Video Marketing Isn't Going Away
It’s no secret that video marketing is, and will remain to be a huge marketing trend. Not only does video content marketing have the potential to drive sales through compelling content and storytelling, if your website includes video, but it’s also actually 50x more likely to drive organic search results compared to text. This is because users find video more captivating, and Google pushes pages that include videos higher in its rankings.
Here are a few more reasons why you should be using online video marketing in your business:
- 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video
- 93% of brands got a new customer because of a video on social media
- 43% of video marketers say video has reduced the number of support calls they’ve received
- 88% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive ROI
- 99% of people who use video marketing say they’ll continue doing so
Through the use of strategies such as sequential storytelling and day-in-the-life videos, for example, you can truly bring your brand to life on social media through video marketing.
Video SEO marketing is also important—YouTube and other online videos are displayed in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), so it’s going to be important to optimize your videos, as well—text overlays, closed captions, descriptions, titles, and file names are all important to your video SEO.
Linx has a robust history of video marketing for businesses across a variety of industries. Here are a few highlights from some of our recent video production projects:
ELMO Board Product Video
- Created a product marketing video for ELMO, a global leader in educational technology, introducing their new ELMO Board
- Released in 5 different languages to drive product sales around the world
Suburban Exterminating 5 Second Video Ads
- Developed a catalog of 5-second video ads for Long Island-based pest control company, Suburban Exterminating, promoting their “Pests Today, Gone Tomorrow” guarantee
- Used in YouTube retargeting ads to remind Suburban’s past website visitors of the company’s services
Ready to implement video into your marketing strategy? Click here to get started.
User-Generated Content is on the Rise
Content for your audience, created by your audience is a huge marketing trend and is a powerful, often unexplored resource for marketers trying to reach younger markets like Millennials and Gen Z. Creating a user-generated content marketing plan involves coming up with innovative ways to encourage your audience to share their own unique content, often by offering them something in return, such as a discount or partnering for a cause.
Recently, Linx created a monthly social giveaway program for Farmingdale Meat Market, a Long-Island-based butcher shop with a new national e-commerce website. Farmingdale’s social followers were encouraged to share photos of their cooked Farmingdale meats with their own followers in exchange for the chance to win a Farmingdale gift card, resulting in greater social engagement, brand recognition, and customer loyalty (during a pandemic, no less).
As a whole, user-generated content significantly increases brand engagement, helps SEO, builds loyalty with your customers, drives conversion rates, and according to a recent study by PR Newswire, has the potential to influence the decision to purchase in as many as 90% of shoppers.
So how can you create user-generated content?
- Encourage your audience to share photos of your products in exchange for an entry in a giveaway
- Create branded hashtags for your audience to use in social media posts
- Develop campaigns your audience buys into, with a shared effort toward a specific cause
- Leverage both product and service reviews
If you’re looking for help developing a marketing strategy that includes user-generated content, reach out to Linx today at thinkahead@redesign.dev.linx.com.
Instagram: The New Hub For Marketing
As many know, the evolution of social media has completely reshaped marketing by providing businesses with the tools that allow them to build loyal followings, create brand awareness and, most of all, generate more sales. What started out as a platform for people to connect with people, social media has quickly become the most effective form of marketing, connecting people with brands.
While Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are still among the most popular platforms leveraged by businesses, Instagram is on the rise and more and more companies are shifting their ad spend towards this channel. Which is a smart move, considering the expected user growth projections. “Instagram is predicted to add 26.9 million users in the U.S. by 2020. That’s far more than Facebook, Twitter or any other social platform.” (Entrepreneur.com ) At Linx, we make sure that our clients are aware of trends like this and help them Think Ahead to take advantage of new and growing channels, always keeping an eye on where their target customers are spending their time.
What makes Instagram a hub businesses and customers is that it offers a combination of popular features from Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, making it an all-inclusive social media platform. Recently, Instagram has also been one step ahead of its competitors, last week releasing a new video tie-in that goes head-to-head with YouTube and Snapchat. With this feature, influencers can distribute videos within Instagram, that they would otherwise place on other platforms. And, as Instagram is staying ahead of the curve, so should your business. Whether it be implementing story ads, newsfeed ads or partnering with an influencer, there are a multitude of opportunities to reach your customers through Instagram you may be missing out on… and many successful companies are increasing their ROI this way.
If you’re unsure of how to start an Instagram strategy or are struggling to produce an ROI on your current efforts, here are some ways to immediately increase your effectiveness.
Remarket in a new way and get more followers:
Tons of people are engaging with your ads and posts, but none of these people seem to be following your account. How can you change that?
Engaging with the likes, shares and comments you receive, you can convert these non-followers into followers, and eventually into customers. By re-engaging with those consumers who made the first move on your company’s post, it gives you the opportunity to market to them for a second time, and provides them with a unique and personal experience Resulting in a new follow. This approach adds more value and demonstrates your loyalty and care for your “new customers”.
Track every influencer marketing post:
If you are leveraging Instagram influencers, it is important to know that when working with multiple sources, sending them the same standard link will not benefit your company. Each influencer, should be given a unique link, so you are able to track your exact ROI from each of them. These links will help you determine which influencer is driving more traffic and sales to your website or product/services, as well as track each visitors’ behavior. With this information, you are able to shift your spend to the influencers producing the most the most ROI for your company.
Optimize your funnels with custom audiences:
As many of you know, Facebook feeds into Instagram, allowing marketers to run Facebook Ads and Instagram ads simultaneously. And, when creating an campaign on Facebook, you are able to create unique audiences based on any targeting parameters, as well as retarget visitors or purchasers. They key is not to run general ads, but rather various ads with unique messaging that speaks directly to your different segments at each stage of the sales funnel. Tracking every interaction and optimizing every element will extract maximum value at every opportunity.
Instagram is moving at a fast rate and it doesn’t seem to have a plan of slowing down anytime soon, that means businesses have to react to all these opportunities that instagram has to offer.That’s why our client rely on us to… Think Ahead! Contact us today and let us help you build a true brand value and increase your business ROI on Instagram and react faster new instagram features.
Facebook’s New Advertising Policy Forces Companies to Improve Customer Service
Facebook’s New Advertising Policy Forces Companies to Improve Customer Service
Facebook has put a new policy in motion to fight against yet another form of advertising abuse in an effort to prevent “bad shopping experiences,” and to avoid consumer frustrations with the Facebook platform. Users will now be surveyed on their experience if, after clicking on a Facebook Ad, they purchase something. If a business continues to receive poor reviews, Facebook could potentially limit or even ban that company from advertising on their platform in the future.
What Does This Mean For Advertisers?
Well, some businesses may see this new policy as a negative, but in reality, this can be an opportunity for companies to improve their customer service and operations. Many organizations may think they are currently serving their customers well, from their perspective, but fail to really analyze their internal processes from their customers’ point of view. That’s why it’s so important that marketing extends from the first customer touchpoint through the entire customer journey and relationship with your brand.
Think Ahead: Marketing Beyond the Ad
At Linx, our Strategic Advisory services approach marketing in a holistic way that includes a deep-dive into every client’s operations and processes – the root of the customer experience. By analyzing and restructuring organizations for optimal marketing success, we are building the foundation for memorable and enjoyable brand experiences that lead to customer retention and brand loyalty. And, your operations and processes must change and evolve as your business grows, and as new and changing marketing trends, and customer needs, develop.
So, Will The New Policy Affect Your Brand Negatively Or Positively?
The answer is… it’s up to you! Companies who have adopted an agile culture in today’s ever-changing world are primed to continuously improve their customer experience and grow their business. These are the brands who are listening to and communicating with their customers, personalizing their experiences and engaging them in more than just their products or services. Companies that are not doing this are risking the retention of customers to those who are!
Linx helps CMF launch new program; Heroes with Heart
Being hospitalized can be scary for anyone, but for a young child it can be traumatizing. That’s why the Children’s Medical Fund works tirelessly every day to bring a smile to the faces of these young patients and their families. Here at linx communications we are excited to launch a new program with our longtime client, Children’s Medical Fund to bring some a happiness and fun to children’s hospitals across Long Island.
The program, Heroes with Heart, is a very unique opportunity in which hospitalized children get to meet their favorite superheroes and have a well-deserved day of fun! These children deal with difficult circumstances every day, which is why we felt it was important to help put a smile on their faces and remind them that they’re not alone in their fight.
This August kicked off the first Heroes with Heart event at Cohen Children’s Medical Center and it was beyond successful. Six superheroes, including Spiderman, Iron Man and Wonder Woman visited Cohen Children’s Medical Center “Patient Party”, interacted with the kids and their families, partook in activities such as games and crafts, took pictures and brought carts full of super hero toys. The children, their parents and families could not stop smiling; they enjoyed every second of the event.
We were able to attend the kickoff event and watch Heroes With Hearts turn into a reality, which was an incredible experience. Being able to see the program in action and witness its success was more then we could have ever imagined.
The Heroes with Heart program would have not been achieved without the help of the generous sponsors that supported this amazing idea and helped make the kick-off event at Cohens Children’s Hospital extremely impacting and memorable. Rubie’s Costume Company donated six super hero costumes for our volunteers to wear as well as donating over 100 children’s costumes for the children to wear on Halloween, this left the children ecstatic. On the day of the event 1Motion Media helped capture all the smiles and fun had by all the children with video production. Overall, here at Linx we are extremely happy with the results the kick- off event. We look forwards to helping CMF launch Heroes with Heart in children’s hospitals across Long Island.
If you would love to learn more or are interesting in donating to Heroes with Heart program, donation options and additional information can be found at http://www.cmfny.org/introducing-heros-with-heart/.
