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Hey there! We are Enfold and we make really beautiful and amazing stuff.
This can be used to describe what you do, how you do it, & who you do it for.
How will people find my website?
Agency ClientsYour marketing and creative team should be more than capable of assisting you with marketing your website. Your website will be optimised for scraping by Google, Bing and other common search engines. In addition, some maintenance programs come with:
Does my current IT support company have to build the “back-end” of my site?
Agency ClientsIn a word, no. Any competent programmer can build the content management system and associated functionality for your site. PSD to Final uses common open source platforms that are well known, well supported and work on more than 95% of website hosts.
It is important to remember that not all IT is the same. People often specialise. While your IT support company may be very good at hardware and servers, they may not specialise in website development. When deciding who you would like to build the “back end” of your website, ask yourself if websites are the core business of the company you are considering, or if it is marketed as an additional service.
We always recommend you use a specialist company for your website needs rather than a “jack of all trades”.
8 Actionable Content Marketing Tips For 2018
InsightsGet the latest content marketing tips for 2018. Discover all the nuances for developing content that works! Authored by HaNayan Kariya(shoutmeloud.com). ShoutMeLoud is an award winning blog that talks about living a boss free life with blogging. They cover about WordPress, SEO, Make money blogging, Affiliate marketing. Featured image courtesy of Natasa Adzic via Bigstockphoto.
We are living in the World where a lot of content is produced on every single day. And high-quality content is truly the king.
Some content is good whereas some are not. People like good content and come back again and again to read.
People don’t like to watch ads. Nowadays, people take information without the care of banners.
So we can say that content marketing strategies are constantly evolving & changing.
To stand out from the crowd, you need to have some decent content marketing strategies with you. Suppose you have written a well researched long article and nobody is interested to read it.
How will you feel?
I would definitely feel sad& I bet you too.
There are many companies producing a good amount of content daily. To promote that content, they need to market that content. Until and unless you don’t get revenue for your content, your content is useless.
So there are many big companies which are investing more and more money for content marketing. With the help of content marketing, these companies achieve their predefined goals.
I know you must be aware of benefits of Content Marketing & let’s have a quick refresher. This will make it easier for you to grasp the new content marketing strategies for 2018.
Benefits of Content Marketing
1. More on-site Content: This is a very obvious benefit of Content marketing. If you produce more content, then you can grab the attention of your audience. The audience will stick to your site and by this way, you can win the trust of customers.
2. Higher visibility in Google: If you produce a good content daily then the Google will index that content frequently. So the chances of getting rank in Google will be improved with the content production. The more you produce content, the more will be chance for ranking in Google
3. Increase Domain Authority: Domain Authority of your website is directly promotional to the content production and regularity of updates. So if you are producing a good amount of content then your domain authority will increase. So by this way, you can get more trust and gain trustworthiness over the internet.
4. More Social Traffic: Social media is everywhere. So if you are producing huge content then you will defiantly share it on social media. So by this way, you can get more social media followers and traffic. Many people will your content with their friends so by that way you can get a good audience from social media.
5. Improved Brand Reputation and relationship with customers: Once you start producing huge content then the reputation of your website will automatically improved. By providinggood amount of content, you can build a good relationship with the customers as well. The relationship will again help you to drive more traffic to your website.
Best Content Marketing Strategies for 2018
1. Do more and more Content Remarketing: This is the first and foremost point. If you are producing quality content but you are not doing content remarketing then there are high chances that you cannot reach your goals for such content. When you produce a good content then you should tag the visitors who likes your site and comes regularly. So by this way, when you tag them for new content they read that content and share that content. Also they feel good for your website. Content Remarketing simply means that you should bring those users who have already likes your content. So by this way, you are able to grab the existing users.
2. Do Keyword Research before Content Production: Some experts said that don’t focus on SEO and just write quality content. This is true in ideal world. But we are not living in such words. So we need to target some keywords for our content. If we are doing proper SEO then we can rank for any good content. So we should produce quality content by applying proper SEO. For that we need to find target keyword first and then start content production.
3. Try to give answer to the complex questions: This is the best content marketing strategy. If you are providing the content by which you are giving the solutions to big problems then you can automatically drive traffic to your website. So the key for success is simple: always try to find those topics which people are facing problems and try to solve those problems by your post.
4. Add data into your content: In today’s world, if you are providing good content then it is okay. But if you are providing content with facts then defiantly people likes to read your content. People like the content which has some facts involved because you can attract anyone by using correct facts. So back up your content with facts. Always give the proper credits for the websites from where you are finding such facts.
5. Don’t copy the popular blogs: This is a important factor while doing content marketing. Many people start copying the popular blogs and try to create huge content. By copying someone’s work you cannot get success. There are high chances that by doing this you will get penalised from search engines and lose your brand value. So don’t copy anything from anywhere. Read this guide to understand how to copy content & give credits.
6. Content Should Reflect Brand Voice: This is a very important thing in content marketing. Your content should be such that it reflects your Brand. After all, you are doing content marketing for taking your brand to the next level. If you are having a good brand reputation then you can sell anything like a hotcake. If you are producing the content which does not reflect your brand voice then that content will not fulfil your goals. So always write the content which will stand out your brand from the crowd.
7. Speak your mind: In this world of competition, you need to speak your own voice. Don’t look at your competitors and just focus on your qualities. Write unique content and market it. If you try to copy your competitors then it will harm your brand only. So write the unique content with your own experience and stand out from the rest. Though, it’s not a good idea to learn & understand your competitors strategies. Your goal should be to improvise their ideas to create something awesome. Here are few good tools that you can use to understand yourcompetitors strategies.
8. Publish only Best Content: There are many posts get published on the internet on every single day. So you may feel like to post more and more. But remember one thing: Always share the content which is best. If you are posting a good content once a week then it is fine. But don’t post the content which is of no use. You should not miss reading this useful article by Harsh: How Not to Write Meaningless articles for meaningful success.
9. Evaluate the Success of Your Content: Once you have published a good post then you need to check whether that post is liked by the visitors or not. There are many tools for that. You can use Google Analytics to trace the progress of your website. So trace the progress and change your strategy accordingly. For a good success continues evaluation is required. So do check the progress.
So as of now, you are having a sound understanding about new strategies of content marketing for 2018. There is no shortcut for anything. You need to work hard for content marketing.
Initially, you may face some problems but once you get some good grip on it then everything is easy.
It is just the matters of experiments. You can always improve by your experiments so keep applying the above-mentioned tips and produce the quality content.
7 Working Ways to Boost WordPress Loading Speed
InsightsRussell M. Rexroad (instantshift.com) shares 7 simple ways to improve WordPress loading speed. InstantShift is leading design and inspiration related community for web designers and developers daily resource, inspiration and premium web design and development. Image courtesy of razihusin via Bigstockphoto.
The primary thing a client encounters about your site, even before the outline or substance, is its stacking speed.
A normal web client anticipates that a page will stack between 500 ms (fast) and 2 seconds (moderate, yet satisfactory). On the off chance that you check your site’s stacking time and it ends up being over 2 seconds, consider your site at the danger of being skipped or shut by the client.
As a larger part of sites are based on WordPress nowadays, in this manner to support the speed and execution of your site, it is prescribed to comprehend the progression of page stacking speeds with WordPress, and to learn tips and traps that empower you to accelerate your WordPress site. Oh my goodness the best of them.
Use lightweight systems and topics
Perpetually, WordPress topics convey a decent lot of swell, which pulls down your site’s page stack speeds. This swell is connected to overwhelming stock pictures, wasteful and long codes, and so forth.
The best foot forward is to strike the correct mix between a subject’s visual interest and its page stack speeds. When searching for a WordPress subject, remember the accompanying focuses:
Advantage from the energy of reserving
Reserving is a method of sparing your website pages as static pages, and serving them to clients without sending HTTP solicitations to the server. This helps with accelerating a WordPress site. What you can do to use this choice?
Initially, recognize a valuable WordPress storing module, read its documentation, and utilize it to reserve a few pages of your site. WP Rocket, and W3 Total Cache are among the prestigious ones.
You can execute program storing by utilizing terminate headers, which show to the web program which documents to ask for from the server, and which it can pick from the reserve of the program. With decreased HTTP asks for, page stack speeds make strides. To do this, you’ll have to add this code to the htaccess record.
1 <IfModule mod_expires.c>
2 # enabling expirations
3 ExpiresActive On
4 # The default directive
5 ExpiresDefault “access plus 3 months”
6 # Your favicon
7 ExpiresByType image/x-icon “access plus 1 year”
8 # Photos
9 ExpiresByType image/gif “access plus 3 months”
10 ExpiresByType image/png “access plus 3 months”
11ExpiresByType image/jpg “access plus 3 months”
12 ExpiresByType image/jpeg “access plus 3 months”
13 # CSS
14 ExpiresByType text/css “access plus 3 months”
15 # Javascript
16 ExpiresByType application/javascript “access plus 1 year”
17 </IfModule>
Prefetch areas, a lesser known strategy
Prefetch areas is a choice like reserving, where you adequately illuminate the web program to bring spaces early, so that the ‘get’ activity isn’t done at the season of the page stack, and consequently, the website speed progresses.
To empower this, you can add the prefetch space code to header.php record. Here are cases of usually utilized prefetch space codes.
For Google Fonts:
1 <link rel=”dns-prefetch” href=”//fonts.googleapis.com”>
For Google Analytics:
1 <link rel=”dns-prefetch” href=”//www.google-analytics.com”>
Get rid of pointless and substantial modules
WordPress modules are useful, in any case, excessively numerous modules mean an excessive number of solicitations on the server, that prompt moderate page stacking. Other related issues incorporate security dangers and memory issues. The best practice is to just send modules that your site can’t manage without.
You can utilize Plugin Performance Profiler (a module itself) to distinguish the most noticeably awful performing modules on your WordPress and supplant them with better choices.
Besides, there are modules that you scarcely utilize more than twice per month, (for example, thumbnail generators, and so forth.). It’s best to deactivate them, and simply enact them at the season of use. You can likewise check which modules you can just uninstall, and utilize some online devices.
Utilize CDN for better page stack speed
Known about CDNs (Content Delivery Networks)? It’s where content served to the client is conveyed from the geologically closest server farm, which enhances the speed of conveyance. This is on the grounds that lower exchange time, diminished jumps crosswise over firewalls and switches, and different parameters brings about snappier page loads for a geologically spread out gatherings of people.
The top of the line CDN administrations offer WordPress reconciliation modules, which help you rapidly set up and arrange your site to use the advantage of CDN. Over the long haul, this likewise causes you oversee have relocations better, on the grounds that the majority of the overwhelming burden (pictures) would be facilitated off the web host’s server, which just leaves the topic to be moved.
CDN Enabler is a free staggering module that you can execute in seconds. While choosing what you can stack from CDN, go for pointless excess. Indeed, even the favicon can be stacked through CDN. Simply drop it in the root organizer of WordPress, and add the accompanying code to the header.php record:
1 <link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”https://cdn.domain.com/favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />
Pack weighty pictures
To place things into point of view, here’s a reality. A basic WordPress topic takes near 30 MB of storage room, while a visual-substantial site, for example, e-store, takes a few GBs of room for putting away pictures. Imagine a scenario in which you could decrease the picture record sizes by over half with garbled quality contrasts.
You can either resize and pack pictures in an OS based pressure instrument before you transfer them, or utilize a WP module like SmushIt to diminish the record size of pictures for your WordPress site.
Advance SSL handshakes
SSL or Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security is the methods by which web servers and customers encode and secure all movement. This has turned into the standard for secure HTTP exchanges and other movement over the web. One inconvenience of scrambling movement is when there is some overhead and idleness when the customer and server set up an association.
You can accelerate secure associations through upgrading SSL handshakes utilizing a CDN. The CDN does the overhead for you, in this manner decreasing the time spent in building up the underlying SSL session, and in addition keeping the protected association alive. This likewise gives you the additional advantage of guaranteeing a review A declaration, regardless of whether your own server or specialist co-op utilizes just a lower-review endorsement. What makes a difference is that your end-client’s programs, and in addition web indexes like Google, see the best grade SSL authentication gave by the CDN.
Expel old corrections from your database
Take it from me, your WordPress will back off in the event that you don’t deal with the database and keep it clean. You can do as such by constraining the quantity of post corrections. WordPress really makes an excessive number of corrections while you are composing the pot, and everything consumes room. You can cripple amendments, or set an utmost on the most extreme number of modifications. To debilitate, add the accompanying code to wp-config.php record.
1 define(‘AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL’, 300); // seconds
2 define(‘WP_POST_REVISIONS’, 5);
Attempt GZip pressure
We discussed picture pressure; however you can likewise pack CSS, Javascript, and site pages, at the server level, which diminishes the time in exchange of information to program. Here’s the manner by which you can do it:
Conclusion
A decent performing WordPress implies a decent performing site. On the off chance that you don’t need your clients to get disappointed from your site’s speed, attempt these diverse tips and traps I’ve specified in this post with which you can use to enhance your WordPress site execution, and increment page stack speeds.
Do tell us how you figured out how to support your WordPress’ speed and did any of my tips helped you. cheerful testing.
7 Myths About HTTPS and SSL Certificates You Shouldn’t Believe
InsightsSSL certificates allow websites to encrypt and secure traffic, but there are many misunderstandings about how it works. Let’s debunk them. About the author: Philip Bates (MakeUseOf) is a freelance writer. You can follow him on Twitter. MakeUseOf is a technology website, focused on bridging the connection between users, computers, devices and the Internet through education. Feature image courtesy of sarayut via Bigstockphoto.
Take a look at the URL for this article and you’ll see that it starts with https. That “s” at the end means the connection between your device and this site is secure.
On the web, secure connections are usually established using a secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate. These can be confusing, partly because there are many myths about them that you simply shouldn’t believe. Let’s debunk a few of the more common ones!
Myth 1: “Only E-Commerce Sites Need SSL”
You’ve probably heard that only sites requiring personal data need SSL certificates. It’s a fair assumption: after all, you should be trained by now to notice encryption on sites that request private information. It’s true that, when signing up and logging in, you definitely need to check the address bar reads “https”.
But encryption is vital for all sites, whether e-commerce or a small blog.
Firstly, Google defaults to a secure version of a site. Google Chrome users who visit a site which doesn’t have an SSL certificate will instead see a warning page. This will inform them that the page is not secure.
Secondly, those visiting via other browsers will consider you more trustworthy. Most users now know about checking for secure connections, so installing an SSL certificate is a sign that you take their privacy seriously.
In effect, you’re telling your audience that you’re a professional organization.
Myth 2: “SSL Won’t Affect Web Traffic”
If Google Chrome doesn’t fully load a web page, that site’s statistics will be affected—potentially quite drastically! Imagine how many people might see that their connection isn’t secure and immediately turn away.
The problem is, even when their data doesn’t seem at risk, people panic when they see security alerts. They picture themselves falling victim to hackers. Thankfully, most users prioritize their security over convenience. So if they can’t read your site, they’ll simply search for another one which offers similar information.
Furthermore, an SSL certificate is essential for SEO. It’s not just about keywords: Google ranks a page higher if it proves to implement decent security measures. Naturally, the nearer the top of search results, the more people will find your page.
Myth 3: “SSL Significantly Slows Page Loading”
Image Credit: jayneandd/ Flickr
With a potentially increased audience, your concern might be that an HTTPS address will slow down your site. Fortunately, encryption has no noticeable effect on the speed of your website.
That’s because, in most cases, HTTPS actually refers to HTTP/2, a revision on the standard HTTP protocol. It was designed to have a 50 percent reduction in page load time through compression of data and reduction of processes involved.
Here’s what you need to know: the web has been using HTTP since 1991. HTTP/2 is an upgrade to this with an eye on performance.
If you want proof, check out some of your favorite sites—the most popular ones (including social media like Facebook) have SSL certificates and look how fast they are!
Okay, so sometimes, speed will be affected, but it’s rare and negligible. We’re talking milliseconds. This is mainly down to server distances, which you typically can’t help. And cases of slowing down will get fewer and more far between as Certificate Authorities (CA) secretly switch to Transport Layer Security (TLS) instead.
Myth 4: “SSL Certificates Are Cutting Edge”
SSL certificates are great, but they’re not the most advanced form of encryption widely used on the internet. In fact, many CAs use TLS certificates instead.
TLS certificates are essentially the next stage in the life of HTTPS.
The successor has been around since 2008, fixing some of the minor vulnerabilities in SSL certificates. However, until recently, it’s mostly been used solely for sites that require payment details or manage your money. PayPal is perhaps the most notable example of a monetary site using TLS.
Fortunately, several exploits in SSL certificates means TLS has become more commonplace. In fact, many encryption services implement TLS instead of SSL certificates as default; the latter is more well-known so is frequently used without the client knowing the difference.
As long as your URL has HTTPS, most website visitors are content.
Myth 5: “SSL Certificates Are Expensive”
Image Credit: Ken Teegardin/ Flickr
Which organizations use TLS? Primary examples also disprove the myth that HTTPS is expensive.
Let’s Encrypt is a popular service because it’s effective and entirely free. Many big name companies support the idea, including Facebook, Yoast, Mozilla, the American Library Association, Server Pilot, and Google Chrome.
Alternatively, freemium software is available. Encryption Everywhere, created by security firm, Symantec, offers free SSL/TLS certificates, and you can pay for additional security features.
Admittedly, SSL certificates can be costly, but it largely depends on hosts. Sometimes, the host server doesn’t support third party encryption, i.e. they want you to use their own associated service so they can get extra cash from you. It’s a horrible tactic, especially when users are under pressure from Google.
You need to shop around. Don’t be scammed by your web host.
Myth 6: “SSL Certificates Encrypt All Data”
Image Credit: owlpacino/ Flickr
Let’s not rave about SSL certificates without pointing out that it’s not the be-all and end-all for security. Yes, data is encrypted—but only during transit. HTTPS means your connection is secure; it doesn’t mean the web server is secure.
Imagine it as a tunnel you’re driving through. The tunnel means your vehicle can’t come under attack from anything from above, below, or either side of you. However, problems can still occur once you reach your destination. You don’t know what lies ahead of you once your car comes to rest.
The same goes for data. It’s encrypted so you shouldn’t be a victim of a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack while it’s transferring between networks. But once that data is static (i.e. stored on someone’s server), SSL certificates don’t mean much.
This is why HTTPS is now considered a basic security measure, something sites should have as standard. Further precautions are also needed!
Myth 7: “SSL Encryption Is Foolproof”
HTTPS offers a good level of encryption. You’ve probably heard a lot of good stuff about that. Still, myths persist about encryption. Notably, you should know that encryption doesn’t make something unhackable.
Companies just need to try their best: they need to look after personal information in the most secure ways possible. They have a responsibility to look after private details. The methods used to track passwords, however, show how ineffective encryption can be, depending on the form used to store them.
Even SSL certificates have been compromised—that’s what Heartbleed was all about, hitting headlines back in 2014.
Can you trust SSL/TLS certificates? Yes. Just remember: no security is absolute, and vulnerabilities are inevitable.
Make Sure You’re Using a Secure Web Browser
Don’t underestimate the importance of basic levels of safety online. SSL certificates are a vital part of your protection from cybercriminals.
Of course, you need support from a strong security suite too. Fortunately, mainstream browsers know the significance of keeping their users secure on the internet.
Why Video is Exploding on Social Media in 2018 – and How You Can Take Advantage
InsightsOver the last few years, the growth of video has been astronomical. No matter what your company does, if you don’t have a video marketing strategy for the biggest video platforms, you are going to lose. Written by Melissa DuShane, wyzowl.com. Melissa is an award-winning copywriter and content strategist who combines creative experience with SEO and digital marketing expertise from working for high tech companies and start-ups. Feature image courtesy of PureSolution via Bigstockphoto.
There’s been an explosion of growth in video on social media in recent years. Views of branded video content have increased 99% on YouTube and 258% on Facebook between 2016 and 2017. On Twitter, a video Tweet is 6x more likely to be retweeted than a photo Tweet. If you haven’t taken a closer look at the power of social media and video together, you’re in for a surprise. The numbers are big. Really big.
“I see video as a megatrend,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, February 2017
We could go on and on with more numbers like that, but it’s better to show you. Let’s see how brands are driving dramatic growth with video on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
Facebook
Facebook has the largest audience of any social network, with more than 2.07 billion monthly active users. That’s more than one-third of the world’s population, and a whole lot of those people are watching video. Around 100 million hours of video are watched every day on Facebook. Like YouTube, Facebook has a massive and diverse audience, which makes it harder to characterise than the emoji-filled landscape of SnapChat. The overall point to remember about Facebook is that people come to be entertained. In other words, cat videos.
Last year, for instance, a video titled “How to wrap your cat for Christmas 101” got more than 80 million views and 405,000 shares.
Here’s another, titled “Loaded Scalloped Potato Dome,” which has racked up more than 46 million views:
But what if your company doesn’t have a cat and some wrapping paper handy? Clearly, there are a lot of businesses that don’t fit into the viral Facebook mold, and yet still score major successes. Of the 68 percent of marketers who have published video content on Facebook, 87 percent found it to be an effective strategy. So let’s take a look at some examples of how to drive real results with real businesses.
The Warm Fuzzy
Airbnb coined the term “vacation mom” to describe what your mom is like on vacation. They created a heartwarming video of travellers sharing their favourite vacation stories with their moms, with each traveler sharing funny things their mom does that qualifies her as a “vacation mom.”
The result has been 2.4 million views, and a whole lotta warm feelings for the vacation rental giant.
Making Fun of Yourself
If you’re going to make fun of yourself in a video, Facebook is probably the place to do it. Cosmopolitan Magazine showed perfect understanding of Facebook as a place for entertainment when they created a series of quick, funny spoofs of themselves. Their Facebook-exclusive series of short videos were made for sharing with topics like “Pulling off the perfect smoky eye has never been so simple.” The video opens by promising “3 Life-Changing Smokey Eye Hacks,” which sounds like your standard ladies’ magazine article at first, but then the pretty model starts smudging eyeshadow clumsily all over her face with a kitchen sponge in an attempt to get that seductive, smokey look — and failing at it hilariously.
The result? The videos in this series earned Cosmopolitan Magazine 53 percent more shares than its previous Facebook posts, and boosted engagement 200 percent year over year.
Facebook Video Power Tips
Make sure to experiment across a wide range of creative strategies to identify what works for your brand, and keep in mind that entertainment tends to win the day on Facebook, as does emotionally-charged content. Set goals (such as for more views or engagement) and track your performance. And consider going long. Facebook recently announced a change to the algorithm, “We know that completing a longer video is a bigger commitment than completing a shorter one… we’ve realised that we should therefore weight percent completion more heavily the longer a video is, to avoid penalising longer videos.”
Here are some more tips:
YouTube
More video is consumed on YouTube than any other social network. Over 1 billion hours of video are watched daily on YouTube in 88 countries in 76 languages, according to YouTube’s statistics. YouTube is also the world’s second-largest search engine after its parent company Google. YouTube has tremendous reach, but finding people with so many other videos vying for eyeballs is the tricky part. Yet, marketers find overwhelming success on YouTube. Out of the 87 percent of marketers who have published video content on YouTube, a whopping 90 percent found it to be an effective strategy. Let’s look at a few of those companies who are hitting the mark.
Going Beyond Demos to What People Really Care About
For Groupon, using YouTube effectively required going beyond standard demographic targeting to create contextually relevant videos based on their audience and the kind of content they consume. For example, they created travel videos for jet-setters and recipe videos for foodies.
Putting videos in context has been Groupon’s formula for success on YouTube. According to Groupon’s CMO Vinayak Hegde, “Intuitively it makes sense — if someone is on YouTube searching for videos about microdermabrasion, you’d think they’d be more receptive to an ad about a beauty deal. The testing proved our instincts were right: contextual relevance really is key to success.” The campaign resulted in 160,000 new paying customers by October 2017, plus gave the company a 20 percent lift in brand favourability.
Get a Bump That Doesn’t Break the Bank
YouTube has a range of ad formats, but the bumper has to be one of the most tantalising. The six-second ads are short and sweet. But if you think six seconds is too little time to get your message across, check these out:
Go Big in a Small Amount of Time
See! Six seconds is plenty of time to give your brand some top-of-the-funnel awareness (even for understanding the hidden dangers of static cling). The key with bumpers is knowing you can’t do a little of everything. Go big in the small amount of time you have. If you want to focus on more than one point, consider producing a series of independent thoughts to cover each of your angles.
Get Inside Their Heads
Bumpers are even better with targeting. Campbell’s ran this bumper ad after a person watched a soccer video.
But Campbell’s didn’t stop there. They went into overdrive thinking up creative ways to target people. If someone was searching for Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video on YouTube, they’d get a video from Campbell’s soup asking if they needed “Dinner for one”? When someone would search for “Orange is the New Black,” they’d get a sly video inquiring about the viewer’s taste in prison food. The ultra-short format made experimentation more cost-effective, and they smartly stuck with variations on a theme.
Hitting Your Target With YouTube Video
YouTube has the most variety of video on any social network. People stream everything from entire movies to six-second bumpers. With so much range on YouTube and less clear structure, it’s essential to know your audience. Yet it’s harder to pin down what feels native here, especially when you compare it to more defined platforms like Snapchat (playful fun) and Instagram (visually engaging). Even if you don’t have a YouTube channel yet, start with what you already know about your customers. Here are a few more pointers to keep in mind:
Instagram
People love Instagram. For many people, it’s an alternative to information overload. There’s a seductive simplicity of gazing at visual content without having to read. Even though it’s not the biggest social network, a lot of users like it the best. A recent Forbes article entitled “Why Instagram Is The Top Social Platform For Engagement” broke the network’s success down to its highly visual nature and simplicity, which also works great on mobile. The stats on the network are impressive. There are 800 million monthly actives, 500 million daily actives and 250 million daily stories actives, according to Instagram company data. Marketers are loving it, too. Of the 41 percent of marketers who have used Instagram video, 78 percent found it to be an effective strategy.
So how do you get the attention of all those Instagrammers? According to James Quarles, Instagram’s VP of business, “People are in a mindset of being open to discovery.” To harness that, Quarles recommends that the interests of users makes effective targeting signals for ads. It’s good advice for creating organic video as well. Let’s look at an example of how to do video on Instagram.
Ben and Jerry’s Has Fun Playing With Their food
Ben and Jerry’s releases a strong lineup of ice cream content to their Instagram presence, they’ve published more than 1,767 posts as of January 2018. More than half of their posts in 2018 are video. Looking at Ben and Jerry’s delectable lineup of Instagram videos, they’ve got recipes, new product launches and just some videos of them playing around with ice cream. But one Instagram video has truly taken the cake: “5 Exercises to Define Your Core.” The video shows a series of hilarious exercises you can do with Ben & Jerry’s “Core” flavours, including deep core twists (twisting the spoon deep down into the tub).
https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/?next=/p/BddkGpqDQlS/%3Futm_source%3Dig_embed
Maybe it alleviates our dessert guilt or takes some of the pressure off that New Year’s resolution to get six-pack abs, whatever it is about this video sure strikes a chord. It’s racked up more than 777,000 views so far, which is about 10x what their next-most successful videos have gotten this month.
Instagram Power Video Strategies
While people love beautiful, playful moments on Instagram, putting in a little story (even humour) can get big results. Here are a few more strategies to rev up your videos on Instagram.
Snapchat
While Instagram is playful and sometimes funny, it’s still stylish and polished. Not so with our next social network. Snapchat captures the fun of drawing a moustache on someone while they’re sleeping. There’s a playful (sometimes prankster) humour, which many of the most successful Snapchat videos capture. And it’s definitely off the cuff. There’s a raw quality to Snapchat that’s all part of the fun. If you’re thinking that’s not what big brands and serious businesses do, you’re dead wrong. Check out some of the most credible businesses colouring outside the lines (and on faces) with Snapchat video.
General Electric’s Emoji Science
The global conglomerate has an amusing series on Snapchat that’s both on brand (science and technology) and on network (fun): it’s called Emoji Science. Here’s a video of Bill Nye the Science Guy doing an experiment with a little help from an emoji:
GE’s Global Director of Innovation Sam Olstein described the unique ways they use Snapchat in an interview with Fast Company: “The disappearing nature of its content encourages repeat usage and provides us with a unique way to celebrate invention with an expanding community of young fans.” What’s not to love about encouraging curiosity around science and encouraging young minds?
But Is It All Kid Stuff?
If this sounds like kid stuff, it sorta is. In 2017, 36 percent of Snapchat’s U.S. audience was between the ages of 12 and 24, according to an eMarketer report. The same report shows the percentage of Snapchat users aged 35 to 44 at about 5.6 percent. That number drops to 2.8 percent for the 45 to 54 demographic and continues to drop as the age groups get older. But that’s changing according to eMarketer’s forecasting analyst Jamie Chung: “Older groups are now more likely to tune in for content.” And big brands are swooping in on the trend. Recently, Snapchat has done content deals with the NFL, A + E Networks, Turner and NBCUniversal.
Let’s see what adulting looks like on Snapchat.
The Washington Post on Snapchat
The Washington Post is pretty grown up. Here’s an example of some adult political coverage on President Trump’s first joint address to Congress:
There’s no crazy emojis (the bald eagle emoji is neatly drawn) or sloppy on-screen text (it’s typed). What you do get that’s very Snapchat is raw footage that gives you an immediate feeling of being behind-the-scenes. Ironically, in order to watch this Snapchat video, you have to go on Washington Post’s YouTube channel. Remember, this video has already disappeared on Snapchat. But if we weren’t looking for Snapchat content, would anyone really want to go back and watch a behind-the-scenes look at a joint address to Congress? Maybe not. It’s sort of like watching a pre-show again, it doesn’t make sense after the show. And that’s a lot of the beauty in Snapchat: documenting moments that will never happen again, and won’t be around for long. Snapchat Stories vanish after 24 hours.
Tips for Your SnapChat Strategy
Sometimes, the best place to fish is where no one else is fishing. If you’re contemplating using video on Snapchat, the field is likely to be more open now than in a few years, according to projected growth reports. Yet even with Snapchat’s growth, the results from marketers are the most mixed of any network. In our recent State of Video Marketing survey we found that 11 percent of marketers have used Snapchat video, and only 27 percent found it to be an effective strategy. If you’re not already on Snapchat and still on the fence, get an account and start watching other brands. Here are a few thoughts to help spark ideas and improve your strategy:
Twitter
Although video is probably not the first thing that springs to mind when you think of Twitter, maybe it should be. According to Nielsen, Twitter video is two times more memorable than other premium platforms. The effectiveness of video within Twitter is pretty impressive, too. Video tweets are six times more likely to be retweeted than photo tweets. Why is that? There’s research showing people feel like Twitter video is organic in their social feeds and they respond better to it.
A report by IPG Media Lab explains the data like this: “The unique environment of social feeds, where content is personal and self-curated, has an impact on how video ads are perceived, specifically, as more ‘relevant to [consumers’] interests’ and ‘less intrusive’.” That aligns with what marketers are saying. Of the 39 percent of marketers surveyed who have published video content on Twitter, 70 percent have found Twitter to be an effective strategy. Let’s look at what a few brands are doing to make the most of Twitter video.
Major League Baseball Video Stats
MLB has a fun feature called “MLB Stat of The Day” that’s a video clip of the day’s best stat. It’s a fast way to see the highlight, even if you didn’t have time to watch ESPN or catch the last 10 minutes of local news. Twitter video can be up to 140 seconds, plenty of time for a big play. With 29,200 views of this video, “MLB Stat of The Day” shows the success of creating a series. Making it daily is even better.
Ultra-Fast How-To Recipes
Next up is a seven-second recipe video from Proper Tasty Recipes. Granted that’s too fast to tell you how you to make it, you’ll just feel like you did all the work. See how it works with this waffle grilled cheese video:
How to Get People to Watch Your Twitter Videos
While Twitter isn’t synonymous with video the way YouTube is, Twitter video may just be the undiscovered gem in your content strategy. Video has been shown to be more effective on Twitter than other networks. Here are some data-driven tips to help your video strategy. According to Twitter marketing research, there are four things that make people more likely to watch your video:
Will You Use Video on Social Media in 2018?
In The State of Video Marketing 2018, we surveyed 570 consumers and marketing professionals about their plans for 2018. See how your strategy compares with what our survey respondents said:
Some things make so much sense, you can’t understand why you didn’t think of it sooner. Social networks are meant to be about shared experiences. Video communicates more in sight, sound and feeling than words or images alone. That’s why people can’t get enough of video on social networks. The companies you’ve seen here are examples of what’s possible. See what using video on social networks can do for your business in 2018.