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What Is the Most Profitable Agency Pricing Model?

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What Is the Most Profitable Agency Pricing Model?

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What Is the Most Profitable Agency Pricing Model?

When talking about agency pricing models, there’s no ideal model for all.

No two agencies have exactly the same talent, clients, budgets, ambition, nor expertise—and because your agency is unique, so will your pricing be.

Finding the pricing model that will work best for your agency will need to include:

  • Your expenses, including overhead
  • Your aspirations, such as what you plan to invest into
  • Your team’s workload, and how to balance it out in the short and long term
  • Your client’s ambitions—and making sure they’re happy
  • Industry best practices
  • Global economic conditions

The list goes on, but at the end of the day, your pricing model will revolve mainly around the profit it needs to generate. 

In this article, we bring you the most popular and most profitable agency pricing models.

What Are the Top Agency Pricing Models Used in 2022?

The most popular ways agencies charge their services are:

  • Project or fixed fee-based pricing
  • Retainer fee pricing
  • Time and materials pricing or “day rates”
  • Increment or fixed fee-pricing
  • Value-based pricing
  • Incentives or performance-based pricing
  • Commission
  • Licensing or product sales 
Source: The Productive Company, Inc.

According to a global agency landscape survey conducted in November and December of 2021, out of 169 agencies that participated in the study, 72% of agencies stated that they predominantly work on project-based or fixed fees. From the sample of agency leaders, 82% are confident that in 2022, they will deliver even more profitable growth than in the previous year.

Source: The SoDA Report On…The Global Agency Landscape 2022

Agency leaders are aware of scope creep, resource planning challenges, recruitment and retention challenges in 2022, and global inflation. 

So, how do agencies expect to invest in growth by continuing to work many on predefined, fixed fees? Continuing to apply this pricing model will eventually lead to eroding profit margins.

Why Would Agencies Choose a Less Profitable Agency Pricing Model?

Though value-based pricing is an often-heard term in the agency world, this study has shown that it’s not that popular in practice. 

We offer a few potential answers as to why agencies choose the project-based pricing model over others.

Maybe Agencies Are Insecure About How Much to Charge for Their Services

When an agency starts small, it’s understandable that it doesn’t know how much to charge. Unfortunately, charging more for services through time never gets much easier. 

Many agencies often ask themselves: how much should we charge for our services? Another connected issue that agencies face is setting up rate cards. When agency rate cards aren’t set to meet industry standards, testing different pricing models can seem daunting or less financially viable. Rate cards help agencies communicate clear expectations, especially towards new leads, but also towards legacy clients. 

Ilija Brajković, CEO of Kontra, a digital marketing agency: “In order for a company to be profitable, a worker must cover the cost of his annual salary, times three. This is popularly called one salary for you, one salary for the company (overhead), and one salary for the boss (profit). ” 

Sometimes Agency Leaders Think “Profitability Isn’t What We Focus on”

According to the same study, only 14% of agencies stated that they have an integrated platform that gives them real-time insight into their key metrics. 

This basically means that agencies in 2022 still aren’t looking into their profitability that often. 

Zoja Ivanišević, Head of Development at Brigada, a spatial design agency: “At the end of each project, we’d do an evaluation in Excel to see our profitability. So we could never get the level of accuracy we have today. Before, we didn’t have precise insight into how profitable a project was until we actually delivered it. Because our profitability evaluation would happen after a project was done, we could never figure out, mid-project, whether we’d see less profit or break a budget until it was in the past.”

Sometimes, we’ll hear paradoxical claims from creative agencies such as “Profitability isn’t what we focus on” or “Profitability isn’t our thing”. And sure, it shouldn’t be your main driver as an agency that’s aiming at shaping brand communications and delivering state-of-the-art digital products for clients. 

Without cash flow, creative work cannot continue or expand. Though agencies today are often integrated and deliver top-notch technology along with digital marketing services, many of them still lack an agency management platform to help them guide their profitability and operations.

Maybe Agencies Simply Fear Losing Clients?

A potential reason that agencies decided to work based on predefined project fees is that agencies fear losing work. 

If an agency is stuck thinking that changing its pricing model (or pricing in general) will lead to losing clients and income, it has a big problem. The same survey has shown that though agencies experienced a lot of chaos in the second quarter of 2020, in 2022, agencies are back performing better than ever. 

Martijn Pilich, Managing Director at digital product design agency, Hike One: “We saw that our seniors were underpriced, so we changed our pricing model thanks to the data we got in Productive. We then learned very quickly that some of our clients are happy to pay more if they can get more experienced people. ” 

Data shows that, though the agency business took a quick dip into chaos at the start of 2020, it picked itself back up stronger than ever in 2021. Instead of letting fear guide agency pricing models, looking at data and creating potential growth scenarios will show which agreements with clients to modify.

How Agencies Can Shape a Brighter Future

Even though agencies are facing big challenges such as talent recruitment and retention, employee well-being and maintaining high efficiency and innovation through hybrid working models, confidence is high for agencies in 2022. 

Agencies can do this by regularly monitoring financial performance and dissecting project insights, and nurturing honest relationships with clients while they’re in a realistic position to negotiate better pricing models and that way—foster growth.

Now is the time for agencies to shape a brighter future for themselves. 

For more of the latest agency industry trends, download the Global Agency Landscape Study 2022.

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Google Introduces Product Ads with Short Titles

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Google Introduces Product Ads with Short Titles

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Google Introduces Product Ads with Short Titles

In a recent announcement – and one that has been much welcomed by the marketing community – Google Merchant Centre has now introduced short titles for product ads, a new and exciting tool that signals the deviation from the present ‘Title’ tool in favor of what is simply known as the ‘Short Title.’

This news has been welcomed by many Google Ads agencies and PPC experts as marketers can now optimize their product titles even more than they could do previously in the Google Merchant Centre, which, again, is good news for the wider advertising community and its subsequent clients.

So, with this in mind, let PPC Geeks take a more in-depth look at this new tool and what the introduction of short titles for product ads means for the world of B2B and B2C marketing.

What Are Short Titles for Product Ads?

Best used to briefly and concisely identify the product you want to advertise, short titles for product ads should be short and clear, as the name suggests. As these titles will appear in the context of someone quickly browsing the internet, it’s important to catch your potential customer’s attention as soon as possible.

Indeed, Google’s recent introduction of this new, albeit optional attribute to the Merchant Centre, allows ad managers and business owners to be more concise and to the point when writing about their products.

While the introduction of short titles for product ads has been warmly received, there are a number of essential points marketers need to be aware of: one is that your titles should be between 5-65 characters long.

Despite being short to write and therefore freeing up time, this new tool has not necessarily made copywriting any easier. Those who are not adept at the discipline may find it even harder to be concise.

Nevertheless, whether a PPC agency in Manchester or a PPC agency in London, short titles for products could, in fact, significantly improve the optimization of all ads across the Google Ads network, especially Google Display Ads, which could see the biggest improvement out of all the ad types.

Where Will Short Titles for Products be Shown?

These new short titles for products will mostly be shown in places where users typically spend a significant amount of time browsing the internet. This mainly includes shopping ads served up by a Google Shopping agency, Gmail campaigns, and a large proportion of Google Discovery ads.

In comparison to the much larger ‘Title’ attribute, which is required to be set up during the ad building process, short titles for products are entirely optional and should only be considered if they are fit for purpose.

Indeed, though the key differences between the ‘Title’ and ‘Short Titles’ are somewhat self-explanatory, it’s vital you understand how to apply this tool correctly.

A basic ‘Title’ more accurately matches the product landing page to a customer’s keyword search because it’s meant to be as all-encompassing as possible, while a short title, on the other hand, acts more like a vehicle for a brief, concise, and descriptive identification of your product.

That said, though this new feature is optional, it’s important to stay vigilant as your products won’t always be shown across the entire Google network when ‘Short Titles’ have been used.

Short Titles for Products Ads: Best Practices

These best practices serve as a guide to all Google Ads specialists and expert marketers. By meticulously adhering to these points, you can transcend basic advertising models and requirements and optimize your product data and creative output in terms of tangible performance.

  • Limit Your Short Titles to 65 or Fewer Characters – Most customers predominantly only see the initial 65 characters of a short title. With this in mind, it’s vital that you limit your short titles to 65 or fewer characters. Furthermore, depending on their screen size, customers may even see fewer characters than the initial estimate, making being concise hugely important. 
  • Prioritize the Most Important Points – The average person’s attention span has now dropped to eight seconds – decreasing nearly 25% in just a few years. When taking this into consideration, the likelihood of a user reading your entire product title is extremely low. So, with this in mind, it’s important to be as concise as possible and prioritize your most important points when writing a title, especially as people will mostly be scrolling through your products at speed.
  • Include the Brand Name – If your brand name is a significant, differentiating, or enticing selling point, then you need to include it in all of your short titles for product ads. Include your brand name so that users can understand what makes your product unique. Moreover, people are extremely loyal to brands, so including your brand name could be a defining factor in whether you sell a product or not.

These best practices are extremely important as short titles exist within a culture that is defined by its quick turnaround, and so it’s highly likely that users may scroll past your ads if you don’t adhere to the above, no matter if you’re a Google Ads expert or have carried out a thorough PPC audit.

PPC Geeks: Google Ads Specialists

This update is set to redefine how the industry describes its products and creates its ads. If you work in PPC management or for a Google Ads company, it would also be extremely useful to test using short titles in your product ads and compare those insights accordingly.

Ad testing matters as it provides ideas for further improvement and gives you data to back up your future decisions.

Nevertheless, if you require any help with this or want to improve your Google Ads campaigns, then why not invest in a comprehensive, 100% free Google Ads audit.

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Best Tips for Getting Started in Digital Marketing

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Best Tips for Getting Started in Digital Marketing

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Best Tips for Getting Started in Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a fantastic career choice after leaving university. The skills and attributes you develop throughout an undergraduate degree can prove invaluable in the world of digital marketing.

Written and verbal communication, independent research, time management, and teamwork skills are all important skills that employers look for when they are hiring for entry-level roles and graduate schemes.

So, if you are a recent or soon-to-be graduate looking to kick-start a career in digital marketing, it is crucial that you can confidently demonstrate all of these key skills and a willingness to learn.

This article offers top tips for getting your foot in the door without any formal experience in digital marketing after finishing university.

Top Tips to Help You Start a Career in Digital Marketing

Expand Your Knowledge by Finding Informational Resources Online

Your first point of call should be to start learning the basics. Gain an understanding of what exactly digital marketing entails and the different components.

By dedicating time towards learning, not only can you begin to feel confident in your digital marketing knowledge and skills, but you can impress employers by proving that you are eager to learn.

The Commercial Director of Nottinghamshire based digital marketing agency Repeat Digital, Rob Sherwood, has expressed how important it is to him when hiring for an entry-level role that the candidate has demonstrated a keen interest in the industry:

I am always impressed by candidates that have no direct experience but have taken the time to complete relevant certifications that build foundational knowledge. The Google Digital Garage, in particular, does a great job of providing high-quality, free training.

Because of the sheer nature of the subject, there are so many resources available online for you to start learning how to use various digital marketing software and tools.

The Managing Director of Repeat Digital, Olly Fisher, agrees that candidates should have prior knowledge of digital marketing before they apply for entry-level roles, even without a relevant degree:

With so much information about digital marketing readily available, including countless free online courses and certifications, there’s no excuse for someone interested in a career in digital not to have an understanding before they start applying for positions.

The Best Free Resources and Training Courses for Digital Marketing

There are a number of training courses and informational resources available online that are completely free! Here are some of the best free online training courses, where you gain a certificate of completion to add to your CV and LinkedIn:

  • Google’s Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
  • Google Analytics Academy
  • Google Ads Certifications
  • HubSpot’s Social Media Marketing Certification
  • HubSpot’s Email Marketing Certification
  • Semrush Digital Marketing Certifications

Additionally, here are some of the best informational resources online that you can read through in your spare time:

  • The Moz Beginner Guide to SEO
  • Semrush
  • AHrefs
  • Yoast
  • Search Engine Journal
  • Search Engine Land
  • SE Round Table
  • Learning SEO.io

Make sure you check out these podcasts too that you can listen to on Spotify:

  • Marketing O’clock
  • Aligned
  • Morning Brew
  • Marketing Companion
  • Everyone Hates Marketers
  • Hidden Brain
  • Invisibilia
  • Brainy Business
  • Perpetual Traffic

Reach Out to Different Companies and Try to Get Some Relevant Work Experience

Completing a work experience placement before or soon after leaving university will help you to stand out from other graduates. Work experience also gives you the opportunity to get a feel for what it’s like to work in digital marketing, helping you to decide if it is the right career choice for you.

The best way to get a work experience placement is to be proactive and reach out to as many different agencies as you can. Find the relevant people to contact via LinkedIn and company websites and send them an email.

When you’re contacting an employer to enquire about potential work experience opportunities, make sure you include the following in your email:

  • Your interest in wanting to start a career in the digital marketing industry after completing your degree
  • What you hope to gain from a work experience placement 
  • How you discovered their agency and what draws you to them in particular
  • Your skills and what you can bring to their workplace
  • Attach your CV that is tailored for digital marketing roles

As we have covered in this article, simply applying to digital marketing roles straight after leaving university is not enough. Be proactive by taking advantage of the countless free resources that are available online to expand your digital marketing knowledge.

Get in touch with agencies that offer work experience opportunities. Update your CV so that it is tailored specifically for digital marketing roles.

Don’t forget to include the transferrable skills you developed throughout your time at university, expanding on why they would make you the perfect candidate along with your willingness to learn and your efforts to succeed in the ever-growing digital marketing industry.

For more information on how to get into the world of digital marketing, get in touch with the Repeat Digital team today.

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Top Digital PR Agencies in the UK with Great Case Studies

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Top Digital PR Agencies in the UK with Great Case Studies

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Top Digital PR Agencies in the UK with Great Case Studies

Top digital PR agencies in the UK provide you with the most effective digital marketing solutions. Their assistance and guidance will lead you to establish a reputable brand. 

What is a Digital PR Agency?

Digital PR agencies deliver creative digital marketing strategies aiming to increase your brand awareness. They combine digital and PR, going beyond the capabilities of traditional PR agencies. 

Digital PR teams have close relationships with journalists, bloggers, or social influencers. They promote your business through press releases or other media placements. They organize digital PR campaigns that attract the attention of many customers. 

These agencies employ search engine optimization and link-building techniques that drive web traffic to your sites, thus expanding your audience reach. Social media and content marketing services enable you to connect your brand with the digital public. 

After all, building authentic bonds with your target audience requires expertise. For a better marketing strategy, explore the top digital PR agencies in the UK with great cases. 

15 Top Digital PR Agencies in the UK

Traditional public relations become obsolete when done alone. You should advance your PR strategy to become a thought leader in your industry. Working with the digital PR agencies in the UK helps you increase brand recognition, reach, and sales. 

  • Crowd
  • Brave Bison
  • The Good Marketer
  • Hallam
  • CEEK Marketing
  • Impression
  • Digital Uncut
  • Adtrak
  • Disturb Digital
  • Tecmark
  • Damteq
  • HUB
  • Social Chameleon
  • Bundle Digital
  • Captivate Hospitality

Crowd

Crowd is an award-winning digital PR agency having an international team of marketing experts from all over the world.

When DENSO contacted the agency, they wanted to build a well-thought digital strategy. The agency provided successful influencer campaign management to increase their brand exposure. The result was a 21% follower growth and 1.2M page impressions on social media. 

Brave Bison

Brave Bison is one of the best digital PR agencies in the UK with great results. They provide you with the right content, networks, and strategy you need to achieve your goals.

The agency is partnered with VOXI to organize an influencer campaign to increase sign-ups to the network. They created multi-channel paid media campaigns and engaging content strategies. In just 3 months, they got the outcome: 10M impressions, 700k video views, and 141k clicks.

The Good Marketer

Established in London, The Good Marketer is one of the top digital marketing agencies working with small to medium-sized businesses.

Kuishi asked the agency to improve ROI while establishing their website as a leading sales stream. After an initial SEO audit, the agency conducted keyword mapping and employed SEO techniques. Eventually, their efforts raised eCommerce conversion rates by 52.84%. 

Hallam

Hallam is an award-winning strategic digital marketing agency delivering outstanding results for recognized brands in different sectors.

Raleigh Bikes wanted to increase brand visibility and sales with the assistance of Hallam. The agency came up with a digital PR strategy including SEO and content marketing. They helped the brand achieve a 676% increase in eCommerce revenue YoY.

CEEK Marketing

CEEK Marketing is a social media consultancy and digital marketing agency helping brands reach their business goals within short periods. 

The Savoy asked the agency for a marketing strategy that boosts SEO while ensuring the brand’s image is authentic. Therefore, the agency created a strategic plan, offering services such as social media management, search engine optimization, and content production. 

Impression

Impression will grow, scale, and improve brands to their maximum capacity through strategic thinking and with care.

Boiler Guide was facing hardships in gaining organic traffic to their site. Therefore, the agency provided a link-building strategy, thought leadership management, and content creation. Their digital PR services led the agency to achieve a 40% lift in organic traffic. 

Digital Uncut

Digital Uncut heavily relies on data studies to create the best-performing digital strategies specific for startups.

For TRG Datacenters, the agency designed a digital PR campaign to increase SEO through a backlink strategy. They also worked on creating a brand image that is more friendly. The landing page reached out to many, receiving more than 2,600 backlinks as of the year 2021. 

Adtrak

Adtrak is a full-service digital marketing agency providing intelligent and performance-driven marketing solutions for their clients.

When Delawonder came to the agency, they hadn’t even a brand name. Adtrak offered them various services including branding, website design, and engaging content. They also helped the brand promote their services through multi-channel launches.

Disturb Digital

Disturb Digital works with established clients such as BBC or Forbes to drive sales, high-value leads, and brand recognition.

Mary Katrantzou wanted to attract attention to their fashion show and improve brand visibility. Therefore, the agency designed a series of Instagram stickers showcasing the brand’s excellence. On the first day, the videos were viewed more than 670,000 times. 

Tecmark

Tecmark is one of the best SEO agencies in the UK creating data-driven digital PR campaigns to help clients achieve more brand recognition.

Sainbury’s Jobs contacted Tecmark to increase their job applications. The agency created landing pages and engaging content. Then, they employed effective SEO techniques leading to a 763% increase in organic traffic. 

Damteq

Damteq is an excellent marketing digital PR agency building intelligent digital experiences and campaigns.

 

Aqua Cooling wanted to rebrand their business with a new website and digital marketing strategy. Damteq worked on their brand logo and guidelines and employed paid ad and organic media strategies to promote the websites. Eventually, they achieved a 30% increase in search volumes.

HUB

HUB is a digital PR agency that brings together industry knowledge and years of experience while creating the best strategy for you.

For London South Bank University, HUB managed a promotional campaign showcasing the excellence of the school through video content. They promoted this video and campaign during the enrollment periods and one of the lucky ones won the grand prize. 

Social Chameleon

Social Chameleon is a talented digital marketing agency specializing in creating effective digital PR strategies.

They won the Most Trusted Digital Marketing Company in 2021 by SME Awards. They have 100% 5 star reviews as well as 6:1 average ROAS. Whatever your goal is, whether it is more reach, revenue, or awareness, you are in the right hands.

Captivate Hospitality

Since 2009, Captivate Hospitality has presented outstanding results and excellent customer service to hospitality businesses all over the globe.

Smoky Boys needed a strong brand identity to expand their business. The agency created influential social media campaigns, retaining more and more loyal customers and a wide customer base. 

Bundle Digital

Bundle Digital is a digital marketing agency focusing on inbound marketing for B2C and eCommerce businesses.

Ranging from email marketing, content marketing to SEO or PPC, they deliver the best results your brand needs. They combine great content with effective SEO, putting the PPC advertising campaigns at the core of their strategy.

Top digital PR agencies in the UK help your brand raise awareness, leads, and revenue. Working with them enables you to shine out in this competitive digital world.

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Deep Dive Into Shopify 2.0 to Empower Clients

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Deep Dive Into Shopify 2.0 to Empower Clients

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Deep Dive Into Shopify 2.0 to Empower Clients

Last year, Shopify Unite 2021 announced its biggest, boldest update to date, the new Shopify 2.0 store. This news has not only taken the tech industry by storm, but it has also opened up Pandora’s box of creative possibilities for Shopify users.

What Is the Shopify Online Store 2.0?

Creativity is at the forefront with this update, and because it is a lot to digest, Blue Door will outline what all of the Shopify terminologies mean using an example that just about everyone can relate to – redecorating a home.

Imagine an empty room, this is your Page. Now, imagine the general design direction you want to follow; the aesthetic, the paint – this is your Theme. Next, let’s furnish this room. Think of Meta Fields as furniture.

Pieces of carefully selected furnishings you can move wherever you please. Finally, think of all the cool gadgets you can add to your new, Pinterest-worthy room. Your smart systems, electronics, all the additional things.

These, are your apps.

Pretty cool right? Now duplicate this for an entire home. And not just any home, your dream home. A dream home that also doubles as your business and your livelihood. Still cool, but a lot of work. And if you don’t have the capacity to take it on, don’t worry. Blue Door does, and Blue Door‘s really good at it.

Alright, back to it. As Blue Door mentioned above, customization is at the forefront of this update. It provides new opportunities for creatives to not only tailor-make their websites, but to build themes, apps, and integrations that act as code-free plug-and-play solutions.

Endless updates mean endless possibilities and the creative team at Blue Door couldn’t be more excited to leverage their Shopify experience to set your store’s framework up for success.

Not only will your shop have the essentials like responsive web design, SEO optimization, SKU infrastructure, and seamless navigation, but Blue Door can also elevate your composition strategies and design a website that adheres to your brand message.

This will give you the structure you need to ensure the future success of your website and business.

Primary Components of Shopify 2.0

The new Shopify 2.0 Store update can be categorized into three main components: Themes (aesthetic), Meta Fields (furniture), and Apps (cool technology add-ons)

Themes

Essentially, there is still the easy-to-use theme editor for Shopify. However, the actual theme templates will have sections across all Pages, Collections, and Products!

In the past, Shopify themes have had moderate flexibility when it came to customization with minor workarounds that developers could leverage to jazz up cookie-cutter themes). Making creativity limited.

Fast Forward: Themes are a lot more modular. Users are given much more control when it comes to page positioning and content. Shopify users will be able to create more innovative themes, while developers can focus on making new, content-specific sections, and designers can make the whole thing move with purpose.

This allows your store to be as unique as your product.

When identifying which theme is right for you, try and stick to the new 2022 themes, as the template library will feature both new and old designs. Some designs to watch out for include the following:

Shopify Fluorescent Design Inc. Pixel Union
Craft Lorenza Reach
Sense Ira Launch
Dawn Context Atlantic

Meta Fields

Shopify’s Metafields let you add additional information boxes relating to your products, variants, collections, customers, orders, and much more to your store’s pages. Just like furniture in a room. For example, a variety of delivery options on your checkout page.

By default, Shopify offers you great data storage in your store admin, but that’s common for all the stores. Therefore, using Shopify 2.0 Metafields you can store unique data about any object you want in your store that can vary across products and pages.

This allows Blue Door’s store to run faster than before, which in turn,  helps support customer usability.

Applications

With great apps come great responsibilities. Not only are there more applications with Shopify 2.0, but App developers can now upload their Applications directly to the Shopify Online store with theme app extensions.

Application blocks can be added, removed, and configured directly from the theme editor without having to touch any code. This means uninstalls are also cleaner, meaning that the ghost code is automatically removed to avoid any future app install conflicts and issues.

To get you started on the right path, here are some of the top applications Blue Door’s seen in 2022:

Back in Stock by SureSwift Capital

Back in Stock streamlines the alert process for customers requesting out-of-stock items. When you restock products, waiting customers are alerted instantly by Email or SMS  to bring them back to your store and complete their purchase.

Lucky Orange by Lucky Orange

Lucky Orange is a very easy-to-use website analytics tool. Customers leverage Lucky Orange to prevent shopping cart abandonment & increase conversion rates on Shopify stores.

Shop channel by Shopify

The Shop channel is your control center for managing and optimizing the Shop app. Enable Shop’s ecosystem of features, create your brand experience, and track Shop’s performance.

Offset App by Shopify

Offset calculates the total emissions generated by your shipped orders, thus, calculating your offset cost. If you want to neutralize your shipping emissions that contribute to climate change, this is the app for you!

Templated Shopify Web Development services enable you to partner with an agency that knows exactly what they’re doing for a fraction of the cost of a full web development build.

In conclusion, the Shopify 2.0 Update is designed to liberate creativity and streamline design. This is also important for Shopify stores outside of the e-commerce space.

As this becomes more common as Shopify enhances its platform capabilities, Blue Door is seeing landing pages, NFPs, and portfolios being built- beautifully on Shopify every day. Interested?

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Key Steps in Developing a Social Media Strategy

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Key Steps in Developing a Social Media Strategy

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Key Steps in Developing a Social Media Strategy

For many companies, social networking has become a must-have tool. But, are these businesses utilizing social media to its greatest potential?

Creating a profile and publishing random material and content every now and then is no longer sufficient. It actually never was. Despite this, many companies do not appear to have a defined social media marketing plan that will help them succeed.

It may not appear to be a major problem at first, but failing to have a clear social media plan and a well-defined process might result in your social media marketing efforts not having the results you want.

However, if you devote enough time to doing things correctly, you may quickly establish and fulfill your objectives. Or better yet, you could do what most companies do and invest in a social media agency in London to help run and manage your platforms.

5 Key Steps in Developing a Social Media Strategy

1.   Set Goals

The first thing you need to do when creating a social media strategy is to set some clearly defined SMART goals.

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

Your objectives will be unique to your company and will complement your overall objectives. However, some standard categories of social media goals to consider are:

Increasing your brand’s awareness: Social media is an excellent tool for building a brand voice, raising awareness about the issues you support, and promoting your brand’s morals and values.

Increasing the size of your audience: The size of your audience and the rate at which it grows are typically determining factors in social media success. The larger your audience, the greater your chances of generating leads, sales, and a loyal customer base.

Boosting community engagement: While the quantity of your audience is crucial for influencers, the proportion of people who visit your social media page and like, comment on, or share it is much more significant. Especially with the social media algorithms.

Driving traffic to your website: While having many engaged followers is fantastic, social media outlets should ultimately be used to direct visitors to your website to increase sales.

Increasing the number of leads and sales: If you want your social media strategy to be successful, you’ll need to see an increase in leads and sales as a direct result of it.

2. Define Your Audience

One of the most common blunders made by businesses on social media is assuming that all of their followers are beneficial to them. It’s pointless to have a large number of followers if they don’t result in conversions.

First, analyze who your content resonates with the most and determine whether this group fits the target demographic for your company – qualified leads will quickly convert your audience to consumers.

To get greater insight into your audience, familiarise yourself with up-to-date surveys and data. Create a few personalities that reflect your ideal customer. Knowing your typical follower’s profile will help you tailor your social media campaigns to meet their needs.

3. Create High-Quality Engaging Content

When it comes to creating content, the purpose is everything. There’s no space for random posts here and there, especially if they don’t resonate with your audience.

Your content should fall into one of these four categories:

Inspirational: the content should tug on the heartstrings or intrigue your audience to learn more about your brand. Highlight your brand’s morals, values, and charitable achievements.

Educational: Show your audience the ‘why’ behind your brand and product. Why are you better than the competition? Why is your product something they need?

Promotion: Highlight the offers and discounts your company is running with straight-to-the-point content and clear CTAs.

Entertainment: Post content that is fun and relatable to your target audience. From trending memes and quotes to engaging polls about the latest social debates.

4. Posting strategy

While you could post all of your social media content manually, this could be time-consuming and may not yield the greatest results. The majority of social media platforms now use some type of algorithm to filter the information they provide to users.

Meaning if you post at a time when your target audience isn’t online, your material may go unnoticed.

You’ll want to utilize one of the world’s many social scheduling tools to help you plan and pre-schedule your posts. The tools often show you the optimal time to post based on when your audience is most engaged on each platform.

5. Utilise Video Content

Right now, videos are proving to be the top-performing content across the social media board. People want to be visually and audibly engaged when scrolling through their feeds.

The success of TikTok has forced other platforms like Instagram and YouTube to create their own version of concise video content. Instagram has reels, and YouTube has Shorts.

With all that being said, right now, video content is king. The social media algorithms are now pushing video content to the top of everyone’s feeds over single images and carousels.

So, a successful social media strategy in this day and age should definitely be video-heavy.

Conclusion

Social media is a fast-paced environment. New platforms show up all the time, while others undergo regular shifts with new features popping up on a weekly basis.

As a result, your social media marketing strategy should be a live document that you revisit and tweak as and when.

To keep on track, refer to it frequently, but don’t be hesitant to make adjustments to better reflect new objectives, tools, plans, or trends.

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Impactful Tips to Promote Well-Being at Work for Your Business

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Impactful Tips to Promote Well-Being at Work for Your Business

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Impactful Tips to Promote Well-Being at Work for Your Business

Well-being at work is critical for both the workforce and the business. Happy employees feel driven and strive to do the best work they can. This results in maximum productivity, great workplace culture, and a successful company.

However, it can be challenging to create a positive work environment that nurtures the well-being of your employees. And, if you get a negative reputation, it can be hard to make changes.  Around 86% of candidates avoid companies with a poor reputation for company culture.

It’s important to remember that your employees are people, with challenging and amazing attributes that bring. To be successful, you need a human-centric approach.

Effective well-being at work initiative should drive your current employees and aid their progression while helping to recruit, onboard, and grow your existing teams for maximum productivity.

Not only that, but a positive work environment improves their mental health and general health overall. Therefore, company processes, administrative efforts, recruitment, and employee management should all contribute to an effective workplace wellbeing program.

Communication and Support

Communication is the foundation of any relationship, and workplace relationships are no different. You need to foster an open and supportive environment for your employees.

Connected employees improve workplace productivity by around 25%. When everyone’s working together, the workplace can approach maximum efficiency.

Not only that, but employees that feel supported are more likely to engage with their role and their company. Employees need to feel that they can discuss their needs and concerns openly.

Encouraging that communication, and responding openly will foster the modern employee/leadership relationship.

Ensure that all teams have the opportunity to meet regularly, even socially, where possible. Your teams should be talking to each other, as well as management.

You can schedule weekly meetings or one on one meetings for individual employees and management. Create opportunities for your workforce to talk to you, and support their concerns.

Opportunities and Training

For most employees, progression and growth is the primary motivation in the workplace. People go to work to climb up the ladder and progress in their careers. Companies that don’t value their staff enough to improve their skills, and promote them, find that productivity is virtually non-existent.

Studies suggest that 40% of employees consider growth and advancement opportunities to be the most important factor in their job satisfaction.

Ultimately, people look for advancement in every aspect of their lives. Life satisfaction peaks when you’re making progress in all areas of your life. If your company cannot offer new and exciting opportunities, then employees will look elsewhere.

To many employees, a lack of commitment to employee growth implies that they aren’t valued.

It’s important to observe and understand the talent that already exists in your company, and where you can nurture it for company growth. Your employees are what drive your company forward, so it pays to invest in their futures.

Around 74% of employees are willing to learn new skills or retrain for their roles, and for career advancement. Take advantage of this drive to succeed.

Engage your employees in their roles by offering relevant workplace training. Provide them with a clear view of their promotion opportunities, and how you’re going to assist them in growth.

Regularly assess your teams, and observe where you can promote internally, and who is showing the most potential. If employees can see that you’re paying attention to their performance, they’re more likely to engage and feel that their hard work is being valued.

Trust

Encouraging an open communication policy, and supporting and driving your employees where possible, should improve the trust between employees and owners or management.

A trusting relationship between employees and managers benefits both parties. Around 79% of people say they have experienced micromanagement in the workplace. This can be one of the most detrimental factors for real well-being at work.

Trust your employees from the beginning, and encourage them to trust each other within their roles. If every employee has autonomy over their own responsibilities, everyone can reach maximum productivity.

Ultimately, you hired your staff for a reason. Give them the opportunity to demonstrate their skill set. If they feel that you trust them to do their job well, they are more likely to feel valued by management.

Not only does a trusting environment improve employees’ well-being, but it can improve company efficiency and growth. Smooth internal operations mean that management can focus on driving the company forward, rather than micromanaging their teams.

Onboarding and Introductions

An employee’s first experience with your company is through their onboarding process. New hires will want to make a good first impression, but so should you. Ultimately, the right introduction to your business should set them up for a positive experience with your company throughout their career.

Research suggests that good onboarding can improve employee retention by as much as 82%. A positive initial experience makes an employee much more likely to continue engaging with their role.

Your onboarding process should be constantly evolving, with each new hire. Ensure that you’re getting good feedback from each hiring round, and learning for future employees.

The best onboarding processes don’t stop after the first week or month. Onboarding is an ongoing process, providing job satisfaction and progression over time.

Keep the onboarding process simple and smooth, and start early. If your new hires are excited to join the company, before their start date, they are far more likely to have a positive experience.

Likewise, your existing teams benefit from a positive onboarding experience. With the right process, the new starters should be motivated to be as productive as possible and will work hard to support their team. 

Recognition and Reward

Rewards are a great motivator. Engaged employees will work hard, but there’s nothing wrong with showing your appreciation. Employees that feel valued, or that they have something to work toward, will be more engaged.

Around 30% of employees have never received an end-of-year bonus. Research suggests that a third of employees feel that their company doesn’t value them enough to reward them.

It’s easy to say that employees should want to work hard for their own satisfaction but, ultimately, everyone appreciates a little appreciation.

Rewards don’t have to be monetary. You might consider hosting regular team-building activities, where employees can relax and socialize with each other to build better relationships. Or, consider a more flexible work schedule for those that need it.

Small acts of recognition are just as valuable in the workplace. Provide positive feedback to your employees, and let other team members know when they’re performing well. Small acts of positivity ultimately contribute to wider well-being at work.

Flexibility

As mentioned above, flexibility is particularly important for employee well-being in today’s working world. Post-COVID, more workplaces are offering flexible or remote working than ever before.

Around 16% of companies in the world are now fully remote. While this might seem relatively low now, 85% of managers believe that remote working will become the new norm.

The pandemic demonstrated that employees were just as productive from home. In fact, flexible working meant that they no longer had to take time off work for personal appointments, and could manage their personal lives alongside their work.

While many employees welcomed the return to the office, this new flexible way of working grew in popularity.

Ultimately, your employees are human. They all have different preferences and responsibilities in their lives. Some may want to have a flexible working arrangement, and some might want to work completely remotely.

The key is to be amenable to each individuals’ requirements. Providing your employees with the opportunity to work at home can improve employee well-being at work overall.

At BAD, they understand the importance of managing the human element of the workplace. Your employees are your driving force, and you need to maximize their workplace wellbeing.

BestAtDigital’s HR and training tools ensure that you provide the best working experience for your employees, with opportunities for growth and development. Get in touch with them today to discuss the best tools to improve your workplace culture.

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The Ultimate Guide to Using Google Ads for Your Business

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The Ultimate Guide to Using Google Ads for Your Business

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The Ultimate Guide to Using Google Ads for Your Business

Whether you are looking to increase traffic to your website, improve your brand’s online presence, or grow inquiries about your products or services, Google Ads is a powerful tool that can accomplish all these goals plus more.

Google ads are an effective method of driving relevant, qualified traffic to your website, exactly when people are searching for the specific types of products or services that your brand offers.

With paid ads on Google getting 65% of the clicks, and 43% of customers sharing that they have bought something they’ve seen on a YouTube ad, it is no secret of the possibilities offered by this innovative and popular platform.

It can be difficult to know where to start with spending your money and time implementing digital advertising campaigns, so our experienced team at Bold x Collective has put together a comprehensive guide to help you navigate your business’s strategy with Google Ads. 

Keep reading to ascertain an in-depth look at how to leverage one of the most popular tools used in digital marketing.

Let’s start with the basics… What are Google Ads?

Google Ads uses a search engine approach that allows users to promote their business by targeting relevant keywords that can result in lead generation and an increase in sales among other key performance indicators.

Formerly known as Google AdWords, this online paid advertising model operates while tying together multiple aspects that provide marketers with access to leverage the search engine results page (SERP) to reach their desired target audience.

The platform belongs to the Pay-Per-Click marketing channel and has grown over the years. In fact, with the popularity of Google increasing steadily, many more features have been added to grow the capabilities of what you can accomplish (more about this later).

Now that we have a basic understanding of what purpose Google Ads has in the advertising world, let’s break down exactly how you can use the platform for your business needs.

First, let’s get a better overview of how your audience, and the general traffic on Google view and come to access these ads. To start, individuals will come across Google Ads through their search process when looking specifically for a type of product or service.

Among the suggestions they receive and based on the keywords they search for, there will be several ads that will present themselves usually as the top choices.

For example, if a user searches for ‘natural sunscreen’ on Google, the list of products that appear first will all be ads that are powered by Google Ads Shopping campaigns.

Due to the Pay-Per-Click system put in place, as the owner of the Google Ads account, you will have to pay an amount every time an individual clicks on your ad. You also have control over where your ad will direct users and the structure and placement of each ad. 

Now, let’s look at the steps required to create and run an ad. With four total sections, each category has multiple steps that need to be completed before you run your ad. 

How to use Google Ads – The Overview:

  1. Select Campaign Settings 
  2. Set Ad Groups 
  3. Create Ads
  4. Billing

Campaign Settings

The first step encompasses all the tools you need to build the foundation for your campaign. With this first section, you will have to outline:

  • Objective & Goals
  • Ad Type
  • General Settings
    • Campaign Name
    • Networks
    • Time
    • Targeting and audience segments
    • Budget & Billing
    • Ad Extensions

Moving on to a detailed explanation, let’s dive into what each section means.

Objective & Goals

This first section lays out several different pathways and goals for you to choose from. Depending on your desired result, and your business’s product or service, you should pick the one that best suits your needs. 

Types of Google Ads

This next section is mandatory and displays a wide range of Ad types to choose from. It is important to know the difference between each one, so keep reading to get a detailed breakdown of the most used and popular picks.

Search

This is the most popular and common form of Google Ads that businesses run. In fact, search ads are predominantly the first thing everyone first thinks of when hearing about Google Ads as a whole.

As the name suggests, this form of advertising is what you see on the search results page. These ads appear first and will sometimes also appear at the end of the page.

You can differentiate between organic search results and ones that were paid for, as the latter will evidently display an “Ad” title on the top left of the search result. 

Display

Google has since added more types of ads businesses can run that have different appeals and can be found on numerous Google platforms. This type of ad is different from Search ads as they are presented with banner type ads and are displayed on websites within the Google network. 

Shopping

These ads are tailored for the promotion of products and can be seen through the shopping tab on Google. This is ideal for promoting specific products, and like Search ads, will appear at the top of users’ search results for the specific product being promoted.

Video

This type of advertising is done through video content and runs on YouTube. Due to the video platform being the host of these ads, this advertising medium requires more effort and time. Unlike the previous ad types, these ads do not run on just text or product display alone and need a customized video to promote the desired product or service.

There are also more Ad types available as noted below.

  • Discovery
  • Smart
  • Local
  • App
  • General Settings

Next, let’s discuss the other core parts of building your campaign. You can set the duration for how long you want this campaign to run and can specify who you want to target.

This includes deciding the range of where you want your ads to appear. You can choose to go local or global and can even further narrow down your audience based on gender and age, among many other demographics as well as psychographics.

Make sure to keep in mind that the more niche you design your target segments to be, the more expensive it will cost to run your ad.

Depending on your business, and products or services, analyze whether it will be beneficial to target a wider audience, or to increase costs to target audiences based on specific interests and segments. The final step is setting a budget cap for your campaign.

You can set a monthly maximum amount you are willing to spend, as well as a daily amount. What’s great about the Google Ads pricing process is that it is very flexible and offers predicted results that outline what results in you can expect from your budget.

You can also explore add-ons like extensions, and experiment with changing the maximum budget amount based on ad performance each month.

Set Ad Groups

On to step number 2, setting up the ad groups. Here you will set which keywords you want to utilize for your campaign. You can set up more than one ad group if you would like, with differing keyword groupings for each relevant topic.

When choosing keywords, make sure to understand who your consumer is. Think about how and what their search habits are and relate that in accordance with your brand and the product or service in this situation.

Additionally, the keywords you choose should be specific and relevant. 

You can also exclude negative keywords to ensure that irrelevant searches are not being tied together with your ad. To put negative keywords to an ad group, just add a minus sign in front of the keyword. 

We highly recommend using platforms to find and organize the right keywords for your brand. Here are some free tools that you can try as a beginner in Google Ads:

  • Google Trends
  • Answer the Public
  • Keywords Everywhere

Create the Ad

Now you have completed the bulk of the campaign creation process, and it is now time to set up the actual ad that users will view and interact with. As shown above, Google Ads showcases a preview tab to let you see the final ad display in both desktop and mobile views.

You want to make sure to double-check the ad is exactly how you want it to be, as once approved by Google Ads, it will be visible to the public world.

Billing

The final and last step is the billing process. This fourth step is self-explanatory and requires you to add all the necessary details and information needed for the billing process.

But wait… the Google Ads journey doesn’t end here!

What is important to remember is that creating and monitoring successful campaigns takes time. Most often than not, the very first ad that you will run will need to be tweaked and altered periodically to achieve the optimal results you are looking for.

To gain the most amount of conversions, maintain a low CPC (cost per click) per ad, and overall gain effective exposure that leads to results, you will need to take additional steps.

The two main ways you can analyze the progress your ad is making are through split testing and a/b testing. Furthermore, keeping up to date on the changing trends in keyword research, and exploring ad campaigns for different products and services within your business to see what works best will help you achieve the best results.

We also highly recommend the installation of Google Analytics, a free tool that can be used to measure successes from the platform, in comparison to other marketing efforts you are doing to accomplish your business’s goal.

It is a fantastic way to track results and better understand how your Google Ads are performing, for your website.

Do you require more assistance with the Google Ads platform?

The expert Bold x Collective team has assisted many brands in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, and around the world by performing highly successful Google Ads campaigns.

To get started with our team, we offer a complimentary consultation, where we take the time to understand your goals and business needs; book your consultation to get started.

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A Constructive Guide to Developing an AI-Based Marketing Strategy

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A Constructive Guide to Developing an AI-Based Marketing Strategy

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A Constructive Guide to Developing an AI-Based Marketing Strategy

Artificial intelligence is a top digital marketing trend in 2022; it has become mainstream across many different industries. Also known as AI, it has already made a huge difference in how brands interact with their audience.

Artificial intelligence has been around for several years but is growing year by year, making it a significant part of the modern-day world.

Here are some interesting statistics by Tech Jury:

  • AI-powered voice assistants to reach 8 billion by 2023.
  • By 2025, the global AI market is expected to be almost $60 billion.
  • The highest number of Alexa’s inventory skills are accessible in the US – about 66.000 skills.
  • Global GDP will grow by $15.7 trillion by 2021 thanks to AI.
  • Already 77% of the devices we use feature one form of AI or another.

In a 2018 analysis of over 400 advanced use cases by McKinsey, it was discovered that marketing was the realm that would benefit the most from the use of AI. As well, according to Salesforce, 84% of marketing leaders used AI in 2020.

So how can your business integrate Artificial Intelligence into your marketing strategy?

This guide by Bold x Collective’s digital experts breaks down everything you need to know to get started.

So, let’s start with the big question, for those that don’t know… What exactly is Artificial Intelligence?

Before Bold x Collective begins to identify the importance of AI and how it can be utilized by your business, it is necessary to understand what AI is.

Artificial intelligence, put simply, is the ability of machines such as computers or robots (controlled by computers) to perform tasks that are typically carried out by humans as they require human intelligence and the ability to make a judgment.

It encompasses computer science and large datasets to build smart machines that can understand, act, and respond to problem-solving tasks like Bold x Collective does but with the goal in mind to be more efficient than humans.

Now that Bold x Collective has established what Artificial Intelligence is, let’s discuss how it impacts the marketing industry.

What Is Artificial Intelligence in Marketing?

AI in marketing (also referred to as AI Marketing) is a method of leveraging AI technology to collect data and consumer insights to improve the customer journey by anticipating your customer’s next moves.

With AI for marketing, marketers and businesses can further develop their understanding of consumer behaviors which will ultimately help businesses target consumers with the right strategy in a more efficient manner.

Gaining all this insight into your consumers can also be used to increase your return on investment (ROI) of marketing campaigns by better targeting your audience.

Without even consciously recognizing it, virtually, all of us have experienced some form of AI Marketing at some point in our lives; particularly in the most recent years as AI technology has expanded.

For instance, chatbots that can be found on websites for customer support or even targeted ads showcasing products similar to what consumers (us) were previously browsing is a very common method of AI that Bold x Collective experiences without even realizing it.

Why Is AI Important for Your Business?

Consumers want to shop from businesses that understand their needs and expectations. With AI marketing, your business can filter through an enormous amount of marketing data and analytics from all of your platforms (social media, website, e-commerce site, emails, etc.) at a speed superior as compared to the speed of a person.

AI technology can give businesses the ability to filter through billions of data points and group that data together into useful information to then receive deeper consumer insights than what was possible within the same time frame as a human. 

Here are some ways you can integrate AI into your business:

1. Chatbots

Arguably one of the most common and early forms of AI used in a business is chatbots. Chatbots, or chatterbots, is a type of software that allows consumers/shoppers to speak and ask questions online via text on a company website/application and then receive automated responses for any basic circumstance/interaction rather than having to call a customer service helpline.

According to the latest State of Conversational Marketing report by Drift, chatbot usage increased by 92% from 2019 to 2020, the fastest growth compared to any other brand communication channel.

If your business has noticed “frequently asked questions”, having a chatbot that easily allows your customers to ask those questions and automatically be responded with their answer or directed to where they can find that information can be very helpful and even timesaving rather than having to respond to emails, texts, and phone calls.

2. Email Automations

As a business, you might already have set up email automation and unknowingly have integrated AI into your marketing! If not, this is a great place Bold x Collective agency would recommend starting.

Email automation is key, as they don’t only save you time from having to send out emails yourself, but also ensure that there is an email sent out for every customer milestone.

Have you ever experienced receiving an educational email from a business? – Or even a coupon code from your favorite online shop? Receiving emails like this is a form of email automation.

There are many different types of automation that can be sent out, including a welcome email, abandoned carts, reminders if products are running low in stock, and more.

Some of Bold x Collective’s favorite tools for this include Mailchimp, Salesforce, Klaviyo, and Privy.

3. Personalized Suggestions

If you’re an e-commerce business, personalized product suggestions are a must. Consumers are getting less and less motivated to search for items themselves and now expect brands to already know them and what they like.

With that said, using AI technology to monitor the shopping patterns of every individual consumer and then recognize their behavior, interests, and needs is necessary and will let your brand and its AI naturally offer personalized product suggestions for each shopper.

This means, if a consumer has been browsing your e-commerce website and clicking on every blue mug or ripped pair of skinny jeans that they see, then your AI software will automatically suggest different blue mugs or ripped skinny jeans that they haven’t yet seen.

Examples of this can be seen on many well-known e-commerce websites from a variety of industries, from Amazon to Sephora, from The Bay to IKEA, and more.

When asked about the benefits of personalization in a 2017 survey conducted by Evergage (Real-Time Personalization), 61% of respondents recognized improved customer experiences, and 63% mentioned increased conversion rates.

Thereby, your business will benefit greatly from using AI technology to make recommendations for your customers.

4. Receive Increased & In-depth Customer Insights

While it takes humans an infinite amount of time to distinguish consumer behavior shopping patterns, especially when diving further into individual consumer behavior patterns, AI technology will continuously be providing insights for your business.

Using billions of different data, an AI algorithm software will distinguish and group like-minded consumers together. This can help your business successfully target specific campaigns to the right consumers as well as even possibly predict future customer behaviors based on their previous actions. 

As an agency, one of Bold x Collective’s favorite tools for customer insights is Google Analytics, which is a free tool.

It is very informative when it comes to observing website data; you can explore which sources your website traffic comes from; your website bounce rate; how many unique visitors your website has had, the most popular pages on your website, and more.

As marketers and business owners, Bold x Collective highly recommend installing Google Analytics for your website.

Conclusion

The possibilities with artificial intelligence in marketing and your overall business strategy are limitless. Integrating AI into your business can not only save yourself and your employees an enormous amount of time but is more efficient.

It will ultimately produce deeper insights and results than what could be done ourselves.

If you’re seeking additional support on how to grow your business with the use of Artificial Intelligence, the expert Bold x Collective digital team is ready to assist. Book a complimentary consultation to get started.

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TikTok Allows 10-Minute Videos Now: The New TikTok Update

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TikTok Allows 10-Minute Videos Now: The New TikTok Update

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TikTok Allows 10-Minute Videos Now: The New TikTok Update

TikTok announced this month that it’s updating the maximum length of videos on its platform from three minutes to ten. Sophia Cohen, Head of Influencer Marketing at Moburst, discusses some of the recent changes made to the TikTok platform. 

What Is the Big TikTok Update?

The update is a big deal because TikTok has always been a short-form video platform – so the question arises, is it still?

It seems the decision was made in a bid to allow influencers to create more in-depth vlogs, as opposed to just snappy clips, and not have to send their audience elsewhere for longer content.

How Has the Industry Responded?

The industry-wide consensus about TikTok’s new change has been overwhelmingly negative. Change brings with it new metrics, new best practices, and a shift in approach, so it’s often greeted with skepticism.

However, critics feel that even TikTok’s justification for introducing the update validates their concerns – they want to give creators the chance to produce long-form content, but that detracts from TikTok’s current (very successful) formula.

The key to TikTok’s success up until now lies in the way users are incentivized to repeatedly rewatch videos on the platform. Whether a certain element caught their attention, they missed a particular clip, or something amused them, there’s nothing to lose from watching again given how short the videos are.

The snappy videos, from challenges to outfit get ready with me’s (GRWM), encourage users to rewatch them repeatedly.

The new ten-minute maximum video length will mean users are less likely to rewatch TikTok videos, so the overall views will go down. Somewhat begrudgingly, the industry will have to set new benchmarks once more.

Why Did TikTok Make This Change?

TikTok revealed that it made the maximum length longer to cater to creators who want to produce more long-form content. Positively speaking, this offers more space for different types of creators and different styles of content.

For example, fitness instructors will now be able to create ten-minute, full-body workout sessions instead of quick three-minute ab workouts. Or, fashion stylists will be able to guide people through a week’s worth of outfits rather than a day.

As a result, these creators will no longer have to redirect their audience elsewhere, such as on YouTube, which they’ve been doing for some time. Consequently, TikTok is asserting itself as a direct competitor of YouTube, while offering creators the chance to keep all of their content centralized in one place.

There’s no denying that TikTok is trying to monetize the app even more by giving both consumers and creators an extra feature that prevents the need for YouTube video “trailers” redirecting TikTok followers to longer-form content there.

Is There a Solution to Make This Update Better Received by the Industry?

Well, an idea Moburst has looked into is whether TikTok could move its long-form videos to a dedicated section of the app that’s separate from the For You page.

Or, the solution could even be as simple as adding a filter to allow users to choose the maximum length of videos they want. This would also give creators data on what length videos users actually prefer.

With either of these methods, the long-form videos won’t interrupt the fast-paced nature of the For You page if users don’t want them to. This would be the best way to keep the TikTok dynamic as close to what people currently know and love.

After all, isn’t one of the main reasons people use TikTok (as opposed to another social media platform) for its short-form video content?

TikTok has been the industry leader in this realm, to the point where nearly every other platform has attempted to copy it, such as Instagram with Reels or YouTube with Shorts. Reels outperform all other Instagram features, which suggests TikTok’s going to see a similar pattern.

At the end of the day, you’ve got to have faith this will be pulled off successfully given that it’s TikTok, and, well, that speaks for itself.

However, Moburst can’t help but question that without sticking to just short videos, quick trends, bite-sized content, and everything else geared towards keeping people scrolling – will TikTok maintain its top-tier status?



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