The internet is booming. There is an entire economy running upon the strengths of this wonderful and magnificent innovation of humankind. It has saved lives, kept us informed about what’s happening around the world, rekindled old friendships, helped us get our thoughts and opinions to those who are willing to listen and made our lives a whole lot simpler. The internet has spawned an entire industry-Digital Marketing. The marketers who work in digital are the frontline of the e-commerce machinery generating revenue by selling products and services via online websites and portals. It is an enormous business and has helped several companies to come into existence that would never have been possible without the internet.
The common feature here is the INTERNET. All of the above companies and many many more would not even exist without it. This throws up the opportunity called digital marketing. As vast as the internet is, it is partly a personal experience. A majority of users use the internet for personal reasons such as communicating, reading and entertainment purposes. There is a small amount of time they do dedicate to make purchases or initiate purchases. This is where the digital marketing requirement is needed. All of the above companies are doing digital marketing right. So to go ahead with this guide, we shall take up the 3 pillars that form the backbone of their digital marketing strategy. We will understand the processes involved, the strengths of each and how to optimize them to your advantage.
- CONTENT
- SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
- SOCIAL MEDIA
The first pillar
Content is the life blood-Writing to survive
Survival of the fittest has become synonymous not just with the natural world but also in the digital world. The big players on the internet dictate what works and what doesn’t and we create our marketing campaigns to promote services and products using these rules and guidelines. The internet is fed by content and the writers are the chefs. The rule of content has become a lot more significant in the past few years with Google and other major search engines promoting it and clearly stating its importance for search rankings. Some of the most popular websites on the internet such as Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and Tumbler work on the constant feed of content. The best way to beat competition today is to provide content that not just appeases the search gods but also connects with the prospect.
The 2nd pillar
Search Engine Optimization- It gets you the all important visitor
The internet is made up of websites and SERP is the place to be. For this purpose, SEO is essential. People search for services and products online and if your SEO game is on point, then traffic will come. For this, you need to master SEO and with it changing at the rate of 500 algorithm changes per year, it is dynamic, fluid and aggressive.
The most important factors for SEO impact this year will be mobile-friendliness, which will increase in impact by 88%; analysis of a page’s perceived value (up 81%); usage data such as dwell time (up 67%); and readability and design (up 67%). SEO factors that reportedly will decrease in impact are the effectiveness of paid links (down 55%) and the influence of anchor text (down 49%).
The 3rd pillar
Social media and its awe-inspiring reach
Social media rocks! To say this is an understatement. It is not just in business that we see the massive reach that social media platforms have, but even on a personal level. More and more people are turning to social media as the preferred means of communication and information discovery. With Facebook leading the way, social media has muscled its way into the core structure of digital marketing. Just a couple of years back, social was just another platform to be on, for the purpose of branding and visibility. Today it has transcended into a source of leads, referrals and more. This is due to the aggressive adoption of these platforms on a large scale and the features that they provide- not just for personal users but also to businesses.
94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn as part of their content strategy. Other popular platforms include Twitter (87%), Facebook (84%), YouTube (74%) and Google+ (62%).
The three pillars of digital marketing – content, SEO and social media are to be taken seriously if you are looking to gain traction online. Relying only on one will not get the job done. It is easy to say that you don’t need this type and that, but the truth of the matter is, deciding what you want is not simply about not using one type of process. It is about understanding the requirements of the clients you want to service. Without using these 3, rest assured, you cannot reach your potential target audience. The industry has evolved in such a way that these 3 are intertwined beyond belief!
