Infotex is proud to announce the website launch for the Framlingham Tennis Tournament, the oldest UK tennis tournament after Wimbledon! They have been offering fun and competitions for all ages for 125 years, located on the stunning grounds of Framlingham College in rural Suffolk. Each year the tournament boasts 50 events, with a reputation for great fun and Grade 3 level tennis for all ages from 8-80 – something for everyone!

Framlingham Tennis started their journey with us back in June this year to undertake the project of introducing a brand new site. The development of this website has taken a lot of thought in understanding what the tournament means to the people involved, an effort which has paid off, and we look forward to our continued work with the Committee.

“Infotex were fantastic to work with on this project. They were professional and understanding, and really took the time to ensure that the new website captures the essence of what Framlingham Tennis Tournament is really all about.”  – The Framlingham Tennis Committee 

The Tournament is funded by generous sponsors, which means that, as well as the competitors, the people that enjoy the tournament in other ways are just as key to their big community. If you are passionate about tennis and the importance of offering fun family tennis for all ages alongside competitive events, and have time to join the Framlingham Tennis Committee, then please visit their brand new website to send them a message!

Go check out their brand new revamped website at: https://www.framlinghamtennis.co.uk/

They look forward to seeing you at the next tournament on August 2^nd 2021!

The approach to the launch of Dangler on Friday 24th July has been an exciting time for everyone at Infotex, with an encouraging 18,000 visitors to the Dangler website in the last month suggesting we’re not the only ones eagerly anticipating the forthcoming action. 

Founded by three Suffolk brothers, Dangler is the first ever social media marketplace website that provides a platform for the everyday angler, alongside retailers and manufacturers, to buy and sell their fishing tackle. Its aim is to create an innovative community that enables anglers to share their passion, providing a social platform that includes lower costs, buying and selling protection, and the opportunity to build a social profile and communicate with fellow anglers. 

Infotex have been with Dangler every step of their online journey. Dangler came to Infotex in August 2019 with a mission to revolutionise the way that anglers buy and sell their fishing tackle, and Infotex took on the task with enthusiasm. Initially, our design team created three sets of designs: the desktop, mobile, and the future app designs.

We then created a Dangler ‘community’ website, which was designed to generate some interest from the potential market. This enabled Dangler to attain lots of data through users signing up to hear all about the latest and upcoming news with Dangler and the progress of the exciting new website. Behind the scenes, a large team were working towards building a solid, secure, and user friendly website, which you can now find by visiting ​www.dangler.co.uk​. 

The fun doesn’t stop yet. We will now be supporting Dangler moving forwards, as well as rolling out two more phases of development for the website, and bringing an IOS and Android App to the party. Watch this space!

Check out Dangler’s promotional video from The Northern Angling Show on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMYf6NVvcsw 

Let’s say you’ve installed a new security system in your home. You’ve got an alarm, secure windows, and a shiny new lock on the front door. Would you then give your spare keys to an untrustworthy neighbour? Or leave them on a park bench? Perhaps you live in a safe neighbourhood. Unless, of course, that neighbourhood is the internet.

Cyberattacks on businesses can lead to the loss of customer trust, if not financial setbacks that are difficult to recover from. If you are working with WordPress or Shopify and a website developer such as Infotex, they will prioritise the security infrastructure of your site – the home security system, we might say. This includes ensuring that the underlying code is written with security in mind (for example, not allowing malicious scripts to run or files to be uploaded) and configuring the server to protect the site (often utilising services such as Cloudflare to filter traffic). These important steps should never be overlooked, but the health of your business online relies on you also doing what you can to keep your website secure, as most attacks occur from social engineering weak points, not server breaches. You can help protect your website by keeping hold of your keys: maintaining secure passwords, browsers, and data systems.

E-commerce websites are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks because the customer data and passwords that they carry are considered of great value to attackers. Nearly half of all cyberattacks are committed against small businesses, according to Cybercrime Magazine, so if you are the owner or admin of a website, have a read here about what simple steps you can take to keep your information safe.

How might I be hacked?

Easily avoided breach methods include:

Phishing. According to the 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report 22% of breaches involved Phishing (Verizon). Phishing is one of the biggest social engineering threats and refers to fraudulent methods used by attackers — typically via email, text, or phone — to trick people into providing sensitive information like passwords, usernames, credit card numbers, and social security numbers.

Malware and ransomware. If it infects your device or network, malware or ransomware has the potential to lock you out of your important data and systems. Preventative measures for this include regular backups of your site data, and avoiding suspicious links or the installation of unknown software. The 2019 DBIR reports that 94% of malware was delivered by email.

What can you do to protect your website?

Look after your Passwords

• We are told over and over to keep our passwords safe. While we are looking forward to a world of ‘passwordless’ security systems – a method advocated by many large organisations such as BT and Microsoft – for now, we’ve nonetheless got to stick to that important message – keep your CMS/Admin passwords secret and safe!
• Don’t save your password in the browser. Consider a password manager instead, that uses a strong master password and 2nd factor steps (such as your phone) to verify your authenticity. To help further eliminate vulnerability at login consider a plugin like Google Authenticator for two factor authentication.
• Enable biometric security (fingerprint readers, face-recognition) on machines that you use to access your site’s CMS/Admin.

Browsers

• Think twice before installing browser extensions as they often have extensive access to your browser.
• Disable auto-fill options in your browser (this will also prevent the browser asking to store sensitive details such as your address and passwords).
• Keep your device up-to-date – this means running a current, supported operating system receiving regular updates (e.g Windows monthly updates). Check your browser is up-to-date regularly (for example, on Chrome, look under ‘help > about’ to check for version updates), and update installed virus checkers.

When you’re Out and About

• Consider a separate laptop/device when travelling. This will limit the possibility of losing your device which may hand access to your site to whoever finds it.
• Don’t use your site’s CMS/Admin on a public computer or one you don’t know, such as at a library, where others could have infected that computer with malware/virus or be looking over your shoulder.
• Avoid using public WiFi networks – these may be insecure, and put you at risk of ‘man in the middle’ attacks, snooping, and direct network access by hackers on the same network.

For your Information

• Avoid sharing CMS/Admin accounts: create separate accounts for new users where possible, even if they only need access for a limited time.
• Periodically review the CMS/Admin accounts on your site: check if those accounts are still appropriate, promptly disable ex-employee accounts, and check permissions.
• Be careful when copy / pasting content from the internet. Where possible use options which allow pasting the text only. It’s possible to copy hidden content which can assist hackers in compromising a site.
• Consider encrypting your file systems: A Small Business Guide to Computer Encryption
• If WordPress is your chosen platform, make sure you have the right additional plugins to add security to your site. Be careful, though, of adding too many plugins, as this can leave gaps for hackers, rather than lock your site against them. If you are interested in reviewing your WordPress site to see if it is running effectively, contact us for a digital health check on 01394 615 615.

As Bruce Schneier wrote at the turn of the century, ‘Security is a process, not a product’. If you can stay active and understand the risks then you’ll be in a much better position to drive your business forward online.

We are blessed to work in digital, and during the lockdown period since 20 March, the team at Infotex has continued to work with our clients to complete website projects.  We have launched 12 new websites in this period, with more to follow soon. 

All of them are businesses which are having to adapt rapidly to a changing world and we are proud to support them.
30/06/2020

Niche Cocktails

Exciting, different, and delicious, Niche Cocktails offers mixology quality cocktails served straight from the can.Currently offering four delicious varieties, including Macha Mojitos and Passionfruit Daiquiris, Niche Cocktails are available in a variety of gift and variety packs, as supported by the new site.

Niche had to change tack as a result of COVID19 – while they were originally focussed on trade sales to pubs, restaurants, hotels, and event catering where they would usually be served as a convenient alternative to an onsite mixologist, they have been moving to direct to consumer sales. With such a great product on the market, and reliance on online sales, we hope that their choice to adapt in these extraordinary circumstances pays off.

The site was designed by Virtue Design, a Shout About Suffolk hub member and part of the Niche team.

Give them a try –  go to www.nichecocktails.co.uk

Conatus Bookkeeping

Conatus’ highly qualified and experienced bookkeeping team provide clients with certainty around their business’ financial issues, as well as some other key company management areas.

Conatus Associates approached us to help increase the bookkeeping side of their business by having a separate website for Conatus Bookkeeping and draw in new clients.  Working closely with the Conatus team helped us to successfully launch their bookkeeping services to a brand new site, improving their presence and reach online.

www.conatusbookkeeping.co.uk

The Sweet Store

From the mind behind The Cufflink Store and The Tie Store comes a just as classy, just as neat, gift to the sweet tooths out there. With more sweets, Pick n’ Mix, and personalised packages than you could desire, this site has been a popular lockdown destination for many so far.

Get the lockdown pick-me-up from the new website: www.thesweetstore.co.uk.

London Pleasure Flights

Operating out of the Stapleford Aerodrome, London Pleasure Flights will take you on a memorising helicopter tour of central London.  Winding along the Thames you’ll see all of the key landmarks from the o2 to Buckingham place and back again.

The new website captures the character of London Pleasure Flights’ fun brand and allows you to buy your boarding pass (valid for 12month) online via Paypal buy buttons.

www.londonpleasureflights.co.uk

The Alde Valley Spring Festival

The Alde Valley Spring Festival, based at a small farm in the beautiful Upper Alde Valley on the Suffolk Coast, celebrates the importance of the visual arts, local foods and contemporary crafts for around four weeks each April and May each year.

In response to current circumstances, the physical 2020 festival has been cancelled. However, the festival has been adapted with the placement of much of the Festival’s 2020 programme online at www.aldevalleyspringfestival.co.uk.

Please join in with the festival in its new form, as it strives to maintain a spirit of compassion and support by bringing people together in celebration of food, landscape, and the arts.

MP Serve LTD

Making your office work

MP Serv Ltd is a leading provider of office supplies, office furniture and other office products based in the South East. With 20 years experience, MP Serv focus on providing an individual service to their customers to ensure they get the right products – but they needed to fully communicate this brand purpose online. www.mpserv.co.uk

Over a quarter of a century after Tim Berners-Lee’s extraordinary invention of the World Wide Web, it has become clear that the space occupied by websites in the world has had an intoxicating effect on societies across the globe.   As a blend of scientific computer systems with media and advertising – sitting somewhere between the IT Crowd and Marketing’s Mad Men – websites bring the rational and emotional together, allowing organisations (and individuals) of all shapes and sizes to grasp opportunity for growth and change – some with alacrity, many with difficulty.

In more than 15 years of producing websites for clients, I have found that projects almost invariably open up much more than expected within an organisation – frequently, a “new website” project becomes a trigger to further business development: working out brand proposition to the market, re-thinking operations, reorganising departments, understanding audiences.  A company’s website is the place where everybody – customers, suppliers, employees, potential employees, shareholders, potential investors, the media, competitors and government officers – will do at least some of their fact finding about your organisation.  And more recently, it is the place where they choose to do business with you also.

The opportunity to present your organisation to the whole outside world, and then invite them to interact with you online, demands attention to detail and substantial investment inside the organisation to get the benefit of having a successful website. While websites can be and often are created by one person, or a small team, using minimal resources, their success usually depends on a team effort, with contributions great and small from everyone.  Maintaining momentum to keep working on a website requires a cultural attitude that values the website and recognises its importance, preferably lead from the top.  

The past 3 months has seen drastic changes in marketing patterns, most notably in an increase in online sales and interactions.  So, while I have been told many times that websites are easy to create – that they will soon be able to be created by Artificial Intelligence, that the cost of creating them will plummet, and that there is no need to hire developers – I stand by the need of professional website design and build services at a time when they have never been more important, and I look forward to the next 25 years of continuing expansion and development of the website, as it undoubtedly continues to be at the forefront of how human beings around the world are able to collaborate ever more closely. 

You can browse the first ever website at http://info.cern.ch. 

On April 23, amidst the froth of the Covid-19 crisis, we have been acquired by Shout About Suffolk, and we are now operating within the warm embrace of a family of emerging brands, with access to some fantastic business brains.

Shout About Suffolk works to nurture the next generation of Suffolk businesses, helping talented companies reach their full potential. Its founder, Paddy Bishop, has commented that “we have long shared a great relationship with Infotex, and know that thanks to their commitment and dedicated team, they will be able to help more Suffolk businesses achieve local, but perhaps global recognition too.”

The commitment to Infotex by Shout About Suffolk is a tremendous boost, during a difficult time for all of the business community. We welcome having the opportunity to share in the excitement that goes with new entrepreneurial ventures, and to being an integral part of our clients’ success.

As we all worry our way through this Covid-19 pandemic, we can be certain that the world and our markets are going to be changed forever. Online sales and business activity have been critical during this lockdown and it seems that their growth will accelerate. One of the keys to the recovery of our economy and wellbeing is going to be these entrepreneurs, who seize the opportunities to build new businesses in new ways, so it is exciting  for all of us in Infotex to be a part of it.

Today there are a wide variety of online newsletters with many different ways to design and build them, but which one will allow you to speak to your audience most effectively and get them engaging with your content, find out how to create an email newsletter to increase your sales?

Newsletters are useful to businesses in that they are cost-effective compared to sending physical items. Another advantage of this is monitoring the activity of the newsletter such as what time of day it is opened and how long it is looked at for.

This allows you to learn when your audience are most active with their emails and how you can improve your approach to increase the open rate for the future.  An increase in clicks means more engagement with your business which fosters recognition.

In 2019 email marketing is still a marketing channel that is worth investing time in as it continues to deliver a high ROI despite the popularity of social media marketing campaigns that have become more prominent in recent years.

The Newsletter Guide

Step 1: Your audience, lists and the right platform for you

• Setting up a newsletter is the easy part. Building up a list of engaged recipients tailored specifically for the content in your newsletter is going to be a little more difficult. Let’s face it, most people actively avoid ticking that box to sign up for email correspondence so you will need to offer some value as an incentive for them to sign up.
• Once you have built up this list of recipients you must define the audience purpose – a relevant message going out to the right people. IE – a property newsletter going out to all your subscribers interested in this subject. Then you must ask yourself some key questions – how frequently will this newsletter be sent out? How will it benefit your audience? What do you want these newsletters to achieve?
• Then it’s a matter at looking at the best platform for you – but which one is best? Mail Chimp? Campaign Monitor? This important step can define everything about the future success of your campaign so make sure you choose wisely. We’d be happy to guide you through this process at Infotex as we have extensive experience with various email platforms.

Step 2: Write clear headlines

• Creating a simple title that clearly outlines the content of the newsletter helps the reader recognise if the article is of use to them or not. It also helps to verify it’s not spam.

Step 3: Less is more

• With people living busy lives and being fed information from every angle we have less time to read and absorb. Making your newsletter a condensed size, about three to four scrolls will prevent it appearing a challenge to read. If you have a lot to inform your recipient about, adding a Call to Action taking the reader to the full article can be the best of both worlds.
• Arranging text into easy to read chunks or bullet points is another way to make the content easier to read.
• By making each newsletter personalised, showing the recipient’s name and providing a relevant welcoming message can be a good way of directing the content to create a relationship.
• Newsletters also have the potential to be shared with people through other platforms such as social media which lend themselves to short snappy sound bites. So, think of this while composing your newsletter.

Step 4: Design

Should your E-Newsletter be in a plain-text form or more creative like an HTML email? HTML stands for Hypertext Mark-up Language and is the way web pages and email templates are coded so that information such as text is styled and images are added. Plain-text emails on the other hand are written with limited visual options such as bold or italic text.

While it has been said that people on first impressions prefer visual HTML emails the evidence supports a minimal design getting more responses and avoids the spam filter. This is really good news for those of us who ‘don’t pride ourselves on being great designers.

• With many email companies featuring software to prevent spam emails reaching the recipient’s inbox this can in turn stop your content reaching your audience while a plain text version has more promise.

This is not to say that HTML newsletters should be avoided all together, it depends on the audience you are sending it to. For e-commerce companies the HTML format is vital for promoting products and driving sales, one way you can see what resonates best with your audience is to conduct an A/B test ­­- Sending half your audience the HTML style of newsletter and the other half the plain-text style. If you decide to use an HTML format it’s vital that your logo, brand colours and other visual aspects are consistent to help your newsletters appear legitimate, professional and recognisable as you!

Step 5: Optimise

With people using more portable devices like phones and tablets to view their emails it’s crucial that your content is clearly visible on all devices. A way of achieving this is to adopt a single column grid layout. Using a lot of white space can keep the design minimal and making buttons or Call to Actions larger so they are easier to select.Watch your image count. Continuing on from the HTML subject in ‘Step 3 Design’, a lot of images can be seen as spam by email filters.A way of reducing the load time of your newsletter is to compress the size of the images. A quick and easy way of doing this is using www.tinypng.com. Tiny PNG is a website that takes your PNG or JPEG images and reduces the size of them. Including these smaller sized images in your newsletters will make the loading time of your content much faster.

Step 6: Timing

When is the best time in to send people emails for more engagement? The best time depends on the audience the newsletter is aimed at.

• A general guide for business emails is between Tuesday and Thursday during the day as this is when people are less likely to delete their emails. But beware many other companies send their newsletters at this time and yours can become lost in the crowd.
• If a newsletter is intended for a young person the evening could be a better time when they are at home on their phones or computers.
• Unless you are writing about something in the past make sure that your content is new and current. This is so that your newsletters do not appear out of date and are on trend.
• Another consideration is to send out an email in advance. This can be particularly effective for advertising things such as events so more people are aware. Megan Marrs from Wordstream says “While 23% of emails are opened within 60 minutes after being sent, there are some lingers who may not check out your email until a day or two later.”

Step 7: Social media

• By using different social media platforms to promote your newsletter or including sharing links within your newsletters is a way of distributing content with an audience you might not otherwise have got in touch with.

Summary

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Everyone’s newsletter will be different depending on the demographic. From the time you send your newsletter, to how many images you include, always create your content with your audience in mind. If you are unsure what will work best, try an A/B test to see how people respond and alter accordingly.

For an easy to use mail system it may be worth having a look at Mail Chimp and Campaign Monitor. And, if you need further help with your newsletter why not call one of our team on 01394 615615 who are more than happy to help get you started or answer any queries.

TikTok is the new kid on the block a social media video sharing mobile app that also incorporates live broadcasting. The app has amassed an active user base of 500 million as of June 2018. It is available in 75 different languages since is was launched in 2016.

“TikTok was the most downloaded app on App Store in the third quarter of this year 2018 (beating Facebook and Instagram) with downloads growing from 92 million in the previous quarter to 185 million.”

What is TikTok

The 15 second short form video sharing app originally known as Douyin owned by ByteDance a Chinese company was rebranded for the international market to be known as TikTok.  The company merged with musical.ly a popular app used by 70 million young people in the US that was purchased for $1 billion in 2017.

TikTok’s Mission

“Our mission is to capture and present the world’s creativity, knowledge, and moments that matter, directly from the mobile phone. TikTok enables everyone to be a creator and encourages users to share their passion and creative expression through their videos.”

Features

The app allows users to create short video clips that are simple to edit on the go from your smartphone with built in special effects that include a variety of filters and emoji stickers.  The app has a similar feel to other social media networks such as Snapchat and Instagram that feature filters and live broadcasting.

To shoot a music video the user chooses a song from TikTok’s music library that contain a variety of genres such as pop, hip-hop and rap from here the user can lip-sync to songs.

Other popular content creation ideas for TikTok videos typically include comedy skits, dance, vlogging, food, DIY, sports, memes, animals and more. The videos can be then shared across popular social media platforms.

Users

Currently the majority of TikTok’s users are Generation Z however celebrities are starting to adopt the app such as Jimmy Fallon the host of NBC’s talkshow “The tonight show Jimmy Fallon”.

TikTok Challenges

One of the apps feature is the hashtag challenge that allows users to create short videos that include music clips on certain topics such as lip syncing.  Jimmy introduces a new segment in his show called “Tonight Show Challenges” and asks viewers to participate using the TikTok app to submit a version of his #tumbleweedchallenge for a chance to be featured on the show.

Over the Christmas period and New Years Eve TikTok launched its first large scale marketing campaign worldwide using a series of themed hashtags and challenges. In the UK the social media apps target market was young millennials in London running out-of-home (OOH) promotions an increasingly popular advertising medium.   OOH advertising formats fall into six main categories: billboards, street, roads, highways, transit, and alternative.  TikTok put on an impressive OOH display on new years eve at the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

In summary there are many viral apps that come and go Vine being a classic example.  TikTok has the advantage of a large userbase currently that is expanding at a rapid rate with around 800 million downloads going into the new year.

The social media app is backed up by its owner the massive privately held Chinese company ByteDance worth an estimated $78 billion.  Live streaming is big business in China with the introduction of 5G rolling out, the country is looking to make its mark worldwide establishing a social media platform.  It has entered the market at the right time as video is becoming more prominent.

A combination of its success or failure could lie in different areas whether that be the user experience, longevity of the app, trust in the companies privacy policy and future competitors.  Facebook have quietly launched its own version of TikTok named Lasso which is lagging behind.

Youtube the billion dollar company started out  in 2006 and was seen as just a small video platform featuring viral videos of cats and has now grown to become the worlds second largest search engine with multiple features including livestreaming.

Social media marketing agencies and advertisers have started to take notice of TikTok looking at the platforms top influencers for example Ariel Martin aka “Baby Ariel” the 18 year singer and US social media influencer with 29.2 million followers on the app.  TikTok has the potential to become another social media platform for influencer marketing in 2019.

Attributing credit to marketing efforts has been the strife of marketers for decades. Luckily, we’ve gained a few tricks on our way and we can give you a great insight into the health of your campaign. In addition to this, with the key metrics available from industry leading tools, we can give you an even deeper look into your digital performance.

Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)

Traffic isn’t worth anything if users aren’t interacting in a way that is beneficial for your business. We track your website’s goals and optimise to make the completion of them more likely. For websites with high traffic we use A/B multivariate testing to isolate features that are holding back your goals. For smaller scale CRO we use tools like SessionCam to see how individuals are navigating around your page. There is always room for improvement and we look to squeeze every last bit of improvement out of your website.

KPIs/ROI

The right KPIs (key performance indicators) can paint an accurate picture of your digital performance and inform future strategy. We’ll customise your reports to give you the most accurate representation of reality as possible. If you need a hand interpreting our performance reports we’ll be more than happy to give you a realistic explanation. Calculating ROI (return on investment) involves translating performance metrics into revenue. Although challenging, through clever attribution models and combining data sets we can give you reality driven assurances that your digital investment is paying off.

Google Analytics

All useful information about your site lives here. Google Analytics is the perfect tool (in the right hands) to drill down into the data and mine precious insight that can be fed back into your online strategy.

Read more from our Digital Strategy Director, Tim, about predictive analytics.

Marketers can’t ignore the fact looking at data trends and how our society is evolving around technological advances influencer marketing is becoming a mainstream marketing channel.

The challenge for businesses is how to use it effectively to get the best return on investment avoiding the pitfalls that marketers can fall into when running influencer marketing campaigns for brands.

Brands must recognise at the moment influencer marketing is vunerable as a small percentage of influencers are trying to take advantage and cheat the system.

The giant company Unilever worth $62.62 billion dollars weighed in on their thoughts about influencer marketing

Keith Weed CMCO of Unilever is responsible for the marketing and communications gave a speech earlier this year at Cannes

“the industry has recognised that it must take a stronger stance on the integrity and transparency of influencer marketing”.

Luis Di Como, executive vice president for global media, Unilever

“I believe we are still in the early stages [of influencer marketing] and we need to continue working with influencers to see what measurement and success look like to create a mutual benefit partnership rooted in transparency and trust.”

With the rise of smartphones in the past 10 years users are impulse buying straight from their phones as a direct result from influencers.

“The average person in the UK spends more than a day a week online, according to a landmark report on the impact of the “decade of the smartphone”.

Ofcom, which compiled the report, attributes a large part of the surge in time online to the rise of smartphones, which are now used by 78 per cent of the population compared with just 17 per cent in 2008, the year after the first iPhone was launched.” Telegraph

What is a Social Media Influencer

An influencer is an individual that uses popular social media networks examples being Facebook, Instagram and Youtube to build credibility in their specific industry by creating authentic, engaging content for the influencers audience of followers.

• 90% of marketers say proving authenticity is critical to the future of influencer marketing.
• 85% of marketers say engagement data is the biggest metric of success for influencer marketing

Types of Influencers

Celebrity Influencers

Kylie Jenner has leveraged her fame as an influencer first appearing on the TV show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”.  The young entrepreneur makes an estimated $1 million per sponsored post on Instagram with a cool 120 million followers, she is currently worth $900 million dollars.  However celebrity influencers have a lower engagement rate.

Micro-Influencers

On the flip side micro-influencers have a much smaller audience between 1-100K but have a far higher engagement.

• 61% of consumers say micro-influencers produce more relatable content when it comes to thinking about the appeal that micro-influencers hold for consumers
• 43% of consumers also say that the micro-tier is more likely to engage in discussion with them

Influencer Marketing Summary

The Key Finding

• 85% of marketers say engagement data is the biggest metric of success for influencer marketing
• ‘Fake followers’ ranks as number one concern within influencer marketing
• 61% of consumers, aged 18 to 34, have at some point been swayed in their decision-making by digital influencers.
• 100% of marketers agree that ‘relevance’ is the most sought-after attribute in influencers
• Confusion continues to plague disclosure guidelines
• Proving the ROI of individual influencers is a big challenge for 84% of marketer

Intelligent Influencer Marketing Strategy

When creating an Influencer marketing strategy an important variable to take into account is the age demographic whether that be for generation Z, millennials or generation X.  They use social media channels and other online activities differently.

Gen Z

Marketers need to be open minded with Gen Z (13-24 year olds), according to Adweek

“The spending power is estimated at somewhere between $29 billion and $143 billion, easily eclipsing that of the millennial generation.”

In a digital world that is growing at a rapid rate with the introduction of machine learning and AI research at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. There are constant changes that effect these Silicon Valley companies whether that be algorithm updates, the inclusion of ads that can change the user experience or external factors where governmental bodies could potentially regulate these private companies in the future.

When it comes to planning your social media marketing strategy Facebook advertising has a proven track record to deliver measurable results at an affordable price to increase your sales giving you the peace of mind that investing in this paid advertising channel is suitable for businesses of all sizes.

Setting up a Facebook ads campaign uses a powerful targeting option allowing your business to be seen by thousands of people who have the ability to buy your product or service.  You have the advantage of controlling your media budget.

The facts don’t lie Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform with over 2 billion worldwide monthly active users.  UK stats show 45% of UK Facebook users check their account several times a day.

Facebook is set to make $4 billion with over 90% of Facebook’s advertising revenue now coming from mobile which shows businesses are adopting Facebook ads as a marketing channel.

Facebook is expanding its reach to advertise on the cross-platform messaging service for mobile devices WhatsApp.

• Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg’s company bought WhatsApp for $22 billion in 2014
• Facebook will be monetising the messaging app that has over 1.5 billion users in 2019

General Facebook Statistics

• Worldwide – 2.27 billion monthly active Facebook active users in Q3 2018.
• Worldwide – Over 1 billion daily active users
• Europe – 170 million users
• United Kingdom – 39 million users.  By 2022 the projected monthly active Facebook users will be 44 million users

(Facebook active users can be defined as those which have logged in during the last 30 days October 2018).

Why Facebook ads?

Looking at Facebook stats there is a high probability that your customer is already on the social media platform.

 Ad targeting

You can target Facebook users by a number of different indicators to get a maximin ROI for example demographics.

Ads Targeted by Demographics

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Interests
• Connections
• Relationship Status
• Languages
• Education
• Workplaces

What Makes a Great Facebook Ad?

It must be visually compelling with a professional photo of the product.  A picture tells a thousand words and when the ad is correctly structured it is likely to be remembered opposed to written ads.

The ad must be relevant to the end user.  Facebook ads is built around the model of Cost Per Click (CPC).  You spend money when a user clicks on the ad, so it has to be relevant to your target audience otherwise you are wasting money.

The ad must have a precise, focused call to action.

Example Call to Action buttons

• Book now
• Contact us
• Use app
• Play game
• Shop now
• Sign up
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Facebook Ad Formats

• Text
• Image
• Video

 Facebook Business Pages Stats

60 million businesses have a business page worldwide

Top 10 Leading Brand pages on Facebook in the UK 2018

• Amazon UK – 4.7
• Coca-Cola – 2.52
• Skittles – 2.42
• Samsung UK- 2.23
• McDonald’s – 2.13
• Cadbury Crème Egg – 2.06
• Marks and Spencer – 1.94
• iTunes UK – 1.91
• Red Bull – 1.86
• Tesco – 1.84

(Stats in million local fans)

Facebook Competition

• YouTube – 1.900
• Wechat – 1.058
• Instagram – 1.300
• LinkedIn – 562
• Twitter – 335
• Snapchat – 225

 Ranked by monthly active users (millions)

From the data provided Facebook is the dominant social media network and should be included in your overall marketing strategy.

Facebooks ad platform is incredibly profitable if set up correctly and optimised.

Our digital marketing team is on hand to answer any of your questions.

Contact Us Today so we can help you grow your business.