Six Tips to Mastering Online Marketing from TribeTats Founder, Degelis Tufts
1. Reach Out to Bloggers
Tufts boosted her organic search rankings by connecting with influential people in the blogosphere and sending them samples of her products. “Having bloggers talk about us and link back to our site has directly boosted our SEO,” she says. “This is an important step for new businesses.”
2. Check and Implement Keywords
Using Google Analytics, Tufts looks for keywords to determine how users are finding her site. Then she makes sure the keywords that drive the most conversions can be found throughout her website. This is a simple and free task that any small business owner can implement after performing a bit of research.
3. Use Email Marketing
When a customer opens the TribeTats website, one of the first things he or she sees is a pop-up requesting an email address in exchange for a special discount. The company then sends those customers announcements for new products and special sales. Almost every email interaction with the customer includes a special incentive to encourage him or her to purchase.
4. Sell Through Third-Party Marketplaces
In addition to her own website, Tufts sells her products via Amazon Prime, OpenSky, Etsy and Spring. She likes to give customers multiple ways to find her, especially through third-party marketplaces where she’s able to control her brand messaging.
5. Understand How Customers Use Each Social Platform
Most of TribeTat’s direct traffic comes from Instagram, a platform that is all about beautiful visuals. “Instagram users don't want to be bombarded with brand promotions; you need to be more inspiring,” Tufts says. Therefore, TribeTats’ posts tend to be artistic and subtly promotional.
She posts often on Instagram because a typical post has a half-life of two hours. “After two hours you’ll get half the engagement on the entire post, and then it will get buried in people's feeds,” she says.
Pinterest has also proved successful for TribeTats. Tufts uses this platform to share the do-it-yourself aspect of her products. Posts on Pinterest stay relevant for months because content is reused over time, so the site needs less updating. “Things are constantly being repinned, so we'll see a sale from a pin we put up in spring that has made its way around the Pinterest community over time,” Tufts says.
6. Adapt as Social Media Changes and Test, Test, Test
When Facebook changed the way businesses were able to get organic reach, very few of TribeTats’ Facebook fans were seeing its posts. To keep a presence on the platform but make it more worthwhile, Tufts made the decision to run paid ads on this social site instead of spending time on frequent organic posts.
“Test Facebook ads with a small budget, scrap what isn’t working and scale what does,” Tufts says. “The key is testing, testing and testing again.”