Social media is dramatically changing the way we develop and execute strategic and integrated marketing communication campaigns. As a marketing strategist for the past five years, I have noticed a significant emerging trend in modern media. Implementing marketing tactics highlighted with social media that optimize business solutions and generate new target markets.
The following are five simple rules of cost-effective marketing communication tactics that focus on organic channels of driving qualified traffic to your front door. All focus on minimal investment and a direct call of action for sales and profit.
- Website
Buy a web domain. Hire a professional agency. Design a website. Everything exists online now. Google is now a verb. Last night I googled movie times, the address of a tint shop, furniture shipping companies. Plan the website based on usability and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Search engines use webcrawlers to index information. Implement SEO and key tactics such as key words, links, and meta tags to drive potential qualified traffic to your site. Integrate your website with an excellent and usable Content Management Systems (CMS). It will make your life easier. Add a site map. Usability is key.
Look into Google Analytics. Measure metrics. Key word analysis. Performance indicators. Entry pages. Exit pages. Bounce back rates. Visit lengths. Recent activity. Recent visitors. Visitor country.
Leverage your website as an integrated online marketing strategy. Develop, execute and evaluate an online and social media campaigns with more success, less cost, and with transparent metrics.
- Social Media
Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, are innovative social networking applications. However, drill deeper. Social media is a strategic marketing tactic in reaching both a diverse and segmented target markets.
The trick is optimizing social media.
Utilize it as an electronic database. Orbit other strategic marketing tactics around social media. Manage your social media application with a master managing application, such as Hootsuite. Post a single message. Link it to your social media. One click. One message. One world.
Go on. Okay. Good. You have several accounts opened. You have an application to manage the accounts. How much did it cost? Nothing? You mean…free? No way. My mom told me nothing was free in this world.
- Links
Website. Social media. Look at you. Big time player. I mentioned organic online marketing tactics are best because it is free. For the most part. See rule #1. Organic is indexed by webcrawlers. Think of the places that only accept Visa. Webcrawlers tend to ignore Pay-Per-Clicks (PPC). PPCs can be effective. But with a cost. Use it only in spurts to create a viral effect.
Organic works best because…well. It is free. Add links to your website. Inbound. Outbound. Internal links that drive direct calls to action. Every page should have a direct link to your contact page. Every. Single. Page. Tag everything. Everything. Webcrawlers do not index images. Only content. Are you a repair shop with a picture of a before-and-after broken windshield? Tag it. Someone somewhere might just type “before-and-after broken windshield” in a search engine. Tag your location. Usability is key.
Tag each page with your social media icons. Every. Single. Page. There is no such thing as a home page anymore. Visitors enter pages where the search lands them. Make it easy for the user to join your page or follow your tweets. Make it easier to link to your contact page or e-commerce page. Usability is key.
Leave a comment section and ask for feedback. Ask if they want to join your Facebook group. Follow you on Twitter. Sign-up for your free newsletter. Asking for permission is essential. It is illegal to openly solicit in
- Direct E-mail
Direct e-mail is a tangible marketing tactic. Look for direct technology solution providers that offer trial periods. Incorporate your earned electronic database into your direct email campaign.
Hire a graphic designer to design an electronic newsletter or a brochure with sales and upcoming promotions. Link it to your website. Streamline a video. Link it to your social media.
Integrate your direct email campaign as a recession-proof green marketing tactic. Hire an innovative and experienced marketing communicator with a proven track record in media planning. Plan a media event with media advisory and media release. Frame the green properties of your product with key messages. Make it dynamic. Benchmark an emerging trend. Send the advisory. Invite media. Arrange interview times. Build hype. Send the release. Follow up to confirm expected audience. Promote it on Facebook. Tweet about it. Buzz about it.
Launch the product.
Meet and greet with media. Explain your event and incorporate key messages. Be consistent. Monitor the media coverage. Link the articles, video, radio interviews on your website. Link it on your Facebook. Tweet it. Buzz it. YouTube it.
Measure it. Grow your fan base. Grow your followers. Grow your connections. Measure your ROI. Most importantly: measure your sales from qualified traffic.
- Mobile Browsers
Link it. Tweet. Link it. Buzz. Link it. Facebook it. Link it. Used to take time. Not anymore. Two factors are emerging as champions of marketing communications solutions. Social media management applications and mobile browsers. Management applications were already mentioned in rule#1.
Mobile browsers are a dynamic marketing tactic. Sign up for a smart phone, pay a nominal monthly fee for a data plan that allows you to access the web on your phone. Post. Tweet. Link. Have your web designers integrate your website for mobile browsers. It will cost more. But it will pay dividends. Most smart phones have local Global Positioning Satellites (GPS). Now your target markets can locate you online but also locate your physical location. It can access your social media applications from its phone. It can make a purchase from its phone. It can email or call and make an appointment from your contact page.
But do not use your mobile browser to send texts as a marketing tactic. It could backfire for a number of reasons. It is not ethical. It is spam. It is annoying. From a cost point, a percentile of your target market might not have a text package. You send out a mass text and just cost approximately 30% of your potential target market a potential $0.15.
Hire a tactical marketing communications professional to really produce amazing results for your business. This person can design a killer campaign complete with everything discussed here in this post. Or just follow what was said here. Manage your own applications. Manage your own website using CMS.
Integrated marketing tactics such as social media and direct email can potentially define benchmarking principles that optimize your overall business operations. Social media is gaining steam and credibility in the marketing sphere. It is leveraging itself as the standard in transparent and usable marketing tactics. Just use it responsibly. It is, after all, the direct conduit for your brand.
Just remember that it takes time to develop a brand. But also remember: if you build it, post it, tweet it, they will find it.
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