Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Let Data Take the Wheel – Using API-Integrated Reporting Dashboards

Posted by IanWatson

Some say the only constant thing in this world is change — and that seems to go double for the online marketing and SEO industry. At times this can seem daunting and sometimes insurmountable, but some have found ways to embrace the ambiguity and even thrive on it. Their paths and techniques may all differ slightly, but a commonality exists among them.

That commonality is the utilization of data, mainly via API-driven custom tools and dashboards. APIs like Salesforce’s Chatter, Facebook’s Graph, and our very own Mozscape all allow for massive amounts of useful data to be integrated into your systems.

So, what do you do with all that data?

The use cases are limitless and really depend on your goals, business model, and available resources. Many in our industry, including myself, still rely heavily upon spreadsheets to manage large data sets.

However, the amount of native data and data within reach has grown drastically, and can quickly become unwieldy.



An example of a live reporting dashboard from Klipfolio.

Technology to the rescue!

Business intelligence (BI) is a necessary cog in the machine when it comes to running a successful business. The first step to incorporating BI into your business strategy is to adopt real-time reporting. Much like using Google Maps (yet another API!) on your phone to find your way to a new destination, data visualization companies like Klipfolio, Domo, and Tableau have built live reporting dashboards to help you navigate the wild world of online marketing. These interactive dashboards allow you in integrate data from several sources to better assist you in making real-time decisions.

A basic advertising dashboard.

For example, you could bring your ad campaign, social, and web analytics data into one place and track key metrics and overall performance in real-time. This would allow you to delegate extra resources towards what's performing best, pulling resources from lagging activities in the funnel as they are occurring. Or perhaps you want to be ahead of the curve and integrate some deep learning into your analysis? Bringing in an API like Alchemy or a custom set-up from Algorithmia could help determine what the next trends are before they even happen. This is where the business world is heading; you don’t want to fall behind.

Resistance is futile.

The possibilities of real-time data analysis are numerous, and the first step towards embracing this new-age necessity is to get your first, simple dashboard set up. We're here to help. In fact, our friends at Klipfolio were nice enough to give us step-by-step instructions on integrating our Mozscape data, Hubspot data, and social media metrics into their live reporting dashboard — even providing a live demo reporting dashboard. This type of dash allows you to easily create reports, visualize changes in your metrics, and make educated decisions based on hard data.

Create a live reporting dashboard featuring Moz, Hubspot and social data

1. First, you'll need to create your Mozscape API key. You'll need to be logged into your existing Moz account, or create a free community or pro Moz account. Once you're logged in and on the API key page, press "Generate Key."

2. This is the key you'll use to access the API and is essentially your password. This is also the key you'll use for step 6, when you're integrating this data into Klipfolio.

3. Create a free 14-day Klipfolio trial. Then select "Add a Klip."

4. The Klip Gallery contains pre-built widgets for your whatever your favorite services might be. You can find Klips for Facebook, Instagram, Alexa, Adobe, Google Adwords and Analytics, and a bunch of other useful integrations. They're constantly adding more. Plus, in Klipfolio, you can build your own widgets from scratch.

For now, let’s keep it simple. Select "Moz" in the Klip Gallery.

5. Pick the Klip you'd like to add first, then click "Add to Dashboard."

6. Enter your API key and secret key. If you don’t have one already, you can get your API key and secret ID here.

7. Enter your company URL, followed by your competitors' URLs.

8. VoilĂ  — it’s that easy! Just like that, you have a live look at backlinks on your own dash.

9. From here, you can add any other Moz widgets you want by repeating steps 5–8. I chose to add in MozRank and Domain Authority Klips.

10. Now let’s add some social data streams onto our dash. I'm going to use Facebook and Twitter, but each of the main social media sites have similar setup processes.

11. Adding in other data sources like Hubspot, Searchmetrics, or Google Analytics simply requires you to bet set up with those parties and to allow Klipfolio access.

12. Now that we have our Klips set up, the only thing left to do is arrange the layout to your liking.

After you have your preferred layout, you're all set! You've now entered the world of business intelligence with your first real-time reporting dashboard. After the free Klipfolio trial is complete, it's only $20/month to continue reporting like the pros. I haven't found many free tools in this arena, but this plan is about as close as you’ll come.

Take a look at a live demo reporting dash, featuring all of the sources we just went over:

Click to see a larger version.

Conclusion

Just like that, you've joined the ranks of Big SEO, reporting like the big industry players. In future posts we'll bring you more tutorials on building simple tools, utilizing data, and mashing it up with outside sources to better help you navigate the ever-changing world of online business. There's no denying that, as SEO and marketing professionals, you're always looking for that next great innovation to give you and your customers a competitive advantage.

From Netflix transitioning into an API-centric business to Amazon diving into the API management industry, the largest and most influential companies out there realize that utilizing large data sets via APIs is the future. Follow suit: Let big data and business intelligence be your guiding light!


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How To Streamline User Onboarding

Great! So you made a sale. But don’t break into your victory dance just yet.

Now you have to get this customer onboarded successfully. Successful onboarding is the first step to getting customers to use your product and thus stay with you.

Businesses that succeed often have a strong onboarding strategy, one that doesn’t leave any cracks through which customers get lost.

Take your first step toward higher customer retention by streamlining your user onboarding.

Here are 7 simple steps to get you started:

1. Define the Scope of Onboarding

I hate the cliché, but you only get one chance to make the first impression. And since the customer engagement cycle begins with onboarding, you HAVE to get it right. To roll out an effective onboarding process, your first step should be to define the scope of onboarding.

Traditionally, onboarding is seen as the transition of a customer from the sales team to the product or service delivery team. Depending upon your business, you need to define all that goes during that transition. And more importantly, define what you would call a successful onboarding.

Write down the one step that will signal that you’ve got the customer onboard. For example, if you have a product where users can create some kind of campaigns, perhaps your final onboarding step could be when a user successfully schedules a campaign.

I’ve recently started using a new tool called Ninja Outreach, which helps you in your outreach efforts. The first time that I ran a couple of searches through the tool, I received a friendly message from the team congratulating me about it. For Ninja Outreach, perhaps it could be this first step of actually using their tool that marks the successful onboarding of a user.

ninja-outreach-onboarding

2. Make Onboarding About the Customer

Since you have successfully sold your product, your customers have obviously found your pitch appealing. Often when leads become customers, they expect similar messaging across your entire product.

But most customers get turned off at this point. They become a victim to a flawed and disjointed onboarding experience, one that’s not consistent with the product’s style.

Many businesses do this mistake: Until the sale, everything is only about the customers and how the advertised products will make a difference in their lives. After the sale, it all becomes about the product. Customers can feel cold as a result of this difference.

Try to make onboarding about the customer and not about the logistics of your product. Always remind customers how using your product or using a certain feature will help them get closer to their goals — tell how it justifies their purchase.

Evernote’s onboarding email sequence is a shining example of this.

evernote-onboarding

Ninja Outreach also does a great job here. While onboarding, it sends a simple welcome email with quick help links while still keeping the customer engaged.

ninja-outreach-onboarding-email

3. Know How Much Help Your Customers Need, Don’t Assume

While you only want to make it simple for your customers to understand and use your product, but oversimplifying doesn’t help much. Instead, look at the past tickets, chat sessions, and support requests to analyze how much help (or how detailed instructions) your users really need.

It could be that you realize that your customers possess different levels of technical skill-sets and so you can’t generalize. This again is very useful information, as now you know that you have different segments of technically skilled customers who need different types of or levels of support content.

Plan your support content well and accommodate all levels of users.

4. Use Emails (a Lot of Them)

The most effective channel for successfully onboarding customers is email.

And Groove is one business that knows how to use it well. Even they’ve learnt it through experimenting.

Here’s the first email they send to their customers:

groove-onboarding-email

Image Source

Alex Turnbull, CEO, Groove highlights the following 3 points in this email:

  • It establishes a relationship between the customer and me (the CEO)
  • It helps us identify any unique needs that the user may have
  • It sets the stage for what’s coming

(Read the full dissection here.)

You can easily use this email and base your welcome email on it. It can open a floodgate of business insights and marketing messages for you. Just don’t copy this exact email and use it in your onboarding. Instead, understand the theme and why this email is effective. From there you’ll be able to come up with an equally effective onboarding email(s).

See if you can plan an autoresponder series to get your customers onboard easily and also to keep them engaged while they’re just finding their way in your product.

5. Plan the Outcome of Each Customer Interaction

To get onboarding right, define checkpoints in your onboarding process. Each checkpoint is a situation where a user could get stuck and may need to contact your support.

Once you identify all the checkpoints, your next step is to imagine and plan the interaction that your customer and your customer support representative would have to get across that checkpoint.

Once you have a reasonable idea of how this conversation could look like, you can design your support approach. The key is to start with the end in mind. Start with what the user should be able to do after a successful interaction.

Referring to past chat sessions will give you a head start in this step.

6. Create Easy-to-use Walkthroughs

Perhaps you have come across this before: the best support systems will actually work themselves out of the job. Essentially, this means creating a highly proactive support system.

Understand that we aren’t talking about debugging or troubleshooting here. We are only talking about helping users find their way in a new product ecosystem.

Creating interactive walkthroughs is a handy way to go about this. Such automated workflows not only create a perception that your product is intuitive but also help the customers get onboard quickly. The sooner customers start using your product, the faster they will see results. And the longer they will stay with you.

In the below screenshot, you can see how NameCheap helps its customers look up for support content quickly.

namecheap-faq-onboarding

You can see in the following screenshot how Ninja Outreach provides easy and interactive directions right from their product interface.

ninja-outreach-email

7. Help, but Don’t Get in the Way

If you’ve heard all the noise about millennials, you know you need to consider them while planning your onboarding. According to a study, 69% of Millennials ‘feel good’ about a company when they can solve a problem on their own. The same study adds that 73% people would like to solve problems on their own.

To appeal to this section of your audience, you need to put a lot of attention to self-help channels like forums and FAQs where people can find answers to their questions and debug issues themselves.

Of course, the traditional support means will be present in the background but you won’t get in the way of people who want to do it themselves.

Wrapping up…

There’s no such thing as the perfect customer onboarding solution. Try different channels, use different messages and see what works best for you. Don’t settle until you have a system that’s both effective and scalable.

About the Author: Khadim is co-founder & CEO of Whatfix, which is a SaaS product helping companies to accelerate on-boarding and reduce support queries. Prior to Whatfix, Khadim spent 10 years in Huawei, where he led the Business Intelligence product line.



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Get Local Results Without Google's Change Location Search Filter Tool

Google has confirmed that the search tool option to filter results by location has been permanently removed. Filtering search results by location is a feature that was underused by regular searchers. SEO's and other digital marketers used the tool to […]

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Get Local Results Without Google's Change Location Search Filter Tool

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The post Get Local Results Without Google's Change Location Search Filter Tool appeared first on Search Engine People Blog.



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8 Super Creative, Crazy Effective Display Ad Ideas

creative display ad ideas

Display ads often yield abysmal click-through rates and even lower conversion rates. What accounts for their disappointing performance? It’s a matter of inbound vs. outbound marketing: Unlike search ads, display ads are not served to searchers who are actively looking for something. Instead, we tack image ads onto social feeds or informational sites with the hopes that they’ll distract users from their current activity and entice them to click through to our website. As if disrupting the user from their intended activity isn’t enough of a challenge, we’re also competing with other image ads, making for a pretty chaotic space.

Rest assured, despite the not so favorable odds, you CAN design ads that break through the noise and captivate viewers, ultimately scoring clicks for your business. Here are 8 creative, effective image ad ideas to explore, using real examples from our own marketing campaigns and client accounts and backed by real data.

Creative Display Ad Tip #1: Consider Your Venue

It’s critical that you consider the platform on which you are displaying an ad before you design it. When it comes to social ads, you’re not just competing with other paid content, you’re competing with the users’ entire social network.

WordStream’s Paid Social Specialist, Brett McHale, says that social ads should “blend in AND stand out” on the page. Sounds pretty contradictory, huh? He goes on to explain that social content should be contextually relevant (meaning that it doesn’t look like an advertisement) and still grab readers’ attention with entertaining images and design elements like contrasting colors and negative space.

Using stock photos in social media ads will kill your performance. Instead, we recommend following Krista Neher’s “three R” strategy to drive your social content. Use real pictures of real things taken by real people. You can even solicit photos from your audience to use in these ads.

 instagram ads

Michael Kors, the first brand invited to display ads on Instagram, has this practice down pat. Their ads feel native to the platform, yet still showcase their products. Their very first post, the first image above, resulted in a 370% increase in new followers.

Creative Display Ad Tip #2: Speak to Your Target Demographic

With display advertising, you have the opportunity to segment your audience based on their demographic details. Take advantage of this level of granularity and build ads that will resonate with each segment of your target audience.

Taking a “one size fits all” approach rarely yields great results for advertisers. For example, imagine a jeweler who specializes in women’s jewelry. He may be inclined to create ads geared toward a female audience, thinking this is target persona. However, upon examining his audience segments on a deeper level, he may find that a good portion of his audience is male and these men order more expensive items, likely as gifts. The jeweler should absolutely create another set of ads that resonate with a male audience.

One of our account managers, Allen Finn, shared a real-life example of this in a post on how small businesses can compete with the big guys. His team, who was working with a weight-loss client, recognized that, while men were less likely to click on their ads than women, they were significantly more likely to follow through with a conversion. In an effort to boost click-through rates for these ideal male prospects, they created this ad below.

ad for male demographic  

The new ad yielded a significant uptick in click-through rates and astounding CPAs (3x less than the account average). As you can see, simply adjusting the ad content can pay dividends.

Creative Display Ad Tip #3: Get Your Mind IN the Gutter

We’ve all heard it—sex sells. In fact, invoking sexual innuendo is one of the strongest and most effective marketing tactics. Of course, this tactic is nothing new. We can track it all the way back to 1871, when Pearl Tobacco began printing naked maidens on their packaging, leading to an abrupt uptick in sales. Fellow marketers took note and the strategy spread like…wildfire.

But before you start swapping all of the models in your image ads for scantily clad replacements, remember that most online advertising platforms have strict policies prohibiting erotic images in ads. To make it through the approval process, marketers must be stealthy and use images or messages that simply imply sex. I love this example, from Volkswagen. The image and copy is completely PG, but the innuendo is clear.

 volkswagen ad topless

Here at WordStream, we stumbled upon success with this tactic completely by accident. We created a guide titled “69 Creative Marketing Ideas to Boost Your Business” and began promoting it through our social channels. Engagement rates for these shares soared, so we dove into the data and recognized that people were commenting and sharing the posts due to the (unintentionally racy) numerical reference in the title. Because it was gaining such visibility, we also saw an impressive number of people clicking on the URL to view the guide. Based on its success organically, we began using paid ads to promote this guide.

69 creative marketing ideas ad 

Creative Display Ad Tip #4: Go EMO

Leveraging emotional triggers in ad copy is one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience. According to Courtney Seiter, Content Marketing Manager at Buffer, the four “basic” emotions are happiness, sadness, surprise and anger or disgust. Humans respond to each of these emotions differently, but they all incite them to take action.

Earlier this year, we worked with a client to provided weight loss solutions. Originally, they were running the ad below which features a generic stock photo. Not only is the image easily overlooked, it hardly screams “it’s time to lose weight”. In fact, until you read the text blurb, it’s unclear that the ad has anything to do with weight-loss services.

boring display ad 

Recognizing that this ad was destroying the campaign’s performance, our strategy team decided to take a vastly different approach. They wanted their ads to connect with viewers on a personal level, urging them to seek help immediately. To achieve this, they created an ad that provoked disgust.

 disgust provoking display ad

It was served solely to a male audience and the results were astounding.  The grotesque image of the beer belly, coupled with the “size does matter” double-entendre, caught viewers’ attention. It hit home for those whose midsections looked strikingly similar, yielding a 47% higher CTR than the original ad. For more examples of “wins” with emotion ad copy, check out Helen’s post on the emotional science behind PPC ads.

Creative Display Ad Tip #5: Channel Your Inner Comedian

There’s no disputing that humor works wonders when it comes to advertising. In fact, according to a study published by the Journal of Marketing in 1993, when the humorous images and copy coincide with ad objectives, they are “more likely to secure audience attention, increase memorability, overcome sales resistance and enhance message persuasiveness”. Based on these findings, who wouldn’t want to integrate humor into their marketing strategy?

funny ad 

Unfortunately, there’s no secret sauce to building funny ad copy. We recommend brain storming with your team, customer focus groups and even turning to local comedians for inspiration. Even if you don’t have a super-exciting product offering, a little creativity can go a long way, as you can see in GoDaddy’s witty banner below.

funny godaddy ad

When in doubt, borrow from widely-known cultural references (just be sure you’re abiding by the platform’s advertising guidelines). While the ad below isn’t hilarious in its own right, viewers associate it with Will Ferrell’s Anchorman movie, which is riddled with slapstick humor. The quote below the image, which is also from Anchorman, reiterates this. Even better, when users click to like it, the heart appears directly over both the ice cream and Ron Burgundy’s heart. Pretty clever, right?

ben and jerry's anchorman instagram ad 

Creative Display Ad Tip #6: Implement a Feel-Good Discount

I am the biggest sucker for discounts. A few years ago, a blue satin dress at TJ Maxx caught my eye. I didn’t love the style, but the fabric was pretty and the length was perfect for my stumpy, 5-foot-1 frame. I figured I’d give it a shot and headed to the changing room. I was on the fence about it, so I made a deal with myself—if it was below $75, I’d buy it, above $75 and it’d land in the discard pile.

I took a look at the price tag and, at $109, it came in over budget. However, I then noticed that it was a Stella McCartney, designer dress originally priced at $1,750. That’s discount of 94% off! Let me repeat, a NINETY-FOUR PERCENT discount. Needless to say, I made the purchase and, despite spending a little more than intended, I felt great about it, even proud.  I had scored an AMAZING discount.

 me and salma in stella mccartney

Salma Hayek has the exact same dress! And yeah, she may have styled it better but I bet she didn’t score the same discount…

The bottom line here is that humans are more likely to follow through with a purchase when we feel like we’re getting a deal on it. Advertisers should take advantage of this and include special offers or discounts in their display ads.

To truly determine what resonates with your audience, experiment with multiple offers. In the example below, you can see that we experimented with two different options, Free Shipping and 50% off. The client’s click-through rates DOUBLED when we switched to the second offer. Another example might be to test a 50% discount versus $10 off the order.

display ad with discounts 

Of course, you’ll need to be mindful of which offers make the most sense for your business model, but this tactic is definitely worth exploring!

Creative Display Ad Tip #7: Pick Your Color Palate Wisely

Every detail matters when you’re building your image ads and color choice is no exception. To choose the main color for your ad, consider the psychological association we have with different colors.

kissmetrics color guide 

Source: KissMetrics’ Infographic, How Do Colors Affect Purchases?

Once you’ve chosen your primary color, pair it with a contrasting color to ensure that your text is easy to read and your CTA button is highly visible. Use the handy chart below for help picking the perfect combination.

 complementary color guide from bannersnack

Source: SnackToolsBlog Post  

Finally, when selecting your color scheme, consider the background on which your ads will be displayed. Of course, with the GDN this is often unknown and frequently changing. However, on social platforms you know exactly what backdrop you’re working with. For example, the Facebook platform is blue and white. Ads that are predominantly blue and white are at risk of blending in with the Newsfeed, thus garnering very little traffic. Instead, advertisers should use contrasting colors to make their ads stand out.

facebook ad with contrasting colors 

I love this example from Tough Mudder, which really pops on the newsfeed. Whose eyes wouldn’t be drawn to all that bright orange?

Creative Display Ad Tip #8: Shock Viewers with Unexpected Images

With ads cluttering the internet, it’s tough to create ads that stand out. One highly effective way to cut through the noise is to use audacious images to elicit a reaction from viewers. This technique, which has been dubbed “shockvertising”, evokes strong feelings among viewers, making them more likely to engage with the ad and remember it.

shocking ad 

While digital advertisers should employ this wisely—steering clear of blood and gore, hypersexualized images and the like—a little creativity can go a long way with this tactic. I love the example above, which is for motor engine oil. The initial message “he burnt a newborn baby’s hand” paints the subject as a villain, but it goes on to say “but he save the rest of it from a burning building” turning him into a hero. They deftly intertwine this with the tagline “it’s what’s inside the counts.”

Finally, I’ll leave you with advice I was given when building my first display ads—“When in doubt, turn to puppies or babies.”  They seem to do the trick, regardless of the product you’re selling or who your target audience is.

About the Author

Erin Sagin is a PPC Evangelist and Community Manager at WordStream. She was recently named the 3rd Most Influential PPC Expert of 2015 by PPC Hero. When she’s able to take a break from paid search, you’ll find her practicing her hula-hooping skills or planning her next trip to Latin America. You can follow Erin on Twitter and Google+.

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​The Ridiculously Smart Guide to Buying Legit Twitter Followers

Posted by larry.kim

You can get 12,000 followers for your Twitter account for the low, low price of $5.

Plenty of websites offer such services:

buy twitter followers

No.

Just no.

You're better than that.

Don't buy thousands of fake accounts for cheap.

There's a much smarter way to buy legitimate Twitter followers and increase your organic reach.

Having real Twitter followers definitely will offer you more long-term benefits than any "cheap" deals you'll find.

What you have to do is buy real followers.

Adding legit Twitter followers will increase engagement and impressions because actual people will be retweeting you, replying to your posts, or otherwise interacting with your content.

Increasing your following does come at a cost, but it may surprise you to learn that, when done right, it really isn't all that expensive.

Here's your ultimate guide to running a Twitter Followers Campaign.

How to reach your future Twitter followers

Twitter makes it super easy to target users by location. For example, you could target people in specific cities, or you could target a metro area, such as Boston, MA–Manchester NH:

bQgt17g.png

Your Followers Campaigns can target either by interests and followers, or by using Tailored Audiences.

Using interests and followers, you can target people who are similar to other Twitter accounts that you've specified. It's simple to find those Twitter IDs by searching for their name. You then can add interest targeting (e.g., users who are interested in advertising or business).

Remember, you aren't buying anyone's followers here. You're targeting ads at people who are like your specified user or users.

Tailored Audiences lets you include or exclude. Here, you can target people who have recently visited your website, or by using curated lists.

If there are certain influential people you want to follow you, people who follow another account in your industry, or emails your company has collected (from people who have signed up for your whitepapers, webinars, or other content), all you have to do is create a list of Twitter usernames or emails and upload it.

kmlcrGm.png

Because these people are in your industry and/or within your company's ecosystem (or have at least visited your site in the past), it's quite possible they know who you are. That makes them great prospects for your Followers Campaign. Take full advantage of the ridiculously powerful ability to target specific users with Twitter Ads.

The big secret to actually buying Twitter followers

Now you need to create your promoted tweet.

Twitter suggests this as a best practice: "Let the user know why they should follow you."

No. Twitter is wrong.

In my experience, people don't respond well to these types of messages.

People don't care why you think you're so great, or that you think you provide the best deals.

I tried, believe me. I promised users that if they followed me, they'd become a guru of AdWords.

Didn't work. At all.

You need to reject Twitter's advice.

So, what's the big secret? What actually does well? What inspires people to become a follower?

Be awesome and don't tell anyone to follow you.

U6GT7ty.png

The best way to make your Followers Campaign work is to share a unicorn piece of content — something that performed really well for you and was truly outstanding. Take that great piece of content, maybe an infographic or an amazing visual, and share it.

If what you tweet is truly is amazing, people will decide to follow you because you're cool.

Bonus tip: Consider adding emojis to your promoted tweet. Yes, emojis really do increase engagement.

What it costs to buy real Twitter followers

Now the big question: How much do you pay? How much does a Followers Campaign cost?

Twitter charges on a pay-per-follow basis for Followers Campaigns. That means you only pay when someone follows you.

You don't pay if someone clicks on your link and visits your website, goes to your profile page, retweets you, or engages with your promoted tweet in any other way.

Even though it isn't the intent, the clicks driven from these other forms of engagement also dramatically contribute to the value of your Followers Campaign.

Basically, a Followers Campaign is an auction. You identify the most you're willing to pay for every new follower you gain.

eWSsysP.png

So, let's say I'm willing to pay $2 per follower. What happens is the estimated reach falls to 17,000 of the 181,000 in my targeted audience.

The more you're willing to pay, the more impression share you can grab. The less you're willing to pay, the fewer of your target audience you will reach.

The results

kFPH2Dc.png

Even though you've told Twitter what you're willing to pay, it usually costs substantially less.

In the above example from earlier this year, I added 26 followers. The cost: $3.49, or $0.13 per follower.

I actually told Twitter I was willing to bid $0.50 per new follower. So why wasn't I charged that amount?

It turns out Twitter will give you a discount if people are more likely to follow you.

My ad produced a 0.22 percent follow rate. Seems low, right? Actually, that's pretty decent because the expected follow rate is 0.1 percent.

Translated to Twitter, this means having a higher follow rate actually gives you a discount on each click, whereas people who have worse follow rates from Follower Campaigns will pay far more.

But I got more than 26 followers for my $3.

My Followers Campaign generated 11,900 ad impressions. Also, 20 people clicked on my ad and visited my site.

All free. Again, you're only paying for followers, not any other engagements.

Not a bad deal.

Where your Followers Ads appear

Most of the time (roughly 70 percent), your ad will appear on the right near the "Who to Follow" suggestions box.

A smaller percentage of the time (roughly 30 percent), your ad will appear natively in users' timelines.

Buying real Twitter followers: 3 key takeaways

To sum up:

  1. Don't buy fake Twitter followers. Having huge follower numbers and low post engagement numbers looks ridiculous. Instead, consider buying real followers to increase your reach and engagement. The value of Twitter Followers Campaigns isn't limited to the new followers you're buying. You're only paying for followers, which means you can also drive a ton of free ad impressions, clicks, and retweets.
  2. Real followers have real value. Amassing a large number of followers means Twitter will view you as an influencer. Once you reach that level, you can end up "stealing" a search result (e.g., a conference hashtag) because Twitter curates popular tweets and "pins" them at the top, which means you can potentially get millions of views from anyone searching for that hashtag.
  3. Ignore Twitter's "best practice" advice. Don't give people a reason to follow. Try to create a high-engagement tweet. Give them a unicorn — share the rarest, greatest-performing tweet you've ever done as your Followers Campaign. This will drive down costs while maximizing the value of those free clicks.

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