The most popular social media

First, let’s review the social media that Internet users most often use. It may be surprising that the most popular medium is not Facebook, but YouTube – it is used by as many as 92.8% of Internet users aged 16-64 (source: Paraphrase-Online.com Digital 2021). Facebook ranks second, followed by Facebook Messenger in the ranking. Then, in order, we have such platforms as:

– Instagram,
– WhatsApp,
– Twitter
– Skype,
– Snapchat,
– TikTok,
– Pinterest,
– LinkedIn.

These social media have much smaller reach than the top three giants, but they are still used by a huge group of network users – from 60 to about 25% of internet users. These numbers go to the imagination, which is why social media marketing is gaining popularity all the time. However, it is important to approach it methodically and with a developed action strategy.

Social media marketing – channel selection

First of all, it is worth realizing that effective marketing does not mean that our brand must be in all available social media channels. Of course, if we have the time and resources, we can invest in activities on various platforms, but it is worth considering how profitable it will be. First, the analysis should cover the habits of our target group. You should consider what types of users are in it and see where they spend the most time. This will help select the social media channels that will work best for a given type of business. Sometimes the choice is quite obvious – it is known that business partners are unlikely to be found on TikTok, and hydraulic services are not an ‘Instagram-like’ industry. However, when conducting an analysis, it is worth following not only your own feelings and experience, but also available statistics from various sources – there is a good chance that this way we will find recipients that we did not have access to before.

After the first screening, it is time to assess whether the budget will allow you to appear in all channels that we found useful. It is also worth considering whether the time will allow us to actively deal with each of them or whether we can afford to entrust the care of social media to an external agency. Obviously, omnichannel and sales support works best wherever our customers are. With the skilful use of various social media and a coherent message, we can count on synergy that will ensure a significant increase in profits. However, if we have a relatively small amount of resources, it is better to focus on fewer platforms. This will keep the quality of your ads and posts high, making your promotion more effective than chaotic activities across channels.

What does effective social media marketing look like?

The essence of effective social media marketing is to get to know the specifics of each of the channels in which we operate. Promotion on the Internet is very different from what can already be called classic – that is, on TV, radio, in the press or on billboards. Its essence is that the recipients do not remain passive, but are in touch with the brand, they can comment on its posts, ask questions, insert reactions or pass the material on to show it to their friends. In addition, we only have a fraction of a second for the interest of the recipient – whether it is an advertisement or a non-promoted post. Users are bombarded with various information on the Internet and only a small percentage of them focus their attention on longer. That is why publications in social media should be primarily:

– eye-catching – it does not mean that we should use a whole rainbow of colors and dozens of emotes. The point is to somehow grab your audience’s attention. You can do it with an interesting composition in a photo, an intriguing slogan or in any other way – the more creative the better. – engaging – in social media it is not enough to show your products or services and wait for applause. It is important to post content that prompts users to act. We can ask our recipients for their opinion, preferences (e.g. the brand’s favorite product), encourage them to respond to posts or organize contests with prizes. Sometimes, in order to interest the recipient, it is enough to show the brand from the backstage: describe how it works or introduce its employees. Such posts generate great commitment and increase brand credibility.
– adaptation to the medium – each social medium has its own specificity. On Instagram, we work almost exclusively with the image, and we build the reach with appropriately selected hashtags. On Facebook, we often link an image or video to the text of a post. LinkedIn is a medium for industry publications, in which the substantive value of the entry is valued. TikTok uses short videos that have nothing to do with polished TV commercials – they are spontaneous, natural, amateurish, but in a positive, relaxed way. If we do not follow the unwritten rules, our communication will be artificial and, as a result, ineffective.
– current – not every entry has to refer to the current situation, but in the posts it is worth referring to the events that society lives, but of course only if they can be associated with the brand’s offer or its business profile. We are talking about permanent elements such as holidays, holidays, the beginning of the school year, Black Friday, sports competitions (Olympics, Euro, etc.), but also about less obvious events. When looking for ideas, you can refer to the calendar of unusual holidays or even information portals. Often a funny politician’s mishap, unusual event or comic photo becomes a breeding ground for internet users and a base for virals. However, when using Real Time Marketing, you need to act really quickly and creatively. Only an immediate and brilliant reaction to the event will be applauded by the Internet community. Late “reheated chops” will only bring you weariness and irritation.
– valuable for the recipient – a common mistake of companies conducting social media marketing is to write about themselves instead of about the user. Often the only solution is to change the narrative. Example? If a cosmetic company boasts that it has created a new hair conditioner, the value of this message for the user will be nonexistent. It is different, however, if it communicates that it has a unique solution for people struggling with hair that is difficult to comb. Then our target group will feel that the given entry applies to them and it is worth taking an interest in it.

Advantages of social media marketing

Marketing in social media has many advantages that a good specialist can skillfully use. They mainly include:

– variety of formats – using social media, we can publish texts, videos, photos, collages, slide shows, create groups, events, add locations, moods and many other elements that enrich the message.
– direct contact with recipients – in social media, like nowhere else, we can build customer relationships with the brand and research their needs. Thanks to them, the recipient has faster, more direct contact with the company than in the case of e-mails or forms.
– the ability to direct traffic to the website – we can post links to the blog, offers or individual products from the assortment, which means that social media can be valuable sources of traffic.
– long range – as we have already written, social media is used by a huge number of people from various age groups. A brand from virtually every industry can find the most appropriate audience for its marketing purposes.
– speed of dissemination of information – if we care about time, social media is an ideal way of communicating messages. There, we can post information about promotions, sales, changes in the offer, as well as unplanned situations, e.g. temporary closure of a restaurant due to a breakdown or a last-minute deadline for a cosmetic procedure that may be taken over by another willing person.
– the possibility of conducting both organic and paid activities – you do not have to pay to run company profiles on social media. So we can build our group of recipients without incurring any costs. However, one should bear in mind the tendency to cut organic reach in social media – as a result, an ordinary post may reach only a small percentage of people who have shown interest in the brand’s profile. However, free activities can be supported with paid advertising campaigns that will reach a very well-chosen target group. After all, who knows more about us than the social media we actively use?
– the possibility of building brand awareness – social media marketing is often used to increase brand recognition, build a narrative around it and inform about the company’s values. Thanks to this, potential customers have a chance to become attached to the brand, which in turn helps ensure their loyalty.

Social media marketing – what should you watch out for?

Social media is a tool that must be used with caution, as the slightest mistake made there can be widely echoed. A badly understood post or advertisement will be widely commented and passed on, which makes the case public and the brand image suffers. The flagship example is a post by a company from a few years ago, which is still a warning to most marketers. The brand published an entry on its fanpage with the question: “What surprised you the most with our company in recent years?” Users began to write massively comments about unpleasant surprises they encountered in the offer and when dealing with consultants. The seemingly innocent post turned into a storm that left scratches on the brand’s image for a long time. Therefore, when handling social media, you need to anticipate potential crises, and in the event of unexpected situations, react quickly and minimize damage.

It should also be noted that social media marketing is a time-consuming activity. It requires not only preparing materials for publication, but also monitoring private comments and messages as well as animating the community, for which high availability is needed. Another downside is that the content posted on social media is more fleeting than anywhere else. Therefore, a large group of people may miss the information posted there, because it will be overlapped with other posts and advertisements. For this reason, it is worth placing important messages not only in social media, but also in other places – for example on your website.

Our statistics

We have recently decided to perform an internal audit regarding the SEO services we provide. This study aimed to see what percentage of customers are not staying with us for longer. So we took to the workshop a little over 200 recently signed page positioning agreements. Our analysis showed that in the last year, 4.8% of clients for various reasons did not decide to continue cooperation with our agency. To check this statistics, we also examined the period of the last two years. The result showed that only 4.04% of customers left us at that time.

Why do customers resign?

The percentage result (4%) presented in the previous paragraph was an impulse to take further actions. Inside the agency, we asked ourselves the most probable reasons for clients giving up cooperation with us. Our audit brought the following conclusions:

A. No payment (10.18%) – this group includes customers who have not paid their debts, and we terminated the contract in these cases.

B. Lack of cooperation on the client’s side (25.66%) – in each case of cooperation with us, cooperation on the client’s side is an obligatory record. Its intensity is always dependent on the type of website, the access, rights and authorizations provided to us, and the number of guidelines that are sent at the very beginning of the contract for many projects. Therefore, this group includes clients who for various reasons did not want to cooperate with us, did not implement the suggested changes or did not provide us with the legitimacy to take certain steps. Therefore, it can be concluded that in this case the client did not give us the opportunity to implement the intended activities, which meant we had to terminate the contracts signed. Our work cannot be carried out when we do not have the tools to do it. Often, clients belonging to this group stop talking themselves. In such situations, we usually wait patiently and try to act, but if there is no response from the other side (and often it is even required) despite repeated attempts, we terminate the contract.

C. No work results (33.19%) – our industry is often unpredictable and everyone who has ever dealt with SEO knows about it. It should be emphasized that it is 33% but only with 4% of clients who terminate contracts, i.e. about 1.3% of all clients who signed contracts with Paraphrase-Online.com during the period. In this case, customers were not satisfied with the results of the work. This allegation most often relates to monitoring the position of selected phrases. It is worth adding that often this problem is the result of customer expectations regarding the inclusion of phrases in monitoring (it is a permanent element of every contract) for which the given page already has high positions. Some customers are very attached to this model of work analysis and it is difficult to argue here the positioner’s actions by increasing website traffic or visibility in global terms. There are also customers who have positions in the top 5, but terminate the contract because they want to have the top 1-2 themselves, which is not always feasible due to the search engine. Many of the clients qualified for this group also did not fully follow the guidelines we sent or simply refused to develop content on the site. Such cases constituted up to ⅗ of this group. Also noteworthy is the fact that 5% of all customers who resigned from working with us return to us years later.

D. Too high costs of the service (9.73%) – customers often stated that despite good positions, they are not fully returned from the investment incurred for the development of this channel and, however, prefer to spend their budget on testing other solutions. In this case, as the history of all contracts implemented by us shows, clients from this group often come back to us after several years of attempts to develop their e-business through other channels.

E. Closing of the site, change of management, bankruptcy of the company, end of contract (21.24%) – this is a group that indicates other reasons for leaving. The most common of them include situations in which the customer removes the page, the company declares bankruptcy, the owner or management board changes, which is focused from the beginning on cooperation with another entity. We have also qualified to this group in which the client after the end of the one-year contract decides not to extend the cooperation with us without giving a reason. This is most often associated with the reasons presented above or with the company’s strategy of testing the effects of cyclical change in positioning agencies.

Sweet kiss of the positioner – bitter kiss of the client

In our experience, the most important stage of cooperation is the time shortly before signing the contract and the first weeks of cooperation. Before signing the contract, the client receives from us all information regarding the implementation of SEO activities in the scope of the contract. He is also notified of what we will need from him to make the cooperation run smoothly. The first weeks after signing the contract are extremely important. During this time, we examine the site in detail and send precise guidelines to the client. Usually, after this initial stage, the client accepts our strategy and thanks to structured cooperation we operate in accordance with the assumed strategy. Unfortunately, as it happens in life, not all situations are perfect. There are clients who at all costs do not want to take certain steps or accept our guidelines or the changes we introduce. Such events limit or completely prevent us from taking effective action to increase website visibility. In our cooperation model, such a tug of war can end with us terminating the contract with the customer. The key is to understand our strategy at the negotiation stage, because our goal is not to sign contracts and unilaterally benefit from them. Cooperation is extremely important in our concept. If the customer does not want to make our changes, and there is no other way to achieve success, then this agreement does not make sense.

Visit to the dentist

To better illustrate this, let’s imagine that a John has a dental package purchased in a known network of dental offices. It includes monthly dental inspections, stone removal, sealing, root canal treatment and tooth extraction. One beautiful June morning, John’s wife Rachel prepared her husband’s unusual yet beloved seasonal meal – a fresh, peeled watermelon. Due to the fact that for several weeks it was extremely hot, before serving the dish Rachel decided to cool the juicy fruit. As soon as Mr. John sank his teeth into the red pulp, a terrifying moan sounded in the dining room. The reason for this cry was pain – something our hero has never experienced on such a scale before. Immediately after the incident, he went to the dentist, from whom he had a package purchased. He told about the situation and asked for a full oral examination. The dentist immediately stated that the cause of the pain was a small defect in the upper left trio and suggested putting the seal on immediately. John, who had never had dental problems before, refused to perform the procedure, without giving a reason for giving up the routine procedure. Time passed and John, in connection with permanent pain, became more and more unbearable man. He stopped dealing with his wife, whom he blamed for the whole situation, and at work he could not focus on everyday duties. He decided to go to the dentist again and agree to put on the seal. However, during the second review the doctor excluded this procedure. The condition of the tooth deteriorated enough to require root canal treatment. John was afraid of this option again and stated that he was not able to decide at this moment about such (in his opinion) a radical step. Before John left the office, the dentist asked him to rethink the proposal, because the procedure is included in his package and thanks to him he can get rid of unwanted ailment once and for all. The weeks went by, and John’s pain was gone thanks to decoctions of fenugreek and leek. Unfortunately, in December the pain returned with redoubled strength, and there was a huge swelling on the gums. John, contrite and completely deprived of the will to fight for interference in his teeth suit, he went to the dentist for the third time. This time the specialist was ruthless and said that in this situation the only option is to pull out the tooth. This time the patient realized that he had no choice but to submit to the will of the dentist. The tooth was removed, and John, in order not to scare his relatives with his incomplete smile, had to put on an expensive and not covered by the implant package …

Stages of SEO-destruction

So how does this translate into SEO? Unfortunately, quite a lot. Sometimes a customer who has a contract with us, avoids cooperation or refuses to accept even the simplest changes that aim to increase the visibility of the site. This is usually a straight path to problems. Unfortunately, often such situations can have a painful effect on the client’s business. That is why we as Paraphrase-Online.com do not wait until the “teeth” start to fall out. If we see that the customer does not cooperate with us previously agreed, we decide to terminate the contract. Our specialists are not for watching how a given site falls in visibility rankings, and subsequent competitors are ahead of it. We are here to actively work every day to increase the potential of the website in terms of SEO, which is why as many as 96% of customers decide to stay with us for longer.

5 types of customers

Based on many years of observations, we decided to divide customers into 5 types. We classified them in relation to the client’s adaptation to the set goals by accepting the implemented measures.

A. Partner – an ideal customer –This is a very aware customer. He understands that the agency is to help him achieve the given effect by undertaking the agreed actions. He responds positively to every cooperation or development proposal and tries to allow positioners the best working conditions. It should be remembered that he is not a conformist – he requires a lot, but at the same time understands that to achieve something, you need to put a lot of work into it. If you are heavily involved in the project and implement everything as agreed, then know that this customer will be very loyal and will stay with you for many years.

B. Visionary – to the goal at all costs –Customers of this type are only effect oriented. They are not interested in how and by what means you will reach his goals. In this case, you can even use illegal activities to accomplish your task as soon as possible. There is a high risk of contract termination!

C. Official – table and reports –It pushes targets into the background. According to its specificity, the measures we implement are the most important for it. He loves to send (preferably once a week) reports, statements and tables. Through constant verification of the implemented activities, the effects are only a distant mirage for him. It is only important how much and how well we carry out the package actions. Vive la package! Such a person often requires almost impossible reporting and translation from the modification of each line of code, which greatly complicates efficient operation. This customer will terminate the contract only if the agreed tasks are not carried out as agreed.

D. Individualist – everything in its own way –The funds turned out to be unreachable or failed for the client, and the presented goals are not satisfactory, so the client tries to introduce substitute activity, seeking solutions on their own. Sets new goals without informing the agency. His assumptions are unrealistic or do not comply with previous arrangements, and the measures are always considered inappropriate or too stripped down. Cooperation is difficult here, because reaching an agreement occurs only if you accept all customer requirements. There is a high risk of contract termination!

E. Rebel – for no reason rather than by choice –A rebel is a client who usually contests without reason the legitimacy of all actions, and all goals are pure abstraction for him. This type of contractor will not verify the activities carried out or settle you for the effects. In principle, it is not important what you do – at any time the day may come when the client will leave and will not give the reason for his behavior. If it already requires any results, these are the assumptions he invented and the work on the site is pointless and it is not worth wasting time on it.

Can you keep every customer?

In most situations this is possible, but sometimes you need to think about whether such activities should be a priority and whether they make sense at all. This applies to both the client and the agency. The statistics presented by us at the beginning show that a good work and a well-thought-out strategy can be reduced to an absolute minimum percentage of outgoing customers. In each case, partnership and care for mutual benefits are important. The parties appearing in a given contract should have the same goal – the success of the venture. At Paraphrase-Online.com, we try to meet the challenges posed by our contractors every day by implementing our proven strategy. Therefore, only 4% of our clients give up our services. In our opinion, with such statistics and the number of customers, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

The rendering process

The rendering process can be reduced to a situation where the Google bot performs several key steps for the final perception of the website. The first is to download the page, the next – to run the code. Then – on its basis – makes its own analysis of the page layout and the entire structure of the site. The set of information downloaded for a specific assessment is collected by this – usually not perceptible moment – which accompanies rendering of the page. As a result, qualitative content, effective link building or meticulously guarded Google Search Console become secondary factors if website rendering generates errors, delays, departures from the norms adopted by magicians from Alphabet Inc.

It can be assumed – from a technical point of view – that every website is two HTML faces: before rendering and after rendering the resources. The first is a set of basic information generated – from content through images to JS and CSS codes. The second face is the same basic code, but enriched with the changes that HTML has caused. And in this narrow space between the two modes lies one of the paths to SEO effectiveness. How the initially assumed commands are implemented in the user’s browser is one of the foundations of proper operation.

How does it look in practice? Launching a website in a browser causes the server to send specific data to a computer or other device. Data collected in HTML format – as well as, for example, XML – are analyzed by the system in terms of obtaining the planned graphic effect. What is presented on the user’s screen is the rendering effect – regardless of its type. And the types of technology provide a lot: from continuous to progressive.

Why is rendering so important?

The reason is simple, prosaic and ruthless: a site that cannot be rendered is not indexed by Google. Does not exist. It’s somewhere in cyberspace, but without much significance and no chance to show itself to the world. Indexation is rendering, rendering is indexation – in this case Google leaves no wicket and mitigating circumstances.

That is why it is so important to check both the home page and other internal websites for, e.g., whether the website contains resources that are blocked or otherwise not made available for Google bots. These are both CSS and JS files or images.

How to render a website effectively?

Google has its own rules, bots are walking their own paths, and all this is hidden in a thicket of code to which ordinary mortals outside Silicon Valley have at most limited access. How can you then verify that the website meets the requirements of a search engine ruthless in this context?

The basic option for a long time was a test for mobile devices. Contrary to what it seems, it does not have to be used only for smartphones or tablets. Checking how the Google bot downloads and renders a mobile page also gives an answer to its rendering quality. In a situation where the website is responsive, problems – and a bad result – mobile rendering also means incorrect adaptation to computers.

In mid-2019, Google announced that the bot would regularly update the rendering engine – Chrome 41 and its function of detecting functions, filling and log errors became the determinant. Blocked resources cannot be seen – after all, the browser will render them anyway – but this path can still be considered as particularly valuable.

It does not require much commitment: just download and install Chrome 41. Before, it is worth uninstalling the other – newer – versions temporarily and backing up bookmarks and files. Having Chrome 41 already, it is enough to enter any URL, and then – in a typical way – examine the page after pressing the right mouse button. This way, developer tools will be open. In the console tab you can see the errors found – just copy the data to programmers to start the process of repairing the shortcomings.

Complicated? The alternative – how trivial! – there is a rendering plugin. View Rendered Source is an excellent solution that captivates with its simplicity of operation.

Plugin link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/view-rendered-source/ejgngohbdedoabanmclafpkoogegdpob

As an extension added to Chrome, it shows how the browser has built – and therefore rendered – the original HTML for the DOM, including all Javascript modifications. So if a programmer uses the JS framework – Angular, React JS, Vue.js – it lets you understand how search engines see the page. It cannot be presented clearly: the differences between the “raw” and the rendered version are marked with an illuminated line.

Why is it worth verifying the website’s appearance?

– for Mobile First Index
– due to blocked resources that may make ranking difficult
– verification of the size of photos that may obscure the text
– a simple test whether the firewall is working properly
– crawl budget analysis
– Google Search Console doesn’t show everything (unfortunately)

Facebook Blueprint – available certificates

Level Associate:
– Facebook Certified Digital Marketing Associate

Level Professional:
– Facebook Certified Media Planning Professional
– Facebook Certified Media Buying Professional
– Facebook Certified Marketing Science Professional (Pilot, available only on individual invitation, related to data analysis and visualization, requiring, among others, knowledge of Python, MySQL, and Big Data issues)

Level Developer
– Facebook Certified Ads Product Developer
– Facebook Certified Ads Product Developer II
– Facebook Certified Ads Product Developer III

What is the exam process in Facebook Blueprint?

The exam conditions are very precisely defined by Facebook. If we fail to do so, we may be disqualified, so you should read them well before taking the exam.

You can use the option of taking an exam at work. The conditions for taking the test are to disable all programs and applications, stay in a room where there is nobody else. During the exam, we are observed by the examiner, who can ask to show any place in the room at any time through a webcam built into the laptop. He may also notice when we make any “suspicious move”

Facebook Certified Ads Product Developer I

Facebook Certified Ads Product Developer I is a certificate that was created in place of the former Facebook Bronze Certification. To obtain a certificate, you must complete two parts: a multiple-choice test and an exercise in which a previously created pixel should be installed on the test page, along with several selected events, parameters, a code responsible for advanced matching, and a pixel should be connected to the directory on FB. The exam is a condition of joining Facebook Marketing Partners, and checks knowledge of:

– creating and managing Business Manager and its resources
– creation and implementation of the FB pixel, along with all available events and parameters, and the use of custom conversions
– creating catalogs and catalog-based campaigns
– understanding and implementing processes related to (Advanced Matching) in manual or automatic implementation
– connecting the FB pixel to the catalog
– solving problems related to incorrect pixel implementation,
– troubleshooting problems related to directory errors
– solving problems related to problems connecting pixel signals with products from the catalog

Facebook Certified Media Buying Professional

Facebook Certified Media Buying Professional is an exam for people professionally managing Facebook ads. The exam covers issues in the field of planning, setting, optimization and reporting of campaigns. Exam questions concern practical issues, most of them contain a description of an imaginary situation and possible variants of behavior in it.

Unlike the Product Ads Developer exam, in this case, we can start with a mock exam with 30 questions, the result of which has no effect on the final exam.

How much does the Facebook Bluprint certificate cost?

Each exam takes $ 75.

How do you study for the Facebook exam?

I describe the level of difficulty of both exams as high – certainly, in order to approach it at all, it is necessary to have practical experience in working with various types of campaigns. On the Facebook Certified Media Buying Professional exam, the questions cover a whole spectrum of topics, including reach and frequency campaigns, unavailable for most accounts. In order to take the exam, in my opinion it is necessary:

– reworking the Blueprint course
– min. 1-2 years of experience working with different types of campaigns and on large budgets, regular use of different types of campaign optimization, regular testing of new solutions
– understanding the optimization rules, the ability to respond appropriately if the campaign does not go according to plan – e.g. if the result is not adequate, or if the campaign does not spend the budget

For the Facebook Product Ads Developer I certification exam, it is necessary to have experience with the implementation of the pixel along with all events and parameters, on various CMSs and directly in the code. Unfortunately, after all we do not get information as to where we made mistakes.

Pros and cons of the exam process itself?

After the exam, we wait up to a few minutes for the result and it’s hard for me to imagine that anyone at that time would be sure of success. The level of difficulty of the questions is high, therefore passing the exam gives enormous satisfaction and certainty that we do our work at a high level.