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In this article:\nWhat makes Instagram Stories more effective than other social media\nWhy your small business needs to be on Instagram\nInstagram owns the youth market\nTips for using Instagram Stories for your small business\nAny marketing guru worth their salt will tell you that in today’s market, social media engagement is one of the best ways to build trust from potential and current customers. Even for super-small, local businesses. Here’s why you should consider using Instagram Stories as a highly effective small business marketing tool.\nWhat makes Instagram Stories more effective than other social media for businesses?\nFacebook has been the traditional “go-to” for a business looking to get into social media, but Instagram shows far better engagement and conversion figures. According to Neil Patel, 68% of Instagram users regularly engage with brands, compared to only 32% on Facebook.\nInstagram Stories in particular boasts crazy-good engagement figures among its 400 million daily users. An incredible 1 in 5 Instagram Stories shared by a brand receives a direct reply. This alone can provide invaluable insights into your current and potential customers’ thoughts about your products and services.\nHere’s another biggie: 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business. That would probably seem strange to marketers a couple of decades ago, but today, businesses have become personalities, like any other social media content creator.\nNeed more evidence? 75% of Instagrammers take action (such as visiting your website after viewing your Instagram post or Story). This all adds up to a 2.2% “interaction rate” for Instagram. That may sound like small potatoes, until you learn that Facebook has a 0.22% rate. That means that Instagram is \nNINE HUNDRED PERCENT more effective than Facebook\n in generating action from your potential customers.\nIf your business wants to target the youth market, you \nmust\n be on Instagram \nInstagram is now the top platform for teenagers, largely because the “Instagram Story” feature is a not-so-subtle ripoff of Snapchat (which has fallen to second place). 72% of U.S. teens use Instagram, and the number grows daily.\nInstagram’s mobile-friendly tap-to-navigate platform, fun face-filter tools, and image- and video-based content is the epitome of youthful social media success.\nHow to use Instagram Stories to grow your business\nSmall business marketing’s entire \nraison d’être\n is engagement, and Stories is the king of Instagram engagement, which is in turn the undisputed king of social media engagement.\nInstagram Stories make your business feel more fun, human, and personal\nWhile your main Instagram page should be super-clean and bright, with professional-looking, well-composed photography, Stories is a way to make your business’s “personality” more casual, fun, human, maybe even a little bit fallible. \nIf you use Stories effectively, people can start to identify with your company and start to think of you as a friend rather than just someone who provides goods and services they like.\nSince Stories default to a 24-hour life cycle (before they disappear forever—but more on this later) they can convey less formal, “throwaway” content that can feel at once more immediate and more personal and valuable to some consumers than the “put on your best face” aspect of your main Instagram page. \nIronically, this lowering of expectations from consumers can make your business seem more authentic and personable, more “real.”\nUse Instagram Stories to highlight products, offers, sales, and special events\nNaturally, products and services can be the subject of a Story. With the “swipe up” feature, you can direct your followers to any link, page, sale, website, or other social media account you wish.\nStories is a great way to try out new content, test an offer, etc. If you get a good response, you can consider making them a more permanent feature via your regular Instagram posts and/or your website.\nTake the opportunity to show owners and/or employees using your products and services. Maybe show them struggling with issues in a human way. (Do you run a gym? Consider profiling an employee or customer—with permission—struggling to lose weight or reach a fitness goal. Salons and pet businesses can show stylists or technicians doing interesting hairstyles or nails or treatments. Restaurants can show a “behind the scenes” look at how a popular dish is made. The possibilities are endless.)\nStories can show how your products and services fit into everyday life. You can share tips, how-tos, product demonstrations, unboxings, reviews, rants, raves, whatever you want. \nYou might feature a Story about recent positive customer testimonials and recommendations, or highlight recent reviews from Yelp, Google, or TripAdvisor.\nUse your Story to link to your blog, website, youtube channel, or any other interesting content to build interest and improve conversions. Make it special and engaging.\nBonus: Instagram Stories are given front-page priority on both Instagram AND Facebook. Take advantage!\nUse fun Story features like polls, geotagging, and hashtags to increase engagement\nThe “polls” tool encourages enormous engagement on Stories. A simple, binary “this” or “that” option gets people to express their preference with a simple tap, and you can direct them to related products that build on that choice. \nYou can also ask a couple of fun questions on your main Story page, and then “swipe up” to finish the quiz, complete the form, visit the website, or get a coupon for an in-store offer.\nUse “geotagging” (built-in location link) in your Story to let people know where your store is, where you’ve visited, where a special event is going on, etc.\nInstagram Stories also lets you use #hashtags and people tags, face filters, and all the other fun tools Instagram has to offer. By tagging other Instagrammers, businesses, or people you like, or whom you think your customers would like, you create valuable connections and keep people coming back for more.\nBe sure to respond when people engage with your Instagram Story\nAs noted above, the response rate for Stories can be very high compared to other media. So make sure you are actually available to respond to DMs (direct messages) while your Story is up. Instagrammers can contact you directly with a quick tap of their fingers, so if you plan to use Instagram Stories to build your brand or attract new customers, make sure you actually engage those customers when they respond to your story or ask questions about your products and services. Otherwise you may convey that your business is unresponsive.\nBut… my Instagram Stories will disappear after 24 hours!\nNot so fast, bub. Although the default setting for Stories is to disappear forever after 24 hours, you can select “save to archive” when creating your Story and it will be saved in your main Instagram account.\nEven better, use Instagram Stories Highlights to feature any Stories you want to share with your followers indefinitely.  \nRemember, your “Highlights” should be the absolute best of your Stories, displaying the most popular or highest-quality content that features your business.\nConsider Instagram ads\nIf you want to maximize your results on Instagram, consider augmenting your audience with targeted Instagram ads. Facebook owns Instagram, and Facebook’s demographic segmentation and targeting are second to none. If you pay for advertising on Instagram, you exploit those powerful Facebook resources, and your ads may be displayed on both platforms, depending on which options you select.\nInstagram Stories help you engage with your customers and portray your business in a fun, human light. \nSources:\n
\nhttps://neilpatel.com/blog/marketers-guide-to-instagram-stories/\n
\nhttps://neilpatel.com/blog/b2b-leads-from-instagram-stories/\n
\nhttps://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-use-instagram-stories\n

Why Instagram Stories are the most underrated small business marketing tool

In this article:\nHow can Instagram Story Highlights help me market my business?\nHow to create Instagram Story Highlights\nBest practices for Instagram Story Highlights for businesses\nInstagram Stories is a powerful resource for posting frequent updates on your business’s Instagram account without bombarding your followers with tons of posts. But sometimes, those stories have super helpful content that you want to keep for longer than 24 hours. Smart business owners are turning Instagram Stories into a robust marketing tool! \nInstagram Stories has a highlights feature that allows you to save your best stories on your profile indefinitely. Learn how to use Instagram Story Highlights for your business with our quick tips and guide. \nHow can Instagram Story Highlights benefit my business?\nBeyond allowing you to keep your Instagram Stories content for longer than 24 hours, this feature has several benefits that your small business should take advantage of. \nEasily categorize your story content\nThe highlights feature allows you to easily categorize any content that you put into your Instagram Stories. You can create multiple categories under which to save different types of content (we’ll show you how to do this below). \ncell phone with Instagram Stories image\n\nKeep relevant and timely content front and center\nRather than creating a post that can get lost in the feed of your Instagram profile, you can save stories as highlights that are pinned to the top of your profile. This keeps timely highlights front and center for your customers and followers to easily access. \nYou can always edit these highlights or remove them when they are no longer relevant. \nRecruit new employees with new job updates\nHighlights are a great strategy for enticing new recruits for your business if you're to the point where you need to hire help. Add some local tags to a recruitment story and save it to a specific highlights category for new job postings. Then your followers can check back whenever you have a new opening. \nIncrease customer trust\nIncrease customer trust by sharing what goes on behind the scenes. Humanize your employees by sharing clips of them helping customers, getting trained, or engaging in team-building activities. \nConnect with your followers on a personal level by allowing them a little peek behind the curtains. \nGo deeper: \nWhy Instagram Stories is the most underrated small business marketing tool\nHow to create Instagram Story Highlights\nLog into your business Instagram account on a mobile device, and let’s get started. \nStep 1: Create an Instagram Story\nWhen you want to create a new Instagram Stories highlight, you’ll first need to create an Instagram Story. You can only save previous stories in the highlights section on your profile. \nTo add a new story, go to your profile and tap the plus icon on your profile picture. \nscreen grab adding instagram stories\n\nTake a new picture or video, or upload one, and tap “Your Story” in the bottom left corner to save it to your story. \nStep 2: Add a new album to your highlights\nOnce you’ve created the Stories that you want to feature on your highlights, go to your profile and tap “New” under the “Story Highlights.” Choose the story that you want to feature as the cover for your new album and click “Next.”\n(Image)\n\nEdit the cover and add a title to your new album. \nClick “Done” and go back to your profile to see your new highlights album. \n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Add stories to your album\nMake your new album interesting by adding more stories to it. \nFirst, tap the album that you just created and then select the three-dot “More” button at the bottom right of your screen. \n(Image)\n\nSelect “Edit Highlight” to add another story under this album. \n(Image)\n\nNext, select “Add” and choose the story that you want to add to that album. Tap “Done.”\n(Image)\n\nStep 4: Remove stories from highlights\nIf you ever want to remove a story from your highlights, simply go to the album that story is in, and then select the three-dot “More” button when that particular story appears. \nSelect “Remove from Highlight” and then tap “Remove photo.”\n(Image)\n\nBest practices: Instagram Story Highlights for businesses\nNow that you know how to add Story Highlights to your Instagram business profile, here are a few best practices to really take your highlights the extra mile. \nCreate cover photos and categorize your highlights\nTake advantage of the organizational capabilities that Story Highlights offers to make a visually compelling highlights section on your profile. \nCreate cover photos and titles to help categorize your highlights and add the stories that you want to save to their relevant category. \n(Image)\n\nThis can also help you generate awareness for specific services or products that you offer, so share away!\nTip: \nCanva\n is a free tool that you can use to create Instagram Story cover photos. They have free and premium templates to choose from to help you get started. \nKeep highlight titles short\nYou have up to 15 characters for your highlight album titles, but Instagram only displays the first 8-10 characters on your profile. We suggest keeping your titles brief so that your followers can see the entire description of that album. \nKeep your highlights timely and relevant\nAdd new promotions or job openings to your highlights when they are coming up. But as these events end, be sure to remove them from your highlights so you don’t have stagnant, irrelevant content upsetting the user experience. \nMaintain consistency\nKeep some visual consistency across your highlights. This will show that you really know what you’re doing and provide a richer user experience that won’t create a disconnect when your followers are switching between highlights. \nFor your album covers especially, keep some consistency for the overall aesthetic flow of your Instagram profile. \nUse tags to get more views\nTag locations and relevant profiles in the stories that you choose to highlight. This will help you get more viewers for those particular highlights and ideally help increase your following and brand awareness. 

How to use Instagram Story Highlights to market your small business

In this article:\nWhat is a promoted Tweet?\nWhy you need Twitter for Business\nBest practices for Twitter advertising\nHow to promote a Tweet on your business account\nOther forms of social media advertising that you should try\nTwitter is a huge resource for sharing news and getting updates in real time. Because of this, it’s the perfect place to connect with industry leaders and customers who have a relevant interest for your business. \nHowever, with the average lifespan of a Tweet being around 18 minutes, it’s easy for your Twitter messages to get lost in the crowd. \nPromoting your Tweets\n can help you get more exposure and traffic. Read on to learn more about promoted Tweets and how you can set them up on your business Twitter account. \nWhat is a promoted Tweet?\nA promoted Tweet is the same—content wise—as any other Tweet. You still have your 280-character limit (since late 2017) and can add an image to it if so desired. But, promoted Tweets can achieve a broader reach through paid amplification. You can choose your target audience, set a budget, and watch as your Tweet receives more engagement and traffic.  \nFirst, you need Twitter for Business\nBefore you can start any kind of Twitter promotion, you need to have a Twitter business account. \nGet started with our guide: \nHow to create a business Twitter account\nThen, you can begin promoting your Tweets and gaining more exposure for your brand on this highly popular social media giant. \nBest practices for advertising on Twitter\nAs with every marketing strategy, there are some best practices you should keep in mind to get the most benefits from your Twitter advertising campaign. \n1. Focus on the copy\nTwitter isn’t as visual a platform as Instagram, Pinterest, or even Facebook. Users engage more frequently with Tweets that tell a compelling story or bit of information through the written word. So be sure to write or source good copy for your Tweets that will compel users to engage with them. \n2. Use a strategy of continuous promotion, rather than a one-off\nMultiple exposures to promoted Tweets from the same brand can lead to a 10% lift in brand favorability compared to those who only saw one Tweet from the same brand or campaign. This shows that your business can benefit from a continuous Twitter promotion strategy to increase the exposure of your brand to potential customers.  \n3. Include a call to action\nDon’t promote a Tweet with no real purpose. Include a CTA (call-to-action) that will drive consumers into doing something, whether you are asking them to Retweet, respond, or visit your website. Catch their attention, and then ask them to do something. \n 4. Create timely messages\nAs mentioned, Tweets die quickly, so be sure to create a timely message that people will either be searching for already or will be interested in because they recently heard something about that message. Some great examples of this are big games in the sporting world, celebrity gossip, and political movements. \nTimely news related to your industry is always a good topic to test out in your advertising as well. \nThis can be a tall order for local, small businesses, but we’ve seen some very successful campaigns from places like cookie shops or other “cult” restaurants with varying menus. They tweet updates or specials to drive local business and get customers excited about this week’s flavors.\nHow to promote a Tweet on your business account\nNow that you have a Twitter account and a few good tips for your promotion strategy, let’s get started on promoting your first Tweet.\nWe’ll walk you through two options for creating a Tweet promotion: Quick Promote and the traditional promotion. \nQuick Promote is a good strategy if your Tweet already has a lot of engagement and you want to boost it even further without going through the process of creating an entire campaign. \nThe traditional method is a better option if you don’t already get a lot of traffic on Twitter and are just getting started. It also allows you more flexibility in your targeting and budget options. \nOption 1: Quick Promote\nStep 1: Log into your business Twitter account\nGo to \ntwitter.com\n and sign in. \nscreen capture of twitter login\n\nStep 2: Go to your business profile\nFind your profile icon on the left menu bar (if you’re using a desktop). Click on it to go to your business profile. \n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Select a Tweet that you want to promote\nNext, find a recent Tweet of yours that you want to promote, or create a new Tweet and then promote that one. Go to the tweet you want to promote and click the activity icon. \nThen, click “Promote your Tweet” in the window that pops up. \n(Image)\n\nStep 4: Promote your Tweet\nIn the next window, select a location for your Tweet to reach, choose your budget from the options provided, and click “Confirm Spend.”\n(Image)\n\nOption 2: The traditional method\nStep 1: Log into your business Twitter account\nGo to \ntwitter.com\n and sign in. \n(Image)\n\nStep 2: Go to Twitter Ads\nFind the three-dot icon on the left menu bar (if you’re using a desktop). Click on it and then click “Twitter Ads.”\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Create a campaign\nFind the “create campaign” button on the top right of your screen and click on it. \n(Image)\n\nSelect an objective for your new campaign. \n(Image)\n\nName your campaign and add a daily budget (and total budget if desired). Select a start and end date for your campaign. You can also choose to run the ad ongoing. Click “Next” in the top right corner. \n(Image)\n\nNext, you’ll set up an ad group. Ad groups are used to organize your ads within a single campaign. This allows you to have different targeting for different ads within the same campaign. \nName your ad group, add a start and end time if different from the campaign start and end time. Add a total group budget if different from the total campaign budget. Select your bid type–automatic or maximum–and click next. \nNote: Automatic bidding is the default option for Twitter ads, and Twitter will select how much an engagement is worth based on your budget. With the maximum bid option, you can choose how much a single engagement is worth to you. \n(Image)\n\nNext, it’s time to add audience targeting. \nStart by selecting the demographics that you wish to target: gender, ages, locations, languages, and type of device they use. \n(Image)\n\nThen, you can choose additional features for your audience, like specific interests or behaviors that they exhibit. When you’re done narrowing down your audience, click “Next” in the top right corner. \n(Image)\n\nNow it’s time to select the Tweet, or Tweets, that you want to promote in this campaign. \nChoose the Tweet(s) you want to promote and click “Next.”\n(Image)\n\nLastly, review all of the details of your campaign, make any last-minute edits if necessary, and launch your campaign. Go back to Twitter Ads periodically to see how your ads are performing. \n(Image)\nOther forms of social media advertising that you should try\nTwitter isn’t the only advertising platform that can help with brand awareness and gaining more online visibility for your business. Facebook and Instagram are also great channels to use to get more leads, awareness, and consideration for your brand. \nThe best part about Facebook and Instagram advertising is that (since Facebook owns Instagram) they are both run by the same platform: Facebook Ads Manager.\nTo create Facebook and Instagram ads for your business, check out our guide: \nHow to set up Facebook Ads Manager for your small business\n.\nSources:\n
\nhttps://blog.twitter.com/marketing/en_us/a/2013/nielsen-brand-effect-for-twitter-how-promoted-tweets-impact-brand-metrics.html\n

How to promote Tweets on Twitter for your small business

In this article:\nReasons to use online ordering/delivery for your restaurant\nThird-party services to try\nIn today’s fast-paced world, consumers want the convenience of being able to order their food online and even having it delivered to their home or workplace. \nWe’ve outlined several reasons why your restaurant should consider online ordering and how your business can benefit from offering this service, even for super-small, one-person restaurants, food carts, and pop-ups. \n1. Consumers expect online ordering for restaurants\nServices like Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash have changed the restaurant experience. Consumers have become accustomed to their favorite restaurants offering online ordering and delivery services, whether through third parties or directly through the business itself. \nIf you’re not offering online ordering and delivery from your restaurant, you are falling behind and letting the competition capture these customers who expect these services. \n2. More opportunities for new restaurant customers\nBecause more people expect and want the convenience of being able to order online and/or have their food delivered, you can gain many more opportunities to gain new customers with an online ordering system. \nProvide your restaurant with every chance to succeed and grow by capturing every opportunity you can to gain new customers. \n3. Increased revenue\nMore customer opportunities means more revenue for your restaurant. When customers are choosing your restaurant over competitors because you have online ordering capabilities, you are getting the profits. \nAll of the reasons listed previously and after this point also contribute to more revenue for your business. (However, pay close attention to the service fees from places like Grubhub and DoorDash. See our important caveats below.) \n4. Online restaurant ordering saves time for employees\nBy allowing your customers to order for themselves, you can save more time for your employees. This means they can spend more time preparing orders and getting them out quicker, keeping your customers satisfied and serving more customers at a quicker pace. \nOnline ordering keeps your employees off the phones and business moving. Also, if you partner with a delivery service like Grubhub or Uber Eats, your employees aren’t spending their time making deliveries to your customers. This allows them to pump out more orders and increase your profits. \nonline restaurant ordering\n\n5. Enhance your restaurant marketing\nOnline ordering systems can greatly enhance your restaurant’s marketing. You can offer online-only deals that compel consumers to purchase online. You can display fun promotions on your website and in your online ordering system that would be difficult to display on your in-store menu. \nEveryone loves a deal, and online ordering is a great way to give it to them. \nOnline ordering is also a great way to capture customer emails, and then you can remarket to these customers to bring them back to your restaurant the next time they are in a rush and want to order a convenient meal. \nGo deeper:\n20 free advertising ideas for your restaurant\n6. Keep up with (or get ahead of) the competition\nIf you don’t have online ordering capabilities and you aren’t using a delivery service, you are falling behind. \nThe restaurant industry is not slowing down—it’s only getting busier and more competitive. Gain every new customer opportunity that you can by providing your customers with online ordering and delivery. \nMany restaurants are still stuck in the dark ages and don’t want to adopt new technologies because they don’t like change. But change is necessary in this world of technological advances, so it’s time to get with it. \n7. More accurate restaurant orders\nOrdering through a drive-through window or over the phone usually comes with loud background noise, and it can be difficult for your employees to tell what a customer is saying, leading to dissatisfied customers when their order is wrong. \nWhen customers are putting in their own orders, the accuracy rates of those orders improves dramatically and your customer retention rate will improve with it.  \nonline food order and delivery\n\n8. Keep better track of customer data\nWith online orders, you get more customer data than you would with over the phone or in-store orders. Customers provide their own contact information and you can keep track of their orders and see what items on your menu get ordered the most.\nThis can help you to constantly improve your menu and make sure revenue is always increasing as you see which items perform better and which items are costing you more money. \n9. Expand your customer base\nOnline ordering and delivery services all you to expand your customer base. For most of the reasons we’ve mentioned above, you can gain new customers easily when they see that your restaurant offers these services. \nBecause of increased order accuracy and the convenience online ordering and delivery offer, your customer retention rate can go through the roof, too. \nOnline ordering becomes a habit for consumers, so once they’ve found a favorite item and have the convenience of their order being saved and ordering with the click of a button, you may have just gained the customer for life. \nOnline ordering systems to consider, and some caveats\nIf we’ve convinced you that online ordering is definitely the next step of advancing your restaurant to the modern age, and you don’t want to mess with trying to manage an online ordering and delivery operation yourself, then here are a few solutions you can try to get you there. \nGrubhub\nUber Eats\nDoorDash\nThe perks of these third-party services is that they are becoming very well-known, so customers will trust using them at your restaurant. Each of these services can offer sweet discounts and perks and contribute to all of the reasons your restaurant should have an online ordering system. \nThey integrate easily with your website and provide a user-friendly way for customers to order their food and have it delivered. \nHowever, be aware that these third-party order and delivery platforms are not cheap.\n With the commission, delivery charges, transaction fees, etc. often adding up to 25% and sometimes even 40% of the total cost of the meal. If you’re not careful, you could actually end up paying your customers to eat your food.\nthird party restaurant delivery cost\n\nThis could be absorbed as part of an initial marketing strategy to gain market share, but is potentially not scalable over the long haul, depending on your restaurant’s particular offerings.\nLocal restaurants often run on very thin margins, and while embracing online ordering and delivery can bring you new business, if you’re not fully aware of the costs you can quickly get in over your head.\nBut online ordering is definitely the way of the future, and any strides you can take will be well appreciated by today’s tech-savvy customers. As competition grows, costs will likely stabilize and there will be other platforms that may give you the marketing and sales boost you need without taking too much of a cut. 

9 reasons why your restaurant needs online ordering and delivery services

In this article:\nKeep up with the changing rules of email marketing\nFundamental “dos and don’ts” for improving marketing email engagement\nShould I use emojis and other symbols in my email subject lines?\nWhen is the best time to send marketing emails?\nWhy you should consider professional help with your emails\nSo you’ve taken the time to get your business set up to send marketing emails. That’s great! Studies show email marketing has the highest ROI of any marketing approach, and the volume of email still dwarfs all social media by a healthy margin.\nHowever, if you’re not optimizing your email process, content, subject lines, and deliverability, you could be spinning your wheels. In this article we’ll go over some of the key tips, techniques, and tricks to improve your marketing email engagement.\nEverything matters, and “the rules” of email marketing change often\nTo start off with, creating an effective marketing email is not easy. There’s a reason why big companies spend billions of dollars on teams, software, and content to improve email function, deliverability, click-through-rate (CTR), and general engagement. So don’t assume you can just blast everyone on your list with a sloppy “give us your money!” message and expect the dough to roll in.\nYou need to pay careful attention to every aspect of your marketing emails, and ideally, get professional help.\nEmail marketing success is in constant flux, and the “rules” that apply today may need to be updated or changed next month. So it’s a good idea to reevaluate your approach often, and be open to improvements. However, our experts have provided some key “do’s” and “don’ts” for better email marketing success.\nInclude your value proposition in the first couple of sentences\nIf you want good open rates, get to the point quickly. Focus hard on your subject line, your pre-header, and your first sentence. \nSpend some time thinking about every word. Write down several variations and ask a friend or employee to tell you which one catches their attention. (You should also try A/B testing several variations and keep track of which performs best. More on this later.)\nShort email subject lines that are carefully crafted to be both catchy and informative tend to perform the best. If your subject line is too long, the email provider may cut it off. 5-8 words is usually the most successful. \nDon’t send too many emails… or too few\nUnless your customers fit very specific use cases, they likely won’t appreciate you sending them a marketing email every day. (Of course, if they signed up for “deal of the day” emails, that’s another story). One a week is probably okay, but be absolutely sure you’re not just sending the same offer over and over.\n\nHave a specific reason for emailing your current and potential customers, and make it worth their while to click.\nOn the other side of the coin, if you only send one email a year, people will likely forget who you are. You’ll have to adjust according to your testing and feedback, but anywhere from once a week to once a month is generally appropriate, assuming you’re providing real value.\nTest your campaigns and see whether you get better results with a bigger offer sent once a month, or whether you see more engagement with more regular emails that may not have quite as big a reward for the customer.\nShould I use emojis in my marketing emails?\nOld-school email marketing gurus shudder at the thought of including those pesky “smiley faces” in the subject line of a “professional” email. However, depending on your business’s brand strategy and personality, it may be entirely appropriate. Today’s consumers are almost all on mobile devices, where emojis are not only common, they are expected.\nWe’ve found that the basic “hand wave,” thumbs-up, “pray/hands,” and “big smile” emojis perform well. Our general recommendation regarding emojis is they can be appropriate and effective for marketing/sales emails, but for announcement or informational emails, it’s probably best to not use them. \nThis is something else you should be testing in your email campaigns. Try sending one batch including an emoji, and one batch (using the otherwise identical subject line) without an emoji. If you find emojis perform better, try a batch with a different emoji, and see which performs best for you and your customers.\nSymbols, special characters, and some words may impact deliverability, depending on email service provider\nAn important note: while emojis, symbols, dollar signs, and other attention-grabbing subject-line tricks may improve email open rates and engagement in certain cases, they may also get your emails flagged by automatic spam-detection engines on some email service providers. \nWhat’s more, some filters will automatically send emails with subject lines that include dollar signs, asterisks, exclamation points, symbols, “FREE,” etc. to the recipient’s spam folder, so your customers might not even see the email you so carefully crafted.\nOf course, you should always get permission to send emails to EVERY recipient on your list, and follow the rules about including an opt-out/unsubscribe link in every email, but even when you do this, if you put “****>>>SAVE HUUUGE WITH OUR FREEEEE MONEY SAAAALE!!$$$$<<<****” in your subject line, you might get your emails automatically flagged or not delivered at all.\nThis is another reason why you should be testing regularly to see what resonates with your recipients.\nDon’t ignore the “preview” or “pre-header”\nIf you want to have strong open rates you need to focus on your pre-header (your first sentence, or whatever the email software displays). When you look at a list of emails on your phone or in an email platform on your desktop, what is typically shown is the sender name, subject line (or part of it), the pre-header, and some of the first line of your email.\nBe sure to test-send your emails to yourself and check on multiple platforms to make sure the preview/pre-header is what you want people to see and pay attention to. If not, fix it!\nKeep your emails short: within one “thumb scroll” on mobile is best\nToday’s consumers are inundated with messaging in varied forms. So when we say “get to the point quickly,” we mean within the first sentence or two… and when we say “keep your email short,” we mean within one thumb scroll on a mobile device.\nIt may be tempting to craft a tome that slowly builds interest for a committed reader, but save that for your webpage or other online marketing avenues. For email, get to the point and include a clear call-to-action quickly. Most people aren’t actually reading your emails anyway, but rather skimming to get to the meat of the message.\nYour call-to-action (CTA) should be specific, high in the email, and buttons work best\nWe’ve found that for maximum engagement, your CTA needs to be towards the top of your email. Again, it should be within the first scroll on mobile devices.\nAdditionally, “button” or image-based CTAs have produced higher click-through-rates. Regarding your call to action, carefully ask and answer the following questions:\nWhat is the reader’s motivation for clicking the button?\nWhat is the reader going to get when they click the button?\nIs it very clear what they will get? \nAs for what color the CTA button should be for best engagement, we have found there is no statistically significant difference between different colors of the button. Just make sure it’s easy to see and easy to read.\n\nWhen is the best time to send marketing emails for maximum engagement?\nEveryone is different, so be sure to test your list and track your results. However, we’ve found the following as a general rule.\nBest times to send emails:\nTuesday mornings\nThursday mornings\nWednesday mornings\nSaturday mid-mornings (10 am-noon)\nWorst times to send emails: \nAnytime after 5 pm \nFridays\nMondays \nSaturday after noon \nSundays\nHow many links are best in a marketing email?\nYou may be tempted to include every possible bit of info about your business in every email, since this might be the “one chance” you have to reach a particular customer. \nHowever, if you want maximum email engagement, don’t go nuts with the links. Keep them to 3 or fewer in a single email, and we see the best performance from emails with just 2 links (excluding required links such as unsubscribe options and links to your business’s terms of service if applicable). \nBe sure to double-check all links both for accuracy of the URL and for functionality on both desktop and mobile. Can your fingers easily click on each link on your mobile device? If not, fix it!\nEmail engagement tips from a pro\nEllen Ford, Marketing Communications Specialist, shares some of the email tips that have attracted the attention of reporters and scored her team unpaid placements in the \nNew York Times\n, \nThe Washington Post\n, \nBloomberg\n, AP, and Reuters, among many others.\n“Format matters! Number one, make sure the format you use looks good on desktop and mobile screens. Number two, make sure to split up different thoughts into different paragraphs. This may seem obvious, but I still receive huge, one-paragraph emails that border on unreadable due to their wall-of-text format”\n“Don’t be afraid to experiment with subject lines. Depending on the audience, catchy subject lines may work better than down-to-business subject lines, and vice versa. You’ll need to figure out which method works best for your message and business.”\n“When it comes to the body of the email, cut the fluff, but be interesting. Most people are skimming promotional emails, not reading them word-for-word, which means you need to get to the point quickly. But don’t sacrifice character for succinctness. Use a tone that will keep the reader engaged while you lay out the important information.”\n“Don’t overdo it with the links. Inserting 2 or 3 per email is standard. More than that might be going overboard.”\nEllen’s tips are a valuable look into a very successful marketing and PR team’s approach to email engagement success—one that can work for any business looking to improve their email marketing results.\nEvery local business should use email marketing \nOne final thought to leave you with: happy customers often don’t come back to your store. According to a Bain & Company study, 60-80% of customers who describe themselves as satisfied do not go back to do more business with the company that initially satisfied them. Why? It may be because there is a lack of connection.\nCustomers forget. Customers are busy. It’s natural.\nThat’s why, for small business owners, \nemail marketing\n is the best way to create a lasting connection that keeps customers coming back with smiles on their faces and cash in their hands. 

How to improve marketing email engagement (9 important tips!)

If you haven’t searched using the terms “near me” on your smartphone, you’re in the minority. According to a Google report, “near me” searches have increased by 200%. What is a “near me” search? It’s simply when a smartphone user searches retailers, restaurants, gyms, ATMs, dry cleaners, pet services, pressure washing services, and whatever else “near me.” It’s a hyper-local way to search and is exploding in popularity. This can mean big business for you, if you know a few key ways to show up in “near me” search results.\nMobile searching is completely changing the way people shop today. Uberall polled holiday shoppers in the US and UK and reported that 83% of US shoppers used “near me” searches, which aligns with previous data from earlier in the year stating that 82% of shoppers use “near me” searches. One of the most critical points about these “close to me” search results is that more than 90% of survey participants said they were likely to click on the first set of results. You might be asking yourself, “How can I make sure my business shows up in searches ‘near me’”? \nIt’s not rocket science to improve your online presence and maximize local search results, but there are a few key steps you must undertake.\n1. Claim your business listings and keep them updated\nThe first step to taking control of your online business reputation is to claim your listings on all the popular online review sites like Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Facebook. Even if you have never intentionally created a business profile on these sites, chances are your customers are already leaving you reviews, and these platforms automatically create a profile for your business (whether you know it or not). Yet, according to a national study, only 33% of of all Yelp listings and 44% of Google listings have been claimed. Ridiculous! Don’t be “that guy.” \nIt’s also very important that you regularly review and update your information listed on these sites. That same national study showed that only 23% of businesses update their listings, meaning they’re less likely to show up in local searches and are probably ignoring customer feedback posted online. So you can get a jump on the competition by simply claiming your listings and keeping your business info current. After all, if potential customers are searching for businesses like yours “near them,” and are comparing hours of operation or ratings, it stands to reason that you want that information to be correct and your reviews to be positive and recent. That leads us to step two. \n2. Read and respond to all reviews\nDealing with online reviews can seem like a daunting task at first, but it’s the nature of doing business these days. And it’s actually not too hard if you keep it positive and look at every review (good and bad) as a chance to show all of your potential customers that you take feedback seriously and you value their opinion. \nResearch suggests that \nsimply responding \nto reviews has a positive effect on revenue. Just responding, independent of whether you resolve any concerns, shows current and future customers that you care and are willing to take the time to engage with them. This may seem like a small thing, especially when “business is good,” but when you engage with customers on review sites, you can learn how to improve your product, services, or even attitude. \nLook at it this way: large companies pay huge amounts of money to collect customer feedback, and online review sites provide it absolutely free. Occasionally you’ll get an unfair review from a “negative Nellie,” but others will provide useful feedback on how you can improve. Don’t underestimate the power of reading and responding to online reviews.\n3. Get more reviews to boost results in “near me” searches\nThe best thing you can do to improve your rankings in local searches “near me” is to increase your “star rating”–and the way to do that is to get more reviews. While it’s up to your customers whether they will post reviews or not, you can improve your chances simply by asking them to provide feedback. Remember, asking for a “5-star” or even a “positive” review is a huge no-no. Just ask your customers if they’d be willing to share their feedback and you’ll be surprised how many have good things to say about your business. Seven in 10 customers will leave a review if you simply ask. So, just ask! \nAnd don’t even think about trying to influence customers with special deals, freebies, or promotions if they leave a good review–or try to buy positive reviews from companies promising they can improve your star rating. Review sites have strict policies about this, not to mention the FTC, who will smack you down with the fist of doom if you violate this policy. \nSources:\n
\nhttps://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/330040/\n
\nhttps://searchengineland.com/survey-82-percent-of-smartphone-shoppers-conduct-near-me-searches-304512\n

192 articles found in “Learning”

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