11 top tips for effective digital marketing
11 top tips for effective digital marketing; the best way to get started with digital marketing is to make it a part of your overall marketing plan, says Chris O’Neill. So here are 11 tips to help you get started.
In this article, we’ll share how to develop a winning digital marketing strategy using a proven approach based on customer behavior and the latest data and research.
- Start with your website
- Build trust with visitors
- Offer exclusive content
- Create a community
- Tell a story through graphics
- Be consistent with your message
- Focus on SEO and paid search
- Leverage social media
- Optimize for mobile devices
- Provide multiple ways to share content
- Manage your social media presence
1. Start with your website
There are plenty of things you can say or write about on a website to drive traffic and gain new customers. But one of the best ways to make sure your message is being heard is to make it the focus of your site. You need to tell your story from the beginning—the reason you started your company, what problem you are solving, how you came to solve it, and why others should care. The content you put on your website should guide readers through that process. You’ll need to keep your content focused on your core messaging. This is one of the most critical steps in the process.
2. Build trust with visitors
People do business with those they like and respect. So when someone they don’t know and trust (that’s you) sends them a message, it makes sense that people are skeptical about whether or not they’ll get their money’s worth. The key to building trust is to earn it. To earn it, you need to build a relationship with your visitors based on giving them value and then providing them with solutions to their problems.
3. Offer exclusive content
Another powerful method is to offer exclusive content for early adopters. The exclusivity comes in the form of content only available to people who sign up for your mailing list (a great opportunity to create another opt-in source), but also the content is limited to that audience.
4. Create a community
People love to share experiences. The more people like what you’re sharing, the more traffic you’ll receive. To build community, you need to be authentic, genuine, and present. Give people a reason to stay connected with you. Then, create a place where they can connect with other people who are also interested in your brand and industry. In short, share your passion and people will love you for it.
5. Tell a story through graphics
Using graphics in content marketing can help tell a story and build trust between the reader and the brand. It is helpful to create a visual story that draws readers into the text. People tend to engage with visuals and stories because they’re easy to understand, digest, and remember, so the images you choose need to be attention-getting and relatable. You should consider how you can integrate graphics in various formats to make the content more interesting and memorable.
6. Be consistent with your message
If you’re working on a blog post that needs to make a specific point, it’s important to keep the tone and style consistent across the piece, whether it’s for an entire series or just one post. This consistency creates a stronger impression of your authority as the voice of a brand.
7. Focus on SEO and paid search
As consumers are looking for products and services online, companies need to make sure that they’re visible. As long as they don’t pay money to appear higher in search results, it’s perfectly fine for them to place ads on their website, in print, or even on radio and TV. In fact, Google and other search engines prefer companies who pay money to appear high in search rankings, because these companies tend to offer the best content for searchers.
8. Leverage social media
Another key point about social media is that it is about relationships. It’s a two-way street; companies need to build relationships with their followers to turn them into brand advocates. However, if you’re using social media only for the sake of marketing yourself, you’re missing out on another opportunity: social media is also a great way to help others.
9. Optimize for mobile devices
Most people start shopping online on their laptops or desktop computer. But as more people are using tablets and smartphones, retailers are getting creative in order to bring shoppers in and keep them there. A lot of websites allow mobile users to shop, but they don’t really offer the same experience as if they were on a desktop or laptop. Mobile e-commerce is about offering a better user experience than desktop and laptop e-commerce.
10. Provide multiple ways to share content
People who see a piece of content and feel inclined to share it don’t just share it once. They share it again and again. And again. It’s no secret that the more a user shares, the more engaged he or she becomes. So it makes sense that sharing content with multiple social platforms gives users more opportunities to do so. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Pinterest all offer unique opportunities to share content in various ways, making it easier to keep content top-of-mind and to ensure it gets the kind of exposure you want.
11. Manage your social media presence
Today’s consumers are highly dependent on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. For marketers to effectively engage with potential customers on these channels, they need to create brand awareness through strong, consistent branding. The key to branding is consistency. Consumers who see a company’s logo often on multiple social media platforms are likely to associate it with the brand and be more inclined to buy its products and services.
In Conclusion
Digital marketing is always evolving and there are a lot of moving parts and a plethora of choices to make. It’s important to focus on what’s going to be effective and to look at the big picture. What do you want to achieve? Who’s your target audience? Where do you want to go with your digital strategy? What’s the overall vision and plan? The answers to all of those questions should guide the rest of your work. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and get advice. That’s how you make the most of your digital marketing.