Business lessons we learned thanks to social distancing

Posted on March 27, 2020April 14, 2020 by admin

COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on society at the start of 2020. Now, with the government’s call to implement as much social distancing and self-isolation as possible, more people than ever have begun working from home.

Some businesses have excelled during this time of self-isolation and social distancing, shifting to a fully cloud-based business model and allowing employees to work from home. Despite this, COVID-19 has alo highlighted issues in some companies where it has highlighted areas in which businesses suffer due to a lack of full online integration.

Online business is now, not the future

Some companies have avoided online integration as much as possible, despite a web presence being almost essential for over a decade. Aside from the very smallest independent high street retailers, a web presence is almost always required.

More and more people are doing their shopping entirely online, so it should go without saying that every retailer needs to have an ecommerce website. No matter what you are selling, if it’s possible to ship it to customers, it needs to be available online.

In 2020, not having an ecommerce component to your business will ensure that your business is overlooked dramatically. If you’ve never dipped your feet into the ecommerce world, it can be daunting, but there are plenty of consultation services available to ensure that you can build the online wing of your business with ease.

Cloud-based workspaces are becoming essential

Some of the earliest advice the government provided to workers in the UK regarding the COVID-19 outbreak was that, where possible, people should work from home. Unfortunately, many businesses were not able to offer this to their employees.

Alongside these businesses were companies that did allow their employees to work from home, but whose productivity took a major hit as a result. Despite allowing employees to work from home, many companies did not have the provisions in place to ensure that the transition from office to home was seamless. This meant that employees were unable to do their job as well as they usually can.

This highlights a need for full cloud integration into as many companies as possible. Ensuring staff are able to perform all tasks online means that, in situations where employees are working from home, business can continue as usual. Not only will this lead to a happier workforce – as more and more people are throwing themselves behind flexible working – but it means that in times of crisis where people are forced to work from home, that your business can get by with relative ease.

SEO is the long-term digital marketing solution

Social distancing and self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact businesses can feel not only in the office, but also from their marketing efforts. When a business is forced into a situation where marketing cuts need to happen, the obvious targets are expensive adwords and display campaigns – but what about SEO?

Search engine optimisation has always been a long-term process, and companies who have invested in SEO are continuing to reap the rewards of their investment even when budget cuts are made elsewhere. Most SEO relies on technical amends to the website that will remain active whether or not continuous investment is made into the search marketing. While organic traffic may take a hit during a crisis, the output of an SEO team – who can almost always work remotely – will remain high.

Adaptable, affordable and able to remain active through almost anything. The SEO industry has proven itself to be capable of riding out a crisis and continuing to have a positive impact on client businesses.

If you need help getting your business online or cloud-optimised, or if you need some long-term technical search optimisation, get in touch with us today. We can offer you a free consultation to discuss how to optimise all facets of your website for the future.

The Voice Revolution: Audio content is quietly taking over and your business can’t miss out

Posted on March 27, 2020May 5, 2020 by admin

If we get away from all the jargon, marketing is about putting your business in front of the right people and while they’re paying attention. More and more, we’re reaching for our headphones for entertainment, enjoyment, and online shopping.

This is how your business can get involved in the voice revolution.

There are 7 million podcast fans in the UK

Over 7 million of us listen to podcasts every week – a 24% increase on 2018’s figures. This isn’t a passing interest either, half of current podcast listeners have been regularly subscribing to podcasts for over 2 years. The top three genres are entertainment, comedy, and discussion & talk shows.

Amazon acquired Audible for $300 million back in 2008, showing they were already interested in producing digital content. As usual, Amazon’s speculation was right. The US is now the world’s biggest audio market, generating audiobook sales of over $2.5 billion.

Why we love flexible, accessible content

We’re making and consuming more audio content than ever before, partly because audio content fits comfortably with any kind of busy lifestyle. Audio content is one of the most flexible mediums. Unlike video or written content, you can choose to give an audiobook or podcast your full attention, or listen during your commute or while you’re working.

Video hasn’t been entirely replaced by audio content – podcasts with videos are one of the most popular amongst listeners. YouTube is the preferred podcasting platform for 18-54 year olds.

There’s no perfect length for video and audio podcast. Successful content can range from 20 minutes to several hours, it all depends on whether it gains an audience or not. Micro video content like TikTok has become massively shareable, but there’s still a desire for long-form content, which is best suited to audio.

Voice assistants are changing

Home devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home have become a normal part of our home and work life. 65% think using voice assistants have changed their behaviour.

The top three functions are playing music, getting weather updates, and searching Google for specific information. 43% of us make purchases with our voice assistants too, particularly from Amazon and food delivery services.

As our home assistants gain more functions, talking is beginning to replace tapping and swiping for specific functions. Search is now vocal. This is a massive opportunity for brands trying to reach people when they’re thinking about buying.

Why your business needs to start creating audio content

One of the most influential voices in business, Gary Vaynerchuk, is particularly passionate about audio content. He thinks people’s appetite for audio content is only getting bigger, and the “the companies that create the best originals are going to win”.

Quality over quantity is essential. If your brand is going to start pushing out audio content, whether that’s Alexa Skills or podcasts, it’s vital to be engaging and audience-specific. Only then can you unlock the benefits of reaching new people in the right frame of mind.

Create content that your audience really wants to listen to

You don’t have to start from scratch. You can repurpose your existing written and video content to create new, engaging audio content. Venture Motion can help you create an audio marketing strategy that keeps developing.

How Google Chrome’s developer tools could change the way we use smartphone apps

Posted on March 27, 2020January 28, 2022 by Terry Chiu

How Google Chromes developer tools could change the way we use smartphone apps

At the last Chrome Dev Summit, Google announced that Chrome will start offering ‘instantaneous experiences’. This will make it possible for us to complete fast processes and functions on our phone’s browser, instead of downloading and logging into an app.

A massive 1 billion of us are actively using Google Chrome on desktop and mobile every month. Chrome has been the most popular web browser for 4 years, growing a 51% share to 70%. Any major changes Google makes to its browsing experience is likely to have a big impact on lots of us.

Will this make apps obsolete?

According to Google’s director of engineering, Dion Almaer, the main goal is to create ‘native-like’ experiences and get rid of loading screens altogether.

Three of the first app-like experiences coming to Chrome will be two-factor SMS messaging, easy content sharing through contacts lists and social media, and a Native File System API which will interact with your phone’s photos, videos, and files.

For app developers, this is very big. Instead of building apps that are downloaded and used separately, developers will be able to use Chrome’s new Web Bundles to make those exact same functions possible through the web browser most of us are already using. For some more complex features, apps are likely to still have their function. However, when it comes to simpler, everyday features, Chrome could make some apps a lot less needed.

End-users could have a lot less to complain about

A 2016 review of 6,390 iOS app reviews showed our main gripes involved functionality errors, privacy concerns, and hidden costs. 11% of reviews were posted after a recent update, so this clearly creates new problems as well as fix existing ones.

If app functionality comes automatically to our phones via Google Chrome, a lot of the quoted functionality issues could be less likely, including device compatibility issues, crashes, slow response times, or a lack of important features.

What does your business need to know?

If your business builds and develops apps, or relies on app functionality to keep customers happy, Google Chrome’s new developer features could be really useful. It could be even easier to process user data, provide fast online services, and generate online sales.

More opportunities to reach people on different smartphones? Instead of developing separate apps for iOS and Android users, you’ll be able to use the world’s most popular browser to attract people across all devices.

Cut development costs and time. You can reach even more people with just one version of your online tool. That means less time spent and fewer resources.
Faster to market. Create features and launch them quickly.

Users will be discouraged from accessing slow websites

Google has been making a fuss about slow websites for a long time, and it’s well known that slow loading can push your site further down the search engine rankings. Soon, Chrome will go one further.

Slow and fast loading sites will be labelled so users can make an informed choice. It’s not clear how Google will do this yet, but it’s likely to warn users while they’re trying to load a page. If your site is one of them, the chances of potential users pressing back and going elsewhere will be much higher,

Build a future-proof web app

If you want to speed up your site and stay ahead of these big changes, Venture Motion can help. Our experienced developers build web apps for any purpose, and can optimise websites Google will love.

How will removing ‘likes’ affect your business’ social media engagement?

Posted on March 27, 2020January 28, 2022 by Sam Begley

How will removing 'likes' affect your business social media engagement?

Likes have been a big part of how we use social media platforms since the very beginning. Instagram has likes, Twitter has likes and retweets, and Facebook now has a whole range of post reactions.

Social media is built on sharing and interaction, so it makes sense that we’d need a quick and easy way to tell other people that we like their photos, content, opinions, and thoughts. On Instagram though, that’s going to change slightly.

Why is instagram planning to stop showing likes?

According to Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri, likes will be hidden so users can “focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get.” The main aim is to reduce pressure and encourage people to post what they want, without worrying about metrics.

Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, isn’t removing the option to like people’s posts, or see your likes from people who follow you. Instead, you won’t be able to publicly see how many likes a post has. Basically, we won’t know whether Kylie Jenner has 2 likes, or 2 million.

This change is already live in a handful of countries, including Australia and the US. It’s not entirely clear when it’ll be the UK’s turn, but it probably won’t be long.

What does this mean for influencers, brands, and businesses?

When Instagram first announced this change, there was a lot of concern. Nicki Minaj even threatened to stop posting on instagram entirely. Social media likes have made and advanced careers around the world, from YouTube unboxers to fashion and travel influencers. Influencers often measure their success, reach, and potential profitability based on likes and follower metrics, and this information is especially valuable to the brands that work with them. Many are happy to fake it too – more than half of UK Instagram accounts have bought followers, likes, or comments.

According to influencer marketers quoted in PR Week, the industry is going to have to become more sophisticated and innovative – “a shift away from vanity metrics (will) place more focus on time spent on the platform, engagement, views and actual sales”. The industry’s take is influence will still matter, but will be measured slightly differently.

Does your business need to change its social media practices?

Many social media strategists are welcoming this change, because they think real engagement can be measured elsewhere. Likes don’t produce revenue on their own.

Instead of watching the likes on your business’ social profiles, focus on comments, views, shares, and genuine engagement that shows you’re making an impact. The most valuable metric of all is how many people go from looking at your social profiles to looking at your products and services, and make a purchase.

You can see the power of engagement in marketing campaigns designed to create conversation, like Greggs’ Jesus-inspired sausage roll Christmas ads in 2017. Whether people ‘liked’ the campaign or not was irrelevant, the aim was to become a trending topic and translate that into sales. It worked too – multiple Greggs around the country sold out of sausage rolls.

Engagement metrics that really matter

It turns out, the value of a like is often lower than we thought. It could mean someone responded positively to your post, but it could also be spam or just a passing acknowledgement that turns into nothing. It’s smart to measure your business’ social media stats and digital marketing strategy, but it’s a lot less smart to put loads of effort into something that doesn’t actually translate into sales or meaningful coverage. What does your business really want to get out of social media? When you can answer that question, you’ll know exactly what kind of metrics matter, and what your digital strategy needs to cover. The days of chasing likes are coming to an end and leaving a lot of opportunity for growth.

Day: March 27, 2020