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5 Secrets To Ramping Up Your Digital Marketing Strategy
At first glance, setting up a digital marketing strategy for your brand seems like a “no sweat” process; whip up some value-packed content, promote it around for maximum exposure, and be active in comments to spark further shares and, ultimately, sales. However, you might already know that digital marketing is something that's far easier said than done.
Not anymore! Let me uncover some secrets that will make your digital marketing strategy feel like a breeze for your own ease. (Am I a rhyming master already?)
Secret 1 — SEO isn't a quick fix
Many digital marketers wish that SEO (standing for Search Engine Optimisation) was a spray-wipe-done practice. Well, that's not even close to what it represents. It's a commitment as long-term and labour-intensive as that of farming — you need to plant, tend, harvest and repeat ad infinitum. That's because the algorithms of SEO are constantly upgrading, which means that you should stay up-to-date and adapt your approach accordingly over time.
Not too mention your inability to pause SEO. Well... You can drop your efforts, but your ranking will suffer. Unlike PPC advertising that goes off automatically when you stop feeding it money, SEO keeps running even if it falls off your priority list. The infographic below resembles a circle to show that SEO is a never-ending loop.
And you may be like: “It's overwhelming! I don't know where to begin”. If you're clueless on how to optimise your digital brand engagement, do an SEO audit first. This way, you'll manage to drill down to any gaps you need to fill and any glitches you should fix.
Survey by Zazzle Media suggests that webmasters who implement an SEO strategy are rewarded with increased brand awareness, higher credibility scores, and greater rates of customer loyalty and retention.
But remember that patience is a virtue in this case and just like a farmer, you have to wait to see results. If you haven’t invested much time and energy to your SEO, you're likely get a level-up at the beginning, but only reap the real lasting benefits of SEO in 6-12 months. SEO is a real-time measure in constant flux, so don't be surprised if your progress plateaus or flops in the meantime.
Secret 2 — On-page and technical SEO, anyone?
Congrats on growing your website search rankings, clickthrough and pageviews. Inevitably, your first flow of visitors is going to be short term — I doubt they'll spend more than 10-15 seconds before they decide to work with or buy from you.
Once you’ve driven more visitors to your website, the next hurdle is persuading them to linger long enough to absorb your message and show interest in your offering.
The problem of prospects clicking off without taking further action rests heavily on the quality and architecture of your site. To figure out if your website is SEO-friendly, ask yourself:
Is my website easily accessible for different types of users and devices?
Does it solve their pain points?
Does it encourage engagement and further action (e.g. filling in a form, adding to their shopping cart, proceeding to checkout, etc)?
If the answer to any of the above questions is NO, then your site is calling for an urgent revamp. In this case, on-page and technical SEO are coming to rescue!
But what is on-page and technical SEO?
On-page SEO (or on-page optimisation) is quite self-explanatory, as it involves the content that exists on the page. By gathering keywords for their search volume and intent, you can answer questions for your readers and get listing on leading search engines.
It also encompasses all the factors you can improve on your site to grow organic traffic, with the main components being title; meta description tag; optimised images with alt texts; URL structure; high-quality content; functional internal links.
Technical SEO focuses on what's happening backstage in your website to ensure better user experience. Different forms of it are: image compression; site indexability and page load speed; responsiveness to other devices; CSS file optimisation; structured data, etc.
Have you ever zoomed out to behold the bigger picture of how users engage with your website – and your landing page in particular?
What’s the first thing your potential clients see? Does it answer to their question? If they searched for “Hiking boots”, they want to see that you sell, what else? Hiking boots! Ground-breaking, right? Therefore, if they were to browse through your product list, it’s better to find a site that it's easy to navigate — otherwise, you'll end up with what's known as customer churn and a high bounce rate. (We don't want this, dude!)
Take Hubspot and Samsung as noteworthy examples. These giants in their respective industry create demand and intrigue over their offers by adding high-converting CTAs to their pages — either in the form of buttons or hyperlinks.
In this respect, it's a win-win situation. Just as prospects click onto another page and discover more about a brand they can trust, so too the brand meets its KPIs with more people converting into buyers.
In short, clicks crack open new portals of information, which continues to strengthen brand message and generate profit.
So what should be your takeaway from Secret 2? That you’ve got as little as 10 seconds to pique a visitor’s interest compellingly enough that they’ll read on. It also means they’ll interact with you if you convince them to stay.
Secret 3 — Influencer marketing isn't as influential as you believe
Influencer marketing is a relatively new concept that was developed and popularised with the onslaught of social media in our lives. Trust me, the Internet was never the same since that transitional phase.
Human beings have an inherent need to fit in. This justifies their tendency to go with the mainstream and follow trends. To an almost alarming degree, individuals like to ape what others are doing. If a celebrity with an impressive appearance posts an Instagram story in which they talk about about this fantastic new facial scrub they’ve tried, their audience will want to give it a try themselves. Do they subconsciously believe that this way they'll become a replica of their favourite influencer? Probably, but that's not the point here.
Relatability and looks sell! And there's nothing wrong with it. At the end of the day, business is business!
What's problematic is that there's plenty of wannabe influencers. Although we rely on figures to gauge campaign performance, the number of followers isn't an accurate indicator of the true level of influence a person can provide. To up your game of digital marketing and brand engagement, you should be looking for thought leaders — established specialists in their niche who have genuine (rather than paid) followers who are drawn by their expertise.
Yes, an influencer can feature a review of your product in their profile (especially if you sponsor it), but most of their followers are interested in the influencer instead of you (and that’s as long as their following isn't comprised of bots).
Choose who you work with wisely, as the “K” after a so-called influencer's followers number can be a tantalising façade to something vacant. Don't buy into the wishy-washy ways they promise to rocket your brand. Do your research and pick carefully.
Secret 4 — Your online community wants to see you
In a hyper-digitalised age with a wealth of metrics available at your fingertips, it’s easy to get caught up in a whirlpool of data.
As a result, you forget that you're talking to actual people who want to catch a peek into the human side of your business. That's true for both B2B and B2C fields. Yes, even that tough-looking, sharp-suited CEO is a real person and will identify better with corporations that showcase the human behind the office.
Video is the leading star in the the digital marketing scene. A 2019 report released by Wyzowl revealed 87% of marketing professionals leverage video for their marketing endeavours, while 76% of consumers aged 18-34 years old confess that they’ve made a purchase after viewing a video.
Complement your social media strategy and accelerate your customer engagement by adding graphics, animation and videos. They are perfect for sharing and help you present the plus points of your products in a dynamic and lucrative way.
Secret 5 — Optimise your posting times on social media
In all probabilities, when you scroll through your timeline, more recent posts will overshadow older ones. This makes it imperative to upload content on the basis of where and when your target population is hanging around. This is may coincide with downtime, i.e., the periods before, during and after work, or during the evening as they prepare for bed.
Social media automation tools, such as Later and Hootsuite, can help you schedule posts to catch a wide radius of early birds and night owls without having to actually press the button at the appropriate, stipulated times.
But let me walk you through the optimal posting strategy based on the peak usage on a per-platform basis.
Bear in mind that the following charts are indicative and may vary from user to user. It's highly advisable to monitor your insights before planning and distributing content.
Best times: Tuesday 11 am – 2 pm, Monday through Friday 11 am
Best day: Tuesday
Worst day: Sunday
Instagram is the ideal place for small businesses to branch out with their content: complement their visual identity with top-tier imagery, or draw attention to their brand’s graphic design initiatives by showcasing what they've crafted content-wise (e.g. infographics, data reports etc). The platform never remains silent! It keeps squeezing new features in — hence the increased engagement it continues to garner since the pandemic outbreak.
Best times: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9 am – 1 pm
Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
Worst day: Saturday
Unlike its social media counterpart (Instagram), Facebook is an enabler in
late-night, early-morning and weekend activity, becoming a more opportune channel for brands to get eyeballs on their content.
Best times: Wednesday 9 am – 3 pm, Tuesday through Thursday 9 –11 am
Best day: Wednesday
Worst day: Saturday
In the past two years, Twitter has become the informational hub for many social media users, as it shares updates on COVID-19. As such, the network published news-centric and fact-checking content, with specific trending topics discovery tabs related to these ongoing stories.
Best times: Tuesday through Thursday 9 am — noon
Best days: Tuesday and Wednesday
Worst day: Sunday
Considering that LinkedIn is the professional equivalent of Facebook, with content that's built around professional thought leadership and career development, it makes sense that most users are active during their working day.
Need a hand with your digital marketing strategy? Contact Maripinion and be sure that your success is secured.
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