Sharing The Love On Digital Marketing Channels

If you are a digital marketing professional who is looking to make the most of their presence on social media sites, then you could consider enlisting the help of your customers to help sell your products/services. In traditional marketing terms, this would be known as word-of-mouth marketing. It is important to note that a major amount of conversation and interaction between social media users happens offline rather than online. This is done through various digital marketing avenues, such as:

. Sharing photos on Facebook and Flickr.

. Posting reviews and ratings of businesses on websites like Amazon.com and Google Places.

. Social sharing on sites like Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook and Twitter.

Though many firms are apprehensive about user reviews, consider this: If a company is selling a lacklustre product or service, even mediocre reviews can help it generate sales. Online reviews help improve the brand visibility of the product mentioned, and can create conversations around them, improving sales.

If you are conducting a digital marketing campaign for firms with local retail outlets, remember to make use of location-based services such as Foursquare, Groupon and Facebook Places, which enable customers to check-in to receive special offers and freebies.

From a digital marketing perspective, it is important to get customers to share the love, by asking them to upload videos, share photos, and/or post comments and reviews. Offer them incentives, from time to time, to improve participation and the engagement ratio. A common no-cost incentive used by digital marketing professionals, is to mention the names of contributing fans/followers in comments/posts, to encourage them as well as others to keep contributing.

With social media, it is important for digital marketing specialists to reach out to their fans, and touch them with captivating content. Social media can be used to bring customer service to new heights. Two companies that have used social media to effectively communicate with customers in this fashion are ComcastCares and Zappos, both using Twitter. However, to increase customer reach even further, it is important to think beyond the most popular social networking websites, and also try out other digital marketing channels.

Some good options to consider are video-sharing sites like YouTube, as well as bulletin boards, forums, and Q&A websites. For example, SpiceWorks, LinkedIn and Yahoo Answers.

You can track the digital marketing success of your activities through:

. The number of questions asked and answered.

. Amount of photos and videos shared.

. Amount of comments/posts re-tweeted or 'liked'.

. Time spent on the site (which shows customer engagement).

. Brand sentiment.

. Sales generated.

Digital marketing professionals should always think broadly, when it comes to combining social media activities with marketing plans. This will help them achieve their business goals more easily, and build their brand for the future.

Qudos Digital is a leading digital marketing agency and can be contacted on 020 8891 2077 or info@qudosdigital.co.uk.

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