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5 practical tips for retailers to make the best use of mobile wallets

5 practical tips for retailers to make the best use of mobile wallets By Gillian Hughes Available from <http://www.itproportal.com/features/5-practical-tips-for-retailers-to-make-the-best-use-of-mobile-wallets/>. [September 30, 2016]

Mobile wallets are fast becoming the preferred method of payment, especially among millennials.

This is great news for retailers since they allow for the consolidation of all the things that we use on a daily basis – our cash, cards, receipts and vouchers – into the very thing that most of us already wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without, our mobile phone.

Moving past simple payments, there are so many other possibilities that mobile wallets open up. Research has found that regardless of age, gender, and location, consumers want to use mobile wallets to communicate with brands about sales, offers, coupons, loyalty programs and more. This all sounds very promising, and whilst successful employment can increase the visibility of your brand, act as a powerful marketing tool and provide a straightforward channel for engagement, some are still not convinced.

To help guide retailers through this thought process, I have put together 5 practical tips which outline my best practice guidelines on how to make use of a function already installed on two thirds of the population’s handsets and help maximise the return on your mobile wallet strategy.

1. Light touch engagement with your customers

Enabling potential customers to download a voucher that is stored straight into their mobile wallet allows for easy engagement with customers, without the need for them to download and commit to a full app. This allows customers to see the value of your brand straight away, whilst also providing them with easy access by which to redeem their voucher in-store.

2. Remind customers of the vouchers in their handset

The top two reasons for lapses in mobile wallet usage are because consumers either forget to use them or are unsure of which merchants accept them, both of which are can be easily resolved if retailers take measures to move mobile wallets to the front of consumers’ minds.

By setting up the co-ordinates of your store, customers are able to receive handy notifications when they are 100m away to remind them that they have a voucher they can redeem in store. This not only ensures that customers remember to use the voucher, but also prompts them to pay a visit to your store if they are nearby.

3. Include a time sensitive call to action

Research has shown that putting a timeline on any offer and creating a sense of urgency helps drive a better response with customers. A mobile voucher solution allows you to make use of this by setting an end date for any voucher to be redeemed. You are then able to send timely reminders to the customer in order to notify them of its looming expiration.

4. Make it personal

As we now know, the key to success when it comes to marketing is personalisation at scale. Customers no longer want to receive blanket messaging that is irrelevant to them and, as retailers, you don’t want to do this for fear of irritating your customers or in some cases, leaving them disenchanted with your brand.

By utilising CRM, you can make every mobile voucher individual to the end user. Including their name, loyalty points and, of course, only sending them vouchers that you know they would be interested in.

5. Keep it fresh

The beauty of the mobile wallet solution is that you can update the voucher in your customer’s mobile wallet as many times as you want without them having to do anything. This means that after they have downloaded the initial voucher, you can continue the engagement with them by updating the voucher, at a schedule that suits you, with the latest offer you can provide. This will demonstrate to the customer the value that you place on their loyalty whilst also establishing a long term engagement strategy.

The use of mobile wallets to engage with customers is an exciting landscape and when executed correctly, can be a turning point for your business. We believe that these 5 tips are key to achieving success and are confident that by bearing them in mind, you will see their potential to deliver true utility to your consumers, reduce costs for your business and ultimately drive more mobile payments.

Image source: Shutterstock/Denys Prykhodov

5 practical tips for retailers to make the best use of mobile wallets By Gillian Hughes Available from <http://www.itproportal.com/features/5-practical-tips-for-retailers-to-make-the-best-use-of-mobile-wallets/>. [September 30, 2016]

10 mobile content marketing tips

10 mobile content marketing tips posted by Castleford Staff.  Available from <http://www.castleford.com.au/blog/2016/10-mobile-content-marketing-tips>. [Posted on: 06/10/2016] Photos: Shutterstock

According to our Assistant Head of Strategy, 2017 is going to be the year of mobile content marketing.

And why not? Mobile has disrupted every aspect of our lives, with steadily more and more eyeball time moving to tablets and smartphones.

We check our phones 440 million times per day according to the Deloitte 2015 Mobile Consumer Survey and, in November last year, Nielsen reported that tablet use had outstripped desktop use in Australia for the first time.

Market leaders, including Google and Facebook, have adopted a “mobile first” mindset for their businesses. Maybe you’re doing the same with your own company.

But how do you do “mobile first” content marketing? Here are 10 suggestions to get you started…

1) Remove barriers to your mobile content

Successful content marketing for mobile depends heavily on search and that means keeping a close eye on changes to Google’s ranking algorithm. Sites offering a poor user experience (UX) on smartphones and tablets got bumped down the results pages in April last year, with the rollout of the “Mobilegeddon” update.

But more recently, Google has taken aim at the barriers websites put up between users and the content they’re trying to access. These “interstitials” might be pop-up ads or overlays asking for a newsletter sign-up. On mobiles – with smaller screens and no mouse – it can be especially difficult to get rid of them.

So, if you’ve got interstitials on your site, check out Google’s guidance to make sure you avoid a black mark that could hurt your site’s mobile search performance. You can take Google’s mobile-friendly test here.

2) Deliver a quicker, smoother mobile experience

Site speed has been a signal for Google’s main search algorithm for some time now. And how quickly your content loads on a smartphone is likely to have a noticeable impact on where your pages end up in mobile search results. Users have very little patience and any delays in opening links or launching content risks losing them.

To help website owners meet these rising expectations, Google launched Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) in November last year. AMP is an open-source initiative that promises users quicker load times and smoother scrolling on smartphones and tablets.

If you’re worried that your mobile experience is a little sluggish, AMP might be the answer. You can find out more about Google AMP here.

3) Avoid big blocks of text

This is good general UX advice, but it’s especially important when you’re doing content marketing for mobile. Huge chunks of unbroken text on your blog articles or landing pages make your content look ugly and impenetrable. Users will likely bounce straight back to their search results if Google didn’t already give you the boot for failing it’s mobile-friendly test.

4) Get to the point because the clock is ticking

A mobile first content marketing strategy requires copy that gets to the point. Attention spans on mobile devices are even shorter than on desktops, with mobile users giving pages less than 10 seconds to load before abandoning them, according to Kissmetrics, a web analytics company.

So, highlight your key takeaways early on in your blog articles. And don’t wait until the bottom of your landing pages to add your call-to-action. You want to make sure that your pages always scroll vertically, with all the content in the main body of the page, rather than in sidebars. This should help cut out horizontal scrolling, one of Google’s mobile quality signals and super important for your UX.

5) Create a simple, tap-friendly navigation

Space is a real premium on a smartphone screen making nav bars and other a menus a real challenge. Creating awesome content won’t do you much good if users can’t work out how to use the mobile versions of your menus or if the links are too close together for even the daintiest of digits.

Collapsing your menus under little icons consisting of three horizontal lines – sometimes called “hamburgers” – is a good way to save space. Hamburgers hide menu options when they’re not needed, but use the full width of the screen when they are.

6) Remember all mobile content marketing is local

Mobile first content marketing strategies give much more consideration to the location of their users. A desktop user is most likely at home or at work, but a smartphone or tablet user could be just about anywhere. So, just as you would create different types of content based on where a user is in a buying cycle, mobile first content marketing adjusts for where users are physically, as well as metaphorically.

7) Make sure your videos add to the mobile user experience

Rich media, such as video, photos, charts and graphics, can help users understand your content. It also provides a boost to engagement and other on-page metrics. But if you build your content marketing around these assets make sure they look good on mobile devices as well as desktops.

Videos that are slow to play or difficult to navigate will be a real turn-off. You should consider muting your videos by default for smartphones and tablets – something that has become the norm on social media. This video from the World Economic Forum proves you can be creative, informative and entertaining while on mute:

8) Cater for all devices (some people don’t like iPhones)

There’s more to mobile testing than pulling out your own smartphone to see what your latest blog post looks like. Apple’s iOS had a 65 per cent share of the Australian mobile market last month, with Google’s Android on 33 per cent, according to StatCounter, a statistics company. But globally those figures are in reverse, while in Canada, more than 4 per cent rather patriotically still use a BlackBerry. Mobile first content marketing means creating content for all mobile devices.

9) Add handy shortcuts like click-to-call

If you’re creating helpful and engaging content in the hope that users will give you a call you can make life a lot easier for them with little shortcuts like click-to-call. Rather than fiddly copying and pasting, trying to memorise your phone number or going to look for a pen, your potential customers are just a tap away from speaking to you.

10) Provide a consistent mobile user experience across your site

It’s natural that certain pages or sections of your site will be priorities when it comes to creating a mobile first content marketing strategy. But remember that where a user lands won’t necessarily be where they end up. If they stumble upon a clunky page buried deep in your sitemap or a bunch of infographics you never got around to formatting properly your good work elsewhere risks being undone.

Mobile content marketing in summary

So, you’re all set to launch into a mobile first content marketing strategy. Here’s a quick recap of our 10 tips:

Remove barriers between your users and your content
Make speed a priority
No big, impenetrable blocks of text
Key points and CTAs in the main body of your pages, no horizontal scrolling
Menus that users can expand, with plenty of space between the links
Create content for users on the go
Auto-play videos but set them to mute
Check compatibility across multiple devices
Add shortcuts like click-to-call
And apply your mobile first content marketing strategy across your entire website

10 mobile content marketing tips posted by Castleford Staff.  Available from <http://www.castleford.com.au/blog/2016/10-mobile-content-marketing-tips>. [Posted on: 06/10/2016]; Photos: Shutterstock

National Cyber Security Awareness Month: Why Your Online Security Matters

National Cyber Security Awareness Month: Why Your Online Security Matters by Julie Myhre-Nunes.  Available from < http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2016/10/05/national-cyber-security-awareness-month-why-your-online-security-matters/>. [October 5, 2016]

October is in full swing, which meansBreast Cancer Awareness Month is upon us and Halloween is closing in. Something more frightful than the ghouls in the night is a cybersecurity threat. To shed some light on this pressing and timely topic, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security teamed up with public and private partners like the National Cyber Security Alliance to create National Cyber Security Awareness Month, which is now in its 13th year. Because cybersecurity is so important, throughout the month of October we’re dishing out ways you can keep your online identity safe. In this post we dig into why cybersecurity matters and detail some simple steps you can take to secure your online information.

Why does cybersecurity matter?

The Internet is a major part of our lives. From our smartphones and computers to our TVs, home appliances and cars, we are almost always connected. As such, it’s important for consumers to know how to stay safe online and on their devices. While it’s true your information can be revealed through acompany’s data breach, a large part of cybersecurity is user habits, which is why it’s important to understand how you can protect yourself.

What can I do to protect myself online?

While there are a number of ways to protect your information online, these are some basic cybersecurity tips for all Internet users.

1. Create strong passwords and change them regularly. We’ve all heard it a million times — creating strong passwords is one of the best ways to protect your information online — but we often fail to remember that these passwords must be changed regularly (at least every six months) to remain secure. To help you remember when it’s time for a password change, mark your physical or digital calendar and set alerts. And remember that every password you create should be a unique one made up of at least eight characters (the longer, the better) and include a combination of letters, numbers and special characters. While you may be tempted to use personal information, like your child’s name, it’s best to steer clear of that because that information is relatively easy to find online, which can put your accounts at higher risk of being hacked. Cultural references are also not a good idea, as we learned from the list of 2015’s worst passwords. Having a hard time thinking of a new password? Try to connect two completely random words like foxtrotpizza, then change some letters to characters and add some extra characters to be safe. If you need some extra help remembering all of your unique passwords, you may want to consider a password manager, which can store all of your passwords in one secure, digital safe.

2. Use a trusted browser. An Internet browser is a user’s key to the web. As such, it’s especially important to make sure you’re choosing a trusted browser, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge and Safari, when you connect to the Internet. Safe and trusted browsers allow you to access the web securely by warning you of potentially harmful websites before you enter them, as a number of browsers have build-in malware protection. Similarly, they clearly let you know if you’re visiting a secure site, meaning the URL starts with HTTPS, by displaying a lock or green color at the beginning of the URL, which is essential to know before you log into your account or enter any of your personal information.

3. Don’t overshare. A large number of us live our lives on social media, sharing some of our special life moments with people we (hopefully) know in real life. Although sharing can be a fun activity, it can also be an exposing one. That’s why it’s important to know how to responsibly share online by setting strict privacy settings, turning off geolocation and knowing your social media friends in real life. After all, oversharing your information with a stranger can reveal not only information about your home or place of work, but also expose information about your personal life that can be used to unlock your security questions and even reveal your passwords if you opt to use something like your pet’s name, which we don’t recommend. When you’re deciding what to share online, ask yourself if this is information you’d share with someone you just met or someone you don’t know that well. If it’s not, you may want to considering texting or emailing the news to a couple of family members or friends instead of sharing with all of your online friends.

4. Know which sites have your information. It’s no secret that we’re accustomed to passing out our information online. From shopping and checking our credit card statements to posting photos and sending an email, most of us are fluent on how to do this online. And since so much of our lives is digital, we should be aware of who we give our personal information out to, especially since security breaches are more and more common these days. Tracking down all of the sites that have your information stored can be a challenge, so it’s best to start with the ones you know, then look into the ones that email you — if they have your email, you may have created an account with them in the past. If you haven’t used a service or website for over a year, you may want to disable or delete your account — if it’s not clear how you can do this, contact the site’s customer support team and they should be able to help you. Identity theft protection services may also help you keep tabs on where your information appears, as most of the top-rated services do regular scans of the Internet black market as well as monitor your information on public records and people search websites. As an added bonus, most ofthese services offer free trials that allow you to test out the service before you make a financial commitment, which can be a good way for you to locate where your information appears online, then cancel if you don’t see the value in the service.

5. Be skeptical of unfamiliar emails, texts and links. Scammers work year-round to try to steal the personal information or money of unsuspecting victims, which is why it’s important for you to always be on alert. Although scammers have used email-related methods in the past to spam consumers with scammy links designed to steal their identity, they have more recently been known to text their victims posing as a friend looking to share a funny video or news story, which is part of the reason whymillennials are the most likely to fall for a scam. To prevent falling for a scam, you’ll want to be skeptical of any emails or texts you receive from unfamiliar senders. Never click on any links sent in these messages, and if you’re ever unsure of a link you receive from a number you do recognize, contact the person through email or call them to find out if they really sent you the link. If not, delete that text immediately and report it to the FTC. While there is usually some sort of ongoing email/text scam going on, consumers should also be aware of seasonal scams, like voting scams during the election andcharity scams during the holidays. Follow our scams blog to learn more about the newest scams.

National Cyber Security Awareness Month: Why Your Online Security Matters by Julie Myhre-Nunes.  Available from < http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2016/10/05/national-cyber-security-awareness-month-why-your-online-security-matters/>. [October 5, 2016]

Safeguard Your “Digital Hygiene”

Safeguard Your “Digital Hygiene” by Rich Barlow.  Available from <https://www.bu.edu/today/2016/personal-information-security/>. [10.03.2016] Photo Courtesy of iStock

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, which the University is observing, appropriately enough, by increasing your security.

BU’s Information Services & Technology has erected a so-called perimeter firewall, a monitor programmed to block unauthorized access to the campus data network. (Find more information here.) Your devices and data fall under this cyber-shield whenever you connect to the network, although it can’t protect you if unauthorized parties gain your password or access to your online accounts. That’s where personal “digital hygiene” comes in.

You—most of you, anyway—wouldn’t go through a day without showering, brushing you teeth, or washing your hands. Eric Jacobsen (CAS’93, MET’03), director of information security, predicts future generations will be as vigilant about digital hygiene, which he says is “understanding the things you need to make habits to take care of yourself and your identity. It includes protecting your online presence and your internet-connected devices through good security practices, and managing the information you share about yourself.”

BU can help, not just through techie measures like the firewall, but with retro strategies such as paper shredding and throwing away old computer equipment. This week, the University will run its sixth annual program of shredding personal documents and destroying unwanted hard drives. Students, faculty, and staff may bring their disposable documents and hard drives to three sessions: tomorrow, Tuesday, October 4, from 9 a.m. to noon, in the parking lot behind Agganis Arena; Wednesday, October 5, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., in front of the Talbot Building, 715 Albany St., on the Medical Campus; and Thursday, October 6, from 9 a.m. to noon, in the Granby Street parking lot on the Charles River Campus east.

Jacobsen offers these additional tips for keeping personal information safe:

Frequent updates of your system and applications are a good idea. Automatic updates on your devices can help with this. “Most security patches are released in response to publicly known vulnerabilities,” Jacobsen says, “and until you apply that patch, your devices are at risk.”

Never, never, never give out your password. “Passwords are the first and often the last line of defense for your personal information,” he says, and no one should be asking for them. If you get an email asking you to email back your password, think one thing: Scam.

Putting a PIN or password on mobile devices, like phones and tablets, ensures that their data will be protected if you lose them. “Even the federal government with all its resources has trouble accessing devices that are protected by a simple code,” Jacobsen says.

“Encrypt the data on your laptop,” he stresses. “Apple and Microsoft have provided ways to enable encryption from within the operating system. Make sure you follow their instructions on saving the configuration or key to a USB device and keep that somewhere safe, but separate from your laptop.”

Vary your passwords with different internet sites. Using the same password everywhere means that if it’s compromised on one site, all your sites and personal information are jeopardized. At the very least, Jacobsen says, “you should use a unique password for the University to protect your student data; a unique password for anything financial, like your bank; and a different password for your social media sites.”

“Remember that every piece of information you put in social media sites may be seen by anyone. Make sure the information you share in these forums is something you’re prepared to share with the world and for all time,” he says. People who have failed to heed this advice have, on occasion, lost their jobs.

Most of any individual’s information on the internet, whether it’s social media or banking, is protected by one thing: a password. People who would like access to your data are well aware of this and will attempt to trick you into giving them your password. The most common form of this attack is “phishing”: the person who wants your password will email you and ask you for it. This works a lot more often than most people realize, and some of the ways they ask for your password are clever. The easiest to spot is the email that simply asks you to email the password back. More creative attacks will try to convince you to go to a website and log in, except that site you are logging in to is not the one you are expecting. It’s advisable to be skeptical of links within email sent from sources you don’t know that take you to a page requiring you to log in.

Safeguard Your “Digital Hygiene” by Rich Barlow.  Available from <https://www.bu.edu/today/2016/personal-information-security/>. [10.03.2016] Photo Courtesy of iStock

7 Easy Tips For Great SEO Copy

7 Easy Tips For Great SEO Copy by Mark Simmons.  Available from <http://mixeddigital.com/blog/7-easy-tips-for-great-seo-copy/> [September 22, 2016]

SEO is far from predictable, but basing your content on the 7 essential components of great SEO copy listed here will help you meet and even exceed today’s high quality content and SEO standards.

1. Well Thought Out Meta Content
If you’re not taking advantage of Meta content (titles and descriptions), you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Google recently changed the game on meta content. This year Google has even increased the characters you can use in meta title/description length allowances, increasing the length of the title to 70 characters (71 depending on the character size) and a new meta description per line length of 100 characters. One of the most important considerations when it comes to writing your meta content is to avoid blandly summarizing the post content. Instead, come up with a compelling statement, something you feel would make your target audience “pause, read and click” instead of skipping over it.

2. Engaging Embedded Links
Write relevant, engaging anchor text sentences, avoiding verbiage like “click here” or even the “read more” clickable text you see everywhere. Instead of using generic text, embed your links in relevant phrases, helping your visitors find exactly what they’re focused on. Putting some thought into creating relevant, engaging text for your embedded links will increase the value of your potential link juice and SEO results.

3. Don’t Obsess Over Keyword Density
There really isn’t a magic number when it comes to how often to use keywords. That said, brazenly overusing them is a big mistake that no one appreciates, especially Google. If you want Google to “show you the love”, always write with your readers in mind. One of the most important SEO copy tips is to write human friendly content that your target audience wants to read. The bottom line is that if you don’t adhere to this principle, you’ll never get the optimal ROI out of your content, regardless of how well it ranks. After all, if your content isn’t if readable, nobody is going to want to find out more about what you have to offer.

4. Headlines that Get Clicked
Headlines are the first impression readers get of your content so you need to make them unique and engaging. Taking the time to come up with a great headline can improve your click-through rate significantly. A great tool (also free) to use to come up with better headlines is the headline analyzer provided by the Advanced Marketing Institute (http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/).

5. Mobile-Friendly
Google’s mobile-friendly algorithm gives an added ranking boost for mobile-friendly/responsive sites in mobile search results. Recently, Google has even increased the strength of its mobile-friendly ranking signal. Keeping this in mind, be sure your website offers easy, mobile/human friendly navigation, optimized images and fast load times.

6. Don’t Forget Your Sitemap
When it comes to boosting your search engine rankings, a good XML sitemap can be a great partner. Sitemaps help Google and other main search engines easily understand the structure of a website while crawling it.

7. Considering Google’s AI System
RankBrain is Google’s AI system and was created to handle its millions of daily search queries. Google uses RankBrain to learn exactly what visitors click on and whether they were satisfied with the outcome once they click through. For this reason, it makes sense for marketers to write RankBrain centered content that helps visitors, flows naturally, features interactive videos and images, earning a high click through rate.

At the end of the day, keep in mind that there that there shouldn’t be a difference between well written traditional writing and SEO writing. If your content isn’t compelling, it doesn’t matter which keywords you use because it won’t get shared or linked to.

7 Easy Tips For Great SEO Copy by Mark Simmons.  Available from <http://mixeddigital.com/blog/7-easy-tips-for-great-seo-copy/> [September 22, 2016]