Digital and Social Media Marketing

To make money, you need to sell something. Be it a good or service, you are giving something of value to make money. When I say money, it’s not limited to fly paper. Let’s look at the dictionary definition:

money

ˈmʌni/

noun

noun: money

1. a current medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes; coins and banknotes collectively.

   "I counted the money before putting it in my wallet"

   synonyms:

   cash, hard cash, ready money;

   • formal

     sums of money.

     plural noun: moneys; plural noun: monies

     "a statement of all moneys paid into and out of the account"
   • the assets, property, and resources owned by someone or something; wealth.

     "the college is very short of money"

     synonyms:

     wealth, riches, fortune, affluence, assets, liquid assets, resources, substance, means,deep pockets, prosperity "she married him for his money"

   • financial gain.

     "the main aim of a commercial organization is to make money"
   • payment for work; wages.

     "she accepted the job at the bank since the money was better"

     synonyms:

     pay, salary, wages, remuneration, fee, stipend;  rareemolument "I took the job here because the money was better"

So we get the gist, acquire wealth, riches, we need to sell and know how to sell.

There was a time that the best way to advertise was by putting your ad in a local newspaper, by hiring marketers to go round the city, by having an attractive to lure customers. They are awesome ways to get people, the issue now is, the world has moved beyond that phase. And we can’t break even if we stick to the traditional ways. Now today, what we talk about, the form of marketing expected of an entrepreneur looking to be very successful is digital and social media marketing.

The world of digital and social media marketing continues to evolve and as long as technology continues to improve, digital and social media marketing will as well. Examples of digital marketing include things like websites, emails, social media mentions, blogs, YouTube videos, and banner ads. Specifically, digital marketing is similar to traditional advertising, but using digital devices. Digital advertising is not here to abolish traditional advertising (because we do know that no matter how fast technology evolves, we have our offline people) , but to make it better and more effective.

One benefit to using digital marketing is that the results are much easier to measure; and another is that a digital campaign can reach an infinite audience. It is also possible to tailor a digital campaign to reach a local audience but it can also be used on the web and reach the entire globe when appropriate. Digital marketing is also a very interactive means of reaching an audience since it makes use of social outlets. There can be plenty of direct contact between the audience and the business which means that the business can get some very valuable consumer feedback. The major disadvantage to digital marketing in Africa I would think is the availability of internet.That however isn’t a reason to not go that route because the use of social media and web activities grows daily.

Now that we know that digital and social media marketing is essential, how about we look at the laws of social media marketing as seen here.

It's vital that you understand social media marketing fundamentals. From maximizing quality to increasing your online entry points, abiding by these 10 laws will help build a foundation that will serve your customers, your brand and -- perhaps most importantly -- your bottom line.

1. The Law of Listening

Success with social media and content marketing requires more listening and less talking. Read your target audience’s online content and join discussions to learn what’s important to them. Only then can you create content and spark conversations that add value rather than clutter to their lives.

2. The Law of Focus

It’s better to specialize than to be a jack-of-all-trades. A highly-focused social media and content marketing strategy intended to build a strong brand has a better chance for success than a broad strategy that attempts to be all things to all people.

3. The Law of Quality

Quality trumps quantity. It’s better to have 1,000 online connections who read, share and talk about your content with their own audiences than 10,000 connections who disappear after connecting with you the first time.

4. The Law of Patience

Social media and content marketing success doesn’t happen overnight. While it’s possible to catch lightning in a bottle, it’s far more likely that you’ll need to commit to the long haul to achieve results.

5. The Law of Compounding

If you publish amazing, quality content and work to build your online audience of quality followers, they’ll share it with their own audiences on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, their own blogs and more.

This sharing and discussing of your content opens new entry points for search engines like Google to find it in keyword searches. Those entry points could grow to hundreds or thousands of more potential ways for people to find you online.

6. The Law of Influence

Spend time finding the online influencers in your market who have quality audiences and are likely to be interested in your products, services and business. Connect with those people and work to build relationships with them.

If you get on their radar as an authoritative, interesting source of useful information, they might share your content with their own followers, which could put you and your business in front of a huge new audience.

7. The Law of Value

If you spend all your time on the social Web directly promoting your products and services, people will stop listening. You must add value to the conversation. Focus less on conversions and more on creating amazing content and developing relationships with online influencers. In time, those people will become a powerful catalyst for word-of-mouth marketing for your business.

8. The Law of Acknowledgment

You wouldn’t ignore someone who reaches out to you in person so don’t ignore them online. Building relationships is one of the most important parts of social media marketing success, so always acknowledge every person who reaches out to you.

9. The Law of Accessibility

Don’t publish your content and then disappear. Be available to your audience. That means you need to consistently publish content and participate in conversations. Followers online can be fickle and they won’t hesitate to replace you if you disappear for weeks or months.

10. The Law of Reciprocity

You can’t expect others to share your content and talk about you if you don’t do the same for them. So, a portion of the time you spend on social media should be focused on sharing and talking about content published by others.