The amount of time people have spent online in the past few weeks has likely never been higher. It’s one of the natural reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. People are working from home and doing their entire jobs online. Others are communicating with loved ones through video calls. Still others are buying almost everything they want and need on the internet to avoid going to stores or even going outside.
While many businesses have ground to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, others have attempted to shift and adapt. For many, this means working from home as much as possible. It will be interesting to see how many workers continue to do this after the disease has run its course, but, for now, it is clear that many of them are changing tactics.
Social media absolutely gives you marketing opportunities and unique chances to get your products and services in front of your potential customers. You can show products to people who have already bought them in the past, making repeat sales, and you can branch out into new areas by marketing to those who have shown an interest in related products, services, interests, hobbies and much more.
Two of the biggest platforms for ads these days are Google and Facebook. They may operate in different spheres — search results and a social media — but these are two places where people tend to flock and they’re the kings of online marketing. That’s not going to change, but they are seeing a recent drop in ad spending as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to get worse by the day.
It’s not the way that anyone would have wanted it, but online shopping has seen a massive surge lately. COVID-19, often called coronavirus, has forced people to stay home to slow down the outbreak. Many are allowed to work from home, and others have professions where they simply cannot go to work at all; for instance, gyms, bars, restaurants and many other places were closed by the government in Michigan and other states.
The internet offers seemingly limitless possibilities for marketing and contacting potential consumers. A company in any part of the country can connect with customers and clients all over the world. With smartphones and social media, people spend more time on the internet than ever before. Gone are the days when it was a fringe interest; it’s so mainstream that it takes over many areas of our lives.
People often feel like Facebook keeps the mic open on their phone and listens in on their conversations. How else can you explain the targeted ads? They assume that their smartphone is always listening to what they have to say, pulling information from the conversations they have, and sending them ads based on what they talk about.
One of the big worries that people have with a call to action is simply that they’re going to annoy the reader and actively push them away from making a purchase. In fact, some business owners specifically do not use them on these grounds. They don’t want to seem pushy. However, since studies have found that calls to action do work and do increase sales, it’s time to shift that perspective.
If you have ever used a site like Pinterest, you’re familiar with the concept of the rather similar Google Collections. Users can create their own collections of content, which they can then browse whenever they would like to do so. Pinterest does this with images, but Google Collections takes things a step farther and allows people to collect links, images, map locations, articles and much more.
Facebook has more users than any other social media platform. As a company, it also owns some of the other major platforms — like Instagram — and so there’s nearly a monopoly at the top. If you use social media at all, odds are you use a platform created by or owned by Mark Zuckerberg.
Getting traffic to your site is only half of the battle. You also need to keep people on the site, make conversions and make sales. This is why quality content, rather than keyword spamming, is so important. You need the type of site that not just ranks highly, but that offers information and that keeps people on the page.
The beauty of targeted ads is that they can focus directly on people who have already expressed an interest in that type of product or service. This can lead to a rise in conversion rates, even when the total amount of people who see the ad shrinks. You do not waste time and resources putting the ad in front of a lot of people who have no interest and would never make a purchase — no matter how good that ad is. Instead, you show it to those who really appreciate it and, often, you just have to convert them to your specific product.