Celebrated globally, World Digital Marketing Day (WDMD) falls on December 16th every year. It highlights digital marketing professionals’ efforts in using digital platforms to reach customers, by building brand awareness and promoting their clients’ products and services.
The term digital marketing refers to advertising that works on digital channels to promote products and services by connecting potential customers to these brands and organizations. It can be used in a variety of ways, such as Web-based advertising, Search Engines, Social media, Websites, Emails and Mobile Applications.
Technology is so expansive and ever-changing, which makes it impossible to attribute the invention of the internet to a single individual. We know the internet today as a result of the work of dozens of pioneering scientists, programmers, and engineers, each of whom developed their own distinct features and technologies.
Digital innovation strategies such as Content Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Management are the driving forces behind generating online leads and presence for brands and organizations.
One area of business strategy that needs closer examination is digital innovation. This is how brands can maximize the huge potential and benefits of having an online presence, which directly drives business growth and sales when done right.
With 2023 in sight, it’s the right time for brands and organizations to analyze their businesses. This will enable them to determine what’s working well, where there is room for improvement, and what changes need to be made during the year in review.
For brands and organizations, if you’re looking to get ahead in 2023, you’ll want to make sure you’re producing the highest quality content possible. Data available shows that at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, close to about 60 percent of the global population was online in January 2020.
In a connected world where technology is almost at the epicenter of everything we do, smartphones and laptops are now common sights. Brands and organizations have come to terms with the reality that having a website and keeping an active presence on social media is not a luxury anymore but a necessity.
A comprehensive digital marketing strategy should include content creation. However, it’s one thing to hire writers and produce content, but does it meet your business objectives? To rank higher in search engines and convert leads into customers, you need well-optimized, high-quality content and experienced human capital to execute it.
It is estimated that each person spends an average of 147 minutes on social media every day, and a total of 403 minutes online in total each day. With this breakdown in mind, you can reach your digital marketing goals with an effective content strategy as your foundation.
Having a professional, easy-to-navigate website provides relevant value that meets visitors’ needs and in addition to having a website, a consistent social media presence reflects the quality of your products and services offered.
A study by Facebook indicates the average user spends an estimated time of 6 – 8 seconds on homepages. This essentially means that as digital marketers, we need to communicate quickly and efficiently. In the estimated 6-8 second time frame, creating digital content that simplifies the message and focuses on what’s truly relevant is paramount.
Making use of clear and concise messaging minimizes the number of communication points. This focuses on a single clear message to allow people to quickly understand your point.
LET YOUR CONTENT DO THE HEAVY LIFTING
Digital marketers have access to a variety of content formats. In rolling out a compelling and effective online campaign, you must identify what works. You must work closely with copy writers, community managers and the liaison officer between the brand or organization.
Working closely with Public Relations Officers, who have now become an extension of what Digital Innovation does. The production of written content such as blogs, articles and email campaigns are often the first step marketers take when they decide to get into the field of digital content marketing.
VIDEO CONTENT
Video content is increasingly popular among digital consumers, but it can be expensive to produce. There are two sides to videos. Video content is increasingly popular among digital consumers, but it can be expensive to produce. Despite this, smartphones can now shoot videos in high resolution, so you could have film-quality videos just by using one. In curating video content online, considerations such as length and concept should be discussed. This is because the various social media platforms have limitations with regards to video length and file size. Ideally, longer videos will perform well on Facebook and YouTube whereas shorter videos will work well on Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.
Video content such as ‘Behind the Scenes (BTS)’, ‘How To’, ‘Do It Yourself’ (DIY) and Quick-Fire Questions or Employee Highlights are some ways to drive audience share for brands and organizations.
GRAPHICS
A number of brands or organizations use graphics to provide valuable content under their brand guidelines. One will ask what brand guidelines are. They are the clearly defined rules and standards that communicate how your brand should be represented to the world. Brand guidelines help businesses ensure consistency and demonstrate what the company is, what it does, and what it stands for. Essentially, this is a smart way to distribute useful content and leave your brand’s mark on users at the same time.
INFOGRAPHS
The power of a beautiful infographic is often overlooked, but it can really make a difference. In an attractive visual format, they enable readers to download chunks of information easily. Infographs are smart ways to communicate with the reader by representing data in a visualized context.
GIFS
Graphics Interchange Format, or in other words GIF as it is commonly known, is one of the most common file formats available. As well as adding motion to social media content, it is also a powerful way to grab attention.
GIFS are much more engaging than a static image and can immediately grab the attention of the viewer. In addition to being a much smaller file size compared to a video, they also load significantly quicker than a video due to their smaller file size.
SOCIAL AUDIO
There are a number of factors that have contributed to the popularity of podcasts. By podcasting, professionals can share their unique perspectives on industry topics with a vast audience that is no longer bound to their desks. Additionally, companies also use other forms of audio content to reach their target audience, such as radio segments, interviews, and Twitter spaces.
PROOF-READING CONTENT
Finalizing a content plan and strategy involves proofreading content materials, which is as significant as curating content. Enlisting a second set of eyes to have a fresh look at what you’ve produced helps in identifying errors that bypass your eyes when reviewing.
The presence of grammatical errors in content is not acceptable for clients or agencies, so ensure texts are error-free.
To help with Digital Marketing needs and demands with content creation, there are several tools available for proofreading such as Word Tune. Word Tune is an Artificial Intelligence writing tool that rewrites and rephrases writing.
Happy World Digital Marketing Day. Talk to Us at Global Media Alliance for all your digital marketing needs.
Chris Appiah-Badu, Digital Content Strategist, Global Media Alliance.
