Monday, 31 October 2016

5 Ways Software Can Help Your Small Business Get to the Next Level

Every business owner wants to increase his or her efficiency. When a business operates efficiently, the profits increase and waste decreases, resulting in a healthy bottom line. Small business owners know that various software tools exist that can help them improve their operating efficiency.


Whether you're an engineer looking to try out PCB design software or an accountant looking into QuickBooksPro, having the right software can make a difference for the better in how your business flows. Take a look at these five ways software can help you take your small business to the next level:


Managing customer relationships. Small business software solutions allow you to better manage your customer relationships and dramatically improve your sales process. You can produce customer and prospect databases and have the ability to update them in real-time, right when you glean more information about each contact. Software also arms you with the capability to email contacts so you can keep up with marketing. It gives you the ability to send customer-prospecting emails to make the most of your contact base-and be able to track the times you communicate with any of your customers or contacts.


Creating quotes and invoices. Valuable documents never come up missing because you can create quotes and invoices-and attach them to the relevant contact. Also, when your invoices are integrated with your business platform, all orders and details are captured in real-time. You'll also be aware of which services and products your customers asked about or purchase, which will help you to be more organized and sell more in the future, resulting in greater revenue.


Following sales leads. You can follow sales leads more easily with sales management software-all you have to do is contact customers who have previously requested a quote. If you are trying to come up with strategies to help you reach your end-of-year sales goals, touching base with people who were once interested in what you offer but have never made a purchase is one place to start.


Creating and tracking projects. Small business management software allows you to create and track projects through every stage of the process. If you have separate systems to manage all your projects in the works, it's not possible to link them with customers or costs; a single system allows you to easily and quickly view associated costs with any customer or project-and send the appropriate invoice.


Simplifying employee tasks. Employees can complete their time sheets with time tracking software which can be easily accessed by managers and owners. This allows a streamlined system for calculating wages. Shared calendars also help a small business track how much human capital is available for any project.


The many types of software available gives you the ability to integrate every process in your company. Also, your small business becomes much easier to run when there is just one solution for invoicing, sales, project management, and marketing.


As you research software online, it can become intimidating to narrow down which one would be the best for your small business needs. Before you make a buying decision, focus on what will really help your business flow more efficiently, allow for better organization, and save you a lot of hours in your very busy day.


The post 5 Ways Software Can Help Your Small Business Get to the Next Level appeared first on AllBusiness.com

The post 5 Ways Software Can Help Your Small Business Get to the Next Level appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Megan Totka.




SearchCap: SEMPO survey, HTTPS & Halloween

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

The post SearchCap: SEMPO survey, HTTPS & Halloween appeared first on Search Engine Land.



Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.


Here's 5 Smart Ways to Plan Your E-commerce Sales Promotion

Ready for your next sales promotion?


For some ecommerce teams, it's a time-consuming task deciding which items to markdown and how to publicize a sales event. However, sales promotions play an integral role in attracting customers.


A survey found that up to 50% of consumers make a purchase only with a promotion. Shoppers desire a good deal before they invest in your products. Moreover, your business may want the additional revenue.


“Sales promotions can give you the edge you're looking for when it comes to revenue. Successful companies know that sales promotions are among the most effective methods of increasing sales and building customer satisfaction,” writes Emily Weisberg, content marketing manager at ThriveHive.


Take a strategic approach when planning your sales promotions. Below are five smart ways to help your team.


1. Select Specific Incentives


Sales promotions take various shapes and forms. Cater your incentives to fit your consumers' needs.


Start by using customer analytics. Historical purchasing habits can uncover what promotions performed well. Social media comments also provide first-hand details on whether customers possess interest.


Next, match your findings with a sales initiative. From mystery discounts to purchased-based donations to bundle sales, several options exist.


Monetate “found that 56% of businesses agree that flash-sale campaigns are better received than regular campaigns.” Limiting the timeframe creates urgency for the customer to act now.


12-hour-flash-sale-ad
(Image Source)


Thinking about free offers? PaySimple's Vice President of Knowledge Lisa Hephner explains the power of free incentives:


“Everyone loves free. Whether it's free gifts, free refills, or free service segments, free sells. One of the most powerful free offers is free shipping for online orders, as evidenced by multiple studies where respondents highlight it as the most important factor in making a purchase decision.”


Figure out the best promotions for your customers. Review your data before moving forward.


2. Cross-Sell With a Purpose


Every sales promotion doesn't need to involve discounting your signature product. Instead, it can focus on secondary items.


Cross-selling is another opportunity to provide value to your customers. Buyers love convenience, and they want to save time shopping at one place. And it eliminates the hassle of sifting through multiple ecommerce sites.


Align your promotions with products that complement one another. Give consumers the chance to buy everything they need from your store.


“Savvy marketers use this concept to increase sales by informing consumers how one product complements another. Cross selling can take several forms. Understanding your customers' motivations helps you choose which approach to take,” says Sara Huter, a contributor at BusinessBee.


For example, if your company sells cell phones, your team can offer a promotion on the accessories, like bluetooth earbuds, phone cases, or charging cables.


buy-cow-buy-haystack
(Image Source)


Research found that “cross-selling was shown to be much more effective when presented on the checkout pages versus the product pages.” So, add images of promotional products in the sidebar menu.


suggestive-selling-zappos


Here's another example of cross-selling taking place immediately after a customer adds an item to their cart:


cross-selling-after-cart-add


Plus, cross-selling aids with bringing in more cash flow for your business. Amazon credits up to 35% of its revenue to cross-selling.


Think differently about ecommerce sales promotions. Don't remove cross-selling from your list of possibilities.


3. Microtarget Your Customers


Micro-targeting isn't a new technique to your team. Nevertheless, you may be failing to put it into practice.


Segmenting your audience lets your business offer the right promotions to the right individuals. Customization speaks directly to consumers-signaling that you know exactly what they need.


Melissa Jenkins of Mel Jens Designs believes “running a successful promotion is all about finding that delicate balance between audience segmentation, great timing and setting the perfect price or placing the perfect offer.”


Examine your data to segment properly. Try geographical locations, buying habits, income levels, or even past purchasing behavior.


Dealers United Auto Group created mock ads targeted for car shoppers within 25 miles of the dealership that possess an interest in pets. Specificity is vital for effective micro targeting.


dealers-auto-group-micro-targeting
(Image Source)


A study reveals that 51% of marketers believe sharing data across their organizations is a major issue. Avoid data limitations that will hinder segmentation for your sales promotions.


Create an open dialogue across departments to gather all data about your customers. You'll have more knowledge to build an accurate buyer persona.


Pinpoint who needs to know about your sales event. Micro-targeting is a benefit to your company.


4. Hype Up Engagement


Draw attention to your sales promotions with social media and email campaigns. This extra engagement will get people interested in your sales incentives.


Facebook users spend an average of 50 minutes a day on its multiple platforms. Work with your team to promote sales on your social pages. Or even enlist the help of industry influencers to spread the word.


User-generated content (UGC) is also another way to lure shoppers toward your brand. An actual consumer enjoying your products authenticates your value to hesitated buyers.


“User-generated photos are a great way to generate social proof. Prospective customers see that your products are regularly being purchased people just like them, and feel more comfortable doing something that others are doing,” says Dan Wang, a content specialist at Shopify.


Big box retailer Target retweeted a post from loyal shoppers who made a funny video in one of its stores. Encourage customers to submit UGC of them unboxing your products.




Also, keep your email subscribers in the loop about promotions. Craft engaging emails that explain the benefits, provide social proof, and use a distinct call-to-action.


“When it comes to creating a high-converting marketing offer email, the final piece of the puzzle is using a prominent call to action button. This is important because buttons make it clear to the reader what the next step is and encourage them to click-through,” states Aaron Beashel, director of demand generation at Campaign Monitor.


Shout your sales promotions from the rooftop. Get shoppers excited to participate.


5. Move Toward Customer Loyalty


Returning customers spend on average 67% more than first-time customers. Consider promotions as a pathway to retaining customers.


Give your customers an opportunity to discover your brand's values and culture. Sign up shoppers for your weekly newsletter, or enroll them in your rewards program.


Customer loyalty centers around building worthwhile relationships. However, buyers may only be interested in your promotions.


“The use of sales promotions can be positively utilized in order to encourage brand loyalty and brand switching by companies. However, academic research suggests that consumers can become loyal to sales promotions rather than a brand,” states Zhorna Ali, a sales and marketing assistant at M3.


To avoid consumers from brand switching, companies must thoroughly personalize their sales promotions strategy. Focus on specific product categories to remain competitive within the market.


Rather than giving sales incentives to everyone, Bare Escentuals limits its promotions to its loyal fans called Beauty Insiders. In the example below, customers received three free items with any order.


trio-makeup-ad
(Image Source)


Create plans to engage customers beyond your sales promotions. Earn their loyalty.


Prep for Sales Promotions


Planning for your next sales event involves lots of time and decision-making. You want to boost your revenue and satisfy customers.


Choose buyer-specific incentives that will attract people. Cross-sell products that complement one another. And think beyond the promotion by focusing on customer loyalty initiatives.


Upgrade your sales promotion. Prepare for it today.


About the Author: Shayla Price lives at the intersection of digital marketing, technology and social responsibility. Connect with her on Twitter @shaylaprice.




Friday, 28 October 2016

Is Marketing to Millennials a Waste of Time?

If you read any business news, blogs or magazines at all, you might think Millennials are the biggest thing since the invention of the wheel. The business press continually advises us on how to manage them, market to them, and cater to them. But is all the focus on Millennials giving us tunnel vision? A new report, Marketing to Millennials? Not So Fast, suggests so.


The report has plenty of useful insights that could change the way you approach this huge demographic. Here are some surprising findings about marketing to Millennials:


1. They earn-and spend-less than you think. While some marketers are rubbing their hands in glee at the vision of the Millennials as a replacement for the affluent Baby Boomer generation, this younger demographic does not yet have the disposable income Boomers do. The oldest Millennials are in their mid-30s, but the youngest are still in college or in their first, entry-level jobs. In fact, more than one-third aren't working at all, and almost half of those who do have jobs make less than $50K (the average Millennial income is about $34K). Add to that the staggering burden of college debt that many Millenials bear, and it's easy to see why the Millennials are still on a budget. The report predicts that the majority won't enter their peak spending years until 2020-2030.


Takeaway: Do Millennials care enough about what you sell to spend their limited income on it?


2. They're delaying major life-stage choices. Once upon a time, twentysomethings got married, bought homes, and started having children. Today, however, Millennials are postponing marriage, children, and home buying. In fact, are even postponing apartment rental in favor of living with their parents. That means they aren't making the primary purchasing decisions in their own households when it comes to things like home decor, maintenance, furnishings and repair, or even buying groceries.


Takeaway: You can't market to Millennials based upon yesterday's definitions of life stages.


3. They're complicated. Millennials have grown up in an era of technology, and the way they shop and spend is evolving along with that technology. For example, Millennials are more influenced by word-of-mouth than by traditional advertising, unlike older demographics. They also expect transparency and authenticity from businesses, along with 24/7 service and the ability to customize products and services.


Takeaway: How good are you at encouraging and cultivating positive word-of-mouth about your business on social media and online review sites?


4. They're more into sharing than owning. Millennials are comfortable with a world in which they rent, share, or borrow just about everything-from cloud storage space for their photos and music, to cars and clothing. They'd rather spend their limited disposable income on experiences such as travel or concerts rather than “things” such as luxury goods. No wonder services such as home-sharing service Airbnb and formalwear-rental company Rent the Runway are thriving.


Takeaway: Can you develop a sharing/rental aspect to your business, or heighten the experience involved to make it more appealing to Millennials?


5. They lack brand loyalty. According to the report, Millennials are more likely than their parents to purchase store brand products. Because their incomes are lower, they're price-sensitive rather than brand-loyal. In addition, recommendations from friends can easily sway them to switch brands. You may think that by targeting Millennials today, despite their lack of spending power, you'll be earning their loyalty into the future. While it's possible this could happen, it's not really probable-the report points out that all generations are becoming less brand-loyal (although Millennials lead the pack).


The post Is Marketing to Millennials a Waste of Time? appeared first on AllBusiness.com

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How to Find the Conversion Drivers of Your Website with the Funnel Report

There may be a lot of unanswered questions you have about some the big-picture questions with your website. Perhaps you're asking:


Do demo requests or signups lead to more paying customers?


Does that product video lead to more signups?


Does the self-service onboarding plan lead to more customers?


Does offering a buy one, get one sale increase purchases?


In cases like this, there are options that a visitor can take to reach conversion. But, it's often difficult for marketers to know which one has a better effect on the funnel.


The Kissmetrics Funnel Report answers these questions. Here's how.


Finding the Biggest Conversion Drivers on Your Site


The traditional SaaS Funnel looks something like this:



  • Visited site

  • Signed up for a trial

  • Used product

  • Upgraded to paying


But what if a visitor could sign up or schedule a demo before using the product? The only solution to knowing which one converts better would be to create two separate funnels and compare the results. That is, until now.


The Kissmetrics Funnel Report allows you to add and/or statements in a step. So our hypothetical funnel could look like this:



  • Visited site

  • Signed up for a trial or Scheduled demo

  • Used product

  • Upgraded to paying


Here's how to set that funnel up, and how to view the results:


View the Funnel Results


I'm not going to bore you with the details of setting up a Funnel Report. We've covered it before here and here. As long as you have your events and properties set up, creating a Funnel Report is as easy as putting shoes on. Let's get straight into the results.


We'll first look at the people that signed up:


saas-signup-funnel-new-report


And scheduled a demo:


saas-demo-requested-new-report


Notice a difference?


Looks like signups drive significantly more product usage and customers (54 compared to 0). If this was your data, you'd know you should remove demo requests from the website so 100% of users go straight to signing up.


What's Holding Back Your Marketing Site?


How many elements are on your website, seemingly harmless but actually detracting people from signing up or converting? They're there, but you don't know how they're affecting the rest of your funnel.


Using the Or statements (like we did) in the Funnel Report is a great way to find the best performing elements on your site. Best of all, you don't need to run an A/B test. All this data is already in Kissmetrics, and as long as you've been tracking it, you can see the performance.


Happy optimizing!


About the Author: Zach Bulygo (Twitter) is the Blog Manager for Kissmetrics.




Thursday, 27 October 2016

The Ultimate Guide to Getting Sky-High Conversions From Twitter Ads

Will anyone actually click my ad and buy my product?


It's a terrifying question, but an important one. Turns out that everyone (including you) wants to get more conversions from a Twitter ad campaign.


You spent countless hours writing lead magnets, creating landing pages and sales pages, and then later you set up a Twitter ad campaign to get some traffic.


While running ads is a great way to get some quick exposure, Twitter is a different ad platform. If you don't understand the way it works, you might be wasting your money as well.


In today's post I'll be sharing some killer tips and resources to get sky-high conversions from Twitter.


So, would you like to know how to advertise on Twitter?


How about more advanced approaches to getting more followers, more leads, and more customers for your business?


But let me make it clear…


If there are secrets or special formulas that can magically unlock the power of Twitter advertising out there, I don't know them.


What I do know is exactly what the experts are doing - day in and day out.


And now, you will too.


But first let's take a look at why you should invest in Twitter ads.


Why You Should Invest in Paid Twitter Ads


Twitter is a great social media channel for marketers, as it unofficially has 310 million monthly active users. Twitter ads are an incredible way to complement your social media efforts. With Twitter advertising you can reach thousands of targeted customers and followers.


But why do you need to invest in paid twitter ads?


Organic Reach is Declining


Recently, Twitter made changes to their feed. Now, instead of getting all the recent tweets, Twitter only shows the tweets that they think are relevant to you.


Much like what Facebook did with their platform.


And just a few months ago, Twitter launched Engage, which is for celebrities, influencers, and public figures that'll curate the most popular tweets, mentions and replies.


This clearly shows that the reach of social media is plummeting day by day. Considering this scenario, Twitter paid ads is a way to go.


AdWords and Facebook Ad Costs Are Rising With Each Passing Day


Just last year, Search Engine Land reported a 20-25% increase in Google AdwWords CPCs. More and more brands are investing in the same keywords, which, of course, increase the competition and thus, the cost.


While Facebook ads were pretty cheap when they first started offering it, nowadays due to millions of advertisers, its platform is also becoming expensive.


For instance, Forbes reported a 21% increase in Facebook average ad pricing and the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) increased by an incredible 29% rate.


Considering both these reports, Twitter now looks like the promising ad channel. Facebook still beats Twitter on average cost per ad, but with some optimization and targeting options you can lower Twitter ad costs, even lower than Facebook.


Your Customers Spend a Ridiculous Amount of Time on Twitter


With each passing day, we're getting more attracted towards social media. While Facebook is a beast with 1.2 billion monthly active users, Twitter's 310 million monthly active users can't be neglected.


According to DMR stats, 34% of active Twitter users log into it more than once in a day.


Looking at all these points, you'll know that Twitter advertising is the way to go if you're looking to make profits online.


Now let's learn how to set-up the perfect Twitter ad campaign.


How to Setup the Perfect Twitter Ad Campaign


Twitter has a robust advertising platform. However, it is quite difficult to understand if you're just starting out.


But don't worry. Here's how to setup your first Twitter ad campaign.


Step 1: Choose your primary objective


To advertise on Twitter you'll need to log into your Twitter Ads account. For that head over to ads.twitter.com and enter your credentials.


Now, you'll need to choose your primary objective. Whether you want to get more leads, more traffic, or just more followers.


create-new-campaign-twitter


Twitter has 6 types of campaigns to choose from, these are:



  1. Followers

  2. Website clicks or conversions

  3. Tweet engagements

  4. App install or re-engagements

  5. Leads on Twitter

  6. Video views


Choose a relevant campaign type and click on it.


Step 2: Select your targeting options


Once you've determined the campaign type, it's time to set up the rest of the campaign. Name your ad campaign, choose all the relevant options, and select your targeting options.


targeting-options-twitter-ads


Targeting is an extremely important feature for you to reach to your ideal customers. Twitter has 11 targeting options. These are:



  1. Location

  2. Gender

  3. Languages

  4. Devices, Platforms, and Carriers

  5. Keywords

  6. Followers

  7. Interests

  8. Tailored Audience

  9. Behaviors

  10. TV Targeting

  11. Event Targeting


I recommend you choose relevant targeting options so you don't end up wasting your time and money marketing to the wrong audience.


Step 3: Adjust your bid to make your campaign profitable


This is the place where most people get Twitter wrong.


Twitter sells its advertising via auction. That means the more you're willing to pay, the more likely your ads will be shown, but if you set the bids too low, you'll get no impressions.


So Twitter provides an option for that. It's called automatic bidding.


choose-pricing-automatic-bid


This is how it works: you set a daily maximum budget and set the pricing to automatic bid, and Twitter will make sure your budget is spent very quickly. It might help you in winning auctions, but you don't want to or have to win every auction.


So, avoid using automatic bid in most of the cases.


In fact, I recommend you to start with $2, then test with the ads, analyze the results and finally scale the campaign.


After doing all the steps, finally launch your campaign.


How to Make Your Campaign Go Viral


You've setup your first Twitter campaign. You now understand the platform and know its basics. You also know the way it works.


Now it's time to optimize your campaign to make it viral. Here's how:


1. Get High Quality Score to Lower Ad Clicks


First of all, you obviously don't want to pay higher for ad clicks, when it's possible to cut them down. Like Facebook and Google, Twitter also has it's own quality score, which sometimes it refers to as “Quality Adjusted Bids”.


Larry Kim, the founder of Wordstream, actually found that the higher your engagement rate will be, the lower your ad will cost.


Here's how Twitter determines a quality-adjusted bid:



  1. Resonance: This is a metric to measure your engagement. Basically, the more likes, retweets, and comments you get, the higher your quality score.

  2. Relevance: It checks whether a user is interested in your tweet.

  3. Recency: This metric checks the freshness of the tweet. If your tweet is fresh, then it's going to get higher priority.


Here's how to get a high quality adjusted bid:


Keep your tweets fresh

Like I already mentioned, Twitter keeps a check on the freshness of your tweet. That means Twitter is less likely to show your older ads. Here's an example:


impressions-twitter-ads
(Image Source)


This is a snapshot of Larry Kim's Twitter ad dashboard. Notice how the impressions go down with each passing day.


Twitter wants to show fresh content to its users. So you'll want to test different variations of each ad and consider replacing them with newer ads, instead of running the same ones for lengthy periods.


Promote your best stuff

The best possible way to get a high quality score and lower your ad costs is by promoting your best stuff i.e., the tweets which organically gained more exposure.


tweet-engagement
(Image Source)


This tweet by Larry Kim resulted in 1488 retweets and 1284 favorites.


Larry got these amazing results because his post was truly epic. So, when you write epic content like this:



Your content has 100x better chance of going viral.


Narrow your audience

Relevance is another important metric in Twitter.


occupation-category-twitter-ads


You don't want to promote your content to the audience that shows little or no interest. Instead want to narrow your audience, target a smaller but precise audience who is interested in your content.


This not only helps get high conversions, but also helps you get higher engagement.


2. How to Find Your Best Content to Promote


Tweet engagement is a pretty important metric when it comes to advertising in Twitter. Not only does Twitter determine the pricing based on the tweet engagement but it also decides the exposure it's going to get.


High engagement posts is the way to go in this scenario. Here's how to find high engagement tweets:



  1. Login to Twitter Analytics

  2. Once you're in there, click the tweets tab and then click export to export all your tweets

  3. export-data-twitter-analytics


  4. Twitter will take a few seconds to process it, depending on your account, then it will send a request to download CSV file

  5. Open the file and sort the “Engagement Rate” tab by descending order

  6. twitter-engagement-csv-spreadsheet


  7. Now, the top tweets you get are the ones that are the most engaging. This is where you should spend your dollars


Once you find your top engagement tweets, head back to Twitter and start the advertising campaign for those top tweets.


3. Use Relevant Keywords to Narrow Down Your Audience


Keyword targeting is an amazing feature in Twitter that lets you to find the people based on the words and phrases they've tweeted or searched for on Twitter.


Each keyword has 6 options to match your ideal customer:


keyword-matching-twitter-ads



  1. Broad Match: Broad match searches for all the tweets containing that keyword independent of the order.

  2. Phrase Match: When you select phrase match, Twitter will search all the tweets that contains the keywords in exact order plus there may be other keywords present between those tweets.

  3. Exact Match: It searches for the tweets with exact keywords in the exact order without any word in between.

  4. Negative Match: Negative match will remove all the tweets with that keyword in any order.

  5. Negative Phrase: Negative phrase will remove all the tweets that contain the keywords in the exact order.

  6. Negative Exact: It removes all the tweets with exact keywords in the exact order without any keyword in between.


4. Use Behavior and Demographic Targeting Options to Boost Engagement


Like keyword targeting, Twitter offers behavior and demographic targeting which is a strong metric to find the relevant audience.


You can use behaviors and demographic targeting options to target the people who want to, and can afford to buy your products. Here's how:


behavior-selection-twitter-ads


You can select their behavior like business type, industry, and sales revenue to find the customers who might be interested in your offering. You can then select their demographic options like their income, education, and employment to find the customers who can afford to buy your products.


5. Create Tailored Audience for Each Buying Stage


Twitter also offers website tags, which is similar to the Facebook pixel. With this tag you can track different types of conversions for the customers visiting your audience, like:



  • Site visit

  • Purchase

  • Download

  • Sign up

  • Custom


conversion-tagging-twitter


Once you've captured these visitors, you can then advertise to these customers in Twitter. And the best part?


You'll get higher engagement for your tweets, meaning high quality score and low cost of the ads.


6. Leverage Twitter Lists For Best Results


Twitter lists are a great way to organize your followers, clients, influencers, and your team members. Many people know this feature but very few actually utilize it.


In Twitter advertising, Twitter lists are a great way to advertise. Here's a great example of this:


Larry Kim wrote a blog post for WordStream.


He shared the post throughout his social media account, and then promoted the post to the list of influencers using Twitter Ads.


tailored-audiences-twitter
(Image Source


Within 48 hours, the post picked 500+ press mentions and 100K visitors. All of this with just a $50 budget and 10 minutes of campaign setup.


custom-audience-social-ads-roi-analysis


Pretty cool, right?


Your results may vary.


7. Upload Your Email List to Create Your Own Audience


In Twitter, you can upload your email list to create your own list of audiences. With this feature, you can advertise to your email subscribers.


This is a great feature especially when you want to nurture your leads or promote your products. Here's how to get started:



  1. Head over to Twitter ads. Select Tools and click audience manager.

  2. audience-manager-twitter-ads


  3. Click create new audience. Then, select upload your own list.

  4. upload-your-own-list-twitter-ads


  5. Fill out all the information, upload your email list and click create list audience.


create-list-audience-twitter-ads


This list audience is extremely beneficial in Twitter. You can promote your blog posts, lead magnets, and promote your products.


8. Use Retargeting to Promote Your Content


Remarketing is an incredible way to advertise to your website visitors or your email subscribers. In Twitter, you can either use promoted tweets, Twitter cards, or promoted tweets.


All of them give you a great option to get more exposure. To use retargeting, here's what you should do:



  1. You must upload your email list to retarget your email subscribers

  2. You must create a website tag and install it in your website


I recommend you set up a website tag and install it. It's buried deep in Twitter, but it's actually the first thing you should do before running any ad. Here's how to generate a Website tag:


Login to Twitter Ads. Then, click tools, followed by conversion tracking.


conversion-tracking-twitter-ads


Next up, agree to the Terms and Conditions and then click generate website tag for conversions.


generate-website-tag-for-conversion-tracking-twitter-ads


In the next page you'll get the website tag. Install the tag in your website to setup conversion tracking.


Once done, you can advertise to your website visitors based on their behaviors and their purchase.


Measure your Strategy's Success


You've created your first ad. You've also optimized your ad to get sky-high conversions. Now, finally it's time to analyze your ad's performance and tweak it, if needed.


Let's start…


1. Test With the Different Variations of the Same Ad


Twitter loves fresh tweets and that's the reason it gives high preference to fresh tweets. You don't want to continue running your old ads; instead, you want to create new variations and test with them.


Here are some ideas to test your ads:


creating-promotional-tweet



  • Test changing the headline of your tweet

  • Test changing the call-to-action button copy

  • Try moving the URL to the front or in the center of your tweet

  • Add relevant hashtags to your tweet, to see if it helps

  • Try adding, removing, or changing the image


2. Use UTM Parameters


UTM parameters are simply the tags to measure your online marketing campaigns inside Google Analytics or Kissmetrics.


It helps you analyze and measure your online marketing efforts.


For instance, if you're offering an eBook and want to track the number of users who visited the landing page from your Twitter ad campaign, then you simply ad this tag to your URL.


http://yoursite.com/free-ebook/?utm_source=twitterad&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ebook


Then, you can track every conversion in Kissmetrics. But, it's quite a headache to create URL every time you create a new ad. For this, you can use Google's URL Builder, which does a pretty decent job in generating UTM tags for your URL.


google-url-builder


3. Analyze, Tweak, Repeat


Finally, it's time to measure your ad performance.


twitter-ad-dashboard
(Image Source)


Pay close attention to your Twitter Ad dashboard, view your engagement rate, clicks, replies and likes.


Make sure to double-check this data with Google Analytics or Kissmetrics (a more robust option). This will help you find the actual number of clicks you're generating.


With these results, check which campaigns are working and which aren't. Delete the campaigns that aren't working and double down on the stuff that's working.


Conclusion


Twitter ads can be profitable; they can help you generate great ROI. But you must allocate your time to test with the platform.


Remember, Twitter can be misleading (hello, automatic bid) and at times their suggestions won't work for you. Forget everything that Twitter told you, forget the best practices they told you.


Instead go by this approach, avoid the major pitfalls that Twitter offers and you'll get incredible ROI from Twitter ads.


About the Author: Aman Thakur shows marketers and bloggers, simple and effective ways to build their mailing list super-fast. Download his exclusive bonus 101 list building strategies to grow your email list. A writer by day and a reader by night, he can be found online tweeting about marketing, or watching Cricket matches.