Tips For Digital Marketing Beginners

Digital marketing – using the internet and social media for marketing – is becoming very popular, as well as necessary, in today’s society where everyone is seemingly online. Businesses, especially small businesses, and entrepreneurs, need to have some sort of online presence and take advantage of the internet and social media to stay in contact with current customers and also to reach out to prospective customers. Social media posts are the quickest way to spread word about a new product, service, or news, as they get shared by others and can quickly go viral. But for many, digital marketing can be a daunting concept if the person is not very familiar with using the internet beyond email and basic searching, or does not have much experience with social media. To help those who are beginners to the idea of digital marketing, here are a few tips to help get started.

If you’re going to use social media for your marketing, you will want to:

1. Choose platforms

First of all, you will need to decide which social media platforms you will use. The most popular are , , , , , , , and . You will want to find the ones that work best for you and your industry. One way is to find where others in your niche industry are on social media and see which ones are working best for them (where they have the most followers, etc.) Don’t use a photo-intensive site like Pinterest or Instagram if your product or service does not lend well to using photos.

2. Optimize your social media profile

Once you’ve decided which platforms you will want to start creating your profiles on them. Be sure to include a real photo of yourself, as the whole idea is to connect with others and build their trust. Write a good description of yourself and/or your business, including background or expertise and accomplishments. Consider indicate the type of information you will be sharing. And be sure to include links to your website where you can! This will help them find you and help boost your SEO.

3. Connect with your blog and website

First of all, having a blog is a great way to market yourself online. Be sure you have one with your website for sharing information with your visitors. And be sure to link your social media sites to your blog. And link them to your website as well. By having them linked, your blog can post updates automatically to your social media sites. And by including a link to your blog to your social media profiles, you followers can find your blog. Likewise for your website. Include links/buttons to your social media sites on your website so visitors will know where to find you on social media.

4. Follow and share

Find and follow others in your industry on social media. You will likely be followed in return. This means they will be likely to share your posts, helping you gain exposure. And people who follow them will be likely to follow you, as well. Share interesting and useful content for your followers to share. This includes interesting text content as well as photos and videos. Shared content is likely to be reshared, and the more interesting the content, the more likely it will be to go viral. Share things like news, articles, stories, funny stuff, images, videos, motivational quotes, research studies, and interesting statistics about your niche. And be sure to include hashtags to make your content more searchable on networks that support them (Twitter, Google+, etc.).

5. Comment

Be sure to comment or reply to any responses left to your posts. You’re on social media to connect with people, after all. Engage with your followers. Have discussions. Answer their questions. And do it in as timely a manner as possible.

Another good digital marketing strategy is inbound marketing. This helps get people to seek out your website instead of just stumbling across it. Inbound marketing uses content that speaks to people instead of pitches. Do so by:

1. Generate traffic

Use social media, blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics, ebooks, etc. to share interesting content with people who are already interested in your niche subject matter. Sharing this content regularly on social media will help increase your company’s credibility, help you gain more followers, and increase your search rankings.

2. Convert traffic to leads

Create CTAs and dedicated landing pages with special offers of exclusive or premium content in exchange for contact information. This will help you to identify qualified leads from all your website visitors.

3. Prompt your leads to make a decision

Once you have their contact information you can send emails with special offers to encourage them to visit your site and purchase items, or to contact you directly for service, etc.