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Tag: social media

How Apple’s iOS 14 is Impacting Facebook Ads
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Apple iOS 14 Updates and Your Facebook Ads

There are many moving parts in the mainstream media regarding apps, finance, the internet, and other related topics. A large spotlight has been put on Facebook and Apple’s rivalry over user privacy, policies, and how they impact one another. While media may speculate on the effects of these new changes, we have the need-to-know information and recommendations for Facebook ad techniques in the ecommerce and online retail industries.

About Facebook Ads, Apple, and User Privacy
- Facebook gathers and analyzes user activity while on their app to help target paid ads to relevant users, then shows those ads to the best matched user.
- Over the past few years, Facebook ads have also relied on user activity from other apps and websites to make their targeting more accurate.
- Apple users have been able to decline or “opt out” of sharing their data from outside sources on Facebook since the Apple iOS 10 update, released in September 2016.
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Privacy Policy for Off-Facebook Activity

After installing the Apple iOS 14 update, users will receive notifications when opening the Facebook app for the first time post update. These notifications will ask the user if they will allow Facebook to see their “Off Facebook Activity”.

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As the image above shows, one privacy notification will come from the Facebook app (left). The second will be a pop-up notification from your Apple device (right).

Both will ask you if you will allow Facebook to track user activity while using other apps and websites not owned by Facebook. Users can choose to not share activity from other apps with Facebook. However, this will not stop Facebook advertising from using your activity while on their apps for ad targeting purposes.

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Apple iOS 14 Update Won’t Hurt In-App Facebook Advertising

The majority social media leads and conversions in most industries happen from ads seen while on the Facebook family of apps, like Facebook and Instagram. If users choose to not share their off-Facebook activity with the app, Facebook will not show that person paid ads while they are using other free apps. They will only see paid ads while on Facebook or Facebook-owned apps, such as Instagram and WhatsApp. Since most ecommerce websites don’t receive their conversions in third-party apps, this change is likely irrelevant.

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Facebook Ads Reporting Numbers Will Only Appear Low

Ads seen while users are on the Facebook App or website will be minimally affected, if at all. If you are advertising in the app directly (marketplace or paid campaigns), your ads will still be seen by the same audience currently seeing them.

This is done through targeting in the Facebook advertising campaign manager. Users build an audience based on age, demographics, location, and interests of their target customers.

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Facebook Ads Conversions Explained

An important step in the ad creation process is for the advertiser to define what actions they deem as successful from their audience. Successful actions are performed by a user seeing an ad is called a conversion.

Examples of conversions: clicking a link on an ad to visit a web page, filling out a form linked from the ad, visiting your website through a Google search within a certain time frame of seeing your ad (through a process called pixel tracking), seeing an ad and either searching for or purchasing a product or service on that business’ website.

Previously, Facebook reported a conversion if a user completed any of these types of actions within 28 days of seeing or interacting with an ad. Now, Facebook advertising reporting will only be able to report a user completing these successful actions within seven days of seeing or interacting with an ad. This does not mean you can’t get conversions after seven days, Facebook just wont be able to report that information to you.

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What Does This Mean for Your Ecommerce Store?

Don’t let the news of this Apple iOS 14 update worry you. Facebook ads will be reporting less information, but this does not mean your advertising is any less effective! Plus, there are other reliable ways to track user actions and conversions from social media and Facebook advertising.

Google Analytics is a great tool that reports traffic coming from social media posts and other digital advertisements to your site. With proper tracking in your social media ads, your business can see how effective your Facebook ads are at getting leads to your retail site. The fact is, changes made by the Apple iOS 14 update likely won’t affect your digital marketing results.

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NetSource Media social media specialists recommend following the statistics of your paid social media accounts and monitoring the results on Google Analytics. Our in-house marketing professionals manage all client accounts this way. We ensure our client ads are reaching prospects and successfully earning quality leads from these conversions. While Facebook ads and social media marketing techniques are ever-changing, our thorough management processes ensure our clients’ success.

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Our social media experts at NetSource Technologies are here to help. We’ll stay up-to-date on the latest changes and implement our knowledge to help you growyour business through organic posting and paid Facebook ads.

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June 11, 2021
9 Marketing Tips for Your Online Store

Having an online store is an accomplishment in itself. Whether you started as a brick and mortar or just introduced your brand and products to the world, having an E-Commerce store will take your business to the next level. However, achieving your business goals will take some effort on your part, and marketing is the best way to reach new customers and keep return customers coming back for more. We’ve made a list of our top 9 marketing tips for your PC store below. (more…)

February 22, 2017
ProductCart Features: Integrating Your Social Media Accounts

At ProductCart, one of the many great features of our e-commerce solutions is the ability to fully integrate your online business with your Social Media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Plus & more.

(more…)

February 12, 2016
5 Ways Video Can Increase Your Sales
Dear E-Commerce Business Owner, it’s time you recognize the latest trend in online marketing – videos.

Perhaps you think videos are useless, or they’re too difficult to make, or they’re cheesy. Think again.

Videos have become one of the most effective and popular online marketing tools around, and it’s about time you jumped on the bandwagon.

Still not convinced? Here are 5 Ways Video Can Increase Your Sales:

1. Google likes videos. Actually, Google likes to diversify their search results to give users an array of information that they think will be most useful. This includes maps, pictures, and, you guessed it, VIDEOS. Having videos related to your company or products can help improve your chances of ranking higher in Google search results AND videos tend to stand out among a long page of text.

2. People love to share. Thanks to social media, your customers will do a lot of the “work” for you when it comes to video marketing. Practically everyone has a smart phone, and they love nothing more than to share videos on their Facebook pages, Twitter pages, E-mail, etc. As long as your video is interesting and the right length, people will want to share it with their friends.

3. Speaking of length, size matters. Thanks to the Internet, the average attention span of an adult human is comparable to that of a goldfish, maybe worse. For that reason, many people tend to watch a video for about 20 to 30 seconds before moving on to something else. However, 20 to 30 seconds is the perfect length for videos to show a new product, answer a quick question, or give a fun piece of trivia.

On the other hand, for product demos and tutorials, long videos make a lot more sense. Customers who are considering a new product or have just purchased one, will be compelled to sit through a 15 to 20 minute video to learn how their new piece of equipment works. This is especially true for products that are more technical or require a lot of assembly.

Of course, there is also a place for videos in between those two ranges. For example, below is a helpful video tutorial from ProductCart that is just over 8 minutes long. It all depends on your audience and what you’re trying to show them.

4. Lots of info, so little time. The great thing about videos, is their ability to creatively give your customers the right amount of information and visuals simultaneously in a short period of time (before they lose interest). They also allow you to show parts of your store or products that can be hard to capture in images or words alone.

One excellent example of this concept is Product Demo Videos. For many of you, your product requires a little explanation for how it works, how to use it, etc., and it is WAY easier to explain that to your customers in a video.

Another great trick? Having your videos link to the product page on your website so customers can simply click the video to purchase what they just saw.

5. Keepin’ it real. Finally, videos are an excellent way for E-commerce sites to get up close and personal with their customers. They allow you to give your staff, product, or company some personality and make customers feel more connected to the brand AND increase brand loyalty. E-commerce owners can use videos to introduce themselves to their customers, answer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), or let customer give their own testimonials about how much they love your product (because we know they do).

To reiterate, videos are a great tool for E-commerce business owners to increase their customer engagement, product awareness, and ultimately their sales. We touched on them throughout the article, but here are a few types of videos you (or your awesome marketing team) should add to your online marketing strategy.
- Product demos
- New product launches
- Customer testimonials
- Answering customer questions (FAQs)
- Video tours or store or location
- Fun facts/trivia
January 28, 2016
Social Media Marketing: Start with Strategy

As an E-Commerce business owner, you are probably aware that social media is an extremely useful marketing tool, especially for online retailers. However, creating social media accounts for your business will not improve your sales figures overnight.

Effective social media marketing takes constant research and a lot of work. But, if you’re willing to put in the effort, social media will be one of the best tools your online business can use to engage with current and potential customers.

Whether you already use social media and are looking to improve your efforts, or you’re new to the social media world, the most important factor you must consider is your strategy. Establishing a solid strategy upfront will help you stay organized and consistent in your marketing efforts, and allow you to focus on the interaction between you and your customers.

When developing your strategy, ask yourself these 7 questions before you ever make your first post:

1. What is my brand identity?

If you’re going to use social media to tell customers about your products or company, it’s important to know who you are and what you’re selling. In social media marketing, we often refer to a brand’s personality as their “voice.” Whether you plan on being lighthearted and humorous or descriptive and professional, having a consistent voice across all your social media platforms will help customers better understand your brand.

2. Who is my audience?

Defining your specific audience will help you cater your social media tactics to achieve the most engagement between you and your customers.

Before you start advertising your brand or products online, make sure you do extensive research on the customers you are hoping to reach. What are their demographics? What social media platforms do they use? What do they like to do in their free time? These are just some of the important questions that need to be answered.

To find out more about your audience, start searching online for topics related to your business. Find out what customers in your industry are talking about, and what is important to them. You can even go on Facebook, Twitter, or any of the social media platforms and search topics or hashtags (#) to see how your customers already behave on social media websites. The more you know beforehand, the better.

3. Who are my competitors?

Another helpful research tool is your competitors’ social media sites. If there are successful companies in your industry, go to their social media pages and see how they are effectively engaging their customers. Pay attention to what works, and what doesn’t. Seeing what’s already out there can help you think of new, creative ways to engage customers and make your company stand out.

4. What are my goals?

Before you start posting, you need to decide what you want to achieve. Are you trying to increase awareness, generate sales, or something in between? One of the best things social media marketing can do for your company is provide you with lots of data on the results of your marketing efforts. However, all the data in the world is useless without something to measure it against. Once you establish your goals and start posting, there are endless sources and analytics tools that can help you analyze your performance.

Facebook provides insights on all your posts.

5. What platforms should I use?

When it comes to choosing social media platforms, it all depends on your business and your audience. If your products are visually appealing, Instagram and Pinterest are great resources. For B2B companies, LinkedIn is probably your best option. Facebook and Twitter also allow you to engage directly with your customers and can be an excellent customer service tool.

Another factor to consider when choosing social media platforms is the type of content you intend to have. Although it may be tempting, you don’t need to have an account on every social media website. For example, if you don’t plan on posting videos, don’t create a YouTube account. Makes sense, right?

6. Who will be managing my social media?

Like we said earlier, social media marketing is no walk in the park. If you are going to be handling your social media in-house, you may want to designate one person who can dedicate a significant amount of their time to the cause. However, if you don’t have someone with enough time or knowledge, hiring a marketing agency to manage your accounts can definitely be worth the cost.

7. How much am I willing to spend?

Yes, social media accounts are free, but many of them give you the option to use paid advertising to increase your audience engagement. Before beginning your social media marketing, you should evaluate your resources and decide if paid ads will be beneficial to your company. That way, you can allocate part of your budget ahead of time to accommodate those future costs.

Now that you have your strategy in place, you can begin engaging your customers through social media. As long as you’re willing to put in the time and effort, social media marketing will help you reach new customers and ultimately make your business more successful.

January 20, 2016
Capitalize on Marketing through Pinterest with ProductCart

It is no secret that using the popular pin board website, Pinterest, is a phenomenal strategy for getting your products seen on social media, especially for retail companies. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, which are great for raising brand awareness and creating fans, Pinterest allows the consumer to bookmark specific products of yours to their personal profiles and – if you have the right tools in place – even allows them to click through and purchase the product. (more…)

May 28, 2014