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10 Tips to Get Your Website Ready for the Christmas Season

We’re all in the midst of planning our marketing campaigns for this coming holiday season. This means having to update our websites with promotions and even writing more content geared towards the coming season. Though we’re still in the midst of the global pandemic – the truth is, business owners and consumers alike have stood up to these challenges with resiliency and adaptation to change.

But one thing’s for sure – that one of the most successful strategies that many businesses have adapted this year is a strong online presence through their website and through various digital marketing strategies. Companies who have adapted early even before the pandemic are now reaping the benefits of not having to stop operations despite the pandemic.

For those who are only starting to think about their Christmas strategies, this blog is for you! Here, we’ll share some tips on how to get your website holiday ready for this coming season!

Tip 1: Create a Calendar for Marketing Plan and Execution

Creating a cohesive calendar for your digital marketing plan should be implemented – this will track both you and your customers’ progress and to guarantee that you are ready for the holiday season.

In plotting the calendar, highlight important dates then work your way backward to leave enough room for other execution. Along with plotting comes planning your creatives in advance. What creative direction will you use for your ad visuals? For your email marketing? What about other promotions? Then provide a specific amount on how much marketing Dollars you would want to spend and which channels you want to spend it on. Doing this will give you a clear goal that will help you to stay focused and deliver the best campaigns targeting different consumers.

Tip 2: Be in the know for the Latest eCommerce Trends

In the past years, eCommerce websites have emerged at the top with many consumers preferring to purchase online directly on a company’s website. In the recent months (and we’re predicting in the years to come) many small businesses would venture to eCommerce to increase their reach and to virtually make it easier for consumers to purchase their products.

For a few tactical ideas that you can try to boost more traffic to and engagement to your online store, look for trending products to add to your store using Google trends and also look for “most popular” search in the biggest eCommerce platform. Another is opting for using hashtags to your products and tapping influencers to get social love and maximum online presence.

Tip 3: Plan Your SEO Strategy

SEO may be a slower burn than paid advertising when it comes to generating traffic for a website, but trust us, it helps to maintain strong digital presence in the long run. It takes time to build presence with SEO through keyword-rich web pages and well-written content. That’s why integrating a blog page with written articles can help customers search on google on specific topics they want.

Create blogs that will increase internal linking within your pages. This will be able to let your customers explore your website fully.

Tip 4: Design & Implement an Engaging Website Experience

Visualize yourself as a customer, what would you like to see, receive or check when looking at your website for information, products or services? Have a clear goal of what your website looks like for easier navigation – from design elements to site layout, to call-to-action and more. Remember that poor web design can cost your business.

For more design tips and better customer experience, have a personalized approach website message with top bar notification messages, pop-ups and more according to time, location, number of previous visits and more. ay also consider writing dedicated messages for new and returning customers. Remember that

Tip 5: Ensure the Website & Online Store ar­e Optimized for Fast-Loading

This is quite critical yet needs to be run in a smooth and no-glitch process. Always make sure that your homepage loads quickly as it affects the bottom line of your business. Keep your homepage clean from any widgets, like photo or product galleries, Facebook Messenger, Google Maps, YouTube iframes, etc. You can place them anywhere else on the website – but just don’t bombard your website with unnecessary widgets.

In this day and age, having a fast-loading website is a PLUS. Slow website loading not only increases your website’s bounce rate but it digresses consumers away from having a great shopping experience on your website.

Tip 6: Create a Loyalty Plan

This technique works wonders all the time: give someone something like loyalty points, which makes them more likely to do something for you in return — like share a commodity or service with their friends. A loyalty plan can be in any form as everyone will follow the same basic principle.

Tip 7: Budget, Create & Optimize Digital Ads & Social Campaigns

The holiday season is truly a time for preparing a budget only for this season. Be ready to optimize your digital ads and social campaigns. Don’t get left behind and make use of the effective seasonal marketing strategies. In order to successfully implement a campaign, track both impressions and clicks of ads, email blasts and social media campaigns results from different user groups to adjust effectively in the coming months.

Tip 8: Let Customers Contact You Easily

It is very important to be alert to your customer’s needs and issues and be ready to address every website or marketing conversation with your customers. Even though we miss the face-to-face experience of going to a store and speaking with an actual person, it’s always good practice to communicate via online messaging.

To have clear and smooth transactions with customers, suggest personalized rules that show contact forms during off-hours or an alternative off-hours phone number.

Tip 9: Turn Curious Shoppers into Repeat Customers

All retailers love new customers who are curious to know what your product is all about. But the key here is to turning them into repeat buyers who love and who will endorse your product. In order to generate more repeat customers into your website, let your customers experience being important when they visit by giving them gift vouchers. This will encourage them to shop more and return as frequent as they want.

Just as well, target your digital campaigns towards customers who have purchased from or visited your website before. This will remind them of your product and naturally if they were happy with their first visit or purchase – most likely they will make a repeat purchase!

Tip 10: Persistently Create Valuable Content

Managing a website is truly a challenge, but with proper navigation and original content, you’re keeping your website unique and fresh to everyone who visits.

Keep in mind that your audience should be excited to hear from and engage with your business. It’s also vital to be interactive whenever possible — create competitions, hold special promos, etc. One other tip is to create content that is always up-to-date and in line with current events and holidays. This keeps readers on their toes knowing that content is made with the right circumstances in mind and that each content is new and fresh!

The holiday season is fast approaching. Don’t let your business get left behind during this Christmas season. A website with a great design is crucial especially in this day and age. iManila can create an exceptional yet easy to navigate website that will convert curious customers into repeat buyers. Learn more by contacting us now!

Sales and Marketing During the Holidays, in the time of COVID-19

The pandemic has turned the whole business world upside down. People staying indoors and being more cautious has significantly limited operations of many establishments. While many retail merchants have been affected by this turn, it doesn’t mean your business should too.

Luckily, there are many tools and solutions available at our disposal to still connect with consumers and stay relevant even when meeting physically has become difficult. With the holidays coming up, what businesses can do is to gear up on their online marketing presence to interact with their prospective customers. The holiday season is still much anticipated by both buyers and sellers alike so here are some useful strategies for your business to keep up with the changing times.

Boost your eCommerce (it’s never too late) 

If you had previously not thought of launching an eCommerce site or platform, then now is absolutely the best time to do so. Research shows that mid-April saw a rise in online shopping orders by 146%, while in February the online conversion rates were only at 8.8%. This shows that even at the early stages of the pandemic, consumers were already adapting online to mitigate the risks of traditional shopping. Adobe’s study shows that 78% of customers still plan to spend the same amount of money for the holidays and even more.

If you were not convinced by online shopping then, then these numbers should convince you, given the positive outlook for many online merchants even at a time of the pandemic. It’s never too late to join the eCommerce bandwagon

Get with the Times, Encourage Contactless Transactions 

Appealing to what is the norm can win you over some customers. Social distancing has now become a norm for many people, along with minimizing as much travelling and contact as possible. Seeing businesses do the same shows customers that you don’t just mean business but that you are also sensitive about what they need. Successful online sellers have been encouraging their customers to purchase online to help customers feel safe. While this calls for greater effort on the part of the businesses, it is something that will pay off.

If you plan to capture a younger target market, Gen Z are actually the widest adopters of contactless activities. Ads that target this younger crowd make it more likely for them to take advantage of this type of transaction.

Have Your Brand in Multiple Channels 

Studies have shown that many channels affect customers while they are in their customer journey from researching all the way to purchasing. In this day and age, one channel is not enough. A key takeaway here is knowing how each of your channels can work together to help customers in their journey. They may go to your Facebook or Instagram account and check your posts and customer reviews, but it is through your eCommerce website that they close and make the deal.

60% of all e-commerce visits have been through mobile, so that is another factor to consider. Is your website mobile-friendly? Do you have social media presence that any customer can just look up with their phones?

Exploring many channels is great in also being able to expand your brand’s reach. Know your different audiences on Facebook, Instagram, your website, and so on.

Plan Special Holiday Promotions 

There is nothing more enticing than a special offer. Some tactics such as limited sales, promo codes, free samples, e-gift cards, or early access, are ones you can use for your business to catch the eye of many new customers. This is also great in creating touchpoints with existing customers and showing them that you are offering them something new and valuable.

You can time your campaigns with dates customers already associate with promotions such as November 11 or December 12. This can show your customers that you are going with the times, since customers may already be ready to spend during these times.

In Conclusion

Don’t let your business get left behind in the hustle and bustle of online marketing and sales campaigns over the holidays. Think of this as a great opportunity for your business to explore new territory and hopefully find a place to stay even during these uncertain times. A takeaway with all these strategies is to be open and flexible so that even when challenges such as a pandemic arises, your business is still rolling with the times. There is no true one-size-fits-all solution to each business as each one is unique, so being willing to try and adapt is one trait that all businesses should have in order to survive. Jumping right into digital marketing can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be, especially with the right partner such as iManila. Learn how we can work together when it comes to crafting you an effective holiday online campaign.

Digital Marketing 101 For The Holiday Season

While many of us may be feeling indifferent about celebrating such a drastic year, there’s essentially nothing else we can do but make it count. After all, having survived a pandemic with our loved ones in tact is something also worth celebrating.

From a business perspective, the holidays should be too worrisome because people will continually consume and Filipinos, naturally, aren’t the type of people to shelf a holiday season.

The only problem is that the most effective marketing campaigns you could potentially use are particularly costly especially during the holidays. But for businesses who badly want to top its competitors off, you can do so without breaking the bank.

Here, we have rounded down four of the most effective marketing strategies to single-handedly rocket your promotional campaigns this coming holiday season.

Put your social media pages to work

One of the many reasons why businesses have thrived amid the pandemic is through social media, especially through Facebook. For one, in the Philippines alone, we already have more than 74 million Facebook users as of 2019 and still rapidly increasing. On top of that, Facebook held a staggering 93% of the country’s market share of users this year. The Philippines isn’t called the Social Media capital of the world for four straight years for no reason.

Every businessman can attest to how they furthered substantially because of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms, especially in the holiday shopping season.

Get more people to know about your holiday promos, discounts, perks, deals or have them purchase your product directly through Social Media Advertising. Set up your campaigns according to your objectives. If your goal is to build your presence online, well then Awareness ads will make that possible for you. Or if you want to acquire new audiences, generate leads, or get them to message you, then Consideration or Acquisition ads are your go-to. But if your main objective is to boost your sales, Facebook has made a way to reach people who are most likely to purchase or retarget people who have once viewed your product but didn’t purchase through Conversion ads. Facebook’s algorithm will make sure that you target the right people at the right time.

However, these ads may not possibly work spot on without having compelling, timely and mobile-first creatives, correct messaging and the right timing of your ads. These factors play together to give you the best possible outcome.

Also, don’t try to spam them with your discounts or by doing any false advertisements. You don’t honestly expect them to just sit around and do nothing, do you? Sincerity and authenticity can assure your business repeat purchases.

If this is something you are finding too hard to navigate, just leave us a message so we can help you.

Understand SEO and blog often

With the growing concerns about transportation and contracting the virus easily while outside, more and more people are compelled to just shop online.

This is one good reason as to why you should build a website or an e-commerce platform for your brand ASAP.

Once you have built the website, optimize it for SEO. This way, you get to be visible on the search engine results pages without having to run ads. You need to vie for certain keywords that you would want your website to show up to if people would search for it.

One important key tip to further increase your visibility in SERP’s is to publish an article at least once a week to pull in consistent visitors that would eventually translate to customers. The most successful SEO campaigns require captivating content, appealing visuals and few tricks and skills to make your website rank in no-time.

SEO would also work best if done alongside Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Pay-Per-Click Ads. Note that Google prioritizes ads over organic ones so it would be for the best if you let the two digital marketing strategies work side by side.

Maximize Google search, display and YouTube ads

Google is the most popular search engine in the world, especially in the Philippines where it covers 95.43% of our total search engine market share according to Global stats.  This a huge business opportunity that you should look into especially that website traffic surges dramatically during the holidays.

If you want to target the right people at the right time and get a more meaningful business outcome, you should probably try doing Search ads. Once people search for the keywords that you bid for, it would only take a click to get them to inquire about your services or best – to buy your product immediately through your e-commerce website. This is intent-based, meaning people come to you instead of you coming to them.

A display ad, on the other hand, is the other way around. You introduce your ad to a more diverse set of people around your area of targeting. This ad shows up to Google’s audience networks, and partner sites like national news sites, popular sports or fashion sites, etc.

YouTube ads are ads that we usually see while streaming in the site. There are a number of ad placements that you can choose from depending on your liking. YouTube ads guarantee to boost your brand awareness or increase your YouTube following, if done right.

Shopping ads, on other ad, are highly relevant during the holidays. The ads appear before the search results, and once your audiences click them, they will automatically be sent to your website giving users a chance to complete their purchase easily.

Try Email Marketing

If you are trying to target people who habitually check their emails like professionals, businessmen, or people in organizations, then you probably try email marketing.

Send a monthly newsletter carrying all the announcements, news, stories, and blogs that you would like to promote during the holidays. Make it as short and sweet or as comprehensive as possible or lure them to click the “Read more” button directed to your website. This way, you can increase your website traffic and have them recall your brand.

Another important touchpoint is that you should keep as many email addresses as possible on your database. Grow your company database through website sign-ups or by running Leads Generation ads on Facebook. Whichever strategy you decide to use in order to grow your user list, make sure to keep this in confidentiality because a healthy database and information are one of the most golden assets of a company these days!

We are only a few days away from Halloween and a few weeks away from December so we suggest that you start working on these recommendations – pronto!

The good thing is that you don’t need to stress yourself in learning these holiday marketing strategies we have laid out for you. Have an expert that you can absolutely trust like iManila to do the work for you.

Request a quote for our Social Media Management, Social Media Ads, Google Ads, SEO services or Email Marketing services today. You can also leave us a message or email us at [email protected] to learn more!

The Importance of Identifying the Right Target Audience

Picture this: you are thinking of all the possible marketing tactics you can employ for your business. The carousel ad you saw on Facebook showcasing different products, the Instagram story Ad while you were browsing your stories, and the Google Display Ad that you saw as you were surfing the web made you wonder the kind of reach your business can get simply by trying out these different digital marketing efforts. But when you sit down with a marketing expert and they ask you about who you are targeting, you realize you haven’t thought about that part yet.

Who is the target? 

Knowing who your target is the first step for any company when it comes to developing an effective marketing strategy. A target market is a set of individuals that share similar needs or characteristics that your company hopes to serve. These people are targeted to be the end users who will be purchasing your product.

How do you determine the target market?

Because you want to get the most sales out of your marketing efforts, perhaps you’re thinking about capturing the interests of as many people as possible. However, in marketing, the opposite holds true: the more defined and clear the target, the more chances your marketing will work.

When you define your product and what it does, it becomes easy to determine who the end users will be and what they will like the most out of your offering. The key is understanding the needs of your customer, their pain points, and how you can meet that need with your product. This is possible through market research such as customer focus groups, industry reviews, or market surveys.

Making specific messages

Once you have successfully narrowed down a target market, then you can begin thinking of messaging that can appeal to them. This is important as it is about how you approach and come off to your possible clients. How you would approach selling coffee to someone who wants the premium coffee experience would be different to selling coffee to a busy worker who needs coffee to stay awake. Each target segment has different and unique needs and the message has to be one that clearly gets across how their needs can be met with the product.

Getting the audience right 

Usually, the target audience is also the intended recipient of your marketing message but sometimes, it isn’t so clear cut. There are some products where the buyer of the product is not the same as the end-user, so in cases such as this, it is important that the messaging is to the person who is making the purchase. In some cases, this does not ring true. An example would be toys for kids because while the parents pay for the toys, the kids get to influence their parents to buy the toys so in this case, it works that the toys are marketed directly to them.

Being more cost-effective 

Knowing who your desired target market is, makes it easier to make decisions when it comes to budget allocations. If you have a much narrower targeting, you will save on money and get a better return on investment. For instance, you would get better results by targeting women aged 20-30 and into cooking rather than targeting just women. Your money is not going to waste on wasted audiences if you have clearly defined your target audience because you are taking out of the equation people who are unlikely to purchase your product.

Now that you know about the first step to an effective marketing campaign, you are ready to move onto the next stage. Here in iManila, we believe in the importance of getting the right message across to the right audiences. We are dedicated to helping you achieve your business goals through the right digital marketing. Learn more about how we can work together. 

What you need to know about E-Commerce Marketing

The digital world is now officially a huge part of our daily lives with the new normal that we are promptly facing. The pandemic has made everyone realize that we all have to adapt to living online. We are now living at a time wherein e-commerce is beneficial to every business and consumer.

A lot of changes have happened in the past few months, a lot of lives have changed, some businesses have closed, while different people and communities have been struggling financially. This crisis has tested us but one good thing that has come out from it is how we have adapted to living our lives online.

Let’s begin by first defining what is e-commerce marketing. E-commerce marketing is about driving brand awareness and call-to-action for consumers to buy your products and avail of your services. You have to successfully cater to your buyer’s preferences and work your way around it effectively to reach your target market and to effectively make sales conversions through online platforms whether it be through your website or through social media.

Here are some ways to make the most out of e-commerce marketing:

  1. Build a strong bond and loyalty.

One of the most essential tasks that you should focus on is the strong bond and loyalty towards the consumers. The benefits of customer relationship strategies should be well taken care of and be established. Nowadays, consumers develop a relational approach that relates to customer loyalty.

There is a lot to take into account for an effective service type to build on customer bond and loyalty. For your brand to succeed it must have a sustainable competitive advantage that increases customer retention and attraction to your brand. For as loyalty increases, the volume of purchases and customer referrals also increase.

Once you’ve developed a strong bond with your consumers, a lot of marketing benefits will follow such as, the good ole’ word-of-mouth marketing, good reviews, testimonials, and even case studies. Once successfully done, your e-commerce store will be filled with people that are engaged to your products and services, thereby increasing the level of brand awareness and driving more sales.

  1. Customize and personalize your e-commerce site.

Consumers are more likely to buy from brands that they can remember. The best brands are usually remembered through different promotions and unique offerings. Every consumer is always satisfied when they have a personalized experience thus it makes them feel special, helping improve their shipping experience.

In a traditional retail store, we would always visit stores that make us feel known and special through its store employees. Brick and mortar stores are designed to attract customers while products are laid out to grab attention. The same goes for e-commerce stores, where buyers should be made to feel welcome and should have a positive user experience from the homepage to the inner pages.

Customized and personalized e-commerce sites make the users’ experience and purchases faster and easier. It is all about treating every person who visits your site as an exclusive customer. Tailor fit your site to reflect the unique needs of every buyer in a way that they will feel like they are part of the brand’s journey.

  1. Establish and capitalize on user-generated content (UGC).

To make it big online, you have to cut out and push through ahead of your competitors. Brands should always keep on trying something new and staying in trend to remain and be known as number one. One way to stay influential is through user-generated content. User-generated content allows marketers to let their consumers do the talking for them. It is about allowing people to advertise your product for you based on their own experiences and feedback.

  1. Provide an Add-to-Cart option.

An e-commerce site is not without a shopping cart. It’s almost similar to the traditional shopping cart, but this time around, everything just works with a click Having a well visible shopping cart allows buyers to control what they want to buy and allowing them an easier access to proceed to check-out to purchase the items on their cart.

Most importantly, a visible add-to-cart option on your website lets users know that they can get what they need with no fuss. It is also important that upon checking-out, users are aware of your company’s return policy, delivery procedures and options and that when needed, a customer support representative is available to answer any concerns.

  1. Create a responsive and effective web design.

Having a responsive and modern web design is an important aspect of an e-commerce website. The design should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on the adjustment to the screen size, platform, and orientation.

Follow the rule that “less is more” but also don’t be afraid to use a different mix of artworks, designs, and images. All of your e-commerce strategies will only work well when your website has a responsive design, is easily viewable, and can be accessed with the use of any gadgets. Finally, always make it a point to organize your content, keep the words simple and make sure that your website can be easily navigated regardless of age or gender.

Not sure where to begin with your e-commerce marketing? Having the right agency partner can help you establish your business goals and thrive in the “new normal”. iManila can develop the best, user-friendly, modern and easy-to-use e-commerce website for your business. Let’s talk or check out our website at www.imanila.ph to learn more.

Effective Seasonal Marketing Strategies  

As September comes, it’s as if the world is programmed to go all crazy. The streets are full, establishments are overly crowded, traffic is unimaginable, and loud noises are everywhere. Indeed, the busiest time of the year and the luckiest time for business owners.  

The season has just begun. So if you haven’t planned your marketing strategies yet, we got you.  

Build an email list  

May it be seasonal or all year-round, building your database for your email marketing campaigns should be one of your top priorities. Take advantage of the high number of traffic in an internet-busy and profit-rich season like this by segmenting new signups or retargeting the leads in your old database.  

You also need to highlight the seasonal deals on your newsletter or announce to your subscribers that you are giving them an early access those deals.  

Promote special product categories  

Another great strategy to consider is categorizing your product by season or by occasion. You should know which among your products people are most likely going to buy. This is to keep your customers away from the hassle of browsing your catalogs of products that aren’t fit for the occasion. 

In short words, choose a relevant product to do the front act. 

Set up a countdown timer 

Is there anything else that excites people more than a big event coming? Building anticipation for an upcoming event builds hype and interests among people. So, don’t forget to advertise ahead of time and set up a timer for people to see.  

Create seasonal testimonials and games 

A businessman could attest to how a testimonial could drive more sales. Before checking out, a consumer would usually look for testimonials, ratings or reviews about the product. Have someone review the product you are planning to highlight and post it on your media channels.  

A seasonal game could also work. Always induce fun and adventure to your audiences. Do not just aim for profit but for good customer interaction and experience as well. You can create quizzes, mind games, user-generated content, or anything that requires people to share your brand across social media sites. And don’t forget about the prizes! A reward is what excites them mostly.  

Create daily or weekly offers 

It’s always a good idea to attract people to continuously engage on your social media pages or website. Creating daily or weekly offers could make that possible for you. You may also create daily rewards if they interact or visit your sites.  

Inspect what could go wrong and resolve it 

Seasonal events bring huge traffic. If you sell on your website, be prepared to encounter potential technical issues, checkout errors, or your site crashing. We don’t want things like these to occur but they do happen unexpectedly so buckle up.  

You should ask yourself, is my current hosting plan able to handle a huge traffic? If you don’t know the answer, that’s something we can help you with.  

Just remember that giving consumers a smooth, fast and unproblematic shopping experience is always the key to a successful business.  

Seasonalize your brand 

Aside from making deals or special rewards for the season, you may also customize the look of your brand. Give people the feel of the season by creating relevant content, designs, graphics, and more.  

Play around your packaging as well. Just remember to give your customers an extra something for free. 

Capitalize on advertising 

The spirit of Christmas is around the corner. People are already starting to shop gifts online or offline. 

And what greater way to dominate online than doing ads? Get double or triple your ad investments from running ads on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Google.  

If you are having a hard time planning your seasonal marketing strategies or running these ad options, you just need a little management investment to have an agency do it for you.  

Don’t miss out this huge opportunity to get ahead of your competitors. Let iManila do the magic for you.  

Request a quote for our Social Media Management, Social Media Ads, Google Ads, and other website services now. You may also leave us a message or email us at [email protected]. 

‘BER’ Months Marketing Guide for all Digital Marketers

The most wonderful time of the year is coming up! ‘Tis the season to be jolly!

BER months starts from September to December and are the most important months to look at and get excited about as a marketer. These months help fuel up every business to raise more brand awareness, sales initiatives, and engage with customers.

Don’t miss out on the season to grow your brand. Here’s a quick guide to help you during the most anticipated time of the year:

 

  1. CREATE EFFECTIVE SEASONAL OFFERS AND PROMOTIONS

What best way to spark joy and entice customers and potential buyers to buy than by adding the “Best Offer” and “% Discount” tags? Seasonal fluctuations in consumer buying behavior always increase during special seasons, particularly the most loved BER months. It’s best to grab the chance.

There are a lot of offers that are doable but always keep in mind that it should be extraordinary from what is usual. Our situation now is different; your special offers should also be. Start with free shipping, shipping voucher codes, followed by 50% off, cashback deals, additional points/rewards, limited-time deals, freebies, and other promotional bundles to induce the buyers.

You should seize the seasonal advantages as well such as gift card deals, holiday bundles, holiday QR Codes, exclusive holiday treats, promo contests, and the famous, free gift wrapping. Make sure that every seasonal promo that you have will always stand out above all other competitors.

 

  1. CREATE SEASONAL CONTENTS

It is easier to grab the customer’s attention when you create the best seasonal content. Build up your content for the holidays and highlight the products and categories that are traditionally the most popular during the holiday seasons.

We all know that people tend to look at designs more than the texts, so make sure to create content that is in line with the season, showcasing creative trends and highlighting brand innovation and flexibility. Creative and up-to-date content drives awareness and interest, leading and influencing the customers to decide their way into buying.

Brands that are always in line with the season receive the best kind of word-of-mouth marketing. It engages many consumers to take suggestions, reviews, and then relay it to their family, relatives, and, friends especially when shared on social media.

Let your brand, products, and offers be heard through the use of holiday contents that are just as loud as Christmas jingles.

 

  1. KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE AND TARGET MARKET TO ADVERTISE YOUR BRAND AND PRODUCTS

 

Effective and successful marketing is knowing the right people that will buy your product and the right place wherein you can advertise your seasonal offers, promotions and, contents.

Design your brand and products directed to as many consumers as possible since people are most likely to spend during the holiday season. As marketers, it’s just our job to make them more aware that your brand exists and is something they need to buy during the holidays.

Get to know your target audience’s interests and make use of that knowledge for your branding to be more effective and specific.  Focus on the customers and potential buyers who are actively in pursuit of products related to your industry or who share interest in what you’re selling.

 

To wrap-it-up, it’s time for your brand to rise and be ready for this season. Although the times now are quite different and even though a lot of people say that Christmas this year may not be the same – let’s keep our hopes up and continue to work towards the objective of ensuring that our brands are holiday-ready.

As we continue to stay at home, let’s keep our businesses moving through digital marketing. There are plenty of ways to reach your target market whether it be through Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, through Search Engines like Google, through your website, email and other digital marketing platforms.

iManila is the best Web Development and Digital Marketing Agency, and has helped different brands through Website design and development, Apps Development, and Digital Marketing. We’d love to help your brand sleigh BER months. *wink*

Get in touch with us and Contact us to learn more!

Pros and Cons of User Generated Content

In today’s modern times, we live and breathe user-generated content (UGC) whether knowingly or unknowingly. It has gotten rapid popularity due to its easy access for users. So what is it exactly? 

User-generated content is any content whether text, video, images, reviews, that are created by the people themselves instead of the brands. The brands will then share these content on their social media pages, websites, and other channels. The platforms that best utilize these are Instagram and YouTube, where users can upload photos and videos on their own profile. 

You may be asking, why do people love creating their own content? Firstly, people like to express themselves, whether it’s making a product review video or taking aesthetic shots of a certain product. Making user generated content is a good way to let them both express themselves while at the same time promoting their personal values. 

As a business owner, it’s important to understand how you can benefit from user-generated content and at the same time, the negatives that come along with it to better your marketing strategies. 

 

The Good 

Because it essentially lets users do the content, it can help reduce your content burden. Conceptualizing and creating content is a challenge for any marketer. Add that to the multitudes of available content ideas online, it is hard to come up with something distinctly original. UGC can offer a different perspective to possible customers even with it just being a simple review, or discussions among customers in blog comments sections. Congruent with this is also that you can save time and money as content takes time to create which can leave you free to do other productive things.  

Another reason is to improve your reach and engagement. Campaigns in Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that involve the use of hashtags are an example. Each time users put the specific hashtag on their posts, they are able to drive engagement to their network of followers and friends. It is said that effective UGC can generate up to 7 times more engagement than content created by brands, which can trickle down to more sales. 

UGC are made by real people with faces and stories their friends and followers know, which is why it creates trust and authenticity for your brand. Data shows that users are 2.4 times more likely to view UGC as authentic compared to content by real brands which is a good credibility boost for any brand. Modern customers also prefer knowing what they’re getting before they order and that means not just check the official pages of the brand but also customer reviews. 92% of consumers trust reviews from people they know, and 70% from online reviews. 

 

The Not So Good

Just with all positives there are negatives and one of those is having negative content. You can only have so much control over the kind of experience your customer will have and not everyone will like the products or services you are selling. People tend to be biased. It is never a good thing to completely moderate over the bad content and censor them as it can always backfire. 

As mentioned there is also the need to monitor content because although anyone can express what they want freely, people can turn nasty and malicious online. This is also a method to fight back on spam, which is counterproductive to user-generated content. 

There is potential for legal issues to look out for especially as the content is posted by the users, giving them rights to it. Reposting it without the proper attribution is risky, but should you follow through with this, you should not come across any legal problems. 

 

The Verdict? 

While there are disadvantages, the advantages clearly outweigh them. UGC can give you that level of trust and authenticity your own marketing campaigns alone cannot capture while at the same time and money in creating content. Even with the possibilities of getting negative reviews, you are able to have content that is far reaching and can even spark dialogue between potential customers. 

 

It is important to know the upsides and downsides to user-generated marketing because this is a good strategy to have for any business. Unlock the benefits of user-generated content for your business- talk with our experts and see how iManila can help your brand’s digital marketing efforts. Leave us a message or email us at [email protected].

 

Choosing the Right Facebook Ad Objective for Your Business

Setting up a Facebook ad for the first time using an ads manager account will surely make your mind go fuzzy. Every stage of the setup process is crucial to making a successful campaign, especially the objective selection.

Choosing your campaign objective is the first choice you will have to make. It will determine the optimization and bidding options you will have throughout the ad creation process. It’s like dictating to the Facebook system your goals and simultaneously trusting the system to follow through and provide you with the best tools to achieve it.

So how will you know which one to choose especially if you’re a stranger to Facebook advertising? The ultimate rule is that you choose the one closest to your advertising goal.

Facebook Ads Objective

To generate better results, you must understand what each objective means.

In a nutshell, Facebook uses the data it gets from people’s online behavior and targets the ones within your chosen target audience who are most likely to engage or see your ad.

Objectives are broken down into three categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion with sub-objective options each.

Awareness

This objective allows you to generate interest in what you sell. You have two choices in this category.

  1. Brand Awareness

Use this to increase awareness. This objective will help you reach people who are most likely to pay attention to what you promote on your ad.

Instead of boosting your ad for engagements (likes, comments, shares), this is the most recommended objective to take. This does not necessarily get people to engage, click-through, or purchase.

Huge companies like Jollibee, SM, and Coca-Cola may find value in this objective, the same way other companies who are not necessarily aiming to website traffic, sales leads, or increase in purchases. This may not, however, provide the same value to small and medium-sized businesses.

  1. Reach

Use reach if you want your ad to be seen by many people around your target coverage and budget plan.

Consideration

This campaign objective category allows you to reach people who want to know more information about your brand.

  1. Traffic

This objective allows you to drive traffic outside of Facebook like inviting people to read your blog on your website, listen to a podcast, see your app, and more. Facebook will serve your ad to people who are most likely to click through.

  1. Engagement

If you want people to engage on your ad, use engagement as an objective. The engagements include reactions, likes, comments, and shares. This could also help you increase your page following, event responses, and offer claims.

Choosing engagement will also allow you to retarget people who have previously engaged on your ad for future advertising campaigns.

  1. App Installs

Use this objective if you want people to download your mobile app. 

  1. Video Views

This objective will help you promote your video and target people who are most likely to watch it. The priority is to let them see your content on the video and not to click a link or register.

This objective is also beneficial when you are planning to build a video engagement audience for retargeting purposes.

  1. Lead Generation

This objective will allow you to generate leads right within the ad. It generally invites people to register their names, contact details, and other data you would like to get from them. Additionally, the data you get are auto-populated so you can get essential information out of the sign-ups.

There are only a couple of complex steps when doing this objective. You need to use a third-party tool that should be integrated to Facebook to automatically take all data going to CRM. You can do this within the Lead Set up on Facebook. This is crucial because people would expect to know what you are offering immediately.

Conversion

This last campaign category will get people to register, download applications, purchase, or visit your store.

To optimize for Conversion, you need to have at least 15-25 conversions a week. This is only a bare minimum; the ideal number is between 50-100. This is necessary so Facebook can learn about those people who converted and target the ones who most likely to convert as well within your target coverage. Without this data, Facebook won’t be able to optimize accurately the delivery of your ads.

1.Product Catalog Sales

When you have an e-commerce store you would like to promote, use product catalog sales as an objective. This will require you to have the catalog integrated to Facebook and choose product feeds in creating a campaign.

2.Store Visits

Use this objective if you have multiple business branches and you wish to get people to visit your nearest store to purchase. You will need to set up your business locations on the ads manager before you can use this objective.

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Choose the most appropriate objective that is aligned to your current goals. Consider your first attempt as an A/B testing so you can know if your chosen objective really works for your business and if the expected results are met.

If all this is too much to take in – don’t fret as we don’t want you to stress out on something you don’t necessarily have to deal with. Get a reliable and experience-heavy agency who can do the job for you. Here at iManila, our expertise will help you build your brand and get more people to talk about your business. Request a quote for our Social Media Management and Social Media Ads now!