Many CMOs are spending too much time arguing between prioritizing customer acquisition and customer retention. However, we argue that both are equally important. And social media is impacting every aspect of both.
Don’t worry if you’re not sure how to incorporate social media into your marketing plan because we’ve got you covered. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about digital media marketing and its impact on your business.
What Is Digital Media?
Digital media can be a difficult term to quantify as it encompasses many different forms. However, in general, digital media is any type of online content created with the purpose to inform or entertain your audience.
Before the internet, traditional media included newspapers, magazines, and even the radio. Today, the term digital media refers to vlogs, social media, podcasts, VR, and long-form content such as this blog post. Whether you’re checking your phone for tomorrow’s weather, playing a video game, or scrolling your favorite social media platform, society today consumes many different forms of digital media content.
Digital media content is becoming increasingly image and video-centric. And, your audience wants to connect with you through images and videos on social media and this is the heart of digital media marketing.
Never before have marketers had so much instant access to their ideal target audience. If you’re a marketer then you need to include digital media marketing in your business plan.
What Is Digital Media Marketing?
If digital media is online content that people consume, then digital media marketing is the arm of your marketing strategy that utilizes the internet to promote your brand or business. Digital media marketing is an ideal tool for any marketer focused on inbound marketing. Inbound marketing focuses on drawing your customer to you rather than pushing out your message with interruptive outbound marketing.
Digital marketing includes blogging, vlogging, and podcasting. It includes everything from creating your search engine optimization strategy to creating content and posting on social media. Additionally, digital media marketing is important along every aspect of the customer journey from awareness to acquisition as well as post-purchase.
When you create your marketing plan you can focus all your efforts on one platform. Or, you might choose to diversify across several different platforms. The key is to take the time to determine where your audience is already hanging out online and reaching them there.
When it comes to digital media and marketing, the most important thing to remember is to focus on your audience. That content needs to either inform or entertain your audience. This will draw them towards your brand, build your visibility and grow your business.
Three Types of Digital Media Marketing
As you create your marketing strategy, you’ll need to determine what tactics to use to reach your audience. This will include choosing the platforms you’ll use to reach your audience. And it will include creating valuable content that resonates with your readers.
The goal of each marketing campaign may differ, but the essence is always to build your brand and connect with your audience. You will use various different types of media to do this.
There are three main types of digital media marketing. Each one has its distinct advantages to help you reach your marketing goals. Let’s go over each one so you can see which type is best for your business or if you should focus on all three.
Paid Marketing
Many people associate marketing with seeing advertisements on TV, in magazines, or on billboards. In today’s paid digital media marketing, you will see ads on your favorite social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
Paid marketing can be very popular amongst business owners as it provides a very quick ROI for your marketing dollars. However, with changes in privacy policies, many marketers are scrambling to also include organic and owned marketing in their portfolios.
As you dive into paid marketing it can become expensive if you’re unsure of the best practices. It will behoove you to work with an expert. This will save you money in the long run as it could keep you from wasting money making mistakes with your paid advertising campaigns.
Organic Marketing
Organic marketing is similar to traditional word-of-mouth marketing. Historically you might have asked your neighbor or family member for their favorite recommendation of a restaurant or an accountant. However, today most people turn to their favorite search engine to find this information.
Word of mouth advertising can still happen in the online space, but it looks like comments on social media and reviews on GMB or other forums. If you’re ranking online for a top attorney in your city and have several glowing reviews online then you’re in a good position to bring in new organic leads.
And if you’re not, then you know where to focus your efforts to grow your prospect list and increase your business. Unfortunately, it can be daunting for many business owners to ask for reviews and grow their online reputation. That’s why many turn to the services of an expert to help guide their way as they navigate this new form of organic, word-of-mouth business growth.
Owned Marketing
Unfortunately, you don’t own your social media profile. Each platform owns the content you create on its sites. And with those platforms, you’re at the mercy of their ever-changing algorithms or ad structure.
However, there are several digital media marketing platforms that you can use to grow your business online that you do own. These include your website and your email list to name the two most popular and highly regarded forms of digital marketing.
Don’t let anyone tell you that email marketing is dead. The fact of the matter is that it still holds the highest ROI for each dollar you spend in marketing. Regardless of any future algorithm changes you will always own your email list and can launch to them at any time, don’t take this for granted as you build your business.
Additionally, your website is one of your biggest assets when it comes to digital marketing. Your SEO strategy will hold a large role within your marketing plan.
And, if you’re not seeing the returns that you want, then you need to work with a content creation expert. They can show you where to focus your efforts to expand your reach and bring in new customers day after day.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is the act of utilizing social media platforms to reach your audience. You can use social media to further your goals in several areas including building your audience and increasing traffic to your website.
Too many business owners don’t see a direct correlation between social media marketing and their bottom line. However, what they don’t realize is that increasing sales isn’t a goal of social media marketing.
Instead, this is a top-of-the-funnel form of advertising that is best when used to drive traffic to your website. From there you will work to convert them to your email list and paying customers.
As mentioned earlier, you don’t own your profile, followers, or posts on social media. So, don’t focus on conducting business there. Instead, use it for its intended use to reach your audience. And then drive them to the platforms you do own such as your website and email list.
As you can see, your digital marketing media plan must include social media marketing.
Impact of Social Media on Your Business Marketing Plan
Consumers today want to work with brands they trust. And you can build that trust by engaging with them on social media. You can create amazing content for social media, but without follow-up and engagement, you won’t have nearly the same impact on growing your audience and business.
As we mentioned, social media marketing can include a new form of word-of-mouth advertising. Your customers or clients can comment on your social media posts and share how happy they were with your product or service. This will help you can grow your credibility which will grow your business.
Social media plays a central role in your overall digital media marketing strategy. Using the power of social media to market your business can have several benefits, including:
- Building brand awareness
- Signaling social impact
- Increasing word of mouth interactions
- Influencing shopping behaviors
These benefits can manifest in both the paid and organic forms and can have a huge impact on your bottom line as you grow your business. Considering half the world’s population is on social media, likely, your target audience is there as well.
Advantages of Focusing on Digital Media
Digital media has connected people around the globe in a way that has never been possible. Digital media has changed the way we interact with our peers both locally and around the world.
People of all walks of life can meet and engage online through forums, social media, and video. Businesses that use digital media to their advantage are growing their audience and connecting with their prospects every day.
Another advantage of social media is the immediate response that your customers desire. When your customers feel heard they will connect with your brand and business. This will, in turn, affect the decisions they make when they need the product or service that you offer.
This personalization that you create through online engagement will help you stand out in a crowded field where too many businesses focus on the wrong metrics such as followers and likes. Instead, you can focus on engagement and building traffic to your site where you’ll convert them to paying customers.
What Are the Future Digital Media Marketing Trends?
The future of digital marketing includes digital media. To make the most of your digital media marketing future you need to focus on three important aspects:
- Define your target audience
- Define your goals
- Determine how you’ll help your audience
Too many marketers create their content calendar based on themselves and talking about their business. But people don’t care about your business as much as they care about solving their problems.
Most people turn to the internet to search for answers to their questions. So, if you’re a plumber, don’t create all your blog posts and social media posts based on your years of service and accolades. Instead, create content that answers questions such as what to do about an overflowing sink or a toilet that won’t flush.
This is what your future customers are asking when they’re online and when you answer those questions, they’ll turn to you when they need to call a professional.
To make the most of your digital media marketing strategy you must follow the trend of creating content that helps your audience. We started our article by telling you that digital media marketing focuses on creating content that informs or entertains your audience. This is the trend you must follow if you want to scale your business in today’s market.
Work With an Expert to Scale Your Online Marketing Efforts
As you can see digital media marketing is an integral part of your overall marketing strategy. From connections to personalization, social media has a large impact on how businesses reach their audience.
However, many business owners find it impossible to keep up with their social media posts, reputation management, and creating an SEO strategy. That’s why many business owners turn to us to help them manage their online marketing strategy so they can get back to running their business. If you’re ready to partner with an expert, you can sign up for our services here.
