Social Media Trends That Will Take Over in 2018
Today, being popular on social media is all that people take delight in. A world without social media is completely unimaginable since the trend has reached on the highest pedestal. During the evolution of social media trends, a number of those have come and gone. Some have got full attention while some have faded away. In order to achieve the best marketing goals, meticulous analysis of these trends are required to be carried out from time to time which aids in predicting the most effective social media trends of the near future. Therefore, Filmora team has brought this infographic to make people aware about which trend will get the spotlight in the coming year.
The Importance of Blogging [Infographic]
The very first blog was published back in 1994, by the US freelance journalist Justin Hall. But it was actually four years later, in 1998, when the first blogging platform called Open Diary actually appeared. Later on, WordPress emerged, speeding up the spreading of blogging manifold.
Largely thanks to this popular site managing systems, the entire blogging business has since evolved into everyone having a personal blog that people read or view, thanks to people that film videos, documenting the events of their lives, and naming them ‘vlogs’.
While most of the bloggers nowadays belong to the millennial generation, there are also plenty of blogs run by older and younger generations. And the niches range from pet training to book or movie reviews, to travelling or writing about blogs themselves!
Basically, if you’re interested in something, there’s bound to be a blog where you can read someone else’s opinions or research on the same topic. Even big corporations and companies have employed people to write their blogs. There is a good reason for this as most of the time that people spent online is either spent on social networks or reading up on various blogs.
Furthermore, the blogging platforms have special features like adding photos and videos or linking to other content that is related to the article but on a different website. And it’s been proven time and time again that people love reading content that includes loads of visual media. That means that adding a few images in between your blocks of text is a great way to get more people interested in your blog posts.
Additionally, social media buttons that your readers can use to share your content on other platforms is an added benefit, because research shows that around 32% of readers republish posts on Facebook and 25% of readers republish them on LinkedIn, which equals to an even bigger reach an audience.
Finally, there are plenty of ways to earn your salary through blogging alone, with a great example being HuffPost, which makes up to $14,000,000 per month. So, if you’re more interested in blogging and the interesting details behind it, check out the infographic below.
Check their web for more resources.
Why Videos Are Becoming the King of Content
Video has become a staple part of everyday life; whether it’s television, YouTube, Facebook, etc. there’s no hiding from it, and rightly so. Human’s are naturally drawn towards colour and moving objects – it’s easier for our brain to process information, especially if we can truly visualise what we are being shown. YouTube alone has over a billion users, which accounts for almost 1/3 of the world’s online population. According to Insivia, 55% of people watch videos online every day – that’s a lot of people and a lot of potential reach.
So, why are videos becoming the king of content? What makes them more appealing to internet users compared to other types of content? The magic of video is that it can incorporate all types of content, whether it’s text, images, or music, video technology has the ability to create, well, almost anything!
User Friendly
Video content is user-friendly, it’s not only enticing, but it allows users to digest a lot of information throughout the length of a video. If you can grab a user’s attention, there’s potential to gain sales, future custom, and even more reach through the means of sharing.
Social media usage has exploded over the years; in 2017, 71 percent of internet users were social network users and these figures are expected to grow, Statista have confirmed. As a business you can combine social media and video content in order to attract and appeal to many audiences; for example, it’s now possible to create live videos which stream directly to Facebook – as a restaurant you could post live video footage of a new dish being made which would encourage users to comment, provide feedback, and share your content with millions of others worldwide.
Website Load Time
At first, this may seem a little contradictory, but embedding or implementing a video into your website can actually decrease your webpage loading time if you use it sensibly. Studies have shown that using a video for your website’s landing page can actually increase conversion rates by 80%.
Before you begin to consider video content on your website, it’s important to ensure that you choose a web host that can provide high speed and consistent high performance such as Siteground, WP Engine or Bluehost, otherwise you could potentially be damaging your SEO score, and in-turn, your conversions. Many hosting providers now come with 1-click installs for popular apps and CMS platforms like WordPress and other website builders – these provide a user-friendly drag and drop experience where you can integrate video technology into your website with ease.
By using a video on your landing page, it’s possible to capture the user’s attention by expressing what your website, blog, or business is about, whilst providing a captivating and informative experience. One video could potentially replace multiple images, in turn reducing your website’s load time, and therefore increasing your SEO score, as webpage load time is a Google ranking factor.
SEO
Video content can enable a whole new world of SEO to get your hands on. Though social media itself isn’t a ranking factor on Google, it is with Bing, and it’s what you can do with your social pages and video that make it effective.
The key to making use of video content is to ensure that it’s relevant and engaging; if your content generates organic traffic, it will increase your SEO score. Now, you don’t want to be spamming videos left, right and centre, you want to make sure that they have a purpose. Whether it’s a guide, tutorial, landing page, or designed to show off something on your website, video content (as is the same with any other content) should be relevant and of a high-quality.
Again, if you’re going to post your video content on external websites, make sure they too are of a high-quality by using a domain authority checker like Moz. If Google finds your video URLs on websites that have no relevance to your business, they’re going to penalise you. But, if you can generate quality backlinks, you’re onto a winner.
The more likes, followers, and engagement you receive on your video content is what will improve your SEO. If you find that one particular video has thrown up a storm, try to create something similar next time, update the video, or reach out to your users to find out what they want to see more of.
If you’re not the creative type, don’t be afraid to reach out to others for help, whether you hire a video marketer or use a freelancer, investing in video content is certainly the way forward, now, and for the foreseeable future. Keep your videos short and to the point; most people will lose interest or stop retaining as much information after around 2 minutes but will come back for more if what they’ve seen is interesting. You could even take a ‘next time…’ approach where you leave your users on a cliff-hanger; another clever tip to gaining more views, and more shares.
Videos don’t necessarily need to be voiced over; after all, you’re providing something visual in terms of content, so the users absorb what they see, rather than what they hear. It’s estimated that by 2019, videos will account for around 80% of internet traffic, so don’t let video content slip you by; use it, optimise it, and learn from it.
Jann is a Content Writer at ukwebhostreview.com - She is committed to providing all you need to know about technology along with researching and analysing the best hosting providers.
7 Ways to Optimize Your Landing Page for High Conversions
Landing pages are a crucial element of digital marketing strategies. They provide a direct path for visitors to follow to complete your desired action.
To get the most out of your landing pages they should be optimised. A typical landing page converts anywhere between 1 and 3 percent but this could be a lot higher with the right optimisation and targeting.
Like most marketing tactics it can be tricky, almost impossible, to get right the first time. The best campaigns have often been results of extensive testing, monitoring and learning. To give you a head start, we have put together a simple guide to help you optimize landing pages for higher conversions.
The landing page is the make or break moment for most sites- busy visitors who have casually clicked, curious to see what your page is all about, are 20% less likely to stick around for a slow-loading page- even half a second makes a vast difference. Testing your Internet speed is the key to a successful landing page.
Not only are reader satisfaction and conversion rates dependent on how effectively you can quickly draw in site visitors, but Google search rankings take site speed into account, placing high precedence on how fast your page loads. So testing your page to find the best internet speed possible is essential.
1. Concentrate on a single campaign goal
While this may seem obvious, many landing pages fail because they don’t have a clear single goal, allowing users to get distracted or confused.
Create your landing pages to achieve a single goal and don’t give the user any opportunity to go elsewhere. Your landing page should state a problem, the solution you came up with, why your solution is best and how users can sign up for it. Keep it short and simple for maximum conversions.
Ideas for a campaign goal:
- Sign up for a newsletter.
- Submit information through a data capture form.
- Join a trial.
- Download a document.
2. Simple but professional design
First impressions are everything. If your website looks unprofessional or outdated your conversion rate will suffer drastically.
You don’t have to spend hundreds on an agency to build you a website, you can purchase some excellent templates from reputable online marketplaces and get them set up within minutes.
Choose a template with a clean layout, ensure it is mobile-friendly and has space for a contact form to grab your users details.
How to spot a good template:
- Mobile friendly and responsive design. Your website needs to be able to work on any device from a mobile phone to a large screen 4K desktop.
- Support. Not every template will come with this, particularly free ones, but if you’ve paid for a template you should be given a support email or some documentation to help you get set up.
- Good templates will be flexible and allow for you to easily make design changes such as colours and fonts. If your template requires layout changes and your coding knowledge is limited you may be better off finding another template that matches what you want.
- The reputation of the developer should also be considered. Was the template built by a student or a professional design team? Look at the developer profile, if they have good ratings and lots of other templates it safe to say you will be getting a good template.
3. Break your content up
Your visitors don’t want to read pages of information, you have just a few seconds to grab a visitor’s attention which you can do with a bold and straightforward headline.
Keep your headlines short and to the point, keep your paragraphs to a minimum but ensure you get across all the information a visitor will need. Most visitors will skim-read your page so make sure the content flows well and gives the user all the information they need in as few paragraphs as possible.
Use the following to break up your text:
- Headings
- Images
- Blockquotes
- Bold and italic style text
- Bullet points and lists
4. Use the right images
Content is important, but images help strike emotions encouraging visitors to take action. You can use images to keep text to a minimum or as a visual aid but make sure they are relevant and helpful to your users.
If you don’t have professional photography available there are plenty of great resources where you can either purchase or download royalty free images such as unsplash or pixabay.
What to look for when choosing stock photography:
- Firstly check the licensing - do you have permission to use it? If you found the image through a google search chances are you can’t. Use reputable stock websites such as pixabay or shutterstock and you will be given a license for each image use.
- Is the image focussed and in the correct size? Don’t try to stretch a full image to fill a background.
- Does the photo demonstrate your product or service? Keep your images relevant.
- Does the photo create any emotion in the visitor? Studies have shown that visitors are more likely to convert when they feel something for your advert. If your product is solving a problem show an image of someone frustrated and show how you can solve the frustration, it will resonate with the visitor and they will be more inclined to buy.
5. Use plenty of carefully placed CTAs
CTAs (calls to action) are the most important element of your landing page and need to grab the attention of your users and encourage them to take action. Use bright, contrasting colours and a large size font to stand out from your main content.
You might be able to get away with a single CTA if your page is short with little content but if your page has a lot of information you should have multiple CTAs spread out across your page. Carefully place one in each information section so that a visitor doesn’t have search for a CTA if they decide they want to take action. A good example of this is Sean Wes’s membership signup landing page, he has three CTA’s on this page located at key points to ensure visitors are never far from being able to sign up.
Below are two types of actionable CTAs, the good examples are encouraging and sound beneficial to the visitor. The bad type is forceful and feels beneficial to the business, not the visitor. You don’t want to force anyone into taking action, you want to encourage them.
Examples of good actionable CTAs:
- Learn more
- Get started
- Grab my copy
- Register today
Examples of bad actionable CTAs:
- Buy now
- Download now
- Submit
- Shop now
6. Keep page loading time to less than 2 seconds
If you do choose to add extra functionality to your page ensure that the loading time of your page doesn’t rise too high. A visitor is not going to hang around waiting for your page to load, keep your page loading times to less than two seconds if you can.
Tips for keeping page speed down:
- Resize your images before uploading them. Do not upload raw images that are over 1100px wide.
- Run your images through a free online compressor such as compressor.io or tinypng.
- Keep external resources to a minimum. If you have the ability to combine resources into a single file this will speed up load times compared to having to load multiple files.
- Don’t use unnecessary frameworks. Frameworks such as bootstrap come loaded with a lot of helpful code and features, if you don’t use them however they will do nothing more than add extra to your page loading time.
- Use asynchronous code for Google Analytics and external font libraries.
If you are worried about your page loading time running your page through Google PageSpeed Insights will give you suggestions for areas to fix to improve your page loading time.
7. A/B test as much as possible
Once you’ve got a solid landing page online try making adjustments to the page titles and CTAs while monitoring its performance closely. A/B testing, put simply, is the process of making changes to your page and monitoring the results that happen after.
If you find conversions rise after making changes make a note of them and use them in future landing page campaigns. If you notice a drop in conversions don’t panic, it’s a useful learning experience and will help identify what can put visitors off your landing page.
It’s important that you only carry out one A/B test at a time if you change multiple elements on the page and you see a spike in your sign ups how will you know which change caused it? Make one change at a time and monitor from there.
What you should A/B test:
- Images - try using different types of images for example images with people against images that showcase your product or service.
- CTA location is a popular test that is often run on a landing page. Does your CTA return more clicks when placed in a sidebar, under the main heading or centrally aligned on its own.
- CTA text is perhaps the most important, changing a single word can have a huge impact. If you have a CTA with the text ‘Download PDF Now’ try changing it something like ‘Get my copy’. You may find that simple changes can have exciting results.
- Headings can also have a huge impact on conversions. Unbounce have a great case study on various headline types. While every campaign is different, Unbounce’s findings show that conversion rates were not as impressive when a headline focussed on the problem suggesting that your headings should focus on the solution.
Landing page optimization can be tough but spend enough time testing and optimising you should learn exactly what your customers are looking for and be able to target them for a high converting landing page. Follow the above steps and you should have a great headstart on your optimised landing page, it is important to test each feature and monitor which deliver results.
SEO and Content Marketing - the perfect combination?
Digital marketing has become the prime marketing strategy in this decade due to the incredible developments in the technologies that accompany its usage, particularly with the Internet. And in the field of digital marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Content Marketing have been gaining traction as perhaps one of the most-crucial parts of any strategy for many years now.
These aspects play two distinct roles in the digital marketing stream. SEO – which is often regarded as the framework of any online strategy – as long been sought after and worked for as it is the key to attain brand awareness, online visibility, and increase in website traffic. While it involves extensive work on making sure that a particular website is able to increase its ranking in SERPs (search engine results pages), the outcome is often worth it as a business’ website becomes more reputable and more known in the keywords that they are associated with.
Content marketing, on the other hand, is one of the ways for companies to achieve a higher level of engagement and loyalty from their audience and present customers, and as a way to establish themselves as a leader and intellectual in their industry in the eyes of both their target market and of the fellow players in the industry.
But will they be able to work hand-in-hand to give your company the best of what they can offer? Find out with this infographic by CJG Digital Marketing.
Embedded from CJG Digital Marketing
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Four Content Marketing Trends You Need to Use in 2018
Content marketing is an area where businesses that invest properly see a good return on investment. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t invest correctly in this space. Many elements factor into the success or failure of a content marketing campaign. Quality of content, strategy development, and better, more focused content distribution targeting are some key areas businesses should focus on. To ensure your business stays ahead, you want to know what to expect in the coming year. Discover some top trends the content marketing world will see in 2018.
1. Updated Original Content
Before the internet age, content consumers followed a more rigid viewership schedule. The news came on at 6:00, football was on Sunday, and their favourite sitcom aired once weekly. Everything changed with on-demand programming options. Services like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube changed how content was delivered. Users were able to view content whenever they wanted to. Consequently, the demand for new and original content grew as well.
The world of content marketing for the web has evolved in the same pattern.
Content producers now follow quicker turnaround deadlines and prioritize updated content, as users are now accustomed to seeing something fresh and immediately accessible constantly at their fingertips. Building a content strategy that emphasizes and delivers continuously updated original content will give users a reason to keep returning to your site, while simultaneously boosting your SEO rankings.
An audience that values the originality, timeliness and high-quality of your digital content can provide additional conversions and interactions, which can be translated to different services or products. In one example, CBS bet the bank that Star Trek Discovery would draw a significant audience, and they planned the launch of their online streaming service, CBS All-Access, around the show’s pilot episode. Delays forced CBS to use a different original show as the initial launch to get attention, but the concept remained, and CBS still reaped the benefits of Discovery later on.
Give the customer content they can’t find elsewhere, and use that content to market other content and deliver advertising. Earning customer loyalty has always hinged on giving them something they want or need, with an inherent originality in the trade. Now, companies simply enjoy more ways to accomplish this. A company not producing original and updated content through its marketing strategy will likely fall behind the competition.
2. Live Streaming
In recent years, online videos have taken over, thanks in part to the spread of high-speed internet and video-sharing services. Today, anyone with a smartphone or a webcam can make a video, upload it, and build a following. Do a search for a game walkthrough or a DIY project, and you are likely to find your top search hits dominated by videos.
However, uploaded or static videos don’t hold a candle to the bonfire that is live streaming video. Give an audience the ability to interact with content as it is going on and you give them something that they can truly engage with. Facebook Live offers people the chance to be with their friends, or other content creators they follow, as those influencers share a part of their lives. Suddenly, a mother who is away for a business trip can join her husband and daughter for the July 4th fireworks. A military family living in Germany can bring their extended family to them for Christmas or New Year’s Eve in real-time.
One prime example of a company that has capitalized on live content is Twitch. This streaming service offers gamers a chance to stream their gaming activities live to the world and to interact with viewers through live chat. Through services like this, gaming and other activities become a more interactive experience. Now, Twitch offers creative people, such as artists, chefs, musicians, or cosplayers, a chance to stream their projects, and even allows podcast networks or small internet media companies an avenue to further connect with viewers.
Progressive firms can offer customers a unique look inside the company’s premises, giving the customer base a behind-the-scenes look at the team making the company’s products, or a sneak peek into what’s coming next. Software developers can discuss their daily tasks and the tools they use. The possibilities are endless for the smart marketing team to take such moments and draw customers further into their love and support for a company. As of 2016, more than 80 percent of respondents to a survey indicated they preferred live video to a blog or social media posts, but only 14% of companies reached out through live video. This means a large gap exists for a company to step in and capitalize on what customers want.
3. Living, Interactive Content
Beacon technology takes advantage of real-time contextual personalization to deliver a customized experience quickly and conveniently, thereby adding value to the customers’ lives in ways that matter. A customer can now walk into a business for which they have the app installed and have a notification inform them that certain products are on sale. If the customer has a rewards card with the business, the beacon app can track those purchases to avoid offering discounts on items purchased recently. As of 2016, annual totals of queries for information from beacon programs on Android devices exceeded 40 million. Many companies can benefit from such an app that doesn’t currently implement this strategy, missing a golden opportunity to strengthen customer loyalty.
source: Travelweekly.com
With the recent iteration of augmented and virtual reality hitting the market, companies can enjoy an even stronger way to bring customers into the fold. Imagine having an app that used augmented reality to encourage searching the store for digital items. Also, gamification is a great way to involve interactive content, which can help encourage user exploration and conversion rates with promotions. This adaption can make the experience more enjoyable and give users something valuable in return and a motivation to come back. A company could partner with a game app that uses augmented reality to place ads in key places
4. The Rapidly Evolving IoT
Another means for delivering content directly into customers’ worlds is the Internet of Things (IoT). This refers to technology that encompasses devices and content delivered through them using mediums other than screens. Siri and Alexa stand as the prime examples, giving a user the ability to interact with a variety of devices or services, including content delivery. Estimates predict that approximately $6 trillion will be invested in IoT technology and solutions within five years. The interest around the anticipated boom in IoT creates various opportunities for secondary markets and windows for new forms of interconnectivity.
Healthcare is one of leading industries being adapted to accommodate IoT devices. Alexa can currently give someone instructions for CPR and explain how to spot a heart attack for example. New developments are on the horizon. The younger, more health-conscious generation has created a large market around wearable devices and monitoring systems. As AI continues to influence how we interact with digital applications, content takes on an entirely new shape. Virtual trainers, interactive exercise instructors that adapt to a user’s body responses, and many other potential forms of consumer digital interaction provide new avenues for delivering content.
Additionally, healthcare institutions and their existing patients are increasingly reliant on big data and comprehensive healthcare solutions. IoT can influence how patients deal with pharmaceutical industries through interactive and wearable gadgets. Companies can leverage this constant device interaction to plan audiobook sessions, news reports, or health tips around a users’ mealtime habits or sleep patterns, to provide content when it’s most appropriate. With so many devices pairing and exchanging handshakes for a variety of purposes, the opportunities for growth are endless.
Pay attention to these four trends to keep your content marketing fresh, original, adaptive, and forward-facing in 2018.
Stephen Moyers is a digital marketer, designer, avid tech-savvy blogger. He is associated with Los Angeles Web Design Agency - SPINX Digital. He loves to write about web design, development, digital marketing, social media and much more. Apart from writing, he loves travelling & photography. Follow Stephen on Twitter & Google+.
Try These 7 Ideas To Boost Your Visual Marketing Game
Marketing has revolutionized itself in the past decade and continues to do so even now. The Internet has waved its magic wand and changed the fate of marketing forever. From traditional door-to-door marketing to working behind the computers to reach the audience, marketing has come a long way. Digital marketing has changed the way consumers get introduced to a new product and their buying behaviour.
The digital marketing era began with simple HTML websites making its way to the audience. The restrictions during that time were lack of access to internet and devices. For a marketer, it was finding the type of content that would intrigue the already limited audience.
This changed drastically in the 2000s when social media made its entry into the digital world. This started with Orkut, one of Google’s erstwhile, once-popular babies who unfortunately succumbed in front of the huge Facebook wave that hit the digital world. This, however, provided marketers with a huge opportunity to reach the masses.
Along with social media marketing, another potential platform with huge opportunity was blooming on the horizon – Blog. It offered room for direct subtle promotions through educational and informative content that added value to the customers/prospects as well. Techniques such as SEO, AdWords, and PPC boosted the blog promotion to reach people across the world.
Although digital marketing is reaching its saturation level in terms of new platforms, there is still huge potential with regards to the type of content that is being generated. Marketers are always looking for new methods to make the content interesting for the internet population. Text-based content such as articles, blogs and websites are still the core of marketing. But it is found that visual marketing is gaining immense popularity among users. 2017 saw a huge upsurge in visual marketing, and for good reasons. Facebook posts with images received 2.3 times more engagement than those without images. Tweets with images received 150% more retweets. Safe to say, images play a huge role in increasing your marketing efforts. So, what can we do differently with visual marketing that can boost your brand visibility and reputation?
Here are some of the ideas to create an effective visual marketing strategy
- Build a blog with text AND image!
Blogs are a great way to reach the audience. It is popular, powerful and fun! But blogs may not find its true potential if it gets limited to only few audience. There should be an X-factor that prompts readers to share them in their circle. Images can offer that. Statistics say that blogs with images produce 650% higher engagement that textual blogs. It is evident that something about images adds better clarity and retention of the message. It could be the basic fact that visuals are more powerful than words.
When using images, marketers need to keep a few things in mind. The image quality should be premium and should not be compromised. Use images that are related to the topic you are communicating. Otherwise, it just turns into fillers. Last but not least, ensure copyrights of the image you use. Any copyright violation could seriously damage the reputation of your platform.
- Visuals make readers stay
You open a link to a text content, found a 2000-word “how to” article. You are really interested to learn it. But after 200-300 words, your focus and interest start going downhill. You still manage to stay but drop off after 500 words, especially if the article is boring. You see another link with on the same “how to”, opened the link, found an infographic with nice visual elements and summarize everything about the topic in beautifully crafted 200 words. It is colourful, precisely explains the point and doesn’t eat up your time. Which one would you prefer? Which one served your purpose?
It is not always necessary to explain everything using words. Visual representation, if done the right way can be a powerful marketing tool. The only thing to keep in mind is to keep the core message and clarity intact while you try to trim down words or get creative.
- Memes
Most people use social media and internet for entertainment. Even if not, a little humour and poor joke (PJs as the new-gen say!) can lighten up things and enhance the overall user experience. Memes are one of the great ways to do it. This piece of content is already viral on social media, usually as a short video or an unusual image with an equally strange caption. After realizing its popularity, social media platforms have specific algorithms to promote the content to redefine their customer experience. Marketers have an excellent opportunity to ride on this wave to catch some fish.
One of the major reasons why meme game backfires for most brands is that they use it for overt promotion and not adding any value. Grammarly is one of the brands that use the meme game just fine! Look at their Instagram page or Pinterest page and you will know what I am talking about. The memes are creative, funny but at the core messaging resonates with the brand image – enhance your written communication! So instead of using unrelated memes, blend it with your brand and see the difference it makes to your visual marketing!
- Videos
These statistics provide some mind-blowing numbers that will help you to understand the monumental effect videos have on internet users and marketers. It won’t be exaggerating to say that videos ruled internet in 2017. Amidst overloaded content, videos are a refreshing change. It catches a user’s attention soon, increases the engagement and retention rate and also offer stronger emotional connectivity. Not to mention the fact that it significantly complements your SEO efforts and brings more traffic.
We all know of the phrase ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’, hence if video is a series of pictures, how many words might video be worth? Well, research by Dr James McQuivey found that video could be worth a minimum of 1.8 million words per minute – if one picture is a thousand words, and video is filmed at 30 frames per second, then a single second of video is word 30,000 words. 30,000 words x 60 seconds = 1.8 million words per minute.
Marketers should focus on creating content that the user actually wants to see. Rather than overt promotion, it could talk about the vision and emotions attached to your brand. This will build credibility for your brand and make the audience trust you. The content need not be serious all the time. It’s all about how you connect with your audience
- Data visualization
Let me get one thing straight! Nobody wants to deal with a lot of numbers, except numbers on currency (I am joking. Probably not!). Anyway, the point is, if you throw statistics and numbers at a reader as it is, that is probably going to exhaust them. Instead, visuals are a great way of presenting them. Numbers can be made interesting and understandable using charts, diagrams and creative infographics, especially if you are a research firm or financial entity. This way, you will be able to connect with users effectively.
- Optimization for SEO
Okay! You have done all the hard work. You have purchased the best stock photos for your website, created some amazing visual graphics and all set to go. Yet, you are not getting the desired result. That’s because your images are not optimized for SEO. To leverage the full potential of images, use the target keywords in the image title, file name, description and alt-text. Adjust the file size without compromising on the quality for easy loading. Also, ensure that it is mobile-friendly as most people these days access the internet through mobile. This way, your visual game would be top-notch and you will reap maximum benefits.
- Mix up the content
Finally, you don’t have to stick to one single way of visual content. Just like you can follow the same menu every day, an audience will get bored with the same style of content. So opt for multiple types of content. Play around with videos, gif, meme, blogs, infographics or if you want to invent something new, go for it! Who knows, it might just be the next big thing! Just make sure your audience is having fun and you got this.
Conclusion
There are millions and millions of content on the internet. The majority are useless and do not add any value to the readers. Only a strong marketing strategy built on a stronger content strategy can make your brand stand out from the noise. Visual marketing can play a key role here. Social media platforms that focus on visual content such as Instagram, Pinterest and even Twitter are creating huge revenue. This shows how engaged people are with visual media. With YouTube streaming millions of videos every day and gifs and memes being shared, almost maniacally, visual content is definitely a key player in the overall digital marketing success.
Content marketing is the king and visual content marketing has already taken the internet by storm. With a huge number of views, engagements and shares for visual content on social media, the party’s just begun! 2018 will see more marketers trying to leverage visual content and more users waiting for entertainment. Those who utilize this marketing technique tactfully and wisely will surely gain huge benefits.
So if you are yet to explore visual marketing, start using it and have fun! If you are already using it, fine-tune your skills and revise your strategies to suit the market and the audience.
Author Bio:
Stevan Mcgrath is a digital marketing professional who possesses expertise in brand design and development. Stevan is passionate about utilizing his diverse skill sets for new and innovative online marketing strategies. He has worked as a freelancer and a contributor to ProvenSEO. Despite having a wide influential reach, he seeks client satisfaction as his topmost priority. He also writes blog posts on recent digital marketing trends. To know his work and more details you can follow him on facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Google+.
How to scale your live video audience
Scaling your audience is highly important if your sole aim is to make lots and lots of money. We often try to find out time to keep a balance between work and personal life.
Monetizing your venture is a commendable idea. But can you do it without scaling your audience?
You can certainly do without scaling. However, in the long run these missed specks will come back to haunt you.
Anyone who is looking to scale their business must set some proper goals. With a proper vision you can include better monetization strategies.
You can pursue some nitty-gritty techniques so that you can scale your live audience with immediate effect.
Don’t just think of how to make money live streaming an event but try to be better with it.
Let us discuss how to improve live streaming.
Create and Share Content on a Blog
Beginning a blog is easy.
What isn't easy and clear is really posting helpful and extraordinary content that is of significant worth.
Having said that, blogging is a standout amongst other ways that you can be an expert and draw followers in some time.
By turning into an expert, you'll naturally start attracting clients instead of forcing them to go through your content.
Entertain audience with offers and contests
Contests and giveaways offer another speedy approach to market your business.
The word free is exceptionally attractive, and individuals will register to anything which would come up with an assured prize.
Post content on Medium.com
Medium.com is of the most loved destinations for content publishing.
This expert webpage presents anybody with the capacity to post helpful content or showcase anything on the web.
It is commendable that you don't utilize this to spam.
Rather, create helpful information and instructional exercises that will additionally improve the content on your site.
The objective is to advertise your live streaming platform the correct way and not by spamming link through a weak content.
Build a Social Media Content channel
Social media offers a standout amongst most open doors for scaling any business, regardless of what sort of business you've begun but is particulary good for a live streaming company.
It additionally offers a road to take advantage of the worlds socially connected population, rapidly and successfully.
Plainly, accomplishing a gigantic mission is no straightforward accomplishment; however that shouldn't prevent you from building up a content channel where you can spread value across social media to raise the awareness of your offers.
Create YouTube tutorials
Take a deep breath and plunge into the universe of video with YouTube instructional guidance.
Making a mainstream YouTube channel isn't simple, however it is well justified, despite all the trouble.
To do it, you need to give inside and out instructional guidance, helping individuals to truly understand a problem or take care of an issue. Whatever you do, try imparting the best knowledge possible.
Thus, you'll turn into a specialist and an industry pioneer, at last prompting more prominent exposure and in the end, make more money.
How can you scale yourself as well as your audience?
Scaling, in the simplest of definitions is ideally the phenomenon carried out when you have multiple servers used to stream your live video to a larger audience.
Servers arranged in such a way are referred to as “Server Pools”. Various methods can be used for scaling, depending on stream type, target audience and it's possible to use a combination of methods to be sufficient for your needs.
When would you scale your live video audience?
There are some specific moments when you would require scaling your audience. The specks below describe when and how to scale.
- Analyze the number of video streams running together. Also take their bitrates into account.
- Analyze the estimated volume of your audience. Check if you can control the number of viewers.
- Keep a track of the short and long time budget.
What are the options available for scaling?
Different tools present in the market aid in scaling your live video audience. Certain streaming media server software implements tools such as live stream repeater.
Live encoders producing content connect to the servers and players are connected to the edge servers (a server residing on the “edge” between two networks).
Edge servers are connected to the original servers for repetitive live stream.
If you have the question of how to improve live streaming, keep in mind to add more edge servers and direct them to the streams coming out from the origin server.
On enabling an HTTP-based playback, these streaming engines associate each of the HTTP connection with different internal sessions so that every speck can be traced.
In case the target audience is on a private network, you can use UDP (User Datagram Protocol) so that you can broadcast live streams to a wider audience.
In multicast routers provide the capacity to deliver streams instead of a “server pool”. Sending out a single stream through the streaming media server software to the multicast address and players connected to the multicast address to get the stream is how the scaling works here.
Using UDP and other alternatives have delivered 10-15% growth in delivering spectacular outputs with a cut-short buffer time.
If you are looking how to improve live streaming, be sure that the competition is huge.
It's anything but difficult to waste efficiency on blog entries, social media and different things that survive for just a short span.
Using a tool like Crowdcast or Wowza, you can naturally record all your live occasions and implant them onto your site.
Cover subjects that will stay significant forever, and you'll develop an archive of recorded occasions that your crowd can appreciate for quite a long time.
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Content Marketing for SEO [Infographic]
Kelly over at Copy Goals has published a great Infographic that brings together all the major statistics on Content Marketing. The article Content Marketing for SEO: Incredible Statistics & Effective Strategies is well worth a read.
Here's the Infographic (Attribution copygoals.com ).
