Technology

5 Social Commerce Trends You Must Acknowledge in 2022

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Indian users today make up a substantial share of users on international social commerce platforms and are a key target market for such platforms to extend. And social commerce presents a cost-effective alternative for businesses reeling under the pressure of scaling customer acquisition costs and stumbling to protect these treasured…

Indian users today make up a substantial share of users on international social commerce platforms and are a key target market for such platforms to extend. And social commerce presents a cost-effective alternative for businesses reeling under the pressure of scaling customer acquisition costs and stumbling to protect these treasured customers from competitors pursuing them endlessly with deep discounts. For retailers interested in building out cohesive social shopping experiences, we have listed 5 hands-on social commerce trends to consider:

Future of Commerce: Conversation

It’s well-known that customer experience plays a major role in determining the progress and growth of any company. This is where embracing conversational commerce will change the way your business performs in the time to come. According to a social commerce survey, conversational commerce (49%) is gaining popularity in India, as 9 out of 10 people relished the shopping experience of interacting with chatbots.

Through text, chat or live video, users can interact with stores in real-time, asking questions, viewing products, and getting recommendations that encourage them to follow through with purchase transactions. As a result, it will help boost physical sales and increase foot traffic in stores. Thus, conversational technology delivers a huge opportunity for brands and retailers to sweeten the customer experience and maximise sales across various channels. 

Leveraging UGC x Micro-influencers 

User-generated content continues to be more trusted than many other forms of media, and in certain cases, much more popular. Now leverage UGC via micro-influencers to deliver your brand message even better! Study shows that at least 30% of consumers make a purchase simply because their favourite influencer promoted it. Also, 8 out of 10 consumers believe that UGC strongly influences their purchasing decision.

By involving micro-influencers in a UGC hashtag or giveaway contests, you can amplify brand visibility and reach through their dedicated follower’s network, thus scaling up UGC. To make the most of UGC, find a platform helping brands discover influencers and unique content from all corners of the internet, including TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, to engage the audience and drive sales. 

Livestream Shopping will Dominate 

Blending entertainment with instant purchasing, Livestream shopping offers retailers, brands, and digital platforms a new channel with enormous scope for creating value. It enables discovery, browsing and purchasing on one platform without the need to interact with any external websites or apps. Thus, creating seamless UX with fewer clicks, higher potential revenue, and conversion rates.

Globally, 85% of respondents who watched shopping livestreams report that they are more likely to purchase via social media. Moreover, online shoppers in India are envisioned to reach 220 million by 2025. Live commerce increases a brand’s charm and uniqueness and draws additional web traffic. In addition, it strengthens customer positioning, especially young ones keen on innovative shopping formats and experiences.

Specialist Social Marketplaces

With social exchange at the forefront of everyday interactions, it only makes sense for businesses to push marketing out through these social channels to reach the most valuable viewers possible. More than half (59%) of social buyers surveyed said they are more likely to support small and medium-sized businesses through social commerce than shopping through E-commerce websites.

New-age digital-first brands are cropping up across categories prompting them to use non-traditional channels such as Facebook and Instagram for marketing. YouTube is now also on the verge of becoming the next hub for promoting online markets. Similar to influencers and vloggers, brands are coming forward and promoting their businesses on YouTube.

Designing Frictionless Experiences

Brands that offer frictionless and seamless experiences across all platforms are bound to see the increased acquisition and retention rates. 46% of consumers said they would pay more for a friendly and welcoming experience, whereas 55% said they would pay more for fast and efficient services. 

More efficient devices would enable XR use cases where there is a 5G-Advanced connection, granting users the true perception of living remote and allowing them to efficiently interact in such surroundings, no matter where they are physically located. In addition, brands must aim to streamline the entire process and ease the journey to complete purchases on social commerce platforms to offer the digital convenience that users are looking for. 

Way Forward

As is evident above, from the rise of multiple platforms and advancing user needs, social commerce is here to stay. However, when it comes to planning out a social commerce strategy, it is important to look for a solution that will be cohesive and simple to manage. #ARM Worldwide can help you optimise the customer experience and tap into social shopping. We hope you decide to keep a watch on these social commerce trends and jump on the social commerce bandwagon soon!

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    E-commerce Marketing

    5 Trends That Will Define E-commerce in 2022

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    With the continued advancements in the online shopping trends, high demand arises with a desire to enhance the shopping experience for online users. Brands and retailers must embrace technological advances if they wish to stay competitive. With that in mind, it’s worth citing what these latest E-commerce trends for 2022…

    With the continued advancements in the online shopping trends, high demand arises with a desire to enhance the shopping experience for online users. Brands and retailers must embrace technological advances if they wish to stay competitive. With that in mind, it’s worth citing what these latest E-commerce trends for 2022 tell us about evolving consumer preferences and how businesses can align with them to maximise opportunities. 

    Rise of “M-commerce”

    The boost in mobile device usage has contributed to the uptick in mobile phone sales. People are not just using mobile devices to shop but also to explore products before determining to purchase one. As a result, sales from mobile commerce are witnessed to increase by 15% by the end of 2021. What’s more, mobile deals will account for 73% of all E-commerce sales.

    Retailers must consider including things like push notifications, SMS, mobile content, a mobile E-commerce app, and a mobile-optimised website to ensure sales continue to grow in years to come. Much like customer service and E-commerce fulfillment, a well-optimised mobile user experience will build lasting relationships with customers, increase sales, and generate brand awareness. Focussing on these upcoming mobile commerce trends can benefit your online stores in a big way.

    Buyer Journey Optimisation

    It’s critical for E-commerce sellers to look at and improve every customer touchpoint if you want your leads to have a great experience on your site and convert them into paying customers. Likewise, retailers need to identify the places where they can reach the most customers and where they can gain a high conversion. That way, retailers can be efficient in their efforts and marketing expenditures.

    Companies that succeed at lead nurturing, yield 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost. Furthermore, nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. To optimise your buyer paths, focus on improving product search, providing rich product merchandising, and nailing your fulfillment and return processes.

    Headless PWA E-commerce

    A PWA (Progressive Web App) is a web application that provides a mobile-first app-like experience for websites. It only requires some adjustment in how you’re set up. That’s the ‘headless’ part. The essence of this approach goes above increasing site speed – although the nearly instantaneous page loads of PWAs are pretty amazing. Headless E-commerce platforms allow a lot more control over the content and ensure a smooth customer journey until the checkout process. As E-commerce develops at a CAGR of 6.9% and is anticipated to reach $3.5 trillion in market size by 2025, brands are researching concepts to scale via headless commerce and service-oriented architecture.

    Going headless will open up new E-commerce opportunities. To further explain, it enables you to regain data and content from backend systems and pull it into any user experience on any device or platform using APIs. These platforms aren’t constrained to what traditional E-commerce defines as the ‘right’ user experience by allowing constant changes, customisations, and deployments without disturbing the underlying technology supporting it.

    Demand for Voice & Live Shopping

    Delivering an immersive shopping experience via conversational or live shopping will keep the viewers engaged, creating a deeper connection with the audience helping brands distinguish from competitors. India’s live commerce scene is expected to earn a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $4-$5 billion by 2025. Thus, it’ll be an affordable way to give sales a boost, build brand awareness and find new customers.

    Conversational shopping helps interact with customers in real-time. Try experimenting with voice technologies like Alexa and Siri, allowing customers to engage with your business, get recommendations, and even make purchases. Of course, adding new innovations needs to be carefully considered but, with the right technique, live shopping has the prospect to add value to brand awareness, customer service and, ultimately, an increase in orders.

    B2B E-commerce is Next Up

    Today’s B2B buyers demand a digitised environment to research and make business purchases. Adapting to these demands will bring in higher sales volume, increased average order value, and better customer satisfaction. Considerably 80% of B2B buying decisions depend on a buyer’s direct or indirect customer experience, whereas only 20% are based on the price or the actual offering.

    Related Article : Digital Transformation Through E-Commerce

    B2B E-commerce sites will allow greater insight into user buying habits, which will help businesses and suppliers to learn about buying patterns and seasonal trends and adapt production to match demand. In addition, with features such as rich content, intuitive design, and interactive functionality, B2B E-commerce websites ensure a remarkable customer experience for retail customers and B2B buyers.

    Final Thoughts

    To conclude, the world of E-commerce is constantly modifying to accommodate its customers’ needs. As a result, there will be a leap forward in the ways of marketing and showcasing of products. To achieve the most promising results, it’s important to utilise a modern E-commerce suite that enables you to create excellent omnichannel experiences across in-store, web, and mobile channels and support both B2C and B2B. The E-commerce trends for 2022 mentioned above will help you dominate the space. You can gain professional support in this regard if you are excited to integrate any of the latest technologies for your E-commerce business

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      SEO Trends 2022 You Must Master Right Now!

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      Search engine optimization trends are an important part of any business. They can help you rank higher in the search engines and get more traffic to your website. They are the key to the success of your strategy and will become even more important in 2022. Hence, it is imperative…

      Search engine optimization trends are an important part of any business. They can help you rank higher in the search engines and get more traffic to your website. They are the key to the success of your strategy and will become even more important in 2022. Hence, it is imperative to stay on top of the SEO game if you want your company and business to grow.  The latest SEO trends that will dominate the SEO landscape in 2022 are likely to be quite different from those that have come to define it over the past few years. So let us begin our road to mapping the top search engine optimization trends.

      User Intent Goes Deeper

      Satisfying search intent is a primary goal for Google, making it a major goal for SEOs. To increase ranking on SERPs, create content that best answers queries entered by users. Today, 47% of customers expect a page to load in less than 2 seconds. If your site takes longer, you risk losing critical traffic. It’s time to decrease your load time now. If we are speaking of the load time, it is crucial that your customers receive the content they want to see. Focusing on solutions that match people’s needs will bring in more organic traffic. This will ensure they stay longer on your website and help build trust with your target audience. Furthermore, businesses will need to implement responsive design throughout their sites to help content cater to their audience.

      Semantic SEO Increasing Relevance

      Google no longer just looks at strings of words. Instead, it is about analysing the context of the query and working on the user's search intent. Moreover, the semantic search focuses on determining the context & intent of search queries. It is critical as it prioritises delivering the best UX for your audience. Research shows that using voice commands on devices is ‘frequent’ or ‘very frequent’ among 33% of high-income households, giving rise to semantic search.  With semantic SEO, SERPs are filled with high-quality content that accurately answers the original query & organically captures what people are searching for.

      The Popularity of Voice Search

      Thanks to innovations like Google Assistant, Apple's Siri & Amazon's Alexa, voice search, without a doubt, is going to change the way the world interacts with search engines. The percentage of households owning a smart speaker by 2022 is estimated to be 55%. The impressive accuracy of voice search has led to a spike in google seo trends. It not only helps improve ranking on SERPs but also improves UX. With ongoing developments in AI, these will now be more refined as agents of voice search. The solution to the query obtained via voice search is much quicker, naturally reducing bounce rates & retaining the potential consumer for longer. 

      Growing Importance of E-A-T

      Google indicates content quality is important in determining the SERPs rankings. You must understand that “quality content” consists of 3 factors: Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

      Expertise

      It means having a high level of knowledge in a particular field. Google will look for content created by a subject matter expert.

      Authoritativeness

      The goal is to demonstrate that your website is an authority in your field. The number of backlinks you have from relevant, authoritative sites contributes to your website's authority.

      Trustworthiness

      Your website’s trustworthiness is shown by having a safe domain that protects users’ confidential information and by receiving strong customer feedback.

      AI for Greater Impact

      AI is changing the way people interact with online content. Thanks to this intelligent algorithm show the things that we like the most and facilitate our searches on the network.  30% of AI adopters cited a 6-10% increase in revenue after implementing the technology. AI impacts SEO by automating the process of managing and optimising digital marketing activities. The ability to quickly take action with AI-assisted content creation and optimisation means that you will meet the clients’ goals and improve inefficiency. AI is a core component of major search engine algorithms, including Google’s Rankbrain and BERT. Complex disciplines of AI & SEO boost website rankings to another level! As we are ending the first month of the new year, it is important that you start forumating the whole year. These 5 Google SEO trends are a good place to start and thrive but it all really boils down to what every SEO expert must already know: engaging content that is informative as well and offers value to your customers. These latest SEO trends are the most popular and easiest ways to rank higher in the SERPs, gain organic traffic, and increase your target audience base. Don't know where to begin with your marketing this year? Let us help you out with our risk-free methods and dedicated team of professionals. Connect with us today and see your business reap the benefits!

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        5 Influencer Marketing Trends Leading The Way in 2022

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        With users worldwide spending more and more hours online, influencer marketing has become an effective method to convey the right message to the right audiences in the most practical manner possible. The good news is that this form of marketing is becoming more data-driven than ever before, giving brands additional…

        With users worldwide spending more and more hours online, influencer marketing has become an effective method to convey the right message to the right audiences in the most practical manner possible. The good news is that this form of marketing is becoming more data-driven than ever before, giving brands additional measurement capabilities to evaluate their campaign success. So let's dig a little deeper into some of the emerging Influencer Marketing trends for 2022

        Rise of Social Commerce

        As social media platforms double down on tools enabling in-app purchasing, business marketers will be taking a closer look at special deals with influencers with committed followers to stand out amongst competitors while driving sales. Only 4% of consumers believe in a brand's marketing tactics, so marrying social commerce and influencer marketing efforts will enable brands to create a successful influencer marketing strategy while hitting their e-commerce goals.  Brands will implement influencer marketing as part of their social commerce strategy to expand their social media audiences and deliver authenticity, resulting in tangible ROIs and increased engagement rates. Influencers and content creators will play a key role in social commerce strategies. They present maximum visibility to your brand offerings while serving as a natural route to your virtual storefront. Live-streamed shopping is the perfect avenue to leverage an influencer partnership. It can boost your content's visibility and engagement and generate more sales. 

        Power of Micro-Influencers

        Working with micro and nano influencers will be one of the strongest influencer marketing platforms of the moment as they are much more relatable, trustworthy, and their endorsements seem a lot more genuine and authentic. Moreover, the audience is more dedicated to the identity of micro-influencers, which makes them more attractive to potential sponsors. Therefore, they can significantly affect a brand's lead generation. A recent study indicates that micro-influencers retain 22.2 times more conversations than a distinct user. This is because they are devoted to their niche and can pick the most argumentative topics to engage followers. In addition, micro-influencers present a route to pinpoint highly-targeted audiences and reach them with personalised messaging specific to their needs. When executed correctly, this can lead to a highly-engaged and responsive audience.

        Inclusivity Matters

        To get your business out there, it's important that it appeals to the greatest audience possible. Therefore, marketers will need a diverse group of creators who represent a diverse target audience to humanise their brands. Research shows that 38% of consumers are more likely to trust businesses that do well with showcasing diversity in their advertisements. Be it via tokenism, perfunctory, or symbolic efforts to be inclusive to give the idea of racial and gender equality. Consumers generally count on diverse influential artists far more than they trust brands, so affiliating with an influencer who aligns with your brand's D&I principles will go a long way in establishing reliability and trustworthiness. While crafting campaigns, imagine how your TG will react to a non-diverse influencer mix. This will allow for a more positive brand sentiment and affinity as you leverage connectivity between community and influencer. In addition, online customers are much more likely to connect and associate themselves with a brand when they feel seen and represented by that business's campaigns and if their personal values align with a brand's efforts.

        Think System, Not Silos

        Influencer marketing has the power to create a striking halo effect on marketing channels, so by failing to give it a meaningful place in your marketing mix, you will be waving goodbye to some of its greatest benefits. By combining paid and earned influence, brands increase the likelihood for returns on long-term earned campaigns from roughly 50% to nearly 85% and also improve the quality of this earned media.  By ensuring that influencer briefs perform well within the wider campaign plan and their content is set up to be trackable, brands can virtually oversee production budgets and assess ROI against actualised business results. In addition, brands must be able to track consumers' journeys across channels through a full marketing and shopping funnel to understand where they convert and why. Influence is usually mistaken as the garnish, but it's the key ingredient to your marketing recipe. By integrating it into all your marketing efforts, you will amplify your brand's credibility and generate solid social proof. 

        Always-on Marketing Strategy

        More and more companies are moving away from campaign-based influencer marketing. However, when talking about measuring and optimising, an always-on strategy will be critical for success and longevity in a rapidly innovating field. With this approach, you create brand ambassadors speaking authentically about your brand/products to their followers. This strategy puts your brand story in the hands of your entrusted influencers for them to add their own spin and find a unique way to connect with their audience. 42% of marketers consider influencer marketing their top revenue-generating marketing tactic, so why not implement this strategy throughout the year to maintain a constant presence in your audience's lives to make them feel valued! Always-on influencer campaigns give you more flexibility with content. For example, always-on campaigns make it easier to adjust your messaging if you want to highlight certain products/product features to align with the time of the year or current trending topics. Unlike separately targeted campaigns, always-on campaigns are established by developing relationships with your relied influencers and their devoted followers. Maximising your always-on strategy can help drive incredible, long-term results for your business.

        Winding Up

        Influencer marketing is an indispensable tool for increasing the trust in the customers' minds about your business. Therefore, it will be crucial to generate not only brand awareness but facilitate online sales, and influencer marketing agencies can help deliver the right message, at the right time, on the right platform, which will drive further sales. Furthermore, consumers today are drawn to authenticity and realism, so your effective influencer marketing efforts will depend on flexible content stirs rather than branded scripts. Finally, remember this: only when influencers are given flexibility by brands to be their genuine selves can they drive powerful, favourable brand associations.

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          Top UI/UX Trends You Don’t Want To Miss In 2022

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          Businesses must maintain their applications updated with the newest technological breakthroughs in order to make them more engaging and consumable. Staying relevant and updated on the latest trends is essential for survival. Businesses need to pick a UI/UX strategy that resonates with their brand, is user-friendly and intuitive. The design…

          Businesses must maintain their applications updated with the newest technological breakthroughs in order to make them more engaging and consumable. Staying relevant and updated on the latest trends is essential for survival. Businesses need to pick a UI/UX strategy that resonates with their brand, is user-friendly and intuitive. The design trends are developed based on technological advancements each year, and you need to be on your toes, discovering and optimising on these latest trends. Let's dive into some of the top UI/UX trends for 2022 that will force constant progress, self-learning, and differentiation of products: 

          Hello ScrollyTelling

          Scrollytelling transforms a long-form story into an interactive experience. It is a completely new, innovative way of visualising a story or info flow and grabbing the viewers' attention. Take Google, for instance; they do an amazing job in storytelling and engaging users to stick around till the very last word. The content is much easier to consume as users feel like active participants in the event.  The entire narrative of web designing is thought out in advance and built in the most entertaining way possible, so it is easier for users to retain information and connect with the website. Scrollytelling is a multimedia experience, stimulating deeper reflection and highlighting what can't be articulated by words alone. It's a very realistic content consumption experience that stems directly from how users interact with computers. 

          Contactless Search: Voice User Interface

          The trend toward VUI has been revving as processors get more miniature, and more Internet of Things (IoT) devices come online. Even the most resistant users agree that technical innovations don't bite, and one can even say that they make life easier. Utilising VUI alongside the traditional GUI could facilitate a less cluttered and more tailored experience focusing on inspiring the users, while more specific searches could be accomplished vocally. VUI execution in mobile app development will likely be among the most notable UI/UX design trends in 2022. The immediacy and versatility of voice form link the user's desire to the device's response. To reap the benefits of VUI, marketers must begin by composing detailed personas, work on potential limitations of particular devices, and make the best use of all action triggers. In addition, VUIs help companies increase customer engagement on apps with an emotional component (like exercise or productivity), providing a hands-free interactive experience like cooking, driving apps, smart home devices, etc.

          Configuring Mega-Footers

          Having an extended version of your header in the footer section can prove to be critical in bringing in multiple customer engagement points. They help with conversion rates by acting as a safety net at the very end of your website and provide customers with a second opportunity to interact with your website. In addition, Mega-Footers ensure easier website navigation by being a flavourful extension of your header. This helps with the overall website and E-commerce experience. Well-optimised Mega-Footers with high-ranking keywords and call-to-action buttons promote customer interaction by prompting them to react and gain valuable information. As a result, Mega-Footers function brilliantly to enhance a brand's image and act as a 'not-so-subtle' reminder to reinforce brand value. This reduces bounce rates and helps with lead generation.

          Brutalism vs Minimalism

          Brutalism and minimalism are web design languages that can evoke many emotions in customers, thereby triggering them to act on the CTA buttons. It promotes curiosity and improves engagement rates. By not focussing much on aesthetics but more on ruggedness and simplicity, these websites have a very straightforward and simplistic design that avoids unnecessary confusion. These design formats primarily focus on all the major elements of a website and therefore draw a lot of attention by highlighting the fundamentals with a minimal approach. For instance, let us consider Google's material design, which promoted the concept of flat designing. While the design remains sleek and minimal, the depth of experience is enhanced with movements and shadow effects.

          Inclusive Design For All

          Inclusivity extends to gender neutrality, culture, race, ability, and accessibility. A website should be put together in a way that anyone can get access to the content, and people also see others who they can relate to on the screen. The inclusive design shall aim to accommodate diverse experiences of users in how they interact with the world, both in the final product and in the design process itself, resulting in a universal design that all can enjoy.  The inclusive design employs coding best practices, so deciding to build an accessible site will naturally result in a decline in maintenance costs for your company and better overall usability. In addition, integrating inclusivity can act as one of the parameters to test and look into all stages of the product development, from UX prototyping to user interviews and usability testing.

          SPECIAL: Into the Metaverse

          When Facebook turned to Meta and presented a vision of their future – things would turn into a serious trend. The curtain-raiser of Metaverse design is a development that will forever change our association with technology and how we think about design. We are at the brink of the Metaverse, and designers are racing to design experiences using VR, AR, and now Extended Reality (ER) that combines existing technology to give birth to an entirely new UX. To introduce an entirely new UX, Metaverse will combine common ingredients of games such as UGC, a persistent shared world, and unique digital identities to elevate the experience into something new. Brands need to build fully immersive, 3D virtual spaces from scratch. There are opportunities for brands to create virtual venues, worlds, and spaces to host events and experiences in the Metaverse.

          Final Thoughts: What to Expect

          Taking a deeper look into the world around us, as well as up-and-coming technological advancements, can give you a more accurate picture of what's to come in the future of UI/UX design. To effectively design solutions for modern-day problems, businesses need to have an in-depth understanding of the challenges and types of environments users encounter each day. Focusing on these genuine, industry-led insightful trends that encompass larger fields like work culture, developments in UI/UX practices, and big technological breakthroughs can give you the push needed to become an empathic, modern, and cutting-edge brand. Related Article :- Top 5 UI/ UX Trends 2018

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            Top Trends That Will Boost PR in 2022

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            Whether an industry giant or a newbie, every brand has one target to success – to let the whole world know about their brand. Adding to this are the massive cultural shifts society has been experiencing over the last couple of years, from social justice movements to the pandemic, to…

            Whether an industry giant or a newbie, every brand has one target to success – to let the whole world know about their brand. Adding to this are the massive cultural shifts society has been experiencing over the last couple of years, from social justice movements to the pandemic, to the rising climate crisis, which has significantly changed when we work, where we work, how we work, and what matters the most while we work. So it's safe to say that it has been a transformational time in our industry. As we head into a new year, most of us wonder: What will 2022 bring? Read on to find out which PR trends will be the game changers of 2022 and how your business can obtain the perfect balance in the ever-changing economic environment: 

            Personal Branding: #1 PR Strategy

            The idea of personal branding will become synonymous with PR in particular. With the right planning and prowess, building a personal brand will be one of the most useful weapons in your PR arsenal. To foster connections online, marketers will need to craft a personal brand that people can interact with. In addition, thought leadership is critical for the C-suite; a company will thrive when its leaders show up consistently online and offer valuable content to the industry.  Studies have found that content shared by actual people within a company receives 8x more engagement than content shared by the brand itself. Thus, the value of personal branding through PR cannot be exaggerated. The personal brand depends on the reactions a person causes in the audience they connect with. It is a tool of the PR field as it comes from a strategic plan for obtaining a communication stream that allows positioning.

            Quantifying Metrics for PR Performance 

            PR professionals must be open to formulating new strategies that closely align with a business environment that requires data-driven insights. The indirect impact will be measured via metrics like Awareness, Engagement, and Reputation. 
            • Awareness: The first step in growing a business is building its awareness. This can be measured through an expanded customer base, potential for word-of-mouth/referrals, or expansion into other markets/regions.
            • Engagement: Understanding the audience's behaviour can help determine which PR output generates interest in your business. PR pros can evaluate through active vs. passive audience, warm leads, marketing qualified leads, etc. 
            • Reputation: You can determine if you've established a reputation that won't be easily shaken with any negative reviews by measuring influence on customer choices, ability to charge a premium, credibility, trust, and goodwill among audience and customers. 

            Exclusive Media Pitching

            Learning how to tell a well-researched, unique and concisely-worded story with a personalised pitch will go a long way and improve your hit rate by cultivating relationships with journalists and learning their areas of expertise. A study shows that 96% of PR professionals say individual emails are the most effective channel for pitching, suggesting that the future of pitching is all about personalisation for the journalist you're contacting. Just like personalising your pitches, it will be important to tailor your pitch by the medium as well. For example, pitching for TV is quite different from pitching for radio or even pitching for podcasts. Creating personalised media relations pitches will involve more than just a cursory understanding of journalists' editorial guidelines. Engage with them pre-pitch, follow their work and write compelling emails. 

            Representing DE&I

            There is rapidly growing awareness across industries that PR will need to take Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) seriously and actively support initiatives that root out systemic bias and discrimination within organisations. Integrating diverse opinions while solving problems will be an invaluable superpower that most businesses will begin to harness. So not only will focusing on DE&I be good for business, but it'll also be good for your brand image. You will possess the power to become change agents and inspire people to take action. A study found that businesses that embrace diversity experience a 19% increase in revenue and a 35% performance advantage. The increased emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion will not only necessarily be from an equitability standpoint, but it will also increase profitability and overall performance. 

            Culturally-Relevant PR Content

            In today's global economy, marketing and advertising companies will need to aim at developing culturally-sensitive content that resonates with their target audience. Being culturally aware will help your business in the long run when leaving a good impression to seize potential PR opportunities for the future to elevate your brand awareness. Businesses will need to ensure that the PR content aligns both with the brand's core messaging as well as with prospects' cultural expectations and focus on how they're contributing to the greater global narrative. Considering the global upscaling potential of content on the internet, cultural awareness strategies have to be thought through, incorporated at the strategy level, and adapted from the start of PR campaigns.

            Final Thoughts

            Consumers online are more brand aware and wish to know that they are spending their money to support a brand doing good things for their employees and the world. With continuous change being an unavoidable fact of life, PR firms will need to remain skillful to support businesses and deliver them with the best recommendations for ultimate visibility. Therefore, trend monitoring is more valuable than ever for PR professionals in this new world. So follow the pointers above and witness a surge in all your PR marketing efforts. 

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              Social Media Trends 2022 – What to Watch Out For!

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              If your business aims to remain competitive in today's jam-packed online landscape, you must adapt to the latest trends and innovations. There's just no way around it. However, it's quite a tough job to study and forecast marketing trends.  Sounds heavy but don't worry, we've got you covered! For the…

              If your business aims to remain competitive in today's jam-packed online landscape, you must adapt to the latest trends and innovations. There's just no way around it. However, it's quite a tough job to study and forecast marketing trends.  Sounds heavy but don't worry, we've got you covered! For the next two months, we'll uncover the hottest, most anticipated trends for the new year covering everything from content production to its distribution and from technology advancements to omnichannel integrations. Put these exclusive trends to work and reflect on them while outlining your own digital marketing strategy for 2022. We'll start with the touchpoint that rules the web - Top 5 Social Media Trends that have the Potential to Influence Conversations and Conversions in 2022:

              Into the Metaverse with Augmented Reality

              With Facebook introducing AR content, Snapchat releasing the Local Lens feature and Instagram enabling its AR-based 'try-on' feature, AR is quickly becoming critical for the overall social media UX — especially for the consumer. AR yields unprecedented outcomes in traditional marketing and advertising. It captures people's attention for over 85 seconds, increases interaction rates by 20% and improves click-through rates to purchase by 33%. AR gives way for people to interact with digital objects in their homes, stores, and public spaces. For example, digital trial runs via AR make sampling significantly easier and faster for shoppers, leading to more sales. In addition, AR's ability to connect the physical and digital worlds makes it adaptable for multiple use cases. Take Facebook's metaverse, for instance; it will use AR and other technologies to bring people together under a single overarching platform.

              Power of Hyper-Personalisation

              Good social media personalisation pays close attention to involvement history and context. When executed well, such personable experiences enable businesses not only to differentiate themselves but also to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage. Social media dialogue will get more custom-tailored as marketers leverage data to create one-on-one experiences. Nearly 9 out of 10 marketers consider it a priority and invest in the betterment of their personalisation attempts. A greater emphasis is being placed on building laser-targeted content assets that are humanised as social media experiences on DMs, live chat and chatbot integrations. Delivering ephemeral content which can't be missed creates FOMO, presenting unique experiences and allowing the viewers to interact directly with the brand, all with a sense of exclusivity and urgency.

              Whatever you say, say only in Video

              There has been an evolving shift in user preferences from pictures to video content in digital marketing. As a result, consumers are becoming more interested in video content, which can engage and deliver value. Be it long-form or short-form, videos continue to gain a lot of traction and give value to customers, especially to enhance in-person shopping experiences through Reels, TikToks, and Live stream broadcasts.  Video content gets 48% higher overall engagement and 1200% more shares compared to text or image-based content. Brands can even leverage User-generated content (UGC) for videos to gain trust and influence purchase decisions. The underlying benefit of video content on social media is its adaptability and variety. It captures a wider target audience, even the lazy users, and drives them to consume new video content. 

              If it's Organic, it has to be Local 

              If you want to grab customers' eyeballs, you need to market everywhere they're looking. Therefore, a substantial focus on 'location' has become a strong social marketing trend for both sponsored and organic social media efforts. Brands will produce on-location footage and tag each post appropriately to increase awareness by promoting a LIVE event in the area and expanding the overall reach in the process.  Brands shall advertise customised content and start offering content to audiences within specific geographic areas. This will trigger impulsive buying, boost sales, and give an effective marketing angle. Furthermore, to stay relevant, marketers must catch up with technology and embrace location-based marketing to retain their customers, bring in revenue, and provide a richer in-store experience. 

              Valued Niche Social Experiences

              With billions of active social media users, people seek experiences in smaller, niche communities and subcultures. Consequently, brands are doubling focus on creating such experiences to enhance relationships with the audience. Facebook has introduced features that are being added to make media groups more comprehensive and appealing to both its admins and its members. In addition, it provides the ability to form subgroups — both free and paid. Along with that, there are experiences like: 
              • Audio Rooms: Users on Facebook are still loving this feature. It is beneficial to use this kind of communication within a Facebook group to communicate with members on a more personal level.
              • LIVE: The power of live is still evident, and streams are gaining more value, organic reach and engagement. It's likely that Meta will continue to roll out and push this short-form, full-screen video format very heavily.

              Final Words

              Given the significance of social media in people's lives today, marketers flock to social media platforms in the hopes of uniting with their target audience. However, there is a content overload on social media, and the competition increases every day. It can be tough to stand out unless you have a planned social media strategy in place. Staying on top of these trends will help fuel your strategy and make you stand out amidst the crowd. 2022 might just be the year for your business to reach new heights, digitally! So, keep up with these newest developments and use them for your social media initiatives.

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                Social Media Marketing

                How to Leverage Employee Advocacy Programs?

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                Social Media platforms provide you access to people that matter the most for your business. Getting your employees involved in social media marketing is a strategy that is increasingly growing and equally rewarding. Ergo, it makes sense for a company to invest in an employee advocacy program that leverages employees'…

                Social Media platforms provide you access to people that matter the most for your business. Getting your employees involved in social media marketing is a strategy that is increasingly growing and equally rewarding. Ergo, it makes sense for a company to invest in an employee advocacy program that leverages employees' personal networks to engage their consumer base from various touchpoints and also establish the employer brand to simplify inbound recruitment. Here's how you can take account of your workforce's potential to convert them into domain experts that influence conversations on social media:

                What is it all about? 

                Employee advocacy is the promotion and elevation of an organisation by its workforce. It positively impacts sales growth and brand reputation. In addition, it helps build a strong internal team, enhance your culture, and boost recruitment efforts. Employee advocacy happens when workforces are empowered and engaged, utilising their personal influences to eagerly and actively promote their company's brand on their personal social media handles.  Introducing an employee advocacy program won't just end in a much more engaged workplace, but you will also exhibit a company growing faster and working with much more efficiency. Employee advocacy also presents opportunities to drive brand recognition, boost engagement and referral traffic, generate new leads, and source potential hires, all through the trusted voice of employees.

                Why is it important for your business?

                To efficiently compete in today's marketplace, your business must uncover opportunities like Employee Advocacy. It has the twofold benefit of advancing your core business objectives and developing the bond with your employees. A business' employees, including the sales staff – represent both one of your greatest and also one of your most cost-effective resources.  It has a positive impact on sales and growth because of increased positive perceptions and brand awareness. It also impacts 'human capital' by improving staff recruitment, retention, and engagement. People tend to believe in an 'average' employee more than the company's CEO. A study [] shows that content shared by employees receives 8 times the engagement of content shared on a business's social channels.

                How to Inspire Employee Advocacy?

                Leveraging your employees to spread the brand's message further across their own social networking handles is a no-brainer. However, you need to follow a few tactics to get your employee advocacy marketing efforts rolling. Firstly, it's critical to develop a high-trust culture and meet employee expectations for social impact. Nothing cultivates faith and loyalty in your employees, like allowing them to share information. Align your advocacy campaign with your company's primary business goals. Once the goal is clear, pick which social media metrics to track. These might include a share of voice, website traffic, new leads, etc. Tap employees who are natural social media users and are enthusiastic about working for the company socially. Engage them in defining the company's campaigns and goals. They can help learn what kinds of tools other employees are most likely to use and share.

                Tips to Encourage Employee Advocacy

                Your company's social handles are for interacting with customers and clients, sharing with the world, and securing a brand presence. But it's your employee's social relationships that can actually magnify your brand's visibility. By gamifying the employee advocacy program experience, you make it fun for employees to participate. As a result, they look forward to the rewards and incentives, which drive them to share more on social media. Make sure to encourage your employees to provide feedback as well by allowing open communication and collaboration in the company's social media campaigns. Also, clarify that your company encourages getting involved but doesn't force it. You must ensure that the program is easily accessible for all and show that getting involved in it is mutually beneficial, not just one-sided.

                Measuring Impact of Advocacy Programs

                To measure social media success:
                1. Calculate the expected gross result, not individual results.
                2. Rather than running after each and every employee's statistics, encourage a comprehensive mindset shift by making this a team effort.
                3. Calculate social media's contribution to website visits, find out if there is a constant yet steady improvement in the percentage of website traffic sourced to social media at large. 
                Furthermore, by measuring the average number of social interactions per page, post or blog, you can track if there is a significant increase in engagement with the website's content pieces due to more staff involvement. Over time, you will be able to ascertain if the number of new followers per month on the company's page has increased or if that rate is accelerating with added staff engagement. 

                Final Words

                Employee advocacy programs via social media have become a natural and essential progression. A well-planned and structured advocacy program allows sharing resources and recommendations among the staff to amplify your brand's revenue and sales through social media platforms. Employee advocacy entails consistent efforts, but the payoff is huge. Businesses that are not utilising their employees' social networks are surely missing out on a big opportunity to expand their reach and build brand awareness. However, with suitable direction, motivation,  and recognition, your business can unveil the power of its most significant asset and reap the rewards of employee advocacy.

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                  Generic

                  Optimizing Website for International Traffic

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                  International SEO can be an excellent way to expand and grow your business because it could very well be in your competitors' blind spot. By optimizing your website for International traffic, you can quickly grow market share by converging on markets on which the existing players in the SEO tool…

                  International SEO can be an excellent way to expand and grow your business because it could very well be in your competitors' blind spot. By optimizing your website for International traffic, you can quickly grow market share by converging on markets on which the existing players in the SEO tool space aren't focusing. In addition, building and expanding your digital presence requires you to reach audiences within all the regions you do business in, particularly through search. As a result, SEO has become more indispensable, with 68% of all online experiences initiated via a search engine. Read on to see how international SEO practices introduce a highly targeted and scalable way to build and reach your desired international target markets:

                  Beginning with Research

                  An international SEO for your website shall start with some initial research to validate the offset point and the potential for every international market to set and prioritize your target.  First, identify your current international organic search visibility, conversions, traffic, and conversion rate by analyzing your current website on tools like Google Analytics or via Google Webmaster data. Next, do keyword research to evaluate the potential of the top countries and language markets you're thinking of targeting. Collect relevant keywords, phrases, their organic search volume and level of competition per country. After selecting keywords that target the different searches of your international audience and identifying their organic search volume, it's time to identify the competitive level based on the popularity and relevance of the competitors.

                  Defining URL Structures 

                  Geotargeting or International targeting is essential for companies that do digital marketing in various regions around the globe. One fundamental step is optimizing your website's URL structure for an international audience. Below are a few URL structures that developers can deploy to target a particular country or language: 
                  • The ccTLD (country code top-level domain) uses two-letter codes to let users and search engines know what region, country, or territory your website is registered in {example.uk}.
                  • The Subdomain is a separate 'third-level domain' where internationalized content is hosted {uk.example.com}. 
                  • Subdirectory or Subfolder is a separate folder of the root domain where the internationalized content is hosted {example.com/us/}. 
                  • Different domain is an entirely different root domain where internationalized content is placed on a non-internationalized website {exampleussite.com}.

                  How to Optimize your Website? 

                  When executed correctly, international SEO should be nearly undetectable to users. They should simply obtain relevant content in their language and within their region. You must always keep your target group in the back of your mind. 
                  • Using HrefLang Tags allows you to cross-reference pages with similar content for different audiences. Use tools available online to generate these tags, then use Google Search Console to find errors. 
                  • The XDefault Tag is a default version of the site that you can use to show users when the language or location tag doesn't match any of the available ones, and no other page is better suited. 
                  • The Meta Content Language Tag signals what language the HTML is written in and indicates search engines to the target audience for the page. The Schema Markup is another effective method to tell search engines what your website is about and what your company does. 

                  Vital Elements to Adjust 

                  Once you have selected your desired international targeting and type of structure to use, it's time to optimize it to make sure it is crawlable and indexable. It should present the coveted targeting signals to evade search results misalignment concerns. In addition, every single one of your international website versions should be indexable and crawlable without using scripts or cookies that don't allow search engines to index the webpage content correctly. It's imperative to translate or localize the different elements like the title, meta description, URL, alt descriptions, currency, address, etc., of the pages of your international versions to add relevancy. You can also include links to your beloved social media handles and location data like the address and phone number of your local offices to intensify the user experience.

                  Best International SEO Practices

                  You can increase the chances of users having a positive experience by making it unambiguously clear that the page is built for them. Ensuring that your content is relevant from a cultural and design perspective is just as important. Also, never automatically redirect your visitors and search engines based on their IP addresses or browser settings. It can be very upsetting for users and confusing search engines. Use a pop-up banner message instead.  Because your international SEO efforts aim to serve customers well, ensure that everything from site navigation to content to help desk is in the primary language of the targeted region. Remember to steer clear of using scripts or cookies to show users different-language versions of the page as search engines cannot crawl through such dynamic content, and users may not be able to see it. 

                  Final Words

                  Search engine optimization has an immediate impact on regions where your website appears in search engine results pages (SERPs), so the better optimized your site is, the more visibility it's likely to gain. By taking full advantage of the above tips, you can improve your E-commerce SEO campaign and adjust your promotional efforts to reach different markets. After evaluating your SEO potential in your target countries, analyzing your competitive landscape, pulling together a list of most profitable keywords for your international SEO and thinking through the technical aspects of developing an internationally targeted website, you are now armoured to market your business to the world. Good luck!

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                    Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

                    Have you Explored YouTube for Business Yet?

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                    YouTube is one of the most popular and the biggest social networks in the world. YouTube is where your audience is. It has over two billion active users worldwide. In addition, the platform is so far-reaching that it can be accessed in 76 diverse languages. This, of course, means huge…

                    YouTube is one of the most popular and the biggest social networks in the world. YouTube is where your audience is. It has over two billion active users worldwide. In addition, the platform is so far-reaching that it can be accessed in 76 diverse languages. This, of course, means huge reach and immense possibilities for increasing awareness of your business, driving more traffic and engagement, and generating more leads. Here's how a good YouTube for Business strategy can help you reach more people and improve your results overall:

                    What is YouTube for Business? 

                    YouTube for Business encourages you to use this platform to reach a new audience, grow your business and strengthen your brand. YouTube is where everyone goes to watch videos, and that means your customers do too. For businesses of all shapes and sizes, YouTube offers a simple way to customise a channel to suit your business. for your audience to discover you online when it matters, especially on mobile devices.  YouTube is excellent for retailers, marketers, manufacturers, and service organisations to utilise as another platform to market specialty products. For example, instructional and demonstration videos are popular with potential customers researching specific products. YouTube is among the only video platforms that match TV reach with added targeting capabilities, including innovative targeting like in-market audiences to topic targeting where your ad can show up on content contextually relevant to your brand. 

                    Why use YouTube for Business?

                    YouTube’s efforts have been largely focused on reaching audiences at every conceivable point throughout the UX on the platform allowing businesses to be omnipresent but not invasive. Using YouTube for business can support you repurpose content you've already composed without the need to waste a lot of time or spend on expensive equipment. A sale can only happen if you have a strong value proposition. Conveying your message via video strengthens your pitch. Not only do people prefer to watch videos, but they also retain 95% more information.  Related Article : Short-form Video Content Marketing Leveraging a series of videos, including customer testimonials, tutorials, product demos, project reviews, case studies, etc., can add an element of social proof,  making consumers feel validated. YouTube video marketing can also boost your SEO efforts and perform well on Google SERPs. By using YouTube as part of your marketing strategy for your business, you're also building your website's authority. The more authoritative your website appears in Google's sights, the more powerful your pages will rank in the search results. Take advantage of these metrics by composing high-quality content and adorning your web pages with videos. 

                    Where to Market your channel?

                    It's vital always to spread the word about your YouTube Business channel and videos across other digital platforms. Luckily, YouTube, as well as other platforms, make it easy to distribute video content. Sharing videos on social media is an easy way to add additional insights to your video and engage with viewers. Be sure to include relevant #hashtags to ensure your video is included in the conversation. You can film a YouTube video to supplement a particular blog post or share client video reviews on your website. This helps market your YouTube channel and videos and also drives traffic to your website. In addition, engaging with successful Q&A sites like Quora can be a great marketing technique for your business. You can monitor questions and share the type of video content that users will find helpful as answers.

                    YouTube Marketing Strategies

                    YouTube has a huge viewership. By using it the right way, you can reach out to big audience segments. Businesses must set up a strong YouTube marketing strategy that helps them win over their audience. Businesses must learn how to optimise their channel, grow subscriptions, and expand their reach with YouTube. In addition, they must focus on creating the best quality and most valuable content they can for their audience. You can also interact with followers and reward them for engaging with your channel's videos before guiding them to your website.  Related Article : 15 Smart Ways to Promote Your YouTube Videos By conducting competitive analysis, you can see how your channel measures up and identifies opportunities. Read comments as there are chances that their audience will overlap with yours. Then, jumpstart your YouTube endeavours by collaborating with an already established creator. Either have them talk about your product on their channel, including an annotated link over to your channel, or pay them to join in on a video for your channel.

                    Understanding YouTube Analytics

                    YouTube Analytics is the best place to gather actionable insights. You can uncover incredible information, from audience demographics to traffic sources and the keywords people use to find your videos. Interpreting YouTube Analytics is pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it. Focus on targeting one goal per video (like increasing brand awareness, views, clicks, inbound links, social shares, etc.) that drives your video strategy from beginning to end.  Go to youtube.com/analytics to examine the overview report, highlighting top-line performance metrics, demographics, traffic sources, engagement metrics, and recommended content. You can also filter these results. Observe metrics like Watch Time and Audience Retention Rates to discern what pieces of content viewers are actually consuming instead of just navigating away from. You can also use attractive CTAs at the end of the videos to measure redirections.

                    Final Words

                    With over 500 hours of video content uploaded on YouTube every 60 seconds, influential marketing is easier said than done. With YouTube, you have the option to let viewers watch, comment, share and subscribe via each video. This gives your company a great opportunity to communicate with potential customers directly through your business channel. YouTube is a serious marketing platform that presents your brand with the opportunity to promote content in a truly engaging and visual way. Online video marketing presents businesses with the opportunity to establish themselves and build trust in their industry. Most importantly, it’s easier to connect and engage with audiences through online video when compared to written content.

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