What You Need to Know About Facebook Shops

Calling all business owners! If you sell a physical product, there's never been a better time to revisit your Facebook strategy. Shopping on FB/IG has been around since 2017, but the new Facebook Shops online store is a whole new level. Facebook Shops is a single online store that lets customers purchase your products right on Facebook or Instagram without visiting your website. For the customer, this means no more app switching or re-entering credit card numbers when you see something fun on IG Stories. 

THE DETAILS

Facebook Shops are free and easy to create. When you set up your shop, it will appear on your Facebook and Instagram accounts and will soon be available on Messenger and WhatsApp. Products in Facebook Shops will be featured across FB and IG, including a new dedicated shopping tab on Instagram and within Explore. 

If you have an online store through Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Channel Advisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube , or Feedonomics, you will be able to import your entire catalog of products into Facebook Shops easily. Facebook Shops will sync with your current site so you can easily keep track of sales and inventory. 

FEATURES COMING SOON:

WHAT IT ALL MEANS FOR YOU:

Facebook Shops won't replace websites for most small businesses; however, we predict that conversion rates for eCommerce ads and overall sales numbers will increase for companies that use this new feature.

If you are a small business that wants to try eCommerce but doesn't have the budget or resources to integrate eCommerce into your existing website, or if you don't have a website at all, Facebook Shops can be a great option. 

Overall, Facebook Shops removes friction from the clunky mobile shopping experience and will likely result in more spontaneous purchases. How many times have you changed your mind about a random purchase from an IG ad because you didn't want to get up off the couch and grab your wallet? For me, it's more times than I'd like to admit. 

Facebook Shops is also Facebook's latest move to keep people on the platform, for longer. With the pixel losing relevance, this is a way for Facebook to prove that their platform truly works to drive sales. 

Who knows? Maybe they will get rid of outside shopping links all together in the coming years. 

RANDOM RECOMMENDATION:

If you have an online business, take advantage of this new feature, but don't abandon your website altogether. Remember: the data you collect on your website is yours forever. Facebook owns all of the data and content on its site and can shut down features anytime. 

7 Tips to Help you Prepare for Local Search Being the Only Search That Matters

I want to paint you a picture and I'm sorry it's not a pretty one. In fact, it's going to make many of you angry and it'll probably make some of you scared. If you need an SEO hug hit my inbox and I'll give you an e-hug free of charge.

Most of Us are Pros at Something Other Than Digital Marketing

And that's okay! Picture yourself as a small business person (like maybe a car dealer? I know shocking, right?!) you're an expert in your craft or service, you're focused on providing great service to your customer, you've got the tools and the skills to succeed. Sounds like you're ready for customers to pour in, but that's usually the problem. Business doesn't come just because you turn the open sign on. In a world that is increasingly digital, increasingly skeptical, and increasingly overwhelmed by new choices both online and in real life or IRL as the kids say. So what do we do? We pay for some marketing right? Where do we start though? That's the real question.

The Marketing Playbook is a Dusty Volume Written in 2010

Most businesses start with a website. I could write a whole series of articles on websites, but for most small businesses it's the equivalent of their storefront online. It's a place to drive digital advertising, communicate pricing and product offerings, your website acts as your home online. However, far too many businesses have what I call the "Field of Dreams" problem. They think if they build it customers will come. The hard truth is that there are over 1.5 billion websites on the web and without some very clever strategies there is a high likelihood that yours won't rank highly in organic search. Also, there's a good chance no one cares about your website anyway. Check out my last article about why no one cares about your website anymore.

There's a New Set of Basic Best Practices for Digital Marketing

Next, you might consider some advertising. Potentially paid search, social advertising, or even display advertising. You might send some direct mail, buy a billboard or a radio spot. All of these can be effective, but they still ignore a few fundamental truths about the digital behaviors of your customers. Let's take a look at why I think that's true.

Organic Search is the Single Most Powerful Lead Converter

SEO has long been seen as a dark art, but as technology improves and more of us move from black and grey hat to focus on actually answering questions that our customers are searching for measurement has improved dramatically. In fact, at least 51% of your website's traffic probably comes from organic search or what we know as SEO. We know that many small businesses have been trying to reach "page one of Google" for years and we also know that the best place to hide a body is on page 2 of the search results. Search is changing though and while your website is still an important information and content hub for your business you need to work a little harder to get the same benefit you did from SEO 4 or 5 years ago.

Local Search is the New SEO

Let's start with the fact that almost half of all searches are local (46%) search and local are becoming so connected that "near me" searches have increased 900% in the last two years. You might be thinking that seems a bit high, but do a quick search for anything that has a location near you on your mobile device (at least 60% of searches come from mobile) what you'll see is that the first organic search result is likely at least one long scroll down the page. As you've probably guessed this means that while the SEO work you've done to your website is important even if you have that coveted first position you're really much farther down the search results. What you'll notice is 3-5 ads and then what we call the "map pack" this is where Local Search becomes powerful and where your ratings and reviews can impact your business.

Local search is a powerful signal of purchase intent much more so than much of the website content driven SEO we have done for the last 20 years. Most local searchers (88%) visit a store within 24 hours which confirms our intent theory and 28% of those conducting a local search will make a purchase. Not only do local searches convert they convert much more quickly than traditional SEO with 18% converting within a day compared to only 7% for organic search. This further reinforces that local searchers are primed to spend with your business they just need to be able to find you!

How to Make Sure Your Business is Found in Local Search

  1. Titles and Meta Descriptions: Focus on one keyword as close to the beginning of the meta tag as you can and try to include targeted location names as well.
  2. Makes sure your Online Business Info is correct: SEOs call this NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) these are what are called Citations that we update on what we call Directories. For example Google My Business is the largest directory we work with.
  3. Optimize your Google My Business: Making sure your Business Name, Address, Phone Number, Website, Hours, and amenities are updated on GMB is very important, but those only go so far to help you rank. You also want to pay attention to Relevance, Proximity, and Authority as it relates to GMB.
  4. Claim and verify your GMB: There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses that miss this step and it's super simple. Follow this link https://www.google.com/business/ to claim your business. Once claimed you will need to verify your business by requesting that Google send you a postcard to your business's physical address (NO P.O. Boxes). Follow the instructions and you'll open up a ton of new functionality in GMB.
  5. Relevance, Proximity, and Authority: These three elements help Google determine what the best local search results to serve the searcher are. They're relatively easy to plan for as long as you know what they are and how to influence them. Relevance can be viewed as a measure of consistency. To be relevant in Google's eyes you must 1. have a complete listing 2. Include the most relevant GMB categories for your business 3. Align your primary category with the <H1> tag on your website. Proximity is simple to understand for the most part if someone is not within 5 miles of your business you will not appear in local search. Authority is the hardest to understand but it is a measure of confidence that the information you provided is accurate and correct. The best way to influence the Authority signal for Local Search is to make sure your NAP (remember, Name, Address, Phone Number) is correct in as many places as possible across the web. There are tools that can help you do this and some are even free.
  6. Earn Reviews: Sure, reviews are a great way to show potential customers what kind of experience they will have, but I have a secret. They're WAY more powerful than that. The volume of reviews you earn the your star rating in those reviews can actually help you jump over other local businesses in the map pack and earn you more traffic and sales. This is because Google uses this as a signal for ranking you to improve the quality of their results. Google makes money off the value of their SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Here's proof (business names changed for the example) You'll notice John Smith is further away that Hometown.

7. Use Structure Data: If you're technical enough or have resources that are using Schema.org to structure your data will help Google understand what your website is about and rank it more frequently. Especially for local information that can be hard to find on a website. Even with a sitemap and XML Sitemap crawlers still might miss it. Learn more about structured data here: https://moz.com/blog/structured-data-for-seo-1

So now that you know how to dominate local search be sure to do some testing. Pay attention to your website, phone call, and foot traffic and see if implementing these tips provide increases that deliver to your bottom line.

10 Reasons to Hire Random Agency

  1. We don't do copy/paste strategy.
  2. We only work with clients we believe in.
  3. We don't have giant executive salaries.
  4. We don't do it just for awards.
  5. We won't say "yes" to every idea.
  6. We believe great (and horrible) ideas can come from anywhere.
  7. We know the difference, and we promise we'll tell you.
  8. We're a small and mighty team with a big network to support.
  9. We bring big agency talent without big agency price tags.
  10. You pay what we say and nothing more. Keep your nickels and dimes.
  11. We're not going to play it safe. We'll push you based on data and insights.

10 Digital Tips to Prepare Your Business for Quarantine

I am not here to write paragraphs or prose about the current state of digital marketing during a global pandemic. Coronavirus is real, stay home and wash your hands, nothing is as important as your health.

However, if you are looking for some easy, fast, free ways to help keep your customers informed the tips below are what SMB's on the cutting edge are updating as a part of their digital quarantine. There are a few things that you should do on Facebook and Google to make sure your customers are in the know of what is going on.

Update your Google My Business           

Hopefully you (or your agency) have access and have claimed your Google my Business (in the biz we call it GMB). This is one of the easiest but most important steps for you to take and during a quarantine or shelter in place situation these updates can help you keep your customers informed and engaged. After quarantining these tips will help you be on the cutting edge of local search.

  1. Update Hours Regularly - It doesn't matter as much what your hours are or how often you change them as much as it does that a customer knows what to expect. Especially if you have a physical location that is still open in some capacity it's important that your customers know when you are open. It's also good to update your hours to closed if you've been mandated to close which will put a banner on your GMB and let your customers know. You can also include when you will reopen in your update as well.
  2. Update Your Photos to Include Products - GMB photos is still the wild west. My guess is that if I went to your GMB right now I would find the most random and poor-quality pictures. Probably some that you would be upset that your customers can see. Google aggregates this from the web and allows users to upload them as well. Now is a great time to update your GMB with some great photos of your products or services. This will allow your customers to see your products or before and after images of your services. This is something that isn't just great for quarantine this is a great best practice for eCommerce in general.
  3. Avoid Penalties While Making Updates - This is a crucial time to avoid getting your GMB suspended. There's a full list of what will get you suspended here (https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en). The most important things to avoid are: 
    • Using a URL that redirects to your website's URL, rather than the actual URL itself.
    • If you're thinking of building a Coronavirus landing page don't put that page on your GMB as tempting as it might be!
    • Trying to awkwardly add keywords into your business name field
    • This is not the time to be opportunistic or try to keyword optimize any part of your GMB. Google is on high alert for scams during a crisis and will tend to suspend accounts and ask questions later if they are suspicious
    • Having multiple local listings for the same business location
    • You should ALWAYS keep an eye on your duplicates but especially during a crisis it's important that you have claimed your business and then claimed and merged
    • Using any address for your business that isn't a physical storefront or office space where you meet with customers
    • If your business has a physical location and you're able to provide some services at home during quarantine (if that is allowed) don't change your businesses physical address your GMB will get suspended
  4. Stay Informed - Be sure you keep up to date with Google's help center. They have a COVID-19 specific page that can be found here . They also have an entire GMB resource section you can find here.

Be Cautious About How You Use Social Media

Social media is a major source of information and misinformation in times of crisis like the one we're experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some social media considerations.

  1.  Pause and Evaluate All Social Media - Stop publishing immediately and look at your content calendar. During a crisis social media is the number one source of misinformation try to be sure that you're not adding to the noise.
  2. Help Don't Sell - Now is not the time to focus on pushing out sales focused content. This will likely be poorly received at best and creates more noise in social media that doesn't add value during a time when most are looking for very specific information 
  3. Update Your Listing Info - Many small businesses don't even realize that they have business listing info on Facebook. Facebook has the ability to showcase hours as well as pricing information, contact info, product categories, and a brief description. You may have set this up when you started your page and forgotten about it since then. Now is a great time to update it!
  4. Be Careful What You Share - We talked about misinformation and you don't want to be a part of them problem and cause more confusion. My recommendation is not to share anything that doesn't come from a reliable source (CDC, WHO, etc.). When posting about your business only post necessary information about operations. If you're offering special services to support your customers during the crisis you can communicate those but be careful not to be opportunistic or appear predatory. Remember, help don't sell.
  5. Engage Your Customers - Even if you're not posting your customers are looking for information be sure that you are monitoring your pages during a crisis and responding if you are able. However, it's important that you don't try to answer questions you're not qualified to answer. If you're not a doctor and it doesn't come from the CDC, WHO, etc. DO NOT POST IT. Misinformation is the most dangerous thing we can spread now.
  6. Check to See if You Qualify For a Facebook Advertising Grant- Facebook is offering $100 million in grants to 30,000 small businesses around the world. That may not be much given the number of businesses they are targeting but during a global pandemic if you qualify it could help give your business just enough momentum to continue to grow. Make sure to sign up for updates.

These are stressful and trying times for all of us both personally and professionally. In a largely and increasingly digital world there's hope for savvy businesses. The tactics I've laid out here will not cure COVID-19, guarantee your business is successful, or even sell your products. You, the business owners still have to create value and differentiate your business. What these tips will do is make sure that you don't alienate your customers, that they can find you online, and that they know when, how, and why to do business with you.

 

Update: Google has release some new insights on ThinkWithGoogle that show how search behaviors have changed.

What I think is most interesting is that 85% of consumers still want to hear from brands and think that brands communicating is okay. I would highly suggest you think carefully about your message though. Now is not the time to sell products now is the time to solve problems.

Google also said that over 25% of Americans can't find the products they need. Ease of access is a new key way to differentiate you product or service. Simply being easy to find and do business with will go a LONG way right now.

Limited retail availability is also forcing trial of new brands for some consumers. 3 in 10 customers are being forced to buy a brand they don't normally buy. Again, if your product is available, high quality, and you make online, no-touch, and delivery as frictionless as possible you can actually grow your sales and retain some of the forced switchers post quarantine. If you've been slow to embrace digital transformation you're going to have to adapt quickly or you will likely continue to see your revenues drop even post quarantine because there will be a new consumer expectation of ease of access.

More than anything how you communicate with your customers is crucial right now and I highly suggest you adopt a model I have been using my entire career. HELP DON'T SELL. There are three components that Google talks about as well that support my mantra.