Confab Digital Media

Make 2021 the year of measurable results for your business

AdminConfab — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 06:02:23 +0000

Make 2021 the year of measurable results for your business

Make 2021 the year of measurable results for your business

Words: Jessica Turner, Managing Director of Confab

Asking the right questions is as important as answering them

In the words of Eric Ries from The Lean Startup “in the old economy, it was all about having the answers. But in today’s dynamic, lean economy, it’s more about asking the right questions.”

As we start a new year amidst continued global uncertainty, it is essential for businesses to operate leaner, work smarter and ask themselves the right questions in order to stop doing that isn’t working and start focusing on what is.

We would like to ask you a few questions about your digital marketing as we kick off 2021:

Are you tracking results and measuring the ROI of your digital marketing currently?
When last did you compare your year-on-year digital results?
Are your digital marketing efforts directly working to achieve your overall marketing goals, and can you prove this?
Is your digital agency supplying you with monthly reports displaying measurable results, ROI, and is your team paying close attention to these reports?
Have you adjusted your digital marketing strategy since the onset of Covid-19?

Businesses that aren’t getting measurable results from their digital marketing are being left behind

As you answered the above questions on behalf of your business, if you are confident in the answers and they prove you are on the right track for 2021, that’s incredible and we wish you great success as you move into the future.

If, when answering these questions you’ve realized that your digital marketing plan is not as watertight as it needs to be to sail the unchartered waters of 2021 and beyond, then read on…

Our team is amazed (and often frightened) at how many businesses throw budget behind digital marketing yet do not receive intelligent analytics reports from their agency or digital team and worse yet, if they do receive these, do not spend time analysing them.

Many of the clients that move over to Confab Agency after working with another partner previously, do so because they feel they are not getting measurable results (emphasis on the measurable) from their agency.

Intelligent insights are digital marketing imperatives

Our firm belief is that companies should not spend a cent on digital if they will not receive, in return, intelligent insights around how their campaign(s) is performing. One of the many reasons that businesses have pivoted from traditional marketing methods to digital is the fact that it is measurable, quantifiable and you are able to determine your exact return on investment when the right tools and tracking methods are in place. Gone are the days of merely ticking to box to say “our business is on social media” or “we have a website.” Businesses that merely see digital marketing as a nice-to-have or a to-do-list-checkbox are missing the value that this mode of marketing can bring to the table and are being left to bite the dust of their competitors.

How to make 2021 the year of measurable results for your business

If you are not marketing digitally or are spending money ‘flying blindly’ in the digital abyss without seeing measurable results, we have good news: that can change!

Here are a few of our team’s suggestions:

Work with an agency or partner that doesn’t just overpromise, but shows you, in real time, the measurable results you are getting from your budget spent with them.
Ensure that all of the necessary tracking tools are in place across your website, social media, email marketing and other platforms.
Take time to upskill yourself and your team around the Google Analytics dashboard and what the various metrics mean.
Insist on intelligent insights from your agency and take part in a tutorial where your team is taught how to read the numbers and understand the metrics.
Do not, we repeat, do not have a stagnant digital strategy. Your digital marketing approach must be able to pivot, and pivot quickly, as the digital landscape changes (the necessity of this we have seen first hand during Covid-19).

If you are feeling despondent by your lack of measurable results to date or daunted about how to get from where you are to where you need to be, the good news is that we have simple and cost effective offerings and approaches for businesses of all sizes that will ensure they are seeing measurable results, growth and goals achieved.

If you are not marketing your business digitally, or need to expand to more digital channels, we can help. Click here to get in touch.

If you are marketing your business digitally but are not seeing measurable results or value for your money, we’d love to conduct an audit of your digital efforts and assist you in making 2021 the year of measurable results for your business. Click here to get in touch.

The post Make 2021 the year of measurable results for your business appeared first on Confab Digital Media.

How to plan your festive season digital marketing: A step by step guide

AdminConfab — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 11:49:58 +0000

How to plan your festive season digital marketing: A step by step guide

How to plan your festive season digital marketing: A step by step guide

Words: Jessica Turner, Managing Director of Confab

If you are reading this, the festive season is upon us all, there’s no escaping it now. Whether you love or loathe early christmas shopping and the sound of Boney-M echoing through every public space, I personally think that after the wild year 2020 has been, the planet could use a good dose of festive cheer.

First comes Halloween, then comes black Friday and then before you know it you are having small talk at the office Christmas party and finally leaving milk and cookies out for Santa (then don’t forget those Boxing Day and New Year sales). It all happens so fast.

If you are a business owner or marketer, the festive season is an opportunity not to be missed should you be looking to acquire new customers, meet and exceed sales targets or even clear stock. We believe that the success of your festive season digital marketing lies in having the right plan in place, and just like your old highschool teacher always said ‘failing to plan is planning to fail.’

Key dates to bear in mind:

November 28th – Thanksgiving (USA)
November 29th – Black Friday (If you sell anything, this one’s for you)
December 2nd – Cyber Monday (If you’re an E-commerce business, don’t forget this)
December 23rd-30th – Hanukkah
December 25th – Christmas
December 26th – Boxing Day (Boxing days sales are a must!)
December 31st – New Year’s Eve
January – Sales, sales, sales

Steps to planning your festive season digital marketing

1. Define your objectives: As simon Sinek says “Start with Why”

What is your business specifically wanting to achieve this festive season? Take a moment to sit with your team and write down your measurable and tangible goals and objectives. We are firm believers in having fewer, more specific objectives rather than many intangible goals that may only confuse your team and dilute your marketing strategy.

2. Assess your current digital marketing efforts and decide what changes you want to make

What have you done well in 2020 that is working or has previously worked? Maximise on this. What have you done poorly in 2020 or what opportunities have you missed? Improve on this.

Make a list of changes or additions you want to make to your current marketing strategy specifically with the festive season in mind.

3. Define your budget

Set aside a set amount that you want to allocate purely to your festive season digital marketing. Bear in mind that if you are maximising what you already know is working for your business (as per step 2 on this list) then your budget will be an investment that will be paying dividends after the festive season. Once you have your budget clearly defined, then begin to apportion this between your digital marketing channels giving the most budget towards your most successful channels.

4. Define your value proposition

Are you having a sale? Are you launching a new product or range? Are you running a giveaway? Clearly define what your value proposition will be this festive season and then begin crafting your marketing message using your 2020 marketing insights to give you a window into what has already worked for your business.

5. Prepare your marketing collateral

Get your copywriter clicking away at their keyboard. Get your designer sharpening their tools. Get your creative team or agency preparing your digital marketing collateral as soon as possible so that you have enough time for reviews and changes whilst not missing any important deadlines. Every day counts when it comes to festive season marketing!

6. Launch your campaign

Advice we would like to offer regarding the launch of your festive marketing campaigns, is to let your customers know ahead of time that something exciting is on the way. Why not work on a pre-launch campaign for your giveaway or send out an email campaign or bulk SMS a day or two before your new range is released to get them ready and waiting (credit card in hand) for when your campaign launches?

Ensure that you’ve prepped a follow-up campaign after your initial launch to continue reminding your target audience of your festive season offers.

*Remember, this is an exceptionally busy time and businesses are fighting for online space in front of their customers eyes. Make sure your campaign doesn’t get lost in the noise.

7. Make adaptations, Measure and Report

Launched your campaign and it has not been as successful as you’d hoped? Don’t wait until weeks have passed, be front-footed and make adaptations whilst your campaign is running. Stop what is not working and try something new.

At the end of your festive season campaign, make sure you gather and measure your data and pull valuable insights for a campaign report so that you can use these insights for your next campaign (next up: Valentines Day).

Festive Season Digital Marketing Checklist

Have you defined your festive season marketing goals?
Is your digital agency aware in advance of your marketing plans so they are able to meet your deadlines?
Have you prepared a festive content calendar in advance?
Has your website been updated for the festive season?
Are your social media channels looking festive?
Have you utilised your existing database of customers for your campaign?
Do you current customers know about your specials?
Have you defined your festive closing times and are your customers aware of these in advance?

Need help perfecting your digital marketing strategy? We are always happy to help. Book a meeting with us here to chat.

The post How to plan your festive season digital marketing: A step by step guide appeared first on Confab Digital Media.

7 reasons why your social media ads are not working

AdminConfab — Tue, 19 May 2020 18:42:49 +0000

7 reasons why your social media ads are not working

7 reasons why your social media ads are not working

Words: Jessica Turner, Managing Director of Confab

During our nationwide lockdown, we have been assisting a small business client of ours run targeted social media campaigns on Facebook and Instagram to sell their products online and have seen amazing results, some of which include 32 online sales with an advert spend of just under R900! This startup business has been elated with their sales which have meant that during challenging business times, their trade has increased all thanks to online advertising done properly.

This got us thinking that during testing economic times such as these, it’s not only important for businesses to leverage online advertising, but to ensure they are doing it properly and so we were inspired to write this article with 7 reasons why your social media ads are not working and what you can do about it.

1. You are ‘boosting’ posts

If you are guilty-as-charged of ‘boosting’ your social media posts rather than creating structured advertising campaigns, we will forgive you, but only if you quit this very, very bad habit immediately after reading this. Did you know that our team will not spend one cent on boosting posts on social media because that will be one cent flushed down the drain? Don’t get me wrong, we certainly do spend money on social media advertising, lots of it, but only through the adverts manager interface which allows us to create structured social media campaigns, the right way.

2. You are choosing the wrong objective

Like most things in life, having your end goal in mind is a great starting block, and social media advertising is no different. Do you want to generate sales? Then don’t optimise your ads for “likes,” do you want to generate leads? Then don’t optimise your ads for reach. This may sound like a simple equation, but many businesses are not seeing results from their social media ads for this very reason. To let you in on a secret of ours, our favourite objectives to optimise our clients campaigns for are: conversions (sales or leads on their website), website traffic and reach. You won’t catch us paying for likes in 2020 and neither should you! Find out more about why we don’t pay for likes.

3. You don’t have a Pixel code set up on your website

We like to think of your website as the epicentre of your digital marketing efforts and the central landing point that all your campaigns should ultimately point to. If you are serious about seeing results from your social media advertising campaigns, you need to ensure that your social platforms and your website are integrated, and we don’t mean just having links to your social profiles on your website. The best way to integrate your website and social media channels is by installing social media tracking codes often known as pixels. These let you track user activity between your adverts and your website. For example, without a pixel installed, we would be able to report on a campaign to a client and let them know how many people “clicked” on their advert, but we couldn’t report on what happened once the person arrived on their website. With a pixel installed, we could give a report to the client including how many website views they received and how many leads or sales were generated based on the advert. To take it a step further, we are then also able to report on return on investment from that particular advert.

4. You aren’t using advanced audience combinations

If you are not using custom audiences, lookalike audiences or advanced audience combinations, then we need to chat because you are missing out on what we would deem the best way to see advert success. Custom audiences let you target previous website visitors or upload email lists of clients and target these individuals via social media platforms whilst lookalike audiences (you guessed it) let you target people who look like your website visitors or those on your email list. Advanced audience combinations include combining custom audiences, lookalike audiences and a few of our other *secret* ingredient audience types to get the ultimate bang for your buck.

5. Your copywriting isn’t compelling and your artwork isn’t striking

Don’t kick your copy and artwork to the curb as you focus on aspects of your campaign that you feel are more important, because over the years we’ve come to realise that it’s these two aspects that can make or break your social media adverts. There’s an art to good copy and an obvious art to adding the right creative components to your campaign and so we would advise pouring extra time and attention into these two aspects and it will pay off.

6. Your customers are not getting a good landing page experience

Scenario: You’ve heeded our advice and integrated your website with your social media profiles using pixel tracking codes but still are not seeing the conversions you hoped for.

Resolution: Ruthlessly scrutinise your landing page experience. What are your potential customers seeing once they’ve clicked from your advert to your website? Are they taken to an ambiguous page that has no relevance to the advert they’ve just seen? Are they taken to a page that has no “calls to action” for them to further interact with your business? Are they taken to a copy-heavy or ugly-looking page that makes them want to click the red “x” button on the top left of their internet window just as fast as they landed on it? Your landing page experience will directly impact your clicks-to-conversions ratio, so it’s worth investing in a good one.

7. Maximise your marketing mix

Finally, we strongly believe that a successful social media campaign must be undergirded by an overall marketing strategy that is well thought-out and strategically focused. If you are haphazardly boosting posts with no real method to your madness, now is the time to stop, take a step back and invest time in drawing up an overall marketing plan for your business. The best social media adverts are small parts of a greater picture. What are your overall marketing goals? What are the desired actions you want your customers to take? How do you want your business to interact with current and potential clients online? Map questions like these out, clearly define where you are and where you are going and then let your advertising strategy and campaign creation be an overflow from this.

To end things off, if you’ve been advertising on social media with no success, we want to encourage you with this: If at first you don’t succeed try and test again! It’s taken us a long time to perfect our own social media advertising tactics that ensure our clients see great results from their ads, and we have enjoyed many losses and wins along the way. One thing we would bet our bottom dollar on is that social media advertising (when done properly) works wonders for businesses, and we hope this has empowered you to work some of your own magic.

Not up for the challenge? We are always happy to help. Book a meeting with us here to discuss your advertising strategy.

The post 7 reasons why your social media ads are not working appeared first on Confab Digital Media.

How to position your business during the Covid-19 lockdown

AdminConfab — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 07:38:05 +0000

How to position your business during the Covid-19 lockdown

How to position your business during the Covid-19 lockdown

Words: Jessica Turner, Managing Director of Confab

Most of the world is falling asleep with thoughts of Covid-19 running through their minds, and waking up in the same way. As we stand together and face this tidal wave-like global pandemic and the economic effects that lie in its wake, there’s no denying that every single business around the world will feel its tremors and experience its aftermath, whether positively or negatively.

As panic and frenzy rises, so does emotional and fear-based decision making and something we are noticing all around us are businesses trying to ‘panic sell’ just as fast as consumers are ‘panic buying’ rolls of toilet paper, but is this the answer to the pressures that Covid-19 is placing on your business? We think there’s a better way…

Here are some of our team’s tips and insights on how to properly position your business during the Covid-19 lockdown in South Africa. We trust that these tips will aid you in navigating the uncharted waters of a nationwide shutdown, and ensure that you are able to make the right investments into your business (even whilst it may be unoperational) so that when normality returns, you are poised for great success and breakthrough, for as the saying goes “this too shall pass.”

1. Less selling, more storytelling

The normal knee-jerk reaction to an upcoming period of low business activity would be to try and spread your sales message fast and wide, and that’s what most businesses seem to be doing. Quite frankly, this approach leaves your customers feeling used at best and exploited at worst. This is not a time to try and profit from a pandemic at the expense of your valued customers. Instead of using a time of low business activity to shamelessly sell your products and services at a moment when customers may need them the least, this is a time to start telling your brand story. Be empathetic, be honest and vulnerable, tell your unique story. You may not be able to make sales during this time, but you can build lasting relationships with your customers through storytelling that will be far more beneficial in the long run than losing customers in the short term by trying to gain quick sales wins.

2. If you haven’t gone digital, now is the time and this is the ‘sign’ you’ve been waiting for

If you are a business that has been caught unprepared as the world has turned almost entirely digital overnight, you may be kicking yourself for not implementing online strategies sooner. Whilst you cannot change the past, you can start shaping the future: now. If there’s one key takeout from this Covid-19 moment, it’s that digital is not going anywhere, in fact, the need for it will only increase as we move into the future. You may have been caught unprepared this time, but you can make sure there isn’t a next time by taking action now.

3. Evaluate your current marketing and plan for the future

Did your current marketing channels help or hinder you as the nation began to enter a crisis? Were you able to quickly change tactics and respond to the business changes brought on by this global pandemic? Now is the time to begin evaluating your current marketing efforts and plan for the future. Now is the time to invest in the right marketing tactics and not let fear cause you to opt-out of marketing at all. The businesses that survive and thrive through this unknown period will be the businesses that built wise strategies during times of “famine” to position themselves correctly for periods of “abundance.

Don’t know where to begin creating a digital marketing plan for the future? The great news is that digital agencies (like Confab) will all be fully operational during the nationwide lockdown and are just a video call away if you need to set up an online strategy session.

4. Build up your social media

Perhaps you are using social media. Perhaps you’ve only seen it as a ‘nice to have’ addition to your business. At this moment, social media has quickly become the saving grace and bedrock for so many organisations as they need to rely solely on these online channels to reach their customers. Now is the time to take social seriously, build up your online presence and set a plan in place to ensure that your social media channels are yielding measurable results for your business.

5. Refresh your branding

There’s no denying the fact that when the world returns to normality, and it will, there is going to be more business competition than ever. In the new world, good design will be a key differentiating factor that will make your business stand out in a sea of competitors and win the hearts of potential customers. Is your branding old, tired and belonging to another millennium? The good news is that digital agencies (like Confab) are still designing during lockdown. We need any and every excuse to keep our creative juices flowing and so if you need to chat design, we are just a video call away.

6. Send out a personal (and honest) emailer to your clients

Whilst all of our inboxes are full of mails with subject lines such as “our response to Covid-19” and you may not be wanting to add to the email noise, if your business has a database of loyal customers and clients, we highly recommend that you send out a personalised and honest emailer to explain how your business is positioning itself during the nationwide lockdown. Perhaps you will still be available over email or video calls, let them know. Perhaps you will be pausing your online orders for a time, keep your customers in the loop. Perhaps you are offering discounted products or service when lockdown is over, let your customers know so they can make plans for the future that include your business.

7. Work on your SEO

If Google cannot find your business during a nationwide lockdown, neither can your clients. Digital is the only way that most customers will be able to find and interact with businesses and whilst your products or services may not be offered during a nationwide lockdown, spend time investing in your SEO now, so that when normality returns you are poised for great increase! If you need some help getting started with your SEO, we are here to help.

8. Set up those business systems and take care of that admin you’ve been procrastinating about

In his brilliant book “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” Michael E. Gerber says the following “Simply put, your job is to prepare yourself and your business for growth.”

There has never been a more opportune time to take a moment to pause, think, focus and refocus and then roll up your sleeves and start preparing for business growth. No skyscraper was ever built without meticulous foundations first and business systems and structures are those foundations. Now is the time for pro-activity and not procrastination as you invest your lockdown down time into working “on” your business even at a time when you may not be able to work “in” your business.

9. Your customers are people too

Businesses that stop seeing customers as mere numbers, or emails in a database, but real people who are experiencing the same feelings of uncertainty as you are, are businesses that are ready to properly communicate with their customers during this nationwide shutdown. Speak to your customers during this time, speak to them honestly, share your heart with them, let them into your business process and tell them how you plan to be there for them now and as we rebuild the future together. Your customers are people too!

10. Invest in yourself

Robots don’t run businesses (well some do, but that’s another blog post), people do. If you’ve been feeling worn out, burnt out and lacking inspiration to run your business or fulfil your role, this nationwide shutdown presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to stop, reflect and start to invest into yourself. Take an online course, read a book, read industry-relevant articles, and if there’s one thing to avoid, it’s emerging from the cave of isolation having done nothing but finished more Netflix series than is helpful for one individual to consume in a 3-week period. Last but not least, make declarations over yourself and your business. Declarations such as “I am not alone in this,” “this too shall pass” and “I am a leader who leads well during a crisis.”

So, in closing, we would like to remind you that are you not alone in this, we are here to assist you in navigating the uncharted waters of a nationwide shutdown and global pandemic as best as we know how to. Here’s to rest, refocus, realignment and then rebuilding the future together.

The post How to position your business during the Covid-19 lockdown appeared first on Confab Digital Media.

Anatomy of a successful social media advertising campaign

AdminConfab — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 10:05:05 +0000

Anatomy of a successful social media advertising campaign

Anatomy of a successful social media advertising campaign

Words: Jessica Turner, Managing Director of Confab

There is both an art and a science to creating a successful social media advertising campaign that finds the sweet spot of reaching the right audience, getting them to take the right actions and of course ensuring all of this happens within your desired budget. We have had years of experience in creating and running successful advertising campaigns for clients across many different industries and wanted to share some of our insights in this blog post.

1. If you’re wanting a successful social media campaign, DO NOT boost your posts

Before we take another step, let us be clear on one simple thing (this is related to Facebook and Instagram advertising): Do not spend a cent of your business’s hard earned money on boosting your posts. If you have not yet set up a Facebook Business Manager and are using the Advanced Adverts Manager tools, stop what you are doing, and start your account by clicking here.

We cannot stress enough the vital importance of creating proper advert campaigns, rather than ad-hoc boosts, because at the end of the day “my boosted post really grew my company in real time” – said no business ever.

2. Tracking codes on website

The next important skeletal structure of a successful social media campaign is tracking codes. If you have not yet installed your tracking codes from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn (and of course Google) onto your website you are missing the most incredible opportunity to reach the right audience, retarget your previous customer or website visitors and gain fascinating insights into what your customers and prospects are doing once they’ve clicked on your social media advert and have found themselves on your website. If you are uncertain about how to properly install and utilise your tracking codes to their full potential, please feel free to set up a social media training session with our team here.

3. Choose the right objective

Before you can select the right advertising objective on your adverts manager account for your campaign, you need to have already defined this objective when you planned your campaign. Something important to note is that you need to select one main objective and stick to that. For example, if you are wanting sales, but also ‘likes’ on your advert, you’ll need to sacrifice one in order to maximise on the other. Choose your top objective and then build your campaign around that.

4. Carefully map your audience

Advertising is not just what you say, but who you say it to, and speaking to the right audience, whether it be broad or niche is vitally important. Once your business manager profile has been set up as well as your tracking codes, a world of new advanced audience targeting combinations opens up to your business. From custom website and email audiences to lookalike audiences, take time to carefully map out your audience, and then we recommend using A/B testing of your audience segments to discover which is working best before backing the audience with the bulk of your campaign budget.

5. Optimise your budget

A few of our budget optimisation tips for social media advertising include first, always using the campaign budget optimisation tool within Facebook to either optimise based on a daily or total campaign budget, we’ve seen our best results utilising this tactic. We also recommend allowing 4 – 7 days before scaling budgets up or stopping your campaign whilst also bearing in mind that your advert objective and audience combination is likely to affect your budget and your costs per result.

6. Craft your copywriting

Words will always matter, especially when it comes to your social media adverts. We’ve found that when copywriting is short, catchy and either solves a problem, poses a question or speaks to a need your audience has, you’re only a winning formula. Some other tips from our team include: be compelling, communicate your value proposition, speak directly to your customers using words such as you/your and if your brand allows for it, tastefully use humour to get your message across.

7. Always judge an advert by its artwork

We are at a time in the digital marketing world where most brands and businesses are using social media, and using it properly. This means the competition to reach your target audience is more rife than ever. This is where artwork and advert creative comes in to play as a key differentiating factor to make your business stand out amongst all the newsfeed noise. Some tips from our team to help you design winning artwork include: Keep your in-image copy short (20% text or less), add your value proposition in the ad image, use creatives that spark emotions, use symbols to your advantage, show your product in action, include discount offers in your ad image and use strong visuals of people.

8. Learn from your wins (and your losses)

Each business is unique and so will be the data from your advertising campaigns. Keep a close eye on your adverts throughout each month and then invest time into analysing your analytics, looking for trends, asking questions, trialing new copywriting techniques, audience combinations and artwork designs. Each campaign presents an opportunity to gain key insights into what your audience wants and what they don’t want. Learn from your wins and your losses and you’ll be heading in the direction of social media advertising success.

Struggling to make your social media advertising work for you and not seeing it yield measurable results in terms of social media growth, sales and lead generation? We are always happy to set up a consultation with you to analyse your advertising efforts and help you maximise your digital marketing. Book a consultation with us.

The post Anatomy of a successful social media advertising campaign appeared first on Confab Digital Media.

10 Digital Marketing Trends for a New Decade

AdminConfab — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 12:06:11 +0000

10 Digital Marketing Trends for a new Decade

10 Digital Marketing Trends for a new Decade

Words: Jessica Turner, Managing Director of Confab

It’s the turn of a new decade and 2020 brings with it new digital trends to look out for and adopt within your business in order to improve your digital marketing Durban efforts and gain the competitive edge you’ve been desiring.

In this article, we look at and unpack 10 digital marketing trends for a new decade, but before we do it must be said that one of the keys to success for many businesses we believe will be to build upon and invest more resources into the digital channels and marketing methods that have already proven successful for you. Whilst staying ahead of the curve is vital, so is the ability to remain focused on what is working for you without becoming distracted by every new wave of digital fads.

1. Instagram does away with number of likes that can be seen on a post, will Facebook follow?

The like has been dying a slow death for a while, but in 2019, it officially went to the grave on Instagram and now the question remains, will the ‘Facebook Like’ also rest in peace sometime soon? What is interesting about the disappearance of the infamous ‘like’ is that it is synonymous with that fact that brands are moving away from mere engagement as their primary metric of success, but are investing more effort and budget into increasing reach, lead generation, brand building and bottom line sales

2. Social conversations are shifting to private channels

Over the past few years there has been a shift away from public communication forums to more private ones which poses some interesting questions around the traditional approach to social media. Customers are wanting to be connected with one-on-one and are looking for the human touch in an increasingly digital world. Is your brand ‘human’ enough on your digital platforms?

This also presents a fantastic opportunity to explore (if you haven’t already) serving up advertising content on private messaging forums such as Facebook messenger advert placements as well as LinkedIn InMail which we’ve seen wonderful successes from for our clients.

3. Businesses are developing long-term vision and strategies for how social will transform their organization

Marketers are now seeing social media as less of a nice-to-have and more of a strategic growth tool for their businesses. The power of social has been proven for over a decade and is not going anywhere anytime soon, a fact that cannot be denied. From brand building to converting leads into customers, social media channels are one of the few marketing mediums that leave their fingerprints on each stage of the customer lifecycle and business large and small are shifting their focus from short-term campaigns to long term strategies for business transformation and growth.

4. Marketers are moving from ad-hoc social promotion tactics to structured campaigns

A ‘boost’ here and there is not the success tactic your business should be adopting in 2020. Marketers who are serious about seeing results from their social media advertising need to move away from an ad-hoc advertising approach to a well thought-out and well planned campaign approach. This will not only assist in achieving objectives but improve budget optimisation.

5. Maximise on what is working rather than being distracted by every new innovation

Whilst it may seem ironic to include this in an article on new trends, it must be said that something to avoid in 2020 is getting lost in a sea of so-called ‘new innovations’ and chasing every one of them. This year, focus on maximising on what is currently working for your business instead of looking for new ‘quick fixes.’ Whilst interesting new innovations can and should be trialed, opt to use more conservative budgets and resources for testing these out.

6. Shoppable posts

‘Social Commerce’ as it’s now affectionately known is something not to be missed by any businesses that sell anything online. With the launch of Instagram Checkout in 2019, it’s now simpler than ever for your customers to make purchases without navigating away from the social networks they saw your product on. Make sure your social networks are properly linked to your online store, start tagging your products in your posts and the sky’s the limit for your social sales! Need to set up your Instagram and Facebook store? We can help.

7. Predictive Marketing

According to GlobeNewswire, the market size for ‘predictive analytics’ is expected to reach $10.95B in 2022. Predictive marketing uses the abundance of data available to brands around their customer’s buying habits which is gained from looking at all the interactions your customers have with your brand, then predicting their future purchasing habits and decisions and ultimately using these insights to market to your customers accordingly. A hefty investment into research and development of technology that assists with predictive marketing is being made by numerous industries in 2020 and beyond.

8. Voice Search

Just caught your breath after fully optimising your website for text search? The next SEO mountain to scale in 2020 is voice search! With takeover of smart devices (smartphones, smarthomes etc) and the usage of these devices to conduct Google Searches, voice search has been steadily growing and this will be the year to identify key voice search trends and make sure your business is adapting.

9. Branding will be a top differentiating factor and a moat for businesses

There’s no denying that in our digitized world, it’s becoming harder than ever for businesses to gain an edge over their competitors. A key 2020 prediction is that one of the top differentiating factors which will set businesses apart from their competitors is their brand (in particular their brand identity, brand story, ethos and quality). What sets top brands apart from their competition (think Nike and Apple) is not that their products or their marketing strategies are necessarily better than the competition, but they have built a brand persona made up of strong visuals, an engaging brand story and core values that their customers identify with and make ongoing purchases to ensure this brand remains part of their own lifestyle and their own personal ‘story.’

10. Personalization is the new marketing

Personalised marketing can be defined as the use of specific collected data, data analysis and automated tech to serve up personalised content to various consumer segments. We are living in the ‘age of the individual’ and consumers are become harder to impress. Brands need to rethink their ‘one size fits all’ approach to marketing and start using smart insights and technological advancements to better understand and communicate with the individual. For example, your brand’s GenZ customers (those born just after the turn of the century) have strong desires for authenticity, privacy, quirky humor and content diversity. How are you delivering content that is more personalised to the needs of this consumer segment in 2020?

The turn of the new decide presents an exciting opportunity for brands and businesses to shake up their marketing strategies for greater success whilst maximising on methods that have already proven successful. If you’re looking for the competitive edge in 2020 and need a strategic partner to help you navigate the ever-changing digital landscape, feel free to book a consultation with us.

The post 10 Digital Marketing Trends for a New Decade appeared first on Confab Digital Media.

Still care about social media likes? You may want to think again!

AdminConfab — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 11:56:59 +0000

Still care about social media likes? You may want to think again!

Why social media likes are no longer the correct measure of digital success

Words: Jessica Turner, Managing Director of Confab

Most often when we meet with clients who are self-admittedly not very ‘in touch’ with the digital world, the number one thing that we hear from them in relation to their social media campaigns and digital presence is ‘I want more likes.’
As an agency that specialises in social media management and advanced campaigns, we care a lot less about ‘likes’ than you would think…

Back when the Facebook ‘Like’ was king

When businesses first started cottoning onto the idea that they could set up a Facebook Page and use this platform to market themselves, those were the days when the ‘Facebook Like’ was king. In other words, if you had 1,000 people who had liked your page and you posted an update, a very high percentage of your followers would see that content and so naturally, every business was trying to increase the number of page likes they had, because more likes meant more people seeing and having the opportunity to engage with your content. Enquire now for social media agency in Ballito.

Ruthless algorithms come in to play

A few years later a time came when EVERY business had created a Facebook page and our newsfeeds so became saturated that we couldn’t see our friend’s updates for all the ‘salesly’ content that began to overtake our Facebook experience. How did Facebook combat this issue? They developed algorithms that grew stricter and stricter as the years went by and ruthlessly filtered what content ended up on what newsfeeds.

Did you know that only 6.4% of your followers see your content?

Fast forward to 2019 and you may have 1,000 followers on your Facebook page but only a small percentage, 6.4% to be precise (stats according to social media today), are likely to see your business’s content. That means a total of 64 people out of 1,000 page likes may ever see your update, and then you can further reduce that number when it comes to people within that group of 64 who will then ‘like’ your content. This now poses the question; why would you want to invest money to grow your ‘page likes’ if only a fraction of these people you’ve worked so hard to get to like your page, will ever see the content you post? Our answer is that you shouldn’t be focusing solely on building a huge audience because nowadays, this comes at a cost that will not yield a return on your investment.

Well then how do I reach my target audience?

This now poses the question of ‘is Facebook marketing even worth it?’ and ‘how do I reach my target audience?’ The answer to the first question is a resounding yes, and we have the research and experience with our clients to back up that claim. The answer to the second question is: Advanced Facebook advertising. We do not recommend utilising the Facebook platform as a marketing tool unless you are willing to allocate a budget to paid advertising in order to promote your campaigns. What paid advertising (when done correctly, there’s an art to this) allows your business to do is place your content and campaigns in the newsfeeds of people you specifically target, regardless of whether they have ‘liked’ your page. These ads let you completely bypass your page’s followers and get under the noses of the exact target market of your business.

Disclaimer: We do not advise boosting your posts as a means of advertising, the advertising we are referring to is advanced Facebook advertising tactics.

How we approach social media for our clients

When it comes to each businesses social media needs, we first conduct a social media audit to discover where our clients are currently on their journey and where they want to be. Some important questions we will always ask are around their unique business objectives and goals. If their objectives are ‘brand awareness’ then we are able to approach their social media marketing very specifically in order to achieve this. However, if their objectives are ‘lead generation’ or ‘sales’ which is most often the case, then we advise a very targeted approach to their campaign so that our team is working to achieve this unique objective every day. If your goal as a business is lead generation and sales, but your social media agency is driving for ‘likes’ that are never converting into customers, your money is going to waste. Don’t get us wrong, there is a place for ‘likes’ but this depends on your objectives as a business. Don’t be fooled into thinking that likes mean sales and leads. While that may have been true back in 2012, that is no longer the case today. Unfortunately for all of us.

This article may come as a shock to some readers, however all hope is not lost. Social media marketing is as effective today as it’s ever been, you just have to have the right strategy and digital marketing Durban partners working with you to ensure that your social media campaign is working for you.

Related Tag: Social Media Agency Ballito

If you’d like a social media audit done for your business and a strategy drawn up that is highly targeted and focused on achieving your specific objectives, we’d love to chat with you. Click here to set up a meeting

The post Still care about social media likes? You may want to think again! appeared first on Confab Digital Media.

Logo Redesign vs Refresh

AdminConfab — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 13:55:06 +0000

Logo Redesign vs Refresh

How to stay apace in the seemingly ever-changing brand landscape.

Words: Phillippa Bundy, Graphic Designer at Confab

Other than your brand name, your logo represents the face of your company; a face that needs to be easily recognised and relevant in the viewer’s mind. Realistically speaking, no logo can remain relevant forever. Design, along with its normalities and aesthetic influences, changes over time. Companies change too. Much like us, companies grow and develop over the years and the message that they once conveyed no longer plays an integral role in their current journey/story.

The biggest problem we face with changing a company’s image, is the fear that we will not be immediately recognised for the characteristics and personality that individuals have come to love and associate with the brand. As an example, assume the everyday scenario of visiting your grumpy gran (set in her ways) versus your out-going gran (has all the new gears and gadgets).

Scenario 1: Grumpy gran is always wearing the same clothes and constantly complaining about new technology – ‘back in my day, we didn’t need all of this’. We love grumpy gran, but tend to avoid her because of both the smell of mothballs permeating her stale home, as well as the rigmarole of listening to the same story repeatedly.

Scenario 2: Outgoing gran is always trying to keep up with the times by learning new things and being susceptible to change. She knows she can no longer wear clothing that is targeted at the youth. However, she has adapted her new wardrobe to suit her unique self. Outgoing-gran is a lot easier to approach, talk to and relate to. Despite the changes in clothing and topics of discourse, out-going gran’s personality still remains unique and one that we will always love. We visit out-going gran a lot more.

By comparing the two scenarios. One thing is evident: adaptability is key. You are not going to be able to engage and interact with a brand that is outdated both in style and core values. If you have identified that your company may need a refresh and that your current brand image is no longer a reflection of the story you wish to convey, there are a few things to consider that will help you achieve that, whilst still maintaining your company’s integrity.

Namely:

1. How iconic is your current logo?

A true testament to whether your logo is iconic is if it is easily identifiable and evokes feelings that the viewer has come to know through their association with the brand. E.g Coca-cola.

2. Do you want to pay homage to the past?

Often, companies shun the idea of re-doing their logo because they fear that they are going to erase the history of a well-loved and cherished brand identity. That begs the question, how much do you want to steer away from the current brand logo? There are numerous ways that you can redesign a logo whilst still maintaining that nostalgic connection. E.g. NBC television.

3. When was the last time you refreshed your logo?

If you haven’t updated your logo in many years, chances are that your logo may just need an update, as opposed to an overall revamp. Logos may insidiously grow to appear out-dated and subdued over time. However, there are subtle design touches and tweaks, such as shadows, gradients, shapes etc that can give your logo an instant refresh without it being changed completely; constantly evolving over time. Whilst current trends are important to stay atop of, it is also equally important to honour your brand image. E.g. Google.

By considering these three things, you now have an idea on whether you are going to undergo a complete design overhaul or refresh your current logo. One thing is certain and that is that your logo is the face of your brand. If is noticeably out-dated and doesn’t create a lasting impression, it will be detrimental to the relevance and success of your company.

“Don’t fear change, you may lose something good, but you may also gain something great!”

The post Logo Redesign vs Refresh appeared first on Confab Digital Media.

How to choose the right agency partner for your business

AdminConfab — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 07:30:26 +0000

How to choose the right agency partner for your business

Choosing the right agency partner for your business, no matter how small, can be a daunting task. Essentially, you will be needing to find not only the skill sets that you need to align with in order to creatively and strategically represent your business, but a team of individuals who will understand your brand and business and love it like their own.

Words: Jessica Turner, Managing Director of Confab

We sat down recently and played a game of hypotheticals. Supposing we were not an agency ourselves, how would we (knowing what we do about our own industry) go about choosing the perfect agency partner for our business. Here are some tips we came up with from our little exercise that we wanted to share with you:

1. First, clearly define your own goals and objectives as a business

It will be difficult to know if you’ve found the right digital agency if you aren’t yet clear on your own business goals and objectives. For example, if your goals are increased brand awareness, you may want to find an agency with a highly creative team to assist in helping your brand be the ‘purple cow’ that stands out from among your competitors. On the other hand, if your goals are lead generation and conversions, you will need to look for an agency that is brilliant with strategy, who can assess your business and then develop a precise lead-generation strategy and then of course, execute this to actually achieve the results.

2. Do your homework

If you are living in the 21st century then the chances are that there are a number of digital and creative agencies in your area who you could partner with. The chances also are, that many of these agencies may have a bark that is bigger than their bite. Make sure you do your homework, both on Google and by asking around for agency referrals within your area. Google may lead you to a few worthy suitors, but bear in mind that it’s easy to have a great agency website and a lot harder to deliver excellent agency services that will achieve the results you set out when you defined your goals and objectives. For this reason, we highly recommend speaking to friends or other businesses in your area to get a list of agencies that they have worked with and would recommend.

3. Interview your agency shortlist

Once you’ve got a list of agencies that you’d like to pursue, begin reaching out to them via phone or email and briefly explain who you are and what your needs entail. Your first interaction with the agency will be a telltale sign as to whether they are right for you. For example, if you receive a response that is short, and simply asks for your budget, run for the hills, this agency is only interested in one thing. If you receive a warm response that requests a sit down meeting, you may have struck gold!

Arrange a face to face meeting with your agency shortlist, come prepared with your business and project information and then be sure to ask some of the questions below…

4. Ask for client references and view their portfolio

We are always surprised at the number of our own clients who are happy to undertake work with us without having asked to see our previous work. Personally, I would never outlay money or time with an agency partner without having seen their work either live (in the case of websites or social media) or in a portfolio format. Once you like what you see, you can also ask them for references from some of their current clients. If you’re really wanting to go ‘Sherlock Holmes’ style, you could contact these references and ask not just about the work that was done, but the manner in which it was undertaken. Were they punctual to meetings? Did they meet deadlines? Were you happy with the end results? Were there hidden costs?

5. Explain your needs and ask if they’ve done any similar projects

During your interview meeting, explain in as much detail as possible what your business or project needs are and then find out if they’ve done similar projects within your industry. If they haven’t, don’t let that put you off from choosing them, but do make sure that they are certain that they can deliver on your unique needs.

6. Ask what they specialise in

Just like any businesses, creative agencies have niches. Whilst they may offer a plethora of services, ask which of these they specialise in and where their largest client base exists. For example, we started out as a social media marketing agency and that is still an area of expertise for us. Even within the social media offering, we specialise further into strategic social media campaigns and lead generation from social channels.

7. Ask for a detailed quote

Before you give anyone your ‘yes’ make sure that a line-by-line cost breakdown has been sent to you in the form of a formal quotation. Familiarise yourself with the cost breakdown and ask questions if you need to.

8. No matter how small the project, sign something!

Whether you are needing a simple logo designed or are undertaking a year’s worth of creative services with an agency, make sure you sign an SLA or contact or at the very least, sign the quotation that was sent to you. This will ensure that you know what you are entitled to as the client, but also familiarise yourself with the unique terms of the agency you will be working with. For example, our design service offers 3 reverts on a logo design with any additional reverts being charged for at our hourly design rate. Should you not be made aware of this prior and then receive your invoice at the end of the project for a larger amount than was initially quoted, there may be a sour end to a potentially great working relationship.

We hope that this was helpful to you and makes the task of searching for a new agency partner for your business a little less fearful and a lot more successful!

Related Tag: Digital Agency Durban

The post How to choose the right agency partner for your business appeared first on Confab Digital Media.

The importance of updating your website regularly

AdminConfab — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 06:42:27 +0000

The Importance of Updating Your Website Regularly

Have you ever visited an old website and seen that their latest update was years ago and wondered to yourself – are they still in business? Having outdated content on your website can cause your potential customers to perceive your business as unsuccessful and lose trust in you.

Words: Candice Greig, Web Developer at Confab

Your website is typically the first place your customers will look to get an insight of what you or your company does and how you can assist them. Having content that is up to date is vitally important as first impressions will influence your customer’s decision on whether they are going to work with your company or carry on browsing the internet for a company that is more ‘on the ball.’

Your website is the poster child of your business and you’ll want to ensure that you are putting your best foot forward when looking for new customers. We understand that your business is important to you and that you want it to make an impact on your customers; therefore by keeping your website content up to date you are able to accomplish this for your business. You never know who is visiting your website and the benefit that visit may have.

We recommend focusing on the following when wanting to update your website:

Keep your website content as fresh and up to date as possible.

Better website content gives you better website traffic!

Google likes websites with content that is well researched and well reviewed and it will reward your website with high search results in return.

In todays day and age, customers rely on getting up to date information from the internet, so when reading something on your website that makes them think twice about your business, it can hurt your credibility. No matter what market you are in, keeping your content up to date helps build trust and confidence between you and your customer, as your customer will use your site to get useful information about your business.

It is just as important to keep the keywords and phrases on your website as fresh as the content. If you don’t update your keyword focus, then you will not drive useful traffic to website.

Keep YOUR customer in mind

Your website design should focus around the needs of the visitors you are trying to target in order to convert those visitors into customers. This can be achieved by providing the ideal customer, within your target market, with easily accessible and engaging content that they will find useful. Over time, your target market might change as you expand your business or invest in new business tools, so make sure your website content adapts to reflect this.

Make sure your website design is keeping up with the online trends and doesn't use outdated themes

People think that focusing only on content and digital agency Durban will help their website achieve their goals, but fail to address the design and navigation of the site as a vital factor in the equation. A customer’s first impression of your website could have a potentially great outcome for your business, so staying fresh and up to date is vital. The digital world is constantly changing, so what was awesome last year, may not be so awesome this year. Outdated technologies and functionality will not make you stand out in the crowd. Nobody wants to fill in a long contact form or battle with difficult navigation; these are a few things that can turn customers away, even if your content is amazing.

Make sure your website is Mobile Friendly

Mobile devices like iPhones, iPads, Tablets and Android phones are constantly evolving and getting smarter and smarter and as a result, these devices are accounting for just over 60% of website traffic. This means that you could be missing out on over half of your potential customers if your website is not mobile friendly or easily to view on smaller screen.

Our lives are currently driven by having to have the ‘latest and greatest.’ Our culture likes things to be new and we are constantly looking for change. So if this is how we are driven, then why should your website be the exception to the rule and remain outdated?

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