Marketing online is quite different from marketing in the traditional paper sense. It used to be that if you wanted to know more about a product, you’d have to go to a magazine or newspaper to find out what was happening and what customers were saying about it. Today, with the explosion of social media platforms like Twitter and social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, it is much easier to discover what is happening and what consumers think about brands, products, and services.
So how can you use these resources to better understand your target audience’s reading habits and what interests them about your product or service?
In this article, we will discuss how to read marketing online so you can identify the most effective methods of reaching your target audience.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of enhancing your site’s online visibility in search results for relevant keywords. When potential customers search for products or services like yours, your website will appear at the top of the search results page. SEO is quite a simple process that relies on three essential elements:
- Keywords
- Content
- Links
The better your SEO, the higher your site will appear in search results for relevant keywords. There are tools like Google Keyword Planner that can help you find the right key words to focus on, which can in return, improve your SEO significantly.
You can also use Google Trends to quickly discover the popularity of any niche or topic. Once you establish a baseline, you can measure the growth of your target audience by comparing the organic search traffic to your website before and after you implement changes to improve your content’s SEO.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
While SEO focuses on bringing your website and blog content to the top of the search results for relevant keywords, social media marketing (SMM) helps you engage with your audience online to generate interest, create trust, and drive action.
SMM is an umbrella term used for any type of marketing activity that involves using social media platforms to reach potential customers. These platforms can be anything from Facebook to YouTube to Twitter to LinkedIn.
In general, social media marketing can be used to promote any type of business or brand, but it is often used to promote products and services that are related to or fit with your target audience’s interests, hobbies, lifestyle, and culture. For example, if you sell ice cream, you can use social media to promote your new flavors and create a buzz about them. Or if you’re a beauty company, you can use social media to talk about fashion trends and encourage people to visit your website to learn more.
SMM can also help you gain credibility with your audience, build interest, and drive action. Your potential customers will be much more interested in what you have to say if you show them you are trying to be helpful and solve their problems rather than simply trying to sell them your product. Building credibility and attracting an audience is the first step to gaining trust and ultimately, selling your product or service.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)
Paid search or pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is very similar to traditional search engine optimization in that you are paying for each visitor you get to your site. However, with PPC, you are specifically paying to have your ads shown on top of the search results for relevant keywords. So rather than optimizing your content and hoping that someone finds it through SEO, you are paying to have potential customers find your content.
PPC can be a useful tool for marketing and sales, especially if you are a small business or marketing to small businesses. When someone clicks on your PPC ad, they will be taken to a landing page where they will complete a form to get a free marketing report on your product or service. If they complete the form and email it back to you, you will then have the opportunity to sell them additional products or services.
Analysis Of Traditional Print Marketing
You can use the same SEO, social media, and PPC tools to research and analyze your audience’s interests, reading habits, and online persona. Once you know a little bit more about your target audience, you can connect with them on multiple levels to gain their trust and grow your business.
You can use tools like Google Analytics to track visitors to your site and how they engage with your content. The data that Google Analytics provides can be quite useful in determining what content is most effective and which topics your target audience is more interested in.
With SEO, social media, and PPC, you can test different versions of your content to find out what resonates with your audience. You can even compare the results of one piece of content to another to see how effectively they promote your product or service. For example, if you are trying to sell ice cream and you publish two blog posts about the benefits of vegan ice cream and conventional ice cream, you can use Google Analytics to compare the results of the two posts.
Reading Online Marketing
Now that we have covered the various components of online marketing, let’s look at how to read marketing online in general. There are several different methods that you can use to find the information you need quickly and efficiently, but you must know how to use these tools correctly. Let’s begin by identifying some general guidelines that will make your life as a reader much easier.
Try to stay away from promotional posts. These are posts that are written simply to encourage people to visit your site, like “click here to read my article about this product.” If you are unsure of the best way to market your product, test different methods and measure the results to find the most successful approach. When someone clicks on a paid ad or a link in a blog post that goes to a paid page, they often expect that they will be sold something. If you write your articles with the idea that someone will eventually buy your product or service, you are setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration if the content isn’t what they’re looking for. When you click on a paid ad, you are giving your consent for the advertiser to contact you via email or phone call with offers and products that may be relevant to you. This is called marketing automation and it is a growing field that helps businesses connect with their customers across various channels. Using tools like HubSpot and Marketo, marketers can create automated emails and drip campaigns that nurture leads and grow the conversation with each new interaction. Automation is important because it eases the burden of communicating with customers while improving the quality of those interactions. Customers may receive hundreds of emails every day, so having an automated response that triggers based on certain actions is a win-win for both parties.
Avoid blogs that offer a one-stop-shop for your needs. Instead, look for blogs that provide in-depth information about a specific topic. If you come across a blog that doesn’t seem like it is going to be as beneficial as you think it is, move on to the next website. Even though many businesses, especially in the online marketing world, try to appeal to the broadest audience possible, it is essential that you find the right niche and build your audience around it. When you do find the right niche, you can use their insights to grow your audience.
What Next?
If you found this article valuable, don’t forget to read our guide to the essentials of digital marketing and our guide to SEO and content marketing. We also have a complimentary guide on how to purchase a website that you can read before you make any decision. Don’t hesitate to visit our website again to stay informed about all the latest trends and helpful tips on social media marketing, SEO, and content creation. We hope this article has helped you understand how to read marketing online and how to make the most of this resource. If you found this article valuable, please share it with your friends and colleagues.