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Four Online Marketing Strategies That Help Drive More Sales

With so many different and effective forms of online marketing, how do you know what ones will work for your business? Well, you really don’t know until you test. But, there are constantly methods that produce great results across the board.

SEO, organic social media, and email marketing are very standard campaigns that everyone is participating in on some level. There are some additional strategies that you should consider throwing into the mix and seeing if they are able to deliver outstanding results for your business. Here are four that are producing great results for many.

  1. Facebook ads.

Businesses that spent a lot of time and money building up their Facebook pages with followers have been left severely disappointed and cheated. You see, Facebook has really slashed the reach these pages receive, which has forced businesses to use paid promotions if they want to be seen. This was a raw deal, as many of these businesses paid Facebook to build their following.

Facebook is the largest social media network and they have the most in-depth targeting options, so it really leaves you no choice. If you want to market on Facebook you are going to need to run paid ads.

Facebook has a learning curve, and if you just create ads, set budgets, and press “go” without knowing what you are doing your results will be almost non-existent. Spend time and learn as much information as possible if you are going to run the ads yourself. There are a lot of Facebook groups that you can join to learn and ask questions. Have a solid grasp on the recent changes and updates before laying your marketing budget on the line.

  1. Chat bots.

AI is taking over and if you aren’t using chat bots as part of your marketing you need to look into it immediately. If you use Facebook Messenger, then you have probably seen ads start to pop up there. Well, that is artificial intelligence working, showing ads that it believes you will have a high likelihood of clicking on.

You can use chat bots on your website to help answer questions and guide your website visitors through the purchase funnel. Not only does this free up man power, eliminating the need of live-chat agents, but chat bots can work 24/7, helping generate sales and revenue on your website after hours. AI is technology that every business needs to explore, and chat bots are just the beginning of what we will see in terms of machine learning and automation.

  1. Micro-influencer marketing.

Influencer marketing has created a huge buzz in the past couple years, but businesses need to be aware that it’s a constantly changing landscape and the old strategies of finding influencers with large audiences to broadcast sponsored posts just doesn’t work any longer. The end consumer has seen it done a million times and they don’t react like they used to.

Don’t believe me? Look at the sponsored posts that some of the biggest names in Hollywood put out there. The engagement on the posts is often 10 – 20% of what their normal content receives. This is because the average consumer has become so familiar with that type of content that they just naturally scroll right past it.

The post effective way to use influencers is to find very niche-specific ones, focusing on the audience rather than the number of followers. This allows you to get your business in front of people that actually share similar interests and have a much higher likelihood of being interested in what it is that you offer.

  1. Live streaming video.

Live streaming is taking off, and businesses that are innovative and creative have already started to take advantage of the attention available. Instagram live video and Facebook live are leading the way, and it’s enabling companies to get in front of an audience that is very attentive. Consumers love the idea of being able to look inside at businesses that they deem to be cool or interesting.

This is a very raw approach, as you are basically opening the door in real-time. There is no editing, no special effects, etc. It’s a great way to use your team members to showcase their personalities and help strengthen that customer-brand relationship. Don’t use it as a selling channel. Instead, focus on creating content that makes your customer become more attached to your brand.

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