By Laura Hughes, BCI Media Services Content Marketer
As we embark on the new year, many of you might be exploring your New Year’s resolutions and preparing to make this your best year yet. A clean slate with a strong set of goals for the next 12 months is always the best time to feel inspired. Particularly when it comes to bringing positive changes to your business. And now is the absolute best time to bring digital marketing to the front of your business strategy. New year, new strategy, and watch as it grows your digital presence tremendously.
1. Get Organized with a Marketing Calendar
Running your own business is not an easy task. When you’re stuck in the trenches of the day-to-day grind, it’s easy to put your digital marketing attempts on the back burner as more pressing issues come up. In order to get ahead, we recommend taking a couple of hours at the beginning of the new year to plan out your digital marketing strategy. Especially if it fluctuates with the seasonality of your business. You’re the expert on how to maximize these changes. Whether it’s a change in content levels or simply the acknowledgment of holidays your audience will appreciate. Document all of this helpful knowledge in one place and refer to it monthly.
2. Become the Master of Your Audience
Zeroing in on the ideal audience for your business can take some time, and definitely a lot of patience. But investing the time to be patient and perfect your audience is an investment you will be thankful for. Building and observing the audience your content is being delivered to is a practice that you will want to keep up with. That’s because people’s behaviors, habits, and attributes are constantly changing. If your content isn’t being delivered to your ideal consumer, then it is not being optimized to its full potential.
3. Immerse Yourself in the Social Media Game
When social media began, it was very much just that – a place to gather, share and communicate with other people. But over the years it has evolved into its own ecological beast of consumerism and best business practices. Social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are now considered to be their own search engines. If you’re not using these tools, then you’re missing the mark big time! Whether you’re brand new to social media or have a small base to begin with, we have digital marketing solutions that will work for you. This is a wagon you don’t want to miss! Check out what we can help you with here. Let us master your social presence to boost the brand of your business!
4. Integrate Video into Your Content. Just Do It.
So we’ve said it before, but we have to say it again: The popularity of video content is seeing an insane amount of growth. And we cannot stress enough how important it will be to the future success of your digital marketing campaigns. Video content generates 1,200% more shares than photos and text combined. It is without a doubt one of the most critical parts to extending the reach of your content. As video continues to grow, social networks are continuing to invest in the perfection of the consumer experience. This isn’t expected to slow down anytime soon. For many business owners, creating video content can be quite intimidating, but don’t overthink it. Simple, short clips of you and your employees in your daily business can go a long way with your followers. Your consumers crave seeing the personality of your business and will connect quickly with you through your video content.
5. Don’t Let Your Website Get Left Behind
Even though the importance of efficiently managing your social media presence is evident, don’t forget about the management of your website as well. Your website will continue to be the backbone of your online presence. It should be updated as frequently as possible. The content on your website should be rich. It should be informative. And it should be completely up-to-date with your current business practices and general information. Think of your website as the “brick and mortar” version of your business online. Your consumers will most likely come to it first. If your hours are incorrect or you have posted a service you haven’t offered for years, your consumer will hold you 100 percent accountable for misleading them. Along the lines of accuracy and rich content on your site, now is also the best time to commit to consistent blog content if you haven’t done so already.
6. Be Flexible!
This last New Year’s resolution should be held with high regard and taken very seriously. The internet is in a state of constant change. Therefore so is every process you might be getting used to when it comes to your digital marketing. As digital marketers, the best advice for the new year that we can give you is to practice being flexible! Yes, it can be frustrating when Google is changing their formulas every single day. It’s upsetting when that button you’ve been pushing for months to do this one task has ironically disappeared. But take a deep breath and learn to accept this type of erratic behavior from the internet. Platforms and processes are going to change without our acknowledgment. Don’t let these changes discourage your overall goal of mastering your digital presence. With patience, flexibility, and perseverance, your business can be a contender in the wild world of the internet.
So, are you ready to make a New Year’s resolution that you’ll actually keep this year?
We are here to help you tackle your digital marketing resolutions. Together let’s make this the strongest year yet for you and the online presence of your business. Find out more at www.bcimedia.com or give us a call at 1-800-558-7024.