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Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. SiteGround is one of the most popular web hosting providers out there. Over two million website users trust SiteGround for their hosting needs. They offer a wide range of hosting options, plans at different price points, and phenomenal customer support. Whether you’re a small blog, medium-sized business, or large online store, SiteGround has an option for you. In a nutshell, SiteGround is a host that your business can grow with, which is pretty darn important. SiteGround Compared to The Best WordPress Web HostsSiteGround fares exceptionally well against other products in its category. It’s without a doubt a key contender for top web hosting for WordPress services. But what I love most about it is that they’re both extremely scalable and dedicated to supporting your WordPress website. Whether you’ve got 10,000, 25,000, or 100,000 visitors, there is a plan for you. There is also room for exponential growth for websites starting out without committing to the highest available plan. SiteGround also supports your WordPress website with their specifically designed features (which we’ll discuss below) and their 24/7 WordPress wizard customer support team. But I appreciate that you may have different needs or wish to explore your hosting options a bit further before committing to one host. That’s why we’ve taken the time to research and test some of the top web hosts for WordPress for you. Be sure to see all of my top picks before making your decision. Who is SiteGround Best For?If I were extremely broad, I would say SiteGround is excellent for just about anyone who wants to host their website on WordPress. But to get specific, I’d say SiteGround is best for a small website owner who has little to no experience running a website and expects their website to grow over time. With flexible plans and excellent customer support, SiteGround is great for beginners and scaling over time. SiteGround: The Pros and ConsThe ProsTop-Notch Customer Support: Ever had seemingly unresolvable issues with technology and tried everything under the sun to fix it to no avail? Yeah, me too. Building a website doesn’t have to be scary or traumatic when you have SiteGround support on your side—your wish is their command. The customer support team is phenomenal. They receive almost a 100% satisfaction rating every year. Their 24/7 support comes via a live chat channel, phone support, and a helpdesk ticketing system. Even the most complex issues are resolved in an average time of 15 minutes, meaning you can get back to business asap. These things are super important for a beginning website owner to combat the inevitable challenges they face. WordPress Recommended: SiteGround hosts over 80% of the two million domains on WordPress. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that they are experts at managing WordPress. Many of the support team are highly trained in WordPress and will happily assist you with WordPress related troubleshooting, compared to other hosts, who will simply tell you it’s not their issue (which truthfully, it isn’t). This is also why SiteGround has developed and implemented WordPress-specific features, such as the SG Optimizer, WP Auto Update, and Supercacher, in their plans. I’ve not come across another host that can boast such features, so SiteGround stands out in this area. Low Introductory Price & Money-Back Guarantee: With a monthly hosting solution starting as low as $6.99 per month, SiteGround is a perfect option for even the most beginner website creators. Furthermore, the lead-in hosting plan includes all of the key features a new website owner would want in a plan, rather than having the absolute bare-bones to get the user to commit to a higher plan immediately. If something goes wrong, or your website doesn’t function the way you expect it to, you can get a full refund of your hosting fees within 30 days of signup. Excellent Uptime & Site Speed: Uptime and site speed go hand-in-hand. Uptime refers to the amount of time the server stays up and running, while site speed refers to how quickly your website loads. You can see below that SiteGround’s average uptime over 12 months is 99.98%, with only 73 minutes of total downtime over the whole year. Reliable uptime means your website is virtually guaranteed to be running around the clock, keeping visitors happy. Have you ever heard the notion that if your page doesn’t load within three seconds tops, you’ll lose the visitor’s interest? You won’t have to worry about that with SiteGround. They claim that they load your website four times faster than other hosts, so you won’t have to worry about visitors losing interest while waiting for your graphics to load. And, as you’ll see here, their slowest load time between 2019 to 2020 was 693 ms. Free Website Transfer: Many people are worried about making the switch to a new host. After all, it’s a scary process. What if you lose your entire website or cause irreparable damage? With SiteGround, you don’t need to worry. They’ll do it for you. Most hosts will just move the files over. But SiteGround will also make the necessary tweaks to ensure everything is working smoothly for you after the transition. No blood, sweat, tears, or big bucks required in switching to a new host. SiteGround includes the WordPress migrator plugin in their plans, though if you prefer a professional to do it, it will cost you only $30 per website. Free Daily Back-Up: Most hosts will only back your website up every other day or even once a week. So, if anything happens to your website that you can’t fix, you might be forced to go back an entire week, meaning you’ll lose everything you’ve done in the meantime. But, with SiteGround, the worst-case scenario is that you’ll only lose the changes you’d made in the 24 hours since the last back-up. If that’s not peace of mind for someone making constant changes to their website, I don’t know what is! Great for Scalability: When you’re just starting out in business, there is no way but up, right? With SiteGround’s flexible range of plans, you don’t have to worry about outgrowing your host. Simply upgrade your plan as your business grows. The ConsRenewal Price: As dreamy as the promotional rates of SiteGround’s hosting plans are, once the honeymoon is over, it’s truly over. When you renew, your rates will jump up quite high. The cost of your plan will essentially triple across the board once your promotional period is over. Ouch. The best way to combat this is to sign up for the longest term available on the promotional period, which is either 24 or 36 months before you face the higher renewal rates. No Monthly Billing Cycle: The higher renewal rates might be easier to cop if you could pay month-to-month. But unfortunately, monthly billing is not something that SiteGround offers. Personally, this is not a deal-breaker for me, but I can certainly appreciate how it may be restrictive and frustrating for some. Storage Limitations: The low amount of storage space available on the shared hosting plans is unlikely to bother most of you reading this post. However, if your site does grow beyond 40 GB, you’ll have no choice but to switch to the more expensive cloud hosting plans. The StartUp plan includes just 10,000 site visitors, so if your website traffic grows exponentially too quickly off the bat, you may find yourself needing to upgrade your plan sooner than you think. SiteGround PricingSiteGround offers three tiers for their hosting options:
These tiers’ pricing remains the same across the board for web hosting, WordPress hosting, and WooCommerce hosting. Cloud hosting has its own levels and pricing, which we’ll discuss. StartUpAs the name suggests, this plan is perfect for those new to business or looking for smaller websites. The StartUp plan allows you one website, 10 GB of space, and up to 10,000 monthly visitors. Pricing starts at $6.99 per month on the introductory offer. Some other features included in this plan are:
Overall, it’s a great plan for those who are just getting started. The only thing to be wary of is outgrowing your monthly visitors limit. If you think you’re going to scale quickly, it would be worth starting straight off with the GrowBig plan. GrowBigThe GrowBig plan is perfect for medium-sized businesses or those who know they will be managing more than one website. You’ll have access to unlimited websites, 20 GB of web space, and up to 25,000 monthly visitors. Pricing starts at $9.99 per month on the introductory offer. Aside from the features included in the StartUp plan, this plan also includes:
It’s easy to understand why GrowBig is SiteGround’s best-selling plan. It includes a range of great features that are easy to use and will fit the brief most in need of a website out there that expects a steady traffic flow. GoGeekThe GoGeek is the most extensive shared hosting plan SiteGround has to offer. As the name suggests, it’s designed for ‘technology geeks’ who want lots of control over their website. The GoGeek plan will give you unlimited websites, 40 GB of web space, and up to 100,000 monthly visits. Needless to say, it’s truly designed for large businesses with a high volume of traffic. Pricing starts at $14.99 per month on the introductory offer. The GoGeek plan includes all the features mentioned above, as well as:
In a nutshell, this plan is for those of you who know what you’re doing with websites. If you don’t understand some of the plan’s technological features, it may not be the best plan for you. Unless, of course, you have a specialist on your team to manage your website and need access to high volume traffic capabilities. Cloud HostingWe’ll touch on the cloud hosting product offerings shortly, but in terms of pricing, there are four plans for SiteGround’s cloud hosting: Entry, Business, Business Plus, and Super Power. As you can see in the screenshot below, the pricing ranges from $110 to $410 per month. The major difference in the plans is CPU cores, memory, and SSD space. Due to the easy scalability of the cloud hosting options (which you’ll learn about shortly), you can confidently start with the Entry plan if it’s your first time using cloud hosting. SiteGround OfferingsSiteGround Web HostingSiteGround offers fast and secure web hosting for websites of any kind. Their general web hosting product is optimized for a range of Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and more. You’ll be able to build and launch your website quickly and easily with their full website solution, including your choice of site builder: WordPress or Weebly. If you’re an online store, you’ll be able to install the shopping cart of your choice for free. Domain registration is easy and affordable with SiteGround, so you’ll be able to enjoy the convenience of managing both your domain and your site in one place. You’ll also have access to an unlimited number of email accounts when you create your domain, which is perfect for managing different areas of your business. SiteGround WordPress HostingSiteGround is one of the few web hosting companies that offer hosting options specifically for WordPress. As mentioned previously, they are even highly recommended directly by WordPress. With SiteGround, you won’t need to download and install WordPress manually. Instead, you’ll be able to automate the process with a simple click of a button using the WordPress Launch feature. Upon login to your new website, you’ll be prompted to set your site up simply and easily with SiteGround’s WordPress Starter kit. The whole process takes minutes from start to finish, even for a beginner! One of the most popular features of SiteGround’s WordPress hosting is the free SiteGround Migrator plugin. This feature is perfect for users who may hold their website with another host and wish to transfer over to SiteGround. Better yet, if you’re not confident in your abilities to navigate the migrator plugin, you can have a WordPress whiz from SiteGround do it for you for an additional fee. SiteGround WooCommerce HostingSiteGround also offers hosting options for users looking to build a powerful online shop using WooCommerce. This plan comes with WooCommerce pre-installed, saving you time and hassle, allowing you to straightaway focus on uploading products to your online store. With WooCommerce, you can sell any type of product or service online. SiteGround will support your ecommerce growth by keeping your website safe with a unique AI anti-bot system, free pre-installed SSL, and custom Web Application Firewall (WAF). If you choose the WooCommerce GrowBig or GoGeek plan, SiteGround will also include a convenient staging tool. You’ll be able to develop your store safely, testing changes and updates made on the staging copy before going live. SiteGround Cloud HostingCloud hosting is a relatively new way to host websites. It’s an ideal solution for businesses and websites of medium to larger sizes, who have the capacity to grow very quickly. If you are starting to outgrow your shared hosting plan, cloud hosting is the next step. SiteGround’s cloud hosting will provide you with guaranteed resources with your very own RAM and CPU. You can also upgrade the RAM, CPU, and disk space of your cloud plan at any time. Better yet, there is no downtime with this process—the resources are added immediately. If you want to automate the scaling process, you can do that, too! SiteGround’s unique auto-scale option will adjust your CPU and RAM to meet the needs of unexpected traffic surges, preventing any slowness or downtime. The best part is that the scalable amount is pre-determined by you, so you’ll still have control over the scale’s parameters. Finally, cloud hosting with SiteGround will also include a free dedicated IP. This feature will give you peace of mind that your website is safe from IP blacklist due to other webmasters’ actions. The Best WordPress Web Hosting ServiceNot sold that SiteGround is the perfect match for you? Or maybe you simply want to know what else is out there, so you can ensure you’ve chosen the best of the best. I get it. That’s why we’ve written a whole post about the Best WordPress Web Hosting Services out there. Here are the contenders I’ve reviewed: 1. Bluehost — Best WordPress Hosting For New Websites The post SiteGround Review appeared first on Neil Patel. Original content source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/siteground-review/ via https://neilpatel.com While the terms B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing may sound similar, they differ vastly in practice, especially when it comes to paid social media. Areas like content, objectives, best practices, and which platforms to use can impact the most effective strategies in paid social media. This chart outlines a few of the main differences. These differences are particularly evident in the approaches for paid social media strategies. Before we dig into the different strategies, let’s take a deeper look at the differences between B2B and B2C. What is B2B Paid Social Media?B2B buyers are typically large organizations (like enterprise companies, hospitals, or universities) that market their products or services to other businesses. Those businesses typically need agreement from multiple stakeholders before making a purchase, which often extends the sales cycle length. When conducting B2B marketing, the message should focus on logic and ROI, rather than emotional impact. How can you help their organization achieve its goals? What is important to their organization’s mission? When creating a B2B paid social marketing strategy, ensure your campaigns and accompanying materials highlight a solid return on investment (ROI) that underlines how your product or service helps them save time, money—or both. What is B2C Paid Social Media?Conversely, B2C marketing means you’re marketing directly to a consumer. The focus should be on the benefits of the product—and how that product can benefit the consumer. However, the purchase decision is based much more on emotion than tangible ROI. Buyers don’t want to put in extra work to understand the value of your product. You must clearly indicate benefits in a concise way that uses an emotional pull. B2C vs B2B also differs in length of the purchasing process, with consumers making purchases in minutes to days. In contrast, B2B consumers take much longer, with the decision process occasionally extending a year or more. B2B vs. B2C Marketing on Social PlatformsIn addition to the above differences, B2B vs B2C users tend to use different social platforms. This distinction matters for marketers, as it guides where you should focus your time and resources to target these consumers. If you’re attempting to sell to a consumer on a historically business-heavy platform (like LinkedIn), it is unlikely you’ll have much success. B2B Social Platform UseHistorically, social media platforms don’t perform all that well for B2Bs. For example, trying to sell an enterprise software solution on Facebook might not get you very far. Despite this precedent, there is an exception to every rule, and in this case, that exception is LinkedIn. Since the platform’s start, marketers have been trying to take advantage of LinkedIn’s ability to connect with powerful decision-makers in a professional setting. Now you can. Credited with 97 percent of a business’ social media leads, LinkedIn is the platform every B2B marketer should be using to reach their audience and drive leads. This may sound easier said than done, but luckily, there are multiple strategies to turn LinkedIn into your own personal lead-generation machine. While LinkedIn is inarguably the most favored B2B platform, Twitter and Facebook earn second and third places in the hierarchy. Twitter may not be your immediate go-to for B2B marketing, but the platform is filled with potential consumers ready to buy. In fact, 53 percent of Twitter users are likely to be the first to purchase new products. Twitter can help B2B marketers:
Collaboratively, these three benefits help increase your brand’s visibility, but also allow you to dive deep into competitors’ performance, assessing metrics like follower growth, impressions, and mentions to know where your competition stands. While Facebook use is declining among younger users, many B2B decision-makers regularly use the social networking site. A recent study reported that 74 percent of users use Facebook for professional purposes. Facebook may help you gain access to new prospects who would never set a virtual foot in LinkedIn. Want more evidence Facebook is advantageous for the B2B marketer? With Facebook ads, you can:
Moral of the story: if you’re considering nixing Facebook from your B2B marketing strategy, don’t. B2C Social Platform UseWhile savvy marketers flock to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach B2B consumers, marketers targeting B2C consumers must adjust their targeted platforms accordingly. Let’s look at a few of the most common platforms for B2C marketing. Instagram was once dismissed as too juvenile to waste marketing spend on. Today, however, the platform is a marketer’s dream, offering countless opportunities to reach established and new consumers. Given the B2C sales cycle’s brevity, Instagram is the perfect pair for business-to-consumer marketing. For marketers looking to get quick returns on visually-appealing products, Instagram is the go-to social platform. Visuals aside, Instagram is also highly-trafficked by active consumers. In fact, Instagram’s business portal reports:
Those statistics should have every marketer sprinting for their phone to start an Instagram campaign. TikTokTikTok might not seem like the ideal platform for your B2C marketing campaign, but many brands have found success on the interactive platform. With the average user spending 52 minutes a day on the app, there are limitless opportunities for marketers to reach their desired audience. Unlike other social platforms, TikTok offers marketers a variety of unique avenues for advertising, including:
As the fastest-growing social platform on the market, be sure to take advantage of the massive audience that is just a video away. B2B vs. B2C: Content for Paid Social MediaAfter identifying the social platforms best-suited for your paid social campaign, it’s time to settle on what type of content to share. B2B and B2C differ in this area as well, with B2Bs historically performing well with an informational approach, whereas B2Cs find success with a more approachable, fun tone. B2B Social Marketing ContentAs noted above, businesses buy for a clearly-defined reason—which is based on statistics, not emotion. To successfully market to B2Bs, provide content that focuses on ROI. Here are a few types of content that tend to perform well in B2B paid social campaigns. Informational ContentTo demonstrate that ROI, consider building a library of consumable content that informs. A few mediums that traditionally perform well for B2Bs include:
By showing clear value in these pieces, you can scratch that ROI itch and begin the process of moving your B2B prospects through your marketing funnel. Answer Industry QuestionsFilling in industry content holes not only allows you to position yourself as an undeniable field expert, but you can also build content that satisfies specific long-tail search queries. Targeting these queries drives qualified traffic to your site, ideally earning conversions. B2C Social Marketing ContentWhile B2C’s counterpart craves ROI data, B2C consumers are more emotional buyers. To take advantage of this motivator, use content that inspires, delights, or evokes another positive emotion. StorytellingYour aim is to delight and engage your B2C buyers. Use narratives to hook and maintain consumer interest. Telling a story (either in a single iteration or across your campaign’s lifespan) can attract consumers, while also humanizing your brand. Visual ContentVisual content grabs and holds attention much more effectively than text. By incorporating visuals into your campaigns, you’re more likely to elicit an emotional reaction, resulting in a B2C consumer making a purchase or mentally bookmarking your product for future reference. B2B vs. B2C: Objectives for Paid Social Media CampaignsGiven the differences in content, sales cycle, and preferred platform, it’s no surprise that B2B vs B2C also differ in objectives for paid social campaigns. Understanding the different objectives provides the information you need to design successful social media campaigns. B2B ObjectivesThe intent of most B2B marketing campaigns is not simply to make sales. Rather, a B2B marketing campaign will be marked successful if it improves:
Since the sales cycle for B2B consumers is so long, factors like brand growth and brand awareness are incredibly valuable, as they allow you to build connections with potential buyers. B2C ObjectivesWhile B2B marketers find success benchmarks in growth, B2C markets tend to value direct sales and interactive metrics that show content that is interesting to users. Popular goals for B2C social campaigns include:
For the B2C marketer, these interactions indicate consumers are attracted to the brand’s offering and willing to interact with the organization. B2B vs. B2C: Best Practices for a Paid Social StrategyAlthough a few best practices apply across the aisle when it comes to B2B vs B2C paid social marketing, a few are particularly relevant to each audience. B2B Best PracticesTo start deploying successful B2B campaigns, look to these four practices to guide you in your planning phase. Utilize Multiple ChannelsMultichannel campaigns increase ROI by 24 percent, with a 9.5 percent increase in revenue gained and a 7.5 percent decrease in cost per lead. That’s ROI you can’t easily ignore. Identify GoalsGoals only work as hard as you do. You need to establish achievable benchmarks for each campaign, allowing you to note successes and adjust failures. Measure ResultsWithout measuring results, how will you know if your campaign was a success? By breaking down marketing metrics, you can gain specific insights into performance, identifying strengths, and recalibrating weaknesses. Provide Quality ContentYou’re only as good as your content. If you’re not creating quality pieces that provide your B2B consumers with clear, tangible ROI, then you’re not going to see results. B2C Best PracticesLooking for a list of B2C best practices that can get your next campaign off the ground? These three tips can help. Track the Right Engagement MetricsAs marketers, B2C goals rely heavily on engagement, so tracking these metrics should top your list of must-dos.
Test Your AdsTesting your ads on social platforms is a great way to see which ads perform well with your intended audience. This helps limit spend and increase audience engagement. A/B testing is an especially effective way to better understand which ads customers like. Clearly Identify Your AudienceWithout clearly outlining your target audience, you can’t market effectively on social media. By identifying the who and the why you can target the audience most likely to engage with your content or purchase your product. ConclusionWhether you’re marketing a B2B or a B2C audience, it is crucial to recognize the differences between the two audiences so you can create a campaign that actually converts. As you begin to build paid social campaigns, focus on identifying content that works best for your audience and use the platform where your audience is most active. By giving your consumers what they want, when they want, where they want it, you achieve every marketer’s goal: increased visibility. What is the biggest difference you’ve found between B2B and B2C audiences? The post What is the Difference Between B2B vs B2C for Paid Social Media? appeared first on Neil Patel. Original content source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/b2b-b2c-social/ via https://neilpatel.com Snapchat advertising has a lot going for it. With 249 million daily active users, you can get your brand in front of a large audience. The level of engagement on the platform is equally massive. Snapchatters open the app more than 30 times on average every day. There are three types of Snapchat ads: Snap Ads, Filters, and Lenses. I’ve written before about the value each Snapchat ad can bring to your business. That post provides an excellent overview of the different advertising options available on Snapchat and whether they are worth the investment. Today, I’m going to get more specific. Below, I focus on sponsored Snapchat filters, how to create them, and why you should. What Are Sponsored Snapchat Filters?Snapchat filters are overlay images used when taking selfies. They are one of the most popular features on the app and have been responsible for driving record growth. The gender-swapping filter attracted 7 million new users days after it was released, for instance. Businesses can pay to create their own Snapchat filters. Each filter is available on the app for a limited period of time. Filters can also be limited to a specific area, which advertisers can set before they launch. This is called a geofilter. Why Use Sponsored Snapchat Filters?There are plenty of reasons why a business would want to pay for their own Snapchat filter. First, they are a great way to drive brand awareness, given the kind of popularity they inspire. A 2019 study by Snapchat found filters are one of the main reasons users spend time on the app. They can be incredibly cost-effective. You can create your own Snapchat filter for as little as $5, meaning you don’t have to be a massive brand to take advantage of them. Snapchat filters offer much less competition. While every business in the country has a Facebook presence, only a fraction of them are creating their own filters. They are a great way to differentiate your brand from competitors. Finally, Snapchat offers targeting that almost rivals Facebook. Being able to geofence your filters to a specific area, say, near your stores, means you can limit your ad spend to people who are actually likely to buy. How to Create a Sponsored Snapchat FilterCreating a Snapchat filter isn’t nearly as daunting as you think it is. I promise. Simply follow my step-by-step guide below, and you’ll have your filter live in no time at all. Load SnapchatHead to Snapchat’s Creative Tools page. Click on ”Filters.” Note: You don’t need to have a business account to create a filter on Snapchat. But it’s in your interest to do so. You’ll have more control with a business account and access to more advertising features. Use a Template to Create A Snapchat Sponsored FilterSnapchat offers businesses all the design help they need in the form of templates. Use the drop-down list to find a relevant topic, then choose the template you like best.
Create Your Sponsored Snapchat Filter From ScratchYou can create your filter design from scratch if you don’t like any of the templates. I recommend using a design tool like Canva, which comes with preset design dimensions for Snapchat. Upload your own design by clicking on the Upload button at the top of the page. Your file size may be too big initially. If that’s the case, use a tool like Compress PNG to make it smaller. Set Date and TimeNext, you’ll need to set the date you want your filter to be available and how long you want it to run. The longer your filter lasts, the more you’ll have to pay. Set LocationNext, you’ll need to set the location for your filter. You can search for a town or monument in the search box, or you can draw an area as shown below. Note: The geofenced area must be smaller than 50 million square feet. Again, the bigger radius you choose, the more expensive your ad will be. At this point, you’ll also be shown the price of your sponsored filter. All you need to do now is check out. It will take a few days for Snapchat to approve your filter manually, but after that, you’re good to go. 4 Tips for Creating Great Sponsored Snapchat FiltersDon’t rush into creating a Snapchat filter. If you want to make your filter as successful as possible, there are a few things you’ll need to bear in mind. Have a Specific GoalNo one will engage with a filter that looks like advertising spam. You need to have a valid reason for creating your filter and a measurable goal you want it to achieve. Being clear on both factors will make designing your filter much easier and, ultimately, make your filter more successful in the long run. For instance, if you’re using your filter to promote a new product, you can find fun and creative ways of including the product. If you’re promoting an event, you’ll want to make sure you nail the geographic area and include the event’s name in your filter so guests can show off where they are. Keep Specifications in MindSnapchat has a series of specifications your ad must meet to get approved. They include:
Take time to read through these specifications carefully. There’s no point going through all the trouble of designing a great ad for it to get rejected for something avoidable. There are also restrictions brands should be aware of, too:
K.I.S.S.If there’s one piece of advice you should follow above everything else, it’s this: Keep It Simple, Stupid. The best Snapchat filters are the most simple. Don’t take up loads of room with images, and don’t plaster your brand everywhere. The cleaner your filter looks, the more people will want to use it. Check out this example from Starbucks. The design is so simple even I could mock this up. You can bet your bottom dollar thousands and thousands of consumers took a selfie using it, however. In other words, you don’t have to be a design genius to run a sponsored Snapchat filter. Any business owner can do it. Measure, Optimize, and ImproveA sponsored Snapchat filter isn’t different from any other form of marketing. You need to measure and optimize your ad to drive the most value. Luckily, Snapchat makes doing this easy with its built-in analytics tool that gives you access to all of the metrics you need like impressions and engagement. You can use this data to improve your next sponsored filter. For instance, you may want to avoid regions with low engagement and invest more in regions with high engagement. You may also want to look at other metrics, like store revenue, to see what kind of impact your sponsored filters had. Ways to Use Your Sponsored Snapchat FilterAre you still unsure about how to use a Snapchat filter for your brand? Don’t worry; there are many different tactics you can use, and I’m going to cover a few of my favorites. Promote Your Brand PartnershipIf you’re sponsoring an event like a charity run or a festival, use a Snapchat filter to make sure your name gets seen. Everyone loves to use social media to show off what they’re doing, so a filter will get tons of engagement. Plus, when you brand it carefully, you’ll get the recognition you deserve. Attract Customers to Your Brick-and-Mortar StoreYou can use the geofencing feature of Snapchat, so your filter is only available to consumers within the vicinity of your stores. A fun Snapchat filter can be just the kind of nudge people need to eat at your restaurant or shop your store. It can also be a great way to leverage word-of-mouth marketing. If consumers take a selfie with your filter after shopping at your store, they may encourage their friends to visit, too. If you have a lot of stores, setting up individual ads will require a lot of work. I recommend running a test program with a couple of stores to see if your filter is successful before expanding the campaign to the rest of your locations. Launch a New ProductSnapchat filters are a great way to raise awareness of a new product launch. Including an image of the product within the filter will help consumers to identify it easily and engage with the product without needing to buy it. The product doesn’t even need to be physical. The Terminator movie franchise created its own filter to promote the launch of “Terminator Genisys.” Are Sponsored Snapchat Filters Better Than Other Forms of Digital Advertising?I highly recommend businesses experiment with sponsored Snapchat filters. As I mentioned at the start of this article, they are very affordable and are less competitive than Facebook ads or Google PPC ads. This makes them a great choice for small businesses. Major brands can also win big with Snapchat filters, especially if you have a product that Snapchatters can interact with. McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Disney have all had success with Snapchat filters. Snapchat filters will be particularly relevant if you target young consumers and women. Over 75 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds use the app regularly. Almost two-thirds of app users are women. If you are a B2B company or you target older consumers, then Snapchat probably isn’t for you. In that case, you’re better off spending your advertising budget on Facebook ads or Google ads, or even investing in SEO. Otherwise, give Snapchat a go and see if it works for you. ConclusionSnapchat may not be the dominant social media platform it once was, but it’s still a valuable addition to your digital marketing strategy. The site still enjoys almost 250 million daily active users, and filters enjoy a ridiculously high engagement rate. That means thousands of consumers could be interacting with your brand on a daily basis. If your brand is B2C and targets young consumers in particular, creating a sponsored Snapchat filter could be a winning strategy. What will your brand’s Snapchat filter look like? The post How to Make a Sponsored Snapchat Filter appeared first on Neil Patel. Original content source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/sponsored-snapchat-filter/ via https://neilpatel.com Every new generation brings new customs, behaviors, and cultural phenomena that shape the world as we know it. Baby boomers brought significant economic influence. Millennials taught us new ways of viewing our socio-political world. Generation Z showed us what the intersection of technology and humanity looks like. Now, we have Generation Alpha, a demographic of tech-savvy, racially diverse, and unapologetically influential children who will start entering adulthood at the end of the 2020s. But, they’re children. They aren’t our buyers. Why should marketers care about them right now? Studies have shown children under 12 can influence parental purchases of $130 to $670 billion a year. And, it won’t be long before they are the buyers. It’s never too early to prepare. In fact, since the oldest kids in this generation are starting to hit middle school, we may even be cutting it close. Let’s take a look at the climate shaping this upcoming generation and what we can expect from them in the future. What Birth Years Are Considered Generation Alpha?Generation Alpha covers those born between 2010 and 2024. Most of their parents are Millennials. Every nine minutes, a new member of Generation Alpha is born in the United States. By 2025, this group will reach a worldwide population of more than two billion. Generation Alpha Culture and the Future of MarketingAlthough some Gen Alpha babies haven’t been born yet, there are a few things we can predict about them. For starters, Generation Alpha will be the most technologically advanced generation to date, growing up with mobile devices, AI, social media, advanced healthcare, and robotics as parts of their everyday lives. They will be digitally literate and adept multi-taskers as a result. Gen Alpha also stands to be the most materially endowed generation of all time. This means they could end up being able to spend more on nonessentials than previous generations. They also stand to be the most globally informed group so far, and they will have the longest life spans. Generation Alpha Technology TrendsAs Generation Alpha evolves, so will their familiar technology. We’ve already seen the effects of exponential technological growth on current generations, and these effects will continue to grow. It’s expected that AI and robotics will be completely integrated into modern life by 2025. We can also expect machine learning, natural language processing, and smart devices to change, improve, and further connect us in the coming years. Gen Alpha may find themselves interacting with robots just as frequently as with humans. For marketers, this means speaking to an astute audience that may know the ideal product better than we do. Similarly, we can expect Gen Alpha to reject traditional forms of marketing, much like their Millennial parents did not long ago. An increasing interest in personalization, humanized messaging, and social shopping should be assumed. Generation Alpha Education TrendsGeneration Alpha stands to be the most educated generation to date. Access to education is at an all-time high, with most countries reporting twelve or more years of schooling for every individual citizen. According to UNESCO, each additional year of education increases a person’s earnings by roughly 10%. With improving digital resources and the increasing availability of technology, Gen Alpha will have better access to long-term education than any previous generation. That said, the way they view education will likely be different. There may be less emphasis on formal degrees and, instead, a focus on skills. The Eduniversal Evaluation Agency (EEA) put it this way:
In addition to these trends, we’ll see the continuation of highly personalized instructional content. A generation used to instant access to information is unlikely to succeed in three-hour-long lectures. Instead, we can expect an increase in online learning, especially tutorials, which will further the technological proficiency of Gen Alpha. Generation Alpha Social Media TrendsYoung people are increasingly drawn to social media. With the introduction of social media e-commerce, social media has become one of the most essential tools for marketers in the modern age. One survey found 49% of 16- to 24-year-olds look to social media for purchase inspiration. This is higher than older generations—their parents may only do this 20% of the time, for instance. As more Gen Alpha kids grow up immersed in social media, we can predict social media usage will become an increasingly inextricable part of their lives. Gen Alpha already uses social media differently than their parents. They’re less likely to be on Facebook or Twitter, favoring Instagram and TikTok. Brands that stay on top of the newest technology stand to see greater success with this burgeoning generation. Generation Alpha Data Sharing TrendsGen Alpha may be warier of providing or allowing access to their data to social media giants, search engines, ad agencies, and so on. We’re already seeing this trend today, with more and more countries instituting data privacy laws such as the GDPR. By the time Generation Alpha reaches maturity, they’ll probably have a deep understanding of their data and how it’s used. This could lead to higher levels of criticism and questioning when consenting to data usage—they might read that fine print. Companies looking to leverage consumer data should consider what they give back in return. Often, an equal exchange is enough to encourage consumer consent. Brands doing this incorrectly risk losing their rising audience. Generation Alpha Healthcare AdvancementsMuch like their millennial parents, Gen Alpha will likely spend more time finding medical information online. Self-service and convenience will continue to be driving factors for Gen Alpha’s healthcare. In addition, younger generations are increasingly aware of mental health and are more likely to seek help for challenges with theirs when needed. They’ll likely expect their workplaces to offer mental health coverage and resources. On the brand side, this means staying compassionate and aware of mental health can greatly improve overall brand integrity. The Bell Let’s Talk movement is a strong example of a brand doing this right. Generation Alpha Media Literacy TrendsGen Alpha will have the best media literacy of any generation. They’ll be able to separate fact from fiction and more likely to identify conspiracy theories or fake news circulating on the internet. For marketers, this means speaking to a well-informed audience that isn’t likely to be persuaded by traditional marketing tactics. It also means engaging Gen Alpha in the arenas they prefer. Podcasting, video content, and gamification will become increasingly important when delivering information. Additionally, personalization in marketing will continue to grow in popularity. For Gen Alpha, it won’t be enough to simply push a sale. Marketers will need to connect with this generation in an ongoing way. Generation Alpha Diversity TrendsThe US is becoming more diverse, and younger generations are increasingly aware and accepting of challenges based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Gen Alpha’s patience for inequality will almost surely continue to decrease as they grow up. Children of this generation are unlikely to work for a company that doesn’t reflect their values. In the same way, they won’t buy from brands that go against what they believe in. Brands championing diversity and social issues while embracing widespread change will flourish. Brands that don’t evolve will be left behind. Generation Alpha Economic TrendsGeneration Alpha first came into being during an economically tumultuous time as the world recovered from the Great Recession. They’ve gone through some pretty interesting ups and downs since then, and significant political and social issues will continue to affect their economic standing. We can be reasonably sure that they’ll be largely invested in the experience economy, including live entertainment, amusement parks, spectator sports, and tours. This economy has largely been fueled by social media and technology, as people share the fun they’re having and others want to have adventures as well. Additionally, Gen Alpha is predicted to be the longest-living generation of humans so far. Because of this, they’ll likely stay in the workforce longer, meaning more money over their working years. As marketers, we need to plan for all of this. Our consumers face a bit of a question mark in terms of the economy. But, we know what they want—experiences—and that they’ll be educated and in the workforce for a long time. Catering to a changing climate and meeting their needs and desires throughout their lifetimes is essential. ConclusionGeneration Alpha represents a fascinating, technologically advanced evolution of the human species. People in this generation are digital natives growing up with smartphones, social media, and AI. They’re entering a genuinely advanced world where automation and innovation rule. Additionally, their purchasing influence is already present, and they’re influencing their parents buying decisions even now. Marketers who pay attention to this generation now will be better prepared to out-market big competitors in the coming years. We can expect to see a well-educated, digitally fluent, socially-conscious generation. We need to keep up. What predictions do you have for Gen Alpha? The post Who is Generation Alpha, and Why Are They Important to Marketers? appeared first on Neil Patel. Original content source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/generation-alpha/ via https://neilpatel.com |