Cariad's catch up - weekly updates

Welcome to this week's newsletter.

At Cariad, we like to keep you up to date with all things digital marketing. Here's a recap of the latest hot topics.

What is PPC?

Pay-per-click also known as PPC is a way you can advertise by paying a certain fee so that your website ranks on a search engine. When a user types in a specific keyword or phrase, the ads will appear and link to your website. How much you pay depends on how many people click your add. Using search engine optimisation will help attract people organically.

With PPC for Google, you effectively pay for your website links to appear in Google’s top rankings giving your website greater visibility thereby hopefully generating a higher volume of traffic. With over 80% of online searches taking place on Google, effective Google Ads management can be a worthwhile investment.

PPC is an incredibly effective way of driving a high volume of quality traffic to your website in a defined time frame. However, we would never advocate only using PPC; it should always form part of your overall digital marketing strategy.

At Cariad we would always recommend search engine optimisation (SEO) as your long-term search engine ranking strategy with additional activities such as email marketing and social media marketing used to enhance online awareness and drive traffic.

That said, PPC is one of the most targeted forms of online marketing available and is great for driving a reliable flow of traffic to your website particularly when your ads are targeting a specific product, customer or event. It’s also great for increasing your ranking for particular keywords especially if you are struggling to achieve a good ranking for them with SEO.

Cariads PPC process

Research

To begin we sit down and get to know you, your business and objectives. Using these insights we research your target market, and the search terms that are relevant to your objectives, to form a strategy that will reach them effectively via paid search.

Campaign launch

After this initial research is complete, we begin to build out your ad campaigns using the platforms we have chosen to focus on. This stage will include the set up of accounts and campaigns according to best practices, creation of ad copy and creatives, and implementing the correct targeting to ensure your ad spend is focused in the right places.

Measure and evaluate

Once the campaigns are live and running, we monitor the activity to make sure they are running as planned. We keep a close eye on both the ad spend and results generated, ensuring that your campaigns are performing effectively and meeting their goals and objectives.

Ongoing optimisation

As the campaigns gather data we measure the overall performance, and make strategic changes to optimise and improve their effectiveness. Using data to guide decisions, we make adjustments to different aspects of the targeting, which result in better targeting and a larger return for your ad spend.

If you are not sure where to start with your SEO, We offer a free SEO audit. For more information, visit our website: https://cariadmarketing.com/

Our questions of the week:

When should you start planning your 2023 marketing strategy?

September - October 2022

50%

November - December 2022

25%

Other - comment below

25%

Do you think you are influenced by influencers?

Definitely

13%

Maybe

25%

Not at all

63%

With all eyes on social media, there’s no better time to start trying to making money from your Instagram account.

A bit of influencer history

The pandemic hit us all really hard, causing high rises of unemployment globally. After losing their jobs, people started looking for alternative sources of income in order to make ends meet. And all of a sudden we had a massive rise in influencers. (Let's admit it, we have all tried to attempt a TikTok trending dance.) Because we couldn't go out, people turned to social media and starting sharing things - in a way social media gave online business a lifeline.

But even before 2020, influencers were a pretty big deal. They helped businesses of all sizes reach their target customer audience, showcase their most recent products, test numerous marketing hypotheses, and boost sales and loyalty.

The current situation

Social media has become a profession and job role in itself and bloggers are becoming full-time entrepreneurs.

There is also a common theme now with micro influencers trying to break through onto the scene as well.

Instagram is ranked fourth in terms of monthly active users and is visited by almost 1.5 billion people every month.

We wanted to share with you some tips to help you convert your Instagram account into money:

Collaborate with brands

One way to make money on Instagram is through collaboration with brands in one way or another. Whether a brand is trying to conduct a fresh product launch or re-animate an existing one, you can use it to highlight its features and provide an honest review. Many times, you’ll even be gifted a sample in order to try it out.

Additionally, you can engage in brand awareness, promotional, and educational campaigns aimed at spreading the word about the brand and its mission. Another thing you could do is encourage people to take part in fundraisers and attend events (online and offline), a number of which are held for a good cause.

The number of areas for a potential product placement is huge. You can write a post tagging the brand’s official account in your feed, create a Story with a clickable Call To Action button, shoot a short Reel video depicting the product’s peculiarities, or simply put a link with all the details in the bio.

Be aware of the Instagram Partner Monetisation Policies. When setting off to craft your very first ad, also make sure that you follow all the Community Guidelines. It is essential that you comply with the requirements if you want to monetise an Instagram account set out in the documents above. Otherwise, your account might be temporarily or permanently suspended and you’ll lose access to the audience that you've struggled so hard to build.

Promote what you love through affiliate marketing

In July 2020, Instagram rolled out Shop, a designated ecommerce environment providing sellers with a built-in funnel and removing the need to for the customer to leave the app when buying something.

For creators, the arrival of a new shopping destination translates into to yet another earning opportunity. Before, advertisers usually requested that the followers be sent to their page, app or website. Now, there is one more place to direct them to and more money to be spent on sending them in the direction of the Instagram Shop.

Instagram’s affiliate marketing programme implies that creators earn a commission on each unit the brand sells with their help. Usually, the payout takes place within one to three months after the deal’s been sealed, and in a window that’s determined by a particular seller’s return policies.

Use livestream badges as a token of appreciation

Instagram realised that the live-streaming market has a huge potential, and in late 2016 it introduced the live broadcasting functionality. The move allowed creators to talk to and be seen by their audience in real time.

As the tips and donations segment developed industry-wide, Instagram had to stay competitive and come up with even more monetisation options. That’s how Badges appeared — tiny images next to people’s usernames. One of the ideas behind Badges was to give credit to the top fans who are devoted to following every detail of their favorite blogger’s life, letting them stand out from the crowd.

Instagram Reels Ads

Reels were Instagram’s swift response to the skyrocketing popularity of TikTok. Highly-engaging, short-form clips quickly won the hearts of many by allowing users to explore concise visual content based on their AI-derived interests in an endless loop.

In light of the drastic shift to video content consumption habits, Instagram retired its YouTube competitor IGTV, merging all video experiences within the native app.

With IGTV monetisation gone, currently, the only way to monetise Instagram videos is to be granted an invitation to enroll in the Reels Play Bonus programme, which may reward you if your reel performs consistently and the volume of reels you upload is considerable. Also if you accept a prompt to create a special reel dedicated to a certain event or holiday.

Instagram Subscriptions

Instagram Subscriptions is a service that went live earlier this year. It echoes the identical service launched on Facebook by Meta. Over this period, Meta managed to obtain sufficient feedback to scale the business model for Instagram creators as well.

For a predetermined monthly fee, subscribers get faster availability of new content, access to exclusive content, and other benefits. They also contribute to their favorite bloggers' financial well-being and get a chance to receive a shoutout for doing so. In turn, creators not only monetise Instagram posts, but also set up a stable recurring cash flow.

Instagram page monetisation for newbies

All the above methods work really well if you already have an audience. But what about newcomer creators?

For those who are just starting out their entrepreneurial journey across social media, check out YoFan. It's a way to start your Instagram account monetisation. YoFan distributes revenues from AdSense partner ads displayed on user accounts.

Are you struggling to find Christmas presents this year?

Well, there's still time, and if you're looking for ideas, Google has published a list of the Top 100 gift ideas that are based on trending searches in 2022.

The Top 100 listing is split into six categories, so you can check out the top trending products in each sector, and you can also check out the categories by trend, for example, 'Take It Easy', 'Novelty' etc.

To give you a few suggestions, we've chosen our Top 10 picks:

Hydroponic garden

No soil or green thumb is needed. Search interest in hydroponic gardens rose by 350% this year.

Custom gaming keyboard

DIY your keyboard. Ceramic keycaps were a top trending search this year.

Water-activated eyeliner palette

Go for something eye-popping this season. Americans searched for eyeliner palettes more than ever in 2022.

Over-ear headphones

Easier listening and will keep your ears warm in a cold snap! Search interest in headphones maxes out each December.

Messenger bag

Crossbody and go. Search interest in messenger bags is the highest it's been in a decade.

Electric pour-over kettle

Sleek and sturdy. People search for electric kettles more in December than in any month of the year.

Weighted blanket

Huggable and comforting. Search interest for weighted blankets tops out every December.

Electric toothbrush

The key to a better brush. Searches for electric toothbrushes peak every winter.

Food dehydrator

Expiration dates? What expiration dates?! Searches for food dehydrators are at their highest each year in December.

Sunset lamp

Golden hour: anytime, anywhere. There were 90% more searches for sunset lamps in 2022.

It’s an interesting to find out what has gained attraction over the last year. It can be a bit of an eye opener and could help your marketing strategy. Especially if you're writing blogs about on-trend topics.

It is interesting to see what people are buying, post-pandemic. Happy shopping.

To see what else trended this year visit: https://shopping.google.com/m/holiday100/

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. ??

Our Chief Happiness Officer, Zosia, enjoyed herself playing in the snow this week!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! It’s that time when our favourite brands present us with their festive adverts, that teach us the value of togetherness, love and all things festive.

It's crazy the effect Christmas adverts can have on us, they can make us laugh, cry, and check in on loved ones. You might not feel anything at all, everyone reacts differently to different things.

Here are some of Cariad's favourite ads from this year:

Asda

Asda pulled out all the stops this Christmas with the arrival of Buddy the Elf, played by Will Ferrell! The fun and very festive advert feature some clips from the original Elf film and newly-filmed footage.

The advert, which is sure to be very popular, is set with Santa Claus Coming to Town and is full of references to the original 2003 movie.

Buddy has been brought in to help Asda in the busy period up to Christmas, and while he's full of festive cheer, his enthusiasm might get him in a spot of trouble... but by the end of the advert which features lots of enticing products Asda has to offer, Buddy wins everyone round with his over-the-top and simply wonderful decorations.

Boots

It's A Sin actress Lydia West brings a fun and festive offering from Boots. Holly stumbles upon some very special glasses while on her way home from work.

When she puts them on, she can see what brings everyone joy at Christmas - whether it's her co-worker who loves a pamper in the bath, or her brother who dreams of being a glam drag queen, this insight allows Holly to purchase the most perfect gifts for her loved ones. At the end of the clip, it's revealed the glasses have a very special owner - none other than Santa Claus himself.

McDonald's

McDonald's has produced The List. A little boy, named Alfie sets about making his Christmas list when he sees a little girl and her father playing out with a bike. Alfie starts to make a massive Christmas list while his mum sets about ticking things off hers.

He sets about delivering his list to the post, but a gust of wind whisks it out of his hand and into the sky. Devastated, Alfie and his mum takes him to McDonald's for some food. When they leave, he reveals what was on his list, and he has one wish left in his pocket - a drawing of him and his family together.

John Lewis

John Lewis’s Christmas advert in 2022 centres around small acts of kindness and effort that can go a long way. Their campaign this year centres around a foster family, who are about to welcome a new child in care to their home.

The child loves to skateboard, so her new foster father sets about learning the tricky skill in a bid to help her fit into her new home. Viewers then see a series of calamitous tumbles and scrapes as he continuously tries to master skateboarding.

Finally, just moments before Ellie arrives at her new home, he makes a breakthrough - though not without some war wounds along the way! Ellie softens as she spots her new foster father’s skateboard as well as his poor arm and agrees to enter their home.

JD King of the game

JD Sports has dropped a star-studded advert for its 2022 Christmas campaign, featuring plenty of heroes from the world of sports and entertainment. The advert aims to celebrate the spirit of competition and the magic of Christmas in one go, with JD providing you with all you need to perform or compete on the biggest stages.

Cole Wealleans-Watts leads the advert as he goes shopping with his family in JD when he spots Chunkz, who asks him to step inside the JD Arcade. Once inside, he runs into KSI and Tobi Brown on the dance machine who are trying to take on Ethan Matthews and Laurie Elle. And when Cole heads to the claw machine, he bumps into Liverpool FC and England superstar Trent Alexander-Arnold and Top Boy's Jasmine Jobson.

On top of those names, Anthony Joshua, Ella Toone, Chloe Kelly, Harvey Elliot, James Maddison, Thiago Silva, Virgil van Dijk, Central Cee, Ms Banks, Kano, Snoochie Shy, Joanna Chimonides and Amelia Dimoldenberg are all guest stars in the clip.

What one was your favourite? Here at Cariad, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.

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https://cariadmarketing.com/