When your ad campaigns are in the learning phase, don’t make any of these changes to the campaign.

In this phase, Facebook is testing your ads with different audience cohorts, based on the objective, targeting & creatives given by you.

The AI optimizes your campaign to find the most relevant audience – in turn reducing your CPR.

So avoid making any changes during this time…

That’s because the moment you make any changes, the ad goes into a learning mode again based on these new variables.

This will keep increasing the learning curve and the overall optimization will take longer.

Be patient and change after you’ve got a few days of data to optimize on.

——-

#socialmediamanager #socialmediamarketing #edsfze #marketing #business #digitalmarketing #socialmediamanagement #socialmediamanagementservice #socialmediamanagementtips #socialmediamarketingworld #socialmediamarketingagency #businesspeople #clientservice #clientreview #customerexperience #bizowners #digitalmarketingagency #digitlmarketingservices #businessowners #biztips #smallbizowners #facebookads #facebookadvertising #facebookad #facebookadsexpert #facebookadstips #facebookadsmastery #facebookadstraining

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However, with iOS 14, that data is now limited. For example, since users of iOS 14.5 are defaulted to opting out of allowing their #data to be tracked by 3rd parties, Facebook Ads will lose a large chunk of data that it previously relied upon.

This means #advertisers are seeing ad performance drop, because activity of any users who click on Facebook Ads who do not allow tracking are not be attributed to those ads. It doesn’t necessarily mean the ads are less effective, it just means the data isn’t there to know one way or another.

Also, since Facebook Ads delivery is heavily dependent on pixel data, the effectiveness of Facebook’s #algorithm is being put into question, since it can no longer use the same amount of data to determine the best users to whom it should serve ads, and the best ads that should be served at a given time or in a given situation.

Using Facebook Ads terminology, it means advertisers will see small audience sizes and lower reported conversion rates.

Apple is portraying iOS 14 as a champion of privacy protection, whereas Facebook is claiming it to be hurtful to small businesses who rely on personal data for their advertising. Both sides have validity, but all we can do is position ourselves in the best possible way to be successful.

#ios14update #ios14 #facebook #facebookmarketing #facebookadvertising #pixel #pixeltracking #conversions #facebookanalytics #socialmediametrics #targetaudience #iphone #iphoneusers #facebookupdates #campaigntracking #privacyprotection #smallbusiness #personaldata #edsfze

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Learn how to use advertising to build a magnetic brand that attracts customers, establishes a following, and generates revenue.

When you hear the word advertising, what comes to mind?

Do you think of banner ads on your favorite website? Those hilarious Super Bowl commercials? The billboards along the highway or posters in the subway stations?

While most of us have a pretty good idea of what advertising looks like, we often struggle to nail down exactly what it means — and how to do it well.

From the printing press to pop-up ads, advertising has certainly changed with the times. Despite this, though, the need for advertising hasn’t changed, and neither have the techniques and best practices that make for quality advertising. That’s what we’ll cover in this guide.

Good advertising is designed to be extremely influential, memorable, and, at times, risqué. But, how does advertising actually work?

How does advertising work?

Advertising works by breaking through the clutter and noise of everyday life, disrupting the viewer’s attention, and demanding their focus.

Depending on the goals of your ad campaign, advertising can go to work for your company in a variety of ways:

• To raise awareness of your brand
• To drive potential customers to your business
• To promote sales for both new and existing products
• To introduce a new product or service to the market
• To differentiate your product from your competitors’

Advertising can also be executed in various ways. Radio commercials, billboards, branded t-shirts, and social media endorsements all count as advertising — as we’ll discuss later on in this guide.

What are advertisers?

Advertisers are the people at a company who are responsible for advertising a product or service. “Advertiser” can also refer to a company or organization that’s paying for advertising on a billboard, in a magazine, or through a website or mobile application.

All advertisers are marketers, but not all marketers are advertisers. Let’s dig deeper in the differences between advertising and marketing.

Advertising is a subset of marketing, which is the umbrella term for communicating with your audience.

Marketing includes a number of different channels, such as social media, email marketing, public relations, SEO, and paid advertising.

Alternatively, advertising is just one component of marketing.

A company’s overarching marketing strategy will typically include an advertising plan. The advertising portion zooms in on the specific process of creating and publishing the persuasive messages to get customers to take action.

A Brief History of Advertising

Advertising is one of the oldest segments of business, save for currency and trade. Once products and services arose, so did the need to make them known.

The oldest confirmed piece of advertising dates back to 3,000 B.C. Technically, it was a print ad from ancient Egypt promoting the capture and return of an escaped slave.

Incidentally, the ad also mentioned the slave owner’s shop — a rug business — which inherently advertised his storefront, too. The slave was never caught, but the rug owner did discover a brand new method of bringing in traffic: advertising.

Let’s fast-forward about 4,000 years. Here’s a brief look at the past five centuries of advertising:

1472: The first poster advertisement is placed on church doors in London.

1650: The first newspaper ad — a reward for 12 stolen horses — is published. (What’s with these reward-based advertisements?)

1704: The Boston News-Letter prompts its readers to place ads in its paper.

1870: The Powers style of ad copy is born. This style packed a punch — it was short, to-the-point, truthful, and convincing. Powers said the focus should be on why the consumer should buy your product or service — a message that still resonates for good reason today.

1880: Postcards become one of the hottest new ways to reach customers.

1902: Unilever creates the “longest client-agency relationship in advertising history” when it hires J. Walter Thompson Company to advertise its Lifebuoy Soap.

1902: Mellins Food advertises its brand on 25 airship flights, becoming the first brand to take this approach.

1904: The Campbell’s Kids are created, piloting the change in advertisement focus from a single ad to an entire campaign.

1922: Radio ads are born, and businesses purchase 10 mins for $100. Two years later brands would increase their investment by sponsoring an entire radio show, a concept that would eventually become known as “sponsored content.”

1925: Advertisers start to appeal to emotions, focusing on what pleasure customers would receive from their product or service. This old Ford ad exemplifies this perfectly.

1975: VCRs are introduced, and consumers begin to record shows and, therefore, skip advertisements.

1990: Computers become more popular and accessible at home, with over 5 million homes connected to the internet.

1994: The first email spam campaign launches. Banner ads are also introduced.

1995: Search engines like Yahoo! and Alta Vista are born. Ask Jeeves and Google would follow in 1997 and 1998, respectively.

2005: YouTube and Facebook (for college students only) launch.

2008: Brands start to realize the importance of having an online presence for their potential customers. Procter and Gamble pilot the concept of the content hub with BeingGirl.com.

2012: Online videos reach almost 170 million viewers.

2013: Sites like Pinterest and Instagram join the social network scene.

2020: Advertising soars on digital platforms including social media, podcasts, pay-per-click (PPC), and more. Customer data plays a larger role in advertising targeting and retargeting. Lastly, a rapid increase in mobile devices sees a boost in mobile ads and SMS marketing.

History teaches us that advertising is an ever-changing concept, just like shopping habits and how and where consumers spend their time.

Whereas almost 140 years ago, postcards were the newest form of advertising, brands today are building chatbots for Facebook Messenger and integrating artificial intelligence into their marketing and sales platforms.

Things in the advertising world move fast. Now, let’s take a look at how advertising methods have changed and what marketers and advertisers are using today.

Advertising Methods

1. Print Advertising
2. Billboards and Public Transit Ads
3. TV Commercials
4. Radio
5. Event Advertising
6. Direct Mail
7. Digital Advertising

Advertising can look like many different things. Here are the different formats and channels that advertisers have been using over the years.

1. Print Advertising

Print advertising refers to posters, bulletins, flyers, and other physically-printed promotions. It also refers to newspaper and magazine ads.

How we design and consume print advertising has changed over the years, but it’s been a steadfast advertising medium — especially as digital advertising has evolved (which we’ll cover next).

Unlike digital media, print advertising can’t be tracked and analyzed as clearly. Fortunately, brands have found brilliant ways to incorporate print advertising into broader digital campaigns.

2. Billboards and Public Transit Ads

Billboard advertising encompasses print advertising on a much larger scale. Due to their size, the design, placement, and cost of billboard and public transit ads are different than typical print advertising.

For example, billboards are typically designed with few to no words so that viewers have time to process the message while passing by in a car or train. Also, these ads are used for brand awareness, so they usually only include a brand name or phone number (versus a website).

3. TV Commercials

TV commercials are short advertisements developed and paid for by companies and organizations looking to capture the audience of a TV show or network program. TV ads have been around since the invention of the television and have since changed drastically with the birth of streaming TV.

TV ads have a wide reach (millions) and provide viewers with a multi-sensory ad experience — something print ads and some digital ads can’t quite do. Alternatively, TV ads are expensive, avoidable by your audience, and hard to target as accurately as other channels.

4. Radio

Radio advertising refers to spoken advertising spots aired on radio channels between music and other programs. This method dates back to 1920 when commercial radio first aired.

Radio advertising is particularly powerful for local and regional advertising. Nowadays, podcast advertising is a similar but more effective method, especially for national audiences.

5. Event Advertising

Events (both in-person and virtual) are opportunities to connect with your audience while promoting your brand and products. You can host your own event (as HubSpot does with INBOUND) in the form of a conference, webinar, roundtable, or luncheon.

Another form of event advertising is by sponsoring an event or purchasing a booth at a conference or trade show. This is less expensive than hosting your own event, but you still get to engage audience members and promote your brand.

6. Direct Mail

Direct mail advertising includes postcards, pamphlets, and catalogues mailed directly to the homes of your target audience. A direct mail advertising strategy is more personal than others on this list, but it’s also very costly. (Consider the cost of postage alone.)

Another direct mail strategy is electronic mail, typically through the form of email newsletters or promotions. This overlaps with our next section — digital advertising. That’s what we’ll unpack next.

Digital Advertising: How to Advertise Online

As of today, there are over 4 billion people using the internet. This number is up 300% from 2005. Point being, internet usage is skyrocketing, and it’s not stopping.

If you’re not advertising online, you’re behind the curve. Not only does the internet offer you direct access to more than half the global population — including more than half of your target audience — but it also provides so many different channels on which to advertise.

Here are the most common ways to advertise online:

Paid Search Advertising

Whether Google, Yahoo, or Bing, all search engines have their own paid advertising. This is referred to as pay-per-click, or PPC, and involves bidding on keywords and placing ads at the top or sides of search results.

When someone performs a query using one of those search engines, advertisers have the ability to display ads above organic search results. That’s what makes PPC so powerful — it gives your advertisements prime real estate in front of people already searching for relevant topics.

Here’s an example on Google:

The top listings in the red box are advertisements. Organic search results, those that came up as a result of SEO, were below the map snippet.

Social Media Advertising

Social media platforms know how valuable their content is, and that’s why they offer the option to sponsor or boost posts. Social media ads put your message in front of your target audience and encourage them to engage, click-through, and buy.

More and more, social media sites are prioritizing ad space over organic content because, well, it brings in more revenue.

Whether you’re a budding or brand new business, consider running some social media advertisements. These will not only advertise your products and services but also promote your social media pages and grow your following.

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter each have their own version of ads like these.

Here’s how they appear on their respective feeds:

Facebook

Instagram

Download our free guide to learn how to run Instagram ads, define goals, moderate engagement, and measure success.

LinkedIn

Download our free guide on How to Run Successful LinkedIn Ads.

Twitter

Native Ads and Sponsored Content

Sponsored content has been around since 1922, when brands would sponsor entire radio shows. Today, sponsored content refers more to native ads and blog or article content subsidized by brands.

Have you ever read a Buzzfeed article that heavily referenced or recommended a certain product or service? It was likely sponsored by a certain brand.

Check out this article, 10 Reasons To Put Away Your Phone On Your Next Trip, promoted by agoda, a hotel or destination booking site. Does it blatantly promote agoda’s services? No. Its primary purpose is to entertain and inform, although agoda is referenced a few times throughout the content.

At the top, the byline reflects agoda’s sponsorship, just before the content starts. And, as you scroll down the page, another ad sits within the content.

Sponsored content is a great way to promote your brand in content your audience is already familiar with.

Banner and Display Ads

Banner and display ads are an extension of search ads and follow a similar PPC model. But instead of a text-based ad, consumers see a more visual advertisement.

Banner ads are typically the horizontal boxes on top of a web page, whereas display ads are smaller in nature and shown on the side (like in the screenshot above).

Whether you opt for traditional print ads in magazines or subway stations or choose online promotion on social media or search engines, there are a few rules that make for great advertising. Below are some advertising best practices to apply to all your ads.

Advertising Best Practices

There are a lot of best practices, tips, and tricks when it comes to advertising. It’s an art that’s been perfected over the years, and with the rise of modern advertising and new media, best practices continue to manifest.

In this section, though, we’re going to cover five famous advertising concepts that still work today — regardless of what advertising method or medium you’re using.

When used correctly, these advertising techniques will do wonders for your brand and products.

Appeal to emotions.

While you may not consider the ASPCA a business, their unforgettable Sarah McLachlan commercial is the perfect example of using emotional appeal to entice people to take action.

For most of us, the images in that commercial are hard to watch — we may even turn away. But since it tugs at our heartstrings, we’re more likely to donate to animals in need after seeing the horrors they’re going through.

Studies show that people rely on emotions, rather than information, to make brand decisions. Emotional responses to ads influence a person’s intent to buy more than the actual ad content.

Whether you try to evoke happiness, sadness, fear, or anger, appealing to emotions can help your target audience feel your message — not simply read or hear it.

Create positive associations.

When consumers associate your product with a feeling of happiness, state of achievement, or accomplished goal, they’re more likely to take notice, remember your product or service, and make a purchase.

Actually, you’ve probably been on the receiving end of this before without even realizing it. Have you ever seen your favorite celebrity or Instagram influencer posing with a product or brand and found that you wanted to be, do, or look the same? Companies create this subconscious connection in advertising hoping that you associate your positive feelings with the product or service they’re promoting.

Catchy songs like “Nationwide is on your side” is an example of helping people associate friendliness with the Nationwide brand. Coca-Cola has a brand advertising campaign that associates their product with friends, family, and fun. When you consider what refreshments to serve at a party or bring on a picnic, Coca-Cola wants you to think of them.

As you create your advertisements, consider what feelings, desires, or goals with which you want your brand to be associated. Weave these feelings or goals into your advertisements through stories or videos. Look for influencers who align with your brand’s core values and demeanor and include them to promote positive association.

Establish a bandwagon effect.

People want to fit in. It’s human nature. Neither you nor I are immune to it.

And it’s this base human desire that makes the bandwagon effect so effective. People don’t want to be left out. They find value in their peers’ opinions, and they certainly don’t want to be the only ones not using the latest and greatest product.

Brands like Maybelline understand this concept well and use it to their advertising advantage. One tube of their top-selling mascara is purchased every two seconds, a statistic that establishes social proof and further supports their claim of “America’s Favorite Mascara.”

Use customer testimonials, survey data, or shareable content to advertise your brand as one worth following or buying into. Take another approach by promoting a discount for sharing your brand with a friend or family member — so your audience will do the selling for you. Either way, use your advertising to create an inclusive environment people will want to join.

Focus on benefits over features.

Features and benefits are two very different things. Features are the details of the product or service you’re selling, such as the measurements of a couch or the ingredients of a protein bar. Benefits, on the other hand, explain why a person should buy a couch or protein bar from you and how their life would, well, benefit from such a purchase.

Advertising should focus on the benefit your product or service brings, not explain what you’re physically selling.

Consider how Southwest Airlines advertises. Instead of explaining, line by line, what a Business Select ticket offers, Southwest paints a picture of what life would be like if you made a purchase. In this advertisement, they focus on the benefits.

Rather than wasting precious ad space on your product specifications or service details, talk about the ways a purchase might positively impact your customers. If you do it right, your creative, benefit-packed advertisement would then inspire them to research the features on their own.

Leverage storytelling.

Not unlike our desire to fit in is our penchant for a good story. Storytelling helps paint a bigger picture of a brand or company, not simply promote a single product or service. Also, when stories resonate with someone, it’s far easier to motivate him or her to take action.

Storytelling is the one technique you should try to infuse in all your advertising. In fact, if you haven’t started crafting your brand’s overall story, you should definitely do so. Research shows that stories that illustrate a brand as “necessary, believable, and integral” are the most effective for engaging and influencing consumers.

Dove employs storytelling in its campaign partnership with Operation Homefront. The videos feature real stories of military men and their families being reunited. The advertisements don’t directly promote Dove products but instead tell the Dove brand story (and pull on a few heartstrings, too).

Determining your brand story will help you learn how to best discuss your brand in all marketing efforts, not just advertising.

Next, let’s take a look at some of the most memorable ad campaigns, a few of which put these best practices in action.

Five Memorable Ad Campaigns

The best advertisements are the best teachers. Whether it’s the copywriting, design, medium, or target audience, well-executed campaigns can always teach you something new about advertising or positioning.

(Consider Westinghouse Electric’s “We Can Do It” ad …)

Here are five campaigns that left a noticeable mark on advertising history.

1. Nike: Just Do It

In the late 1980s, Nike launched its “Just Do It” campaign.

At the time, Reebok was outselling Nike, and Nike needed to act fast to compete against the sneaker conglomerate.

But it wasn’t just the three-word phrase that earned global attention. Their new ad campaign also focused on real people wearing and working out in their products, as opposed to simply featuring clothes and sneakers themselves.

This powerful combination of people plus product helped Nike go from $800 million in 1988 to $9.2 billion just 10 years later.

2. The Absolut Vodka Bottle

Did you know Absolut’s “Bottles in the Wild” ad series is the longest uninterrupted campaign in history?

The campaign was Absolut’s attempt to grow their name internationally, especially throughout the United States. It featured the Absolut bottle in different cities and countries worldwide.

It launched in 1985 and ran until 2000 — lasting an impressive 25 years.

Absolut’s campaign helped grow the company from a tiny slice of the vodka market share (2.5%) to over half the U.S. imported market share.

To this day, the Absolut brand is the fourth largest spirit company, thanks to its focus on the overall story, not just the product itself.

3. Miller Lite

The folks at Miller Lite used differentiation to reach their goal: to get “real men” to willingly drink light beers. With their “Great Taste, Less Filling” campaign, they maintained a leading position in the light beer market for several decades after this first campaign aired.

4. Volkswagen

Though Volkswagen has officially discontinued its production of Beetles, its iconic “Think Small” campaign will be forever ingrained in advertising history.

Doyle Dane & Bernbach (DDB) advertising agency knew it had to change the mind of consumers if it wanted to compete with industry leaders. So, VW admitted that though the Beetle was, in fact, tiny, it was still a force to be reckoned with and worth a purchase.

Authenticity and honesty went a long way in this seemingly small campaign.

5. Dos Equis

With its edgy, cool, and sophisticated aesthetic, it’s no surprise “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign put Dos Equis on the map.

This campaign created a positive association between the Dos Equis beer and the feeling of sophistication and poise. Sales quickly jumped by 22% after the campaign launched.

Even more impressive was how Dos Equis found success in a time when craft beers grabbed a foothold in the market and imported beer took a 4% hit. This campaign was a major component of that success.

To learn how to grab the attention of your audience, learn from the professionals. These campaigns are a great example of how brands have used real stories, real people, and real talk to grow their businesses.

Advertising Helps You Grow Better

Equipped with a dense, dynamic history, advertising is an incredible tool to add to your marketing tool box.

Between print ads, radio sponsorship, TV commercials, and social media promotion, the opportunities to advertise and promote your brand are endless.

To best connect and engage with your audience, speak your customer’s language, appeal to their emotions, and tap into their desire to be a part of a community, create a clear and authentic brand story to illustrate how your brand aligns with their values.

By applying these tried and true practices to your advertising, you’ll build a magnetic brand that attracts customers, establishes a following, and generates revenue.

Do this and your brand will grow into a household name that stands the test of time — just like advertising itself.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Advertising in 2021 appeared first on EDS FZCO.

Facebook Ads are great for hyper targeting, and retargeting (finding similar audiences), to reaching your target audience; these ads can be more likely to convert into a sale because they can be put in front of the “right” people. They are also usually less expensive than Google Adwords. These ads can help direct traffic to your site, or help boost overall social engagement and promotions – but it is specific to Facebook.

Google Adwords helps display you at the top of a Google search result for a specific set of keywords. However, this can be very costly depending on your industry, and the specific keywords you are trying to target. Google ads display at the top of a search result, and are more likely to get clicked, and this adds credibility in the search results (especially when you have great SEO for your business) because now you will essentially take up more Google “real estate” – meaning you appear in the top ad space, the map pack, and the organic listings.

If you have the budget for it, you should absolutely pursue both options, as they both provide their own unique benefits. However, you should always include other marketing strategies such as SEO, email marketing, and other social media & search engine marketing channels to make the biggest impact.

Overall, it really depends on what your current goals are in terms of advertising. Is it to spread awareness? Direct traffic to your site? Promote a product or service? Knowing what your specific goals are will help determine what specific marketing channel to focus on.

The post How can I decide if Google Adwords and Facebook advertising are both good for our company at the same time? appeared first on EDS FZCO.

Twitter ads are an extremely useful tool but is definitely NOT an advertising channel you can use primarily for conversions.

If you are wondering why just bear in mind that Twitter as a platform is meant for reading and interacting with opinions that relate to local or global events.

On the other hand, with Facebook you can see what’s going on in the world, talk to your friends privately, play games, flirt, buy stuff or do business networking.

That element makes it easier for Facebook advertisers to drive conversions.

On the other hand, Twitter is the ideal channel if you want to generate engagement and build awareness over something.

Also, in Twitter:

• Ideas and opinions spread in totally different speeds than Facebook.
• Hashtags are strongly connected with some kind of intention.

So, if you are a media company, Twitter is the best way to go.

If you are running an e-commerce store, then you need to choose a channel that drives conversions easier, such as Facebook ads.

• Targeting: Facebook targeting is very detailed as compared to Twitter. There are a lot of options like demographics, behaviour, interests, etc whereas in Twitter you can target handles, keywords, etc.
• Ad copies: In Facebook, you can write descriptive ad copies whereas on Twitter there is a 240 characters limit.
• Ad formats: Facebook boasts complex and more ad formats whereas on Twitter the offerings are much simpler.

Facebook

• App ads
• Domain ads
• Mobile app ads
• Offer ads
• Page-like ads
• Page post link ads
• Page post photo ads
• Page post text ads
• Page post video ads
• Sponsored stories

Twitter

• Promoted tweets
• Promoted accounts
• Promoted trends
• Ad performance: Here’s an image from WordStream which comprises of some performance metrics. Have a look!

Always remember, Facebook is a platform to connect with people, make friends whereas Twitter is an idea-sharing platform. This is the basic difference among other differences.

Now, you have enough information to decide where you should put in your money. Best of luck!

For more information please contact us at https://eds.ae / info@eds.ae / +971-4-5193444

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As social beings we like to talk about ourselves. Either directly or indirectly.

That little rush you get when your post gets more likes than normal? Dopamine is a reason for that rush. For every thumbs up or heart we get a little psychological high through a shot of dopamine.

The post The Psychology of being ‘liked’ on Social Media! appeared first on EDS FZCO.

If you’re looking to increase your fans and engagement with the ones you already have (remember, it’s not enough to get someone to like you and your page—you need to continually convince them to stay), below are six tips that will help you stay hooked and relevant in the news feeds of your fans

1.Content should be accompanied with photos

Spicing up your posts on Facebook by adding photos will encourage people to spend that extra second looking and reading. The photo should be relevant to whatever you’re writing, but don’t stress nor spend much time thinking about which one to use – learning what works best for you and your audience comes in time.

2.Stay hooked with trends

Tapping into trending topics and discussions that is relevant to your ideal fanbase will encourage a good trail of engagement, and online footprints. If some major event that your fans care about is happening – the World Cup for example – make sure you comment on it somehow. It isn’t terribly important what you say (a joke, how shocked you are, etc.), as long as you’re in on the discussion.

3.Create an atmosphere of interaction between you and your fans

As humans we feel good to be part of a good course, correspondingly people like being asked their opinion; especially if they know it it’s really going to mean something. They love sharing their wisdom, and it makes them feel like they’re really a part of the whole thing, not just a fan. Thus Asking them questions and feedbacks will go a long way

4.Diversify your content flow

Avoid posting same topics and content flow as it will make your Facebook page seem boring and that serve as a good recipe to getting ignored, removed from a feed, or to have someone “unlike” you. Try to change it up as often as you can. Diversity makes everything more interesting!

5.Avoid the flooding rule

Uploading images and content on Facebook gives an advantage, but bombarding your audience by flooding your page with series of content at short intervals is a big turn off and may lead to people unfollowing you or missing out on some.  It’s important to act in a way that’s in tandem with what your fans are doing, hence staggering how and when you share them could increase engagement. Don’t throw them all out at once for people to miss!

6.Update your Info

After capturing your fans’ attention in their News Feeds, you’ll want to make sure that you provide them with all the information they need on your actual page. This may seem like a no-brainer, but a few seconds updating this could do you a lot of good.

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Welcome, one and all, to what should be a fun little tech-based post. Like many people, I find technology interesting. The way we’ve developed different systems over the years, and how we’ve gone on to apply these to modern life is at times fascinating, especially when it comes to things that you either didn’t know were even there to begin with or weren’t aware could be used in the way they are. It’s for this reason that I like today’s subject, because it covers something that, although I knew it existed, I hadn’t really considered in terms of how it’s used: Geofencing.

So, let’s start with a definition of the term. A geofence is a predefined area, within which electronic devices are monitored. This area is completely virtual; it requires no additional hardware to be installed by the user, and instead relies on data gathered from cellular/mobile phone towers, Wi-Fi data, and to a degree, GPS data. The general idea is to allow those who have set up the geofence to gain some insight into who breaches the perimeters of the fence, who sticks around, and who leaves.

The chances are, you’ve already been involved with this, at least insofar as registering perimeters goes. When you have your Wi-Fi switched on, your mobile device will send out frequent searches for new hotspots, and when one of these is found, it will most likely power on your GPS in the background and report the location to your device provider (such as Apple, Google, and so on). This allows different businesses to build up a picture of what sort of services can be offered, and where.

Now, if you weren’t aware of this at all, that probably sounds a little creepy. The thing is though, there a lot of benefits to geofencing, one of which you may have already experienced: push-notifications. Have you ever signed up to an app-based loyalty scheme for example? If so, there’s a good chance that your terms and conditions feature at least one point about the use of geofencing. This is because, when you agree to allow push-notifications, the idea is to allow the app to get them to you in a timely fashion.

So, say you’re in your local shopping mall, and you get a push notification offering a discount at a coffee shop. You then realise that there’s a branch of said chain in that very mall, and decide, ‘why not go for a drink?’ This isn’t down to lucky timing. The chances are that the company will have a geofence set up around the mall, meaning that they knew when you arrived, and knew that you weren’t simply passing through. But it won’t necessarily stop there. Let’s assume that you’re a registered app user and scanning a QR code within the app whenever you make a purchase earns you loyalty points. This will mean that the coffee shop will also have access to your purchase history. Did the discount they offered in the push notification relate to one of your frequent purchases? That’s because most businesses will use geofencing in conjunction with multiple promotions. Sure, broad brush approaches have their place too, but if you’re in a position to drill down to more detailed targeting, you’re likely to do it. There is no reason to offer cheap cappuccino to someone who doesn’t drink it when you can entice them better with 10% off their favourite hot chocolate, after all.

If we continue down the route of retail, in this case with our fictional coffee shop, they may also set up geofences around their competitors. This would allow them to see when a customer goes to another coffee shop, and maybe give them a nudge to come back. This will also allow them to see when you simply aren’t visiting coffee shops in the mall and give them an opportunity to throw a bone your way to regain your custom. That’s right, Big Brother may not always be watching, but your favourite stores are!

Of course, we don’t all run businesses that would benefit from such marketing tactics, so how does apply outside this setting? Well, there are certainly a few uses within the realms of security. With data security being such a big part of life these days, geofencing can be applied as a safe guard. The way this works is to set up a perimeter with one of two rules: either certain data cannot be accessed within/outside the perimeter, or devices automatically shut down outside the perimeter. If you want to look to wider personal security, this is already being applied by parents to ensure that their kids can’t access inappropriate material near their school, via apps installed on both their own and their child’s phones.

Of course, this also applies outside offices. Even putting the data security aside, many construction sites have geofencing strategies to show not only when workers are on site, but also to monitor the movement of equipment. Once set up, the contractors can tell when certain items leave the site, or even have it set up to prevent them being used outside the work area.

So, with that lengthy introduction out of the way, let’s have some fun! It’s time to speculate how geofencing could be utilized in the future.

I want to start here with something applies to the everyday world in a mundane setting: the rise of ‘smart devices’ in the home. You may notice that science fiction shows often show things such as houses that can tell when their occupant returns home and adjust the house temperature to ‘just right’, turn the lights on, and so on. These are all things that can be achieved now with geofencing. You simply set up the perimeter around your house, and have the devices set to power on when you arrive. Yes, there are similar systems to do the same things too, such as electricity and power company phone apps that allow you to manually adjust temperatures, or timer plugs to get your desktop PC switched on and warmed up when you’re due home, but these do have some areas where time has an effect: you need to manually operate the temperature apps, and the timer only works to plan if you arrive when expected to. If new build homes were to come with an in built geofence, these steps could be bypassed and refined. Pretty useful, right?

Then there are the potential uses in competitions. If a person were to set up a number of geofences within an area, and had an app set up to send specific clues or pointers when a registered user enters one, you could essentially set up a modern treasure hunt. It’d be like an app-focused geocaching!

Finally, there are further security potentials. The obvious would be to install the apps as defaults in smart cars and use this to track stolen vehicles. Rather than explore this though, I wanted to offer an idea whereby geofencing could help reduce a different type of crime: gun violence.

We already have what are known as locationised guns. These work by using GPS to ensure that they are only fired in certain areas, such as a hunting ground. The problem is that, due to legislative restrictions, they have never been developed commercially. Since these work in a similar way to geofencing principals though, it’s not a big leap of the imagination to say that you could set up a perimeter around high density areas such as schools or shopping malls and use these to prevent locationised gun from being deployed therein.

Of course, if this were rolled out as a standard for all guns sold in a country, city, town, etc., it would potentially prevent law enforcement from firing too, thusly reducing their effectiveness if faced with an armed attacker wielding a blade or explosives, wouldn’t it? Well, not necessarily. As stated above, you can disable and enable certain devices using a geofence as a basis. If you were to limit use to law enforcement issued weapons, that would allow bodies such as the police to continue to operate. Now there would of course be the worry that someone wanting to commit a crime could acquire a police weapon to bypass this, but even if we ignore the potential to restrict the use of individual weapons using the same technology, there’s already another workaround for that: smart guns also already exist. These weapons are equipped with tools that prevent unauthorized users from firing them, with solutions ranging from finger print recognition to physical tokens. Were law enforcement weapons to move exclusively to this system with the operation being based on finger print (or indeed similar) technology, this would also act as a way to prevent this.

So, there you have it. I hope that was as interesting for you to read as it was for me to write. But what do you think? Were you already aware of geofencing? How could you see it being used in the future? Let me know in the comments below.

The post Geofencing Advertising: How and Where it works ? appeared first on EDS FZCO.

At some point, every entrepreneur comes to the crossroads of whether they should engage in social media marketing or not.  The quick answer is – yes!

I know, I know! You don’t have time! You have a dozen appointments on the go, a million tasks on your to-do list and you simply can’t afford the time to learn how to do it!  The truth is – You can’t afford not to!

If you are in business to make money, then you will no doubt want to have conversations with prospective clients, right? For realtors, those conversations are embedded within their lead generation systems.  Your goal, always, is to have as many conversations as you can, because those conversations translate to leads and those leads translate to appointments and those appointments translate to deals….. get the idea? Now, imagine if you will, that every time you had a “conversation” with someone, you were able to gauge exactly how they feel about you and your services, how often they heard your message, and if they have told anyone else about you and what they have learned.  This is the power of Social Media Marketing!

Are you ready to start having “conversations” on the social web, with prospective clients, and have the ability to monitor and track your engagement? Lets go!

10 Tips to Getting Started on Social Media Marketing

1. What is your goal.

What is it that you hope to achieve through these “conversations”.  Why do you want to engage? Are you trying to sell a product or service? Stay relevant? Build a brand name? Boost loyalty? Be known as the trusted source for information? Figuring out what you hope to achieve will affect the types of content you publish and what your “voice” will be.

2. Know your audience, Know your audience, Know your audience

This couldn’t be more important.  You will be engaging in conversations on the social Web.  Make sure that your message and voice match what your target audience wants and needs to hear.  Just like in face to face conversations, the goal is to speak WITH people, not speak AT people.  Are you a brokerage or realtor trying to communicate with consumers? Or are you trying to communicate with other Realtors? I often see social media accounts where the lines are really blurred.  One moment they are posting about how much they love what they do and how happy their clients are, and then the next moment they are complaining about a bad deal or client and posting photos of themselves drinking at bar with the hashtag #FML.  Point being, knowing your audience will help you determine what your voice will be and will also help you to identify what your content should look like.

3. Content Management

There is no shortage of content on the web, so the issue is not really about where to find things to post.  The question is whether you are able and willing to manage your sites yourself, whether you should hire someone, or whether you should create original content or source it from other places.  A few factors come into play when making the decision.  First, do you have the budget to hire someone else? If the answer is no (which is usually the case for most realtors, at least at the beginning), then your option is to manage the site yourself.  This does not have to be an overwhelming and daunting task. In fact, one could argue that the only person who can speak like you and be you – is well, you!   Your number one goal, should always be to connect with people, and you do that by engaging, sharing, and ensuring your message is both relevant and consistent. I don’t think the debate on original content vs shared content will ever end, and depending on who you are talking to, they each have valid points.  But remember one thing – your job is to sell, and in order to sell, you can’t be behind a computer for 4 hours a day creating content.  Opt for a modest approach to start and then re-evaluate as you go.

4. Create a schedule

It is important, as you move forward in planning your social media marketing campaign, that you identify how often you will be posting.  This will help you plan your day and be better prepared to manage your sites.  I will always argue that it is quality over quantity. Start with a schedule of 1-2 posts per week, and about 15-20 minutes per day for engaging.  By engaging, we mean liking, comment and sharing with your friends/followers/connections.  “Conversations” are never a one-way street.

5. Select your platforms

Are you already familiar with specific platforms? Where does your target audience gravitate most? This will help point you in the right direction. Will it be Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat….the list can go on. Pick your preferred platforms and get started on creating your profiles.  Remember, this is business, so make sure people will be able to identify what you do and who you are.  Oh, and you know the old adage “your first impression is a lasting  impression”? Make sure your profile photo is clear and professional.  That means, no photo of the dog, or kids or a selfie…. sorry! Your photo is the first thing they will see.  Next to that is your profile description.  Take a bit of time crafting that description of who you are, and invest in professional photography.  Trust me, they will not go to waste!

6. Quality vs Quantity

I referenced this earlier when we were talking about how many posts you should be working towards, but the same rule applies to your audience.  As you get started, you may come across apps and tools that promise to bring you thousands of free followers.  Remember this – it is better to have 100 engaged followers than 1000 ghost profiles who will never ever turn into potential leads or sources of referrals. The social platforms are moving away from algorithms that force you to see sponsored ads, and more towards relationship and personal engagement. That means, they can detect if you have fake followers, paid subscribers or are using automated third party content. They want “real” people.  Which leads to me the next point…

7. Be authentic

When crafting your messages and content and engaging with your audience, be genuine and authentic.  No one likes to be “sold”.  In a world where we are bombarded with sales pitches and marketing messages, people want “real”. Remember, one day you will hopefully get to meet the people you engage with online,  Be sure that you are who they think you are.

8. The 80/20 Rule

Your profiles and accounts should not be 100% business, they are called “social” platforms for a reason.  People do business with people they like, know and trust.  If you and I have something in common, your like-ability already goes up in my books.  If my friends are connected with you, then your perceived trust goes up as well.  The 80/20 rule means, that 20% of the time, your message should be focused around what you do, what you are selling and self-promotion.  But, 80% of time, you will be engaging, posting relevant messages and information, and creating a perception that you want people to have of you.  You see, the true hidden power of social media is that you get to control the perception you are creating.  Don’t be afraid to post special family moments, recognition achievements, testimonials, your nature walks with your dog, in addition to your showings, listings, virtual tours etc… all of these things make you who you are, and they also allow people to get to know you.  (Well, the parts of you that you choose to share anyways).  Do we all have bad days? Yep! Do we all have opinions on politics and world issues? You bet! With the 80/20 rule also comes the rule “be positive”!.  No one wants to hear you complaining and venting and treating social media like your “dear diary”.  Look where that’s gotten Trump! (again, I digress…)

9. Post and Watch

Most of the online social platforms offer you a variety of analytics and metrics to evaluate your engagement.  How many people visited your site, watched your video, comments left, likes received, number of shares etc.. As you begin to post, start evaluating your effectiveness.  Don’t be too quick to judge.  If you only have 10 people on your account, it might not be a large enough sample to evaluate whether your message is effective or not.  But the key is to watch and take notes.  Start to listen to your audience.  Notice their likes, clicks, comments and shares as they will tell you a lot about what they want to hear.  Allow them to control the conversation in that sense.  Once you identify topics or posts that they enjoyed, repeat!

10. Balance

Like everything in life, too much of one thing is not always good.  Sales is not an easy job, and facing objections, deals that fall apart and people that say no, can take its toll.  It is no wonder why more and more realtors choose to hide behind their screens.  But, social media is NOT a replacement for real conversations.  It is an enhancement. Design your strategy, stick to a schedule and stay focused on what is really important to building a business.  Don’t get caught up in the world of social marketing.  You don’t need a Blog, and a VLOG, and a YouTube Channel, and Live FB show, and Instagram, and Twitter, and LinkedIn, and Snapchat, and Pinterest and… you get the idea.  Yes, they are all valuable, but if you are finding that most of your time is spent behind a computer or staring at your phone then I can almost guarantee you are not “in business”.

The post Social Media Marketing – 10 Easy Steps to Getting Started appeared first on EDS FZCO.