Comprehensive list of the right services

The digital marketing agency should have a comprehensive listing of digital services that can help the agency achieve its advertising objectives for you. For example, the company shouldn’t offer exclusively SEO or design services. Ideally, the agency should offer SEO, design, social media, and multimedia support solutions. This is because all of these components are designed to work together to help a brand develop its online presence. A company that only offers a portion of the services will fall short of achieving your objectives. Lowering the return on the company’s investment and constantly being in a state of flux.

Content & social media marketing expertise

The company should be well-versed in industry best practices of content marketing & social media marketing. These two things can determine how well the company is able to get a brand’s online presence to flourish. A digital marketing agency in Toronto should be able to create a strong content and social media strategy that can produce measurable results and a considerable return on the brand’s investment. Content marketing & social media marketing are the cornerstones to any major online advertising strategy.

Did you know:

• 62% of companies outsource their content marketing solutions? (source = Mashable)
• Most Popular form of content marketing employed by B2B markets is article posting! Followed closely by social media (source = Mashable)
• 90% of consumers find custom created content useful (source = Custom Content Council)
• 27% of total U.S. internet time is spent on social networking (source = Experian)
• Half of online customers expect brands ot provide customer service on Facebook – Less then 30% provide it (source = Buffer Apps)

Transparency in measuring results

It is important for the business to be able to measure the return the company receives on anything invested in any advertising initiative. The agency should be able to provide substantial reporting on any campaign implemented. The client should feel confident in their ability to immediately assess the performance of all digital marketing strategies being executed.

Expertise in these areas is what makes a great digital marketing agency. The agency should be capable of supporting every aspect of the company’s digital marketing plan. If an agency is able to deliver in all areas, the company will see a better return on their investment dollars. It’s also much more cost-effective to work with a dedicated resource that can manage all aspects of a digital marketing strategy.

Download the BHGREC – Farm & Ranch Case Study

What is Farm & Ranch?

Farm & Ranch is a website that focuses on providing consumers with the opportunity to find the best farms and ranches across Canada. BHGREC wanted to provide an innovative tool to consumers, allowing the farm & ranch community to have the platform they wanted and deserved to have. The secondary goal we had in mind with this project was to become the #1 place in Canada in respect to traffic to a farm listing website.

With that said, we accomplished all of the goals we had, and Farm & Ranch currently stands at the top of it’s industry.

I’d hate to ruin the whole story, download the Farm & Ranch case study.

Download the Maple Leaf Foods – Republic of Bacon Case Study

What is Republic of Bacon?

Republic of Bacon is a website with a focus about bacon, and bacon recipes. The content on the website was kept strictly to bacon related topics and recipes. The targets we were set to accomplish was to increase the organic traffic, generate  30% more traffic in the second year, and dominate bacon related keywords.

Without ruining the  story, we did accomplished the goals for Republic of Bacon by using a well developed contest marketing strategy.

I’d hate to ruin the whole story, download the Republic of Bacon case study.

3 years later, in 2006 Twitter was launched thus redefining Social Media as we know it by offering people across the world a platform to share their thoughts in 140 characters or less.

Looking back at when these platforms were launched, it is quite amazing how far they have come.

Today the focus is on Twitter, and the effects of what a Single Tweet can have, especially if it is from a renowned news agency like The Associated Press.

What is this Single Tweet that The Associated Press Tweeted?

The Associated Press (@AP) sent out a tweet, around 1 p.m. reported USA Today which stated:

“Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is Injured”

Now as you can imagine, a tweet like this can have detrimental affects on not only the United States of America but across the entire world. Especially when you consider the fact that the Associated Press has over 1.9 million followers on their Twitter account.

What did the Associated Press’ Tweet Affect?

This Tweet caused the Dow Jones Industrial average to plunge more than 150 points within seconds after the tweet.

Bloomberg noted that the S&P 500 Index fell about 1% as well from when the tweet was sent out

The tweet received over 3,000 Retweets while it was live!

The question that was on minds of the world was whether this tweet was true or not.

Was this AP Tweet True?

The Associated Press was quick to act, and quickly notified the world that it was in fact a false tweet, and that their account has been hacked. In fact, their Twitter account has been suspended.

With the Associated Press quickly announced that the tweet was false, the declines in the stock market were quickly recovered.

However, it did bring about a great point – Social Media can make big waves in an entire economy from a single tweet.

This goes to show us all that Social Media is not just a social platform. If it was just that, then people would not take what was said on it so seriously. The Tweet had investors spooked, and the end result was a decline in both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index. Twitter is a social platform that allows users to tweet their thoughts in 140 characters or less; despite the limitation a single tweet, with 71 character was able to cripple the stock market in a matter of seconds.

In fact, it goes to show why we should all be on Social Media, especially Big Brands. Give yourself a voice and showcase to the public who you are as a company.

What do you think of the Associated Press being hacked? Do you think the world over reacted at their tweet?

1. Availability. The online environment allows users to engage brands and discuss them around the clock. The community manager is technically always “on”. This means that the person should be able to engage and interact during the non-traditional hours of 9 to 5.
2. Technical aptitude. The community manager for a service company should have the ability to manage the content featured on the website and all of the social media platforms. You want to be certain that the person is able to update the content featured on the website and oversee any changes on the website with no problem.
3. Expertise. You should have access to references or a portfolio. Some candidates will have received formal training from a reputable source. The person should possess the necessary training, expertise and background to serve the company.
4. Reporting experience. The person should be comfortable with the reporting aspect of social media. Reporting requires a familiarity with analytics. In order to assess the efficacy of any campaign, the person should be comfortable providing regular reporting.
5. Reputation monitoring. The community manager must be able to respond in a timely manner to a crisis. The person has to have a pulse on every interaction that has something to do with the brand. The ability to monitor all of the conversations pertaining to a brand makes it easier to respond quickly.
6. Understanding of the brand. The community manager should understand the brand and what it’s about. If the person is going to be the voice and personality of the brand, the community manager must really understand the brand’s core values, the image the brand wants to portray, and the landscape of the industry.

The community manager will be an extension of the brand. Hiring the right person will make all the difference in your social media marketing efforts. Since this person will serve as a voice for the brand, the service company has to get this completely right in all areas. The ability to represent the brand well is determined by the person’s experience, expertise and understanding of the industry.

Just not that long ago, the only real effective way to access the internet was through a desktop/laptop. Nowadays, you can surf via smartphones, TV and tablets. Thus, it’s important that your website appear properly on all these devices – which means it should be responsive based website.

On top of its main benefit, which is that your site will look attractive and presentable, there are quite a few other important factors to start thinking about switching to responsive based websites.

Here are just a few of them:

SEO

First, it improves your search engine optimization. Google recommended using responsive website design. Moreover, if your website is responsive it will be organically supported on different browsers.

Some SEO statistics

• 44% of online shoppers begin by using a search engine. (source)
• 70% of the links search users click on are organic, not paid. (source)
• 60% of all organic clicks go to the top three organic search results. (source)

Budget optimization

Responsive websites are cheaper as you don’t need to develop a separate website for every single device.

There are lots of platforms being used for various devices – e.g. androids, windows mobiles, iPads – and it’s becomes costly developing website for each device. Responsive websites are a cost-effective solution to this problem.

Time Optimization

Responsive website are easy to manage. This will save you a lot of time, as you don’t need to design pages for each device separately. You just need to develop a web page template that will be adjustable to all display sizes and formats. On top of this, that will also reduce stress by minimizing your workload. If your website is responsive, you don’t need to update content on several different websites to keep it consistent for smartphones and tablets. You just need to do this once and it will automatically be adjusted to each device.

Better Conversion

It’s all about providing a positive experience – the more they like your site the more conversions/sales you will have.

• 61% of global Internet users research products online (source)

With responsive websites, your users won’t need to remember different addresses working on different devices. All they have to do is just to enter the same address that they use on a desktop or laptop. Making it super simple and creating a positive experience for your target

Competitive Advantage

Despite the fact that responsive design is becoming popular, there are still many companies that don’t have it. Thus don’t wait until they do it first. Take advantage now of this opportunity to be a step ahead your rivals, time to be a leader and not a follower!

• Since 67 percent of users claim they are more likely to purchase from a mobile-friendly website (source)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are no longer strategies that only the most tech-savvy and hardcore online marketers are aware of, but are rather becoming standard fare for brands both large and small. Almost every brand out there now knows the necessity of a string online presence, a content marketing strategy and a fully integrated community management plan when it comes to making their company thrive online. These are tested and true strategies that are constantly being tweaked and perfected rather than completely reinvented, and most brands now have at least some concept of how to work around and with them.

Stay On Top with the Newest SEM & SEO Tools

However, one of the most exciting – and, occasionally, daunting! — aspects of online marketing is that it is constantly changing and evolving. Strategies that were perfect a few months ago may no longer have the same impact. To really hold traction when it comes to online marketing strategies, brands must stay on top of the ever-changing landscape of search engine marketing to ensure their band is making the impact it should.

To help you keep ahead of the curve, here are some of the newest, most cutting-edge SEO and SEM tools, plug-ins and strategies currently on the market today.

1. Google Disavow Links Tool

This is a fascinating new tool for several reasons. First, it means that google is formally acknowledging the existence of negative SEO and has a plan to address it. Negative SEO is a fairly new concept, and comes from the very shady tactic that some unscrupulous brands have employed to damage the online reputation of their competitors. Negative SEO happens when someone tries to damage the ranking of another brand’s SERPs through a strategy like purchasing a large amount of spammy or spam-oriented links to the site. The disavow links tool allows brands to detach themselves from individual pages or even whole domains that they do not wish to be associated with, thereby undoing this damage.

2. Page One Infiltrator

This new SEO tool works by effectively reverse-engineering the google algorithm to give you the edge when it comes to keywords. After months of beta testing, it just became available on October 3^rd. Page One Infiltrator can take any web page and keyword and analyze it in detail, comparing it to the top ten competitors and competing keywords in any search engine. Essentially, it tells you exactly what you need to do to rank on page one, something that SEO experts have struggled with for ages. It produces incredibly detailed reports and is a great tool for both your own and client websites.

3. Keyword Discovery Automation

This new tool from Rio SEO identifies specific landing pages that are the most relevant to the keywords you have chosen. Keyword Discovery Automation is an improvement over many existing tools, in that it not only suggests the best keywords to use (which many other tools and plugins do), but that is lets you know which pages on an already-existing website correspond to those keywords the strongest.

Give some of these new tools a shot and take your SEO and SEM strategies to the next level!

Both products give Canadians unique access to neighbourhoods and communities across Canada. Ultimately, as a consumer you will be given the most possible information at your fingertips to provide you with the entire picture before making a decision on where your next home should be!

What brought about the creation of Community Scout?

Community Scout was created with the purpose of providing families with the ability to locate the perfect community to live in. Community Scout provides consumers with detailed information on the community they are looking into:

• Population
• Most Popular Age Group
• Common Language spoken
• Average Household Income
• Average property value
• Percentage of homes Rented vs. Owned
• … and many more

Essentially, as a consumer you will be able to enjoy having the ability to view key information on a community straight from your iPhone, or iPad. In the event that you do not have one of these products, then the web based version is ready to provide you with the same service – Lifestyle Search.

Why would you love Community Scout?

Knowing about the  communities you are interested in is essential, as you will likely begin your house hunt by finding a community that you love. You want to ensure that the community you are looking at is something that fits with you.

Community Scout allows you to do this in 4 simple steps:

Scout

Search for points of interests you want to have in your community; whether it is restaurants, schools, or even hospitals. You name it, you will be able to view the locations of various points within the mobile app as you scout various communities.

Locate

Once you have found the points of interests you want, locate them with ease on your mobile device or tablet.

Compare

Knowing information of various communities are useful, but being able to compare the communities key statistics is a great asset to you. You can view everything from demographics, all the way to amenities!

Decide

With all of the information are your fingertips, you will be able to make a decision on the communities you are examining with ease!

What led to the Creation of Lifestyle Search?

Lifestyle Search was created in conjunction with Community Scout to allow consumers to have access to 2,000 communities and 465,000 using a laptop or a desktop with ease.

Lifestyle Search allows you to sift through communities via province, city, home price, Family & Community and Arts & Recreation. Family & Community and Arts & Recreation are both special search requirements where you place a rating on various categories in the search.

To begin finding a community, you will need to input the Province you are interested in looking, and from there you will be directed to a landing page to input further information. It is a 3 step process, that will allow you to narrow down your search easily.

1. When you initially place the Province you are interested in, you will need to input the city (a city is selected in order for the search to work, but it may not be what you were thinking of). You can also move the slider for the Median home Price as well.
2. In this step you of the Lifestyle Search, you will need to input how significant each particular section is for you in Family and Community – the scale is form 1 – 5. Once you have done this, you can move on the final Search parameters.
3. Once you input the significance of these Arts and Recreational activities, you can now perform a search that should narrow down your results with what you are interested in.

The higher weight you place on the category (it goes up to 5) the more oriented the communities found in the search will be.

Each Community has its own landing page, which highlights various key statistics, such as demographics and amenities within a community. One particular feature we are very proud of is the Points of Interests shown on each community landing page, which can showcase locations from banks, down to schools in a community – allowing consumers to get a better look at what a community has to offer them.

The Production of the Community Scout Video

With the Community Scout app nearing its final stages, we began working towards marketing the application.

The video was created with several purposes.

• It was created to allow consumers to see a demo of the primary features of the app. This allows consumers to understand quickly what the purpose of Community Scout is, in a brief video highlighting it’s main features.
• The video produced was not only used to share socially, but also at the Banff Western Connect 2013 Conference.

Our video team has done an amazing job, and we have to thank him for the great work they did!

Take a look for yourselves, you will see how well done the video is, and how comprehensive it is in allowing consumers understand the capabilities of the Community Scout app.

Finally, Facebook will allow you to specifically track conversions on your website from Facebook ads. Direct Marketers (like Ignite Digital) are jumping for joy now. Google Adwords (through Analytics) has had the ability to track conversions for some time now. It was only a matter of time before Facebook was going to launch a similar metric.

They are calling this feature “OCPM”. Facebook has stated and I quote:

Marketers can now also use optimized CPM (OCPM) to deliver ads to people who are most likely to convert on their websites. Beta tests have shown that when conversion measurement is used with optimized CPM, ads reduced the cost per conversion by 40 percent when compared to CPC ads using the same budget.

At Ignite Digital we are able to decrease CPC by 18% and increase Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) by 22% (more on that at SEM page). Knowing that we can decrease Facebook ad spend further and provide more savings to our clients really interests us. You can read Facebook’s full by clicking here.

Also, another great article pertaining to Social Media. It turns out that a recent study shows Facebook Leads to 24% Sales boost. Great read.

Leverage Google – Recipes, Products and increase Sales – not SEO related

Google has a VAST amount of tools most websites aren’t using. The really sad part is, most of these tools are super easy to integrate into your website.

1. Google Author – if you run a blog. Get Google Author now, it makes posts on Google look professional (higher CTR%), gives you an extra SEO kick to your site and increases your author rank (increases your personal presence)
2. Google Products – If you are a retailer or an eCommerce site. You need to get your products on Google Product search. Google essentially promotes your products on Google search results. Increasing sales, while you sit back and relax. (Merchant link)
3. Google News – If you are serious about Content Marketing. Then you will fit Google’s News submission guidelines. We stumbled across this by accident. Google was sending us a lot of traffic from Google Finance and other Google related sites. We started digging around and noticed that it all comes from one source ‘Google News’. If you don’t get organically indexed through it. You can easily submit your site by using this link.
4. Google Recipes – I love recipes. I can’t cook to save my life, but I love the traffic recipes generates. Many Recipe sites produce them but forget to syndicate there valuable content. Google Recipe integrates YOUR recipes into Google search results. You just need to add a simple rich snippet.

We have plenty of more secrets on Google that hardly anyone else is using. But we will save that for another day!

Panda Update Version #24

Google pushed out a brand new panda update this week. It effected 1.2% of English queries. Not much of a major change and all Ignite Digital websites under management actually saw a nice boost in traffic the last 2 weeks. To learn more about

Tablet Users Love to shop

Mark Walsh wrote a fantastic piece on a study done by Adobe Systems. 55% of tablet users were using there tablet device to make an online purchase – smartphone users were less likely to purchase with 28% of them willing to make an online purchase. Mark mentions the size of the screen as playing a factor in there decision to shop through tablets, I’d agree but I’d also add in larger screen, easy of use, and easier functionality retailers can integrate to increase the UX (user experience). Read more of the study.

No matter what market area you specialize in, your brand is capable of embodying these qualities and becoming successful. By following several key steps during the brand development process, you can be sure to create a brand that is both smart and dynamic, capable of maintaining a strong, familiar core while changing with the needs of your clients.

Know Your Target Market

Getting to know your primary target audience as well as possible is a key first step towards developing an excellent brand. You want your brand to appeal to your target market, that serves their needs in terms of the products and services that you offer, and that has an image and a voice that members of your target market can relate to. The best ways to get to know your target market are:

• Market Research
  Take the time to do studies, surveys and research. Discover who your market it and develop and intimate knowledge of your needs, so that when you develop your brand and your products, you will always have their needs in mind.
• Stay Engaged
  Doing research at the beginning of the process only gives you a snapshot or your target audience, one that will change and grow over time. Be sure to check in regularly with your target audience, stay attentive to their changing needs and demographic, so that you can shift and change along with them while never alienating your present client base.
• Be Accessible
  Your best source of information on your target market is the members themselves. Stay alert and be attentive to the feedback that you receive. Make it easy for your target audience to get in touch with you, reward them for doing so and make sure they know that you are listening. Your target audience is an invaluable source of information, so treat them as such.

How To be Accessible As A Brand

One of the most exciting – and most exhausting! — ways that culture has changed recently is the explosion of ways that people are able to get in touch with each other via technology. Rather than just print ads, radio and television, advertising has had to adapt to the market of the internet via web pages, online feeds, and mobile devices. People no longer only communicate via phone, text or email, but also through a wide range of social media. It is crucial for any brand to be aware of the way that people communicate, and to make sure that your brand has an active and engaged presence on all of the various platforms that the members of your target market value the most.

More Than Image: Brand Personality

When most companies think about brand, they think about the image of their brand: that is the look and feel of the brand, the design concerns of it. This can include things like colour and flow, font and theme, and extend to everything from signage to letterhead. As technology has evolved, the look of brands has had to evolve to incorporate new forms, such as internet ads, email newsletters, mobile apps and social media profiles.

But even more than the look of the brand, technology has affected the way brands are represented and perceived in even more important ways. Your target audience now has a whole new series of ways to get in touch with you. Not only do they expect to be able to interact with your brand via the formal customer service channels of email and telephone, but they also expect brands to respond via social media, especially Twitter and Facebook. When you interact with clients and your target market via social media, you are doing so publicly, in a forum where anyone can see what you have to say. This means that the language that you use, the strategies you employ and the protocol for interacting with your audience are all part of your brand.

This has led to the absolute necessity of brands developing not only a consistent look and feel, but also a personality. This includes everything from the tone you use to interact with your audience to the language that you use. Whatever lexicon and feeling you ultimate develop as your brand’s personality – whether formal and staid or casual and friendly – it should be consistent as your brand’s imagery, and tailored to the needs and preferences of your target audience.

Your Brand’s Voice

With all the changes that have happened int he last few years, both in terms of technological advances and culture as a whole, there is no question that branding in the 21st century means something very different from what it did only a decade ago. But along with these changes and challenges have come incredible opportunities. With the proliferation of new ways to stay in contact with your target market, your brand has never had a larger audience nor more opportunities to learn about your potential market than we do right now. The most successful brands operating today are those who can take advantage of all the new technologies and means of communication to give their brand and strong, powerful and unique voice.