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What is up with Facebook in 2020?

The last 31 days of January 2020 has been heavily problematic for people around the world. With all the natural backlashes, war threats and virus outbreaks that claimed thousands of lives, it’s getting harder and harder for people to cope with every day. This may not be a lot to offer, but for Facebook, it’s a way to help people recover and re-connect. For businesses and brands, exciting and highly beneficial updates are on its way this 2020.

Home to around 2.2 billion users, Facebook, who also owns popular platforms Messenger and Instagram is no stranger to constant updates the way we’ve watched them implement changes in the past year. As marketers, it’s absolutely critical that we keep track and stay on top of these trends to stay relevant and to keep our audiences engaged.

  1. Lead Generation Tools in Messenger

This tool is out there but has been in beta-testing for quite some time. For businesses, your ads can now be clicked through and lead you to Messenger for faster inquiries and transactions. Messenger will simplify customers’ answers with automated questions in a direct, conversational way that brands can quickly jump into to continue the conversation and complete the conversion process. This will allow businesses to integrate their CRM provider to continue the conversation and track leads.

  1. Subscription Messaging Beta Update

The use of Subscription Messaging allows the brand to send non-promotional updates on a scheduled basis but unfortunately does not include advertisements, promotional content, solicitations, etc. On the new platform, Facebook’s Subscription Messaging is a big chance for businesses to send messages and provide their audiences with timely updates and information. This will help businesses to improve brand awareness and drive traffic to their websites which can lead to increased sales. This is a great way to promote your business on a more personal level compared to just having them be displayed in news feeds.

  1. Discover Tab Phase-Out

Launched just two years ago, Facebook has recently announced that they will be removing Messenger’s Discover Tab. This is in line with Messenger’s continuous overhaul which aims to simplify and declutter the app to focus on its core function – to connect people.

  1. Calibra

One of the major Facebook updates that will happen in 2020 is the launch of Calibra. A Facebook subsidiary, Calibra was designed to provide financial services under the digital wallet for the Libra network, a global cryptocurrency built on blockchain technology. This digital wallet is expected to be made available in Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp platforms, on top of its own app.

  1. New Navigation and Management Tools in Business Manager

This Facebook change is much more convenient in terms of improvements to Ads Manager and Business Manager that allow brands to build ads, manage Facebook assets and permission in an easier and faster way. This is useful for business owners who manage their business pages.

  1. Simplified Feed Formats

Because of the new Facebook design, primary text from seven are shorten to three lines for visibility and then prompted to click to view the entire text or post. Another major change is in terms of the aspect ratio of photos and videos from 2:3 to 4:5. These changes help to show more content in a span of one scroll.

  1. Refined Targeting Options

This year, privacy has been given attention as Facebook will trim down targeting ads to users in terms of demographics and buying behavior. This is part of an effort to lessen the pop-ups of third-party companies as it was known to track online behaviors outside of Facebook. It is great for individual privacy but a hassle for businesses that advertise on social media. To clear the confusion, Facebook will still target people based on their jobs and life events listed in user’s profiles as well as interaction on pages and posts.

  1. New Insights and eLearning Courses

Most businesses need a lot of improvement in terms of selling their brands to increase brand awareness and profitability. That’s why Facebook introduced free online courses for businesses to learn new marketing skills in presenting their brands. This is a great opportunity for marketers to learn how their consumers behave in order to help them grow their business.

Intimated by all these upcoming changes? Don’t fret! Having the right agency partner can help you navigate through this ever-changing digital landscape! Here at iManila, we believe in offering digital marketing services that will help you grow your business. Learn more about how we can help you here at https://imanila.ph/lets-talk/ or drop us an email at [email protected]. #iManila #DigitalAgency

cPanel 2020 Updates: Here’s What You Need to Know

Hosting automation platform giant cPanel, L.L.C. has recently issued a statement for its clients that there will be a massive update on their software. According to cPanel, “Due to various support and security reasons, cPanel, L.L.C. will automatically upgrade MySQL® 5.5 to MySQL 5.7 on customer servers that run cPanel & WHM version 78. We plan to perform this upgrade in the first quarter of 2020”.

Inline, the company has already blocked the upgrades to cPanel and Web Host Manager (WHM) version 80 for any server that is still running MySQL 5.5. This is also based on the company’s policy on blocking upgrades for various reasons like new memory requirements or new codes that cannot support a deprecated or disallowed software.

Due to the issued blocking, many customers are still running MySQL 5.5 on cPanel and WHM version 78.

What will happen if you continue using the old versions of cPanel and WHM?

The company indicated the issues that will be encountered if the current versions of cPanel and WHM will not be updated. These issues are: 

  • Components of their server may run deprecated or end-of-life versions;
  • cPanel, L.L.C. does not support end-of-life software. MySQL 5.5 reached end-of-life status in December 2018 and cPanel & WHM version 78 will reach end-of-life status by Q1 2020;
  • Compatibility issues with other software components;
  • Missing new features in cPanel & WHM that competitors provide;
  • Security issues, which will not receive patches because the software has reached end-of-life status.

cPanel further added that by proactively upgrading MySQL to supported versions, they can ensure that their customers will run supported software to avoid cases of having a dangerous vulnerability to hacks and malicious activities.

Make sure that your hosting platform and your website is always up to date to ensure better uptime and availability! Don’t lose your potential clients because of a down or poorly functional website. Here in iManila, we offer various hosting solutions, website maintenance services, or we can even do a full website revamp! (Learn more about our Lunar New Year promo HERE.)

If you need help with your hosting platform updates or with updating your WordPress version and plugins, don’t hesitate to call us at (02) 3490 0000 or email us at [email protected]. You can also directly send us a message through our Contact Us page. Our dedicated account managers would be more than happy to help! 

#iManila #WebsiteMaintenance #Hosting

iManila Lunar New Year 2020 Promo

Gong Xi Fa Cai! iManila, one of the country’s leading website development and digital marketing agencies, presents our Lunar New Year 2020 Promo! 

Get a 5-page WordPress Website for only P 38,888.00 (exclusive of VAT) plus the following inclusions:

  • One Year Free Web and Email Hosting
  • One Year Free US Domain
  • Choose from a variety of available website templates
  • Free use of up to 25 Stock Photos
  • Free One Page Content Writing up to 200 words
  • Free WordPress Training

This promo is perfect for businesses who need a catalog or informative type of website to showcase their products and services. These types of websites are also ideal for companies who are rushing to start their Digital Marketing campaigns by launching Google and Facebook Ads.

Boost your online presence and provide relevant content to your target market through a fully functional and well-designed website! If you’re ready, we can have your website up and running in 30 days!

Promo runs from January 24 to February 29, 2020. 

CONTACT US now to get this LIMITED TIME OFFER! 

 

Google Chrome to Block Websites that are “Not Secure”

Last October, Google announced that its famous browser, Google Chrome will no longer be accepting the legacy versions of TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.0 and 1.1, the cryptographic protocol used to encrypt transmissions between browsers and website servers. This year, the Google Chrome team has once again notified website owners that a new warning will appear while browsing.

Image from 9to5Google

 

When Google Chrome 81 debuts in March of this year, in the lead-up, Google will start displaying a full-page interstitial warning, “Your connection to this site is not fully secured” to the left of the address box to users that will try to access a site protected by outdated security protocols such as Chrome 79. Though this blockage plan isn’t on the run yet, the Chrome team has already started alerting users about this major update as this could cause major effects on user’s browsing activities and may expose user’s information sent to the site.

Chris Thompson of Google Chrome’s Security Team wrote recently, “We’re announcing a pre-removal phase in which we’ll introduce a gentler warning UI [user interface] and previewing the UI that we’ll use to block TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in Chrome 81.”

 

Image from 9to5Google

With this, Google encourages site administrators to update TLS legacy version 1.2 which was released over a decade ago, ahead of the TLS warnings. On the bright side, site administrators can still re-enable TLS 1.0 or 1.1 and disable the warning using the SSLVersionMin but only until January 2021, Google said.

Is your website ready for the new Google Chrome updates? Research shows that Google Chrome is one of the most used browsers not just in the Philippines but also in parts of Asia, Europe, and the US. Don’t scare away your visitors with a website that is not secure. We can help install your SSL in a matter of hours. Get in touch with our Sales Team through our trunkline at +632 3490 0000 or drop us an email at [email protected]. #iManila #WebsiteSecurity #SSL

5 Effective Strategies in Marketing to the Gen Z

Each year another Digital Marketing trend is being discovered and we have to keep up in order to maintain our brand awareness. It’s a fierce competition among brands in the digital world but we have stick to our core – which is to be organic while staying relevant and always adapting to the rapidly evolving digital marketing world.

When we open the internet, it’s hard to determine which trend is on the rise and which trends we need to keep up with especially since consumers’ interest and behavior are unpredictable. Hence, we present to you 5 effective strategies for 2020 that will help give your brands maximum exposure.

  1.       Artificial Intelligence

This 2020 is the year where artificial intelligence is the next right-hand in securing data. It may help global businesses and industries in the next decade but it’s taking the simple job of what humans usually provide. Using AI can help brands gather data to review consumer behavior and search patterns and provide what’s best to increase sales. Soon, AI will be the driving force you will see it in other services such as:

–          Basic Communication

–          Product Recommendations

–          Content Creation

–          Email Personalization

–          E-commerce transactions

  1.       Programmatic Advertising

With the help of Artificial Intelligence, Programmatic Advertising is also one of the big trends in terms of tracking because it is easier for the younger generation as they are more active online. Under Programmatic Advertising comes Real-time bidding. This type of automation is more efficient and typically gives higher conversions while lowering customer acquisition costs.

  1.       Chatbots

Chatbots will continue to be an important digital marketing trend this 2020. Chatbots are AI-based technology that provides instant messaging to customers in real-time at any time. This trend will continue as 80% of businesses use chatbots to connect. At the same time, research shows that 63% of respondents prefer messaging a chatbot when it comes to communicating with brands.

  1.       Conversational Marketing

With the use of Chatbots, we can say that customers prefer more conversations in a way that allows them to interact and connect with their favorite brands. Long before the traditional type of marketing, this type of marketing is available to multiple channels to create relationships between brands and customers because the goal of this trend is to enhance user experience that will provide higher engagement and long-term loyalty.

  1.       Video Marketing

Gone are the days when consumers are pleased to see marketing ads through images and GIFs. Thus, Video Marketing is making its way to increase brand awareness of any brands because customers want to experience first-hand product preview even just through a video. According to surveys, a higher percentage of consumers want to watch a video to get information in order to make online purchase decisions. And with the rise of YouTube, this paved the way to bring videos to other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. One thing’s for sure, video marketing will be one of the most important trends in the next 5-10 years.

Want to know how your brand can reach Gen Z? Ask us how! Drop us an email at [email protected]. 

Risks of running your own digital campaign

Marketing is essential to expose your brand name and stand out. With the right practices, technique, and optimization, you can definitely make the most out of your marketing budget.

Now that a lot of marketing tools like Google ads and Facebook ads are available to anyone, you’ll probably think that running your own digital marketing campaign is a piece of cake. While it’s a good thing that you can market your own product, it also poses a lot of risks. A successful campaign can be achieved through the right practices, techniques, proper optimization, and updated market insights. Doing all these while also running the whole business can compromise the other areas in your company.

Keeping your focus clear on what you do best – which is essentially running the whole business – is important. That’s why, in reality, having a digital marketing agency just might come handy. By having someone else do the marketing for you, you’ll be disburdened by tasks that will require a lot of your time. In this manner, you can pay more attention on achieving business growth holistically without doing the groundwork and avoiding the risks that might compromise your company.

To help you out, we have listed down the risks of running your own marketing campaign:

You might miss the technicalities

A marketer’s task involves a lot of time and effort. From conceptualization, crafting the copies and graphics, up to implementation, monitoring, optimization, analysis, and reporting, this has to be carefully done step-by-step in order to achieve good results. Doing all this simultaneously with your other business management tasks can really be excruciating and might also affect the results that you want to achieve. Letting an expert from an agency do the work will save you time and effort so you can focus on more important things. After all, you can always check on the progress from time to time so you can still be updated on the project. The technicalities and complexities of running digital campaigns are mostly done by those who are seasoned and experienced, hence, it will be better to ask someone who specializes in the job.

You could be less objective

Marketing specialists are trained to foresee the perspective of a business’s target audience through market insights and estimation tools. Even though you know your product really well, it may not be true that your market sees what you see. The basic understanding of your target’s preference can be hard if you cannot be objective and separate yourself from your business. It is very crucial that you know the people to target or drive your ads into, but if you already have a lot of things on your slate, then you might have no time to do enough research for this.

You could spend more or less than the ideal budget

A major risk when running your own digital campaign is that you can easily be convinced to spend more and more to get the results that you want. Or, it can also be the other way around whereas you would think that spending less is a better option. This is when both expertise and the objectivity of an expert marketer comes into practice. Since the recommendations of agencies, like iManila, are based on historical data and premium market analysis tools, you can be assured that you can get the right estimates for your campaign with the ideal budget. This will prevent your campaign from overspending or throwing away your hard-earned marketing dollars. By also acquiring the service of an expert, you can easily track and manage your return on investments and have a detailed report on what went well and how you can improve more in terms of your marketing assets.

Need help from an expert marketer? Contact iManila and see how our digital marketing services can help your business grow! #iManila #DigitalMarketing #GooglePartner

iManila joins Google Learning Sessions 101

“Be there, be seen, be relevant”

 

Such were the words spoken by Google PH’s Agency Acceleration Specialist, Berns Bachar in the recently concluded Google Learning Session 101 at the Google Headquarters in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig last October 18, 2019.

The Google session was attended by various representatives from digital marketing agencies, and brand specialists from different companies in the Metro who were looking to learn more about Google’s Search and Display Ads, and YouTube Ads. Google PH’s training highlighted the importance of creating digital campaigns for the success of one’s business.  “One of the most effective ways to spread brand awareness is via Search ads,” Bachar said.

 

*Photo and figures by TechCrunch

 

Search Ads are intent-based campaigns where ads appear when users search for a particular item or brand through different keywords.

Basing on Google’s monthly search record, the search platform receives over 2.5-billion searches per month in the Philippines alone and 3.5-billion daily searches worldwide. Google’s search engine market is valued at 94% of all searches and outranks other search engines in most, if not all, countries in the world. A total of 70% of these searches take place in mobile devices while only 30% on desktop and tablet devices.

According to Google, their search platform is an arena where brands fight over to outrank competitors and get everyone’s attention. So Google warns, if you aren’t there, your competition will be!

YouTube ads, on the other hand, are not intent-based like search ads, hence, they only appear to users who are viewing videos relating to the brand. For the record, YouTube has more than 1.5-billion monthly active users, second to Facebook which has more than 2-billion active users monthly. Though outnumbered by Facebook, 90% of digital users globally consider YouTube as their primary destination and 70% of consumers go to YouTube before buying a product.

 

*Photo and figures by TechCrunch

 

According to another speaker, Andre Visenio, Google PH’s Agency Business Lead, there are four unique approaches that you may apply to your future YouTube ads:

“Attract, Brand, Connect and Direct”.

Attract is basically for a bumper or 6-seconder video ads. The video must start with a bang, run in the middle subtly and end it with another bang. To power your video ad, it must have good audio and sound effects, eye-catching visuals and a relatable storyline. Brand, however, is more of highlighting the brand; Connect is provoking an emotional connection, sometimes funny and mostly heart-touching video ads. While direct is like the word itself, ads that are direct with clear messaging.

Compared to other social media platforms, YouTube users tend to spend more time on the platform. On mobile specifically, YouTube reports the average session time as more than 40 minutes. This is great for small businesses looking to drive more attention to their ads.

 

*Photo by Sapling

 

The latter part of the training discusses the perks of creating a display campaign for businesses. According to Bachar, who previously discussed about search ads, “Consumers in a browsing mindset are more receptive to learning about brands.”

Unlike search campaigns that are intent-based, display ads are more passive as they only show up while skimming through websites to shop, watch videos or read articles. Display ads appear in Google Display Network (GDN) platforms such as Chrome, YouTube, Gmail, Google Map, and Google Play. In a report by Google, users spend 10 hours a day online, in which 42% of all users go to social media and the remaining 58% spend their time online outside of social media, doing either online shopping or reading articles. As for people who visit the website, 10% of them read news, 25% watch videos, 25% are shopping and researching, while 40% are playing games.

The era has come where brands would raise their fists and fight off other brands to step up and capture their target markets. Search, Display and YouTube campaigns are great ways to start in building your brand.

 

“People expect your brands to be present online, especially on the web. Take this opportunity to boost your brand on a bigger and wider market. Advise your clients, friends or families who sell their products offline to switch to digital now,” Bachar said.

 

Unsure of how you’re going to maximize these digital opportunities? We can help you! Send us an email at [email protected]! #iManila #GooglePartner #DigitalMarketing

 

Getting to Know More About WordPress

Developing a website can be intimidating for people who are unfamiliar with the world of web development. There’s a common notion that web development is complex, hard to understand, and only for computer geeks. That might be true in the olden days, but as we progressed further in technology, people have developed easier ways to create things on the internet. And this is what the team behind WordPress has done –they’ve created a pro website builder that allows for a more convenient and less complicated way to build a website.

Introduced in 2003, WordPress has become the most popular website builder or Content Management System (CMS), if you want to get technical. WordPress comprises about 30% of the websites on the internet.

So what exactly makes WordPress so popular and why do most web developers prefer this platform above others? 

It’s free and available for everyone

Yup, you read it right. You can create your own website for FREE on WordPress. For anyone who is just starting to create their digital presence, this should be a helpful factor. You can create your free websites at wordpress.com where you can enjoy a limited number of free templates and plug-ins. For beginners, this is the best way to practice your web development skills. Take note that if you’re using the free version, you don’t entirely own your website meaning, your URL will look something like this: yourwebsitename.wordpress.com. However, if you are looking to explore more, then the best option is to create your own website through wordpress.org. Here you can have your own domain, enjoy 11,000+ templates and plug-ins. 

It’s user-friendly

No need to be intimidated! With WordPress, you don’t have to be a web developer to create your own website. All you have to do is be familiar with the tools and you’re good to go. Plus, WordPress has a ton of plug-ins that need not require coding. Some would prefer to initially have their websites done by a developer then have that developer train them to do future updates on their website. 

It’s SEO-friendly

SEO is essential to any website as this is a factor for driving organic traffic to your website. WordPress is one of the best platforms to apply a well-thought-out SEO campaign. 

It’s not just for blogging

There’s a notion that WordPress websites are only for blogging. While some websites are for personal use amongst others, businesses now have also expanded their channels to digital, specifically through websites. For brands, a website’s purpose is to build and strengthen its brand awareness. While an e-commerce website is the core of any e-commerce business. 

With all the digital advancements nowadays, everything that used to be complex and difficult is now reduced to a simple drag and drop. This is what WordPress websites can give you an easy-to-manage website that can help your business grow. 

If you’re looking into creating a website of your own, but find yourself needing some help, iManila houses the best web developers in the market who can help you create, manage, and launch your website in the digital space. Don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or call us at 490-0000 so we can talk about how we can help you. 

Visit www.imanila.ph for more information.

Is your business ready for the Holidays?

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year! Aside from the holly and jolly Christmas carols and festive lights on the streets, Christmas shopping and gift giving are one of the highlights of this season.

Filipinos love Christmas. As a matter of fact, as early as September, Google searches surge for inquiries related to Christmas – from shopping for decorations to special gift finds. It’s not a surprise that Christmas shoppers are now flocking the stores this early to buy gifts for their loved ones hoping to avail of the early season offers and most especially, to avoid the shopping and traffic rush when December comes in. Luckily, the good news for shoppers today is that they can now enjoy a more convenient way to shop this season with the rise of various eCommerce and online shopping channels.

This actually brings in a great opportunity for businesses to take advantage of the increasing demand and the peak of consumers’ shopping behavior every year. In 2018, 26% of the Filipino population have bought at least one (1) item online as their Christmas gift. This is equivalent to more than 27 million people and guess what – this number is expected to grow even higher this year! (Google, 2019)

Kantar TNS has also concluded a study which finds that in 2018, 52% of Filipinos have searched online about food groceries while 80% have searched about consumer electronics. And an even greater 81% have searched for air travel. The Holiday season offers businesses the most active consumers that are ready to convert with the added capacity to do so. With this great boost in online shopping, it’s important that your brand is visible online and that your products stand out amongst your competitors.

To help you out, here are some tips to capture the hearts of your target market this Yuletide season. We made a list, so check it twice!

Reach more people through Search and Display Ads

Christmas gifts, recipes, carols, and decorations – are just some of the possible seasonal keywords that you need to invest in. Apparel and footwear, as well as food beverages, are always projected to lead the influx of search queries this season. Make sure to appear on all possible related keywords to your products and own the SERP through Search Ads. Accompanying some Display campaigns along your Search campaign can also help in boosting brand awareness and recognition.

Create an impact through Video Ads

You’ve seen a lot of Christmas advertisements on television that have gone viral for its heartfelt and emotional approaches. With Video Ads, you can also definitely achieve this! Aside from being more cost-effective than television ads, you can also create a more targeted strategy and have more meaningful metrics to measure your success. The key to creating a story right now that can be impactful to your audience is by making the most out of the existing status quo by giving twists and turns. Focusing on the relevance and relatability of your story to your viewers is ideal especially if you want to inspire and educate them to buy your products.

Explore opportunities in Shopping Ads

The eCommerce industry in the Philippines is said to become a $25 billion market by 2025. Aside from the usual online stores like Lazada and Shopee, you can also explore the benefits of having your own eCommerce website and advertise your products through Shopping Ads. Preparing bigger budgets for large moments like 9.9, 10.10, 11.11, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday is also recommended as you can go with the trend that pushes people to buy more. Shopping ads are very visual and product based which is generally ideal for F&B, clothing, and consumer electronics industries. There is also no need for keywords targeting as the structure of your feed (product listings) will be crawled by Google and will be automatically determine if one of your products is relevant to a certain search query.

This Holiday season, don’t miss out on valuable consumers that can totally scale up your revenue! Invest in paid advertising and make your brand standout in this season of giving!

Need assistance on your paid advertising campaigns? Talk to us! iManila is a full-service digital and a Google Partner agency that offers web development and digital marketing strategies to help more businesses grow! Contact us at (02) 490 0000 or email us at [email protected]!