Stukent wants to know: How has your digital marketing strategy changed in the past 12 months? To help you stay abreast of changes in digital marketing, we asked digital marketing experts for their best strategies.
From social proofing to exploiting SEO for organic traffic, modern digital marketing strategies are evolving to accommodate shifts in consumer behavior. Here’s how nine digital marketing experts have changed their strategy in the last 12 months, including:
- Paying More Attention to Social Proofing
- Focusing Efforts on Mobile-first Experiences
- Enhancing Brand Reputation
- Relying More on Big Data
- Increasing Community Engagement
- Partnering with Personal Finance Influencers
- Making Use of More Options to Reach Target Audiences
- Producing Exceptional Long-form Content
- Exploiting SEO for Organic Traffic
Paying More Attention to Social Proofing
The past year has shown us the importance of social proof in digital marketing … businesses are striving to get their customers’ input and endorsements. The constant flood of promotions has limited the effectiveness of digital advertising and has businesses scrambling to find other ways to boost their social currency. Therefore, savvy businesses have turned to acquiring reviews and testimonials. To accomplish this, they have implemented greater engagement on social media channels, community groups, and even through their sales funnel and customer journey plans to bolster their patrons’ responses. With the digital ad landscape still overcrowded, social proof will continue to be a digital marketing priority.
Anthony Puopolo, Rex MD
Focusing Efforts on Mobile-first Experiences
The effects of the pandemic coupled with the new shifts in WFH have the majority of us spending more time on our mobile phones than ever. From entertainment, social media, online shopping, and more, our smartphones have become an indispensable part of our routines. In response to this, businesses are well-aware that their digital marketing strategy should focus its efforts on a mobile-first experience. This means creating a user-friendly website and content that can be easily viewed and accessed on a mobile device. By adopting a mobile-first approach, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and reach a larger audience.
Demi Yilmaz, Colonist.i
Relying More on Big Data
One way my digital marketing has changed in the past 12 months is the use of big data. Google Analytics has become nearly invaluable to businesses, providing both a huge amount of data and a wide range of tools to use this data to assist in decision making.
Digital marketing is no longer a case of producing content and hoping for the best, of throwing as much content at the wall and seeing what sticks. With big data, you can actually measure what is working and what is not working, see where your target customers are, and learn how to best capture their attention.
Jane Kallinger, Sewing From Home
Increasing Community Engagement
With the business world becoming so hyper-competitive, I have had to sway my digital marketing strategy to make it more personal and engaging for my existing consumers. One of the best ways to secure consumer retention is to focus on the community surrounding your brand. I want my customers to know that when they support my brand, they are joining a supportive community.
As an online yoga studio, I know that I need something to set myself apart from my competitors. That is why I focus so much on my company’s membership opportunities in my digital marketing. I want consumers to know that they can support a brand that will support them. In today’s oversaturated business world, consumers want brands they can turn to and trust. Show consumer trust in your digital marketing strategy by showcasing exclusive member benefits and offers.
Brett Larkin, Uplifted Yoga
Partnering with Personal Finance Influencers
We’ve partnered with several high-profile personal finance influencers on YouTube and TikTok in an effort to connect with young professionals. We’ve stepped up those efforts during the past year. We’re actively chasing a younger demographic, but we are interested in going to any platform that has a big audience.
Studies show that younger professionals are actively looking for ways to bolster their earnings and investments, so that is one reason why much of our focus is on Gen Z. They have bettered their boomer counterparts in one aspect — they are thinking about saving for retirement early. With that in mind, we want to make sure that our digital marketing strategies are working on younger audiences.
Trevor Ford, Yotta
Making Use of More Options to Reach Target Audiences
One way our digital marketing strategy has changed over the last 12 months is that there are more options for reaching our target audience. Social media channels have become more popular, and platforms like Instagram and TikTok have emerged as alternatives to traditional platforms like Facebook and YouTube. It can be difficult to keep up with all of these changes, but it is important to remain relevant if you want to stay ahead of the curve. By staying informed about new platforms and trends, you can make sure that your campaigns are reaching the right people at the right time.
Adil Advani, MyPrep
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Producing Exceptional Long-form Content
Everyone knows you need high-quality content for an effective digital marketing strategy, but we are now producing content on another level … [such as] significantly longer content (3,000 words as a minimum) with much more detail than [before]. [We] include real-life examples, case studies, data, graphs, and more.
Alternatively, [we cover] a very specific topic in great depth. With between four and seven million new blog posts published online every day — and every business producing content to compete for visibility and audience share — it’s vital to create content that stands out from the crowd. Over the past 12 months, we have reduced the number of 500 – 1,000 word content pieces and replaced them with anything from 3,000 words to 6,000 words. In the B2B industries we work in, this has proved to be a way to beat the competition in organic search.
Michelle Symonds, Ditto Digital
Exploiting SEO for Organic Traffic
In the last 12 months, we have transitioned from paid advertising to gaining organic traffic by increasing our SEO budget. When we hired a full-time SEO specialist, we started to see an increase in traffic. SEO and paid search are completely different animals and require a great deal of skill. We now know all of the best practices to implement when creating content, and our writers have done a great job. The most important factor is really just creating great content.
Growing your backlink profile will greatly impact your website’s keyword ranking — and acquiring links through earned media is the best technique to implement. This method not only helps with SEO ranking but also boosts customer confidence.
Josh Tyler, Walk Big Media
Enhancing Brand Reputation
Brand reputation has become more important than ever before. In the wake of COVID-19 and the social justice movements of the last year, consumers are making more informed choices about which brands they want to support. Businesses need to make sure that they regularly update customers about what they are doing to support good causes and benefit the local community during these difficult times. Having a solid social media presence is key for any brand that wants to manage its online reputation and guarantee that it responds to any PR issues quickly and decisively.
Jonathan Zacharias, GR0
When it comes to digital marketing, paying attention to the shifts in current trends has never been more important. From optimizing content to be more mobile-friendly to partnering with high-profile influencers, digital marketers need to make sure their campaigns are reaching the right people at the right time. Stukent provides up-to-date digital marketing simulations and courseware, helping you stay on the industry’s cutting edge.
To learn more about Stukent’s digital marketing courseware and simulations, or to schedule a walk-through with a course consultant, visit our website.
