How eCommerce Sites Must Deal With Accessibility in the Age of Coronavirus

As more and more people are self-isolating or self-quarantining at home, the web has become even more essential.

Everyone is (supposed to be) staying home until it is once again safe to return to our regular routines. For example, individuals who may have otherwise visited a physical store can no longer do so and must use the web to shop online.

While this might seem trivial to the able-bodied, for people with disabilities this spells out disaster, as reports show that 98% of websites do not meet ADA compliance. To grasp what a user experience feels like for people with disabilities in an inaccessible website, imagine a blind person unable to browse through your online store with her screen-reader to hear what you’re selling, or a person with a motor disability unable to navigate your site with the TAB key, and unable to use a mouse as an alternative.

Every website must be reasonably accessible and usable by everyone, regardless of any disability or impairment, regardless of what device they use or what screen resolution they have. But unfortunately, that isn’t the case, and people with disabilities are being excluded from the web on a day-to-day basis, including the world of online shopping.

This is no small portion of the general population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 57 million Americans (19% of the population) had a disability in 2010. These include issues with vision, hearing, walking, mental acuity, and fine motor skills. It’s safe to assume that the global Internet audience would reflect a similar kind of percentage.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) led by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) outlines a number of standards and recommendations for how websites and web services can best serve this diverse demographic. It also provides a number of support materials to help you understand and implement accessibility in an appropriate manner.

But, as an eCommerce site owner, what can you actually do?

Automatic web accessibility

It can feel overwhelming to look over all these standards and best practices, even if you are working with a number of web design professionals. Instead, it is both more comprehensive and more robust to utilize an automatic solution like accessiBe, which provides you with a single line of JavaScript code that you implement on your site, much like Google Analytics.

The code runs an AI algorithm that alters the code and ensures your site is ADA compliant within 48 hours. Blind users that are using screen-readers will be able to navigate your site since the solution will make sure your code has the proper usage of ARIA label attributes, and the AI will automatically insert alt-tags to your images using OCR technology. Lastly, the code will be adjusted to make sure people with motor disabilities have no problem browsing your site using the TAB key.

Browser compatibility

Making improvements to your eCommerce site in terms of accessibility is good, but it won’t do you any good if your website isn’t fully compatible with the web browser the user is actually using. Therefore you must test your site across a broad range of browsers, devices and screen sizes.

For instance, some screen readers may not work properly because of browser compatibility issues. You need to ensure that your site supports the latest browser versions so screen readers, like those that offer a speech synthesizer (text-to-speech) or a braille display, work correctly. Remember that special browsers made specifically for users who are visually impaired may differ from mainstream browsers.

A good starting point might be to preview your site using multiple browsers with a tool like BrowserShots. Better still, your site designers and developers can utilize a developer-centric browser like Blisk so that your site is compatible from the get-go. Think about button size and layout, particularly what happens if a user zooms in significantly as might be the case if someone is visually impaired.

Audio and video transcription

What about users with hearing impairment or who may not be able to listen to audio for any number of reasons? Even disabilities aside, imagine the work-at-home parent who doesn’t want to wake a sleeping baby while watching an important video. Or just someone who doesn’t want to listen through a lengthy podcast.

While audiovisual content can be incredibly popular and powerful for your marketing and advertising efforts, accessibility is equally important. Getting a full transcript of any of your AV assets is an important investment in your eCommerce success. Scribie, as an example, offers both automated and manual transcription services for an affordable price.

New delivery options

In the age of coronavirus, amidst all this uncertainty, a great number of primarily brick-and-mortar stores have had to quickly implement or upgrade their eCommerce strategies to match this changing climate. They must concern themselves not only with the web accessibility of their online ordering platforms but also accessibility from a logistics perspective.

For example, Vancouver area bakery Chez Christophe once operated primarily as a walk-in cafe and takeout counter. As social distancing was enacted and as the cafe could no longer welcome customers into the store, Chez Christophe had to adapt.

Quickly implementing a number of changes, Chez Christophe soon allowed customers to order from the full catalog online, including fresh baked goods, for curbside pickup without ever actually entering the store itself. The bakery also started offering contactless delivery within a 10-kilometer range.  

Real user stories and feedback

As a business owner, you oftentimes like to think that you know what is best for your customer. You go in with the assumption that if you and your team think this product or service is a good idea and offers great value, your potential customers will eat it all up. Of course, innumerable failed ventures have proven the reverse to be true.

The only way that you’ll really know what you’re doing well and where you can improve is if you ask the users themselves. Rather than going through the immense complexity and preparation involved to facilitate such a task yourself, it makes much more sense to leverage a platform like Userlytics for your web and mobile user experience needs.

You define a specific task for users to complete, and you’ll receive a full picture-in-picture video (with the user’s camera and the screen recording) of how each user completed that task. This can reveal some weaknesses in your design that you can then address to improve usability and accessibility.

Adjusting to the new normal

At this point, it’s impossible to tell when (and even if) the world will return to the “normal” it once knew just a few short weeks or months ago. During these uncertain times, it is absolutely certain that eCommerce sites need to be prepared and optimized for both an increase in potential traffic and a potential increase in the diversity of users.

Web accessibility standards are constantly evolving, and the guidelines can change as technology and user needs change over time. A significant segment of the population is turning to the Internet much more frequently to address their day-to-day needs, much more so than they may have before the COVID-19 global pandemic.

As more people order online, eCommerce stores must adjust accordingly to fit the needs of all site visitors and customers. Everyone deserves equal access to the same goods and services as everyone else, even on the internet.

The post How eCommerce Sites Must Deal With Accessibility in the Age of Coronavirus appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/ecommerce-deal-with-coronavirus/

The 15 Best Sites To Buy TikTok Followers on The Market

Some trends start and then diminish with most people not batting an eyelid at what happened.

Remember Yik Yak? No, I don’t really either.

But sometimes, there comes along a new social media platform that disrupts the hierarchy that we have all become used to.

TikTok began its life as musical.ly and then went through a drastic rebranding to give us what we have come to know today.

Starting off as a relative unknown, TikTok now has approximately 800 million monthly users, is available in 154 countries and 75 different languages.

TikTok is now home for Gen Z users across the globe and whether you are an aspiring influencer or a brand, you shouldn’t ignore a platform with that potential reach.

But if you are already managing Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms why do you need to invest time into yet another platform?

There are a plethora of reasons as to why you should look to TikTok for your next opportunity. If you are an already established influencer on Instagram and you move to TikTok, you will find that you are paid more for the same amount of content.

If you are a business attempting to market yourself to Gen Z, they are heading to TikTok in droves in search of authenticity and less contrived content. It seems that the reach you can achieve from TikTok is surpassing Instagram for this sought-after demographic.

When we only really had Instagram to consider when it came to account growth, it was relatively easy to dedicate a lot of time to the platform in order to remain in the minds of your audience.

This was made easier through scheduling posts, but you still needed to engage with your audience to retain them.

Whilst TikTok is no different, we are now more pressed for time than we previously have been, which has the potential to turn people off from the idea of growing yet another social media account, but here we are.

TikTok is worth your investment and if you can invest money into your own growth strategy now, it will begin to pay dividends very quickly, especially as a lot of businesses and brands haven’t created accounts or paid content yet.

When it comes to investing money in your own growth strategy, I have found the best sites to buy TikTok followers on the market. Whether it is a fully managed service you are after or an automation tool, there is a strategy and budget to suit everyone’s needs.

#1. TokUpgrade

TokUpgrade is my go-to provider when someone asks how to grow their TikTok account and for good reason. They are a well-established organization that ensures that their customers get the results that they want.

TokUpgrade doesn’t sell you followers that aren’t representative of your target market or demographic, they make sure that the followers you gain are the ones that will;

• Want to see you and be genuinely interested in your content and
• Will engage with your content.

This is vital on TikTok as the follower to engagement ratio is how your reach is increased. The more engagement your videos have, the more users it will be shown to.

TokUpgrade does this by building a unique strategy with each individual customer as no two customers will want to produce the same content and reach the same audience. 

They start by contacting you once you have signed up and ask you questions regarding the type of audience you are trying to reach, what your ideal target market is and if there are any particular data points you want to include.

Once they have this information the experts at TokUpgrade begin to grow your account by deploying a variety of strategies such as follow/unfollow, engagement and hashtags. It is this multidimensional strategy that has proved to be so fruitful to their customers as it has grown their accounts with followers that reflect their target market.

What really makes TokUpgrade stand out is that their service consistently performs. Some new users who aren’t used to the organic strategy may be deterred initially as you won’t see a dramatic increase in followers overnight, but the results compound over time and the sustainable strategy ensures that your account keeps growing.

This strategy also ensures that you remain under the limits set by TikTok in terms of daily actions, thus it keeps your account safe and secure.

Grow real, targeted TikTok followers with TokUpgrade now!

#2. TokSocial

If you aren’t sold on TokUpgrade then TokSocial may be the alternative you need. From the website, it doesn’t look as though TokSocial offers anything we haven’t seen before, but the reality is, they provide their customers with one of the best TikTok growth services on the market.

Once you have signed up, your account manager will build your custom strategy with you to help you get your content into the minds of the communities you want to work with on TikTok.

TikTok is very community orientated, and each community has subcommunities embedded within them, it is this understanding and working with these communities that TokSocial does so well with the end result being potentially going viral.

The advanced filters and targeted growth strategy that TokSocial gives its customers is far superior to most other service providers on the market. It is this advanced filter system where you can really narrow down your target market and get in with those communities.

Whilst you have a dedicated account manager with TokSocial, you can also adjust your parameters when you login. This feature is excellent as it means that you can assess your strategy whilst on the move and if you have caught wind of a new trend that you want to target, you can adjust your data points to make sure that you are involved in it.

In this day and age, we are used to instant gratification and not having to wait, so it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that growth services take too long to grow your account. But it is worth the wait as opposed to purchasing followers.

TokSocial will fill your fan list with real, genuine users that want to see your content, rather than fake or bot accounts which can happen if you purchase followers.

The more genuine followers you have on your account, the more likely they are to engage with your content which results in a better follower to engagement ratio. All in all, TokSocial can grow your account in a meaningful and sustainable way, whilst ensuring account security and safety.

#3. Hashtagsforlikes

If a fully managed growth service isn’t in your budget or you want to grow your account yourself using your own strategy, then Hashtagsforlikes can provide you with a good platform to help you increase your reach.

Like Instagram, hashtags are the currency on TikTok and the more relevant ones you can deploy, the better your reach will be.

This is where Hashtagsforlikes comes in and it works very well. If you are operating in a niche and want to find out what the most popular hashtags relating to this niche are, simply type it into the search bar and let Hashtagsforlikes get to work. They provide a comprehensive list of alternatives that are trending to help you get your content out there.

Hashtagsforlikes are a well-established brand that has a proven track record across a plethora of accounts and work with top brands and influencers to make sure that you get the best available data.

Now with TikTok on the rise, the team at Hashtagsforlikes has set their sights on this platform and is dominating it. The algorithm that they deploy makes sure their customers get the most relevant and popular hashtags within a few clicks.

One thing that you will need to bear in mind when you use Hashtagsforlikes is that you want to make sure that your content is relevant to what hashtags you are about to use. There is no point in searching for and jumping on the hashtags for fitness if you are about to upload content about pets. The reason for this is that TikTok users are pretty unforgiving if other users attempt to embed their feed into other users’ feeds when it has no relevance.

You also don’t want to be seen as a user that just jumps on the latest hashtags with no relevance to what you are doing or what you stand for, Gen Z as a demographic are very receptive to this and your attempt at hijacking hashtags will be met with hostility. So, when you use Hashtagsforlikes, keep it relevant!

#4. Bouxtie

If you are looking to grow your account quickly and effectively then look no further than Bouxtie. If you are attempting to establish a brand or want to become an influencer on TikTok, this is one way in which you can grow your following very quickly.

Bouxtie works off the pretense that the more followers you have, the more you are likely to get as your account will have the veneer of popularity.

What makes Bouxtie a great option is that, not only do they provide customers with followers, they also provide views, likes, and mass views. All these factors work together to increase your follower to engagement ratio, which can increase your overall reach.

Make sure that you don’t just buy followers, it is an easy trap to fall into, but this will damage your account’s visibility. You need to purchase engagement too to ensure that you aren’t banned. What makes Bouxtie a secure option is that you can drip feed the followers, views, and hearts over the course of a few days. This makes sure that these actions don’t flag TikTok’s algorithm and keeps your account running perfectly.

#5. FeedPixel

FeedPixel is one of the most affordable services on the market for purchasing a whole host of TikTok related bundles. The range of products that they offer their customers is far-reaching and their price bundles ensure that every budget is well catered for. You can start growing your account from as little as $12.99.

What makes FeedPixel so effective is that there is no need for its customers to consider what else they need. All bundles are filled with fans, likes and views to ensure that customers’ content can achieve the maximum reach with the bundle they have purchased.

FeedPixel gives its customers the option of how quickly (within reason) they would like to receive their followers, likes, and views, but they keep well within the stringent limits that have been set by TikTok.

Whilst some customers may be dissuaded from this, it is for their account safety. By staggering the purchase across days, there is no risk to the safety of your account as TikTok will often block and delete any accounts that seem to be operating over the daily limits.

#6. Social Fried

Social Fried gives their customers real followers straight to their accounts, they have a range of price bundles to make sure that all customers are catered for throughout their platform.

Unlike FeedPixel, they don’t give their customers the chance to buy packaged products that include followers, likes and views. Rather, these all have to be purchased separately. However, you can start growing your TikTok account quickly and rather inexpensively.

What makes Social Fried stand out is that they can deliver their service straight away, you won’t be sat twiddling your thumbs waiting for your numbers to increase, they’ll be delivered to you instantly.

Whilst this is awesome for impatient customers, this could also be their downfall, you need to be aware that you can only gain so many followers in a day without flagging the algorithms that govern TikTok and keep it free from bot and spam accounts.

If your account goes from four followers to 4000 they may well find this activity suspicious and want to limit your access. That being said, if you are respectful of the daily limits and make smaller purchases of followers, likes, and views, then you will grow your account quickly and effectively.

#7. TikSocial

TikSocial offers possibly the fastest service out there, in a few quick clicks you can load your feed with new fans. You don’t get the option of package buys; you will need to purchase followers and likes separately, and you may not want to spend the additional money on hearts, but it will benefit you in the long run if you do.

If you can keep the number of followers you have inline with the amount of hearts your content is receiving, your videos are more likely to get shown to others. This is how TikTok works, it is the follower/engagement ratio and it is well worth your investment. The more people that engage with your content, the more TikTok will show it to other users, so it becomes a compounding effect, which is one of the reasons you want to purchase likes as well.

TikSocial doesn’t mess around either, once your payment has gone through you will see your purchased followers bolster your account numbers straight away. They don’t offer their services as low as other providers, but they do offer a high quality of followers and engagement to ensure you maximize the visibility of your account.

#8. TikTok Guru

TikTok Guru is pretty good at what they do, and they make sure that they keep their customers’ accounts safe. They do this by staggering the number of followers over the course of 24 hours to make sure the activity doesn’t get your account blocked or deleted.

What I really like about TikTok Guru is that they offer you a lifetime guarantee with your purchase. Some providers will fill up your follower list and then you sit back and watch as the numbers dramatically decline over the coming weeks and days, this doesn’t happen with TikTok Guru, as they will ensure that you receive the amount of followers and likes that you have purchased. This feature also makes sure that your feed isn’t damaged in TikTok’s eyes, because if your account seems to be losing followers, you may be penalized by the algorithm.

#9. Mr. Insta

As you probably would have guessed, Mr. Insta started out life as an organization that dominated the Instagram game before starting to move over and offering their services on TikTok.

Due to their working knowledge of the Instagram platform, they are going to be a service to look out for when they fully launch into the TikTok realm. On Instagram, they provided targeted results, which was loved by businesses, brands, and influencers alike and it really helped them stand out from the crowd.

Mr. Insta is renowned for offering free likes and free followers to new customers to prove that their service is stable, safe and to demonstrate that their product can be trusted. We are hoping that they have this much confidence in their TikTok ability so that they will do the same.

#10. YouMeViral

At 98 cents for 10,000 fans you could be forgiven to think that YouMeViral is too good to be true, we assure you, it isn’t. They operate at the upper end of the market, making sure that their customers get the best deal for a big increase in follower numbers. YouMeViral isn’t for users that don’t want to see their videos get everywhere, because you really do stand a chance of becoming viral when you use their service.

Not only do they offer customers cheaper options when you buy more from them, but they are also delivered instantly, to make sure that even the most impatient of customers are instantly left satisfied having used their service.

Even better, if you aren’t happy with what You Me Viral has provided you with, you can contact them and actually speak to someone with regards to your order. In the market of buying followers, having a direct line of contact is very rare and isn’t something that should be overlooked.

The only real drawback to this service is that you can’t target the results. TikTok works on a community basis and each community has its own demographics embedded in it, so if you can’t target your options, you are going to have followers that don’t match your data points, that is if you have any.

If you are a brand or an influencer, look for more targeted services so that you are able to fill your feed with people that will naturally engage with your content and want to see more.

#11. Trollishly

You’ve heard of the TikTok crown, right? Well, Trollishly is going to work with you to help you get one. They are one of the few services that will work with their customers to get that converted crown and ensure that they remain TikTok famous forever.

They encourage their customers to make content to the best of their abilities and continue to be creative and work with them to increase their follower numbers, engagement, mentions and any other TikTok related thing you can imagine.

Their service is exceptionally comprehensive and provides you with the means and the method of getting that crown. Trollishly are well-rated, trustworthy and they will work to keep your account secure and safe, whilst helping you to realize your TikTok dreams and get the crown. They are at the premium end of the market, but for good reason. They offer users the chance to buy high-quality likes and followers that maximize their content reach.

If you didn’t already guess, I really like Trollishly. Not only does their website look professional, the ease of use really sets it apart from other services offering the same type of products. Furthermore, you can be sure that your information is kept safe and secure with them. All they need from you is your account URL to deliver your purchases, no need to hand over any login or personal data that could potentially jeopardize your account.

It is easy to fall into the trap of paying less for followers thinking that all providers are offering the same service. In reality, you aren’t just paying for followers, you are paying for a professional service and account security, which Trollishly has in abundance.

#12. TikTokLove

TikTokLove is one of the few services that gives you a direct line of communication to them in case you have any questions regarding their products or your orders. It may not seem like a lot but having that line of communication can make all the difference when your order isn’t fulfilled correctly, or you want to ask a question about your purchase.

Whilst the website may not be much to look at, the service they provide is pretty encompassing of what TikTok is all about and they want to work with you to boost your following.

They offer an array of packages to their customers, to make sure that everyone can have what they want. What I like about TikTokLove is that they encourage their users to keep creating content and offer reminders that followers and hearts are just one piece of the puzzle. In reality, you need all three in order to maximize your TikTok and TikTokLove can help you get there.

They offer instant results, which is ideal if you are going for the beginner package to check out their service, this way you won’t trigger any algorithms or go over any daily action limits.

#13. Free TikTok

This provider has got to be every teen’s dream, seeing as they are literally giving away FreeTikTok likes. Whilst it may only be 50, they are free and probably more than you had at the start of the day. It may seem too good to be true, but remember, they are only giving you 50, anything above that, you have to pay for.

The likes they offer their customers are relatively inexpensive at $79.99 for 5000, but they also offer a 100% money-back guarantee if you aren’t happy with the service.

Your account will also remain 100% safe when you use this service, there is no need to give over any personal details such as passwords or logins, all you need to do is provide your TikTok URL and away you go. Followers and likes are delivered over a 48-hour period to make sure that your account remains safe and secure, which is just what you want when you are paying for a premium service.

#14. Musically Po

I really like the Musically Po website as it is in keeping with the aesthetics of TikTok that we have come to know and love. Their bright, well-engineered website gives off the idea that these guys know what they’re doing when it comes to TikTok, and they do.

Their services are split down the middle, you can either buy fans or buy likes, you can’t create a package and buy both, but that isn’t the end of the world. They are pretty similar in price with other premium rate providers and offer an array of packages to fit all budgets.

What makes Musically Po stand out is their delivery time, you can have your complete order in as little as 12 hours and this is just long enough to ensure you keep your account safe, but short enough so that you still get excited every time new followers are delivered to your account.

When you are buying through Musically Po, it is worth buying likes as well as followers to make sure that you keep your follower/engagement ratio similar to make sure that your content is shown far and wide to other audiences.

#15. Buy Social Buzz

Buy Social Buzz’s website looks as though they have been in the game for a long time and know what they are doing. Their detailed explanation of all of their products and services fills you with confidence that they are a professional outfit that has a wealth of experience across a variety of platforms.

Its pricing starts at the higher end of the scale, but they want to build long-standing relationships with their customers and work with them to get that TikTok crown.

Buy Social Buzz don’t offer their clients bundles, unfortunately, you will have to purchase likes and followers separately, but you can be sure that they are coming from a good source. Furthermore, some providers will simply fill your account up with bot accounts, these are then quickly deleted by TikTok, so you can watch as all that money you have spent slowly goes down the drain. Thankfully, this isn’t the case with Buy Social Buzz, as they offer their customers, real, genuine TikTok users onto their accounts.

Buy Social Buzz also doesn’t require any of your login credentials to use their service. Most providers that you are purchasing followers, likes and shares from will only ever need your TikTok URL to deliver the service you have purchased from them.

Using a growth service vs buying followers

Your personal preference and circumstance will dictate which option is best for you in terms of effectively growing your TikTok account.

If you are already managing multiple social media accounts and all of your energy is focused on making content, then perhaps a fully managed service is best for you. Not only do you leave the growth to a group of experts who have intimate knowledge of the platform, but you will also gain targeted followers that match your demographic and target market.

Having the ability to select your audience in line with the content you are making and the brand you are trying to establish can help grow your audience with people who really want to engage with your content.

For that reason, TokUpgrade, and TokSocial are the best options for you. The organic growth strategy does take more time to establish itself, but it will continue to yield results in the long term. If you are patient and want to have a meaningful following and users that will buy your sponsored products or your own products, this is the best option.

However, if you need to build a following quickly to give your brand more authority, you can purchase followers alongside running a growth service, this will instantly boost your numbers, but bot necessarily of the target market that you want.

If you aren’t up for a growth service or don’t have the budget needed for one, you can now purchase high-quality followers from a range of sources that we have listed in this article.

Always bear in mind before purchasing that you will need to buy a bundle that involves followers and hearts to make sure that your content gets shown to other people. Look for products that come with a guarantee or will offer to refill your followers if the numbers drop-down, this way you will always get what you purchased, and you won’t be seeing your money go down the drain.

Start small and allow your new purchases to be drip-fed into your account to make sure that you don’t flag any algorithms or get your account suspended or blocked.

Final thoughts

Growing your TikTok account doesn’t have to be stressful or time-consuming, you can now do it from the comfort of your phone and barely have to lift a finger to begin working towards that ever-coveted crown.

There are options to match all tastes and budgets and you can begin with a few clicks and watch your purchase at work.

However, if you have the budget and want the best, TokUpgrade is my recommendation. All you then need to do is find the latest challenge, make high-quality content and watch the fans and hearts roll in. 

Guest author: Robynne Jones is a bit of a travel nomad, originally from the UK. She’s been living in Thailand for the past few years and is now currently trying out Australia! Loves writing in her spare time about anything tech.

The post The 15 Best Sites To Buy TikTok Followers on The Market appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/buy-tiktok-followers/

How to Use UGC Marketing to Grow Your Business

Traditional advertising has become worn out.

Consumers today just aren’t responding to advertising that brands are putting out there.

And it’s pretty obvious why.

Let’s face it, traditional advertising exists because brands want it to exist. If you take a second to step back, you will realize that everything in traditional advertising is created because brands want to sell to you.

The purpose of traditional advertising is sales.

But, as I said, that just doesn’t work anymore because consumers are realizing this fact.

So what can advertisers and marketers do to break from this rut?

The importance of social proof

Social proof has always had a place in society. Most people can remember a time when they asked a friend, family member, or co-worker for advice about something.

It’s just a comfort to know that someone else is backing an idea or a product. When people are supporting the same idea or product, others tend to think ‘oh, so and so is using it so it must be good’.

And the want for social proof is only growing.

Thanks to the growth of social media, social proof has only increased in status. 90% of consumers say that authenticity is important when deciding on which brands they like.

It’s easier than ever today to join a social community and leave feedback on a product.

There are even products that have been created specifically for feedback. Apps like Yelp have become common and if you’re in tech, you’ve probably heard of review platforms like G2 and Capterra. Most brands nowadays also include reviews on their website.

Social proof is now essential for building your brand, and that’s thanks to the ease of means to acquire social proof.

So, how do you acquire social proof?

While it’s probably obvious that social proof plays an important role in consumer decisions, it’s not always easy to acquire.

Even more so, not all social proof is created equally. A face-to-face interaction might be worth more than a video, which might be worth more than an image, which might be worth more than a plain text review with a white outline of a person with it.

Obviously most brands would prefer to have great word of mouth where each customer tells 10 of their friends and family to go purchase a product.

But if you can’t have that, the next best thing is user-generated content (UGC).

Getting UGC starts with working directly with your biggest product users and advocates.

What is user-generated content?

User–Generated Content (UGC) is any piece of content – including images, blogs, video, and chat forums – created by a brand customer and shared on a digital platform.

They can be created by any brand customer, whether it’s an influencer with a big audience, a creator who’s an expert at creating high-quality content, or just an everyday customer.

All UGC types share a common thread – they are proven to be highly influential in the purchasing decisions of potential buyers.

In fact, 79% of consumers believe that UGC highly impacts their purchase decision. Another 86% of millennials also say that UGC is a good indicator of brand quality.

How to get UGC

Acquiring user-generated content starts by going straight to your product users.

But before you start engaging your users, you might want to check on whether you already have UGC.

#1. Check tagged posts first

You might already have a treasure trove of UGC sitting in your tagged posts on Instagram for marketing. This is a good first step to follow as most image or video UGC for brands is created on Instagram.

I also recommend checking other social platforms as well. Platforms like Twitter and Pinterest are great too.

If you are trying to optimize your time, I recommend only using platforms that users use a tagging feature on like Instagram or Twitter. Otherwise, you’ll spend hours looking through feeds that don’t have any content you need.

Once you find tagged posts that you like, it’s time to start reaching out to these users to ask for licensing rights.

Asking for permission is a key step. If you don’t ask for permission, you could be putting your business at risk.

If you’re working with influencers, Trend is a great platform for finding influencers and creators with licensing and distribution rights already packed in. But more on that later…

#2. Encourage users to share content

If you’ve already checked for existing UGC and are still hungry for more, you can start engaging your product users.

Start encouraging customers to share photos of your products through emails after purchase.

You can also run contests or giveaways and ask customers to share photos to win.

If you really want to get in the weeds for UGC marketing, I recommend commenting, liking, and sharing their content. Surprising your customers can be a great way to let them know they are heard and valued.

By letting your customers know you are excited about their content and hearing their experiences, they will be more likely to share.

#3. Use Instagram influencers to start building UGC

Instagram is already being used as a platform to share UGC by both influencers with big audiences and smaller accounts.

So why not use this platform to your advantage.

By using influencers, you control the narrative of when and where UGC gets produced. Instead of it being a random occurrence, you decide when the content is produced.

So how do you start using influencers?

Finding a scalable process to work with influencers can be difficult. If you’re doing it in-house, you might find yourself being bogged down in spreadsheets and DMs.

Luckily, this has led to the rise of influencer marketing platforms that help you find and connect with influencers with ease so you don’t have to spend hours in spreadsheets.

I will say, most of these platforms are databases. That means once you find the influencers you want to connect with, you still have to message and negotiate with them.

That’s why I recommend using a platform like Trend.

Instead of having to message with influencers and negotiate payments, they pay the influencers and have them apply to your campaigns. You get a curated list of influencers to approve or reject for your campaign, which is easier than hunting down influencers.

They also give you the full licensing and distribution rights to the content to reuse for any other marketing efforts.

Some results from using Trend for UGC marketing

The best part about using Trend to generate user-generated content is that it is scalable.

Instead of spending hours finding and negotiating with influencers, you just let them know how many influencers you want to work with.

This makes it so much easier to manage influencer campaigns and get them completed in a few short weeks instead of spending months.

Even better, their platform only charges per influencer. This means you don’t have to pay a monthly fee. You just pay for the influencers they use.

Trend also takes care of payments to influencers, so you truly just pay a fixed price per influencer (they have two payment tiers standard and VIP influencers) and that’s it.

A case study with a new brand called Moon Ultra has some pretty incredible results.

Moon Ultra used Trend when they launched their brand and worked with almost 50 influencers to produce over 370,000 impressions.

Talk about a big lightning strike for your brand launch.

Using UGC marketing to grow your business

Those results are great but I know the question you may still be asking is how does this produce money for my business?

Producing an ROI from influencer marketing starts by making sure you’re setting up your campaign properly and reusing the content you receive from your campaign.

#1. Use affiliate marketing and codes

You can start driving sales for influencer marketing by telling influencers to include an affiliate marketing link so you can track purchases made by customers. This can also work to reward the content publisher if you want to offer a commission on each sale.

Discount codes are also an effective strategy to track sales. By having your influencers provide a discount code to their audience, you can see how many sales were driven through your influencer strategy.

#2. Reuse UGC on social media, email, and your website

Another great way to produce an ROI from influencer marketing is to use the content you generate on all of your owned media.

While this doesn’t directly drive sales it displays strong brand identity.

When UGC is used on websites, there is a 90% increase in time spent on a site.

They say content is king and it truly is. The more of it you create and the more of it you share, the higher chance you have of engaging with more target customers.

Even though it’s not directly driving sales, it’s a well-known fact that the more a consumer is exposed to a message, the more likely they are to have purchase intent.

#3. Run ads with UGC for explosive marketing results

If you’re looking for the most surefire way of driving sales with influencer marketing, it’s return on ad spend.

As I said earlier, consumers have grown tired of traditional advertising. But they are converting on UGC ads.

86% of Gen Z’ers are more likely to trust an ad if it uses real people and the click-through rate for UGC compared to professionally generated content is four times higher!

Need more convincing?

Trend, who I mentioned earlier, has a client Kettle + Fire that used UGC created on Trend in their ads and saw a 61% improvement on their return on ad spend when using UGC against their previously highest performing ad creative.

Many marketers have also reported seeing a 5 to 1 return on ad spend when using UGC in their ads.

UGC marketing is key for your business

I have given you the inside scoop on how to acquire and leverage UGC to grow your business. Traditional advertising is definitely seeing a downtick which will make UGC all the more important.

Now you have a guide on how to use UGC for marketing and create another strong ROI tool for your business. If you want help generating content and strategizing how to best leverage it, I would recommend giving Trend a try.

Guest author: Jay Desai is the Head of Growth at Trend.io, a software company that enables brands to source high-quality user-generated content and targeted exposure with social media influencers. He’s an experienced marketer with a passion for sports and travel.

The post How to Use UGC Marketing to Grow Your Business appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

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10 Essential Personality Traits, Qualities, and Skills of an Entrepreneur

If you have considered starting your own business, you may be wondering if you have what it takes to become successful.

Are entrepreneurs born predestined for success, or did they work hard to become the best version of themselves to achieve their goals?

The answer is both. In this post, we’re going to look at the personality traits, qualities, and skills it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

Part I: Personality traits in the DNA of an entrepreneur

Scientific studies have confirmed that genetics play a strong role in each individual’s Big Five personality traits – openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

• Those who are open to experience see the world differently – they are creative, enjoy new experiences, welcome new ideas, and easily comprehend abstract and theoretical concepts.
• Those who are conscientious demonstrate thoughtfulness and impulse control – they are organized, prepared, detail-oriented, goal-oriented, and always on schedule.
• Those who are extraverted feel energized with others – they are assertive, emotionally expressive, social, talkative, and find it easy to connect with others.
• Those who are agreeable empathize with others – they are kind, altruistic, cooperative, and strive towards ensuring others happiness.
• Those who are neurotic exhibit low emotional stability – they are moody, anxious, irritable, and have a hard time dealing with or bouncing back after stressful events.

The Founder Institute, the largest pre-seed startup accelerator worldwide, has funded over 3,500 technology startups. After working with social scientists and assessing the traits of founders that have found real-world success, they categorized them into six groups: Hustlers, Innovators, Machines, Prodigies, Strategists, and Visionaries.

Within each group, they found the following three personality traits to be the most important for success.

1. Openness

Openness is reported as one of the top personality traits of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs need to be innovative to develop new ideas and solve challenges that arise in day to day business.

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, believed that creativity was linked to the ability to connect things in a way that others could not. In a 1995 interview with Wired, he explained his knack for great design as follows.

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.”

In other words, openness to new experiences gives entrepreneurs the ability to see beyond the limitations of perceived borders (industry, geography, profession, discipline, network, etc.). This allows them to find unique solutions to problems that others trapped within these borders haven’t been able to solve.

2. Emotional stability

The opposite of neuroticism, successful entrepreneurs display personalities with higher levels of emotional stability. This allows them to be able to push through hardships in the business world without being brought down.

According to Elon Musk, “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” Indeed, he proves that he has the strong emotional stability it takes to overcome numerous failures with his companies and still come out on top.

PayPal, which Elon originally founded as online banking platform X.com, was referred to as one of the worst business ideas in 1999. SpaceX suffered multiple expensive launch failures. Tesla’s Roadster received an unfavorable review on the BBC show Top Gear in 2008. Despite these setbacks, each company is thriving today and Elon Musk has a current net worth of over $19B USD.

3. Conscientiousness

Entrepreneurs who want success must also a high level of conscientiousness in their personalities. Studies have shown that people with strong conscientiousness, along with higher emotional stability, were more successful in terms of better salaries and job satisfaction. Conscientious people who are open to new experiences tend to have more creative accomplishments.

Additional studies show that people who are conscientious tend to exercise and eat healthier. This not only leads to a longer life expectancy, but also to increased work productivity.

Thus, in conjunction with openness to new experiences and emotional stability, entrepreneurs with higher conscientiousness are more likely to have success in their business ventures. According to the Founder Institute, this is especially true for the Machine and Hustler entrepreneurial types that get things done on time and is determined to succeed in the world of entrepreneurship, respectively.

What about extraverts?

Do entrepreneurs need to be extroverts to be successful? Apparently not, according to Sheryl Sandberg, who has said that Mark Zuckerberg is very shy and introverted. In fact, many well-known Fortune 500 founders are more introverted than extroverted.

There are even benefits to being an introverted startup leader. Google’s Larry Page, known to be very reserved and likely an introvert, gets new ideas from listening more than talking. Bill Gates, another famous entrepreneurial introvert, advised that introverted startup owners hire extroverts to “tap into both sets of skills in order to have a company that thrives both as in deep thinking and building teams and going out into the world to sell those ideas.”

Are entrepreneurs agreeable?

While many entrepreneurs may classify themselves as agreeable, business experts and studies on entrepreneurship have shown that successful entrepreneurs typically have an average, if not lower amount of agreeableness in their personality. It’s not because they lack empathy or do not have altruistic natures. It’s simply because the type of person that would start their own business is not as interested in pleasing those around them as the average worker or managerial type. 

As Dr. Bret L. Simmons states about entrepreneurs and the Big Five personalities, “It’s a jungle out there, and entrepreneurs have to be tough to survive.” People with low agreeableness tend to be more suspicious than the average agreeable-natured person, which can be a good thing for business leaders pursuing success in a cut-throat corporate world.

Learn about your big five traits

While your environment and experiences will aid in the development of these traits, 40 – 60% of your personality will come from your DNA. Recent advances in genetic research allow everyone to connect services like Genomelink and Xcode Life with 23andMe, AncestryDNA, or MyHeritage DNA results to learn more about how their DNA affects their personality.

Genomelink offers the following dashboard showing where on the spectrum your personality fits with some of the Big Five personality traits. While they do not show whether you are more extroverted or introverted, they do show the main three that affect entrepreneurship success – Openness, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness – for free.

Xcode Life offers a personality traits report for $20. It includes four of the Big Five personality traits along with specific categories that focus on the leadership and entrepreneurship potential within your DNA. According to their report, a 24% variance in leadership potential and 50% of entrepreneurship ability is due to genetic factors.

Part II: Natural qualities of an entrepreneur

In addition to the personality traits encoded within your DNA, there are certain natural qualities that may determine if you will be a successful entrepreneur. Even if you are not born with these qualities, once you learn about them, you can either work to improve them or strategically partner with people who have these qualities to ensure your startup’s success.

The following natural qualities and acquired skills in Part III are from the traits of successful builders as determined by Gallup, a global analytics and advice firm. They have over 80 years of experience in collecting data from 35+ million employees in 160+ countries. 90% of Fortune 500 companies rely on their CliftonStrengths assessment to hire and develop strong talent within their organizations.

4. Confidence

If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, confidence is key. Brian Tracy – CEO, motivational speaker, and bestselling business author – says it best: “Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.” All you need? “A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.”

According to Gallup, those who are confident possess a strong self-belief in their ability to achieve their goals. They can quickly recognize opportunities that will result in positive outcomes and act accordingly. Confident people can also convince others of their ability to achieve anything.

It’s easy to see why confidence is an essential quality that all entrepreneurs should possess. If you don’t believe in yourself, it will be difficult to convince potential partners, lenders, colleagues, or customers to believe in you, your business, or your ideas. Fortunately, there are many ways you can boost your confidence.

5. Independence

Another essential quality of entrepreneurs is independence. Unless you are fortunate enough to find another person who shares your business vision, there is a good chance that you will have to start your business on your own.

Based on Gallup’s research, independence is the quality that gives entrepreneurs the energy and motivation needed to get things off the ground. They enjoy multi-tasking and keeping track of all moving parts until its time to bring in partners. Personality traits like high conscientiousness and low neuroticism play an important role in ensuring an independent entrepreneur’s success at the start of their business venture.

6. Risk

Are you comfortable when dealing with uncertainty? Do you approach challenges analytically over emotionally? If so, you have the kind of comfort with the risk that suits entrepreneurship. Gallup’s definition of a person talented with risk is one who welcomes challenges as opposed to one who shies away from them.

In the words of Robert Kiyosaki, entrepreneur, and bestselling financial author, “Everyone can tell you the risk. An entrepreneur can see the reward.” That’s the difference between a successful entrepreneur and everyone else – they know how to calculate the risk and know the profitability of the venture.

Part III: Acquired skills of an entrepreneur

What is the difference between a quality and a skill? A quality is something that you are typically born with, similar to your personality traits. A skill is something that you develop throughout your education and career.

Those who are highly skilled have a combination of experience with strong personality traits and natural qualities. An extroverted individual with a high level of confidence, for example, may be better at developing business relationships and making sales than someone who is introverted with a low level of confidence. Of course, an introvert that is smart and highly skilled at delegation will be able to hire strong business relationship managers and sales representatives to handle those responsibilities.

The following are essential acquired skills that every entrepreneur needs for a successful business venture.

7. Delegation

Although you may start out on your own, most successful entrepreneurs eventually have help. It’s important to focus on what you do best, and eventually move towards a system where you trust and empower others to help build your business through delegation.

Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin, advises entrepreneurs when it comes to delegating vs DIY,  “As your business grows, seek out people who understand your ideas, want to build on them and can envision ways to make improvements in your business. As your responsibilities increase, delegating those that others can do better will free you to plan for the future and find new ways to develop your company.”

8. Knowledge

Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, and author believed that a “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” Gallup agrees, listing knowledge as an important talent of entrepreneurs. In particular, those who realize that information is an asset in building a business will likely succeed.

As an entrepreneur, it’s important to know what you know and what you don’t. It’s important to always want to learn more about your industry and your market. It’s critical to stay on top of the trends or to employ people who will inform you of what you need to know about them.

9. Profitability

How sharp are your business instincts? If you can understand the language of profitability, you will be successful in entrepreneurship. Those who understand profitability can analyze anything in relation to the effect it will have on their business’s profit.

Relationships, investments, opportunities – anything that comes along the way has the potential to have a positive or negative effect on your business’s bottom line. If you can identify the ones that will be positive and act accordingly, then you will be able to continuously grow your business.

A crucial concept that you will need a thorough understanding of when it comes to profitability is ROI – return on investment. When you start looking at everything based on its cost and the potential return in relation to the cost, you will start seeing the profitability of each decision you make – new hires, new marketing campaigns, new products, new store expansions, and so forth. 

10. Selling

Everything in business is about selling. As it’s defined by Gallup, someone with selling talent is able to speak clearly and persuasively about their company. They are great communicators that can deliver their brand’s message with clarity, ensuring that everyone understands the value of the business and its products or services.

When do you need to be effective at selling as an entrepreneur? From the moment you start writing your business plan for potential partners and investors, you will need to distinctly articulate your business’s vision and goals. You will need to create a narrative that gets business plan readers excited about your business – excited enough to make an investment.

In conclusion

The one thing that all entrepreneurs have that can’t be found in their DNA or measured by an assessment is passion.

If you can find something you are passionate about creating for a target market, it will bring out the best in you. Let your passion motivate you to develop your talents to become the entrepreneur you need to be, connect with the people you need to fill in any gaps, and make your startup a success.

Guest author: Mark Thompson is the co-founder of PayKickstart – a SaaS that is reinventing the modern-day shopping cart and affiliate management, helping thousands of businesses and Entrepreneurs sell more, maximize customer lifetime value and automate subscription commerce.   Mark has spent over a decade in the world of marketing and software, selling over $20+ million dollars of his flagship training programs and software.

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