Mobile Internet marketing has become a major buzzword in the internet marketing community. Everyone is talking it up and hyping the latest product designed to help website and business owners to increase their level of exposure on different mobile marketing channels. But why is it worth it? In this article we will discuss a few reasons mobile marketing will continue to become ever more important in the coming years, but first, let’s talk about how we got here.
The Evolution of The Phone
It was not that many years ago that cell phones were a rarity. Do you remember the big car phones everybody had for while? We have definitely come a long way since those days!
As cell phones became more popular, they also started to get smaller. We were able to keep them in our pockets after a while, and the battery life kept getting better. The signals and the networks continued to grow to the point that we expected our phones to work virtually anywhere.
Once cell phone networks began to get more sophisticated, they started rolling out new features. The first, and still ever so popular, was of, course, text messaging. Many of us now use our phones to send text messages just as much as, if not more than, we use them to actually call someone.
Then, as the phones became even more like computers, they began to get more and more features, such as the mobile web. Initially, the mobile web was pretty slow and did not display the full internet, only different content that was set up on specific networks designed to work only for certain cell phone companies.
Finally, fast forward to today. Cell phones are basically smaller versions of computers, and the internet is almost as (if not more) accessible on our phones as it is on our computers. Smartphone apps give us access to many of our favorite sites, games, etc., without even having to go on the web. One of the last things people do with their smartphones is actually talk on it!
Now that we spend so much time on our phones (even if we are not actually talking on them), the opportunity for websites and businesses to market on this platform continues to grow, and will likely continue to become more and more important.
Using The Mobile Web
Many smartphone users now turn to their phones before their computers when it comes time to look up something on the internet. This means that those companies and brands that have a strong mobile presence will be more likely to get the business of these users, as these companies will get the most eyes on their offers.
As more and more people continue to use the mobile web on their phones, and as a generation of people conditioned to mobile web use reach the age where they have income to spend, being in front of these people when they are on the mobile web will become more and more important.
Many companies are trying to make sure they have a mobile marketing presence by making sure they have a mobile version of their sites. They have a mobile version in order to attract visitors from this phone.
This will be much more important as mobile web use increases. Every website owner should really make sure they have a mobile optimized site, because it does appear very certain that more and more people will be using their phones to access the web.
The Growth Of Mobile Apps
Smartphones are not the only opportunity for mobile marketing. Almost every type of smartphone – iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc., has a seemingly unlimited number of apps, or applications, designed just for that particular operating system. Many users turn to these apps before they actually even use the mobile web.
Why is this important for your business or website? Imagine if a competing business or website has an app on the major phone platforms, and you do not. If potential customers can easily get that app, who do you think they will purchase from first?
It is actually getting much easier to develop these apps these days, so if you have the resources, hiring someone to build an app for you may be a great idea!
Other Mobile Devices
Tablet computing is now starting to change the mobile marketing game as well. With the advent of the iPad and Android tablets, people are now moving away from computers even more.
A few years ago, people would have taken their laptops out with them to do schoolwork or work on their latest project at the coffee shop. Now, people take their tablets with them instead.
Again, you can see the power of this platform for mobile marketing. If this is where your potential customers are, you will want to be there, too! Typically, if you have a mobile optimized website, it will work on a tablet as well. Also, most smartphone apps will work on tablets as well.
Text Message Marketing
These days, many marketing emails get discarded or ignored by potential customers. Text messages, however, get read almost 100% of the time. These days, there are a number of text messaging platforms that businesses can use to reach out to their customers.
Customers have to opt in to these programs, so companies usually have to offer some kind of incentives to get sign ups for text messages, and people do not want to be bombarded by messages, but the well placed tweet with an announcement or a discount can definitely drive traffic to your business!
In conclusion, mobile marketing is an ever growing market that will continue to be more and more crucial for companies to gain and keep their market share. As more traditional forms of advertising go out of favor and have smaller returns on investment, companies and websites that make the move to a strong mobile marketing presence will likely see a stronger return and market share than their competitors who choose to keep with the status quo in their marketing methods.
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/mobile-marketing.jpg433650Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-29 11:40:182016-09-29 11:40:18Why Mobile Internet Marketing Matters
Marketing with video has become one of, if not THE best, promotional strategies on the web. More and more people are moving away from text-only websites and are gravitating towards videos.
Videos are a preference for people for a whole lot of reasons. For one, it’s easy to kick back, relax and watch videos rather than to strain your eyes and read pages of text. Videos also has a greater potential of at least being somewhat entertaining, and who doesn’t like to be entertained? Video marketing is also a whole lot more personal, or at least is perceived that way, by the viewer.
In the wide and wild world of the Internet, most people are faceless. But now you can give yourself, your company, your product or your service a “face” on the Internet. And that is exactly how you can start to build trust. Starting up a marketing campaign isn’t the easiest.
Truth be told, there’s a whole lot of competition out there. It’s not as easy as you sitting in front of your webcam and telling people about yourself or your company. That’s not what’s going to increase your conversion rates and have you seeing more dollar signs. We’ve listed some of the best tips you’ll find on having a successful and spectacular video marketing campaign below.
1. Consider The Length Of Your Video
One of the most common follies that inexperienced marketers make is creating long videos. Who wants to sit through a 5 minute video? Hardly anyone. Though 5 minutes may seem like a short period of time, in the world of instant information, 5 minutes is a lifetime. If what you have to talk about is going to take any more than 2 minutes, then make shorter videos. Create a series and make sure that the first one is really engaging so it will draw people in.
TIP: One of the best ways to draw people in is to post your first one to a social media site, like Facebook video. Post your other videos in a series to your actual website so that viewers who are hooked in by your first one will stop by your site and check it out.
2. Videos should be on Multiple Sites
As somewhat of a follow-up to the last point, don’t put all of your videos in one basket. This means not just uploading your videos to Facebook video or to YouTube; post your videos to Facebook, toYouTube, to Hulu, and to many of the other popular video websites out there so that you can reach a broader audience. Some other sites include:
MetaCafe
DailyMotion
3. Give Your Video A Good Title
The titles that you give to your videos means a whole lot more than you’ll ever know. Having a catchy, enticing and engaging title is what’s going to get people to click on your videos. If you have a boring one, as in “(enter product name here) Product Review,” people are going to immediately glance over it and forget that your video even exists.
Make sure that you have catchy titles, and make sure that they are relevant to your videos. Sure, your videos can be about products you’re promoting, but think about what will get people to view your videos. Something like an offer “Find out how to get this product for FREE” or a teasing title will get you a lot of attention.
TIP: If you are uploading your videos to Facebook, take advantage of the areas where you are able to enter in a title and a description for your video. This can also potentially help you in search rankings.
4. Mix It Up
Your videos don’t have to all be about your product or services or your company. Change it up and create some that are a response to a blog, or simply share videos that you have found on the web that you find to be interesting or funny (just a note of warning: make sure the videos are tasteful! Otherwise you may lose a whole lot of customers and potential customers rather quickly).
Having different videos on your site will help draw more people to your blog or website. People love watching funny videos or informative video clips. If they watch that video and enjoy it, there’s a high chance that they’ll then check out a few of your other video clips, too.
5. Refer Back To Your Website
When it comes down to it, what’s the point in having fantastic videos on the web if they do not even reference back to your website or to your blog? You want to make sure that anyone who is watching your videos is able to tell just where it came from, who created it, and where they could potentially find more.
One of the easiest ways of doing this is to add your website name and/or link at the bottom of the video while it’s playing. You should also include your blog link and name in the “comment” area for any video so that people can quickly reference where the video originated from (this is also good forSEO purposes). Add pop-up bubbles and links to the video if possible (such as in YouTube) that will direct them back to your blog to check out more videos like the one that they just saw, or encourage them to visit your blog. The best way to do this is to put an offer on the table, like you have a piece of information that THEY NEED in order to be successful at something, or that you know of a great deal on an item that’s related to your blog or website’s niche.
TIP: It’s a great idea to have all of your videos on a YouTube channel, but make sure that the YouTube channel will also easily direct anyone coming through back to your website.
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/dreamstimemedium_2989192.jpg10711600Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-28 14:39:542016-09-28 14:39:545 Tips For A Spectacular Video Marketing Campaign
Internet marketing is by far the best way to make money online. The problem with Internet marketing is the same as with every business: there are people that are making no money and there are people that are making a lot of money.
Working your way up from somebody that is making no money from Internet marketing to somebody that is making a lot of money is not going to happen overnight. You have to put in the time and work and you have to make realistic goals. One of the best ways to establish yourself as an authority online is to develop your brand name.
Your brand name is going to determine whether or not people will come to your site and subscribe or leave and never come back. Brand names should be trusted, which means you’ll need to deliver honesty throughout all of your posts. Here are a few suggestions and how to develop your brand name to succeed with Internet marketing.
3 Words Or Less
Brand names make Internet marketing a lot easier. When somebody is familiar with the brand name they do not worry about trust and they know they are getting honesty throughout each and every post. Your brand name should be three words or less so that it is easily remembered by all of your customers and readers.
Choosing a brand name that is three words or less is vital for Internet marketing. Let’s take a blog about weight loss as an example. There are thousands of possibilities for creating a brand name around the niche of weight loss. Some examples could include “Weight Loss Tips,” “Weight Loss Products” or “Lose Weight Now.”
Logo
One of the best ways to start establishing your brand is to have a logo designed. It doesn’t matter if you are using a web template, a blogger account, a free WordPress site or subdomain of a free host. Having a custom-designed logo is a sign that you take your website seriously.
Getting a custom-designed logo doesn’t mean that you have to go through in SEO company or a marketing firm. There are a lot of graphic designers that work freelance and can easily get you a great-looking logo for very little money. Sites like eLance and Guru have thousands will of freelancers who will design a logo for around $20-$40. Once you have your custom-designed logo you can upload it to the top of your website page and it will appear on each page of that site no matter what post or article a reader has come to.
Tag Line
A tag line is another aspect of your brand name that should be taken seriously. Internet marketing relies on readers remembering your brand. Coming up with a tag line for your brand is a great way to incorporate your niche into your reader’s memory. Tag lines can also be implemented into your logo to further establish your brand.
Tag lines are usually very short and catchy. Make sure that the tagline is unique and does not infringe upon other websites. There are tons of websites that are devoted to every niche possible online. In order to make your website standout among the rest, you need to have a great tag line along with your logo.
Goals
Setting credible goals for your online business is essential to keeping the brand name professional while accomplishing tasks in a time frame that is realistic. You are not going to get your website on the first page of Google within the first month. Developing realistic goals such as getting to page 3 or 4 within a six-month period for low competition keywords is essential to not only making progress but also keeping your spirits up.
Many people believe that making money online happens in a short timeframe. The fact of the matter is that it takes months or even years to establish a brand and start getting regular traffic. Once you have your goals set you will be able to see what is realistic in getting your ranks up in order to set goals for the future.
Marketing Materials
Marketing your site is one of the most important aspects of getting regular followers. Employing different marketing methods such as Facebook, twitter, RSS and Linkedin accounts is essential to getting back links to your site while marketing to a large customer base. If you are going to use social media and RSS for your website it is also a good idea to create an opt in list for e-mail marketing campaigns.
E-mail marketing can offer your readers insight into upcoming posts or promotional deals for your website. Your logo should be incorporated into all of the marketing materials. Marketing is essential to getting your brand name out to readers in order to establish authority in your niche.
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/dreamstimemedium_11182213.jpg11481600Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-27 09:42:292016-09-27 09:46:16The Importance Of Branding In Internet Marketing
Internet marketing is what you need to start increasing your sales figures. Given that more and more businesses by the day are flocking to the Internet to broaden their customer base, it’s all the more important that anyone who is planning on having any type of business on the Internet to plan a well thought-out Internet marketing campaign.
If you’re just getting started, this may seem a bit overwhelming. After all, when it comes tomarketing on the web, there are a ton of different choices you can make on how to run your campaign. We’ve listed some of the more effective ways for internet marketing below, but we must stress that not every business is the same. You need to monitor and keep track of how well the campaign’s doing and adjust accordingly. Using a tool like Google Analytics and GetClicky will help you keep track of a number of different things that will help you determine the success of your internet marketing campaign.
1. Video Marketing
The best way to give your business a real boost is to start up a video marketing campaign. Think about it: when you actually see the face of someone behind an online business, you immediately feel more connected to the brand and the product. You feel as if they’re more trustworthy. Plus, if you actually are able to see the product or the service in action, you feel more assured in your choice for buying that product or service than if you were to look at a flat image on the screen.
Time and time again video marketing has shown that it will help you increase your conversion rates. But even if you aren’t selling anything on your website, having videos will help build trust with your visitors and regular followers. People also tend to prefer watching a video over reading text, so you can get your message out faster and reach a broader audience.
2. Blogging
When people start up a blog, they see themselves as a professional when it comes to whatever niche they are blogging about. But it’s not only you who sees you as a professional. Other people who visit your blog will come to see you as an expert in your niche topic as well. People trust experts, so if you make suggestions that they view, check out or even eventually purchase an item that you recommend, they will be more likely to do so. WordPress is built for bloggers.
Blogs are also a great way to direct people to other sites related to your business, such as the company website and to your social media websites, like Facebook and Twitter. Just make sure that you update your blog regularly with fresh content (there should be a new post at least 3-5 days a week). If you start to run a bit dry on content, ask someone to guest blog on your site and you can guest blog on theirs. There is a mutual benefit in this. The host will get fresh content, and the guest blogger will receive a backlink from the host, thus giving them an SEO boost.
3. Social Medial Marketing
Have an online business? Then you need to have a Twitter and a Facebook account for social media marketing. You can also consider opening up accounts on sites like Google Plus and LinkedIn too. Search engines are putting more and more emphasis on how popular links that are shared through social media outlets when it comes to SEO. It’s become a form of “link building”, which will definitely increase your website’s ranking in search engines.
But here’s the tricky part: how do you get people to share links that you post that are related to your business? The challenge that most businesses face is learning how to create content that is of value and therefore worthy of being shared. Twitter and Facebook are very different social media platforms too, each requiring a different technique. Try to entice the viewer with a great offer (50% off!), put in a call to action (Only until midnight EST!) and then include a link (for Twitter, there are tools that will give you a “tiny URL” so that you take up less character space).
4. Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay per click has been around longer than most of these other marketing strategies. It’s still incredibly relevant in that it helps create awareness about your company, product or service, and it does produce high quality, targeted leads.
When you start with a pay per click campaign, you want to keep your target audience in mind. What do they like? What is their age demographic? Use jargon and images that you think would appeal to your target market.
Pay per click is also highly valuable in that it will help you determine which keywords bring in the most traffic to your site. Not sure which keywords are worth using? Don’t take a guess at it. Use tools like the Google Keyword tool to help figure it out. And as always, monitor, monitor, monitor! Keep track of how successful or unsuccessful your campaign is. Be prepared to change it up from time to time.
5. Mobile Marketing
Almost everyone has a smartphone these days. If you want to stay relevant and on top of the Internet marketing trend, then you have to appeal to mobile marketing as well. This means using QR codes, social media, and SMS or text messaging marketing. Get peoples’ phone numbers and send them deals directly to their phone in the form of a text message!
Create an app for your business that will make shopping online with you and breeze. Release video and audio content online so that those who are on a smartphone can easily put on their headphones and watch and listen while they’re on the go. Mobile is the way of the future, so if you want to make it big with Internet marketing, start exploring your mobile marketing options too.
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/dreamstimemedium_16048312.jpg10671600Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-26 13:25:212016-09-26 22:05:335 Ways To Boost Your Internet Marketing Campaign
There are a lot of things you can measure about you social media efforts. I have compiled a list of 48 KPIs (key performance indicators) that you can consider for you specific activities. One thing to remember is that you should set at least some metrics that indicate if you are turning profit. Otherwise you can reach your KPIs and still loose money.
Now, before you begin be sure to set the baseline. Look at the set of your chosen social media KPIs and and record the current value. These numbers are important but the rate of change is the main indicator for most of these metrics. For example it’s fantastic if you get 1000 followers in a day but not so if you get them over the year.
Concentrate on the rate of change of your chosen key performance indicators. This can be also expressed as a frequency of events. For example you could measure how many comments you get on Facebook per day, week or month.
You can combine several KPIs into one that is more meaningful for you. Ratios, such as comments per blog post, retweets per followers, help you measure audience activity and engagement.
Distribution
What social media channels are you using, how can people reach you, are you visible?
Followers
Fans
Number of mentions
Reach
Social bookmarks (SumbleUpon, Delicious)
Inbound links
Blog subscribers
Interaction
How likely are followers going to engage, spread your message and interact with eachother?
Retweets
Forward to a friend
Social media sharing
Comments
Like or rate something
Reviews
Contributors and active contributors
Pageviews
Unique visitors
Traffic from social networking sites
Time spent on site
Response time
Influence
How do attitudes change due to the social media activities? This is the branding value that should convert into sales.
Share of conversation vs competitors
Net Promoter
Satisfaction
Sentiment positive, neutral or negative
Number of brand evangelists
Action and ROI
How many sales and other real world result do you get from social media?
Conversions (email subscriptions, downloads, install widget or tool, etc)
Sales revenue
Registered users
Issues resolved and resolution rate
Number of leads (per day, week, month)
Cost of lead
Lead conversion rate
Cost of sale
Revenue (per follower, lead, customer)
Lifetime value of customers
Support cost (per customer in social channels)
Share of repeat customers (from social media vs other channels)
Transaction value per customer
Money in the bank, net profit, etc
Internal
The raw output of your social media team. It is important to measure if increases in your input produce similar or better increase in the other KPIs. And, of course, your boss probably wants to know how much are you spending
Blog posts
E-books
Presentations
Videos
Facebook updates
Tweets
Forum posts
Social media marketing budget
Social media staff payroll
Social media development costs
You can get most out of these social media metrics if you benchmark them against you competition. Whenever possible try to find out the competitor’s numbers and you get a better insight of your performance. If you have 3,141 followers on Twitter the the number is meaningless, but in context of your competitor having 2,718 you may get some insights.
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/48-social-media-kpis-key-performance-indicators.jpg10001407Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-22 12:59:352016-09-22 12:59:3548 Social Media KPIs You Need to Know (Key Performance Indicators)
The heart of the inbound marketing is about attracting strangers from across the internet and nurturing them into delighted customers.
The question becomes how do you attract these strangers, and then build the necessary credibility and trust that is essential to a long term business relationship? The answer is content.
Content is all of its forms, e-books, white-papers, blogs, case studies, videos, and infographics are how organizations are capturing attention, building credibility, and eventually closing sales. In this blog post I would like examine how you can use specific types of content to positively influence the sales process at every level.
Mapping Content To The Buyers Journey
To effectively use content throughout the buying process you must first understand the stages that your buyers go through when making a purchase decision. These purchase categories can be broken down into three basic levels:
Awareness Stage: In the awareness stage the prospect realizes that they have an issue that needs to be resolved. So they start researching to better understand and frame their problem.
Consideration Stage: In the consideration stage the prospect has a clearly defined idea of the problem. Additionally, they have researched all of the potential solutions to the problem that they are facing.
Decision Stage: This is where the buyer has evaluated all of the different solutions and now has to choose a vendor to help them solve their problem.
Understanding the high level stages that your buyers go through allows you to better mapcontent to each one of these stages. Individuals that are working through a purchase decision will be looking for different types of content depending on where they are in their research process.
Content for the Awareness Phase
In each stage the buyer will be looking for different types of information. So knowing the type of content to produce for the: awareness, consideration and decision stage is essential. As stated above, the awareness stage is when the prospect realizes that they have a problem. Additionally, this is when the prospect starts researching the issue that they are facing.
At this point the prospect is looking for educational content to help them frame the issue. So it’s essential for marketers to produce content that will help the prospect better understand their problem. Content that helps advance the buyers goals at this stage are things like:
Ebooks
White-papers
Research reports.
This content helps to educate the prospect and brings context to the issue at hand. This higher level content will be important for things like: “top-of-the-funnel” lead generation, elevating the organization’s search engine rank, and increasing credibility within the industry.
Content for Consideration Phase
Once the prospect has a clearly articulated idea of the problem they are facing they move from the awareness stage to the consideration stage. At this point they are looking for content related to solutions.
The prospect wants to understand their all of their options as it pertains to their issue. What are the different ways that they can go about handling their problem? Do they need to purchase software to find a resolution, do they need to hire someone in-house, or can they outsource to fix the problem?
So as a marketer we must be producing content that speaks to issue resolution. Content like:
Webinars
Case Studies
Podcasts.
By producing this “middle-of-the-funnel” content we help further educate prospects on potential solutions.
Content for Decision Stage
The final stage in the buyers journey is the decision stage. At this point in the buying cycle the prospect clearly understand all aspects of their problem, and potential solutions for helping them resolve their problem. It’s the decision stage where the prospect makes a determination on the right vendor to help them solve their problem.
In this phase marketers need to be producing content that speaks to the differentiating factors that make their organization unique. Content like:
Vendor comparison guides
Feature differentiator sheets
Granular product literature
This content will help you posture your product or service against competitors.
The Bottom Line
As you can see, the purchase process has completely changed in the last 15 years. The internet and search engines have reconstructed the way in which people research and buy products and services. Consumers are now starting their research process on popular search engines like: Google, Yahoo and Bing. Here’s a handy chart to sum up what was discussed:
The shift in purchase behavior has mandated a shift in the way that organizations market and sell their products. Additionally, it has elevated the importance of content at every stage of the sales cycle. Smart organizations are taking time to clearly understand their buyers persona’s purchase process. Then they are mapping highly relevant and educational content to each stage of the process.
So take time to build out resources for the awareness, consideration and decision stage. By doing this you allow thousands of prospects the ability to walk through the stages of the purchase process at a pace that is convenient for them.
These educational resources will help you decrease the cost-per-lead, shorten the sales cycle times, and increase the conversation quality that your sales people have with prospects. So start creating great educational content for your business today, you will be amazed at the impact that it has on your bottom line.
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/489775189.jpg201300Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-19 16:29:262016-09-19 16:29:26From Prospect To Customer: How Content Influences the Entire Sales Process
Smart marketers constantly tinker with their segmentation strategy, working tediously to ensure that the right message is reaching the right people at the right time. With the rise of so many platforms across the vast social media landscape, this has never been more important—or more challenging. The opportunity certainly is ripe for reaching new audiences, but to do so, you first need to understand where certain groups are clustering.
To that end, as you work through your own social media segmentation strategy, we’ve taken a deep dive into the demographics of each of the major platforms. The goal is to empower you to better align your brand’s efforts with the social conversations that matter most, while making lasting, meaningful connections with core groups of brand loyalists.
To get started, jump right to the data you need by clicking on any of the anchor links below.
A note about our sources: Each section list where the information was pulled, but a special thanks goes to the folks at the Pew Research Center, whose social media study has proved invaluable.
First, Pull Your Own Social Demographics
A great way to see exactly which demographic you should target on social is to look at the demographic makeup of your current follower-base. When you start a free trial of Sprout Social, we’ll start to pull in gender, age and location data from some of your social audiences.
This data shows the types of people who currently follow you on social, which is a good indication of your ideal social audience. Pair your personal data with the demographic data we’ve compiled here to hone your brand’s social media segmentation strategy.
With 1.44 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the market leader for social networking sites. Your brand undoubtedly has a presence there, but how can you be using it in new ways to reach different groups?
Source: This data is based on the Pew report as well as the self-reported information from over 1 billion Facebook profiles of users over the age of 18 pulled from the Facebook Audience Insights Tool.
There have been rumblings that Facebook is losing some traction among a younger audience, causing it to skew a bit older. While this trend may be true, Facebook’s youthful base remains strong.
In fact, Facebook data shows that the 18–24 age range is still the biggest demographic using the site.
87% of adults 18–29 use Facebook.
73% of adults 30–49 use Facebook.
63% of adults 50–64 use Facebook.
56% of adults 65+ use Facebook.
Facebook also seems to skew more heavily toward women, with 77% of adult females on the site and 66% adult males.
This is one of the most important statistics that companies should consider, since there’s not a huge advantage in creating a presence on a social network who only has users in countries you can’t service.
One important thing to consider is the income level of your various segment targets. For instance, luxury goods are more likely to resonate with higher income earners.
77% of adults who make less than $30,000 use Facebook.
74% of adults who make between $50,000-$74,999 use Facebook.
72% of adults who make over $75,000 use Facebook.
69% of adults who make between $30,000–$49,000 use Facebook.
Facebook is unique in that it has a tool that allows you to play with audience data to find trends and statistics. For the rest of the networks, we turned to more external resources.
Source: Twitter data is based off page 6 of the Pew Research Center Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms study and information from Twitter’s About Page.
Considering the high-volume, fast-paced nature of Twitter, you might expect of a younger demographic. If so, you’re not completely off the mark. Here are the Twitter age demographics, according to Pew:
37% of adults 18–29 use Twitter.
25% of adults 30–49 use Twitter.
12% of adults 50–64 use Twitter.
10% of adults 65+ use Twitter.
Meanwhile, here are the gender demographics from that same study:
24% of adult men use Twitter.
21% of adult women use Twitter.
Based on this data, Twitter is a great place if your target audience skews toward a younger crowd. Moreover, for companies who do gender-based targeting, it should be noted that the number of male users has increased a good deal more than the number of female users over the previous year.
Similar to Facebook, Twitter’s largest audience is the college crowd. Of the online adults that use Twitter, here is a breakdown of their education level:
30% have graduated college.
24% have some college experience.
16% are high school grads or less.
The largest increase from 2013 to 2014 was among college graduates, which makes sense as Twitter seems to be moving toward a more business-friendly platform.
Whether your product or service is a necessity or a discretionary good, a person’s level of income may determine if they can afford it. Here’s how Twitter’s audience is broken down:
Boasting a community of over 300 million users sharing over 60 million photos every day, Instagram is one of the rising stars of social media. The rapid growth in this user base makes it an increasingly popular network for brands. Let’s dive in to see if your target audience is on the site.
Source: This data is based off page 7 of the Pew Research Center Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms study.
Instagram has overtaken Facebook and Twitter as the network with the largest population of younger users. Here’s the breakdown of the percentage of online adults who use Instagram by age:
53% of 18–29 year olds use Instagram.
25% of 30–49 year olds use Instagram.
11% of 50–64 year olds use Instagram.
6% of people 65+ use Instagram.
Also, of all of those age groups, the dominant gender on the photo-sharing site is female.
It would make sense that the most popular locations for Instagram users are beautiful, photo-worthy locations. Here’s a breakdown of online adults using Instagram based off location:
The social media network for professionals has seen some massive growth since its official launch in May of 2003. According to LinkedIn, there are more than 347 million members in over 200 countries and territories in its network. The higher average income of users and working mindset of the network make it an ideal social network for businesses.
Source: This data is based off page 9 of the Pew Research Center Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms study and from theLinkedIn Press Page.
In recent years, Pinterest has become a fantastic resource for businesses. If you’re still unsure, just check out all of the success stories on the Pinterest for Business page. To see if the platform makes sense for your segmentation strategies, consider its demographic breakdown.
Source: This data is based off page 8 of the Pew Research Center Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms study.
Demographics for Google+ are somewhat elusive. Even still, the site has great potential for SEO value, so if the information below doesn’t compel you to create a page, check out this article on why your brand should be active on Google+.
Source: This information was pulled from a report from the websiteStatistic Brain.
Snapchat is one of the newest social networks to hit the scene, but you wouldn’t know that based on the usage. Back in 2013, CEO Evan Spiegel said that Snapchat now shares 400 million snaps each day, a number that is sure to have increased in that time. Unfortunately, numbers on Snapchat demographics are slim. But we were able to find this tweet from BI Intelligence that succinctly summarizes some good data points.
This section was written after the rest of the article so that we had a better idea of how each network sized up to the others. Let’s first take a look at the use of social media cross the entire online adult population.
58% of adults use Facebook.
23% of adults use LinkedIn.
22% of adults use Pinterest.
21% of adults use Instagram.
19% of adults use Twitter.
This is pretty telling that, no matter what you’re selling, you’re likely to find new audiences on Facebook. As for the rest of the networks, you’ll need to drill deeper into this data to see what is a good fit.
It’s important to bear in mind that just because someone uses one network, doesn’t mean that they wont use another. In fact, more than ever, people are starting to use multiple social media networks instead of sticking to just one.
24% of adults are on two social sites.
16% of adults are on three social sites.
8% of adults are on four social sites.
4% of adults are on five social sites.
Not only does the use of different social networks vary, but the frequency with which people use these networks varies as well.
70% of adults use Facebook daily.
49% of adults use Instagram daily.
36% of adults use Twitter daily.
17% of adults use Pinterest daily.
13% of adults use LinkedIn daily.
In a perfect world, your brand would create a presence on every single social network available and drill into segmentation further for each. Depending on your resources, that may not be feasible, so choose your networks wisely, and make the most of them once there.
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Social-Demographics1.png300640Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-15 10:50:312016-09-15 10:50:31Social Media Demographics to Inform a Better Segmentation Strategy
Audio content has a distinct advantage: Audio is “eyes free” content – Tweet this quote
Digital radio revenue is growing faster than any other audio channel – Tweet this quote
40% of Americans listened to online radio over the last month – Tweet this quote
In 2012, Pandora listeners consumed 935,451 years of audio content – Tweet this quote
200+ Million devices running iOS6 are now one click from a podcast – Tweet this quote
Slate Magazine gets over 1 million podcast downloads per month – Tweet this quote
Click the image to view the full sized version
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/audio_header.png491817Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-14 13:47:022016-09-14 13:47:02Is Audio The Next Big Thing In Digital Marketing?
Choosing a full service web design company means you have access to a variety of business services through one resource. This makes your professional presentation more affordable and consistent. Consider 8 reasons why you should choose a web designer who does everything you need.
Superior Website Design
Trying to create a website on your own is difficult and has a novice appearance. Few people want to work with an amateur. Superior website design gives your business a high profile look. A professional web designer can build traditional HTML websites and flash websites as well as CMS based designs. They also create ecommerce sites that are reliable and function for people who conduct sales online.
Capture Customers with a Mobile Web Design
More people are searching for local businesses on their iPhones and Android devices. Capture this business by having custom mobile apps and a mobile web design. Your site will look good on these smaller devices so people choose your offerings over the local competition.
Website Maintenance Matters
The content on your website should be updated so it continues to appear fresh to the leading search engines. While you are busy taking care of business, a dedicated web design company takes care of web maintenance. They will update, edit or modify your web content on a schedule. Do it quarterly, monthly or weekly depending on your goals and budget.
Reliable Web Hosting and Strong Domains
A business is much stronger when they have a memorable domain name that reflects what they do.Reliable website hosting ensures your site is available whenever customers want to access it. Take advantage of SSL, secure hosting solutions to make customers feel comfortable at your website.
Ongoing Website Development
As your business grows, your website should grow with it. While a simple site might work for a fledgling enterprise, larger businesses need more. Let a web developer enhance your ecommerce area and overhaul your website to accommodate a growing number of visitors.
Marketing Your Website
A great website mean very little if people can’t find it. Online marketing is tricky and the rules are always changing. Trying to do it on your own can lead to more harm than good. Let a marketing expert add Google Adwords and Pay-Per-Click Advertising to monetize your website or blog. They will also ensure your content is search engine optimized (SEO) so your site moves up the major search engines over time.
Online Data Backup Matters
Nobody wants to lose important data online. Now that you have a thriving website, let a web developer handle online data backup. Take advantage of unlimited data back up done in real time so you don’t lose anything. Best of all, you can only pay for the space you actually use.
Hiring a full service web design company is an investment in your future success. A website without a strategy is just taking up space. Let a web designer create a site that does it work to attract customers and keep them coming back for more. As your business grows, make sure your website continues to evolve with it.
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/http-1.jpg202300Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-13 12:06:022016-09-13 12:13:018 REASONS WHY YOU NEED A FULL SERVICE WEB DESIGN COMPANY
Almost every day, we hear of some new attack on websites done by professional hackers and we witness the incredible damage they deal to large corporations. When you hear such news, you cannot help but wonder whether your website is secure enough. If you happen to have a small business, you may think that there’s no real reason for hackers to attack your website, but that’s where you’re wrong, since they usually get to the big targets via small businesses.
All they need to do is upload a malicious code on a website someone in your company goes to frequently, and the damage is done. Not only do you lose your reputation that way, but that also leads the authorities to your door. The consequences can be tremendous, so you need to have measures to protect your website and your business from such incidents. Here are the essential things you need to pay attention to in order to protect your website.
KEEP YOUR SOFTWARE UP-TO-DATE
Keeping your software updated at all times is crucial for keeping your website secure. Hackers scan thousands of websites looking for a way in, so you should never delay an update, because new vulnerabilities are being found all the time and you need to patch your software to keep it secure. This is especially important if you’re using third-party software, as new updates are released regularly. So, you need to keep track of those. If there are plugins you don’t use anymore, which haven’t been updated for quite some time, you should get rid of them, as they are an easy way in for hackers.
HAVE A STRONG PASSWORD POLICY
It goes without saying that you need to have strong passwords to protect your website from a potential hacker attack. It is imperative that you change them regularly if you want to optimize your security. Having strong passwords is not only important for financial transactions and your e-mails, but also for your website server and your database. Your passwords need to be a strong combination of alphanumeric characters and symbols, as well as both upper and lower case characters.
They also need to be at least 12 characters long to be able to not only protect your website from brute and dictionary attacks, but also to potentially eliminate all other forms of attack. It is vital that you keep your passwords encrypted, since that would make it almost impossible for anyone to crack them.
USE SSL CERTIFICATE
SSL will provide extra security for your website, since it is a protocol used to protect any information when in transit between the website and your database or server. Whenever personal information is being transferred between those, this security certificate will keep it secure and there would be no chance of hackers gaining access to your personal data or login information.
CHOOSE A GOOD HOSTING PROVIDER
Having a good hosting provider is one of the most important things you can do for your website security. Your hosting provider should upload your data on a remote server in case an attack on your website occurs and you lose all of your files. A good web host needs to be aware of all the website security threats and the damage hackers can do, so that maximum security can be provided. Your hosting provider should also offer the best technical support at all times and have a team that is available 24/7.
BACKUP YOUR DATA REGULARLY
While your hosting provider should backup your files on their remote servers, you should also do that on a daily basis, just in case the worst case scenario happens and you lose your data. Hard drives fail all the time, so you need to make sure you have all of your data backed up. Every file that is saved should automatically be backed up on several locations and you should also be able to do this manually. Doing this regularly will protect your database if you should lose them.
INSTALL A WEB APPLICATION FIREWALL
Web application firewalls will provide your website with extra security, as it will not only block anyone from hacking in, but it will also block spammers and malicious bots. It is a protection between your website server and the Internet and it protects every piece of information passing in between. Most web application firewalls are cloud-based and they will give you peace of mind whenever information is being transferred between your website server and data connection.
Protecting your website from potential hacker attacks is of the utmost importance and it should be at the top of your list. You need your files and all of your personal information secure at all times, so you need to implement all the security measures you can to ensure you don’t leave any gateway open for hackers to enter freely. Invest your time in your website security and provide your site with the best protection possible.
https://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/security.jpg4501100Bruce Quirozhttps://elementalstudios.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/logo_es_nav-1.pngBruce Quiroz2016-09-07 12:37:572016-09-07 12:37:576 ESSENTIAL WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE SECURITY
Their regional membership includes:
