PPC (Pay-Per-Click) can take your website and traffic leads from 10% to 100% in a small space of time through visibility on the search page for keywords that are relevant to your business. This can be done in many ways but in this blog, I will provide five simple practises you can incorporate to see results in no time.
1. Keyword research and SQRS (search query reports)
Keyword research is important for your PPC account to ensure you have a higher chance of ranking higher in the SERP. You can access the search terms by clicking on Keywords and then Search Terms on the left side menu. You can see search terms at the account, campaign and ad group level. This will allow you to run an SQR between search terms and search keywords to work out which ones provide the most traffic and are specific to your brand.
Main things to take from an SQR:
New keywords – New keywords are important to compete with your competitors for the top spot on search pages.
Create negatives – It is important to add negatives as it is pretty wasteful to spend money on searches that are not related to your business if negatives are not set up properly.
2. Do A/B tests on a regular basis
An A/B test allows you to test two variations of ads against one another to determine a winner. This can test multiple things like ad copy, CTAs, landing pages and assets. When you run an A/B test, Google will serve your ads to random people with metrics at the end to show which one had more clicks, a higher CTR and bounce rate.
3. PPC Account Structure
Whether you are starting with a new PPC account or sorting out existing ones, the PPC account structure is the foundation of having an effective account. Three ways to (re)structure:
How many campaigns are there and why? – These can be reduced as it’s about quality rather than quantity
How many ads are in ad groups – Is there more or less than necessary?
Are keywords relevant or too similar to one another? – It is important to avoid similarity or keywords being irrelevant to selected ad group.
When all of this is done correctly it allows the account to become cost effective while having the ability to really home in on different areas and capture more qualified traffic that is likely to convert.
4. Demographics are just as important in PPC
One of the things that makes PPC so effective is that you can decide exactly who your ads are served to, based on demographics. Demographics that can be targeted within PPC are age, gender, income level, education, geographically and relationship status This is just important as you are able to target certain target audiences more where you see fit.
5. Optimise ads
If your ads aren’t enticing your potential site visitors, searchers aren’t going to click on them, resulting in less traffic to your site. You should ensure you continue to optimise your ads in every way possible. You can optimise and tweak your ads in the following ways:
Relevant ads can allow your ads to be higher up thus being seen by searchers more by including things like CTAs, USPs and new headlines.
Adding sitelink extensions, callout sitelinks etc can provide your ads with more information resulting in more clicks and traffic.
Changing things like this along with seasonal/promotional ad copy keeps your brand/business in line with current trends and also gives your ads the opportunity to out do competitor ads.
If you enjoyed this blog, check out our other blog to find digital marketing tools to help you excel in 2023!
Have you felt struggled trying to create an email marketing campaign? Email is a complex aspect of marketing. The landscape always changes. We have listed our top tips on how digital marketing apprentices can improve their email campaigns.
Choose the right email marketing software.
Email marketing is a powerful marketing tool, so it is important to make sure that you are using the right software to improve your marketing campaign. Email marketing software’s include tools that are able to increase your audience, segment your lists and provide reports to grow your business and earn more revenue. Below is a list of 10 free email marketing campaigns to help you save both time and money:
While the ultimate goal of email marketing is to grow your business, you need to realize that promotions are not the core of email marketing. The most important aspect of your email marketing must be to establish and nurture healthy relationships with your customers. It is these healthy relationships that will result in customers providing lifetime value and act as the driving force of your business’ growth.
A/B testing is a must.
Always test important elements in your campaigns to help you constantly improve your campaigns. A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a way of working out which of two campaign options is the most effective in terms of encouraging opens or clicks. In an A/B test you set up two variations of the one campaign and send them to a small percentage of your total recipients. Half of the test group is sent to Version A, while the other half gets Version B. The result, measured by the most opens or clicks, determines the winning version. This is then sent to the remaining subscribers.
Preview your emails before sending.
As every subscriber is important to you, using previews will help you find the optimal format and layout for different platforms. You want to avoid any mistakes in your campaign
Experiment with send times.
Experimenting with send times is a great way to get to know your audience. Try sending email campaigns at different times and see what email receives the most engagement. Over time, you should start to see patterns and be able to pinpoint what works best for your email marketing.
Have a personalised message.
Personalisation is one of the most important elements you need to strive to nail in every campaign. However, many people have misunderstood personalisation to mean addressing a subscriber by name. While that is part of it, there’s more to personalisation such as:
Being relevant
Sending timely emails
Anticipating your subscriber’s needs
Add GIFs to your email campaigns.
Adding GIFs to your email is a great way to grab your subscribers attention, point them toward an action you want them to take, or keep them scrolling to make sure they get your whole message.
Pay attention to subject lines.
Subject lines are one of the most important aspects of email marketing. The subject line of an email is the single line of text people see when they receive your email. This one line of text can often determine whether an email is opened or not, so make sure it’s optimized for your audience.
Keep on doing tests on your emails.
Testing your email campaigns is important because it ensures that your campaign looks the way you want it to. This way, you know how the campaign will display on different browsers or email clients. Furthermore, testing lets you figure out what’s working with your campaigns and what’s not.
Conclusion.
In summary, email marketing is an effective marketing method when it is done correctly. By following these tips, digital marketing apprentices will be ready to create amazing email marketing campaigns.
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Social media has become an essential tool for businesses of all sizes and industries. Not only can it be used to connect with customers and promote products or services, but it can also provide valuable insights into industry trends and consumer behavior. By keeping an eye on social media trends, businesses can improve their marketing strategies, product development, and overall operations.
New trends can be found across all social media
Where to start
One way that businesses can use social media trends to improve their operations is by monitoring customer sentiment. Social media platforms provide an unprecedented level of access to customer feedback, and businesses can use this data to gain insights into what their customers are saying about their products or services. By monitoring sentiment on social media platforms, businesses can identify areas where they need to improve and make changes accordingly.
Another way that businesses can use social media trends to improve their operations is by identifying new opportunities. Social media platforms are constantly evolving, and new features and functionalities are added regularly. By keeping an eye on new developments, businesses can identify new opportunities to reach their target audience or improve their products or services. For example, the rise of video content on social media platforms has led to an increase in the use of video in marketing campaigns, which can be a powerful way to reach and engage with customers.
Social media trends can also be used to improve business marketing strategies. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat are all popular among younger audiences, and businesses can use these platforms to reach these audiences with targeted marketing campaigns. Additionally, social media analytics tools can be used to track the performance of marketing campaigns and identify which strategies are most effective.
Stay up to date
Social media analytics
Businesses can also use social media trends to improve their products and services. By monitoring conversations on social media platforms, businesses can identify areas where their products or services are falling short or where there is a gap in the market. This information can then be used to inform product development or to identify opportunities to expand into new markets.
Social media trends can also be used to improve customer service. Many customers now turn to social media platforms to voice their complaints or ask for help. By monitoring social media platforms, businesses can identify issues and respond to them quickly, preventing negative sentiment from spreading.
Always keep monitoring your platforms
However, it is important to keep in mind that social media trends are constantly evolving, and what works today may not work tomorrow. Businesses need to be proactive in monitoring and adapting to these trends in order to stay ahead of the curve. This requires dedicating resources to social media monitoring, such as hiring a social media specialist or investing in analytics tools.
In conclusion, social media trends can be a valuable tool for businesses looking to improve their operations, marketing strategies, products, and services. By keeping an eye on social media trends, businesses can gain valuable insights into customer sentiment, identify new opportunities, and make data-driven decisions. However, businesses need to be proactive in monitoring and adapting to these trends in order to stay ahead of the curve. With the right approach, social media can be an invaluable resource for businesses looking to improve their bottom line.
Head to ApprentceTips.com to find more useful articles, and apply to our level 3 marketing apprenticeship to kick start your career.
Have you felt overwhelmed trying to create and send an email marketing campaign? When it comes to email marketing, there are a lot of elements to consider. We’ve listed eight of our top tips on how digital marketer apprentices can improve email marketing campaigns…
Get personal
With email marketing continuing to be an effective way to
communicate with target audiences, a great way to stand out amongst the crowd is
by personalising your email campaigns. Including someone’s name in a subject
line or the preview copy can help to grab people’s attention and ultimately get
someone to open your email.
Pay attention to subject lines
In addition to testing personalisation, it’s also essential
to pay close attention to the subject lines of your email campaigns. As mentioned
previously, there’s a lot of competition among people’s email inboxes, so it’s
important to write a subject line that will be eye-catching and engaging. Make
sure to keep them short and sweet!
Give A/B testing a go
A great way to find out more about your audience is by giving
A/B testing a go. A/B testing (also known as split testing) is when you create
two variations of one email campaign and send them to a small percentage of
your email list. Half of the test group gets sent Version A, and the other half
of the group gets sent Version B. The winning email is then determined by identifying
which one receives either the most opens or clicks. A/B testing can help you better
understand your audience and the type of emails they engage with most.
Try adding GIFs to your email
Using GIFs in your email campaigns can really help attract people’s attention and consequently improve engagement. Just remember to make sure they are the correct size to ensure they display correctly in recipients’ inboxes. Canvais a great digital tool to utilise when it comes to making creative GIFs.
Optimise your emails for mobile
Optimising your emails for mobile is another important top tip for digital marketer apprentices. Now that such a high percentage of people usually view emails on their phone, it’s more important than ever to make sure your emails are designed for both mobile and desktop views.
Experiment with send times
Another way to learn more about your audience is by
experimenting with send times. Try sending email campaigns at different times
and see what email receives the most engagement. Over time, you should start to
see patterns and be able to pinpoint what works best for your email marketing.
Preview and test your emails before sending
This is probably the most important tip we can give! Do not
forget to preview and test your emails before sending. The last thing you want
to happen is a typo or the wrong image in your email campaign…
Monitor your email marketing performance
And last but certainly not least, make sure to always
monitor and review your email marketing performance. The best way to learn
about the success of your email campaigns and audience is to track and analyse their
performance. Pay particularly close attention to your open rate, click-through
rate, and unsubscribe rate as these metrics will indicate whether people are reading
and engaging with your emails.
Conclusion
To summarise, email marketing can be an incredibly effective
way to communicate with audiences. By following these top tips, digital marketer
apprentices will be more than ready to create amazing email marketing campaigns.
For more advice and support for digital marketer apprentices, take a look at some of our other posts here.
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Social media is a powerful tool, so why not use it to your advantage? As a digital marketing apprentice social media should be one of your most trusted tools when it comes to marketing. Many people can use social media to shop, learn and discover new brands or trends.
Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing that gives a business of any size the power to achieve its goals. It requires thought, measurable and achievable goals and a content or strategy plan. These goals could include:
Engagement, monitoring the number of followers, likes and shares
Reputation and brand awareness through responding to comments, enquires and questions
Posting content such as videos and pictures within a specific time frame
Reaching as many audiences and people as possible
This type of marketing can be organic or paid. Paid social media would include advertising and paying for your product, service or business to appear in someones feed to allow you to target a larger amount of users. As a digital marketing apprentice you will cover many aspects of paid social campaigns as well as content planning, influence marketing and content creation.
Benefits of Social Media Marketing
There are many advantages to using social media, and as an apprentice it is your job to determine when it is appropriate to use social media and why. How will it benefit you and your organisation? Here are a few reasons:
It increases brand awareness
Creates stronger relationship between your organisation and your viewers
Traffic: Driving traffic to your main website is a great use of social media
You are relatable. When you can connect with your viewers, you become more human to them.
Conclusion
Digital Marketers have the power to change the marketing world from their finger tips. You can do the same through a digital marketing apprenticeship. Read more about Digital Marketing Apprenticeships.
With a such a vast variety of marketing tactics to use. Why
do we bring up email marketing?
To start off email marketing is a way of keeping in touch
with your clients. Customers tend to have to use their email to purchase a
product or service, which gives you access to advertise to them regularly via
their email.
Some people believe that email marketing is a thing of the past. But it could be the future of marketing for businesses. Simply because people use email to access offers and discounts. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach and engage with a large audience and is a great way to retain strong customer relationships.
The Importance of Email Marketing within Digital Marketing
There’s a good chance only a handful of people don’t have emails. Both older and younger generations all need emails to sign up for discounts, create an account or apply for newsletters. From 2019, over half the world’s population have been using email and is expected to increase by more than 4.3 billion by 2023. The mean average of the UK population who uses email between ages 15-64 with 85% percent of UK adults using email to send and receive emails daily.
This presents a great opportunity for your business to reach
an even bigger audience. By using email marketing as a part of your digital
marketing strategy your business can improve visibility and improve your
digital strategy. Email marketing can also specifically target people and
allows you to create more personalised messaging based on each customer’s
action. This could be whether they’ve abandoned a cart or there’s a flash sale
on their favourite shirt. Segmenting your audience and understanding customer
relationship marketing ensures you’re giving each customer the right leads to
what they want as well as giving insightful information that will grab their
eye every time, they look at their emails.
If you haven’t started email marketing, we highly suggest you do as your competitors probably are. If you want to remain competitive, you need to start reaching out to your audience.
Why are Emails Good to use for Marketing?
It’s Personal: Customers like being seen, heard, and acknowledged. Personal emails can increase revenue by as much as 760%. Having a more personal direct email to your customers is a marketer’s secret weapon. Giving your customers this added touch can help build relationships and therefore gain more trust leading to more sales for your product. This keeps a healthy customer lifecycle by being more personal so the customer feels seen and is more likely to purchase items and/or services from your business.
It’s Cost Effective:Setting up email marketing is extremely cost effective. According to an American study, for every $1 spent on email marketing, you receive $36meaning it has a conversion rate of 2.3%. You can decide how much you want to spend on your marketing whether that’s hiring an email specialist and/or graphic designer or simply doing it yourself.
Reach a Vast Audience: Having an active email address is mandatory for an account on any digital platform. Purchasing goods on any website tends to require an email address of some sort. Research shows that 61% of customers choose email as their preference to hear from brands. If the customer agrees to receiving emails, you will be able to automatically advertise what’s currently on offer with your business and/or service.
With Email Marketing, you can greatly improve your SEO due to it driving traffic to your website and increasing conversions. Gaining relevant traffic via emails means you get a lower bounce rate which positively effects your website quality score.
Mobile Customers and Email Marketing
Seeing as over 50% of users are on mobile devices, you
cannot ignore mobile marketing strategies. Businesses need to find a quick
efficient way of interacting with mobile consumers if they want to compete with
other competitors. Two-thirds of emails are being read via phone or tablet
which seems like a lot but how many times do you check your phone for emails or
other messages?
To ensure that email messages work well on mobile you will
need to create content with a responsive design: providing subscribers with the
option to view images and videos. Any imported content like images and video
must be small so they are quick to load.
Keeping your emails concise, (or the KISS method – Keep It
Simple Stupid) links that can be accessed and having those lead pages be mobile
friendly will all lead to having higher change of having a conversion from the
customer.
Automating Emails
Email automation is the only digital marketing strategy that
can be automated successfully. Automating emails helps to improve relevancy on
your campaigns. Let’s say a user visits your site and looks at different items
to add to their cart. They then leave without purchasing but now there’s an
abandoned cart. With automation emails, an email can get sent to them after the
cart has been left for a few days to remind the user that there’s items still
in their cart. This will therefore give a chance of higher conversion rate.
Email marketing turns a possible missed opportunity into a strong relationship and then eventually making a sale. Creating automated emails means there’s no need to waste time or money trying to reach out to them. Emails are viewed between 6am-10am on average, so you don’t need to wait around for that peak time instead, automated emails do that for you as well.
Interactive Email Marketing
With a more interactive email marketing campaign, the higher chance it will gain appeal and response to various target market groups. Providing interactive content straight to inboxes not only keeps the user engaged but also is more cost effective than other marketing tactics. These forms of interactions could be video content, email carousels or a mini poll. Having interaction means you can also integrate other channels into your digital marketing strategy. This could be sharing the content in the email to help boost your social media networks.
You Can Measure Your Email Marketing
The only way to know if your strategy is working is
measuring the results. Email marketing is efficient because its metrics are
easy to track and measure over time. So therefore, you always know where to
improve on it and where to add and remove aspects of content. With email
marketing analytics you as a business can see which users opened emails, who
clicked on linked and who made conversions.
This information is valuable as you can build a strategy to see where you need adjustments and improvements. With the right software, you can run A/B tests which allows to see which elements provide the best results.
How to get Started with Email Marketing
Choose Your Email Service Provider (ESP)
To start your email marketing campaigns you will need an ESP to help you to create and store your subscriber lists, templates and provide your insights. There are a variety to choose from but choosing the right one is important to optimise your email’s deliverability.
Building an Email List
Most ESPs will create a subscription form embedded on your website. One of the easiest ways to drive sign-ups is by creating an action or incentive for example, ‘Get a discount on our services when you sign up your email’. The quality of your leads if crucial in your capture phase. If you are actively recruiting people who are in the market for your brand, it’s going to be much easier to get your message across.
Define Your Goals and Messages
Email marketing can deliver a vast variety out outcomes, whether it’s discount codes, reminding a cart has been abandoned or nurturing new leads; before constructing your email, make sure you understand which objective you’re focusing on and who you’re focusing it to.
Craft an Engaging Email
Your subject line and preheader will essentially be your
advertising point. It will determine whether your email gets opened among all
the others. Making them strong and engaging can get people to click onto it and
to read further if it had information that would benefit them. Making an email
have a call to action is what all emails should aim for. For example, giving a
discount code or a discounted flight they can book for or going back to their
abandoned checkout. Don’t waste time writing huge bodies of text, get it so it
keeps them engaged the whole way through, so they follow whatever action needs
to be completed.
When starting your career in digital marketing, there are a number of tools and software available to use that can feel overwhelming. From time management to SEO guidance there are many tools to help you develop in your role. With my experience being a digital marketer, I have gathered some free tools below to help get you started.
Canva
An essential tool for a role as a digital marketer, is Canva, a one-stop shop for all your graphic design needs. Canva allows you to create anything from social media content to website banners and even provides templates to help you do so. Beginning to create content independently can seem intimidating and starting is often the hardest part. But Canva is able to take this difficulty away showing inspiration from previous creators and the drag-and-drop feature makes the experience seamless.
Google Keyword Planner
Knowing which keywords to target when creating SEO content, such as google ads, blogs, or product pages can seem like an impossible task. However, Google keyword planner is happy to help. This free tool allows you to discover new keywords related to your business or industry and offers estimates of the number of times they were searched. Lastly, the keyword planner also tells you how much it costs to target them. This free digital marketing tool is fantastic for all digital marketers who are looking for short and long-tail keywords.
SEO Search Engine Optimization Internet Digital Concept
Unsplash
Understanding
licensing rules and adhering to them is a key part of digital marketing to
ensure you avoid any copyright claims against you. Unsplash is a website that
holds over 1,000,000 royalty-free images; that you can download for free. Not
only are the images royalty free but they are also high quality, and you can
download them in small, medium, and large file sizes. Using stock images is a
great way to advance your social media and website content to create engaging
content.
In
comparison to other image-sourcing websites, Unsplash comes out on top largely
because of the price. Other sites such as Shutterstock and Adobe Stock, are
much higher in price and limit the number of downloads each user can have, not
forgetting to mention the images can be of much lower quality. Overall, with my
experience, I believe that Unsplash is an essential tool for a digital
marketing professional.
CapCut
Creating engaging short-form video content is a crucial part of a digital marketing role. Due to the increase in the popularity of video due to platforms like TikTok and Instagram. CapCut is a multi-purpose video editor that takes away the complex process of editing, so is the perfect tool for up-and-coming professionals. Something that sets CapCut apart from other video editors is that you can extract audio. Take a trending sound from Instagram and import the video into CapCut, simply click extract audio and here you have a cheat sheet to create perfectly timed transitions and effects.
Notion
Digital marketers don’t like to be confined to boxes and are free-thinking, multi-faceted individuals. As a digital marketer whether you are in a company or as an agent, it is a holistic role that requires you to juggle various campaigns and projects. Notion is a simple but complex software used by many industry professionals to help organise notes and knowledge. Planning and organising are important factors in a digital marketing career and Notion can improve efficiency and productivity within various roles.
Also, you can customise your notion dashboard to suit any style of working, whether that be creative or methodical. Simply import your notes and to-do lists and from here you can begin to create your Notion dashboard.
Conclusion of Free Digital Marketing Tools
With a range of free digital marketing tools readily available it is crucial to know which ones will help develop your skills. These 5 free digital marketing tools will help you to achieve your best now and in the future as software advances and trends change. To conclude, knowing what tools will aid your development and progression is key to creating successful strategies and campaigns.
Make sure to follow us on socials @apprenticetips to stay up to date with all the current digital marketing trends and advancements.
Launched in September 2016, TikTok has quickly gained a massive following with approximately 30 million daily users. What originally started as an app for lip syncing popular songs and creating viral dances has turned into something so much bigger. Now TikTok is a create place for businesses to promote their services and products due to the app’s ad spaces, collaborations with popular creators, and ever-growing trends. Thanks to this app, a lot of smaller businesses have received clicks to their site and sold products due to customer reviews on the popular app. A great promotion place for companies of all sizes.
Company branding
When people visit your profile, you want to ensure that it is on brand. Match your theme and style to your website so you are instantly recognisable. First up, is your profile picture. A great idea for this is to use your company logo. This may need some slight redesigning as the TikTok profile picture, much like many other social media platforms is a circle. Therefore, if your website logo is rectangular, this should be edited to fit the shape so your who logo or name is on show.
Next up, is your bio. For this, you may have a company slogan. However, if you don’t we recommend you write a brief sentence or two about your company – the services or products that they offer – within about 80 characters in order to keep it short and sweet. Underneath your bio, there is also a space where you can add a link. For this, you could link your home page as the landing page. There is also another space where you can link your other social medias profiles – which will increase your engagement across all platforms.
Create the correct content
While still maintaining your company branding, you want to ensure that the content that you create is interesting and fun in order to maintain users’ attention, receive more likes and comments, and gain more of a following. A great way to do this is to ensure that your videos are not solely ads or in an ad format. Make videos trying out your products or showing the services that you offer – possibly working with popular content creators who already have a following to promote your brand. For example, if you’re a makeup company, send PR packages to content creators who will review your products in videos.
Another top tip for creating videos is to make them enticing. Add TikTok’s text feature and ensure that it is bright, colourful, and has a good tagline that will draw in users to continue watching your video. Another popular feature is the text-to-speech, which reads out your text in an AI voice, immediately grabbing user;s attention due to its popularity.
Keep up with current trends
An easy way to get your videos onto people’s ‘For You Page’ is to follow what is trending. On the sound selection, there is a section that features the most popular songs. It is a great idea to keep up with these as user’s feeds can show videos with a certain sound due to them watching and liking other’s videos with that sound or using it themselves.
If you want to use filters on your videos, like Ryan Air and Duolingo – two of the most followed companies on TikTok – this is another way to reach user’s feeds as, much like the sounds, videos with their favourite or most watched filters will continue to pop up as they scroll.
Finally, it is also a good idea to keep up with popular hashtags. We recommend you create your own tags, so users can reach you easily, as well as adding related hashtags to your business. It is also suggested to include well-used hashtags based on the current trend you are participating in or what is trending on the FYP.
If you want to start a lucrative, versatile career with lots of transferable skills and exciting job opportunities – a career in social media marketing is a promising route to pursue. This article will cover social media marketing as a career and the do’s and don’ts to follow if you’d like to move into the industry.
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing is a type of marketing and advertising that is carried out through digital communications only in order to sell or promote a product or service. Social media marketing can be split into two parts, organic and paid. Each with their different strategies for growth, tools and platforms that can be used. An example of an organic social media marketing tactic could be a short-form content strategy. On the paid side, an example could be a Facebook ad campaign.
Companies across lots of industries in multiple sectors use social media marketing tactics to provide leads and boost revenue. In light of the recent boost in the use of digital tools, apps and services, lots of companies notably in the tech industry are in need of a new generation of social media marketers Gen Z and millennial audience knowledge of references and trends to market their products.
A variety of specialisms in social media marketing are currently on the rise including short-form content marketing and virtual reality marketing. After gaining work experience in one or multiple social media marketing specialisms, it’s possible to transfer to different industries and access a variety of working roles with competitive salaries.
DO: Keep up with current trends
Social media is constantly changing. The most popular apps and the trends and styles of posting on each can change weekly or even daily in the short-form video space. Social media apps like Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat are constantly releasing new features that social media marketers can use to their advantage so keeping up to date with these is essential for long-term success.
DON’T: Dismiss new apps and tools in the early stages
With TikTok’s recent boom, it’s now one of the most visited apps globally with a user base of 1 billion. 5 years ago, TikTok was practically unknown amongst professional industries and branded as a children’s dancing app. Now companies are rushing to hire social media marketers and TikTok experts to succeed on the successful platform.
DO: Start building your own presence online
Although not essential to land a role in social media marketing, if you’re applying for your first role especially an online presence will help tremendously. A following online on a personal account acts almost as a portfolio that job applicants can show to employers, physically proving they’ve got the marketing skills to create a successful social media profile and maintain it over time. Perhaps in your spare time you’re a fabulous cook or a fashion mogul, whatever it is there’s a space for you on social media to build a following and hone your craft.
If you don’t have this or don’t want to appear in front of cam, you could create a portfolio of social media strategies and post examples that you’ve planned/ designed yourself.
DON’T: Niche down too much into one area
It’s great if you’re an expert in a niche field like short-form or B2B social media platforms like LinkedIn, but try and broaden your horizons as much as you can. To echo above, social media trends are always changing and what’s successful and popular now can change quickly. In order to keep progressing your career and going for promotions, get familiar with as many social media platforms and styles of content as you can so you’re prepared to showcase a broad skill-set when you need to.
DO: Embrace creativity
Employers are looking for creative and dynamic social media managers, execs, specialists and even entire teams to transform their social media strategies. Stand out from the crowd by getting creative and pushing yourself to try new things. Perhaps it’s an out-there trend or a new video style, keep evolving your style and embracing big ideas.
DO: Consider getting started with an apprenticeship
If you’re looking to transition into the social media marketing space, a great place to start could be a digital marketing apprenticeship. Across the UK, lots of companies are offering Level 3 digital marketing apprenticeship courses – allowing apprentices to learn on the job and gain a qualification at the same time. Level 3 digital marketing courses cover a broad range of digital marketing techniques over 18 months – including an essential module on social media marketing allowing apprentices to build on a broad range of digital marketing must-have skills. Having the chance to learn and implement social media strategies in real-time in a real workplace is a fantastic chance to hone your craft and gain invaluable work experience needed to progress in the industry.
A career in social media marketing is an exciting prospect and one that is achievable and accessible with some practical experience and passion for what you do. For more information on social media marketing, click here
Key Performance Indicators are something that all marketers should know about, as these metrics can take your business to the next level. To keep it simple, Key KPIs support you to come up with strategic plans, operational improvement and reaching targets for your business.
Examples of Key KPIs that can influence your business
Sales focused KPIs:
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): This KPI represents the total amount of money that a customer is expected to spend on your products over the entire business relationship.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): This KPI represents the total sales and marketing cost required to land a new customer. By comparing CPA to CLV, businesses can measure the effectiveness of their customer acquisition efforts
Traffic focused KPIs:
Social Media Traffic: This KPI similarly tracks the views, follows, likes, retweets, shares, or other measurable interactions between customers and the company’s social media profiles.
Clickthrough Rate (CTR): This KPI measures the number of specific clicks that are performed on social post or email distributions. For example, certain programs may track how many customers opened a social post or email distribution, clicked on a link, and followed through with a sale.
Bounce Rate: This KPI calculates the percentage of visits to a web page, where users don’t interact and immediately exit the web page. This can be a good indicator to work out if your home page is engaging enough to keep users interacting on site.
Email Marketing Campaign KPIs:
Email OR (Open Rate): This KPI highlights how many users have opened your targeted email, compared to those who have not interacted. If the OR was poor, a business may look to improve their subject line and pre header for example to entice users to open their email next time.
Email UOR (Unique Open Rate): Your unique open rate tracks the number of individual users who open your email. The difference between OR and UOR, is if one of your customers opens the same email three times, it only counts as one unique open so this can seen as a more accurate approach
Email Delivery Rate: Email deliverability rate tracks the number of emails successfully sent to a recipient’s inbox.
What KPIs you should select:
For example, if you’re running a brand campaign one of your key objectives would be reach and awareness which relates to the traffic KPIs listed above. This is because if you want users to be aware of your content, you will need to work out how to achieve Social Media Traffic, CTR and a low bounce rate.
On the other hand, you may be running a specific Email Marketing Campaign and your goal could be to ensure that your EM (email) is delivered to all targeted users. Once you have a clear understanding of your Email Delivery Rate, you can then set realistic goals across the board for your EM campaign. This could be looking deeper in OR and UOR and setting realistic targets.
Conclusion
You should now have a much broader understanding on how KPIs help your business to understand if the strategy is working or may need tweaking. We can also agree that without KPIs, businesses cannot find what is working well and which process requires improvement. Therefore, it’s also clear that having structed KPIs can motivate your employees. This is because by setting targets and measuring progress, KPIs can help to keep employees focused and motivated.
