5 Email Marketing Metrics to Track & Boost Your Analytics
Email Marketing is essential to any digital marketing strategy. Here are the five metrics you need to be tracking and analyzing!
7 Ways to Create Content that Helps to Achieve Your Business Goals
Content is one of the most important things brands need to thrive in the digital world. It helps companies in different ways, such as building trust, increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, and even generating leads. In this digital world, content has now become more crucial than only a marketing tool. Brands need to develop high-quality, unique, and engaging content regularly. Otherwise, they can be left far behind their competitors in the race to attract more consumers and convert potential customers into paying clients. However, creating content isn’t enough; it should be engaging, informative, entertaining, unique, and resonating with the targeted audience. Otherwise, it will be lost in the sea of already developed content over the web. Also, the content you generate is useless if it doesn’t pay you back with a higher ROI (Return on Investment). That is why, as a business owner, you must know how to create content that can assist you in achieving your selected goals. So, the question is, how to create lucrative and money-making content? This article will answer the question. Let’s dive in! Editor’s Note This will be a living document and we will continue to add more tips along the way. Develop Content that Your Audience Needs Content marketing plays a huge role in achieving success. Recent data shows that 71% of content marketers have seen content marketing grow in significance in the past year, where 40% of marketers have a well-documented content marketing strategy. Additionally, 78% of content marketers reported that their organizations plan to invest or continue investing in video, with 48% of marketers having a monthly budget of up to $5000 dedicated to content marketing. Many brands focus on their goals instead of their audience’s needs. They only create marketing copy to sell their products or services. However, consumers don’t necessarily want to see this type of content all the time. Most prefer informative content over marketing one. So, you need to strike a balance between creating content that informs and offers value with effective content that sells. Analyze what your target audience is looking for and focus on providing the answers to their queries. Think about where they are in the customer journey. This will establish trust, which will help make them more receptive to the solutions you are offering. So, first and foremost, never forget your audience’s needs, and pain points! Use the Appropriate Language While developing content, you must use appropriate language that your targeted audience understands. For example, the way you write for a Gen Z audience would probably be very different than writing for scholars. Select your word selection carefully, and make sure it flows well. We always recommend positioning yourself as an expert and thought leader in your industry when you develop the content. You need to try and grip their attention quickly, and have a resonating voice, or else they will tune out quickly and hop over to your competitors’ content that may be more up their alley! Focus on Providing Information Whenever consumers click on a blog, video, or podcast, most probably, they are looking for some information they don’t have. So when you’re creating content, you should welcome them with some unique information or data that can fulfill this need. Once they find your content informative, they will visit you again and again (and even sign-up for your newsletter!). That’s how you can grab their attention, win their trust and encourage them to buy whatever you sell, whether it is an idea, service, or product. For that purpose alone, you should put time into researching the selected topic. Content backed by solid research encourages readers, viewers, and listeners to share it over multiple platforms. That’s how you can also reach a wider audience through owned and earned media! Reproduce the Most Liked Content in Your Niche This is one of the content marketing techniques that marketers use, specifically for generating SEO content. When you research what kind of articles you published and what type of response they get, you will reach some articles that got a huge appreciation from everyone. Use those topics and your favorite tips for creating your own article. To make the process more efficient, consider the help of a rephrasing tool. A paraphrasing tool will help you recreate it in the least possible time by using more appropriate words and terminologies. Furthermore, some rewording tools also recreate the sentences and make them more engaging and attractive that the audience loves to read. Of course, you need to give it that human touch, be sure to grammar check and ensure it flows well, ensuring it’s different enough from the original source. Some tips for doing this include: Rearranging the tips Breaking down content into bullet points Add images or infographics to spruce up your content Using the AI Image Generator from PicsArt, you can quickly generate unique images to add to your content. This tool offers a wide selection of stock photos and illustrations that you can customize with text, logos and more. With AI Image Generator, you can create stunning visuals with ease. Source rephrasing content for multiple different articles you like that cover similar topics So, assistance from a smart tool combined with your business mind means you’re more equipped than ever to regularly reproduce the articles that have mass appeal! Ensure Uniqueness All of your content is useless if it isn’t unique. It doesn’t matter what kind of content you are generating; if it has some kind of plagiarism, your content will backfire, especially when you are developing text-based content. That’s why you should always check plagiarism in your content with a reliable plagiarism checker. If plagiarism is detected, make your content unique before publishing/using it. Remain Consistent with Brand Voice and Values Stay true to yourself. Even if you’re working on content with rephrasing, you need to have it align with your brand voice – and be sure to stay consistent. It’s how your audience relates to you and identifies your brand. So whether writing a blog, marketing copy, video, podcast, or ad, stick to your
Google Privacy Sandbox Explained
Ch-ch-changes: recently, there’s been a lot of technology innovations and policy changes shaking up the ad tech landscape, including the introduction of the Google Privacy Sandbox. Recently, movers and shakers of the internet age, such as Apple, are moving towards giving users back more autonomy in terms of their privacy. Google announced in 2020 that they plan to eliminate third-party cookies. This was a big disruption in the advertising industry as these cookies held precious consumer behavior data that defined ad strategies. As a follow-up, the Privacy Sandbox was introduced as a solution. In this blog, we’ll provide a detailed overview of Google’s Privacy Sandbox! Here’s an outline of what we will cover: Cookieless Future, Postponed Until 2024 (Updates) What is Going On With Google’s Privacy Sandbox What Google Has Shared So Far What This Means For Marketers Next Steps Editor’s Note: This blog will act as a living document and we will update it whenever new information is released. Last update: 2022-08-22 To read more about recent technology and policy changes, check out these articles: How iOS14’s Update Will Impact Your Facebook Ads Will Google Removing Third-Party Cookies Impact My Business? How GDPR Will Impact Your Programmatic Process Cookieless Future, Postponed Until 2024 Google’s goal was to phase out third-party cookies by 2022 completely, but that has been repeatedly pushed back; the most recent date range was the second half of 2024. Why the delay? In 2021, both the United States and European Union began investigating whether Google breached anti-trust laws with their ad tech policies. Google collects data to be used for targeted advertising purposes, it sells advertising space and also acts as an online advertising intermediary. So Google is present at almost all levels of the supply chain for online display advertising. We are concerned that Google has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack. Another reason for the timeline extension is that Google also needs time to evaluate the new tech, gather industry feedback before the official rollout of implementation. Google says: We believe that the Privacy Sandbox will provide the best privacy protections for everyone. By ensuring that the ecosystem can support their businesses without tracking individuals across the web, we can all ensure that free access to content continues. It’s important to note that the Privacy Sandbox was created as part of Google’s roadmap for the future of the open web (and to comply with anti-trust laws). The two primary goals are to: 1. Improve user privacy2. Provide businesses with insights and tools for a successful online strategy. (We want that sweet, sweet data.) Later in this blog, you’ll learn the details of how the Privacy Sandbox will work, but in this section, we’ll talk about Google’s most recent updates. Long story short: Google has been running tests and deploying new privacy technologies for the past two years. Google says: The most consistent feedback we’ve received is the need for more time to evaluate and test the new Privacy Sandbox technologies before deprecating third-party cookies in Chrome. This feedback aligns with our commitment to the CMA to ensure that the Privacy Sandbox provides effective, privacy-preserving technologies and the industry has sufficient time to adopt these new solutions. After receiving feedback from industry peers, Google has begun introducing testing windows. More Privacy Sandbox trials will be rolled out to millions of users worldwide, starting in August 2022. The trial population is planned to increase this year gradually and into 2023. For the Privacy Sandbox trial users, they will see a prompt like this: They predict that the Privacy Sandbox API will be generally available in Q3 of 2023. Marketers and ad publishers should start the process of data migration in the next 12 months. Advertisers rejoice! We’ll now have more time to work together to find alternative best practices for audience targeting. In the meantime, we still recommend building your brand’s email list, as first-party data will be king in the long run. On a related note, Google announced that July 1st, 2023 is the date Universal Analytics is officially retiring. Any company with a website should have fully transitioned to Google Analytics 4 by then (find out what you need to do to get ready). It’s all part of the bigger plan of a cookieless future. Now, to learn more about the Privacy Sandbox, check out the rest of this blog! What is Going On with Google’s Privacy Sandbox? What Following in Safari and Mozilla Firefox’s footsteps, Google will soon be phasing out third-party cookies on the Chrome browser. They are offering the “Privacy Sandbox” as an alternative option for collecting user data. Why Research shows that 83% of people are worried about companies tracking and collecting their data. This is what prompted Google to take action and offer greater control, choice, and transparency for internet users. Privacy Sandbox to Create a thriving web ecosystem that is respectful of users and private by default”. The most significant item in the Privacy Sandbox is Google’s proposal to move all user data into the browser where it will be stored and processed. This means that data stays on the user’s device and is privacy compliant. This is now table stakes and the gold standard for privacy. – Amit Kotecha, Permutive The goal is to build a more private web with transparent standards, encompassing: Ad targeting Measurement Fraud prevention and more This is Google’s way of paving an alternative path for the cookie-less future. Instead of third-party cookie tracking, it will be leveraging Chrome browsers’ which will collect anonymized browsing habits of their respective users. How Google will shift away from relying on third-party cookies to track user data by introducing a series of APIs to protect individual user privacy. They will do so by leveraging their Chrome browsers. APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) will replace cookies and track data like conversions and attribution. Google aims for the APIs to build the standards for the Privacy Sandbox. They will then work closely with advertisers and web users on their
A Guide to Pinterest Advertising
Pinterest is a social media channel that is often overlooked when it comes to advertising. But who doesn’t have at least one Pinterest board with saved recipes that look delicious? Or of future dream vacation destinations? It’s a highly visual and engaging platform that marketers should consider!In this blog, we’ll give you the lo-down on Pinterest Ads. We’ll cover the following topics: What is Pinterest Pinterest User Demographics How Does Pinterest Advertising Work Types of Pinterest Advertising Static vs. Video Ads on Pinterest Pinterest Advertising Best Practices Pinterest Advertising Costs What is Pinterest? Pinterest describes itself as a “visual discovery engine” for users to find ideas and inspiration. Posts (images, videos, infographics, etc.) are called Pins, and people can create boards, then save and organize the Pins they enjoy. By clicking on a Pin, users can visit the website to learn more about it and even make a purchase directly! Users will have a profile and can create subfolders within boards, such as categorized sections like “Living Room ideas” and “Dining Room ideas” under the mainboard, “Home Decor.” Common industries that have a presence on the platform include food, financial services, beauty, fashion, retail, telecommunications, entertainment, home, automobile, travel, and tourism. But if you go to Pinterest and type in any keyword, even long-tailed keyword, you will find content and others that share the same interest. Common industries that have a presence on the platform include food, financial services, beauty, fashion, retail, telecommunications, entertainment, home, automobile, travel, and tourism. But if you go to Pinterest and type in any keyword, even long-tailed keyword, you will find content and others that share the same interest. Pinterest User Demographics Pinterest’s userbase has been steadily growing and tripled since 2016. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people were spending more time at home and flocked to Pinterest for inspiration, hobbies, tips, etc. The number of users jumped from 335 million to 459 million! Here are some statistics to further convince you Pinterest is a force to be reckoned with. 80% of Millenial women and 40% of Millennial men in the United States are on Pinterest. 49% of US users’ annual income is $100,000+. Half of Pinterest users use the app to shop. Pinterest users spend 80% more in retail than those who don’t use the app. Pinterest users are 3 times more likely to click through to learn about a product or service than any other social platform. Pinterest ads cost 2.3 times less per conversion. How Does Pinterest Advertising Work? Pinterest is a social platform that gauges consumer intent by capturing people in a “future-oriented mindset.” Pinterest says, Every time that someone searches on Pinterest, they’re thinking about what they want to try next. Because Pinterest is grounded in the future, we get an earlier indication of where consumers are headed and can help brands and agencies predict what is to come for their category. Users on the platform are “window shopping” for their next hair color, tattoo, vacation spot, baking recipe to try…the future is endless. And that’s where brands come in. Advertising on Pinterest is for businesses to tell their stories through visuals. They are effective for these marketing objectives: Boosting brand awareness Driving website traffic Driving conversions Increasing video views Increasing sales Pro Tip: Using Wepik, you can design the images for your pins before publishing them on Pinterest. This will help ensure that your ads stand out and drive more engagement with customers. (We’ll discuss the various types of Pinterest ads options available in the next section.) Audience Targeting With a Pinterest Business account, advertisers can promote their most popular pins or create brand new images or videos. You will then set up ads through Pinterest Ads Manager, and users will be able to see your ads in their home feed and specific search results. Ad Creation & Management Advertisers can target users’ demographics like age, location, and interests and serve various ads, which blend into the colorful platform. Pinterest typically decides the type of ads to display to the user based on their historical activity. So let’s say I’ve been looking up inspiration for a new haircut or self-care tips, then it’s more likely that ads for beauty and wellness products would show up for me! Advertising Model Like Google and Microsoft Bing, or Facebook, Pinterest also uses a bidding model for ad placements. You will be bidding against your competitors on keywords and placements relevant to your niche. Campaign Planning & Seasonality Pinterest says that they usually see an increase in user search activity two to three months before the seasonal moment. The search activity surrounding a seasonal occasion (such as Thanksgiving or Christmas) begins even earlier than Google. This means that brands should be planning out their Pinterest Ads a few months in advance! Here is Pinterest’s 2020 report on how to prepare for the Holidays early. It has excellent stats and consumer insights, as well as visual examples of effective creatives. Types of Pinterest Advertising Pinterest Ads are all visual-oriented, and different formats can help achieve your advertising goals. Pinterest’s current ad offerings include: Standard Pin Video Shopping Carousel Collection For all ads, they will appear in the format of a pin, which is a vertical or square format. Advertisers can get creative and showcase great, branded visuals to capture people’s attention and tell a strong story. Standard Standard pins are simple, static ads in a vertical format. They blend into a Home feed and search results. The only distinguishing factor is the caption saying “Promoted by ____.” Much like Facebook Ads that have a little “Sponsered” label in the news feed! Video Video pin ads are the same as Standard Pins but just animated! It is reported that there is a 53% increase in a user’s likelihood of purchasing a product after seeing a video. Shopping Brand advertisers can create a “Shop” tab on their accounts. Then, they upload their product catalogs and turn them into individual Pins. People can then see a variety of the products offerings when they’re browsing. Shopping
A Guide to Link Building and Digital Marketing for Your Business
Here are some handy tips to build links and elevate your digital marketing tactics!
How iOS 14’s Update Will Impact Your Facebook Ads
The launch of Apple’s iOS 14 in 2021 has significantly impacted data tracking in the marketing landscape. Everyone’s Facebook Ad strategy has been impacted by Apple’s iOS 14 update. Here’s the lo-down. These are the categories we will cover: September 2022 Update: How to Future-Proof your Data Tracking June 2021 Update What is Going On with iOS 14 & Facebook What Does This Mean For Marketers? Most Significant Changes For Facebook Ads Effects on Campaigns & How You Will Be Impacted Action Plan for Advertisers What is War Room’s Take On This? What to Anticipate in iOS 15? (Updated 2021-06-17) TL;DR – What Have We Learned? September 2022 Update: How to Future-Proof Your Data Tracking There’s no doubt the future of tech is shifting to become more privacy-centric. Of course, that’s less than ideal for marketers that need data for audience targeting. How do you work around iOS 14.5’s privacy limitations and continue to collect data to keep your marketing strategy agile? The answer is Server Side Tracking. Here are 7 benefits of Server Side Tracking (SST): Privacy & Security: SST can only be used by the brand and not shared with other sites/companies Compliance: SST is compliant with privacy standards because it doesn’t track a user’s browsing activity on websitesOwnership: Brands can now collect and store user data directly on their own serversPermanence: Cookie expirations can be set for 20+ years.Richer Data: Collect data like ad platform IDs and on-site intent.Data Quality: Over time, brands can build a lifetime cookie that nests ad platform IDs, email addresses, phone numbers, and other details that the customer provides.Versatility: Data can be fed back into multiple platforms to improve advertising. You can leverage all this to feed native IDs back into ad platforms (better reporting), extend lifecycle tracking, create custom audiences, and improve analytics. So, if Server Side Tracking (SST) isn’t on your agenda for 2023 media planning, what is your plan? Server Side Tracking deserves to be on every brand’s radar. If you’re interested in learning more about how War Room can get your tracking game on point, email us at: [email protected]! June 2021 Update It’s been a few months since the introduction of iOS 14.5, so we figured we should share some updates and insights on how it’s been. A study by Flurry Analytics unveiled that in the first three weeks of the iOS 14.5 rollout, the global opt-in rate for data collection average is 13%, whereas the US Daily Opt-In Rate was averaged around 6%. Apple published this video to put the spotlight on their App Tracking Transparency stance: With Apple’s messaging to their users like this, it’s obvious why the opt-in was so low. When a user doesn’t opt-in, marketers wouldn’t have access to the user’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA). This means: If Facebook isn’t able to track iOS 14.5 user behaviors, tracking pixels wouldn’t be able to serve their function properly. Facebook Ad targeting options will be limited. This means less opportunity for granular targeting, which may result in having to serve less personalized ad copy. Lookalike audiences, remarketing, and conversion tracking are all crucial components in any Facebook Ad strategy. Here are some workarounds to consider: If you have a Facebook ad with a conversion objective, consider excluding iOS devices completely. Try creating campaigns that don’t have the objective set for conversions. Leverage your website domain’s tracking and UTMs etc, to determine if a conversion occurred on your website instead! If you’re looking for other action items, you can find them in this section. We also added a new section on iOS 15. Click here to skip right to it. What is Going On with iOS 14 & Facebook? Here’s the high-level breakdown of what is happening with Apple and Facebook. What? Apple is updating their latest operating system, iOS 14, and it will limit user information exchanged with Facebook, prohibiting specific data collection and sharing. Why? Apple’s AppTracking Transparency framework aims to provide privacy protection for users: Privacy is a fundamental human right and at the core of everything we do. That’s why with iOS 14, we’re giving you more control over the data you share and more transparency into how it’s used. How? Apple Store will require all mobile apps to have prompts for iOS 14 users. The message will give people the option to opt-in for tracking. When? This change is to be completely rolled out by early 2021. The first wave of changes had started on January 19th, 2021, and we will see this continue through the first quarter of 2021. Where? Apple devices with iOS 14 software and the Facebook Ad platform. Who Will Be Affected? Businesses & brands who run Facebook Ads & Facebook Business Tools to: Target audiences Track web conversion events (click, form submission, etc.) Advertise mobile apps Optimize ads What Does This Mean for Marketers? Surveys show 83% of people have concerns about businesses monitoring or collecting data from their mobile devices. This shows that people value their privacy and want more control over how their data is collected. As a result, iOS 14 devices will have limited Facebook Ads functions and its tracking for app and web conversion events. This directly impacts ad personalizations and performance reporting. Because of this update, Facebook is working on a solution that is similar to an event measurement software called Aggregated Event Measurement. It’s meant to measure campaign performance in a way that is “consistent with consumers’ decisions about their data.” They will be using Aggregated Event Measurement to process Facebook Pixel conversion events on iOS devices. Facebook Pixel conversion events can track the actions people are taking on your website. The aim is to support marketers in still running effective campaigns while preserving the privacy of Facebook users. The most important thing to note is that this change is only applicable to those who use iOS devices that have iOS 14. Businesses will still see complete user data for all eligible devices (Android and desktop). It would be helpful to look at iOS’ user base globally: You will find more infographics at Statista As you can see,
7 Marketing Tips for eCommerce Businesses
Here are the top strategies for growing your eCommerce brand.
Social Display Ads: How to Use Them & Win Big
It’s a Social ad, it’s a Display ad, no — it’s a Social Display ad! We’re here to talk about the love child of cool programmatic technology and why it’s a great tactic to add to your advertising strategy. We’ll be covering: What are Social Display Ads? Which Social Channels Can You Create Ads From? Examples of Social Display Ads in Action When Should You Use Social Display Ads? Benefits of Social Display Ads Interested? Here’s How You Start What are Social Display Ads? Social Display ads are a type of ad that configures your existing social media posts (or ads) and delivers them as programmatic display banner ads. Whether your campaign objective is to create brand awareness, retarget or drive conversions, it is an efficient way to showcase your brand around the internet. Which Social Channels Can You Create Ads From Social Display ads can pull content directly from the channels: Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin TikTok Pinterest Examples of Social Display Ads in Action Social Display ads pull content directly from the channels and display them dynamically. Take a look at big brands leveraging the different formats currently offered on social channels: Twitter Twitter Post Twitter Carousel Twitter Video Pinterest Pinterest Post Pinterest Video Updated in January 2022New offerings Pinterest Social Display Ads include: Save Pin Button Pin Title and Pin Description settings Call-to-Action options TikTok LinkedIn LinkedIn Post LinkedIn Carousel LinkedIn Video Instagram Instagram Post Instagram Carousel Instagram Video Instagram Story Facebook Facebook Post Facebook Carousel Facebook Video Facebook Story August 2021 UpdateNow is the time to add your Facebook and Instagram stories into your creative rotation of a live or upcoming campaign. Why? Because we’ve made some small but significant changes that make the experience even better: True Edge-to-Edge media fills the entire ad space Visual style improvements Adjustable caption line length Better Click-Through Rates And More! When Should You Use Social Display Ads? The correct answer is: always!Social Display is an evergreen, always-on strategy used by the best brands in the world. Benefits of Social Display Ads Let us take a deeper dive into the benefits of running Social Display ads.Keep in mind your current marketing strategies and evaluate if layering on this type of ad could give you that extra “oomph”! #1: Saves Time (and Money) When you do not have the time nor resources to generate custom display creative for a holiday, event, or cultural moment, Social Display Ads can generate production-ready creative in minutes, deriving it directly from your social media posts. Your team won’t have to spend extra time designing from scratch, which saves you production costs. All you need to do is share your already created social post with our team at War Room, and voila — we have a Social Display ad ready to go! #2: Combat Ad Fatigue Ad fatigue is real. If your existing ad creative has been exhausted and audiences aren’t converting anymore, swap it out instantly with your social media posts without any additional creative necessary. This builds off of the previous point, not only do you save on time and money, you can also combat ad fatigue, so your brand will always look fresh. #3: Performance Ad studies show that Social Display Ads outperform traditional banner ads. Social Display can increase Click-Through Rate (CTR) and give your marketing efforts a boost. #4: Brand Consistency If you dip into your social feed library and leverage your existing, branded visual content—for example, by adding icons from Flaticon to your display ads or using a design from the feed and adding text—you’ll be sure to achieve brand consistency. Your brand’s creative language will be cohesive across all channels. #5: Extended Ad Reach Social Display ads are delivered on Display channels, which enables your brand to reach beyond just social channel users. More eyeballs on your brand means more clicks and conversions. #6: Amplification If you identify a specific post on your social channel that is high-performing and generating buzz, you can instantly boost it and extend the “WOW” across the internet programmatically. Interested? Here’s How You Start If you’re an existing client with War Room, you don’t need to wait for a Request For Proposal (RFP) or planning cycle to add on Social Display to your existing, active programmatic campaign. It will be an easy, plug-and-play! Get in touch with your Account Manager now. If you’re interested in switching your digital advertising to programmatic, let’s get in touch! Click on the button below: Want to add Social Display Ads to your digital strategy? Let's Do It