, , , , , , , , ,

Rosewood’s Guide To Influencer Relationships

An influencer happy in her relationship with a business

You probably have found and started a relationship with an influencer for your business’ social media marketing. Maybe you followed our recent advice about the benefits of micro-influencers for small businesses. Like any relationship, those with influencers require maintenance. You want to manage and maintain that relationship properly because influencer marketing is valuable for your business and expanding your reach on social media. At least 61% of people’s trust in a brand grows because of an influencer’s recommendations. That value only increases over time as your partnership with your influencers and their audience strengthens. The more an influencer trusts you, so will their audience. Here’s Rosewood’s guide to influencer relationships to keep that partnership with your influencers strong and productive into the long term.

Communicate regularly

For any relationship to continue and thrive, you need to maintain open communication. This is no less true for the your business’ influencer relationships. Regularly and openly communicate with any of your influencers, so that you both have essential information. If you are sending them products, are launching a new product or service, or have some advice for reaching your own audience, you will want to update them. Maintaining this open line of communication will also allow you to ask questions and receive key information. Similarly, if they have questions about your business and its products, services, or values, answer them promptly. 

Check on what they need

It might not always be clear what an influencer needs from your business for a certain campaign or to create content. Regularly check if there is anything they need. They might require some more information, product details, brand statements, certain products, content materials, etc. They may expect an affiliate code or link to provide their followers. Rosewood’s sites, such as those built on WordPress and Shopify, have plugins that make affiliate programs easy to manage. Inquire with influencers to see what resources they need to produce content that will engage their audience for your business. Asking will help maintain open and constant communication with an influencer so that your partnership can have lasting results.

Clear objectives and strategies

Your business’ objectives and strategies are essential information for influencers to create effective campaigns for your business. Provide them with them this information as they start a campaign or create content in association with your business. If they are providing content about certain products or services, be sure to provide them with any key details you want them to highlight. If there is certain branding information you want emphasized, make that clear to your influencer. Just like you need this information to strategize advertising, so do influencers to create impactful campaigns that benefit your business. Giving them those essentials will prolong successful influencer relationships.

Feedback

It’s useful for influencers to know how effective their campaign or content has been for your business. Provide them with insights about performance. Statistics like number of conversions and how many times their affiliate code or link has been used after a certain series of posts or campaign are informative metrics. Provide feedback for what worked, what did not, and any clarifications. When articulating this information, focus on the results. Celebrate successes and don’t assign blame for any disappointing outcomes. Again, trust they are knowledgeable about their work. Influencers can use good and bad results to improve future campaigns. They just need that information.

Trust their expertise 

Don’t let your communication with an influencer turn into oversight or micromanagement. Trust their expertise and listen to their input. Remember this is a partnership created on their established platform. They’ve built their substantial and engaged following precisely because they understand how to create impactful content. Influencers understand what their audience likes and how it will resonate with them. Their job relies on understanding the intricate and mutable workings of social media. That knowledge is precisely why an influencer relationship and partnership is valuable to your business. When an influencer provides your business with information or their insights, be sure to listen.

Compensation

Influencers will expect compensation. From the start, communicate openly with them how much and what kind of compensation they expect, and you can provide. Some might expect payment, while others may also want to create an affiliate link from which they derive commission. Remember that this aspect of the partnership will develop over time, especially as you start measuring results from each. Make sure to keep compensation an open discussion.

Influencer Marketing Software

When starting your influencer relationships, we recommend contacting and managing them the old-fashioned way. Eventually, you will likely have multiple influencers providing their services for your company and will want to keep track of all of them. Fortunately, there is software that helps you manage your relationships, discover new ones, and manage content. These programs also track important data like budgets, spending, and provide reports and analytics for performance and ROIs. Some of the best include GRIN, LTK Connect, and Influence.co.

It’s a Relationship

Influencers are effective because they play a prominent social role. Agreements with influencers are partnerships and reciprocal relationships. Those take time and clear communication to develop. Keep those channels open and properly manage and maintain these relationships with influencers, benefiting your business in the long run. Need more information about managing relationships with influencers or maybe you are looking to start? Speak with Rosewood’s social media marketing team. They can help you find the right influencers and use their own social media expertise to effectively collaborate with your business’ partnerships. If you haven’t gotten to this point already stay tuned for our upcoming blog on hiring your own influencers.

/0 Comments/by
, , , , , ,

Google + Facebook Ads: Where to Start

Fingers tapping on a tablet with technological icons floating

If you’re getting started with online advertising, the two foundations are Google and Facebook (or Meta) Ads. Google Ads allows you to have ads appear in searches and on any of Google’s services, e.g. YouTube. Meta’s ad platform lets you put ads on the two social media juggernauts: Facebook and Instagram. Naturally, ads on these two have major online coverage. This is why they hold more than 52% of total ad spending worldwide and over 64% in North America. That online advertising is essential for your business’ growth. Creating effective ads with strong leads turns into conversions and sales. Today 65% of people click on an ad before making a purchase. You’ve probably looked at and maybe even begun advertising on both. Are you wondering where to start making those ads, or maybe you aren’t seeing great conversions? Here are three important things to consider when starting any ad on Google or Meta.

Targets

All your advertising should have certain targets in mind. That doesn’t just mean a single general audience. For example, some products or services you provide may have a typically different target customer or clientele than others. Any demographic information may be important, such as gender, age group, location, etc. Certain advertising or communication tactics are going to resonate better or worse with these different groups, so you will want to tailor ads accordingly. If your business’ services are primarily for women around Aurora, ON, there is little to no tangible benefit that a man living in Vancouver, BC see your ads. Use audience segments to ensure your ads are targeting those they are most likely to convert.  

Platforms and Ad Types

Both Google and Meta provide a set of places to present your ads. Google Ads can appear in various kinds of searches such as web, shopping, or maps. They also have ads that appear in Gmail and video ads for YouTube. Meta provides a whole suite of ads, with different kinds for Facebook and Instagram. On these platforms ads can appear as stories, reels, videos, posts in timelines and feeds, etc.

To start creating impactful ads, you need to know where you plan to put ads because that will tailor what kind of leads you need to create. For example, search ads are primarily text. Google shopping promotions will be specific product listing recommendations. Instagram and Facebook promoted stories, however, are primarily visual with an image, graphic, or short video. You will want to focus effort in creating ad content that will reach its target audience on the platforms they use, especially for the Meta suite. For example, Facebook’s userbase is predominantly between the ages 25-54, while Instagram skews younger at 18-34. 

Experiment

Both Google and Facebook Ads provide an incredible amount of data and metrics for your ads’ viewership, conversion rates, and overall performance. However, those numbers will not be especially informative if you have nothing to compare to. It’s best to experiment by running at least two ads to get a sense of how they perform differently. This kind of testing will provide you with a lot of valuable information for identifying what qualities create impactful ads and resonate with customers/client. This is so essential that both Google and Meta Ads provide tools to make experimenting easy and informative.

When running multiple ads for experiments, try to minimize differences. For example, if you change copy and target demographics, and the ad performs differently, you will be left wondering if it was because of the copy, its target, or both. One effective method of testing is to split a similar audience into two segments that each see different versions of the ad (otherwise known as A/B testing). This should provide an informative comparison for discovering what kind of ads best capture and convert.

Once You Start Making Ads, Never Stop

Creating ads on Google and Meta or Facebook is a continuous process. They should be repeatedly updated and/or changed to reflect your business and home in on the developing interests of your own changing audience. Once you start making ads, you shouldn’t stop or settle. Keep targeting, identifying the right platforms and ad types, and experimenting. Remember, if a certain ad doesn’t do as well, that can be just as informative as one that transcends. If you’re looking for help to start your Google or Facebook Ads, Rosewood’s marketing team are virtuosos. They can help you create and improve your ads and identify and interpret key metrics

/0 Comments/by
, , , , , , , , ,

Are You Ready to Build a Website?

Dasha from the Web Design Team at Rosewood sits at her desk

Today, every business needs a website. It allows potential customers or clients to learn about your service, contact you, view, and book services, and/or purchase products. When starting a new business, building its website is one of the first things you should do. 

Creating and designing a website, however, takes a lot of skills and knowledge that you probably don’t have time to dedicate yourself to, especially since you’re running your business. Hiring a team to design, build, and maintain your website gives you a professional and effective website without you sacrificing your time where it matters most. Our web design team creates professional, beautiful, functional, and accessible websites that suit your business. Before they can start designing, there will be a few things you will need to do. Here are all the essentials you need before you meet with Rosewoods’ team, and they start designing the website that perfectly represents and serves your business.

Registering a Domain

In order for you to start a website, your business will need a domain name. The domain is the main address that points to your website. google.com, wikipedia.org, and rosewoodmarketing.ca are all examples of domain names. There can be a lot that goes into coming up with a domain, like whether you want a .com, .ca, or another top-level domain. Two quick standards to remember is that shorter and memorable are better, and ensure it aligns with your brand’s name.

However, you can’t just create and have a domain. It needs to be available and registered. To see if a domain is available and how much it will cost, use a registry service, like GoDaddy. A domain will cost you an annual fee to register and retain. If the domain is new, it will be a nominal cost, but already registered domains can cost significantly more. However, if your new domain gains value and you decide you want to sell it, GoDaddy provides this option. 

Content

To build your website, it will need content: pictures, text, graphics, etc. Gather and create/commission all the materials you want for your website. If you’re not sure what to include, look at the websites of similar businesses to get a sense of the kind of content you need. An “about us” write up, contact information, location, availability, information about the services or products you provide, and a gallery of your store or examples of your work are all standards.

Logo and Branding

Often when starting your business, after the countless hours of picking the right, and available, name then comes the struggle of just the right logo. It’s the icon that will represent your business on all its communication channels. It will also be a main image on your website so it’s essential you have it ready beforehand. Along with your logo, you will need your branding. Your branding determines your business’ aesthetic. A marketing team will use these colours, fonts, and voice/tone to design a perfectly representative website.

Pictures Really Are Worth a Thousand Words

A lot of your website’s content will be visual to give a full impression of your business. There are two main options to give your website professional pictures. One more immediate option is to create a collection of stock images. Only pick those that reflect your business’ brand and aesthetic, or else the images will feel disingenuous. Alternatively, book a photoshoot to get professional pictures for your site. These will give your website a more accurate and authentic reflection of your business. Fortunately, Rosewood also provides brand photography. Let us know if this is something you would like to add to build your website.

Get a Google Business Profile

Google Business is one of the essential places you need to be listing your business. By creating a Google Business Profile, your business will populate in Google searches, and you can directly connect your website to the profile. You can also post the same pictures from your photoshoot here. This profile will help optimize your new website for Google searches so that more people discover your business and visit the website.

A Website Hosting Provider

A domain allows users to get to your website by entering the address in their browser, but your actual website and all its content will need to be hosted on a server that people can access. You will need to subscribe your domain to a hosting service that will keep your website up. There are numerous hosting services available, but your marketing and website design team can recommend a hosting provider. We recommend Cloudways or use our affiliate link with Siteground.

Connecting with a Marketing Team

The expertise of a marketing team like Rosewood’s can help you strategize the most effective sections, social media connections, and content plans like blogs and email marketing for your business’ website. They can also help you with content and branding, and help you determine the best combination that will perfectly suit your business and properly contend with any competition. Contact our marketing team for help strategizing your website.

You are ready to build a website!

Once you have these materials prepared, you’re ready to have a website built and designed. Our website design team will take all these and create mockups for your approval. Once approved, you’ll soon see your website starting to come to life. Ready to start the design process? Contact Rosewood’s website design team today!

Papers with drawings and mockups for website design
/0 Comments/by