The post Hello world! first appeared on TRIM Solutions.

Today, we’ll look at everything you need to know about how to get more subscribers on YouTube so you can grow your YouTube marketing channel exponentially. We’ll aim to answer questions like how do you get subscribers on YouTube? and how to get subscribers on YouTube fast? More importantly, we’ll be showing you how to get more subscribers on YouTube FOR FREE.

Read on to find out how to grow YouTube subscribers using three simple but highly effective steps.

1. Follow YouTube SEO Best Practices

A good way to ensure your video marketing campaigns gain the attention of your audience is to follow YouTube SEO best practices and optimize your YouTube marketing profile. By employing video SEO optimization techniques, you can boost the ranking of your video marketing channel and make it easier for audiences to discover your videos. Follow the YouTube SEO tips listed below and get free YouTube subscribers in no time.

Optimize Your Channel

We know what you’re thinking: How do I get more subscribers on YouTube when it’s such a competitive platform? With so many videos on the site already, it’s easy to get lost in all the clutter. This is why YouTube SEO is important, and an excellent example of why you need to optimize your channel. Here are some YouTube SEO tips for optimizing your channel:

• Use a channel icon. It’s like a custom thumbnail that showcases your brand everywhere on YouTube.
• Create a tagline. Highlight what makes your channel unique and add it as a subhead on your channel art.
• Write a compelling channel description. Optimize your channel for video SEO by showcasing what your business is about while adding relevant keywords.
• Create a channel trailer. Add a short video about the type of content viewers can expect on your channel and get free YouTube subscribers instantly.

Optimize Your Video Uploads

Optimizing your videos for video SEO unlocks special features that can help you get YouTube subscribers through discovery. Video SEO optimization helps YouTube categorize your videos and connect you with your target audience. If you were ever wondering how to gain subscribers on YouTube, making it more visible is the way to go.

HubSpot has shared a few YouTube SEO tips for optimizing your video uploads to get free YouTube subscribers. According to HubSpot, a video optimized for SEO has four major elements:

• A title that contains a target keyword
• A natural video description that contains a few more target keywords
• An engaging video thumbnail that captures the attention of your target audience
• And an embedded branding watermark and end screen to boost YouTube subscribers

But how do you get subscribers on YouTube if you don’t upload content regularly? The answer is by having a regular content schedule, which is also one of the best ways to boost YouTube subscribers. Some recommend publishing a video every week, while others say multiple times a week. But according to Thrive’s Media Specialist Corbin Hubbard, the upload schedule doesn’t matter. What matters is that 1) you publish regularly and 2) your YouTube subscribers know about it.

The key to success is consistency,” said Hubbard. “If you want to upload once a month, once a week, once a day, that’s great. Just doing it consistently so your viewers know what and when to expect, that’s the magic.”

Corbin Hubbard

By following these best practices in video SEO optimization, you ensure that audiences can find your content either through Google Search or YouTube’s native search feature and gain YouTube subscribers in the process.

Organize Your Videos Into Playlists

One of the most helpful YouTube SEO tips on how to get free subscribers on YouTube is organizing your video content into playlists. Playlists help you gain YouTube subscribers through curated content, which helps to improve watch time and discoverability. But in order to boost YouTube subscribers, a simple video playlist won’t suffice.

According to Backlinko, organizing your content into “power playlists” can help you get YouTube subscribers by arranging content according to outcomes and not by topic. By outcome, we mean something tangible and attainable, like “how to get subscribers on YouTube fast.” In this way, you match user intent and get YouTube subscribers while also providing value to your existing ones.

2. Engage Your Audience

The next part of our guide on how to increase YouTube subscribers focuses on engagement. It’s a popular topic in the realm of video marketing. Particularly, we’re focused on the concept of using video as an engagement tool, not as an answer to how to increase YouTube subscribers free.

There isn’t too much advice out there on how to get a lot of subscribers on YouTube using engagement, hence the purpose of this guide.

So, how do you get subscribers on YouTube through engagement? Engaging with your audience can be just as beneficial for your video marketing campaigns. By constantly interacting with your audience, they feel more appreciated, attentive and connected, which can help instill loyalty. When this happens, you gain free YouTube subscribers, just like that.

Do you want to know how to get more YouTube subscribers through engagement? Read on below.

Respond to Each Comment

Free YouTube subscribers are actually just a comment away. But how is responding to comments related to how to gain subscribers on YouTube? And how do you get more subscribers on YouTube through interactions? The answer is by encouraging participation.

One of the most asked questions on YouTube’s FAQs is “how do I get more subscribers on YouTube?” YouTube’s answer talks about how responding to comments made by fans on a video encourages your audience to participate. When they feel encouraged, they feel compelled to get to know more about the value that you share, which can result in a larger fanbase.

Moreover, channels that respond to comments gain more attention because most other content creators won’t bother, helping you to stand out more.

“Heart” Awesome Comments

Whenever you heart certain comments on your videos, the users who commented are notified either through their notifications or via email (sometimes both). When they click on that notification, you bring them back to your channel, giving them another opportunity to subscribe. And hearts are three times more likely to receive a click from users than other notifications on YouTube, which is a huge win for you. So, if you were wondering how to get more subscribers on YouTube for free, sometimes all it takes is a heart.

Ask Them to “Like and Subscribe”

In some cases, the answer to how to get more YouTube subscribers is simply to ask. Reminding your audience to like and subscribe adds a call-to-action (CTA) to your videos. In this case, the action you want them to take is to like the video, which boosts engagement, and subscribe, which is how to gain subscribers on YouTube. Make sure you reveal the value they can gain when they subscribe, for example, “Subscribe to learn more about how to get subscribers on YouTube fast.”

So, we’ve shown you how to get more YouTube subscribers through engagement. Next, we’ll discuss a more direct approach.

3. Promote Your YouTube Channel

The last part of our guide on how to get subscribers on YouTube deals with attracting audiences from outside the platform. So if you’re still asking how do I get more subscribers on YouTube?, perhaps the answer is promoting your content. This is where other digital marketing strategies come in – you can do this yourself or work with a digital marketing agency.

Use Social Media

Social media is populated by people who willingly consume video content. In 2020, over 3.6 billion people used social media. Seventy-eight percent of those watched videos once a week and 55 percent watched videos every day. Harness audience interest in social video to understand how to get free subscribers on YouTube.

As for finding out how to get free subscribers on YouTube through social media, you must first identify channels that you’re already using. For instance, most businesses now have a Facebook page and an Instagram account. If you already have a significant following on both platforms, they should be a perfect fit for your YouTube strategy.

Others turn to advertising on social media to grow their subscriber base. Whatever strategy you pursue, remember to always add links in your posts so you can lead them back to YouTube.

Embed Videos in Blog Posts

What better way to promote your videos and see how to increase YouTube subscribers than incorporating video into your SEO strategy? This can be beneficial both ways. Adding a video can boost dwell time, which in turn boosts your SEO efforts. Meanwhile, your video also gains more exposure when aligned with your SEO strategy. A win-win!

Share Your Videos in Newsletters

If you’re running a newsletter as part of your email marketing strategy, consider embedding new content in your weekly email blasts. This is a great way to boost engagement and get your content seen directly.

Leverage Influencers

Influencers are people who have learned how to increase YouTube subscribers free using their content alone. So, if you ever need help how to grow YouTube subscribers, work with influencers from your industry. Through their knowledge on how to get a lot of subscribers on YouTube, you gain access to a loyal fan base that can expand your reach and help you gain more followers.

Promote More Videos at the End of Your Videos

Are you wondering about how to get more subscribers on YouTube for free? By promoting your other videos at the end of your own videos. Embedded links at the end of your video content give you an extra opportunity to share valuable content with your audience. As they gain more value from your videos, they gain an extra incentive to subscribe.

Conclusion

That concludes our guide on how to get more subscribers on YouTube. In this blog, we answered pressing questions like “how do you get more subscribers on YouTube?” and showed examples of how to grow YouTube subscribers. After reading this article, are you still wondering about how to increase YouTube subscribers free?

After setting up your video marketing strategy, growing your audience should be a continuous priority to gain access to a wider audience. To do that, you have to know how to increase subscribers on YouTube. Getting more YouTube subscribers ensures that your videos are being watched. By knowing how to get a lot of subscribers on YouTube, users can spend more time on your channel and be alerted when you upload new content.

Growing your subscriber count on YouTube is one of the most important yet challenging parts of building a video marketing strategy. Thrive is here to make it easier for you. Gain access to a team that knows everything there is to know about how to get more subscribers on YouTube by working with Thrive.

Thrive is a full-service video marketing agency dedicated to sharing our knowledge on how to increase subscribers on YouTube. We leverage our expertise in the many different ways to grow your audience to boost your video marketing efforts. Work with Thrive and you will never wonder about how to increase subscribers on YouTube ever again. Schedule a consultation with us by filling out this form or by giving us a call at 866-434-4748.

Source: https://thriveagency.com/

The post How To Increase Your YouTube Subscribers first appeared on TRIM Solutions.

A brief and captivating press release will share your company’s latest developments with the world, bringing you to the forefront of every conversation. On the other hand, a mistimed or poorly handled press release will likely cause more damage than good.

If you do not manage your press releases properly, it is unlikely that they will ever reach your target audience, which is a waste of a golden opportunity to expand your reach. Not to mention, a big waste of money. Below, we will discuss when you should write a press release, how to best leverage it, and give general tips on best practices.

When to Write a Press Release

A growing, competitive business will have several opportunities throughout the year to write a press release. It’s important to keep in mind though that not every small thing is press release worthy. That said, you may be surprised by all the seemingly insignificant events you missed out on that would have been perfect opportunities to utilize a press release. Such occasions include:

• Important new updates to product or service – Keeping your customers or potential customers in the loop about updates is essential for any business’ success. For example, Apple releases a press release every time their OS is updated. Included in the press release is information about bugs fixed, new features of the operating system update, and the motivation behind the update.
• New differentiating factor that sets the company apart – If your company has created something groundbreaking that distinguishes itself in the market, whether it be a feature, a product or something proprietary, capitalize on this achievement by sharing it with the public!
• New developments – If there are new developments to the product or company itself, let the public know by building up the hype on how these developments will make the company even better.
• Significant new hires – A new hire, especially from another successful company, is a great way to signal that your company is composed of the best and brightest talent. In Hollywood, the trades will regularly discuss an agent moving from CAA to WME or a big-time producer joining a new studio. Naturally, this generates speculation about what they will add to the team or the new direction they may be taking that company.  
• Significant changes to product or service offering – If you are dramatically changing your good or service, especially for the better, it is essential you let your customers know. To competitors within the market, it will signal that you are forward-thinking, a trendsetter, or an early adaptor to new tech.
• Any social justice tie-in, charitable event, or significant donation – In recent years, the public has put a larger emphasis and importance on companies actions toward making the world a better place. Although it may seem boastful, just about every company will have charitable promotions that function as a form of advertisement. For example, in the most recent World Series, TMobile promised that they will donate $10,000 for hurricane relief for every home run hit.   
• A new partnership with another business or organization – If you are partnering with another business or organization for a new product, social justice cause, or bundled product deal, let the public know. If you don’t share this information, you’re doing both of your companies a disservice. After all, the whole point of working together is to try and convert the other business’ customers into your own as well.
• Setting the record – There are times when there is information you need to clarify or have as a matter of record but that isn’t necessarily something you would pitch to the press. Issuing a release is a great way to make this information easily available to people online.

The Substance of the Press Release

If you want to get the most out of your press release, you must have something that is both newsworthy and readable. Tips for increasing the impact of your press release include:

• Seize the reader’s attention with the headline – A majority of readers never get past the headline itself. Therefore, as with any article or pitch, a strong, encompassing headline is critical. Ideally, it should draw the audience in, while also summarizing the gist of the press release. Avoid clickbaity or Buzzfeedesque headlines, as most readers have become jaded by companies misleading their audience. Making a dramatic statement in the headline and then contradicting it within the release does not sit favorably with readers.
• Include quotes – If you want to increase your credibility, quotes from high-level sources or trusted industry leaders are essential. Your audience is far more likely to believe you if a known figure adds their insight to the matter.
• Keep it simple – Do your best to avoid industry jargon or technical language that your audience might not understand. If that is unavoidable, do your best to explain this lingo in layman’s terms. Press releases should be able to be read by an industry expert, as well as a person who has never heard of your service.
• Keep it concise – Press releases are not novels. They should grab the audience’s attention and briefly tell them why this release matters. If a reader sees a wall of text, they are far less likely to read it. As a general rule of thumb, a press release should never be more than a page long. If a reader wants more information, they can reach out via the contact info found in the release.
• Use visual content – Video, pictures, and infographics help you tell your story visually. The human brain processes visual information at a much more rapid rate than it does translating text. By sharing essential information, statistics, and data in a visual manner, you can emphasize points while enhancing readability.
• Create a pitch – When reaching out to editors, you should write a media pitch that briefly sells the story and its relevance to the editor. This pitch should include succinct details of the story and convey why it matters to that publication’s audience.
• Use Link Building – In recent years, more distribution platforms have employed no-follow links, but for those who have not, press releases are fantastic means for building brand awareness and increasing SEO presence. If allowed, add links to your press release that readers can click on to find out more about your company or product. By adding this landing page, you also increase the likelihood media outlets will link back to your target site, thus helping your position in the SERPs.

How to Leverage Your Press Release

Now that we’ve covered how to write a press release and what to include within them, let’s take a look at a few tips that will help you get the most out of each release.

• Plan ahead – Don’t wait until the last minute, especially since press releases can build up hype and generate conversation. By preparing well in advance, it will give you time to lock in all the proper approvals and quotes, as well as sufficient time to pre-pitch the release to editors.
• Make sure it is, in fact, newsworthy – If your release does not touch on any of the points above, then there should be a good reason behind the statement. Ask yourself, “Will this release excite people within the industry? Does it give value or speak to current industry trends? Would it serve my interest better if it was released on the blog/press section of the website?” Simply filling the air with noise is not the right way to go about press releases. If that becomes a habit, readers will eventually just ignore it, expecting fluff.
• Focus on point pitching – Point pitching is where you will get the most feedback from press. Before releasing over the wire, focus on your point pitching. If the release is already live, there is no “exclusivity” to it, and it will be unlikely to garner the same amount of interest and traction with editors.
• Find the right editors to point-pitch your release – Create a list of editors who are the ideal fit to tease and cover the press release. Certain editors have built-in audiences that are right for one type of press release, but not a great fit for another. If you do generate interest, you can send over the full release held under embargo prior to distribution.

Conclusion

When done right, press releases are valuable means for disseminating new and vital information within the industry and to potential customers. By keeping relevance and readability at the forefront of your mind, you’ll ensure that you’re getting the most out of each and every press release.

Source: https://powerdigitalmarketing.com/

The post How to Get the Most Out of Your Press Release first appeared on TRIM Solutions.

The UK government announced the latest lockdown on 4 January 2021, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson hinting at the time that the middle of February would be the earliest he would consider lifting some of the restrictions. On 22 February, the Prime Minister is slated to release the country’s roadmap out of lockdown, providing loose dates for when sectors of the economy can expect to be reopened.

This uncertainty is wreaking havoc with employers, with many already struggling to manage their team during the COVID-19 crisis. Some will have taken heed from the first lockdown, but many employers are finding it increasingly difficult to manage their teams effectively.

If you’re struggling, you’re not alone. Studies have shown that around 40% of managers are finding it hard to manage their teams remotely, but there are ways you can make it work. Keep reading to find out more.

Trust

According to the Harvard Business Review, the majority of remote management issues stem from a level of distrust that managers have in their employees’ ability to get their work done. In fact, 38% of managers reported believing their employees performed worse at home, be it because of the temptation of TV or housework, or because of the lack of direct supervision. Furthermore, 29% of managers say they don’t believe their employees have the knowledge to work from home, and a further 27% said they doubted whether their team had any essential skills at all.

It’s clear that a large portion of managers don’t trust their teams to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic but going into it with such a negative mindset is detrimental. More than 30% of employees say they can sense when their managers don’t trust them, and this can lead to deep cracks in employer-employee relationships.

The first step to managing a team during COVID-19 is to trust that they know what they’re doing and know how to get the job done. Failure to do so will cause fractures within your team and only make your job harder, which is the last thing you need considering all the other things you need to juggle as a manager.

Flexibility

With schools closed, mass testing common place and the vaccine rollout underway, it’s likely that your team will have additional requirements they need to tend to during the pandemic that they wouldn’t normally. As a manager, one way you can effectively manage your team is by ensuring you offer them flexibility. If a member of your team needs time off to get a get a test or receive a vaccine, don’t make them feel bad about it. If another member is trying to juggle home-schooling and working full-time, have a chat with them and see if you can adjust their hours so they can do everything they need to do – even if they start work later or switch a day off at the weekend for a day off during the week if this is possible.

The needs of your team will be hugely different during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to at any other time, so offering a flexible approach to working is essential to keeping your team’s morale up and stopping their productivity from dipping.

Communication

As a manager, you’ve likely got several members who all have different needs and ways of doing things. The best thing you can do during the COVID-19 lockdown is to implement a communication strategy that works for everyone. Part of this will come down to trusting your employees and not calling them every hour for a progress update, and some of it will come from taking the lead and knowing what will work best for your team and the business as whole. Without sitting next to each other in the office, you might find your team are reluctant to speak to one another, but you need to encourage them to do just that.

Lead by example. If you have a quick question for one of them, give them a call to lament that it’s quicker than emailing and provides a much more effective way of minimising the risk of crossed wires. You team will be looking to you for things like this, so make sure you set a good example and they will naturally follow.

Compassion

The hallmark of any good manager is to be compassionate and to live up to the duty of care they have for their team, and at no time is this more apparent than during COVID-19. Making an extra effort to ask how each person on your team is, listening to their worries, reassuring them where you can and being someone they can turn to with their concerns will reaffirm to them that you’re there for them during this difficult time. If a member of your team feels like you care about them, they’re more likely to do a good job and your business will benefit as a result. It might not seem like it because the pandemic has forced us all to stay 2m apart, but now more than ever is a time for your team to grow closer. The closer your team is, the better it works, and the better it works, the easier it is to manage in the long-term, not to mention the more productive it is.

Summary

Managing a team of people is hard at the best of times, and the COVID-19 pandemic has more than amplified the struggles faced by those in leadership roles. If you’re struggling, try implementing more trust, offering better working flexibility, opening new lines of communication, and imparting more personal compassion to see if it helps. Odds are, it will, and your work life will be all the better for it.

If you’re finding that you’re still struggling, it could be that you have too much on your plate. Talk to us today to find out how we can help ease your workload during the most difficult of times so you can be more present with your team.

Source: https://www.i3media.net/

The post Tips for Remotely Managing a Team During COVID-19 first appeared on TRIM Solutions.

Brand use contextual targeting to attract users and place them at the heart of their marketing – be it through display targeting, or promoting certain pieces of content or products on their website based on previous visits. The wider issue is – this is not something you set up once, tick the box and you are done.

Achieving that authentic personal touch should include the following considerations:

1. Combine multiple data sources

You may have seen the BBC’s Sherlock. It is impressive how much impression you can get about Sherlock just by looking at him.

Something similar can be done online as well through Google targeting tools. You can also combine multiple ‘clues’ about your audience to build up a better picture of them which is the key to accurate targeting.

You will find most of this from your analytics, your CRM (Customer relationship management) database, your social networks.

2. Allow feedback, and learn from it

People’s circumstances change – those in market today are not necessarily looking for the same product tomorrow. You need to adapt. Good advertisers will recognize this and change their approach to online ads. In addition they will engage with customers to understand how best they want to be communicated with.

3. Build an experience around your audience

Blanket retargeting everyone who ever looked at that new sofa product page you created will get you some conversions, sure.

But you’ll also have annoyed a lot of people, who for whatever reason just didn’t want to buy that sofa. Be more nuanced – develop separate, personalized strategies depending on the type of people you’d like to engage with.

4. ‘Offsite’ and ‘onsite’ do not live in separate bubbles 

You can spend millions crafting a beautifully personalized experience around your audience on your website. However if your ‘offsite’ acquisition strategy is based around pushing forward poorly targeted advertising then the best you can hope for is your site experience being able to compensate for a poor journey on the way there.

A contextual, personal touch in guiding the way is as important as the experience once you arrive. The content you expose to people to on their route to your website plays a defining role in the conversion you achieve on their exit. You only have to look at the rise of ad-blocking software to know just how far off the mark ads can be these days.

Following someone across the internet for weeks with banners promoting a sofa they may have considered purchasing is the online equivalent of employing someone to continually chase a customer with a ‘Buy this Sofa!’ placard. You wouldn’t do that in real life so why do it online?

Source: https://dms.am/

The post Make Your Online Ads Relevant and Personal first appeared on TRIM Solutions.

We all know this Christmas is going to be like no other, even though there are some stats and various insights on how it might be like. Amazon has said that they’ve already seen an increase in people shopping for presents, some resources support this and say this if going to be the best one ever, and some other resources say they don’t expect it to be as busy as there are a lot of people who are having a hard time with their finances. Either way, there is an intent and you as a business should make the most of it!

We’ve put together some tips for you to end 2020 and start 2021 on the right foot:

1. Start planning

We live in unprecedented times and people are being encouraged to plan ahead, start Christmas shopping early and be prepared, hence the panic buying! I’m not saying stock up on toilet roll, I’m just saying you should have started your Christmas campaign planning yesterday! Plan your Christmas products, update your website, start telling people about it.

And when you plan ahead, you can avoid the stress and panic the holiday season might bring to retail businesses. Create your strategy, make sure your content is aligned throughout all your channels and start updating your customers. Tell them what’s coming up, when the last order date is and even set up auto-responses because this year Christmas shopping will be a bit more challenging so help your customers as much as you can! Which brings me to the second tip:

2. Help

Christmas shopping can be stressful at the best of times: so many family members and loved ones to shop for and I don’t know about you but I always count on walking around the stores to see if something catches my eye. This year, we’re needing to do most of our Christmas shopping online so people need help and guidance on what presents to get their loved ones. One way to help people is creating gift guides based on age, gender and interests. Create different collection pages for each group. Another idea is to offer free shopping advice or livechat with a personal shopper so people can ask questions and get an answer from an expert quickly. If you can’t do any of these, you can still help by writing blogs and creating social media posts about advice on buying gifts.

3. Make Your Website Convenient

Normally people go online to shop as it’s not as time-consuming as actually going to a shop somewhere and also because it’s convenient – right now people go online because they don’t have a choice, especially if the second lockdown gets extended to December. Either way, you have to make sure your website is convenient and easy to use for people. Especially with really high amounts of traffic expected until the end of the year, check everything’s working as they should on your website and it doesn’t take a long time for your pages to load as that’s definitely a reason for people to leave your website and not come back! Smallest of annoying issues and glitches might cost you a lot of sales, so get your website in order before the holiday shopping mania begins.

4. Choose Products Wisely

Choose which products to promote wisely! Unfortunately, you can’t make decisions based on what worked during previous years, I’m afraid you’re going to have to make educated guesses. With the pandemic, a lot of our wants and needs have changed, people spend more times at home getting dressed in casual clothing. Based on this people will be more likely to spend money on their houses and clothes they’d wear at home. So make sure you consider these when you update your website and create Christmas themed social media posts and shout out about the right products.

Ps. Make sure you update your homepage to have specific Christmas products section, so people can reach these easier.

5. Create a sense of urgency

Urgency is what makes people buy! Have you ever put something in your basket and left the website thinking you can go back to it and buy it later? And how many times have you actually bought it? If there was a limited time offer on it, I can assure you that you would have bought it right then and there. So use it, create different offers and deals each day, like the 12 days of Christmas campaign Amazon does every year. It works because people don’t want to miss out.

Add countdown timers to your website so people can see the clock ticking, which is basically a way of saying ‘you better act quick’. Also make sure all your social media, website and email promotions are aligned so people can be aware of these deals.

6. Get Creative

Everyone’s working on Christmas campaigns, what makes you different? If you want people to choose you over your competitors, this is the time to get creative.

Start with your content, a very different Christmas is ahead of us, try to come up with some content ideas that can help people, not just gift guides but answer frequently asked questions, think about what will help people get through these rough times. If things were normal, you could create content around how to wrap weirdly shaped presents, why not try showing how you pack your orders so that people can see what they will look like when they send presents to their loved ones through you? It’s not just social media content that needs to be creative, make sure your emails have eye-catching subject lines so they don’t get lost in the millions of Christmas campaign emails we all get.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and think of what worries you have about Christmas shopping this year. Then see what you can do to help customers with these kinds of worries.

7. Tell Them Why

No one is there to be sold to, so don’t just say ‘look at what we have, buy it’ on social media, tell them why they need to buy that.

Why would you buy your products? Think of that reason and use it for your social content to show people why your products are attractive and make great presents.

8. Have Fun

Social media is fun, it doesn’t have to be so blunt all the time. Yes, you are trying to sell something but why not have fun with it in the meantime? Show your followers that there is an actual human being behind the screen and don’t be afraid to show them your personality!

People are desperately in need of some socialisation, and they go to social media for this. Share content from other accounts, engage with people on these platforms and they will definitely appreciate it and this will only make you look good. In the end, the trick is to be human!

9. It’s Next Year That You Should Be Focusing On

Do you know why it’s important to sell this year? It’s so that you can build loyalty and sell even more next year! The more people buy from you this year, the more people will remember your products next year. And I don’t mean next year during Christmas. Even if you turn 10% of your new customers, into loyal customers. That’s 10% growth year-on-year. So you should be focusing on selling now, to build loyalty for next year.

Here are 9 tips for a very weird Christmas ahead, use them wisely and turn this short period into a profitable one!

Source: https://socialb.co.uk/

The post 9 Tips To Start Preparing For Christmas This Year first appeared on TRIM Solutions.

Instagram said more than 50% of accounts globally visit the Explore page every month. When user’s first get to the Explore page they will not see the ads, but once they click on content and begin to scroll through, ads will appear. The ads will be shown as both videos and photos, and are expected to be released to everyone over the next few months. 

“Explore is where people are really open to discovery, and that’s why we’re really excited about this,” says Susan Buckner Rose, director of business product marketing.” Instagram is trying to leverage the fact that people visit the Explore page to uncover new content and see what interests them, this is a perfect opportunity for personalized ads to be shown. It is the perfect platform within Instagram where a users motive usually is centralized around learning something new or to discover a new account, brand, or product. 

Another Reason FB is leading towards Ads on Insta

Facebook has reported that their ad sales machine is slowing down as they have hit a ceiling of how many ads it can show a user on FB. Furthermore, they will lean heavier on Instagram ads and its other platforms to keep the advertising up. 

Instagram has continued to grow in popularity with the public while more controversy around Facebook arises. Beyond just ads in feeds, Instagram has begun placing advertisements in stories and branded content ads. These branded content ads give brands the power to create social media influencers’ sponsored content appear as ads to provide a larger audience. In the past, only people following the influencers were able to view their paid content. 

Going forward 

Social networks share a common goal, to drive user engagement so they can serve ads. These platforms are beginning to integrate new placements for ads to diversify their advertisement inventory. Instagram implementing ads into the explore page is a step in the right direction for marketers. As many Instagram users can become agitated when their feed is congested with ads, users on the explore page are there to discover new content. This aligns perfectly with the user’s motives & provide a benefit for both the marketer and the prospective customer.

Source: https://powerdigitalmarketing.com/

The post Instagram Will Start Putting Ads Within the Explore Page first appeared on TRIM Solutions.

Each day, more people are using voice search-equipped smartphone apps and digital assistants (like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Google Assistant) to handle simple tasks, get answers to questions and more — at home, on the road or wherever they happen to be.

The convenience of being able to use your voice, rather than your fingertips, means that voice search is on the rise. According to Google, 20% of all searches on mobile devices are now made using voice search and experts predict that 50% of all searches will use voice search by 2020.

In the digital marketing world, of course, this fast-growing phenomenon means that marketers must develop new ways to tailor their SEO strategies to optimize for voice search. Here’s a closer look at some of the ways that voice search will shape the future of SEO and some best practices on how to go about optimizing.

1. Use of Long Tail Keywords & Searcher Intent

If I were to do a text search for “best laptops for college students,” you would have no idea whether I wanted to research or purchase one, my price range or what kind of laptop I was looking for. But if I were to perform a voice search and say, “what are the best-priced laptops for college students?” this might bring up results for top 10 lists, reviews, forums, stores recommending specific brands for college students, etc. Because speaking a longer, more specific search query is easier than typing one, voice search will often give more context about searcher intent, meaning search engines can deliver more specific, relevant results in response to a query. This also means it’s a good idea to research relevant long tail keywords and integrate them into your content.

2. Recognizing Natural Speech Patterns

If you think about it, most people don’t type an email or text message the same way they might speak to you face to face. Example: You might text message a friend saying, “grab a drink after work?” But if you were to ask the same question in person you’d be more likely to say, “hey, do you want to grab a drink after work tonight?” Your natural speech pattern contains more context about your question than if you were to type or text it to someone.

That’s why the term “natural language” is used to describe queries made using voice search and longer tail keywords. Because of the discrepancy between what people are likely to type versus what they are likely to say, it is increasingly important for SEOs to understand how the nuances of natural speech patterns affect search results.

3. Impact on Local SEO

According to Moz, voice searches are three times more likely to be local-based than text search because most smartphones today search for local listing results. A smartphone knows your location, the weather outside, or whether there’s traffic ahead on the highway. All of these factors help to narrow down your search results for better and more accurate results. Examples of such searches could be “where is the nearest fast food, gas station, department store, etc., near me.” Most local searches are geared around “Where?”, “What?” and “How?” phrases like the examples above.

What does this mean for your local business? You should restrategize your approach to local SEO to make sure you are picking up on voice searcher intent for keyword groupings around your business or industry. Simply put, structure your keywords around the 5 Ws (Who, What, Where, When and Why).

Also, since much of voice search is occurring on mobile devices, it’s more important than ever to make sure your mobile experience is as user-friendly — and as speedy — as possible.

Looking Ahead — 2019 and Beyond

Looking ahead, one thing is for certain: People are adapting rapidly to the fact that voice search is destined to become more of a factor in our everyday lives. As with the release of the iPhone back in 2007 and the subsequent explosion of smartphone technology, voice search is the wave of the future — and the present. This means that businesses (and the digital marketing strategists who work with them) must be ready to tackle this new search optimization challenge to stay ahead of the competition.

Source: https://vtldesign.com/

The post Hey Alexa, How Do I Optimize for Voice Search? first appeared on TRIM Solutions.

Many marketers have found themselves scratching their heads on how to not only incorporate SMS into their existing digital marketing agency’s efforts, but also on how to ensure it complements their email strategy. In this article, we’ll be walking through how to combine your email and SMS marketing strategies to maximize results!

The Differences Between SMS + Email 

More and more companies are utilizing SMS marketing in addition to email marketing. There’s no doubt that SMS marketing is a powerful tool, boasting engagement rates 6-8 times higher than email. It’s important to understand the differences between email SMS to optimize your internet marketing services. 

Email → is a great medium for sending longer, richer messages that include images and attachments. Emails provide more opportunities to convert than SMS, as emails can include more links, CTAs, and stories. This allows marketers to focus on educating and nurturing. Email is perfect for sending newsletters, tips, and testimonials. Research shows that 90% of users check their inbox at least once a day. Emails have an average open rate of 20% and an average click-through rate of 2.5%, and email marketing returns $42 for every $1 spent. 

SMS → is the perfect communication channel for concise, timely information or discounts. SMS has much higher engagement metrics than email, with a 98% open rate and 29% click-through rate. SMS is great for promotions, but not ideal for content aimed at educating and nurturing. SMS has a 160 character limit, creating a need to keep messages short and concise. SMS marketing is also more expensive than email marketing. Use SMS best practices for limited product offers, reminders, urgent updates, purchase confirmations, and promotions. 

SMS Best Practices 

There’s no doubt that SMS marketing is one of the most personal forms of marketing, which reinforces the need to tread carefully. How can you engage your customers rather than annoy them?

• Get permission: Similar to email marketing, it’s incredibly important to make sure you have the contact’s permission before you contact them. Every single person you send a text to must have opted in to receive messages from you. This means requesting customers opt-in via an online form or inviting them to text a word to a phone number or shortcode. It’s also critical that you provide contacts opportunities to opt-out from receiving your messages. 
• Ensure your messages are time-sensitive: Make sure to take time zones into consideration when sending out messages. It’s important that your SMS provider automatically sends your texts to your customers at the right time, depending on their time zone. This ensures that your text won’t annoy anyone in the middle of the night. 
• Keep your copy short and to the point: No one wants to receive a marketing text message that’s a paragraph long. Keep your copy short, to the point, and easy to read. 
• Consider using an auto-responder: Using an auto-responder to engage in conversation with your customers can be extremely powerful. By giving your customers the opportunity to ask questions, give feedback, or seek more information, you’re creating a strong foundation for your customer relationships. 
• Resonate with your audience segment: When writing a text message, put yourself in the shoes of your audience segment. What kind of content do they want to receive? What sales or products might be important to them? Personalization is key. 
• Include an actionable CTA: What is the intended result of your SMS campaign? Is it to drive traffic to your website? Do you want people to take advantage of your sale? Whatever your goal may be, it’s crucial that you be specific about what action you’d like your audience to take. Include a link to your product page and be direct in your wording. Use phrases like “Check out our newest edition!” or “Shop now before it’s too late!” 

• Limit how often you send: The easiest way to turn a customer away is by spamming them with text messages. While the frequency of your text messages will depend on your goals, we recommend aiming to send two texts per week. 
• Consider your SMS provider: When choosing an SMS provider, you’ll want to pick one with an extensive carrier network that will allow you to reach customers in many geographic areas. You’ll want a provider that can grow with your SMS marketing and can send text and picture messages quickly and efficiently. 

Striking a Balance

Striking a balance between email vs text is crucial to marketing for your business, especially in the world we live in today. Email has been the true-and-tried method of mass marketing communication. But now with mobile devices in the picture, SMS is now a very efficient and effective way to communicate with your customers. The average person spends 5.4 hours a day on their mobile device. To put it more into perspective, the average person takes 90 minutes to respond to an email and 90 seconds to respond to a text. Crazy right? Understanding when to use SMS and when to use email is very important.

The Best Approach for Combining Both Methods

Email marketing should be used for longer, richer messaging that includes photos and important links. Good examples of when to use email includes order confirmation, newsletters, product launches, promos, or educational content. These messages should not be very time sensitive and are usually saved for future reference. Depending on the industry and how promotion heavy the brand is, the sends per month is going to vary. Usually, it ranges from 4-10 sends a month. 

On the other hand, SMS marketing is best for short and concise messages that are time sensitive. Good examples of when to use SMS includes tracking information, flash sales, and restocks. It is important to cap your sends for text marketing to 1-2 each week. You do not want to be an inconvenience to your customers. 

As you can see, both email and SMS marketing have their strengths. The use of them together can leverage your business over its competitors while you build brand awareness and build meaningful relationships with your customers.

Source: https://powerdigitalmarketing.com/

The post Combining SMS + Email: What’s the Best Approach? first appeared on TRIM Solutions.

A good UX writer knows that clear and concise language is the best way to guide a user through a product. By following basic UX writing principles, you help your audience navigate your product and appreciate everything else it has to offer. Your goal is to ensure your users have a delightful experience, and achieving this involves a collaborative effort from writers, web design experts and SEO specialists.

But what is UX writing, and why does it matter? When you know this, you can begin taking full advantage of UX writing services. In this blog, we break down:

• What is UX?
• What is UX writing in 2021?
• Expert UX writing tips

We also list the top UX writing guidelines followed by every leading UX writing agency today.

What Is UX Writing?

User experience writing is all about using words to guide users through products such as websites and computer applications or apps. However, UX writing principles can also apply to any product, system or service involving user or customer interaction.

So, that explains the writing side of it – but what is UX in itself? Let’s take a closer look to give you a more holistic view of user experience writing.

What Is UX?

User experience covers the overall experience of interacting with your product. The things that contribute to your customer feeling satisfied might be factors outside of the product itself. Generally, this applies to customer touchpoints like a website, where the user experience directly impacts your sales. UX writing guidelines align with what makes a great user experience and help your customers stay engaged.

UX writing is directly related to how easy or difficult it is for users to interact with the product itself. So, basic examples of UX copy include navigation bar labels, call-to-action (CTA) button text, onboarding messages and error messages.

Why UX Writing Matters

Excellent UX writing helps customers use and understand your product and the touchpoints they engage with when interacting with your brand. There’s no question that you need to grab and retain your customer’s attention, and you benefit when they engage. Without UX copywriting, your users could feel confused or frustrated, not knowing what to do on your site or how to interact with it. Worse still, poor navigation and a lack of direction often means they exit your site quickly due to feeling unsatisfied with the interaction.

UX designers build a product to be intuitive in terms of functionality, while a UX writer fills in every knowledge gap through written instructions and explanations. Your website can’t be 100 percent user-friendly without professional UX writing to drive action.

The Benefits of UX Writing for Websites

UX writers and web design experts are vital resources in creating the most optimized experience for your site visitors. It’s a good idea to invest in professional content writing services for your search engine optimized (SEO) editorial content to be found online. But you also need user experience writing to encourage your audience to take steps towards becoming your customer.

Here’s what UX and website copywriting can do for your business:

• Increase Online Visibility

Page Experience, a recent Google update and a hot topic in the SEO world, strengthens the relationship between UX and SEO. The update means that websites offering a great user experience, in line with Page Experience guidelines, are prioritized in Google Search rankings. Achieving an excellent UX design is a collaborative effort – and involving a UX writing agency, content writing agency and web design agency is the most strategic option.

• Drive Users To Take Action

You need to use a combination of words and visuals to tell your site visitors what to do. For instance, they need to know to click “Submit” when handing over their contact information, or all your optimization efforts go to waste. If you want them to read a related blog post, your UX copy and button text should reflect that.

• Improve Session Duration

The session duration refers to how long your site visitor stays on your website as a sum of the time spent on different pages. Keeping them engaged on the page positively impacts your search rankings and potential for sales. What you don’t want is for a user to bounce or immediately exit after seeing one page.

10 Basic UX Writing Principles You Need To Follow

Marketing-oriented copy is essential for your business’s online visibility, while UX writing services are important for your product’s usability. You need UX copy to lead your audience in the right direction and keep them engaged.

UX rules cover tried-and-tested ways to offer the best user experience possible, but your implementation should be unique to your business and goals. The best UX writer takes these UX writing guidelines and applies them to your business’s unique context.

Here’s a roundup of UX writing rules every UX writing agency swears by:

1. Be Concise

UX copy is always clear and concise. Remove unnecessary words and phrases without compromising the readability and essence of your message. People naturally drift away from anything time-consuming or complicated, so keeping things simple is a rule that will always dominate lists of UX writing tips.

2. Use Natural Language

Write the way your users talk. Something unique to UX copywriting is that your copy is considered effective if your users barely notice it. Don’t over-explain, and keep a conversational tone.

3. Stay Consistent

If you want your user to sign up for your webinar, don’t switch it out with the word register on the next page. This also applies to your business’s preferred tone of voice and personality.

4. Be Purposeful

Every aspect of your UX design needs to align with an end goal. The user should understand what they’re trying to accomplish and what is at the end of any given process through words and visual elements.

5. Help Your User

Always empathize with your user: What would you like to see to improve your experience? Having an uplifting error message is one of the best applications of this. If a certain button on your site is not working, you want to apologize while offering an alternative option or immediate solution.

6. Write for a General Audience

You have everything to gain from keeping your content universal. Steer clear of slang words, uncommon terminology and industry jargon. If you have to, define everything the first time you mention it.

7. Place Benefits Before Features

Say “Improve your sleep cycle with our sleep tracker” instead of “Use our sleep tracker to improve your sleep cycle.” Emphasize what’s in it for the user before going into more detail.

8. Write Great Headlines

Aside from capturing your audience’s attention, headlines and headings are vital for UX and SEO. They improve readability by organizing the content better and let search engines know what your content is about when web crawlers “read” it.

9. Know Your Platform

Master the difference between writing for websites, apps and other products. You wouldn’t ask a user to click when using a mobile app or tap when browsing a desktop site. Involve UX writing services in the early stages of your website copywriting process to ensure your UX copy suits your business needs perfectly.

10. Test Continuously

You can follow every rule in the book but still not get the results you want to see. Ensure your UX copy is effective by testing aggressively. Of course, this will be based on your unique goals, style and audience. Understand your audience’s pain points, apply them in your UX copywriting strategy and run A/B tests regularly.

Get the Help of Professional UX Writing Services

Remember that refining your user experience makes your target audience more likely to engage with you. But to really produce profitable results, you need a holistic strategy and customized solutions.

Professional content writing services offer conversion-centric UX writing, sales-focused website copywriting and content optimized for search. A content writing agency will always be guided by the most up-to-date UX writing tips. And you can trust a web design agency to have the UX design and web design experts you need for a high-performing website.

Thrive Internet Marketing Agency is a full-service content writing agency and web design agency serving businesses of all sizes since 2005. We offer UX writing services, SEO content writing services, WordPress website design and 100 percent custom web design to accommodate all of your UX needs.

Our UX and SEO content writers are highly experienced in writing for websites, desktop apps, mobile apps and other platforms in need of professionally written content. We help lead your potential customers in the right direction and take the actions that benefit your business.

Source: https://thriveagency.com/

The post 10 Rules You Should Know About UX Writing first appeared on TRIM Solutions.