Bob’s Weekly Reading Picks
2019.4.14 volume 14
Content
1.Social Proof: Your Most Influential Marketing Asset and How to Use It
2.Small Business Guide to Chatbots & Facebook Messenger Marketing
3.11 Amazing Affiliate Marketing Blogs
4.It’s Time for Coupon Codes to Change
5.The 8-Step Content Strategy For 2019 by Backlinko
6.How Custom Do Video Ads Need to Be
7.2019中国跨境电商出口趋势与机遇白皮书
1.Social Proof: Your Most Influential Marketing Asset and How to Use It
1)Definition
Social proof is a psychological theory, popularized by Dr. Robert Cialdini, that describes our tendency to rely on the behavior or opinions of others to inform our own.
2)Types of social proof
Popularity
- The number of likes, comments, views, and shares on social media posts
- Viewership numbers on live broadcasts on Facebook or Instagram
- Sharing the number of subscribers on your email list to get your audience to opt into it.
Public praise
- reviews/ratings
- user-generated content.
Endorsements from trusted experts
- Influencer marketing
Proof of demand
- Number of items sold, which may be reflected in sales counters or simply by showing customers when supplies are low or sold out (harnessing another persuasive tool known as scarcity)
- Individual customers who recently purchased specific products
- Number of customers currently viewing your site or a specific product page
3)Where to use social proof
On your site
- feature customer reviews
- feature user-generated content
- a concrete number, such as your customer satisfaction rate or the number of products sold
On social media
engagement-building campaigns
- Instagram Stories that use polling stickers and ask users to choose between two options; the answers are visible in real-time
- Social media contests that ask users to tag a friend, caption a photo, or share a picture with your branded hashtag
- Posts asking users general questions like how they’ll stay active in the winter
share UGC with permissionand then tag the original poster.
In PPC campaigns
Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Promoted Pins, and Google Ads
In emails
Old Navy frequently uses this strategy to drive more sales. They showcase a specific product and then handpick a few positive reviews that are sure to appeal to their email list.
On your blog posts
- encourage readers to leave comments
- use case studies
- use social sharing tool ( no social proof is better than low social proof)
2.Small Business Guide to Chatbots & Facebook Messenger Marketing
1)What’s a Facebook Messenger bot?
Facebook Messenger chatbots are chatbots on Facebook’s messaging platform, Messenger.
2)The common ways you can use bots today to generate leads and cut costs
- Digital Marketing: Driving More Leads & Sales
- Customer Service: Helping Customers Solve Issues
3)Who on your team can manage your bot
Today’s chatbot tools are incredibly user-friendly. You don’t need a degree in programming or even how to write code to get started. Copywriters, marketers and advertisers make the ideal chat marketer
4)How good a small business can look with bots (aka successful outcomes)
- Do the Maintenance by Programming Answers to FAQs
- Send Chat Blasts
3.11 Amazing Affiliate Marketing Blogs
- Pat Flynn (Smart Passive Income Blog)
- John Chow
- Matthew Woodward
- Luke Kling (Luke Peer Fly)
- Shawn Collins (Affiliate Marketing Blog)
- Missy Ward
- Charles Ngo
- Mobidea Academy
- I Am Attila
- Spencer Haws (Niche Pursuits)
4.It’s Time for Coupon Codes to Change
Coupon Affiliates
- RetailMeNot.com
- Savings.com
- Coupons.com
Coupon and loyalty affiliate companies have much data about their members. This data includes demographic details, as well as purchase habits and interests.
Optimization techniques
- a specific vanity code branded to an affiliate site or a code more easily remembered (e.g., Save10)
- Coupons specifically designed to increase shopping cart value (e.g., 10% off a purchase of $100 or more)
- Create coupons on demand, affiliates could customize codes to its members based on real-time circumstances. (A/B testing, personalized coupons )
5.The 8-Step Content Strategy For 2019 by Backlinko
Step #1: Choose a Content Topic
- Competitor Blogs/Podcasts
- Online Communities (Reddit, Quora)
- Tools: Answer the Public, Industry conference agendas, Ahrefs Content Explorer, BuzzSumo
- Your best content (Google Analytics)
Step #2: Find a Keyword
- QuestionDB
- Google and YouTube Suggest （Bing, DuckDuckGo, Amazon）
- Google Image Tags (long tail keywords)
Step #3: Pick a Content Structure and Format
- Blog post
- YouTube Video
- Native video (for Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter)
- Lead magnet
- Ebook
- Infographic
- Podcast
- Interactive content
Step #4: Publish Something Amazing
- Awesome Design
- Insanely Actionable Tips and Techniques （people want information they can use right away）
- Real Life Examples
- Content UX
Step #5: Optimize Your Content for SEO
- Include your keyword in your title tag
- Optimize your title tag for CTR
- Use short URLs
- Add internal links to other pages on your site
- Use external links
- Format your content for readability
Step #6: Promote Your Content
- Email Newsletters
- Content Roundups
- Paid Content Promotion （Facebook Ads with Retargeting）
Step #7: Track and Measure Performance
- Traffic
- Backlinks
- Google Rankings
- Social Shares
- Conversions (ROI, Goals, KPIs）
Step #8: Scale Your Content Marketing
- New Content Formats
- Organizing The Content Process
- Scaling Quality
6.How Custom Do Video Ads Need to Be
2 Questions
What is the right amount of customization for an audience-signal-driven stories？
For which audience signals is it most important to customize creative?
- Pattern 1: For short-form video ads, custom copy alone is enough to drive higher recall
- Pattern 2: For longer video ads, more customization may be required
- Pattern 3: Video ad customization may be particularly effective when trying to reach an audience based on a timely event
7.2019中国跨境电商出口趋势与机遇白皮书
