PPC Resellers, Listen: Online Retailers Rate Facebook as Best Advertising Platform

Pay per click advertising reseller agencies should be looking at Facebook ads as a new service for their clients. Why? Just take a look at this freshly published study on how over 800 retailers are using social commerce to improve the shopping experience. According to social discovery platform 8th Bridge, the biggest online retailers prefer Facebook as a choice of traffic from the social sphere. No surprise there, right? Actually there is.

 (Image: 8th Bridge)

Most PPC resellers would think that retailers get that traffic via “organic” Facebook efforts, such as uploading content and encouraging people to naturally Like and share that content. Surprisingly, 8th Bridge found that that social traffic is not from organic Facebook efforts. Rather, the biggest retailers are using Facebook Exchange, the social network’s pay for play advertising platform.

FB Ads: Costly & Counterintuitive or Effective?

Normally, pay per click resellers would think that the biggest advantage of Facebook, as well as other social networking sites, is the cost-effective element. Marketers can simply open a fan page and start getting Likes from there. That’s one reason why we PPC folks would rather leave some retailers alone; it’s because they want to get referral traffic from Facebook. They do not want to spend so they do not opt for paid search. But apparently, that is not the case.

When asked which platform has the most potential to drive sales, most of respondents picked Facebook. In fact, nearly 3 in every 5 retailers asked believe in the potential of the world’s biggest social network. Newcomer Pinterest ranked second with an approval rate of 27%. As expected, Twitter and Instagram tied for third place with 5% each. Another 5% of respondents said they do not expect to generate sales from any of these social networks.

(Image: 8th Bridge)

And the most surprising statistics perhaps for white label PPC resellers in this study is the high adoption rate of Facebook ads. At present, a whopping 78% of these companies buy Facebook ads – showing just how much confidence retailers have on the social network.

Social Networks as Traffic Drivers

OK, so sales are out of the question for some. What about traffic? Using the presence of upstream traffic as metric, researchers found that 2.16% of retailers receive visits from Facebook – although much of it is paid. The closest social network would be YouTube, which posted a much lower percentage of 0.82%. Pinterest (.1%) and Twitter (.02%) were third and fourth respectively.

While the average seems low, some brands are getting a substantial amount of traffic via Facebook. PetFlow.com, for example, gets over 32% of its unique monthly visitors from the social network. “PetFlow is highly effective in engaging its Fans on Facebook. Engaging Fans on Facebook effectively means talking about what they care about, in this case, pets. If you were a children’s clothing company, then you would talk about children,” the study said.

What Do Adoption Rates Say?

(Image: 8th Bridge)

The most effective traffic sources among social networks according to retailers are obviously, the most adopted too. In this case, Facebook leads the race with a 99% adoption rate. YouTube is a very close second at 98%. Twitter and Pinterest, again, complete the top four, with a similar rate of 89% adoption. Instagram posted an adoption rate of 69% while Vine, Twitter’s new video site, placed sixth with 38%.

When it comes to buttons, the Pin it button is most popular. It has an integration rate of 62%, just a bit higher than the Tweet button (61%) and the Facebook Like button (59%). Google+ comes into the picture finally, placing fourth with its button being integrated by 42% of retailers.

YouTube Worth the Spotlight, Too

As the biggest video-sharing site in the world, there’s no doubt on YouTube’s reach. When you look at the average though, the upstream traffic retailers get from it is so low. Less than 1% said they get traffic from YouTube. But those who do get a lot. That’s why white label PPC resellers offering SEO and social media services should consider the inclusion of YouTube optimization in their set list.

Take the case of Lancome. The U.S. arm of the French luxury cosmetics house gets over 21% of upstream traffic from YouTube. Second-placer Vat19.com gets 17% of traffic from the video site. According to 8th Bridge, what makes Vat19.com video ads so effective is the demonstration of actual product use, and done in a way that grabs customers’ attention.

PPC Resellers: Traffic to Main Site Crucial

(Image: 8th Bridge)

While social networks can be a driver of traffic, it should be noted that optimization efforts on the retailer’s website is still more important than ever. When asked to rate which method was better for learning new products, customer respondents said “browsing retailer’s sites” was the most effective. This simply underlines why your clients need SEO, and of course, instant traffic via PPC advertising. Their websites need traffic because that’s where consumers learn about new products. Emails, as usual, are important. Social starts to come into the picture at No. 3: post by friends on Facebook, followed by activity feeds, and then browsing pins.

So while we recommend you study the possibility of offering Facebook optimization and Facebook ad managements due to the high demand, you should not take PPC and SEO for granted. 

SEO Resellers: Survey Shows Top 3 Priorities of Marketers in 2014

You have marketing priorities in 2014 as an SEO reseller. It may be to increase your website’s traffic and lead intake so that you may convert more prospects. Some of you want to focus on increasing sales from existing customers by offering them add-on services. But regardless of what you want to prioritize when it comes to your own marketing, you would want to find out what your clients need this year.

White label SEO reseller program provider Endlessrise compiled a list of 5 massive outsource opportunities in 2014 just a few weeks ago. Those findings are based on a report by Webmarketing123 called the State of Digital Marketing Report 2014, which was released in the latter part of 2013. The findings in that research coincide with the results of another major digital marketing survey that was released just recently a marketing automation company owned by SalesForce.

2014 State of Marketing: Top 3 Priorities

In 2014 State of Marketing, ExactTarget bares what marketers’ new priorities for this year will be. The top three priorities of marketers in 2014 are:

1) Driving increased conversion rates – 47%

2) Increasing and improving brand awareness – 46%

3) Collecting, measuring, and using behavior-based data – 29%

And to achieve these priorities, an overwhelming 98% of marketers said they will either maintain or increase their spending in 2014. This is good news not just for in-house marketing teams, but also to SEO resellers. The presence of goals and bigger budgets means businesses will need teams and agencies to execute their new plans. What areas do they plan to spend more money on so they can achieve these top three priorities?

Where the Marketing Money Will Go

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According to the 2014 State of Marketing, which surveyed over 2,500 global marketers, there are five areas that are expected to receive more funding this year. They are:

·         Data and Analytics – 61%

·         Marketing Automation – 60%

·         Email Marketing – 58%

·         Social Media Marketing – 57%

·         Content Management – 57%

Cross-referenced with the 2014 State of Digital Marketing Report published by Webmarketing123 in the latter part of 2013, the three areas that match are: content, social media, and email. Marketers are expected to spend more on these three areas this year. And as a private label SEO reseller, these are the areas you can help your clients with. And when you do, always take into consideration their three main priorities mentioned earlier in this post.

Email Marketing: Can SEO Resellers Help?

Most white label online marketing resellers do not provide email marketing for clients. That doesn’t mean you can’t help your clients. Businesses tend to carry out email marketing on their own, using tools and email marketing software available at their disposal. As proof of its importance to businesses, some 68% of marketers believe email is core to their business. Nearly 50% of respondents are collectively sending 500,000 emails each year.

But here’s where they seem to get it wrong. Some 42% rarely or never use responsive design in their marketing emails. This is such a pity as some 41% of marketers confessed that 31%-50% of their subscribers use mobile devices to open emails! This means only half of subscribers are able to see those marketing emails without having to zoom in and out or wait for a long loading time. And if they get to see the email, another chunk will struggle to view the landing page. That’s because 37% of marketers rarely or never use mobile responsive web design in their landing pages.

(Image: ExactTarget)

The lesson here is simple: convince them to implement responsive design in their emails. If that is not possible, at least ensure they have a mobile responsive website so they can welcome mobile traffic.

Social Media Necessity: Google+ and Blogs

Some 57% of marketers will increase their budgets for social media marketing this year. Some 55% plan to spend more on social advertising. Needless to say, social will be receiving bigger budget allocations in 2014. Of course, white label SEO resellers typically offer Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn optimization to clients. But what other platforms and social networks should you pay attention to? Here are some hot services and the percentage of marketers that plan to introduce them into the marketing mix this 2014:

·         Google+ – 18%

·         Blog – 17%

·         Pinterest – 16%

·         YouTube – 15%

“Content marketing is propelling Google+ back into the spotlight, with Google offering extra search juice to content authors for posts shared on Google+,” the report said. White label SEO reseller program providers typically have blog writing and Pinterest and YouTube optimization services but not all of them offer Google+ optimization. Check with your provider today.

Content: Tested in 2013, Widely Used in 2014

(Image: ExactTarget)

At present, some 71% of marketers surveyed in the State of Marketing report are using content management as part of their marketing plan. Much of content’s rise to popularity has to do with the numerous algorithm updates and refreshes launched by Google last year. These changes in how the search engine ranks web pages stress the importance of having high quality content. Many marketers are realizing this fact today. That’s why 19% will introduce content management into their marketing plan this year.

How can you help clients in terms of content management? As a private label online marketing reseller, you can help clients by providing them with 1) blog setup, 2) article writing, 3) video creation, 4) infographic design. When it comes to using this content for link building, make sure you use Google-compliant methods. Here is an old but informative piece on using content for natural link-building.

So for 2014, marketers and businesses want to convert more leads and sales, increase brand awareness, and collect data. As a private label SEO and online marketing reseller, you can help them achieve these goals by offering services that are in line with their goals.