7 Digital Tools that will make your business better online in 2018

The following post briefly details 7 basic tools/strategies that all businesses should be employing online to help their business move forward in 2018 and beyond.

1. Facebook

It’s now 2018 and if your business doesn’t have Facebook now it most defiantly is the time to set one up. With over 2 Billion users monthly and more than 50 Million businesses using it there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.

Facebook is the largest Social Media platform and for the majority of businesses is the best tool to gain an online presence and connect with customers. Facebook is a great tool for the top of the funnel, attract consumers and lead them in through to conversion. Constantly communicate with your consumers anytime of the day by posting regular content and then engage. Set up your products in Facebook's ‘Shop’ function and market them directly whether it be tagging a product in a post or sharing your Shop for people to explore.  

93% of Marketers are reported to use Facebook for advertising and there’s a great reason why, you can run ads for as little as a dollar a day and tailor your spend with in your range. It also offers almost unrivaled targeting specifics; HOWEVER, this won’t last long with more and more businesses jumping on-board the cost to be seen essentially will increase so if you’re not using Facebook advertising now’s the time.

Note: Today (the day this was published) Mark Zuckerberg released a statement suggesting Facebook may begin to make it harder to be seen for business posting on its platform "The first changes you'll see will be in News Feed, where you can expect to see more from your friends, family and groups. As we roll this out, you'll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media." 

I strongly believe now is the time to implement a good Facebook strategy if you don't already have one in place.

2. Facebook Messenger

Basically expanding on the Facebook point, the Facebook Messaging app is a great tool to compliment your page and give you access to a communication channel that, to a degree can almost become an extra employee.

You can use Facebook messenger to greet people automatically when they come to your page with a simple ‘Hi there, is there anything I can help you with today?’

Other uses for Messenger include:

• Share links to give people direct access to message your business, for example share your messenger code (similar to a QR code) for people to scan and it directs them to message you. Also use the messenger link m.me/{username} e.g. m.me/matthewjohnmarketing . Go on try it, message me and let me know it works.

• Provide customer service round the clock or whenever suits you. You can setup and auto reply to let people know when you will be able to tend to then query.

• Add the ‘Send Message’ CTA button on your ads to give people and instant line of communication

• For the more advanced, Chatbots are becoming a big part of business. Essentially an extra employee interacting with customers with no human involvement needed.

• The ability to sell products directly through messenger will also be a big upcoming use for the application of messenger to business. 

Recent statistics have shown that messaging apps are starting to take over the social media sites in terms of active users so now’s a great time to take advantage.

3. Analytics

Analytics, boring to some, a real favourite of mine. Analytics is what gives you the data to show if what you are doing is working, and the beauty of it is, is that most of the time accessing the data in completely FREE. If you have a website and it’s not connected to analytics its almost pointless.

Google Analytics is a must have for any website, like previously mentioned it is completely FREE and provides amazing data on almost everything you need to know.  The Basic metrics show you how many people have visited your site, what was their average time on the site, average pages per session, a percentage rate (Bounce Rate) of how many people arrived at your site and left straight away which is a great metric to tell you if your site needs fixing or editing. (Unless you’re a one-page site like a blog). This is just a small snippet of the metrics available to use, but if used correctly are a great tool to help you figure how to optimise your website.

Tip: make sure you set up a different ‘View’ that filters out your IP address to avoid corrupting the data with your own website use, also apply other filters if needed for example one analytics account I run I only want to see data from New Zealand users, so I filter out use from all other countries.

Once you have a Facebook page it to will provide you with free analytics, page likes, post engagements, page views etc, and as for the data you get in Facebook Ads Manager once you start paid advertising, well that’s a blog post in itself.

4. Mobile friendly website

A pretty self-explanatory suggestion, make sure your website is mobile friendly. A few years back mobile use over took desktop and now plays and integral part of internet use. Your website needs to be optimised for mobile so that when someone visits on their mobile device it appears professional, readable, and easy to use. People don’t want to come to your website and have a full desktop website squeezed onto the screen of a mobile.

To further add to why your website should be mobile friendly, Google prioritise them when someone makes a Google search knowing that it’s what the people want.

Tip: Want to know if your site is mobile friendly? Test it here https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

Not mobile friendly and want a website that is? Lets talk. Contact Me

5. Instagram Engagement Strategy

Depending on what your business is, if there is value for it using Instagram then Gary Vaynerchuk’s $1.80 strategy is great for building a following, its all about adding your 2 cents. Search the 10 hashtags most relatable to your business, each hashtag you will find the top 9 posts for that hashtag, go to each of them and in the comments, add your ‘2 cents’ whether it be a few emoji's or a full engagement in conversation. Try it.

6. Google My Business

With something like 85% of consumers searching online before making a purchase it is imperative that you set your business up with Google. Once again it is completely FREE. Registering your business with Google is great for local SEO once you verify a location, your business will start showing up in their business listings. Also, when someone searches for your business you can display your business details, photos, trading hours, contact details, and you can now even make a ‘Post’ (see image below.) Its all about looking professional and building trust with consumers.

7. Block chain

Quickly to finish, if you don’t know what Block chain technology is, now would be a great time to start understanding it, and how it might impact you and your business. Here is a quick video from the World Economic Forum briefly outlining its concept and application but you will find plenty more information searching online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WG7D47tGb0  (world economic forum) 

Digital marketing tools are constantly developing and changing and keeping up with the latest and greatest is a job in itself. I hope you found any amount of value from this blog and if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me or send me a Facebook message. More to come soon…