Q1 Digital Marketing Strategies
Tips, trends and insights to boost visibility and establish audience relevance.
Hey Digital Insiders, this one’s a bit long for your inbox (though it’s really good) so for a better reading experience, click “view entire message” on the top right or read on the website.
Apparently, it is not socially acceptable to still wish people a happy new year after the first week of January. Clearly, I am not caught up on social conventions, but with a whole 11 months and 5 days left in the year, it still feels pretty new to me, so I think it's apropos to wish you a happy, joy-filled, and profitable new year.
Speaking of profits, did you know that 78% of users visit a brand's physical store or intentionally seek out a brand's products when they follow them on social media? More than 90% of them actually make a purchase.
But they aren't just looking at your socials; the average consumer is savvy enough to know that there might not be any gold under all that filter. So, they are surveilling brands across the internet to get a feel of what the brand is about.
It is really a consumer market at the moment because of competition, so chances are whatever they are looking for, they will have options. And with options come additional considerations, so it is no longer just about the price but also about the experience and what you represent as a brand/business.
Yep, feelings buying is a thing, and if you are not checking the right boxes, you won’t get the sale.
“Emotion is what really drives purchasing behaviours, and also, decision making in general.” - inc.com
With that in mind, this Q1 we are going back to funnel basics as before a potential customer can develop any kind of feeling towards your brand or have your brand top of mind when making a purchasing decision, they first have to be able to find you, get to know you, and most importantly, like you.
So over the next three months, your strategy should be focused on becoming more visible, building interest, and establishing relevance.
Revisiting the VRT Strategic Framework
When I tell you this framework has never failed me.
Time and time again, studies have borne out the major premise behind this intuitive strategy development tool, and it’s this: regardless of the niche or business model, the most effective marketing happens when your brand is visible, relevant, and consistent. These are the three strategic goals underpinning the framework, and once you are able to hit these goals, you are almost guaranteed success.
Strategically speaking, when mapping the buyer's journey, it is most advantageous to concentrate top-of-funnel activities around brand visibility and relevance. Since that is our focus this quarter, let’s look at some of the ways we can ensure we are hitting those goals.
Visibility
Visibility is about being findable, which means being deliberate in choosing the channels you're going to invest in to build your brand presence.
Notice I said channels plural; that’s because a multi-channel approach can expand your online presence to increase awareness and interest.
Note too that channels and platforms are not used interchangeably here; a marketing channel refers to the communication medium, e.g., social media, while platforms refer to a particular communication service/tool, e.g., Instagram.
Cut the low ROI fat
I'm sure you would have heard this a thousand times, but I'll say it again for the thousandth and one: you really don't need to be on every social media platform.
Creating engaging content on one platform is hard enough, but attempting to maintain that across 4-7 is just bonkers, even if you have a big team which, if you’re reading this, it’s highly likely you don’t.
Most of the time you end up regurgitating the same content across multiple platforms, which causes content fatigue if your followers overlap and so engagement will stagnate.
What you should do instead is first eliminate low/no ROI platforms and refocus your energy on streamlining your marketing channels into an effective funnel to move your audience from awareness to conversion.
Niche social media
For whatever reason, Caribbean small businesses and creators have adopted a very myopic scope when it comes to social media, which sees us almost exclusively focus our efforts on traditional networks, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and media-sharing networks, e.g., YouTube, Instagram.
There are, however, 4-5 other types of social media networks (depending on who you ask) to include discussion forums like Reddit, niche platforms that are more industry/interest specific like Behance or GoodReads, microblogging platforms like Medium, and even review sites like Google Reviews.
Again, you can’t be everywhere, but the truth is mainstream social media, with all its advertising noise and distractions, may no longer be serving your brand in terms of attracting potential customers.
Maybe it is time to explore more community-centric, off the beaten path networks to unlock more opportunities for audience discoverability.
Optimise for search
There’s even more good news on the social media front if your audience demographics skew GEN Z or young millennials.
The trick with both demographic is to capture their attention by being findable and interesting. Research shows that “16 to 34-year-olds are now more likely to visit a social network when looking for information about brands than they are to use a search engine...” according to this We Are Social Report.
This means that you should be optimising your social media profile for search, using the right keywords and hashtags in your bio and posts to boost your chances of discovery.
Make no mistake, Google still reigns supreme as the search juggernaut, and so regardless of the age of your audience and especially if you are B2B, then it makes sense that you are also optimising for Google SERP. In fact, both go hand in hand as an seo-ified social media search will make your brand easier to find through Google search.
Expert Tip: Get a free Google Business profile, a business listing that is useful for localized search and marketing. The great thing about it is that it automatically populates existing customer reviews and encourages new reviews, which is valuable for brand social proofing. You can also share images of your business to include a logo. If you have a physical address, that is added to Google Maps, and it links to all your other social media platforms.
Relevance
It is not enough that a potential customer is aware that your brand or business exists; what really matters is if they care, and they will only care when you become relevant.
The key to relevance is relatability.
According to the latest HootSuite Social Media Trends Survey, 56% of consumers think that brands should be more relatable on social media, but what does this mean? Kapferer's Brand Identity Prism identifies self-image as an essential brand characteristic and describes it as serving an aspirational purpose for both brands and the audience. In essence, a “consumer wants to view themselves in an ideal way, and your brand can strive to help them achieve their ideals.” So, if you can ‘build a (relatable) storyline’ in which the user can envision themselves, then you will become relevant to that user.
As social media evolve the emphasis is now firmly on the media, which matches up to the HootSuite survey finding that users see these platforms as a place to unwind and be entertained. If that is the case then there are more opportunities to build a compelling storyline through your content to achieve relevance.
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A prime example of how self-image is tied to relatability, relevance, and ultimately influence on social media is the current Nara Smith obsession taking over TikTok and Twitter. Nara is the ‘ideal woman’—model, wife, and mother living her best tradwife life in designer dresses, baking cinnamon rolls for her model husband, and her fans are apparently very inspired.
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What's interesting is that Nara and her somewhat famous Mormon husband are very conservative-leaning, though not overtly so. Yet, there is a very vocal liberal fanbase that capes hard for her, and I can't help but think that at some subconscious level, these women see her as the ideal version of themselves, and that's what's resonating with them.
The story of this perfect woman and her perfect family living this novel-esque and romanticized lifestyle provides an escape for her audience and profit for her as, at the end of the day, she is still an influencer with products to shill.
Expert Tip: Lean into feelings marketing to encourage action, as brand messaging strategist Kizkopop says, instead of CTA’s we should be focusing on Call-To-Feel (CTF’s) to make our messaging more memorable and create an emotional connection.
Micro pivot content to boost engagement
If social media is your main communication channel, then the increasing demand for entertaining, short-form content is a little harder to pull off, but it’s not impossible.
The key is understanding what ‘entertainment’ means to your specific audience:
While it is an adjustment, you may not have to upend your entire content strategy, nor does it mean you have to resort to gimmicks. You will, however, have to tweak or pivot your content to be more entertaining.
This can be done by simply injecting a little more personality into your posts, like Tiana Chung, a rising foodie superstar and the face behind the Wongagyal brand.
Or getting a little more personal with your audience, like popular Finance Influencer Kalilah Reynolds, who is also known for using trending sounds and challenges in her content.
Incentivizing Engagement
Another way to keep the audience entertained is through gamification, a strategy that incorporates elements of gameplay (scoring points, leveling up, redeeming rewards, building allegiances) into content formulation to boost engagement.
Effective gamification strategies will not only keep customers and potential customers engaged on your page for longer but will have them coming back again and again. It is also a great community-building strategy as you are, in effect, incentivizing participation and at the same time rewarding loyalty.
See Devon House’s Instagram page for an example of how to use this strategy effectively.
And, it is not just the giveaways that are gamified; it is also how they introduce new ice cream flavors and even in how they design and market the Scoops truck. I had a chat with their social media manager and strategist Saccheen Laing, about this and other strategies she’s using to drive engagement. Click below to listen.
Expert Tip : An audience's interest is fluid (and fickle) and can manifest from a variety of things like a trending topic, a new discovery or nostalgia (this one is a gold mine) or even how information is presented so don’t be afraid to experiment with topics, style and format.
Brand subscriptions
It is often the case that audiences that show up in non-social media spaces are there voluntarily, this presents more and better opportunities for sustainable engagement.
Curated, ad-free spaces are becoming the go-to model for brands looking to build community and for customers wanting a better user experience so now may be a good time to start thinking about creating your own branded engagement space.
It could be an email list where you share premium content, a Substack blog, or you can launch a paid community platform like Kalilah where you’re offering more personalized and exclusive content.
Aside from gaining access to better audience data, additional benefits include more content diversity and personalization, as well as it's a lot easier and quicker to convert.
Expert Tip: Use the link feature in stories or the multi-link feature in bio to get your audience familiar with the other non-social media spaces you occupy
Try things and break things this year
Everything we thought we knew about online marketing has dramatically shifted or completely changed.
There is a lot of newness and unknowns, and we're all just trying to figure it out, and so the takeaway here is that you should not be afraid to try things and break things this year.
In fact, I'm declaring 2024 the year of experimentation.
So borrow what works, fill gaps and take risks. This may require you to step outside your comfort zone, but hey, what's the worst that can happen?"
If you’ve gotten to the end of this post I know you must have some thoughts, drop them int he comments and let’s discuss.