10 Digital Marketing Assets You Need To Invest In Today. Is your brand shared more than the competition. But the reality is that every discovery of your brand is building a digital asset and leaving an impression. Make your site is easy to follow and share on social media Add video for engagement Virtual assets are built around a digital hub are now big business. Content On a social web you are defined by content. But offering free content in the form of a blog post If you don’t have the time or inclination then an influencer marketing platform that does it for you can be the way to go. Was that on Facebook and email or a website visit from a search engine? But it is the start of building a virtual community and other digital asset. Social proof Ever seen a brand on a list? But a website that has authority with search engines, a loyal online community that shares your content and brand with passion and digital trust and collaboration are an investment in the future.
The piggybank was placed somewhere safe. The shiny coins clunked and clinked into the slot that locked away the pennies until that visit to the bank. The coins of various shapes and sizes were added up by the man behind the counter. They smiled at our 7 year old selves and gave us that receipt that confirmed the growing bank balance. The treasured bank passbook kept the tally for all to see.
Some of us were better at it than others. Deferring pleasure is harder for some.
As we grew older we were told to invest in our future. Saving for that important roof over your head was part of that or for the entrepreneurially brave, the investment was maybe in the startup venture.
The old passbook was that first visible step.
Hidden and virtual
But assets in a digital world are often hidden and virtual. The bank passbook is now a mobile app where you view your account balances and transfer money from savings to investment accounts. The credit card is now your currency. Your online brand is not to be touched but experienced. It is to be viewed, listened to and shared.
The 21st century assets are actual and authentic but this new reality is digital and ephemeral. And some of us struggle with that. Concreteness in the past was truth.
So…. because they are ephemeral doesn’t mean they are worthless. In fact the social web has given exponential power to our virtual assets. Virtual content moves better than physical entities. The friction is low and the amplification is global.
The numbers are big
When social media launched the millions were big numbers. Global audiences mean billions are the new million. Here are some social media facts to ponder.
- 4.5 billion likes are clicked on Facebook every day
- 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every 24 hours
- Over 42 billion messages a day are sent on WhatsApp
Infographic source: Metro.co.uk
The opportunity to reach the world has never been easier. But the competition is more intense.
The challenge
Your challenge in this new, transient and moving morphing landscape is to make your digital assets to stand out, be visible and noticed in a crowded and noisy world. They need to grow….. and move. Creation is not enough. Brand and business building hasn’t changed but the medium has.
There are also many questions.
What are the crucial ones to focus on? What are the vital, high yielding but sometimes slow growing assets that we sometimes neglect because they aren’t seductive, obvious or acceptable to our old ways of thinking and habits.
Here are 10 digital marketing assets that you need to build, nurture and magnify.
#1. Online brand and positioning
There are two key levels to this.
The soft perception called “brand” and all that it stands for. Positioning…..aspirational, quality or the cheapest price. Is your brand memorable or eminently forgettable. Does your web brand make them laugh, inspire or are you serious and informative? This is hard to measure but the human reality is that brand impressions are everything. Humans feel, dream and bleed.
Then it’s the hard facts that are defined by what the digital data tells you. The measurement of brand.
- Is your brand shared more than the competition.
- What keywords or hashtags are used when it is tweeted or shared on Instagram.
- What brand content attracts the most traffic.
- What is the brand sentiment. Positive…Negative?
- What are the star ratings for your brands online reviews. 5 star or one?
Looking for a place to stay, eat or visit then where do most of us go…online. You can live or die in the hospitality industry on those metrics. Ratings on TripAdvisor can make or break a business
Brand building is a digital asset that is both easy and hard and easy to measure. But the reality is that every discovery of your brand is building a digital asset and leaving an impression.
So……be everywhere. Be ubiquitous.
#2. Your digital hub(s)
Despite websites being with us for a generation the website is often treated like an online brochure. Design, set and forget. The website, the blog and the online store are your core assets in a digital world. But for many small and medium businesses they are an afterthought. Often they are considered an expense.
But Google and the social web doesn’t tolerate silence. The digital properties need feeding and nurturing.
What does that maintenance and ongoing optimization look like? Here are some of the essentials.
- Add a blog and publish keyword rich content that inspires and informs your prospects.
- Optimize your site for search engines. Google will send 50% of the traffic for free.
- Make sure that it is a lead generating machine with calls to action and lead capture.
- Add customer service and marketing chatbots that answer questions and queries.
- Make your site is easy to follow and share on social media
- Add video for engagement
Virtual assets are built around a digital hub are now big business. Recently the Linkedin “Digital Hub” was sold to Microsoft for $26.2 billion after being established just 14 years ago.
Your mindset on this needs to be one of investing in the future and not as a painful expense to be tolerated. The return from your marketing machine (read “website”) will surprise you if it is done well.
#3. Content
On a social web you are defined by content. That’s it.
That image you share on Instagram, that video on Facebook or that in depth post that displays thought leadership are all completing that online jigsaw puzzle. One piece at a time your image, your influence and persona is emerging. If you think about it for too long you will start to be daunted or maybe even excited by the potential of content.
Every piece of content leaves a perception, a trail and becomes the virtual you.
Offline your content is often hidden, never published or sits on your…
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