September 2021

Which platforms are the best to advertise online for your business in 2021?

The online advertising industry is evolving dynamically and becoming competitive every day. There are now a large number of platforms for advertising digitally. Companies are now aware of the online competitive market and are looking to digital advertising to attract more customers. It is also important to understand the various platforms, their pros and cons in order to choose which one works best to promote your business.

Image source: bigcommerce.com

Below is a list of the best places to advertise online in 2021.

#1. Google Search Ads

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Google Ads is a set of paid advertisements, which appear in search results google.com, allows you to create online ads to reach audiences through the Display Network and Google Adsense program. It runs on the PPC model and lets you pay every time a visitor clicks your ad.

Pros

• It improves the visibility of the brand in the online market.
• Google Display Network provides more targeting options
• Provides control over your budget by allowing you to choose how much you want to spend per day, and per ad and paying only when someone clicks your ad.
• Cost per click is low as compared to other ad platforms
• You can measure the results of your success and track the information regarding someone clicking your ad, purchasing the product, etc.
• Since Search Ads are shown only to people who show an intent to buy by searching for the relevant keywords the chances of conversion are higher

Cons

• The main disadvantage of paid listings is that you have to pay. It can be very expensive to use the right keywords. As an alternate SEO is an organic way of ranking you on top for relevant keywords
• You might fail to target the right audience if the keywords are not used properly.
• Google Ads provide many features but they are very complex for a novice.
• The audience might get irritated because of unnecessary ads.

#2. Facebook Ads

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Facebook ads are paid advertising that businesses place on Facebook with its broader audience network and it’s additional applications like Instagram and Whatsapp.

This platform gives the flexibility to express your voice and write your own.

Pros

• Facebook has one of the largest users – As of July 2020, according to Statista, Facebook had more than 2.6 billion users worldwide. (1)

• It can help to find the exact audience easily and help to grow organically.
• It is the cheapest form of advertising.
• It is the fastest form of advertising. It drives immediate results, drives traffic faster.
• It increases brand awareness with faster revenue, sales, and leads.
• It is measurable. You can track impressions, clicks, and conversions that you received.

Cons

• Some companies and websites are prohibited from advertising on Facebook. This is to ensure that people using Facebook enjoy a safe and secure user experience. Before ads appear on Facebook, they have to go through a series of processes which may take more than 24 hours which is very time consuming.
• Facebook will not accept the ad if it is filled with text more than 20 percent.
• Since more businesses are using Facebook ads, the chances of catching people’s attention and having your ad stand out will be challenging and expensive.
• The audience who see the ad may not have an intent to buy so ads might not give conversions.

#3. Instagram Ads

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Instagram ads are paid advertisements that allow you to put paid content on the Instagram platform in order to reach a more specific audience. Since Instagram is a visual platform, you will need an image or a set of images, or video accompanied by text to reach your audience.

Pros

• There are over 1 billion Instagram users who are active on the platform at least once a day. (2)

• It has access to the most advanced social media advertising capabilities and targeting options available.
• Sales and leads are trackable and clear ROI can be seen.
• If you are targeting the college and school going youth, instagram ads are a must

Cons

• Instagram has a limited number of audience.
• It takes time and risk to find the right influencer.
• It is time-consuming. 
• Instagram ad features are less advanced than Facebook.
• It is expensive than Facebook

#4. YouTube Ads

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YouTube ads are a way of advertising your video content on YouTube or in search results on particular interests to increase reach and drive traffic.

Pros

• YouTube alone has over 2 billion users, and each day those users watch a billion hours of video, generating billions of views. (3)

• Increases brand awareness through videos.
• Influencers can help in advertising on Youtube which can lead to more engagement, and access to high level audiences.
• It is cost effective as it gives the advantage of starting low with YouTube ads to target the perfect audience.
• Advantage of skipping a video ad for the users can skip after five seconds of watch time. 

Cons

• YouTube ads suffer from really poor sales conversion rates. Users mostly tend to skip advertisements feeling irritated.
• There is no control in YouTube advertising. Users no longer have the right to select the videos nor there’s guarantee that the ads will be shown related to the videos.
• YouTube targeting is not completely perfect. There will be difficulty in targeting YouTube advertising, if the users selected are different from the videos uploaded.

#5. LinkedIn ads

LinkedIn Ads are paid ads shared in LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the right medium to achieve more traffic. LinkedIn Ads can be very crucial for reaching a professional target audience.

Pros

• LinkedIn gives you higher conversion rates because it can place your ads directly in front of decision makers in the industry.
• LinkedIn makes it easy to promote the products directly to the targeted market.
• You can track profile visits.
• Very large community for networking
• Target professionals and industry leaders directly
• Provides LinkedIn learning platform
• Perfect platform for businesses who sell to businesses (B2B)

Cons

• Requires a lot of time to achieve the goals
• Interactivity and engagement is less compared to other platforms
• It is expensive

Given below is a table of comparison between the ad platforms with the factors responsible:

Final Words

To conclude, the right platform is where you want to advertise your business, depending on the goals and the budget for your campaign. You have to ensure your target customers and your advertising priorities to decide which online advertising platform is best for your business and also ensure your budget doesn’t go very far. With an appropriate combination, if your budget permits, will allow the success for your business through the platform which suits the best. 

References

1. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/facebook-marketing-advantages/229849/
2. https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/benefits-instagram/
3. https://wearegrow.com/8-massive-benefits-of-using-youtube-for-business/
4. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6123875?hl=en
5. https://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/benefits-of-google-adwords/
6. https://www.webfx.com/social-media/benefits-of-youtube-advertising.html
7. https://www.cyberclick.net/advertising/linkedin-ads

Do you want to know what’s going on in the world of social media and stay updated about it?

In a short period of time, social media has managed to become a vital part of our lives. What began as a way for friends and family to remain in touch quickly evolved into a way for brands and companies to interact with their target audience through social media.

There are always upcoming and ongoing trends which can be seen on social media every year.

With Each year, social media trends keep on evolving as social media sites add new features and update their algorithms. The social media market is growing faster than every day, and we must be aware of the latest trends to stay updated and above competition.

Some of 5 social media marketing trends to incorporate in 2021 are given below:

#1. Influencer marketing

Social media today is dominated by influencers and will continue to do so for years to come. Humans prefer to buy products which are recommended by their known circle. Influencers have large social media following and when they recommend a product their followers tend to buy it. It is comparatively more economical to invest in influencers than running ad campaigns. Moreover it delivers good results. These are the reasons why influencer marketing is becoming more popular these days. 

Companies are now working with a whole network of micro and niche influencers. These kinds of influencers get much higher engagement and don’t cost much. Companies are preferring this strategy over going for a single celebrity and spending too much money. 

Influencer Marketing can be a very good strategy for Instagram.

#2. Employee Advocacy

Employee advocacy means the promotion and awareness of an organization or by it’s staff members. (1)

Employee Advocacy is about transforming your engaged staff and creating more promotion and sales. It gives better market efforts by creating better content.

Employee advocacy gives better engagement, more productivity and an increase in sales. A good advocacy will generate more leads, customer retention and brand exposure.

Employee advocacy helps in increasing the reach and is an effective tool on Linkedin

#3. Use of groups on social media

Social media groups are communities of professionals from different niches who come together to share their knowledge on social media platforms. These are mainly private groups for like-minded people with similar likes and interests.

Brands can learn a lot about their audience’s interests and behaviors and get feedback about their products in the group. These interactions can help build brand trust and loyalty and drive engagement. The group can help brands create better content for their social media pages. Having conversations with their customers will make them feel seen, heard and respected.

Groups can be a powerful tool on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

#4. Stories

Stories of social media were first invented by Snapchat and then copied and amplified by Instagram and Facebook and recently by Linkedin and Youtube. Stories are the next best way to communicate on social media.

These virtual stories last for 24 hours and give people many opportunities to create different types of content which are recent in nature and let them express their thoughts in a creative way. They are more casual as compared to posts on the feed and hence give you a place to experiment.

The main advantage is that they are very short to watch which makes it easy for people to watch them on the go. Examples of stories can be behind the scenes, opinion pieces, editorials, podcasts and more. 

#5. Direct interaction

Direct messaging allows individuals to connect instantly. It allows companies to connect with their customers directly by messaging. Messaging allows you to connect with the people you need digitally without meeting them in real life.

Businesses can communicate through direct messaging for order and product questions, feedback and queries. This helps your business to stand out from others by creating a more positive and meaningful customer experience.

Instagram and Linkedin are the platforms which give the option of direct messaging.

Conclusion

Above given trends are dominating social media in 2021 and will dominate beyond. Businesses need to adopt the trending features to have an engaging and effective social media strategy so that they can remain ahead of their competition.

References

1. https://www.tribalimpact.com/employee-advocacy
2. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-trends/
3. https://shanebarker.com/blog/future-of-social-media-marketing/
4. https://www.stanventures.com/blog/social-media-trends-this-year/

Today in 2021, link building plays an important role in determining the ranking in search engine optimization. Search engines discover new content through links and judge the quality of the content. 

A good link is a good sign to be seen as a healthy content by Google. Google has also improved its ability to detect bad linking patterns. This means search engines can detect which links are useful or not, the quality of the links and the type of links. 

Since AI and search engines are getting smarter everyday, using traditional strategies of link building no longer work. Link building should be helpful, high quality and natural.

There are three types of link building that are crucial for your website:

1. Backlinks
2. Outbound links
3. Internal links

Some of the 7 effective link building strategies for 2021 are:

#1. Using strategic Guest blogging: 

Using guest blogging strategy is a content marketing strategy that involves creating content for another company’s website, boosting recognition and authority of your own. Posting guest posts on your own blog will help you bring new perspectives and fresh content to your audience.

Some benefits of guest blogging:

1. Build and improve your personal brand awareness.

1. Grow an audience through social media, subscribers, etc.
2. Improve SEO performance
3. Build your backlinks
4. Grow your network expansion
5. Increase organic traffic
6. Get more leads, users and even customers. 

Image source: webindiamaster.com

#2. Using Broken link Building strategy

Using broken link building strategy is a way of finding dead and broken links on a website and providing them with a replacement link that leads back to your site and the site becomes more user and SEO-friendly. 

Benefits of broken link building: 

1. Increases your website’s visibility and improves website traffic.
2. Gains a competitive advantage in SEO.
3. Boosts domain authority.
4. Enjoy expanded opportunities.
5. Improves search rankings.

Image Source: searchengineland.com

#3. Using Link exchange method

Using a link exchange method is simply a way of linking two sites to each other to increase visitors and page ranking. Link exchange methods help to increase trust and authority to attract more organic traffic. 

Benefits of link exchange:

• Increase your website rankings and traffic.
• Increase in link popularity 
• Increase in higher search rankings. 

Image source: www.edupristine.com

#4. Building links using Q&A sites

Are you in a dilemma whether adding links to question-and-answer sites will be valuable?

People typically type long queries to search for answers and are asking questions rather than searching by keywords. Q&A sites are platforms for such people to discover new information on different topics.

Building links using Q&A sites give you the following benefits:

• Helps to diversify your link profile. For example, Quora.

• Drive Traffic to Your Site

• Establish Credibility & Trust

• Improve SEO

Image source: webmetools.com

#5. Considering Web 2.0 Backlinks

Web 2.0 backlink strategies are ways to help to share information or material of a site directed to a website to control the conversation of a content. These types of backlinks from highly authoritative domains can carry some high ranking power and allow users to interact and collaborate giving more traffic to the site.

WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Medium are some of the popular Web 2.0 websites of today.

Benefits of Web 2.0 backlinks

• You can create the blogs yourself.
• Web 2.0 backlinks don’t go against any of Google’s policies and are safer to use.
• A lot can be used from a variety of websites.
• Improves the page rank and increases the website traffic.
• Helps in earning money, branding websites or business etc.

Image source: nomvo.com

#6. Building Link with Images

Building a link with images is a link building strategy that involves earning or soliciting links to your website from external sites that use an image created by a website. Images add more value to the overall web usage through enhancing visual experience as well as in helping give more definition to web-based content. 

Benefits of building links with images:

• Helps to make a point in an article or blog given and prove their worth in the image.
• Builds brand recognition 
• Good for building a strong link profile by diversifying the types of links generated to the site.
• Images can take many different forms such as locations, photographs, drawings, infographics, memes, GIF, people, web comics, charts and graphs that can easily attract links, or act as link bait. 

Image source: buildinglink.com

#7. Using Infographic Submission

Infographic submission is the most recent and most effective technique used for the purpose of SEO through social media. It’s a way of submitting a type of graphical representation depicting some information or integrated data on other websites in order to get targeted visitors and audiences.

Advantages of Infographic submission

• Mostly shared on social media like Facebook and Twitter.
• Convenient to use in websites and convey complicated information in an easy way.
• An effective way of being creative and informative in a presentation.
• It earns more incoming links and also enhances sales and traffic.
• Visualization of your brand logo.
• Helps you establish as an expert

Image source: fiverr.com

Conclusion

SEO is not complete without link building. A successful link building strategy should always be aimed to enhance your ranking, boost your traffic and grow your business significantly. The above given strategies are some of the most commonly used in today’s date. We hope this blog guides you to get started or improve your link building strategies.

Do you know of any other good link building strategies that we missed? Please mention in the comment section below.

References

1. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/guest-blogging
2. https://www.infidigit.com/blog/broken-link-building/
3. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/link-building-guide/question-and-answer-sites/
4. https://www.craigcampbellseo.com/web-2-0-backlinks/
5. https://neilpatel.com/blog/13-efficient-link-building-strategies-for-busy-marketers/