A simple guide to understanding your digital advertising Market
Understanding your digital advertising market is more complicated than you may think.
There are many factors which you should consider, especially in a market which continues to change.
The behaviour and interactions of consumers have evolved, which has caused increased expectations in personalised services.
Social media has become an ever-increasingly commodity, especially in the last couple of months.
Companies are having to adjust their marketing strategies to focus their efforts on becoming more digital.
From the beginning of January 2020, Datareportal reported a more than 3.8 billion social media users.
These are potential customers who may require your products or services. If you are not exploiting social media marketing already, now would be a good time to start.
Your company needs to implement a solid social media strategy to exist in the online world.
Social media marketing is the process of using social platforms or websites to promote a product or service.
Knowing the fundamentals of social media marketing will help you build your community quicker.
Knowing the smaller details can make all the difference to the success of your page, whether it is a personal or business page. Aspects such as
- Terminology per platform
- Your approach per platform
- When and what to post
The changing dynamics of communication requires an approach you can adjust as you see fit.
With so many platforms to display your message, communication should be relatively straightforward.
There are two critical questions you need to ask yourself:
- Which social platforms should I focus my efforts on?
- How am I going to be heard amongst the online noise?
This guide will give you an understanding of each social media platform and its different terminology.
Once you understand the various metrics, you will know which content will serve you best making it easier to build your community within each platform.
Terminology Per Platform
Understanding the terminology of each platform will help you determine whether your content is performing successfully or not.
If your strategy is working, continue taking the same approach.
If you would like better performance, you can adjust the content to yield better results hopefully. Remember your strategy is an ever-changing living breathing document.
Although there are many terms within the various platforms, the focus is going to be on one’s, which will impact your content directly. We will look at the most generic terms based on common platforms:
Engagement
Engagement refers to any action taken by a social media user on your page. “Likes”, “Reactions”, “Shares” or “Comments” are all a form of engagement.
Impressions
Impressions refer to the number of times your post or ad has been shown. This disregards the number of people seeing your ad. For example, 100 people might see your ad twice each. The total impressions would total to 200.
Reach
Reach refers to the total number of individuals who have seen your ad or content. If 100 people have seen your advertisement, that means your reach is 100.
Share
A share is the number of times any user’s piece of content has been re-posted on social media. When referring to Twitter, a share is normally a Re-tweet.
Comment
A comment is a form of engagement. This is usually when a user replies to a social media post. Comments contribute to the conversation online allowing you to engage with your community.
There are a lot more metrics to be found within each platform.
The more you work within each medium, the better you will familiarise yourself with the terminology. It will take a bit of time but understanding what is essential will make the process go a lot faster.
Your Approach Per Platform
The approach you take per platform will contribute to the success you achieve.
You need to take into consideration the attitude and message you would like to portray. This will determine whether you need to be present on every platform or not.
If your company is more B2B focused, you will most likely be present on LinkedIn, Facebook and possibly Twitter. If you are more consumer-based, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter might work better for you.
Understanding the tone on each platform will require you to adjust the message accordingly. Specific platforms will need you to be friendlier while others need more facts.
Take the time to investigate each platform and understand the dynamics of the digital advertising market. Knowing the tone, you should take will give you an upper hand in connecting with your community.
When and What to Post
Now that you know which platform you should focus on, its times to decide when you are going to post.
In the beginning, try and start by posting twice a week. When you start to get more comfortable with creating content, you can increase it to 3 or 4 times a week.
Honestly, there is no specific science as to how many times you should post.
Some people post five times a day and others who post twice a week. Both options can work.
Finding the line between bombarding your customers and keeping you at the forefront of their minds is imperative.
Tools such as FollowerWonk or AgoraPulse can help you decide the best times and days for your content to go out.
It may also guide you which times are best to post per platform. This changes typically weekly and requires content to be continuously adjusted.
There is no point posting content at 9 am when your fans are on at 2 pm
Tools can give you in-depth information which can help you get the most engagement for your content. They also allow for content to be scheduled for your convenience.
Knowing what to post is the next step. Again, this is dependent on the approach you would like your company to take.
If you would like to be more serious and factual, then you need to post messages in-line with that objective.
Start with content which builds a community
Avoid trying to sell your product or services directly. It’s finding that fine line between informing your customers of the benefits and selling them.
As your fan base begins to grow, you will be able to play around with content.
Trying different call to actions or looks to the content might improve engagement. If you are using background colours, take note on which ones work and which ones don’t.
The society engages more with genuine posts which show the human side of a company.
Behind the scenes or “how-to” videos show that not everything is perfect all the time. It takes time to try different content and find what works for you.
Implementing the various facets of social media marketing will guarantee you will reach your digital advertising market.
If done correctly, your business will present its propositions to the right client base.
For you to focus on other aspects of your company, an agency which can engage in creative digital marketing the way you intend to can help you achieve your dreams for the business.
