In order to effectively engage and deliver your marketing message to consumers online, a business must look at their digital marketing strategy as a whole. Your website, blog, social media and online ads all should focus on one clear message. Social media is a great way to remind people of your business and offer quality content to those who follow you. For most, the social media strategy ends there. The goal of a social media campaign should be to entice or interest potential customers enough that they will click through to your website.
Every business should have a website today. Most people will visit your site before deciding to do business with you. When they visit your website, they are looking for indicators of trust; they want to know you are reputable and will take care of their needs. Similar to other forms of marketing, you only have a few seconds to capture the viewer’s attention and give them a reason to stay. Most people, when visiting a website will not scroll down. The viewable area of a website, before scrolling down is called “above the fold.” This is the area where you need to pack your value proposition, call to action, navigation and images in a way that delivers the most content in a clear way.
The one-two punch of a basic, but effective digital marketing campaign is to use social media to drive online visitors to your website. From here they can see what kind of company you are and decide if you are going to be a good fit for their needs. Social media postings should not be sales messages. If you do not run a used car lot, do not run your social media campaign as if you do. Social media is a means to an end, and this is the true sales funnel of online marketing. If a consumer finds you via social media, your goal should be to entice them enough to visit your website. Your website is your sales tool; it is where you build the initial trust and rapport with your customer. If done well, you will increase your chance of that visitor contacting you via phone or email and becoming a customer.
This marketing mix will not work for all businesses. The key to an effective internet marketing campaign for your business is to understand where your customer base spends their time online. What content do they like, and what do they consume regularly? This is where you should focus your efforts – to drive that person off the social media website they are on and over to your website and your business.
Building a strong campaign can be hard work, but the payoff is well worth it.
Matthew Janik is the CEO of FRINGE, a Vancouver-based digital marketing agency. He can be reached at Matt@fringewebpro.com or 360.334.5868.
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