How to Create a Webinar That Becomes an Online Course

Did you know that it’s possible to make over $100,000 a year selling online courses?
That’s right — and hosting a webinar is a great first step into the lucrative world of online education.
Webinars are live video events, usually with some elements of audience participation, that teach viewers a specific skill or technique.
opics for webinars and online courses range from ‘How to Make Money Selling on Amazon’, to, ‘How to Start an Aromatherapy Business.’ It’s important to choose a topic that you know well and have firsthand experience with.
Want to learn exactly how to create a webinar that later becomes a bestselling online course?
Keep reading for all the details.

Create Clear Audience Personas

Before you start planning and creating content, you need to know exactly who you’re targeting with both your webinar and your online course.
Is it stay-at-home moms looking to make some extra income online?
Is it small business owners who need help with social media marketing?
You should think about the age, gender, economic status, location, and personality of your ideal audience member, then target your webinar to them specifically.
This helps you make important decisions about the content you include, where you promote the webinar, who you invite to speak with you, and how much you charge for your course.
Don’t be vague about your target audience, as this makes it hard to decide on anything.

Know Exactly What You’re Teaching

Just because you have a general topic in mind, doesn’t mean you’re ready to start creating your webinar.
Make sure you’ve really drilled down to figure out what your audience needs to know, or you risk making your course too general.
For example, teaching online marketing to business owners is quite vague. Instead, you might need to focus in on a more specific area, like content marketing, social media marketing, or influencer marketing.
Honing in a specific area shows that you’re an expert, allows you to dive deep into topics, and makes it easier to select content to include.
Try creating an outline of the topic you’re planning to cover. If it feels too broad, you might need to focus in on just one of the sections instead.
Once you have your final outline, make the first section part of your webinar.

Make the Webinar Step One of the Learning Process

If you want people to purchase your course then it should feel as though it’s the natural next step to take after attending your webinar.
The best strategy is to start your webinar with an overview of why what you’re teaching is so important, with details about the positive outcomes learners can expect.
For example, ‘Learning how to market products on social media can increase sales by up to 300%.’
Once you’ve got people convinced that this topic is worth their time and money, you can launch straight into the content that will form the start of your course.
This way, viewers are getting genuine value and being encouraged to buy the full course.
It also allows you to reuse content, rather than having to everything from scratch, which saves time and helps you get more out of everything you create.
Using a dedicated learning management system makes it easy to manage your content and present it in different ways.

Include a Screen Sharing Portion If Applicable

If you’re explaining how to do something on a computer, try to include a screen sharing section in your webinar.
This lets you walk viewers through a new process in real-time and offers way more value than simply talking about the theory.
If you plan to include screen sharing in your course, now is a good time to test out different methods and make sure everything works well.
Screen sharing is especially useful if you’re using an obscure piece of software or doing something that has lots of complex steps. It shows that you actually know what you’re doing and aren’t just talking a good talk.
If possible, do some research before your webinar starts to identify pain points and decide what kind of screen sharing segment will work best.
Be sure to record the entire webinar, as sections like this can be reused when you come to publish your full course.

Interview Other Industry Panelists

If you don’t want your entire webinar to be you talking alone, consider interviewing another industry expert.
You could ask them questions about a specific skill they have, a project they’ve worked on, or a piece of software they’re an expert at using.
Ask if they’re happy for the interview to be used as part of your course to get extra value from the session.

Follow Up With a Live Q and A

A big part of the appeal of webinars is the fact that they’re live and allow viewers to interact with the host.
Including a dedicated Q and A session at the end of your webinar is a great way for audience members to get extra details on what they’ve learned.
It’s also a useful market research tool, as the questions you’re asked could be incorporated into your course later on, or used to make part of future webinars clearer.
You can accept questions via a text chat feature, or invite people to communicate via voice chat. Text chat works best for larger webinars, but voice chat is a nice option to offer if you have a smaller group.
Be sure to invite questions about your course to help increase the hype around it.

How to Create a Webinar With Long-Term Earning Potential

Knowing how to create a webinar that eventually becomes a full-length online course is ideal if you’re looking to boost your income.
Focus on creating a clear audience persona, targeting a very specific topic, and creating webinar content that can be reused in your course. Allow questions on your course content and invite feedback to make your course the best it can be.
Need help marketing your first webinar? Visit the digital marketing section of our site today.

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DON’T Use Paid Ads My #1 Organic Marketing Strategy | Neil Patel

How to Create a Digital Product That Generates (AT LEAST) $100,000 Per Month

What is CTR (Click Through Rate)?

If you are new to internet marketing you have probably seen the term CTR thrown around quite often. So, What is CTR? Well, CTR rate simply stands for click through rate. Click through rate is the percentage of people who visit your page (or email) and click through to your desired link. So if you send out an email to your list and 500 people viewed it, and 250 clicked through to the product you were promoting your click through rate would be 50%. If you made a post on your blog promoting a product and 100 people visit that page and 38 click on your affiliate link your click through rate would be 38%. CTR is a fairly straight forward term once you learn what it stands for.

Why is CTR important?

Click through rate is important because it gives you a good idea on how well your copy is working. If you have written a good ad, post, or email that really makes the prospect want to learn more then you will have a high click through rate. If your ad isn't getting a very high CTR then it's probably time to go back to the drawing board and try something new (if possible test the two against each other). One thing you need to be careful of is writing something outlandish just to get a high click through rate. If you say something about the product you are promoting just to get people to click through your sales will hurt when they realize you are not delivering on your promise.

What is a Good CTR?

There are many different factors that determine what is a good CTR. The industry you are in and what type of ad you are using are the most important. If you are sending out emails then you should be able to get at least a 50% CTR. If you are running a Google AdWords campaign you want at least a 1% CTR rate for your keywords. If you have Google AdSense on your site or blog you want at least a 10-15% CTR. If you are doing article marketing on Ezinearticles you should try to get at least a 15% CTR on your resource box.

The lesson here is that your skill at writing your ads or promotions is directly related to getting a high CTR. If you want to make more money online this is one skill that is essential to learn.

Learn "Insider" affiliate strategy to generate thousands of dollars in less than 30 days without having any prior knowledge to internet marketing at: [http://www.DeanDreyer.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1728303

7 Fatal Sins of Online Marketing... Plus Secrets to Boost Website Traffic, Sales Conversion and ROI

If set up well, online marketing can help you generate a consistent passive income. There are many stories of how first-time entrepreneurs have made lots of money selling their products and services through online marketing. But there are hundreds if not thousands of times more stories of how folks failed bad. Investing their money and losing it or recovering little.

In its simplistic model, online marketing has three phases. In phase one, you get traffic to opt-in to your system. In phase two, you convert your opt-in leads into customers. Then in phase three, you retain these customers by getting them to buy from you again.

Yet each of these stages have inherent risks. And if you were to commit just one sin of online marketing, it could kill your entire business.

Here are 7 fatal sins of online marketing. Why you should avoid them. Plus, what you should do instead to be more successful.

Fatal Marketing Sin #1: Sending Traffic to Your Homepage

The money you invest in traffic is a sunk cost. The only way to get a return on your investment is by selling products and services. So if you were to get someone to click on your advertisement, you would want the best opportunity to sell them.

Yet 92 percent of consumers that visit a brand's website for the first time are NOT there to buy. And only 32 percent of those who visited the site with the intention to buy rarely or never make the purchase. This per a study of 1,112 consumers in the United States by Episerver.

That's why it's vital you first get your prospect to opt-in and give you permission to send them email messages. Then you can establish a relationship with them. Plus, nurture them with educational information to establish trust and credibility. All which can lead to sales conversion.

The best place to send traffic is to a landing page solely focused on getting visitors to opt-in. But a homepage is the wrong place to send traffic. That's because most home pages have a menu and too much information to distract visitors from opting in, even if you include an opt-in form.

Fatal Marketing Sin #2: Sending Cold Traffic to Your Sales Page

Sending cold traffic to your sales page before they opt in can be worse than sending them to your home page. Less than one-third of prospects who otherwise would buy from you, buy on their first visit.

By sending traffic to your sales page, you risk losing them forever by revealing your price, without first establishing a relationship with them. If they leave without buying, you have no way to follow-up. So you waste your advertising investment.

Fatal Marketing Sin #3: Investing in Traffic Before Investing in Your Sales Funnel

Why spend on website traffic you cannot convert into sales. Don't put the cart before the horse, because you may not get where you want to go.

The key to making sales is to have a good sales funnel. So you can generate sales conversion. A good sales funnel includes a series of email letters with links to content to establish trust and credibility. Plus one or more landing pages with persuasive content and strong offer. And an order page confirming the offer with a fast and easy way for buyers to complete and submit it.

Fatal Marketing Sin #4: Not Knowing Your Target Market

All too often marketers make the sin of having too broad of a target audience. Yet targeting a broad audience will not only cost you more, it will also lead to lower sales conversion.

The best first step before you invest in traffic, is to conduct market research. An in-depth survey to help you find the demographic, psychographic and buying behavior characteristics of your true target market. The results can help you identify the most appropriate marketing messaging.

Fatal Marketing Sin #5: Not Segmenting Your Contacts

The era of one message fits all is dead. The advantage of online marketing is you can segment your contacts and give each a personalized experience.

Two common ways to segment your contacts is through custom fields and tags. Then you can group your contacts according to those who have a certain tag or custom field data. And you can personalize the marketing message based on this criterion. That can lead to both increased sales conversion and greater customer satisfaction.

Fatal Marketing Sin #6: Not Split Testing Your Campaigns

Split testing enables you to compare results between 2 and 4 versions of your landing pages. So you can improve your results. For either higher opt-in rates. Or greater sales conversion.

The key to split testing is to focus on just one variable at a time. This variable can be to compare headlines, pricing, offer, or even design of the landing page. You simply designate the current version as the control and send a certain percent of contacts in your funnel to the "test page(s)". When one "test page" results beat out the control, then it becomes the new control.

Fatal Marketing Sin #7: Not Investing in a Downsell Campaign

As much as 67% or more may abandon their shopping cart. Yet you can recapture over one-fourth of these lost sales with a downsell campaign.

A downsell campaign involves a series of messages to contacts who abandon the shopping cart. Each message contains a persuasive message with a link to a dedicated landing page with a special offer. What once was sales-lost, now becomes increased sales conversion.

In summary, executing any one of the above online marketing sins can kill your business. But when instead, you execute the strategies suggested, you can help your business grow. To help you achieve higher opt-in rates, increased sales conversion and greater ROI.

Marketing services by Jeff Traister can help you increase your sales conversion through automation and persuasive copywriting. He is a certified Internet marketing automation consultant and direct response copywriter.

To learn more and get tips on how you can increase your sales conversion of leads and get customers to buy more from you, go to Your Digital-Marketing-Automation-Superhero

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10069565

To find about other ways of earning a passive income, go to Passive Income Mastery Blog

What is Digital Marketing? The Answer

We exist in a new world. We live a life in which the power to know what each of us wants, and the best way to give that to us, is at an unprecedented stage.

And whilst a lot of people find this scary, it also opens endless doors for ease, deeper engagement and success.

What am I talking about? Well, digital marketing of course!

What is digital marketing? That is a question which, despite being broad, full of triggers for other questions, and almost unanswerable in a singular sense, is seen a lot. Particularly these days when it is an exciting, still growing but fiercely competitive industry.

And, almost certainly, it is the question that brings you and I together on this page.

We’re going to break it down into the key segments to allow you to read it at your leisure, be that to learn new terms in an ever-changing industry, or to prepare for your next interview.

If you have any questions, or anything to add, please let us know!

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing refers to the advertising, networking or positioning of a brand through technological mediums. Whilst that includes television, radio, billboards and the like, it has generally come to refer to all online activities such as websites, social media and search engine optimisation.

Digital marketing is an industry comprising numerous specialisations, and endless additions to the field.

Whilst many would argue that digital marketing is that which exists online, there are elements of this modern force that exist in our offline sphere. You should be aware that digital marketing mediums like radio and TV, which we won’t discuss here, have been around for a century!

In general, however, digital marketing as we will be discussing it refers to: the use of the internet or related technology by companies to reach their audience.

In fact, if you ask Google that question, the snippet that pops up reads like this:

“Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also including mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium.” So, fairly similar to our definition.

Typically, this form of marketing is done through social media, search engines like Google, and advertising across websites. And let’s not forget a company’s very own site (that’s digital marketing too!).

The other thing to note about digital marketing is that it is a beast that is still growing despite over a decade in the headlights. More and more users are connecting to the internet every day, as population growth and connections in the developing world boost an already massive potential audience.

On the audience

Above all else in the field, audience is king. A brand’s audience is who they want to come to their website, to fulfil a journey and, in the end, become a repeat client and brand advocate. There are two broad categories of business marketing that are equally important for differentiation in the digital sphere:

B2C is the one most of us are familiar with. Almost everything we do day-to-day can be related back to a B2C (Business-to-consumer) interaction. Be that buying food through to joining a gym.

With digital marketing, B2C is usually more ‘speed critical’ than B2B (Business-to-business) because the end aim is for a customer to complete the marketing funnel fast: from first contact to buying a product online.

That means in the B2C area, marketers need to focus on CTAs (Call to Action) and effective user experience strategies on their website.

B2B digital marketing, on the other hand, is more lead-focused rather than all about generating website sales.

B2B digital marketers will put a huge amount of stock in generating inquiries, delivering contact details to their offline sales team, and building an authoritative rapport with their audience.

If you’re just getting started in this field, in either of those categories, it’s important to look into a few parts of audience definition and management.

First, know your brand’s existing audience. Diving into the digital marketing sphere is great, but it doesn’t mean losing your existing clients (or shouldn’t, anyway!).

You need to understand demographics too. And be able to know what will make an interaction personal for the lead on the other end.

This fantastic quote on what digital marketers are giving to their audiences comes from Chris Cavanaugh for Forbes:

“The lines between traditional and digital are blurring and organisations are really beginning to embrace the idea of branding as an experience rather than a singular medium, channel or execution. At the end of the day, what we’re doing is creating and designing brand identities that aren’t strictly tied to physical spaces, digital technology or even senses. We’re creating brands that are experienced over time and in different ways.”

And in delivering this to your audience,in both of the above categories (B2C and B2B), a key component is going to be Data.

The importance of data in Digital Marketing

A digital marketing buzzword that unlike a few of the others is truly worth that title, is data. The benefit of digital marketing over traditional forms is that data on audience interactions or otherwise can be delivered to the team in realtime and with consistent and correct analytics.

We’ll be covering this below as a specialty field within the industry, but it is worth noting that, after highlighting the core audience (eg consumers), next will be deciding what data you need to collect.

At a high-level, this might be sales for consumer marketing, and emails for business-to-business.

So what are the different areas digital marketers can specialise in, and what do they consist of?

Types of Digital Marketing

When we consider different types of digital marketing, we need to think about every step of the marketing journey. This means a few of the key components we mentioned above, as well as many, many others that we didn’t. Let’s dive in.

Web DEV/UX

We’re going to start with one specialty that a lot of guides to digital marketing seem to – for a reason we can’t understand – negate from their list: Website development (including User Experience).

Before anything else on the web, your website needs to be well-designed, stable and effective at what you need it to do. Any responsible marketing strategy will have numerous channels working in tandem to direct leads to the website, which means if one fails, another one (hopefully) will work.

But your website needs to do its job, because there is only one. In digital marketing, website development and User Experience (UX) is critical to achieving your marketing aims, and there is a lot more to these specialties than a lot of us realise before entering the field.

SEO

Perhaps the one acronym that even those outside the industry will have heard by now is SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation. That’s why there are millions of hits on Google for that term every month.

It is easily one of the most, if not the most, important part of the digital marketing jigsaw. Neil Patel – a key figure in modern marketing – points out that dozens of new blog posts are published every second. And that’s just on WordPress websites!

Getting your website to stand out in a crowded, crowded room is getting harder and harder, and it’s why SEO is such a specialised field. It is more than just putting some keywords in and hoping Google likes your page.

If you’re entering the digital marketing sphere, we strongly recommend you do at least a short course in SEO to familiarise yourself with standard techniques.

Content Marketing

Alongside your website and SEO comes content marketing near the top of the food chain (though this list is not necessarily meant to be in an ‘order of importance’). Content marketing was a buzzword for a long time, and remains at the forefront of digital marketers’ minds.

Essentially, it means using content (not necessarily just blatant adverts) to drive leads to your feed/website/business. This can really take any form, from a traditional blog post shared on Facebook, through to a clever combination of virtual reality and offline interactions.

Content marketing is so renowned that the grapple for an audience’s attention is almost as fierce as the fight for Google’s front page. That means that, whatever form it comes in, your content needs to be 1) worth your audience’s time, and 2) effective in delivering your desired aim (eg send leads to website).

This specialisation can actually be broken down further, too. Ever watched a video on YouTube then listened to a Podcast on Spotify? Chances are, if they’re both for a big company, they’ve been put together by digital marketers specifically employed to deliver those goods.

If you’ve got a passion for video production, or think your face for radio is wasted in, well, radio, then honing your craft in a particular content fields – just as print journalists have – is well worth the effort.

Email

And whilst we’re talking about content marketing, a key part of getting that fantastic content out to your audience is email marketing. If you’ve heard of MailChimp or the like, you’re on the right path.

Whilst we all complain about email fatigue and the amount of time we could save having face to face or phone chats, email is – and appears to be for the near future at least – a massive part of our day to day lives.

That means that email marketing doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. It just, perhaps, needs a greater engagement with data. If you like data analysis combined with content marketing, this could be the specialisation for you.

Social Media Marketing

Here’s one that your average layman is probably familiar with. That’s why everyone gets annoyed with Facebook ads, right?! Social Media Marketing has taken on a life of its own in the past decade or so, from bands running MySpace pages out of their garage, to Apple spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year on getting their social media presence just right.

Managing a brand’s Social Media is more than just posting the odd blog post or funny meme, though. These days, managers need to understand analytics, the use of data, the importance of proper audience engagements and a whole host of other things.

A big part of social media is also, of course, advertising, and knowing what platforms to use for what ads, how to craft the ads, and how to hit your audience is a non-stop learning curve. For everyone.

If you want to get in on this game, be prepared to jump in the deep end of data and adverts, whilst focusing on real relationships over template posts.

PPC

And advertising on Social Media leads us nicely into PPC (Pay Per Click). Now, this is technically under the specialisations of Paid Advertising or Search Engine Marketing or similar. However, this acronym is vital to understand when coming into the field.

PPC refers to any transaction in which you pay another publisher (Google, another website, Facebook et al.) for every time a user clicks on your ad on their site.

Digital marketers will spend years crafting their skills at researching the perfect keyphrase or the ideal target audience to execute the perfect PPC campaign. That means essentially getting the biggest bang for your buck (or quid, for those of us here in London!).

Learn more:  Pay-Per-Click 101: How Does PPC Work?

Other advertising (Native and Affiliate)

But paying Google to show at the top of their SERP, or Facebook to promote your page, isn’t the only option when it comes to paid advertising online. Native advertising came on the back of the spike in content marketing (see above), whereby websites with large readerships of their own content will accept payment from you, a digital marketer, to place your content on their site as well.

It’s important not to mislead leads however. Native advertising needs to be flagged as such, which means many readers will be turned off.

Affiliate marketing, meanwhile, means allowing others to help you promote your brand, but paying them a commission when a lead converts directly from their promotions (eg a shoutout on Instagram) to a customer of your business.

Native (and Affiliate) marketing is undergoing a huge surge in popularity of late as brands begin experimenting with the idea of small influencers online, rather than paying loads to have someone with a million followers advertise for them.

Design

Perhaps closely related to a few of the above specialty fields is that of design. Be it branding, website, advertising or a host of other digital needs, designers are always in demand.

There is a big gap between a Clipart website and a beautifully designed custom page, meaning if you’re artistically-inclined and happy to revert those skills to the digital world, jobs await.

If your design desires are of the website type, there is an ever-growing need for data-backed research into a new frontier of design, as the themes pumped out by publishers like WordPress become ever more styled and websites lose dynamism.

If you’re looking at branding such as logo and online adverts, the world’s your oyster when it comes to the amount of clients looking for your services.

Apps

Perhaps the quite achiever in this mobile-oriented world, specialising in app development seems to be a field hidden from the wider world and reserved for tech geeks in Silicon Valley. But the world of mobile apps just keeps on growing, and they’re capable of more and more incredible feats.

Along with marketing funnels, user engagement and data analysis, app development and maintenance requires awareness in brand management. But if you can successfully tie an app in with the rest of your digital marketing strategy, your brand will soar above many a competitor.

Data

So, we’ve left the big one till last. DATA. I put it in capitals because IT’S SO IMPORTANT. If you’ve not heard of data, big data, analytics and the rest by now, you need to do a bit of reading before entering the digital marketing world.

Data is – perhaps – the be all and end all of digital marketing. It’s the reason this form of marketing is so much more effective than anything the world’s seen before.

The data at our fingertips is genuinely mind boggling, and it’s the cause of consternation outside marketing circles (just look at the US elections discussion, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal). That’s not to say that using data makes you Dr Evil. It just shows how effective it can be.

Data doesn’t have to mean collecting people’s details either – it’s literally anything and everything. A click on a website through to the length of video a user watched.

Data enables digital marketers to personalise their interactions with individual audience members. Bland adverts or emails that you hope will hit the spot are a thing of the past – if you know how to use your analytics.

On that point, the scientists and masterminds managing data and insights are maybe just as important as the data itself. Because without them, no one knows what to do with this wealth of information.

If you’ve got an eye for detail, a love of spreadsheets and a lot of patience for scanning numbers and figures, than look no further than data management. This is an area of digital marketing that seemed to creep up on a lot of us a few years back, but looks set to continue being the primary driver behind digital marketing for years to come.

The next frontiers of Digital Marketing

So, that’s a (believe it or not) brief outline of some of the key fields and terminology that we’ve all become accustomed to in digital marketing. But as we keep saying, it’s a field that doesn’t sleep, and doesn’t rest on its laurels.

There is always something growing, or something coming around the bend, that a few but not enough digital marketers pick up on early.

So here are a few areas that are starting to make waves in the wider industry, but that have been utilised to great effect already for some years now.

VR

You’ve no doubt heard something about Virtual Reality. VR is becoming more familiar to us in day to day lives because of utilisation in museums, VR headsets for sale in gaming stores, and the wide use in big screen films.

But it still hasn’t become a commonplace strategy in marketing.

This is probably due to a combination of expense, lack of data to prove its worth, and unease at breaking the mould. But digital marketers who are making use of VR are setting a new bar for the rest of us.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been in use at all. As far back as 2015, the New York Timesmailed out 1 million Google Cardboard headsets to their subscribers, along with access to a VR film they created. It pulled users deeper into their storytelling, and no doubt created a whole shipful of new brand ambassadors – without technically advertising themselves at all!

The beauty of Virtual Reality is the deeper engagement that it provides to your audience, and the psychology behind it can be quite dramatic.

Some studies showed users in VR with either lighter or darker skinned avatars left the experience showing real changes in racial bias. Others, who performed as Superman-like characters in the VR world, showed greater altruism upon returning to their normal lives.

If that’s not reason enough to invest in learning the VR world for your brand, then maybe nothing is!

AR

Often confused with its more famous cousin, Augmented Reality is also about interrupted vision and changing your reality, but it’s a tad less immersive than VR.

Where VR removes a user from their current situation (for example, from standing on a street to flying through the air), AR just changes the street they’re standing on.

Augmented Reality is so exciting to people in the technology and digital marketing fields that, some years back, Apple CEO Tim Cook had this to say:

“I’m excited about Augmented Reality because unlike Virtual Reality which closes the world out, AR allows individuals to be present in the world but hopefully allows an improvement on what’s happening presently… That has resonance.”

The fact the world’s biggest companies, like Apple and Google, are directing their expensive R&D teams to work quickly on AR should tell you all you need to know.

Opportunities in the marketing sphere, for those with the patience to learn and the ability to think creatively, are endless with AR. And as with VR, it provides an immersive experience for your audience that has rarely – if ever – been matched in a marketing strategy.

Live video

I know, I know, live video is nothing new. But the reason it’s listed as a new frontier in our guide is because most companies and digital marketing agencies still don’t make use of this (optionally) cheap, ultra-engaging and minimally used outlet.

From Periscope on Twitter a few years back to Instagram’s 2018 TV reveal, live video has been changing the dynamic between social media users and their followers.

What has had limited take up is that of brands creatively and genuinely – and therefore successfully – utilising this new medium. But before you dive in, here are a few quick tips.

The critical part of brands using what has been a landscape for individuals and friends is genuinity. The moment something like a live stream comes across as planned, scripted and branded, users switch off. And research suggests they don’t come back.

So if you’re venturing into this world, have a plan but don’t script everything. Be happy to take some risks and go with the flow. Interact with your followers in a meaningful, human way and the engagement you receive will lend your brand further credibility with those engaging.

As with AR and VR, if you have a penchant for pushing the boundaries, specialising in delivering impactful live video streams for your clients could set you apart in coming years.

How to enter the field

Just as important as reading this guide to What is Digital Marketing is working out what you need to enter the field, and where to start looking for digital marketing jobs.

This A-Z guide to starting your digital marketing career and this guide to becoming a freelancer in the industry are great places to start.

On top of what’s outlined in those pages, the best advice you can be given is to immerse yourself. Whether that means building your own website about a hobby and diving right in, or reading as much about the field as you can.

People who are successful in this industry – and indeed, any competitive and fast-moving area – are those that are passionate, hardworking and willing to put in the yards.

Do your SEO course. Speak to people already working in the field. Learn a little bit of coding and analytics use. Hone your networking skills.

Last but not least, we’re always happy to answer your questions, so get in touch with us here if you need help or you can sign up here.

After all, the more new minds entering our industry, the better it is for all of us, as it creates fresh insight and pushes the boundaries of what’s achievable.

Article Source

7 Ways to Use Videos for More Engagement on Instagram

In the digital world, social media has become a very important part of a successful marketing strategy. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. offer a lot of opportunities for brands to showcase their products. These platforms are free to use and you can directly interact with a larger audience at once. You don't need to invest a lot of money in building a marketing strategy that includes social media videos. No matter whether you have a small or a large business, it's time that you take social media marketing seriously.

Based on statistics shared by Lyfe marketing, 93 percent of videos on Twitter are accessed from mobile phones. Views of branded video content on YouTube has doubled in the last three years. Moreover, Facebook live videos receive 10 times more comments that a regular video. All these statistics show that video content is in demand on social media networks. This is because millennials connect more to videos on social media. Web Marketing Video Council has found that more than 60 percent of brands are using social media videos actively for promotions. Thus, it is highly likely that your competitors are also leveraging the power of social media video to expand their customer base.

Instagram is a very powerful social media platform that allows you to share images and videos online. Techcrunch has been studying Instagram trends since its launch. As per their study, Instagram crossed the threshold of 1 billion monthly active users in 2018. Moreover, Instagram is currently growing at a rate of 5 percent per quarter, the highest among social media platforms. So, Instagram should be your first choice in showcasing your brand's product and services. In this article, we will take you through some ways to use Instagram videos for engaging more audience.

Short Commercials

Create short, valuable videos that represent your brand. You can showcase your product in an artistic way through these videos. The commercial can be inspirational, funny, or emotional. Instagram currently allows you to share a 60 second video on your timeline. With such short videos, it is easy to grab the attention of the target audience. Also, short videos are best to share crisp information about your products. You can share the commercial in Instagram stories, IGTV or in the Instagram timeline.

Product details

Showcase your product's specifications or a 'product in action' video to demonstrate its capability. Focus only on important features to keep the viewers engaged. Keep the video more informative and less descriptive. Attention to detail is the key to creating a cool and sexy video. You can put the product video in your brand's Instagram page's timeline for the audience to see anytime. Creating such spontaneous videos attracts a lot of attention.

Do it yourself videos

An effective way to use Instagram videos is to create instructional content. 'Do it yourself' or 'how to' videos share your products working. This helps the users to understand the product's usage. You can also create troubleshooting videos related to any problem that your customer might face. To the point videos are liked by the target audience as they get relevant information within a short span of time. By sharing such videos from time to time you can build a relationship with your existing customers.

Behind the scenes video

Customers have become picky in choosing a product, hence it is important to establish a connection with them. You can create behind the scenes videos that take them through trivia related to your product. You can even conduct quick learning sessions about tips and tricks related to your product usage. The fast forward video that Sheryl Cole has shared about her work will give some idea. You just have to be creative and smart in capturing the right moments for your Instagram video.

Instagram Stories Video

Instagram launched Insta stories in August 2016. Through stories, you can share images or videos with your followers for a 24-hour duration. This short span creates a sense of urgency and people tend to view the stories as they see one active. You can use stories to promote your business as follows:

1. Sharing short-time deals is a good way to attract people to your products and services. You can set up the offer so that it can only be redeemed during the story's lifespan. Once people get to know about such deals, they will come for more.
2. Let an influencer take over your Instagram handle to share a sneak peek of the products and discount offers. A familiar face is sure to attract more audience.

Live on Instagram

The best feature on Instagram is that you can stream live video on it. Once you go live on Instagram, you are at the forefront of your follower's feed. Hence, there are high chances of your followers engaging with your live stream. They get to see your stream even if they aren't physically part of the event. Product previews, product releases, Q&A sessions, educational streams, etc. are some ways in which you can engage with your online audience. If your event is pre-planned, then you can promote it through emails and other social media platforms.

Bring in the makers

Give a personal touch to your stories by introducing your employees who have created your products and services. You can get the team members to share their journey in product development. Also, you can let your employees handle your brand's Instagram account for a day. They can then share details about their work life and the hard work that goes into making the product. The employees can even conduct a Q&A session for the audience to educate them about the product. Such video sessions create an emotional connect with the target audience and more views to your Instagram account.

Conclusion

If you aren't incorporating the power of Instagram into your digital marketing campaign, then you are missing out on something big. Instagram's potential if exploited properly, can take your products to new heights. There is no perfect way to use Instagram video, the techniques mentioned above will help you in getting started in doing so. You can even hire social media management agencies that will help you promote your products by creating some amazing video content.

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