Happy Tuesday!
This week we’re covering all of Facebook’s updates to business Pages, reasons to incorporate Bing as part of your overall SEO strategy, and how creating a sleek form will improve conversions for your company. We’re also focusing on the latest WhatsApp features that enable a business to further communicate with consumers, and tips for increasing the time spent reading content. Let's dig in!
Facebook Announces New Update for Pages, Adding Recommendation Tools and Connection Options
Facebook is introducing updates to Pages to provide businesses with the ability to increase exposure. Recommendations is a new feature that will be highlighted on Pages and will allow a user to post a review and it can include text, photos and tags. What’s interesting to note here is tags will be generated based on keywords, or manually added in, and they’ll help a user better understand your business’ service or products. They’ll also help with Search.
Call-To-Action buttons will be featured prominently on business Pages. These buttons will enable a user to do things such as book an appointment, send a message or submit a Recommendation. These actions will correlate with the type of template you have chosen for your business Page.
Additionally, a Page’s Stories will now be accessible by tapping on a profile photo, much like you would on Instagram. Many more updates are being rolled out for Facebook Pages including updated product and services listings, selling event tickets, and job listings expansion. With the platform bring one of the most used web browsers, having a presence on Facebook is a must for any business.
How Bing is Enhancing Search and Apparently Growing as a Result
Bing may remain second to Google, but its steady growth and recent improvements make it a viable option for businesses. Here are some reasons why your business shouldn’t write off the Microsoft search engine.
As far as basic searching goes, Bing focuses on the more in-depth discovery, and you’ll find that Bing provides you with various search options that might be very useful. Additionally, with the launch of Bing Entity Search API, your brand will want to make this a mandatory listing as it does Google My Business.
One of the most well-known advantages of Bing is its visual image search capabilities. Bing is a visually appealing search engine, and it embraced the fact that people are uploading images and video content daily. The launch of visual search enables a user to snap or upload a photo and perform a search. Why does this matter? As a business, you want your products to be discoverable. A customer may not be able to describe a product they’re trying to find so using a photo is easier. While Google does have this functionality, it’s important to note that Bing is available for both Android and iOS users, whereas Google is limited to Android.
Bing’s enhancements of both basic and visual search are examples of why a business needs to treat it as a tool in its search strategy. Writer Adam Doorman suggests that a company spend time understanding the platform from a user’s perspective. The more you explore Bing from a customer’s perspective, the more ways you’ll find to become found on both search engines.
Facebook is Making its First Serious Move to Monetize WhatsApp
Facebook launched a WhatsApp Business API and what’s interesting to note is that if you’re a Facebook advertiser, you will soon have access to ads on Facebook that link to WhatsApp. A business can purchase ads that lead a user to a pre-filled chat within WhatsApp, and the conversation can continue from there.
A business will have 24 hours to reply for free to messages. After which, Facebook will charge a fee for any messages after the 24 hour period. In addition to this announcement, WhatsApp has made other ways available to communicate with a business: a shortcut button to immediately start a conversation on a Page, and the ability for a company to send you notifications such as appointment reminders, shipping confirmations and event tickets.
These updates to WhatsApp provide businesses with another means to connect with customers and provide real-time support on a widely-used platform.
3 Tips to Increase the Time People Spend Reading Your Content
It’s estimated that people are spending about 37 seconds on a page, reading and engaging with content. Reasons for such a low number can be due to the amount of content being pushed out, and our constant connection to media. With so little attention to spare, here are some things you can do with your content to increase engagement and time spent reading.
The first tip is to get visual! Adding images to your content can vastly improve its readership and social shares, as examples. Choose pictures that connect with the reader, tell a story, and support your brand. Stay away from generic images that don’t help your content.
Next tip is to add videos. You’ve heard it time and time again; consumers are interacting with videos more than ever before. Let go of the misconception that they are timely and costly to make. With the tools and technology available to us, it can be reasonably easy to accomplish with some planning. Successful videos come in the form of instructional, industry leadership, and expertise. They should also complement your written content.
Lastly, end your content with a takeaway. Meaning, make your readers feel like your content has provided them with value in some way. Use tips and make it easy to see for a reader to spot the benefit if they are scanning your content.
Form Design: 9 Tips & Best Practices to Boost Conversions and UX
The design of your form can significantly impact the conversion process. If you’re not using best practices when it comes to a form, you could be leaving money on the table. Here are some of the dos and don’ts for creating an impressive form that will boost conversions and create a user-friendly experience.
When creating a form, remember that less is more. No one wants to spend time filling out information so limit the number of fields in a form, and the information required. Ensure a browser can auto-fill the fields to speed up the completion process.
When it comes to layout, choose one column over two. Studies have shown that a user will complete a single-column form faster than a form with two or more. Again, if a form takes too long to finish, the chances of abandonment increase drastically. Align your text to the left and above the form field box, and include a strong title to motivate the user to act.
Forms should begin with the easiest ask (name, email) before a harder one (billing info) and shouldn’t ask for a phone number unless necessary. Use inline form field validation to check the information input by the user. For example, catching an incorrect credit card number can alleviate the frustration of finding out a transaction can’t be processed. Lastly, address any concerns or roadblocks within the form that may otherwise deter a customer from filling it out.
