TotalWeb Partners Blog

November 23, 2018

Five Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2019

Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing

Every marketer today wants to make their brand presence felt. That is the reason why social media is being leveraged on a big scale. Whether one owns an established business or a startup, social media marketing is something that everyone is using to reach and communicate with the customers. Doesn’t it make sense to be in a place where the crowd is? One often comes across some social media marketing activities that fail. While, on the other hand, some Facebook and Twitter pages become popular than the others. Many times, marketers observe that their competitors are doing better than them in social media marketing!

Everybody does make mistakes. How can social media marketers be any different? But the fact is, making too many mistakes can see the followers dwindle and their count drop. Indeed, it does affect the revenue of a business. As with all mistakes, the first step is understanding and becoming aware of them. It then becomes easier to avoid them in the future. Let’s discuss top five common social media marketing mistakes that one must avoid in the coming year – 2019.

1. Undefined goals and targeting the wrong audience. As a marketer, one may be working very hard, yet they may suffer badly if they aim and shoot in the dark. A marketer needs to ensure that they are not targeting the wrong audience. The key to success in social media marketing is to know and reach the target audience.

Most marketers commit one of the biggest social media marketing mistakes, that is, not properly defining their goals. Can anyone win without a goal? Once the goals are set, one can start working on their social media strategy and create a plan. For example, some of the goals that work well with social media could be to improve customer engagement or increase event attendance or increase website visits, etc.

November 21, 2018

by TWP Publisher

9 Web development trends you simply cannot ignore in 2018

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Development

Grabbing your target audience’s attention is not going to cut it anymore. With competition becoming stiffer with each passing day, you have got to keep them interested for long enough as all those websites hit to turn into conversions. Web developers have also got a crucial role to play when it comes to catching and keeping the user’s attention, and they can do the same using some smart tactics.

In keeping with the times, here are 9 trends in web development that every developer should watch out for, and ensure the implementation of the same for better conversion rates. Exceed your customers’ expectations by dishing out something extra, and these 9 web development trends can tell you the ways to do it!

9 Next-Level Web Development Trends to Watch Out for

1. Revamped landing pages
Landing pages have gone through an unending process of transformation. Moving past the text-heavy landing page formats, we have come to light landing pages that focus more on the information being readily accessible to the user. Since Internet users do not care to read even a third of what you write as content, it is best to keep the text to a bare minimum when it comes to designing your landing pages. Use riveting web design templates and features (and tonnes of CTAs) on your landing page to cater to the streamlined queries and problems of your users.

November 19, 2018

by TWP Publisher

Social Media, Digital Marketing Key to Building Medical Practices

Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing

Patient engagement via social media and digital marketing are vital for growing medical practices, says health care marketing consultant Jennifer Dally, of Attune Marketing Group in Powell, Ohio.

Speaking at the 2018 annual meeting of the Large Urology Group Practice Association, Dally said the physician-patient relationship is about more than diagnosis and treatment. What patients want most is connection, which “brings peace of mind.” Transparency, active listening, trust, convenience, customer service, and good communication are among the attributes that patients say establish connection, Dally says.

“We expect a certain level of experience in general as a consumer, and that has translated into the health care world as well,” she says.

Attempts to improve the patient experience can be simple. For example, Dally says, when physicians wrap up a patient visit, they can say to a patient, “Is there anything else I can do for you today?”

Physicians need to understand that patients already have been on a medical journey before a medical encounter. “I’m trying to give them context of the journey patients take before they arrive at their practice and what could they do to influence that journey.”

She emphasizes 4 essentials for every medical practice: a website; search business listings; social media engagement; and review management. A website must consider patients’ needs, not those of the practice. All websites should enable patients to pay bills online and to schedule appointments, as well as provide a link to a patient portal, she says. Website content should be produced with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. The goal is to have a website rank high on search engine results pages. This determines how patients or physicians find a practice “in the digital landscape,” Dally says. High Google rankings matter a lot, she says.

November 18, 2018

by TWP Publisher

The Art of Web Design

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Design, Web Development

Websites have grown bland in the contemporary digital age. Template-driven and generic, homogenised by the frameworks of big-name content management systems. The internet is a place of dry technicality; portals seeking to convey information or to market a product to a specific audience, often afraid to break out of the norm.

Mammoth marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay are utilitarian in their layout and design, and countless smaller brands follow suit. Perhaps blinded by the success of those giants, maybe fearful of confusing potential customers. However, we must also keep in mind that computing technology and processing power has still been in relative infancy—something that has forced designers to adopt a ‘bare bones’ approach, simply so that the pages would not an age to load.

The advent of 4G wireless connectivity, processors associated with light-speed calculations, and network providers dishing out generous data packages has to some extent served to lift these previous constraints. Slowly, but surely, we are beginning to witness websites which mirror works of art.

A breed of disobedient designers are redefining the art of web design by bucking the visual conformity that has oversaturated our digital age—whether it is harnessing the avant garde approach of web design brutalism, the tongue-in-cheek throwbacks to the disagreeable design of the mid-1990s, or using the latest technologies to bring the progressive aesthetics of high-end fashion magazines to life, there are pioneers ready to bring a new visual language to the world wide web.

Be it culturally-engaged design brands or experimental musicians, simply creating a free web store or the birth of another personal blog, designers are taking notions of creativity to a whole new level. It is vital to create a sense of bespoke branding that will be memorable long after the visitor has left the page, to consider a human audience as opposed to a search engine. Sure, we want to provide a website that is easy to navigate, but too there should be an emotional, human connection that extends beyond homogenisation.

Nine Web Development Trends to Comprehend

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Development Trends

Nowadays if you want to grab and maintain your customers’ attention, it is imperative that your website and social media pages boast dazzling design and fantastic functionality. You can spend hours crafting the most informative blog post, but when your website does not offer a first-class user experience, it will go unread.

So, to make sure that you meet and exceed your potential customers’ expectations you have to find a way to integrate these nine trends into your web development and marketing campaigns.

Being Accessible to All

For way too long websites have many times failed to include users with disabilities such as vision or hearing impairments. So, as part of your SEO marketing campaign it is strongly recommended that your web development crew ensures that your website is in compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

SEO Landing Pages Using State-of-the-art Design Elements

Gone are the days where the landing page of your website must have big chunks of text. As Google’s search algorithms are starting to pay more attention to user experience, there is no longer a need for your landing page to be weighed down by so much text. After all, Internet users do not even read a third of what is written on your web page. Instead, be sure to use different web design elements that will guide your potential customers to improve the user experience.

Google Fonts

What is not to like about something free, right? Well, apart from being free, Google fonts let you add unique typography to your website. On top of that, there are more than 130 languages to choose from! Though, what makes Google fonts such as great resource is that it will boost the loading time of your website as well as its performance.

October 13, 2018

by TWP Publisher

Digital marketing beyond just managing social media accounts

E-Marketing, Marketing Digital Marketing

Digital marketing specialists, also known as digital marketers, which some also refer to as online managers, play a vital role in the development of a country’s economy because every company must have marketers, sales executives and business developers. These groups of executives are like the heart of a business. As the world is moving fast digitally, the duties of business development, sales and marketing gradually shift into digital marketing. Most people think that digital marketing is just about managing social media, but that idea is completely wrong. Digital marketing requires a strategy that will encompass all the online assets of a company and creating a brand story that will pull target audience.

Many people have got their hands burnt because of some so-called digital marketers. These are people who just collect money from individuals and organisations and promise things they cannot achieve, thereby failing. When this happens, distrust sets in and one begins to wonder if digital marketing is not another fraud.

The soreness of digital marketing comes from the inability of prospective clients to have trust in using digital experts because of their experiences. What we the real digital marketing experts and agencies are doing is to ensure the delivery of maximum result and educating the public on the importance of digital marketing. We are creating more avenues for people to learn and understand the great wealth and opportunities embedded in digital marketing as well as the great impact it can have on our economy.

Can you give an insight into the functions of digital marketers in a modern society?

A digital marketing manager is responsible for developing, implementing and managing marketing campaigns that promote a company and its products and/or services. He or she plays a major role in enhancing brand awareness within the digital space as well as driving website traffic and acquiring leads/customers. A digital marketer may also be responsible for managing the online presence and brand of a company. Social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram allow businesses to engage with their consumers in real time and a digital marketer will often be responsible for this communication. He or she plays a major role in enhancing brand awareness within the digital space as well as driving website traffic and acquiring leads/customers.

October 11, 2018

by TWP Publisher

Know about the current trends in web development

Website Content Web Development

In case of web development, you may have probably heard that the only constant is the change. It is an industry-defining statement as web development keeps on changing. User expectations are evolving rapidly, and it is quite essential than ever before to create digital experiences which are more engaging, intuitive and fun.

Custom web development is evolving rapidly. Content needs to be easily accessible from anywhere, in real-time and also on mobile devices. New programming languages and frameworks are coming into foray to facilitate this requirement.

One of the key reasons for all these years of change and latest trends is that, in order to succeed, you need to play along with the current trends rather than ignoring them. You can easily do this by exploring the recent development and seeking ways to integrate these trends which apply to you, sooner than others.

Mentioned below are the current trends in web development.

1. Rise of Chatbots
Being directly connected to users has become quite significant. Chatbots, whether they are oral or written conversation software, allow the websites to be easily contacted at any time. They allow to continuously maintain the customer service. The evolution of chatbots has provided with brilliant capabilities like answering the most common queries, redirecting the customer to information pages, and even assist them in completing a transaction.
As the customers are getting better accustomed to their presence as well as ways of interact the emergence these chatbots, they will be expecting all the websites to have them. Web development services need to work more on including chatbots on their web development projects.

2. Emergence of Progressive Web Apps

Mobile phone usage has increased significantly with apps accounting to be the consuming prominent portion of the time spent on the smartphone. It would be logical that the use of a particular format which is similar to web application will be welcomed by the general users.
The progressive web apps are essentially applications which take advantage of a plethora of features of an internet browser which has a mobile application interface. This technology has many inherent advantages like the ability to work offline, good reliability, virtually no load time and the ability to receive notifications. Progressive web apps can easily be designed much faster than mobile applications, easier to deploy and maintain as well as work for all users, that makes it good for both the user and the developer.

September 19, 2018

by TWP Publisher

Why Retailers Need to Care About Web Development Platforms

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Development Platforms

Brands are struggling to build and grow customer loyalty in an increasingly complex omnichannel environment. According to Wanda Cadigan, VP commerce, Sitecore, many are struggling with mobile enablement, in addition to the ultimate vision of delivering a uniform experience over every customer channel imaginable.

For example, in the UK, there might be a really cool and exciting mobile app that allows customers to shop with one click, personalises their recommendations, and allows them to organise returns easily, possibly built on a proprietary platform. But in the U.S., perhaps this same platform either doesn’t exist or a similar experience is built on a completely different platform. And when you deal with that in two markets, imagine what complexity emerges when you’re active in 30-40, or 130-140 markets around the world?

What if a brand worked differently in every market? The customer experience wouldn’t be universal and would cause many frustrations for both the brand and its customers. The more platforms that are used, the more difficult it is to provide your customers with the consistent, high-quality experience they demand across all your markets.

How does this problem emerge? Well, often siloed systems are deployed in a market to meet specific needs. You want to do something specific in France? You buy and deploy a service locally, which unfortunately may or may not talk to the system that runs the rest of the business’ operations, and may not be available in the UK, Germany, the U.S., or other markets. In many cases, the systems deployed may only support specific countries, due to limitations in currency support, language support, local tax frameworks, and more. This makes scaling a consistent brand experience difficult.

Even more challenging is the fact that often brand experiences that are tailored and owned in-market (only sometimes abiding with global brand guidelines) can be impacted by being delivered on different systems or platforms.

September 17, 2018

by TWP Publisher

5 ways to enhance your marketing images on social media

Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing

Humans are visual creatures. Half of the human brain is designed to process visuals, more than the other senses such as touch and hearing. The brain is able to identify images in as fast as 13 milliseconds, and humans are able to remember more than 2000 pictures with at least 90% accuracy. So if someone sees a beautiful or a haunting image, they’ll won’t likely forget it.

In the age of social media, a picture is truly worth a thousand words. If you want to stand out, you must have really compelling visuals in your arsenal. Online consumers are said to retain only 10% to 20% of information, but when plain text is paired with visuals, they are able to remember 65% of the information. Another study revealed that content with photos or infographics registered a 94% increase in page views compared to non-visual content.

With billions of social media content out there, it is important that as marketers and content producers you are able to draw attention to your social media images, or people are going to forget about you.

Here are the best practices for visual content to get you started on improving the overall look and feel of your social media channels.

Use dynamic colour schemes
Using key colours that enable consumers to easily identify your brand or company is great, but that doesn’t mean you are stuck with blues or reds. Colours convey not just your logo, but also warmth and emotion. They set the mood and the atmosphere. While key colours help make branding more consistent, you don’t want to risk being too predictable.

A study on the impact of colour marketing found that 90% of snap judgements are made based on colour alone. This shows just how important colour is in social media design.

Instead of the flat colours, use light and dark gradients for a more unique feel. Evaluate whether you should go bold and bright or a little subdued. The key here is to be dynamic, allowing your brand to surprise even your most loyal fans. In order to get someone’s attention on social media, you must always keep it fresh and relevant. Keep your visual content consistent and exciting, and let your choice of colours do the trick for you.

Industries

Choose Your Language