Alternative Marketing Strategies That Don’t Involve Facebook
In the current landscape dominated by COVID-19 and social change, many digital marketing firms are taking a closer look at the types of platforms they utilize. One of the latest shifts comes as many businesses choose to pause their advertisements on Facebook’s services in July as a direct form of social activism.
If you and your business choose to stand in solidarity with organizations like Stop Hate For Profit and discontinue your Facebook ads throughout the month of July, or for much longer, it does not mean that you have to sacrifice your other advertising tactics. Your marketing dollars can be pushed into alternative marketing methods with just as much reach.
Below, we delve into a few of the outlets you can use to continue raising awareness of your brand while staying away from Facebook.
Social Media
When done right, advertising on social media can get your company in front of niche audiences who may need or want your services, but don’t know what to look up or how to approach the idea. Social media platforms can be used for paid advertising campaigns, and establishing organic profiles can also increase the number of touch points your brand has with potential new customers.
If you are looking to distance yourself from platforms like Facebook, you will also want to distance yourself from advertising on Instagram, another social media platform that is owned by Facebook. Instead, target your marketing dollars to LinkedIn, YouTube, or Twitter where you can nurture brand recognition and consumer engagement through your advertisements and promoted posts. Now is a great time to try out these outlets and see what works for your company.
Search Engine Optimization
Another key element of a digital marketing strategy is ensuring your business appears when people turn to search engines. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a long-game tactic that can lift the number of search terms your company appears in. The better your SEO, the more queries you rank for, which can help potential consumers see your company on a search engine results page (SERP).
There are a many ways to enhance your online authority through SEO, but ensuring that your website pages utilize appropriate keywords and original content is a great place to start. By moving some of your marketing budget into reforming or enhancing your SEO strategies, you’ll be setting yourself up for success in the future.
Google Ads
Google is becoming an increasingly important element to any marketing campaign, and now is a great time to ensure you are using some of its most useful features within your digital marketing campaigns.
For example, Google Ads pair with YouTube to give your search term campaigns the boost they need to appear in front of the right consumer. They are incredibly customizable and allow you to manage design, ad copy, budget, and more. You should set a realistic budget based on your specific market, but Google Ads allow you to reach audiences that you otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
Google Business Profile
Another great feature from Google is Google Business Profile (GBP). With a plethora of features for businesses of any size, it’s a great platform to establish your credibility on Google. Potential customers can see your essential contact information before they visit your website, call you, or click for directions to your office.
One of the most useful GBP features is posts, which allow you to share an image and 100-300 words on a topic of your choice, such as company announcements or information about upcoming events. GBP also features customer reviews so that future customers can get a feel for how others view your services.
It’s a phenomenal tool because, once you have it set up, you can view GBP Insights that tell you the number of customers who find your listing through remembering your brand or organically searching for a keyword related to your business. You can also see the number of people who visit your website, request directions, or call directly from your profile. The best part about GBP is that it’s completely free and relatively user-friendly.
Adaptive Marketing and How to Apply It
The marketing landscape is always rapidly changing. This means marketing cannot be a one-and-done strategy but rather an ever evolving and adapting practice that accounts for changes in your environment. Whether you want to increase your ad spend on certain platforms, target different demographics, or simply experiment with another style of advertisement, now is a good time change your approach.
During this volatile time, it’s more important than ever to keep track of your numbers. If you keep a close eye on your metrics, you may be able to see if alternative marketing methods perform as well as or better than your previous strategies. You may find that you spend less on your newer marketing tactics and are getting a better return on investment than with Facebook.
While we’ve found create success with the strategies listed above, they are far from the only ones you can utilize. There are many outlets for marketing, depending on how creative and experimental you are willing to be.
As more and more users turn to Google and social media, it is better for your business to be present and active on these platforms. Whether you want to update your strategies to incorporate new and emerging techniques, or you simply want to start your digital marketing journey, it’s important to allow for growth and flexibility in the ever-changing marketing landscape.