You wake up one morning, excited about a big promotion you’re going to launch that day. You log on to social media to share the good news with your audience. You post frequently, engaging with your followers.

All of a sudden, your engagement numbers drop. You follow the exact same routine the next day, and the numbers follow suite. You stop posting, fearing you might lose audience. You delete your social media accounts altogether and don’t look back.

This scenario could easily play out for any business, but it’s especially pertinent for those in the online marketing sphere.

The problem is, social media is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes time to build a following and gain credibility with your audience. It also takes money to promote your content effectively. At some point, you’re going to have to make a choice: Are you willing to commit to the long-haul of building a business through content creation and marketing, or would you rather throw money at trying to grow your audience through paid advertising?

The good news is, you don’t have to make that choice overnight. With a little bit of planning and research, you can use online marketing in Dallas to successfully build a business you can be proud of.

Here are five ways you can use online marketing in Dallas to become the best version of yourself:

1. Create compelling content.

In the previous two sections, we discussed the importance of research and planning in successful online marketing. Both will serve you in good stead with this strategy as well.

The first step is to determine the kind of content your audience wants and needs. What do they prefer? For instance, do they prefer videos or text-based content?

This will affect the kind of marketing and materials you need to create to best engage with your audience.

It’s also important to note here that not all content is created equal. Video content is more likely to be shared, liked, and commented on than text-based content.

2. Post regularly and interact with your audience.

One of the surest ways to lose followers and credibility on social media is to post infrequently and without much, if any, interaction with your audience.

If you want to be viewed as a legitimate source of information, you must be consistent and prove to your audience that you actually read and value their input.

Consumers on social media aren’t looking for a one-dimensional conversation. They want to feel like they’re interacting with a real person, so they’ll do their best to draw you out. If you value their input and want to keep them as followers, you must be willing to engage with them.

3. Be visible.

Being “hidden” on social media is a major turnoff for consumers. If you want to grow your audience and get the most out of your marketing dollars, you must be visible.

Luckily, there are measures you can take to make your content easier to find. You can start by creating hashtags for your social media posts that will make them more discoverable. You can also choose a few keywords to focus on, especially if you’re looking to target a specific audience.

• #dallas(you)marketing
• #web3(you)marketing
• #internetmarketing(you)marketing
• #emailmarketing(you)marketing

By being as visible as possible, you’ll be able to gain credibility with your audience more quickly. Remember, engagement is key, and nothing screams “I don’t care about your opinion” more than a lack of effort on your part. If you want to be taken seriously, you must put in the effort to be found.

4. Measure results.

Measuring the results of your marketing efforts is a crucial step in the road to success. If you want to be able to track the effectiveness of all your campaigns and determine which one is paying off, you must be willing to measure success.

The first step is to determine the metrics that suit you. Do you want to see how many people clicked on a link in a social media post? How about the number of people who viewed a web page or downloaded a white paper?

The second step is to track these metrics over time. Are people clicking on links in your social media posts more or less than they were prior to you instituting a #hashtag campaign? Are sales rising (or falling) since you started a Facebook ad campaign?

Tracking results in this way will shed light on which strategies are working and which ones you need to ditch. Remember: no strategy is perfect, so you’ll never know which one is serving you best until you try a few and measure the results.

5. Optimize for the long run.

Building a following on social media won’t happen overnight. It takes time to gain credibility, gain interest from potential customers, and ultimately, turn those customers into paying customers.

To get the most out of your efforts, you must be willing to put in the work to achieve long-term results. You won’t gain credibility with your audience overnight, and you can’t expect your social media posts to bring in the cash. But by regularly posting and engaging with your audience, you’ll be able to gain their trust and eventually, their business.

So, what exactly is online marketing in Dallas?

Broadly speaking, online marketing in Dallas is any effort you make to gain potential customers through electronic (or digital) channels. This includes things like SEO, social media, email marketing, and more.

But it’s important to note here that not all digital marketing is created equal. While SEO and social media are both crucial pieces of the puzzle, it’s important to focus on the type of content you’re putting out. Are you consistently posting short, sweet videos that your audience can enjoy and learn from? Or are you posting heavily on social media, using words and hashtags that your followers are likely to be interested in?

The former will get you much further than the latter. Remember: Your goal is to attract customers, not just ‘like’ you on Facebook.

To help you determine the right approach, we spoke with Megan Smith, Director of Marketing at DFW Marketing. She gave us some advice on the most effective ways for entrepreneurs to approach online marketing in Dallas.