Trousdale, S. (2015) details how exploiting the latest trends can help businesses stand out from the crowd. Rapidly changing environments within the digital world pose constant challenges to business in terms of which channel will make the biggest impact. However, on the other hand, rapid change has fuelled digital marketing with technology giants driving Facebook and Twitter. One factor that is continuously constant though is that there will be change. It is being aware of changes and how to utilize this which will make the difference.

This blog post will focus around the topic of emerging strategies for the Digital Marketing World which if read into appropriately could pose potential strategic advantages (hint hint!)

Personalization

Through the use of big data, it is easier for brand interaction which is highly relevant and tailored to specific individuals to become input. Data providing information on individuals online, social behaviours, shopping history, preferences and tastes have been made available to businesses enabling businesses to strategically utilize this information and provide a more personalized touch to their endeavours. An example of a company who do this well are Amazon. See below.

Retargeting

Pay-to-display advertisements to consumers based off of previous interactions with the site are becoming popular. For example if a user didn’t complete checkout, websites such as AdRoll and Facebook Custom Audience enable ads to be displayed encouraging consumers to come back and complete purchases. I have experienced this quite a few times! Whenever I have been doing a (cheeky) shop but then realized I don’t need the item, put it back and then continued with my social media activities, occassionally the item will appear on Facebook and I always thought it was mere coincidence – how foolish was I!

User Generated Content

Advertising agencies and brandscan utilize their fan and customer base through using their authentic and original content to power their marketing campaigns. Also, through this, a wider sense of community can be established and maintained as consumers actually feel involved within a campaign. An example of this was the Lego phone case idea. See below.

Predictive Analytics

Gains, B. (2015) states that companies such as Lattice and Mintigo are helping B2B companies with better lead scoring and prioritization without hiring a team of data scientists to get those insights. As well as guiding future marketing activities like automated drip campaigns.

Storytelling

A lot more of digital marketing endeavours are focused around being human-centric and story focused content that conveys raw human emotion. Such as the Facebook advert below, posted both on Facebook and available on TV. Trousdale, S. (2015) detailed that companies should share more image/video based content such as the highlighted Facebook example as this increase engagement and boosts shareability.

Finally, Ryan, D. and Jones, C. (2009) state that expenditure on online advertising will continue to increase and that WOM and digital savvy consumers control the future as technology is enabling people to maintain this hold.

However, the hype cycle has been highlighted by Consult Club at IIMA (2015), developed by IT research and advisory firm Gartner for representing maturity, adoption and social application of specific technologies. This diagram aims to assess technologies and how they move through diferent phases of hype and indicate whether they are good short and long term. Most technologies in peak of their hype cycles today will plateau in terms of producticivity within two years thus making it hard to gain competitive advantages in fast paced environments such as this. Companies need to quickly adapt accordingly. However, this is simply a theory and it could be argued that it is very difficult to objectively estimate the current location of a technology in its hype cycle. See the model below.

Five phases of the hype cycle

So that marks the end of the emerging trends I have identified for 2015, let’s see how things pan out!

References

Okay, not necessarily blogging about blogging but I just love saying that whenever I get the opportunity to (Guilty!). Blogging does hold many benefits and you should definitely utilize the opportunity to start up a blog. Let me tell you why…

Eridon, C. (2013) details how blogging can help drive traffic to your website through organic searches. Each and every single indexed page is yet another cue to google that your site is active. Consequently, every new indexed page is another opportunity to show up within search enginges and drive traffic towards your website and for this to convert into sales. I’m guessing you get the gist of this now! Also no doubt, alarm bells are ringing that blogging is a worthwhile strategy to element. Slow your horses, we’ve only just begun!

Blogging is highly beneficial if you understand your audience and what exactly they are looking for. Following acquiring knowledge of this, the rest is (with the right knowledge), a piece of cake! (and I do love me some cake!).

Credibility

So, as a business owner, blogging will enable you to share expertise and build credibility through the outlet of (you guessed it) blogging. It is through this outlet that you can show visitors to your site how much you know around said specific topic and consequently gain their trust by divulging valuable information on specific topics of interest. For example, as shown below, The Beauty Department’s example of how to contour, for all of the users interested, this provides a thorough step-by-step guide on how to complete this. Users comment asking questions and are responded to, leading to trust and future engagement to discover other methods of expertise.

Engagament

Continuing from this, blogging will not only heighten consumer trust but will also encourage visitor engagement. Consistent blog posts with relevant, interesting topics will form relationships eventually with consumers and through these relationships and enhanced trust, it is possible for brand loyalty to be enhanced and sustained (which probably sounds like music to your ears!).

Orzan, M. et al (2009) detail how importantly, the conversational, colloquial and seemingly truthful character of blogs implies the authenticity and credibility of interpersonal communication and these attributes differentiates blogs clearly from most traditional marketing media further driving consumer engagement.

Demographic Targeting

In an attempt to add further depth to consumer engagement, demographic targeting can be assessed. Blogs can aid both targeting and outreach. For example; a hairdressing company posting specifically about varying hairstyles for the niche of those interested would of course be regularly updating engaging, real-life applications which are entertaining and informative all through the medium of something as simple as a set amount of blog posts per specified time-frame. Furthermore, through comments, it could be assessed what this demographic require. See the below example of a hairdressing blog in which consumers tell her what they like about her blog. One lady comments ‘Love this, I couldn’t agree with you more! I follow you on almost every platform, your work is very inspirational as a fellow hairstylist/ session hairstylist. I will admit I do missing out on liking a post or two because I now live in Dubai. The time difference + the randomness at which I check my Instagram, so I don’t see everything from a lot of the US based accounts I follow. Much love!!’

SEO

Olenski, S. (2014) states how relevant and popular social indicators can continue to increase in relevance relative to search engine optimizing and that true authority building and reputation management tactics have grown alongside this. Olenski then continues to use the example of Moz Blog; mentioning how Moz is a gateway into the largest and most established online marketing communities on the internet, hosted, coincidentially on their own branded web property.

Engage with other experts

Once established and set up on a blog, it can be beneficial to engage with other experts, comment on their work, like their work. This is a great way of reaching out to other experts in your space and strategically building connections which could later benefit you such as their fans following you through promotion or so forth. However, it should be noted that most blogs won’t allow a comments section to be indexed therefore there is no use trying to publish content from this

Content Strategy

Take the time to develop an engaging content strategy. I posted a blog on how to enhance this previously, click here to read up on it. Naturally, the content of your blog is fundamental. if the content that you provide isn’t good enough and readers aren’t interested then no matter how hard you try, your efforts will be thwarted. Users will be disappointed, they will not share content and they will not return to your blog. Content will be only be read is quality si good and creates further value to the consumer. This can only be achieved through a target groups needs and interests being catered for.

Feedback

Schneider, A. et al (2010) detail how blogging allows interaction with readers, which is what makes it a form of social media. Comments are important to see what interests readers. This information will help choose related topics that will continue to provide interesting content. Following this, information should remain accordingly focused.

HOWEVER, be aware that although comments provided can be nice and provide insight, it is also possible to receive content that is negative and could have a negative impact on marketing efforts. Furthermore, creating blogs for a set time period can be time consuming. It is absolutely vital to decide whether your company has the resources to invest within blogging. I mean, if you do, there’s some hella’ good benefits!

Aaaaand last, but certainly not least.

Host your blog on your website as this enables more creative freedom!

For an example of some really good business blogs, click here.

Thanks for reading, I hope that you took something away from todays blog! And as I like to end on a positive note, here is an example of a successful blog; Perez Hilton’s website/blog and yes, I’m guilty of reading the occasional post! A lot of shares, ‘buzz’ and so forth. He knows what his demographic wants; celebrity gossip, outrageous comments, not afraid to test the waters. His content keeps users interested, wanting to share and stay on top of celebrity gossip. Furthermore there is an added element of humour which further interests fans and keeps them returning to read more and share content.

Until next time, HAPPY BLOGGING!

References

What’s the big deal about content marketing anyway?

Well, figures provided by Chang, S. (2013) detail that 86% of B2C companies in 2013 were planning to keep or increase their content marketing budget with 54% of B2B companies planning to do the same (see the graphs below). This demand is ever-increasing and surely this increasing figure should be accompanied by research and learning about the opportunities that content marketing can bring to you. Luckily you can fast-forward, I have done some research and have compiled two useful frameworks together and some tips I have found centred around the topic. Don’t say I don’t spoil you!

The Guardian (2015) details content marketing as ‘all about creation of good content that attracts and engages with a target group’ – in other words, it is about communicating with target consumers without the actual sales pitch. All digital marketers (who, of course, are used to social media channels and so forth), this blog post is directed heavily to you with all of the content you work with on a daily basis. Content, content, content. Now let’s delve into this, hand in virtual hand.

First things first..
Before you can even contemplate creating content, you have to know what kind of content it is that you wish to create. I mean, you don’t want to blindly dive into the online sphere spurting random content left, right and centre, do you? Think about it. Hard. Of course me just saying that isn’t going to aid you at all so I have seperated the thought processes up and found some useful tools to further aid you.

1. Consumers. Your target audience.

This is probably a good place to start as no doubt the content which you edit will be targeted towards the beautiful, beautiful beings known to you and I as; The Consumer.

Patel, N. (2014) provided a framework for buyer personas. This framework can be used to efficiently specify exactly what you aim to target towards consumers. They are fictionalized representations of your ideal customers so fantasize away! This will of course need to be enhanced by market research and insight gathered from a consumer base. As the template states (consumer surveys are a good starting point!). See below for the framework that will guide this.

Furthermore, The Guardian (2015) provided some simple but key questions to help aid your brainstorming around content. See below.
1. Who do I want to target?
2. Is there a specific topic or niche where we want to excel?
3. What do I want those I target to associate with our brand?
4. What information are my customers looking for?
5. What type of content do my customers look at?
6. How can I keep existing customers happy?
7. How can I attract new customers?
8. What do we like/dislike about competitors content strategy?
9. Is there anything I do not want to highlight about our brand?
10. What overall business objective do I want to achieve from my content marketing? What are our KPIs?

These are relatively similar in terms of targeting consumers however these questions add some depth and flavour (in the form of attracting new customers, competitors content strategy and KPI’s with objectives). This will enable a more forumlated structure and plan for the pinultimate content strategy to be implemented.  Furthermore, which channels do you aim to attract these consumers through? Rowley, J. (2008) details how the optimum business model for many providers of digital content is likely to depend on achieving a balance between their portfolios delivered through different channels. Although deciding which channel can be quite difficult, especially nowadays with so many social media channels available. click here for a social media comparison tool.

Once these questions have been answered significantly and thoroughly enough to meet the business aims of your organisation and you have a firm idea of the message and group to be targeted, you’re slowly but surely (hopefully) onto a winner!

2. Data Collection (make sure you’re prepared for this stage cos’ there’s lots of it).

Following the idea of the message to be targeted and who specifically you wish to target, it’s time to gather some data and see if this is synonymous with your proposed ideas. Of course you probably know what data collection entails but just incase your mind went a little blank. Here are some examples of what to begin researching (in depth and in line with your business objectives!!)

• Competitor analysis
• Keyword research
• Market research
• Customer Surveys

3. Analyzing and Assessment

Once we have thorough data collected, what will come next? Ah, yes! Analyze. It’s now time to create benchmarks and put together a content audit to display how the site is performing and how you intend to enhance this. How the site is performing will be measured through vital metrics such as Analytics metrics and SEO metrics and following this, the content funnel can be used (see below).

Where exactly does the company sit withn this for each different section of the funnel? The content funnel aims to assess the distribution of content on the channel and if this needs improving i.e. if there are any gaps. Once this has been completed it is officially time to clarify your goals (potentially based on the gaps of the funnel that you are not fulfilling) based upon this assessment/analysis and come to a conclusion with very clear, specific goals. Metrics for each of these goals are to be conducted and on you begin!

Hopefully these tips have made it easier for you to implement and structure the beginning of your content cos’ I mean we’ve all got to start somewhere, right? I’d like to end on a positive note, a great example of content marketing provided by Buzzfeed (a media company) who posted tis heartwarming content that is easily shareable. N’awwwwwww, cute.

For some more examples of good content marketing, click here.

Oh, and how could I forget, GOOD LUCK!!

References

Fear not, I shall tell you how with the following simple procedures to get you started!

As according to Pizzi, G (2015) ‘many business owners aspiring for high search engine placement fail to realize that the most important aspects of optimizing their website actually takes place off site’ thus emphasizing the benefits that implementing off-site SEO could enforce for a business. For all those businesses who are aiming to achieve long-term high ranking search engine results, pay attention because these tips are relevant for you! Site rankings are based on SEO authority and that authority is not simply established by your website singularly. This is achieved by a combination of inbound and outbound links and how many of these sites link back to your website. Following this, continue reading for some information on how to begin utilizing off-site SEO!

So..

Social Media

Let’s begin with social media and the benefits that this provides. Social media enables high quality backlinks to be acquired from authority websites. This is possible through the mediums of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more. Continuing from this, community creation can be classified as another benefit of social media. The ability to create a community through your social media endeavours. Social media provides an extended online network of which you can connect, share and promote varying elements of the company to build an online reputation and many of these plaforms will presumably have links directed back to the website. See an example below of how Vodafone use links throughout their social media, namely Facebook here.

Blogging

Blogging is also another useful component. The creation of blogs and frequent blog entries conveying precise elements of the company prove beneficial in terms of generating consumers towards the business and if enough links are strategically spread throughout the blog, generate backlinks. Further promotion of the blog and website can be achieved through posting comments in other service-related blogs. This will enable links in the comment section which search engines will deem ‘crawlable’. For example; a blog post discussing healthy recipes could be targeted by a company like Weight Watchers commenting with a link to one of their, also healthy, recipes. However, it should be noted that all blog content should strive to be unique to avoid **duplicate content and consequently less successful SEO. See the below example of an ASOS blog in which they have a celebrity fashion icon with a link driving to a webpage (a webpage on their site – ASOS marketplace) following a fashion recommendation tied to a celebrity.

Forum Content

Forum postings provide another form of generating backlinks. This can be achieved through creating a forum or an online discussion board, sharing relevant topics with acquired followers both on and off of social media platforms. Furthermore, posting and replying to threads within other service-related pre-existing forums containing links directed back to specific areas of your business sites/social media prove beneficial. For example; a hen-party organisation could engage on wedding forums within the ‘planning’ section and reach out to brides who are to arrange their hen-parties.  However, it is important to avoid spamming. Attach links strategically and only if they link to the forum or discussion board directly and will prove helpful to the topic of discussion.

Photo Sharing

Finally, Photo sharing. Publishing and sharing a websites products and pictures and making this publicly accessible enables consumers to see and comment on this content and also make reviews where necessary. This will drive traffic to your website if links are included below said pictures. Examples of these websites include Flickr, Picasa and Photobucket.

HOWEVER..

as with everything, off-site SEO is not easy and can encounter the following problems however being aware of them and knowing how to tackle this is highly beneficial in entirely utilizing off-site SEO.

Problem number one; Flash. Although flash is becoming less common on current websites, it is still around and can hinder search engine robots attempting to index your sites content. As stated by Martin, J. (2014), ‘if the engine bots can’t read or understand your website they’ll have a hard time trying to figure out what to rank it for’. Therefore the best advice is to avoid flash on your website or use it sparingly. HTML 5, CSS3 or JavaScript can be used alternatively.

Slow Page Loads are also another issue that may be encountered. Page speed is important when attempting to attain good search rankings. If your website has many elements on it such as images and videos, this could potentially slow down your website. This can be altered by using Google’s GooglePageSpeed Tools which will help test and increase the overall speed of your site.

Last but certainly not least **duplicate content (as mentioned earlier) provides an issue for companies. According to moz.com (2015) the below problems are faced with duplicate content.

1. Search engines don’t know which version(s) to include/exclude from their indices
2. Search engines don’t know whether to direct the link metrics (trust, authority, anchor text)to one page, or keep it separated between multiple versions
3. Search engines don’t know which version(s) to rank for query results

When duplicate content is present, site owners suffer rankings and traffic losses, and search engines provide less relevant results. Martin J. (2014) however provide the remedy of crawling your site looking for duplications and apply “crawl directives” to inform Google of the relative value of multiple URLs, Stricker says. You can use “robots.txt” (a file that allows you to control how Google’s bots crawl and index your public Web pages) to tell Google the specific folders and directories that are not worth crawling.

Now that we have cleared that up, happy off site seo-ing!

 References

Moz.com (2015). Duplicate Content – SEO Best Practices – Moz. [online] Moz.com. Available at: http://moz.com/learn/seo/duplicate-content [Accessed 31 Mar. 2015].

Martin, J. (2014). Top 10 Technical SEO Issues (and How to Fix Them). [online] www.cio.com. Available at: http://www.cio.com/article/2376266/internet/top-10-technical-seo-issues–and-how-to-fix-them-.html [Accessed 31 Mar. 2015].

Pizzi, G. (2015). What is Off-Site SEO?. [online] www.audiologydesign.com. Available at: http://www.audiologydesign.com/what-is-off-site-seo/ [Accessed 31 Mar. 2015].

Hopefully you understood the call-to-action and incentive offered in the title of this blog? If yes, we’re off to a good start! Now, let’s talk digital marketing and this time the topic is centered on e-mail marketing and the benefits that your business could encounter from putting some simple procedures in place. As according to Experian.com (2015), e-mail marketing is arguably a vital marketing tool which suggests that your business could highly benefit from adopting an e-mail marketing campaign. Furthermore, e-mail marketing is a great way to reach customers where they are without spending a significant amount of money.

However, although this sounds absolutely ideal and you’re probably thinking why on earth wouldn’t I want to jump on the band-wagon. PAUSE! It is worth noting that maintaining an e-mail marketing campaign is a big responsibility. Nowadays, people are hesitant to freely provide companies with their e-mail address due to potential spam mail among other factors. Continuing from this, research conducted from TheJournal.co.uk (2012) details that deliver-ability rates have fallen to a record 83% since the second period of 2011. Also they discovered that there was a 7% increase in e-mails being sent straight to ‘Spam’ folders and a further 10% increase in missing and blocked messages. These figures paint a (painful) image for marketers attempting to utilize e-mail marketing. This form of marketing could arguably be classified as becoming increasingly diminished as people simply ignore or junk these messages. Despite these factors, e-mail marketing is still a cost effective method. It is just the effectiveness of our marketing funnels that needs to be improved in order to ensure that this is successful – Experian.com (2015) referred to e-mail marketing as vital for a reason now didn’t they…

Not to worry, here are a few tips for you to keep in mind to aid your marketing endeavors…

1.Make it easy for consumers to subscribe

Utilize your social media platforms and post a signup form on all relevant mediums so that if consumers do wish to sign up, it is really easy for them to quickly do so with minimal fuss and maximum efficiency. Plus, this makes it easier for your company as if it is made highly accessible, more people will sign up therefore more subscribers and a wider scope to market your company to!  Through connecting social media to your newsletters, you are also enhancing a brand personality which consumers are more likely to identify with. (For more information on Social Media, check out a prior blog on social media here)

2.Make sure that consumers are well-informed

Provide as much information as possible on the sign-up form so that consumers make well informed and guided decisions when deciding to sign up to the newsletter. This will also be a positive step towards decreasing the amount of consumers who unsubscribe as consumers are fully aware of what they were signing themselves up to. Furthermore if they are choosing to sign up to joining a company newsletter, they are more likely to want to view the e-mail they are being sent hence less chance of this being ignored/sent to ‘Spam’ and so forth.

3.Send a welcome e-mail

Once you’ve completed the initial step and actually acquired some subscribers, why not reassure them that they made the right decision with a introductory e-mail. This could contain exclusive content as a sign of appreciation/incentive for their loyalty and to keep them interested. The below welcome e-mail from SurveyMonkey provides a good example especially for the nature of their product. After being offered a free Survey service online, their e-mail simply provides a basic e-mail driving me to the website to ‘Get Started’ on my Survey outlining the features included which are highly practical for myself and what I required of the service. E-mail marketing should always strive to drive consumers towards the website as this increases not only web traffic but any possibility of the consumer engaging with the product.

4.Fit your brand!

Throughout all marketing platforms and plans, it is vital for an organisation to fit their brand and stay loyal to the brand personality. This is because consumers identify with a particular brand for a reason and if this is well communicated through e-mail marketing then they are more likely to positively engage with the brand and the chances of this converting to sales is heightened. An example of this is below with ASOS’s form of e-mail marketing. Almost all of their e-mails include incentives within the title, this one in particular had the title ‘20% off casual dresses’ and then continues once the e-mail has been clicked and opened to have pictures of young, trendy, fashionable women which is what I associate the brand ASOS with. An additional humorous play-on-words enables further engagement with the target demographic of ’20-something fashion lovers’ (Asosplc.com, 2015). I, myself as a 20-something fashion lover always open their e-mails as I know I can expect to be intrigued enough by the models and captions to visit the website (and, almost always find something I adore).

5.Send only relevant content

This seems like an obvious tip however it isn’t and many times marketers get it completely wrong. Relevant content isn’t as simple as ‘We’re a mattress company so all newsletters will include promotions about our extensive new line of memory foam mattresses with relevant links’ – Yes, but no. I’ll explain. Segment your e-mail subscriber group whether this be geographically or otherwise and send e-mails out to them accordingly. For example, if you are a memory foam mattress company, you probably have consumers whom are within different age groups. Segment these and use this to your advantage. For example, student consumers could be offered cheaper deals for their mattresses due to financial restraints they may encounter or perhaps cheaper deals at the beginning of the University terms as this could be considered a ‘peak’ time for purchases. However, families on the other hand could be offered package deals or buy-one-get-one-free promotions as they will be purchasing for an entire family. There are opportunities for engagement with every different segment (sidenote: segments should be identified following research). So segment, segment, segment! Only send out an e-mail if you believe it is wholly relevant and beneficial to the consumer.

6.Post regularly!

To keep subscribers engaged and wishing to stay positively involved with the brand, make sure that you post regularly and that this is content that the reader will benefit from. This is easily achievable if you have set goals to work towards, potentially distinguish a monthly amount of e-mails to be sent within said time-frame so that consumers have this to look forward to. Also, this is beneficial for your company! Every e-mail is another opportunity for conversion.

7.Test, test, test, test, test (ahem, test)

Make sure that the content of your e-mail is mobile friendly and compatible for both bigger and smaller screens. According to (Info.movableink.com, 2015), 66 percent of emails were opened on either a smartphone (47.2 percent) or tablet (18.5 percent) as according to research collected. Therefore it is vital to make sure that the content of your e-mail is friendly for different types of devices therefore no consumer can miss out on your (hopefully, incredible) content.

References

Asosplc.com, (2015). How we do it. [online] Available at: http://www.asosplc.com/how-we-do-it.aspx [Last Accessed 20/03/2015].

Experian.com. (N/A). Benefits of Email Marketing. [online] Available: <http://www.experian.com/small-business/benefits-of-email-marketing.jsp> [Last Accessed 20/03/2015].

Info.movableink.com, (2015). MovableInk. [online] Available at: <http://info.movableink.com/device-report-q1-2014?utm_source=prweb> [ Last Accessed 20/03/2015].

The Journal. 2007. Problems With Email Marketing. The Journal. [Online]. Available at: <http://www.thejournal.co.uk/business/business-news/problems-with-email-marketing-4408996> [Last Accessed 26/03/2015]

Do you have a Facebook? Twitter? Pinterest? Instagram? Or are you at least aware of these mediums? Would it surprise you to know that according to Adweek.com (2014) Twitter has 255 million active users who collectively send 500 million tweets each and every day? What if in addition it was made apparent that there are more than 50 million Facebook Pages and 20 billion photos have been uploaded to Instagram?

Following the introduction of varying methods of communication development, day-to-day life has consequently changed. As a result, the way that businesses decide to operate within this has also changed. Social media has become a method of statement in the 21st century enabling beliefs, ideas and manners to be expressed in a new way. This new opportunity provides us (the digital marketers of the world) to gain an advantage and use this as an opportunity!

Forbes.com (2014) provided the following statistics; 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts increased traffic to their websites. Also, 97% of marketers are currently participating in social media demonstrating the figures of how many see this as a detrimental part of marketing functions and reaping the rewards suggesting your social media endeavours could potentially lead to increased traffic (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t want that. After all, increased traffic could translate to an increase in sales! – Fingers crossed)

A few points have been outlined below as to the advantages imposed by using social media as a marketing method.

1. Increased brand recognition – increasing validity can be helpful and provides the business with a voice. This will make your business accessible for new customers and more recognizable.
2. Improved brand loyalty – being more recognizable can translate into brand loyalty as consumers can engage with businesses via social media.
3. Opportunities to convert – every post is an opportunity to convert as you allow your business to interact with a wider audience.
4. Higher brand authority – When people compliment/brag they turn to social media therefore meaning more leads & conversions gained from this.
5. Increased inbound traffic – without social media, inbound traffic is only limited to people who know the brand and searching for keywords however ever new social media site means another path leading back to the site. more traffic, more leads, more conversions. (Now, thats what we like to hear!)

An example of a company who utilize social media are Mr.Kipling and their “exceedingly good” cakes (Noticed the reference in the title?). Mr.Kipling pick up on current opportunities and utilize this to their benefit in an attempt to build brand awareness and drive inbound traffic. For example; with the current buzz around the release of 50 Shades of Grey, Kipling released the below picture on their Twitter with the hashtag #BakeAMovie.

Also the brand communicates with customers building a ‘voice’ which is more likely to drive brand loyalty. See below.

As you can see, social media is a topical element of marketing currently and should be utilized even if it’s something as simple as posting regularly and engaging with customers, every little helps! Remember: every post is an opportunity to convert. Marketers should make sure they are implementing this platform into their strategy as there are many benefits!

References

Adweek.com, (2014). Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, Snapchat – Social Media Stats 2014. [online] Available at: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-media-statistics-2014/499230 [Accessed 16 Feb. 2015].

Forbes, (2014). The Top 10 Benefits Of Social Media Marketing. [online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/ [Accessed 16 Feb. 2015].