The SnapRetail Podcast

Pinterest Basics

Hosted by Shelby Klick and Justin Druga

Goals:

What is Pinterest?  How does it benefit Businesses? How do I get started? What are the Best Practices? How does Pinterest work with SnapRetail?

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is digital version of scrap booking.  Imagine a bunch of different bulletin boards and a stack of magazines. To save inspiration, outfits you love, fitness tips, and recipes, you would rip out pages and cut out pictures from the magazines and pin them on their respective bulletin board.  Pinterest is exactly that.  You can save content from all over the internet and pin it to a board for later. The social aspect of pinterest is that you can comment, like, collaborate, and follow other people's boards.

How does it benefit businesses?

• Pinterest is one of the top social platforms for referral traffic. This is because each piece of content you pin can have a URL attached and direct pinners back to your website.

• 80% of pinterest users are female.
• pinterest categories for sports, tattoos, cars, tech, education, history, kids. Really, almost any industry can find an audience on pinterest, especially if they are creative with their content.

• Pinterest is like viral word-of-mouth. A piece of content that is pinned a few times may land in front of hundreds of pinners, especially if you optimize appropriately.

How do I Get Started?

• I would start by going to business.pinterest.com.  
• • create a business profile or convert a normal pinterest account to a business one.                                                                         
  • If you have a personal account that you use for personal content, I would suggest creating a new one to Brand for your business.

• Settings. Here you'll be able to craft your profile.
• • You'll want to use a Logo as your profile picture
  • clear business description that includes keywords that describes what you do.
  • website URL
  • location

• Creating boards. You want to name these with Unique phrases that are keyword heavy. Descriptions should also use a lot of keywords, to make your content more searchable.  
• • Don't be confused. Descriptions SHOULD NOT just be a list of keywords related to your business.
  • Pinterest says: The description is an important part of captivating Pinners. Set a scene that incorporates the right search words, and you'll help Pinners imagine themselves with your Pin.
• Example of board name: Rename simple board names with more specific keywords and phrasing   -  "Fashion" you may want to name a board "Spring Outfits for Work"
• Search on pinterest for keyword inspiration

• Follow boards that are related to you and repin their content onto your own boards.
• Build your own content using the SnapRetail calendar.
• Promote to your customers using email, website and other social platforms.

Best practices

• Pin often to a variety of boards
• Like, comment, and repin other's content.
• Evenings and Saturdays seem to have the most traffic on pinterest
• Repurpose your own content
• Revisit your board names and description to make sure they are still relevant for current trends, seasons, or industry keywords.
• Use high quality, vertical images
• Add the Pin It button to images and products on your website and in your email. Include your own keyword heavy descriptions and your website URL.

Through SnapRetail

• Create Boards and Add Pins to existing boards using our Calendar
• Easily add Pin It buttons to images and products in email and websites
• Schedule Emails to post to pinterest boards such as In Store Promotions

SEO Part 2

Hosted by Justin Shoup and Vince Ventura

Goals

What to do after your website is live?  How can SnapRetail help?

Steps After Building Website

• Sign up for Google and Bing Webmaster Tools, verify your site and submit your site
• Add Twitter card meta data, Add Google+ specific post meta data, Add Facebook Open Graph meta data
• Sign up for Google Analytics and monitor your traffic
• Add your website to any and all social media profiles and in your SnapRetail account
• Get reviews on Facebook, Google, and other review sites
• Get on Google!
• Update your website regularly

What SnapRetail Does Behind the Scenes?

• Creates H1 Heading Tags
• Creates H4 Footer Tag with address on every page
• Creates a favorable URL structure
• Mobile-friendly

Key Points:

• Moving up in search takes time
• You have to create credibility through visits, frequent updates, reviews, etc.

SEO Part 1 - SEO Basics

Hosted by Justin Shoup and Vince Ventura

Goals

What is SEO? How it works? What are webcrawlers?

Steps to optimize during building of website

• Browser Page Title aka Title Tag
• Page Description aka Meta Description
• Image Alt Tags
• Keywords
• Link building/backlinks
• Content
• Image Optimization

How Much Posting is Too Much?

Hosted by Vince Ventura and Shelby Klick

Goals

We typically recommend posting to social media 10 - 14 times per week, but each social media platform has it's own maximum posting tolerance, or how many times you can post without annoying or turning away your customers.  We will look at the posting frequency for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, with a few tips about Instagram as well

60/30/10 Recap

• 60% Engaging Content - Calendar and Social Library in SnapRetail
• 30% Shared Content - Other businesses and national Thought Leaders
• 10% Sales and Product information

Facebook

• 2x per day max
• Algorithm will limit exposure if posts are too close together
• One Morning, One Evening
• Check out FB Insights for the best times for your audience

Twitter

• 3x per day max
• Remember to respond to customers who mention you directly
• • Twitter can be great for customer service
• Real time, so Tweet when you know your customers are online

Pinterest

• 5x per day max
• Remember to Re-Pin (those count too and can help build your audience!)

Instagram

• Similar frequency to Pinterest
• Real Time like Twitter
• Helps to take images to have in reserve and take images on the fly
• Re-Gram is an app that can help you share posts

Key points:

• Keep it consistent
• Use as many platforms as you can
• Understand how each platform serves your content
• Use shared content to help you stay top of mind
• Only boost earned media (shared) and sales posts

How to Maintain a Healthy Email List

Hosted by Justin Shoup and Vince Ventura

Goals

• What is a "healthy" email list?
• Why is a healthy email list important?
• What steps should you take to curate a healthy email list?

What is a "healthy" email list?

• A healthy email list is engaged - opening and clicking emails.
• A healthy email list is void of unsubscribes, bounces, and spam complaints.

Why is a healthy email list important?

• To be legally compliant.
• Deliverability is impacted by engagement.
• Deliverability is impacted by spam traps - recycled and pristine honeypots.
• Most email marketing software solutions including SnapRetail charge  you based on the number of email addresses in your account.

What steps should you take to curate a healthy email list?

• Use double opt-in when collecting email addresses online.
• When collecting email addresses in-store avoid using hand-written entry forms.
• Contests (especially when giving away a large prize) will typically result in a large number of unengaged email addresses. Give away a product or gift certificate for your store. Alert the winner by email address only.

Key Points:

• Use an email marketing service provider (SnapRetail of course!).
• Evaluate your send frequency - don't send too many emails, but also don't send too few.
• Monitor your unsubscribe rate 1-2% is normal
• Monitor your bounce rate on the first send after a new large upload.
• Keep record of unsubscribes and bounces. If you switch providers take these with you or never import them.
• At least once a year send a re-engagement campaign to unengaged email addresses.
• Removing remaining unengaged email addresses.

Do's and Don'ts of Email Subject Lines

Hosted by Shelby Klick and Justin Druga

Goals

What can we do to increase the engagement of each email that is sent?

• Increase Opens
• Increase Clicks

The answer: Give special attention to creating your email subject line

• Email subject lines are the first thing a customer sees in their inbox and can greatly influence their behavior.

Don't of Email Subject Lines:

• Don't use Capitalization like CAPS LOCK
• Don't use excessive punctuation.
• Spam filters
• People don't want to be screamed at
• Data suggests more than 85% of respondents prefer an all-lowercase subject line to one in all caps.
• Avoid spammy words

• Free, sale, click, Open, Percentages off,
• A simple google search will give you a ton of words that can be seen as Spammy by both customers and by inboxes

Do's of Email Subject Lines:

Keep it short

• 50 characters / approx 8 words
• People will be scanning the inbox anyway, don't be too wordy

Make it actionable

• Starting with an action like Get, Make, Start, Pack,

Similar to a call to action, action words entice people to click and follow through with the action, or see what the action is talking about.

Tell them what's inside waiting for them

• Similar to Call to Actions, you want them to know what to expect when they click to open the email. If you promise a coupon and don't deliver you may lose customers. Or if you just say thank you, without telling them a coupon is waiting for them inside the email, you may never get them to click!

Personalize (You can find Personalization Strings in the SnapRetail Support Center)

• Utilize the information people give you and make them feel special
• Visit our resource center to get all SnapRetail Personalization tokens

Make them feel special

• Give back to those who gave you their email address
• VIP, Exclusive Offers, A gift just for you, Thanks for being a Loyal Customer

Don't be afraid to:

• Use Puns
• Ask a question
• Trail off…

Advanced uses of email marketing and subject lines:

• A/B split test subject lines to see what performs well.
• A/B test times of when you send emails
• Segment your list and target specific products to specific customers.

Key Points:

• Make sure to tell your audience why you want them to open the email
• Use Emojis, Fear of Missing Out, and Exclusive language
• Use Reports and Excel to get a better understanding of what worked and what didn't
• Test, Test, Test!

Call-to-Action

Hosted by Shelby Klick and Justin Shoup

Goals

What is a Call-To-Action? What is a CTA Button? The difference between CTAs on Websites vs. Emails. Call to action Best Practices.

What is a Call-To-Action?

A Call-to-action (or CTA) is what marketers use to provoke an immediate response or an action such as "Call Today" "Find Store Near You". Basically, the CTA is a strategy used that will lead consumers to the next step of a conversion. The most common Conversion is the act of converting a site visitor into a paying customer. We also may reference a Conversion Funnel, which basically is getting a customer or lead to take different steps leading them to buy or promote your business.

What is a CTA Button?

The CTA Button is the tool used to provoke a specific action.  It is typically an image, text, or graphic that customers can click on to visit a landing page where they continue down the conversion funnel.

Website VS. Emails

Emails typically have one general message or are organized in a way that the flow leads to the CTA. The copy can easily persuade, add urgency, add value, and ultimately lead to a click.

Websites have more information and depending on what the visitor is looking for, there are more opportunities to follow different CTAs.  On websites, you can build relationships with "Contact" type CTAs, or direct them to special offers and product with "Shop Now" type CTAs that can direct visitors to find the products they are looking for.

1. Getting Started

• What's the value or reward the customer will get when they click?
• What is the motivation for clicking the CTA?
• What are they going to get when they click?
• The page they are taken to after they click is called a Landing page. The Landing page should have the information or the reward that the user clicked to find.
• If you are linking just to your homepage, while the value lives on a secondary or Non-Navigation page, they will not be rewarded and never finish the action you wanted them to take.
• Also think about if the wording/images/value match what they clicked on.

2. What's the best wording for the Button?

• Remember to keep it short, clear, and action oriented.
  •  Examples include: "Get Started" "RSVP" "Shop New Arrivals" "Learn More" "Save 50% Now" "Get Free Shipping"
• First person wording usually works better. Think of what the customer will see. Instead of using "Get Yours Today" use first person wording like "Get Mine Today"

3. Color of the CTA Button

• Green or Orange perform well.
• Use contrasting colors, so they stand out from the rest of the email or website.

4. Size and Placement

• Large enough to read, small enough so it doesn't overpower the other content.
• Remember that you want it to be large enough for someone to click on it on mobile. at least 44px usually works well.
• On websites, keep CTA above the fold, but in general keep it in a logical flow, following the description that persuades a click. n
• Give the CTA or button it's own line and add white around it.  This will draw the eye.
• Don't make it too large or unnatural looking though. It can detract attention from the content or deter credibility.
• Buttons work the best, text can be easily unnoticed
• Use www.dabuttonfactory.com

Key Points

• Take time to craft your message that gives value and a reason to click.

• Talk about what they want/need , the CTA shows them how they can get it.
• Keep it short and to the point with clear, actionable language.
• One CTA per message works best; don't overpower the reader with too many options.  If you do need more than one, make the secondary ones different but complementary to the main message.
• Check your links

Who is your Target Audience?

Hosted by Vince Ventura and Craig Biertempfel

Goals

What can we do to communicate more naturally with customers?  How can we tailor messaging to increase impact?  Who are we talking to?

Creating a Target Audience or an Audience Avatar can help to:

• Decide on the best wording
• Decide on the best image
• Find the best times to send and post
• Decide when and what sales to have
• Guide your brand (along with your mission)

What is an avatar?

• Your perfect customer
• Detailed personality with likes and dislikes
• Name, age, gender, and location

How do I create a marketing avatar?

• Identify goals and values
• Identify where they get their information (how can you reach them?)
• Demographic information (Age, Sex, Location)
• Challenges and Pain Points (and how your business can help)

Key Points

• Make sure your message matches your audience
• Create an ideal customer that you will direct your messaging towards
• Make sure to fully develop this person, what they like, and how they like to be reached

Reaching the Inbox, Not the Spam Folder

Hosted by Justin Shoup and Shelby Klick

Today's topic we will be covering is the ever dreaded Spam Filter and the best practices on how to make sure your emails reach the inbox and not the spam folder.

Goals

• Understand how spam filters work
• Teach how to create an email that will be more likely to reach the inbox
• Understand "sender reputation" 

How Spam Filters Work

• What is an ESP or Email Service Provider?
• What is an email client?
• Inbox or Junk Folder, Spam Folder, or Black Hole
• Gmail Promotions Folder
• All ESP's use different criteria to determine if an email will go to the inbox or somewhere else. Like the Facebook algorithm most aren't going to give away their "secret sauce".
• Most use a points system. The more "bad points" you get, the more likely to not reach the inbox
• An individual can adjust their spam settings in their client.

Create an email to reach the inbox

• Use an even balance of images and text
• Do not use all capital letters in the subject line
• Do not use excessive punctuation in the subject line
• Too many spammy words or phrases: free, credit card, urgent, etc. One call-to-action. Don't oversell. Most of your text is going to describe the product, event, etc.

Sender Reputation/How SnapRetail helps

• Define Sender Reputation

• We maintain clean IPs. We do not let accounts send to purchased lists. We monitor for high unsubscribe and/or bounce rates.
• We follow can-spam law by putting the unsubscribe link and address on all of your emails.
• We have a good sender reputation. However, you are sending from a shared reputation.
• If you want to start your own reputation send from an email address on your own domain. There are risks to this however.

Key Points

• Just because one customer reports that an email didn't reach their inbox doesn't mean it happened to all customers. Look at your open and click rate. Did it vary from past emails?
• When an email is opened or clicked this is looked upon positively from an ESP. When someone unsubscribes, bounces, or reports your email as spam this is looked upon negatively from an ESP. -similar to Facebook algorithm. The more engagement the more likely to reach the inbox in the future, but the more "bad actions" like unsubs the more likely to not reach the inbox. Again, our shared sender reputation helps minimize this. 

The 60/30/10 Rule

Hosted by Vince Ventura and Justin Shoup

Goals

We typically recommend posting to social media 10 - 14 times per week.  How can you possibly think of that many things to say and share with your audience?  The 60/30/10 Rule will help you stay at the front of people's minds without spending all of your time creating content.

60/30/10 Rule can help

• Find new content to post without creating each post

• Engage with your customers
• Grow your audience
• Capitalize on other businesses' audiences
• Be seen as an expert
• Make your sales posts more effective

What is the 60/30/10 Rule

• 60% Engaging Content - Calendar and Social Library in SnapRetail
• 30% Shared Content - Other businesses and national Thought Leaders
• 10% Sales and Product information

How do I the 60/30/10 Rule?

• Use the Suggestions on the Calendar
• Share content from other local and national businesses
• Don't oversell
• In a 10 post week - 6 Engagement, 3 Shared, 1 Sales/Product

Key points

• Keep it consistent
• Keep the content varied
• Boost wisely to maximize your effects
• Only boost earned media (shared) and sales posts