To carry on supporting SMB’s, we’ve done a deep dive into digital marketing strategies with the help of MBA students at the University of Cambridge. The main aim of the study was to uncover actionable insights around the key factors that drive clicks, conversions and growth, which will help improve our product and further aid businesses to improve their marketing performance.

You can find their other findings here:

• What Makes Online Marketing Work: The Cambridge University & Adzooma Findings
  • A background look into how and why we ended up working with the University of Cambridge
• Why Your Content Strategy Is So Crucial To PPC Success: The Cambridge University & Adzooma Findings
  • The Cambridge team took a deep dive into sentimentality to help shape how you write your PPC ads
• What Makes A Landing Page Convert
  • Using the data, the team took a close look at how to get those extra leads and customers from your landing page

This is just one of the many things we do to try and improve our product, as we can utilise the data to provide more accurate suggestions to our customers. If you want to read more about our optimisations, you can do so here.

For now, here’s why digital marketing strategies are so important, why we partnered with Cambridge University and a deep dive into our new research to help you succeed online.

*Disclaimer – All campaign data provided to study participants was selected at random and anonymised.

Why is this important to me?

Knowing which digital marketing channels work for your brand is essential. Each platform has different audiences with different intent, so what works for one business might not work for you.

For example, although Google Ads is the most popular advertising network, that doesn’t mean it’ll help you achieve the best results in every single area. As this research uncovers, increasing ad spend on Facebook Ads will actually have the biggest impact on impressions.

What’s more, as 54% of Bing users are over the age of 45, and a third of them have a household income of over $100,000, Microsoft Advertising works best for targeting a more professional and affluent audience. Features such as LinkedIn Profile Targeting are also designed for this reason and are more suited towards industries such as Automotive, Finance and Travel.

“The question of what makes marketing work is one which very few have the resources to answer – yet a question that has been plaguing marketers for as long as the practice has been around.

Armed with our data and unique view across platforms, matched with the analytics skills and vast business experience of the students, it was a perfect fit to set about revealing key insights to the question.”

Sal Mohammed, Ex-Googler and current Head of Partnerships at Adzooma

Who took part in the study?

This research was undertaken by Cambridge Business students Akanshaa Khare, Srishti Warman and Sunil Grewal. All three of them have worked with multinational companies such as BCG, ZS Associates, Amazon and Barclays.

Having worked with such teams in the past, they were able to build on their knowledge of the digital marketing industry to identify the most effective ways for SMB’s to maximise their return on ad spend and ultimately grow their brand.

The partnership came about as a result of a previous project with Cambridge Judge Business School and Adzooma’s Head of Partnerships, Sal Mohammed. He told us “such was the calibre of the candidates, I’ve since been itching to work with a cohort from the university again”.

Each student focused on a specific area of research, but this piece will focus on the digital marketing strategy, based on secondary research, factor analysis, iterative regression and a comparison of ad effectiveness and cost efficiency KPIs.

What the study told us

Taking a deep dive into the hundreds of thousands of advertising accounts on Adzooma, this gave us the unique insight of being able to compare data across the three marketing channels of Google, Microsoft and Facebook ads. Data that couldn’t be found elsewhere.

Therefore applying the findings of this unique research could be crucial to helping SMB’s transition online during this time and create a successful digital marketing strategy to achieve their goals.

“The aim of the eventual deliverable was to create playbooks that will illustrate what leads to better ad conversion rates”, said Sristhi Warman. This data would then be used by small businesses and agencies to improve their online advertising performance, as well as enhance the Adzooma platform.

Study A: How do I select marketing channels?

A long-lasting strategy is a strategy that looks at the big picture.

With this in mind, the Cambridge students looked at data aggregation across Google, Facebook and Microsoft, data enhancement and other methodologies including calculating digital advertising ratios. Using this data, they created a 5-step strategy small businesses can use when starting out.

This includes:

• Knowing your target customers and selecting a combination of marketing channels accordingly
• Defining business objective of the ad campaign, based on the comprehensive marketing funnel
• Using the channel-selection framework for suitable advertising formats and channels
• Using overlap resolution methodology to make a choice between overlapping channels from the previous step
• Testing and learning, to understand your customers better and adapt your strategy as you go

So, let’s explore what the first step looks like.

Display, search and social advertising are important for all businesses. But as time goes on and you sharpen your targeting, you might find you want to focus more on one channel than another. This is where the research aimed to conclude the most effective mix of advertising platforms for an SMB.

The research shows that marketing channels which fall into the question mark category could be risky for SMB’s, and those who are categorised as ‘dogs’ should be avoided.

Based on the Cambridge digital marketing acumen and academic literature, it’s also clear that customer behaviour differs across the marketing journey, and based upon which part of the journey a customer is in, they are “more likely to visit a specific channel and respond to a kind of advertising format accordingly”.

This evaluation is supported by existing research which surveyed 1,000 cross-industry SMB’s. It showed:

• Acquiring new customers is the most chased (56%)
• Other goals ranging from ‘generating awareness’ to ‘generating leads’ & ‘retaining customers’ are comparably chased (45% to 49%)

Taking this data into account, the Cambridge students decided that merging the traditional sales funnel with the customer lifecycle model would be the best way for an SMB to manage their overall marketing goals.

The graph below shows which platform a customer is most likely to begin their buying journey on, and where they become more loyal to a brand.

Following this, overlap resolution methodology was used to determine the impact of cost on different marketing channels. This way, SMB’s would be able to effectively determine which platform is best to use when similarities occur – as seen in the funnel above.

The results showed which factors had an impact on results:

Having determined a connection between channel and cost KPIs, further research was conducted to find out the average CPM and CPC across Google, Facebook and Microsoft Ads.

Overall result: Facebook is the most cost-effective channel on average for SMBs.

So, if you’re choosing between Google and Facebook to advertise your business, on average Facebook would be the best bet. But, it’s also advised to look at the click-through rate of both channels as this could differ depending on factors such as industry and geography. Average CTRs are publicly available to help you make a clear decision.

For SMB’s that are debating between Google and Microsoft, the MBA students suggest using Google due to its high reach and low cost. Microsoft could also be useful in addition to Google or particularly suitable for specific business types, especially as it offers high-level targeting and demographics.

Study B: How much should I spend across channels?

For years, advertisers have questioned how much of their budget should be spent on paid advertising. A budget too big might go to waste, but one that’s smaller might not bring the return you need. Again, we worked closely with the MBA students at Cambridge University to find the answer.

To explore this hypothesis, a regression analysis was undertaken to validate if ad spend actually has an impact on increasing the number of impressions and clicks. In other words, whether increasing your budget on platforms such as Google Ads would improve the performance of your campaigns.

The advertising accounts that were analysed were connected to the Adzooma platform, ensuring the data was current, reliable and representative of the three major advertising networks.

Overall, the analysis showed that, on average, if an SMB increased their ad spend by just £1 when using Adzooma – which they can sign up for at no cost – they could expect to see different results across all three channels.

Overall result: Microsoft is the most responsive channel for increasing ad spend.

SMB’s could use this research to distribute their budget more accurately and get a clear idea of which channels will give them the best return on their investment.

However, it’s important to note that “every business is unique and channel mix selected through this framework should be validated through their own experiments”.

How will the data help Adzooma and SMBs?

Generally, the data collected will help to improve the Adzooma platform and allow us to provide more accurate optimisations.

For example, it was suggested that Adzooma could evaluate how channel partnerships can be best leveraged for our SMB customers. As Facebook seems to be the most used channel by 70% of SMB’s, and data analysis suggests it is optimal in terms of cost and return, Adzooma could use this data to scale their Facebook features and Opportunities.

This idea was reiterated by Sal Mohammed, Head of Partnerships at Adzooma, who said: “A lot of the learnings we unearthed from this study will go directly into the core technology. We already demonstrated that Adzooma users receive higher click-through rates than the industry averages by leveraging our technology and the changes we will implement following this work will only enhance that dividend.”

After seeing how easy it is for Adzooma users to compare account performance, the MBA students also devised a benchmarking method SMB’s could use for their own analysis.

The graph would allow businesses to find their peer group and compare ad effectiveness and efficiency, helping them decide which platforms to use. A feature like this is excellent for SMB’s trying to grow their brand and drive traffic in the industry.

If you need support in a different area, Adzooma Marketplace has the expertise you’re looking for. It’s the number one platform that connects agencies, freelancers and more with high-quality leads looking to buy. Browse the categories today to find your ideal match. Or don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to discuss the findings further.

Maximise success with the right channels

If you’re new to advertising or managing your own ad accounts, it can be difficult to build an effective digital marketing strategy. There’s a lot of time and effort involved, and you may have limited resources or digital expertise.

Using the data above, you should have a clear idea of how to select the best digital marketing channels for your business. If you have a tight budget, as the Cambridge research has shown, you will get more for your money using Facebook Ads.

Plus, although Google, Facebook and Microsoft ads are the most popular online advertising platforms, there are alternative (and less expensive) places to list your ads. Although they’re still effective, having fewer users means it’s often easier to reach your exact target audience.

These examples were not analysed within the research, but could increase your profits aside from your most profitable platform.

A few examples include:

• Capterra: An ultimate software review site that allows people to search for new software based on thousands of trusted reviews. Users typically spend a lot of time here, so it’s a great opportunity to set yourself apart and sell the benefits of your business.
• Amazon: 300 million people actively use Amazon which makes it an excellent network to list your shopping ads.
• Reddit: You only need $5 minimum to launch a campaign on Reddit. Popular posts are promoted on the front page, and ‘subreddits’ reach users who share similar interests. Both options allow you to share diverse content with audiences from across the globe.

To find out more about overlooked digital marketing channels, read the full blog post.

Despite being underutilised in the past, Microsoft Advertising knows what it takes to rival platforms such as Google and will do everything it takes to enhance their own network. If you want to explore their latest update – LinkedIn profile targeting in Search and Audience campaigns – this article tells you everything you need to know.

Plus, with Google under the firing line for its lawsuit, Microsoft users are only expected to rise.

What is LinkedIn profile targeting?

LinkedIn profile data was first introduced in 2018 when Microsoft bought LinkedIn. It was initially in BETA and only available in the U.S.

Now, LinkedIn profile targeting is available for both Search and Audience campaigns in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, France and Germany. The integration enables advertisers to serve text ads, Dynamic Search Ads and shopping campaigns to customers based on their company, job function and industry, acting as “the perfect complement to other targeting solutions”.

You can also use campaign bid modifiers for specific industries or job functions related to your ideal target customers. According to Microsoft, this data encompasses more than 100 industries and 80,000 companies worldwide.

Outside of LinkedIn itself, Microsoft Advertising is the only other platform to offer LinkedIn profile targeting which is what makes it so unique. If you’re trying to reach an older or more professional audience, Microsoft Advertising is top of the leaderboard for helping you achieve the best results.

What are the benefits of LinkedIn profile targeting?

The main benefit of LinkedIn profile targeting is that you can target a professional audience through a readily-available network that already focuses on that demographic. If you’re a Microsoft Advertising user, you can make the most of LinkedIn’s audience without leaving the platform. What’s more, if your target personas are CEOs or business strategists, you can literally target people with that job title in a specific industry. It’s extremely advanced.

LinkedIn profile targeting for your Microsoft Advertising Search and Audience campaigns saves you both time and effort.

As well as offering a more seamless process, being able to target LinkedIn users via Microsoft Advertising allows you to compare targeting settings and results with ease. If you’ve noticed something is working particularly well in your Microsoft Advertising campaign, imitating similar targeting on LinkedIn could maximise your results.

If you want to compare your Microsoft Advertising performance with Google Ads and Facebook Ads, you can do so here. Adzooma Management gives you the tools and data to manage your campaigns from a single screen and action smarter optimisations in seconds.

In addition, while LinkedIn still skews towards business-minded professionals, the industries, interests and demographics of LinkedIn users have become much broader, making it an effective advertising channel for your business.

Why not just use LinkedIn itself?

Microsoft Advertising generates over 12 million monthly searches, reaching over 63 million users that Google does not. That’s a significant amount of sales you could be missing out on – just by underestimating the potential of Microsoft.

Not only that, but 54% of Bing users are over the age of 45, and a third of Microsoft Advertising users have a household income of over $100,000. If we look at the demographics for LinkedIn, 49% of its users have an annual income of over $75,000, and 66% of them are between 46-56+ years old.

For Microsoft users who haven’t yet tested LinkedIn Advertising, this brings with it familiar campaign creation and management tools which makes LinkedIn profile targeting easier than ever before. If you’re already advertising on Microsoft, investing some of your budget into LinkedIn is a smart way to enhance your results.

The fact that some advertisers are skeptical about using LinkedIn could also work in your favour.

As our PPC Manager Sophie Logan told us about Microsoft, being an underutilised advertising network offers much lower barrier to entry for many businesses, making platforms such as Microsoft (and LinkedIn) “a more financially viable opportunity”.

Speaking about the benefits of Microsoft Advertising alone, Sophie added: “The less you have to spend on generating a conversion, the higher your ROI, resulting in a more profitable outcome.”

How does it work?

LinkedIn profile targeting is available for Search campaigns, Dynamic Search Ad Campaigns, Microsoft Shopping Campaigns and Audience campaigns. It works by allowing you to target users based on their LinkedIn information.

If you want to increase or decrease the chances of your ad showing to a certain audience, you can do so by adjusting your bids. However, LinkedIn profile targeting doesn’t narrow your audience. This means that if you target a certain company, you aren’t excluding every other person who does not work for that company.

So, if you’re promoting accounting services, it might be a good idea to increase the exposure of your ads to users between 35-44 years old. You can do this by adjusting your bids, which will account more of your budget towards that particular audience.

Keep in mind that you can’t target more than 1,000 companies in a single ad group or campaign, but this shouldn’t affect the majority of advertising campaigns. There’s also a slight chance you might not find your exact company, industry or job function as it’s a pretty new feature, but more are looking to be added in the near future.

How do I get started?

First up, if you aren’t already on Microsoft, find out how you can sign up here. It’s quick and easy to create an account.

You should have a clear idea of who you want to target before you get started. For LinkedIn profile targeting, think about dimensions such as company, job function and industry, as well as the segments within those dimensions. This could be anything from Microsoft and marketing to consumer goods.

Next, click on Settings and select ‘Edit target categories’ to add your desired targeting to your campaigns or ad groups.

To review the performance of your LinkedIn campaigns, go to the Demographics tab and select either company, industry or job function. You can customise your interface depending on the metrics that matter to you which makes improving your campaigns even easier – yet another advantage of Microsoft Advertising.

To gain more Microsoft-specific insights, optimise your campaigns here. Our free platform allows users to create reports, generate one-click Opportunities and set up fail-safe alerts in a few clicks.

If you look deeper into the platform, there’s also bid adjustments you can use to focus your LinkedIn advertising on a specific audience.

Reach your LinkedIn potential through Microsoft ads

If you want to target a more affluent audience, save time and effort by utilising Microsoft Advertising features. Linkedin profile targeting allows you to reach ultra specific customers and speed up the time it takes to manage your advertising – all under one roof.

Don’t forget, if you’re looking for a free way to manage and get the most out of your ads, try Adzooma.

Each year, around 20,000 people take time out to attend the UK’s biggest marketing event, the B2B Marketing Expo, to gain expertise from companies like Microsoft. It’s an opportunity to gain insights you wouldn’t find anywhere else.

Did you know that Microsoft Advertising offers some of the most powerful features on the market? With exclusive targeting options and intelligent reporting, Microsoft is giving Google and Facebook a run for their money in online advertising.

What’s more, one third of Microsoft Ads users have a household income of over $100,000, and spend, on average, 22% more on purchases through Bing than any other search engine.

Sit tight for everything you need to know about this exclusive seminar – including how to reserve your seat.

When is it?

Microsoft’s virtual presentation will take place on Wednesday 18th of November at 11:10 – 11:40. You can add it to your personal schedule here.

All of the talks are exactly the same quality as last year – the only thing that’s changed is no longer having to commute to London’s ExCel. Everything is held online and it’s completely free for you to sign up.

“All about marketing”

First things first, you should know that Microsoft’s speaker and Account Director, Sophie Sarin, isn’t one to be missed.

Just one part of her role includes taking care of everything from maximising the ROI of agencies’ and brands’ digital media spend, to planning and pitching proactive solutions that grow revenue and meet customer’s needs. If there’s anyone you can learn from right now about growing your business, it’s Sophie.

Sophie’s talk, “Marketing for everyone”, will discuss how you can ensure your business includes everyone’s varying thoughts and opinions, and how to make diversity and inclusion real for your business.

The full description reads:

“As the world continues to become more diverse, inclusion is more critical to every brand and organization across the globe. Over 1 billion people have disabilities around the world, with many not being visible to the human eye. If a true representation of ALL people are included at the beginning of any project or idea, how different would this world look? What new industries, new art, and world-changing inventions would individuals and communities dream up, that could transform lives and living conditions?”

As millions of businesses look for ways to successfully navigate Covid-19, insight like this could make all the difference to your brand.

Are virtual events worth it?

Virtual events, including this one, are great for a host of reasons.

If you’ve wanted to attend the B2B Expo before but haven’t been able to get there, either due to location or travel expenses, you can now gain industry expertise from the comfort of your own home. This gives you the chance to start applying what you’ve learnt to your business as soon as the talk is finished, without any disruptions.

What’s more, not being surrounded by a group of people makes it much easier to focus on the important takeaways. In Sophie’s talk, there’s some impressive statistics about businesses who use inclusive marketing, as well as case studies you can compare to your own business. Keep an eye out for actionable tips and tricks.

To plan your schedule around the Microsoft presentation, register for free here and add other talks to your calendar.

Our Microsoft Advertising Partnership

As a Microsoft Select Technology Partner, we know first-hand just how excellent the Microsoft team is. We’ve worked with their development teams to implement the advertising platform into our technology, and we now offer industry-leading features for our Microsoft users.

Earlier this year, we also hosted a webinar alongside Microsoft’s UK Marketing Manager, Tina Aird to reveal the latest insights in the Search industry. We have no doubt that their B2B seminar will be full of insightful techniques.

How do I sign up?

You can register to the event here. It’s quick and easy to sign up.

If you’re interested in more virtual events like this one, see what conferencing and networking looks like in 2020. You might walk away with much more expert knowledge than you think.

But, as millions of businesses compete to dominate the advertising space, traditional techniques aren’t as appealing as they used to be to today’s shoppers.

Appealing to a savvy audience doesn’t mean looking for new magical techniques – a good understanding of human psychology is all you need.

Here’s how you can influence people to want your brand, say yes to your services and become loyal customers – all by modernising Cialdini’s work.

1. Reciprocity

The term reciprocity is based on the idea that people feel inclined to give back whether they realise or not. For example, customers are more likely to tip waiters that leave mints with the bill compared to those who don’t.

Advertisers use this principle all the time, from offering free access to their blog all the way to creating insightful Ebooks for their customers on pages called squeeze pages. See Search Engine Journal’s brand new SEO for Beginners, for example:

Their content team didn’t have to create this. But because they’re offering it for free and without expecting anything in return, their readers will be much more likely to interact with the site in future. It’ll also enhance the existing content on their site, drawing people in whenever they want new techniques and news.

It’s one of the quickest, simple and cost-effective ways to influence your customers, all by utilising the knowledge and resources you already have.

For some more depth on this, have a read of our article on squeeze pages.

2. Commitment/Consistency

The principle of commitment suggests that people are much more likely to commit to something that matches their previous behaviour. In other words: if you can get people to connect with your brand once, even on a small scale, it won’t be as difficult to convince them to buy.

A smart way to do this is by offering your website visitors something relatively small and free such as a how-to guide. The small commitment will make it easier for you to follow up with a paid product or service, as they’ve basically already told you they’re interested. That’s all it takes.

In terms of consistency, Ruben Ugarte, Data Strategist at Practico Analysis said that instead of focusing on customer behaviors, companies should focus on changing user habits.

He continued: “For example, a company like Spotify will design playlists to change your mood. Whenever you feel tired or lethargic, you might find yourself reaching for that Spotify playlist. This is a powerful way to ingrain a product/service into the regular lives of people.”

You can see this in action with gym memberships. The reason people never cancel is because they’re committed to the idea of going; they want the vision they have of their gym-going selves in their head to come to fruition.

3. Social Proof

Social proof argues that people are more likely to use or buy something when it’s recommended by other people. Cialdini defined it as people doing what they observe other people doing.

A good example is the Help To Buy ISA which closed to new accounts at midnight on 30 November 2019. Millions of young adults opened an account with as little as £1, all because they’d been influenced by others who had done the same.

Getting people to trust you is all it takes. The aftermath isn’t important – as you can see here:

If you want people to buy into your brand, you just have to show them other people are doing it. Reference case studies and ask people to share their feedback through different channels, just like Adzooma did here. 93% of people say online reviews impact their buying decisions, so it’s extremely important to highlight them where you can.

Even better, tell them how many happy customers you’ve got, share user-generated content on social media and push your positive reviews wherever you can. It all contributes to getting more customers.

You can also use a platform like Trustpilot to get star ratings into your ads, and get 15% off all Trustpilot plans as an Adzooma user.

4. Authority

People are swayed by credibility. If someone is debating between your service and someone else’s, they’re much more likely to go for the one with more experience, qualifications and partnerships.

But, being part of the modern world also means people give more weight to brands that are endorsed by officials, celebrities and influencers. According to data, businesses are making $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. So it won’t only bring you a good return, but if someone with a large social following uses your product, it’ll assure potential customers it’s worth the money. It’s social proof x10.

Ellen Degeneres x Samsung is the perfect example:

Samsung said Ellen used their mobile phone organically, which, whether true or not, still makes it appear as though she approved of the brand. Of course, it received an incredible response.

You don’t have to use social proof to this scale, but having suitable social media influencers promote your product can work extremely well. Even if it’s getting them to repost one of your Instagram stories, having their approval goes a long way in making other people believe in you.

5. Liking

It goes without saying that people are much more likely to say yes to people they like compared to people they don’t. But according to Cialdini, a key element of liking is more about having things in common.

Social media marketing is an excellent way for you to show common interests with your customers. Use your brand personality to get on the same level as them, share content you know they’ll enjoy and make your brand seem much more human-centered. Look at Wendy’s for example. They’ve gained over 3.7million followers on Twitter alone for their sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek tone.

But, keep in mind that having common interests is about much more than enjoying the same humour. It’s about showing you’re empathetic and considerate, and especially now, that you’re dealing with the crisis in the right way.

Chris Norris, Managing Editor at SleepStandards echoed this idea, stating that customer service can also make or break your brand.

He said: “Even if you have a product that’s not doing well, having great customer service can turn it around. Customer service data can capture the pulse of your customers’ reactions to your product or service, and the areas of improvement. It can also serve to boost your brand and possibly upsell your other products and services while creating rapport with your customers.”

6. Scarcity

Ever not been able to find a product in your size and wanted it so much more? This is because scarcity increases desire.

Opportunities seem much more valuable when there’s limited availability. If there’s only the front row seats left in a cinema screening, the film must be good. Can’t book in with a certain hairdresser? Damn. They must be the best.

Or, maybe the movie trailer was framed in a way to look more enticing than it actually is and the hairdresser you’ve found only works 3 days a week. Just because something is limited it doesn’t mean it’s better, it just makes you think it is. It’s the way things are marketed that really makes a difference. Look at 3 live PPC ads using scarcity here.

Use this to your advantage in marketing by making people feel like they’re going to miss out. If you’re running social competitions and giveaways, put a short time frame on them and remind people of the prizes until there’s 10 minutes to go. If you’re giving away a free Ebook, say there’s only 100 available. No one will know whether they’re the 20th or 230th download, but a whole lot more people will rush to your page.

Become an influential weapon

These 6 techniques will help you appeal to a wider audience, persuade previous customers to repurchase and get ahead of your competitors. If you want to influence people at the exact time they’re searching for your business, applying behavioural economics to PPC should be next on your list.

You can also look into digital tools to help monitor customer behaviour, using the data to influence people at the right part of the funnel. For Mark Carlson, Chief Strategy Officer at Laughlin Constable, this is a method that works particularly well.

He said: “Using digital tools at our disposal, it’s easier to monitor and influence customer behavior than ever before. We know who the target audiences are, where they consume information, and how they move from one digital property to another.

“Through user testing, we know how to make it easier for them to get what they want. And tracking of online behavior patterns tells us what advice or prodding it will take to get them to say yes – to act on the impulse we’ve put in front of them.”

By using these techniques and finding what works best for you, marketing to your customers through this difficult time will be made much more simple than you think.

But, with 9.6 million people furloughed, businesses competing to thrive during the recession and a 10.1% rise in social media usage, you aren’t going to be the only one pushing great social media content. If you really want to stand out and build your online presence, you need to think outside the box.

Here are 7 ways to boost your following – with relevant examples you can apply to your brand.

1. Seek relationships, not just followers

Nobody wants a large social media following ‘just because.’ The benefit of having a lot of followers is that more people see your content, engage with your brand and potentially become paying customers. Having a lot of followers that aren’t your ideal customers is pointless.

You want to make sure the majority of people who follow you engage with your platforms. It doesn’t have to be every single follower, but you should avoid having people with inactive accounts to make you look better. Platforms like Twitter and Facebook have closed down millions of fake accounts anyway.

For example, if you launch a handmade jewellery business, you might ask close friends and family to follow your social media pages. But that doesn’t mean you should ask your uncle’s 6”4 rugby friends to follow you for vanity purposes. They’re never going to buy from you – so it’s just false growth.

Focus on trying to attract and influence your target audience, instead of quick fixes such as buying social media followers.

2. Use hashtags

Hashtags are an excellent way to attract specific followers, get your content in front of a bigger audience and use hot trends and topics to your advantage. You can even use them to build your brand by creating slogans that are easily recognisable.

What’s more, on platforms such as Twitter, you can include them in your posts to join in a conversation. If you give a unique opinion or your tweet gets a lot of engagement, it’ll often be enough to convince people that your account is worth following.

To increase our social media following at Adzooma, we did some A/B split testing with 10 different posts. Five of them included hashtags, five didn’t. On average, posts including 2 hashtags gained 218 impressions, compared to just 169 for those without.

That’s an extra 47 impressions for just five more seconds of your time.

Keep in mind that not every platform uses hashtags in the same way, so it’s worth doing your research on the type and number of hashtags that will work for each post.

3. Run competitions and giveaways

Social competitions are a great tool for driving more people to your platforms. If you tell people to tag their friends and share your giveaway to their story, you’ll gain even more engagement and brand awareness.

But to avoid losing followers as soon as the giveaway is over, you have to figure out exactly what you want to achieve and how to make people engage with your brand.

As CEO and Founder of Untapped Digital, Corrie Jones told us previously:

“Whatever you offer, make sure it’s something your target audience would actually love to have. No one will enter if it’s not a prize they’re enamoured with.”

And if you aren’t sure what that is, all you have to do is ask.

Give people the chance to tell you what prizes they’d love to win so that you can generate a buzz around your platforms. Once the competition is over, you can use the data to create more targeted content, which in turn, will encourage people with common interests to become followers.

If you want to read more about how social competitions and giveaways can help grow your brand, you can do so in our previous article here.

4. Show your brand personality

Branding is important because it tells customers what they can expect from you and helps to set you apart from your competitors. If your branding is memorable and your voice connects with people on an emotional level, you’ll be much more likely to make a strong impression.

To help you get this right the first time around, explore the best branding agencies on the Adzooma Marketplace. They’ve got the experience and expertise to make your business stand out and drive more people to your platforms, just like we see with the most established brands.

Take Aldi for example. They recently started a conversation on Twitter regarding their #Aldi30thBirthdayParty, which received much more engagement than usual:

They even had banter with Lidl, their biggest competitor:

Why? Because it makes them unique and shows that they’re confident with who they are. It proves there are real people behind the brand and that they can relate with their followers – making them more than just a supermarket.

You should give people a reason to want to follow you. For instance, according to our recent survey, 57.5% of customers are also more likely to buy from brands with a strong personality.

If it makes them more likely to buy, they’re definitely going to want to follow you on social media. Post content that your customers won’t find elsewhere and use your brand personality to consistently reinforce it, making people return to your platforms time and time again.

5. Create quality content

It’s a no brainer that quality content has much more potential than something that’s quickly thrown together. But if you want to gain more followers, you need to make it shareable.

For example, if you carry out a survey and get some interesting results, present the data in an engaging infographic that people can share on their own socials.

If you’re starting up your own business with visually-appealing products, work on taking professional photos to make your brand seem more established. People are much more likely to share your brand new brownie business if the photos are polished and not just on your kitchen counter.

In terms of written content, give your personal opinion or talk about new trends, topics and news. Adzooma gained 619 social followers in May when we started to tell people about our brand new Marketplace. It was a huge increase of 79.9% from the previous month.

If you’re new to content marketing or just want pointing in the right direction, check out these content marketing tools:

• Grammarly
• FatJoe
• StoryChief

6. Post frequently

The amount you post has a direct impact on your followers. If you only post once a month, people will forget about you and feel like there’s no point following your account.

If you post every day, regularly respond to comments and show that you’re active, people will believe you’re going to provide the quality content we spoke about above. You have to be consistent and give people a reason to be involved.

It isn’t set in stone how often you should post, but it makes sense to post less frequently on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn where algorithms control the newsfeed. Platforms such as Twitter work on a real-time basis, so posting regular content can remind people of your brand and draw more followers to your feed.

However, it depends entirely on your business.

As a PPC management platform, Twitter is one of Adzooma’s most-used social media channels as it allows us to provide valuable content and keep up to date with the fast-moving industry. But for a business that’s centred around design, you’d probably want to drive your Instagram followers to push more visual content. It’s about being consistent whatever your brand.

7. Look into paid options

Paid social media can work wonders for your brand. It’s a great way of giving your content a little push in the right direction and getting more interested eyes on your posts. For instance, 40% of users bought something after seeing it on Twitter.

On Twitter, in particular, you can promote your tweets to make them appear in the timelines and search results of specific users. You just have to select profiles that fit your targeting and make sure your campaign objective is set to maximise reach.

Generally, promoted tweets increase followers 10 times more than organic tweets and are much less likely to be lost in between other pieces of content.

And it isn’t just Twitter that offers excellent paid advertising. With Facebook seeing 1.62 billion daily visitors and having a potential reach of up to 1.9 billion for their paid ads, using it to promote your brand is a no brainer. You can make Facebook advertising easy using our free software – learn more about it here.

In addition, if your brand is aimed towards a younger demographic or maybe a much more professional one, Snapchat Ads and LinkedIn Ads are designed to help grow your audience.

7 routes to success

These techniques will help to grow your followers, but the time and effort you put into your platforms is what really makes a difference. They aren’t clever hacks that will bring you results overnight.

If you want some advanced tips later down the line, follow us on Twitter or keep an eye on the Adzooma blog.

For example, Starbucks is more expensive than a lot of local cafes.

But, because they have a strict price image and they articulate themselves to a particular group of businesspeople and influencers, people buy their drinks regardless.

If you can make your brand feel part of a certain lifestyle and instil confidence that it outweighs the cost and benefits of other options, behavioural economics states that you will make people convert.

What is behavioural economics?

Behavioural economics draws on psychology and economics to better understand real customer behaviour. For example, people are more likely to make optimal choices that will provide them with the greatest satisfaction and value. In economics, rational choice theory suggests that people use rational calculations to achieve an outcome that serves their best interests.

However, people don’t always make rational decisions. This theory is often criticised for assuming people have selfish motivations, ignoring social interactions and being culturally biased. After all, humans are often emotional and easily distracted.

To settle this argument and analyse fundamental influences, behavioural economics principles such as the Endowment Effect, Heuristics and Social Proof, aim to identify the effect that psychological factors have on our economic decision-making.

How does it relate to business and PPC?

Barush Labunski, Founder of Rank Secure puts it nicely:

“All online advertising models are designed as such to relate it with everyday problems and tailored according to the behaviour of the people in response. For example, Dunkin’ Donuts differentiated itself from the ambience and product name of Starbucks. Then it increased its prices and charged more for their services. This created an impact in behavioural economics of the people and to differentiate from the masses, they started buying from Dunkin’ Donuts.”

By understanding what motivates a person to move in one direction as opposed to another, and anticipating irrational biases and needs, business owners can ultimately improve the customer experience.

For example, one theory suggests that including a few cheaper options among the products you’re actually trying to sell increases the likelihood of consumers choosing the expensive one. This is because they will view the cheaper alternative as a loss rather than a gain, compared to the product being shown on its own.

In comparison, the best PPC campaigns draw customers in and make them imagine experiencing the benefits of the brand. Advertisers use A/B testing to determine what their customers engage with, just like behavioural economics analyses behaviour, so that they can too improve customer experience.

If ads that included positive testimonials achieved 40% more clicks, the advertiser would have a clear idea of how to increase their conversion rate. In this instance, social proof and PPC advertising work hand in hand.

Consumer advocacy and behavior is paramount for a company to be able to fully achieve its market objectives, regardless of the market setting or location. If a company can track consumer behavior and steer it’s marketing efforts towards that behavior, the result will be a surge in demand and eventually market domination.”

Ian E. McFadden, D.Sc., FACHE, President/CEO, HRM International, Inc.

Apple vs. Sony

Apple uses behavioural economics to dominate the market, build their brand and make people feel part of the Apple tribe. If you’ve got an iPhone or other Apple product, you’ve bought into the luxury hierarchy that Apple breathes.

The image Apple has built its brand upon is enough to influence people under the Halo Effect. Every iPhone, iPad, Mac and watch has exactly the same sleek packaging, upgrading each time with just a different product number. For this reason alone, there’s never an inch of doubt that the devices will live up to their expectations.

You can see this in their PPC ads, which, rather than being extremely sales-like, influences customers through Choice Overload.

“Only at Apple.”

Of course. Because if customers want to buy into the culture they’ve created, they need reminding that there is only one appropriate choice. And that’s Apple.

Laurie Wilkins, Founder of CallOutdoors, told us that these cognitive biases are what sets a clear divide between Apple and its competitors.

She said:

“The brand itself produces products of great quality but misses the mark where the Halo Effect is concerned. Sony has created a disjointed brand that doesn’t offer its users what other brands do.

They have not suffered an annual decline in sales as a result of quality – in fact, the XZ Premium (launched 2017) was one of the most powerful phones on the market at the time, but the brand did not offer its consumers the opportunity to integrate this amazing piece of tech into their lifestyle (and other tech entertainment products) and subsequently saw sales figures unbefitting of such a great device”.

This has never been the case with Apple.

Apple’s products are designed to slot into their customers’ lives, giving them a sense of belonging as soon as they make a purchase.

But, you don’t have to be just like Apple to achieve success. Apple has built an empire using a number of behavioural economics that could work for your brand. If you want to make a statement like them, you just need to focus on the details. Here’s a variety of behavioural economics that could improve your business.

Applying behavioural economics to PPC

As the CEO and Founder of MotionCue, Osama Khabab tells us, “marketing is all about using customer behaviour to your advantage. These days we have so much data available that it can be used to market the right product to the right audience at the right time.”

To help you use this data effectively, each of these examples will give insight into PPC ads that are running right now.

1. Social proof

Social proof is the theory that customers look to others for what to buy and what services to use. If your friends or family regularly use a certain brand, you’ll be more likely to use it yourself.

To apply social proof to your business, all you have to do is show that other people are buying, using and recommending your products. Make people feel like they’re part of your club, that they’d be silly not to try your brand when so many other people are happy with it. Reassure customers that they can trust you, using the power of reviews to get them on-side.

You have to let people know they aren’t the only ones making the decision. Tell them exactly how many people are using your brand and how many happy customers you’ve got. The result of this will be a feeling of envy or comfort, both of which make people want to be involved.

See this example from The Protein Works:

Seeing an excellent star rating, large number of reviews and that they’ve shipped over 1 million orders is the perfect tactic to dramatically increase sales through reassurance.

The only way you can get star ratings into your ads is by using a platform like Trustpilot, and you can get 15% off all Trustpilot plans if you’re an Adzooma user.

2. Framing

Framing is all about the way you present information. For instance, saying your product is 80% fat-free rather than 20% fat will make people believe it’s a healthier option.

Supermarkets that organise products according to customer preference, rather than price, are also more likely to make high-end sales. If customers could clearly see the higher price points of their favourite items amongst cheaper options, they might see people make more rational decisions.

The same applies to marketing and PPC.

Here’s an example from MuscleFood:

The brand has used descriptions and sitelink extensions to show the benefits in multiple ways.

For example, “Fill Your Fridge With Healthy Products” assures people all of their shopping will be taken care of and they won’t be tempted by unhealthy snacks. “All Healthy Under 600 Calories” essentially says the same thing, but is framed in a way that makes people visualise eating fewer calories than usual. It’s what makes people convert.

To make sure you aren’t missing out on opportunities like these, the Adzooma platform automatically generates smart suggestions for your account. Add new keywords, add a promo extension and test new headlines all in a few clicks:

What’s more, it’s completely free to use. See what opportunities are waiting for you here.

3. Scarcity

If you want to urge people to buy your products, you need to make them think they’re going to miss out. Brands have been doing it on their websites and in their advertising campaigns for years.

From businesses that sell mattresses:

To bedroom furniture:

And women’s parka coats:

It’s an excellent technique to include in PPC headlines as they appear at the top of the search results whenever people are looking for products. If no one else has a sale on, it could be the nudge they need to convert and the benefit that sets you apart from other brands. For more inspiration, take a look at these 5 brilliant PPC campaigns.

Whether it’s a seasonal promotion or you’ve just got a few items left after Black Friday, it all contributes towards getting more sales.

4. Anchoring

Anchoring is a cognitive bias based on the idea that irrelevant information impacts decision making. It was first discovered by Tversky and Kahneman in 1974 when analysing the concept of rationality.

In one experiment, participants were asked to estimate the percentage of African nations that are members of the United Nations. Group A was asked if the figure was higher or lower than 35%, and group B was asked if it was higher or lower than 65%. Participants in the first group gave much lower estimates, proving that people take surrounding context and information into account without even realising.

Similar effects have also been found in pricing, negotiation, lotteries and gambles, and more, causing the principle to become an effective advertising technique. If people are influenced by irrelevant information, creating an environment where A always looks better than B will help to sell your product.

See this example:

16% less doesn’t sound a lot on its own, but being able to see the new price compared to the old one makes it much more desirable.

Become a behavioural economics success

Businesses have used patterns in customer behaviour to improve sales and reinforce their brand image for years. From Apple using a number of psychological factors to Starbucks exchanging irresistible coffee for extremely high prices, behavioural economics plays a huge part in motivational purchases.

By using customer behaviour strategies in your marketing, you will be able to obtain a better idea of what customers need, how they interact with your products and how you can convince them to buy.

As Chans Weber, Founder and CEO of Leap Clixx concludes:

“Customer behaviour and PPC work hand in hand, especially with very limited word counts and SEO capabilities. Website designers and SEO specialists need to think about how to quickly encourage users to become paying customers.

Whether that’s through the use of adjectives to simply describe the product or service or make it seem as if it’s a necessity to purchase the product or service as it will improve the way they live.”

Not only that, but people consume 11.4 pieces of content before they invest in a product or service. If your writing is fuelled with benefits, aimed at the right target audience and full of personality, the chances of people buying from you will be much higher. Having an excellent content marketing strategy has strengthened some of the most luxurious brands.

High-quality content will also increase the visibility of your site, drive targeted traffic and show brand authority. If you apply advanced techniques to your content, such as behavioural economics with PPC, you’ll be able to draw on psychology and economics to increase conversions. The opportunities are endless.

But, that’s only if you’ve perfected the basics. If you’re new to writing or need pointing in the right direction, here are 7 things I wish I knew when I first began putting pen to paper.

1. Get something on the page

Just write something. Anything. Getting some words down is much better than looking at a blank page. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be written down.

This applies to anything, whether it’s PPC ads, a blog post, marketing emails, a sales page or something entirely different. Whatever comes to mind, be it bullet points, a random headline or a description that needs polishing, putting the ideas on the page makes room for new, and potentially better ideas to come to fruition.

Following this structure will also help you get over writer’s block, stop procrastinating and begin framing your work. And, because you aren’t trying to write something perfect, you’re likely to write in a more creative and conversational tone.

To make this clear, colloquial writing is much more relatable. It makes it sound like you’re having a conversation with the reader instead of reading from a textbook and makes the content much easier to read. If you use this kind of tone on your website, people will connect with your brand and be much more likely to make a purchase.

2. Forget the rules you’ve learnt about writing

If you read the last line of section 1, you’ll see that the sentence starts with “And”. This is because there are few rules to writing when you enter the world of content.

Sentences don’t need to be complex and you can start entire paragraphs with “And” and “Or”. If you’re moving from traditional content to a copywriting role, you don’t need to reference everything you write. What’s more, if you’re used to writing articles but start writing PPC ads, you don’t need to write about the entire business.

Write in whatever way makes sense for your audience and platform at the time, regardless of traditional writing methods. It just needs to fit the brief.

For example, when you’re writing PPC ads, it’s good practice to write in short sentences and list the strongest benefits in bullet points. You wouldn’t do this in the middle of a blog post, but it’s an effective technique when you have limited characters.

See this example:

Good writing makes sense, has good grammar and is full of purpose – and has a lot more personality when it’s free of the constraints of university-level professionalism.

3. Learn from the books you read

Getting your head in a handful of books is great for your writing. It’s unlikely your background will have taught you absolutely everything there is to know, so asking for industry recommendations from colleagues is a good place to start.

Better yet, reading a good book about something you’re genuinely interested in, such as music, true crime, romance and non-fiction, can teach you more about writing than research ever will. It helps you concentrate purely on the words, understand different vocabulary and test different writing styles against your own.

4. Write for someone and their feedback

Writing with someone in mind ensures you don’t overcomplicate your sentences. For instance, if you were explaining PPC management platforms to your housemate, you might say something like “PPC management platforms are designed to help advertisers improve performance across things like Google, Facebook and Microsoft ads.”

You wouldn’t give them a whole run down of each platform, talk about the intuitive tools and give insight into automation. Your content will come across in a much more natural and relaxed tone if you imagine you’re writing for someone you know.

Word of warning: be careful to not confuse this rule with getting rid of details. You can still write a long, informative article or sales page without making it hard to read; writing in a natural tone doesn’t mean being completely informal. You’ll know you’re on the right track if the person you’re writing for gives you good feedback.

What’s more, if you write with conversions in mind, your content will lean much more towards influencing your customers. You’ll convey information in a way that makes them consider your desired action, whether it’s visiting your blog, website or placing an order, and that helps you connect on a deeper level.

See this example on Moz’s homepage:

If they wrote this without thinking about conversions, they might have said “We work in SEO”. But because they want to get new customers onboard, they’re telling them the way they’re doing SEO right now isn’t smart enough.

5. Talk to other writers

This doesn’t necessarily mean networking, but having an everyday conversation when the opportunity arises. Community chats on Twitter are a great example of this – look out for #ContentClubUK at 11 am every Tuesday.

Following other writers on social media makes communication easy. It gives you the chance to understand the way they work, see which tools, platforms and resources they use and look out for their recent content. You can even learn from the way they write in their posts.

You’ll also come to learn that not everything is perfect, especially when trying to navigate Covid-19. See this example from Digital Storyteller Hassam Munir:

Learning from other people’s experiences, mistakes and day-to-day speech can improve your writing more than you realise.

If you find yourself stuck in a rut and need help with the creative process, or maybe a helping hand to work in tandem with on projects, you can find your match here. Adzooma Marketplace makes it easy to connect with the best content marketing agencies and freelance writers.

6. You don’t have to start from the beginning

Intro, middle and end.

This is the structure many people use to write but it isn’t set in stone. Putting pressure on yourself to perfect the start of your blog post, your PPC headlines or the first line of your social media posts can be a huge drawback.

Instead:

• If you can’t think of an intro, start on a different section
• If you can’t think of a headline, use a placeholder for now
• If you don’t know how to write PPC ads, bullet point some benefits

This will help you get your work done quicker, stop worrying about deadlines and get your initial thoughts down on the page, as described in point 1.

Here’s what other writers told me before:

In other words, find what works for you and you will enjoy writing a lot more.

7. Everyone has their own style

Following on from that point, it’s completely normal to have your own writing style. In fact, it’s a good thing. It’s what’s going to set you apart from other people in your industry, including the people you learn from and look up to when you’re starting out.

If you can’t work out what your writing style is, start by analysing different pieces of your content. Look at things you’ve written before, your most recent work and a piece of writing you enjoyed.

Are you present in your writing? Does your writing represent the person you are, but also stretch your capabilities? Reflecting on your work will give you a better understanding of your unique voice and tone so that you can continue to grow on your journey.

And don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you’re a business owner and need some blog content or copywriting that you feel is just over your head, you can find a content marketing agency to manage it for you here.

Life as a writer

If you want to convince people to choose your brand and improve visibility on the SERPs, content marketing is an excellent tool to help you get there. 72% of marketers also say that it’s helped increase their engagement and number of leads.

Keep in mind that there isn’t such thing as a perfect content marketing strategy – yours will depend entirely on your business goals.

These techniques would’ve helped me when I started writing, but I’ve also realised that the best writers never stop learning. Use these tips toimprove your style, enhance it with more technical methods and become the strongest writer you can be.

We even opened up access to Adzooma and became a completely free platform in June, supporting our customers as they navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, as Black Friday is just around the corner, we’re giving you the chance to get your hands on a ton of free prizes. Not just any prizes – but exclusive gift cards worth up to $1350 to spend on your favourite products.

Want to find out how? Here’s everything you need to know about our Black Friday Refer-A-Friend challenge.

What does the challenge involve?

The Black Friday challenge gives you the chance to win exclusive gift cards for referring your friends to the Adzooma platform.

The more people you invite, the more money you get.

For every successful referral both you and the person you refer will get a $20 gift card each.

To make sure it’s a successful referral, the person you refer must create an Adzooma account AND connect at least one or more of their active Google Ads, Facebook Ads or Microsoft Ads accounts. The account must also have been active in the last 30 days and have some ad spend it.

Sound good? Well, here’s how it gets even better.

What prizes could I win?

There are four main prizes, including:

• $200 in gift cards, plus a $50 bonus – when you invite 10 friends.
• $500 in gift cards plus an additional $150 bonus gift card – when you invite 25 friends.
• $1000 in gift cards, plus an additional $350 bonus gift card – when you invite 50 friends.
• An extra $10 per qualified invite once you reach and pass a total of 50 invites.

If your referrals are particularly impressive or you act faster than other users, you can also win some of our bonus prizes.

These include:

• An extra $50 gift card + Google Home if you’re the first to invite 5 users.
• A bonus of $100 if you invite an agency with the biggest ad spend.
• An extra $10 per qualified connected Microsoft Ads account.

And remember, Adzooma is completely free to use. So you aren’t only getting high-level optimisations at no cost, but the potential to earn free prizes if you refer someone to our platform.

How does it differ from our other Refer-A-Friend scheme?

Our standard Refer-A-Friend scheme is still in place. If you get a friend to sign up to Adzooma at any time outside of this challenge, you’ll both get a $20 gift card. It’s a win-win.

The Black Friday challenge is on a much bigger scale.

Instead of inviting one person for $20, you can earn up to $1350 in gift cards for referring multiple people to Adzooma. There’s also the chance to win bonus prizes depending on your efforts, and you can share the platform as far and wide as you want. It’s a way of saying thank you for helping us grow.

When does it start?

The challenge will run Monday 26 October – Sunday 29th November. That leaves you just over than 4 weeks to get your referrals in.

If you start thinking about them now and are the first to 5 people, you could win an extra $50 and a Google Home. And remember, a lot of your favourite brands and products will have discounts around Black Friday – something you can get your hands on just by taking part.

How do I encourage people to sign up?

First things first, Adzooma is completely free, making it the only platform of its type to offer such high value with no costs. The same powerful software would be exclusive to any other paid-for plan on the market – some of which are $1,000s a month.

A few other points you should know:

• Adzooma is suitable for anyone who is, or who would like to, advertise on the three major advertising networks
• The platform is fuelled with innovative features for Google, Facebook and Microsoft ads, allowing our users to manage all of their campaigns under one roof
• Over 100,000 businesses are using Adzooma to improve their online advertising, making use of the high-level optimisations and 24/7 automation

You can read more about our intuitive optimisation suite, find some reviews and more about our exclusive partnerships.

If your friends sign up to Adzooma, managing their online advertising will be made easier than ever before.

Terms & conditions

• Only approved and converted referrals can qualify for rewards.
• Self-invites are not allowed.
• If we notice an unusual, suspicious activity or attempts to fraud/gamble the system – we reserve the right to remove you from the challenge, cancel all your rewards and deactivate your refer-a-friend links.
• Standard refer-a-friend gift cards will be issued in the usual way, automatically, by email. Bonus gift cards will be confirmed on 23/11 and issued the same day – you will receive them just before Black Friday.

Did someone say Black Friday automation?

We know how competitive the advertising space is – which means we’re fully aware of the Black Friday rush. It’s a time where businesses in every industry will be launching new campaigns and putting more money behind their ads to attract new customers.

That’s what our latest automation update is here for. As well as giving you the chance to win exclusive prizes, this update will make managing your PPC campaigns easier than ever before during Black Friday weekend.

Run rules on specific dates, as well as new event templates that allow you to automatically launch campaigns on a set date. Find out more about how they work here.

What’s more, 91% of consumers now prefer interactive and visual content over traditional, text-based or static media.

To help you tap into that audience, we’ve pulled together 6 advanced techniques designed to improve your social media presence.

The role of creative content

Creative content has more of an impact than we realise. As children, we’re given picture books to inspire our visual thinking and help us understand what we’re reading. We don’t stop enjoying this as we grow into adulthood; we don’t suddenly prefer to absorb information in harder ways – simplicity is always preferred whatever our age.

For example, if we’re given a list of statistics in both an article and an infographic, most people will remember more of the infographic by nature.

See this data in Adzooma’s recent survey

51.2% of people have purchased from a brand because of the way they spoke online.

What’s more, 57.5% of customers said they are more likely to buy from brands with strong personalities.

29.9% of people have said that they wouldn’t be influenced either way, and just 12.7% of people have said they would be less likely to buy from brands with a strong personality.

Example A – A quote from the survey

With Example B, it’s easy to glance and take away important information with a greater understanding of the other results. Example A does a good job of telling us what we need to know but will be harder to remember amongst the rest of the data.

Images like these also have a better chance of being shared on other sites, which can increase engagement alone.

Compared to standard pieces of text, bold images and videos on social media increase views and interactions. They give you a way to produce immersive experiences and memorable content in just a few clicks, making your audience instantly feel more engaged.

What’s more, with platforms like Pinterest and LinkedIn launching new story features, you can use visual content to attract a unique audience across all of your platforms.

6 ways to boost engagement through multimedia

Using these techniques won’t only make your social channels look more appealing, but will help you gain loyal followers who consistently engage with your posts.

1. Utilise user-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) refers to the text, images and videos created by social media users. Brands often share the content on their own accounts to show that real people buy from them, making it an excellent tactic to increase customer loyalty and longevity.

Take this example from Five Guys:

Almost all six of these have been reposted from their following, helping Five Guys build their brand, improve the quality of their feed and attract new customers. They also average at around 2,000 likes per post, as consumers are 2.4x more likely to view this kind of content as authentic.

If this doesn’t work for you or you’re a SAAS platform, you can also share reviews or what other people have said about your brand. Here’s what Larry Kotch, founder of The Brains Marketing had to say about ours.

2. Create a visual language

By the term ‘language’, we’re talking about the way your visual content ties together and the feeling it gives your audience. It’s a small move that will make people remember your brand, look forward to what’s coming next and start to trust you.

For example, if you’re a fitness brand, you might use features such as Instagram TV (IGTV) to show your workouts and encourage people to interact. In addition, you might decide to publish snappy eye-catching videos like Hootsuite, but with daily inspirational quotes. It’s easier to be creative if you think of it as a guide rather than a strategy, kind of like a tone of voice document for your multimedia.

At Adzooma, we tend to use:

• Screenshots of the platform to show how easy it is to use and what the different features look like
• Team photos and videos to show behind the scenes at our offices and that we are a group of real people
• Videos created by our design team showcasing the Adzooma brand, typically as announcement posts

Whatever your industry or brand, a strong theme will make you recognisable to both new and existing followers. If you’re struggling to get your brand out there to begin with, one of our highly-qualified Marketplace agencies can get your business off the ground.

Find your perfect match here, using our updated ratings and review system to help you make the right decision. You can even send quick, personalised messages to be sure exactly what the agency is offering. It’s designed for you, for your business and for your success.

3. Become an expert at the basics

If you want to ramp up your engagement, you need to know what makes excellent visual content. You don’t have to be a fully-qualified artist or designer to know what looks good.

This includes:

1. The rule of thirds. This photography rule helps you centre your shot. You imagine every image is split into nine squares and the centre of your image should land on one of four points for maximum impact.
2. Natural light. If your image or video has terrible lighting, no one will interact with it. Take product shots, team photos and everything else in natural light with as little shadows or distractions as possible.
3. A clear focal point. If your images feel crowded or your videos confused, they probably are. Split your content into different posts to make sure each one has a clear message.
4. Adding text, illustrations and logos. A great way to boost engagement is to make your content your own. Test different tools, see how animations work and which font best suits your brand.
5. Little editing. In most cases, the original shot is much better than the edited one, particularly if we’re talking about obvious social media filters.

Following these principles won’t only help you create content that looks good, but will subconsciously draw people to your brand.

4. Make sure all your content has a purpose

You should use visual content to engage your audience, not to fill gaps on your platforms. Everything you post should add value, educate people, entertain them or inform them about something new. If you’re unsure, use Adzooma’s social channels for inspiration.

Here’s an image we posted to showcase our brand personality:

And here’s a video we posted to help customers navigate the Adzooma platform:

And here’s a video we posted to help customers navigate the Adzooma platform:

Watch the full video here.

In the first instance, a stock image of a dog saying our office dog Dexter is in the office wouldn’t have made sense. For the video, the same information would’ve been much harder to follow and understand if it was listed in a static image. It’s about what makes sense for the post, and if it feels like a relatable GIF, go for it.

5. Make use of stories

Stories are an excellent way to involve your followers with something you’re doing at that exact moment. Not only because platforms like Instagram have more than 500 million daily Stories users, but because you can use them to add a personal touch and enhance your visual language.

For example, if you own a bakery, you might have visualised posting drool-worthy content all over your platforms.

But, posting repetitive stock updates, reminding customers of opening times and complaining about people not collecting their goods actually takes up the majority of your posts. For new followers in particular, it might not be the best for engagement.

Making use of stories, on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, helps people to connect with you and show that you aren’t always in strict business mode. It’s content people want to see more of, even if it’s just you trying the baked goods yourself or teaching younger siblings how to bake. Social media influencers are big for this exact reason – people are interested in other people, so content that invites other people into their lives always performs well.

You can also repost content from your feed to drive more engagement, give people a teaser of what’s coming soon instead of a written post, and increase interactions with ad-hoc polls, quizzes and questions.

6. Make visuals part of your strategy

Visual content is as good as the planning behind it. If you have a detailed strategy, you’re much more likely to engage with your target audience and gain followers that will become loyal to your brand.

For example, if you update your Instagram story with behind-the-scenes product launches, can the same content be posted on LinkedIn? If there’s a risk it might get lost between millions of posts on Facebook, how are you going to adapt your content? It’s these questions that will help you increase engagement across all of your social channels.

Likewise, you want to think further than just posting content at peak times.

Will animated content work better around certain holidays? Are people less likely to watch longer videos during the festive period? Planning ahead will ensure you can provide as much value as possible at the exact times your audience is using social media.

Adzooma Marketplace is fuelled with digital marketing agencies who can help improve your strategy. With one onboard, you will have a clear idea of exactly who your visuals are tailored towards and how to make them have the most impact.

Find the expertise you need to grow here.

Using multimedia to your advantage

If that isn’t enough to convince you, we’re 65% more likely to remember information if it includes an image. So if you’re trying to increase awareness, grow your following and boost engagement, it’s time to tap into the world of multimedia.

For more articles like this, head over to our own social pages or bounce around the Adzooma blog.

In this guide, we look at the best PR agencies in Nottingham, the range of services they offer, and how they can help to boost your brand.

1. Boom (Adzooma Recommended)

Boom provides an array of services including SEO, PPC management, social media marketing and web development.

We’re unique. It sounds like a big claim, but it’s true. Unlike some other agencies, we understand the intricacies and problems faced by e-commerce businesses.

Boom is also a Google Premier Partner and the company prides itself on a broad range of skills from deep technical knowledge to headline-grabbing creativity.

If you want to generate more business, improve search visibility in Google, and create a better user experience for your customers, give BOOM a try.

Previous clients: Natural History Museum, The Online Pen Company, BL Lingerie, Healthspark

2. Champions PR

Champions PR have a team of over 120 people. Their knowledge and expertise has helped brands develop their look and their digital presence.

They specialise in all forms of digital and traditional brand communications, and have won numerous awards. As a family run business, they have created a team that works closely together to help brands achieve their goals.

Support and assistance are at the forefront of their work and they aim to boost growth and maximise customer touchpoints. They work on multi-channel strategies to create a strong image across social channels. 

Previous clients: Farmfoods, Capital One, Checkatrade

3. Tank PR

Tank PR have worked with numerous national and international clients across a range of industries.

They classify their team as a range of PR consultants, marketers, technical types and the odd misfit. Focusing on creating a unique and exciting business profile, Tank PR looks at creating a profile that is both respected and aesthetically pleasing to gain maximum results.

Curating strategies and digital accolades, they focus on targets and help brand’s achieve them as quickly and effectively as possible. 

Previous clients: Dixons Carphone, KPMG/Ipsos Retail, Belvoir Castle, Town & Country Pet Foods

4. Motive PR

Motive PR is an award-winning digital PR agency specialising in e-commerce clients across many sectors of business from fitness to finance and fashion to food.

The agency was founded in Nottingham back in 2008 by former Daily Mirror staff writer Steve McComish, who has since been included in the PR Week Power Book which lists the top 100 most influential people in the UK PR industry.

The agency’s e-commerce speciality means they promise campaigns which get people talking, clicking and sharing.

Awards for the agency include the CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) Silver Dare Award for Outstanding Small PR Agency.

Previous clients: Money.co.uk, MuscleFood, Hancocks Cash & Carry, NetVoucherCodes, Public Desire, BillyOh and Gardening Express.

5. Cartwright Communications

Cartwright Communications are one of PR Week’s top agencies in the UK and have carved a name within the industry to aid businesses in their quest to be noticed.

With strong roots in journalism, their ethos is storytelling and getting to the nitty gritty of a brand. They offer mentoring and training to allow your brand to start from the ground up and help build your knowledge of the industry to ensure growth and goals are met.

They have a strong focus on charities and support numerous local charities in alignment with their work with brands.

Previous clients: Branston, Intu, Willmot Dixon, Alchemist

6. Impression

Based in Nottingham, Impression is a digital marketing powerhouse and home to an award-winning PR team. Since opening their doors in 2012, they’ve continued growing from strength to strength, delivering big wins for their clients—from small agencies to larger corporates—and scooping up a multitude of awards in the process.

Offered services include:

• SEO
• PPC
• Digital PR
• Content marketing
• Analytics
• CRO

Previous clients: BrewDog, Nottingham Trent University, Experian, Topps Tiles

7. Penguin PR

Run by an award-winning team of former journalists, they have a wealth of experience and have been running Penguin for many years.

Social media and SEO are at the core of what this company does and focus on social campaigns that promote and advertise your brand in an authentic way.

Their writing services span across many areas, including PR copywriting for magazines and newspapers. They have a few awards under their belt too, and focus solely on business objectives and achieving them promptly.

Previous clients: Cosmo, Birds Bakery, The Kingsmead School, Lubrizol

8. Redbrick Communications

This company offers multiple areas of communication services to brands.

With digital communication at the core, they focus on social channels as well as brand communication to help you develop an online presence and reputation.

From construction to tourism, they cover a wide range of industries. Created by two Trent Polytechnic graduates, this team was created through a passion for the PR industry. They strive to enhance and protect their clients’ brands as well as offer numerous opportunities for growth.

Previous clients: Radisson Blu, Meccano, Royal Armouries, LBFoster

9. Eden PR

Eden is a team of public relations professionals based in Nottingham’s Creative Quarter. They describe themselves as a hands-on company, driven by results and action.

They create strategic plans for each company to ensure that they hit their targets. Their focus is mostly within the construction and industrial industries, with a focus on advertising brands working on larger industrial projects and developments.

Although this is their main niche, they do also media training to improve clients’ knowledge of digital PR.

Previous clients: Interflora, SERVE, Nottingham City of Football

10. Hallam

Focusing on the digital marketing behind the brand, Hallam looks at creating a stellar image for brands online. With their PR, they create brand awareness and delve into the world of CRO for website traffic.

They have won numerous awards and they are run by a large group of innovative staff focused on helping businesses thrive online.

Previous clients: Speedo, Cadent Gas, United Nations, Raleigh Bikes

Conclusion 

Each agency provides a slightly different version of services across the digital PR industry. Although some focus on niche industries, a digital PR agency is a staple for any business.

We hope at least some of these suggestions can lead you down a path of success for the future.

Try Adzooma Marketplace and find the right digital PR agency for your business.