In earlier times, there were fewer brands and resulting fewer choices for the customers. Thus customers choose the same product repeatedly and this inertia has often been mistaken for loyalty. Presently, there exist plethora of options and customers aren’t sure which one to ignore thus creating a different conundrum. Thus to engage customers, top brands such as Apple, Starbucks, Zara and Forever 21 launch new products much before anticipated time. Starbucks for example allows customers to pre-order before collecting their coffee from the nearest store. Amazon has now moved to bricks-and-mortar store in order to capitalize on their immense digital marketing presence through online stores. Online retailers have realized the importance of physical stores and the overall shopping experience.

The traditional email as a means of digital marketing is not longer clicking. Instead marketing automation is what is giving good results these days. This entails personal engagement and content customization as per needs of present day customers. Automation also enables the entire communications by the firm to be integrated using tools such as Hootsuite or Salesforce. Though the number of leads generated is fewer, they are superior in quality than that thrown up using the older method of mass emailing. Automation even allows marketers to track revenue using data enabled business analytics.

Business research conducted by the Content Marketing Institute has identified best ways to improve the ROI on its field of specialization. First of all the entire strategy must be put in writing. This will include the target audience as well as key metrics to be tracked. Each piece of content must have attached a Call to Action (CTA). The content to be marketed must align well with the company’s brand image. Costs must be minimized in any case by initially keeping focus towards the basics. The digital marketing efforts must be targeted using social media platforms best suited between options such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Google Plus. The data analytics which will be generated will give the marketers an idea on products or services that are working best. Depending on such analysis, efforts must be made to maintain leadership positions in categories firm is doing well. The content marketing team must meet up frequently to discuss matters. Also instead of creating new content each time, one can regurgitate successful ones at periodic intervals.

Social media has emerged as one of the strongest tools to generate effective digital marketing. A study just concluded has earmarked some ways in which the same can aid the launch of new products. Clues must be released from time to time using video based teasers. Live video streaming must be employed especially as they draw out eyeballs on Periscope or Facebook.  Time bound offers must be released on Snapchat to establish connect with younger users. Brand advocates must be identified across the social media landscape as such people can become genuine cheerleaders for the brand. To do this social media can also be used to establish connect with influential bloggers. Their followers can be reached out then. All key social media pages or handles across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn etc. must mention exact product launch dates. A specific hasthtag must be created specifically for the launch event. And finally all this effort at reaching out to potential customers over social media must not be a one off for the launch, but must instead translate to long term benefits by crowd sourcing the idea for the next thing to be developed by the organization.

Source:  http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2016/04/08/social-media-matters-8-ways-social-media-can-help.html

Social media is usually considered to be a potent tool for marketers dealing with the B2C segment. However, studies have uncovered the truth that it even does well with B2B sales. The study conducted by McKinsey points out that social media is an ideal tool for companies to uncover business intelligence on competitors. When social media chats are tracked, it is clearly understood that organizations ‘talk’ about brands. Also peer and user reviews are so commonplace on social media, that positive vibe is always created for firms one way or the other. International container shipping giant Maersk Line is one such industrial player that has made great use of social media to channel digital marketing. They are using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Learning from Maersk, the correct audience needs to be identified and connected with. Direct sales pitch must never be adopted. Also social media marketing can best communicate to the wider audience regarding the concerns and objectives of the firm. And analytics must be made appropriate use of.

A CMO Survey was conducted by Duke University according to which firms are increasingly looking at integrating their digital marketing operations with the mainstream one. Social media currently occupies just a tenth of the marketing pie, but is expected to soar to around a fourth over the next four years. Majority of marketers rated their organizations at 4.2 on a scale of 7 for social media marketing preparedness. However, only a sixth confirmed that they will be able to give exact quantitative correlation between advertising spend and returns on digital side. Mobile advertising is another field where budgets are expected to more than double in just the next three years. Crucially the percentage of marketing spend on gathering of data and business analytics of the same is expected to increase by another two-thirds in three years.

Social media is proving to be an extremely useful tool for finalizing B2B sales. A studyorganized by Bain & Co. clearly demonstrates that customers are progressing in very different direction to sales processes. Instead digital marketing campaigns are providing better returns even though several organizations surveyed do not feel confident of their own capacities in the same. Thus one way to ensure this is to get associated with fellow businesses which in turn will cater to the final customers. Adobe had a similar evolution as it used to be lumped as simply a desktop publishing company. But post its acquisition of Omniture which is into business analytics, theperception has shifted towards being a content leader.