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Biggest Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2017

By Jenna Bruce on Wed, Jan 25, 2017 @ 12:33 PM |

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A new year has arrived and with it, the potential to reach more customers and earn more revenue. And thanks to technological advances and new channels emerging, digital offers some significant ROI if you know what you’re doing.

With this in mind, here are some of the biggest digital marketing mistakes to avoid in 2017:

Producing Content Without a Goal

You know how there are a lot of people on a gluten-free diet, but if you asked them what gluten is or why they think it’s bad, they wouldn’t be able to answer. They’re basically following a health trend without really knowing what that trend is all about.

Sadly, the same thing is happening in content marketing. Many brands are creating content because they know they should, but they don’t really grasp the reason why they should. And so they write a bunch of ineffective garbage that does little else than create more digital noise.

You must have a goal in mind when creating content. That goal could be to create brand recognition, get people interested in a specific product, or get prospects to sign up for your newsletter. It doesn’t matter what your goal is, it just matters that you have one and that you create content around it.

Having goals will not only make your content more effective, it will make sure your multi-channel campaigns feel unified and cohesive.

Using Social Media to Sell

This has always been one of the biggest digital no-no’s, and yet many organizations are still doing it, particularly those who have relied on traditional marketing. Offline, when new channels emerged, you could still use them to blatantly sell. First there was the newspaper and your ads sold your product or service. Then came radio and you could sell, then TV and, same thing, you could blatantly sell.

But digital has changed everything. Digital puts the power into the consumers’ hands. They will ignore your messaging easier than a moody teenager ignores his parent’s numerous requests to pull up his pants. Consumers no longer want to be sold to, they want brands to engage them and help them in some way. And one thing they absolutely won’t stand for is being sold to on social media.

Your goal with social media should be to create a following and then have a conversation with your audience. Use these conversations to gauge your audience’s needs, likes, fears, goals, etc. This is how social media was meant to be used and this is what will help propel your business in 2017.

Juggling Too Many Channels

No one says you have to have a presence on every single digital channel. In fact, that is marketing suicide. There is simply no way you can create enough engaging content and monitor all of the conversations.

The reality is, you only need to have a presence on those channels where your audience hangs out. If your audience doesn’t really use Pinterest or Instagram, then why on Earth would you waste any time there. If they use Facebook and LinkedIn, focus on those channels instead. Don’t spread yourself too thin, just learn who your audience is, what channels they prefer, and then create content that will live there.

2017 could potentially be a really big year for many brands. But unless you know exactly what you’re doing online and off, your campaigns may wind up being budget-sucking duds.

Need some help creating and delivering your messaging? Get in touch with us. We’d love to help your campaigns succeed this year.

 

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