With the world of social media constantly changing and evolving, knowing which platform is best for you and your business can be difficult. The big three social media websites are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, meaning that if your business isn’t to be found anywhere on any of these channels, you are already well behind the game.

Other notable social channels that you cannot afford to overlook include YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tik Tok and Reddit. Not all of these will apply to your business or your potential customers, but at the same time, there is no harm in, at the very least, having a presence.

Why Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are Musts

These social channels are the big three in the world of social media for a reason. In the United Kingdom alone, Facebook boasts over 44 million users, with 24 million residents on Instagram and a further 17 million on Twitter. Those are numbers not to be ignored and, with each of those channels offering differing capabilities, your business can reach out and engage with potential customers in a variety of exciting ways.

Facebook is primarily used by its users to connect with friends and family, but its users constantly engage with and look up businesses through the platform. Furthermore, arguably more so than any other social media, Facebook offers a far more precise means of targeting potential customers through Facebook Ads, where you can easily set your audience based on location and interests.

Twitter and Instagram, meanwhile, offer slightly different styles of social feeds. On Twitter, users can choose to follow accounts and topics (or hashtags) in which to engage with. Instagram is much the same, but on a far more visual basis which makes it a fantastic platform for businesses that offer aesthetically pleasing products or services in which to share their work.

What About the Others?

All social media platforms have their pros and cons. Here, we will look at exactly what some of the other social channels have to offer for your business.

LinkedIn

If your business upholds a corporate and formal tone, utilising LinkedIn will be highly beneficial. As opposed to simply posting from a company account, users on LinkedIn are constantly looking to connect with other professionals, meaning you are far likelier to find success by using an account set up in your own name to post about the company and what you are doing – sharing success stories and advice always goes down well here.

Pinterest

Pinterest is very similar to Instagram in the sense that it is a very visual social media platform. Users generally share ideas with one another, ‘pinning’ posts to their personal boards where they can refer to it later. Numerous bloggers utilise Pinterest to share informational pieces and, utilised correctly, can result in a great deal of traffic to your website.

Reddit

From a commercial standpoint, Reddit is probably the hardest social media to crack. This is because its userbase does not come to engage with businesses and the slightest scent of spam or overt self-promotion is soon deleted or ridiculed.  Reddit is such a powerful social tool because when a link to a page is shared in the right place, your website can benefit from high amounts of traffic for days after. The best part of Reddit is that with thousands of channels, known as ‘subreddits’, businesses operating in almost any sector will be relevant in one niche or another on the website.

YouTube

You might be forgiven for believing that the only way to make money on this channel is by being a YouTuber, which is a type of social influencer. However, you would be very wrong as YouTube provides an excellent platform to share ideas and promotional material which can then be posted on other social platforms. Think of YouTube as a search engine in its own right – how many times have you searched on YouTube looking for a ‘how-to’ guide? If your company has the capability of producing similar content, then creating and sharing that on YouTube can expand your reach to a new audience you never knew existed.

Snapchat

Snapchat targets a considerably younger audience than the other forms of social media we have already mentioned, with the majority of its userbase aged between 13 and 29 years old. This probably means that if you are operating a B2B business, then Snapchat may not be for you. But, if you're heading up an online strategy for a B2C brand, particularly one with an audience that falls into Generation Z, you should look further into this platform. Originally known for its disappearing images, the features and capabilities have evolved, offering businesses new and exciting ways to reach their audience.

Tik Tok

Tik Tok, much like Snapchat, targets a younger audience through its video-sharing platform and is a firm favourite amongst social influencers. Because of this, even if businesses may not be actively on the platform themselves, through influencer marketing they can still indirectly push their products and/or services simply by featuring in an influencer’s video. People buy from people, so seeing their favourite influencer, who they trust, talk about or use a product will go some way into convincing them and winning their trust off of the back of that. Similar styles of influencer marketing are widely used across other social platforms, especially YouTube and Snapchat.

Knowing what content to post on your business’ social media accounts can be difficult and, depending on the industry and audience you are trying to reach out to, there is not a strict one-size-fits-all strategy. In saying that, you can adopt guidelines that you can change and tweak to suit the brand’s voice and, most importantly, your audience.

Don’t Be Overly Promotional

If there is one fatal error that thousands of businesses make on social media, it is almost exclusively posting promotional content. This includes content concerning new products and/or services, a sale or news about the company.

The harsh reality is that the majority of people on social media simply do not care about what your company is doing. Think of it this way, if you were to meet someone on the bus and the only thing they wanted to talk about was themselves, are you more likely to; A) listen to every word they have to say or B) get off at the next stop just to get away from them? Chances are, you would choose option B.

The same principle applies to social media. People do not want their social feeds taken up by businesses purely looking to sell. They want to follow accounts that they can connect with, that discuss issues that are important to them and not the other way around. Remember, the average size of a smartphone screen is 5.6 inches and your goal is to convince your audience why you deserve a place in their busy timeline.

The ‘Perfect’ Ratio of Content

As we highlighted at the beginning, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy that suits everyone, but there are guidelines that you can use. One of these is what is known as the 4-1-1 rule which, to the untrained eye, might appear to be a pretty rubbish football formation.

The 4-1-1 rule can be broken down as such:

• Four parts relevant content designed to entertain and/or inform your follower base, which should be regarded as potential customers, and does not exist to directly promote your business
• One part re-shared content that you did not create – this could be an article from another account or a post from a satisfied customer
• One part promotional to advertise your business, such as an introduction to a new product and/or service, news of a sale or anything else that will point potential customers to your business offering

There is nothing to say that you must stick rigidly to this rule, but it serves as a good starting block. Less than 20% of your social posts should exist for the sole purpose of advertising your business because if your followers only wanted to know about the products and/or services you offer, they would have already found your website.

Engage Your Followers

Social media is all about engagement and failing to do so completely misses the point of this valuable digital channel and risks you losing potential customers. This is why the largest brands in the world employ teams of social media assistants to oversee their accounts and the messages they receive, offering immediate customer service on the digital platform.

Even if you receive a response to a post that is not directly about your business or your products and/or services, being seen to respond and engage with your audience is still positive. This will encourage those followers to engage more with your business and, when the time comes that they require a solution you offer, your brand will be right at the forefront of their mind.

When it comes to marketing your business online, there are hundreds of free online tools you can use as part of your digital marketing efforts. Needless to say, some are better than others and there is, of course, those that draw you in with free versions with the sole intention of encouraging you to sign up to a premium account.

Unless you are a dedicated digital marketing professional, finding the correct tools to use can be a daunting task. Fear not, because here we have listed some of our favourite free tools that we would recommend for any business looking to improve their online presence.

Quite simply, no. Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising will not have any direct effect on your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) efforts as these are two different channels of online marketing.

The best way to explain the difference is that while PPC is designed to achieve quick results through campaigns that can be switched on and off, SEO is a long-term strategy that will benefit your online presence without the need for paying for impressions.

Why PPC Does Not Affect SEO

It is important that we distinguish between not helping SEO and not having any effect on SEO. PPC will not directly help your SEO campaign as it does not have any effect on a website’s SEO, good or bad. This is because Google and other search engines do not take PPC ad placements into consideration from an SEO-perspective, so whatever placements – whether they be at the top of a search results page or on a social channel – will not count towards your rankings.

Should I Run Both a PPC and SEO Campaign?

This is a question that can only really be answered based on your own individual needs. However, while it is true that PPC does not have any direct effect on your SEO efforts, it can have an indirect one.

Allow us to explain.

The more often a user sees your brand, the more likely they are to click on it. This means that, if a user sees one of your PPC adverts and were to then find your website through an organic search, there is an increased chance they will open the link, thus improving your click-through rate, even if your website is not necessarily ranking at number one.

At the very most, there is an indirect knock-on effect on your SEO efforts but paying for PPC adverts on their own will not improve your website’s search rankings. PPC and SEO campaigns can complement each other with the correct know-how, which is something that professional digital marketers spend years practising and perfecting.

Keyword Opportunities

Another way in which doing PPC can indirectly help your SEO campaign is through identifying new keyword opportunities that you may not have considered. Google’s Keyword Planner helps the user to identify new keywords to create PPC adverts and this feature is often utilised for SEO-purposes.

This means that, in theory, when you identify a keyword that would work well for your business but your SEO campaign has not yet targeted it, you can use PPC to appear for that keyword whilst working on optimising your site to rank in the search results. This is an example as to how PPC and SEO can complement each other.

Consider the Reasons for Wanting to Run a PPC Campaign

Before starting any PPC campaign, you should consider your reasons for wanting to do so. If you are hoping to improve your website’s SEO, your time and effort will be far better spent directly working on your website's content and user experience. If you are looking to improve your business’ online presence in highly competitive areas and/or gain a short-term push, then PPC is a viable option.

Even if you wouldn’t consider yourself to be a digital marketing expert, you likely know that keywords play a pivotal part when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). For the avoidance of doubt, despite outdated practices that were widely used some 10 or more years ago, stuffing your content full of keywords is not the way to rank on Google.

However, carefully placed instances of a keyword in your content can and does help your website to rank higher on Google. The trick is to know which keywords to use, which is not always an easy task. You need to find the right balance between searches and difficulty – a keyword with high search volume is likely to be highly competitive, while keywords with little competition may not have any search volume.

Keyword Research Tools

There are several tools available to aid your keyword research, the most popular of which is arguably Google’s Keyword Planner, which is used in conjunction with Google Ads. Tools such as this will help you to identify additional keyword and broad match opportunities alongside your base keyword and narrow your strategy down to the best keywords to focus on, in terms of search volume and difficulty.

David vs. Goliath

For smaller businesses competing against large global brands, identifying the right keywords to use is crucial to your digital marketing campaign. The reality is that some keywords are dominated by these big brands that invest large amounts of resource into their website’s SEO so, instead of fighting a losing battle, you look for opportunity elsewhere.

For example, while search results for ‘DIY tools’ are dominated by brands such as B&Q and Amazon, seeking out broad alternatives that those sites aren’t necessarily optimised for is your opening. This is an example of how SEO can level the playing field for small businesses competing against large brands.

Local Keywords

Another way that SEO and, more specifically, finding the right keywords levels the playing field is through local keywords. While searching for ‘table and chairs’ presents a selection of large businesses, refining that search so as it is localised presents a list of local businesses – an opportunity that should not be ignored.

Local keywords are not only less competitive, but the users searching are more likely to want exactly what you are offering. For example, if someone is searching for ‘table and chairs Newcastle’, there is a strong chance that they are seeking a seller of table and chairs that are local to Newcastle. While the search volume will be lower than the generic ‘table and chairs’ search term, there is a much higher chance of converting that traffic into a sale.

Optimisation

When you hear the term ‘optimised’ in an SEO sense, it means that a website and/or a specific page has been designed to target a specific keyword or group of keywords, as it is possible to optimise for more than one keyword at a time.

Keywords in PPC

As well as for SEO-purposes, keywords can also be used as part of a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign, especially when it comes to Google Ads. The adverts that you see at the top of Google’s search results have been targeted via keywords, designed to appear based on searches that are likely to convert.

Much the same as for regular (organic) search results, keywords with higher search volume come with greater difficulty. Instead of optimising the advert to appear higher and/or more often, bids are placed. Simply, the higher the competition, the more expensive the advert will be to be displayed. By being smarter with the keywords you target, your PPC adverts will not cost as much to show while still being put in front of users that are likely to convert.

When businesses look to add Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to their online marketing strategy, the ultimate goal is to appear at the top of search results. Google, the most popular search engine, has several ranking factors that it uses to determine which pages offer the best value to users and, therefore, the order in which they appear in the search results.

Unless you are a digital marketing professional, understanding how and what it takes for a website to climb the search rankings to the point it appears on page one may not come simply. In fact, with the industry constantly evolving and with Google releasing updates on a near-daily basis, the goalposts never stay in the same place.

With that being said, some constant values will serve you well in your pursuit to ranking number one:

What Are You Trying To Rank for?

Before you begin to optimise your website, you must know what you are optimising for. What, exactly, do you want your website to rank for? This means understanding what your customers are asking and, with that, the best keywords to target to match those queries. There is not any point in ranking for a search term that has little to no relevance to your business or offering.

Value

When you know what you are trying to rank for, you need to consider what value you are offering to the audience. Does your website or page provide what the user is looking for? Also, is the page you are trying to rank in the correct format? By this, we are referring to whether the search results consist mostly of product pages, blog posts or other landing pages. For example, if the majority of pages that appear on the first page are blog posts, your chances of optimising a product page to rank on the first page are remote.

User Experience

If you want Google to value your website it must offer a good user experience. You can have the best content in the world but, if the website itself is unusable (which can be indicated by a high bounce rate) then Google is not likely to rank it. This is why it is important to ensure that both your desktop and mobile websites are in working order.

Backlinks

Another key ranking factor is backlinks - although there are always exemptions to the rules. Generally speaking, if a page is considered to offer value, search engines would expect that page to have backlinks pointing to it from other websites. The easiest way to understand the value of a backlink is to think of each one as a vote of confidence – so if your website does not have anyone linking back to it, Google will likely view that as a vote of no confidence.

These are just some of the basics to consider when it comes to getting your page on Google’s first page, with numerous ranking factors determining the search engine’s ever-changing results.

As soon as someone is told that content is a key ranking factor for search engines such as Google, almost always the first question asked is ‘how much content do I need on my site?’. While it is good to have resourceful pages with a good amount of content, unless that text is useful and original, you won’t be getting very far up those search results, never mind finding your way onto page one.

A common misconception surrounding Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is that all you have to do to rank on Google is to stuff keywords in a block of text and, before you know it, you’re ranking number one. While such methods may have gotten you some measure of success 10 years ago, in the present day that simply isn’t the case. Putting it simply, you can’t have content for content’s sake.

How Should I Measure My Content?

The best way to measure your content isn’t always by word count, but by the number of points covered in it. For example, if you are writing a piece of content to serve a particular purpose, you should first take the time to review other similar pages that are ranking on search engines.

This is good practice as not only will this give you a good idea as to how long your text should be, but also the kinds of things that people asking the question you are trying to answer are looking for. As we know, the search engine will place what it deems to be the best, and most relevant, answer at the top of the pile which is where you want to be.

Look at the top 5 to 10 results and list all the points covered on each page. If not one of those pages has covered all of the key points you have identified in their content, including the top-ranking page, then the objective is simple – create a piece of content that does just that. If you can add another point that has not already been covered this is a bonus and will add extra value to your content.

Is Word Count a Ranking Factor?

Yes, but it is not the be-all-and-end-all. If your content is considerably shorter than pages ranking higher, then an extension to your content may help your cause. Articles appearing on the first page of search results will not have filler content, instead, every sentence serves a purpose.

Consider your areas for improvement and whether your content serves its purpose and fully answers the query of the user. While having a lower word count than a competitor on its own may not be the reason why your page ranks lower, it is one of the best signals that we have.

Content is More Than Words

When we talk about content, our minds immediately consider text but that would be wrong. Images and videos can also be ranking factors if they serve a purpose to the audience. Images and graphics, such as infographics and videos that add value to the text will be picked up by search engines and help your page to rank higher.

Additionally, it is also worth noting that images can be accompanied by keywords (added in a section called Alt Text), which helps search engines identify the picture. This can help your website’s images to appear in image results on search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

While there is no magic rule for how much content your website should have, you should make sure that it answers all of your audience’s questions. If it doesn’t, you can guarantee that your competitors will.

Online marketing, or digital marketing as it is commonly called, is a term that encompasses a wide range of channels. In its simplest terms, online marketing is any form of marketing that is designed to improve your business’ online presence – this can include building a website, optimising your website to appear in search results (SEO), social media and digital ads amongst others.

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to online marketing as different services offer different benefits, reaching different audiences. Much of what businesses look for as part of an online marketing strategy can be placed under three categories, which are:

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Social Media
• Pay Per Click (PPC)

Here, we will give you a brief introduction to these three forms of online marketing, what they are and what they do:

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation simply referred to as SEO, is arguably the most widely used form of online marketing by businesses. The ultimate goal of SEO is simple, as the name suggests, which is to optimise a website so as it appears as high up the results of search engines as possible for a keyword or phrase.

One of the popular misconceptions of SEO is that it begins and ends with keywords when there is so much more that goes into creating and maintaining a website that search engines like. This also includes making sure the website works as it is supposed to (i.e. doesn’t take too long to load and works well on both desktop and mobile devices), that the site has links from other authoritative websites and offers a good all-round user experience.

Social Media

For many new businesses, social media is where they first start. Social media can be used without spending a penny, which is why so many aspiring entrepreneurs take to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to create social accounts for their brands. However, while anyone can use social media, it takes someone who knows what they are doing to make it work – this is why the largest businesses in the world employ teams of social media experts to manage their social accounts.

This is, after all, where your customers are most likely to engage with your brand, so you have to make sure that you get the tone right. Some businesses fall into the trap of utilising their social channels to talk about themselves, rather than what interests their audience. By engaging your customers via their social feed, you win their trust which has always been important when attracting and retaining customers.

PPC

Pay Per Click advertising often referred to as PPC, is a completely different ball-game altogether than social media, although much of it does happen through social channels. Allow us to explain; when you scroll through your Facebook or Twitter feeds, the chances are you will come across a promoted or sponsored post – this is a PPC advert that has been targeted to appear for someone like you. The idea being that by targeting potential customers based on interests and/or location, there is a better chance of a conversion.

Google Ads is the most popular form of PPC and this accounts for the results you will see right at the top of the page when you search for anything on Google. Brands will bid for placements on keywords - some of which will be much more competitive and, with that, more expensive than others - for their advertisement to appear on the screen of the user who is actively searching for their product and/or service.

Creating an Online Marketing Campaign that Works

For an online marketing campaign that works for your business, you may not need to invest in every single application of digital marketing, at least not straight away. By assessing the needs and long-term goals of your business, this will help to determine the online marketing services that will be most effective for your needs.