One thing that all successful businesses have in common is a clear digital marketing strategy.
Digital marketing is more than just posting about your business on social media. Digital marketing defines how brands connect with their audience and customers online. It’s the fusion of technology and proven marketing strategies.
In this article, we’re uncovering four things you may not have known about digital marketing.
Social media marketing is only one type of digital marketing.
While social media plays a big part in creating your marketing strategy, it’s not the only factor you should consider. Yes, having a social media presence is essential, but there are other parts of digital marketing that you’ll need to consider for your business.
In addition to social media marketing, here are four more pillars of digital marketing you should include in your digital marketing plan:
- Content Marketing
- Search Engine Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
Engagement > Followers
The truth is, the number of social media followers you have is a vanity metric. That means that it looks good on your social media profile page, but there’s no solid evidence that links followers to the success of your digital marketing strategy or to the success of your business.
Instead, your engagement metrics tell a more realistic story of how people interact with your brand online. The critical data is in who and how people engage with your content. Your engagement metrics also show you what types of content resonate with your audience and what doesn’t.
For example, if you have more comments and shares on your Instagram Reels than you do on your Instagram feed posts, you should consider increasing the number of Reels you publish each week.
Ignoring analytics can cost you a fortune.
Understanding your analytics can tell you a lot about how your marketing investments are paying off. Some digital marketing analytics include:
- Content performance (aka engagement)
- Website traffic
- Conversion
- Site speed
- Click-through rates
Monitor your analytics weekly (if not daily). You want to make sure that the money you invest in your marketing strategy is giving you the desired results that you need.
It’s okay to study what your competitors are doing.
Many business and marketing coaches will tell you to know who your competitors are. Take that advice a step further and study what your competitors do to marketing to your audience.
This isn’t to take their ideas and make them your own; it’s to look for trends in their marketing reach and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Here are a few questions that you can answer about your competition?
- Do you notice anything that your competition does that you can do better?
- Check your competition’s reviews and social media mentions. What are customers saying about the brand on social media?
- Does your competition focus on one area of marketing over others? If so, why do you think that is?
Now that you know more about digital marketing, it’s time to apply this information to your own strategy. If you don’t have a digital marketing strategy right now, that’s okay. Start with doing some research. Define your audience, your competition, and the current state of your business.
Once you know who you’re marketing to, you can use your marketing analytics to continue doing what works and stop doing what doesn’t work.
