Remarketing…Useful Marketing Tool or Cyber Stalking?

Remarketing…What is it?

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, that’s about to change!

Remarketing (also known as Retargeting) allows Google AdWords/AdSense advertisers to target people who previously visited their website (most of which did not make a purchase) with additional and more specific ads as the visitor browses other sites.

So in reality when you are on Facebook, shopping online, doing a bit of research or whatever you like to do online you will notice an ad following you wherever you go, from one page to the next.

I first experienced this after I had been looking up holidays and accommodation on booking.com. Myself and my friend Orla spent a good hour delving into Greek holidays. We had a nose around at special offers and cool places to go. As soon as we discontinued the search we resorted back to Facebook to snoop around… as you do!
Within seconds advertisements for hotels in Greece started showing up on the page as well as suggested likes relating to holidays in Greece and so on and so forth. My instant reaction was “WOW! that’s the exact one we were looking at a minute ago!.. Oh, there’s the other one I forgot to click onto.” However, Orla’s reaction was not so pleasant. “That’s just creepy, we’re being stalked by booking.com!”. It is plain to see from both of our reactions that everyone feels differently about remarketing.

Agree to Disagree

Personally I think it is a useful tool. However, I do think it is slightly over used and tends to bombard customers. On initialisation with remarketing I found it very interesting , but when the same ads kept following me around I soon began to ignore them. This repetitiveness can cause remarketing to become less effective. I think remarketing should most definitely be used to target consumers but maybe in a more efficient way such as targeting consumers who visited the booking part of the website or added a shopping item to their trolley. Not always following the regular consumer who visits the page. Most people who visit websites are not frequent users  and you may turn them off returning! I think with a few adjustments, remarketing will be here to stay and most certainly continue to push sales! Another blog I read about remarketing had some very interesting points, have a read if you care to find out more.

For those of you who now understand remarketing, enjoy watching out for the ads that are about to pop up and follow your every move 😉

Thanks for popping bye 🙂

Snapchat…Just A Fad?…

It’s really hard to say whether or not Snapchat will stand the test of time. Personally I think it might just be a fad!

For those of you who are not familiar with Snapchat, ill give you a brief introduction:

Snapchat

Snapchat is a mobile app you can download to your smartphone, which you can then use to “chat” with friends through photos, videos and captions. It’s like texting but you’re using pictures and videos. You can set your snap chats to last from one second up to ten seconds and you can carefully select who you want to send them to. Snapchat has a unique “self-destructing” feature whereby after the recipient has opened the Snapchat, it is deleted forever from the Snapchat server so no one can view it again. As well as sending snap chats to your friends you can also create your own story. This involves setting the snap chats you take as your “story” whereby all of your contacts on Snapchat are free to view your story as many times as they like in twenty four hours.

Snapchat has taken over its target market like a rash – thirteen to twenty three year olds who are addicted to their smartphones and submerge themselves in social media. Snapchat has replaced texting for most people, it’s quick, it’s easy and most importantly you can see where people are and what they’re doing.

However, recently I have found that peoples activity on Snapchat has decreased including my own. I was taking “selfies” left, right and centre in the beginning…even though I’m a bit camera shy believe it or not! It’s a good laugh sending funny pictures and captions to your friends and seeing their reactions in a corresponding Snapchat. I was mostly using it to have conversations with my friends because it seemed like much less effort than texting. It’s slowly but surely becoming less addictive and humerous because you are constantly receiving snapchats from your friends about anything and everything…from what they’re eating for dinner, to what they’re watching on TV. Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon and joined Snapchat, adding you and anyone else they barely know! I never look at people’s stories anymore because there are far too many and I’d probably fall asleep looking at half of them! I’m sure others will agree.

A big trend has emerged… people are now taking provocative photos of themselves and sending them to their friends/boyfriends/girlfriends using Snapchat, and they feel more liberal about doing it because they know that those photos get deleted after a few seconds. However, the general rule for the Internet goes something like this: If you put it on the internet, it will be there forever – even if you try to delete it after. It’s reassuring to know that Snapchat content is automatically deleted soon after it’s been viewed, but there are still ways to capture that content and save it… forever! The screen shot option available makes this tricky…even if you’ve only set your snapchats for one second, if the recipient is quick enough they can screen shot your picture. God only knows what will happed with it after that.

Businesses have also jumped on the band wagon as they see Snapchat as a massive opportunity. They try to add as many contacts as they can to send them “snaps” of their products or latest promotions. This sounds like a good idea in theory but being realistic, not many people are going to accept businesses as contacts on snap chat because you are not going to want to be bombarded on another form of social media, especially one so personal. Also the target market is quite young which I think does not relate to the use of  snapchat for businesses unless they are promotions for that particular age group.

As previously stated the target market is aged so young and there are a lot of concerns from parents about Snapchat. A lot of users have been banned off Snapchat by their parents! If it’s not “young ones” being scolded for using Snapchat, it’s teenagers getting in trouble in school for inappropriately snap chatting themselves or even teachers!

Snap chat these days is being over used and either boring you or getting you into trouble..
Is it worth it? Will we all get sick of it soon?
I’m not sure…let me know what you think and answer this poll

Thanks for popping by 🙂

 

 

 

Why Businesses Should Blog?

Reasons Why Businesses Should Blog?… To Name But A Few…

Creating a blog seems like the most daunting experience! However, with more and more people coming around to the idea it has quickly taken off. Initially I was slow to take to the concept of blogging, it was something we “had to do” for NTFM , which you’d usually think means you won’t like it but now, I am a huge fan! I find myself lost in the reading of one blogger in particular – Suzanne Jackson, better known as –So Sue Me

While it’s always a good thing to have consumers tweet nice things about you and “like” your Facebook posts, marketers are in the business of selling, and they need to influence consumer behaviour and the best way to do that is by blogging! This article examines the reasons why it is vital for companies to blog.

According to a recent survey by hubspot.com LINK businesses are now in the minority if they don’t blog.

So don’t be shy… Give it a try!

Here are some interesting reasons as to why businesses should blog:

Why Businesses Should Blog?

1. Easy to use:
You don’t need to be a “techie” or graphic designer to create a blog, there are plenty of blogging platforms for you to work with.

2. It is absolutely free:
To set up a basic blog like mine for instance, it doesn’t cost a single penny! If you want to go the extra mile and add some “frills” then you may have to splash out just a little bit!

3, Adds value to your site and aids relationship development:
Blogging is one of the best ways to communicate with your current and prospective customers. Here you can offer them an array of information about you, your business, products, services and much more. It also gives customers the opportunity to respond to you in their own time simply by taking part in some opinion polls or leaving comments.

4.Search Engine Optimisation(SEO) Advantages:
Search Engines like new content, so it is more likely for you to appear when people search for your products or services. Your blog will also help you to out rank your competitors through this. SEO benefits of having a blog are well defined in this article.

5. Tracking and Trafficking:
You can track your readers, click throughs, topics and shares, giving you an insight as to what interests your customers. This analysis can also generate traffic to your website. The more traffic you have coming to your website, the more likely you are to make a sale. Your blog is the first stop where you have the opportunity to turn your visitors into leads!

6. Establishes Authority:
If your blog contains useful information, answers frequently asked questions by customers and continuously create good content, it will help to establish you as an authority in the customers’ eyes.

Thanks for popping by 🙂

5 Tips To Follow When Setting Up A Facebook Page

Facebook…The Addiction Of Everyday Life!

Facebook is the world’s most popular social network. Almost everyone has jumped on the bandwagon including myself of course, and created a page whether its for personal use or for business purposes. Either way its the one thing you are guaranteed to use at least once a day, whether its on your mobile, laptop or other device, it is sure to distract you in one way or another!

With almost every organisation using Facebook today, it is really important to stand out and be noticed.

Here are 5 top tips to help you create and/or make your Facebook page more successful.

My Top Tips For Facebook

1. Customise Your URL:
Create a unique URL to help you promote your page across other social media outlets. Make sure your URL is creative and catchy using a good description without making it too complicated.

2. Make Sure Your Page Layout Fits:
 Profile pictures, cover photos, and personal information must be fitted well. This is vital to create a good first impression. Profile and cover pictures must be eye catching and appealing whilst keeping it relevant to your business. Customers need to know who you are and what your about in one glance. Pictures must be fitted perfectly to ensure the image can be seen properly by the viewers.

3. Be Creative:
This is the most important aspect of your Facebook page. Do you want to be lost amongst the crowd? No?.. Then be brave and get your creative juices flowing! Use tools such as games, competitions, viral videos, and especially interaction and engagement with prospective customers. Check out this article giving more tips for you to get creative.

4. Always Have Multiple Administrators:
In the event that someone cannot access the page it is important to have a back up. Or in the unlikely case of a hostile employee dismissal or resignation whereby the employee is the only administrator this could cause a bit of controversy. To avoid this situation always have more than one administrator for your page.

5. Ensure Your Page Is A “Like” Page:
Make sure it is not a page that you have to send a friend request to because this will lead to confusion and people are less likely to engage with your business. The effort of just simply clicking to request as a friend is a major turn off for customers.

Hopefully these tips will guide you in the right direction.

Thanks for popping by 🙂

Blogging Begins…

Hi Everyone,

This is my first ever blog. I’ve no idea what I’m doing, what to say or more importantly..what not to say!

Where to start?… Just blog on

My Name is Rachael O’Connell and I am a third year marketing student in CIT.
As part of our NTFM module it is compulsory to create a blog. I am hoping that it will be an exciting experience which will lead me to feel comfortable and confident with the interesting and influential world of blogging.

Thanks for popping by.. do stay around  😉