Digital Marketing: Content & Keywords & Links Oh My!
Is feeling overwhelmed the norm in digital marketing? As a new student of Social Media Marketing that is exactly how I am feeling! My homework assignment is to write a blog post about digital marketing. I must say I don’t feel qualified to write expertly about digital marketing. I have learned lots already, but mostly I have learned how much I don’t know! So please take this for what it is, a newbie, a wanna-be social media marketing expert, just doing her homework! We all have to start somewhere – RIGHT? Oh, and if you want to share or comment on my Beginner’s Guide to Digital Marketing, please feel free. I could use some encouragement and I have a lot more to learn.
Here are some of the questions circling around in my brain:
How can I organize and implement Suse Barnes brilliant tips shared in Social Media Marketing: Maximizing Your Visibility Social and SEO class?
How can I simplify the process of building my brand with Digital Marketing and Social Media?
How can I avoid being sucked into the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of Social Media and Digital Marketing?
Here are my answers (so far):
Make a list, follow the rules, measure, tweak & repeat!
Follow the rules (these are my rules only):
Think critically
Be creative
Be customer–centric
Listen
Have Fun!
Follow the list
1. Build content strategy
Plan ahead
Set measurable goals to achieve
Determine who my audience is and what they want
Provide valuable content that ‘speaks’ to my audience
Prepare content in advance so social, email and website are all in sync
2. Build a system
Keep track of campaign progress and activities performed
Record successes and failures that can be used to fine-tune future campaigns
Centralize content and other collateral
Use automation to help reduce workload
Create editorial calendar
Have a social media plan
3. Optimize for Search – SEO & SMO
Ensure content is reader and search engine friendly
Make sure website content is the best it can be
Do keyword research
Build links
Use social networking
Communicate with the search engines to improve ranking
Ready for a short break? Watch this fun video on Digital Marketing from Mediative. The video is a few years old but is still relevant.
ok let’s get back to work…
4. Use inbound marketing
Earn people’s interest by creating and sharing content they value
Earn People’s trust by being present
Be first or at least on the first page in Organic Search
5. Focus on website architecture and landing pages
Optimize website
Pages must be user-friendly and straight to the point
Website must be intuitive and easy to use
Optimize site for mobile visitors
6. Develop a social media plan
Know who the audience or customer is
Develop my story and tell it in a compelling way
Have a “theme” for the coming months
Focus on key channels where my audience is
Engage with audience – prioritize human-to-human connection over sales
7. Use analytics
Measure results to find out which digital marketing strategies are or are not working
So there you have it, A Beginner’s Digital Marketing Survival Guide. Thank you for reading my homework!
Digital Marketing – Be Creative, Listen, Have Fun!