Frequently asked Digital Marketing questions
Digital Marketing can be said to be a bit of a buzz word and there are various things that all go under the banner of digital marketing. Within this blog, we are going to focus on several areas, Social Media, Email Marketing, & Content Marketing.
Social Media – Digital Marketing
How will Social Media help my business?
Social Media gives your business an online presence in an area that your ideal clients frequent. How do you think your ideal clients will feel if they are looking for your business on social media and they cannot find you? Personally, I think this may actually harm your business!
Can Social Media Success be measured?
Of course, it can be measured – You can look at followers, likes, actual customers, potential customers, comments and more.
What benefit can Social Media provide?
Social Media gives clients a feeling of accessibility and the ability to communicate with your business at any time fo the day or night. It allows existing and new clients a way of developing their relationship with you. This ultimately leads to new and repeat business.
What is the cost compared to return?
This is going to be different for everyone. Your cost will vary, but there will be a cost, even if it is your own time. You may hire someone or you may outsource. Remember that the return is not just sales, it may be new leads, email subscribers, happier customers, interaction. If you outsource this could free up time for you to work on the business and generate a lot more than it is costing you.
I am B2B and they are not on Facebook?
Well, it is vital to remember that regardless of if your business is B2B or B2C, business is all run by people and they are on social media. Social Media allows a B2B sharing of industry-relevant information.
Can I share my blog on Social Media?
Social Media is one of the best places to share your blog. You simply just share it as a link to your blog post. It gives your blog the opportunity to then be shared by others and people wanting to read your blog post are sent to your website. This traffic to your website means that while they are there they may look around and do business.
How do I choose the right Social Media?
You choose the right social media by working out where your ideal clients are and also ensuring that you are on the most popular. For example, Facebook and Instagram are two of the essential ones.
Types of Social Media!
There are lot’s to choose from, here are a few.
Facebook – Remaining the number one platform for a reason means you cannot afford to not be on there.
Instagram – Very visual but can work for every type of business, you have to be creative though.
Twitter – A busy platform, great to interact and it can take up a lot of your time.
LinkedIn – Used to be a business to business platform but it really works for a wide range of businesses.
What on earth do I post?
This depends on your audience so you want to target things that your followers are interested in and will enjoy. Plus you want them to engage with everything you post.
How much time do I spend?
This depends on your ability, the size of your business and more. Some companies hire full-time teams for their social media. Others choose to outsource so they don’t have to spend any time at all.
What mistakes can I avoid?
Inconsistency is a big one – You have to post regularly, respond to comments and more. Once a week just will not cut it. You should aim for daily posts across your channels or a minimum of 5 times per week.
Email Marketing – Digital Marketing
Does this still work?
Email marketing remains one of the most successful ways of engaging with your database. Your database probably contains both people who have bought from you and people who haven’t. Naturally, you want people to buy again or to buy for the first time.
Should I buy a list?
This is never a good idea and it may get you posted onto a spam list too.
Can Social Media take the place of email marketing?
Social Media should be used in conjunction with email marketing and it can be a great way to grow your email lists too. You have more chance of everyone on your email list seeing your email than you do on social media as not everyone sees everything you post.
How do I grow my list?
Growing your list can be done by having a subscriber box on your website, offering an incentive for people that sign up – Free Ebook, for example. A discount for subscribers is very popular for e-commerce businesses to do.
What do I send?
You can send a regular newsletter, your blogs, special offers, updates and so much more to your email database.
How often should I send emails?
Just like social media, you should be consistent and it should be regular. Weekly is fine for some businesses and monthly for others.
What will get people to open it?
For people to be interested in opening your email, it must have a great subject line. This is going to be the make or break for your email.
Content Marketing – Digital Marketing
What is content?
The most obvious form of content and content marketing is a blog. Blogs are by far the easiest and most effective ways of content marketing. It also includes videos, PDF’s, infographics, articles, news, podcasts, ebooks, white papers and more which relate to your business.
What is content marketing?
Content Marketing is an amazing tool that when used well, can really drive business to your business. Content Marketing puts the focus onto your consumer and to addressing their needs first and foremost. Your goal should be around delivering useful information which intern builds trust and ultimately leads to a purchase.
Do I need a strategy?
Just as with all types of marketing you should have a clear strategy which begins with identifying what your ideal clients is looking for. From here you can decide on the type of content you need to create and the value of that content. When you see what is working you can improve and grow from there.
Should I have a calendar?
If as part of your strategy you feel that a content calendar will work for you then, by all means, create one. You can see what you have done and you can plan ahead. Personally, I only have a calendar of what I have done.
How often do I need to create new content?
Regularly and consistently is the answer. There is little point in delivering your new content sporadically and only when you think about it. If you decide on weekly or monthly then you must stick to it. Your clients will grow to expect it and look forward to it, plus it makes the journey towards them doing business with you, that much closer.
Does this content go on social media?
Not only does this give you a reason to create content but social media is the perfect portal to share that content. The promotion of that content on social media is now essential in driving traffic back to your website.
Content marketing and SEO?
Targeting the things that your ideal clients are looking for is easy through content marketing. There are very specific ways that you can create the ideal information and make it help with your SEO. Regardless, your focus should be on adding value for your ideal clients.
So you are not really a writer!
This doesn’t matter, as we have discussed content marketing comes in many forms. If you struggle or have no time to do it, there is plenty of opportunities to outsource. By outsourcing, you may find that just like social media, you now have time to focus on the business.
How long should a blog be?
If you are planning to blog you need to aim for at least 500 + words and every now and then you should aim towards 2000 words. Longer blogs tend to rank better in Google, but this too varies depending on the information.
What is evergreen content?
There are two types of content – Evergreen and Timely. With evergreen, you can share it again and again and it never expires in relevance. Timely content will have an expiry date that is perhaps relevant to a season, date or year.
What are the mistakes I can avoid?
- Not being consistent with your posts
- Forgetting about your strategy
- Becoming very sales driven rather than value-driven
- Not writing long enough content
- Forgetting about creating a great title
- Not sharing it online
- Forgetting to send it out to your database
Conclusion
Digital marketing is not an overnight solution to your businesses ability to generate sales. It is a strategy which will ultimately create conversions for your business. A client may read your blog, see you social media posts, read your email updates and then buy from you. They all work together to create the ultimate result of a conversion.
So if digital marketing is something you are going to implement, speak to Kelly at My Sassy Business to create your strategy. You can then decide what you can do in-house and what you need to outsource.
