Is it time to share with digital?

Digital marketing is simply everywhere.                
   
Matt Cutts, a Google insider, is quoted as saying: “If you think you need to be everywhere at once, you’re headed in the right direction!”

If you want to be visible anywhere, anytime and on any platform – yes, indeed, you need to be everywhere. But professional digital marketers are more realistic with their advice.

Marketing has always been about the right message to the right target audience at the right time. Digital marketing – and importantly social media marketing – is about being in the right place, supported by the right content.

And no, you do not need to be everywhere.

There are a multitude of digital social media tools and platforms ranging from responsive, mobile-friendly websites and search engine optimisation (SEO) to pay-per-click and display advertising and digital PR.

 Add these to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Snapchat, YouTube, and more and the key to social media success is being visible where your audience is.

That means focus. Be selective, be great on the platforms that will engage your audience, create brand authority and generate awareness.

Social media is not a jump-in-and-sell option. To succeed you need to research which platform is best for you and your audience, when is your audience active and with what type of content (words, images, videos).

Only then can you develop a listening strategy to truly understand the audience and the conversations taking place.

Step 1 is designing your marketing platforms and content to deliver the ideal content for customer engagement – and continuity across different platforms.

Step 2 is to become part of the conversation – not selling but adding value, educating, informing, answering questions; engaging with the audience and promoting the authority of you, your brand and your services without once selling your services. It’s called building trust.

Listen, engage, interact and convert. Sounds easy.

For the timeshare industry, Facebook and Twitter are ideal, but what about YouTube for ‘explainer’ videos and resort profiles?

Google loves FAQ’s! So why not combine activity? After all, Google owns YouTube. Research the most common questions you receive. Then provide the answers on your website, tweet new answers and create a short video or SlideShare to explain the answers.

You can even post them on Facebook and blog about the most common questions – all of which is informative and shareable content to build your brand authority and it’s also great for SEO, social sharing and brand mentions!

What about user generated content (USG)?  It’s ideal for posting those holiday pictures, videos and comments: there’s nothing better than great user-generated testimonials.

And the most shared and beneficial content today is visual: video, images and ‘infographics’.

Your research should allow you to personalise your content to your particular audience – perhaps a different tone of message on Facebook than on LinkedIn, more formal brand website content and more personal on image-based platforms.

The need for regular and consistent content posts, including links, images, stories, press and news, ensures that an integrated digital marketing campaign must be developed within a schedule strategy.

Adhoc = fail!

Better yet, Google Analytics, social monitoring and the multitude of tools and software systems available allows you to manage, monitor, measure and adapt. No other marketing allows such detailed analysis capabilities.

Step 3 Plan, create, post, respond and react. Answer comments, respond to reviews, say thank you and be positive. And keep posting.

The right content at the right time to the right audience on the right device.

Need to be everywhere?  No. Need to do the right things better? Absolutely.

For further information on building a digital marketing strategy, visit EVCMarketing.com and ask about our 20-point review of your website and social media activity.