Believe it or not, the number of people going online every day is still increasing. Pew Research claims that “constant” internet usage among adults increasing by 5% in just the last three years.

Marketing is mainly about connecting with your audience in the right place at the right time. This means that today, companies need to meet their audience where they are – online.

Which also means you need digital marketing.

WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING? WHY DO DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital marketing comprises all marketing efforts that use the internet. It uses digital tactics and channels to connect with its customers online.

It has become vital for business operations; digital content is so commonplace now that consumers both expect and rely on it to learn about brands.

From the website to a business’s online branding properties – digital advertising, online brochures, email marketing, and the like – there is a spectrum of approaches that come under the ‘digital marketing services’ umbrella. Choosing the right Digital marketing method is crucial because the possibilities for Internet-based marketing opportunities are endless.

Is digital marketing applicable across industries?

Digital marketing can work for any industry. Irrespective of what you sell, digital marketing still involves building buyer personas to identify the needs of your audience and create invaluable online content.

That’s not to say all companies should implement their digital marketing strategies in the same way.

Your business needs to have clarity about how every digital marketing campaign supports the overall goals. Once that is in place, your marketing team can create campaigns through the free and paid channels that are available out there.

New to this blog? We will cover some interesting sections below for you to learn continuously.

Previous – Major Channels for the New Decade
Next – Most common challenges in DM
Part 4 – Digital Marketing Tactics- SEO
Part 5 – Digital Marketing Tactics- PPC

The post Getting started with Digital marketing – Part 2 – What is Digital marketing? first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

We have planned to write a series of blogs on Digital Marketing. We will explain things in simple terms. We will try to cover the maximum. Each will come in different titles.

We are Macronimous crossed 20+ years in Digital Marketing. This team “Digital Marketing” is present here for a long time, But it keeps expanding its wings. It was only SEO and Banner advertisements, two decades ago. But now, we can see it is getting consolidated into some major channels, which are listed below.

1. SEO– the conventional, slow, and steady way! Investment can spread across months. The disadvantage is capturing ROI is not easy. Google is ever-changing and evaluating its strategies with web sites and algorithms.
2. AdWords – Aggressive but money goes out fast. However, ROI is visible. Spend-optimization can help money going out less. You may need experts to guide you in order to avoid large credit card bills.
3. Local SEO – Again long term. Mostly DIY for clients. We can even manage without spending much expect time. BUT- Review management could be painful at times. Need to build client relationships continuously, off-line as well.
4. Newsletters – Send newsletters with information about your business, offers, new product, etc. If you are already doing this, It should become a part of your CRM. But it may not help to acquire new clients. However, it helps your clients to remember you and helps you to win them back again and again. Curative content will help them to educate too.
5. Landing pages and lead generation campaigns – Similar to newsletters, we can create landing pages and outreach with offers/incentives, etc with the call to actions. The disadvantage is collecting target Email addresses. Marketing Hub helps in this for effective management.
6. Social Media Marketing – Last but not least. For some businesses, this should be the first! Identifying the right Social Media platform could be challenging. Also, you need to find out if you want to engage your existing followers or do Paid Ads and promotion campaigns.

In all the above you will require content creation. Especially in SEO, Newsletters, Landing pages, and SMM. Hence they become Content Marketing. You will need a writer, graphic designer, and even video content developers if you want to spend through YouTube.

We will cover some interesting sections below for you to learn continuously.

Next Part – What is Digital Marketing?
Part 3 – Most common challenges in DM
Part 4 – Digital Marketing Tactics- SEO
Part 5 – Digital Marketing Tactics- PPC

The post Getting started with Digital marketing – Part 1 – The major channels for the new decade. first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

A great weapon to your upcoming digital marketing campaign arsenal is incomplete without factoring in Social Media. Though there are great tools, approaches, and methodologies to aid in increasing your brand visibility over the online space, very few come close to matching the unbeatable edge provided by Social Media management.

As internet marketing specialists look to tweak their 2016 strategies for online marketing, they have very good reasons to provide prominence to social media as an important ploy to gain more quality leads, build better buzz around their brand, and drive amazing conversion not available with other digital marketing tactics. Here are some compelling reasons why you simply cannot avoid social media as we step into 2016 –

1. Social Media to propel Search Engine Rankings – SEO remains the core of many internet marketing strategies. However, it will be perilous to ignore social media simply because of the reason as to billions of people logged on to these platforms (almost 95%-98% of which are still untapped for your business). If utilized appropriately, the kind of targeted web traffic and high quality leads propagated by social media remains unparalleled.

What won’t work – Creating scores of accounts on social media to create incorrect buzz? Naah! Too bad a social media strategy.

What will work – Get a dedicated social presence on known social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitters, Google+ However make sure not to confuse readers by creating multiple profiles for your brand.

2. Amplify lead generation through social media – Social media has been a universal favorite when prospecting for new business leads.

What won’t work – Merely having “likes” on your business page on social media won’t cut it in today’s times. You need to prompt users to leave more information behind so that you can contact them and induce them further down the sales funnel

What will work – Some interesting ways in which you can gain more with your social media can be found here.

Whatever tactic you might adopt – two things are absolutely essential:

• Convey a clear message that resonates with your brand personality
• Have a solid call-to-action provided to enable readers to know what to do next

3. Enhance your brand presence – One of the best ways to attach immense value to your brand is to get social media influencers to interact with it. However, if you feel that Reid Hoffman, Guy Kawasaki or Neil Patel won’t be able to take time out for your emerging brand, then do not worry. There are other ways to improve your brand presence over the social media.

Get a consistent brand look, feel and culture across multiple social media platforms for greater success in brand improvement over social media. This will also help accelerate your related opportunities on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (lead generation, post-sales support, reply to reviews, etc.)

4. Boost customer support online – Orders delayed or incorrect orders delivered always make for a bad e-commerce transaction. But what exacerbates the issue is the fact that the aggrieved user takes to social media to vent his/her ire. The result – Your brand reliability suffers a spiraling downfall, real quick. Bad customer servicing may happen because of multiple touchpoints, but the bad handling of an angry customer on social media is entirely up to you. So you need to swoop down fast and placate the customer so that the negative vibes don’t spread out. Below is a case in point for Zappos (unarguably one of the smartest companies to manage their online reputations). They straight away offered a $50 discount coupon to make up for the bad customer servicing. A small but impactful gesture in winning the customer’s trust back.

The post Social Media Marketing for your business – Why bother? first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

To help put the impact of social media into perspective, a new infographic has been released that focuses on the top 9 social sites.

Lots of people have crunched the numbers over the years to reveal how many people use such sites, but when they’re growing every single day, the sheer scale is not really captured. Instead, the Social Media in Real Time counter visually displays the ongoing growth of social media from the second you load the page.

Platforms covered include Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, Google Plus, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. As every second goes by, key indicators from all of these sites continually rise, based on the latest averages.

To give an example, in just 3 minutes and 15 seconds, 100 new people began using Twitter, 80 of those were doing so through a mobile device, the users searched Twitter 4.7 million times, and over 1.12 million individual Tweets were made. In just an hour, the sheer amount of communications made is mind-boggling.

Of course, social media users are bombarded with data every day. We come to know how many friends we have, how many people liked our posts; it’s a big popularity contest and in some ways, we obsess over it. Celebrities are therefore obviously leading the race, while some people become celebrities through their success on social media itself. The real-time counter hones in on some traditional stars to illustrate just how much reach they have.

In just 6 minutes and 45 seconds, pop icon Katy Perry amassed a further 182 Twitter followers. That’s more than the average person will ever gain in one month. Soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo gained a further 76 Facebook fans. And singer Adele’s new single “Hello” got another 93,555 views on YouTube, which is currently the most successful song in the video sharing site’s entire history.

Looking at such numbers, it’s hard to ignore the impact that this is having on our global society. Whether it’s positive or not is up for debate. You could argue that by coming together, culture ends up becoming one giant mundane melting pot. But you could also argue that it speeds up the development of nations, particularly those who have not necessarily been exposed to progressive ideas. Everyone has the ability to express themselves, and the world has the ability to respond.

We might also consider how the role of traditional media is becoming obsolete. It used to be that if a major event took place, such as a war, we would have to rely on politicians and professional news networks (possibly with agendas) to gather and present the information to us. Today, those in the war zone themselves are giving us their perspectives immediately on Twitter. In fact, because social media is such an effective communication method, it has been integral to the organization of revolutions and political movements themselves.

The list of discussion is endless. Is social media an invasion of privacy? Is it making people less social in the face to face environments? Has it made political correctness go too far?

Whatever the impact and whatever the future brings, social media plays a gigantic role in our lives. The numbers don’t lie.

Presented by: Coupofy

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In an age of ‘perform or perish’, social media visibility has become all-pervasive. Twitter is one such prime example that is used by business and individuals alike to enhance their visibility online. Hashtags play an essential role as Twitter handles to let users know trending topic, similar topics or give a unique identity to their tweets. Tweets can also be categorized or grouped according to the keywords used.

However, what was once a technique native to Twitter has now proliferated social media of all kinds. The hashtag symbol is used before a prominent keyword or phrase on Twitter. Hashtags have found their place in all kinds of different social networks and now enjoy a powerful and privileged position as one of the most potent tools that people can use to satisfy personal or business needs, reach out to like-minded others and be involved in engaging group discussions and events. Writing the right Hashtags for social media is really important to make your post meaningful.

At a ground level, a hashtag is nothing more than a particular word preceded by a pound or “#” sign. In its original application on Twitter, it was used as a means for people to insert searchable keywords and tags into their posts, to allow other people to join in the conversation and view local or worldwide trends regarding the hot topics currently under discussion. Currently, they are a powerful tool for a wide range of personal and business applications and form a large part of communication and interaction on social media.

The Essence of Hashtags
Anyone can make up a hashtag. Any word preceded by the pounding sound is automatically perceived as a hashtag. It might either be exciting, engaging and compelling or meaningless, boring or irrelevant. People use hashtags in a variety of  ways, and the onus is on the user to bring out the true potential of the hashtag in social media, whether it is for personal or business needs. Since hashtags are so simple to create, there is a lot of abuse and misuse of hashtags in social media. The correct way of going about using hashtags is to learn the correct and productive way of using them and harnessing their power to serve a particular purpose or need.

Here are a few examples that are self-explanatory:
We sell #cupcakes #Brownies, you can buy online https://yoursitelink.com
Love #pets? We sell everything your #dog needs #petshop https://yoursitelink.com

Here are a few crucial things you need to remember while writing meaningful hashtags for social media –

• Choice – First and foremost, hashtags needs to be chosen with care and caution and a lot of attention to detail. The true purpose of a hashtag is to make your posts contextually relevant with the interests of like-minded users, and to help other people discover what you have to say when they search using that particular hashtag. Consequently, generic, insignificant words perform poorly as hashtags. Remember to only choose hashtags which are interesting, relevant in a current context, and likely to arouse curiosity and interest among other users. Go with the trend, but don’t use them just for popularity, or it may hurt your credibility.
• Frequency – Some people have the habit of overusing hashtags. This is a detrimental and counter-intuitive practice and should be avoided at all costs. Hashtags are meant to be used sparingly and with a great deal of thought. Too many hashtags make readers lose interest and skip over the hashtag content. Irrelevant and heavy-handed use of hashtags sends across a bad vibe and readers, usually, tend to avoid content with too many hashtags huddled together.
• Testing –It is extremely important to test out hashtags. You need to know if your hashtag is currently a subject of interest among other users and is relevant in the context of popular interest. You can click on a hashtag to see the kind of conversation they bring up and the level of interest they are currently drawing. Also, make sure you spell them correctly. 

Some tools to create and verify Hashtags:
https://www.hashtags.org/ – According to Hashtags.org, “Hashtags.org provides essential information, research and how- to help individuals, businesses and organizations worldwide improve their social media branding and intelligence.”
http://keyhole.co/ – Real-time tracking of Hashtags
https://tagdef.com/ – Find popular hashtags, Top hashtags of the week, New tags that are getting popular.

The post Write meaningful Hashtags for social media first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

You already have your profiles created on FaceBook, Twitter etc for your business and even started some marketing activities with regular posts. So, you are probably well aware of social media and just how imperative it is for digital content marketing. You may fall anywhere on the spectrum of social media know-how, ranging from novice to internet marketing guru. No matter what your expertise is, the success and return on investment from marketing is contingent upon how well you leverage (and know) your resources beforehand. Many business owners or their content marketing agencies start posting content on every possible Social Media platform they know and like, and at one point they become tired of finding it ineffective. Not getting enough comments, Likes, Shares etc makes them worried and at one point they let all their effort go in vain.

Before you investigate which social media platforms will work best for your business, consider the larger scheme of what your objectives are. These sites are very useful for marketing, but they are also great for networking, client relationship management, communications, reputation management, and for branding. The strategies vary pertaining to what will best assist you as you plan on using social media to represent your business; and, surely enough, your business model will be integral when deciding which platforms will best serve your needs.

What to Do Before Using Social Media Sites for marketing

New social networking sites and applications are appearing on the market constantly and frequently. It can seem like you have to take them all on, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Not every site nor business will serve the same crowd. This crowd also includes potential new clients and customers. Nonetheless, whether or not that crowd is ideal all depends on the business, what social media platforms it uses, and why.

Nike Fuel Bank in FB

The following is a list of ideas that will help you understand what information you might want to share about your business and where you can share it. You don’t have to be limited to just one or even any of them. These are only some of the many useful considerations of the planning process:

• Will you want to inform your audience about trending news in your industry?
• Do you have a quirky workspace that your followers and fans might appreciate and want to see?
• Do you have a really narrow pool of clients or customers? Where do you think they’re hanging out and how do they communicate with their networks?
• Do things like humor, skilled employees, technology, creativity, or good customer service exemplify you? If so, make a note of it and all the other good traits so you can use them to better sell your offerings.

If a list format is too limited for the planning you would need to do, then a diagram, chart, the web, proposal, portfolio, mind maps, or a mere whiteboard doodling are all alternative methods that could help you brainstorm your social media marketing goals.

Which Social Media Sites Should You Choose for Your content marketing?

The demographic and type audience of the social platform is going to affect which one you choose to represent the brand, message, and product of your company.

Facebook

The majority of social savvy business models will find Facebook, which is the holy grail of social media,  quite essential. Taking Facebook’s Ad Manager Program as a prime example, the site has many tools that help businesses target their ideal audience better.

Our Blog posts on FB

Aside from tobacco companies and others that are highly regulated, virtually anyone can benefit from Facebook’s blog-like format. It gives the content a lot more breathing room than Twitter’s congested 140-character limit. Virtual travel agencies, popular name brands, athletes, politicians–truly, anyone can benefit from Facebook, one social site that supports over one billion users. That’s most certainly a wide audience considering the grand scheme of how vast the internet is.
Twitter

Financial advice from Twitter

Some companies that benefit from using Facebook alternatively might enjoy the micro-blogging format of Twitter. Stock brokerage firms and financial consulting companies, for instance, might like the real-time aspect of Twitter as well, since many news reporters and leaders in the global economy are actively posting on the site. It’s a constant virtual meet-and-greet there despite its strict limits on content.

Holiday Packages promotion with Twitter

LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be considered as a Facebook for Business owners and Job seekers. Some independent contractors, freelancers, and entrepreneurs have probably already enjoyed the networking culture of Twitter and several other social media sites, but nothing else quite tops LinkedIn. It is a great connector, helping its users form professional connections and find new clients. LinkedIn Business pages are a great way of building a potential customer base. Years ago we started collecting recommendations and endorsements from our customers who worked with us in the past, share the web projects that we did and started sharing business information, and I am sure which pays off.

Job Post in Linkedin

Pinterest

Pinterest provides a visual way of building backlinks. Businesses within the arts, fashion, lifestyle industries–really anyone who likes and employs pictures–could benefit immensely from the format of this platform. If you are a retailer or running an E-commerce store, building a Pinterest follower base would be something you cannot ignore. You can post your product images directly under categorized albums (called boards) and share them on Twitter and Facebook easily.

PCMag Pinterest post

Wishpond says 25% of Fortune global companies have their presence on Pinterest and over 60% of consumers who visit Pinterest found what they wanted.

Instagram and Google+

Instagram and Google+ perhaps are the newer hybrids, both bearing characteristics of Twitter and Facebook. These are extra and still growing daily, but their concepts overlap and they allow the use of hashtag keywords in their posts. Google+ profiles and pages are surprisingly beneficial to anyone who wants to enhance their SEO. Instagram is kind of like a visual extension of Twitter.

Instagram FB integration

Blogging still brings more life:

Both social media and blogging could go together. You can share your blog on Facebook or twitter, integrate Facebook comments within a blog, post some videos on Instagram videos into your blog, add tweets into your blog etc. But, why still blogging when you get all these social media sites? Blogging gives more space to design your content framework and you get the content not quickly vanishing like a Facebook post or Tweet that merges within the crowd and becomes invisible.

Social media has its technicalities, as you may have noticed when you were first introduced to it, and we can help you with this by optimizing your social media profiles and making them more productive for your marketing. Get in contact with us and a member of our team will respond to you.

Meanwhile, good luck on your search!

The post Choose the Right Social Media Platform for your business first appeared on Macronimous Blog.