Living in the digital age the marketing industry now relies on social media more than ever before to create exposure for businesses. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other online platform; it is essential than any business has some kind of online presence.
According to Hubspot, 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% claiming that their efforts increased traffic to their website. This is also backed up statistics researched by Social Media Examiner, who found that 97% of marketers are currently participating in social media, but 85% aren’t sure what social media tools to use.
There is no doubt that online marketing can hugely benefit not only your online presence in becoming an industry leader, but the potential for generating an increase in sales.
Some of the benefits of increasing brand awareness include:
- Increase in word-of-mouth marketing
- Ensuring that your brand is competitive amongst similar businesses
- Increase in customer loyalty
- Increase in sales and a positive ROI from your marketing efforts
It can be argued that the increase in online marketing has led to a decrease in face-to-face marketing. Traditional advertising can now be combined with your online efforts to generate an interest to a wider audience.
Events are becoming an increasingly important method of blending together offline and online marketing strategies. This may be a careers fair, knowledge workshops, blogger events, business exhibitions or even sponsoring a charity event.
UK footwear chain Wynsors World of Shoes were invited down to a multi-brand event in London held by marketing firm Search Laboratory. Wynsors held their own stall amongst many other fashion brands and some of the UK’s best fashion bloggers were invited to talk part in a social event, including competitions and giveaways.
Social media was a big factor in the success of the event, in which each invited blogger publicised the #SLBloggerBash hashtag. This opened the opportunity for interaction with bloggers, as well as a wider audience.
Another great example is the Lumiere Festival, in which hundreds of local businesses in the North East of England sponsored the event. Although this is very different from the blogger event, it highlights how offline and online marketing strategies can be combined.
This type of event encompasses the benefits of newspaper coverage, website coverage as well as creating potential sales opportunities for the future. It is more indirect and less face-to-face than a blogger event, but it is essential to make your participation memorable by using more creative methods. Attendees can witness the product in action
The businesses can then use the event to generate content in the run-up, during the event and after. According to statistics in the annual social media report by Social Media Examiner, marketers explained that there digital marketing strategies are constantly evolving. It was found that they plan on increasing their use of blogging by 68%, YouTube (67%), Twitter (67%) and Facebook (64%).
These statistics highlight an increasing trend in blending together online and offline marketing practices in an attempt to maximise coverage. Whilst digital is the number one priority, it is essential that you maintain a face-to-face presence with your audience and customers.
Have you been involved in any events for marketing? Comment and tell us about how you combined social media with an event!
from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1B6l7GA via increase website traffic
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