At Hanover Research we’re always looking for new ways to make research more accessible and interesting. One area we’re focusing on is online marketing and recruiting. Specifically, we’re asking marketers and HR professionals to share their strategies, tips, and tricks for using digital platforms to grow their businesses.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss the various ways you can use digital platforms to reach, connect, and engage with potential new customers. We’ll cover online marketing and recruiting strategies for B2C, B2B, and brand new markets such as B2C2B.
Personal Branding
Building a personal brand is one of the fundamental things you need to do if you want to succeed in business. It’s also one of the most important things you need to do if you want to succeed as a marketer. A personal brand can be seen as your reputation in the digital world. To create a personal brand, you need to establish a profile on the various social platforms. To do this, you need to make sure you have a consistent message about who you are, what you sell, and how you can help your customers. A good personal brand will always translate into a good website. Make sure you highlight the various ways your website can help your visitors find what they’re looking for. This will increase the chances of them engaging with your content and possibly becoming a customer.
Instagram Stories
Instagram introduced a new feature called Instagram Stories back in 2016. Since then, the platform has become incredibly popular. According to HubSpot Blogs research, 49% of consumers have used Instagram to research a product or service. As a marketer, this is an important platform to be on. Instagram Stories are like regular Instagram videos, but they have a slightly more subtle background and the ability to have some interactive elements, like stories widgets and comment boxes. Stories are great for connecting with potential customers and boosting brand awareness.
Another social media platform that’s become incredibly popular over the past few years is Twitter. It was originally founded in 2006 and aimed at connecting people with shared interests. The majority of the site’s users are millennials, meaning there’s a large audience of people who use the platform to stay up-to-date on the latest news and trends. According to HubSpot Blogs research, users on this platform are 71% more likely to consider a product or service after following or sharing a professional’s content. This makes Twitter a great place to grow your following and gain credibility among your target audience.
LinkedIn is the professional social network that allows you to connect with potential customers and collaborate with peers. The average user in Forbes’ most recent survey reported getting 94.5 hours of value out of the service every week.
The thing that makes LinkedIn stand out from other social platforms is its focus on the workplace. Even if you’re not looking for a job, you can use the platform to highlight your experience, build credibility, and connect with industry experts. If you’re looking to grow your business, LinkedIn is a must-join platform.
Pinterest is more of a visual platform, which makes it perfect for showing off your products. The site allows you to “pin” images, videos, and blog posts to your boards. These can then be repinned by other users, increasing the exposure of your content.
Many people use Pinterest to help them find new products and trends to follow. If you want to increase your business’ exposure on this platform, create boards that match the various platforms your target audience uses the most. For example, if you’re a fashion company, create a board to highlight your products and engage with customers on a more personal level.
Snapchat
Snapchat is one of the biggest platforms out there when it comes to messaging and video content. The app allows users to send photo and video messages to users with the sound turned off. These are then only visible for a short period of time before they disappear. This makes Snapchat popular among millennials, who use the app to keep in touch with friends through lively discussions that happen between videos.
While you can use Snapchat to promote your business, it’s not recommended you do so. The app’s creators state that if you’re not using the app to engage with your target audience then it’s a waste of your time. Make sure you use the tool in a way that your users will find value in and remember your brand.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a social media dashboard that makes it easy to manage and engage with your audience across platforms. You can create themed groups of journalists, bloggers, and other influencers you want to keep track of. With Hootsuite, you can also measure and analyze the success of your content.
One of the things that makes Hootsuite stand out is the variety of content you can pull in. The platform allows you to pull content from a range of different sources, including websites, blogs, and forums. This means you can always find content that will match your target audience’s interests. Additionally, you can use Hootsuite to target location-based content on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
Content Strategy
To create a content strategy, you need to go back to basics. What are you trying to say with your content? Consider the various platforms you’re using and the various audiences you’re reaching out to. Once you’ve got a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve, you can start to lay down the various strategies to get there. What’s more, you can also consider the various goals you want to achieve with your content strategy. Does your content need to be seen by more people? Does it need to be more influential? Consider the various metrics you’ll use to measure the success of your strategy.
Content Creation
Content creators talk about the process of developing content for various platforms, including social media. According to HubSpot Blogs research, consumers are 2.5x more likely to buy a product or service after reading an entertaining and educative blog post about the brand.
The thing that makes blogs so effective is the fact they’re easy to update. Once you’ve established the blog with some content, you can quickly begin to add new posts to it. Make sure you add value to your posts by creating high-quality content that entertains or educates your audience. This will make your content more likely to be shared and hopefully lead to more business.
Communication Strategy
Building a brand means getting the right message across to the right audience. To do this, you need to have a strong message and a way to get that message out to the people you want to reach. As a communicator, you’re responsible for creating compelling content that will keep your audience interested. Consider what will make your content stand out from the crowd?
What makes content valuable is the fact that it provides specific and valuable information. To make your content more valuable, create content that’s well-written, well-thought-out, and relevant to your target audience’s needs and interests. If you want to become a thought leader in your industry, creating value-rich content can certainly help you get there.
In terms of getting the word out, you have a variety of options. If you want to create awareness, you can use various digital platforms to do this. Once you’ve got a following, you can start to do more behind-the-scenes work, like sharing videos of yourself talking about your industry, hosting interviews with industry experts, or creating content to share on social media across platforms.
The Importance of SEO
The term search engine optimization (SEO) encompasses a variety of techniques used to increase the number of visitors to your website by making it appear on the top of search results when potential customers type in keywords associated with your product or service. When it comes to digital marketing, SEO is incredibly important because so many people are searching for products and services online rather than going to a physical store. To appear at the top of the search results, you need to optimize your website for the following keywords: