a book with the term itself as the title, defines permission marketing as “…the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”

It’s those last six words that make all the difference.

The biggest difference, and one of the greatest benefits of email marketing, is the ability to be able to communicate with an audience that actually wants to hear from you.

Why does this matter?

1. Your Audience is More Likely to Listen

When someone willingly subscribes to your newsletter, knowing full well that they’re going to be receiving updates on either your content, products, or services then they’re ten times more likely to make the effort to notice, open, and review whatever it is you have to offer them.

Think about how magazine subscriptions worked back in the day.

More often than not, you would subscribe to a magazine because you either loved their content or you were highly invested and interested in the topic. As a result, you pay a monthly a fee just so that you can receive their latest issue in the mail at the beginning or end of every month.

And because you’re looking forward to that latest issue once it comes in the mail, you can’t help but open it up and devour the book in a matter of hours.

2. They’re More Eager to Support You (the Case of Kevin Hart)

Would you believe me if I told you that one of the things that helped stand-up comedian, Kevin Hart (known for his roles in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Upside, and The Secret Life of Pets) become successful is email?

There’s a reason why Kevin Hart continued to sell out shows early on in his career: he built a mailing list.

The reason he was able to accomplish this is that for four years, as he did the comedy club circuit, he would leave cards on the tables at each club asking for people’s email addresses. The cards read, “Kevin Hart needs to know who you are”. And so people would scribble in their email addresses and Kevin would move to collect the cards after the show.

His assistant would then type in each email into a spreadsheet and organize everything by city. That way, the next time Kevin Hart would be performing at that city, he’d reach out to each one of his “subscribers” and invite them to the show.

As a result, his fans were more than eager to show him their support.

It’s this personal touch that makes permission marketing (and, specifically, email marketing) an important, if not the most important, form of marketing.

3. You Have Control Over Your Email List

Twitter has undergone some major changes in recent months, prompting some longtime and avid users to switch over to other social platforms despite their invested interest in the platform. What does this mean for businesses, creators, and influencers on the platform? A loss of engagement and followers.

On the other hand, another one of the biggest benefits of email marketing is that this is something you never have to worry about.

If Twitter one day shuts down, there’s no need to worry. You’ve got your mailing list.

If Facebook decides to lower organic reach and impressions even further, don’t sweat it. You’ve got your mailing list.

If YouTube suddenly decides to change the rules on what types of video content are permitted on their platform, and you’re on the chopping block, rest easy. You’ve got your mailing list.

Think of building an audience on social media like building a home on rented land. You feel secure sleeping there and willingly call it home. You invite guests over and entertain them. In a way, it feels like the property belongs to you.

The reality, though, is that it doesn’t.

Better, then, to build your house on a plot of land that you yourself own. That’s what your mailing list is. That’s what email marketing can give you.

When all other online platforms fail, and we somehow find that social media has come and gone. Rest easy. You’ll still have your mailing list.

4. Email Marketing is the Ultimate Gold Mine

When we say that email marketing is a gold mine, we mean this in terms of both finance and potential. In fact, would you believe that, on average, email has an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent? What’s more, according to HubSpot, four out of five marketers would rather give up social media rather than email.

More than just the numbers, though, the gold mines of email marketing are two-fold.

First, they’re a direct connection between you and your audience. This means that you can easily tap into them for feedback regarding your products and services. That way, you’ll know almost instantly what’s up and how you can further improve.

Email marketing can also help you connect with your audience at a deeper level. There’s no better way, after all, to know what it is your ideal customer is thinking than to ask them directly with a question or survey.

One question you should definitely ask your audience, for example, is: “What is your biggest struggle right now when it comes to (your industry-related problem or pain point)?”

This question can spark all sorts of conversations, from what products your customers have used, what works for them, what doesn’t work for them, all the way down to what’s missing in yours and others’ existing products.

As a result, your audience’s answers make up the second golden factor of email marketing: ideas.

Mining your brain for product ideas and innovations often requires a lot of effort, especially if you’re just brainstorming ideas with your team. So why not ask the customers themselves?

Surveying your mailing list could spark fresh new ideas for products and services that you can create and deliver to your audience, creating more sales, more revenue, and even more engagement. Because what customer wouldn’t love to support a company that helps them better solve their problem?

The benefits of email marketing are both numerous and enormous! And email marketing continues to be one of the top ways to reach your audience. It’s not just a means that can drive traffic, but it’s also a powerful means to improve your leads and sales. It’s no surprise, then, that ever since the beginning of the internet email marketing has been and continues to be the perfect gold mine to build and scale a business on.

The post Is Email Dead? The Timeless Benefits of Email Marketing appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.