SMS Marketing vs. Social Media Ads: Which One Should You Choose?

What’s more effective for promoting your business? SMS marketing or social media ads? It can be tricky to decide!

SMS marketing and social media ads are one of the fastest ways to reach a wide range of people.

People spend a reasonable amount of time on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others. With the internet accounting for billions of users, it is easy to sell products online and market them. 

But aside from social media marketing, offline marketing strategies like direct mail and SMS marketing can potentially increase your customer base and conversion rate. 

SMS marketing has a high open-rate compared to other strategies.

But instead of picking one over the other, why not use both to reach more prospects, boost sales, and increase brand awareness?

Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of social media ads and SMS marketing. Plus how you can use both strategies to grow your business and customer base.

Benefits of social media marketing

The benefits of social media advertising for your business are massive. Here are just a few:

• Social media ads help you reach a broad range of segmented and high-value customers. Here’s how to achieve successful segmentation.
• It is affordable and cost-effective when compared to traditional marketing. But, it is costlier compared to SMS marketing when you consider the advertising spend required. 
• You can split-test your ads and you have advanced analytics to help you optimize your conversion rate.
• It offers different content formats to engage your audience.

Drawbacks of social media marketing

Social media marketing has a lot of benefits for businesses and individuals, but it is not without its cons.

• Consistent social media algorithm updates can affect your ads performance and ROI
• If you are hiring a dedicated specialist, this will come as an added cost.
•  It comes with high competition and this influences your ads’ cost-per-click.
• Social media marketing comes with a steep learning curve if you plan to do it yourself.
• It is hard to track social media marketing, although possible.
• It has a low conversion rate and a slower return on investment.

Benefits of SMS marketing

SMS marketing holds numerous benefits for individuals and businesses like:

• You can reach a vast number of people with SMS marketing. As a fact, 96% of Americans have mobile phones.
• SMS gets a super-high open rate and conversion ~ as high as 98% open rate.
• It is very easy to implement
• SMS marketing is affordable and cost-effective when compared to social media ads.

Drawbacks of SMS Marketing

With all the great benefits of SMS marketing, there are still some limitations and drawbacks you should be aware of.

• It is difficult to funnel SMS leads to your email list (an asset you own)
• You risk getting blocked or reported when executed incorrectly – it can be perceived as an invasion of privacy.
• You cannot group or segment your audience using SMS marketing
• Scaling your business with SMS marketing is a difficult task
• It is limited to one content format – short text – no long text, images, videos, and so on.
• Lastly, you cannot effectively track how your marketing is performing and what to change to make it better.

How to decide between texting vs. social media?

These two marketing strategies are unique. You can use social media marketing and SMS marketing for the same purpose, conversions, but the circumstances in which each strategy is relevant differs.

In a situation where you plan to improve both your online presence and footprint, social media marketing will be perfect.

In addition, social media marketing allows you to monitor the response of your potential customers properly using CRM tools. You get rich insight into their interests, community, jobs, and status, which can be useful for further marketing and retargeting.

But if you are not bent on improving your online presence or that is not the priority now, SMS marketing is a great option to get more personalized in your marketing efforts and increase conversions. 

You can send more personalized messages towards particular customers. SMS marketing makes this possible.

Deciding between texting and social media largely depends on what you aim to achieve. This decision will determine which strategy is best and appropriate to implement. 

Image Source

Other factors to consider when deciding between SMS marketing and social media marketing include: 

• Budget allocation: Both make it easy to budget, especially with initial A/B testing; you’ll be able to quickly determine which ad set requires more funds.
• Target audience: Social media marketing allows you to target your audience and not just run ads randomly. This helps to cut costs and produce the desired results. 
• Competent team: Without a competent team, social media marketing becomes a difficult task. In a situation where you do not have a competent team, SMS Marketing will come in handy.
• Competition: The higher the competition, the less effective social media marketing might be. On the other hand, SMS marketing allows you to send personalized messages and reach your audience directly.

With all these in mind, you’ll be able to choose the most suitable strategy for your business. 

And why not consider email marketing if you’re searching for a third online marketing strategy! The ROI on email marketing for every $1 is $42. You can manage your email lists, schedules, and campaigns with email marketing services. 

How to use social media and SMS together

Utilizing social media marketing or SMS marketing alone will do a lot for your business but not as much as when both strategies are combined. Since they both have unique features, it is important to know how to use them together.

Here are some ways you can apply both strategies.

1. Building a customer database

With both strategies, building a strong customer database is easier. For example, you can begin an SMS marketing campaign in which ads are run for potential customers to text to win prizes. 

This campaign utilizes both strategies. Doing this will generate more leads and result in a conversion.

2. Building your online presence 

You can successfully build a strong online presence and brand awareness with both strategies. 

Apart from running ads to achieve this, with SMS, you can influence the actions of people to like and follow your page and build a positive outlook for your brand.

3. Create awareness

With SMS marketing, you draw proper attention to your social media page, where potential customers can get to know your products and services, leading to a higher conversion rate.

The potential of both strategies is high because where one is lacking, the other will fill in.

Examples of well known companies and brands that use both strategies include IKEA and Domino’s Pizza. 

SMS & social together gets the most bang for your buck

You need more than one marketing strategy to grow your business, scale, and create a high conversion rate. Utilizing SMS and social media strategies will produce the best results and give you your money’s worth.

As a business person, it is important to note that using one strategy to improve sales may not be best for every situation.  

The more you learn to implement more than one strategy, the better it will be for you.

Guest Author: With 10+ years of eCommerce & marketing experience, Bhujal is passionate about helping businesses get more revenue and profit through customized strategies. Bhujal lives in Toronto, ON, and writes about online business ideas and scaling your eCom business at mydigitalkube.com

The post SMS Marketing vs. Social Media Ads: Which One Should You Choose? appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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How Do You Measure Success: Is Social Media the Answer?

Kim Kardashian has more followers on social media than the entire population of the United States with 430+ million fans. And the footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo has even more with 477 million just on Instagram!  

Why it matters

You may not have that many followers or ever hope to get even close to Kim or Cristiano, but “social” media matters because of one key feature and benefit. It provides free organic reach. This wasn’t available a decade or so ago. Social media has changed the game of visible success.

There are many reasons you may want to build a following on social media. These include: 

• Global reach. This level of global sharing of media has been transformed by the “social media” platforms. 
• It can drive free attention and traffic with crowd sourced sharing
• Your content could go viral
• You can test the reaction and impact of your content for a low cost 
• Sharing (done well) can drive sales 
• It will provide affirmation that what you shared is valued. Then that will turn into supercharged motivation. 

So if you have created art, a product or a service and you want to make a difference, then sharing it with the world is where it becomes visible.

That is where the magic happens. It’s visceral.

By the numbers

Social media emerged in the early 2000s. The first global platform for social connection was MySpace (launched in 2003) but in 2004 Facebook launched and over time designed a better feed (and mousetrap).

For the next few years Facebook offered a free “attention” platform until 2007 when it started to roll out its ad product. Facebook knew that building an audience first, before monetizing, would fit the emerging freemium business model.

Up until 2012 the organic reach of Facebook was significant, but in just 6 months it plummeted by nearly 50% as Facebook implemented algorithms to increase visibility of ads and reduce what your followers saw. 

Image Source  

The major players today are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and the emerging star TikTok. 

What is the size of the top 10 social media platforms in terms of  “Monthly Active Users”?

1. Facebook – 2.9 Billion
2. YouTube – 2.2 billion 
3. WhatsApp – 2 Billion 
4. Instagram – 2 Billion
5. Facebook Messenger – 1.3 Billion
6. WeChat – 1.26 Billion
7. TikTok – 1 Billion 
8. Sina Weibo – 573 million 
9. QQ – 593 Million
10. Telegram – 550 Million 

PS: By the way, Twitter comes in at #15 at 436 million. 

How about a breakdown of Kim Kardashian’s numbers? Her social media followers are: Facebook – 35M, Instagram – 329M, Twitter – 70M, Snapchat – 27M, TikTok -7M.

Drum roll….468 million in total!

In between the insights

In his book, “The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success”,  Albert-László Barabási mentions that when performance can’t be measured, networks drive success. And social networks are one of the key defining metrics of success today.

Success can be measured in two ways. 

• By definitive data. The race car driver crosses the line first. Cristiano is the top goal scorer. 
• By the crowd. That is your sharing and fan numbers. They can define success. And Kim is quite good at that. An attention seeking success missile. 

So visibility matters and social proof matters. 

Once they’ve seen you, acknowledged you, recognized you and affirmed your creation. You matter and your art matters. It is a powerful drug and aphrodisiac that draws you in to accelerate creation, wanting more of that affirmation. 

The intoxication from affirmation becomes supercharged motivation. 

Kim Kardashian isn’t Einstein, she’s also not a great singer like Beyonce and can’t kick a football very well. Her success is not measurable for what she does. But she is famous for being famous. Why? Because she has learned and perfected the art of social media sharing. The crowd is her measure of success.

What they’re saying

I mentioned earlier that organic reach on Facebook is not what it used to be. It’s sitting at around 5.2% in 2022.

But according to Ampfluence.com there is a better emerging alternative to Facebook for free attention, and that is TikTok with an organic reach of 118%. One of the main reasons is that TikTok uses a content graph algorithm that prioritizes great content. Your content reaches beyond your immediate followers, unlike Facebook’s social graph. 

Reality check

Social media does provide free attention but be aware that Facebook  and many of the other platforms don’t give much away for free anymore. These platforms have become “pay to play”. 

But the one shiny gleam in the free sharing gloom is TikTok (at least for the moment). 

These networks are not about sunshine and roses, holding hands and singing “Kumbaya”. Yes, social media has many positives but there is a dark side to the technology. 

So, what are some of the negative implications and outcomes of social media?

It’s addictive

Addiction comes in many forms and social media addiction has uncovered a few more.

• “Fear of missing out” (FOMO) – we dive into our phones wanting to see the latest news and drama  
• Smartphone alert driven addiction

Mental health

This issue is a “biggie” and social media can lead to a range of negative outcomes.

• Self image issues – The best phrase to describe this is “Judging your raw inside by the polished outside of others”. The social media content most of us publish is about showing our best self. But we all know that behind the front door is reality. And that is sometimes ugly and raw. Diving into your feed can create a feeling of “I am not enough”   
• Bullying – Open platform can mean that the trolls and bullies have the freedom to be what we hoped had been left behind at primary school by young, immature and unevolved humans. Now we have adults acting like naughty poisonous bullying children too. 

Productivity 

Instead of doing focused “deep work” we go down rabbit holes of distraction. And guess what? We go from productive to distracted.  

Weaponizing beliefs 

The algorithms of social media and other platforms were originally aimed to provide global connection, new horizons and bring people together. 

But the unintended consequence is that often we are served up a bubble of information that doesn’t stretch our minds but shrink wraps it. Keeping us trapped in a small tribal village of “same thinkers”.

This is not mind expanding but “mind shrinking”. An echo chamber of limiting beliefs. This leads to separateness rather than open mindedness. This leads to weapons of mass distraction that don’t bring us together but amplifies differences. 

The bottom line

If you want to get noticed and attract attention as an entrepreneur or a creator then you need to master the art and science of sharing. That’s social media. But you will then need to amplify with paid media.

The global sharing networks that matter are social media. Used wisely, these are vital platforms to provide attention and sales for your creation and content. 

But be aware that social media is a tool, and living and dying by being in its shadow can be a two edged sword. Learn to use it rather than being used and abused by its addictive siren song.

Want to go deeper on TikTok?

If you want to find out more some of the best ways to get free reach on TikTok, then check out “Why Brands are Killing it on TikTok”  and “9 Best Strategies to Grow Your Brand with TikTok”

​​Starting a “Side Hustle” on social media

A few years ago, I started a side hustle where I created first and worked out later how to make money. That was just my simple blog at Jeffbullas.com, where I shared my thoughts and ideas about the power of social media. My creation and art was writing.

Maybe you’d like to do something similar? 

SideHustleStrategies.co. is an evolution of Jeffbullas.com that I have always dreamed about. It is devoted to helping you grow personally and professionally. Side Hustle Strategies was created to help you flourish.

Since I launched Jeffbullas.com, it has been read by over 40 million people. That website and blog was originally a passion project that started as a side hustle. As I grew my blog, I discovered the financial freedom it gave me and how I designed and lived my life.

After experiencing that freedom, I wanted to help others get control of their life. That is where the inspiration started for creating SideHustleStrategies.co.

Join Side Hustle Strategies today.

The post How Do You Measure Success: Is Social Media the Answer? appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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3 Image Optimization Tips For Better Website User Experience

Great images improve social sharing, website dwell time, and overall content engagement. But unoptimized visuals can do just the opposite.  

It’s no secret that you’ve got to add images to your content. Not only are visuals more pleasing to the eyes, but many people also learn visually.

In fact, research shows that when people see relevant visuals, they can still recall information 72 hours later, up to 83% of the time. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has also established that visuals are much more effective at helping people recall information. 

So, if you want to provide useful, engaging, and intriguing content, you need to include high-quality images in all of your blogs, social media posts, and web content.   

Why are images crucial for online content?

Here’s a few stats to demonstrate:

• Blog posts with images get up to 94% more views than those without, according to Jeff Bullas.
• A Journal of Marketing Research study revealed that visuals improve engagement. 
• The Search Engine Journal found that Tweets with images get up to 150% more retweets.
• Posts that have images make up 93% of the most shared posts on Facebook, according to Socialbakers.
• Website visitors share articles with an image every 75 to 100 words about 2X more often than articles with fewer images, according to Buzzsumo.

Image Source

In some sectors, like ecommerce and coaching, visuals are even more crucial. The same way topical authority adds context and credibility to a post, images draw attention and boost engagement. 

Also, whether you run a niche or multi-topic website, adding images to your posts can boost your content’s visual appeal and “page-dwelling power”.

But poor image optimization creates problems

Images make up 75% of the total weight of the typical website page. So, if your site’s visuals are not optimized properly, your page loading time may suffer. 

Not good. Why?

A big reason is that slow-loading pages can reduce conversion rates by 7% and increase bounce rates by 39% (a sign of poor user experience). That’s not good for SEO, user experience, or sales. 

So, what should you do?

Image optimization tips: 3 ways to increase page speed and improve your UX

The following tips are some of the proven image optimization strategies for faster page speeds and a better user experience.

1. Optimize image size 

According to HubSpot, an optimized image should be about 100kbs. This size can help your web pages load faster to reach what 47% of respondents said was a good page loading speed; two seconds. 

Other sources suggest keeping your image sizes under 1MB. 

In WordPress, consider installing handy tools like Imagify, ShortPixel, and Smush to bulk-compress your images quickly. 

Imagify will also automatically compress every other image you add to your library. It has an aggressive mode that compresses PNGs and JPGs significantly to boost page speed.

Imagemin, Kraken.io, and TinyPNG are other image optimization tools you can consider. 

But perhaps you are concerned that plugins will slow your site down. Or, maybe you’re using a more open-source CMS. 

In either case, consider using Image Optim to convert an entire folder of images to a compressed format. It’s drag-and-drop features ease compressing and uploading images.

So what if compressing images leaves a large file size in your CMS? Then try Affinity Photo or the Adobe Suite, both of which support image compression.

2. Think beyond JPEG and PNG

JPEG, GIF, and PNG images are the most popular formats for visual online content. 

But, JPEG files undergo lossy compression. PNG is a lossless alternative, offering the highest quality. GIFs, which are best used for animated images, support lossless compression as well.

Along with the JPEG2000 format, the following image types are also useful for reducing image size without compromising quality.

• Consider using Simple Vector Graphics (SVGs)

This file format is excellent for presenting abstract illustrations, like user interface diagrams, background illustrations, and logos. 

Unlike JPEGs, PNGs, and GIFs, SVGs are text-based XML files. SVGs describe images and have a fairly small file size. 

Moreover, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE, and Edge support SVGs. 

• Experiment with the WebP 

Google’s WebP web image format can help reduce your image sizes by up to 40% while optimizing image quality. 

WebP allows for greater compression ratios and reduced file sizes for mobile devices as well, significantly improving page load times.

Several WebP plugins are available. Still, an online converter can also help you transform a PNG or JPEG image into a WebP file.

• Replace GIFs with APHG or AVIF

The Animated Portable Network Graphics (APHG) format extends the benefits of the PNG format. That means it supports animations with deeper color depths than GIF file types. 

The AV1 Image File Format is a good choice for still images and animations. It can do this because of its high performance, higher compression, color depth, royalty-free image format, and more transparency features than older formats. 

But only Chrome, Opera, and Firefox (stills only) support the AVIF image format. 

3. Serve high-quality images – without the metadata

Here’s the thing. Many people dislike stock images. 

One study showed replacing a stock photo with a real person’s image increased conversion by 34%. Another survey showed that customized video increases website traffic, dwell time, and user understanding (which is great for the UX experience).    

Yet, “real” photos and videos are some of the heaviest files online, thus the slowest to load on a web page. So, how do you optimize them? 

A simple first step is to remove all unnecessary metadata. For example, many cameras include GPS details, camera specs, color profiles, file descriptions, and more data to images. All of this takes up additional bandwidth to load on a web page.

You can avoid metadata appearing on your images by deactivating settings such as Geo-tagging in your camera’s settings. 

Or, head over to Photoshop under “Metadata” and, next to it, select “Save for Web” then “None” to remove the metadata.

Additional ways to optimize images for faster loading speeds and user experience

In addition to the above three tips, here are some more common strategies to optimize website images for faster page loading.

• Use lazy-loading to delay visuals from loading immediately. Medium, the online publishing platform, uses this feature a lot. It displays a lightweight placeholder image while the page loads, before replacing it with the actual image when you scroll it into view (browser window). By lazy-loading visuals, you save critical resources for rendering the above-the-fold portion of a page faster (viewport).
• Include relevant keywords in the image alt text. Alt text, or alt description, is the text on a webpage that displays instead of an image when the image does not load. Adding human-readable, SEO-optimized image descriptions serves both people and search engines.
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN). A CDN is a network of proxy servers that help you reduce the distance between your website’s server and visitors’ computers. By hosting your content locally or nearby, it improves content access speed on your site.  
• Make testing a habit. Routinely test your page load speeds to catch any culprit inefficiencies 

With these simple steps, you can take a big step towards serving optimized images on your website. The result; a snappy website that won’t force your visitors to click away in a huff. 

Guest author: Jon Torres is a digital marketing consultant, keynote speaker, SEO specialist, and business coach. As the founder of Jon Torres, Jon knows all the highs and lows of online business. When not absorbed in digital marketing, Jon loves raising mental health awareness through emotional support animals (ESA).

The post 3 Image Optimization Tips For Better Website User Experience appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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How Branded Short Links can Help You Build a Great Online Brand

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you probably already know that social media plays a vital role in building your brand. 

When used strategically, social media can help you build meaningful connections with your audience, allows you to engage with your customers, and provides valuable information about what consumers are looking for in your brand. 

Social media can also help to drive more traffic to your company website and increase exposure for your brand. Furthermore, having a strong social media presence for your brand can help to generate business partnerships, increase sales, and reduce ad spend. But cutting through the noise and reaching your ideal customers through social media can be tricky. 

Social media algorithms are constantly changing, ad spend is getting more and more expensive, and competing with all the other noise on the internet is challenging. So what’s a savvy business owner to do? The answer might surprise you. 

There is a marketing tactic that has been around for a long time, and yet it is still highly under-utilized. What’s this tactic you ask? It’s branded links on your social media channels. 

But what are branded links or shortened links? 

Branded links (or shortened links) are links you use in your social media that contain your branded domain name. The branded short link in the copy of your social media posts provides a bridge between your social media profile and your website or landing page. These links typically increase your click-through-rate by up to 39%. 

When used correctly, shortened links or brand links can be a powerful way to build your brand. That’s why in this article, we’ll be discussing the benefits of branded urls, how you can use the shortened links you share, and how to create branded links.  

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Why should you care about branded short links?

Let’s start by covering why you should even bother with branded short links. As I mentioned previously, this is a marketing tactic that has been around for a long time, and yet not many businesses seem to be deploying it in their social media strategy. 

But shortened links and branded urls are a simple way to build your online brand. Some of the benefits include an increase in brand name recognition, an increase in the visibility of your content, and an increase in trust with your audience. Let’s explore each of these benefits a little more deeply.  

Branded links increase brand name recognition

It’s a subtle change, but powerful nonetheless. A branded link is a link you own, unlike a generic short link. By simply having your brand name in your link, your audience will automatically develop more positive feelings about the content you’re sharing on social media and your brand. 

Branded links increase the visibility of your content

Building a credible brand is all about using your branded urls at every opportunity. When it comes to social media, sharing branded urls makes you look more professional to prospective clients and customers. 

For instance, let’s say you want to share your LinkedIn profile with somebody. Instead of sending them a long and unappealing URL, with a shortened link you’ll be able to send them a simple link like this: yourname.yoursite/linkedin 

Branded links increase trust with your audience

Branded URLs automatically increase trust between you and your audience. Let’s face it, people are wary of dodgy looking links that could be spam websites or accounts. But if your link has your name or brand in it, it’s as good as being endorsed by you. And less hesitation for your audience equals more clicking on that link! 

How can you use branded short links?

So now that we’ve covered the benefits of using shortened links and branded URLs, where are the best places to use these links? 

In short, you can use them in place of anywhere you would normally share a link! Social media is the first place that comes to mind, along with promotional materials and webinars. 

Social media

Branded short links can be used across all of your social media channels when sharing content. By doing so, you’ll be able to promote your brand or company name with every single link that you share. 

For example, if you want people to visit your instagram page you can share a link that looks like this: yourname.online/instagram. Alternatively, let’s say you’ve just published a new blog article on your website about market trends. On your social media, you could share a shortened link that looks like this yourname.online/markettrends to redirect your audience to your website. 

Promotional material

Does your business have promotional materials such as packaging, brochures, or other paper marketing? Including a shortened link in your advertising makes it easier for customers to remember your branded URL and makes it more likely for them to look up your website to find out more about your products and services. 

Webinars

Links to webinars and video calls are often long and difficult to remember. But not with shortened links! Using branded URLs ensures that your link is simple and easy to remember, helping to communicate what the webinar is about and contributing to higher attendance rates. 

How can you create a branded short link on Rebrandly?

Now that you know about all the benefits of shortened links as well as the places you can utilize them in your marketing efforts, it’s time to learn how to actually create branded links! And don’t worry, the process is very straightforward and simple. Follow the steps below to create branded links in a snap. 

Steps

1. Create a free Rebrandly account
2. Register a new branded domain name on Rebrandly’s domain registrar
3. Create your branded links, for example “Brand.Link/Marketing”
4. Start sharing them anywhere you would typically use a link!

Examples of influencers using branded short links

Brad Colbow 

Brad Colbow shares reviews of tablets and gadgets on his website and also helps illustrators find the best tools for their artwork. He built his brand using the branded URL www.brad.site

Lilach Bullock 

Lilach Bullock was voted one of the top 20 Women Social Influencers by Forbes and the Number 1 Digital Marketing Influencer by Career Experts. Lilach uses www.lilach.online as a branded short link to build her own unique brand online.

Leonard Kim 

Leonard Kim has been recognized by Forbes as a Top Marketing Influencer, and in Inc. Magazine as a Top Digital Marketer and by Entrepreneur as a Top Personal Branding Expert. Leonard uses www.leonard.site to share his thoughts on social media.

Wrapping it up

Branded links (or shortened links) are links that contain your branded domain name and can be shared across your social media platforms and in other marketing materials. Shortened links typically increase your click-through-rate by up to 39%, so it’s a strategy worth utilizing! 

Setting up branded links is simple, easy and free. So why not create some branded links today? 

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The post How Branded Short Links can Help You Build a Great Online Brand appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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Why Create? The $100 Billion Industry You’ve Likely Never Heard About

2 Million people are now professional creators and 50% of them earn a living out of YouTube and according to Forbes, the creator economy has become a $100 billion industry. 

Why it matters

We create for many reasons. 

• To learn 
• For happiness
• Obtain clarity from distilling life’s noise and inspiration into a simple creation  
• Produce something of beauty 
• For life fulfilment
• Maybe make some money. 

And it has never been easier to start and to be rewarded for your creation in the digital world. 

And who doesn’t want the downstream positive glow and effects of: 

• Looking smart and a bit intelligent when you create and share it online.
• Seeing your creation admired in an art gallery, a shop or online
• Being happy and fulfilled after you have crafted and completed a creative project
• Making a living from a digital side hustle done from home. 
• Taking a photo on your smartphone and share it on social media and be noticed and affirmed. And praised. Nothing like a pat on the back.

The big picture

The homo sapiens have been creators since they started painting on the walls of caves. Hidden from public view often for thousands of years. But in the last few years a new digital world and technology has provided a bigger canvas. Both with tools, technology and reach of a connected world on the Web where 6 billion people are now connected.

In the last decade or so the landscape for creators has transformed. This has been driven mostly by the rise of social media where everyone has become creators in either a small way or a big way. And anything in between. Videos, blogs, and podcasts and any digital media that can be shared.

Anyone can now become a digital creator, start a side hustle and even become an influencer. 

By the numbers

Investment has been pouring in the creator economy space  and in 2021 there was $1.3 billion in investment funding, which is a 300% increase since 2020. 

So…

Who are some of these new generation digital creators? 

As a summary they include artists, musicians, writers, designers and creatives and entrepreneurs who leverage technology to create an audience. 

Many are doing this as a Side Hustle

Where is most of the money being made?

If we look at the landscape we can see that it is a mix but working with brands is the top revenue source by far.

Youtubers and other video content creator platforms

According to Forbes one of the best and “well known ways to earn a living is by creating video content people want to watch”. And half of them (1 Million)  earn their money on Youtube. 

Instagram is second with around 500,000 pre-creators and Twitch’s live streaming service has about 300,000.    

Influencers as content creators

In 2021 the influencer market was valued at $13.2 Billion. These are everywhere from Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook to TikTok.

How are they paid? 

It could be a fixed fee, it could be as an affiliate and it could be as sponsorship. And the revenue sources are many.  

Create and get paid. 

You can create on TikTok, Instagram, Metaverse (used to be called Facebook) and YouTube. Then we added Crypto and Blockchain where creativity meets digital currency. 

The platforms have free crowd sourced content that helps them make money and split the revenue with the creators. A win win. 

This can also be done via an NFT and get paid with Crypto. But what is an NFT?

NFT’s (Digital Art) exist only in cyberspace and screens. The reality is virtual. But real.  

But what is a “Non Fungible Token”? NFTs can really be anything digital (such as drawings, music, your brain downloaded and turned into an AI), but a lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital art. 

The upside for artists and creators is that every time someone sells your art you get a 10% commission on the sale tracked by a Crypto smart contract. It is a gift that keeps giving for the artist instead of a one off cash payment. 

It is like the legacy royalty system but taken to a much higher level enabled by technology

The big digital canvas. Global reach has now been enabled and amplified by the Internet and the web. That was then accelerated by social media and the rise of the smartphone for the masses.  That allowed us to publish and share from anywhere and anytime.

How big is the canvas? Well, it’s a bit supersized.. 

• The web has 6 billion users. 
• Metaverse has nearly 3 billion on its platform  
• Tiktok is projected to reach 1.8 billion by the end of 2022. 

And so there is opportunity.

Between the lines

In the past we have had a narrow vision of who a creator or artist is, but Steven Pressfield has widened that view.

 “Art is anything that means creating and sharing your gift with the world”. 

Many of us have looked at a Picasso and through “I could never do that”. That was the traditional meaning of being an artist. Created by a special few. Genius was seen as something mandatory to be an artist and creator. 

But we have moved on from there. Now the artist and creator can be seen as a process of “Make to Know” (Thank you Lorne Buchman for writing the book) where genius grows and emerges. Where beauty and creation emerges from starting and allowing the unexpected gift to be revealed. He mentions that creativity and the path of the creator and artist is more like a creative, making and evolutionary process rather than one moment of genius and revelation handed down by the gods. 

Then there is the entrepreneur as an artist.

Sahil Lavingia in his book “The Minimalist Entrepreneur” wrote about the importance of being a creator and artist. 

“Creator first, entrepreneur second…..Before you become an entrepreneur, become a creator”. 

This removes the complication and keeps it simple. So to succeed, be a creator first and share that with the world, and work out how to make money second.

The bottom line

The creative options have expanded due to technology and our ability to make a difference is both easier and harder. That’s the paradox. 

Easier because the town square is now global and the tech tools to create are both cheap (or free) and easily accessible. 

Harder because there is so much noise online, on our phones and on our screens that competes for our attention. 

Creating requires action and that is the real bottom line. The rest is just detail.

And the bottom line is just two things. 

• A sense of satisfaction from being a creator that means you receive, affirmation and reward.
• You have started a side hustle and now have some free cash for the next holiday or to take your partner out to a fancy restaurant. You can make some money and make a living and maybe even become a digital nomad working while you roam the world on adventures and exploring

One way to become a creator is to start a “Side Hustle”

I started a side hustle where I created first and worked out later how to make money last. That was just a simple blog at Jeffbullas.com, where I shared my thoughts and ideas about the power of social media. My creation and art was writing. But I still had my day job that paid for my life. So….I was successful but unhappy.

SideHustleStrategies.co. is an evolution of Jeffbullas.com that I have always dreamed about. It is devoted to helping you grow personally and professionally. Side Hustle Strategies was created to help you flourish.

Since I launched Jeffbullas.com, it has been read by over 40 million people. That website and blog was originally a passion project that started as a side hustle. As I grew my blog, I discovered the financial freedom it gave me and how I designed and lived my life.

After experiencing that freedom, I wanted to help others get control of their life. That is where the inspiration started for creating SideHustleStrategies.co.

Join Side Hustle Strategies today.

The post Why Create? The $100 Billion Industry You’ve Likely Never Heard About appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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FTC Defense Lawyer Shares the Top 10 Ways Internet Marketers Get into Trouble With the FTC

This is an interview with FTC Defense Attorney Nick Oberheiden of Oberheiden P.C. Nick handles FTC compliance and defense matters nationwide.

Despite what many people seem to think, the internet is not the wild west when it comes to oversight and enforcement. Several government agencies share responsibility for ensuring that internet marketers comply with the law, with the most-prominent being the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Internet marketers can (and do) run into problems with the FTC in a variety of different ways. While most FTC enforcement actions are civil (as opposed to criminal) in nature, internet marketers have faced criminal charges in some cases.

Even in civil cases, penalties can include hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in fines and damages. With this in mind, internet marketers need to take compliance seriously, and they need to take affirmative steps to ensure that they will be able to defend themselves effectively in the event of an FTC investigation.

So, what does this mean, exactly? Here are 10 ways internet marketers can get into trouble with the FTC—as well as some tips they can follow to mitigate their risk of liability:

1. Ignoring the FTC’s rules for online endorsements

The FTC defines an endorsement as, “any advertising message . . . that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings, or experiences of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser, even if the views expressed by that party are identical to those of the sponsoring advertiser.”

While there is nothing inherently unlawful about endorsing products or services online (or seeking endorsements from social media influencers), internet marketers must follow the FTC’s guidelines in order to remain compliant.

These guidelines appear in 16 CFR Section 255, and the FTC adopted them specifically to address what the agency identified as widespread misleading use of endorsements in the online realm.

Crucially, the FTC’s guidelines do not apply to all online endorsements. As the agency explains:

“If you mention a product you paid for yourself, there isn’t an issue. Nor is it an issue if you get the product for free because a store is giving out free samples to its customers.”

Where issues can arise is the endorsement of products for which the endorser receives compensation from the advertising party. Generally speaking, if an influencer or other endorser receives compensation for providing an endorsement, then the relationship needs to be disclosed.

However, rather than establishing a list of approved conduct and prohibitions, the FTC instead requires internet marketers to interpret its guidance and make their own decisions about what is permissible and what isn’t. This, of course, is easier said than done, and internet marketers who don’t invest the time necessary to make informed decisions can find themselves facing FTC scrutiny.

2. Ignoring the FTC’s rules for online testimonials

The FTC has also provided guidance for the publication of online testimonials. Under 16 CFR Section 255, the FTC, “intends to treat endorsements and testimonials identically in the context of . . . enforcement.”

Thus, similar to endorsements, the FTC evaluates internet marketers’ use of testimonials on a case-by-case basis. The key question is whether an internet marketer’s use of a testimonial is likely to be “deceptive” to reasonable consumers. If it isn’t, then there isn’t a problem. But, if it is, then publishing the testimonial could lead to FTC enforcement action.

To be clear, the FTC is not actively monitoring all internet marketers’ use of endorsements and testimonials. This simply isn’t possible; and, even if it was, it wouldn’t be a good use of agency resources. Instead, the FTC primarily relies on consumers and companies to report deceptive advertising practices.

When is a testimonial likely to be considered “deceptive” by the FTC? When evaluating internet marketers’ use of testimonials, the FTC typically analyzes three factors:

• Do the testimonials used provide an accurate assessment of overall consumer sentiment or typical results (or, has the company selectively chosen positive testimonials)?
• Are the testimonials legitimate (or, are they fabricated or compensated endorsements)?
• Has the company included adequate disclosures and disclaimers in order to avoid misleading consumers (or, could consumers get a false impression based on the testimonials published)?

Again, however, there are relatively few hard-and-fast rules. When in doubt, internet marketers should generally err on the side of disclosure or speak with an FTC defense lawyer; and, if there are any internal concerns about whether use of a testimonial may be misleading, these concerns should be taken into account when deciding whether to publish a testimonial online and/or include any disclosures or disclaimers.

3. Creating native advertising that is misleading to consumers

The FTC has also placed native advertising under enhanced scrutiny in recent years. As the agency explains:

“A basic truth-in-advertising principle is that it’s deceptive to mislead consumers about the commercial nature of content. Advertisements or promotional messages are deceptive if they convey to consumers expressly or by implication that they’re independent, impartial, or from a source other than the sponsoring advertiser – in other words, that they’re something other than ads.”

Today, plenty of reputable online news outlets allow the use of native advertising. Here, too, the practice itself is not inherently unlawful. Instead, the question is whether the nature of the advertisement is likely to be misleading to consumers.

In short, will consumers understand that a native ad is in fact an advertisement? Or, are they likely to think that the ad is a news article? If the latter, then clarification and/or additional disclosures will be required.

Depending on the specifics of a particular native ad, the FTC instructs that some or all of the following may be necessary in order to comply with the law:

• A disclosure in clear and unambiguous language;
• A disclosure as close to the native ad as possible;
• Use of a font and color that are easy to read;
• For video ads, a disclosure that is “on the screen long enough to be noticed, read, and understood;” and/or
• For audio disclosures in videos, podcasts or other media, “a cadence that’s easy for consumers to follow and in words consumers will understand.”

4. Making false claims of effectiveness or success

False advertising claims are a core focus of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and a multitude of other federal laws and regulations. These laws and regulations prohibit online marketers from making false claims of any kind, but place particular emphasis on claims about the effectiveness of a particular product or a service provider’s record of success.

Any blatantly false claim is likely to draw strict scrutiny from the FTC. The FTC has a number of investigative tools at its disposal, and it uses these tools to aggressively target online marketers suspected of misleading consumers.

This is true in cases involving both intentional misrepresentations and unknowing misrepresentations—with intentional fraud carrying the potential for criminal prosecution.

5. Making unsubstantiated claims

Unsubstantiated claims can lead to just as much trouble as false claims. When making claims about the effectiveness of a product or service, the FTC requires internet marketers to have adequate substantiation. If a factual marketing claim cannot be substantiated (or proven), then it cannot be made.

This applies to specific claims (i.e. ABC Company’s product outperforms XYZ Company’s product) as well as superlatives (i.e. ABC Company is the best in the business). If a marketing claim is capable of being proven or disproven, then making the claim without proof constitutes deceptive advertising under the FTC Act.

Internet marketers don’t necessarily need to publish their substantiation, but they do need to have it on record. In the event of an FTC investigation, having substantiating documentation readily available can be the difference between avoiding charges and facing prosecution for FTC Act violations and other charges.

6. Making deceptive claims (i.e. claims based on half-truths)

Internet marketers must also be extremely careful to avoid making claims that are deceptive because they are only partially true.

Consider, for example, an investment advisor who promotes the fact that dozens of his clients have earned substantial returns. If dozens of other clients have suffered substantial losses, then promoting the investment advisor’s success alone would be considered deceptive advertising under federal law (and under many state and international laws as well).

These types of half-truths seem to have become increasingly popular in recent years. But, while they may be pervasive online, this does not mean that they are acceptable or that the risks of making this type of misleading advertising claim can be ignored. Internet marketers must independently assess their own compliance obligations with an FTC defense attorney, and they must avoid following in others’ misguided footsteps.

7. Failing to maintain adequate data security

Data security is another key enforcement area for the FTC. Companies that have access to consumers’ data have an obligation to protect these data under federal law.

Different types of data are subject to different legal requirements; and, generally speaking, the FTC expects companies with greater resources to deploy greater cybersecurity measures.

With that said, once again, internet marketers need to assess their specific compliance obligations in light of the nature of their online activities, and they must make informed decisions about what is necessary in order to maintain compliance.

8. Violating antitrust laws

Federal antitrust laws prohibit companies from working together to implement anticompetitive practices. They also prevent large companies from gaining monopolies that unreasonably restrain competition in the marketplace.

From supply chain restrictions to mergers and coordination between competing firms, there are numerous issues that can lead to trouble under the extraordinarily complex federal antitrust regime.

Most internet marketers won’t run into antitrust issues in their day-to-day business. But, for those who encounter these issues, compliance needs to be a priority. This is a priority enforcement area for the FTC, and companies can face swift and heavy enforcement action when suspected of engaging in anticompetitive practices.

9. Overlooking the FTC’s free online guidance

The FTC makes many resources publicly available online—including several resources that are specifically intended for internet marketers. Since the FTC puts these resources out there, they expect internet marketers to do their due diligence and put in the time and effort to comply with the law.

However, as mentioned above, much of the FTC’s guidance leaves questions unanswered. The agency provides explanations and examples, but it stops short of telling marketers specifically what is and isn’t permitted.

As a result, while internet marketers can (and should) carefully review the guidance that is available from the FTC, they must also ensure that they are confident in their interpretation of the FTC’s guidance and how they apply it within the context of their particular online marketing activities. This is why a short meeting with an experienced FTC defense lawyer can really put your mind at ease.

10. Ignoring inquiries from the FTC

Finally, in the event of an FTC inquiry, it is imperative to respond promptly and appropriately. This is true whether an FTC agent makes contact directly, the agency issues a subpoena, or the agency makes contact through any other means.

Ignoring an FTC investigation is a big mistake—and it is not one that will go overlooked. Attempting to conceal information or destroy potential evidence can have significant negative consequences as well.

An FTC investigation won’t simply go away. However, taking a proactive approach can significantly increase the likelihood of resolving an investigation without charges being filed.

By taking steps to comply with the law, document their compliance, and prepare in advance for the possibility of an FTC inquiry, internet marketers can significantly mitigate their risk of facing allegations of deceptive advertising (in addition to other civil or criminal charges).

The post FTC Defense Lawyer Shares the Top 10 Ways Internet Marketers Get into Trouble With the FTC appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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How to Optimize Your Web Page CTAs to Increase Conversions

The call-to-action (or CTA for short) is one of the most critical elements for conversions on your website. The call-to-action is the mechanism you offer for visitors to take their next steps towards becoming your customers.

A good CTA helps visitors through their journey, advising them as to the next step to take and serving as their guide through your funnel.

At least, that’s the theory.

However, when you get CTAs wrong, they can be worse than useless. Why would someone make a prepaid appointment for your services while they’re reading an article with your advice on how they can do things themselves?

Why would someone give you their email address in exchange for an ebook when they’re viewing your content for the first time ever and the page hasn’t even fully loaded?

Leads can be irritated by the interruption of an irrelevant popup and annoyed when your CTA doesn’t reflect their needs – sometimes so much so that they bounce off entirely, never to return.

The solution is to adjust your CTAs so that they match the situation in which they appear. It’s not enough to just embed the same CTA into every product page and blog post – you need to optimize and customize them according to the visitor’s mindset and position in your funnel.

That, in turn, requires you to understand visitor intent at every stage of the journey.

You’ll need to gather clues from all your analytics, and bear in mind what viewing a specific page of content says about what the viewer is experiencing and expecting. These are the parameters that should determine the CTA you use.

Track potential customers’ visiting history, and consider other touchpoints like whether they arrived at this page from an email, organic search, or external blog post, because each variant can affect your choice of CTA.

Here are five situations that you might find your audience in, and suggestions for how to best optimize your CTA for each.

1. The confused client

Sometimes, visitors need the services, products, or solutions you sell, but they aren’t sure what exactly they need.

Marketing or design agencies, business consultants, and interior designers can all encounter these situations, and so do companies selling products like laptops or SaaS solutions.

These leads require plenty of nurturing before they make a purchase decision. They want product specifications and features, they want to compare brands, solutions, and prices, and seek guidance about which product is the best fit.

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Your CTA should acknowledge that they’ve visited educational content on your site and seem to have questions, and offer them a free assessment.

Use Gravity Forms to embed a chatbot session asking about their needs, walking them through various possibilities, and suggesting the best product or service for them, while capturing the information in their replies.

2. The client in search of a relationship

For service providers like designers, home maintenance vendors, therapists, personal trainers and business consultants, the main question you need to answer is whether leads will be able to forge a productive relationship with you. In these cases, your website visitors might know exactly what they need, but they aren’t sure if you are the best person to provide it.

Try an inline button offering a free trial session, so you can see if the two of you click. Don’t display it the first time someone lands on your homepage, as they probably won’t be ready for that yet.

It’s best on your about page, service description pages, or for someone who’s already hit other touch points on your site or come from your email newsletter or social media accounts.

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Multi-featured business management solution vcita offers highly customizable CTAs that let you choose the shape, size, color, wording, and more for your CTA. Because it’s part of an integrated solution, the widget connects with your CRM and online scheduling, so leads can book their free appointment straight away.

Using its integrations with your content management system, you can determine which pages offer which vcita-powered CTAs.

3. The content browser

Sometimes, people come to your site for ideas and inspiration. They may book a session, or they might spend months or years consuming your content without making a purchase. This can apply to B2B marketing, tech advice blogs, or B2C businesses posting about party planning, baking, or beauty services.

Either way, these leads are valuable, because they’ll boost your reach and recommend you to others who do buy from you. To identify them, track their browsing history to check that they’re consuming your content, but aren’t visiting purchase-intent pages like pricing pages or product pages. You should also see if they’ve shared your content before, or if they’re already on your email list or Facebook group.

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Your CTA can invite them to join your community on social media or subscribe to your email. HubSpot’s sales suite offers a range of CTA templates, including ones that slide in halfway down the page, so you’ll know that they’re interested enough to at least read that far.

Customize it to your branding and make it relevant to the page they are reading at the time. For example, the above CTA appeared on a blog post about becoming a better manager.

4. The buyer with purchase intent

Mobile food delivery apps, specific service providers like plumbers, and ecommerce websites with lower-priced merchandise can all encounter visitors who are ready to make a purchase immediately. These people know what they need, and they know you provide it; all that’s left is to establish price and availability.

At these times, you want a straightforward “buy/book now” CTA with a “10% off your first order” discount that flies in, grabs their attention, and invites them to place their order or book their slot immediately.

However, first you need to be sure about their purchase intent. In some cases it’s obvious – if you’re a mobile food delivery app and it’s midday, whoever arrives is probably looking for lunch – but not always. For example, a visitor to a plumber’s website could be looking for someone urgently to fix their toilet, or comparing prices for installing their new bathroom.

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That’s why you need to assign the CTA according to the visitor’s previous touchpoints. Did they come from your blog post, or your “emergency services” page? Have they compared five pairs of sneakers and added them to their cart, or did they browse the shoe section and add nothing?

An advanced analytics engine that also serves up embedded banner ads, Finteza allows marketers to choose which pages run the CTA, based on the first page the visitor landed on, their referral source, or previous actions they performed on the site.

5. The bargain hunter

Some website visitors might have already signed up for your free trial, joined your email list, and read all your gated content, but they just need that extra nudge to convert to become paying customers. They’ll buy eventually, but they are holding out for the Black Friday sales or waiting to see if you or your competitor offer a bigger discount.

You can recognize these people because they’ve already checked out your pricing page and have advanced through all of the relevant micro-conversions. There’s no use inviting them to subscribe to your email newsletters or download an ebook, because they’ve already got it all.

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Your CTA should be a discount offer that makes it clear how much they have to gain, so as to discourage them from waiting to see if something better comes along.

Use a tool like Wishpond to put this discount in a bold banner that they can’t miss. You can run A/B testing to try out different placings, colors, and wordings so you can see which version performs the best.

CTAs can be a powerful tool

CTAs can drive conversions and sales – or actively discourage leads from continuing.

By optimizing CTAs for buyers who like to browse and those who like discounts, those who aren’t sure about their best next step and those who want to buy now, and those needing reassurance too, you’ll serve up the right call to action at the right time, and see conversions rise.

Guest author: Zac Johnson is a world-renowned blogger and entrepreneur with nearly 20 years of experience in the online marketing space and has helped his readers generate millions of dollars online. He shares his story and guidance at ZacJohnson.com

The post How to Optimize Your Web Page CTAs to Increase Conversions appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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