by Francois Muscat | Jun 11, 2018 | Digital Media Marketing, Facebook, My Insights, Social Media Marketing
About three months ago, Facebook changed its algorithm again and many people want to know what this means for their Facebook Business Page and how it will affect the reach of the content they post on Facebook.
The idea behind Facebook’s algorithm update is to go about removing corporate or public content from their site. When they announced the update, Facebook said that it is shifting the focus of its news feed to promote “meaningful” posts, mostly those shared by family and friends rather than news organisations or brands. Many businesses are rightfully worried because this change in algorithm could spell trouble for the ecosystem of brands that have come to rely on Facebook for revenue.
The truth is that this change isn’t as new as Facebook would want people to believe. Facebook has been removing organic reach from business pages for the past two years, so the reach that you are getting isn’t going to taper off significantly. The new change is mostly directed at news companies such as the New York Times, Buzzfeed and Vox to pay to market their news stories on this platform. Facebook essentially wants to make sure that the news posts that end up in your timeline are shared from your friends and family (in other words, real people) as opposed to news organisations marketing their news into Facebook news feeds.
If you are worried about how social media algorithms may impact your campaigns and social media marketing strategy, partner with the digital experts at WSI OMS. Contact us for more information today.
by Francois Muscat | Feb 17, 2010 | My Insights
I receive requests frequently from business owners that would like me to look at their website and give an opinion on what I think. I am usually quite surprised on what I find. I always ask six questions before I conduct an analysis of a website.
Initial questions:
- Are you happy with your site and online presence?
- What is the purpose of your website?
- Who do you want to reach with your website?
- Where do you want your traffic to originate from?
- What are you selling?
- What actions do you want from your visitors?
What I look for:
Initial impression
Does the website appeal to targeted customers? Does it give the proper impression based on who your customer is? Obviously you want a very different look and style for your website if you only sell travel packages to Egypt than a Caribbean look and feel. I look at the website from the eyes of your visitor.
Initial message
Will your visitors convey the essential message of your website in the first 3-6 seconds? If not, new visitors are gone in a click. Your visitors should have a clear indication what your website is about. First impressions last. Always mention your services and the advantages of them.
Call to action
Is there a clear path to action? This could be to buy online, call now, download this ebook or request a quote. The “call to action” should always be clear from the home page. The navigation should always be arranged in a logical selling process.
Traffic source
If the website is only expected to receive traffic from the search engines, I check if the website is optimized correctly by looking at the body text, link text, headings, etc. I also check for structural problems and evidence that the website is indexed correctly.
An effective website needs to produce the results desired. This could be business leads, phone calls or sales. If you are unsure about your website, please ask me for a opinion.
by Francois Muscat | Jan 13, 2010 | My Insights
How can you tune your website, blog or online profile to focus only on your best customers? You can do this by creating a behavioural profile of your best buyer. By creating a behavioural profile you will also be able to predict future actions, so understanding what drives behaviour is critical. By creating behavioural profiles, you are creating a best buyer “persona” and you can effectively market to this group. It helps you to design into your website value, persuasion, trust and purchase. This can help converting traffic into customers.
You can start by creating 4-5 customer segments about who the major buyers are of what you offer. Prioritize these segments (groups) from best to least desirable for you in terms of profitability, repeat buying and your ability to please them with your service. Use your own formula for what is best for your company.
You can always focus more on your best buyers but you will want to apply these same ideas to your other customers, you just want to put the focus and emphasis on your best buyers.
Start by asking yourself a few questions about this group.
- What problem, goal or need is driving them to search for your product?
- What is the main obstacle that might stop them from choosing what you sell?
- What one thing is most likely to persuade this group to immediately buy once they learn this about your product?
Always think of your best buyer persona as a character. Define their education, job description and demographics. What are their buying criteria. What is their role in the buying process? How do they reach a decision? How skilled are they? You want to develop your character’s personality around traits that shows how your character views the world, thinks, speak and acts.
Developing a persona is meant to create empathy and understanding for your buyers situation, feelings and motives. Once you personalize this into a user persona, your team can best create a selling strategy for your best buyers. Decide what call to action will be most effective with this group
