Awareness is a cognitive process, and brand awareness is the first step in the process of a customer becoming aware of your brand, meaning it is of paramount importance.

In simple terms, it is the extent to which customers can recall or recognise a brand, whether aided or unaided.

Using big brands such as Coca Cola or McDonalds is an easy way to illustrate this; no matter if somebody has never tried a can of Coke or a Big Mac, they are still likely to know about these large brands. Companies such as these have a huge brand awareness, and are most likely a rather large part of consumer’s lives.

Brand awareness can enable you to cater your product to your audience, embedding it into their everyday lives and habits. It creates trust and association.

How is brand awareness measured?

There are a number of metrics which are used to measure brand awareness. You are likely to have used them yourself if you’re aiming to measure brand health. These are known collectively as Awareness, Attitudes and Usage (AAU) metrics.

These are some examples of AAU metric testing:

• Spontaneous (or unaided) awareness: A measure of how many respondents – expressed in percentage – can quote a brand name without any assistance.

• Prompted (or aided) awareness: The percentage of respondents who claim to have seen a brand or advertisement after being shown stimulus.

Surveys are typically used to measure brand awareness, and are carried out on a sample of consumers, asking about their knowledge of a brand or category.

Customers are not likely to proceed with purchasing a product unless they are aware of a product category and a brand within said category. Brand awareness does not necessarily mean that a consumer will be able to recall a specific name, but they must be able to recall it through distinguishing features.

A consumer’s ability to recall a brand can be a predictor of a brand’s success. Brand awareness is strengthened by associations such as a customer’s evaluation of a brand and their perceived quality of it.

To properly ensure a brand or product’s success, awareness levels must be measured across the entire life-cycle.

Although brand awareness is not a metric that can be specifically measured on a day-to-day basis, this doesn’t mean it isn’t something you’re thinking about regularly.

How can you increase brand awareness?

To ensure brand awareness, a content strategy which focuses on improving customer satisfaction and advertising should be a focus.

Establishing and maintaining a positive relationship with your customers is absolutely key. Ease of use in terms of your products, as well as excellent customer service are obvious ways of doing this.

Storytelling is a less obvious way of doing so. If you have an interesting background or a story behind the setup of your business/product that you think will inspire people – tell them.

Consumers are more likely to engage with and remember brands who are personable and approachable – they want something they can latch onto.

It may be a vague way of determining brand success, but brand awareness is definitely not one to sweep under the rug. It really is quite simple when you think about it, and hopefully the techniques you are already hopeful about implementing will aid you in increasing your brand awareness anyway.

The post WTF is Brand Awareness? appeared first on PerformanceIN.

How can I prepare my brand to work with content sites?

Brand awareness and size

Generally speaking, content sites are looking to work with brands that have established their marketing touchpoints and have built a recognisable brand through the use of those touchpoints. The marketing rule of seven touchpoints to conversion continues to reign as king, meaning if a brand has existing digital content that is driving consumers through the buyers’ funnel, content sites are more likely to agree to a partnership. This is important because it increases the probability of a consumer landing on the content partner’s article. To ensure a content partnership fits seamlessly within the conversion funnel, marketers may provide the partner with a promotion to include within the article, enticing the consumer to continue moving towards a purchase.

Promotions

If a marketer is new to the affiliate marketing space and doesn’t offer promotions to partners, the likelihood of content sites wanting to write about that brand become slim to none. Content sites need a call to action, and promotions or discounts typically prove to be the best at converting. Therefore, it is highly recommended that brands who are interested in working with content sites provide promotions to offer their readers. In doing so, it draws in greater traffic for the  partner, attracts the consumer, and helps to drive a higher ROI for the marketer.

Commission thresholds

When looking to onboard content partners, marketers should anticipate the need for flexibility with their commission rates, both on a Cost per Action (CPA) and revshare model. As a general rule of thumb, content sites typically request higher commission rates than mid and lower-funnel partners; this is largely due to the fact that upper-funnel partners are less likely to receive last-click attribution, so a higher commission compensates for potentially not being paid out on the sale, in addition to the level of effort that goes into writing specific branded content. If a brand is not willing to be flexible with commission thresholds, content sites will likely go elsewhere. 

Consumer reviews

Content sites will often consider a brand’s online presence and consumer reviews prior to considering a partnership. Sources such as Trustpilot and Better Business Bureau are crucial to the health of a brand’s online reviews; if sites such as these are touting negative reviews of a brand, content sites will usually avoid that partnership. However, even if a brand’s reviews aren’t exactly stellar, that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. 

If a brand is new to the space or needs to boost existing ratings, partnering with review sites like Trustpilot and others can work with brands to create a strategy to increase their ratings. Doing well by consumers generally drives ratings to be positive but it’s imperative for brands to be proactive when it comes to reviews. By establishing regular outreach to consumers post-purchase, brands have the opportunity to catch and remedy poor user experiences before they become negative reviews. 

Content calendar

Promotional or content calendars are a great way for marketers to entice content partners to write about their brand. By providing the partner with something fresh and newsworthy to write about up-front, marketers remove an extra layer of work for the partner, giving them a leg up on competitors who may not have prepared as thoroughly. Whether it’s a new collaboration, an exciting product launch, or seasonal promotions, content partners appreciate this level of visibility and being able to plan their editorial calendars accordingly. 

Why content partnerships are only a piece of a successful marketing strategy

Content partners largely serve the purpose of increasing brand awareness and driving consumers into the buyer’s funnel because traditional affiliate programs typically run on a last-click attribution model. However, depending on a marketer’s goals, there are additional attribution models that can be implemented to partner more heavily with content sites. If a marketer is solely working with content partners on a last-click model, the likelihood of their consumers converting is exponentially lower than a marketer who utilises a holistic approach to performance marketing. It’s a misconception of many marketers that working with content sites will lead directly to customer conversions.

Integrating a full-funnel strategy is essential to driving consumers to convert on a brand’s product or service. By employing mid and lower-funnel partners, such as coupon and loyalty sites, in addition to upper-funnel partners, consumers remain engaged throughout the entire buyers’ journey.

Upper-funnel partnerships like content sites are only the first step in creating a full-funnel performance strategy. By implementing a full-funnel strategy, marketers can put themselves and their affiliate programs in a much stronger position for success.

Looking to get involved with content partners? Reach out to Perform[cb] Agency now to get started!

The post How to Work with Content Sites in Affiliate Marketing appeared first on PerformanceIN.

The industry consensus is that a sale delivered or influenced by a content source is of a higher quality than perhaps other publisher types. Consumer data across industries suggest content publishers drive a higher lifetime value (LTV) or a higher new customer rate. 

The content strategy

The long-term value and purpose of a content-led approach is that the affiliate channel will support the digital marketing efforts of the brand. A sound content strategy should be aligned with search engine optimisation (SEO) and paid marketing (PPC) channels. This is because the aim for affiliate activity is to feature within search engine results page (SERP) results on Google. The content is then strategically positioned within keyword searches, which can deliver an increase in “share of voice” and ultimately market share to the business. 

From an affiliate point of view, the content created will peak in the short term as their loyal audience browses and clicks to purchase. However, it is an evergreen content piece, which acquires a new audience for both the affiliate and the client in the long term. 

Playing the long game

So, how do you ensure your brand is in a position to land as many of those high-quality sales as possible? The ideal scenario is to see brands forge long-term relationships with content publishers, both big and small, global, national and localised. This relationship includes assistance in optimising their content and site to best appeal to the audience they are looking to reach. It’s a ‘you help me and I’ll help you’ approach.

For bloggers or smaller, independent content sites, it might be the case that optimising their content for more specific search terms isn’t something they’ve considered when writing previously. Often, their creative voice takes the lead instead. It’s important for brands to provide guidance and assistance in the phrases, terms and buzzwords their content should include, in order for it to be successful.

This likely isn’t the name of the product itself, but those smaller more specific terms you want to be associated with your product. It could even be to optimise content to find its way into search results for things you can’t as a brand say. For example, say that the Duchess of Cambridge wears a dress from your brand, but this isn’t something you want your site to be publically basking in. Here is where your content partners can truly assist; littering search results with seeded content featuring the dress and the fact it was worn by the Duchess. Your dress finds a home in the search terms you yourself (the brand) wouldn’t want to be seen directly promoting.

How it works in practice

When The Ambassador Theatre group came to Silverbean over six years ago, their brief was to create a market leading affiliate programme which increased market share and with strong ROI. The group consists of ATG Tickets (the box office of over 40 venues across the UK) and LOVEtheatre (a ticketing agent for London West End). 

The ATG Tickets site was well placed to rank for key terms. However, Silverbean saw an opportunity to stand out against the competition and increase the brand’s share of voice in the theatre conversation by moving their program firmly towards content publishers. The strategy would look to dominate search results for secondary terms, specific show titles, top things to do in X city, or top shows in London and so on.  

An example of this is utilising The Times to review Wicked on the West End, The Mirror creating ‘the top 10 shows to see on the West End’, ‘Top 10 family shows’ etc. In addition to this, the agency worked closely with regional publishers for ‘what’s on in X city’ pieces and so on. All of these examples solve user problems through search (often tapping into high volume searches too), and direct the user back to the Ambassador Theatre Group. 

The results

Last year saw the release of one of the West End’s most hotly anticipated shows, 4000 Miles, starring Timothée Chalamet, one of Hollywood’s most in-demand stars. LOVEtheatre, part of The Ambassador Theatre Group, was allocated a number of tickets for the show’s general on-sale date. This meant coming up against some of the industry’s biggest players looking to sell their allotted tickets at exactly the same time. How could Silverbean ensure customers visited ATG for their purchase?

Most of the work had already been done through the six-year content-led strategy. This had seen the ticketing group partner with, and support, publishers in ensuring their content ranked well for key terms, such as the show title. These mutual partnerships bear fruit for both affiliate and brand each time the publisher’s site delivers a converting customer to the ATG Tickets or LOVEtheatre sites. 

For 4000 Miles this meant that the point of on sale, the terms ‘Timothée Chalamet West End’, ‘Timothée Chalamet Play’ and ‘Timothée Chalamet 4000 Miles’ returned top articles from The Times, Metro, List and Elle – all of which directed customers to the LOVEtheatre site.

Those key terms were dominated by content the team placed, in turn making LOVEtheatre the preferred option over competitors, translating simply into a high volume of revenue.

As networks continue to develop the means for brands to better understand the influence of content on an eventual sale, affiliate and digital managers are able to truly evaluate its value. Software as a service (SaaS) platforms have developed sophisticated models to display the touch points along that customer journey from inspiration to purchase, opening up the ability for brands to reward and invest in publishers who strike-up the inspiration for a sale. This type of model isn’t new as attribution has been something long-discussed. It is, however, the closest brands, affiliates and agencies have come to seeing the full picture of a purchase.

This insight helps Silverbean to define a fully bespoke commission structure for clients. Affiliate managers can reward the most influential affiliates (yet who often don’t earn commission on a last, or even second-from-last click basis) with a higher cost per acquisition (CPA) for those sales they do instantly convert. Its assistance helps managers understand where to place budget for paid exposures, to ensure the maximum revenue and return on investment, is invaluable. 

Strategically aligned content marketing

A solid content approach for a brand needs to be strategically aligned with other search channels. Working together, your brand can identify strategic search terms that affiliates, if advised well, can rank for and deliver value to the business. 

The relationship between the brand and the affiliate needs to be mutually beneficial and transparent. Education and support are key in order to execute the strategy in the long term. Each affiliate adds value in the puzzle for a content-led campaign; the key is to understand the potential for each affiliate in relation to each specific search term. 

Strategically, brands need a balance of publisher sizes in order to cater for various search results and search competition levels. But ultimately, this content-first approach enables both quick wins and long-term revenue success for both parties.

The post How to Enhance Your Performance Programme With Content Marketing appeared first on PerformanceIN.

After two years of media quality scandals, businesses are seeking more than baseline brand safety; they want brand suitability. And many are looking to Trusted Marketplaces: publisher networks that maximise quality by following strict benchmarks, going beyond brand safety, viewability, and ad fraud fundamentals, as well as ad experience, formatting, and data access.

And given the variability of digital content, such strict vetting has significant appeal. With low barriers to entry for content creation driving a flood of fake news, Trusted Marketplaces are an effective way of ensuring media meets the expectations and objectives of brand marketers. 

Why media quality still matters 

Every business wants its ads to appear beside suitable content. As Jimmy Carr put it during this year’s Advertising Week Europe: “You don’t want to be advertising on Pornhub if you are Mothercare.” This need isn’t purely driven by the urge to avoid potential brand damage; it’s also fuelled by the challenges of connecting with discerning digital audiences. 

Today’s consumers are sensitive to the perceived value of brands: 53% would rather buy from companies that reflect their unique values and beliefs, and a similar number reported abandoning a brand based on these views. And this means ad placements must complement the principles of each brand and their audience to achieve meaningful engagement, and desired business outcomes. 

The internet, however, is an unpredictable environment where inappropriate content can spread quickly. Take, for example, the New Zealand terror attack in March 2019. Inside 24 hours, YouTube was grappling with a deluge of related videos — added at a rate of one per second — and within a few days, Facebook removed 1.5 million uploads. Though an extreme instance, the atrocity illustrates the difficulties of keeping ads away from unsuitable material at scale and shows why there is a growing appetite for greater control of media buying and interest in Trusted Marketplaces. 

The ingredients of a successful Trusted Marketplaces

Increased enthusiasm for Trusted Marketplaces operated by brands directly may be new, but the concept isn’t. In fact, pioneer Xaxis first launched its model in 2016, in response to calls for higher quality, fraud-free, and 100% viewable media — a move that pre-empted the demand for higher media standards that would follow the big brand safety scandals of 2017. Since then, the desire to ensure media is trustworthy and of high quality has continued to grow. 

Efficient implementation requires sizeable resources, and few have the leverage and close relationships with publishers to create this infrastructure. It is essential to maintain scale so that imposing stringent criteria doesn’t also limit advertising reach and potential.

As a result, creating a scalable Trusted Marketplace remains an enterprise that only larger agencies can realistically undertake.

Why dedicated trading expertise still matters

Defining the parameters of a Trusted Marketplace, based on specific business objectives, is a complex task that requires the advanced skills of data scientists, software engineers, and automation specialists. After all, they aren’t simple whitelists; they are complex structures that need to be carefully installed and customised. So, in much the same way that a hotelier would employ skilled architects and engineers to plan and build new premises, brands constructing a Trusted Marketplace should work with agencies which have the expertise and publisher network to deliver the right result. 

As well as publisher connections, and highly skilled teams, agencies should also enact rigorous monitoring of media environments and enable genuine third-party verification to ensure zero tolerance for ad fraud and high viewability standards that go well beyond the basic IAB requirements. The secure environment associated with a Trusted Marketplace will facilitate the best possible return on investment for marketers — and in turn, deliver actual business outcomes.

In the volatile digital environment, the competitive advantage belongs to brands that sustain a trustworthy image and in turn, consumer confidence. So, to keep reputation intact and revenue high, marketers must look to agency partners with the expertise and publisher relationships to make Trusted Marketplaces a reality.   

The post Are Trusted Marketplaces the Right Solution to Ensure Media Quality? appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Leading data provider of natural language processing (NLP) cognitive semantic-based solutions, ADmantX has announced a strategic partnership with The Ozone Project following a competitive pitch. The data provider will utilise its advanced contextual classification capabilities to help the publisher-owned advertising and audience platform understand the context of its publishers’ content at page-level.
 
By partnering with ADmantX, The Ozone Project, a joint venture from News UK, The Guardian News and Media, The Telegraph and Reach plc, will develop a precise understanding of its publishers content at page-level, beyond the domain and irrespective of an individual publisher’s content structure. ADmantX’s NLP technology reads content in the same way a human does, detecting the subtle changes in context that can completely change the meaning of words on a page, offering an unrivalled accuracy in contextual targeting.
 
In today’s complex environment, relying solely on keywords as a basis for contextual understanding often leaves too much room for error, meaning large swathes of publishers’ inventory are misclassified which has a significant impact on both a marketer’s and publisher’s ROI. By applying an advanced NLP technology, The Ozone Project will be able to categorise its inventory with a greater degree of accuracy for effective, scaled audience segmentation and contextual targeting.
 
The Ozone Project ran a rigorous review of supplier performance which used human-review to score the accuracy of each supplier’s contextual classification across a large sample of publisher content. The test was decisive; Ozone found ADmantX to be 42% more accurate than the next best provider which demonstrates the strength of its NLP-based technology.
 
The partnership sees ADmantX’s technology has become an important component in The Ozone Project’s wider audience infrastructure of which ADmantX will deliver enrichment across semantic categories, industry verticals categories, entities (people, places, products and organisations), emotions and sentiment.
 
“We are delighted to be working with The Ozone Project to help fuel its targeting capabilities. It has never been more important for publishers to look from within to build compelling data propositions that will naturally attract more quality advertisers, by leveraging its greatest assets: content and knowledge of its audience,” said Nick Welch, VP sales and business development, UK and North EU at ADmantX.
 
“Today advertisers face increasing pressure to compete for consumer attention. At The Ozone Project, we understand the importance of harnessing the power of first-party audience data to help advertisers build effective, targeted digital campaigns that deliver incredible ROI. After extensive head to head testing, ADmantX was selected based on the quality of its contextual understanding. Their quality, range of data features and ability to support our need for customisation lends itself incredibly well to our business objectives,” added Danny Spears, commercial director of The Ozone Project.

The post The Ozone Project Partners with ADmantX to Power Publishers’ Content appeared first on PerformanceIN.

In the ever-changing world of SEO focuses on driving more traffic can leave your brand’s site trailing the competition. There are a multitude of factors that can have a significant impact on your organic performance, from technical enhancements to optimising content for intent.

Google as an answer engine

Organic search results have changed significantly, with Google trying to answer a search query in the search results. Optimising your site for Featured Snippets and People Also Ask (PAAs) questions can have a dramatic impact on increasing your brand’s visibility.

1. Identify your target keywords – a number of keyword analysis tools such as STAT allow you to see which keywords are generating Featured Snippets or PAAs such as Ahrefs and SEMrush.
2. Determine the opportunity – Featured Snippets are primarily populated by pages ranking between positions 1 to 8 in the search results so keywords ranking here should be your focus.
3. Analyse the competitors – For list and table Featured Snippets, the HTML markup used on a page influences inclusion in a snippet. Look for sites using bulleted lists (<ul> elements), numbered lists (<ol> elements), tables (<table> elements) and header tags (H1s and H2s particularly) to frame questions on a page, as these can influence inclusion in paragraph Featured Snippets and PAAs.
4. Match the intent – matching the intent of your content to the Featured Snippet or PAA, increases the possibility of being included in the feature. If the content in the snippet is informational but your content is highly commercial you will need to change it to be included. For PAAs, look to introduce content to your site that answers the identified questions, either by expanding your FAQ section or adding short FAQ content hubs to relevant pages.
5. Implement technical changes – markup relevant questions as H1s or H2s for both Featured Snippets and PAAs, as well as using tables or bulleted and numbered lists where relevant to structure your content in a format that matches the Featured Snippet.

Site speed

Site Speed has taken on an increased prominence over the last year with a number of algorithm updates including the Speed Update specifically targeting mobile site speed. Therefore, improving your mobile site speed is a key factor in improving overall organic performance.

Choose the right tools – Google recently updated PageSpeed Insights to provide a more in-depth analysis, but I recommend Google’s Lighthouse site speed audit which has more capability.

1. Choose the right tools – Google recently updated PageSpeed Insights to provide a more in-depth analysis, but I recommend Google’s Lighthouse site speed audit which has more capability.
2. Choose the right metrics – chasing 100/100 scores may be tempting but your focus should be on making your site faster for your customers. Google has popularised metrics which let your customers know whether the page is loading if it answers their query and whether they can interact with the page. Improving one or a number of these metrics will ensure you make the page feel faster for your customers.
3. Optimise for perceived speed – improve your customers’ perception of how quickly the page is loading, rather than just improving the overall load time. Ensure the main image on a page or your font files load quickly so customers can see whether the page answers their query (resource prioritisation).
4. Prioritise sitewide changes – these will have the biggest impact on performance as they are easier to implement and will affect the whole site. Ensure repeat customers don’t have to redownload files that haven’t changed (caching), making sure your servers can deliver files quickly (HTTP/2) and delivering images optimised for the web are a must.

Analysing the relevance of your link profile

Google uses topic relevancy signals when analysing the links to your site so securing PR coverage in relevant publications is important.

1. Download a list of your links – Moz, Ahrefs and Majestic are subscription-based tools that have sizeable indexes of links.
2. Filter the list – analysing the most authoritative links will provide you with the most actionable overview of your link profile. The above indexes use authority metrics scored out of 100 and filtering for sites with a score of 60 or above will give you a representative analysis of your links.
3. Analyse relevancy – determine whether you are obtaining coverage in relevant articles by using Natural Language processing to categorise the pages where your site has acquired links.
4. Acquire more relevant coverage – look for topics that are relevant to your products or services that are not highlighted in the above analysis and then target publications that cover these topics.

Understanding keyword intent

Optimising for the highest volume keywords will no longer deliver the biggest impact on organic performance. As searchers become savvier and Google’s machine learning algorithms begin to understand more complex queries, SEOs need to optimise for the searcher’s intent.

1. Segment your keywords – segmenting keywords by intent provides the platform to optimise content for consumer intent. You can use Excel to automatically categorise a keyword list, the example formula below categorises for local intent (keyword is in cell A2). =IF(NOT(ISERR(SEARCH(“near me”,A2))),”Near Me”, IF(NOT(ISERR(SEARCH(“open now”,A2))),”Open Now”, IF(OR(NOT(ISERR(SEARCH(“in leeds”,A2))),NOT(ISERR(SEARCH(“in liverpool”,A2))),NOT(ISERR(SEARCH(“in newcastle”,A2))),NOT(ISERR(SEARCH(“in manchester”,A2)))),”In Location”, IF(NOT(ISERR(SEARCH(“open late”,A2)))=TRUE,”Open Late”,”No Local Intent”))))
2. Download ranking URLs – download the top 20 ranking URLs for your categorised keywords using your chosen rank tracking tool.
3. Analyse intent – analyse the ranking URLs using the Natural Language tools to highlight the most popular topics appearing for each of your intent categories.
4. Update content – using the above analysis determine the content changes required to match your site to the intent from the search results.

Summary

The constantly changing landscape of Google’s search results provides SEOs with a number of opportunities to enhance a site’s performance. Prioritising tactics that will improve the visibility of your brand in a competitive landscape, provide better user experience, increase relevancy and match consumer intent will ensure that your SEO efforts have the maximum business impact.

The post Top Tips to Step Up Your SEO Game appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Since April last year, we have found a lot of our analysis and conversations are revolving around the E-A-T update. The update was released on August 2018 and focused improving rankings for websites that could demonstrate Expertise, Authority and Trust within product and services online

As with any Google update, there are winners and losers, and techniques adopted or rejected by SEO agencies and a need to share data at an industry level to determine best practice moving forward. Here we will break down some of our findings. 

Definitions

We touched on the overall definition of E-A-T earlier – but here’s some further detail for you.

Expertise — How knowledgeable the site owner or content author is on the subject matter they talk about. This is especially important for the aforementioned YMYL sites, not so much for gossip websites or similar. Are you an expert in your field? 

Authoritativeness — The websites online profile in general and how google can perceive your brand to be positive or negative in the public eye. Are you an authority figure in your subject matter? Do you have some reviews somewhere that say you aren’t great and you don’t provide a good service (or the opposite)?

Trustworthiness — Relating to the sites quality and ability to be trusted by a user. Specifically, elements around data and site security etc. 

YMYL – what is and what is its relevance to E-A-T?

These guidelines were released as an addition to the earlier YMYL update focusing specifically on healthcare sites, which if you aren’t sure stands for Your Money Or Your Life.

Specifically defined by google as pages or websites that have an impact on the “happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of users.” Examples that they give include:

• Shopping or financial transaction pages: webpages that allow users to make purchases, transfer money, pay bills, etc. online (such as online stores and online banking pages). 
• Financial information pages: web pages that provide advice or information about investments, taxes, retirement planning, home purchase, paying for college, buying insurance, etc. 
• Medical information pages: web pages that provide advice or information about health, drugs, specific diseases or conditions, mental health, nutrition, etc. 
• Legal information pages: web pages that provide legal advice or information on topics such as divorce, child custody, creating a will, becoming a citizen, etc. 
• News articles or public/official information pages important for having an informed citizenry: webpages that include information about local/state/national government processes, policies, people, and laws; disaster response services; government programs and social services; news about important topics such as international events, business, politics, science, and technology; etc. Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale. Keep in mind that not all news articles are necessarily considered YMYL. 
• Other: there are many other topics that you may consider YMYL, such as child adoption, car safety information, etc. Please use your judgment.

So what is the significance of E-A-T with regards to YMYL and these types of websites?

E-A-T is effectively an extension to the YMYL guidelines and further defines what Google’s algorithms will be evaluated when considering where your website should be positioned within the search results. 
Ultimately, E-A-T can be summarised as trusted quality, and in order to build trusted quality, your SEO strategy needs to be more than just on-page enhancements and an offsite link building campaign – it needs to consider the difference between a page that users what to use to know something and whether want to do something (such as buying a product or service).

Considering E-A-T, what should our SEO strategy look like?

Your SEO strategy should be an all-encompassing, 360-degree strategy, that considers:

Strategy planning

• Who your target audience/s are
• What your target audience(s) needs to complete the desired action online (and whether your site currently offers this)

Business offering & credibility 

• Why your business can be trusted by these audiences
• How your website demonstrates your businesses ability to be trusted (security, accreditations, iso standards, testimonials, reviews etc)
• Is there an opportunity to improve this trust 

Relevancy & usefulness

• Detailed, relatable content to a user search query (how-to guide, Q&A answers, video content)

Content & digital PR

• What is your communication strategy for the year ahead? 
• How are you utilising PR to expose your communications to your target audiences via trusted online websites (more than just a link building campaign, this is about getting market reach)
• Are you connecting with social influencers that can help share your communications (think Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok)

Google search quality guidelines 

All of these guidelines, in essence, are covered within a document google released giving guidelines to its 10,000 strong quality raters – individuals worldwide that assist in checking and rating the search engine results pages. 
In essence, E-A-T requires auditing and planning of your business strategy as a whole. It is no longer safe to just consider how to get people online to convert and you should be considering how your business is perceived and trusted. 

How can you measure your website’s E-A-T?

As always, there is no clearly definitive way to measure your website’s performance against such algorithms or guidelines. We recommend keeping an eye on the usual metrics, such as

• Domain authority
• Page authority
• Traffic
• Keyword visibility 

My website isn’t in the medical or financial sector – does E-A-T still apply to me?

Whilst google clearly states within its guidelines document that these guidelines primarily apply to medical and financial websites, we believe it’s good to follow these guidelines regardless of your sector, as they are all indicative of providing website users with a website experience that’s informative, trustworthy, safe, and secure. 

The post Google’s E-A-T Update and What This Means for Your SEO appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Social Media Week Bristol returned last month (June 10-14) following its breakthrough year in 2018, which saw keynote sessions from BuzzFeed, Facebook, Twitter and many more. Packed once again with inspirational talks and seminars on the latest developments from the world of social media and digital marketing, thousands gathered across multiple venues in the city of Bristol to listen to talks in the Engine Shed, Everyman Cinema and Origin Workspace to name a few.

The PerformanceIN team managed to catch a couple of interesting sessions, taking away some valuable insights on how brands can develop and grow their social media strategy for the year ahead.

The rise of Instagram Stories

We all know about the success of Instagram so it was no surprise that the platform would be getting a mention or two during Social Media Week. Gem Royston-Claire from digital agency Social Life delivered an insightful talk on the rise of Instagram Stories and why they are such a big deal for companies. Although Snapchat kicked off the Stories trend, it was Facebook and Instagram that took the format to the next level. It now has over 500 million daily active users (and rising) due to features such as polls, location tagging, gifs and more. Roston-Claire urged brands keen on using Instagram Stories to develop an effective strategy to target the growing younger audience (Gen Z) as a third of Stories viewed by users are from businesses while 33% of sponsored posts on the platform are Stories. Gem also stated that there was an 80% increase in watching videos on Instagram, which led to platform launching Stories and developing it into the format we see today – so why shouldn’t brands be using Stories to directly target their customers?

Using the power of inclusive marketing

We’ve heard a few things around inclusive marketing but it was the session from Joyann Boyce, founder of digital marketing agency The Social Detail, that really caught our attention. In the talk, Boyce discussed the concept of inclusive marketing, which she stated was about “creating content that makes people feel included” as well as content that represents your target audience. Showcasing good and bad examples from brands in the field – from Gillette’s intersexual ad campaign to Pepsi’s inauthentic campaign with Kendall Jenner, Boyce stressed the importance for companies to look beyond the persona and represent diversity and inclusion of all groups. Especially at a time where millennials are standing behind brands that present these areas and holding brands accountable if they fail to follow suit. Boyce added that inclusive marketing “is a movement” and brands should be keeping their content consistent and genuine as well.

Further highlights

While we may have only attended a couple of sessions, there were a few more highlights during Social Media Week Bristol. These included a number of topic areas on social media marketing, such as international B2B brands using social media, hosted by Business West, which covered tips and tricks businesses need to consider when trying to reach international audiences. Tips included creating content that talks to your audience, international personas and using relevant local platforms. 

Other sessions included the keynote from digital marketing agency Fourth Floor Creative who discussed the do’s and don’ts of working with influencers; a panel discussion of content creators sharing their thoughts on the latest industry trends, and the rise of video platform TikTok. There was also a talks on the transition of how users consume content on social media going forward and an exclusive panel discussion on the subject of activism in the digital age, featuring talks from activists Bess Hepworth, Bisi Alimi, and Shannon Power in addition to Russian punk band Pussy Riot, famously known for their activism in their home country. All parties shared their views on how activism is evolving through the use of social and digital channels to much effect.

Did you attend Social Media Week Bristol 2019? Share your comments below and check out more highlights on twitter via hashtag #SMWBristol.

The post Social Media Week Bristol 2019 – Key Takeaways appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Brands can now engage with consumers in more ways than ever before. Image-led social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, require regular fresh content meaning there is a greater production demand. However, it can be a challenge for brands to keep up with the ever-growing need for content creation without it impacting upon quality and relevance. Brand marketers are now expected to create content faster, at the same high quality of what’s always been expected and be able to put it into the different types of media channels we’re using today. 

Linear production models are outdated

Traditional creative models, which allowed brands to produce a handful of large pieces of content in a calendar year, are no longer scalable. Many internal marketing teams lack the capability to produce that content and those same limitations restrict the amount that can be outsourced. The linear production process for content takes too long and is expensive. In traditional methods, brands may not finalise a brief with an agency for three weeks, whereas modern agency models can see the final assets produced within this same period. 

Marketers have traditionally partnered with agencies to produce content for their campaigns. But in 2019, the relationship between brands and consumers is far more complex, and therefore for brands and agencies too. A one-off promotional campaign is incapable of retaining an audience’s attention over the long-term. One-off ads are not effective tactics in digital marketing.

The challenge for brands is how to produce custom content at scale without breaking the budget. Demands for content continuously outweigh internal capabilities, often requiring brands to leverage agencies to scale production. Unfortunately, as demands for more content rise, so too does the amount of time, resources, and money marketers must spend to manage the production of all that content.

The changes to traditional marketing models open doors to those agencies which can deliver high-quality, powerful creative content, in a variety of formats, all under one roof. A smartly integrated agency will help save the brand money, automatically making them a preferred choice. 

Agencies can offset and combat some of the costs and challenges of producing multiple variations and volumes of content for a brand by offering more services and incorporating more agile solutions into their creative processes, making the agency an attractive partner for brands. 

Agile working for content creation

Implementing an agile way of working can help improve the overall productivity of content creation, allowing agencies to deliver to brands faster and more consistently. Agile is iterative and encourages creativity. Without needing to spend too long on a single idea, an agile approach allows agencies to constantly ship and create and test new ideas – the benefit is it means agencies can constantly learn whilst working and understand as the process grows where to invest more money. Technology has come a long way in supporting content creation platforms to produce more content at faster, scalable, and more affordable rates.

Tap into a global network

In order for a traditional London agency to create a global brand campaign for a client, it may require teams to be sent across the globe to capture content as defined in the campaign brief. The costs induced from flights and accommodation alone can mean agencies spend a substantial proportion of their budget before the shoot even begins. The infamous downfall of Fyre Festival was significantly impacted by the cost of the creation of the promotional video. The team flew out the whole crew to the Bahamas and blew their budget on models, yachts and extravagant parties. Shutterstock created its own mock promo video at a fraction of the price, costing just $2062 and taking just a day to produce. The video highlights to agencies a far more affordable and feasible way of creating branded content, without the need of sending people to the location and without the overall impact being disturbed. 

For agencies to thrive in 2019 and into the future, they need to tap into and collaborate with a global network of creatives situated in locations around the world, in an agile manner. Partnering with international photographers, videographers and creative professionals helps manage costs and reduces the time needed to create content, as they are already in the market and quickly fulfil the brief. As a result, agencies can reallocate the budget and resources to produce even more seasonal or promotional content for a client. A more agile approach enables agencies to streamline the workflow of any project 

Agencies must adapt and evolve in order to help brands work at scale. The highly debated ‘death of the agency’ doesn’t need to become a reality if they can adjust to a more modern model of working that the ever-changing world demands.

The post Modernising the Traditional Agency Model into the 21st Century appeared first on PerformanceIN.

When somebody says they own a company, and their products are sold in Walmart or Costco, a common reaction is something along the lines of “impressive”. When that same guy says he sells products on Amazon, the average person still pictures a dude named Frank selling G.I. Joes out of his parent’s basement. Yet, In 2017 alone, 300,000 new merchants started selling on Amazon and 140,000 sellers surpassed $100k in annual revenue.

There is an underlying layer of disrespect for online marketplace sellers, even today in 2019. Where does this sentiment come from? More importantly, what sort of effect does it have on the marketing climate for these merchants?

Public opinion towards the internet itself was highly skeptical in the mid to late 90’s, so it only makes sense that every platform on the web continues to be met with scrutiny until its efficacy becomes tried and true. Just like any other consumer goods company, Amazon merchants have a need for B2B marketing solutions and it’s about time marketing agencies start targeting them as aggressively as they do any other traditional business.

Why are Amazon merchants not using influencer marketing at scale?

It’s been a couple years now since Amazon started their influencer program, allowing social media users to generate income through affiliate links. Still, merchants on the platform seem to be behind the curve when it comes to utilising influencers as a growth tactic for their brands; why is that?

Historically, Amazon has made it difficult to track and analyse metrics with respect to how a customer clicks through to a listing and where the click came from. Often, this can discourage merchants from investing in influencer campaigns; but it isn’t a new problem for marketers.

Let’s take a moment to think about other forms of marketing in which measuring ROI may be difficult. What about billboards? Bus stop banners? Television commercials? We know for sure that all of these mediums are effective at getting people talking, but how can we map the actions from the initial touchpoint to customer acquisition. The answer is, we can’t.

Fortunately, it doesn’t really matter. As a business, one of the primary goals is to get people talking about your product. At this point, it’s pretty clear to marketers that micro-influencers get that job done.

Engagement drives awareness and memory

Most people involved in marketing and/or social media has heard of the term engagement, but what makes it so important? The importance lies in the current state of the internet. Technology has turned our attention span slim, and people are unlikely to remember a post unless they actively engage with it.

After all, micro-influencer marketing is just a virtual version of word of mouth marketing, at scale. Conversations that would travel four degrees of separation may have taken a few months 50 years ago. Today those same conversations transpire in a matter of minutes.

For Amazon sellers, this reality carries a few positive implications. They have access to underpriced promotion that is scalable, uncovering an entirely new distribution channel; they are able to create user-generated content at scale, cutting their expenses and affecting the bottom line; they have the opportunity to build a brand outside of Amazon’s ecosystem, paving the way for a larger, more sustainable, and less vulnerable business.

How to take advantage of the opportunity

For every company, cash is the lifeline. It doesn’t always make sense (and often it’s impossible) to spend money on hiring an agency to build and manage campaigns for your brand. The good news is that a lot of what goes into micro-influencer marketing can be done through sweat and grind.

Start with hashtags. If you sell fishing accessories, find the 20 to 30 most popular hashtags for fishing using a tool like All-Hashtag, then create an excel sheet with relevant data points (name, niche, IG handle, etc.) and begin the process below:

• Click top posts for hashtag X
• Click into each post and through to the person’s profile
• Check to make sure they have 1k to 20k followers
• Check to make sure their content is consistently relevant, or directly related to your niche
• Check if their engagement is a bare minimum of 2% (the formula for engagement is [likes + comments per post] / # of followers)
• Try to find their email in bio and if you can’t find it, direct message them
• Record all relevant data points in your Excel sheet
• Move to next post for hashtag X
• Repeat

Depending on how many micro-influencers you are looking to work with and how many products you are able to give away, you’ll want to gather 100-500 of these accounts in your sheet. A small percentage of your prospects will turn out to be good candidates for the job. Micro-influencers can be difficult to work with and/or unreliable, given that their compensation is minimal. Luckily, data has given us the ability to navigate the playing field.

To limit your risk as much as possible when running these campaigns, consider the following: the more responsive a person is, the more likely they are to be reliable; the more they respond to comments on their posts and engage with their following, the more likely they are to care about the people in their circle; the more they show their passion for your niche in their posts, the more likely they are to truly care about your product. There’s more to look out for, but that’s a good start.

As it stands, we are living through a moment in time in which we have access to a marketing channel that is remarkably underpriced. Traditional businesses have started spending real money on influencer marketing in recent years, and believe it’s time for under the radar Amazon merchants to follow suit.

The post Why Amazon Merchants Aren’t Using Influencer Marketing at Scale and How to Take Advantage Today appeared first on PerformanceIN.