This Week in Digital Marketing - August 20, 2021

New week, new digital marketing news! We’ve found the latest updates and are ready to implement them as needed throughout our clients strategies to ensure we’re reaching the max amount of potential customers.

3 Creative Ways to Use YouTube for Traffic

1. Finding out what’s popular and making content on those topics: Play the keyword game. Create videos based on your keyword research.
   
2. Place the link to your website in the first line of the description or pin it in a comment. Even better, link it to a sign-up for a free offer or piece of content to collect email addresses.
   
3. Create response videos to popular videos, but keep it relevant to your audience.
   

How to plan SEO content that actually ranks
In her hit session at SMX Create, Hubspot’s Head of English SEO, Aja Frost went over her proven framework for planning SEO content. Content has been king for a while now, but just because you wrote something doesn’t mean it’ll drive qualified traffic to your site.

The key is to have a blueprint before you get started. Here are three steps to planning content that actually shows up in search results:

• Identify measurable metrics for your content goals: You won’t know what’s performed well (and what needs more work) unless you set a rubric for success. Aja’s formula for determining traffic goals is demand goals ÷ historical (expected) conversion rates = traffic goals.
  
• Perform your keyword research based on personas: “When I talk to advanced SEOs, this is often a step they skip,” said Frost. But she implores SEOs of all skill levels not to forego this phase. “The more deeply you understand your personas and the more detailed your insights, the more comprehensive and accurate your list of seed keywords will be.”
  
• Build a content calendar: You can also group keywords by theme (as opposed to persona) and sum up how much search volume you’re targeting for each theme.
  

90% of content on the web gets no traffic from Google, according to 2020 data from Tim Soulo of Ahrefs. The key to effective content that actually drives traffic and conversions is planning. 

How Many Marketing Channels are Too Many at a Time?
Going omnichannel is a great marketing strategy. However, a broader range of channels is less attainable for small businesses. When starting your marketing strategy, choose a couple of manageable channels, then grow the number of channels as your business grows. Be smart when choosing your channels. Some channels are more valuable in certain industries than others. Our team can help you select the right channels for your business to start.

It looks like B2B influencer marketing on TikTok may become a thing
The domestic B2B digital ad market grew 32.5% in 2020 and is forecasted to grow 24.9% this year to nearly $11 billion in spending, according to a July 2021 report by eMarketer. Some of that growth may be going towards influencer marketing, and for good reason — that’s the takeaway from Erika Wheless’ article for Ad Age.

​“The more we test platforms like TikTok, the more we are finding good fits,” Jenni Buchbinder, director of strategic communications at QuickBooks, is quoted as saying, “These influencers are small business owners themselves, so they can speak about our product from personal experience.”

Although QuickBooks also contracts influencers on other social media platforms, it’s found more value on YouTube and TikTok because those platforms are video-first. While the company has partnered with numerous small business micro-influencers, this isn’t a throwaway campaign — it even features baseball player Alex Rodriguez.

Naturally, there are key distinctions between B2B and B2C marketing to be aware if you’re mulling over whether TikTok is right for your brand:

There are usually longer buying cycles in B2B, and they tend to be more logical purchases (rather than emotional).
An influencer with a large following may not be necessary. Instead, businesses should look for an influencer that is more impactful and resonates with the intended audience.
B2B influencers usually work full-time at major businesses, which means they may not be able to accept traditional compensation.
If you’re considering dipping your toes into B2B marketing on TikTok, it’s also good to explore hashtags to see how your (or a competing) product is being used, kind of like a live focus group. And, if you’re looking for ideas, search around for user-generated content that’s already highlighting your product and build from there.

New ways to show up when people search on YouTube
YouTube this week made two big changes to how search works on the video platform:

• Timestamps come to video previews: Previously on desktop only, if you hover your mouse over a video, it would play a short preview snippet of the video. This preview capability is now rolling out to mobile. Plus, videos with timestamps will now have chapters available in the search preview.
  
• Auto-translating captions: Along with new preview options, YouTube will begin translating English subtitles to multiple languages (and eventually roll this out to captions in other languages, too). 
  

Why we care: If you want your videos to stand out in YouTube search, adding timestamps will now be critical. The new translation option gives your videos the opportunity to show up for an even wider global audience than before. 

Contact our team today for a consultation! We can take your business to the next level with a forward thinking marketing strategy.