Metrics That Matter to Your Online Marketing Campaigns

How do you gauge if you a have successful website or social media campaign? You are consistently doing a daily post and updating your website regularly but how do you measure success? How will you know if your online marketing strategy is on the right track? Pay attention to your consultant’s updates on task status, but don’t stop there. Ask questions, seek to fully understand, and delve into the crucial data.

Start with a goal and strategy in mind. What do you aim to achieve and how will you make it happen on a day-to-day basis? Lay down the metrics that will define your efforts.

Take a moment to identify your Key Performance Indicator (KPI) so you don’t get lost in limbo with your digital marketing efforts. KPI is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a business is achieving its objectives. It is used to evaluate success at reaching targets.

Perhaps increase in the following areas for your social media stats:

• Number of fans/followers
• Number of impressions and reach
• Engagement rate/number of shares, reactions, and comments
• Click-Through Rate (CTR)
• Number of social media inquiries
• Number of clicks sent to the website (c/o Google Analytics)

Facebook has a “focused with your objective” paid advertising capability and good to run it with proper targeting (age bracket, locations, interest, demographics, etc.) to align with your set goals (brand awareness, event attendance, foot traffic, send message).

Take advantage of the “send message” feature when posting on Facebook, this has an opportunity to give you a lot of hits if properly implemented. If one of your goals is to get social media inquiries via messenger then boosting this post has a good possibility to deliver a result. Understand the insights it generates and improve from there.

While your website is a major gateway for conversations and conversions, its creation should align with your overall goals. Your website needs to generate quality leads through your contact forms and sales page.

Take a look at these factors:

• Monthly site visitors
• Average session duration
• Bounce rate – the percentage of visitors who navigate away after viewing single page.
• Traffic source – find out where you get the traffic (Google, social media, referrals, direct, etc.)
• Behavior – learn how visitors navigate through the site (what are the pages visited the most?)
• Number of relevant inquiries
• Number of people who subscribed to the form

You can monitor all these items and even add more reports to study depending on your set criteria via Google Analytics or gather auto-generated insight from your Content Management Software like Wix. Google Analytics is a free platform and generates site activities to help marketers improve their website.

This may sound like jargon at first, but you’ll definitely get used to it as you learn from your actual data and improve your strategy backed by insights. The initiative has the potential to enhance results.

If you have any questions about evaluating and improving your metrics, and you have the desire to learn along the way, feel free to send me an email.

What to Consider When Hiring an Online Marketing Consultant in the Philippines

According to Digital Reportal, there are now 5.45 billion* internet users in the world as of July 2024 and the number is rising rapidly every year. This means that brands can now reach more people via digital marketing. In the Philippines alone, there are 85.16 million** Filipinos using the net and 84.45 million** are social media users.

Companies should collaborate with their marketing teams to effectively leverage digital platforms. Creating a Facebook page is a good start, but it’s just the beginning of a long journey on the internet, alongside your website and other available tools.

But how to streamline the strategy? How to pin which of the many channels will work for your business? How to integrate this new opportunity into your overall campaign? And what are the specific steps needed to achieve the set goals (e.g. increase of online inquiries leading to higher sales)?

If you and your team are somewhat clueless about how to answer these questions, then it’s a clear signal that now is the time to consider working with a digital marketing consultant. Before hiring someone, consider these five factors:

Core Expertise – Online marketing is vast so make sure to check his core knowledge.  If you aim for your website to rank on the first page of Google, hire a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialist rather than a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) expert. If you are hiring a social media content manager, try to review his writing and design skills, as this is vital for your content creation and community engagement. Can he deliver the set goals?

Conversion Background – Request him to share the actual results of his work and clarify when the campaign was implemented. Digital marketing campaigns from five years ago are different from today’s strategies, so it’s important to determine when the success occurred and what is his current milestones. Be alert for overpromises and a hyperbole of triumphs. Do your own research.

Trainings Attended – For the most part, the digital landscape is changing faster than we can learn it. What a consultant knew last year may be totally different from how it is today, so it is vital that he stays on top of these changes by constantly learning from relevant resources. Check out the conferences or seminars he has participated in, as this shows his willingness to remain at the top of her game.

Running Rate – As in all industries, fees vary depending on the person’s profile. Know your job requirements and try to be realistic when bargaining rates. If you drop the price too low, you might push away good consultants and end up with someone who is just available (and there will be a lot) but perhaps lacks a solid background. You get what you pay for, as they say.

Professional Attitude – Is he easy to work with? Trustworthy? Approachable? Will he be honest with the reporting and not taint data for his own benefit? Would he be patient and eager to walk you through the jargon? It won’t hurt to find out what his former clients and colleagues are saying about him. A proven consultant would organically earn positive feedback and authentic testimonials to validate his quality output.

The person you work with must bridge the gap between your current business state and the vast network of online marketing opportunities that can boost your company’s growth. They will set the digital pace and drive your success.

Source:

* Digital Around the World — DataReportal – Global Digital Insights

** Digital 2023: The Philippines — DataReportal – Global Digital Insights

REAP Your Social Media Campaign

Creating social media profiles for business comes with a multitude of motivations, yet it’s crucial that our goals are not siloed. A cohesive digital marketing strategy should be employed, one that encompasses and effectively integrates all our objectives.

Facebook fan page isn’t merely a sales platform, nor is it just a showcase of our company’s excellence or the day-to-day activities. As we craft our content strategy, let’s ensure it’s comprehensive—reflecting the REAP principles to engage and grow our audience effectively.

Relationship – Create a message that is human. Make real connections. Your community will feel your honesty by reading the posts you make or by the tone of your reply including how frequent you answer private messages and comments.

Engagement – Build engagement around posts that tickle the interest of your fans. Monitor your likes, shares, and comments, discern the pattern of what is engaging, and bank on it. What kind of materials do we need to post? Original videos and photos of people from the company have higher chances of engaging!

Awareness – Make your product or service known. Moreso, become the top-of-mind brand of your industry. On this part, it’s acceptable to sporadically highlight your product or subtly promote your accomplishments, provided that it is executed with moderation.

Captivate your audience with the remarkable aspects of your brand, draw them in BUT make sure the content is real and not make-believe.

Promotion – Engage your community and spark their interest in your offerings. Extend your reach beyond just fans to capture a wider audience and enhance your conversion goals—be it encouraging visits to your website, driving sales, initiating private messages, making calls, soliciting resumes, or increasing video views. While standard posts have their limits, investing in a targeted advertising campaign can significantly broaden your message’s impact and visibility.

Enjoy creating your content but balance that enthusiasm with a keen eye on the technical aspects. Keep a close watch on your analytics and remain open to adjusting your strategy based on what the data indicates. For inquiries on how to implement REAP in your business, just send a message.

Begin Your Digital Marketing Campaign with these Strategies

Online selling in the Philippines thrived during the pandemic, and many entrepreneurs continue their businesses post-pandemic. Local, homemade, and bespoke items have been introduced in the market and digital marketing has undoubtedly played a huge part to amplify these products

Here are some battle-tested strategies to consider:

Start with your own connections

Jumpstart your marketing initiative with family and friends plus your own Facebook connections. Word of mouth and organic (not paid) honest review can help create initial buzz for your business. Not everyone will buy at once but other than thinking of the immediate “purchase”, we can also consider “brand awareness” at this stage; people will have you on mind the moment they wish to hit the buying button.

Create social media pages

Other than your personal profile, try creating a social media page to stretch your product reach. Although the common challenge in managing a fanpage is consistency. Some people post the first week but tend to forget the task later on. On occasion, you may also run a targeted send message, post engagement, and page like advertisements. FB and IG ads are affordable promotion to explore. Depends on the targeting and industry, you can get 10 to 30+ inquiries for Php1,000. Create valuable content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. This can include blog posts, videos, infographics, and related memes.

Join local online groups and communities

There are tons of “online buyers and sellers” communities with the goal of helping each other get the best deal and achieve a win-win scenario. Members who are inquiring have already passed your awareness campaign and have walk into the possibility of purchase so make sure to politely answer all relevant inquiries. 

Explore FB Marketplace

There are many sellers making use of this platform to reach the local market for free. Check for possible conversions since traffic here already signals their interest to buy.

Tap Online Influencers

If you have friends or colleagues who are influencers, send them your sample product and request them to feature it on their page or give a review. They will not always ask for payment as many would gladly do the endorsement for free especially if they genuinely enjoy the item. Collaborate with influencers in your industry to promote your product. Influencers can provide authentic reviews and reach a larger audience that trusts their recommendations.

Get a Website

If there is a budget for a website then do so. It may not come as a priority for small entrepreneurs but this is beneficial if you see your business to continue in the long run. Website becomes your online portfolio and ideal tool to strengthen online presence with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) included in your campaign strategy. Additional must-have for your website: mobile-friendly, easy to navigate, fast-loading, forms to fill are working, and equipped with clear calls to action (CTAs).

Push Email Marketing

Make use of your current database. Build and maintain an email list of interested customers. Send them regular newsletters with updates, offers, and valuable content. Personalize your emails to increase engagement and conversion rates. I would recommend a once-a-month email blast to keep you top of mind, but not more than two emails sent in one week, as this could be seen as annoying and eventually cause your emails to be marked as spam.

Monitor and Analyze Your Insights

Use analytics tools to track the performance of your marketing campaigns. Monitor key metrics such as traffic, conversion rates, engagement, and ROI. Regularly analyzing these metrics helps you understand what’s working and where improvements are needed.

Digital marketing is an ever-evolving field. Stay updated with the latest trends and technologies to keep your strategies relevant and effective. Build trust with your target market along with an excellent product so you can stand out from the competition.

Onboarding Stages with a New Client in Digital Marketing

When starting to onboard with a client, it is a must that each member of the team understands the purpose of the digital marketing project.

Everyone needs to have a clear grasp of the goals, along with their respective roles, to achieve success. No one should be left in the dark. Here are five stages on how to smoothly establish momentum when working with a new team.

Review the online assets – Find out what needs to be improved on their website, social media, and other existing digital footprint. Identify what initiative is working and how it can be better. Draft your initial recommendation.

Conduct a kick-off meeting – It is necessary to see the point-of-view of the client and his staff. Align the expectations. As you walk them with your analysis regarding their online presence, try to also listen and dive into their thoughts and business experiences. Understand how they define their achievements and how they manage the challenges. Sift through the pain points. Know who’s doing what. Ask questions.

Present the strategy plan – Be more creative, show more visuals, and lay down the numbers on your deck. Explain the metrics and why it is important. How onpage optimization can help increase website inquiry? Why boosting a post is necessary to get more private messages?  Welcome the inputs and tweak the campaign as you see fit.

Create a realistic timeline – Don’t over promise or commit to rank them on search engines in less than a month. Knowing the schedule will guide each one to their deliverables and will also help them be more committed to it. Assign an owner/co-owner of every task. Build on trust.

Depending on the size of the business, you might need to allot additional meeting time per department so you can discuss their assignment in detail. Managing a recruitment agency, for example, I met with the team heads first then the associates per practice areas. It is much easier to get the interest and contribution of the staff when the head has given an approval since some activity may require extra office time. 

Writing a blog and pushing their expertise as a resource person equally gives the company and the staff online credibility but of course, quality writing takes a while and allotting extra hours from this task may require approval from the boss. Publishing articles is also ideal for SEO and content marketing campaigns.

Implement the strategy and get everyone moving – results do not happen overnight, there will be hiccups on the process but as long your action is anchored to the plan and timeline then you will remain on track! Having a supportive team means a lot too and a huge factor to a successful campaign—more of this from my last month’s blog.

It is always exciting to begin a new project and keeping the fire has to be strongly maintained.

What Hinders the Success of a Digital Marketing Team?

Digital marketing plan is like a blueprint of your online campaign. It is created so the team can maintain direction, know each other’s role, and keep the goal. It includes a timeline so we know if we are on track and if the identified activities are implemented properly. When things get a little off, you can always go back to the plan and direct it back to the right path.

Reality: No matter how smooth we aim for it to go, there will surely be drawbacks; at most time it is fixable especially if you are working with a Team eager to troubleshoot and repair without a fuzz.  (Thankful that I mostly work with a supportive batch!) But we cannot avoid a scenario that can signal real trouble! Major commotion in a project does not only come from software glitch or malfunctioning platform… it is rather the behavior of the people we are working with that can cause a real burnout. Here are some signs that a plan would likely not succeed unless each one sorts the issue as soon as possible.

• Indecisiveness – Cannot keep an eye on one objective and changing directions weekly, even daily. No focus.

The company might have too many overall goals but the Team must identify what to prioritize under the digital marketing scope and given the budget. If you are a new company, awareness must be the main step. Pin the most important and realistic approach. It is not right to build a campaign as you please or instantly imitate what the competitors are doing. All the efforts should be anchored by what you aim to achieve along with proper metrics.

Quick fix: Stick to the plan and don’t be swayed easily.

• Not communicating – Making abrupt changes without advising the team.

Let’s not forget that we are a “team”, regardless of size. Everyone has to move in sync with the known plan and adjustments must be made in alignment with those involved. It is not ideal to alter the content of your homepage without signaling your Web and SEO Team. They made codes and onpage optimization that can affect, worse omit, the company’s SEO approach.

Quick fix: Reach out and be open to the Team. Discuss new ideas without hesitations.

• Not listening – sometimes you wonder why the owner hired a digital marketing team if he will apply his own process and deviate from the plan he took part to create. Trust the expertise of each team member. Listen to their recommendations. Ask questions. Share your thoughts.

Quick fix: Listen to expert.

• Not telling the truth – lay down the cards and let the team know the real standing of the company so everyone can function accordingly.

If you are launching an app and you are aware of the glitch, then tell it to the team. Don’t go around the bush and make sure to present the real hurdles  so they would know how to tackle the situation. If you aim to immediately release the next version in three months then the team must know the schedule.

Quick fix: No sugar coating.

• Rushing – not following the timeline. Digital marketing is not magic, you have to work and wait and analyze and tweak the strategy and obviously, it can’t be done in a snap. You have given the list of keywords last week and you wish to rank today, wake up.

Quick fix: Respect the timeline.

Another red signal— those procrastinating the tasks and functioning in pessimistic mood. The quick fix is to do it according to timeline and maintain positive attitude. If you don’t get “send message” to your Facebook campaign, no need to be harsh. Review the targeting and creative strategy, adjust according to the data gathered.

We cannot be in control of algorithm changes, privacy restrictions affecting results of reporting, or even faulty dashboard update but we can always manage on how we deal with the challenges on and off line. Make real goals. Keep the cool. Stay committed. Move on. Learn. Work happy.