Sending emails has been an integral part of digital marketing for its direct approach and cost-effective methodology

You’ve probably had your first taste of artificial intelligence from science fiction films that depict robots gaining sentience through the wonders of the technology. This is still far from happening in the immediate future, but it wouldn’t be surprising if such advancements are actually achieved. But as far as we are from having sentient robots that might take over the world, artificial intelligence has already made it relatively far from the day it first came to be. There are emerging trends with the technology across various industries as it’s utilized to improve different processes. In the field of digital marketing, artificial intelligence plays a crucial role, particularly when it comes to email marketing. Sending emails has been an integral part of digital marketing for its direct approach and cost-effective methodology. With the help of artificial intelligence, …

Security concerns are incredibly common and have the potential to wreak huge damages to a site and its long-term organic performance

Exactly why is cybersecurity important for SEO? If you’re working closely with a website – for an agency, independently, or in-house – it’s likely you’ve been confronted with a security issue at some point. Though they range in threat-level, security concerns are incredibly common and have the potential to wreak huge damages to a site and its long-term organic performance. Despite the ubiquitous threat, it seems digital marketers rarely feel the need to delve too deeply into the security space. Many believe it is simply not in their remit or not their problem. As strategies for SEO and cyber attacks have evolved side-by-side, it’s become clear that security is something that digital marketers need to actively pay attention to. An effective SEO consultant must be well-versed enough to inform their clients on best…

Social media strategy and planning essentials

First let’s answer the question, “What is a social media strategy?” A social media strategy defines how your organization will use social media to achieve its communications aims and the supporting platform and tools it will use to achieve this. At a basic level it’s a simple statement of intent, outlining the goals and measurable objectives for using social media, and the target outcomes you want to achieve. It does this in the context of the overall business and comms plan so that social media isn’t in a silo but working in parallel with other channels. It isn’t a detailed plan of action – you’ll also need a plan but without a clear strategy, how do you prioritize the activities for a plan? Think strategy first, plan second. Even if you’re not actively involved in social…

Twitter has made some small tweaks to its platform, The CAP has announced new gambling ad rules, Google showcases plans for US location expansion and Instagram investigates bug that caused follower counts to fall

There are no big platform changes to unpick this week, although Twitter has announced three tiny changes to its platform, one to create clarity, another to make it easier to view profiles and the third is especially for Valentine's Day. New gambling advertisement rules will come into play in April that are aimed at reducing the effect that such ads have on those under the age of 18. As well as affecting where and when bookmakers can advertise, the rules will also impact who can feature in their ads. Google has announced its latest $13 billion expansion plans that will see it set up locations in a range of new states, helping to create thousands of construction jobs. Finally, Instagram…

Customer listening is now essential

Ever talked with someone who doesn’t seem to listen to you or let you get a word in edgewise? Pretty annoying, right? The same is true in digital marketing. In order for you to market and, ultimately sell better, you need to listen as much as you talk. Only then can you capture the critical customer feedback you need to inform the tactical tweaks and strategic transformations you need to make to take your business to the next level. The best way to do this is by listening – at first manually if that’s all you can afford to do – but eventually in a deep, analytics-based way. This is the realm of customer listening (CL) platforms.

What’s a Customer Listening Platform?

A customer listening (or CL) platform is a SAAS-based app that allows you to listen to all the streams of customer data you have available so you…

Virtual Reality is still in its infancy as a marketing technology, but it is about to mature

The demand for virtual reality experiences is growing — and not just among gamers and early adopters. Contrary to initial speculation, widespread use of VR isn’t dependent upon top-of-the-line head-mounted displays. Thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones, average consumers can now get in on the VR fun — and marketers should be paying attention. VR will disrupt every sector, and brands that hope to reach Millennials, in particular, need to make use of this new platform. Young people prize experiences over material products, and virtual reality presents a way to fulfill that demand. [si_quick_block id="79375" title="Marketing technology and media innovation guide" description="Learn how Virtual Reality, and other emerging technologies, could be used in your digital marketing strategy to improve your customers' experiences with our marketing technology and media innovation guide."]

Where the Physical…

While marketing is certainly a huge part of a businesses’ success, you also need to make sure you have a detailed customer acquisition strategy in order to actually achieve the objectives you want

Growing an e-commerce business and generating new customers on a consistent basis is not just about knowing how to market your business or having the budget for complex, expensive campaigns made with the best agencies in the world. While marketing is certainly a huge part of a businesses’ success, you also need to make sure you have a detailed customer acquisition strategy in order to actually achieve the objectives you want, in as little time as possible and continuously generate new customers for your business. In this blog post, I’m going to show you how to develop a customer acquisition strategy for your e-commerce business.

What does a customer acquisition strategy imply?

Customer acquisition is, basically, the process of bringing in…

Security of data in an era when everything is connected via the internet is an increasingly worrying concern

For a business, data is one of the most valuable resources in the world. So, protecting their data against thefts and breaches is a great challenge for organizations of all sizes and domains. Believe it or not, the effectiveness of your data security measures can either make you or break you. Especially if you are an e-commerce business, instances and intensity of data breaches can be unbearable and irrecoverable for your growth. [si_guide_block id="37500" title="Download our Premium Resource – Managing customer data to improve marketing ROI" description="In this guide, we will explain the key aspects of understanding your data and improving how it is managed and used via a step-by-step plan which can be used in its entirety, or as individual delivery points to complement your own Data Management activity."/] Security of data in an era when…

So, what are the different types of featured snippets and what’s their value?

Ever since they first appeared, there are plenty of reputable articles online that explain how to gain featured snippets. However, most of these don't analyze the value of the traffic using real-life examples and give you a true sense of a business case for acquiring these. We’ll take a look at different types of featured snippets and offer some key findings. One simple reason for the rise in importance of featured snippets for digital marketers is the sheer amount of Search Engine Result Page (SERP) "retail" space these take within search results. They dominate the results page and offer greater visibility for a specific query that a potential customer is actively searching for and thereby interested in. Furthermore, in a previous Smart Insights article,…

Chart of the Week: More than 1.12 billion accounts spread across Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp now watch or create Stories every day

When it comes to social media marketing trends, Stories is the big one you need to watch. More than 1.12 billion accounts spread across Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp now watch or create Stories every day, representing a 987% increase since the start of 2016. It isn’t just individual users that are causing Stories to grow hugely in popularity, more brands, companies and marketers are making the most of them. Buffer’s State of Social 2019 report has found that 57% of brands have found that Stories have been an "effective" part of their social media strategy.

The effectiveness of…