Did you know that over 4.48 billion people use social media around the world? Over 60% of those individuals are aged 13 or over, and many of them access websites or apps using their mobile devices. Failing to make good use of these marketing avenues is a costly mistake.
However, not everyone knows how to take advantage of digital marketing. It’s not as easy as moving your advertisements onto an online medium.
Here are some mistakes you may be making in your digital marketing strategy and how to avoid them.
Utilizing Only Paid Ads
While paid ads are essential, they can easily come across as impersonal. If seen too frequently, your potential customers will learn to ignore them or skip them entirely.
One of the biggest problems with passive advertising is that it relies on things like keyword research. If a person’s online activity doesn’t match up with your product, then they won’t see information about your business. You’ll also need to take into account your competitor’s strategy and how they approach their audience.
With digital marketing, there are many different ways to promote your brand. You can make your ads as personal or targeted as you want them. In turn, you can track the various forms of interactions they generate.
The best way to succeed is to distribute your marketing budget evenly across your different strategies.
Failing to Understand Social Media
Another mistake companies make is not learning how to use social media to its highest potential. It’s not enough to make a social media page for your customers and clients to interact with you. There’s a lot more nuance that goes into social media marketing and versatility in how you can use it.
For example, paid advertising lets you get your brand in front of potential customers who have shown interest in your area of expertise. However, you can also utilize influencers to find new leads with demographics you hadn’t considered before.
An influencer is an online personality who has cultivated an audience that your business can take advantage of. You can pay them to sponsor your brand and do videos promoting your products. It’s also possible to send them free items in the hopes that they’ll talk about it in one of their social media posts.
Overlooking Mobile Users
Along a similar note, mobile device users are one demographic that shouldn’t be ignored. In some cases, mobile devices are the main way some people interact with the internet. India is one country in which smartphones were the main introduction to the internet for a lot of its people.
How you tailor your digital marketing for mobile devices will differ from other internet formats. For example, social media posts almost always take on a square shape that works perfectly with all kinds of screens. Websites should load differently on mobile devices than they would on a widescreen monitor.
You should also consider mobile gaming, which is another way to get your brand in front of potential customers.
Neglecting the Basics
It isn’t enough to make a social media page or invest in email marketing these days. Some of the basics you’ll need to explore and experiment with include websites, blogs, and search engine optimization (SEO).
Your website is the main way your audience will interact with you. This is where you showcase your talent or product.
A blog allows you to communicate your brand’s importance to your audience. It’s also where you’ll provide informative content that proves you know what you’re talking about.
Finally, SEO-optimized content uses keywords and phrasing that match what internet users search for. As a result, your content will get pushed to the front of their search results and increase the likelihood that they’ll visit your websites.
Not Using Video Content
Creating new content is the best way to create a strong digital footprint for your business. However, it may not be enough to solely pump out blog articles every day or make social media posts. You have to add in some variety in the types of content you produce.
At least a small part of your marketing strategy should be producing video content.
Videos are easy to digest, share, and comment on. It all depends on the value of the content and the length of the video. Ideally, you want a mixture of shorter and longer format videos.
Short-format videos are easy to share and swipe through. Longer format videos are much more informative, which is useful for catching the attention of knowledgeable clients and customers.
Not Researching Your Target Audience
Your digital marketing campaign should capitalize on the information you’ve already gathered about your target audience. What are some of their pain points that you have a solution for? Who are the people most likely to reach out to your business, and how do you get their attention?
With the younger generations, social media use is key. Short video content also works well for them, as it’s easy to share.
Ignoring Feedback
Communication is important if you want to improve your digital marketing strategy. Pay attention to what your audience is saying about your content and your brand. You should then tailor what you create to meet their expectations.
Encourage them to leave reviews, whether they’re good or bad. You can always use good reviews to promote your brand and bad ones to reflect on what you can change.
At the same time, don’t ask for great reviews or buy them. These won’t generate real feedback and can come across as fake to new customers.
Improve Your Digital Marketing Strategies
Digital marketing can be difficult to plan out, especially when online trends are constantly shifting and changing every day. Some of the basic ideas stay the same, though. Pay attention to your audience, create content they enjoy, and stay in touch with the latest trends.
LightHouse Graphics is a digital consulting company that can help your brand grow and bring in new sales. We have office locations in California, Texas, Tennessee, and more.
Reach out to tell us about your next project and we’ll see what we can do to help.
