The key to finally mastering digital marketing is staying awake. Digital marketing represents everything in our world that is new and ever-changing. Today’s content is already last month’s content. You must be releasing tomorrow’s content today in order to have any chance of making an impact on your audiences. The following are just a few of the ways proven to help you do so.
1. Differentiation is Everything
It is not enough to have cool videos or strong imagery in your marketing production anymore. If your videos are just like everyone else’s, no matter how well done or edited they are, no one will care. First and foremost, before you put all of your efforts into creating strong digital marketing, you need to make sure that your differentiator, your “IT” factor, is strong and clear so that you can then emphasize it through your marketing.
2. Your Website Needs to Be GREAT
If your website does not have perfect visuals, layouts, formatting, navigation tools, and more, consider yourself back at stage one in the marketing and design process. Why so harsh? According to data from a Google study back in 2016, 53% of website users will leave a site if it does not load within three seconds. Clearly, users are picky, and they have so many options of where to spend their browsing time that they refuse to waste it on any website that is not ready for the world.
3. Be Authentic
Though it is important to remain humble and curb one’s ego when it comes to finding success in the business world, you also have to remain true to your own brand in terms of the ideas and content that you create. Finding inspiration from the work of others is valuable and should be done. But, it must remain authentic to your own values and beliefs in order to feel authentic to audiences.
Making claims that you cannot deliver upon or promises of brand values that you later go back on looks horrible for all companies and consumers will be quick to call out any falsehoods in your brand identity. Sticking to a strong mission and set of goals will allow your brand to generate good digital marketing content that users truly like and want to consume.
4. Get Feedback
Mastering anything, especially mastering digital marketing, can’t happen without constructive criticism. Any opportunity you can get to gain user-generated feedback on your digital marketing’s impact–take it. This feedback, whether it be from surveys, internal research and stats you have collected, comments online, and more, is incredibly valuable to your business. Users, especially online users, want to tell you how they feel, or how an advertisement made them feel.
5. Start Doing “Takeovers”
Takeovers are one of the easiest and most interesting ways to build your digital marketing presence. Depending on your brand and what you are selling, oftentimes, there is an opportunity to allow guests to gain access to your account and essentially vlog their day through your account via a “Takeover” format. These guests could be anyone from employees showing what a day in their life at ____ company looks like, fans or followers that want to reveal their shopping haul from your brand and so much more. Takeovers are a great way to freshen up your social media accounts and show a different perspective that draws new people in and helps retain your old followers.
6. Take Advantage of Live Video Features
Live video features are an amazing tool that most businesses do not utilize on social media, but they should. Recording live videos, whether that be on your business’s Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook accounts, provides a perfect way to show the authenticity of your brand in a way that consumers will notice. Plus, because live video stories have a different emblem on the home screen of Instagram, for instance, they stand out much more than a traditional story would. This means consumers are far more likely to be curious and want to click on your live stream.
7. Do Social Media Contests
Similar to live video features and takeovers on social media, contests on social media are one of the fastest ways to grow your account. Mastering digital marketing is as easy as hosting contests. For example, a contest asking, “Enter into our contest for a chance to win a gift card! All you have to do is follow our account, post us on your story, and tag three friends!”. They truly do work, because the stakes are so low. Consumers cannot resist the chance to win something. Especially if they do not have to pay anything for it.
8. Repurpose Your Content
You are going to have the most digital success if you can repurpose content across your different online platforms. For example, learning how to take one Instagram reel and turning it into a similar, but still different, Facebook post is a great way to stretch your content and save resources and time while also maintaining a seamless brand style and identity across all of your online presences. Maintaining this integration across different platforms is vital to building your brand awareness. That way it not only stands out but is recognizable anywhere to consumers.
