Social Media Management: 3 Tips To Supercharge Your Marketing on TikTok

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Blog

They’re is over 1 billion monthly active users on TikTok. You are missing out on tons of new customers if you’re not already using it so it is a must to download. TikTok allows you to produce short mobile videos. You can add special effects, music overlay etc. With TikTok’s growth and mass popularity, the industry is now entering into a new way of marketing and It is more important than ever to manage your business on this platform. 90% of TikTok users access the app multiple times a day while on average, 1 million videos are viewed on TikTok daily. Social media agencies can take advantage of this and utilise their knowledge on how to manage social media management on TikTok.  Tip #1: Manage social media by creating user-generated content User-generated content, (UGC) is video content produced by content creators that are promoting your product. These natural videos that are being produced are getting more recognition and engagement than traditional overly produced ‘cinematic’ ads. If you haven’t already started social media management on TikTok but want too, now is the time. You can begin this by producing user generated content whilst keeping your videos interactive. If you still don’t understand how this works, you can check out more about social media management here.  Let’s say you have a fitness apparel brand. You can quickly grab a viewer’s attention by creating a fun video with an influencer. The whole idea of this is that TikTok uses an AI algorithm. This algorithm can identify what users are interested in and what content they’re most likely to watch. Managing social media management through user-generated content on TikTok can be difficult if you don’t have the right resources. It is important to know that a trusted social media agency is highly trained in understanding how the platform works and what type of content works to make sure your business goes viral. Tip #2: Collaborating with TikTok creators Brand collaborations with content creators on TikTok can drive huge results for business. Your brand is promoted to a new audience whilst targeting a specific niche. It is necessary that content creators match your brand perfectly. You wouldn’t reach out to a fashion creator to promote dishwashing liquid. Businesses need to do their research. They must find who align with their brand and message. A lot of content creators can be unprofitable. If you are not familiar with content creators, reach out to us. Tip #3: Post often Posting every day on TikTok is crucial. Some brands post up to 5 times per day! This is because the more you post, the chances of your video going viral increases. Brands can test new ideas by getting creative and showcasing different content strategies. When you find a format that is working, whether it be technical information or a fun comedic way of promoting your product on TikTok, you can keep replicating it to build on your success.

HOW TO GROW YOUR INSTAGRAM FOLLOWING

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Blog, Social Media

With more than 1 billion users across the globe, Instagram continues to provide incredible marketing opportunities for businesses. As we learn to embrace our digitally dominated society, it’s become apparent that there really are no limits as to what we can achieve with the help of social media. As marketers, one of the core objectives we work towards on Instagram is increasing the number of followers on a profile. The more followers, the more opportunities you have to showcase your brand and what you have to offer. If you are determined to grow your Instagram following, read our tips below to find out how you can do so organically. BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR POSTS One of the greatest ways to grow your Instagram following is to stay consistent with your posts. Set a realistic goal of how frequently you are able to post. Whether it’s 4 times a week or once a day, create a content sharing goal and hold yourself accountable to it. The more frequently you post, the more familiar people become with your brand, trust it and expect you to continue posting regularly, providing quality content. A great tip is to plan your content in advance so you’re not just posting for the sake of posting and can actually provide value for your followers. Remember those who post regularly are more likely to receive greater engagement. CREATE A HASHTAG STRATEGY Hashtags are another great way in which you can easily grow your Instagram. With the right hashtag strategy, you can obtain visibility in the Instagram explore tab and be seen by those who aren’t yet following your profile. Instagram allows users to include up to 30 hashtags per post, however, it’s important to use good quality hashtags which are relevant to your business in order to achieve the best results. We recommend collating a list of hashtags that your target market would be searching for. For example, if you are a café you would want to incorporate a series of hashtags relevant to food/drinks, the cuisine you offer, your location etc. MAKE USE OF VIDEOS, LIVE CONTENT AND STORIES Creating video footage is the best possible way to showcase your brand and provide your followers with a deeper insight into the faces behind the name. Live content and stories in particular are raw, real and relatable. Make your video footage fun and interactive by showing fun elements of your workplace you can answer any FAQs, introduce your team or show a sneak preview of any new products or services you will be introducing. The more you create video content; the more familiar Instagram users will be with your brand and learn to trust your business. EMBRACE USER-GENERATED CONTENT Did you know that 9 out of 10 people are more likely to trust a brand that shares organic, user-generated content as opposed to professionally constructed content (Nielsen Consumer Trust Index). Essentially, what this means is Instagram users want to see content from REAL people utilising your services or products. Encourage your followers to create their own content and include your Instagram handle or hashtag. You could prompt people to create their own content by offering a discount on their next order or whatever you are willing to offer. Most Instagram users will gladly promote a brand if they are happy with the service they have received. COLLABORATE WITH OTHER BRANDS/INFLUENCERS Another highly effective way to grow your following on Instagram is to collaborate with other brands or influencers in your industry. Reach out to local businesses and influencers with a high number of followers and ask if they would be willing to promote your brand in exchange for a discount on your services or products. You could even suggest running competitions together to leverage both of your followers. This is an ideal way to create brand awareness and network within the online community. Once you gain new followers it’s critical to be conscious of the content you share with them. The work isn’t over once they hit the follow button. You must continue to create valuable content in order to gain their trust and encourage your followers to support your brand. And please, do not fall into the trap of buying followers! More often than not this provides practically no value to your business, wasting your time and money. Genuine followers will support your brand and are more likely to engage with your profile, becoming your customers or clients. For assistance with your social media strategy, let the team at DGreat Solutions assist.

5 NEGATIVE GOOGLE RANKING FACTORS & WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT THEM

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Blog, SEO

You can spend hours upon hours implementing SEO tactics, have amazing Google rankings but the second you disobey Google’s ranking factors, all your countless hours of hard work can be reversed. As we all know, Google’s algorithm is constantly changing which makes our job as SEO specialists slightly more tedious. Changes to algorithms can greatly impact businesses and their revenue which is why it’s so crucial to always keep updated. Change is inevitable and something you must be accustomed to especially within the online world. The best thing you can do is stay in the loop and learn how to best prepare for the changes which do occur. We have identified five common negative Google ranking factors and how you can manage them. DUPLICATE CONTENT There are various definitions of what duplicate content can be perceived as by Google. The first form of duplicate content is essentially reproducing content which is already visible on other websites. The second form of duplicate content relates to your own website and having the same content shared across your own domains and URLs. To resolve this issue, ensure you have only one domain name and set up 301 redirects to combat this in the event you do have duplicated content within your own website.  Also remember to always keep your content original and relevant to your audience. DUPLICATE META INFORMATION Similarly, duplicated meta information can also be detrimental for your SEO. You should always ensure each of your web pages its own individual meta descriptions. Having duplicate meta descriptions may not directly impact your SEO rankings however they do impact your CTRs (click through rates) in search results. Google prioritises content which has high CTRs which leads to higher rankings so ultimately meta descriptions really do matter. To avoid any issues with duplicate meta description, always keep your meta descriptions as unique and original as possible. TOO MANY OUTBOUND LINKS Having outbound links on your website can be beneficial for your SEO, however having too many can decrease your website’s credibility. By having too many outbound links, this can potentially be viewed by Google as ‘black-hat SEO’ tactics which are unethical and can damage your reputation. The best way to avoid being penalised for having too many outbound links is to always use outbound links in moderation. PAGE LOADING SPEED Page loading time is so important because it directly corresponds to the user’s experience. Google rewards those who make extra effort to ensure their websites are functioning efficiently and have good page loading speed. A website which takes too long to load, is at risk of enduring high bounce rates. You can test your website’s speed by using Google’s Page Speed insights. This will reveal which speed your website is currently tracking at on both desktop and mobile. If your website is falling within the red zone, you will need to make changes to increase your page loading speed. Simple changes such as optimising large images can significantly improve your loading time. LOW DWELL TIME When SEO specialists refer to your website’s dwell time what they are referring to is a metric created by Google which measures user engagement. It includes the time each user spends viewing your website, bounce rates and CTRs.  Having a low dwell time reflects poorly on your website and it can impact its ‘user friendly’ element. Ideally you want users to be engaged the second the click on your website and find value from the content you provide, being able to easily click through each page. The best way to avoid any discrepancies from Google for having a low dwell time is to ensure your website is easy to navigate, it is optimised for an enhanced user experience and provides valuable content. Google has an endless number of ranking factors, each aimed at providing searchers with the best websites possible to answer their queries. If you don’t adhere to these ranking factors, you can lose all the hard work you have invested into your SEO almost instantly if you do not resolve the issues which have been brought to light. By addressing the five ranking factors stated above, you maintain your SEO and avoid being penalised by Google.

USING FACEBOOK LIVE TO CREATE CONTENT

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Blog, Social Media

If you’re struggling to consistently create good quality, informative content on your social media accounts, the live feature may be your solution. Going live is essentially a live stream video where you can film yourself in real time and communicate with your audience. There are a number of benefits you can obtain by using the live feature and it’s a great way to relate with your audience and reveal the face behind the brand. The live feature is most popular on Facebook and Instagram with more and more businesses utilising the feature as it provides a fast way to communicate with your audience and alert them when you have new announcements. WHY USE FACEBOOK LIVE? One of the biggest advantages Facebook Live provides is that you can stream yourself instantly and discuss important topics, without needing to create content or postediting. We spend a significant amount of time planning and creating content in order for it to be flawless for our viewers. With Facebook Live, there’s no chance to refilm what you’re discussing even if you make an error. It’s raw and real and you’ll find your audience will appreciate its authenticity. Another great benefit is your audience can ask you questions whilst you are streaming. This drives higher engagement levels as the audience can see you are active and know if they ask questions throughout your live stream, they will have a fast response.  When you use the live feature, you have the ability to demonstrate your knowledge in your field, your audience can watch as you answer a number of questions and show your level of expertise. Not only will you demonstrate your expertise, but you can actually show your audience who you are and what you stand for. If you audience can physically see you and hear you, they are more likely to trust you and your brand. HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR LIVE VIDEOS Although Facebook Live is a live streaming feature, you can still take steps to prepare so you can feel confident when going live. You don’t have to prepare an entire speech to read out to your audience, however it’s a good idea to take notes and have somewhat of an agenda do discuss. Remember you can’t edit the video once it has been streamed so planning to some extent would benefit you greatly. Think of content ideas which would be relevant to your industry. You could use live streaming as an opportunity to show behind the scenes of your workplace, introduce your team or share a preview of upcoming business ventures i.e. new stock or products.  You can also use Facebook Live as an opportunity to answer any frequently asked questions you may receive and potentially ask your audience questions which could help develop your business.  Above all, ensure you have a stable internet connection, so your video doesn’t drop out or disconnect whilst you are live. Complete a test run of your microphone and video to ensure you can be heard and seen clearly. PROMOTE WHEN YOU WILL BE GOING LIVE Lastly, communicate to your audience when you will be going live! If your audience are aware of when you will be speaking on Facebook Live, they will be more likely to tune in and listen to what you have to discuss. You can promote this across your social platforms or send out emails. This would be especially useful if you are releasing new products or services and are planning to discuss them via live stream.  Be conscious of the times you decide to go live, it’s best to go live outside of standard office hours so your audience actually have time to watch your video. Facebook Live is a beneficial tool which business owners can use as another method of fast and convenient content creation. If you’re looking to build your brand and reach your audience on a more personal level, getting in touch with DGreat Solutions is the ideal way to do so.

CREATING A SUCCESSFUL LINK BUILDING STRATEGY

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Blog, SEO

Creating a successful link building strategy is imperative when devising a strong SEO strategy. If you’re outlaying money for SEO and not seeing any results, or perhaps your website traffic and search engine rankings are decreasing, it could be as a result of poor-quality links. Good links can bring a vast quantity of traffic to your website directly, boost your Google rankings and can greatly benefit your business.  Links were essentially designed to direct people to pages which may be beneficial for them. No matter how frequently search engine algorithms change, link building is a practice which remains a priority for search engine crawlers. If you incorporate this into your strategy, you will notice a significant increase in positive traffic to your website. After years of implementing SEO tactics, we’ve narrowed down our best tips to help you create the ultimate link building strategy.  RESEARCH YOUR AUDIENCE One of the most important things to consider when building a link strategy is that people physically link sites. This means you need to be creating content which provides them with enough value in order to be prompted to share your links.  Research your audience and compile a list of topics which would inform or educate those who may be interested in your niche.  Regardless of whether you’re creating content just for SEO purposes or not, it’s important to spend time creating appealing content. Poor content will not prompt other website owners to share your links and creating good content without link building is virtually useless as it won’t be visible. Research your audience thoroughly and start creating insightful pieces of content. DISCOVER CREDIBLE AND RELEVANT WEBSITES FOR YOUR LINKS After researching your audience, you can now begin seeking out websites which you could benefit from having your links shared on. This provides you with the opportunity to boost your content’s visibility using other websites. You may want to begin researching businesses within the same niche as yours and who may have already shared similar links.  Ensure the sites you have selected are reputable and have good domain authority. By having your links shared across sites with low domain authority, this could be detrimental for your website and its rankings. REACH OUT TO YOUR DESIRED WEBSITES Your next step should involve sending outreach emails or contacting prospective website owners. If you are sending out emails, ensure to personalise each email and try not to appear as if you are sending the same email to hundreds of other site owners. Be sure to introduce yourself, your business and connect on common grounds. Try to build a relationship where possible and always remain authentic.  You must be convincing and demonstrate how by linking to your website, their audience will obtain great value. Provide examples of some of your previous work and suggest some topic ideas which both of your websites could leverage. Avoid contacting website owners from fields which are polar opposite to yours, you will not benefit from having your links shared across sites where their target audience has no desire to visit your site. USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE Social media promotion is another link building strategy which often results in success. The more you promote your content, the more likely people are to view it, see value in it and promote it.  Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are great social media platforms to distribute your links and encourage your followers or friends to share them. By using these platforms you can reach a greater audience and perhaps appeal to those who don’t typically fall within your target audience, however value the content you are producing. FOLLOW UP WITH WEBSITE OWNERS Finally, it’s absolutely crucial you keep track of all the links you have been building and to which websites they are distributed across. This continues strengthening your relationship with the site owner and provides you with an opportunity to have your links continuously shared.  You should also check from time to time if your links are still visible. If they are no longer visible, you may want to contact the site owner to understand why this has occurred. Whether you need to simply have the links reshared or perhaps you need to create something new, frequent check-ins means you are staying on top of your link building strategy. Having a successful link building strategy will greatly impact your SEO. Benefits will include receiving good quality traffic to your website and increased search engine rankings. Taking time out to thoroughly plan your link building strategy is one of the best ways you can achieve great SEO. For assistance creating a link building strategy, contact the team at DGreat Solutions today.

FIVE WAYS TO USE LINKEDIN POLLS FOR BUSINESS

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Blog, Social Media

With over 690 million active monthly users, LinkedIn has grown to be the world’s largest professional social media platform. LinkedIn provides businesses with the opportunity to market their products and services and connect with other business professionals across the globe. With the introduction of the polls feature, you now have an additional way to delve deeper into your marketing insights. They can be created in either your personal or business account, group or event pages.  LinkedIn polls are easy to create and are provided as an option when you start a new post.  Simply add your question with up to four responses, set a time frame (between one day to two weeks) and let your audience select their answers accordingly. You can then track the responses received by your audience.  LinkedIn Polls are a great tool for business owners to utilise and conduct beneficial market research.  Continue reading to find out how your business can benefit from them. LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE By creating polls, you are able to learn more about your audience including their interests, hobbies or even their likes/dislikes. By asking a series of questions relating to their own tendencies, you can start to build a profile of your target audience and learn how to best capture their attention when creating promotional content.  The more targeted content you can create, the better your conversion rates will be. OBTAIN FEEDBACK ON YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES Polls are a quick and efficient way to receive feedback from your audience regarding your products or services. If you have recently launched something new, you are able to obtain a deeper insight into what people really think about it. Feedback is crucial for the development of your business and LinkedIn polls provide you with a simple way to obtain feedback from your audience, which isn’t time consuming or too complicated. IDENTIFY ANY PROBLEM AREAS When you are able to identify any problem areas your audience are constantly faced with, you are able to provide relevant solutions to their problems. Using polls to ask questions relating to issues your audience may face can assist your business greatly. You may identify one specific area your audience is struggling with, i.e. if you are a videographer one area your audience might struggle with is editing content. This could present you with an opportunity to educate your audience on how to edit content or promote your services to assist. UNDERSTAND THE KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR AUDIENCE If you are frequently creating content and not receiving any feedback or engagement, you could be sharing content which doesn’t necessarily appeal to your audience. LinkedIn polls can assist you in understanding where your audience stands in terms of their knowledge in your industry and to what capacity. You can ask your audience questions to cover various aspects of your services or products. By doing so, you can ensure you are creating content which actually provides value for your audience and isn’t too advanced or too basic for them to read. RESEARCH NEW PRODUCTS OR IDEAS Have you thought of a new business venture and are unsure whether or not it would appeal to your target market? Create a poll and ask your audience! By obtaining the feedback of your audience you are able to consider the opinions which matter the most – the opinions of your potential customers or clients. This could also present you with new opportunities which you may have not yet considered. Creating polls are an ideal way to plan ahead for your business and consider future endeavours. If you have a LinkedIn profile and want to learn more about your audience and how your business can benefit their needs, give the polls tool a try. By using polls frequently, you can develop your business and enhance your marketing strategy.

WHY ONLINE SEARCH SHOULD BE PRIORITISED POST-COVID

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Blog, SEO

Since the first initial outbreak of COVID-19, the number of people conducting online searches has risen drastically. With many businesses forced to close temporarily and faced with an uncertain date of return, many were forced to rethink their entire marketing strategy. Those who kept afloat, did so because they already had a strategic digital marketing plan in place and established a strong online presence. As difficult as it was for the world to adjust to the rules of isolation and social distancing, these businesses were still able to operate even without a physical shopfront. Just as Australians appeared to have a grasp on the outbreak, we’ve now seen some cities face a relapse and unfortunately are now back in lockdown. Is your business prepared for the event of another outbreak? With such a significant number of consumers now utilising search to find products or services they require; this provides you with an opportunity to push your business through COVID-19 and come out on top. Your #1 priority when recovering from the aftermath of COVID-19 should be implementing SEO in order to remain current and hold your visibility in searches. LOCAL TO GLOBAL SEARCH Having an online presence provides you the opportunity to reach consumers on a local or international scale. Regardless of the size of your business and whether you operate solely from one location or on a global scale, you need to ensure your website will appear in relevant search queries. If you are a local business, it’s important to have your Google My Business page enabled, with your correct contact details so you appear in relevant local searches. Consumers are more inclined now to support local business and by working on your local search visibility, you can ensure you are front of mind whenever they seek assistance from a trusted brand. SEO WILL HELP YOUR BUSINESS IN THE LONG RUN Although SEO isn’t an overnight solution to your marketing concerns, SEO will lay down the foundation for success for when society normalises again. Most importantly, the rankings you earn now, can still benefit you in years to come.  Even if people aren’t able to physically use your services, they can still rely on your brand to provide useful tips or suggestions. Any SEO tactics you implement now, will benefit you in the long run. And the more SEO you do early, the greater results you will have in future. Perhaps your optimising your website to promote a better user experience, again, this will only bring forth more added benefits for your business. Remember, even if customers aren’t buying or using your services right at this moment, you have the ability to develop your brand and earn their trust. CONTENT TO INFORM Studies reveal consumers are 48% more likely to buy from a brand one week after reading their educational content. If you aren’t already writing informative pieces of content to educate your target market, you need to!  Each piece of content you create, optimise and publish now will assist your business with SEO now and in the future, building upon your credibility and brand knowledge. You can also edit your previous content to reflect your current situation. When creating content, ensure it is valuable for your target market, be consistent when publishing content and include internal and external backlinks where possible. SEEK ASSISTANCE FROM SEO EXPERTS If you’re new to SEO, it’s important to do some of your own research into SEO best practices and how you could create your own strategy. By seeking the advice of an SEO expert, you can determine the current state of your website and whether or not any changes need to be made. They can assist you with competitor research and essentially take care of the more difficult elements of SEO. Hiring an SEO expert will ensure you are maximising your search engine potential and can obtain as many leads as possible to your website. Looking back over 2020 so far, we can certainly agree we’ve all had a feeling of uncertainty in one way or another. By implementing SEO into your marketing strategy, you can at least guarantee your online presence and prepare your business for the day when we return to a normal way of living. If you require assistance with your SEO, contact DGreat Solutions today for your free digital marketing strategy.

GOOGLE ADVANCED SEARCH: 5 POWERFUL TIPS FOR BETTER SEO 2020

Categories
Blog, SEO

If you’re on the quest to boost your search engine rankings and can’t seem to hit the first page for your desired keywords or phrases, you might be missing out on a few key SEO techniques. Did you know  0.78% of Google searchers click on results from the second page. This means you must put in the work to ensure your page is ranked on the first page and is actually viewed by your target audience. We’ve collated some additional strategies you can implement, which will greatly enhance your SEO and have you boosting your rankings. Eliminate duplicate content One of the best things you can do in order to enhance your SEO is to check your website for duplicate content. You must keep the content on your website, including your title tags, meta tags and image alt text, unique. In fact, Google actually states website owners must avoid creating duplicate or similar content throughout your website. Filter through your website and keep a lookout for content which sounds too similar or replicated and make appropriate changes. Conduct research on your competitors Competitor research is vital! One of the core objectives of SEO is to outrank your competition. It makes sense to analyse your competitors and look at what they’re doing in order to rank. This will help you to understand exactly which keywords to target and incorporate into your SEO strategy. You can also determine the type of content you should be creating. Look at the topics your competitors are writing, how frequently they are writing and the length of their content.  You should also take note of their backlinks to understand the type of backlinks you should be incorporating into your own strategy. Start guest blogging If you aren’t already guest blogging, you should certainly incorporate this into your SEO strategy. Guest blogging helps to boost your credibility and builds up your off-page backlinks. Submitting your content to good blogging sites to be published is one of the most effective ways to obtain high quality backlinks. Search for blogs which are relevant to your niche and check to see if their website accepts submissions. This is an effective way to increase your rankings on search engines. Build up your internal links Internal links are essentially links within a page on your website which link to another relevant page on your website. They assist visitors with navigating your website and assist Googlebots in finding content within your site which is relevant and worth ranking. It’s important to analyse the pages of your website and determine which pages you deem to be the most relevant. These are the pages you should be investing more time into building internal links for. Ensure your website is crawlable To enhance your SEO you must ensure your website is crawlable. The aim is to have a ‘bot-friendly’ website which can easily be filtered by search engine robots who determine whether or not your content is valuable for searchers. One of the top tips we would recommend is making sure your website has an XML sitemap. The XML sitemap is essentially a map which leads Google bots to all of the important pages on your website. They are necessary for all websites and will determine your rankings. Search engine optimisation is powerful and if executed correctly, can attract a significant number of searchers to your website.  Remember to follow Google’s SEO guidelines and always aim to create unique content which is informative for your target audience. Analyse your competition and devise a strategy which will ultimately have you outranking all your key industry competitors. For assistance with your SEO strategy, contact us today at DGreat Solutions.

How to use Tik Tok for business

Categories
Blog, Social Media

Since its inception in 2016, Tik Tok has rapidly evolved to be one of the most frequently used social media apps by Generation Z. If you haven’t yet heard about Tik Tok, it’s only a matter of time before you find yourself stumbling across a viral Tik Tok post, with an impressive amount of engagement to follow. According to Hootsuite, the app has over 800 million monthly users and presents a new and innovative way for businesses to promote their brand and obtain high levels of organic reach. If you’re searching for the next smart marketing move to make, Tik Tok might just be your answer. Learn how to use Tik Tok for business. What is Tik Tok? Tik Tok is a casual, fun and quirky social media app invented by Chinese company ByteDance. The app is most popular amongst teenagers, more specifically, those aged between 16-24. Tik Tok users are able to create short-form videos, incorporating hit songs, voice-overs and a variety of filters and lenses. Users have fun with the app and create humorous videos, dance challenges, prank challenges or just share anything they think other Tik Tok users would find enjoyable to watch. Content shared on Tik Tok is typically shot from users own smartphones, which means the quality of videos shared is authentic and real, unlike other social media platforms which utilise professional videographers.  The best part about Tik Tok is how easy it is to obtain high levels of views and engagement. By utilising the right hashtags, you could find your videos obtaining thousands, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of views. How can Tik Tok benefit your business? Tik Tok is still relatively new to the social media marketing world. Marketers are still analysing the app in order to determine how to create the ideal strategy for the platform. While Tik Tok might not be useful for all businesses, those who have a target audience resembling those of the Tik Tok user demographic can benefit greatly from using the app. It’s one of the quickest and cost-efficient ways to promote your business and receive traction from a massive audience if your strategy is implemented correctly. Businesses are able to obtain results almost instantly by sharing content which appeals to Tik Tok users. How do you know if Tik Tok is right for your business? The first thing you need to do is research the app. Look at videos on the for you page and see which videos are gaining the most engagement. Could you see your brand creating similar content? If your brand promotes fun, relaxed, light-hearted vibes, then Tik Tok can certainly work for you. Tik Tok users are quite creative with their posts and often start dance challenges or prank challenges incorporating hashtags that prompt other users to do the same. It creates a fun, social movement of a sort. Get creative! You could even create short demo videos, showing how your product works or if you’re in the fashion industry, you could create try on haul videos where you show how the clothing looks on real people. Similarly to Instagram, you can utilise influencers on Tik Tok to promote your brand.  What’s important to remember, is even if you are paying people to promote your product, it shouldn’t look like an ad. Businesses that have done well on Tik Tok have done so by creating campaigns that appear raw, real and give the perception they aren’t trying to sell to consumers. So keep your videos fun, creative and remember to stay active. Tik Tok advertisements Responding to the high demand of businesses incorporating Tik Tok into their social media marketing strategy, the app has recently introduced ads. In the same method, you can create a business account on Instagram, you can now do so via Tik Tok. While the app is still relatively new to paid advertising, it’s a great time for marketers to get behind the app and obtain good visibility. There are four main types of ads available: Infeed native content:  These ads will appear in the newsfeed of the for you page. Brand takeover These ads appear once the user first opens the app and essentially take over the app for the duration of the ad, leading to a newsfeed video. Hashtag challenges Hashtag challenge ads appear on the discovery page and encourage users to participate in the challenge. Branded lenses Branded lenses are available for users to add to their videos and are developed by the brand. In order to measure the effectiveness of Tik Tok advertisements, track the engagement of your posts and CTRs (Click through rates). Tik Tok has grown immensely over the past four years and has already overtaken competing apps such as LinkedIn and Snapchat in terms of monthly active users. If you’re thinking of taking your social media marketing to the next level, there’s no better time than now to consider Tik Tok.

How to optimise your website for Google’s new ranking factors

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Blog, SEO, Web design

Google’s SEO guidelines play a vital role in the optimisation of your website. SEO specialists and website developers use these guidelines as a code of conduct and adhere to these areas in order to achieve good rankings. Google makes frequent changes to their guidelines in order to enhance the overall user experience. Google’s most recent guideline update includes three core focus areas which website owners must adhere to in order to achieve good rankings. In 2021, Google will enforce three core web vitals including Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Following these three metrics will help site owners create the ultimate user experience and assist Google in ranking the best pages. So, what are Google’s core web vitals and how can they improve your website? LARGEST CONTENTFUL PAINT (LCP) Google’s core web vitals are all created with the main objective of enhancing the user experience. LCP refers to the loading speed of your website. If your page is taking too long to load, users will become frustrated and you could be faced with a high number of bounce rates. How Google determines this is by how long it takes for the most important or largest piece of content on your page to load, this could be an image or long piece of text. The goal is to have your page loading within 2.5 seconds, this will keep you in the clear and ensure you are providing a good user experience. Anything over 4 seconds is not ideal and will impact your rankings. Remember to always optimise images and large content which could slow your page down. FIRST INPUT DELAY (FID) The first input delay refers to the amount of time it takes for your website to become interactive. When a user clicks on a tab or link, how long your website takes to respond and take action. Essentially FID refers to anything involving user interaction with the HTML components of your website. Google ideally wants websites to have fast website loading and quick responsiveness. If your website is taking too long to respond to users demands, this could again lead to more bounce rates. To have Google’s approval for FID, your website needs to respond under 100 milliseconds, anything over this begins to tamper with your website’s user experience. CUMULATIVE LAYOUT SHIFT (CLS) The final element of Google’s core web vitals to be enforced in 2021 is cumulative layout shift.  This new metric relates to the visual stability of your site and how frequently the layout of your website changes. This could occur when you are visiting a website and pop ups, or ads frequently appear on screen. Having too much movement on your page, too frequently could be deemed as frustrating for users and impact their user experience. Referring to Google’s metrics of CLS, your website should score under 0.1 to promote a good page experience. Core web vitals will change from time to time and are never permanent. This is why it’s important to always stay updated with Google’s guidelines and be informed on any upcoming changes. As site owners, it’s vital to keep track of these metrics and still incorporate other key aspects of SEO, such as creating good quality content. Consider all aspects with an emphasis on creating an enjoyable user experience.  This will help Google rank the best pages which are not only relevant for searches but are also easy to navigate. Google has not set a specific enforcement date for the new core web vitals however we will be notified at least six months beforehand so we can prepare for the changes.