dIgItAl mArKeTiNg aNd sOcIaL MeDiA: wHy bOtHeR?

Long gone are the days that good sales technique consisted in putting on your smartest suit and shiniest shoes. The impact that giants such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have had on the ways we conduct business cannot be underestimated, and very rarely are.

We all know the jargon; content marketing, social media, SEO, brand awareness etc, and yet, at times, it feels like many companies struggle to come to terms with just how important it is. Are they merely empty buzzwords that have gathered traction or do they really make an impact? Worry not! This article will try to break down some of the "do's" and "don'ts" of digital marketing and social media planning. 

Digital Marketing: Are you doing it yet?  

Digital marketing, as a concept, is very simple to understand. It is simply the use of the internet and other online channels such as email, websites and social media to reach and engage your customers. Why is this important? Because that is where your customers are spending most of their time! A 2019 study conducted by Pew Research in the US found that almost 81% went online daily, whilst 28% were online 'constantly'. In a 2019 UK-based study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 87% of adults use the internet daily

 If you are a construction firm, an industry which traditionally operates outside of the office, the likelihood now  is that your prospective projects will want to find you online. If you are a small fashion outlet, you will probably find that most people are shopping online. You cannot escape it. More and more people are online with increasing frequency. 

With this crucial shift in behaviour, the onus is placed on advertisers and marketeers to react and move with the times. A more concerted effort to diversify your tactics and specify your campaigns to each individual possible consumer, is a really good idea! 

Is it 'just' Social Media? 

Social media dominates so much of our lives today, and this does apply to the way we conduct business, whether we like it or not! But do not despair. It can be a very easy and simple way to reach new communities of interested clients, and is a very useful function of your 'digital marketing' Swiss Army Knife. If you consider it as one of many things that ought to be done, it can be easier to understand why so much emphasis is placed on social media planning.  Good digital marketing is varied and diverse. 

Giants Hubspot have broken the discipline down into 11 different branches, including less well-known ones like Pay Per Click (PPC), Affiliate Marketing and Native Advertising. Some of these are quite self-explanatory whilst others possibly require you to dig deep and put in some work to draw out the most from your efforts. The point this proves is that social media is most effective when combined with other methods. It seems so clear, so obvious, and yet, so many companies  and brands rely entirely on social media whilst ignoring the other channels. 

Despite the protests of some Brits, a good Sunday roast is not simply crispy, fluffy roast potatoes! To create a true Sunday roast, you need all the trimmings. Gravy, carrots- the lot. The same is true of digital marketing. You need to combine regular posting on social media channels with a variety of different methods in order to tick the most boxes. 

So why do I actually need to bother?
The answer is simple: Everyone is doing it. As the old saying goes, "failure to plan, is planning to fail" and the truth is it is very hard to really make a mark on your given market without incorporating some (or all) of the digital marketing best practices. If one click leads to a sale, then the time, effort and resources committed to digital marketing is well worth it. Multiply this by X and you start to see the difference it can make!

Don't be a stranger! If any of the above content has made you consider your usage of digital marketing and social media, Rant + Rave is the perfect partner to help you in this. We employ a no-nonsense, full suite of branding and marketing advice tools and would be delighted to answer any questions you may have. Reach out to our team directly via: hello@rant-rave.info