Myth Busted: Digital Marketing Is Only About Numbers
When it comes to digital marketing myths, it used to be “all about the numbers.” If your traffic and social media Likes didn’t go up, you were failing. Today, your digital marketers should be taking a more sophisticated look at your digital strategy. Numbers give us clues into what is working what isn’t, but it certainly isn’t the end-all-be-all of measuring a successful strategy. If your current agency is only looking at numbers, it may be time to look for another digital marketing company.
It’s All About The Benjamins
It’s time to step away from the emotional attachment you have to social posts. When consumers interact with your content it makes you feel great! You’ve done it! You’ve created meaningful and attractive content that caused someone to actually pause in their busy life and engage. That is no small feat and you deserve a pat on the back, but just because your audience is interacting with your posts it doesn’t necessarily mean that these actions are turning into revenue. While engagement can give you a general temperature of the digital marketing strategy, your bottom line is the only thing that can truly tell you if you need to switch it up. You may have a lot of super fans of your high-end product, but that doesn’t mean you’re reaching an audience who will drop the cash to purchase. If your revenue is increasing then that probably means you’re targeting the right audience.
Interests Change
People cycle through their likes and interests. Maybe a person in their 20’s is engaging with your liquor brand regularly, but as they age they may have kids or health issues and their focus shifts, which means that you may lose an engaged consumer. Even though you lost a consumer, chances are that you’ve gained a new generation of twenty-somethings. Your numbers have stayed the same, but your marketing strategy is still successful and reaching your target audience. This happens on a larger scale all of the time, which is why it is important to not base your value solely on a never-ending push for more fans.
You Want a Cadillac Not a Pinto When It Comes To Traffic
The over-importance of website traffic was one of the biggest digital marketing myths. If you were driving traffic, then you were doing your job. The problem is that traffic does not equal sales. Is your marketing agency taking a look at where you’re losing customers? Are they dipping out when they get to your “About” page? Or when they check out your prices? Taking a deeper look can give you more answers. Your digital marketing company may be doing a great job increasing your website traffic, but unless you’re seeing conversions and sales, they are failing in some way. It’s not enough to measure traffic, the right kind of traffic needs to be cruising through your site.
You’re Not Going to See Organic Growth From Social Media
The social media environment has changed. Algorithm changes are working against business and marketers. In a push to allow users to see less business content, business posts have all but disappeared from news feeds. Unless you’re paying for ads you’re not going to see huge results like you would in the good old days. Does that mean that you should scrap your social strategy? Not at all. It is important to be present on all platforms so that when consumers go looking, they can easily find you and see that you are present, relevant, active and easily reached. There are of course certain cases where tracking social media metrics is valuable, like a new brand or if you’re paying for ads. However, you’re not going to see organic social media growth anymore, and this is going to sound shocking, but it’s worth exploring if this is a metric you want to spend much time on.
The game has evolved, and digital marketing myths have been exposed. Consumers want to interact with brands on an intimate and authentic level. It’s not solely about metrics and growth anymore, your digital marketing team should be invested and taking a deeper look at your strategy and ROI to be impactful.