By Dr. Jarrod Sadulski | 06/07/2024
Having a digital marketing strategy is a vital aspect of business development. While various digital marketing strategies for business growth exist, developing a digital marketing campaign based on specific products and services a company offers can be effective.
Digital marketing strategies differ from traditional marketing because digital marketing utilizes the internet and technology to connect customers with its product and services. Although a business can still use traditional marketing such as cold calls, radio ads, print ads, and catalogs, digital marketing tactics are often more effective and less expensive.
Growing a Business Through Social Media Marketing
As a business owner, I have learned that social media platforms are an essential component of digital marketing strategies. For example, businesses can create a Facebook (also known as Meta®) business account as part of their social media marketing.
One of the benefits of using a Facebook business account is the ability to run advertisements that specifically target your audience. For example, Facebook enables ad users to target customers with specific demographics such as age and geographic location.
Digital marketing on Facebook can include engagement with prospective customers through clever posts that draw people to the company, product, or service. Once the target audience is established, businesses on Facebook can pay for their content to be boosted. Businesses that boost their advertisements as part of their digital marketing efforts can control the amount of advertising dollars they spend.
Interestingly, Facebook may not charge the full amount if the boosted post does not have user engagement. Boosted advertisements that are reposted and receive engagement in the form of comments and likes are more likely to reach the maximum dollar amount associated with the ad. But if the ad does not generate engagement, Facebook may save the business money by not reaching an audience that maximizes the cost of the ad.
When posts are boosted on a Facebook business account, the post may have to be approved by Facebook before it is published. This form of digital marketing helps create awareness of the current trends associated with what a business is selling.
Maximizing Digital Marketing through Social Media Platforms
Digital marketing through social media involves strategically engaging with audiences across various networks to build brand awareness, foster relationships, and drive sales. By leveraging the unique features of each platform, businesses can create targeted campaigns that resonate deeply with their customers, enhancing their online presence and boosting overall business performance.
Setting Up Business Accounts on Major Platforms Like Instagram and Twitter
Business accounts can also be established on Instagram®, which may reach a different audience than Facebook. With Instagram, businesses will want to select a business category and ensure that the Instagram account is a professional account versus a personal account.
LinkedIn also serves as an important tool in social media-based digital marketing. To create a business account on LinkedIn, organizations can select "Create a Company Page." When creating a business account on LinkedIn, businesses can list their details. Also, they can set up a profile that:
- Introduces their products and services
- Explains how customers can contact the business
- Keeps customers updated with any news the organization wishes to share
X®, formerly known as Twitter, can also be used in digital marketing. To establish a business account on X, locate the option for "X for Professionals."
According to X, the advantages of a professional account is that businesses can access advanced tools, develop professional profiles, and can use features such as Quick Promote to help with online marketing.
Regardless of which social media platform is chosen for an organization’s digital marketing, businesses must create awareness of their brand and what it provides through frequent engagement with customers.
Enhancing Social Media Presence and Engagement
Posting on social media sites can help to create more of a social media presence. Businesses may be able to drive traffic to their social media pages through posting informative and relevant content that is beyond simply advertising their products on digital channels. For example, businesses can post links to relevant articles that increase industry knowledge for the target audience.
Using Multiple Social Media Platforms
It is typically a good idea for businesses to maximize as many social media platforms as possible as part of their online marketing strategy. Utilizing these platforms is a cost-effective way to advance a digital marketing strategy and ensure a marketing message is consistent across each marketing channel.
Digital marketing can help to reach potential customers without the high marketing expenses associated with traditional marketing methods. Using these platforms as digital marketing tools can help companies conduct market research and reach new audiences.
Small businesses can leverage these platforms in their online marketing to poll current and potential customers, gain insight into product development, and help the business grow. Running a digital ad strategy that involves all social media sites is helpful to reach as many customers as possible. Ideally, quality content should be provided on these platforms to help a business to attract its ideal customers.
Optimizing Engaging Content and Interaction on Online Channels
For digital marketing on Facebook, I recommend posts that are between 40 to 80 characters, videos that are no longer than 20 seconds, and ad headlines that are about five words in length. Often, less content is more effective than providing lengthy posts because customers can lose interest in viewing content very quickly.
Also, I recommend using no more than two hashtags per post. Overusing hashtags is a common mistake that I see on marketing posts and may not have the desired effect in terms of engagement.
For Instagram, content marketing videos should also be no more than 20 seconds but no less than seven seconds. On X, it is especially important to use very short content. From my experience as a business owner, the link does not appear properly when I post a video or article link on X with too much text.
One suggestion I have for business owners is to include a way for new and loyal customers to easily locate all of their social media sites. I use Linktree; it is a simple tool that lists a business's website and other sites all in one location.
I also developed a QR code that I place on my business cards. It sends customers to my Linktree site, so that they can easily access all of my digital marketing efforts.
Tools for Unified Social Media Management
To reach several content marketing channels at once, there are social media management tools such as Hootsuite® that enable their users to post content across different platforms quickly and efficiently. Hootsuite allows users to create and post content, schedule future posts, and build a greater following.
In addition, Hootsuite can provide analytics that enables users to measure their performance. Analytics to measure the effectiveness and reach of posts is also available through the Facebook business account.
Leveraging Search Engine Optimization
Search engines are often an essential part of digital marketing. Online marketing helps customers more easily locate the products or services a business provides, especially through search engines such as Google® or Bing®. Search engine optimization (SEO) impacts marketing efforts because it drives traffic to a business website.
Understanding and leveraging SEO is therefore crucial to help a business succeed. SEO has the potential to enhance social media posts’ online visibility, making it easier for businesses to increase their online presence and advertise their products or services to customers.
SEO helps a business grow by providing a free way to display services online through organic traffic. A solid SEO strategy can get a business recognized on the first page of a search engine, supporting brand reputation and lead generation.
Enhancing SEO with Digital Marketing Services
There are digital marketing services that can help strengthen SEO. These services understand the marketing efforts that drive good SEO results.
However, small companies on a budget can still boost their growth at no cost by enhancing their SEO to increase online sales and exposure. Some strategies to increase SEO include:
- Using descriptive web addresses that lead to the business
- Performing keyword research and incorporating keywords on the business's website and in digital marketing messages to attract prospective customers
- Ensuring keywords are located throughout the website and online marketing content
- Implementing an SEO strategy that stands out from the competition
Video Marketing and Engagement
Video marketing is also a significant component of digital marketing and can be used to effectively target customers. Videos can describe a business and its products and services, personalizing the business to increase customer and brand loyalty. Ideally, these videos should be brief, published on social channels, and integrated with other forms of digital marketing.
Videos should also incorporate technical SEO to capture the attention of current and prospective customers for a more successful digital marketing strategy For instance, video content appears on search engine results pages, so it is essential to learn technical SEO to help those videos to be seen by customers.
Influencers and PPC Advertising
Ideally, a website should be professional and clearly identify the products and services sold by a business, along with the background of the company and its contact information. The website should be able to be easily viewed on both desktop computers and mobile devices through the use of responsive design.
Links to social media sites should also be on the website. If desired, testimonials from existing customers and blog posts highlighting the value of products and services can also be published on a website.
A medium-sized business may have more of a digital marketing budget than a small business. But both types of organizations should utilize marketing channels that drive people to their sales team, which can require the use of influencer marketing.
It is becoming more common for businesses to include social media influencers as a part of their digital marketing. Influencers may be used to increase website visitors and improve traffic to a website, which in turn can persuade customers to buy products and services.
Utilizing pay-per-click (PPC) ads on a website is another helpful way to utilize digital marketing and improve website traffic. The PPC strategy can increase revenue through digital marketing where advertisers pay the website owner every time someone clicks on their ads, which can supply additional income.
Online Reviews
Encouraging happy customers to provide reviews is a great way to gain positive online exposure, especially for a small business. Occasionally, a business receives a negative review online. Ideally, businesses should respond to the negative review as quickly as possible and offer to aid the dissatisfied customer.
When prospective customers see a business taking a proactive approach at resolving an online complaint, that builds public confidence, trust, and customer loyalty. Companies can benefit from admitting their mistakes and build online credibility by displaying how they are taking action to fix the problem.
When I make online purchases, I always read product reviews. I'm regularly searching online to see how a business resolves negative reviews, which provides insight into the character of the business.
Email Campaigns
Digital marketing campaigns may include email marketing. However, this approach requires caution. When emails are used in digital marketing, business must adhere to laws such as the CAN-SPAM Act, which establishes rules for commercial messages.
Typically, a business will develop a database of past and future customers, vendors, and other people. A cost-effective digital marketing strategy is to send emails when a new product is available and to maintain engagement with past and future customers.
Mobile Marketing
Digital marketing should include mobile marketing, which is another cost-effective strategy for organizations. Mobile marketing involves advertising that targets devices such as mobile phones and tablets.
Since the vast majority of the public has mobile devices, online marketing that targets smartphones and tablets can be effective. The goal here is for digital marketing to help grow a business while incurring minimal expenses. As technology continues to evolve, mobile marketing helps to reach new customers that traditional advertising does not reach.
Business Development and Scalability
Digital marketing strategies vary depending on the business. Business development can occur rapidly, so scalability is important. Scalability ensures that the business can meet an increased and often rapid demand for its products or services.
The Marketing Degree at AMU
For students interested in subjects such as digital marketing, social media marketing, and ecommerce, American Military University (AMU) offers an online bachelor’s degree in marketing. The courses in this program cover topics such as ecommerce, business analytics, digital marketing, SEO, integrated marketing communications, and social media marketing. For more details, visit our program page.
Meta is a registered trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc.
Instagram is a registered trademark of Instagram, LLC.
X is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation.
Hootsuite is a registered trademark of Hootsuite, Inc.
Google is a registered trademark of Google, LLC.
Bing is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation.
Dr. Sadulski is an Associate Professor within our School of Security and Global Studies. He has over two decades in the field of criminal justice. His expertise includes training on countering human trafficking, maritime security, effective stress management in policing and narcotics trafficking trends in Latin America. Jarrod frequently conducts in-country research and consultant work in Central and South America on human trafficking and current trends in narcotics trafficking. He also has a background in business development. Jarrod can be reached through his website at www.Sadulski.com for more information.