Category: SEO

The road to victory: Paid media strategies in an election and Olympic year

Post author By Stevie LoBosco
Post date April 8, 2024

For a few months every four years, the U.S. presidential election and Summer Olympics dominate the media landscape and create major challenges for advertisers trying to establish reach, maintain ad frequency, and meet cost per acquisition (CPA) goals. From roughly mid-July to early November, election campaigns and Olympic promotions overtake ad inventory, limiting supply and driving up costs for other advertisers.

In 2020, the Tokyo Olympics attracted $2.25 billion in U.S. ad revenue and the U.S. election cycle totaled an unprecedented $2.5 billion of ad revenue. And that’s just for TV ads! With all of that extra competition in the market, breaking through the clutter and maintaining effective reach and frequency without breaking the bank becomes a major challenge for most advertisers.

Let’s explore how a thoughtful election- and Olympic-year paid media strategy can help you emerge victorious from this quagmire. After all, who doesn’t love a good underdog story?

Politics and pentathlons: The negative impacts on marketing

Before we discuss strategy, it’s important to understand what is at risk during these quadrennial events. Here are some of the ways your current paid media plan might feel the impact of the election/Olympic year:

Limited inventory

Channels like traditional broadcast, out-of-home (billboards, transit, airport advertising, etc.), and even CTV, have a finite amount of ad inventory. As politicians, advocacy groups, super PACs, the Olympic Games, and the likes buy up ad inventory, it becomes a challenge for other advertisers to secure inventory for themselves.

For election candidate advertising specifically, the FCC requires broadcast stations and cable systems to charge legally qualified candidates the lowest unit prices, making TV advertising more affordable, and increasing the likelihood of those candidates purchasing a lot of inventory. Additionally, because candidates are guaranteed the lowest unit price that other customers receive, this means that you likely won’t be able to secure any zero-cost added value spots during this time.

In an effort to treat competing candidates fairly, the FCC also requires broadcast stations to abide by the “equal time” rule. This means that if one candidate gets a spot in the 6p news, the other candidates must also be able to receive a similar spot. As such, many non-political advertisers get preempted (“bumped”) during this time and may not receive makegoods during the desired window. This rule makes it especially challenging for advertisers who are operating within very specific promotional windows.

With political and Olympic ads taking over the airwaves, it becomes difficult for other advertisers to secure any ad inventory at all, yet alone enough to maintain an effective reach and frequency that will grow brand awareness or compel action from potential customers.

Cluttered ad space

As politics and Olympic promotion overtake traditional advertising outlets, many non-political and Olympic advertisers will move into the digital realm to secure inventory and lock in flat rates. The political and Olympic advertisers will be here too by the way. As you can imagine (or have experienced first hand in years past), the digital marketplace becomes inundated with heated political messaging and inspirational (usually sports-themed) stories, on top of all the normal ad clutter.

It can be extremely challenging to break through all this noise. Consumers often get overwhelmed by excessive advertising, making it less likely that they will engage with or be influenced by ads.

Increased costs

While broadcast stations are required to keep costs low for advertisers, digital channels are not. Costs on Google, Meta, and other auction-based platforms will surge as competition increases. Cost per clicks (CPCs) and cost per conversions (CPAs) will increase as advertisers bid against each other to win ad space. Target CPAs are going to take more work to hit as each impression becomes significantly more expensive to secure. While you can still serve ads within a set budget, your paid media dollars won’t go nearly as far in auction-based platforms as they normally would outside the election and Olympic seasons.

Taking the podium: Overcome obstacles with a winning strategy

While the challenges that exist during an election and Olympic year may seem daunting, it’s not too late to implement a winning strategy. Strategically planning ahead can help mitigate these challenges:

Adapt your channel strategy

Perhaps the most obvious response to the challenges highlighted above would be to adjust your paid media channel strategy. The limited inventory on traditional broadcast channels will make it difficult to maintain an effective reach and frequency and auction-based digital platforms will experience increased costs. While you may not want to exclude these channels altogether, consider countering those challenges by:

Secure broadcast sponsorships and packages: These often guarantee a minimum number of impressions without the possibility of being preempted.
Extend your broadcast impressions with digital video and streaming audio: These channels have more inventory and often allow you to negotiate flat CPM rates.
Invest in podcasts: Podcasts break through the clutter by speaking to highly engaged listeners.
Incorporate flat-rate digital platforms: Plan ahead and collaborate with digital partners that will guarantee flat CPM/CPC pricing to avoid the increased bidding costs.

Understand your audience

As inventory shrinks and costs rise, efficiency is key. Don’t let your advertising dollars go to waste serving impressions to people outside your audience.

Many marketers use demographics to define their target audience, but demographics have little to do with why a person takes a particular action. Well ahead of the Opening Ceremonies and primary elections, consider investing in values-based persona research to more clearly define who your audience is and what motivates them so that you can tailor your messaging and creative accordingly. Effective ad messaging and creative that resonates with your audience will help break through the ad clutter and drive action during a time when consumers are faced with significant distractions.

Additionally, make sure you’re investing in your first-party data to understand consumer behavior. Today, marketers collect more data than ever before, but often struggle to harness the power of that data in a way that yields actionable insights. Effective data quality management enables you to analyze the right data points that help you understand your customer, enhance their experiences, and optimize campaigns for more efficient and effective results.

Invest in Conversion Rate Optimization

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy is the insurance policy for any paid media plan. A strong paid media strategy can drive significant traffic to a landing page, but if users are met with a poor website experience, they might leave without converting, thus creating a leaky bucket situation. A strategic CRO program systematically tests various iterations of website design and functionality to weed out points of friction and increase conversion rates.

By investing in CRO strategy ahead of the election and Olympic year, you can help prevent valuable paid media traffic from trickling away pre-conversion during that time when paid media traffic is more expensive and harder to come by. During election and Olympic years, when digital costs increase and consumer attention is being directed elsewhere, decreases in conversion rates are almost guaranteed. An effective CRO strategy will help offset the anticipated decrease in conversion rates.

Learn more about CRO and other Integrated Digital Marketing Services from Tallwave.

Emerge victorious

Strategically planning ahead is key to ensuring strong paid media performance during election and Olympic years. Ready to get started? Let Tallwave help you get the most out of your paid media budget this election and Olympic year.

Tags conversion rate optimization, CRO, Data & Analytics, paid media

Highlights News SEO Strategy

The future is now: Leveraging AI prompt engineering

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date April 1, 2024

Ever felt like you’ve squeezed every creative drop out of your content calendar? Struggling to brainstorm fresh campaign ideas? Need help turning numbers into actionable insight? Welcome to the age of AI prompt engineering, a technique that empowers you to unlock the potential of powerful generative AI tools.

Think of tools like ChatGPT, Bard, or Copilot as the next evolution of search engines. Instead of simply returning relevant web pages, they can generate creative text formats, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, complete complex math equations, and even assist with coding tasks — all based on the prompts you provide.

What is prompt engineering?

Imagine having a powerful conversation partner with access to a vast library of information. This is essentially what you get with AI-powered language models. However, just like any good conversation, the quality of the interaction hinges on how you initiate it. This is where prompt engineering comes in.

Prompts are the instructions you provide to the AI, guiding it toward the specific outcome you desire. The more precise and well-crafted your prompt is, the more helpful and relevant the AI’s response will be.

Think of it like searching a library. A vague query like “find something interesting” will yield a mountain of irrelevant results. However, a focused prompt like “find books on the history of artificial intelligence published in the last year that are also available in ebook format” leads you directly to the information you seek.

These language models are trained on massive amounts of text data, giving them the ability to predict the next word in a sequence and understand the nuances of human conversation. They learn and adapt as you interact with them. That’s why providing the right prompt from the outset is crucial for unlocking the full potential of this powerful technology.

How are content marketers using prompt engineering in 2024?

One of generative AI’s most relied-on (and perhaps most controversial) uses in 2024 is content creation. Simple AI tools like Grammarly can run spelling and copy-editing checks, but a handful of tools take things a huge step further. Consider the following benefits of using AI for content creation, along with some engineered AI prompts that might help inspire content creators when using generative tools like ChatGPT:

Streamline content creation

Prompt-based AI can help you brainstorm new blog posts, generate product descriptions, craft engaging social media captions, and even write website copy in different tones and styles.

Example prompts for content creation:

“Create a listicle blog post with 10 engaging tips for businesses to leverage social media marketing in 2024.”
“Write a personalized email campaign for customers who haven’t purchased in the past three months, offering exclusive deals and re-engaging them with our brand.”

Banish writer’s block

Hit a creative wall? AI can help you jumpstart your writing process. Use it to generate outlines, suggest alternative phrasing, simplify technical terms, or even draft entire sections based on your initial ideas.

Example prompts to get the creative juices flowing:

“Continue this paragraph about the benefits of using explainer videos in marketing campaigns, focusing on increased engagement and improved conversion rates.”
“Explain the concept of blockchain technology clearly and concisely, suitable for a general audience with no prior technical knowledge. Use simple language and relatable examples.”

Diversify content formats

Expand your content repertoire beyond traditional text. Use generative AI prompts to create scripts for explainer videos, product descriptions in a conversational tone, or even catchy email subject lines.

Example prompts to expand your content’s range:

“Write a 2-minute script for an explainer video that introduces the key features and benefits of our new productivity software, targeting busy entrepreneurs.”
“Generate five engaging email subject lines promoting our upcoming webinar on social media marketing best practices, using a sense of urgency and highlighting the potential benefits for subscribers.”

A word on risk: Responsible use of AI-generated content

It’s important to remember that AI-generated content is a powerful tool, but it’s not a replacement for human expertise and is often easily detectable to human readers. Here are some key considerations:

Fact-check and edit: AI-generated content may not always be factually accurate. Always double-check the information and edit for clarity, tone, and brand consistency.
Prioritize ethical considerations: Be mindful of potential biases in the training data of AI models. Use prompts that promote inclusivity and avoid reinforcing stereotypes.
Maintain human editorial oversight: The human touch remains essential. Use AI as a springboard for creativity, not a crutch for critical thinking.

Another essential risk of AI content creation: sinking your site in the SERPs. Google’s most recent core algorithm update in March 2024 has caused significant volatility for sites with AI-created content. Proceed with caution and ensure you are using AI responsibly to avoid being penalized in the SERPs.

Beyond content creation: Using AI as your technical teammate

While content creation support can be a benefit of prompt engineering, AI offers all kinds of technical applications for marketers and growth leaders. Let’s explore how leveraging AI can go far beyond catchy headlines and blog posts:

Unveil customer insights with statistical modeling

Gone are the days of gut feeling or intuition driving marketing decisions. AI tools can analyze vast amounts of customer data to identify trends, predict customer behavior, and inform targeted marketing strategies.

Example prompts for uncovering actionable insights:

“Using historical sales data and customer demographics, develop a statistical model to identify which customer segments are most likely to respond positively to our upcoming discount promotion.”
“Analyze customer sentiment from social media conversations and online reviews to identify areas of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction with our brand, focusing on recurring themes and potential areas for improvement.”

Forecast future success (and slowdowns) with sales prediction

Predicting future sales performance is crucial for strategic planning. Marketers can utilize AI to analyze market trends, competitor activity, and historical sales data to generate accurate sales forecasts.

Example prompts to help you look ahead and see what might be around the corner:

“Based on current market conditions, competitor analysis, and historical sales trends, predict our sales figures for the upcoming quarter, incorporating a best-case, mid-range, and worst-case scenario.”
“Develop a machine learning model that forecasts customer churn based on past purchase history, website activity, and demographic information. Identify customers at risk of churning and implement targeted retention strategies.”

Automate routine tasks

Marketers often spend valuable time on repetitive tasks like creating basic website landing pages or email marketing templates. AI can streamline these processes by generating basic code snippets based on your specifications.

Example prompts for automating routine tasks:

“Generate the HTML code for a simple landing page promoting our new e-book, featuring a signup form and a product description with a clear call to action button.”
“Create a Python script that automates the process of generating email marketing campaigns based on pre-defined templates, dynamically inserting personalized customer data and product recommendations.”

Leave the numbers up to the experts. Learn more about Data Strategy services from Tallwave.

The art of the effective AI prompt

Now that you’re armed with the knowledge of prompt engineering potential, here are some key tips to ensure you get the most out of your AI collaborator:

Clarity is key: The more specific and clear your prompts are, the better the AI will understand your intent and deliver the desired output. Avoid ambiguity and focus on providing all the necessary context.
Start simple, refine gradually: Don’t overwhelm yourself with overly complex prompts initially. Start with basic instructions and gradually refine them based on the AI’s response.
Embrace iteration: The beauty of prompt engineering lies in its iterative nature. Experiment with different prompts for the same task and see what generates the best results.
Leverage examples and templates: Many AI tools offer built-in templates or successful prompt examples from other users. Utilize these resources as a starting point for your own prompts.
Remember context is king: The more context you provide about your target audience, brand voice, and desired outcome, the better the AI can tailor its response.
Think like a teacher: Imagine you’re instructing a student on how to complete a task. Frame your prompts in a clear, concise, and easy-to-understand manner.

Balancing efficiency and ethics in AI

AI has become a powerful tool in the marketer’s arsenal, promising to streamline tasks and unlock new levels of efficiency with perfectly engineered prompts. However, this exciting new frontier comes with a responsibility to ensure its ethical and responsible use.

At its core, AI ethics is a framework of moral principles that guide the development and use of artificial intelligence. Organizations like UNESCO are actively creating guidelines to address potential issues like bias and misuse.

Why should marketers care about ethics in AI? While these tools can be performance game-changers, neglecting ethical considerations can lead to brand damage, legal problems, and even product failures.

Understanding key concerns like data privacy, fairness, and potential biases within algorithms is crucial for navigating the ethical landscape of AI marketing. By acknowledging these challenges and taking proactive steps, marketers can leverage the power of AI responsibly, safeguarding their brand reputation and building trust with customers in the process.

Embrace the future of digital marketing with Tallwave

While AI offers undeniable power and efficiency gains, it’s crucial to remember that marketing is ultimately a human endeavor. The ability to understand customer needs, craft compelling narratives, and build genuine connections remains irreplaceable. The key lies in striking a harmonious balance between cutting-edge AI tools and the irreplaceable human touch.

This is where Tallwave comes in. We can help you navigate the exciting world of prompt engineering, empowering you to leverage the strengths of AI while ensuring your marketing efforts resonate with a human audience. By working together, we can unlock the full potential of AI marketing, achieving success that’s both ethical and impactful. Let’s talk.

Customer Engagement News Paid Media Product Design Reaching New Customers SEO Strategy

Building a business-ready website: Beyond the surface of your website strategy

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date March 18, 2024

In the fast-evolving digital landscape, a website is more than a digital brand extension— it’s a dynamic tool that can either advance or inhibit business. Creating a high-performing website requires moving beyond surface-level aesthetics to consider the functionality required to meet business goals effectively.

A website is arguably the most persistent external expression of a brand and one of the hardest working tools in the digital marketing arsenal. It’s the digital front door of your business and a frequent destination for customers at multiple points in their journeys. And yet, website strategy is often only skin deep, focused heavily on how a website looks rather than on how it functions. And it’s often short-term, considering the roles your website plays for your customers and your business today and note how it will need to evolve to meet needs in the future. When it comes to creating high-performing websites built to go the distance for both brands and customers, three is the magic number.

The magic triangle: Role, goals, and audience

A triangulated approach that considers roles, goals, and audience can help you plan for successful and sustainable websites. This interconnected approach ensures that the website is not only visually appealing but also aligned with the broader business objectives. Let’s break down the elements:

Role: The purpose of your website

Understanding the role your website plays in your business is the first consideration in this website strategy power trio. At a basic level, websites can play two roles: business-enabling and revenue-driving.

Business-enabling websites can support your business in a number of ways, including:

Acting as a support system for external revenue channels: Business-enabling websites act as a powerful support system for your existing revenue channels, such as your sales force. They don’t directly generate revenue themselves, but they play a critical role in nurturing leads, building brand awareness, and ultimately driving conversions through those external channels.
Encouraging high-value microconversions: While not the final sale, business-enabling websites excel at capturing high-value microconversions. These actions represent significant steps forward in the customer journey, indicating a prospect’s growing interest in your brand. Examples include lead capture forms, content downloads (e.g., white papers, ebooks), and newsletter signups.
Fueling the customer journey: Business-enabling websites are instrumental in moving potential customers through the buyer’s journey and down the sales funnel. By providing valuable content, educational resources, and clear calls to action, these websites nurture leads, build trust, and position your brand as a leader in your industry.

On the other hand, revenue-driving websites support transactions and encourage conversion, directly contributing to a brand’s bottom line. Consider how revenue-driving websites can support your business:

Acting as a revenue generating powerhouse platform: Revenue-driving websites are the engines that directly power your business’s revenue generation. These websites are transactional in nature, facilitating online purchases and financial transactions. Examples include traditional e-commerce stores selling physical goods, food delivery platforms where customers can order meals, travel booking websites where users can reserve flights and accommodations, and service-oriented e-commerce sites.
Encouraging transactions: The primary function of revenue-driving websites is to facilitate secure and seamless online transactions. This includes features like shopping carts, secure payment gateways, and clear order fulfillment processes.
Suiting your needs: Revenue-driving websites encompass a wide range of e-commerce models. From traditional product sales through an online store to service-based transactions, these websites cater to a variety of industries and customer needs.

Clearly defining whether your website plays a business-enabling or revenue-driving role for your business sets the foundation for the subsequent decisions in your strategy, from critical KPIs to key features and functionality, necessary integrations, and more. It also sets the stage for the expectations users will have when visiting your website.

Goals: What you seek to accomplish with your website

Now that you understand the role your website plays in your business, it’s time to define your website goals. You might consider setting these objectives with SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Website goals will vary depending on your website’s role and your overall business objectives.

Consider the following examples:

Business-enabling website goals:
- Generate a set number of qualified leads per month
- Increase brand awareness and website traffic
- Drive event registrations or webinar signups
- Improve content engagement through downloads or shares
Revenue-driving website goals:
- Increase online sales by a specific percentage
- Grow average order value
- Reduce cart abandonment rates
- Improve customer lifetime value

Establishing clear and measurable website goals can help you track progress, identify areas for improvement, and ensure that your website strategy aligns directly with your business objectives.

Audience: Who your website is speaking to

Your target audience plays a critical role in shaping your website’s design, content, information architecture, and functionality. Here’s why understanding your audience analysis is vital when thinking about website strategy:

Tailored user experience: By understanding your audience’s needs, preferences, and online behavior, you can create a user experience (UX) that resonates with them. This translates to a website that’s easy to navigate, informative, and facilitates desired actions, ultimately influencing conversion rates.
Content strategy alignment: Knowing your audience empowers you to develop a content strategy that truly connects. This means crafting content that addresses their pain points, interests them, and guides them through the buying journey.
Personalization potential: Audience insights can unlock personalization opportunities. This could involve tailoring website elements, product recommendations, or even entire landing pages to specific audience segments, leading to a more relevant and engaging experience.
Search engine visibility: Understanding your audience paves the way for essential SEO optimizations fueled by linguistic profiling and search journey analysis. Implementing data-driven optimizations based on these findings can improve search engine rankings and organic visibility for your business.

Learn more about SEO and other Integrated Digital Marketing Services from Tallwave.

Having a clear understanding of your target audience is the bridge that connects your website’s features and functionality with the user experience that drives results. Effective audience analysis involves:

Buyer persona development: Create detailed profiles of your ideal customers, including demographics, valuegraphics, needs, challenges, and preferred online behavior.
Website analytics review: Utilize website traffic data to understand visitor demographics, interests, and content consumption patterns.
Market research: Conduct market research to gain insights into broader industry trends and competitor audience strategies.

By combining these methods, you can create a comprehensive understanding of your target audience and leverage that knowledge to build a website that truly resonates with them.

Evaluating your website’s business readiness: Beyond the surface

While websites serve as prominent brand outposts, often acting as the initial point, their multifaceted nature can pose a challenge. Teams can get caught up in the aesthetics – visuals, interactive elements, and the like – neglecting to truly get under the hood and identify underlying strengths and opportunities.

Before you put your website to work, it’s essential to get down to business and review your site under the following lenses:

Technical infrastructure: Is the website’s technical foundation robust enough to support your business goals seamlessly, both today and into the future? This includes aspects like website speed, mobile-friendliness, security measures, and content delivery efficiency.
Customer experience (CX): Does the customer journey feel intuitive and cater to your target audience’s needs? Assess whether the website is optimized for high-value conversions aligned with your business objectives.
Accessibility: Is your website accessible for users with disabilities? Ensure that your website’s design and content adhere to WCAG guidelines. This means implementing features like alt text for images, keyboard navigation options, and proper headings.
Navigation paths and flows: Does your website seamlessly guide visitors toward their next steps, building upon interactions with other digital touchpoints in your brand ecosystem? A well-structured website anticipates user intent and facilitates a smooth journey towards conversions.
Design: Does the website effectively reflect your brand identity? Validate your website against your brand guidelines to determine if the visual elements, as well as content, are applied consistently across all pages.
Marketing and sales strategy alignment: Is your website an active participant in driving your marketing and sales efforts? It is important to make sure your website integrates with your marketing automation tools, facilitates lead capture, and effectively supports your sales funnel. It’s also critical to ensure the content management system on which your website is built supports the frequency with which updates may need to be made and the level of technical skill of those who will be responsible for making them.

This multifaceted evaluation approach can help uncover hidden roadblocks and optimization opportunities that ensure your website is not just visually appealing but strategically positioned to support your business goals.

Ongoing optimizations: Sustainable website strategy

Your website is a living entity, not a static brochure. Don’t “set it and forget it.” To maintain your website’s strategic effectiveness, you must plan for ongoing and iterative optimizations. Here are some key practices to keep in mind post-launch:

A/B testing: Test different website elements, like headlines, call-to-action buttons, or page layouts, to see what resonates best with your audience and drives conversions.
Data-driven decision-making: Leverage website analytics and user behavior data to inform website improvements and prioritize resources effectively.
SEO optimizations and content enhancements: Regularly update your website content with fresh, keyword-rich, relevant information to maintain user engagement and improve search engine ranking.
Mobile-first approach: Even in B2B scenarios, first contact often happens in the palms of your customers’ hands. Ensure your website is responsive and optimized for mobile devices.
Security maintenance: Regularly update your website’s security measures to protect user data and website functionality, especially when relying on cloud-based tools and data storage.

A well-defined website strategy is no longer optional – it’s a necessity. By understanding the role your website plays in your business strategy, your target audience, and your desired goals, you can create a website that is not just visually appealing, but strategically designed to drive impactful results.

And you don’t have to go at it alone. Tallwave is eager to create website strategy solutions that align with your consumers and meet them where they are when they need you most. Let’s talk.

Tags customer experience, customer experience design, website strategy

Customer Engagement Reaching New Customers SEO Strategy

Holistic search strategy: A Grandmaster’s approach

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date March 11, 2024

Conquering the digital landscape to boost online visibility and establish brand presence requires a strategic approach that mirrors mastering a chess game. It’s all about drawing up and executing a holistic search strategy that covers every angle of the digital marketing board.

With time and money on the clock, crafting a holistic search strategy looks like the meticulous planning and execution required in a high-stakes game. Achieving grandmaster marketing status isn’t merely about making moves; it’s about anticipating your opponent’s next steps. And by combining search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and other winning tactics with a holistic approach, you’ll be prepared for success at every turn.

The opening gambit: Unveiling the holistic search strategy

A holistic search strategy breaks down silos between paid search and organic search efforts. By analyzing data from both channels together, you can create a unified strategy that maximizes your visibility across search engine results pages. This approach ensures your website aligns with user needs at every stage of the customer journey, ultimately driving overall search performance.

It’s about weaving together the threads of customer behavior, market trends, and competitive intelligence to inform strategic decisions with optimism and purpose. By gathering and leveraging data from diverse sources, such as search engine analytics, valuegraphics, and market research, a holistic search strategy strives to optimize many facets of a brand’s online presence.

Much like a well-executed gambit, implementing a holistic search strategy can maximize ROI by aligning marketing efforts with the evolving audience needs and preferences, ensuring sustained success in the digital board.

The middle game: Key elements in play

SEM, SEO, and conversion rate optimization are a triple threat in the digital realm and serve as the key elements in a holistic search and integrated marketing strategy.

SEM: The Rook

Our agile rook, SEM, charges forth with paid campaigns, reaching engaged audiences, amplifying brand visibility in search engines, and driving traffic to websites. Unlike the organic approach of SEO, paid search utilizes paid advertising platforms to quickly reach engaged audiences and achieve faster visibility.

Like a rook on a chessboard, SEM is a very powerful piece in a marketing plan, but it requires strategic planning to effectively deploy:

Keyword strategy: Leverage organic keyword research to inform which keywords you will bid on and which keywords you want to exclude from campaigns. Include a healthy mix of brand and non-brand keywords, and test bid strategies on those keywords.
Aligned ad and landing page copy: It is important that the ad copy aligns with the copy on the landing page it drives traffic to. This helps ensure a cohesive user experience, which generally results in better performance.
Use your assets: Don’t settle for just headlines and descriptions— take advantage of site links, callouts, structured snippets, phone extensions, lead forms, locations, prices, and promotional features to capture user attention and drive immediate action.

SEO: The Queen

The queen of your strategy, SEO orchestrates content, keywords, and technical aspects, ensuring your website ranks high on the digital field of play. Imagine it as the most versatile force, attracting organic traffic through optimized content, targeted keywords, and a user-friendly website structure. Think of SEO as building a sturdy, well-defended castle, organically attracting visitors with relevant content and strategic placement with vast mobility.

Here, SEO serves as that central force:

Keyword research: Like a skilled scout, SEO identifies the most relevant search queries and key phrases your target audience is using.
Content creation: Drawing on these insights, SEO transforms into an informed storyteller, crafting engaging, informative content that resonates with your audience and answers their burning questions.
On-page optimization: Finally, SEO acts as the architect, meticulously optimizing website elements like title tags, meta descriptions, and internal linking, ensuring search engines can easily understand and index your content.

See our latest client success story to understand how SEO and content strategy can lay the foundation for success in the SERPs.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): The King

As the game nears its climax, we focus on conversion rate optimization (CRO). Much like a well-executed endgame, CRO ensures that every move, or every click, counts.

Here’s how:

A/B testing: A/B testing allows you to explore different variations of elements like landing page design, call-to-action placement, and content structure. This data-driven approach helps refine your tactics, uncover winning combinations, and constantly improve your conversion rate. Meticulously testing different strategies can help identify the most effective approach for your target audience.
Strategic landing page optimization: Landing pages guide visitors toward desired actions, such as making a purchase or subscribing to a newsletter. By optimizing them for seamless user experience and clear calls to action, you convert interest into tangible results. Think of landing pages as kings capturing website visitors by providing a clear path to desired actions.

SERP dominance: Checkmate

Securing top positions on the SERPs and winning clicks is the endgame in a holistic search strategy. Success looks like seeing your brand in the top positions for relevant keywords, increasing your brand visibility, and driving significant organic traffic toward your website. From organic and paid search results to Google Shopping ads, answer boxes, featured snippets, videos, and images, provide search engines and users with a clear understanding of your content and increase the click-through rate for your organic listings. Think of SERP dominance as securing the king’s position and establishing your brand as a leader in the digital landscape.

Learn more about SEO, SEM, CRO, and other Integrated Digital Marketing Services from Tallwave.

The ever-evolving chessboard: Adapting to change

The digital realm is dynamic, constantly shifting and evolving. Just as Garry Kasparov adapted in response to every single one of Deep Blue’s moves, brands too must be adaptable and responsive in their holistic search strategies.

Here are some key moves to keep your holistic search strategy at the top of its game:

Embrace new technologies: Stay informed about emerging technology and industry trends, such as voice search and SGE, and incorporate them into your strategy. Get started with our blog about SEO trends in 2024.
Monitor algorithm updates: Search engines regularly update their algorithms, which can impact your rankings. Stay informed about these updates and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Analyze your data: Regularly analyze your website traffic and user behavior data with GA4’s new metrics to identify areas for improvement and optimize your strategy for long-term success.
Keep learning, keep growing: The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, so continuous learning is essential. Stay up-to-date with industry trends, attend workshops, and actively seek new knowledge.

Take the board with purpose (and Tallwave)

Just as in a friendly game of chess, adopting a holistic search strategy means thinking ahead, staying flexible, and making smart moves to outmaneuver the competition. In this dynamic arena, where algorithms are always changing and search trends are in flux from day to day, taking an integrated approach will help your brand stay sharp and ahead of the curve.

And when you’re ready to level up your search strategy and capture the king, Tallwave is ready to support your success. We’ve got all the pieces arranged on the board; take the first two squares forward by reaching out to us now.

Tags paid media, SEO, SEO Strategy

Customer Engagement Reaching New Customers SEO Strategy

Microconversions: Unlocking the power of incremental steps in your conversion funnel

Post author By Tallwave Team
Post date March 4, 2024

Introduction: What is a microconversion?

In the dynamic world of digital marketing, where every click and interaction matters, understanding microconversions is crucial. But what exactly are they? Let’s start by demystifying this term.

What is a microconversion?

A microconversion is any incremental step a user takes to show initial interest in your brand or product. Unlike the grand finale of a macroconversion, like a product purchase or subscription that constitutes a final goal and often achieves a financial outcome, microconversions are the incremental steps along the way that lead up to those final actions. Imagine a visitor to your website as a curious explorer embarking on a journey. Along the way, they encounter various signposts, each representing a microconversion. These small actions might not lead immediately to a purchase, but they’re part of the breadcrumb trail that leads prospective customers to that final transaction.

Learn more about the power of the “micro-yes” in sales.

Why do microconversions matter?

1. Trust building and brand advocacy

Microconversions are like the first handshake between you and your potential customer. At the earlier stages of the buying journey, some common microconversions include:

Email newsletter sign-up: When a visitor subscribes to your newsletter, they express interest in staying connected. This small commitment builds trust and opens the door for further communication.
Social media sharing: When someone shares your content on social platforms, they vouch for your brand. Their endorsement reaches a wider audience, potentially attracting new visitors and signaling trust and confidence in your brand.

2. Insights into user behavior and intent

Microconversions provide valuable insights into user behavior. By tracking these smaller interactions, you gain a deeper understanding of what resonates with your audience and gain insights into the stage of the buyer’s journey they’re in and their needs at that stage. Examples include:

Page views: The number of pages a visitor views indicates their level of engagement. High page views suggest interest, while low views may signal disinterest. The nature of the content on the pages viewed can also illuminate stage and intent. For example, if a visitor navigates to specific product pages, adds products to a cart, or reviews a page on returns, those behaviors are all microconversions on the path to purchase that signal a higher degree of intent than a visitor that lands on your home page and then leaves.
Comments on blog articles: Engaged users often leave comments. These interactions reveal their preferences and pain points.

3. Optimization opportunities

Microconversions act as breadcrumbs leading you through the forest of user experience. They can also serve as a “canary in the coalmine” of your digital engagements, signaling friction that can then be resolved and highlighting areas for improvement. Consider:

Process milestones: These are linear steps toward the primary macroconversion. Analyzing them helps identify bottlenecks and UX pain points. For example, for one client, we pinpointed significant dropoff between the process milestones of viewing a product page and adding the product to a cart, particularly for mobile users. We discovered this was due to an issue causing the “add to cart” button to display much further down the page than intended, causing many users to overlook it and abandon the page. Addressing this issue allowed us to increase add-to-cart actions by 3.8x.
Secondary actions: These desirable but non-primary goals indicate potential future macroconversions. Examples include downloading an ebook, creating an account, or watching a video. Using these secondary actions as opportunities to deploy targeted outreach can be a great way to optimize the path to purchase with stage-specific content and messaging that nurtures prospective customers toward other high-value actions.

Monitoring and measuring microconversions: Enhancing your conversion insights

Understanding what microconversions are and the signals they represent is only half the battle. Unlocking their power to gain insights into the path to macroconversions and inform strategies for optimizing digital experiences to improve conversion requires ongoing monitoring and measurement. Both the types of data each microconversion produces and the methods for collecting and analyzing that data vary:

Qualitative data

Qualitative data can be invaluable for getting a sense for how effectively website visitors are navigating to and completing microconversions and where they may be encountering roadblocks in the path toward macroconversions. Here are some common approaches for gathering qualitative data on microconversions and examples of these measurement methodologies in action:

Heat mapping & scroll mapping

Heat mapping is like having a thermal camera for your website. It visually represents user behavior by highlighting the “hot” and “cold” areas of a webpage based on where users click, scroll, hover, and otherwise interact with the page (and where they don’t). Here’s how it works:

Heat maps: These colorful overlays show where users click, move their mouse, or spend the most time. Red and orange areas indicate high activity, while blue and green areas are less frequented.
Scroll maps: These reveal how far users scroll down a page. Understanding where visitors drop off helps optimize content placement.

Example: Imagine an e-commerce site. A heat map reveals that users consistently click on the “Add to Cart” button but rarely explore the footer links. This insight prompts you to enhance the checkout process and reposition critical links.

Session recording

Session recording is like a digital surveillance system for your website. It records user sessions, capturing every click, scroll, and interaction through the eyes of the user. Key points:

User behavior: Watch real users navigate your site. Understand their pain points, hesitations, and moments of delight.
Error identification: Spot usability issues, broken links, or confusing forms.

Example: You notice users repeatedly abandoning their cart during the payment step. Session recordings reveal that a confusing coupon code field is causing frustration. Fixing this leads to higher conversions.

Quantitative data

Quantitative data brings a numerical lens illuminating actions that can be counted, measured, or otherwise described in numbers. Where qualitative data can help you channel the perspectives and feelings of website visitors, quantitative can put that data into perspective in terms of its frequency and impact. Here’s how quantitative data on microconversions is often collected:

Basic analytics tools

Google Analytics (GA): The Swiss Army knife of web analytics, GA tracks user behavior, traffic sources, custom website conversion rates, and more. It’s free and essential for any website.
Built-in e-commerce analytics: Platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento offer built-in analytics. They provide insights specific to e-commerce, such as product performance, revenue, and customer demographics.

Example: GA shows that your blog attracts high traffic, but few readers proceed to the product pages. You optimize the blog-to-product link placement, resulting in increased sales.

Funnel reports

Funnel reports visualize the user journey. They break down the conversion process into stages:

Awareness: Visitors arrive on your site.
Interest: They explore content, view products, or sign up.
Consideration: Users add items to their carts or engage with your services.
Conversion: The final purchase or desired action.

Example: An e-learning platform’s funnel report reveals that most users drop off during the “Interest” stage. You tweak the landing page content, leading to better engagement.

Remember, microconversions are the stepping stones that pave the way for macro success. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you’ll create a conversion funnel that’s both user-friendly and revenue-boosting!

Making the most of microconversions: Optimizing for conversion

The final step is putting qualitative and quantitative data-driven insights to work to optimize the digital experience to increase the microconversions (and ultimately macroconversions) your audience is successfully completing. This can be done broadly to optimize the digital experience as a whole or more narrowly to optimize for a specific high-value action through two distinct but interrelated approaches:

Digital Experience Optimization (DXO)

Digital Experience Optimization (DXO) is the strategic process of enhancing user interactions with digital technologies to drive superior customer experiences. It encompasses a holistic approach to improving every touchpoint where users engage with your brand online. DXO aims to create seamless, personalized, and delightful experiences across websites, mobile apps, social media, and other digital channels.

Why does DXO matter?

Customer expectations: In today’s digital landscape, customers expect smooth, relevant interactions. DXO ensures you meet these expectations.
Business impact: Positive digital experiences lead to increased customer loyalty, higher conversion rates, and improved brand perception.

We discovered this was due to an issue causing the “add to cart” button to display much further down the page than intended, causing many users to overlook it and abandon the page. Addressing this issue allowed us to increase add-to-cart actions by 3.8x.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) focuses on improving the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase, signing up, or downloading content. It involves data-driven experimentation to enhance user experience and drive conversions.

Core elements of CRO

CRO applies a systematic approach to increasing high-value action completion by identifying and testing solutions to resolve friction points along the path to conversion to continuously improve performance. This process includes:

Setting expectations: Clearly define goals and success metrics for each conversion action.
User insights: Understand user behavior through analytics, heatmaps, and session recordings.
Hypothesis development: Formulate hypotheses about what changes will improve conversions.
Testing velocity: Regularly test variations (A/B tests, multivariate tests) to validate hypotheses.
Cross-device testing: Ensure consistent experiences across different devices.
Pre-test prototypes: Validate ideas before full implementation.
Limit changes: Focus on impactful modifications rather than overwhelming redesigns.

Best practices for optimization

While CRO is focused on a specific digital experience, doing it effectively requires considerations that extend well beyond the specific microconversions you’re trying to improve, including:

Keyword research: Understand user intent and optimize content accordingly.
On-page SEO: Optimize meta tags, headings, and content for search engines.
User experience (UX): Prioritize intuitive navigation, fast loading times, and mobile responsiveness.
Content quality: Create valuable, relevant content that resonates with your audience.
Backlink building: Earn high-quality backlinks to improve authority.

Remember, DXO and CRO are ongoing processes. Continuously analyze, test, and optimize to create exceptional digital experiences and drive conversions. Let us show you how to incorporate this must-have continuous improvement cycle into your business!

Tags customer experience design, Data & Analytics, data strategy

SEO Strategy

Swipe right on SEO: Can keywords play Cupid?

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date February 12, 2024

Algorithms are inescapable. They have the power to influence, nudge, and sometimes even manipulate our choices. Algorithms curate social media feeds, direct us to products we don’t even know we need (but somehow do), recommend movies we are practically guaranteed to like, and, for many of us, dictate our search for the perfect romantic partner.

According to a recent Pew Research Center report, 3 in 10 adults in the U.S. admit to having used a dating app or site in their quests for love (or at least some kind of companionship). Just like Google’s algorithm sorts through billions of web pages to find the best answer to our most pressing questions, dating apps use hidden algorithms to curate your potential matches.

And many of the same factors that influence search algorithms also influence dating app algorithms. It’s totally possible to optimize your dating profile to find the best matches, just as you can optimize a website with SEO for the best rankings.

When two become one: Where search algorithms and dating app algorithms overlap

In technical terms, algorithms define a finite set of instructions executed in a predetermined order to achieve a desired result.

But in application, you might think of algorithms as the secret blueprints behind every search or swipe. Just like Google or Bing connect you to the information you need, dating apps, like Bumble and Hinge, are compasses for navigating a sea of potential partners. When an advanced algorithm is at the helm, instead of randomly riding the waves and going with the flow, data drives a curated path.

Whether you’re looking for a quick answer to a trivia question with Google or swiping through an app to find a Valentine’s Day date, here are some things to keep in mind to help you maximize the “perfect match potential” of any algorithm, from search engines to dating apps:

Gathering data

Just as search engines analyze your search history and preferences, dating apps collect information from your profile, behavior—likes, profiles viewed per session, swipes, messages—and even survey responses. This data, which would be considered engagement metrics in SEO, becomes their digital recipe for understanding your unique “type.”

Identifying patterns

Think of algorithms as pattern information investigators, always on the lookout for recurring themes. If you consistently swipe right on outdoorsy extroverts with healthcare careers, the algorithm takes note and adjusts your match pool accordingly. It’s like Google noticing you frequently look for hiking trails and medical journals, and then prioritizing those in your search results.

Prioritizing profile

Once patterns are identified, the algorithm takes charge of your potential matches. It’s like Google ranking web pages with quality content based on relevance and authority. In the dating world, this means profiles that align with your preferences get bumped to the top of your swiping deck, while those that don’t match your “type” fade into the background.

Constant learning and adapting

Algorithms aren’t static; they’re constantly evolving based on new data and user interactions. Each swipe, message, or profile visit provides feedback for the algorithm to refine its understanding of your preferences. It’s like search engines updating their algorithms to reflect changes in user behavior and search trends.

While each platform might have its unique approach, they all follow a version of these basic steps. And just like you can use SEO for social media algorithm success, you can also rely on similar search engine optimization techniques to find your perfect match on the dating app of your choice.

Organic magic: How to find love with SEO

The connection between dating apps and search engines goes beyond the algorithms. In fact, the processes of creating a dating app profile and optimizing a website for SEO have the exact same desired outcomes: to increase organic visibility and encourage action. Just like a business wants to see its products at the top of the SERPs, encourage clicks, and win conversions, the singles swiping on dating apps want to be on top of the stack, nudge potential matches to swipe right, and ultimately win a chance at love.

So, with these commonalities in mind, it’s time to consider using basic SEO practices to improve your dating app strategy. Here are some actions you can take to optimize algorithmic awesomeness, regardless of whether you’re working with a website or matters of the heart.

Learn more about SEO and other Integrated Digital Marketing Services from Tallwave.

Consider user and keyword intent

Successfully optimizing a website or a dating profile means understanding your audience and their unique intentions. If you’re seeking high-funnel customers (or more casual matches) who are just browsing, aim for broad and informational keywords to pique their interest in general. If you’re looking for customers (or potential partners) closer to conversion (or a relationship), more specific and transactional keywords might be a better choice to build momentum and encourage a journey with the end result in mind.

Use linguistic profiling to speak your audience’s language

Linguistics plays a huge role in how we consume content and how we form relationships. Google and potential partners both use latent semantic indexing to understand relevency, and this means you must share high-quality content worded particularly for your perfect match.

Let’s say you’re looking for someone who is a bit of a homebody, great conversationalist, creative in the kitchen, and shares an affinity for little white dogs. Consider using terms semantically related to these traits like “cozy comfort,” “witty banter,” “culinary artistry,” and “petite powderpuff pups” to further display relevancy and spark a playful exchange.

Create compelling content

High-quality content reigns supreme in SERPs and dating apps. Share authentic anecdotes that reveal your unique qualities in your dating app profile just as you would with value propositions on your website. Visuals and creative content count, too.

Stay active and online

Consistent engagement encourages both search engine rankings and dating app views. For dating app users, this means logging in frequently and replying to messages promptly. When it comes to website optimizations, this means regularly posting new content and encouraging crawlers.

End on a call-to-action

We all need a little push sometimes. Call-to-action (CTA) language is essential for guiding clarity and direction. CTAs provide clear instructions and next steps, guiding your audience toward the desired action, whether it’s buying a product, subscribing to a newsletter, downloading content, sending a message, or even asking for a date. Without a CTA, users might be left confused and unsure of what to do next, leading to missed opportunities.

Whether searching for love or online success, you can use SEO strategies to find your perfect match. Remember, a clear call to action is critical to converting that click into a connection.

Ready to fall in love with SEO success?

While Tallwave doesn’t usually offer dating advice, we have written digital marketing love stories and we help businesses find their perfect matches online with powerful, integrated solutions. Reach out for a consultation today. 💕

Tags business strategy, Holidays, SEO, SEO Strategy, Valentine's Day

Customer Engagement SEO

Beyond hype and hashtags: The complicated connection between SEO and influencer marketing

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date February 5, 2024

The allure of influencer marketing is undeniable. Just like organic SEO, influencer marketing can bring brands amplified awareness, improved engagement metrics, and perhaps most importantly, a boost in conversion rates.

Influencer marketing and SEO can even be powerful tools when used strategically and in concert with each other. However, relying on influencer marketing to improve your organic reach can be complicated.

How do influencer marketing and SEO work together?

Though distinct players in the marketing game, influencer marketing and SEO share a complicated relationship. Even Google has acknowledged the link between the two strategies. Both SEO and influencer marketing offer unique advantages and challenges, and understanding the complex relationship between them is key to unlocking the full potential of both.

Here’s how influencer marketing and SEO can complement each other:

Increased brand awareness: Both strategies aim to get your brand in front of more people. Influencer marketing leverages influencers’ established audiences, while SEO optimizes your website for search engines, making it more discoverable to an even broader audience.
Improved brand trust: Positive influencer endorsements can build trust with their audience, which can translate to your brand. Similarly, high-quality, informative content created for SEO can signal trust to search engine algorithms, not only boosting your rankings, but potentially earning you visibility among Google’s rich results and establishing the expertise of your brand.
Content creation: Influencers can create valuable content (e.g., blog posts, social media posts) featuring your brand, which you can then leverage on your website or social media for SEO benefits.
Backlinks: If influencers link to your website in their web-based content, it can boost your SEO ranking through high-quality backlinks. (But remember, most social media links are “no-follow” and won’t count as backlinks.)

Here’s how influencer marketing and SEO are different

Sustainability: Influencer marketing often delivers short-term bursts of traffic and engagement, while SEO aims for long-term, sustained organic growth.
Control: You have limited control over influencer content and messaging, while you have full control over your website and its SEO strategy.
Scalability: Reaching a large audience through influencer marketing can be expensive, while SEO can be scaled more efficiently with ongoing effort.
Measurement: Measuring the direct impact of influencer marketing can be complex, while SEO metrics are typically more well-defined and trackable.

You might summarize the relationship and differences between influencer marketing and SEO like this: use influencer marketing for building brand awareness, social proof, and potentially generating high-quality content. Use SEO for building long-term organic traffic, establishing your brand as an authority, and improving overall website visibility. And of course, let’s not forget the links between SEO and social media, too!

Let’s talk about Lashgate and its impact on SEO

TikTok beauty influencer, Mikayla Noguiera, is no stranger to controversy, but last year’s “Lashgate” has gone down in social media history. In early 2023, Nogueira posted a TikTok video review, in paid partnership with L’Oreal, showing off the conspicuous results of the brand’s new Telescopic Lift mascara. But the drama began to unfold when another app user posted a video asserting she had proof that Nogueira was wearing artificial eyelashes — specifically Ardell Wispies — in her review, which cast doubt on the mascara’s results. Nogueira posted the review that inspired Lashgate on Jan. 24, 2023. As of Jan. 24, 2024, exactly one year later, the video has garnered more than 60.5 million views on TikTok.

According to organic search data from SEMRush, “Telescopic Lift Mascara” was searched 320 times in January 2023 (before Lashgate and shortly after the product launched). Monthly searches jumped to 5,400 in March 2023 as the drama peaked, and as of January 2024, the phrase has averaged 9,900 searches per month.

Even though the search volume for the product exploded by more than 4,200%, it’s not all good news. Branded search volume for the product largely included long-tail modifiers like “drama,” “controversy,” and “fake reviews.”

On the flip side: What happened to Wispies?

Ardell false eyelashes hit the market more than half a century ago and have been a beauty industry favorite since. However, they have a slightly different SEO story to tell.

Let’s look at monthly search volumes for the term “Ardell Wispies”:

January 2023 (before Lashgate): 5,400
March 2023 (peak of Lashgate): 6,600
January 2024 (1 year after Lashgate): 5,400

Even though Noguiera’s paid partner was L’Oreal and not Ardell, the latter benefited from a modest-but-fleeting lift in monthly search volume when interest in the Lashgate controversy peaked. And this is how influencer marketing, regardless of hype or drama, typically works: a brand or product will see a surge in organic search volume and traffic after a product goes viral, but these figures fall back to the status quo when the hype dies down.

While the short-term impact of influencer marketing can drive a rapid, short-term increase in brand visibility that could translate to a temporary positive impact on your brand’s bottom line there are no guarantees except that results will be fleeting. Long-term organic search success comes from investing in a healthy, ongoing SEO strategy.

Connecting the dots between influencer marketing and SEO for long-term growth

Now that we’ve unraveled some of the nuances in the complex relationship between influencer marketing and SEO. Here are some actionable steps to craft a strategy that maximizes the potential of both to amplify your brand’s reach and build lasting organic visibility:

1. Align your influencers with your SEO goals:

Consider micro-influencers: They often engage in deeper connections with their audiences, creating content that feels more authentic and resonates better with search engines.
Prioritize content quality over reach: Choose influencers who align with your brand values and can create informative, engaging content that optimizes for relevant keywords.
Invest in evergreen topics: Don’t just chase fleeting trends. Collaborate on content that has long-term appeal and relevance, offering lasting value to your audience and search engines alike.

2. Capitalize on content synergies and measure impact:

Repurpose influencer-generated content: Share their social media posts, blog articles, or video snippets on your website and optimize them for relevant keywords.
Leverage backlinks: Encourage influencers to link to your website within their content, providing valuable backlinks that boost your SEO ranking.
Track and analyze: Use analytics tools to monitor the performance of your influencer campaigns, both in terms of audience engagement and organic search traffic.

3. Build a robust SEO foundation to sustain the momentum:

Optimize your website: Ensure your website is technically sound, with fast loading times and mobile-friendliness. Incorporate relevant keywords strategically throughout your website content.
Focus on quality backlinks: Beyond influencer partnerships, actively pursue high-quality backlinks from reputable websites in your niche.
Create valuable content consistently: Don’t rely solely on influencer content. Publish informative blog posts, articles, and other valuable resources on your website to demonstrate your brand’s expertise and attract organic traffic.
Learn from the best: Want to see how influencer marketing and SEO work together first hand? Look at SEO influencers to see how it’s done.

Influencer marketing and SEO are both powerful tools, but don’t rely on influencers alone to expect long-term results. By implementing these actionable steps and a strong SEO strategy, you can leverage their combined strengths to build a brand that shines online, both in the spotlight of an influencer’s collaboration and in the steady glow of long-term organic success.

Ready to see for yourself? Let’s discuss how a full-funnel marketing program leveraging organic SEO can equal outstanding experiences and ongoing success. Here’s to the start of a great partnership.

Tags Digital marketing, SEO, SEO Strategy, social media

SEO Uncategorized

Is SEO for Social Media the Secret to Success?

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date June 12, 2023

Social media platforms have evolved from online hangouts to significant touchpoints on your customers’ conversion journeys. Establishing your brand’s social media footprint and visibility is crucial; it forges meaningful consumer connections and enhances digital experiences.

However, the painful reality for marketers is that curated social content alone won’t get you to For You Pages and newsfeeds. But reaching into your SEO strategy toolkit just might. Many factors in establishing a solid social media presence seriously overlap with the search engine optimization strategies you’re already using to drive growth on your website.

With complex algorithms and user behavior playing a crucial role in content visibility, leveraging the power of SEO for social media is vital to improving reach, engaging the right users, and converting customers.

What is the relationship between social media and SEO?

When it comes to creating online experiences and driving strategic growth, social media matters. Surveys show that working-age adults spend an average of 2.5 hours daily scrolling social media. These consumers rely on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for product research, reviews, brand engagement, and even for making purchases as integrated e-commerce solutions become the norm.

SEO matters, too. An effective organic SEO strategy elevates your brand by boosting page rankings and increasing visibility, clicks, and conversions. Investing in SEO builds long-term equity for your business and establishes authority in your market. And while AI might change how algorithms work, SEO strategy will always need human-lead creativity and expertise to resonate with human users. Learn more about the benefits of implementing a proven SEO strategy.

And although social media and SEO may seem like distinct digital strategies, they are closely intertwined. Social media platforms aim to engage and satisfy users by showcasing relevant, high-quality content. At the same time, SEO seeks to achieve the same by delivering valuable web content to answer their search queries.

SEO and social media: Symbiotic sisters

Think about it: SEO focuses on improving website reach by considering algorithms and ranking factors for better visibility on search engine result pages like Google or Bing. These factors hinge on authority, expertise, and trust established through technical performance, keywords, latent semantic indexing, and user behavior (bounce rate, time on site, pages visited, etc.).

Social media platforms also rely on algorithms that determine how content is displayed to users. These algorithms analyze similar factors, such as bio and caption keywords, viewer intent, creator authority, user behavior, and engagement.

Relevance, engagement, and authority influence how content is shown to users on the SERPs, home pages, feeds, and For You Pages. Noting the many intersections, it’s easy to interpret that applying SEO techniques to social media strategies will likely increase the chances of your target audience finding your content, engaging with it, and ultimately converting into customers.

SEO strategies to adopt for social media success

Experience is everything. The shared objective between SEO and social media is to provide users with the best possible experience by delivering the best possible content related to their needs and intents.

You can implement SEO techniques in your social strategy to push your brand toward customer acquisition and growth. With increased social media visibility, you’ll be there for critical make-or-break moments on the conversion journey.

Experience is everything. The shared objective between SEO and social media is to provide users with the best possible experience by delivering the best possible content related to their needs and intents.

Let’s look at a few tips social media managers can borrow from the SEOs.

Know what’s now

Social media evolves rapidly. Just look at all the recent changes with Instagram. Part of finding success with your audience is understanding what’s current and popular in their world. Google Trends offers an easy way to tap into today’s interests so that your content is timely and relevant.

Speak their language

Like traditional SEO, linguistic profiling and keyword research are crucial in social media optimization. Identify keywords and phrases relevant to your industry, target audience, and specific social media platforms. Use those phrases in your content and captions. Tools like SEMrush, Moz, and free browser extensions like Keyword Surfer can help you discover relevant terms based on how people search for products or content.

Flex your authority

Optimize your social media profiles by incorporating relevant keywords in your bio, descriptions, and headers. This helps social algorithms understand the nature of your business and improves the chances of being discovered by users searching for those keywords. Mention titles or credentials relevant to your content to display subject matter authority.

Create connections

Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions. This fosters a sense of community and encourages further engagement. And engagement shows the algorithm that your content is valuable and relevant.

Analyze and optimize

Regularly analyze your social media performance using built-in analytics tools or third-party platforms. Monitor engagement metrics, reach, click-through rates, and conversions to understand what resonates with your audience. Adjust your strategy accordingly to optimize results.

Let integrated solutions lead to intertwined success

You can unlock social media’s full potential and drive meaningful results by understanding the relationship between SEO and social media, implementing effective strategies, and staying informed about the latest trends and algorithm updates.

Explore Tallwave’s Integrated Digital Marketing services.

Social media and SEO aren’t siloed strategies. An integrated growth enablement partner like Tallwave can assist in combining SEO and social media strategies as part of a comprehensive conversion rate optimization program. We are eager to deploy our customer-centric and cohesive approach in a unique way to your vision and create exceptional experiences for consumers of all kinds.

Ready to learn more about Tallwave and how we can help with SEO and social media? Let’s discuss how combined forces equal outstanding experiences and ongoing success. Here’s to the start of a great partnership.

Tags customer experience, SEO, SEO and Social Media, social media