We started running PPC ads by doing a lot of mistakes and burnt our hand by these mistakes. It is very important to understand a pattern of common mistake due to which our ads were not performing the way they were supposed to perform. This article gives you an understanding of this common pattern and how to fix these problems.
Pattern 1: Ads are approved but not taking the impression
This seems to happen every time when you set up a campaign and Google is trying to understand what you are trying to do. Let’s put some light on what might be the possible mistake and go-to place for the same.
Ads might have just approved
Sometimes Google takes a long time to approve the ad and keywords. It’s simple, wait for 24 to 48 hour for ad or keyword to get approved.
You might be bidding too low
Choose Google recommended budget or increase the bid amount a little.
You might have scheduled ad
Check for the ad scheduling time and remove if required.
Keywords
There might be unrelated keywords or the keywords that you have selected might not have any search volume. Just add some keywords that have better search volume or modify the match type and see for some time.
Pattern 2: Ads are taking impression but not clicks
This is very overwhelming when your ads have been shown to the searches/users where it’s not getting any or enough clicks that you are expecting. Here is the place where you need to check.
Ad Position
You might be bidding less or the quality score of the ad is very low, wherein ads are shown mostly in the bottom of the SERP first page or second page. So we just need to keep an eye on the quality score and ad position to make sure you have people’s attention.
Poor or low-quality ad copy
Your ad copy is not good enough to grab users attention or not exciting enough for people to click on your ads. Give a try by refreshing your ad copy or updating more relevant and fresh ads.
Pattern 3: There are a lot of clicks but no much leads and conversion
Sometime you might feel Google is lying to you by showing an unrealistic number of clicks and impression on the ads. But Google might not always be wrong in this case and there are some places where we can look into in order to improve the result. Here are a few things to consider.
Poor clicks quality
There is a good chance that we are getting poor quality users on our site. Just compare the search terms and keywords once to make sure you are getting the right audience on your website so that they turn into leads.
Poor landing page/Website experience
Lowloading speed, no appropriate content on the site, not following AIDA content flow also leads to this issue. Most of the time people just bounce back from landing page/ website by their bad experience and continue their research on the next site. So check on the analytics, hotjar or GTM page scroll events to verify if users are liking the content you put across to them.
If you know these three usual patterns where your PPC ads suffer, you can easily solve these issues. To summarize
No impressions? – Check for pattern 1
No clicks? – Check for pattern 2
No leads or conversion – Check for pattern 3
If you still not sure about your ad performance or feel like it needs some professional help, we are here to help you. Contact us on +91 99864 60086 or mail us on [email protected] and schedule a FREE audit and consultation of your google ad account.
Have you always wondered if there is a sure way of creating content for social media that people would wait to share?
Yes. There is.
Is there a way to stand out from the tsunami of content that people consume on a daily basis?
Yes. There is.
It all boils down to two simple philosophies that every social media content creator must keep in mind-
It’s not all about you
Think within the box
It’s not all about you
This step is inspired from the wonderful book ‘It’s not about you’ by co-authors Bob Burg and John David Mann. Read this book and you will discover the importance of serving the needs of others to find abundance in business as well as life.
In reference to the content you create, thinking about the person you are ideating/writing for helps you understand what they want to learn, read, laugh about or share. Doing this helps you stand out being genuine. Being genuine leads to being talked about.
It’s as simple as that.
Now you know it- Think less about what you want to create, what you think sounds cool, creative or ‘killer’ and think about the person consuming the things you are sharing.
Think within the box!
Now, wait a minute. I know you’ve been told to think out of box, since you could frame sentences in second grade. Thinking creatively is considered a product of thinking out of the regular framework of things. That may be true in some cases. Visualizing for social media is not one of them.
So what is this box and how do you think within said box?
The social media content box consists of 4 pillars, like every other box. But what each of these sides/pillars stand for is important. So listen up.
Know the product better than the client-
Is that even possible? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
Before you start working on your product/service learn everything you can about it. The good, the bad, the ugly. 0
First, start with the client’s brief of what they sell. This gives you a good insight of their perception on how they want to help people. This is important. If you don’t know why our client’s product or service exists, you might as well not get into the content creation bit.
Once you speak to your client and get a basic understanding of the product, the actual research begins.
Get online, talk to people, read news articles, reviews and every other piece of content you find. Read the little writing on the back of the product, if you have to. Do what it takes to know the product/service you are about to tell people about!
Know your audience
Imagine having a brilliant conversation or a date night with a wall. That’s right. If you don’t know who you are talking to on social media, you my friend, are speaking to a wall.
The second pillar of visualizing for social media is rather an important one.
Only when you know who you’re sharing valuable information with will you know if they are interested in your information. So step 1: create a persona of your buyer.
For one particular cooking oil brand that we worked with, we went out to spend endless hours at all the different places our client’s product was being sold. After making notes, talking to people who were picking up our product and shopkeepers selling them, we sat down and created a personality, adding every intricate detail we could fathom. From his language of preference to what newspaper he reads every day, we wrote it. That was the cornerstone of success for their social media page.
Once we learned about our customer, we wasted no time talking to the wrong people.
Today, thanks to Facebook/Instagram Analytics, behavioural recording tools and messenger to talk to people, understanding customer behavior has become a whole lot easy.
Research like your nosy aunty next door
That’s right. Just get in there. Spend hours learning about what’s happening in the industry. Learn about your competitors, what they do that makes them awesome, what they say that gets them responses and how they make their customers fall in love with them every day.
Once you get all this data, you now know ‘why’ your product exists for your customer.
Your product/service must have a purpose, it must help someone make their lives a little better, healthier, easier or happier. When you discover this purpose for your product, you know how to share its value to your customers.
So never forget, get to the ‘why’ first. The ‘how’ will follow suit.
Create content buckets
Just like you click on that ‘Skip Ad’ button when an ad starts to play at the beginning of your YouTube video, your customers will skip you out of their minds if you keep feeding them sales-y, repetitive content every single day.
So here is the fourth pillar of content visualization- Write down different ways you can talk to your customers, engage with them, provide them entertainment and value. These are called content buckets. Knowing who you’re talking to will help you create these ideas.
It can be a fun game, a throwback, behind-the-scenes, videos on how your product is made, reviews, recipes and so much more. Everything that can help tell your products’ story better and more effectively, make it a bucket.
And guess what…. You just visualized content for your client’s social media page!
Congratulations and good luck!
Let me know how it works out for you in the comments
If you are a writer, content creator,
designer or even a strategist, there is one thing that boils your blood boil
more than anything else. Hearing, “Think outside the box” the over – used, cliché
every single person in the creative field has heard. What’s
so special about the outside of the box then? Nothing. You read that right; there is nothing
extraordinary about what lies outside the box. The problem here isn’t thinking outside of the box, but accepting that
the box exists.
With freedom comes responsibility and with
creativity comes confusion. The “box” is
nothing but an imaginary boundary drawn around an idea to keep your thoughts
from running too wild. Why is this important you ask?
It is as simple as running a marathon. It is pointless to have a marathon where the only instruction is to run 10 km Without a starting point, an ending point and routes the participants need to take, isn’t it just like a morning run you could take – ‘could’ being the keyword here?
What is the box?
Being in a creative box is just that, knowing where to start and where you need to finally reach. The secret to coming up with “out of the box” ideas lies in knowing the details or better yet “Knowing the Box”.
The next question that pops into your head is, “How do I know what the box looks like?”
How to find the box?
This question can be answered with another 4 questions –
Here’s an example for creating a box while making a campaign strategy-
What is the problem?
Who has the problem?
What has already I have already done to solve the problem?
What are your limitations? (What can’t you do?)
Once you have the answers to these questions, you will find that you have now defined your box. This means, you have an understanding of how you can solve the problem, based on what has already been done and what options you have (based on your limitations).
Always create your own box, every piece of content you write, every design you make or any story you come up with, the questions that will help you create your box will vary.
Why is knowing the box important for creative people?
Here is a simple exercise, for you to try;
Let’s begin!
1. Teach something.
You have a problem, but are you confused on where to start? , what to teach? Stuck on how to do this?
Let’s move on then
2. Teach something to a child.
Now you have one piece of the puzzle, Your Target audience. You are now thinking of what you could teach a child and have multiple different things coming to mind confusing you a little.
Let’s go a step further, shall we?
3. Teach a child how to kind.
And the second piece of the puzzle makes things easier, doesn’t it? You now have the problem, Oh! The child doesn’t know how to be kind.
4. The child has been shown been told stories on kindness taught songs on kindness and shown examples on how to be kind, but still has difficulty being kind.
Now, you are aware of everything that has been done to teach the child how to be kind. You now know what hasn’t worked and have the scope to find what other methods you can use to teach the child how to be kind.
5. The parents of the child have given specific instructions that you cannot raise your voice if the child isn’t cooperating, bribing the child is a big no-no as well.
And to complete the puzzle you now know out of the options you had, what you can blindly discard, as it is boundary you have been asked not to cross.
So, how are you going to teach this child how to share?
With every step we took in the above exercise, you got a little more detail that helped you build the box. In the same way the more questions you ask, the more answers you get and easier your life becomes. The same applies to creating content, designing or building a campaign plan.
If you are ever stuck with any creative work you are doing, there is a manager or a client saying “Think outside the box” constantly and you are just at a loss for ideas. Stop everything you’re doing, take a break and tell your boss, “Give me a minute, let me go find my box.” Go find your box, sit inside it (figuratively, of course) and you will be surprised by what you come up with.
Social media is a place for people to engage, have fun and to learn something new. Building a relationship between the brand and the audience is an important aspect on social media. It is necessary to maintain a personal touch with your audience. As a social media strategist, it is always good to keep growing with your social media platforms, learn from your mistakes and to share the knowledge.
Here are 10 Do’s and Don’ts for social media
Do’s
Always Always Interact:
Interacting with your audience is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. You need to make sure your audience trusts you and can come to you with their queries. If you see a friendly comment or review, leave the person a nice reply or you could give them a shout out via stories. This shows them you care.
Keep calm! It is only a negative review:
Negative reviews or feedback is received by every brand at some point in time. It is always beneficial to have a plan ready in a situation like this and to deal with it in a nice manner.
Why am I here?:
As a brand, you must never forget the reason why you are on social media. Set your goals and work towards achieving them. Also remember that it is never about you and is always about what your audience wants.
Be Visual:
People scroll though social media when they are bored. Always make sure your creatives, photos or videos stand out. It is a matter of a second to grab a person’s attention and get them to like what you have shared. Aim to make your content stand out and grab your audience’s attention.
80/20 rule:
People are on social media for three reasons – to be entertained, to gain information and to connect with others. With this in mind, it is helpful to follow the 80/20 rule for social media content. Always make sure 80% of your content is entertaining and informative while the other 20% sells your products or services.
Encourage user generated content:
Remember that your audience loves to get involved with the help of contests and engagement posts. You can also get their feedback, reviews and can further use the tagged content on your page.
Make sure your profile is always upto date:
It can be a real turn off for your potential audience when they come to your page expecting certain information, but instead, they end up with an incomplete profile with no information. So always keep your profile up to date, be it your working hours or your contact number.
Post Regularly:
Keep your audience aware of your presence and post regularly. Two to three times a week is a good amount of posts, but this may vary based on the brand and the industry.
If it is not yours, give credit:-
When you see an image that you like and know that it would resonate with your brand, you need to give credit to the creator of the existing picture. It is never right to just steal!
Content for your social media platform:-
Every social media platform is different and the same content cannot be used on all the platforms. Similarly, your audience may vary on each platform and based on it your talking style must change. Trial and error is the best way to see what content suits a particular platform.
Don’ts
Hey Robot! It’s nice not talking to you!:
People prefer human touch and interaction. So when you set up a chatbot or ready message that sounds like a robot, it drives away your audience. Instead have a normal conversation with your audience as the effort will be worth it.
Spell check:
It is important to always check your spellings. Grammatical errors can be a real let down and may cause your audience to immediately turn away and ignore your content.
Never forget your audience:
Never delete or ignore something your audience has to say, as it will only prove to the rest of the audience that you do not care. Start a conversation with a smart reply and show your audience that you care about their opinions.
Do not be repetitive:
Do not use the same content again and again. Your audience will get bored and you will immediately lose a good amount of followers. Instead get creative and think of new ways to entertain your audience.
Everybody hates a spammer:-
Do not ever spam your audience. Posting 3 to 4 times a day will annoy your audience. No one wants their feed filled with content from just one page.
Do not abuse hashtags:
Hashtags are an amazing way to get your post seen by a bigger audience. By using appropriate hashtags you are bound to get more engagement and followers but overusing hashtags will make your content get lost among other posts.
Do not miss out on what is trending:
Be it current affairs or trending formats, it is always important to stay on top. It is also better to stay out of politics when dealing with brands.
Do not lie:
If you are not 100% sure of certain information, then do not share it at all. It would be better not to share rather than make your audience think you lied to them and fed them false information.
ALL CAPS?! :
Writing in all caps will give your audience the impression that you are yelling. Use all caps in the right way or avoid it at all costs.
Why obsess over the numbers?:
Do not obsess on the numbers! Create fun content and watch your followers grow. The growth might be slow, but slow growth is better than no growth. Always aim to try something new to increase the growth, but never obsess over the numbers as it will only divert your attention from your real goal on social media.
Look at the photo above. I place the main subject of the photo at the intersection of the rule of third lines. This is exactly what you should do in your photos!
What is the IMPORTANCE?
The rule of thirds is a basic principle.
That helps you to compose interesting
And balanced shots. Using the rule of thirds
Draws the viewer’s eye into the composition,
Instead of just glancing at the centre.
By placing the subject off centre, you also embrace
More blank space. The rule of thirds is also helpful for.
Highlighting an interesting background Off
Centred subjects convey more of a feeling of motion than centred ones.
Ask Yourself Two Important Questions
Which vertical line should he/she be aligned with?
Which horizontal line alignment, for the eyes, gives the most appealing look?
“It’s not really a rule. It’s more of a guideline or best practice,” photographer and designer Shawn Ingersoll says of the rule of thirds.
Advice on using the rule of thirds.
Practice with your camera’s rule-of-thirds grid: “Turn it on so you can see what you’re doing as you’re doing it,” Plicanic suggests. “Eventually, you get a feel for it.”
Take a rule-of-thirds field trip: “Go to a park or somewhere and try to take ten good pictures that follow the rule-of-thirds model,” says wedding photographer Anna Goellner. “The more you do it, the more it gets ingrained into your head.”
Keep your eye on the eyes: “Choose where you want your point of focus to exist before you’re shooting. I’m always going for the eyes,” author and animal photographer Carl Davidson says.
Once upon a time, in a world not so distant from ours, lived 2 pens called Penorama and Penny. They looked so similar that one would say they were twins. However, they weren’t alike in their thoughts. Penorama felt he was the best pen ever, while Penny always thought herself as work in progress. They lived in a stationary box of Master Murakh.
One day, Master Murakh opened the box to pick a pen for writing. He did not know whether to choose Penorama or Penny. Suddenly, Penorama jumped, picked up a bullhorn out of nowhere and started shouting on top of his lungs, ‘East or Best, who is the best? Penorama is the best…… Pick Me for I am the best, I am the best, I am the best’. Penny did not speak a word. Staying true to his name, Master Murakh chose Penorama.
Penorama attained his success of being the first choice but that wasn’t enough for him. He would sneak out of the stationary box and catch Master Murakh’s attention in advance, to make sure he remains his first choice. Master Murakh enjoyed the company of Penorama, but his shenanigans of “Look at me! Use me!” were getting louder. He would squeal every time that he was the best and force Master Murakh to choose him. He would even leave out notes on Master Murakh’s desk reminding him that he was the best and a pen like no other.
One day, Master Murakh decided to draw something and opened the stationary box. Penorama began his usual stint. Master Murakh wanted to choose a pencil but Penorama just wouldn’t have it. Just to shut him up Master Murakh selected Penorama again over pencil. This incident made Penorama insecure and made him think that he had to try a new way to hold Master Murakh’s attention. So, he poured glue onto himself. Master Murakh lost his cool when he realized he can’t get Penorama off his hand. Somehow, he managed to get him off.
The next day, Master Murakh opened the box and as usual, Penorama began boasting about himself. Master Murakh deliberately ignored him and chose Penny had been developing herself all this time.
Penny made Master Murakh feel comfortable when he wrote and would let go off him as soon as he was done writing. Sometimes Penny would even give out suggestions on how he could improve what he had written or compliment him on his writing. One time, Master Murakh used Penny to draw something but Penny stopped him. She suggested it would be better if he used Pencil for the diagram.
Jealous Penorama considered the advice stupid. He asked how she would be around Master Murakh if she suggests him to use other items. Penny replied back saying Master Murakh was not a Murakh. He had his own mind. If she allowed him to use his own mind and provided enough encouragement and suggestions to do the same, he will trust her and her advice more which means he will turn to her more to solve his problems.
And she was right. Master Murakh used the pencil and drew an illustration which earned him Penny’s compliment. Feeling encouraged, he used penny and wrote a poem below the illustration. Penny genuinely loved the poem and let Master Murakh know that it was beautiful.
He turned up to Penny more often for help and not merely looked at her as a means to an end. Also, he disposed the constantly annoying Penorama for good. His desk and stationary box and writing has been peaceful ever since and they lived happily every after.
What’s the point of this story? The point is who is your brand? Is it the Narcissistic Penorama who seeks to get audience’s attention around the needs of their brand or is it Humanely Penny who focusses on building the brand around the needs of their audience’s?
How do we build our brand around the needs of the audience? Your followers on any social media platform are your biggest assets. But brands hardly look at them beyond numbers. The battle is to constantly keep the followers growing. But it is very rare that a brand pays attention to the current followers and engages with them. Brands are being selfish in their approach. They want engagement from their followers but they do not want the same for their followers. Why? Because with being a great brand comes the greatest overrated word used in marketing -sophistication. ‘Our brand won’t follow people’’… …‘’Okay, and why not?’’…… ‘’Because our brand is sophisticated’’…… ‘’NO, YOUR BRAND IS STUPID!!!’’
No, I am not saying we have to go by follow for follow strategy. No! When someone follows your brand, get a check in place to see if the follower belongs in the niche your brand is catering to and if engaging with them will provide any value to them.
The process to engage with your audience doesn’t end with a follow back. It doesn’t end by replying with a like or a heart in the comment section of your posts. It only starts by being a part of your audience’s life and it’s a never ending process.
One great way to engage with your current followers is via checking their stories. Comment on their stories and by comment I don’t again mean a random like or heart or a one word reply. Be a part of their story, write a heartfelt comment. Celebrate their little moments.
Following the audience from your niche also enables their posts to be seen on your feed. Check their posts. If it makes sense like it and write a genuine comment pertaining to the post.Simple and genuine acts as mentioned earlier, your brand will be perceived as a company that connects with them on a humane level. That will lead to a positive word of mouth among other people who belong in your niche. This means, more followers. Also, not to forget the goodwill and loyalty your brand will earn by just being human.
Your brand can choose sophistication and be a Penorama or choose to be Penny, but you cannot afford to consider your audience as ‘Murakhs’.
