Use SMS to automate contact with customers and those that leave items in their cart.

According to an article by MobileMarketing, use SMS to boost your revenue in 2022 by making personal connections with customers. The message can mention their name, offer discounts, and other offers, and send replies to their questions.

The more you offer relevant information, the more you build trust.

SMS can be used to keep customers up to date and customer service.

In addition, according to the article, SMS can be used to send surveys and get feedback or reviews from your customers.

According to the article, here are a few reasons why you should be using SMS:

– It is cost-effective and produces high returns and with a low cost

– SMS is instant and has higher open rates than email

– It is personal and global

– SMS allows for targeting existing customers

– The SMS platform can create a back and forth conversation with customers and potential customers.

YouTube is creating new products and tools for its users in 2022 to monetize content, interact with their audience, and create content ideas.

According to a new post on YouTube’s Official Blog by Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan, Shorts creators will be able to interact with their audience by replying with their own Shorts, similar to how TikTok works.

He also said that new ways were being tested to make money with Shorts like building branded content “and by bringing the ability to shop directly from a Short.”

Mohan continued, “One of the most anticipated opportunities we’ll bring to our brands this year is Shopping.This new experience taps into the deep trust creators have built with their communities to help our partners expand into the booming world of e-commerce.”

He added, “We’re thinking about shoppable videos, Live Shopping, and, more broadly, how shopping appears across the app.”

Another new feature will allow creators to collaborate and create more interactive streams with audiences.

In addition, Mohan said gifted memberships is being tested which means the ability to buy a channel membership for another viewer on a live stream.

Also, the ability for creators to set channel guidelines in the chat is being tested.

Meta’s Facebook daily active users have dropped for the first time in 18-year history.

Meta Platforms announced that daily active users decreased to 1.929 billion in the three months ending in December compared to 1.930 billion the previous quarter, reported the BBC.

The social media giant also warned of slowing revenue growth because of competition from TikTok and Youtube, as advertisers cut spending.

Meta’s shares dropped significantly in the past week.

Meta blamed privacy changes by Apple, making advertising tracking more difficult. According to the report, the company’s chief financial officer, Dave Wehner, said it could have an impact “in the order of $10 billion,” according to the report.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said, “The thing that is somewhat unique here is that TikTok is so big a competitor already and also continues to grow at quite a fast rate.”

TikTok was the most downloaded app in the US last year, with 94 million downloads.

According to Insider Intelligence/eMarketer, the next most popular apps were Instagram and Snapchat, which reached 64 million and 56 million downloads respectively.

Interestingly, the top three downloaded apps were photo and video-focused social media platforms.

According to the report, more than one-quarter of people in the US were monthly TikTok users last year, while a third of Instagram users were monthly users.

The age range that saw the most use was among 18 to 24 year-olds for TikTok, and Instagram had an older audience of 25 to 34.

The fourth most downloaded app in 2021 was Cash App, followed by Zoom, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, WhatsApp in eighth place, and YouTube.

Email marketing remains a top way to get potential and existing customers to purchase. According to an article in Entrepreneur, here are five mistakes that e-commerce business owners commonly make.

1. Sending emails inconsistently hurts the connection with your list. A long email break can hurt your relationship because some people may not remember your store and unsubscribe. At least send one email a month.

2. Not sending welcome emails that get four times more clicks than other emails, according to Invesp. Free resources and information like an ebook or a video could be good.

3. Your list is out of date, and emails are bouncing. If you do not fix a high bounce rate, your emails can send to spam folders. Make sure you are cleaning your email list for bad emails.

4. People marking your emails as spam should be removed from your list immediately.

5. Discover if emails are being sent to the spam folder. Some verification companies can help figure this out.

Shopify recently announced the release of three new themes in January with layouts meant to support trends in various industries.

The Crave theme is designed for food and beverage products.

The Craft theme is meant for crafts and is intended for home and decor products.

The Sense theme is intended for health and beauty products.

The new themes have more customization settings and include the new features released in 2021.

Those already using the new Dawn theme are encouraged to update to the latest version to access the new theme settings, Shopify said in a blog post.

Users are spending more time on TikTok than any other social media platform in the US, according to Insider Intelligence/eMarketer.

Adult TikTok users are expected to spend an average of 38 minutes per day on the platform. However, according to the report, this is two minutes less than last year.

Twitter ranked second with 35 minutes per day, and Facebook third with 31 minutes.

Snapchat is fourth with 30 minutes per day, and Instagram fifth at 29 minutes.

Here are the top three digital marketing skills needed for starting an online business today, according to an article published in Forbes on Monday.

First, optimize for SEO since Google is the most popular platform people use to find businesses. Focus on providing value as Google seeks to rank the best content at the top of searches and it will be more likely to be shared.

In addition, research the best keywords for your brand.

Also, make sure your website speed and mobile optimization are good.

Second, make sure you are present on the correct social media websites that fits your target audience. According to the article, do not spread yourself everywhere, but focus on two or three platforms where you know your potential customers are active.

Third, use email marketing to turn leads into purchasers and to get customers to buy again. Offer discounts or some gift on your website in return for emails.

China will continue being the world’s top e-commerce market in 2022, with 46.3% of the country’s retail sales taking place online.

According to Insider Intelligence/eMarketer, in second place is the UK with 36.3% and then South Korea with 32.2%.

The US is only in seventh place with 16.1%, demonstrating that there is still much growth to come.

China has more than the UK and South Korea combined with a nearly $3 trillion e-commerce market in terms of total dollar amounts.

The UK is estimated to have about $246 billion in e-commerce sales and around $143 billion in South Korea.