Iceberg Web Design can help with all your digital marketing needs. So don’t let your marketing budget go unused.

With the hits many businesses have taken throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have cut their marketing budgets to curb spending. Data from research firm Gartner CMO Strategic Priorities Survey 2020-2021 reveals that the proportion of revenue allocated to marketing was cut almost in half, from an average of 11% in 2020 to just 6% in 2021—the lowest proportion allocated to marketing in the history of the survey. 

The Problem with Reducing your Marketing Budget

• You risk losing market share
• It will be harder to attract new leads
• Even if you hold onto your current business, you will find it next to impossible to grow
• Out of sight, out of mind

Marketing is Essential, and it Can Be affordable

You can make the most of your marketing dollars by choosing wisely where those dollars should be allocated. Of course, the best place to start is with your website. That’s because your website is a continuing source of marketing.

It is versatile and evergreen. It is essential as a calling card, but it is also more than just a calling card. You can add features that not only help in your marketing efforts but can also streamline your business.

A Good Website, and All Good Marketing Starts with Great Content

It is essential to have clear messaging, the right tone, and precision branding to reach your target audience. This will make the most of your marketing budget by allowing your advertising arrows to hit their bullseyes.

Good content extends to your social media marketing, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, Tik-Toks, and special campaigns. Everything must have brand consistency and a clear plan.

What You Can Cut

It’s essential to evaluate what you do well in the marketing sphere and your target audience. For example, it is far better to focus on two social media channels and use them well than to use all the channels only halfway and often the wrong way.

Use It or Lose It

Use your Marketing Budget by the end of the year, or they may be cut from your budget next year.

• SEO Audit- Work with an SEO Expert to evaluate your keywords and your overall SEO. This can help you formulate a plan for the upcoming year.
• Blog Posts- Now, use those keywords to up your website’s SEO. Hire an SEO professional content writer to ensure your post hits all the marks.
• Social Media Campaign- Retarget your social media and use it combined with powerful content and stunning imagery to gain leads and customers
• Update Your Website- Start the year with a new website that expresses your company’s message and mission.

We Can Help

Iceberg Web Design has SEO Content Writers, Digital Marketing Specialists, and incredible Designers and Developers. We can help with all your digital marketing needs. So don’t let your marketing budget go unused. Contact us today!

The post Using Your Marketing Budget appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

You must have brand clarity and a defined purpose, ensuring your message is heard in the noise of social media. And understand the “rules” of the social platform you are using.

How do you ensure your message is heard in today’s rapidly changing noisy environment of social media? You are not only competing against other brands but also other content creators and each social platform’s algorithm. To be heard above the noise, you must have brand clarity and a defined purpose for being in that social sphere.

You also need to understand the “rules” of the social platforms you are using to best leverage the content you post to that platform.

Start by Asking Yourself a two Questions

1.      What do I want to accomplish on social media?
Do I want:

•       Social engagement
•       Employee engagement
•       Lead generation
•       Community engagement
•       Feedback from potential customers
•       Name recognition

Make your goal(s) the center of everything you do on social.

2.       Who is going to monitor and engage the community on my chosen social channel?

The reason people are on social media because they want to engage with family, friends, influencers, and brands. So if you think you will just put content out there and that will satisfy the masses, you’re wrong. It will come off as insincere.

While you may not think you need someone to babysit your social media full-time (especially if you are only using one preferred platform), you will want someone who will pay attention to it and respond in a way that your audience will appreciate. It isn’t a crockpot that you can set and forget. And, if your social media campaign does happen to go viral, it will be well worth the cost of hiring a full-time social media expert.

Content

You must go deep if you want to get the most out of the content you create. The benefit of this is that you can create one in-depth blog and use it from several angles across your social media channels.

Imagine you write a post about dog grooming during the pandemic.

•       You have amazing pictures for Instagram of coifed dogs.
•       Highlight the changes in the grooming industry for a LinkedIn post.
•       On Facebook, talk about the top 3 essential oils you can use to calm your dog down before they go to the groomer. Then, ask other people for their tips.
•       Make a great video montage in fast motion for TikTok.

Whatever you choose to do, link back to the original post and stay part of the conversation.

Community

When your audience and your content collide, and a conversation starts, the content you create is amplified. It becomes alive! And that’s the best publicity of all.

Recently I came across a Tic-Tok video of a 56 year-old-woman who struggled with bags under her eyes after weight loss surgery. She applied Thomas Peter Roth Instant Firmx Eye Temporary Eye Tightener to one eye in real-time and showed the difference it made. It was remarkable! Peter Thomas Roth sold out of this product everywhere—including on their e-comm site.

Why did this work? Because it was genuine! Many people who saw the video shared it, and Peter Thomas Roth benefited from the community. Engage!

Consistency

Reverse engineer social media. Stop selling to people and begin engaging with them. When you educate people in inspiring and entertaining ways, they will comment on and share your content. Respond to their comments! This is your brand’s opportunity to be a part of the conversation. Don’t let those opportunities pass you by.

This engagement brings organic traffic to your site and will increase your authority in Google’s eyes.

Tic-Tok and Instagram are currently the best platforms to create snack-able content that your audience will engage with and share. But the platform(s) you choose will depend on where your ideal audience is.

Engaging a Professional

Do you need help defining your Brand Clarity for social media engagement? Does your content need a facelift? Iceberg Web Design has content writers and branding specialists who can help. Best of all, we are easy to reach. We are web developers who answer the phone. Call us at 763-350-8762 or contact us today to take your business to the next level.

The post Brand Clarity for Social Media Engagement appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Automated messaging offers a lot of benefits to business owners who wish to use it. Best of all, it is easy to set up. While you can integrate this functionality into your website by embedding Messenger into your site using a plugin or through Facebook’s integration, this article will only focus on automation through Facebook Messenger.

Getting Started

• To automate your Messenger, you must have admin access to your Facebook business page.
• On the left-hand side of the page is a column of options. You will want to click on “Business Suite.”
• Now you will be looking at your inbox.
• From your Inbox, you will be able to see your messages from both your Facebook and Instagram accounts.
• Just below the Facebook and Instagram links on the left-hand column, you will see “Automated Responses.”

Instant Reply

There are several things we can do within this feature. Let’s start with “Instant Reply.” Instant Reply will pop up when someone first attempts to message you.  It can do anything from alleviating the frustration that customers often feel waiting for you to respond to steering your visitors in the right direction. For example, if you primarily use email rather than Messenger, you can let them know that with a link to your email address.

Personalized Response

There are some great features built into Instant Reply. For example, you can personalize the message by having their name automatically inserted in your response. Messenger pulls this directly from their account. It will instantly add warmth and humanity to your automation.

Embedded Links

Then, you can write whatever reply you would like to go out to the people who message you. You can embed links, including your website. Note that you can only link to your main website, not particular pages. These links will not look like links as you create them on the backend, but when you send them in Messenger, they will show up correctly. You should always do a test run to check it out to be sure everything looks right.

Away Message

Many businesses like to have an after-hours message letting their visitors know that their business is closed for the day. Often these messages include business hours and the assurance that they will return and reply and when to expect the reply.

Frequently Asked Questions

This is another place that business often post their hours. You can also add service costs, how to schedule an appointment, Covid policies, or anything else people may have questions about. It is ideal to have questions to answer with a link to a page on your website. This will be efficient for the customer and will improve your web page’s ranking over time. Keep in mind that you can only use four FAQs in a conversation, so choose your four best questions.

Contact Information & Location

Thankfully, you do not need to include “Where are you located?” in your Frequently Asked Questions. Messenger knows this is such a common question that they have added it as an automatic option. If you choose to turn this on, it can give directions to the person needing your location.

Contact Information is another option. With that, you could link right to your Contact Us page on your website or have your phone or email address.

Schedule Appointments

If you schedule appointments through Facebook’s appointment scheduler, you can add this feature to your automatic messaging.

Finally, save your answers, and you are all set!

Need More Answers to Your Marketing Questions?

Iceberg Web Design has them. We specialize in website-based solutions to your business needs. We build custom websites, turn-key websites and have a host of services that can improve your ability to communicate your message. Contact us online today or call 763-350-8762 to learn more!

The post Let Facebook Messenger Automation Work for You appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

In today’s world, where 77% of Americans own a smartphone as well as 76% of people in 18 developed countries, it just makes sense that the race to reach consumers would lead online. For any business serious about expanding their reach, they must have an online presence, which includes being active on social media.

Nonetheless, not all social media platforms work well with every business, and not choosing the right one can even do more harm than good. So, here are a few things to keep in mind for some of the most popular social media platforms to help in determining which one will be the right fit for your business.

Facebook

Facebook is, by far, is the largest social media outlet with 2.23 billion monthly active users. With that many people, it can easily be the ideal place to grab the interest of customers, spread your branding, and the overall messaging of your company. It also has a large variety of advertising options such as event ads, lead generation forms, video ads, Instagram-specific ads, and more, which allows for a range in budgeting when creating marketing materials.

However, its greatest benefit is also its biggest obstacle. Since there are many people on Facebook, it is easy to get lost in the crowd. Facebook does provide efficient data and the ability to target your ideal customer. But, unless you have a pretty hefty marketing budget behind your content, it’s difficult to gain any real traction with new customers.

For smaller businesses that don’t have a large media budget, it might be better to utilize smaller social media outlets to reach new customers, although Facebook is excellent for keeping up with existing consumers.

YouTube

The next largest social media outlet behind Facebook is YouTube, with 1.9 billion monthly active users. If you are not familiar with YouTube, it is a video sharing platform. Not only is it the largest video sharing site on the web, but it is 2nd behind Google in internet searches.

Of course, the best thing about YouTube is that it revolves around videos. Videos are a more effective delivery system in terms of content because they’re easier for people to digest, remember, and connect with as opposed to reading text. When you include this with YouTube’s sharing-friendly interface, videos can not only more easily reach customers but even go viral.

The downside is that some services, as opposed to products, don’t always lend themselves to videos. For example, if you are a website design company or freelancer, you will have to pull out your creative thinking cap to repeatedly create engaging content that ties back into promoting your business.

Also, any kind of video won’t do. You need to create short, high-quality, interesting videos to capture the easily distracted attention span of viewers. Anything less than high-quality can even reflect negatively on your business. However, if you can overcome these hurdles, investing in a YouTube channel would be beneficial.

Instagram

Another prominent social media outlet behind a few messaging apps like WhatsApp is Instagram. Instagram has a monthly active user count of 1 billion. It is different from Facebook and YouTube in that it is purely a video and photo-sharing site that can only be updated by a mobile device.

As explained with YouTube, visuals are always better when it comes to capturing the attention of viewers. Creating visuals can sometimes be much faster and easier than writing content, although you do need a mixture of both.

The challenge of utilizing Instagram is the demand to create a mixture of high-quality videos and photos, which again is easier for businesses that are selling physical products instead of services. Those businesses that face a bit of a challenge with videos can have an even harder time with photos. Videos allow for movement, explanations, and demonstrations, pictures don’t. And unless you have a highly visual business, Instagram might be more of a challenge than its worth.

Also, Instagram’s demographics are much different from Facebook and YouTube’s. While Facebook and YouTube appeal to a wide range of audiences, Instagram is primarily used by people between the ages of 18-29. So, if that’s not your target audience, Instagram may not be a good fit for your business.

Twitter

Twitter, which is further down the list in terms of popularity, has over 335 monthly active users. It is more similar to Facebook in terms of the platform, except it’s known more as a source for real-time information on a plethora of categories (which helps you narrow down your audience), and there is character cap on posts/tweets.

However, like Facebook, they allow a variety of ad options from pushing a promoted tweet to posting images and videos, which again allows for flexibility with content creation.

The drawback is that because it is real-time, users expect quick responses, which means constant monitoring of your Twitter account. Also, because there is a continuous stream of real-time information, your ad or content can easily be missed.

This faster pace may even prove to be difficult when it comes to growing your customer base even with paid ads, which is one of the highest costs among social media sites. Like Facebook, unless you have a flexible budget for ads, you can struggle to see any real results.

If you’d prefer a slower pace and demand for social media on your time, Twitter is likely not the best option for your business.

Need Help?

There are many other social media platforms not mentioned here that may be worth exploring for your business, such as Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and even the WhatsApp business app. All of them allow you to set up an account for free, but maintaining a presence on them requires a commitment of time, a steady stream of fresh ideas, and a media budget.

Many business owners simply don’t have the time to research sites, let alone decide which ones would be the most lucrative for them. If you could use the help of trusted professionals to take this “new age” extra work off your hands, contact us today. We can help you build your social media presence, improve your SEO, and handle your paid digital advertising.

The post Which Social Media Platform is Right for Your Business? appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Back in 1997, the first noticeable social media website (Six Degrees) was up and running. Fast forward more than 20 years and 79% of the U.S. population uses social media. For advertisers, the rise of social media has disrupted marketing strategy and uprooted traditional advertising methods. But, believe it or not, the initial setback caused by social has given way to brand new heights in advertising.

Social Media’s Impact on Advertising

Americans now spend an average of 23.6 hours online each week. Out of those 23.6 hours, 30% of the time is spent on social media, outweighing any other activity. To make the most of their ad spend, advertisers have had to change their focus, targeting the digital space to reach the greatest number of consumers.

Ad spend isn’t the only thing that’s changed. By becoming accustomed to the personal feel of social media, consumers now crave different methods of engagement with their favorite brands. No longer do they expect the same run of the mill ads. Instead, they’re looking for targeted and specific content that appears to have been created just for them.

How to Use Social Media to Boost Advertising Success

It may sound like bad news, but it isn’t. The consumer’s wish for more targeted advertising on their preferred social media profile is becoming easier with each update. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow advertisers to focus on specific audiences. Others such as Snapchat allow advertisers to create content that speaks to the target demographic.

Whatever and whenever your target customer wants your ad content, you can put it there—and that’s taking advertising to new heights. What else can you do to boost your social media advertising success?

Build Brand Awareness

Social media isn’t just a starting point for a new ad campaign. It’s easier to sell a service or product to a warm lead, than a cold one. Social media engagement and interaction builds brand awareness, helping consumers become more familiar with what you offer. The more connected they feel, the more apt they’ll be to purchase.

Be Specific With Those Ads

Without targeting the right audience, your ad’s design or copy simply won’t matter. Social media allows you to be ultra-specific when creating ads for your brand, targeting only those customers that are the perfect fit. Use the data and advertising tools provided on the social media platform to boost your ad’s performance.

Test, Test, Test

Social media is the perfect place to test your ads for success. On Facebook, most ads are reviewed and published within 24 hours, meaning you could see ad results fast. To get started, perform an A/B test and test one ad against another to see which one performs the best with your target demographic.

Is Your Social Media Advertising Strategy Up to Par?

It’s safe to say that social media and advertising should go hand in hand. Social media is helping us reach new heights in advertising each and every day. To learn more about social media marketing or paid advertising, send us a message.

The post The Age of Social Media: Reaching New Heights in Advertising appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Small businesses have several options in addition to engaging website development to promote products and services. You have paid options such as Google Adwords that provide a quick and profitable return on investment. Organic search engine optimization marketing strategies like blogging build the level of customer trust that prompts action.

Then, we have the most effective online marketing option: Social media marketing.

How to Use Social Media to Promote Your Small Business

Entrepreneur estimates that more than 950 million people access Facebook every day. The popular online entrepreneurial blog has presented statistics that demonstrate small businesses comprise a rapidly growing percentage of the daily Facebook users. What does that mean for your small business? Well, social media has become more than just selfies and friend requests. It’s how we shop, how we communicate, how we stay on top of current events. Moreover, social media is the online version of where we leave reviews for the businesses we trust.

Our Minneapolis web design firm knows how to make social media the phase two of your Internet marketing program.

Start Conversations by Asking Questions

Everyone has an opinion and Facebook posts represent the ideal online place for customers to present their opinions. Ask Facebook fans of your small business to provide insight on topics that pertain to your small business. For example, a local independent restaurant asks customers to vote for their favorite restaurant menu items to win one-on-one cooking lessons with the chef.

Share What You Know

The most effective way to build customer trust involves sharing what you know. Upload Facebook posts that help customers solve problems. The pithy posts can simply be recipes for enhancing health or suggestions on the tools to use for working on home improvement projects. Videos represent the best way to create “How to…” content for the social media phase of your online marketing program.

Customers Want Value

Social media content must provide your customers with value, from sharing white papers to offering limited discount specials. Consumers want to learn how your products and services benefit them. Short text/video content uploads on sites such as Facebook and Instagram do the best job of creating customer value.

Sell Your Brand Visually

Although your small business website should comprise a content-focused approach to gaining customer trust, the phase two of your digital marketing program should include more attention grabbing visuals. Pinterest makes the perfect phase two platform for presenting visuals that customers immediately identify with your small business brand.

The Phase Two Golden Rule

American Express recently presented a blog post emphasizing most of your social media posts should share information that helps customers solve problems. The one in seven rule states that only one in every seven of your social media should promote your business. The other six posts should provide value for customers. This rule applies on Facebook, as much as it applies on Twitter.

One Post, One Social Media Platform

Several tools allow you to write one post and then upload the post to multiple social media platforms. Customers that see duplicate posts on different social media platforms typically look elsewhere for products and services. Avoid presenting duplicate content to build the level of credibility customers need to conduct business with you.

Small businesses that operate in the Twin Cities need a Minneapolis social media consultant that knows how to implement effective phase two online marketing strategies. Iceberg Web Design can help you increase your online reach, attract new customers, and engage your current clients. Now through February 29th, receive a FREE SEO Keyword Research report with your in-person social media consultation.

The post Social Media: Your Website’s Phase Two appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

You might be wondering how often should you post to social media – after all, you want to maximize your exposure without annoying your followers.

In this short guide, we will show you exactly how many daily posts are recommended on each social network.

How Often Should You Post to Social Media’s Most Popular Platforms?

Earlier this year, SumAll and Buffer teamed up to compile data to answer this very question.

Before diving into the results, it’s worth taking a peek at this quote from Gary Vaynerchuk:

“One is better than zero.”

– Gary Vaynerchuk

Something is always better than nothing.

In other words, please do not interpret these numbers as absolute directives. For example, if you only have the resources available to post to Facebook once a day, do not think of it as a waste of time.

Similarly, if your business only has the resources to manage one or two social media accounts – go for it! Every business starts somewhere, and you can always add more platforms as you go.

Facebook [2x Daily]

Post at least twice per day to Facebook. Although you are welcome to post more often, engagement tends to be highest on the first two posts.

Twitter [3x Daily]

Twitter users are a little more forgiving than their counterparts on Facebook. Engagement is not statistically likely to decrease until your fourth tweet of the day.

Google+ [3x Daily]

To maximize your average engagement per post, you would be wise to post to Google+ at least three times daily.

What’s interesting about this platform is that consistency counts for more than sheer volume. In other words, even if you intend to post to Google+ just twice daily, make sure those two posts happen consistently and around the same time.

Instagram [2x Daily]

Instagram is one of the few platforms on which more is better. Post as often as you can! Just work to keep it consistent. Two posts each day is a good guideline to start.

Pinterest [5x Daily]

I hope you like Pinterest, because studies show that the brands that post the most often get the most followers and engagement. If you want to get in the game, aim for at least five posts a day to start.

LinkedIn [1x Daily]

What’s great about LinkedIn is that 60% of your audience – whether followers or connections – are likely to see your new posts. Largely for that reason, one post every weekday is plenty.

“I Just Don’t Have Time to Post to Social Media Every Day!”

How often should you post to social media may be a secondary consideration at the moment – especially if you’re swamped! After all, business owners should focus on what they do best, which is running their business.

If you find yourself wanting to explore social media further, or simply needing help to make it happen each day, Iceberg Web Design is here for you.

We offer a number of different social media solutions designed to serve the needs of your business.

Email samarah [at] icebergwebdesign [dot] com, call 763-350-8762, or contact us to get started.

The post How Often Should You Post to Social Media? appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

It should come as no surprise that four out of five businesses increased their budget for social media marketing in the past four years.

Social media is more than a fad or a passing trend – it is the new norm in terms of how people communicate, how they research things to do, find information, and make purchase decisions.

While there is still a place for more traditional advertising – including newspapers, television, radio, direct mail, and more – there is no denying the necessity to be visible where your customers are looking.

In this short post, we will review the three steps to setting a budget for social media marketing.

1. Begin with Your Overall Marketing Budget

More often than not, a marketing budget is expressed as a fixed percentage of gross sales.

Studies show that small businesses with annual revenues less than $5 million will generally set a budget somewhere around 10%.

More established businesses may allocate up to 20% of their annual sales.

If your business is brand new, creating initial awareness might call for an investment exceeding your projected annual sales.

In any event, before you can budget for social media marketing, you need an idea of how much you are working with for the entire year.

2. Allocate a Percentage to Internet Marketing

The term ‘internet marketing’ refers to a number of different things, such as email newsletters, blogging, pay per click ads, and search engine optimization.

It is estimated that most businesses in 2015 will devote more than half of their marketing budget to the internet.

If your business generates most of its revenue through online activities, it would be a great idea to dedicate the majority of your marketing budget to the internet. If, on the other hand, you run a local brick and mortar business, a quarter of your overall marketing budget may suffice.

3. Allocate a Percentage to Budget for Social Media Marketing

Surveys indicate that the most businesses in 2015 will allocate roughly one quarter of their internet marketing budget to social media.

Why so low?

The main reason is because an effective social media strategy is supported by content creation. Because producing high quality content – including writing – can be very expensive, a large portion of the internet marketing budget needs to go there.

On the flip side, surveyed businesses reported nearly half of their leads generated in 2013 originated through social media.

“What Do I Do with My Budget for Social Media Marketing?”

That is a great question – and one that often confuses business owners.

I mean, if Facebook and Twitter are free to use, what’s the budget for?

This is where Iceberg Web Design can really assist you in building a solid social media marketing plan based upon your available budget.

We offer a number of different social media services to drive the results you need.

Why not or contact us so we can discuss your marketing objectives? Send an email to samara [at] icebergwebdesign [dot] com, or call 763-350-8762.

The post Here’s How to Set a Budget for Social Media Marketing appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Platforms like Pinterest and Instagram allow retailers to showcase stunning photos of their merchandise. And this is especially effective for businesses that depend on eCommerce, such as Shopify.

Serviced-based businesses may find it challenging to develop captivating visual content. This includes:

• Attorneys
• Accountants
• Bookkeepers
• Financial advisors

So which social media platform is best for your business if you are a service provider?

The answer might not be so obvious, so let’s take a closer look.

1. Consider Geo-targeting

One unique trait of service-based businesses is that – in most cases – they tend to serve local clients. In other words, they have a traditional brick and mortar setup.

If that describes your situation, which social media platform is best for your business?

The answer is any that supports local searches. Three great examples would be:

• LinkedIn
• Google+
• Facebook

By creating a company page on any of these platforms, you can enter the physical location of your business. In turn, customers can find you by searching for your services in their local area.

2. Consider Your Ad Budget

Virtually any social media platform that offers the ability to promote posts for a fee could work to your advantage. The key, however, is to choose a platform that allows you to target both local users and those that have an interest in the service you offer.

Some popular social networks that permit paid promotion are:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Twitter

It is worth noting that Facebook and LinkedIn offer the most reliable targeting options. At the same time, Twitter and Pinterest are more cost-effective, often allowing you to buy impressions on a post for just a few cents each.

3. Consider Your Content

Regardless of what type of service-based business you run, stop to consider what you intend to share on social media.

Chances are if you are a lawyer or accountant, you won’t be snapping very many selfies to upload…

In most cases, you will be posting more detailed content – links to relevant articles, guides, tutorials, and forms, for example.

Platforms that best display rich content – optimizing what you share for the most clicks – would be:

• LinkedIn
• Google+
• Facebook

Sure, you can share a link on Twitter… but with 140 characters to work with, a lot can get lost in translation.

4. Consider Your Audience

Do you operate a B2B or B2C business?

If consumers are your best customers, forget about LinkedIn.

At the same time, if other businesses are your best customers, you can forget about Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, and Snapchat.

The platforms that both businesses and consumers use to gather information are typically:

• Facebook
• Google+
• Twitter
• YouTube

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule – but these are the main four to choose from.

So, Which Social Media Platform Is Best for Your Business in the End…?

If we take a quick tally of the points above, we see that Facebook appeared on all four lists, with Google+ and LinkedIn appearing three times each.

Most of the time, these three platforms will serve as your best social vehicle for attracting and engaging with clients.

Still unsure?

Iceberg Web Design can help sort out which social media platform is best for your business.

In fact, we offer a selection of different social media solutions to meet the needs of your business.

To get started, contact our Minneapolis website development and social media company online, or call 763-350-8762.

The post Which Social Media Platform Is Best for Your Business? appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, the year’s prime holiday shopping season, a whopping 32% of Google search traffic came from mobile devices. One study showed that 30% of all e-commerce website traffic came from mobile devices in 2013. And with so many holiday gifts being smartphones and tablets last year, it stands to reason that those statistics will only increase for the 2014 holiday season.

Now that November is here, the 2014 Holiday Shopping Season is in full swing. Is your website ready for online customers this year? Whether you have a retail or service business, online holiday marketing is essential. Even though you may not plan to sell products on your website this year, you will likely see an increase in website traffic this quarter. Shoppers are not just looking for gifts this year – they are also shopping for home improvement projects, plumbing fixes before holiday guests arrive, carpet cleaning services, car detailing, restaurants to stop at between gift-buying outings…and the list goes on.

Below are 6 simple things you can do to make sure your website is ready for your customers this holiday season:

1. Make sure your website is optimized for mobile viewing.

This sounds like a no-brainer, but so many e-commerce websites are still using software from 2009 (or earlier!), and haven’t yet invested in modern website programming or design. If you’re a business owner with an online storefront, do you know how easy it is for your customers to purchase from their smartphones? Give it a try – pull out your own smartphone, and see how many clicks it takes, and how much you have to pinch-and-zoom just to add a product to your shopping cart.

Mobile friendly websites are not only good for customer sales and retention, but they also increase trust for your business and your brand. Consumers want to feel safe when purchasing from their smartphones, and if your website has been built so smartphone shopping is simple, your customers will know your site has been built with mobile shopping in mind.

2. Update your home page for the Holidays

First impressions are crucial – and your website visitors are going to be influenced to act within 3 seconds of loading your website. Do you have a slideshow on your home page? Incorporate some fun new holiday-inspired photography into it! Showcase some of your products or holiday specials.

A basic re-design of the home page of your content can attract clients without breaking the bank. Looking for ideas? We can help give you some suggestions!

3. Spruce up your SEO with some holiday marketing language

Did you know that you can control exactly what Google displays to your customers? Give your business a search online – the title of your website pages and the description that falls below them are all things that can be edited by your website developer. Marketing a product or a service specifically for the holiday season? Have a great Christmas promo going on? Say so (in less than 150 characters) right on Google’s organic search results.

If you don’t have an online store, but want to encourage people to call or e-mail you for seasonal specials or holiday orders, publish your contact information directly in this description so people can contact you fast.

4. Get your online inventory and shipping schedules together early

Nobody likes it when they purchase a product online, only to receive a phone call three days later to find out that their item is out of stock or won’t be delivered until December 26th. Make sure your holiday shopping schedule, shipping expectations, and return policy are clearly stated on your home page and thought the checkout process on your website.

5. Publish a Holiday E-mail Newsletter

An e-mail newsletter is a great way to contact potential customers directly and inexpensively. A branded e-mail newsletter cost less to send out than printed postcards and letters – and recent research shows that the return on e-mail marketing is actually higher than that of postal mail.

People are more inclined to impulse shop during the holiday season, so if you send out an e-mail newsletter featuring some great, inexpensive holiday gifts or must-haves, you may find some new customers visiting your online store this season.

6. Spice up your Social Media posts

Create funny, themed Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ posts this holiday season. Fun facts, jokes, and information are great ways to engage comments on your social media profiles. And don’t forget the picture! Adding a picture to a social media update will increase the post’s chance of being seen and shared. There are a number of websites that offer free holiday stock photographs (like this one) – or be creative and hire a photographer to come out and take some pictures of your staff dressed in Elf suits.

Need some extra help with your holiday marketing?

You can accomplish a lot of these things yourself, or with a little help from your website developer. Need some more inspiration or help with marketing this holiday season? Contact us for a free website consultation – we would be happy to talk about your current website, offer some suggestions for how you can make improvements, and talk about a long term marketing strategy to bring you more business.

And most importantly – don’t forget to have a happy holiday season yourself!

The post Website Marketing Strategies for the 2014 Holiday Season appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.