digital marketing

August 19 2021

How to Use TikTok for Business Purposes

Phoenixx Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Trends, TikTok digital marketing, How to Use TikTok for Business Purposes, Social Media Marketing, TikTok, TikTok Ads, TikTok for Business, TikTok for Small Businesses, TikTok Marketing 0

If you are a business, TikTok could be a great channel to build brand awareness, gain new followers and convert them into customers. Due to the fact that many brands have just started discovering the potential in TikTok, the competition is relatively low at the moment.

TikTok Users

Although, TikTok users are typically from the younger ages, – Gen Z and Millennials – the platform has started increasing its user age range. According to Statista 21.7% of TikTok users are between the age of 30-39, 20.3% are between 40-49 and more than 22% are between the age of 20-29 in the US. (Statista, 2021)

TikTok Users by Age in 2021 - Statista

Image Source: Statista

Some Mind-Blowing Stats

According to Statista, TikTok users spent 858 minutes per month on the app in 2020 (Statista, 2021)
TikTok was the 2^nd most popular app downloaded to iPhone in 2020 (W., Geyser, 2021)
TikTok has 1 billion active monthly users worldwide (B., Doyle, 2021)
TikTok users spent more than $110 million in February 2021 (J., Chan, 2021)
TikTok influencers have higher engagement rate than other social platforms. In 2020 engagement rate was nearly 18% in the U.S. while international TikTok users’ engagement rate was nearly 16% (W., Geyser, 2021
According to Global Web Index 68% of TikTok users watched someone else’s video and 50% shared someone else’s video on other social network (C., Beer, 2019)

Image Source: Global Web Index

TikTok was the 3^rd fastest growing app in 2020 (Morning Consult, 2020)

Image Source: Morning Consult

How Brands Can Improve at TikTok

To be successful on TikTok as a brand, you need to have a reason to be there. Identify problems that interests your target audience. What are they struggling with? What they want to learn more about? What makes them feel happy or entertained? What inspire them? – points out Mike Mikho, CMO of Laundry Service in Forbes Magazine’s article. (M., Greenwald, 2021) If you cannot answer to these questions, ask! – suggest Neil Patel. (Neil Patel, n/a) People are usually happy to share their opinions.
Identify how you want your brand to be seen. Where do you want to position your brand? Identify gaps not yet covered and see how your brand can fit in. To effectively do that, you will need to see your brand in your audience’s perspective. “Content developers need to be users.” – says Mike Mikho, CMO of Laundry Service to Forbes. (M., Greenwald, 2021)
Create the right environment for content creation and be authentic. For example, if you are a bakery, create videos in your kitchen and show how you make your signature bread and pastry. Do not be too filmy or cinematic, though. Use fun filters, effects and editing tools. Follow trends, use relevant hashtags, follow hashtag trends, and use popular music. That all matter for TikTok algorithm to push your content to more users’ For You page.
Work with influencers. TikTok influencers know their audience and how to make engaging content.
Boost your engagement with TikTok ads. TikTok has recently launched TikTok for Business for brands to advertise on the platform. If you do not have inspiration, get inspired in TikTok for Business ‘inspiration’ page where you can read case studies on how other brands have used TikTok ads successfully. Remember: Don’t make ad. Make TikTok!

Optimise Your Bio

Image Source: @urbanadventurerldn

On TikTok, optimising your bio does not have to be difficult. Follow these simple steps to make the most out of your TikTok.

Describe Your Brand

Like every social media channel, TikTok has a character limit. You can use only 80 characters to describe your brand. Yes, that’s pretty tight and you have to use your characters wisely.

Pick the most important aspects of your brand and highlight only those
Using emoji because that can help emphasise those aspects without using too much space
You can add emoji to tell your audience what you want them to do. For example, add and arrow emoji or a pointing finger emoji to show that you want your audience to hit a button

Add a Link

When it comes available, add a link in your bio. This became available to me when I exceeded 1K followers.

You can only add a single URL to your bio, so be wise. Add your most relevant blog post, website, or promotion. Alternatively, – similarly to Instagram – you can add Linktree or other services to share a collection of links.

Add a CTA Button

CTA button in the bio is a must-do to every business. CTA tells your audience what to do. For example, “Shop the link below”, “Get inspired”, “Get a quote” or “Book your table”.

TIP: Get the habit to insert a CTA in (almost) your every single video and ask your viewers to follow you on TikTok. In this way, you encourage your audience to take an action immediately after viewing your content.

Link Your Other Social Channels

TikTok gives you the opportunity to link your other social media channels and highlight them in your bio.

When you create a new video, add a text box saying, “Follow me on Instagram/YouTube”. In this way, you can easily gain new followers on those channels because those who are interested in your content on TikTok, will likely follow you on your other channels.

Switch to Pro Account

If you switch your TikTok account from personal to pro account, you can choose from two options: ‘creator’ or ‘business’ account. Switching to pro account costs nothing but you can get access to analytics.

With creator account you:

Get access to Q&A feature to engage with your audience and answer their questions in video
Maximise your live events by planning ahead and promoting them
Making your videos more accessible by automatically generated subtitles, text-to-speech for visually impaired or blind communities and photosensitive epilepsy warning that notifies viewers if you used effect in your video that may trigger photosensitive epilepsy
Can use thousands of music from the most popular singers and bands

(TikTok for Business, n/a)

Business account is specifically optimised to promote a business. With business account you can:

See your ads performance in real time
It helps businesses to recognise relevant posts and trends
Get unique engagement solutions
Have creative tools to help you accelerate your business success
Get access to commercial music library

(TikTok for Business, n/a)

Enable Q&A

Q&A feature can be enabled from ‘creator’ account. Q&A on TikTok is designed to help creators answering questions from their fans. If someone asks you a question, you can answer it with a video.

It helps connecting with your audience and build trust.

Learn How TikTok Algorithm Works

Image Source: Pexels

Did you know that from hashtags to music to location, and even the very first TikTok video you liked, can all influence TikTok algorithm? (M., McGlew, 2021)

Unlike other social media platforms, neither the size of an account’s follower base, nor weather the account had previous viral videos are direct factors in the recommendation system. (TikTok, n/a) It means that even if you are new to TikTok and never had high-performing videos or never posted anything before, you still have the opportunity to appear on TikTok’s #ForYou page and go viral.

Factors That Matter

TikTok algorithm recommends a video based on a combination of factors. These factors can be strong or weak factors.

A strong indicator of interest can be whether you finished watching a video or not.

A weak indicator can be if the creator and the viewer are in the same country.

User Interactions

These are videos you liked, shared, or commented as well as accounts you follow, and content you create.

Video Information

This includes sounds, hashtags and captions.

Device and Account Settings

This includes your location, your language preferences, and device type. This factor receive a lower rate in the recommendation system.

(TikTok, n/a)

What Influences TikTok Algorithm

#Hashtags

TikTok lets users know how many viewers each hashtag gets. Use hashtags that the best relate to your content, and do your research on current hashtag trends because those are prioritised by TikTok. (M., McGlew, 2021)

#Captions

Unlike Facebook or Instagram, TikTok is not the platform of long text format. Keep your copy short and concise.

Use jokes or ask questions to generate conversation.

#Trending Songs

Using trending songs and sounds can really boost your content on TikTok, as this is one of the major factors of discoverability. It actually means that even if your chosen song was not too popular at that time you posted your video, if that song goes popular later, it can boost your video. So, it is worth to keep an eye on your contents’ performance weeks or even months after you posted. This is called “slow burn” phenomenon.

(M., McGlew, 2021)

How to find trending songs?

TikTok regularly send a notification of the current trends, including viral videos, trending songs, trending hashtags and more.
Alternatively, you can use online tools, such as

https://tokboard.com/

https://www.tiktok.com/@trendtokapp

https://ads.tiktok.com/business/learn/

#Video Content & Editing

It is worth to have a solid TikTok video strategy and spend time to learn editing your videos. TikTok is the platform where you can let your creativity flow. Leverage of the endless filters and editing features and find your own style.

If you do not know how to start, just think about those videos that really captured your attention and you watched more than once in a row. Analyse why those videos kept you going back and try out what you have learnt.

#Location

Location is definitely one of the key factors on TikTok to get your video appear on other users’ For You page.

Although, it is not a strong factor on TikTok whether the creator and the viewer are at the same location or not, it is a fact that users start to see content from their location (city, country).

Another thing why location-based content is important, is time-zone. You want to share your video when your audience is active, don’t you? There’s no point to share something with your audience in the middle of the night when they are more likely to sleep.

(M., McGlew, 2021)

Know Your Audience

Image Source: Pexels

You want to share your new content when your audience is active. But when is the best time to post on TikTok?

To find out what is the best time to post on TikTok, ask yourself where is your audience located? Which time zone is it? Do you have a global audience?

If you have a local audience or your audience is in different time zones but relatively close together, then it’s simple. Time zones will not disrupt (much) your posting schedule.

If, on the other hand, you have large audience from different countries with different time zones, that will require extra work.

Unfortunately, TikTok does not (yet) have scheduling function, neither social media management apps allow to link your TikTok and schedule your posts (yet). It means, you have to build your own schedule, considering the core territories your fans come from and are the most beneficial to your business.

(N., Landsberg, 2021)

How do you know when is the best time to post?

If you are new to TikTok, just do your search on Google. Influencer Marketing Hub is one of the most reliable platforms if you need support.
Do your own experiment. As every user is different, the best time to post on TikTok is vary from user to user. Share posts on different days of the week at different times and keep an eye on your analytics. You will shortly see what days and times works for you.
The easiest way is to use TikTok analytics. This available if you have ‘pro’ account (it’s free to switch to ‘pro’).

Go to your analytics and click ‘Followers’. Scroll down and voila. A diagram will show your follower activity in days and hours. Now you know exactly which day of the week and what time you should post to reach your audience.

If you are an active user of TikTok, to get to know the best time to post check your video performance, check the time you posted it and your audience’s time zone.

Note:

TikTok uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in their analytics. It means that if your audience is in a different time zone, you will need to convert the hours.
Here is a time zone converter to make this easier for you.
TikTok captures data for the last 7 days, so it is worth to create a spreadsheet to keep your track records.

(K., Lapelosová, 2020)

To access to your analytics, simply go to your profile, click on settings, select “Creator tools” then select “Analytics”.

What Takes a Good TikTok Video

Similarly to other social platforms, TikTok algorithm is constantly changing. It means there are no golden rules that can lead you to success.

There are some factors, however, that can help your brand perform better.

Be Consistent

Posting consistently is important on all social media platforms, including TikTok. There is no need to flood your platform with content, though. Instead, make sure you share 1-2 posts a day or every other day.

Do not be afraid of doing experiments. Try new formats, filters, themes and genres and use the editing tool embedded. You do not even need to worry too much about aesthetics. Just make videos that resonate with your audience.

Allow Duets

Duets are side-by-side videos, when a TikTok user allows other users to react to their video.

If a creator allows duet, other users can create their own video alongside the original one. Duet videos appear on split screen. One side there is the original video, on the other side there is the video the other TikTok user created.

Brands can also create Duets to interact with their fans.

You can enable duet before sharing your video.

If you want to make a duet with a user, click on the share button and select ‘Duet’.

Use trending filters to enhance the experience.

Choose from different layouts.

Here is a duet between the famous K-pop band, BTS and one of their fans.

Image Source: @bts_official_bighit

Find Your Superpower

What’s your superpower? Decide what will you want to post about and become an expert in that field. That makes your channel consistent.

Find your own unique style and let it shine. Use that style consistently while making sure it resonates with your audience. Make sure your content is authentic and free from cinematic or too filmy elements.

Keep in mind: Don’t make video! Make TikTok!

Keep It Short

TikTok is not the platform of lengthy content. The maximum length of a video was limited to 60 minutes once. Now this has been expanded to 3 minutes.

However, shorter videos tend to perform the best. Videos between 9-15 seconds are likely to see the highest engagement rate. – reports Vimeo in one of their latest blogs.

(J., Aldredge, 2021)

This is because shorter videos are most likely watched till the end and re-watched multiply times. This triggers TikTok algorithm to show those videos to more people. – says Later in one of their latest articles. (M., McGlew, 2021)

Make Video Series

Make sure you post every day or every two days to get your videos noticed. Constantly coming up with new ideas, however, can be challenging.

Creating video series is a good way to overcome this. Create a developing story, for example making art video series where you showcase different stages of the process. Or share different episodes of the same topic, for example, a video series of the most Instagrammable cafes in London.

Choose Popular Music

Music a very important part of a TikTok video. Music – as we saw above – is one the major factors when it comes to discoverability. TikTok has agreement with most of the major music studios and permitted using short clips from songs.

Certain songs and sounds go viral. In some cases, only after years of their release. Tracks that have gained popularity can increase the number of views of a video. (W., Geyser, 2021)

Work with Influencers

As TikTok has grown popularity, more influencers recognised the platform. The result of this: more brands have incorporated influencer marketing in their TikTok marketing strategy.

Studies revealed that international engagement rate on TikTok was 15.86%, while U.S. influencers’ engagement rate went even higher: 18% in 2020. – reported Influencer Marketing Hub in their latest report. (W., Geyser, 2021)

TikTok helps you finding the best influencers on the platform that fit to your brand. Register on TikTok for Business Creator Marketplace and start your TikTok influencer campaign.

Create Hashtag Challenge

Trending hashtag on TikTok, created by a brand

Create branded hashtags and announce a hashtag challenge by asking your followers to create and upload creative videos that showcase how they are using your products, or funny, educational or entertaining videos related to that hashtag.

Samsung’s #UnfoldChallange on TikTok

Image Source: @samsung

Samsung has recently started their hashtag challenge. They created a collaboration with the famous K-pop band, BTS to encourage their audience to capture short videos or photos that unfold their day. Audience is asked to show how they discover new things, get inspirations, or try something they have never tried before, using their Samsung smartphone. To take part in the challenge, users have to use Samsung’s branded hashtags, #UnfoldChallange #SamsungUnpacked #withGalaxy and use the song ‘Butter’ from BTS.

Collab with Celebrities

TikTok has become very popular among celebrities. From today’s pop stars such as Justin Bieber to movie legends such as Arnold Schwarzenegger to K-pop singers and models, there are everyone on TikTok who counts.

Partnering with local celebrities or big names from the entertainment sector can definitely be a winning strategy. (E., Cucu, 2021)

Be Authentic – Use UGC

Millennials and Gen Z hates feeling marketed. They want to see fresh content, be involved and challenged. They want to get their voice heard and feel that their opinion matters.

This is where user-generated content (UGC) comes into light. Invite your audience to be part of your story. – points out Social Insider in one of their latest articles. (E., Cucu, 2021)

UGC is a way to turn your audience into brand advocates by helping you fill your social feed with fresh content.

Encourage your audience to make and share videos of your brand and use your branded hashtag(s). Make sure you actively participate in the fun. Make Duets with your fans’ best videos, or you can even announce a Duet challenge. These can make massive engagement on TikTok.

Embrace New Features

Did you know that TikTok highlights what tools and features you use when editing your videos?

TikTok is a platform of experimentation, so if you want to gain more followers, you will definitely want to experiment with new editing tools, features and filters. Just think about the relatively newly released TikTok voice-over feature that enables users to put a narration over their videos making them more easily available for people with visual impairments. (M., McGlew, 2021)

TikTok Social Commerce Coming Soon

TikTok has confirmed testing their eCommerce tool to capitalise the huge potential within the platform. – Bloomberg reported. (C., Liu, Z., Huang and G., Turner, 2021)

TikTok has been working with brands, such as Hype to test the new feature and explore new ways.

TikTok announced their agreement with Shopify in 2020. However, this is not yet the classic on-platform eCommerce we know on Facebook and Instagram. Instead, this agreement enables Shopify users to create their dashboard and run promotions from that dashboard on TikTok. Those merchants who are eligible to use this feature can claim $300 ad credit to jumpstart their first campaign on TikTok. – reported Social Media Today. (A., Hutchinson, 2020)

Why is TikTok the future of eCommerce?

Social media content is increasingly visually driven. This why short video content has become the most powerful type of content. You might remember Adam Mosseri’s announcement this January that Instagram is no longer a photo sharing app. People want to be entertained and the best content type for that is video content. And the competition is huge. – Mr Mosseri said in his video.

Social media platforms, like Instagram want to embrace this challenge by launching IGTV, Instagram Reels and other features to encourage users to use more video content.

TikTok, however, unlike other major platforms, is specialised in short-form video content with which brands can reach vast amount of audience and not just that. The power in TikTok is their younger audience base. Typically, younger than other platforms’ audience. Many brands prefer TikTok because that is the platform where they can reach Gen Z and Millennials. (B., Chacon, 2020)

This makes TikTok to become the next big social commerce platform in the near future. Just think about #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag that definitely reinforce this.

Jump on Trends

Starbucks using a trending filter on TikTok

Image Source: @starbucks

TikTok trends are a great way to show more of your brand’s personality and create fun and engaging content.

Keep an eye on the current trends. It can be a hashtag trend, a TikTok challenge, a new filter, or a song. You can check the latest trends by clicking on the ‘Discovery Page’ (simply click on the search button on the bottom of the page) or check them through your notification. TikTok sends you notifications about the latest trends regularly.

Before jumping in, however, make sure that the trend or challenge fits to your profile and your brand values you want to represent. “Just because something is trending, does not mean you have to participate.” – warns Influencer Marketing Hub in one of their recent articles. (J., Santora, 2021)

Engage with Your Audience

TikTok, like any other platform, is social. It means, you need to engage with your audience. Generate conversations, answer questions, create duets with your best fans and try other features, like live stream to engage with your audience. In this way you not only you show the human side of your brand, but you can build trust. So, don’t be shy, just make sure you are not spammy. (J., Santora, 2021)

Host Live Events

Going LIVE on TikTok

Image Source: @urbanadventurerldn

Live stream is one of the best ways to engage with your audience because through this way you can directly contact with your audience in real time. (M., Greenwald, 2021)

Host Q&As or a loud product launch with confetti and surprises. Share your experiences and encourage your audience to share theirs by leaving comments or host interviews.

How LIVE streaming works on TikTok?

To go LIVE, tap the ‘create’ icon and select ‘LIVE’. Then add a topic and a title and pick a cover image
Do not do never-ending LIVES. 30 minutes is the best practice, according to TikTok
To go LIVE on TikTok, you have to be over 16 years old and have more than 1,000 followers
Once you are LIVE, you can add effects, filter comments and even add moderations
You can even raise money for charities by using a donation sticker. Just pre-select your preferred charity before going LIVE
The LIVE feature allows creators to support other creators by sending them virtual gifts. Those gifts can be exchanged for funds later

(TikTok, n/a)

Advertise

Image Source: TikTok for Business

TikTok has recently launched TikTok for Business to give opportunity for businesses to shine by unlashing their creative sides. To understand how TikTok ads work, register on the website and download their free guide.

To start, you have to create a campaign. Within the campaign, you can create ad groups, and within the ad groups, you can create ads.

Before starting a new campaign, define the purpose.

Awareness
Consideration
Conversion

Then, choose your objective.

Reach
Traffic
App install
Video view
Conversion

Now, it’s time to create your ad groups within the campaign. You can create one or more ad groups within one campaign. An ad group is a collection of ads (one or more) that share the same audience, targeting and bidding criteria.

After creating your ad groups, it’s time to upload your ad creative(s) you will promote your brand with on TikTok. You can add multiply creatives and let Ad Creative Optimisation (ACO) to automatically identify the best performing creative and optimise it. How handy!

An ad group with disabled ACO can support 16 creatives at the same time. However, TikTok suggests starting with 5 creatives and allow the system to pass the learning process (that’s 50 conversions) before adding new creatives.

It is recommended to refresh your ad creative after 7 days. It is highly recommended to constantly add fresh creatives throughout the period of your campaign.

Audience targeting on TikTok can be

Interest
Lookalike audience
Custom audience

Interest Targeting

Here you have to select tags that are relevant to your business and products and how they are used. You can even A/B test different interest tags to see how they perform against each other.

Lookalike Audience

If you choose lookalike audience, TikTok will search for new audience similar to your existing audience group. Obviously, this can only work if you already have an audience base on the platform.

Apply “Fresh Lookalike” feature in every 30 days to make sure you are constantly exploring more active users.

Custom Audience

By choosing custom audience you can retarget audience group that has engaged with your business. Custom audience is perfect for re-marketing, increasing app install, or creating lookalike audience.

If you do not know where to start, surf on TikTok for Business inspiration and explore brand success stories.

Measure Your Success

If you are using TikTok, you definitely want to know how your videos performing. To get access to your analytics, you will have to switch to “pro account”. This does not cost anything.

Go to your profile
Click on “Manage my account”
Select “Switch to Pro account”

You will be asked to select a category that best describe your business, before a few other simple steps and you are ready. You will instantly get access to TikTok analytics.

You can now see analytics on each of your video by clicking “More data” on the bottom of the page. It shows a number of useful data for you to learn from, such as average watch time, how many per cent of watchers watched the full video, where your video traffic comes from (For You pages or personal profile) and audience territories (which countries your audience is coming from).

To access more data, go to your profile, go to settings, click “Creator tools” and choose “Analytics”.

This will show you an

“Overview” of your total engagement (video views, profile views, likes, comments and shares)
Your “Content” with your latest videos and trending videos. By clicking on each, you see the analytics belong to each video
“Followers” gives you information about your new followers, your growth rate and gender. It also shows the top territories views comes from and follower activity in hours and day. This helps you identify the best days and times to post your new content
“LIVE” shows data in connection of your live streams

If you want to learn more about TikTok best practices, register on TikTok Learning Centre. Here you will find short courses about how to use TikTok for Business, the different ad formats, creative best practices and much more.

REFERENCES

A., Hutchinson (2020) Social Media Today “TikTok Announces New Partnership with Shopify, Another Step Towards In-Stream Commerce” [Online] Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-announces-new-partnership-with-shopify-another-step-towards-in-stre/587808/ [Accessed 15 August 2021]

A., Hutchinson (2021) Social Media Today “TikTok Launches New ‘Playlists’ Feature to Group Clips into Themed Collections” [Online] Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-launches-new-playlists-feature-to-group-clips-into-themed-collecti/597460/ [Accessed 09 August 2021]

B., Chacon (2020) Later “Is TikTok Shopping the Future of Social Commerce?” [Online] Available at: https://later.com/blog/tiktok-shopping/ [Accessed 15 August 2021]

B., Doyle (2021) Wallaro Media “TikTok Statistics – Updated June 2021” [Online] Available at: https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/ [Accessed 17 August 2021]

C., Beer (2019) Global Web Index “Is TikTok setting the scene for music on social media?” [Online] Available at: https://blog.gwi.com/trends/tiktok-music-social-media/ [Accessed 17 August 2021]

C., Liu, Z., Huang and G., Turner (2021) Bloomberg “TikTok Begins Testing In-App Shopping to Challenge Facebook” [Online] Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-11/tiktok-begins-testing-in-app-shopping-to-challenge-facebook [Accessed 15 August 2021]

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IBM (2017) “Uniquely Generation Z – What brands should know about today’s youngest consumers” [Online] Available at: https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/9PPL5YOX [Accessed 10 August 2021]

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Statista (2021) “Distribution of TikTok users in the United States as of March 2021, by age group” [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095186/tiktok-us-users-age/ [Accessed 23 July 2021]

Statista (2021) “Monthly TikTok user engagement in the U.S 2019-2020” [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1115136/tiktok-user-engagement-monthly-usa/#:~:text=From%20October%202019%20to%20March,on%20the%20social%20video%20platform. [Accessed 16 August 2021]

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Tik Tok for Business (n/a) Creator Portal [Online] Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/creators/creator-portal/category/featured-articles/ [Accessed 4 August 2021]

TikTok (n/a) “Going LIVE” [Online] Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/creators/creator-portal/en-us/foundations-for-success/going-live/ [Accessed 16 August 2021]

W., Geyser (2021) Influencer Marketing Hub “TikTok Statistics – Revenue, Users & Engagement Stats (2021)” [Online] Available at: https://influencermarketinghub.com/tiktok-stats/ [Accessed 17 August 2021]

May 3 2021

The Power of User Generated Content (UGC)

Phoenixx Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Trends, Marketing, Social Media digital marketing, Digital Marketing Strategy, Digital Marketing Tips, EGC, Employee Generated Content, social media, Social Media Tips, UGC, User Generated Content 0

2020 was the year of pandemic and it is not a surprise that it left businesses with tight marketing budget. Many businesses struggled with content creation too because due to lockdown creative companies were not able to create professional contents for their clients. Thus, businesses were forced to refrain their online marketing.

As a result, savvy marketers turned into user generated content (UGC) and employee-generated content (EGC). This not only fixed their problem of content creation, but also nurture their audience better.

Why is UGC so Powerful?

It is quick, cheap, easy to create, and authentic.

UGC’s popularity was on the rise before the pandemic, but the Covid outbreak and the lockdown accelerated it.

As brands were unable to create high-quality content, they shifted to UGC instead because it was less expensive, quick, and easy to create.

Authenticity has become more important than ever for customers.

According to TINT’s recent survey, an overwhelming of 93% of marketers agreed that customers trust more on content created by customers than created by brands. (TINT, 2021)

The same survey revealed that 75% of marketers knew that adding UGC to their marketing makes their brand content more authentic. (TINT, 2021)

UGC Best Practices

One of Stackla’s surveys revealed that content created by consumers had impact on 60% (and 70% of Millennials) of surveyed consumers’ purchase decisions. (P., Cassidy, 2017)

According to the same survey an overwhelming 90% of Millennials said authenticity is important when choosing brands to support.

UGC opportunities are endless. There are many ways to creatively use it for business purposes. Here are some ideas.

Partner with Nano and Micro Influencers

Nano-influencers:

Follower base between 1k – 10k

They are often expert of a particular field

They have stable and loyal follower base and high engagement rate

Micro-influencers:

Follower base between 10k and 50k

Their authenticity is high

(Influencer Marketing Hub, 2020)

Image Source: Pixabay

Nano and micro influencers have seen increased popularity in the recent times. Although, these influencers have less followers, their follower base is more stable and loyal. Micro and nano influencers show the highest engagement rate (7%) among all of the other influencer types. (A., Hutchinson, 2021)

(Learn more about the ins and outs of influencer marketing)

Micro and nano influencers are often expert in a particular field that make them trustworthy in the eye of their followers. They have very close relationship with their followers. These influencers are actively participating in conversations, replying to DMs and sharing honest personal reviews and recommendations to cultivate their relationships with their audience. (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2020)

To simply put: people trust people.

We have a natural desire for human connection. This desire has strengthened during the months of isolation. As a result, authentic contents have become more important than ever.

Although, lockdown has been eased and we are now allowed to socialise again, authenticity will continue trending.

Influencer Partnerships

Looking for long-term relationships with influencers instead of ‘one-off’ projects is a hot trend in 2021.

Why?

Because brands realised it takes time to generate sales. Even influencers with the highest engagement rate need time to achieve the goals set. (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2021)

Plus, ongoing partnership increases reach and loyalty.

Embrace Diversity

Celebrating diversity is a great tactic when it comes to UGC. Make your content more relatable to wider range of audience by encouraging diverse range of voices. This allows you to reach a wide range of audience while making your brand more accessible. (N., Canning, 2021)

Employees as Influencers

Who knows better a company than its employees?

Employee-based content is another result of the demand of authenticity. Customers love to go behind the scenes of brands to see what’s going on there. And who could show the most reliable picture of how it is like working for a particular brand than its employees.

Social Media Today’s survey found that contents shared by employees received 8x more engagement than contents shared by brands. (P., Dunay, 2014)

Posts shared by employees receive 21% more likes than a branded social media ad. (Edelman Trust Barometer, 2016)

Image Source: @ladiesandgentlemenbar

Employees not only humanise the brand, but also help push, amplify, and accelerate brand content while bypassing ad-blockers and ever-changing algorithms that prevent organic brand content from reaching a wider audience.

Brands have started leveraging this by launching their employee advocacy programs.

Employee advocacy is not a one-way street though. Make sure you offer attractive rewards in return of their efforts. – warns Dustin Hawley from Viral Nation. (D., Hawley, n/a)

Determine the Purpose of UGCs

UGCs should deliver value to customers. It means, they should always serve a purpose to be effective. That purpose can be a demonstration on how to use a product, give inspiration or honest review of a product to help others making decision.

For example, Maxwell’s Bar & Grill created an Instagram highlight, called ‘Guests’ where they highlight memorable customer experiences shared by their guests.

Image Source: @maxwellscoventgarden

Collab with Other Brands

As a business, you want to stand out of the crowd by doing something different and original.

Why not collab with another brand and create something standout both of you can benefit from?

Cahoots London and Patty & Bun came up with a successful collaboration during the pandemic.

While their venues were closed during lockdown, they created a limited-edition DIY ‘High Spirit Kit Box’ together for home delivery. The box offered pe-packed signature cocktails for two from Cahoots and all the ingredients for 2 Patty & Bun signature burgers to be made at home.

Image Source: @cahootslondon @pattyandbun

Be Authentic

Authenticity is key.

Stackla’s survey revealed that consumers 2.4x more likely to say UGC as authentic. (Stackla, 2019)

According to the same survey authenticity is important to 90% of surveyed consumers when it comes to deciding which brand they support.

Contents that feel too filmy or artificial will not get the desired engagement rate. That’s why brands should choose influencers carefully to make sure honest reviews and opinions will be shared about the brands’ products or services.

Brands should aim to create deeper relationship with their influencers, so the influencers can create valuable contents that better resonate with their audience.

Instead of sharing standard posts, encourage your influencers or fans to share honest reviews about your products or services, organise Q&As or how-to videos. (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2021)

Build Community

UGC is not just about spreading the world of your brand, but also a great opportunity to build community. Being part of a community, your audience feel they are part of something great and something bigger than just a repost. – explains Nikki Canning in one of Later’s blog. (N., Canning, 2021)

How to build community?

You can easily start building your community by using hashtags. Just think about Apple’s ‘Shot on iPhone’ campaign. iPhone users were asked to take photos with their phones and use #ShotoniPhone hashtag for a chance to be featured on billboards in cities such as London or New York. Millions of participated in the contest.

Image Source: @apple

UGC Should Educate, Entertain or Inform Your Audience

The top reasons why people visit social media are:

Stay updated with news and events
Find entertaining content
Research and find products

(Statista, 2020)

It means, not all UGC have to be product-related. Make sure you encourage your fans and influencers to share informative, memorable, sharable, or even funny content related to your brand.

The Churchill Bar & Terrace loves re-sharing posts of their customers having fun, just like this one. As we can see, this post has nothing to do with The Churchill’s Bar’s menu or the products they sell.

Image Source: @thechurchillbar

Two Rules to Keep in Mind Before Sharing UGC

Make sure you ask permission

Send a friendly message to the creator in which you tell them how much you love the content they have created and ask them if they would be happy if you share that content on your platform.

This step is often missed, however not everyone is happy to be featured on brands social media channels.

Credit the source

Make sure you always credit the original source of the content regardless which social media channel it is.

Image Source: @theknotchurros

Creative UGC Campaign Ideas You Can Integrate Into Your Marketing Strategy Right Now

As we saw it, UGC is a powerful, easy, and budget-friendly way to promote your business. Whether you want to promote a new product launch, brand awareness or customer appreciation campaign, incorporating UGC into your digital marketing strategy can help you drive success.

Here are some UGC campaign ideas you can implement into your digital marketing strategy straight away.

UGC Focused Contests

The best way to encourage your audience to share your content is to host a contest.

Create branded hashtags and ask your audience to use them when submitting to the contest.

Offerpop survey revealed that only 32% customers take part of a contest for the price to win. Instead, they participate (60%) because they want to be featured on the brand’s channel. (Offerpop, 2016)

Plus, using branded hashtags helps your brand create a library of great contents, so you always have relevant materials to share. (C., Newberry, 2019)

Cahoots London created different hashtags for their experiences and then encouraged their audience to hashtag the experience they would like to win. This contest ran on Facebook and Instagram and received thousands of submissions.

Image Source: @cahootslondon

Share Product Reviews

From Trustpilot to Google to Facebook, there are tons of platforms on the Internet to share reviews of a business, products, services, and experiences.

Why not share some of those reviews on your social channels?

The trick is, do not share the positive ones only.

If you received a negative review from a customer but you professionally and successfully solved their issue, showed empathy and care; let your audience see it.

Sharing those success stories not only show authenticity, but you can showcase your unbeatable customer service too. This helps build trust.

Social Channel Takeover

Social media takeover means that you temporary grant your social media posting privileges to someone you trust. – explains Hootsuite in one of their articles. (K., Sehl, 2019)

You can partner with a trusted influencer, expert, or professional to run your Instagram Stories, host your Facebook Lives, or manage your tweets on Twitter for a day or more.

Social takeover has several benefits.

Your followers can see your brand, products, or services from a new perspective
It can increase your brand exposure
You can gain more followers
It can attract more audience to your online events/lives

(K., Sehl, 2019)

Image Source: @gorillashrimp

Use Branded Templates

Randomly and instantly reposting stories is not the best idea, as they can mess your scheduled stories.

Instead, identify different themes and cluster UGCs around those themes. Use your branded templates and organise story series.

In this way, you can remain organised with your posts, keep your branded look on social media while keeping your posts and stories consistent.

Elan Café London use different shades of pink as a background to customise and cluster UGC contents.

Image Source: @elan_cafe

Retarget Interested Audience with Advert

As UGC is more trusted than business generated content, it is a good idea to retarget your audience with ads. (N., Canning, 2021)

What is more, take one step further and use UGC-based images or videos in your ad.

Ask permission before you use any of your fans’ content. If they are happy with their photos or videos to be used in your social ad, give it a go.

Do not forget to reward your fan you borrowed the visuals from. Offer discount, send a gif card, or offer a complementary piece of cake and coffee if you are running a café shop or a restaurant. They will love it. Plus, it will generate more UGC content, improve loyalty, and build trust.

Measure Your Success

Similarly to any other efforts on social media, make sure you measure the success of UGCs.

Which content received the most engagement? What type of post was that? Which posts showed the least engagement rate? Why? Which branded hashtag of yours received a lot of clicks and shares?

Learn from your metrics and learn how you can better serve your audience. In this way, you can improve your UGC strategy to create even more successful campaigns, while saving time and energy. (N., Canning, 2021)

REFERENCES

A., Hutchinson (2021) Social Media Today “Nano Influencers: Who Are They and How to Work With Them [Infographic]” [Online] Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/nano-influencers-who-are-they-and-how-to-work-with-them-infographic/595048/?fbclid=IwAR2fA7xYB0bmWw9X4gSCaZ0GLUi2RYlQCKJ-eHgnM9NKVd3Hd4reKGQSM7g [Accessed 26 April 2021]

C., Newberry (2019) Hootsuite “A Marketer’s Guide to Using User-Generated Content on Social Media” [Online] Available at: https://blog.hootsuite.com/user-generated-content-ugc/ [Accessed 1 May 2021]

D., Hawley (n/a) Viral Nation “Why Are Brands Helping Their Employees Become Influencers?” [Online] Available at: https://www.viralnation.com/blog/why-are-brands-helping-their-employees-become-influencers/ [Accessed 30 April 2021]

Edelman Trust Barometer (2016) “2016 Edelman TRUST BAROMETER” [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfw759dqUkY&t=87s [Accessed 28 April 2021]

Influencer Marketing Hub (2020) “12 Types of Influencers You Can Use to Improve Your Marketing” [Online] Available at: https://influencermarketinghub.com/types-of-influencers/ [Accessed 26 April 2021]

Influencer Marketing Hub (2021) “13 Influencer Marketing Trends to Watch in 2021” [Online] Available at: https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-trends/ [Accessed 28 April 2021]

J., Goldman (2021) “(More) digital trends for 2021: Influencer- and user-generated content” [Online] Available at: https://www.emarketer.com/content/more-digital-trends-2021-influencer-user-generated-content [Accessed 26 April 2021]

K., Sehl (2019) Hootsuite “How to Run a Smart Social Media Takeover” [Online] Available at: https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-takeovers/ [Accessed 1 May 2021]

N., Canning (2021) Later “Ultimate Guide to User-Generated Content” [Online] Available at: https://later.com/blog/user-generated-content/#best [Accessed 28 April 2021]

Offerpop (2016) “Offerpop Survey Identifies Gaps between How Consumers and Marketers Think about User-Generated Content” [Online] Available at: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160503005382/en/Offerpop-Survey-Identifies-Gaps-Consumers-Marketers-User-Generated [Accessed 1 May 2021]

P., Cassidy (2017) Stackla “Why UGC Is The Key To Authenticity & Consumer Influence” [Online] Available at: https://stackla.com/resources/blog/why-ugc-is-key-to-authenticity-consumer-influence/ [Accessed 30 April 2021]

P., Dunay (2014) Social Media Today “From Employee to Advocate: Mobilize Your Team to Share Your Brand Content” [Online] Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/employee-advocate-mobilize-your-team-share-your-brand-content [Accessed 28 April 2021]

Stackla (2019) “Stackla Survey Reveals Disconnect Between the Content Consumers Want & What Marketers Deliver” [Online] Available at: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190220005302/en/Stackla-Survey-Reveals-Disconnect-Content-Consumers-Marketers [Accessed 30 April 2021]

Statista (2020) “Most Popular Reasons for Internet Users Worldwide to Use Social Media as of 3^rd Quarter 2020” [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/715449/social-media-usage-reasons-worldwide/ [Accessed 30 April 2021]

TINT (2021) “State of User-Generated Content 2021 Report” [Online] Available at: https://www.go.tintup.com/state-of-ugc-report-2021 [Accessed 26 April 2021]

October 1 2020

Shoppable Posts on Social Media

Phoenixx Branding/Personal Branding, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing Trends, Marketing, Social Media digital marketing, Facebook, Facebook Ads, Instagram, Instagram Posts, Pinterest, Shoppable Posts, social media, Social Media trends 0

Those old days are long gone when we used social media only to find and follow our schoolmates, old friends and colleagues. A lot has changes since brands and businesses have discovered social media platforms and started reaching us with their posts and adverts.

By the 21st century, the borders between browsing and buying have been blended. Today we don’t just see brands’ ads, but we actually buy those products directly from social media.

(Cover image: 3D graphics image by Quince Creative)

What is Social Shopping?

Social shopping enables shopping products via social media. (Carmicheal, K., 2020) This can be done via online shop integrated in a social media platform or an interactive shoppable post.

Shoppable content enables the opportunity for users to purchase a product without leaving the social media app.

Shoppable posts are great way for businesses to promote their brand, boost their sales by reaching customers with products on social feed otherwise they would not search for or promote their new catalogue.

According to Instagram’s research in 2019, 1 billion users use Instagram every month and 90% of Instagram users follow a business on Instagram. (Instagram, 2019)

According to Statista, in the second quarter of 2020 Facebook has had more than 2.7 billion users per month, making it the third most visited website in the world. (Statista, 2020) 74% of higher income earners’ preferred social media platform is Facebook, and 15% of users shop on Facebook. (eMarketer, 2019)

It has never been a better time to start selling on social media.

Instagram

If you’re thinking about starting shoppable posts, Instagram is the perfect place especially if you have a catalogue of products to showcase to your audience.

Why?

81% of Instagram users said that Instagram helped them researching products and services. (Instagram Business, 2019)

Instagram can interact with shoppable posts in newsfeed, Stories and Discover page. Discover page is Instagram’s own page dedicated to find new brands. (Carmicheal, K., 2020)

On Instagram, shoppable posts are marked by a shopping bag icon on the bottom left corner.

By clicking the shopping bag, it reveals the prize of one or more products on the photo.

How to Create Shoppable Post on Instagram

To be able to create shoppable posts on Instagram, your Instagram profile has to meet some criteria:

Instagram shoppable posts can be created if your profile is from the following countries: United States, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, or Australia
You must have an Instagram as well as a Facebook Business account
You must sell physical goods that comply Instagram’s Merchant Agreement and Commerce Policies
Your Facebook Business account must be connected to Facebook Catalogue. This can be created either on Facebook Business Manager or through Shopify or BigCommerce

Once you’re done with these and eligible to all criteria, all you have to do is to add your Instagram to Shopify or BigCommerce store (no additional cost here) and wait to be approved. Once your Instagram has been approved, you can enable Shopping under business setting on your Instagram app. Voila! You can start selling on Instagram.

Alternatively…

Alternatively, you can use a feature such as Linkin.bio. Linkin.bio is an online tool that allows you to link your Instagram post to a specific product page, website or blog post. It is an easy way to drive traffic from your Instagram to your web shop or any other ecommerce platform and generate sales.

Some Great Examples of Shoppable Instagram Posts

Braun

This is actually a sponsored video post. When we click on the ‘Learn More’ button, a number of shoppable items appear in a grid fashion. You can configure this setting when you are building your post in Instagram Business. Braun linked to this post to Amazon.

Rituals Cosmetics

In this post Ritual Cosmetics shows how their products fit to their target audience’s everyday lives. Although, the products are not in the focal point of the post, they fit perfectly into the scene. Notice how the colours of blue and white support brand awareness.

Warner Bros. Studio

Warner Bros. Studio showcases an average situation during a studio tour: a visitor is enjoying the interactive exhibition while wearing a shoppable product to represent her favourite house in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Warner Bros. Studio went even further. In the post they encourage their visitors to share their own photos taken on the tour while wearing something that represents their favourite houses and use their hashtag #WBTourLondon.

Happy Socks

Happy Socks sells quirky themed socks. Their shoppable post showcases the product in a colourful quirky environment that represents the brand. They are using emojis and playful band voice to reach their target audience – in this case kids and parents.

The post is advertising Disney Mickey Mouse themed socks. Notice, how all the board games on table fit into the theme of the ad: all of them have Mickey Mouse pattern.

Peggy Porschen

Peggy Porschen greets Autumn with a stylish shoppable post, showcasing their new cupcake menu. The pink and delicate pastel colours perfectly represent the brand and target their audience while representing the new season.

Facebook

Unlike Instagram, if you want to create a shoppable post on Facebook, you have to create a sponsored campaign. To be able to do so, must have a Facebook Business account. There are a variety of shoppable posts you can choose from: carousel, image, video, collection, Story or slideshow ad.

Examples of Shoppable Content on Facebook

Dior

Carousel ad allows the business to add different images with different product details, links and CTA (Call-To-Action) button. This makes it easy for customers to reach the business’ website and make a purchase.

This carousel shoppable post from Dior is perfect to showcase a catalogue of products.

Miu Miu

Miu Miu’s collection ad starts with a compelling video and when we click on the video a collection of shoppable products appear under it in a grid fashion.

Fever

Apart from purchasing products, we can even book tickets for events via Facebook sponsored posts such as this one from Fever. Fever is an online ticketing tool. It helps people find events wherever they are and sell tickets for them.

This sponsored shoppable ad is advertising an immersive Doctor Who experience in London. Fever is using a compelling image portraying London in the background and the iconic Doctor Who telephone box. There are playful emojis in the ad, indicating that the target audience is a younger group of people, and the ad emphasises that the experience is available limited time only and tickets selling fast.

BFI IMAX

BFI IMAX is advertising their cinema experience in a Story ad. They are using a compelling graphic image illustrating the unique immersive IMAX cinema experience visitors can enjoy. By clicking ‘See More’ button, the ad navigates us to BFI IMAX website where we can book tickets to movies.

In 2019 almost 50% of users used Pinterest for finding or shopping products. (Lipsman, A., 2019) This indicates that Pinterest is the best platform a business can chose to sell their products generate leads and build brand awareness.

On Pinterest, users can easily find shoppable products. All ‘Products Pins’ are collected on the business’ main page, under ‘Shop’, as seen below.

Image source

To create shoppable posts on Pinterest, all you need is a business account and to join Pinterest’s Verified Merchant Programme. It is free to join and lets you enable shopping directly from your Pinterest page. Once you have been approved, you will receive a badge to appear on your page showing that ‘This Retailer Meets Pinterest’s Merchant Guidelines’.

How Get the Most Out of Product Pins:

Use high quality photos and implement the Pinterest ‘Save’ button to allow your followers to save your pin on their boards
Use descriptive copy. Indicate as much of product details as you can. For example, available sizes & colours and fabric the product is made from
Do not just post a product, create a compelling story around it
Use Pinterest analytics to learn how your pins are performing and to learn more about your customers’ behaviour
Use promoted pins to boost customer engagement and sales

(Macarthy, A., 2017)

Conclusion

Social media users are not just mindless scrollers. They are constantly looking for inspiration and ideas. Traditional digital marketing efforts are no longer sufficient to gain customers’ attention. To stand out from the crowd, businesses need to follow the current trends and lift them into their digital marketing strategy.

Customers today are savvy about advertising and do not like ads being pushy. By using shoppable posts businesses can create story around their products while keeping the post naturally fit to the news feed. Shoppable posts increase loyalty because they create a direct line to the business by minimising the barriers between customers and purchasing. (Dod, R., 2018)

References

Carmicheal, K. (2020) Hubspot “10 Examples of Creative Shoppable Posts on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook” [Online] Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/examples-of-shoppable-content [Accessed 25 Sept 2020]

Dod, R. (2018) Visiture “5 Reasons Your eCommerce Brand Should Consider Shoppable Instagram Posts” [Online] Available at: https://www.visiture.com/blog/5-reasons-your-ecommerce-brand-should-consider-shoppable-instagram-posts/ [Accessed 1 October 2020]

eMarketer (2019) “Social Media Activities Performed by US Social Media Users, by Platform, February 2019” [Online] Available at: https://www.emarketer.com/chart/226979/social-media-activities-performed-by-us-social-media-users-by-platform-feb-2019-of-respondents [Accessed 25 Sept 2020]

Instagram (2019) Instagram Business [Online] Available at: https://business.instagram.com/?utm_id=403967777216&utm_medium=paid&utm_source=google&utm_term=Marketing_hubspot_EN&utm_campaign=Marketing_MQLs_EN_AdWords_EMEA_UKI_Brand-HubSpot_e_c_856706782_403967777216&hsa_tgt=kwd-298569398281&hsa_grp=45114446858&hsa_src=g&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_mt=e&hsa_ver=3&hsa_ad=403967777216&hsa_acc=2734776884&hsa_kw=hubspot&hsa_cam=856706782&gclid=Cj0KCQjws536BRDTARIsANeUZ5_5u-n7gzfwWUR8VTs3YgURN1dJty2MIe8Dy_BzcP011ikHFOHyRc4aAhGSEALw_wcB&hubs_signup-url=www.hubspot.com%2Fproducts%2Fget-started-f049&hubs_signup-cta=null [Accessed 25 Sept 2020]

Instagram Business (2019) “How to sell your products on Instagram” [Online] Available at: https://business.instagram.com/blog/how-to-sell-your-products-on-instagram/ [Accessed 25 Sept 2020]

Lipsman, A. (2019) eMarketer “Pinterest Is the Talk of ShopTalk as It Eyes IPO” [Online] Available at: https://www.emarketer.com/content/pinterest-is-the-talk-of-shoptalk-as-it-eyes-ipo [Accessed 30 Sept 2020]

Macarthy, A. (2017) Social Media Today “How to Setup Buyable Pins to Sell Products Direct on Pinterest” [Online] Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-business/how-setup-buyable-pins-sell-products-direct-pinterest [Accessed 30 Sept 2020]

Statista (2020) “Number of monthly active Facebook users worldwide as of 2nd quarter 2020 (in millions)” [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ [Accessed 25 Sept 2020]

July 27 2020

Capability Audit & SWOT Analysis

Phoenixx Digital Marketing, Marketing Capability Audit, content marketing, digital marketing, email marketing, Marketing Strategy, social media, SWOT Analysis 0

A Brief Introductory Overview

Chosen Organisation: Inception Group Limited

When the company were set up: 2009 (Craft, 2020)

Main products/services: Inception Group is an entrepreneurial company that owns and runs 6 unique brands and 12 different locations of bars, restaurants and clubs all over in London. (LinkedIn, 2020)

Restaurants, clubs and bars: Cahoots, Barts, Mr Fogg’s, Maggie’s Club, Bunga Bunga

Locations: 1 office in London and several other bars and restaurants around London. (Craft, 2020)

Size of workforce: 201-500 employees (LinkedIn, 2020)

Customer base: Millennials, both locals and tourists who are seeking unique experience, Instagrammable places and new drinks, often alcohol free or low alcohol. (Russon, M-A. & Gelbart, H., 2018)

Competitors: Other themed cocktail bars in London, for example, The Cauldron and ABQ London (Russon, M-A. & Gelbart, H., 2018)

Annual revenue: £20.8m (Craft, 2020)

Unique Selling Point: Unique interior design, experiential activities, immersive experiences, unique drink menu (Stone, S., 2020)

Capability Audit

1= non-existent, 2= weak, 3= mid, 4= strong, 5= very strong

Area of Digital Marketing	Score	Note
MANAGEMENT AND DIGITAL MARKETING TEAM
Management team support digital marketing	5	Digital media platforms are vital for the business, according to management. They invest a lot particularly in social media and have a strong in-house team. (Arsenaualt, B., 2019)
Organisation has digital marketing team in place	5
Competence in digital marketing planning	5
Digital marketing team is appropriately skilled	5
WEBSITES UNDER INCEPTION GROUP
Websites are effective and support digital marketing strategies	5	Easy to use, interactive, fast and responsive
Websites are SEO optimised and rank well	2	There is no optimal keyword density. Keywords are not distributed well across the important HTML tags. (Based on Woorank, SEOptimiser and SEO Site Checkup)
Content marketing is used well	5	Engaging video contents and “explore” buttons provided to discover the different venues virtually.
Websites have responsive design to improve UX (User Experience)	5
Website is easy to navigate and helps achieving digital marketing objectives	5
Website attracts high volume of leads (Lead generation)	4	Average website traffic is 4K/month (Craft, 2020)
Use inbound marketing best practices	4	Well-crafted engaging content but SEO needs improvement.
Leads are effectively converted to sales	5	Venues are usually fully booked in advance.


SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is used to engage audience effectively	5	Organisation actively uses the core social media channels: Facebook, Instagram &Twitter
Effectively generating leads using social media content calendar	5	Have large follower base. On average, more than 1,000 likes or views on each post. Post regularly.
Social media best practices are used	5	Award winning campaigns in 2019 and best social media presence award 2020. (Inception Group, 2020) (Restaurant Innovator, 2020)
Use trending topics, hashtags etc. to boost engagement	5
EMAIL MARKETING
Email marketing is used to communicate with audience	2	Only 3 of the 6 websites have newsletter subscriptions.
MOBILE MARKETING
Mobile marketing is used effectively. E.g. mobile app	1
DATA COLLECTION & ANALYTICS
Data is effectively captured, processed and accessible	5	Use of different analytic tools, including Google Analytics, Google Adverts Tracking, Google Conversion Tracking, Google Search Console, LinkedIn Insight. (Woorank, 2020)
Analytics: decision/actions are driven by data and insight	5	Data is considered to be the most important way to make strategic decisions, according to Emine Mehmet, Senior Group Digital Marketing Manager. (Stone, S., 2020)
COST CONTROL
Costs are controlled and generate strong ROI (Return On Investment)	5	(Craft, 2020)
RELIANCE ON AGENCIES
Organisation works close with agencies to achieve digital marketing goals	5	Organisation relies on different agencies and freelancers to create animation, motion, Instagram stickers, maps and menus for their bars and restaurants. For example, patchpo.com

REFERENCES

Arsenault, B. (2019) “Charlie Gilkes Explains How To Run A Successful Bar In London” [Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bridgetarsenault/2019/01/15/charlie-gilkes-explains-how-to-run-a-successful-bar-in-london/#3d7efb604ce2 [Accessed 20 May 2020]

Craft (2020) Inception Group [Online] Available at: https://craft.co/inception-group [Accessed 19 May 2020]

Inception Group (2020) “News” [Online] Available at: https://inception-group.com/news/ [Accessed 19 May 2020]

LinkedIn (2020) Inception Group, London [Online] Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inception-group-london/about/ [Accessed 19 May 2020]

Restaurant Innovator (2020) Award Winners [Online] Available at: https://www.restaurantinnovator.com/events/awards/award-winners/inception-group [Accessed 20 May 2020]

Russon, M-A. & Gelbart, H. (2018) BBC News “Are themed bars and pubs the future?” [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45642270 [Accessed 19 May 2020]

Stone, S. (2020) Morning Advertiser “A-Z of on-trade marketing” [Online] Available at: https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2020/01/17/A-Z-of-on-trade-marketing [Accessed 20 May 2020]

Stone, S. (2020) Morning Advertiser “’Time capsule’ concepts can help bring the pub into the 21st century” [Online] Available at: https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2019/11/11/Big-Interview-Charlie-Gilkes-co-founder-Inception-Group [Accessed 19 May 2020]

Woorank (2020) Website Review – Inception Group [Online] Available at: https://www.woorank.com/en/www/inception-group.com [Accessed 21 May 2020]

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Established company with good reputation

Inception Group was established in 2009 and has constantly expanding since then. Their venues gained reputation due to their Unique Selling Proposition: unique atmosphere (for example, 1940s themed underground bar, Around the World in Eighty Days novel inspired bars), immersive experiences and wide selection of food and drink.

Cahoots bar has won the “Best New Pub/Bar Site’ in the Casual Dining Awards 2020” (Sumeray, L., 2020)

“I think our unique selling points have helped us stand out and develop strong original brands. People now trust that they are going to have a good time when they book in to an Inception venue.” – co-founder Charlie Gilkes said in an interview to Forbes magazine in 2019. (Arsenault, B., 2019)

Excellent locations within the city of London

Most of their bars, restaurants and clubs are in frequented spots in London, such as Mayfair, Covent Garden or Soho. Others, despite of their less frequented locations are likewise popular because they are so called “hidden gems”.

Skilled staff

Marketing staff are highly skilled. The proof of this are the award-winning digital marketing campaigns in the recent years. For example, they won “The Best Social Media Presence of the Year in 2020” (Sumeray, L., 2020).

All of Inception Group restaurant, bars and clubs have large active follower base being nurtured with quality contents, many of which went viral. “Creating new content is key to keep follower engaged…we increasingly use more video content.” – said Emine Mehmet, Senior Group Digital Marketing Manager at Inception Group in a recent interview to Morning Advertiser. (Stone, S., 2020) They are following the latest trends, for example, all of their websites now have video content to engage site visitors from the very first click.

Large social media follower base

All of their bars, restaurants and clubs have large follower base on social media. For example, Mr Fogg’s have more than 79K followers on Instagram and Cahoots has more than 37K followers on Facebook. This is an active relevant and engaged follower base who share, comment and like posts regularly.

Powerful digital marketing

Inception Group’s marketing team has created a good number of powerful award-winning digital marketing campaigns, such as “The Best Social Media Presence of the Year in 2020” (Sumeray, L., 2020), “Best Digital Campaign’ and ‘Best Use of Video’ at Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Awards 2020” (Sumeray, L., 2020), “The Best Launch Campaign of the Year” in 2019 when they advertised the “best job in the world”. This campaign received over 10,000 applicants, appeared in Sky News and even led the famous actor Ryan Reynolds wanting to apply for the job (Christofi, E., 2019) In 2017 Mr Fogg’s bar had a viral campaign: they sent a cocktail to the space and back to Earth (Ellis, D., 2017). The cocktail is now exhibited in Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration.

Leveraging professional agencies

Inception Group is working with professional agencies such as SevenRooms. SevenRooms renewed the reservation and guest management system of Inception Group’s individual restaurants and bars. As a result, online bookings increased by 20%. (SevenRooms, n/a)

Propeller is an agency, specialised for digital marketing strategies for restaurants and bars. They have created a multi-level booking flow on Inception Group’s websites. (Propeller, 2020)

Patchpo is a freelancer graphic motion designer and illustrator that have created animations, videos, stickers and other visuals for Inception Group’s several bars and restaurants, such as Mr Fogg’s, Cahoots and Bunga Bunga. (Patchpo, 2020)

Weaknesses

Lack of mobile marketing

Inception Group is not leveraging mobile marketing at the moment. They are not running SMS campaigns, neither they have mobile app to be downloaded by their customers or in-app adverts to increase brand awareness.

All of their websites have responsive design, allowing easy booking for their customers. Inception Group is currently missing mobile marketing opportunities.

Weak email marketing

Only two of Inception Group’s six websites offer newsletter subscription for customers. Inception Group is missing the benefit of collecting relevant information about their customers, for example, email addresses, phone numbers (could be used for SMS marketing, for example sending out exclusive SMS vouchers), full names and other relevant data to expand their database and use it for further advertising their venues, increasing brand awareness and returning customer base.

Weak website SEO

Having checked Inception Group’s different websites for relevant keywords (I used Woorank, SEOptimiser and SEO Site Checkup) I found that the was no optimal keyword density on any of their websites. Main keywords are not distributed well across the important HTML tags.

As a result, websites did not appear on the first page of Google unless exact keywords used, for example, “mr fogg” for Mr Fogg’s bar website or “underground bar” for Cahoots bar which is an 1940s inspired bar operating in a refurbished underground station.

Inception Group should improve their website SEO to have a good ranking on Google and other search engines and perform better than their competitors. Content should be focused around particular keywords and ideally these keywords should be used in titles and header tags.

Not leveraging emerging social media platforms

Inception Group’s bars, restaurants and clubs are present and active on the three core social platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Based on their follower base and post responses: likes, comment and shares, their performance on Instagram is outstanding. Instagram is followed by Facebook and Twitter.

However, Inception Group are not or barely leveraging emerging social media platforms. For example, TikTok is currently the trendiest new social media platform, not being recognised by companies yet. This could give exceptional opportunity for Inception Group to take advantage of the new field, but they are not present on TikTok yet.

According to Emine Mehmet, Inception Group’s Senior Group Digital Marketing Manager, this is because “TikTok hasn’t really reached the pub or bar sector yet. The app is overwhelming favoured by young people, the majority being Generation Z (born between mid-to-late 1990s and early 2010s)…but if the average age continuous to creep up, we can imagine it becoming a key marketing platform for us in the near future.” (Stone, S., 2020)

Opportunities

Leveraging emerging social media platforms

As we can see it above, emerging social media platforms like TikTok include huge opportunity for Inception Group. It is also true, however, that businesses should find and use the most relevant platforms where their target audience is. The majority of TikTok users, for example, are from Generation Z, which means they are in their early 20s. The minimum age of entry to most bars and restaurant owned by Inception Group is 21. However, at Mr Fogg’s, for example, young guests are welcomed by 5pm.

To sum up, Inception Group could start leveraging new social media platforms with younger users like TikTok and be in the frontline to turn them to one of their key digital marketing platforms. Inception Group is aware of this opportunity, however, not taking advantage of it yet.

Start mobile marketing

Inception Group is currently missing benefiting from mobile marketing. Their websites have responsive design making them easy to use and easy to book a table. They are not leveraging, however, any other type of mobile marketing that could be beneficial for the business. For example, SMS marketing using What’s Up or a downloadable mobile app.

Improve email marketing

Email marketing is currently weak: only two out of six the websites give the opportunity for user to subscribe for newsletter. This narrows the opportunity for customers to receive news and exclusive offers from their favourite restaurant or bar via email.

Starting using email marketing on all websites could significantly improve booking rate, brand awareness and loyalty.

Improve website SEO

It is vital for a business to be easily found on the Internet. Inception Group’s bars, restaurants and clubs should SEO optimise their websites by using more SEO-friendly content and relevant keywords.

Press/media coverage of the company

Positive media review can help optimise customer experience and leave a positive online footprint. This can be achieved by encouraging customers to leave review on online platforms, such as social media, Trip Advisor etc., giving interviews to prestigious magazines, supporting local events or charity and so on.

Positive reviews can increase sales, expand conversations about the business and make the company more trustworthy. (Willas, S., 2020)

Emerging needs for the company’s services

According to Alice Wilson, reservations and membership director of Inception Group, there is an emerging need for unique and tailored experience which is especially true for hospitality

industry. (Heath, S., 2019) Co-founder Charlie Gilkes also predicts personalisation as emerging trend within the industry. (Arsenault, B., 2019)

Leveraging AI & Augmented Reality (AR)

Co-founder Charlie Gilkes predicts that robotics and AI will see further growth in venues in general by either having an entertaining role – such as the Mechanical Mixologist machine at Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration – or practical role – such as cashless paying.

Market research to better understand customer needs

Customer needs are ever-changing. Conducting market research regularly is vital for a business to better understand their customers and their needs. Regular market research allows the company to react quickly and efficiently for changing needs and circumstances and outrun their competitors.

Threats

Emerging competitors

Emerging needs for the company’s services carries in itself the threat of emerging competitors that might outperform Inception Group and its bars, restaurant and clubs.

Competitors take or upskill Inception Group’s skilled staff

Competitors might be able to take Inception Group’s skilled staff by offering better salary and benefit package. Competitors could also upskill Inception Group’s staff by investing heavily in trainings.

Negative press/media coverage

Negative press/media coverage as well as negative social media reviews can cause damage in the company’s reputation. Negative media can lead to dramatic backdrop in sales and booking and give the opportunity to competitors to outperform the company.

Changing customer needs/preferences

Dramatic changes in customer preferences could have negative effect on the business.

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES
Established company with good reputation Excellent locations within the city of London Skilled staff Large social media follower base Powerful digital marketing Leveraging professional agencies	Lack of mobile marketing Weak email marketing Weak website SEO Not leveraging emerging social media platforms, e.g. TikTok
OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
Leveraging emerging social media platforms Start mobile marketing Improve email marketing Improve website SEO Press/media coverage of the company Emerging need for the company’s services Leveraging AI & Augmented Reality technology Market research to understand customer needs in a more sophisticated way	Emerging competitors Competitors take or upskill staff Negative press/media coverage Changing customer needs/preferences

REFERENCES

Christofi, E. (2019) Inception Group “Inception Group wins Launch Campaign of the Year in Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Awards” [Online] Available at: https://inception-group.com/inception-group-wins-launch-campaign-of-the-year-in-restaurant-marketer-innovator-awards/ [Accessed 23 May 2020]

Ellis, D. (2017) Evening Standard “First cocktail in space coming to Mayfair bar Mr Fogg’s” [Online] Available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/bars/first-cocktail-in-space-coming-to-mayfair-bar-mr-foggs-a3438986.html [Accessed 23 May 2020]

Heath, S. (2019) Market Scale “Restaurant Industry” [Online] Available at: https://marketscale.com/industries/promoted-content/software-individualizing-online-booking/ [Accessed 26 May 2020]

Patchpo (2020) Works [Online] Available at: https://patchpo.com/ [Accessed 25 May 2020]

Propeller (2020) “Digital Strategy for Restaurants” [Online] Available at: https://www.propeller.co.uk/restaurants [Accessed 25 May 2020]

SevenRooms (n/a) “How Inception Group Increased Online Bookings By 20% Across 9 Venues” [Online] Available at: https://sevenrooms.com/en/case-studies/inception-group/ [Accessed 25 May 2020]

Stone, S. (2020) Morning Advertiser “A-Z of on-trade marketing” [Online] Available at: https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2020/01/17/A-Z-of-on-trade-marketing [Accessed 20 May 2020]

Sumeray, L. (2020) Inception Group “Cahoots Ticket Hall & Control Room WINS ‘Best New Pub/Bar Site’ in the Casual Dining Awards 2020!” [Online] Available at: https://inception-group.com/cahoots-ticket-hall-control-room-wins-best-new-pub-bar-site-in-the-casual-dining-awards-2020/ [Accessed 23 May 2020]

Sumeray, L. (2020) Inception Group “Inception Group WINS ‘Best Digital Campaign’ and ‘Best Use of Video’ at Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Awards 2020!” [Online] Available at: https://inception-group.com/inception-group-wins-best-digital-campaign-and-best-use-of-video-at-restaurant-marketer-innovator-awards-2020/ [Accessed 23 May 2020]

Sumeray, L. (2020) Inception Group “Inception Group WINS ‘Best Social Media Presence of the Year’ in the Class Bar Awards 2020!” [Online] Available at: https://inception-group.com/inception-group-wins-best-social-media-presence-of-the-year-in-the-class-bar-awards-2020/ [Accessed 23 May 2020]

Willas, S. (2020) Mention “7 Reasons Online Reviews are Essential for Your Brand” [Online] Available at: https://mention.com/en/blog/online-reviews/ [Accessed 26 May 2020]

December 26 2019

Mobile App Review: Zara, Pretty Little Thing & River Island

Phoenixx Digital Marketing, Mobile app, Tech digital marketing, mobile app, mobile app redesign, Pretty Little Thing, River Island, shopping app, Zara 13

Brief

You will advise a successful retailer on how they could use a mobile app to improve their digital marketing. For the purpose of this assignment, you must choose one successful retailer to be your client. The client can a retailer in any category (i.e. a retailer that sells clothes, groceries, shoes, electronics, cosmetics, real estate, jewellery, or cars, etc.)

General Review of 2 Popular Mobile App

My Imaginary Client: River Island

Similar Mobile Apps to Review: Zara, Pretty Little Thing

“The best apps only do one thing, but they do it very, very well. It’s important that the app is original, improves on another app, solves a problem or entertains. It must be well designed, both in terms of visuals and the user experience.” – we could read in one of Forbs magazine’s articles back in 2013. (Larizadoh, A., 2013) George Berkowski – one of the inventors of the internationally successful taxi hailing app, Hailo – agrees: a mobile app should solve a problem people face every day. (YouTube, 2015)

Another vital thing every mobile app should take into account: mobile apps have to be personalised. Apps are used by different people with different needs and habits, “you need to take that into account, or else your usage numbers will start dropping quickly.” – says Inkbot Design in one of its articles from this year. (Inkbot Design, 2019)

Zara Mobile App

Strengths

The app and all of its functions load quickly. Loading speed is a critical element of user experience as Inkbot Design explains in one of their articles, “The first aspect of good user experience is making sure that your app loads quickly – if it takes a few seconds to load, that won’t be a problem, but if it loads for five seconds or even more, then many users won’t stick with your application for long.” (Inkbot Design, 2019)
Once a category is selected, it is easy to navigate within the category. Items can be easily opened. Navigating back to the previous page is easy too.
When an item is selected a “match with” category appears on the bottom of the page showcasing other items that match with that particular item.
Users can share the app ether by email, text message or on social media by clicking “recommend this app” button if they go to “My Account”.
The app is free to download and to use.

Figure 1 A “Match with” category appears on the bottom of the page on Zara’s mobile app, showcasing items that match with that particular item the user reached for.

All the photos are high quality.
Buttons are large enough to click on them with fingers.
Image search is available on the app. Users can either upload an image they had previously snapped or searched on the Internet, and search for similar items on Zara’s mobile app.

Weaknesses

According to reviews the app often crushes unexpectedly while shopping.
Many people complained about not being able to sign in.
It is difficult to find some options such as the available sizes of clothes. Users have to click on “add” button to find available sizes and once the size has been selected, the item is added to the shopping cart automatically. This is frustrating and has negative effect on user experience.

Figure 2 If users want to find the available size of a specific item, they have to click on the “add” button. In which case the item is automatically added to the shopping card, regardless the user wanted to add it or not.

In case of the jewellery, the photos are very small. It is difficult to see the details and there is no option to enlarge the image. Users have to use fingers to enlarge photos but even in this way it is impossible to enlarge the photos enough to be able to see details.
When opening the app, users have to scroll down endlessly to find the category they are looking for. Categories available on the top, however those are not the same categories as users can see when scrolling down. This makes the app confusing.

Figure 3 Photos are often too small to see details on Zara’s mobile app. There is no zoom function and photos cannot be enlarged enough using fingers either.

Share button does not appear on every page. Users can only share the app if they go to “My Account” and select “Share this app” Shareability is important when it comes to mobile apps. The most successful mobile apps allow users to share the app itself and/or the products the app sells. A good mobile app should have a feature that rewards users who share the app with their friends. (Vasquez, J., 2017)

Figure 4 Searching on the mobile app is difficult. The app does not show relevant items at all.

Searching for specific items is complicated. Search panel does not work properly. For example: I searched for blue woman dress and the result showed items for all words individually: it showed blue dresses as well as other items in blue colour such as sandals and trousers. It also showed absolutely unrelated items such as black sandals, pink bags and yellow flower-patterned dresses and jewellery.
App does not warn customers if an item is out of stock. It turns out when customer wants to pay.
The names and specifications of the items are often not visible. Visitors can only read a fragment of them and there is no possibility to see the whole text.

Figure 5 Names of specific items are not fully visible when the name of the item is long.

According to recent customer reviews the app often empties shopping cart automatically without warning.
The app does not have “favourite” option to save specific items. Thus, users cannot customise the app.

Figure 6 The above screenshot showcases two recent negative customer reviews of Zara’s mobile app. Users are complaining about no favourite/wish list on the app, items disappearance from basket and difficulties with searching for specific items.

Zara’s mobile app average customer review rate on iOS is 3.6 stars out of 5 stars, according to 1.8K user reviews.

Figure 7 Zara’s mobile app average customer rating on iOS 3.6 stars out of 5. This means, the app is not bad, but there is a lot to improve.

Pretty Little Thing Mobile App

Strengths

The app and all of its functions load quickly.
Easy to navigate within categories. Categories are available when scrolling down and at the bottom of the page as well.
Apart from the classic categories – shoes, dresses, accessories etc. – there are seasonal and more specific subcategories as well to make it easier for users to find particular items. For example: Halloween, Party Wear, Weddings etc. Mobile apps are used on the go. Therefore, it is crucial for a mobile app to reduce navigation as much as possible so users can reach anything with just a few clicks. (Inkbot Design, 2019) Pretty Little Thing mobile app does it well.

Figure 8 This screenshot is showcasing the easy navigation of Pretty Little Thing mobile app. Users can shop by common categories, such as dresses, tops, shoes etc. or by special categories or occasions such as Halloween, party wear or student style. This makes navigation and searching easy and enjoyable for users.

There are big buttons making it easy for users to click on them by finger on mobile device.
The app can be downloaded and used for free.
Pretty and attractive design. Pretty Little Thing is specialised for women clothing and accessories, thus the main colour of the app is pink to make the app standing-out and more attractive and stylish for the ladies. Being memorable, unique, entertaining and fun are all vital features of a successful mobile app. In this case, Pretty Little Thing mobile app’s fresh unique design provides an experience, users will probably not forget and next time they want to order fashion clothes online, this mobile app will come up to their mind. (Vasquez, J., 2017)

Figure 9 As Pretty Little Thing is specialised for ladies clothing, the main colour of the app is pink. The app looks stylish, memorable and professional at the same time.

Figure 10 “Share” and “like” buttons appear next to each item, allowing users to either add an item to their favourites or share it with friends.

The app operates with high quality photos allowing users to be able to see details of the products.
There is a heart shaped “like” button next to each item allowing users to put specific items into “wish list” to be able to easily find them later.
There is a share button next to each product allowing users to share items with friends either via email, text message or on social media.
The app shows recently viewed items on the bottom of the page.

Figure 11 The screenshot above showcases recently viewed items on Pretty Little Thing’s mobile app. This feature helps users with comparing items and prices as well as makes it easier for them to go back to specific items they just viewed.

Searching panel works properly. It is easy to find specific items using the searching panel. For example, I searched for “blue woman dress” and all the results were relevant.

Figure 12 Relevant items appeared when I searched for a specific item using the searching panel.

Figure 13 In this screenshot we can read positive user reviews about Pretty Little Thing mobile app.

Customer reviews are mainly positive.

- Pretty Little Thing’s mobile app average customer review on iOS is 4.8 stars out of 5 stars, according to 108K user reviews. Listening to the users of our products and communicating with them can lower the possibility of unexpected errors as well as help us understand customer needs, fixing problems occur and help us in further developing the app. (ihimobileapps.com, 2019)

Figure 14 Pretty Little Thing’s iOS mobile app has a rating of 4.8 stars out of 5. This means, the app is efficient, easy and enjoyable to use.

Weaknesses

Some customer review says the app sometimes gets slow and keeps freezing. I also experienced the same problems.
Pictures are high quality but zooming or enlarging them is not allowed.
Out of stock items are not flagged. If an item is out of stock, it turns out at the checkout.

New Features Users Could Benefit

My chosen organisation: River Island

Already has mobile app?: Yes

Mobile app’s main function: Sells fashion clothes and accessories for men, women and children

Designing new app or improved app for River Island?: Improved

Short Videos

It would be useful to add short videos of items to give customers an idea how the clothes would look on. Showing videos next to photos could give users a better idea about how the clothes look when wearing and in motion.

How Would It Work?

When viewing an item, users can see photos of it from different perspectives. Usually the clothes in those photos are being worn and shown on models. It would be useful for users, however, if they could click on a “Play” button next to the photos and watch a short video about the clothes on models and see how they actually look in reality and in motion.

How users can benefit from Short Videos?

Photos often cannot give a perfect idea for customers about how clothes look when actually being worn. Videos could help customers to get a better idea on this.

Augmented Reality (AR)

The success of Augmented Reality (AR) started with Pokemon Go. Since than AR apps have emerged, and varieties of fields and industries, such as retail or entertainment, started using them. Using the mobile device’s camera, apps with AR are capable of providing immersive experience. (Charlton, G., 2019) “Visual search allows people to search by taking photos of clothing they like to get suggestions for similar items.” (Charlton, G., 2019) Zara and Boohoo are good examples for Augmented Reality.

“Zara launched an Augmented Reality app which allows consumers who have downloaded the Zara AR app to hold up their phones to selected store windows and view items in motion.” (Charlton, G., 2019)

Shopping with mobile apps means customers cannot try the clothes on before purchasing. They cannot see how an item would look on them when wearing. Thus, another great improvement for River Island’s mobile app could be if users standing in front of a mirror could virtually try on the clothes and see how they would look like on them.

How Would it Work?

All users would need, is their smart phone camera and a mirror or a friend to hold the camera. After selecting an item(s) from the menu, users could click on the “Try on” button. By clicking the button, the smart phone’s camera would switch on automatically. Users could either stand in front of a mirror or ask a friend to hold the camera while the application would automatically scan their body and virtually dress them up with the selected clothes to see how the clothes would look like when wearing. Users could change colours of the clothes and take photos and videos that they could even share on social media, email or other platforms.

How users can benefit from Augmented Reality?

Augmented Reality creates a game-link experience for users and boost their shopping experience. Trying on a party dress using a mobile app and a full-length mirror or see Halloween costume in motion for example, is fun and useful at the same time.

Augmented Reality could significantly boost River Island’s customer engagement.

Figure 15 This image showcases how Augmented Reality (AR) could work in real life: the user stands in front of a mirror or ask a friend to hold the smart phone, select the desired clothes from the menu, turn on the camera and see themselves in that clothes. (Photo: Reactive Reality, 2019)

Get Notified When an Item Comes Back in Stock

Notifying customers when an item gets back in stock is a simple but beneficial feature of a mobile app. River Island currently does not have this feature and there are complaints about this in the review of the app.

River Island’s mobile app notifies users if an item is out of stock by a “check stock” button under each item. To improve the app, however, it would be a good idea if customers got notified when an item comes back in stock. Customers could simply hit a “Notify me” button, and if they are registered customers, the app would automatically send them an email notification as soon as the item is back in stock. In case the users has not registered yet, the app would offer them to register.

How Would It Work?

When an item is out of stock, users are notified straight away when they have clicked on the photo of the item: under the photo there could be a notification: “Currently out of stock!” Next to the notification, there could be a “Notify me” button. When clicking on that button a pop-up window would appear informing the user that they will receive an email notification to that email address they had previously given when registering on the mobile app as soon as the item comes back in stock. If the user has not registered yet, the system offers them the option to register.

How users can benefit from getting notified when an item comes back in stock?

This simple notification can boost customer satisfaction and engagement because it saves time for customers. They do not have to search on the app over and over again only to find out the desired item is still out of stock. By getting notified an item is back in stock, customers save time and energy and they can be sure they will never miss an opportunity. This can build trust, satisfaction and engagement.

Design Ideas for River Island Mobile App

Home Page

Figure 16 On the left-hand side: The home page of River Island’s mobile app. I found that

the menu bar at the bottom was confusing: it was not completely clear which pictogram navigates to where. For example, the looking glass pictogram navigates the user to the menu, while the three dots on the left bottom corner navigate to “My Account”.

The arrangement of the photos in the home page were chaotic, making it difficult for users to navigate.

Also, there was no share button that allows users to share the mobile app easily.

On the right-hand side: I built a clear easy-to-understand menu bar at the bottom of the page

to make navigation and searching easier and smooth for users. I redesigned the entire home page: I used one big image for each different menu points. Menu points follow each other in a logical sequence: on the very top there are the actual promotions and offers (in this case: Black Friday), (Pixabay, 2019) followed by “Trending” option (Pixabay, 2019), which shows the most popular seasonal items. The next menu points show the actual seasonal or occasional items (in this case: Christmas), (Pixabay, 2019) followed by the most common menu points, such as “Men”, “Women”, “Children” (although, these menu points are not visible in the picture.)

A search bar is on the top of every page. Visual search is also available.

I have also inserted a share button on the top of the page right next to the brand name. This

appears on every page, allowing users to share the mobile app any time by one click.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Figure 18 These designs are showcasing how Augmented Reality (AR) would look like on River Island’s mobile app. By clicking on “Try Me” button the mobile phone’s camera would open itself automatically. By using a mirror or a asking a friend to hold the camera, the system would scan the customer’s body and shape and dress them up virtually to see how the clothes would look on them. Taking photos and videos would also be allowed, so users could share them with their friends via social media, email or other platforms. While using AR, customers could try the same item in different colours by simply clicking on the available colours on the right-hand side.

This feature is not only beneficial for users who order clothes on mobile app without having a chance to try them beforehand, but also turns the mobile app into a fun game, customers will enjoy using and encourage them to share the experience.

(Photo of Black padded longline faux fur jacket: River Island, 2019)

Viewing a Specific Item

Figure 19 On the left-hand side: This screenshot showcases how a specific item appears in the screen and what options are available for users to learn more about that item. Large images available along with size guide, wish list, share button and check stock.

On the right-hand side: I changed the position of the share button and the wish list button. Instead of placing these buttons on the bottom of the page, I placed them on the image, so users do not have to scroll down to reach these buttons. I also inserted an enlarge button allowing users to take a closer look of the item. Also, there is a “play” button on the top right corner. By clicking this button, users can view a short video about the product.

Along with the size guide, I added a drop-down menu with the available sizes of the product.

I also placed a short description about the item, which users can continue reading by clicking the arrow on the right-hand side. This description not only describes the item, but also give suggestions on how to wear it or what other clothes match with this specific item. (Photo source: Pixabay, 2019)

When an Item is Out of Stock

Figure 20 When an item is out of stock, my redesigned app notifies the user by a “Currently not in stock!” message along with a “Notify me” button. This button allows registered users to get notified by email once the item is back in stock. This saves time and energy for customers as they do not have to check back for the item over and over again. (Photo source: Pixabay, 2019)

REFERENCES

Berkowski G. (2015) YouTube “How to build a Billion Dollar app? | George Berkowski | TEDx City University London” [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwuEwhX1M_M [Accessed 20 November 2019]

ihimobileapps.com (2019) “8 Tips To Make A Successful Mobile App In 2019” [Online] Available at: http://ihimobileapps.com/8-tips-to-make-a-successful-mobile-app-in-2019/ [Accessed 20 November 2019]

Inkbot Design (2019) “7 Key Ingredients of a Successful Mobile App” [Online] Available at: https://inkbotdesign.com/successful-mobile-app/ [Accessed 20 November 2019]

Larizadoh, A. (2013) Forbes “Eight Tips for A Successful App” [Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/avidlarizadeh/2013/07/19/eight-tips-for-a-successful-app/#5656f53753e5 [Accessed 20 November 2019]

Vasquez, J. (2017) Huffpost “10 Qualities of Successful Mobile Apps in Startup Tech Companies” [Online] Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-qualities-of-successfu_b_4391550?guccounter=1 [Accessed 20 November 2019]

Charlton, G. (2019) The UK Domain “See it, snap it, shop it – how apps are changing the world of fashion retail” [Online] Available at: https://www.theukdomain.uk/see-it-snap-it-shop-it-how-apps-are-changing-the-world-of-fashion-retail/ [Accessed 24 November 2019]

Reactive Reality (2019) “Fashion Try On” [Online] Available at: https://www.reactivereality.com/solutions.html [Accessed 12December 2019]

River Island (2019) “Black padded longline faux fur jacket” [Online] Available at: https://www.riverisland.com/p/black-padded-longline-faux-fur-jacket-798440 [Accessed 12 December 2019]

Source of other photos used on redesigned mobile app: https://pixabay.com/

June 28 2019

The Best Examples of Content Marketing in the Travel Industry

Phoenixx Content Marketing, Digital Marketing content marketing, digital marketing, travel industry 9

Hello. In this video I am going to show four excellent examples of content marketing. Two of these examples are video content because video content is more and more popular these days and show no sign of slowing down. According to a recent survey by HubSpot, in 2018 more than half of the customers preferred video content followed by text-based content such as blog post. (HubSpot, 2018)

The first example of effective video content I have chosen is from TravelZoo. TravelZoo is running their own YouTube channel where they share not just visually compelling videos, but also educational and useful video contents. Like this one: “Parent Trap Survival Kit”. Travelling with young kids? We all know how difficult it can be to keep them entertained during a long journey. Well, the answer can be the kids’ own mini suitcase packed with his or her favourite toys and colouring books and…well, whatever they want and like. This video is really useful for parents. Compered to TravelZoo’s some other videos showcasing gorgeous landscapes in Switzerland, for example, this video is really useful for visitors. It solves a common problem parents have to face many times.

(TravelZoo 2015, YouTube)

The next video I have chosen is from lastminute.com. Lasminute.com is the only company among the companies I have analysed that has a cabala animal being used in their campaigns. (Yes, TripAdvisor also have an owl in their logo, but they don’t use it neither in their video campaigns, nor in other format of their contents.) Lasminute.com’s cabala animal is an adventurous flamingo who travels the world, falls in love and takes part in all of the fun no matter what that is. Most of lasminute.com’s videos are around this flamingo being shown during taking selfie in Paris, scuba diving in the Maldives or sightseeing in Rome. The videos’ signature colour is pink, making them immediately recognisable for viewers. The videos like this one below are short, funny, compelling and informative at the same time.

(Facebook, 2019)

My next content is from lastminute.com again. This one is an image being shared on Twitter. This post is advertising lasminute.com’s WhatApp channel and offering 20% off of the next booking if someone subscribes. What makes this post standing out is, the visually compelling image composed for the post. The signature pink colour and the cabala flamingo both appear in the picture but not in an overwhelming or irritating way. The flamingo is rising from a smart phone with a beautiful building behind it, suggesting that the information and the offers lasmunute.com will provide by WhatsApp, are almost tangible. “Add a bit of pink to your day.” – says the speech bubble next to the flamingo.

Lastminute.com’s slogan is: ”Whatever makes you pink”. It means, flamingos aren’t born pink, they turn pink by doing what they love the most: eating shrimps. The slogan, “Whatever makes you pink” encourages latminute.com’s audience to do what they love. Whatever that is. In this case, they say: “Add a bit of pink to your day.” Clever isn’t it?

(Twitter, 2019)

The following content was shared on Twitter by lastminute.com.

(Twitter, 2019)

This is a simple blog post with a simple image and a short text followed by a link to the website. If it’s so simple, what makes it standing out? Take a closer look to the image. It’s a nice picture showcasing a woman taking pictures of a temple in the sunset. Nice warm colours…and something else! Pink! Yes, lastminute.com’s signature pink colour appears in the picture, giving the unmissable touch that makes this simple image unmissably belong to lastminute.com. What other companies use pink as signature colour? Barbie? T-Mobile? Well…not too many, right?

The next thing we have to take a look is the content this post is advertising. It’s a guide. “Where to go in March”. A useful guide for those just have started to think about their Spring holiday. The link navigates us to the actual blog post on lasminute.com’s website.

But what we find there is not just a blog post. Right at the beginning of the blog post we can find a short video to help us visualise the alternative destinations and contains a simple call-to-action at the end. The blog post contains stunning images of the different countries and a brief description of the countries and why to visit them particularly in March.

(lastminute.com, 2019)

The blog post includes links to booking landing pages as well as followed by other related blog posts.

(lastminute.com, 2019)

If I want to compare this social media content to the other social media contents I used as examples in my SlideShare presentation, if I want to explain why I have chosen this one and not something else, I would say because this post contains everything it should contain: compelling image, the company’s signature colour, short, compelling text and a link that navigates to a blog post that really serves, in this case, the second stage of the marketing funnel: consideration.

The other posts I used in my SlideShare presentation were all missing something: for example, Airbnb posted an accommodation to Instagram offered by one of their users. There even were a short description why the accommodation would be a perfect choice and also a couple of nearby available activities were listed. But no further information could be found about how to book it, which month and for how long can it be booked, what’s the price etc.

(Instagram, 2019)

Or TravelZoo posted a beautiful image with a special offer on Twitter but they didn’t provide any further information about that particular country, only a link to the booking page.

(Twitter, 2019)

Content is king. But generating great content will not stand on its own. Content must serve the different stages of the buying journey – awareness, consideration and decision – as well as help audience to solve a problem or educate them about something they need more information about. Even if your content – a good image or video for example – gabs your audience’s attention, it also needs to be valuable to your audience and provide more information for them if they need. A photo of a beautiful accommodation and the list of the available activities nearby is nice. But if you don’t let your audience know how to book it, where it is exactly etc., if they have to dig this information by themselves, they will lose interest. We always have to make sure to give valuable content to our customers which is informative, high quality and serve all the stages of the buying journey.

References

HubSpot (2018) “Content Trends: Preferences Emerge Along Generational Fault Lines” [Online] Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/news-trends/content-trends-preferences#LINK2 [Accessed 13 June 2019]

TravelZoo (2015) YouTube “Travelzoo’s Parent Trap Survival Kits” [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Gu7lLx4YQ [Accessed 13 June 2019]

lastminute.com (2019) “Where to Go in March” [Online] Available at: https://www.lastminute.com/holidays/where-to-go/march.html?acntb=holiday&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_org&utm_campaign=WheretogotoMarch_4032019&utm_content=holidays&utm_term=post_linkpreview [Accessed 13 June 2019]

Sources

https://www.facebook.com/lastminute.com

https://twitter.com/lastminute_com

https://www.instagram.com/airbnb/

https://twitter.com/Travelzoo_UK

June 4 2019

Inbound & Social Media Marketing

Phoenixx Digital Marketing digital marketing, inbound marketing, marketing, social media 0

Waterstones’ and The Westminster Collection’s Approach to Inbound Marketing

Waterstones

Clear and logical headings and subheadings with logical subcategories
High-quality images on the website
Variety of call-to-actions (CTA) about new book launches, competitions etc. to attract users’ attention and arouse curiosity
Searching panel is highly visible to search for specific products or information
‘Help’, ‘FAQ’ and Contact pages can easily be found, and contact details are categorised, for example: Event Tickets, Press Office, Book Shops etc.
Regular compelling blog posts with specific CTAs
Opportunity for registered users to rate and comment books and blogs
Regular newsletter with videos, images and CTAs
Waterstones are active on all of the most popular social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. Social media icons appear on the website
One-click buttons available next to every product and event to share
The website is optimised to mobile and tablet
‘Waterstones Plus’ programme to enjoy exclusive offers and benefits
Both short and long-tailed keywords are used to optimise the website
Social media channels are updated regularly with compelling contents such as blog posts, videos, podcasts and images
Use cross-link reference
Use geosocial networks for link building

Figure 1: Main page of Waterstones’ website showcasing clear navigation panel, call-to-action, high-quality image and a searching bar. (Waterstones, 2019)

Figure 2: Logical subcategories make navigation easier for users highlighting the most popular books and authors as well as allowing visitors to search by age groups or even characters. (Waterstones, 2019)

Figure 3: Social media icons can easily be found on Waterstones’ website. (Waterstones, 2019)

Figure 4: One-click social media icons can be found next to each product and blog post on Waterstones’ website allowing users to share the page instantly on their own social media channels. (Waterstones, 2019)

Figure 5: Call-to-action and user comments under a recent blog post on Waterstones’ website. (Waterstones, 2019)

Figure 6: ‘Waterstone Plus’ programme offers exclusive benefits for registered users and students. (Waterstones, 2019)

Figure 7: An author linked Waterstones in one of his posts on Facebook. (Facebook, 2018)

Figure 8: Neatly categorised compelling pinboards on Waterstones’ Pinterest page. (Pinterest, 2019)

Figure 9: Waterstones’ YouTube channel is regularly updated with compelling contents such as interviews with authors, vlogs, book launches and reviews. Playlists are also created with interesting topics such as ‘Food, Drink and Healthy Living’. (YouTube, 2019)

Figure 10: Compelling blog posts with keywords in their titles. (Waterstones, 2019)

The Westminster Collection

Clear, logical headings, subheadings and categorisation on the website
High-quality photos on the website
Mostly vendor provided CTAs throughout the website
Recommendations based on registered user preferences
Searching panel available on every page
Customer service, contact details and ‘FAQ’ are easy to find and varieties of contact details are available. Facebook messenger is embedded in the website
Regular, categorised and compelling blog posts with tags on the website. Registered users are allowed to comment
Regular newsletter with images, embedded videos and simple CTAs
The Westminster Collection are active on all of the most popular social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snap Chat. Social media icons appear on the website as well as one-click icons next to the products
Most of the social media channels are regularly updated with compelling original posts, images and videos to generate conversations
Actively use hashtags, share and retweet other users’ posts
The website is optimised to mobile and tablet
Short and long-tailed specific keywords are used on their website and social media channels, however, the website not always appears on the first page of Google

Figure 11: Clear and logical heading and categories make navigation easy on The Westminster Collection’s website. (The Westminster Collection, 2019)

Figure 12: The website shows recommendations to registered users based on their previous purchases and interests. (The Westminster Collection, 2019)

Figure 13: Several call-to-actions appear on the website’s main page. The latest news and blog posts are highlighted under the main heading. (The Westminster Collection, 2019)

Figure 14: High-quality videos and images show all the significant details of the products on The Westminster Collection’s website. (The Westminster Collection, 2019)

Figure 15: The Westminster Collection deliver regular compelling blog posts on their website to generate conversations. The blog posts are tagged and categorised. Registered users are allowed to comment on each blog posts. Specific CTA appears under each blog post. (The Westminster Collection, 2019)

Figure 16: Regular newsletters are sent by email to promote an offer, for example: to announce the newest coins, blog posts and stamps. The newsletters come with high-quality images, varieties of CTAs and social media icons. The newsletters, however, are neither based on users’ previous purchases or interests nor tailored to different buying personas.

Figure 17: Social media icons appear on the website as well as one-click icons next to each product allowing users to share the content immediately on their own social media platforms. (The Westminster Collection, 2019)

Figure 18: Pay-per-click (PPC) advert on Facebook, showcasing a ‘The First Man on the Moon’ commemorative medal. This advert reminds the targeted audience that the medal is still available for their collections. Similar adverts often navigate the prospects to a landing page giving a special offer, for example: discount or no parcel-and-package (P&P) charge.

Figure 19: The Westminster Collection are able to generate conversations on social media and often participate in them by answering questions or making suggestions. (Instagram, 2019)

Strength and Weaknesses of the Inbound Marketing Approach Used by Each Organisation

Waterstones

Strengths

Clear, professional and easy to navigate website even to first-time users
‘Help’, FAQ and contact details are all in one click away
Chatbot available on the website
Searching panel available on every page
High-quality images illustrate the products all over the website
Registered users can rate and comment on the books
The website contains a blog page which is updated regularly and contain CTAs that are normally a link to a specific book and/or other related books
Active on all of the major social media channels, generating regular compelling original contents and participate in conversations
Wide variety of contents on social media channels such as videos (interviews with authors, book reviews), images, podcasts, polls etc.
Share and retweet other users’ posts and cross-reference, link and mention authors regularly in their posts to contribute a better SEO
CTAs are always used at the end of each post
Regular email campaigns to promote an offer or event
‘Waterstones Plus’ programme offers benefits to those who register

Weaknesses

No contents available on the website other than images and text
Wide variety of contents are available on Waterstones’ social media channels only
Seldom use hashtags in social media posts
Mostly use basic CTAs on their website, newsletters and the social media channels (buy now, pre-order now)
Newsletters are neither tailored to different buyer personas nor to each of the stages of the buying journey

The Westminster Collection

Strengths

The website is clear and easy-to-navigate
A searching panel helps users to find specific items
Simple CTAs appear on the main page along with the highlighted latest blog posts
Product recommendations for registered users on the main page of the website based on their previous purchases and interests
Regular compelling blog posts on the website with images, videos and CTAs
High-quality images and videos to showcase the products on all over the websites
Images and videos are being shared on The Westminster Collection’s social media channels
The Westminster Collection is active on most of their social media channels
Posting and sharing original contents and generating conversations in which actively participate in
Social media icons are available on the website along with instant icons next to each product
Hashtags and cross-referencing are regularly used on all of the social media channels
Regular newsletters sent to registered users
Newsletters usually deliver an image or video and simple CTAs
The website is mobile and tablet compatible

Weaknesses

No opportunity to sign up for a newsletter without registering on the website
The newsletters are not tailored to different buyer personas or to the stages of the buying journey
Not active on all of their social media channels: YouTube was last updated three months ago
No chatbot or live chat services available
Long-tailed and specific keywords are moderately used to keep the website optimised: as a result, the website does not always appear on the first page on Google

Which Organisation Was Best at Inbound Marketing and Why?

Based on my research I found that both of the organisations deliver strong inbound marketing strategy and leverage their useful and compelling contents. Both of the organisations have strong online presence and strong social media activity.

Having learnt more about the organisations’ inbound marketing approach, I found that Waterstones was best in inbound marketing compered to The Westminster Collection.

Why?

I have found that Waterstones’ website is clearer and more professional compered to The Westminster Collection’s website. On Waterstones’ website users have more opportunity to share their opinions by rating the books and blog posts or start conversations.

Waterstones provide multiply contact details on their website: different telephone numbers for customers within the UK and outside the UK, chatbot and other categorised contact details related to gift cards, events or ‘Waterstones Plus’ programme.

Waterstones use a wide variety of content on social media: video interviews, video book reviews, podcasts, images and interesting stories about authors and publishers in history.

‘Waterstones Plus’ programme offers a variety of benefits to prospects to enjoy, for example, discount tickets to author events or unique, no-purchase-necessary prize draws. Student discount also available.

Waterstones are active on all of the social media channels they use and fill them up with attractive and interesting contents such as categorised pinboards on Pinterest, playlists on YouTube or sneak peek into a new audiobook on Facebook.

Waterstones successfully use short, long-tailed and specific keywords for better search engine ranking.

Waterstones has significantly more followers on all of the social media channels than The Westminster Collection, thanks to their well-structured inbound marketing and SEO strategy.

Examples of How Each Organisation Could Improve Its Inbound Marketing

Waterstones

Use specific hashtags in their social media posts to reach audience more effectively
Tailor their email campaigns to different buyer personas and audience on different stages of the buying journey
Use a wider variety of contents on their website
Use a wider variety of CTAs on their website, social media channels and email campaigns
More PPC campaigns on social media channels
Use landing pages created to different buyer personas and different stages of the buying journey

The Westminster Collection

Use more content on their website around keywords
Use a wider variety of contents on their website
Allow prospects to sign up to newsletter without having to register on the website
Tailor their email campaigns to different buyer personas and audience on different stages of the buying journey
Update all of their social media channels regularly
Link and mention other social media users in their posts
Share and retweet more from other relevant social media users

References

Figure 1 – Waterstones (2019) Main Page [Online] Available at: https://www.waterstones.com/ [Accessed 30 April 2019]

Figure 2 – Waterstones (2019) Main Page [Online] Available at: https://www.waterstones.com/ [Accessed 30 April 2019]

Figure 3 – Waterstones (2019) Main Page [Online] Available at: https://www.waterstones.com/ [Accessed 30 April 2019]

Figure 4 – Waterstones (2019) ‘Losing Earth: The Decade We Could Have Stopped Climate Change (Hardback) Nathaniel Rich (author)’ [Online] Available at: https://www.waterstones.com/book/losing-earth/nathaniel-rich/9781529015829 [Accessed 08 May 2019]

Figure 5 – Waterstones (2019) ‘The Waterstones Interview: Pat Barker on The Silence of the Girls’ [Online] Available at: https://www.waterstones.com/blog/the-interview-pat-barker-on-the-silence-of-the-girls [Accessed 08 May 2019]

Figure 6 – Waterstones (2019) Waterstones Plus Programme [Online] Available at: https://www.waterstones.com/plus [Accessed 08 May 2019]

Figure 7 – Facebook (2018) Author Robert Galbraith [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/CormoranStrikeNovelsOfficial/ [Accessed 08 May 2019]

Figure 8 – Pinterest (2019) Waterstones’ Pinterest Page [Online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/waterstones/ [Accessed 08 May 2019]

Figure 9 – YouTube (2019) Waterstones’ YouTube Channel [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/Waterstonescom/featured [Accessed 08 May 2019]

Figure 10 – Waterstones (2019) Blog [Online] Available at: https://www.waterstones.com/blog [Accessed 08 May 2019]

Figure 11 – The Westminster Collection (2019) Main Page [Online] Available at: https://www.westminstercollection.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8brl16eO4gIVy0PTCh0W3gXCEAAYASAAEgJc_vD_BwE [Accessed 09 May 2019]

Figure 12 – The Westminster Collection (2019) Main Page [Online] Available at: https://www.westminstercollection.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8brl16eO4gIVy0PTCh0W3gXCEAAYASAAEgJc_vD_BwE [Accessed 09 May 2019]

Figure 13 – The Westminster Collection (2019) Main Page [Online] Available at: https://www.westminstercollection.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8brl16eO4gIVy0PTCh0W3gXCEAAYASAAEgJc_vD_BwE [Accessed 09 May 2019]

Figure 14 – The Westminster Collection (2019) ‘The First Ever Spherical Shaped Moon Coin’ [Online] Available at: https://www.westminstercollection.com/p-W145/The-Moon-Landing-50th-Anniversary-Spherical-Coin.aspx [Accessed 09 May 2019]

Figure 15 – The Westminster Collection (2019) Blog Page [Online] Available at: https://blog.westminstercollection.com/category/royalty/ [Accessed 09 May 2019]

Figure 16 – The Westminster Collection (2019) Daily Newsletter Being Sent to My Inbox [Online] Available at: Once a new user registered on The Westminster Collection’s website [Accessed 09 May 2019]

Figure 17 – The Westminster Collection (2019) ‘Faith, Love, Hope, and Luck – send Good Luck to your loved one today’ [Online] Available at: https://www.westminstercollection.com/p-432P/Good-Luck-Gold-Plated-Medal.aspx [Accessed 09 May 2019]

Figure 18 – Facebook (2019) Sponsored PPC Advert [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/westminstercollection/ [Accessed 09 May 2019]

Figure 19 – Instagram (2019) The Westminster Collection’s Instagram Profile [Online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwm3nNyC9fO/ [Accessed 09 May 2019]

June 4 2019

Evolution of Digital Marketing

Phoenixx Digital Marketing digital marketing, internet, marketing, social media 0

Interned has revolutionised not only communication, but our everyday lives. The time of using Internet has significantly increased over the past few years and show no signs of slowing down.

Nowadays Internet has more than 2.5 billion users worldwide and has revolutionised media consumption, accelerated user connection through instant messages, online forums and social networks and reshaped buying habits as well as traditional communications such as television, film and music. (Statista, 2019)

Consumers have access to Internet through different devices for example laptop, tablet or smart phone. Smart phone was the primary device for 77% of British adults in 2017, at the same time however, the usage of computers and tables showed decrease. (Consumer Barometer, 2017)

(Hootsuite, 2019)

An interesting fact that, in 2018, 99% of British adults were internet users. (Office for National Statistics, 2018)

Consumers now can rate the products and services they have bought using online platforms or even create their own stories around a product or service to share, influencing one another.

Almost 70% of buying journey is now completed digitally! (Demerjian, S., 2019)

But consumers don’t buy only physical goods on the Internet. They also download contents such as music, e-book or film, and use online gaming platforms. Video games and mobile games are the largest segments in digital media and expected to show significant increase in the future.

This trend has led marketers to increase their digital marketing budget and advertise more on social media channels, involving social media influencers, share more video contents and use e-commerce.

E-commerce is particularly strong in China and the UK. (Wood, S., Ipsos, 2018)

The largest segment in the e-commerce market has been Fashion, followed by Electronics & Media and Toys, Hobbies & DIY. Even food & personal care retailers, which is currently the smallest group in e-commerce, have started to discover the potential in offering online grocery shopping to their customers. (Statista, 2019) Just think of Tesco or Sainsbury’s online shopping delivery service or Ocado, the world largest online grocery retailer. Ocado don’t have physical stores at all. They offer home delivery of groceries from warehouses.

(Statista, 2019)

Social media has made a huge impact on marketing since it’s the easiest way to target and reach millions of potential customers. Almost half of the social media users use these channels to search for and buy new products and services.

The two most effective ways to reach audience digitally today are: influencer marketing and video marketing.

In this year, 80% of marketers found influencer marketing effective. Influencer marketing has been growing rapidly in the recent years. (mediakix, 2019) Nowadays, there are platforms on the Internet that are specialised in finding top influencers of different brands, products or services, for example Apple influencers, health & fitness influences, travel influencers and so on.

(mediakix, 2019)

In case of video marketing, more than 80% of marketers reported that video marketing has been more and more important. (Carter, J., 2019) Half of the customers reported that they got engaged with a brand after watching a video on social media, and another 50% of consumers find it important to see a video before purchasing a product. (Brightcove, 2018) The vast majority of video contents are published on social media channels and YouTube. (Carter, J. 2018) An impressive 93% of marketers reported that they gained new customers thanks to social media video advertising. (Carter, J. 2019) In 2019 more than half of the marketers are planning to increase their budget on video marketing in the next 12 months. Video contents, however, are used on other platforms such as landing pages or in emails. (Carter, J. 2019)

(Hootsuite, 2019)

To sum up, Internet has revolutionised not only our everyday lives, but marketing as well. Today, it is crucial for a business to utilise digital marketing techniques and channels to reach potential customers and gain audience.

SlideShare Presentation

References

Brightcove (2018) ‘New Research from Brightcove Finds Video Content Impacts Product and Service Purchases, Particularly by Millennial Consumers’ [Online] Available at: https://www.brightcove.com/en/company/press/new-research-brightcove-finds-video-content-impacts-product-and-service-purchases-particularly- [Accessed 07 April 2019]

Carter, J. (2018) ‘Video content for marketing is more important than ever’ [Online] Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-platforms/video-marketing/video-content-marketing-more-important/ [Accessed 07 April 2019]

Carter, J. (2019) ‘Video marketing statistics to know for 2019’ [Online] Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-platforms/video-marketing/video-marketing-statistics-to-know/ [Accessed 07 April 2019]

Consumer Barometer (2017) ‘Which, if any, of the following devices do you currently use?’ [Online] Available at: https://www.consumerbarometer.com/en/graph-builder/?question=M1&filter=country:united_kingdom [Accessed 05 April 2019]

Demerjian, S., (2019) (2019) ‘Understanding Buyer Motivation: Getting More of Your Ecommerce Customers to Checkout’ [Online] Available at: https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/buyer-motivation/#4-ways-to-look-for-buyer-motives [Accessed 04 April 2019]

Mediakix (2019) ‘Influencer Marketing 2019: Key Statistics From Our Influencer Marketing Survey’ [Online] Available at: http://mediakix.com/influencer-marketing-industry-statistics-survey-benchmarks/#gs.3zxgy1 [Accessed 06 April 2019]

Office for National Statistics (2018) ‘Internet users, UK: 2018’ [Online] Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/itandinternetindustry/bulletins/internetusers/2018 [Accessed 04 April 2019]

Statista (2019) ‘E-commerce’ [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/outlook/243/100/ecommerce/worldwide?currency=gbp [Accessed 05 April 2019]

Statista (2019) ‘Internet – Statistics and Market Data about the Internet’ [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/markets/424/internet/ [Accessed 04 April 2019]

Wood, S. Ipsos (2018) ‘The Evolution of Shopper Behaviour’ [Online] Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/publication/documents/2018-05/ipsos-views-evolution-of-shopper-behaviour-2018.pdf [Accessed 04 April 2019]

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Learn How TikTok Algorithm Works

Factors That Matter

What Influences TikTok Algorithm

#Hashtags

#Captions

#Trending Songs

#Video Content & Editing

#Location

Know Your Audience

How do you know when is the best time to post?

What Takes a Good TikTok Video

Be Consistent

Allow Duets

Find Your Superpower

Keep It Short

Make Video Series

Choose Popular Music

Work with Influencers

Create Hashtag Challenge

Collab with Celebrities

Be Authentic – Use UGC

Embrace New Features

TikTok Social Commerce Coming Soon

Jump on Trends

Engage with Your Audience

Host Live Events

Advertise

Measure Your Success

REFERENCES

Why is UGC so Powerful?

UGC Best Practices

Partner with Nano and Micro Influencers

Influencer Partnerships

Embrace Diversity

Employees as Influencers

Determine the Purpose of UGCs

Collab with Other Brands

Be Authentic

Build Community

UGC Should Educate, Entertain or Inform Your Audience

Two Rules to Keep in Mind Before Sharing UGC

Creative UGC Campaign Ideas You Can Integrate Into Your Marketing Strategy Right Now

UGC Focused Contests

Share Product Reviews

Social Channel Takeover

Use Branded Templates

Retarget Interested Audience with Advert

Measure Your Success

What is Social Shopping?

Instagram

How to Create Shoppable Post on Instagram

Alternatively…

Some Great Examples of Shoppable Instagram Posts

Facebook

Examples of Shoppable Content on Facebook

Pinterest

Conclusion

References

A Brief Introductory Overview

Capability Audit

Area of Digital Marketing

Score

Note

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

General Review of 2 Popular Mobile App