DEV Community: Sarah Alfred

How to Revamp Your Marketing Strategy in 2019

Sarah Alfred — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 10:50:37 +0000

At least once a year, every marketer reboots their marketing strategy. This is an essential step to keep your marketing approaches fresh and up to date. With fleeting social media trends, this is even more important today than ever. You need to revamp your digital marketing strategies to keep up with your audiences. But managing such widespread and unpredictable changes can be a little challenging at times. Here’s how you can easily manage to revamp your digital marketing strategies:

Follow the traditional ways

There are some factors that change digital marketing from traditional marketing but both still follow the basic rules involved in building marketing strategies. Which involves:
Data- Take a good look at your previous records. Data helps to give you an insight into success and lacking your marketing ways. Analyze this data to build up new marketing strategies. It’s always a good idea to pull out your annual data so that you can pinpoint the areas where your strategies need improvement. Measure your key performance indicators and compare them with previous year’s data.
Competitors- Spying on your competitors is the oldest and basic tool in the marketing toolbox. Why are you even marketing in the first place? Of course, to get more market share than your competitors. Don’t only look into your KPIs and data but also get as much information on your competitors as possible. What are the social media trends they’re following? What social media campaigns are generating more leads for them? Now, we are not encouraging copying from your rivals, we’re simply suggesting a competitor’s audit.
Trends- Whether it is a social media fad or a technology trend that every other business is investing in, you need to keep your eyes on the prize by staying up to date with the latest social media trends. Instagram and Facebook give a clear idea of what’s trending as these platforms have the widest and most active user base.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let's dig in to take a deeper dive into what should be a crucial part of your social media marketing strategy:

Set SMART Goals

Be clear, concise and confident in setting up your social media marketing goals. Make them measurable and realistic. Make them SMART, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. Don’t just say, “I want more visitors”, rather be very specific while setting up your goals. Which sort of visitors you want, how many exactly and in how much time? Set real numbers with real deadlines.
Knowing where you want to go with your social media marketing strategy will help you keep these goals aligned with your overall corporate goals and objectives. Know your metrics that are relevant to your campaign. For example, if your goal is to generate more leads then some of the KPIs you should be measuring are:

• Number of leads from different social media platforms
• Number of leads based on the content type
• Lead to sale conversion
• Click-through rate
• Total ROI

Target Your Audience

The key to a successful social media campaign is to target your audience specifically. The web is a vast kingdom. If you don’t want your digital media marketing efforts to go in vain, then it is very important to target your ideal audience. Make sure your social media marketing efforts go right where they are needed, otherwise they will end up going unnoticed in the sea of social media content. Get to know your audience with complete demographic, psychographic and geographic segmentation. Segment your audience on the basis of gender, marital status, tastes and preferences, age, occupation, location, and spending habits.
This is the most important part of a social media campaign as it generates true engagement and connection with your consumers. Your in-house marketing team should be able to do this but for a successful marketing campaign, it is advised to get the best social media marketing services near you as they don’t only manage your social media marketing campaigns but they also build them up from scratch with accurate data and research.

Identify Distribution Channels

Audience segmentation helps you identify distribution channels that are best for your social media marketing campaign. Which social media platforms does your audience use most and how much of their activity is relevant to your campaign? General social media consumer data shows that younger users are more active on Instagram and Snapchat while working adults and professionals spend relatively more time on Facebook and Twitter. Knowing your audience will let you determine which platform should be having your most attention.
Identifying your distribution channels and getting familiar with the advertising methods of each platform will boost your social media marketing success rate significantly. Don’t mindlessly indulge in every social media platform or just the one which is leading at the moment, instead make your efforts count by investing in platforms where your audience is.

Work with Micro-Influencers

Social media influencers are the new age celebrities. People look up to them for product recommendations and they have their ways to build a strong connection with their viewers’.
They don’t charge as much as actual celebrity endorsement would cost you. And they always bring out great results as studies show that 92% of buyers’ go for referral products more than commercially advertised products. Micro-influencers come at a fraction of usual influencer costs but have higher and more genuine engagement rate. Look for micro-influencers based on a relevancy with your business rather than their audience size. Having a local approach should come first, as 70% of the people who go on product or service searching on the web are looking for local providers. Use hashtags to find influencers in your relevant market.

Identify Peak Posting Times

Generally, a post on a social media platform circulates for 12-25 hours before fading away into the void of social media content. Remember how we stressed on collecting user data on your audience from their demographic to geographic segmentation? Well, here it comes in handy again. Demographic and psychographic data helps us identify what our audience wants to see and geographic data tells us when doing they actually want to see it. Best social media marketing services schedule their media marketing strategy by keeping track of their viewers’ active hours.
Here are the insights from Falcon.io telling about most active hours on different platforms:

Even though it may sound strange but the best hours to post on Facebook is between 12-4 in the noon. These hours are supposed to be hectic working hours but we all can just confess to taking a sneak peek in our phones. Another good time to post on Facebook is from 9 am to 8 pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
The best Instagram hours are, 11 am to 1 pm with 2 am as the second-best time to post for that late-night scrolling gang. Instagram’s peak weekdays include Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
Twitter user activity peaks between 12 to 5-6 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Getting in sync with your users’ active hours is guaranteed to put you at top of their news feed and following trends.

Apply these elements in your marketing strategy to revamp your social media marketing strategy in 2019.

How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Human Lives

Sarah Alfred — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 09:43:21 +0000

Artificial Intelligence is the greatest invention of the 19th century. With the earlier inventions of weak AIs to the more advanced and strong AIs, the technology has always proved to be useful. But it also sparks some fear. We have all seen those dystopian sci-fi movies where machines take over human beings, so the concern of some people is understandable when a robot is so perfectly imitating a human being that the only difference is its appearance.
To understand how an AI works and what are some of the evident pros and cons of AI implementations in human life, we first have to understand what an AI is?

Artificial Intelligence

The term Artificial Intelligence was first coined by John McCarthy in his academic conference in 1955. Even though the invention of AI is older than that but this period is considered to be the birth of AI. Before that AI was only a dream, a work in process. McCarthy is also considered the father of AI. Since the birth of AI, the technology has gone through some busts and booms of popularity. A new invention or discovery would spark a sudden interest of common people and everyone would be talking about it and after a while, nothing. But the search goes on.

In simple terms, the process of simulating human intelligence by machines is known as Artificial intelligence (AI). These processes include learning, reasoning, and self-correction. Depending on the abilities of an AI program, it is generally categorized as weak or strong AI. An example of weak AI is Siri, Google Assistant or similar interactive programs limited to work on a data collecting and analyzing basis. They are designed to assist human beings under certain rules, they will collect the data and use it for your assistance, like a simple data storage system of your mobile phone that stores your data for a temporary period to enhance your user experience. A strong AI is when a machine is capable of solving problems without human interaction by learning from its past experiences.

Various Types of AI That Has Changed Human Lives

From 1956 to 1982, the enthusiasm for AI-led to the discovery of different subcategories of artificial intelligence. Many subtypes emerged from the same root with the same vision. The hype it gained by McCarthy’s academic conference, inspired many tech enthusiasts and dreamers to build the future. AI has since been divided into some of the generalized categories including:

Automation AI

These are rules-based programs working on a strict, if-then-else basis. Robotic process automation (RPA) is when a machine can adapt to changing circumstances, it also falls under the category of automation AI. Sometimes automation AI is as plain and straightforward as a packaging machine that is programmed to repeat the same task in the same way over and over again. While sometimes it can change its approach to a minute error in the process by if-then-else coding.

Machine Learning

Machine learning is a wider term used for further categorized AI programs. Such as supervised learning, unsupervised learning and reinforcement learning. Machine learning goes from a simple pattern recognizing programs such as IBM’s Deep Blue which gathered much hype after beating Garry Kasparov in a one-on-one chess match in the 1990s, to the complex sentient machines who can learn human behavior and alter their interaction with human beings or other machines depending on the situation.
Machine learning goes beyond what today’s machines are capable of doing. To determine whether a machine has learned the pattern by decent coding or have the machine really evolved enough to generate its own answers and patterns, Alan M. Turing introduced a way he referred to as “imitation game”. Which is more commonly known as the Turing test? This test involves a computer, a human being, and an interrogator. The interrogator asks a bunch of questions from both the computer and the human and the computer has to convince the interrogator that it is a real human. This way of testing can help recognize a human and a machine as most of the programs such as Weizenbaum’s Eliza and Colby’s paranoid chatterbot Parry can have a conversation as a human being but once in a while they slip in out of context sentences.
Turing believed that machine learning holds enough potential that by the year 2000, an average interrogator would have less than 70% chance to distinguish between a man and a machine in a five-minute session. According to that estimation, we are still way behind.
Machine learning goes from limited memory programs like the RAM of your computer or self-driving cars which stores temporary data for situation analysis to a more advanced term of self-aware AI which is a machine that is aware of itself and its surroundings and interacts accordingly. A fully self-aware AI does not exist yet.
Some of the earlier categories which served as the prototypes of modern AI are:
o Natural language processing NLP
o Speech and audio processing
o Image and video processing
o Sensor and control processing
o Machine vision
o Robotics

Pros and Cons of AI Implementation

Artificial Intelligence has made human lives better and easier but it also comes with a couple of risks and extra safety measures. An idea of a being that is a hundred times more capable of doing whatever we as human beings can do, is dreamy and utopian for some and concerning and scary for others. If we indulge in benefits from AI implementations, we can also not ignore the risks that come with the increased integration of robots in our daily lives.

Pros

Increased quality in healthcare services is the biggest benefit of AI implementation. With faster and accurate data mining, an AI program like IBM Watson delivers error-free and fast answers. This sort of program can significantly improve healthcare services by helping both the doctors and the patients.
AI in business has increased the efficiency and accuracy of repetitive tasks that could easily be automated. Many companies are providing artificial intelligence as a service with AIaaS platforms.
Human safety has increased with the implementation of AI sensors.

Cons

Some of the biggest cons of AI technology is definitely fake audio and video generations. Many software is capable of providing fake conversations that never took place between two parties and even fabricated data required for the existence of a person like fingerprints and a face identity. “This person does not exist” is a famous website that generates real human faces which do not even exist, this gives the idea of how far into the “imitation game” we really are.

What Does PPC Have to Do with Website Design?

Sarah Alfred — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 08:05:49 +0000

A lot actually. If you’re getting yourself into a PPC campaign, then you must know that the key to its success is a well-designed and user-friendly website. If you’re already on board with PPC way of social marketing then chances are, you already know what the deal is about but if you’re someone who’s looking to invest in it then you should know a bit about what PPC is and how it works to generate traffic and visibility on the web. PPC stands for Pay per Click, the basic idea here is to get as many people to click on the ads on a website as possible. Now you can see how a user-friendly website directly impacts the performance of your PPC campaign. If a website is not engaging or interesting enough then no one would actually stick long enough to click on any ads. Here are all the ways a good website design impacts PPC:

Responsive Web Design

The responsiveness of a website is the number one quality that makes a web design good and efficient. We live in a mobile world, a site that is viewed on a PC or a laptop should be equally compatible when viewed on a mobile phone or a tablet. The font size and images on the webpage should adjust to a compatible size of the device. The responsiveness of a website dramatically increases the success rate of your PPC campaign as more people will be willing to visit and stay on your page. Just like one shoe can’t fit all just like that, one design can’t fit all screens. Fixed website designs will cause problems being viewed on other devices, ask the best website design company near you to use fluid grids to increase the responsiveness of your website.

Loading Speed

Faster loading speed prominently decreases bounce time as it is evident from common internet user behavior that a visitor is likely to quit the site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Even if your site is amazing but it has a slower loading time, then it won’t be of much use. Gaining visitors is only half of the victory, making your website user-friendly is what unlocks its true potential and brings in twice the revenue. Slow websites rank lower on search engines and visitors are also likely to quit buying from such sites. This will definitely impact your sales rate and return on investment. Due to the increased use of smartphones, make sure that your website loads fast not only on PCs or laptops with strong internet connections but also on mobile phones with data connections. Image optimization, content prioritizing and browser caching are some of the ways that can help increase load speed on mobile phones. With a decent loading speed, more people will visit frequently which will eventually convert these visitors into buyers.

Relevance

Relevant content is another characteristic of a benefitting website. Make sure you provide clear and direct information on what your visitors are looking for. Adding relevant links within your content or webpage will increase the rate of visitors clicking the ads rather than just going over them. Whether you’re providing PPC service for a third party or using it for your business, content relevance will not only increase the chances of getting clicks but it will also increase activity time on your advertising pages. If a user sees something relevant to their interests, then they will generally stay a little longer and this will give you time to convert those casual visitors into potential customers.

Aesthetics

An easy to navigate webpage will not only intrigue interest but the proper and organized layout will also provoke a sense of aesthetics in your visitors. Your webpage should be inviting and easy on the eyes. A well-designed site sparks trust in first time visitors; it is like an equivalent of meeting someone for the first time. When a site is poorly designed with a rushed and lazy layout, it is understandable how it can draw away the visitors instead of making them feel welcomed. Your PPC efforts will seriously be wasted if the site is not organized and attractive. A way to check the attractiveness of your site is to go for A/B testing. A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of a webpage to determine which one works better. The changes between two versions can be as subtle as color variations, different call to action or size variations. A/B testing can show you how these little changes cause big effects and shift the entire click rate of a webpage.
Most importantly, if you want the success of your PPC campaign then get the best website design company near you to do the job.

7 Tips for Effective Ecommerce Web Design That Drive Sales

Sarah Alfred — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 09:22:37 +0000

Suffice to say that effective e-commerce web design is crucial for bringing more sales for a website. From a recent statistic, it is revealed that web design plays a key part in converting website visitors into customers. Ideally, the design of your website should make or break the purchase process.

No matter you are developing a website for the first time or you want to update your existing site, you will need to learn tips for increasing the engagement of valuable customers on your website.

Follow are the most effective e-commerce web design tips that you could implement to start seeing more conversions in no time.

1. Keep The User in Mind

When it comes to designing a website it is crucial to keep eye on every single component of your website from images to order forms. This is because all components of your website could potentially contribute to influencing users to purchase your offered products and services. When you keep the user in mind, you will truly make an effective e-commerce web design by professional ecommerce web design agency.
By doing this you will easily enhance user experience that helps to turn website visitors into customers for more sales. If not, you will miss a great option to offer easy navigational, visual appeal, and to enhance the overall experience of visitors.

2. Make It Simple

You might hear a famous statement, “simple is the best”. Ensure to develop a simple website that can visually appeal more in the eyes of your websites visitors. If you want to drive more sales from your e-commerce web design, then you should simplify it. For this, you will require to remove unnecessary content such as text, pictures, banners, and buttons.
By developing a webpage with an incredibly simple design you can easily turn your web visitors into customers to drive more sales.

3. Use a CTA Button

There is nothing important in your web design than a clearly defined call to action button. An exclusive design call to action button gives off a professional feeling. If you want to turn your website visitors into conversion, then you must design a proper call to action button.
You might have noticed that most e-commerce sites have a little shopping cart icon on the top of their webpage. This is also a great idea for lead generation that helps users to easily add items to their cart for order placement. Thus ensure to implement this vital e-commerce web design strategy to drive more sales effortlessly.

4. Be Honest About Discount

Normally every e-commerce website offers seasonal and signup discounts to online shoppers. When offering a discount to your e-commerce website visitors, do remember to always use accurate products and discount percentage. If you are offering a discount on the entire stock, then you must include it. Do not try to hide the discount information as it will confuse your website visitors.
Moreover, it clearly showcases the shipping charges as customers normally need to learn about it. Studies show that usually web visitors fail to be a conversion due to hidden shipping charges.

5. Upload HD Images

This is the most crucial element for online shoppers that helps to purchase their desired products. If they cannot see a product clearly they won’t buy it from your e-commerce store. While creating your e-commerce web design ensure to use high-defined product images to maximize the conversion rate. Try to offer them a zoom feature on every image to help visitors examine the product thoroughly.
In case you upload a blurred image you can turn customers away from your e-commerce website. So, consider uploading HD images for every product to quickly grab the attention span of your site visitors.

6. Add Reviews & Testimonials

No one can deny the importance of reviews and testimonials sections on a website. Make sure to design an effective section in your e-commerce web design. One best idea is to add product-specific reviews on every page of your site to maximize the experience of website visitors.
According to a recent survey-based statistic, more than 59% of online shoppers read reviews before purchasing any product. You can also take advantage of lead generation by adding reviews and testimonials section in your website design. In this way, the customer will quickly order their required product on your e-commerce site.

7. Include Search Bar

Every online shopper would likely look for a specific product that is already in their mind. By designing a clear search bar on the top of your web pages you can help customers to find their specific product quickly. In case a user fails to find their required product on your site, they are more likely to move to your competition.
That’s why you need to design a search bar on the top of your website page to make the conversion process easy and quick.