Facebook has launched new custom audience targeting over the last week specifically for retargeting users who have interacted on the Instagram Shop. New targeting capabilities allow advertisers to target users who have viewed a product, saved a product or initiated a purchase through the Shop. Brands will also be able to promote sales and discounts.
The launch of these new custom audience capabilities give marketers a new avenue to target lower funnel users with higher intent. This new custom audience targeting also allows for lookalikes to be created, a prospecting audience strategy in Facebook that serves to new people who may not have interacted with the brand previously.
In addition, Facebook is rolling out product tags on Instagram ads, that have only previously been available for organic ads. This will allow marketers to input price-tags on paid ad formats giving the user further information on the item featured in the creative.
How does this impact your business?
Instagram shops, which launched earlier this year, are ramping up in popularity and it’s more important than ever for e-commerce brands to be utilizing this platform. Instagram shops give brands an immersive storefront for users to browse products and purchase directly through the site or link to the website. Brands can also tag the product in a post which can come up on Instagram’s Shopping explore tab giving the opportunity to expose their products to users with high purchase intent. With the approach of holiday, the launch of these new audiences rolled out at the perfect time.
Last week we wrote about the upcoming update to Facebook’s attribution window from 28 to 7 days as the default, planned to take place on October 12th. This week, we want to bring you a new update on the topic from our friends at Facebook.
The default attribution window will remain unchanged for the rest of 2020, due to a large influx of feedback from Facebook’s agency partners like Mason interactive. Keep in mind that these are real time updates on information we receive, we’ll be sure to update this content if things change!
Facebook’s plan to update the attribution window just before the big holiday push certainly came as a surprise to us all. Whereas the planned change isn’t going to impact ad performance, we weren’t particularly thrilled about it being rolled out during such a key time of year.
What does this mean for you as an advertiser?
Good news
Consistent data flow
Minimal disruption to bidding algorithm (this can never be zero)
Expecting an attribution window update in Q1 of 2021
Thank you for listening, Facebook, we appreciate having the extra data to navigate through the holiday season.
We are excited to announce that Mason Interactive is expanding to North Carolina.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the new team in North Carolina continues to work remotely until it is safe to return into an office environment. In the coming months, we plan to open a new office location in Charlotte, North Carolina, in addition to the HQ location in New York City. The NYC headcount will remain static; additional hires will be in NC.
“The expansion represents a significant commitment to the development of the agency, says Mason Interactive CEO & Founder, Brook Llewellyn Shepard.
“As we were looking to increase our geographic reach, North Carolina was an obvious option.”
What does this mean for our clients? The expansion will enable us to recruit additional talent in North Carolina and further strengthen the range of our capabilities and services. The New York based team will continue to deliver services as usual to our existing clients, in collaboration with the team in North Carolina. The expansion won’t have an impact on our clients’ projects, deliverables, or the day-to-day communication between the client and their dedicated account team.
“I am amped about the future, and Mason Interactive setting new roots in North Carolina”, says Shepard. “While I look forward to building new relationships with local businesses in North Carolina, I want to take this opportunity to thank our existing clients and partners for their support in making the growth possible.“
As of Sunday September 20th, TikTok will be removed from all United States app stores. Although users won’t be able to download the TikTok app from the store, users who have already downloaded the app may continue using the software.
The new restrictions do not set limitations on advertising on TikTok, and the campaigns can run as usual. No immediate action is required from TikTok advertisers. At Mason Interactive we will continue to monitor developments in order to provide our clients with recommendations on their TikTok campaigns.
Please contact your account manager at Mason Interactive if you wish to discuss your role as a TikTok advertiser in detail. We thrive to deliver the best possible results for our clients, across selected platforms.
We are happy to announce that we have recently begun a new partnership with Aya Paper Co. – a sustainable stationary brand.
Aya Paper Co. is defined by a natural earth tone palette, minimalist illustrations, and modern typography. All paper products are made from 100% recycled material, with cards for every occasion. SaVonne Anderson, Founder and Creative Director of Aya Paper Co., is an advocate for environmental justice and wanted to ensure that her brand would not perpetuate climate change and pollution issues, also impacting communities of color.
The key focus of this partnership is to increase eCommerce sales and drive traffic via a long-term SEO strategy. “I look forward to starting this partnership with Aya Paper Co.” says Mason Interactive CEO & Founder, Brook Llewellyn Shepard. “This brand has great values that Mason Interactive stands behind and we are excited to help them grow and thrive in the digital space.”
We are dedicated to providing our clients with attention to detail and support while starting their digital marketing journey with us. Contact us or schedule a free marketing analysis with our digital marketing experts to take the first step on your journey.
Mason Interactive’s digital marketing webinar series continued with a webinar titled: The Secrets of SEO for eCommerce. Webinar hosts Jenna Vaccaro, Director of SEO, and Brook Shepard, Founder & CEO of Mason Interactive, explored how search engine optimization can be used to attract more shoppers to an online store, and gave tips on SEO best practices.
In short, the webinar covered the SEO fundamentals every eCommerce business owner and marketing professional can learn from. Watch the webinar replay or continue reading for the key highlights.
What is SEO and Why it Matters
Search Engine Optimization is the scientific art of optimizing a website around specific keywords in order to rank higher in search results, such as Google. The science behind SEO is to understand Google’s algorithm and to use those indicators for optimization. This is combined with creativity (art) that goes into content, images, and messaging.
When talking about digital marketing, businesses are more inclined to invest in advertising because of the immediate results. SEO is often underestimated as a marketing channel, however, looking at analytics of any eCommerce store, organic traffic is usually the best converting channel.
“What we see with our clients in general is that people are willing to spend money on advertising but not so much on SEO”, says Brook. “Our recommendation is to make SEO a priority – it converts better and is cost-efficient-, alongside media buying. With the Holiday season coming up, there is still time to get ready and double down on SEO”, he continues.
Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) have evolved over time, and while the user experience has improved, SEO professionals are faced with more complexity and increased competition over the highest ranking positions.
Getting on top of the SERP is important because the higher a website ranks, the more searchers will click on the website, and the more sales the website will generate. Jenna used recent statistics to speak to the importance of SERP and shockingly, only 4.8% of searchers make it to the second page of search results, and only 1.1% to the third. This may make you wonder where does all the traffic go? 32.5% of traffic goes to the top result, 17.6% to the second result, and less than 5% goes to the sixth result.
How is SEO Different for eCommerce
eCommerce SEO has a similar idea than any traditional website; show up on search results and provide relevant content to the user searching for a keyword. For example, a business that sells black shoes should have their pages optimized for black shoes because a user is searching for that and they intend to buy black shoes.
“You want to say to the user that you have the product they are searching for, and you have optimized this page accordingly because you knew they wanted to buy this product.”
Jenna Vaccaro
Furthermore, businesses can help visitors make purchase decisions through vivid product descriptions and beautiful, eye-catching photography, and plenty of reviews. When done right eCommerce SEO is a free source of high converting organic traffic.
Most Common SEO Myths Uncovered
On the next section, Jenna shed light on a few common SEO misconceptions and explained why they are fiction.
Myth 1: “I did a lot of upfront SEO work on my site when it launched, so I never have to do anything again.”
You are certainly off to a good start if you invested on SEO when your site was first launched. However, SEO is ever-changing and should be treated as a marathon, not as a sprint. Focus on keeping your site healthy and aligned with the best possible optimization at all times. You may decide to scale back on SEO because it is a low season for you, and as a result, your competitors take over your position on SERP. Keep up with your competitors and the latest algorithm changes to maintain your rankings.
“Many clients come to us to take the next step. They have already done a fair amount of optimization, and they want to focus on a specific area such as conversion rate optimization or local SEO. After all, SEO provides various opportunities with hundreds of thousands keywords”, Jenna shared.
Myth 2: “I need to post long-form content every day in order to rank high.”
Content length can contribute to SEO ranking, as does the quality of content. However, a multitude of other factors contribute to consistently maintaining a high rank, including:
Topic relevance. It’s important to produce useful content that speaks directly to your product, is fresh, and provides value to the reader. A good starting point is to look at aspirational brands, what they do and what content they produce.
Natural backlinks. Creating shareable content should be the main objective. If your content is compelling, readers will want to share it naturally, and link back to your content.
Page speed and user experience. Ensure that your site is easy to navigate and your pages load fast. A frustrated user will leave your site and go to your competitor.
Mobile friendliness. The browsing experience should be the same on mobile as it is on desktop. Make sure that buttons and links are spaced out and easy to click with a thumb (especially add to cart button!).
Myth 3: “It’s 2020. SEO is dead.”
While the digital marketing space grows through paid media, many marketers believe SEO has reached the end of its lifespan. Search engine optimization may have changed and evolved, but it certainly is not dead nor dying. In 2019, 65% of eCommerce sessions were generated through search traffic and 33% were generated through organic search. As long as the search engines exist, consumers will continue looking for products online, and if an ad is not there, the first thing the searcher will click is the top organic result.
Top Areas of Focus for eCommerce SEO
Jenna broke down the content into key takeaways starting with the very first step of every successful SEO campaign; keyword research. Every website owner should compile a list of keywords that fit their brand, optimize their website based on those keywords, and consider how to rank above competitors.
Moreover, businesses that focus on creating good quality content generate more natural backlinks and rank higher. Building astrong internal link structure is equally important to boost authority of singular pages. For example, if you write a blog article that mentions a tote bag, link that back to the page where you sell tote bags.
Ongoing technical updates and regular audits, Jenna emphasized, are needed to ensure the website is running smooth and fast. An audit will uncover broken links and orphan pages (pages that don’t link anywhere), among other areas that have an impact on the SEO ranking and user experience. Not sure how to conduct an audit? Contact us for a free SEO audit.
Finally, it’s essential to continuously analyze the data and measure success. Use the data to evaluate what you can do to get more users to click and to buy. Be aware of what page people are dropping off of, why the conversion rate is low, do you have unnecessary content or problems with the user experience. At Mason Interactive we know that performance drives the strategy and we look at the data weekly, biweekly, and monthly.
“Yes, you want to know how many keywords you rank for and how many users come to your site. But you also want to know what to do with that.”
Jenna Vaccaro
If you are interested in learning more about your website’s SEO performance, sign up for a free consultation with our SEO experts.
