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Category: Our Ideas

Why online ads are the new titan

 

We’re so used to seeing an advertisement that runs down the lengths of buildings along the most traversed roads in the Metro. Billboards. Enormous billboards towering over us in all their titan glory.

But sometimes, titans lose their strength. After all, nothing is forever.

No one can deny the seeming effectivity of these billboards that eat up the attention of anyone who lay eyes on their monstrosity. But the thing is, billboards are only as good as the next one.

Out of sight, out of mind, right?

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But the internet; the internet is ubiquitous, which only makes it a perfect avenue for advertisement.

Online advertising is a new form of marketing which uses the internet and the world wide web to deliver promotional messages in various digital formats. These formats range from search engine marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, mobile advertising, and display advertising.

Here are all the reasons why online advertising should be part of your marketing campaign.

Online ads let you customize your target audience. In today’s society where everyone has internet access, you can reach the world. Or at least a specific part of it. With online ads, you can “filter” out your reach based on your preference. This is an assurance that your products and services are getting to the right kind of audience who has a high chance of buying your products or availing of your services. Closing a sale? You can bet on it.

Marketing online is much cheaper than traditional advertising approaches. You don’t have to spend a generous chunk of your bank account in securing a placement on posts or buildings or printing papers that will only be considered eyesore later on. With online ads, you can reach as much engagement as your budget allows you. And the best thing about this is that you don’t just throw your advertisement for everyone to see like a town parade or a motorcade. Online ads let you know how much of the internet is seeing your ads so that you also get the idea of how much you can expect to turn into leads. Kind of leveling up your expectations, eh?

The internet is a huge place. And at present, more and more people are spending a considerable amount of their time doing their shenanigans in it. If you place your advertisements online, the chance of making your brand known is high. In fact, your brand can get by with just online advertisement alone. With numerous social media platforms getting born by the minute, how the hell can you doubt that?

One big difference that the traditional marketing and digital marketing has is the ability to have a two-way communication. In TV, radio, newspaper, and billboards, one can see and grasp your message but cannot respond to it right away – a situation that online advertisement has taken care of. The Web is such an interactive space. Information and ideas can get passed on in a matter of minutes despite a distance of miles. If you put your advertisement online, that alone eliminates the barrier that traditional marketing stumbles with. The chances of seeing a brand online can immediately stir action on the part of your audience.

 

Frankly, it’s obvious enough that utilizing the substantial number of internet users and the time they spend online is what anyone who wants to truly make his brand known should be doing.

The internet is ubiquitous. Use it to your business advantage.

After all, out of sight, out of mind, right?

Want to advertise your brand online? Help is on the way. Establish your brand online and build up a sustainable online following with iManila. We have a variety of services that cater to each and every social media needs, including Facebook ads. *winks*

See you online!

Why do you need an SSL Certificate?

 

The demand for data security these days is increasing as e-commerce sites and social media networks continue to grow at faster rate. You cannot go online completely without having to log in your important details and credentials. From as simple as subscribing to a webinar to as confidential as online shopping and e-banking, a netizen has to log in their credentials. This particular setup has online phishers and hackers drooling.

For some users, sharing information is not a big deal. However, there is a huge portion of the global community who take these matters seriously as incidents of identity theft and malicious activities have gone on the rise.

On the other hand, businesses and organizations who ask for personal information from their users must protect their user’s information by securing their website against online theft. And this challenges most of the online sellers and e-commerce sites regardless of the extent of their daily online transactions. And that is what SSL addresses – data encryption.

What is SSL?

According to GlobalSign.com, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic (secretly written) key to an organization’s details. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the https protocol like this:  2017-03-09_105446 and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser.

Different Levels of SSL Validation

Secure Socket Layer certificates vary depending on the level of encryption needed to be implemented on the website. And there are some trust indicators that you can see in the address bar of the browser about SSL certificate of a certain website:

Standard SSLs are classified into two:

 – Domain Validation SLL:

Domain Validation is the basic form of SSL certification which automatically signals the browser that the connection between the server and the browser is secured using SSL certificate, thus a change in the standard HTTP to HTTPS.

EXAMPLE:           2017-03-10_131942    Domain-validation

– Organization Validation SSL:

The organizational SSL Validation is a high assurance SSL certificate that provides instant identity confirmation of the organization owning the website and a stronger SSL protection. It activates a green browser padlock and HTTPS. When you click on the trust indicator padlock, it will reveal the corporate or organization identity of the website owner.

EXAMPLE: Organizational-Validation-Incapsula

Extended validation is the highest level of data encryption of the three. This activates both the padlock, “https” and the green address bar in all major web browsers.

EXAMPLE:  imanila-extended-validation

 

Why do you need to get SSL now?

In line with their mission to promote secured browsing and responsible data protection, Google just recently updated their Chrome browser with a security feature that flags unsecured websites. Yes, you heard that right!

Have you noticed the left-most part of your address bar that indicates whether a site is safe or not? That is exactly what the update is all about. So imagine yourself as a business owner with an unsecured website. Every time audience goes to your website and sees no trust indicator, all your marketing efforts will go to waste.

Why? Because your business bottom-line – which is conversion – is not fulfilled.

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Firefox also moved towards a safer online browsing

It was just a few months back when Google updated their Chrome with security plug-in that flags websites that are not secured. This time, Firefox moved forward with the same goal – to promote a safer online browsing.

Firefox will display a gray lock icon with a red strike-through in the address bar when a login page you’re viewing does not have a secure connection. This is to inform you that if you enter your password it could be stolen by eavesdroppers and attackers.

This is a new feature that is available starting in Firefox version 51. Starting in Firefox version 52, you will also see a warning message when you click inside the login box to enter a username or password.

 

Don’t wait for that moment

Don’t wait for the updates to completely roll-out before moving to HTTPS. The right time to secure your website and your users is now. iManila offers a wide range of web security from SSL Certification (HTTPS) to Malware removal.

SSL (secure socket layer) is all about website security. Give your clients more reason to trust your brand online with iManila’s SSL certifications. With this standard security technology, you’ll be able to provide your market the guarantee they need to feel secure about any transaction they make on your website.

Remember, security is all about trust, and trust means business.

Secure your the website now with iManila. Contact us to learn more.

Social media trends that you should follow this 2017

As of January 2017, there have been over 3.77 billion active social media users around the world. This rate increases day by day and there’s no way we could stop it. Why douse a blazing fire when we could add more fuel to it?

More than being a virtual billboard of events, photos, promos, and updates, social media creates online connections that our business needs – connections that can eventually create engagement. These are the small gestures we do online such as liking, commenting, retweeting, responding to comments and messages. Not only do these actions create engagement but also pave the way for lifetime brand loyalty, as luck would have it.

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As social media continues to establish itself as a great avenue in achieving our online marketing goals, it is our duty to adapt with the constant changes it confers. Here, we have three of the most anticipated social media trends for us to consider applying this year.

  • Chatbots, talkbots, and chatterboxes

Social messaging is not new to us but in recent years, it has been repurposed to as a virtual customer care application for businesses. Often called as a chatbot, talkbot, or a chatterbox, this additional function of online chat is used by many netizens. And we can’t blame them. It works as if they are just sending a private message to one of their friends. It’s the easiest and quickest way for them to ask questions and raise their concerns without them going to a physical store or calling customer service only to be answered by a voice operator.

One prominent social messaging application today is Facebook Messenger. An instant, free, user-friendly and has distinct features that fit perfectly to be an online social messaging tool for every business. Through this, netizens exert less effort but get more prompt resolutions. Just imagine how the 1.15 billion daily active Facebook users will love your brand once you start utilizing this new social media trend.

chatbox

  • Virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) hyped the public when it was re-invented in 2014. From its first onset during the 1800s, VR has come a long way. Today, when you are using VR, you think and act as if you are on the very location of what you see. This developed technology offers an extraordinary medium for us, marketers. It pushes our marketing strategies to its limits. Making us think how could we use such technology that is hardly used by other brands. Moreover, it carries a lot of advantages that we shall consider it to give people a new and best experience they can’t get anywhere else.

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virtual-reality-1898441_1920

  • Videos and more videos

All things video will continue to take over the social media sphere this year. If almost everyone can watch a video and even capture one using our fingertips, our brand shall, too. You see, social media is more about psychology and sociology more than technology. It lets us show that our businesses have a personality, just like anybody. In this case, we better express how collaborative we are with our audience through the use of 360-degree videos, snaps, stories, live streams, and even the recorded videos. People love to see our human side through authentic content and we shall give it to them. We can use videos for live events, holidays, behind-the-scenes, interviews, contests, and a lot more. It offers a diverse opportunity and diverse business results either.

VIdeo blog

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Let’s not deny it, social media is proven to be the most powerful online medium more than anything else. The more inventive it gets, the more our brands should get by it. However, the main concern here is to provide the more personal interaction our market wants and needs in an instant. In case you’re having trouble crafting your marketing plan for your business, iManila is here to help you out. Contact us now and let’s catch on these trends together.

 

Reference: Forbes

SMEs Guide: It pays to understand your market online

 

As we all know, marketing is an essential business element from small to large businesses. Marketing is both an art and science because it needs both the critical and the creative part of your brain to be executed well.

Having said that, understanding your audience and how they behave is a crucial element before starting with any marketing activities. And if you are considering digital marketing for this, you need to deepen your understanding by coming up with a buyer persona that specifically and analyze their behavior online.

WHY?iManila-Talk-To-Us-CTA

Because digital marketing revolves greatly on timing and a strong grasp of the online behavior of your audience or market.  That makes experimentation and open-mindedness as entrepreneurial essentials to utilize digital marketing well.

To give a strong understanding of Filipino audience online, below are quick fact check to help you make your first step in digital marketing:

1) OVERVIEW

Philippne-Digital-Overview

2) TIME INVENTORY

Philippine-Online-users-time-spent

You can see in the data presented above by We are social Singapore, that more than half of the country’s population are the internet and mobile users. That is a strong signal that a large chunk of the country can potentially see your online marketing efforts.

With such staggering statistics, one must be out of his or her mind to not utilize such data to his or her market advantage. Formulate a strategic business plan centered around the searching behavior of your market’s niche and voila, watch your following increase by multiple folds. Your market is online. You just have to do an in-depth analysis of the data and from there craft a marketing concept.

Shift in Online Behavior

The truth is, your audience behave a little different online. They can transform into a different person or they completely became their true selves without holding back, and that affects how they gravitate and consume content online.

Experiment, experiment, experiment!

The best way to approach this behavior is by preparing different personas that could relate to your brand. Dissect these personas and their possible behaviors online and do experiments. Release different sets of content to a single persona and do with the other. Check which content earns a better response per persona and compared it all together. The one that emerged as the best content that attracts the majority of your potential personas is what you need to stick to.

The key to understanding your market is going beyond one’s gut feel. What you need to do is to go again the same process of content experimentation until you get the right formula that your market really likes.

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With the advancement in the world of information technology, the audience behavior continuously evolves that it is hard sometimes for marketers and businesses to keep up.

The process could be a little tedious but the outcomes are very rewarding when done right. Always take in mind that success of your marketing campaign always lie in how well you know your market, especially online.

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