The “social” part of social media took on a whole new weight in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic restricted people to small groups and away from indoor venues. That meant a switch to more social media activity online, and a shift in behaviors — some expected and some unexpected. If you manage a social media account, you may certainly feel like your wheels are spinning to move towards the right audience.
Brand accountability will remain top of mind in 2021 as issues with misinformation and public outcries will continue.
As pandemic recovery unfolds and people find their confidence to step into public spaces, brands will find the opportunities to connect virtual experiences to customer experience. The promise of dynamic immersive content bringing innovative brand value will finally emerge.
Growing your audience also means discovering conversations around your business and industry that matter the most. Making assumptions is bad news for marketers. We rely on data.
These numbers speak directly to which networks your brand should approach and what types of content to publish. Here are some key takeaways as of 2021:
A marketing plan is a strategic roadmap that businesses use to organize, execute, and track their marketing strategy over a given time period. Marketing plans can include separate marketing strategies for the various marketing teams across the company, but all of them work toward the same business goals.
A marketing plan contains one or more marketing strategies. It is the framework from which all of your marketing strategies are created, and helps you connect each strategy back to a larger marketing operation and business goal.
Identify your buyers persona. A buyer persona is a description of whom you want to attract. This can include age, sex, location, family size, job title, and more. Each buyer persona should be a direct reflection of your business’s customers and potential customers. Therefore, it’s critical that business leaders all agree on what your buyer personas are.
Plan your entire year and continue looking forward. Marketing plans can be adjusted along the way, the key is having a plan. When the pandemic of 2020 happened, those with solid marketing plans were able to pivot quickly. Must haves for every marketing plan.
Create (and curate) engaging social content. No surprises here. Your social media marketing strategy hinges on your content.
Word-of-mouth and local advertisements may be a great way to attract customers from your area. But online search can be equally impactful, if not more. In fact, Social Media Today reports that 97% of search engine users have searched online to find a local business. And 46% of all Google searches were seeking local information.
PPC is all about relevance. Users are searching for specific products, services, and information at any given time. Advertisers have the ability to show a targeted ad at the exact moment this search is occurring. For example, if a user searches for “blue running shoes,” an advertiser can show an ad speaking to “blue running shoes.”