Internet Marketing Essentials
Internet Marketing is essential to the health of any business that utilizes online promotions, products, or services. In the year 2022 it is difficult to find a business that doesn’t rely on these channels in order to turn a profit. The days of brick-and-mortar success are long gone. That being the case, many are still daunted by the notion of using something as “new” as Facebook as a key component of their marketing strategy. Even more daunting can be the idea of creating and managing a website that catches the attention of visitors and completes the sales funnel. This post will help give you an overview of the essentials you need to start your internet marketing journey. Whether you’re jumping into an existing venture, starting something of your own, or bringing a brick and mortar store into the digital universe, this blog will outline the internet marketing essentials that you need to set up in order to get started generating leads and moving them through the entirety of your sales funnel.
You
You are the first and most essential part of your internet marketing strategies. Whether this is your first business or your third, you have skills, traits, and abilities that will make your business unique. It doesn’t matter what background and field you have come from, you have experience that will make a difference in how you present your business, products, and services. When marketing on behalf of a small business, especially one in which you are the sole employee, remember that you are just as much a part of the equation as the product and its customer.
This means that you have to be dedicated to understanding the process, and to making ends meet for your customers and clients. In a small business or internet marketing environment, you are often synonymous with the brand. Make sure that you are taking time to define and refine what that means both for you and your business. In other words, you have to be ready to put yourself out there and to put in the work.
Putting in the Work
Internet Marketing has many shortcuts that can be achieved through automation. However, this is still a very hands-on process. You might not be the one gathering analytics and posting content at certain times on certain days, but you are still the responsible person for seeing that all that automation brings coherent results. After your experience and personality, your work ethic will be what makes the difference. So, let’s break down what kind of work is essential to any internet marketing strategy.
Creation
Content creation is the bread and butter of internet marketing. You must always be creating something and putting it out through your internet channels. More importantly, however, you must always be creation something worth putting out. If your content doesn’t correlate to your business or target a specific audience that might be interested in your business, it is not helpful. Sure, memes and gifs might get likes, but do they help convey the meaning of your business?
Content is a big word and it is often thrown around without much meaning. It is your responsibility as an internet marketer to define what that word means for your business. More often than not it will be a variety of written posts, images, videos, and advertisements that help convey what your business is, what it offers, and what that means for the customer. Not all content must convey each of these messages, however, all content should focus on at least one of them. Even something humorous as memes or personal as a live life update can help establish who you are and what your business can offer.
Analyzation
Once you’ve put content out into the world, your job has only just begun. Content creation can be dauting to many, but once it is out there and gathering views, it is your job to then analyze it. Fortunately, social media platforms, search engines, and website hosting platforms all have built in tools to gather statistics such as view count, view length, click rates for you. It is your job not to gather this critical information, but to interpret it and adjust your content as such.
Much like content creation, analyzation takes time and practice in order to master. However, even a basic understanding of what gathers more views than something else can help you refine your content creation strategies and up the success of your business. Practice analyzation by making minor tweaks to your content and studying the results. What times of day do you get the most views? Which types of content are users engaging with more? These kinds of questions help lead you to discover more effective ways of utilizing what you are already creating.
Consistency
Finally, you must be consistent with your internet marketing strategies. A Facebook page that hasn’t posted in months or only posts once a quarter isn’t something much worth following. Not every post has to be a grand 5,000 word essay. Make sure that you are being consistent with the rate at which your produce and post content. Posting a blog every week, a video check-in every Wednesday, these kinds of strategies can help set expectations between you and your social media followers, giving them something to consistently look forward to and interact with. A consistent posting schedule keeps you in your followers feeds and ensures that your business is getting put before their eyes on a regular basis.
At the same time, consistency also means that you must remain consistent in your quality. Dips in quality will be noticed and grainy images, poor audio, or incoherent wording can quickly put your business on the unfollowed list. Make sure that you are giving only your best work because your followers will be able to tell when a post doesn’t meet the standard that they are accustomed to. By consistently creating, posting, and analyzing you can quickly build your following and understand what it takes to not only generate more leads but to convince them to journey throughout the entire sales process.
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