Are you Utilizing the Power of YouTube Marketing
If you have been ignoring the impact of YouTube marketing, then you have been committing a cardinal marketing sin. There are some shocking statistics that will show you just why YouTube marketing has become a big hit. Nielsen report shows that in the year 2011, internet video streaming views increased by 35% compared to only 0.2% increase in television views in America. Mobile video viewing also increased by 20%; therefore, it is clear that internet video marketing (like YouTube) is now more popular, cheaper, and result oriented than the traditional TV marketing. As a matter of fact, the number of people who visit YouTube for entertainment, research, and education is alarming. YouTube is now the second most search engine by volume.
However, something else you should know is that about 35 hours of videos are being uploaded in YouTube every minute, meaning if you take 10 minutes to read this article, you will meet about 350 hours of newly uploaded YouTube videos. So what? So, it means that if you are thinking of using YouTube to advertise your products, then you should bear in mind that competition is extremely high; so, you need to approach it with some plan if you hope to achieve positive results. In other words, just uploading a video does not necessarily mean that you'll automatically get YouTube hits.
The following are two suggestions to get you started on how to get positive YouTube performance:
1. Just like a website, content is king, and good quality is paramount. Please invest some time to create a quality and compelling video before you upload. Potentials customers should find your videos useful, engaging, and attractive to view. If you let them feel like they have wasted their precious moment viewing you video, be sure that the video will never go viral, or worse still, they wont come back. The rule of the thumb is this: the video should address the needs of the viewers. Anything else is thrash. Therefore, invest some time in researching on what the customer needs and create something relevant. For instance, it doesn't help uploading a video that talks about meditation, yet you are selling cars. In that case, you would want to talk about 'how to maintain a car'.
2. Since it is Google that owns YouTube, you have to play by Google Search optimization rules to get an edge. For instance, in order for the video to be findable, it must have a title, good descriptions, and tags, among others. Also, you should create a brand if you want to attract and retain customers. This doesn't have to be done with massive investment; all you need is to be consistent with your content, create a similar backgrounds, create a playlist for the most popular videos, and choose an appropriate layout.
All in all, taking your business online is not an option in this internet age if you are to stay profitable, and relevant. YouTube presents you with one of the best channel of informing the online users about your presence; hence you should take advantage.
More Difficulties for Businesses to Reach Followers on Instagram
Did you know that Instagram is about to change in a massive way? Instagram has announced that they will be ditching the traditional reverse chronological feed for new algorithm-based personalized feeds.
Posts will no longer appear in a chronological order and instead, followers will see posts based on what they are interested in and their relationship with the person posting, similar to what Facebook does.
This means that Instagram is likely to place videos and photos it thinks you will most want to see from people you are following on top of your feeds, disregarding the time those pictures and videos were posted. For instance, if your friend posted a photo of her new pet 8 hours ago while you were in a meeting, Instagram might make that photo the first thing you see when you open the app. This will be based on your history of interactions with the friend.
Announcing the changes on March 5th via its blog, Instagram said its growing popularity triggered the move. Most users miss on average 70% of their feeds, and this has made it harder for people to keep up with all the content people share on a minute-by-minute basis. This has meant that people keep seeing images they don't care about most of the time.
Speaking to the New York Times, Instagram co-founder, Kevin Systrom, said the new changes will ensure that the 30% of what you care is what is give priority. However, Systrom was quick to point out that the changes will not be abrupt. The Instagram community will wake up one morning and find a different Instagram. Instagram users should expect to see the changes in the coming months.
Not everyone is happy though
Marketing experts claim that these changes are a precursor to what they call Instagram’s content monetization strategy’. You know that Facebook owns Instagram, and this is exactly what Facebook did in 2009 before it began to monetize. In essence, they are trying to limit organic reach, and many brands fear they will have to pay for what was once free to get noticed.
Currently, a post to say 50,000 followers reaches 50,000 feeds. But with the new algorithm, things will be more difficult. That means the number of followers you have will be of little consequence; instead, what will be more important is the level of engagement your content generates.
As a result, more than 190,000 people have signed a change.org appeal to maintain the status quo. With many of those opposed to the new algorithm-based feeds being small business owners, they fear they will no longer be able to reach their followers. It is very unlikely that Instagram will reverse its decision. Similar opposition reactions of “Change Facebook back to normal!!” was witnessed when Facebook changed its algorithm. Twitter also recently faced similar resistance when it tried to move to algorithm based feeds.
Therefore, brands should start bracing themselves up for the new model instead of hoping that the proposed changes will flop. Apart from increasing their Instagram marketing budget, brands should find ways of creating a more engaging content. Simply put, customer acquisition via Instagram is about to get expensive.
With millennial changes such as Instagram personalized feeds, Mjrvisuals can help you increase your reach out of that content in your website through our expertise. We run the gambit of visual imagination including video production, digital marketing, video editing, print design, advertising, graphic design, graphic animation, motion graphic and media design. Be part of our portfolio of clients and let us tell your story to the world. Click here to visit our website: mjrvisuals.com/
Why You Need a Quality Business Website
It is no longer debatable whether you need a website for your business or not. In order to remain competitive and relevant to the modern way of doing business, you need to have a business website to promote your goods and services.
It is, therefore, not a question of whether you need a website or not, but the quality of website you need. This is an age where everything is online. In fact, when people want certain information, the first place they go to is the Internet. That means if you want to compete effectively you need to have a website that ranks high in the search engines.
It doesn't matter what type of business you do. It does not matter whether you are selling services or tangible goods. It doesn't matter where you are located. What matters is the fact that you are online and competing with other business; both small and big corporations. Whatever the case, business websites create a big difference if they are of quality types.
What is a Quality Website?
A quality website is a website that is not just appealing from its overall look, but one that also contains quality content. Actually, quality, SEO friendly and relevant content comes first in the rankings of the features of a good site. Search engines like Google have designed algorithms that have the capability to sift spam sites from quality sites; therefore, if your website has low quality content, then it will suffer greatly in search engine rankings. Remember visitors who come to your site are only interested in relevant, accurate, and updated information, and if they can't find that in your site, they will quickly navigate away to another website or blog which has the information they are looking for.
Avoid high bounce rates
There is nothing as bad as having high bounce rates from your website because it affects your search engine rankings, as well as denying you the opportunity to profit from the potential customer. If other webmasters find out that you have quality content, chances are that they will link to your site. This can be a big boost to your site performance because search engines greatly value inbound links (the number of links that link to your site). Simply put, content is the king.
What a business website can do for you
It is quiet unfortunate that there are still some people who underestimate the significance of creating a quality website for their businesses. Some of them think that websites are only meant for news agencies, sports, bloggers, and government agencies, among others. The truth is that so long as you own a brick and mortar shop, you also need to open your business to the global customer base in the form of a website. You can view the website as a virtual shop. One of the best blessings we have had in the 21st century is the Internet. Why? Because it offers a level playing field for everyone, whether you own a small business or you own a multinational company.
Remain Open 24/7
Being open 24/7 is something that is next to impossible with the traditional brick-and-mortal shop. Moreover, it enables you to sell to anyone, anywhere in the world so long as you can cater for shipping arrangement. In addition, having a website legitimates your business, thereby, boosting the confidence of your potential clients. In other words, it makes your look professional. Most importantly, it is the perfect and more convenient platform from which you can offer customer service to your customers.
It is also important to note that websites are no different from the traditional shop fronts. They also need to be marketed and advertised to attract the attention of potential customers. With millions of other websites competing for the attention of a customer, it is easy to fail to get noticed, and even if you get noticed, it is easy to be abandoned by the customer for the next site. Lest you forget, the next competitor is only a click away. Therefore, it calls for a serious marketing campaign, advertising, and search engine optimization strategies to make it. Simply creating a website and leaving it there isn't going to make any difference.
Let Mjrvisuals help you engage that content in your website through our expertise, we run the gambit of visual imagination including video production, digital marketing, video editing, print design, advertising, graphic design, graphic animation, motion graphic and media design. Be part of our portfolio of clients and let us tell your story to the world. Click here to visit our website: mjrvisuals.com/
How to increase YouTube traffic
YouTube is an incredible social media platform that marketers can use to advertise their companies. Now, there are almost 100 hours of videos that are uploaded every minute to the site, meaning that video marketing has become popular. However, the only problem is that the competition is stiff. That being said, it is simple for your animated video to get lost in the gigantic video galaxy in YouTube. But I got news for you: there are some pretty simple but effective organic traffic generation tips to keep in mind.
- Make good first impression
Most people do not know how important those video thumbnails can be. Thumbnails are the first thing people will see whenever they come across your video. So, never underestimate their power. In that regard, the thumbnail should be click worthy. YouTube will automatically create the thumbnail for you and give you three options. You need to include something catchier. Feel free to customize the thumbnail and upload. I recommend trying them out, all of them, one at a time to see which one will perform better.
- Mind your title and video description
Your title and video descriptions are important, very important. They can help in improving your search research results. The first term should be relevant. It is always suggested to include a keyword in your descriptions. The title should also be clear and precise. The video description is where you can tell the audience what the video is about and how it going to solve their problems.
- Background image
You can complement your video content by accompanying them with a clearly designed background image. Apart from color and theme options, YouTube helps users to upload their own background images to stand out from the crowd.
- Feature your best video
Not all videos are the same. Some videos will be more popular than others will. Therefore, you ought to use your best videos to attract traffic for the new or less popular ones. Sometimes it is better to select another video to occupy the space left by the featured video.
- Add tags
It is important to tag your videos with keywords so that you can bring the viewers to yourself. To find these settings options, go to your channel.
- Take care of the comments
Many people make lousy mistakes that cost them thousands of loyal viewers: they fail to respond to the comments left by viewers. Although this might not look important, it is a serious offence when it comes to attracting and retaining viewers. However, you should be wary of spam comments because they are equally toxic to your content.
- Be active
Recent activities shown on your channel help your customers to know that you are active. Video owners who have liked other channels are also more likely to drive more traffic to their sites.
- Create a playlist
Users like playlist and creating one will be a big boost to your channel. Especially if you have a series of videos that have a sequence, it saves your customers the headache of scavenging through the heap.
Ensuring that You Achieve Online Reputation Management
Prudent Online reputation management for your business is very vital for the growth of your business. Your reputation is everything when it comes to growing your business online.
Online reputation management refers to a set of approaches and techniques that are aimed at improving and increasing a particular company’s online reputation. If the online reputation management is handled well, it can make a company successful; otherwise, it can break a company’s chance of further progress and success if it is mismanaged. The thing is that you are not going to leave your brand, business, or personality to chance. Apart from the products, good reputation is what the business really has.
Why Reputation Management is Important
Online Reputation management is very important to individuals and business. Professional reputation is vital, and need to be maintained at all times in order to achieve better results in search engines. The products of good reputation include receiving favorable customer testimonials for your goods and services as well as having high market ratings, compared to your peers. Suppose that your company receives too many negative comments concerning the products you sell, what would be the repercussion? Of course there is no need to go into that, but there is only one thing you will be sure to face-stagnation or decline of your business performance. From the customer perspective, a company what people say about a company is a very significant means of making a purchase decision.
Business entities and individuals should approach their online reputation management from a proactive angle. In other words, they have to actively control how their brand, product and company’s image is painted to the outside world. It involves actively removing negativity by substituting it with positive feedbacks to ensure that the business achieves longevity.
How Can Companies and Individuals Effectively Manage their Online Reputation?
One of the most popular approaches to achieving good reputation is by hiring an online reputation expert, whose work will be to specialize in managing online reputation. This will also include repairing negativity and introducing measures that will ensure that the company’s online reputation is well taken care of. A good example is where you can find a dissatisfied customer or a rogue competitor generating several articles in forums and blogs discrediting your product or services. In such a case, it is the work of the online reputation expert to counter such claims through the most effective means. Figuratively speaking, a good online reputation management involves preventing fires of negativity from being lit, as well as putting off those fires if they have already been lit, through feedback.
Normally, online reputation experts would monitor social sites, forums and blogs to scavenge for any information go around about the company. Generation quality, informative and promotional content is one way of enhancing a reputation of a company. The company should also integrate its website to social sites like Facebook, Linkedln, twitter, and YouTube, among others. A great emphasis should be put on the positive customer testimonials, product reviews and feedback. However, this doesn’t mean that negative feedback from customers should be ignored.
Traditional methods of maintain a company’s reputation or brand can still be utilized. Such methods may include billboards, fliers, mass media, press releases, and promotional campaigns.
How to convert your cold leads into hot prospects
No doubt, you have worked hard to get the leads. But the difference between successful marketers and the average is that the successful ones will convert their leads into prospects while the mediocre ones will leave their leads undecided.
However, there is a general misconception among business persons that they should convert every prospect they get caught in the trap of thinking they can while in the real sense, they end up wasting a lot of valuable time in trying to do the impossible. Here are some suggestions on how to turn those cold into hot prospects
Create an email list and add your new lists into your periodic campaigns
If you run a monthly email campaign, you can use it to follow-up on those prospects that have not made up their minds. Some people will be temporarily distracted while others will have their situations change, and the best thing to keep them on track is your periodic email updates.
Simply stay in touch
With so many things happening, your name is more likely to be forgotten as soon as you speak to your lead. Therefore, you must keep in touch to keep your name in their minds. One moment they could think they don’t need to join your business but their situation could change and change their minds. Keep in touch through newsletters, postcards, letters and articles, among other things.
Approach their business executive assistants and learn about their personality
Making use of Executive assistant is important as this will help you to know the person you are dealing with and the best approach to take. They might also be able to give you the reason why you were not successful in making the sale so that you can approach the person differently in the future.
How important is the sale? 
The thing you should ask yourself is how important the sale is going to be. If the sale is important, you need to determine other approaches or actions you are willing to take to make the sale happen. You need to find creative ways of convincing the lead(s) to buy supposing the sale was the most important thing in your career.
As already mentioned there is nothing you can do if your lead suddenly turns cold and proves difficult to convert to prospect despite doing everything possible to convince them. Rather than live in denial, you should gather courage and move on. Remember you need to focus your energy on other opportunities. It is important to bear in mind that you only have a limited time to do your business and you cannot spend long periods on one prospect. Actually knowing when to quit and move on is one of the key strength of entrepreneurs.
Spinning your wheels trying to convince unmotivated prospect to change their mind is a self-defeating approach. Even if you succeed in converting them, you will not get much value from them. Simple question to ask is: “what is the best use of my time right now?” dropping a potential lead may be difficult but it is worth it.