Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.
Theodore Roosevelt
What’s the difference between branding and a campaign? Or content creation and social media? The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving, meaning there are always new puzzle pieces to fit into a comprehensive marketing strategy.
Some companies hire an expert to handle all or part of their digital marketing, like we do social media for our industrial clients (and we love it!). Others might handle all of it in-house. And others still might be interested in learning more, in order to feel that they’re taking a fully hands-on approach to their marketing.
No matter which category you fit into – or maybe it’s a different one altogether – we wanted to provide a refresher on some of these common digital marketing buzzwords.
Branding
Branding is what your company or product looks like in the eyes of your customers. As we say, “your brand is your message.” Your brand is the message that you’re sending out into the world.
Think about your own favorite brands. What images pop into your mind? More than just physical features of the product being offered, branding can also be about an emotional connection. What words do you associate with the brand? How does it make you feel? What does your association with the brand say about you as the consumer?
When you create your brand strategy, you’re breathing life into your product or business. You’re establishing its personality, its likes and dislikes, its values, and more. While other aspects of your company may change with the seasons, your branding should be less temporary. It should only become stronger and more consistent with time.
Content Creation
This one may be the biggest buzzword of the past few years. And how can it not be, given the influx of Instagram influencers who call themselves “content creators” as their job titles? Regardless of whether you find that to be superficial, content creation is very much a legitimate need for many businesses, and a crucial part of a comprehensive strategy.
Almost anything we consume is considered to be content. How-to articles, news articles, blogs, gifs, memes, social media posts, YouTube videos – that’s all content. And the point of this content is to have someone reading, watching, or interacting with it.
That’s where the need for content creation comes in. When brands are able to create meaningful content for their consumers, they’re more likely to bring that consumer to them, rather than needing to go looking for them. Good content has the ability to gain repeat visits from those consumers, and it accomplishes another important goal: building trust with the target audience.
Campaigns
Remember how during the branding section, we mentioned that some aspects of marketing are more temporary? Well, campaigns were one of those temporary things. Simply put, a campaign is generally an activity outside of your daily marketing tasks with a fixed timeframe that aims to accomplish specific goals.
Whether it’s a new product launch, a contest, or just a new perspective on the brand, campaigns generally seek to augment customer interaction with the brand, bolster brand awareness and positive impressions of the brand, and convert new leads.
One recently memorable campaign was U.S. feminine hygiene brand, Always. Using the hashtag #LikeAGirl, they got the world talking about their campaign as they endeavored to change the negative connotation of this phrase into a powerful mantra. You can learn more about how their campaign got started, and find out the numbers behind the campaign’s success.
Social Media
Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Snapchat. Pinterest. LinkedIn. YouTube. Tumblr. Reddit.
At Brieffin, we’re firm believers in the power of social media. It’s a great way for brands to magnify reach, enhance relationships, and exchange knowledge with others. But we’re on the topic of definitions today, so let’s stick to what social media actually is.
Since “social media” was added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2011, let’s see what they had to say:
social media (noun): forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)
Long definition short, it’s where users go to share content they’ve created with each other. And of course, brands entered this space long ago. There’s a lot of outreach that can be done on social media, but you have to remember: consumers want human connection.
SEO
Can you remember the last time you Googled something? (We’ll guess it was probably today.) Now, can you remember the last time you went to the 10th page of search results? What about the fifth page? The second?
And here we have in essence the importance of SEO, or search engine optimization, for your brand or business – no matter how amazing your content is, if it’s not showing up as close to the top as search results as possible, you’re not going to get the consumer engagement you want.
When you create an SEO strategy, it’s all about keeping the almighty Google in mind. Google arranges its search results with a very specific algorithm. It takes into account your keywords, but not only that – your snippets, your images, and even your site speed! Even if you have the best keywords in the world, your site won’t rank highly if it’s slow.
There are many ways you can improve your search engine optimization. From hiring a professional, to taking advantage of the tools your content management platform offers, SEO is something worth investing in.
At Brieffin, we understand that these topics can be confusing or even overwhelming, but they don’t have to be. We’re always here if you need us.
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