Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Joy to the world, Black Friday promotion extensions have come! While you were sleeping, Google released a brand new ad unit aimed at helping advertisers run more effective holiday campaigns. So if you’re an advertiser that’s been carefully preparing for Black Fiveday—the five day span between Black Friday and Cyber Monday when search volume goes nutty—you now have another valuable asset to add to your bag of holiday marketing tricks.
Here’s the lowdown on Google’s latest ad innovation.
Black Friday Promotion Extensions: What Are They?
Black Friday promotion extensions…that’s a mouthful. If you’re not familiar with promotion extensions, Google introduced them around this time last year. Promotion extensions give advertisers a way to highlight specific promotions in their text ads without cutting into their valuable character counts.
Promotion extensions were originally manufactured as an answer to increased search volume around the holidays—they replaced the Black Friday and Cyber Monday structured snippets of yesteryear. And, by allowing advertisers to highlight the relevant specifics of their promotions—things like minimum order values, promo codes, guaranteed delivery dates, and shipping details—promotion extensions give you more opportunities to attract prospects with various value props. The proof is very much in the pudding in this case: WordStream clients average a nearly 10% click-through rate when using promotion extensions, higher than both price and sitelink extensions:
As you might imagine, both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are among the “occasions” on which you can already choose to run promotion extensions. Google’s new ad units, however, are slightly different than your run-of-the-mill promotion extension. Rather, they are powered by promotion extensions, and appear as a wholly unique ad unit in the SERP:
If you choose to take advantage of this unique ad format, your ad will show up at the very top of the SERP under “Black Friday Deals.” You’ll have the option to use this new ad unit from now until November 27th, officially.
How to Get in the Game
According to Google, 100 percent of searches for “Black Friday” last year happened between November 19 and November 25, so they are using historical data to pretty tightly define the time parameters of the experiment. The Black Friday ad unit runs on keyword variants related to Black Friday: “black friday deals,” “black friday jeans deals,” etc. To create one, start by adding promotion extensions under the Black Friday or Cyber Monday lables in the Google Ads UI:
You are then going to want to create ad groups specifically geared toward targeting those Black Friday-related terms—unless you’re already bidding on them in an existing ad group, in which case it is perfectly fine to implement them there.
Some Thoughts…
If you haven’t already, give this new ad unit a shot. We know ads with promotion extensions perform better than those without. Odds are your competitors are going to be taking advantage of them come Black Friday, so you’ll need to do the same to stay competitive. And if not, you’ll soar past them to the top of SERP!
And if you’re way behind on holiday campaign preparation, check out our Black Fiveday Checklist to get the full lowdown on how to catch up.
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Whether you’re a buyer, seller, or just a plain old real estate marketer, you know the importance of maintaining a strong, reputable, and attractive presence for your target audience. In such a competitive industry that hits so close to home (couldn’t resist), it is critical to market your business effectively and find ways to one-up your competitors.
If you have not hopped on the video bandwagon, then it is time to buck up and take the leap. Video has increased in popularity among marketers – and for good reason.
Real estate listings that utilize video marketing receive 403% more inquiries than those without video! Yet, if you are new to video, this can feel quite intimidating. As a past employee of a video hosting and marketing company, I understand this far too well. But I’m here to tell you that there is nothing to be afraid of! Video is not only a fun medium to work with; it is also one that can take your business to the next level. Here are eight tips that will help you sell more homes with video.
Tip #1: Set aside an appropriate budget
This first step towards video marketing success is ensuring you have quality videos. You may have been encouraged to just jump into video and not worry so much about production quality. While this might be true for certain instances (like sending video voicemails or other one-to-one interaction), for the real estate industry it is important that your marketing videos looked polished and perfected. It makes sense, right? This industry is all about aesthetics. If a property is not visually pleasing, then you are not going to have much luck getting it off the market.
Check out this video from Lifestyle Production Group. It really shows the value of investing in quality video production. From the drone footage to the B roll to the swanky music, this video really transports the viewer into a whole new world of luxury.
If you don’t have the budget for something this glamorous, don’t fret! There are ways to do video in-house professionally that won’t cost you an arm and leg. We’re lucky enough to live in a world where a lot of us carry around high quality video cameras in our pockets every day. For instance, check out this guide to filming professional looking videos on your iPhone!
It is also important not to forget that you need to set aside budget for promoting your videos on platforms like Google, Instagram, and Facebook, so keep this in mind when doling out your video cash.
Tip #2: Plan ahead
Video marketing is not just an off-the-cuff strategy to throw together and implement quickly. It takes time to plan the types of videos you want to create, how you’re going to film and edit your videos, where you’re going to place them, etc.
Before diving into video, take the time to strategize. Identify the videos you want and the videos you need. Figure out how to prioritize producing those videos. Develop a detailed plan for how to promote the videos.
The video production process itself can involve many steps, like finding actors, scripting, props, lighting, sound, or editing.
Don’t be overwhelmed, though! Planning will help all of these components come together in a reasonable time frame. Do some research, meet with your team, and make a plan to tackle your video goals head on. We’re confident you can do it!
Tip #3: Make your videos human!
Buying (or selling) a home is such a personal experience. Not only is the process financially significant, but it is also emotionally involved. And guess what? People often act with their emotions. People also relate to other people, not properties. This is why you need to get into the habit of storytelling.
Check out this video from Hurlingham to see what I mean.
Doesn’t that just give you all the feels? Don’t you just want to work with this real estate firm to buy the home of your dreams?
I’m not lying to you: Emotional appeal is by far the most effective strategy to win over your client’s heart. Go forward, and get those emotions rolling with powerful video!
Tip #4: Leverage the power of 360 video
When you’re selling something tangible online, it can be hard to represent the beauty of the physical product on a flat two-dimensional surface. Of course, this is where video is valuable for industries of this nature. Real estate is no exception, but since this industry needs to capture such a large, multi-functional spaces, standard video is often not enough.
This is where 360 video comes into play! This video experience allows your audience to become immersed and tour around the space without having to remove their slippers.
While diving into this somewhat new technology might seem intimidating at first, I’m confident you have the skills. Check out this guide on how to make a 360 real estate video to get started.
Tip #5: Sell the lifestyle and location, in addition to the property
Thinking beyond the apartment or home is critical for real estate marketers. It’s important to remember that you’re selling the location just as much as the features of the property. This shouldn’t be forgotten in your videos.
Check out this awesome example from The Skyvault.
Not only does this video sell the luxury of the building, but it also sells the big city lifestyle! With beautiful views of the New York skyline, this video sells a city rather than just an apartment.
Tip #6: Build trust with testimonials
Trust is a challenging component in this industry. Not only is the decision to purchase real estate a financially significant one, but it is also often a lifestyle choice that affects your everyday. The best way for real estate marketers to instill trust in their leads is by letting someone else do the talking. Happy homeowners are the “someone else” I’m referring to, because these are the folks who have already been through the process.
Hopefully in your company’s time in business there have been pleased clients who have worked with you. Reach out to these individuals to see if they’d be willing to film a quick video testimonial describing their positive experience. Getting this type of endorsement from a real person will help new leads see that your organization is one worth working with.
To ensure your happy clients will be willing to do this, make sure you treat them like royalty even after the deal is signed. Surprise them with a celebratory bottle of champagne or a gift card to a renowned restaurant in the area. If you do this, they won’t be able to refuse when you ask for them to star in a short video.
Tip #7: Place your videos strategically
Remarketing to your clients active in their buying process with an emotional client testimonial video could encourage them to go ahead and sign the contract on their new home with confidence.
If you’re running a campaign to promote brand recognition, though, it might not make sense to promote a video that features testimonials. Instead, these leads would probably benefit from a video that raises awareness about your location and services.
Placing your videos strategically is such an important part of the video marketing process because all of your effort creating and editing your beautiful videos will go to waste if you’re not reaching the right people.
Spend time planning your promotion strategy for each video to ensure you’re targeting the right audience with the right content at the ideal time.
Tip #8: Keep your videos under five minutes
To end with a simple tip, keep your videos short and sweet!
Every second your video plays viewers will be lost. This is just how viewing behavior goes: the average video only retains 37% of videos through the last second. As videos start to turn into movies, viewers are going to lose interest and move on. Your story is also likely to be more compelling if you only include the really engaging stuff.
At the end of day, if you’re able to master video marketing, your real estate firm is going to benefit. So, what are you waiting for? Go forth and film!
In this article, we describe the main ways of finding new prospective affiliates and offer a simple method of assessing their salesmanship with the help of the SEMrush Competitive Research toolkit.
Instagram hit one billion monthly users—almost an eighth of the world’s population—in June. It is a wildly popular platform, and its growth trajectory is showing no signs of plateauing. Unfortunately for advertisers, the same can be said about the amount of money businesses are currently spending to promote their products and services in the name of selling on Instagram. Ad spend jumped 177 percent year-over-year in Q2 of this year. Impressions grew by 209 percent, and CPMs (average cost per thousand impressions) fell by 10 percent. Advertisers are spending more money than ever in the photo-sharing app, and they’re getting better at doing so. Competition is high.
That said, about two million advertisers use Instagram every month—this is still a very small percentage of one billion. And even though not all of Instagram’s user base is in the market for new products and services, let alone your particular product or service, there is still an abundance of opportunity to leverage the platform to sell your pretty things.
I’m here to tell you how to do it right! Follow these five steps to make money and move units on Instagram, and you’ll soon be selling on Instagram like a wily veteran.
Step 1: Convert to a business profile
Nothing novel here, but a shocking number of small business owners I talk to want to start selling on Instagram without first completing this simple step. Converting your standard Instagram profile to a business profile gives you access to a number of indispensable selling and reporting options. Before we get into those, here’s how to make the switch.
Log into your account and tap the cheesburger-looking button at the top right of your dashboard.
Tap Settings at the bottom right.
Scroll down to “Switch to Business Profile.”
Boom! You’re done. If you ever want to switch back (you won’t), just head back to the same spot and tap “Switch Back to Personal Account.”
Now! Some highlights of the features available after you’ve made the switch:
Instagram Insights. It’s not as easy on Instagram as it is, say, on Facebook, to look up a follower’s personal and demographic information. It’s even more difficult to compile that data in aggregate. Instagram Insights does the hard work for you.
There’s no shortage of useful data here, and when you switch to a business profile, it’s all conveniently accessible through the app on your smartphone. Under the Activity tab, you’ll find metrics like profile visits, website clicks, reach, and impressions. In the Content tab, you can take a more granular look at the performance of each post or story, including the profile visits and engagements of each. In the Audience tab, you can track the locations, ages, and genders of your followers, as well as the days and times of days they’re most active—all super useful information when we get to Step 3 on this list.
CTA button. This appears at the top of your profile under your bio, and it gives people the option to call, email, or get directions to your business.
Story links. As you may know, Instagram doesn’t allow users to link within posts. It also only allows one website link within a given bio. Being able to add links in your Instagram stories gives you the opportunity to direct your audience to various products and landing pages on your website. Stories are highly visible and steadily becoming a force, so this is a huge plus.
Facebook alignment. You can now connect to your Facebook business page and start running ads through Business Manager/Ads Manager! This is Step 3. Don’t worry, we’ll get there.
Step 2: Buoy your organic campaigns with hashtag research
Another thing that happens whenever I take over a business’s Instagram account: business owners are desperate to reach more people, and they have no idea how. If you’re a serious business owner you might look at a hashtag and think, That’s a frivolous thing I want nothing to do with. But the fact is, hashtags are the biggest way to make an impact with your organic Instagram campaigns. Switching to a business profile gives you the ability to see, on a post-by-post basis, how many impressions come via hashtags, and how many of the accounts that you reached weren’t following you when they saw your post. When you get smart with hashtags, both of those numbers will skyrocket.
“Hashtag research” is a bit of an ostentatious thing to say, but it sure does sound good to a client, and it sure is effective in practice. The actual process is quite simple. Head to Discover > Search >Tags and search for terms related to your niche. You’ll then see how many posts have used that hashtag. When you use that hashtag in your post, you add your post to the Discover queue.
You want to use a combination of hashtags that have both high posting volume and comparatively lower posting volume. The reason is that the “comparatively less” variety can often be just as, if not more, relevant and using them gives your post a good chance to be seen and engaged with by a high-intent crowd.
Settle on a unique messaging flavor (one that is distinct from your other platforms) and use a tool like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to set your organic social schedule weeks in advance, leveraging Instagram Insights to schedule posts at peak hours. Instagram is a great place to be playful and highlight the personality behind your brand while showcasing thumb-stopping product creative. Include “link in bio” CTAs in your copy and make sure to change that link frequently to match specific promotions and areas of focus.
Step 3: Start running ads
Another thing I hear a lot of: I have a very slim budget and want to make the most of it. A lot of business owners think having a small budget takes them out of the running for Instagram ads, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. If you execute effectively, you will get more for your money running low-budget paid Instagram campaigns than you will creating and running organic campaigns. And I know what you’re thinking—Unless I’m paying someone to do it for me, aren’t organic campaigns free? Yes. But Instagram ads represent the potential for insane ROI, so if you do it right, you’re going to get your money back with plenty of interest.
To really get the most bang for your buck, you’re going to want to resist the urge to just tap “Promote” within the Instagram app. Your interest and demographic targeting is going to be super limited, and you won’t have access to Custom Audiences, with which you can remarket to Instagram users who have taken specific actions on your website and get them to buy that widget they never bought.
Run your ads in concert with Facebook ads, or edit your placements to only run them on Instagram. But take the time to set up your campaigns in Ads Manager.
Doing so means you’ll have access to Facebook’s sophisticated suite of targeting options, as well as the Reach and Brand Awareness campaign types, both of which allow you to get your ads in front of a monster number of users on the cheap. You can use the traffic and engagement you accrue from these campaigns in concert with RLSAs to convert prospects in Search later on; or, as I mentioned, you can use them to create remarketing lists within Ads Manager and run conversion campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.
Step 4: Use Instagram shopping if you’re moving physical products
Instagram shopping is dope. The only caveat is you can’t use it if you’re selling services. If you are, feel free to skip to the next step. But if you’re an e-comm vendor, Instagram shopping is your best friend.
A brief explanation of how it works, and how to get set up. Shopping posts look like organic posts, with the exception that when users “tap to view products,” product names and prices are revealed.
And when they click on the tags that pop up, they’re taken to a product details page containing a description of the product and a CTA. From there, they click through to a landing page.
Set up is a matter of making sure you have a product catalogue ready to go in Facebook and enabling product tagging. For an in-depth rundown on that process, check out our post on using shopping in Instagram stories.
When you run Instagram shopping posts as ads, you’re equipping yourself with both the intent-wrangling capacity of Google Shopping and the sophisticated audience targeting of Facebook. Manual targeting (Demographic, Behavior, Interest) lets you reach a very broad base of net new prospects; and the ability, through product tagging in Instagram shopping, to show those prospects all the relevant details of your product—mainly, what it looks like and how much it costs—ensures that anyone who engages with your ad is highly qualified once they land on your website.
As an added bonus, your Instagram shopping posts reach even more users on the newly-created Shopping channel in Instagram Explore.
Step 5: Partner with influencers
Influencer marketing has been on the rise for a while now, but it’s especially prominent on Instagram, and it’s especially prominent as a means of promoting physical goods. Why? Because putting your product in the hands, or draped on the shoulder, or in the stomach (if, say, you’re selling a juice) of an influencer lends it credibility with an expansive and wholly new audience.
There is a glut of millennial Instagram influencers right now who grew up using the app and have an inherent understanding of how to leverage it to accrue and maintain a loyal following. There are thousands of these tiny pockets of stardom on the app, and for a very reasonable price—most influencers charge by the follower, at $5-$10 per 1,000 followers—you can leverage them to put your product in the limelight.
That means that, say, if you only wanted to spend $100 on an influencer campaign, you could afford an influencer with about 10,000 followers. That’s 10,000 people that didn’t know about your product before. And again, because your paying for credibility as well as reach, this can be a more effective strategy than, say, spending $100 on an Instagram ad campaign that reaches 10,000 people.
Selling on Instagram is all about buy in
To really reap the rewards Instagram offers—to get users to buy what you’re trying to sell—you first have to buy into the platform at large and commit to it as a profitable channel. Do not let a small budget deter you committing the up-front spend to run ads, buy influencer posts, or even pay for organic campaign management. Used in concert, these five steps can help make you some serious money selling on Instagram.
Google news updates include an unconfirmed and spooky Halloween algo update, the arrival of new ad position metrics in Google Ads, the introduction of reCAPTCHA v3 with its new way to stop abusive traffic on websites, and much more. Keep reading to find out all the information you need to know.
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
If you are selling something that is of a “sensitive” nature aka, a high-involvement decision or those where the implications and potential risks of the purchase decision have a high emotional impact, then there is a good chance that dedicated landing pages, no matter how well it is optimized for conversion, may not cut it.