Rockbridge Growth Equity Makes Significant Growth Investment in Vici Media

Investment Marks the Formation of Rockbridge’s New Digital Media Platform

DETROIT, MI, June 5, 2024 – Rockbridge Growth Equity (“Rockbridge” or “the Firm”), a partnership-oriented middle market private equity firm with a differentiated approach to building and growing companies, today announced that it has made a majority investment in Vici Media Inc. (“Vici” or the “Company”), a provider of white label digital marketing and advertising solutions. The investment marks the formation of a new Rockbridge digital media platform, as the Firm looks to make additional investments in the industry. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Vici’s founder and Managing Partner Todd Schumacher, founder and Chief Operating Officer Megan Malone, and founding partner Leslye Schumacher will remain minority equity holders in the Company and will continue to actively lead the business.

“Rockbridge plans to enhance Vici’s strong reputation for product excellence and customer service by continuing to invest behind product innovation and platform expansion,” said Steve Linden, Partner at Rockbridge. “At the same time, Rockbridge sees an exciting opportunity to pursue inorganic growth in an effort to create a scaled and distinctive platform for current and future partners. We look forward to partnering with the entire Vici team as we work together to expand the Company.”

Vici partners with traditional local media companies and independent agencies nationwide, enabling them to provide a broad suite of digital marketing products and services to their small and mid-sized local business customers. Founded in 2014, Vici offers white-labeled solutions including sales training, digital media planning, online ad buying, reporting, and campaign optimization through a multi-platform approach.

“Since founding Vici a decade ago, we’re proud to have built a company that has helped hundreds of media and agency partners offer digital advertising services that benefit their local business customers,” said Mr. Schumacher, founder and Managing Partner at Vici. “As we embark upon this next stage in our Company’s growth, we’re confident that Rockbridge will be an excellent partner to enhance our existing business and identify new avenues for expansion.”

Vici was represented by Bailey Glasser, while Rockbridge was represented by Honigman.

About Rockbridge Growth Equity

Founded in 2007, Rockbridge Growth Equity is a middle market private equity firm committed to helping both founder-operated and established companies accelerate growth and build long-term, sustainable value. Rockbridge combines the flexibility of a financial sponsor with the benefits of strategic partnership by leveraging the firm’s relationship with the Rock Family of Companies, which provides access to industry and functional expertise. As of year-end 2023, Rockbridge has regulatory assets under management of over $1.7 billion across its target sectors: e-Commerce and Marketing Services, Financial Services and Fintech, Tech-Enabled Products and Services, and Digital Media. For more information, please visit www.rbequity.com.

The post Rockbridge Growth Equity Makes Significant Growth Investment in Vici Media appeared first on Vici Media Inc..

Why Monthly Reports Are Your Campaign’s Best Friend

Are you flying blind with your digital campaigns? No you are not! The magic lies within the monthly review! Let’s unravel the ultimate question of, “Is it working?” Well first before we determine that, we need to know what are we measuring to determine success and make that the focus of a campaign reporting review. Let’s break down some highlights of digital reporting.

Impressions: The Silent Spectators

Impressions, oh impressions! They’re like silent spectators at a mime show – they see it all but rarely make a peep. Yet, their sheer presence hints at the grandeur of your digital spectacle. But important to point out impressions are targeted to your specific audience you have selected, so rest assured, they are getting noticed. Another metric to look for on impressions and how many were served, is looking at where the impressions went to by tactic and how is the performance by those.  In the example below, impressions are being served to Behavioral Targeting, Keyword Targeting and Retargeting. It is not uncommon that Retargeting would have a high CTR(click thru rate) like you see below. All strategies in this example are performing well from a CTR standpoint and well above the national CTR average of .07%, however, one behavioral line item is a little lower than the others, so this may be something to think about for increasing performance. Things that could be revised are the creative for this behavioral line item or the target categories, and should more categories be added or removed.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): The Trailblazers

Ah, the CTR, the brave souls who dare to defy the odds and embark on the perilous journey from “scrolling oblivion” to “clicking glory.” They’re the trailblazers of the digital frontier, leading the charge towards engagement! A benchmark to measure is making sure the CTR is well above the national average of .07%. NOTE: Some products will not have any clicks or a high CTR like OTT or Online Audio, because it is streaming and clicks would be very low. Things to take away from clicks are making sure clicks remain consistent week over week or month over month. When we start to see click decline, this is usually an indication that creative may need to be updated to keep the messaging fresh and new.

Conversions: The Holy Grail

In the realm of digital marketing, conversions are like a leprechaun’s pot of gold, they beckon from the end of the rainbow, promising untold riches (or at least a decent ROI). To break it down in a simple explanation, conversions are what consumers do AFTER clicking on an ad or after being served an ad. This is where the true engagement measure comes from. What are good conversions?

Making a purchase or “add to cart” on your website
Clicking to a certain page of your website that you want to track (products/services page, info page, etc.)
Downloading info or discount offer from your website
Filling out a “contact us” form
Registering for a newsletter or offer
Watching a video
Creating an account
Clicking on a specific button on a page
Clicks on the Live Chat box to initiate a chat
Clicking on the menu/header pages on your website
Tracking on-site visits to your location

How Many Of Those People Who Clicked Will Convert Into Leads Or Sales?

To figure this out you need to know what the advertisers’ typical website conversion rate is.  In other words, of the people that typically come to their website how many of them convert (do what you want them to do)?  Take that percentage x the clicks.

For example:

If you are running 300,000 impressions, you should expect at least 210 people will click on the ad and come to your website (using the national average click through rate of .07%).  If you typically convert 5% of people from your website, that would be 210 x 5% which means 10 conversions should be expected.

How Do I Know What My Lead Conversion Rate Is?

This depends on what you consider a conversion.  If it is buying something on your website then you would take your total website traffic divided by completed sales to get your conversion rate.  If a conversion is someone filling out a contact us form, then you would take your total website traffic divided by the number of people who complete the form to get your conversion rate.

What’s A Good Lead Conversion Rate?

The average website landing page Lead Conversion Rate is 2.35%. Conversions are one of the top ways to determine campaign effectiveness if conversions are able to be measured. In addition to data your client provides like increased calls, foot traffic and sales.

View-Throughs: The Sneaky Spectators

View-Throughs are the sneaky spectators lurking in the shadows of digital campaigns. They may not click, but oh, do they watch or come back later when ready! Like ninjas in the night, they silently influence, waiting to strike when least expected.

View-Throughs essentially mean that a consumer was served an ad but doesn’t click on it, but it made such an impact that they came to a client’s website on their own, when they were ready. And many times, they also perform some type of conversion as well.  Talk about the power of advertising.

Other metrics to review on reporting depending on the product and client are:

Creative Performance– If running more than one set of creative you can compare which one is yielding more clicks. Also, what is the view rate of any videos that are running?

Device Performance – If running on multiple devices like mobile, tablet and desktop, etc. what is the impression break out? If there is a large majority of impressions on mobile? If so, it may be time to revisit that user experience on your mobile phone to make sure that it is the desired journey and if improvements can be made to that overall web experience to yield conversions.

Google Analytics – This can be a great way to isolate all web traffic to learn about new user activity during certain advertising windows to see if there was a lift in traffic and overall web engagement.

Google Business- This is a great way to learn ROI during certain advertising windows to see if there was a lift in engagement on their Google Business Listing. Consumers may not visit a website after being served an ad and instead “Google” the business and interact with their Business Listing. The report would identify any lifts in website visits from that Google listing, calls or driving directions if available for that client.

Depending on your clients’ goals and objective, there may be other metrics to review.

Overall Goal Performance: The Moment of Truth

And finally, we arrive at the moment of truth – the grand finale, the pièce de résistance – overall goal performance. It’s where dreams meet reality, aspirations collide with achievements, and we ask ourselves the age-old question: “Is it working?”

There is not a one size fits all for reviewing reporting and campaign success. Understanding the clients’ goals and what to look for and reviewing every aspect of the journey will isolate areas of focus and will assist in uncovering how it is performing. From creative, to strategy, to clicks, conversions, web experience, sales data and more! And reviewing reports EVERY month, yes I said EVERY MONTH with your client is key to ensuring ROI, happy clients and campaign renewals.

The post Why Monthly Reports Are Your Campaign’s Best Friend appeared first on Vici Media Inc..

How Can You Use TikTok for Advertising?

It’s the sound we interpret a clock to make. It’s also a lyric that is used in a lot of songs, especially country songs. It’s also a social media platform that has taken several countries by storm, and that is TikTok. TikTok is a video sharing app where users can create and share short videos typically featuring tutorials, music, dance, comedy, or other forms of creative expression. TikTok has gained immense popularity worldwide, particularly among younger demographics, and it allows users to interact by liking, commenting, and sharing each other’s videos.

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, TikTok has emerged as a powerhouse platform that cannot be ignored. Initially gaining popularity as a hub for creative and entertaining short-form videos, TikTok has rapidly transformed into a robust advertising platform, offering unique opportunities for brands to engage with a global audience in innovative ways. What sets TikTok apart from other social media platforms is its unique format, focusing on short-form video content that encourages creativity and authenticity.

TikTok offers advanced targeting options based on demographics, interests, and behavior, allowing brands to tailor their content to specific audience segments. This precision targeting helps maximize the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

When it comes to the type of ads that you can run on TikTok, it is video ads and carousel ads (only in a display format). When users are viewing content and interacting with TikTok, they are watching short bits of information and then moving onto the next thing. For TikTok ads, it is best to have videos that fall in the :05-:15 time frame. Users are swiping up quickly to get to the next video, so you want to be able to capture their attention quickly. As with any kind of advertising, you could be reaching the exact perfect audience, but if your ad isn’t good, it’s not going to resonate. Here are some things to keep in mind when creating video ads for TikTok:

Caption formatting is crucial, especially on platforms like TikTok where presentation impacts credibility. (We can add captions if we are creating the ad manually – if we are pulling from an organic post, the business has to have already added captions.)
Captions should be formatted in easily readable blocks.
Inconsistencies or odd formatting can lead to a loss of trust among viewers.
Studies show that user engagement drops by 33% with poorly formatted captions. Properly formatted captions are not just about readability; they play a vital role in maintaining the professional integrity of your video content.
Adding movement to video clips is key to retaining viewer attention.
Implementing movement techniques in video editing ensures a more engaging and visually appealing ad experience.
Ensuring text and visuals are within safe zones is critical.
Important elements getting cropped can lead to loss of crucial information or miscommunication.
Ads respecting safe zones show a 30% higher comprehension and recall rate among viewers.

For carousel ads, TikTok says that carousel posts get 3x more comments, 2x more likes and 2.6x more shares on average than video posts. However, unlike Facebook, you can only have one click through URL and the text must be the same for all slides with 100 characters being the max. You also can not use emojis or hashtags in the creative. Some form of audio is also required on carousel ads, which we can add if requested, or you can supply a voice over.

For how to reach that target audience, TikTok allows for Category Targeting which is showing your ads to TikTok users based on information they have provided about themselves and their viewing and posting habits. Since TikTok is gathering information about its users, that is considered first party data and that data includes information about the person such as age, gender, and household income, but it also looks at interests, purchase intentions, video interactions (actions that show users’ engagement with organic video content such as video completion, like, comment, and share) and creator interactions (targeting users that follow specific types of creators or users who have viewed the profile pages of specific creators). Some examples of the targeting categories that are available are:

Demographics:

Gender: All, Male, Female
Age: All, 13-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55+
Languages
Spending Power All or High spending power
Household Income: Top 5% of Zip codes,
Top 10% of zip codes, Top 10%-25% of zip codes,
Top 25%-50% of zip codes

Interests:

Home Improvement
Travel
Food & Beverage
Financial Services
Pets

Purchase Intentions:

Life Services
Sports & Outdoors
E-Commerce (Non-app)
News & Entertainment
Apparel & Accessories

Video Interactions:

Sports & Outdoors
Culture & Education & Technology
Talents
Lifestyle
Family & Relationships

Creator Interactions:

Sport
Talent
Family
Society
Home & Garden

There is also another way to target with TikTok and that is through Hashtag Targeting. This is a different concept that, right now, is only available through TikTok. Hashtag Targeting is a type of behavioral targeting where we show your ads to TikTok users who watched or interacted with TikTok videos with certain hashtags. It works by targeting those searching or posting on hashtags, which we can use for targeting for adults 18+. Hashtag targeting can be very broad or very select depending on the campaign goals. Ideally it should be a mix of popular and trending hashtags along with more niche hashtags related to your business type. Keep in mind that not all hashtags will be available to target because it’s up to TikTok’s discretion, or there may not be enough users on a hashtag.

The final targeting strategy for TikTok is Retargeting. This is where we follow people after they leave your website and show them your ad when they go onto TikTok. For example, if a potential customer goes to your website and leaves, our ad tracking technology tries to collect information about them and then follow them and show them ads for your business when they are on TikTok. It creates that top of mind awareness for the potential customer that was interested in your website at one point. Since 98% of website traffic doesn’t take action on their first visit, Retargeting allows for that frequency to act as a tap on the shoulder to remind the customer to come back and take that next step.

TikTok represents a dynamic and rapidly growing platform that offers unparalleled opportunities for businesses to connect with consumers in a creative and authentic manner. By embracing TikTok as part of their marketing strategy, brands can tap into its vast reach, engage with a highly active user base, and drive meaningful results. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, staying adaptable and leveraging emerging platforms like TikTok will be essential for businesses aiming to stay relevant and resonate with the next generation of consumers.

The post How Can You Use TikTok for Advertising? appeared first on Vici Media Inc..

How do I use Digital Advertising for Recruitment?

“Why is it so hard to find employees to come work for my company?”  “We’ve had these positions open for months.”  “We can’t find the right people to fill this position.”   “What do we do?”

Sound familiar?  So many companies, large and small, are having difficulty filling positions.  These positions range from general customer service roles, to food servers at restaurants, and then specifically the higher up positions that require experience, certain certifications, etc.

Why is it so challenging?

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the latest data shows that there are 8.5 million job openings in the U.S. but only 6.5 million unemployed workers.  Also, in 2022, the U.S. Chamber surveyed unemployed workers and found some insight as to what’s keeping people from returning to work:

Two-thirds (66%) of Americans who lost their full-time job during the pandemic say they are only somewhat active or not very active at all in searching for a new job.
About half (49%) are not willing to take jobs that do not offer the opportunity for remote work.
More than a quarter (26%) say it will never again be essential for them to return to work.
Nearly one in five have altered their livelihood, 17% have retired, 19% have transitioned to homemaker, and 14% are now working part-time.
Almost a quarter (24%) say government aid packages during the pandemic have incentivized them to not actively look for work.
Younger respondents, aged 25-34, are prioritizing personal growth over searching for a job right now; 36% say they’re more focused on acquiring new skills, education, or training before re-entering the job market.

Now, more than ever, it seems like recruitment for companies in most industries is at a standstill.  There are challenges when it comes to finding the right candidates.

This is where Digital Recruitment Advertising can come in and help alleviate the weight that sits on the shoulders of business owners, HR Directors, and even Recruiting Agencies.

Before we dive into how to best use digital, here are a few tips on recruitment:

51% of talent professionals recruit throughout the calendar year for positions that may open up later on
51% of job seekers are more attracted to an organization that had posted job listings with visual elements (images & videos) than to others that didn’t.
Mobile-friendly job applications receive 11% more submissions
Job ads that include a salary range got 75% more engagement than the job ads that don’t
89% of job seekers agree that an employer’s webpage is important for finding key information.
(sources: https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/recruitment-statistics/#gref; https://www.adaface.com/blog/recruitment-statistics/#job-ad)

The candidate application rate goes up by 34% when a job post includes a video
83% of candidates say it would greatly improve the experience if the business provides a clear view of the hiring process.
The median employee tenure in the US is 2 years and ages 25 to 34 average is 2.8 years
Employees are 3x more trusted than employers
75% of professionals are passive job seekers.
Sources: https://blog.aspiration.marketing/recruitment-marketing-statistics; https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/recruitment-statistics/#gref

Since these people are hard to reach, may be passively job seeking, and are looking for some kind of image/video in the job that they look for, using digital advertising for your recruitment purposes is a win-win.  When you’re looking at Recruitment Marketing, it’s important to understand the Marketing Funnel, as it relates to recruitment:

When we analyze the recruitment campaigns that we’ve run over the last few years, there are a few products that are utilized more often than others to help with the Awareness and Interest mentioned above: Social Mirror, Display, Mobile Conquesting and Facebook/Instagram.   While these aren’t the only products we see being used, these are the most common that we’re seeing.

Each Product can be used for different purposes as well, depending on your goal.

Facebook/Instagram and Social Mirror can be used for goals like filling part-time jobs, reaching college students, people with general skills, entry level positions, text heavy ad creative and if you’re tracking conversions, these are two great products to use.

If you are in need of highly specific skill sets, advanced degrees, and tracking conversions, then you may want to use Social Mirror and/or Display Ads as the behavioral targeting categories available are very specific to the job you have.

If you are trying to reach the blue color audience, moms, entry level positions, maybe targeting a competitor’s employees, and if conversion tracking isn’t that important, Mobile Conquesting may be your best choice.

The beauty of using Digital Advertising is the ability to be really specific when it comes to who you want to see your ads.  When recruiting for specific roles, it may be more of a select pool of candidates you’re looking for.

For Social Mirror and Display, here are some common behavioral categories used to find potential employees:

Career Changers > Likely
Education>Graduating College
Education > College Graduate Degree
Life Stages – Recent College Graduates
Lifestyle > Unemployed/Looking for a job
Neutral On Looking For Job In US
Actively Looking For Job In US
Job Seekers
US Hispanic Job Seekers
In Market > Recent Graduate, Job Seeker
By Job Titles
Job Search & Career Opportunities
Mid-Career Switchers
Employment Status – Unemployed
Administrative Jobs
Arts & Entertainment Jobs
Business
Business Decision Makers
Business Professionals
Careers & Employment
C-Level Executives
Communications Jobs
Construction Jobs
Continuing Education
Customer Service Jobs
Education Jobs
Education Professionals
Employed Part Time
Employment Search
Engineering Jobs
Entry Level positions
Executive Positions
Expect to Change Jobs
Finance Jobs
Finance Professionals
Government
Health Care Jobs
Home Service Jobs
HR and Recruitment
Human Resources
Insurance
IT Professionals
Jobs
Level of Education – Advanced Degree
College Degree
High School Degree
Some College
New Hires or Recruitment Services
Recruitment
Small Business Professionals
Young Professionals

You can even target by industry that people are working in:

Industry > Accounting
Industry > Agriculture > Animals & Livestock
Industry > Agriculture > Crops
Industry > Agriculture > Fishing
Industry > Architecture & Design
Industry > Automotive
Industry > Banking
Industry > Banking & Finance
Industry > Banks & Credit Unions
Industry > Business Services > Accounting
Industry > Business Services > Commercial Printing
Industry > Business Services > Graphic Design
Industry > Business Services > HR & Recruiting
Industry > Construction > Architecture
Industry > Construction > Contractors
Industry > Construction > Residential Building
Industry > Consumer Services > Hair Salons
Industry > Consumer Services > Veterinary
Industry > Cultural > Performance Arts
Industry > Education > Colleges & Universities
Industry > Education > K-12 Schools
Industry > Energy, Utilities & Waste
Industry > Finance
Industry > Forestry
Industry > Government Industry
Industry > Hospitality/Hotels
Industry > Hospitals & Clinics
Industry > Investment Banking
Industry > Manufacturing > Boats & Marine
Industry > Manufacturing > Building Materials
Industry > Manufacturing > Textiles & Apparel
Industry > Museums & Art Galleries
Industry > Non-Profit
Industry > Real Estate > Residential
Industry > Retail – Grocery
Industry > Sports
Industry > Staffing & Recruiting
Industry > Transportation & Travel

For Mobile Conquesting, here are some commonly used behavioral categories:

Employment Agencies & Opportunities Visitors
Career & Vocational Counseling Visitors
Dance School Students
Education Center Students
Industrial Technical & Trade School Students
Junior & Community College Students
Barber Schools
Language School Students
Medical Assistant Students
Medical School Students
Nursing School Students
Real Estate Students
Tennis School Students
Tutoring Center Students
Culinary School Students
College & University Students
Business & Vocational School Students
Beauty School Students

And, for Meta (Facebook/Instagram), here are some commonly used behavioral categories:

College grad
Unemployed Looking for work
Application for employment
Career
Career development
Employment
Employment agency
Employment website
Entry-level job
Job hunting
Job interview
Recruitment
Accounting
Advertising
Advertising agency
Affiliate marketing
Agriculture
Air conditioning
Apprenticeship
Architecture
Automobile repair shop
Automotive industry
Biotechnology
Bookkeeping
Business administration
Business development
Call center
Car dealership
Car finance
Coaching
Computer engineering
Computer programming
Computer science
Computer security
Construction
Consumer electronics
Customer relationship
Customer service
Data security
Day trading
Digital marketing
Dog training
Economics
Education
Electrical engineering
Electronics
Email marketing
Facility management
Foodservice
Franchising
Freelancer
Fundraising
Graphic design
Grocery store
Higher education
Home business
Human resource management
Information security
Information technology
Interior design
Internship
Job
Job fair
Journalism
Landscaping
Law
Logistics
Management
Manufacturing
Marketing
Mechanical engineering
Medicine
Metalworking
Nonprofit organization
Part-time
Performing arts
Personal development
Personal finance
Photography
Product management
Professional Development
Project management
Public relations
Public transport
Quality assurance
Recruitment
Sales
Sales management
Security (finance)
Self-employment
Semi-trailer truck
Shift work
Software engineering
Stock market
Supply chain management
Systems engineering
Technology
Telemarketing
Temporary work
Training
Trucks
Urban planning
Veterinary medicine
Vocational education
Volunteering
Warehouse
Web design

There are several ways to target your ads, including behavioral targeting mentioned above.  But, I think more importantly, or just as important is the messaging/creative.    Below, we’ll take a look at some different samples of creative that we’ve seen have a lot of success.

This piece of creative has a few key ingredients:

People – people love people and using actual employees in your creative can go a long way
Pay – people pay attention to the pay scale and look for that as an initial interest point
“No Experience Necessary” – this limits hesitation for applying

Key Ingredients:

Uses a Story Ad to convey more information
Clear call-to-action button “Apply Today”
Benefits of working for the company

Key Ingredients:

Video – when you have video available, use it! Video typically sees higher clicks
Social Mirror allows you to take advantage of multiple pieces of creative at the same time, leveraging multiple messages to the same audience

Key Ingredients:

Mobile Conquesting creative using .gifs – this client didn’t have video, but utilized the next best thing
Social Mirror creative using multiple images to create a carousel looking ad to highlight multiple positions available

Key Ingedients:

Mobile Conquesting using a .GIF ad and also using people in their creative

Key Ingredients:

Using Facebok/Instagram, but also using Social Mirror – taking their social content and expanding the reach beyond Facebook/Instagram.
Showing people having fun at work

As you can see, there are a lot of ingredients that can make up great creative that converts.  But, in order to have the best chance of getting those applications submitted, we also have to look at the bottom of the Recruitment Marketing Funnel.

That being said, we want to share some tips that can help increase the amount of applications that you receive.

Here are a few more tips for Landing Pages that WORK for Recruitment campaigns:

Consider what info a job seeker wants to see and hear.
Give the “elevator pitch” on your company (company history, what makes you special – how you are different from competitors, company philosophy, values, etc.).
Show pictures or videos of your staff in work situations, outside-of-work get togethers, what your environment looks like in “real life”.
What are the great things about working for your company?
What attributes you’re looking for in new team members?
Testimonials from existing staff.
Does your page “inspire” people to want to work there?
List a thorough job description of the open position(s).
Explain what your hiring process is like.
Optimized for mobile devices.
A simple contact us form.

In a time when people are passively looking for jobs, or are being so much more specific in regards to what’s important to them, your messaging should make them excited to work for you.   Highlighting benefits and pay, using people, and having video share your message are just a few key ingredients that can help move the needle.   But remember, you also want to make sure that your website/landing page is ready for the traffic that’s on its way.

Happy Recruiting!

The post How do I use Digital Advertising for Recruitment? appeared first on Vici Media Inc..

How Can You Use TikTok for Advertising?

It’s the sound we interpret a clock to make. It’s also a lyric that is used in a lot of songs, especially country songs. It’s also a social media platform that has taken several countries by storm, and that is TikTok. TikTok is a video sharing app where users can create and share short videos typically featuring tutorials, music, dance, comedy, or other forms of creative expression. TikTok has gained immense popularity worldwide, particularly among younger demographics, and it allows users to interact by liking, commenting, and sharing each other’s videos.

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, TikTok has emerged as a powerhouse platform that cannot be ignored. Initially gaining popularity as a hub for creative and entertaining short-form videos, TikTok has rapidly transformed into a robust advertising platform, offering unique opportunities for brands to engage with a global audience in innovative ways. What sets TikTok apart from other social media platforms is its unique format, focusing on short-form video content that encourages creativity and authenticity.

TikTok offers advanced targeting options based on demographics, interests, and behavior, allowing brands to tailor their content to specific audience segments. This precision targeting helps maximize the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

When it comes to the type of ads that you can run on TikTok, it is video ads and carousel ads (only in a display format). When users are viewing content and interacting with TikTok, they are watching short bits of information and then moving onto the next thing. For TikTok ads, it is best to have videos that fall in the :05-:15 time frame. Users are swiping up quickly to get to the next video, so you want to be able to capture their attention quickly. As with any kind of advertising, you could be reaching the exact perfect audience, but if your ad isn’t good, it’s not going to resonate. Here are some things to keep in mind when creating video ads for TikTok:

Caption formatting is crucial, especially on platforms like TikTok where presentation impacts credibility. (We can add captions if we are creating the ad manually – if we are pulling from an organic post, the business has to have already added captions.)
Captions should be formatted in easily readable blocks.
Inconsistencies or odd formatting can lead to a loss of trust among viewers.
Studies show that user engagement drops by 33% with poorly formatted captions. Properly formatted captions are not just about readability; they play a vital role in maintaining the professional integrity of your video content.
Adding movement to video clips is key to retaining viewer attention.
Implementing movement techniques in video editing ensures a more engaging and visually appealing ad experience.
Ensuring text and visuals are within safe zones is critical.
Important elements getting cropped can lead to loss of crucial information or miscommunication.
Ads respecting safe zones show a 30% higher comprehension and recall rate among viewers.

For carousel ads, TikTok says that carousel posts get 3x more comments, 2x more likes and 2.6x more shares on average than video posts. However, unlike Facebook, you can only have one click through URL and the text must be the same for all slides with 100 characters being the max. You also can not use emojis or hashtags in the creative. Some form of audio is also required on carousel ads, which we can add if requested, or you can supply a voice over.

For how to reach that target audience, TikTok allows for Category Targeting which is showing your ads to TikTok users based on information they have provided about themselves and their viewing and posting habits. Since TikTok is gathering information about its users, that is considered first party data and that data includes information about the person such as age, gender, and household income, but it also looks at interests, purchase intentions, video interactions (actions that show users’ engagement with organic video content such as video completion, like, comment, and share) and creator interactions (targeting users that follow specific types of creators or users who have viewed the profile pages of specific creators). Some examples of the targeting categories that are available are:

Demographics:

Gender: All, Male, Female
Age: All, 13-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55+
Languages
Spending Power All or High spending power
Household Income: Top 5% of Zip codes,
Top 10% of zip codes, Top 10%-25% of zip codes,
Top 25%-50% of zip codes

Interests:

Home Improvement
Travel
Food & Beverage
Financial Services
Pets

Purchase Intentions:

Life Services
Sports & Outdoors
E-Commerce (Non-app)
News & Entertainment
Apparel & Accessories

Video Interactions:

Sports & Outdoors
Culture & Education & Technology
Talents
Lifestyle
Family & Relationships

Creator Interactions:

Sport
Talent
Family
Society
Home & Garden

There is also another way to target with TikTok and that is through Hashtag Targeting. This is a different concept that, right now, is only available through TikTok. Hashtag Targeting is a type of behavioral targeting where we show your ads to TikTok users who watched or interacted with TikTok videos with certain hashtags. It works by targeting those searching or posting on hashtags, which we can use for targeting for adults 18+. Hashtag targeting can be very broad or very select depending on the campaign goals. Ideally it should be a mix of popular and trending hashtags along with more niche hashtags related to your business type. Keep in mind that not all hashtags will be available to target because it’s up to TikTok’s discretion, or there may not be enough users on a hashtag.

The final targeting strategy for TikTok is Retargeting. This is where we follow people after they leave your website and show them your ad when they go onto TikTok. For example, if a potential customer goes to your website and leaves, our ad tracking technology tries to collect information about them and then follow them and show them ads for your business when they are on TikTok. It creates that top of mind awareness for the potential customer that was interested in your website at one point. Since 98% of website traffic doesn’t take action on their first visit, Retargeting allows for that frequency to act as a tap on the shoulder to remind the customer to come back and take that next step.

TikTok represents a dynamic and rapidly growing platform that offers unparalleled opportunities for businesses to connect with consumers in a creative and authentic manner. By embracing TikTok as part of their marketing strategy, brands can tap into its vast reach, engage with a highly active user base, and drive meaningful results. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, staying adaptable and leveraging emerging platforms like TikTok will be essential for businesses aiming to stay relevant and resonate with the next generation of consumers.

The post How Can You Use TikTok for Advertising? appeared first on Vici Media.

Why Monthly Reports Are Your Campaign’s Best Friend

Are you flying blind with your digital campaigns? No you are not! The magic lies within the monthly review! Let’s unravel the ultimate question of, “Is it working?” Well first before we determine that, we need to know what are we measuring to determine success and make that the focus of a campaign reporting review. Let’s break down some highlights of digital reporting.

Impressions: The Silent Spectators

Impressions, oh impressions! They’re like silent spectators at a mime show – they see it all but rarely make a peep. Yet, their sheer presence hints at the grandeur of your digital spectacle. But important to point out impressions are targeted to your specific audience you have selected, so rest assured, they are getting noticed. Another metric to look for on impressions and how many were served, is looking at where the impressions went to by tactic and how is the performance by those.  In the example below, impressions are being served to Behavioral Targeting, Keyword Targeting and Retargeting. It is not uncommon that Retargeting would have a high CTR(click thru rate) like you see below. All strategies in this example are performing well from a CTR standpoint and well above the national CTR average of .07%, however, one behavioral line item is a little lower than the others, so this may be something to think about for increasing performance. Things that could be revised are the creative for this behavioral line item or the target categories, and should more categories be added or removed.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): The Trailblazers

Ah, the CTR, the brave souls who dare to defy the odds and embark on the perilous journey from “scrolling oblivion” to “clicking glory.” They’re the trailblazers of the digital frontier, leading the charge towards engagement! A benchmark to measure is making sure the CTR is well above the national average of .07%. NOTE: Some products will not have any clicks or a high CTR like OTT or Online Audio, because it is streaming and clicks would be very low. Things to take away from clicks are making sure clicks remain consistent week over week or month over month. When we start to see click decline, this is usually an indication that creative may need to be updated to keep the messaging fresh and new.

Conversions: The Holy Grail

In the realm of digital marketing, conversions are like a leprechaun’s pot of gold, they beckon from the end of the rainbow, promising untold riches (or at least a decent ROI). To break it down in a simple explanation, conversions are what consumers do AFTER clicking on an ad or after being served an ad. This is where the true engagement measure comes from. What are good conversions?

Making a purchase or “add to cart” on your website
Clicking to a certain page of your website that you want to track (products/services page, info page, etc.)
Downloading info or discount offer from your website
Filling out a “contact us” form
Registering for a newsletter or offer
Watching a video
Creating an account
Clicking on a specific button on a page
Clicks on the Live Chat box to initiate a chat
Clicking on the menu/header pages on your website
Tracking on-site visits to your location

How Many Of Those People Who Clicked Will Convert Into Leads Or Sales?

To figure this out you need to know what the advertisers’ typical website conversion rate is.  In other words, of the people that typically come to their website how many of them convert (do what you want them to do)?  Take that percentage x the clicks.

For example:

If you are running 300,000 impressions, you should expect at least 210 people will click on the ad and come to your website (using the national average click through rate of .07%).  If you typically convert 5% of people from your website, that would be 210 x 5% which means 10 conversions should be expected.

How Do I Know What My Lead Conversion Rate Is?

This depends on what you consider a conversion.  If it is buying something on your website then you would take your total website traffic divided by completed sales to get your conversion rate.  If a conversion is someone filling out a contact us form, then you would take your total website traffic divided by the number of people who complete the form to get your conversion rate.

What’s A Good Lead Conversion Rate?

The average website landing page Lead Conversion Rate is 2.35%. Conversions are one of the top ways to determine campaign effectiveness if conversions are able to be measured. In addition to data your client provides like increased calls, foot traffic and sales.

View-Throughs: The Sneaky Spectators

View-Throughs are the sneaky spectators lurking in the shadows of digital campaigns. They may not click, but oh, do they watch or come back later when ready! Like ninjas in the night, they silently influence, waiting to strike when least expected.

View-Throughs essentially mean that a consumer was served an ad but doesn’t click on it, but it made such an impact that they came to a client’s website on their own, when they were ready. And many times, they also perform some type of conversion as well.  Talk about the power of advertising.

Other metrics to review on reporting depending on the product and client are:

Creative Performance– If running more than one set of creative you can compare which one is yielding more clicks. Also, what is the view rate of any videos that are running?

Device Performance – If running on multiple devices like mobile, tablet and desktop, etc. what is the impression break out? If there is a large majority of impressions on mobile? If so, it may be time to revisit that user experience on your mobile phone to make sure that it is the desired journey and if improvements can be made to that overall web experience to yield conversions.

Google Analytics – This can be a great way to isolate all web traffic to learn about new user activity during certain advertising windows to see if there was a lift in traffic and overall web engagement.

Google Business- This is a great way to learn ROI during certain advertising windows to see if there was a lift in engagement on their Google Business Listing. Consumers may not visit a website after being served an ad and instead “Google” the business and interact with their Business Listing. The report would identify any lifts in website visits from that Google listing, calls or driving directions if available for that client.

Depending on your clients’ goals and objective, there may be other metrics to review.

Overall Goal Performance: The Moment of Truth

And finally, we arrive at the moment of truth – the grand finale, the pièce de résistance – overall goal performance. It’s where dreams meet reality, aspirations collide with achievements, and we ask ourselves the age-old question: “Is it working?”

There is not a one size fits all for reviewing reporting and campaign success. Understanding the clients’ goals and what to look for and reviewing every aspect of the journey will isolate areas of focus and will assist in uncovering how it is performing. From creative, to strategy, to clicks, conversions, web experience, sales data and more! And reviewing reports EVERY month, yes I said EVERY MONTH with your client is key to ensuring ROI, happy clients and campaign renewals.

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Rockbridge Growth Equity Makes Significant Growth Investment in Vici Media

Investment Marks the Formation of Rockbridge’s New Digital Media Platform

DETROIT, MI, June 5, 2024 – Rockbridge Growth Equity (“Rockbridge” or “the Firm”), a partnership-oriented middle market private equity firm with a differentiated approach to building and growing companies, today announced that it has made a majority investment in Vici Media Inc. (“Vici” or the “Company”), a provider of white label digital marketing and advertising solutions. The investment marks the formation of a new Rockbridge digital media platform, as the Firm looks to make additional investments in the industry. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Vici’s founder and Managing Partner Todd Schumacher, founder and Chief Operating Officer Megan Malone, and founding partner Leslye Schumacher will remain minority equity holders in the Company and will continue to actively lead the business.

“Rockbridge plans to enhance Vici’s strong reputation for product excellence and customer service by continuing to invest behind product innovation and platform expansion,” said Steve Linden, Partner at Rockbridge. “At the same time, Rockbridge sees an exciting opportunity to pursue inorganic growth in an effort to create a scaled and distinctive platform for current and future partners. We look forward to partnering with the entire Vici team as we work together to expand the Company.”

Vici partners with traditional local media companies and independent agencies nationwide, enabling them to provide a broad suite of digital marketing products and services to their small and mid-sized local business customers. Founded in 2014, Vici offers white-labeled solutions including sales training, digital media planning, online ad buying, reporting, and campaign optimization through a multi-platform approach.

“Since founding Vici a decade ago, we’re proud to have built a company that has helped hundreds of media and agency partners offer digital advertising services that benefit their local business customers,” said Mr. Schumacher, founder and Managing Partner at Vici. “As we embark upon this next stage in our Company’s growth, we’re confident that Rockbridge will be an excellent partner to enhance our existing business and identify new avenues for expansion.”

Vici was represented by Bailey Glasser, while Rockbridge was represented by Honigman.

About Rockbridge Growth Equity

Founded in 2007, Rockbridge Growth Equity is a middle market private equity firm committed to helping both founder-operated and established companies accelerate growth and build long-term, sustainable value. Rockbridge combines the flexibility of a financial sponsor with the benefits of strategic partnership by leveraging the firm’s relationship with the Rock Family of Companies, which provides access to industry and functional expertise. As of year-end 2023, Rockbridge has regulatory assets under management of over $1.7 billion across its target sectors: e-Commerce and Marketing Services, Financial Services and Fintech, Tech-Enabled Products and Services, and Digital Media. For more information, please visit www.rbequity.com.

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What are Scrolling Banner Ads?

Eat. Sleep. Scroll. We all do it. Whether you are mindlessly scrolling social media, scrolling through an article you’re reading, or vigorously scrolling to get to the bottom of a page to just get the darn recipe (this one drives me nuts!), it has just become second nature to scroll. While we are all used to that kind of scrolling, Mobile Conquesting ads have recently had an enhancement and now offer a different kind of ad- scrolling banner ads.

These types of scrolling banner ads are only available for Mobile Conquesting, and they look similar to ads that you saw years ago since they have that scrolling feature to them. They also can have the dynamic distance listed within the scrolling ad to let the user know how far away they are at that moment of seeing the ad. That is pretty neat since most of the time when you’re served an ad, you’re not expecting it to be personalized to that level where it shows you how far away that location is. While we can dynamically add the distance, we can’t add the phone number or the address of the business, and these scrolling banner ads are only available in the 320×50 size.

These ads are a game changer for Mobile Conquesting. During our beta test, scrolling banner ads averaged a 1.66% click through rate, so they are certainly capturing the users attention! These are also a great option for a business that doesn’t have the resources available to them in order to create an ad because we actually create the ad! To create those, we will need a logo, the business name, the text (up to 160 characters), and if you want the dynamic distance to show, we will also need to know that. Scrolling banner ads can be added in with the other Mobile Conquesting ad sizes for no additional cost, or they can also run exclusively by themselves, but you are not able to do Cross Platform targeting with Mobile Conquesting when running only scrolling banner ads. We can’t place any pixels to the scrolling banner ads, which is needed for cross platform targeting, so if you need cross platform targeting with a scrolling banner campaign, we also recommend adding standard display ads to the mix.

Every marketing campaign is going to vary based on the target audience, the geographic targeting area, how well known the company is, their overall message and how that is being delivered, but ads that move tend to have higher engagement and conversions rates. For example, a video ad typically will outperform a GIF ad, and a GIF ad will typically outperform a static ad. By adding in the scrolling element to the traditional 320×50 ad size, it captures the attention of those that are scrolling through and seeing that ad. Businesses can leverage scrolling banners to deliver dynamic content such as promotions, product updates, or time-sensitive offers. The ability to regularly update the ad content also keeps the message fresh and relevant to the audience. With the increasing use of mobile devices, Americans are spending 5.4 hours a day using their mobile phone while checking their phones 58 times a day on average, and scrolling banner ads are specifically reaching those users while on their smartphones and tablets. Their unobtrusive design also ensures a positive user experience on those smaller screens.

From a marketing perspective, Mobile Conquesting is a no-brainer product since it’s reaching people solely on their phones and it has a variety of ways to reach them:

Behavioral Targeting– Targeting people who have shown specific behaviors online or are in a certain demographic, and by where they have been tracked with their phone recently such as a location, business, or specific brand name store.
Geo-Fencing– Targeting people in real time while at a competitor’s location, other businesses, or specific locations or events.
Geo-Retargeting– Continuing to target people after they leave the locations we are geo-fencing.
Geo-Retargeting Lookalike– Continuing to target people after they leave the locations we are geo-fencing and then target those people’s neighborhoods.
Weather Trigger– Targeting people in a specific geographic area when a certain type of weather event takes place or is forecasted to take place.
Address Targeting and Retargeting– Targeting people from a list of home addresses and serving ads to them when they are at that address, and then continuing to follow those people after they leave and show them the ads.

It is also one of the products that allows for On-Site Visit Tracking, so we can track people who see the ad and then go to your business within two weeks after seeing it, and show that on the monthly reports.

Even with all the different ways to reach people on their phones and tablets with Mobile Conquesting and the ability to track visits to locations, the one drawback to Mobile Conquesting is that it doesn’t always allow for a business to get their message across or tell a story because the ad sizes are smaller compared to something like a Facebook ad. Outside of the full screen ad size (320×480), the other sizes are smaller, so you want to make sure you keep your messages simple and incorporate a good call to action button. You also want to have one clear message to get across. In the below example, “Up to 80% off retail” is clear and concise and lets the user know what the ad is about so when they click on that, they are expecting to land somewhere talking more about that offer. You also want to include keywords in the text and choose high quality graphics or visuals. If you’ve got fuzzy or blurry graphics, then the ad isn’t going to catch people’s attention and it’s going to look cheap, and you’ll lose credibility because it doesn’t look authentic. All of that can be hard to do when you are working with a 320×50 or 300×250 sized ad. By adding in the scrolling banner ads, you now have a little more room to work with and can explain more about the product or service that you’re promoting, all while not having too much text on the ad.

In a crowded digital landscape, incorporating movement in ads can make you stand apart from your competitors and break through all the noise. Brands and businesses that embrace dynamic content are more likely to stand out and leave a lasting impression on consumers amidst the sea of static visuals.

While movement in digital ads offers these benefits, it’s essential for advertisers to strike a balance and ensure that the movement enhances the user experience rather than causing distraction or annoyance. By adding in the addition of scrolling banner ads, it allows for the creative to be more inviting and engaging, which can significantly contribute to the success of digital advertising campaigns.

Happy New Year and Happy Scrolling!

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How does monthly SEO support my business?

In the ever-evolving digital melody, where websites compose the future’s ballad, the significance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can’t be overstated. It’s not a fleeting note but a continuous serenade that, when played consistently, orchestrates higher rankings, increased organic traffic, and sustained business growth. In this thorough guide, we’ll immerse ourselves in the multifaceted world of SEO and illuminate the myriad benefits that emerge from embracing a monthly SEO practice.

The SEO Overture: A Quick Reminder

SEO, the conductor of the digital orchestra, orchestrates the optimization of a website to elevate its visibility on search engines like Google. It involves an array of strategies and techniques aimed at fine-tuning a website’s relevance and authority, ultimately leading to higher rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). The SEO stage is dynamic, influenced by algorithmic compositions, user behavior algorithms, and technological harmonies. To stay ahead in this digital sonnet, a continuous commitment to SEO practices is essential.

The Ongoing Benefits of Monthly SEO Practices

Sustained Visibility and Rankings:

The digital realm is a concert hall teeming with competitors vying for the spotlight. Monthly SEO practices ensure your website maintains its presence and rankings amidst the ever-changing composition. Regular optimization helps you dance with algorithmic updates and adapt to evolving user search melodies, preventing your site from fading into the background.

Fresh and Relevant Content:

Content is the soulful rhythm of SEO. Regularly updating and adding new content to your website signals to search engines that your site is an active participant in the symphony, deserving of attention. A blog section, akin to a dynamic movement, provides a platform for regularly publishing content that addresses user queries and establishes your authority in your industry. (hence why we update our blogs on a regular basis)

Improved User Experience:

User experience is the melodious note that resonates in SEO rankings. Regularly fine-tuning your website’s user interface, navigation, and overall experience creates a seamless composition. This not only pleases search engines but also ensures that visitors experience a harmonious journey on your site, leading to higher engagement and conversions.

Keyword Evolution and Adaptation:

Keywords are the lyrical poetry of SEO, and user search behavior evolves over time. Monthly SEO practices enable you to stay attuned to keyword trends, identifying new opportunities and adjusting your content to align with changing user intent. This ensures that your content remains a resonant melody, striking a chord with your target audience.

Strategic Link Building:

Backlinks, the harmonic echoes of SEO, are crucial for digital resonance. Monthly efforts in link building help you acquire high-quality, authoritative backlinks, enhancing your website’s credibility in the symphony of search engines. A strategic approach to link building forms a symphonic network, amplifying your online reputation.

Responsive Website Design:

With the crescendo of mobile device usage, having a responsive website is not just good practice; it’s a necessity for SEO harmony. Monthly SEO practices include ensuring that your website is an adaptable composition, providing a positive experience for users on various devices. This responsiveness is a key note in search engine algorithms.

Analytics and Performance Monitoring:

SEO is not a standalone melody. Regularly monitoring website analytics allows you to track the performance of your SEO composition. By analyzing metrics such as organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rates, you can identify the sweet spots in your symphony and fine-tune areas that need harmonious improvement.

The Monthly SEO Composition: Tips for Success

Content Calendar Crescendo:

Develop a content calendar that orchestrates the themes, keywords, and publication schedule for your content. This not only keeps your team in tune but also ensures a harmonious flow of fresh content that aligns with your SEO composition.

Keyword Research Rhapsody:

Embrace a monthly melody of keyword research. Identify new keyword harmonies, assess the performance of existing keywords, and adjust your content strategy accordingly. Tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush can be instrumental in this symphony.

Link Building Harmonies:

Dedicate time each month to create symphonies through link building. Cultivate relationships with influencers and industry virtuosos, seek guest solo opportunities, and ensure that your backlink composition is a harmonious melody. Quality always trumps quantity in the symphony of link building.

Technical SEO Concerto:

Conduct regular technical SEO audits to identify and fix dissonant issues that might hinder your website’s performance. This includes optimizing site speed, fixing broken notes, and ensuring proper indexing of your pages by search engines.

Social Media Sonata:

Integrate your SEO symphony with your social media composition. Social signals, like likes, shares, and comments, can indirectly impact SEO resonance. Regularly share your content on social platforms, creating a harmonious resonance and driving traffic back to your website.

Algorithmic Adaptation:

Stay in tune with search engine algorithmic compositions. Search engines continuously refine their algorithms to deliver the most resonant results to users. By adapting your SEO composition to these updates, you ensure that your website remains in harmony with the latest ranking notes.

Competitor Analysis Symphony:

Keep an ear tuned to your competitors’ symphonies. Regularly analyze their SEO compositions, identify areas where you can add your unique notes, and seize opportunities to differentiate your brand in the digital harmony.

The Whole Picture

When we take a look at SEO campaigns, we take a look at everything mentioned above, along with everything else that’s both ON the website, as well as OFF the website:

In addition to SEO, we also recommend and implement Online Reputation Management.   Being able to monitor and improve all of the publicly held information about your business is vital.  Being able to monitor that through an online portal, solicit reviews (which helps SEO), review competition, and see all kinds of mentions of your business will allow you to see how your customers are viewing you.  Knowing this information allows you to adjust as you see fit.

Realizing the Symphony: A Case Study Crescendo

Case Study 1: B2B for HR/Employment

Background:

Our client was in need of gaining market share in the highly competitive recruiting industry, with their main competitor offering three Business to Customer products with price points between $20-$100.  Our client, competing in the same industry but in the Business to Business space, had products worth thousands of dollars.  Since both B2B and B2C companies were bidding on the same search terms to find their respective customers, AdWords was not a profitable endeavor.

Strategy:

We decided to focus solely on SEO to boost their listing organically.  It included optimizing all keywords, meta descriptions, meta tags, alt tags, inbound link building, as well as optimizing ranking keyword reporting across Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Results:

Our starting point was 321 organic visits.  Within two months, the website traffic doubled to 696, and continued to triple the next month until hitting 10K visits less than a year later, then website topped at 14K monthly visits.  In addition to website traffic, the company’s revenues have increased enormously  since the implementation of SEO.

Case Study 2: Law Firm

Background:

The client wanted to focus on increasing the law firm’s search rankings, especially for people in need of a domestic violence or assault lawyer.  The law firm also received a bad review on Google that was not from a former client and therefore needed to be disputed and resolved.

Strategy:

Our SEO team focused on improving the client’s ranking in the Google Local search algorithm, and in the larger organic algorithm.  The project began with an audit where we found several different parts of the site that were not optimized.  Title tags on articles were sub par, which we went in and fixed.  Also, looking beyond traditional SEO, our team found that the site design was increasing bounce rate and hurting conversions. Our team was able to make changes that improved the bounce rate and the SEO of the clients’ site.  In addition to the SEO work, reputation management is included in SEO campaigns, so we were able to alert the client to some negative reviews.  The client was then able to use the information to seek more positive reviews, which boosted overall reputation.

Results:

After the first month of the campaign organic and overall traffic gained 25% and 33% respectively, and 81% of traffic was new traffic.  The next month organic and overall traffic jumped to 57% and 56% respectively.  Year over year traffic went up 50%.  The client reported an average of 250 site views per day.  Other completed tasks include a listing on Yelp, changes to home page title tags, reducing the number of tags in the creation of blog posts, making points of conversion easier to locate on client’s site and updating broken Google Plus and Facebook links.

In the grand symphony of digital marketing, SEO plays a pivotal role, and the benefits of continuing SEO practices on a monthly basis are undeniable. It’s not just about reaching the top of the search results; it’s about staying there, adapting to change, and consistently providing a harmonious melody to your audience. As the digital landscape evolves, the symphony created by monthly SEO practices will resonate, ensuring that your brand remains not just visible but influential in the ever-expanding online realm. So, tune your website to the SEO symphony, and let the ongoing benefits unfold as your online presence crescendos to new heights.

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Surfing the Waves of Change: Chrome’s Next Move in Phasing Out Third-Party Cookies 🌐🍪

Grab your virtual surfboards because we’re about to ride the waves of cookie-tracking technology. Chrome, our trusty browser companion, is gearing up for the next big move in its quest for online privacy. What’s the buzz, you ask? Well, it’s all about saying farewell to those sneaky third-party cookies that have been trailing us across the web.

On January 4, Google began testing Tracking Protection, a new feature that limits cross-site tracking by restricting website access to third-party cookies by default. This affects 1% of Chrome users globally, and is a part of the Privacy Sandbox initiative to phase out third-party cookies for everyone in the second half of 2024, but that is subject to addressing any remaining competition concerns from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.

The Scoop on Third-Party Cookies

Now, if you’re not quite sure what third-party cookies are, think of them as the digital spies that follow you around the internet, collecting bits and pieces of your online journey. They’re the reason that pair of shoes you ogled at on one website seems to be haunting your dreams on every other site you visit. Creepy, right?

Bidding Adieu to Cookies with Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox

But fear not, cookies have a brand new package.  Chrome is here to the rescue with its Privacy Sandbox. Picture it as a secure haven where your personal data can kick back, relax, and enjoy a worry-free online existence. The Privacy Sandbox is Chrome’s way of reshaping the online landscape, creating a more private and secure internet experience for everyone. Great for us, but what about advertisers? Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox isn’t just about waving goodbye to third-party cookies; it’s also a game-changer for you. This innovative approach brings a breath of fresh air into the world of digital marketing, opening up new opportunities while respecting user privacy.

A Kaleidoscope of User-Centric Features

What’s in the Privacy Sandbox, you ask? Imagine a virtual kaleidoscope of user-centric features that enhance your browsing experience without compromising your privacy. From trusty APIs to innovative technologies, Chrome is unleashing a colorful array of tools to make your online adventures safer and more personalized.

Tracking Protection: Your Shield in the Online Battlefield

One of the key players in this grand scheme is Chrome’s Tracking Protection. It’s like a digital shield, deflecting unwanted tracking attempts and safeguarding your online identity. No more feeling like you’re being watched – Chrome’s got your back!

Transparency and Control: The Power to Choose

Chrome believes in giving you the power to control your online destiny. With increased transparency, you’ll have a clearer view of who’s tracking you and why. It’s all about putting the reins back in your hands, so you can choose what information you want to share and with whom. An eMarketer study found: More than three in five US digital shoppers (62%) believe digital ads are largely well targeted to their interests. Accurately targeted ads mean relevant ads, and relevant ads drive better response.  40% of US internet users said personal relevance motivated them to respond to ads.

What’s Next? Buckle Up for the Future of Browsing!

So, what does the future hold? Well, buckle up because we’re in for an exciting ride. Chrome’s commitment to privacy is paving the way for a new era of browsing, where your data remains yours and yours alone. Say goodbye to being haunted by retargeted ads and hello to a personalized web experience that respects your digital boundaries.

Here are some of the ways we, as an industry, have made significant progress since 2020 to combat cookie loss (to name a few):

The rise of first-party data: Direct collection of consented first-party data becomes invaluable in a post-third-party cookie world, as it provides direct knowledge of your users. Simple entry pages that gather an email address are becoming more commonplace, providing one much-needed starting point for targeting. Identity solutions, in turn, can connect a known digital profile across screens, helping to make targeting seamless without cookies.

Alternative identifiers: As cookies fade, alternative identifiers such as Unified ID 2.0 (UID2), RampID and others have been adopted. These identifiers are pseudonymous based on hashed or encrypted email addresses or phone numbers and are thus privacy-conscious while being interoperable across screens. We continue to see leaders on the buy and sell sides adopt these and similar solutions.

CTV/OTT: The scale continues to increase, and it is cookieless by design.  In the last three years, CTV has evolved tenfold.

Identity graphs: With the change in browser-based IDs and declining digital signals, the need for an identity graph is rising. You’re seeing more and more companies invest in graphs, with an emerging trend being the “graph-of-graph” approach. This combines a marketer or publisher’s rich first-party data with one or more licensed identity graphs, including both online and offline data.

In addition to these, in place of 3rd party cookies Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiatives focus on –

How to deliver ads to large groups of people without collecting identifying data from users’ browsers.
How to enable conversion measurements for advertisers without individual user tracking across the web.
How to detect and prevent fraud on ads, e.g. bots clicking on ads instead of real users.
How to let websites collect user data from browser API’s that maintain the anonymity of individual users.

One of those API’s includes Topics API, a “standardized taxonomy of interests” that limits the length of browsing history that’s considered when surfacing ads, and a more enhanced version that can take into account context.

Therefore, we have been replacing our segment tracking pixels which are an image tag that only works based on cookies, with a Universal Pixel which is based on a JavaScript code that can work with Interest Groups’ APIs, for our clients’ campaigns.  This means all of our Behavioral products won’t be impacted by Google’s cookie change.

In addition, the following products are not affected by Google 3rd party cookies:

Mobile Conquesting

Facebook & Instagram

Amazon

Keyword Targeting

Custom Audience and Lookalike Targeting

Join the Privacy Party – Chrome Style!

In conclusion, Chrome is throwing a privacy party, and you’re invited! Embrace the changes, surf the waves of progress, and revel in a more private and secure online existence. Many think this is the end of digital, but no need to panic. It means more security and ideal targets are still reachable.

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