It’s Time to Start Spying on Your Competition

No matter what industry you may be in, keeping an eye on what your competition is doing should always be a part of your business strategy. Without doing a little digging, how else would you know what your business is up against? These days, the internet and social media make “spying” on your competitors extremely easy.

Here are 3 simple ways to monitor your competition:

Read Their Reviews

Reading a business’s online reviews can be very telling. You can quickly learn what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong by what customers and clients are saying. If reviews are boasting a specific product or service, it might be worth adding to your offerings if you aren’t already. If you’re reading about what the business is doing poorly, use it as a means to differentiate your business and get a leg up on your competition.

Sign Up for Their Email Lists

Subscribing to your competitor’s public email lists is a no brainer. Quick and easy; you literally get their latest news delivered right to your inbox. You can learn about upcoming promotions or new releases and plan your promotions accordingly. You can also get a sense of how often they email their clients and prospects while also getting a feel for their branding and language. Again, all helpful insights to help your business stand out.

Monitor Their Social Media

Similar to email lists, social media is another easy way to read the latest news about your competition but allows you to see how followers are reacting. If your competition posts a promotion or new offering,you can see firsthand if followers are excited about it. You can also see if followers are posting positive or negative comments/reviews/posts on their social pages. Use these findings to help you alter your strategy and shine amongst your competition.

If you’re lost as to what your competition is doing and need help analyzing your market, we’re here to help! We offer an array of services to help your business thrive. Contact our team today for a free consultation.

Three Way to Get More Video Views

Video content has been proven to boost conversions and even sales. To get these conversion rates and sales, you first need views. With so much video content streaming out there, the question is: how do you ensure that your videos get noticed?

1. Share Strategically

The best way to get the attention of customers or potential leads is by sharing content. However, you need to be strategic and diligent about sharing your video content. Uploading a video to the web and hoping people will find it will not bring the results you are seeking. It’s important to use all social media platforms to promote your video while also tweaking your social messaging so it’s engaging and relevant to each particular platform audience. And remember, location is key. When uploading a video to your website, embed it front and center. Give your video prime real estate so you can get as many views as possible.

2. One Size Doesn’t Fit All

There are different video types that you can use to accomplish different goals. For example, if the goal of your video is to familiarize your target audience with your brand, you should create an easy-going, fun video. If you’re trying to form a long-term relationship, create a dramatic or emotional video that will strongly convey your company’s culture, beliefs, and branding. If you’re trying to drive sales, consider making an informational video that is light hearted and engaging to keep them watching to the end. It’s a good idea to set specifics goals for your video before it is created. Having a plan in place will help align your video with your target audience, allowing you to get the most views as possible.

3. Make Your Title Count

This seems like a simple task, but coming up with a great title for your video is incredibly important. A great title will instantly grab the viewer’s attention and could ultimately be the deciding factor in whether they press play. Like we said before, the first step in boosting conversion rates and generating sales from a video is initiating views. Another reason the title is so important is because of the SEO opportunities it can create. Using the right keywords in your title will help your video show up on search engines, leading to more views. And lastly, keep in mind that Google owns YouTube, so there is a strong correlation between video and search.

Adding video to your marketing toolbox is one of the best business decisions you could make; just make sure you’re creating content that connects with your audience, you’re sharing strategically, and posting with best practices in mind.

If you’re struggling to get video views, or want to begin incorporating video content into your overall marketing strategy, DMC is here to help! We’ll do the leg work so you can reap the benefits.

TOP 4 REASONS TO EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS VIA SOCIAL MARKETING

Social media marketing is here to stay and now is the time for your business to be taking advantage. Today there are over 3 billion internet users and over 2 billion of them are active on various social media accounts. The important social media sites you should be using to benefit your business are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Here are the top 4 reasons you need to be using social media to expand and improve your business:

  1. Gain customer insights: You should be using social media to collect data about your customers in real time. Every day there are over 500 million tweets sent out and 4.5 billion likes on Facebook. Behind these tweets, posts, and likes is an abundance of information about your customers- who they are, what they’re interested in, how they behave, and how they feel about your business. Use this information to adapt, grow, and appeal to your target audience.
  2. Increase brand recognition and loyalty: Your social media networks are new channels to share your brand’s voice and content. Having a strong social media presence makes you more accessible for new customers and more recognizable for existing customers. Connecting with your customers on social is the best way to increase retention and build brand loyalty.
  3. Increase inbound traffic: One of the biggest benefits of social media is increasing website traffic. Every social media profile you add is another path leading back to your website. Without social media, your inbound traffic will be limited to individuals already familiar with your business or people searching for keywords you rank for. Not only will social media help direct users to your website, but the more social shares you receive, the higher your search ranking will be.
  4. Share content faster, easier, and for less money: For as long as marketing has been around, marketers have been working to ensure their content reaches customers in the shortest time possible. Thanks to social media sites, the sharing of your brand’s content is now instant. Using social sites as a main form of marketing is a great way to decrease your marketing costs. Posting is free, and paid advertising through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is relatively cheap.

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