by CodeFuel Staff | May 26, 2015 | Marketing
According to Facebook, local businesses should still use Facebook Pages to market their services, despite ongoing decreases in organic reach. Mark Zuckerberg recently gave several reasons why SMBs should stay on Facebook and even consider using Facebook as their primary marketing tool.
Facebook to Local Businesses: Keep Your Pages
At a recent town hall Q&A, a small business owner asked Zuckerberg,
“Given the decline in organic reach, how should businesses like ours or any business think about the role of Pages?”
Zuckerberg replied that Facebook Pages were still the best option for most businesses. Despite the overall decline in organic reach, which was due to Facebook’s ongoing effort to optimize the user experience, he claimed there was no better way to reach customers.
He argued that:
- All or most of SMBs’ customers were on Facebook
- Most SMBs probably had more connections through Facebook than through any other online channel
- Most people aren’t going to download small business apps
- Many small business websites weren’t optimized for mobile
- Facebook was acting as a go-to directory tool, where people went to look for store hours and updates
Zuckerberg argued, as other Facebook executives have before, that Facebook Pages should act as landing pages for many small businesses.
Facebook’s Relationship with SMBs
Since Facebook Pages first emerged on the social network, small businesses have been lured in by the free marketing potential offered by Facebook Pages. Many businesses have, in fact, built large followings on Facebook and used Facebook to reach out to and engage with customers.
However, over the past several years, the organic reach of Facebook Pages has declined. That is, businesses’ posts show up less and less frequently in users’ News Feeds, in favor of friends’ posts.
These decreases in organic reach eventually prompted Facebook to tell businesses to pay for advertising. Suddenly, the SMBs who had spent so much time building audiences were left in the cold. In order to reach the same audience they had engaged with, they were being coerced into paying for advertising.
According to Jonathan Czaja, Facebook’s director of small business for North America, “There’s still a lot of value to the Page apart from distributing content to your fans.” He stated that more information was forthcoming and local businesses should still “create a presence on Facebook and demonstrate the value they bring to their customers.”
Czaja also stated that Facebook is very committed to improving support tools for its 2 million advertisers, many of which are local businesses. In the future, expect to see voice support, online courses, and other help tools.
Hints of Facebook’s Local Business Agenda
While Czaja acknowledged that Facebook has “underinvested” in local businesses and SMBs, there are signs of change.
Facebook Place Tips
Recently, Facebook introduced Facebook Place Tips, a feature that uses geo-targeting to display local business-related social content to people in the vicinity. A person close to a restaurant, for instance, may see their friends’ photos taken in that venue, weekly specials from the restaurant’s Facebook Page, and so on.
The feature isn’t completely rolled out yet, but local businesses shouldn’t expect a free lunch with this feature. In crowded areas, for instance, there will likely be several local businesses competing for users’ screen space. This could easily result in another opportunity for Facebook advertising.
The Find
Facebook’s acquisition of The Find, a database that aggregated products from a variety of retailers, now gives the social a foothold in the local retail industry. A user searching for “black shoes,” for instance, could compare prices from a large number of retailers. And if the user wanted to make a purchase immediately, The Find would provide local retailers selling those products.
Facebook’s acquisition seems aimed at “direct marketers, e-commerce companies, and fashion brands,” according to TechCrunch. However, with the capability to incorporate local retail in the mix, Facebook may be looking to swallow up the local business market as well.
Instant Articles and Native Video
Facebook already dominates much of its users’ online time, but recent developments suggest Facebook wants an even bigger time share. Two recent features indicate that Facebook wants to become the only content source for its users.
Facebook Instant Articles, a new feature that allows major publishers to publish articles natively within Facebook, will allow people to view and read these articles without ever leaving their iOS app.
Facebook’s native video platform also allows users to host their own videos in their Timelines. These videos, and Facebook video ads, will show up in News Feeds, just like the rest of Facebook’s multimedia content.
What This Means for Local Businesses
Though these two features are currently rolling out on a large scale, for large businesses, it’s easy to look ahead to see how these changes – if successful – could impact local businesses.
With the decreasing cost of video ad production, and the increasing necessity of video marketing for all businesses, it’s not hard to see how both these features could impact local businesses:
- Local businesses can and probably should be using Facebook video to market their services. And soon, video advertising will become a possibility and a necessity for all businesses, large or small.
- Native articles, if successful, could just as easily extend to local newspapers and local news blogs, many of which are run by large media companies.
Despite the fact that Facebook Pages’ organic reach has declined, Facebook still claims to be committed to their success. If Page continue to remain a viable marketing option, which they may if Facebook’s ongoing feature developments prove successful, small businesses should expect to pay if they want to remain visible.
by CodeFuel Staff | May 18, 2015 | Monetization
Vimeo monetization has evolved a lot over the past several years.
Whether you’re a hardcore marketer or whether you simply want to monetize your video content, Vimeo has a few options to choose from.
The Vimeo Tip Jar
Introduced in 2012, the Tip Jar offers a way for content creators to monetize videos directly from viewers. A button underneath the video labelled “Tip this Video” allows you to donate money directly to the creator of a video.
Donations are a somewhat common monetization strategy. You can ask for donations to fund apps, businesses, and so on. Though non-profits and startups can use donations and crowdfunding effectively, tips aren’t always the most effective monetization strategy.
As with most other marketing strategies, you’ll need to be aggressive if you want to earn money through tips:
- Explicitly ask users to leave tips. Include calls-to-action in the video description, in the video itself, and even in the headline (video title).
- As with any business model, you’ll need to develop an audience. Your audience is your customer base. And the more they like your videos and the more they value your content, the more likely they are to leave tips.
To use the Tip Jar, you’ll need to be a Vimeo Plus or Vimeo Pro member.
Vimeo On Demand
Vimeo On Demand is exclusively for Vimeo Pro Members. This allows you to create a hard paywall for your video content. That is, people will need to pay in order to view your videos. You’ll keep 90% of the revenue after transaction costs.
You can embed and sell videos through your own website and through Vimeo’s platform.
This strategy can be very effective, particularly if you have a strong following and high-value content. Here are a few tips for using this method:
- Create a series of free videos that act either as teasers or introductory material. This will help you grow your audience. And it will give people a taste of what you’re offering and showcase the value of your premium videos.
- Market both inside and outside of Vimeo. While Vimeo has its own targeted audience, there’s a big world out there. The more people you can draw in through social media, websites, and other marketing channels, the more money you can make.
- Continually experiment with your pricing and marketing. You can set your prices as low as $.99. When you use marketing tactics that imply scarcity – such as limited time offers – then people will be more likely to buy in. You’ll get a smaller profit margin, but more customers. Read more about marketing psychology and keep experimenting.
Becoming an Affiliate for Vimeo
Another way to earn money from Vimeo doesn’t have to involve making videos at all.
Like with any other affiliate program, you can earn a commission. Each time someone clicks an affiliate link placed on your site, in social media, in email, and so on, you’ll be able to earn a commission. Vimeo pays out commissions whenever someone signs up for a Vimeo membership.
Here are some basic tips for actually getting clicks, sales, and commissions:
- You need to have a pre-existing brand, replete with content and users. The early days of affiliate marketing are over: today you need customers that trust you and your recommendations.
- Sell people on the value of Vimeo services. This is easier to do if you have people that trust you. And it’s easier if you’ve got content that relates to Vimeo somehow. If you write a blog post on video monetization, for instance, it will be much easier to sell Vimeo to your customers than if you simply tack an ad on the side of your blog.
- It will be easier to sell Vimeo’s services if you have your own account and actually use Vimeo. So if you have an upgraded membership, then you can promote these services and make the sale based on your own first-hand experience.
Become eFamous
YouTube is well-known as a hub for self-made stars. But Vimeo’s doing everything it can to compete with YouTube, including poaching a few YouTube stars.
Since Vimeo doesn’t run ads, online celebrities will need to find another way to monetize their Vimeo videos. Here are a few:
- Use the above-mentioned Vimeo On Demand service to charge. The right number of subscribers and the right price point can shoot your revenue through the roof.
- Consider product placement or other in-video sponsorship opportunities. While Vimeo doesn’t run ads of its own, there’s nothing to stop you from signing up with third parties to develop your own in-video sponsorships.
- Use a third-party service like Patreon. This service allows artists, creatives, and other content creators to earn money each time they release a new piece of content. You’ll need a following who is willing to contribute to your success. Simply sign up on Patreon, build a following, and drive them to your Patreon page. Each time you release a new video, you’ll earn money.
Vimeo monetization is slightly different than YouTube monetization. But with the right strategy and the right content, it has lots of potential.
by CodeFuel Staff | May 5, 2015 | Monetization
Data isn’t worth much by itself.
To make money from data, you need to put it into context, understand it, and then turn it into information.
This article explains how.
To Turn a Profit, First Turn Data into Information
Below, we’ll go over 3 key steps that will help you turn data into profit. But to do that, data must first be transformed into information.
So what’s the difference between data and information?
Data is simply numbers. Disconnected facts don’t offer actionable advice. An encyclopedia entry on monetization may tell you what monetization is, but that won’t give you much actionable information. A how-to blog article on monetization, on the other hand, will do just that.
The key difference is that encyclopedia articles present data. This data is often organized chronologically and topically. But to go deeper than surface facts, you need to turn that data into information.
Here’s how:
- Discern patterns. When we analyze data, we look for patterns and trends that present themselves.
- Look for stories. Patterns tell stories, and these form the essence of information – which is actionable.
- Focus on the big picture. Data is discrete, small-picture chunks. When we use visualization tools and analytics tools, we’re trying to extract information from that data in order to see the big picture.
The complex world of data analytics has already hit the marketing world in a big way. And to stay competitive in this world, we all need to stay current on analytics trends and best practices. Dimensions in data, for instance, will become a new standard in marketing analytics.
But whether you use next-level analytics tools or reporting tools from five years ago, you’ll follow the same essential analytics process…
Understand, Activate, Predict
To make the most of data, we need to first collect it. This isn’t a problem for most companies, who are on board at least one major analytics platform.
But understanding, activating, and using that data are different stories. As an industry and a science, big data and data science are still in the early stages.
Turning data into profit isn’t difficult.
These three stages form the essence of any good analysis:
1. Understanding the Past
First and foremost, data gives us insight into what worked and what didn’t. Reports are valuable tools that provide great details and insights into marketing efforts.
But immediately we run into a problem: information overload. Too much data – without the right tools to make sense of that data – will just overwhelm.
The data-savvy marketer will make use of several tools that actually make this data actionable:
- Visualizations are one of the best ways to make sense of data. The more “infographic” a visualization tool, the better. Bar charts and line graphs aren’t as valuable as tools that turn data into a story.
- Put the data into context…isolated data means nothing. To do this, for instance, use the time period to provide a framework. When you look at data against the background of holidays, local events, market conditions, and so on, the data will begin to have meaning.
- Turn the data’s story into a course of action. This is the real key skill of any good marketer…making the data tell a story. And stories support and drive organizational decisions.
2. Taking Action in the Present
Marketing is a series of experiments.
With the data you collected and analyzed in the first step, you can begin experimenting. Build on the data and change the course of the story in favor of your organizational goals.
Multivariate A/B testing, for instance, allows you to isolate elements of your previous data sets, then test and evolve your hypotheses about those elements. Perform simple tests that revolve around information architecture, design, copy, and so forth.
Other elements to test include personalization. Running multiple campaigns in parallel will give you the opportunity to try different approaches or isolate and examine specific variables.
3. Prediction with Data
When we turn data into stories and information, we can then use this information to make better decisions in the future.
These days, we have more data at our fingertips than ever before. Analyzing all that information can be difficult, especially if we aren’t devoted to data science day in and day out. But when making use of some of the techniques mentioned in this article, it’s possible to generate some very useful predictions.
For instance, data can be used to evaluate present customers and predict the value of future customers that share the same attributes.
With attribution and mix modeling, you can explore the positive or negative attributes of customer segments. And then those shared attributes can be used to discern patterns in customer behavior that can inform your experiments and even business decisions.
Turning data into information will give your marketing the edge it needs to stay competitive. The latest tools and techniques are always helpful. But the best way to make use of data is to learn from the past so you can experiment in the present – and predict the future.
