WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING?
In the previous blog, we discussed what digital marketing is, and its two categories. Indeed digital marketing is an irrefutable topic for discussion in this day and age. As more and more companies, brands and individuals alike included digital marketing in their strategy, it has evolved into many different types and its marketing channels have grown over the years. It is important to take note beforehand that not all of the different types of digital marketing will be applicable or effective for your company or business. It will be crucial for you to deeply research the industry you are in, as well as what your competitors are currently deploying as their digital marketing strategies. Moreover, it does not necessarily mean that just because your competitors are currently using a certain type of digital marketing that it will be effective for your company or business. With that being said, let us explore the different types of digital marketing currently used today. We will discuss three types of digital marketing today.
TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING NO. 1 – SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Perhaps the most commonly seen type of digital marketing by the generation, social media marketing uses the most widely used social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and other platforms in order to reach, inform and convert their desired target audiences. As discussed in the previous blog, social media marketing is an effective tool for outbound marketing where brands and companies alike would push out their brand messaging to target audiences who do not know their brand or product in order to quickly increase brand awareness and reach. Social media marketing can also be used to retarget users who have previously interacted with the brand and or company’s social media advertisements. In the mid stage of the funnel, social media marketing can also be helpful in reminding the targeted users of your brand or product which can ultimately lead to conversion. Social media marketing is a crucial type of digital marketing that is used by different industries ranging from B2B to B2C. Although it may seem simple, it will be important for you to properly strategize what specific social media platform to use in order to reach your target audience.
example of social media ads – gatchi digital (1)
TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING NO. 2 – SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (PAID SEARCH ADS)
We are sure that you would immediately go to Google using your laptop or smartphone when you are looking for a certain product or brand. While you were searching on the search engine, you must have seen in the top of the search engine results page (SERP) a link to a website that stands out – literally the first result you will see with the description above that says “ad” as seen in the image below. That brand or company was able to place its website or desired landing page at the top of the search engine results page because they ran Google paid search ads. Brands will have to work extremely hard to optimize their website in order to place their website in the first page of the search engine results page. (This is SEO, which we will discuss shortly after search engine marketing) By implementing search engine marketing, you can temporarily place your website as the first result of the search query. Now we will talk about the technical aspects of search engine marketing in a separate blog, but to simplify the process, you will have to research for the competitive keywords and the low hanging fruit keywords of the industry and bid a price on Google and pay a certain amount every time an interest online browser would click on your website. One thing to remember is that once your budget for paid search ads are depleted, your website will immediately disappear from the search engine results page.
example of paid search ads – gatchi digital
TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING NO. 3 – SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
Search engine optimization is the unpaid or organic type of digital marketing that places your website or landing page at the top of the search engine results page. Unlike paid search ads that disappear after the budget is depleted, a website that is well optimized through search engine optimization will appear as the first result of the search engine results page, or at least the first page of the SERP without any money spent. It is a tedious yet very rewarding process that proves to Google that your website has authority or expertise in the industry, service or products that you offer. Once properly implemented, your website will appear in the top of the search engine results page for a long period of time. There are three pillars in search engine optimization that you will need to remember. These are technical optimization, on-page optimization, and off-page optimization. We will briefly explain the three. (Search Engine Optimization will be explained deeply in a separate blog)
TECHNICAL OPTIMIZATION
Technical optimization is the most fundamental part of search engine optimization. The name gives us a big clue – it is the technical aspect of SEO. The technical optimization has nothing to do with the contents found in the website, but rather is the process of arranging the infrastructure of the website. It is basically a series of steps and check lists you will have to go through in order to make your website readable by the search engine and indexed in order to appear in the search engine results page. Without properly implementing technical optimization, your efforts in on-page optimization and off-page optimization will be useless.
ON PAGE OPTIMIZATION
On-page optimization is the constant process of making sure that your website displays relevant content that will satisfy the query of the person researching online. Once again, its name gives us a big clue – it is working on the contents found on the pages of your website. From adding the right keywords on the headers and descriptions of your website to properly naming the contents of the website like images and videos with the right descriptions, on-page optimization is very important because it will be what search engines will check in order to make your website appear when people search for relevant keywords to your brand and or company.
OFF PAGE OPTIMIZATION
Off-page optimization is optimizing your website for it to appear higher in the search engine results page through activities that are not in your website, but outside your website. Some of the basic examples of off-page optimization includes link building, links from social media platforms back to your website, and brand mentions. By having links from outside your website like other websites, blogs and even social media platforms to your website, it proves search engines that your website is credible and trustworthy. A website with good off-page optimization will rank higher in search engine results page and will ultimately have more exposure to which will lead to increased website visits. Because of the positive effect of having many links back to your website, many marketers in the past bought links from different websites, and even websites that are not reputable and relevant. Google and other search engines now have built-in capabilities to detect links that are bought, and websites that are caught buying links are heavily penalized which will push their website further below in the search engine results page which is a nightmare for both marketers and brand owners alike.
example of search engine optimization – gatchi digital
WHAT TYPE OF DIGITAL MARKETING SHOULD I IMPLEMENT?
To give you an honest answer, it depends. Your company, brand or product may require different types of digital marketing for you to successfully reach your target audiences. You may require multiple types of digital marketing for you to lead your target audiences to convert and to remain as advocates. There are other types of digital marketing that we will introduce in the next blog. In the meantime, it is important for you to note that you will need to properly observe and research what will suite your company and brand. If you need assistance in deciding what types of digital marketing must be added to your strategy, kindly leave us a message, as we are thrilled to be your partner as you navigate through the market!