Digital Marketing and Social Media

A Roadmap to Reach and Engage.

What Is Digital Marketing

Well, there's a good argument that this is the wrong question. What might be easier to answer is what ISN'T digital marketing.

Technology has revolutionized the world. Consumers and business leaders are increasingly interacting with the world through smartphones, tablets, PCs, and other devices. That has completely shifted the field of both B2C and B2B marketing and advertising. Whereas traditional marketing techniques like direct mail, billboards, television, and radio all have their place, there's a strong argument that digital is the primary driver of marketing investment and results today.

So, what do we include in the category of digital marketing? In our view, this category consists of these core areas:

Search and display ads
Social media (both organic and paid)
Search engine optimization (usually abbreviated as SEO)
Affiliate marketing
Email marketing

What ties them together is engaging the consumer in a digital environment, usually online and through a web browser or app.

We also include analytics in the digital marketing category, so that we can track our results, which includes Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and any other platform you choose to track ROI.

Let's chat about each of these aspects of digital marketing in turn.

Digital Ads

Digital ads help you reach customers and potential clients right where they are! With powerful targeting tools, these ads help optimize your budget, avoid finding the wrong audiences, and allow you to tailor how many people see your ad (what we call REACH) and how many times a person sees your ad (what we call FREQUENCY).

Search Ads

Search ads are the most common type of digital ad. Done through a search engine platform like Google or Bing, this method allows you to identify keywords that are relevant to your business and pay for your link to appear on the search results.

The benefit: the people that see your ad are actively looking for what you offer. That means this is a great audience for you to reach.

Display Ads

Display ads are the other main form of digital advertising. These are generally images and appear throughout the internet. Instead of targeting the search term, they target the PERSON based on what the ad platform knows about them.

This means your ad will reach the right people wherever they happen to be online! It's a bit like magic.

Social Media: Bringing Marketing and Community Together

Social media is one of the most important ways people connect with one another online. It also, depending on the platform, can be used for:

Product research
How-tos
Finding a job
Customer service
Becoming a creator
Answering questions

For marketing, social media offers a unique opportunity to find audiences that already share something in common. Whether they are communities on Reddit or Discord that already share a passion for your industry or product line, or Facebook users that have shared enough about themselves online that we can anticipate whether they will respond to your message or not. Or many other configurations.

Social media marketing comes in two major flavors:

Organic -- Building your own community on the platform and posting content without boosting it or paying the platform holder.
Paid -- Creating advertisements and distributing them to specific audiences based on the platform holder's targeting criteria.

Social media is ever-evolving, so the Force 5 team keeps up with the trends. Whether that's social video, photo-sharing, LinkedIn carousels, or anything else you can dream of, we can help you strategize on the right platforms and the right approach to get the most out of your efforts.

We can help you with ...

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

TikTok

Snapchat

YouTube

Discord

Start a ConversationReach out to schedule your discovery call today

Media Buying Process

Need an ad? Whether we are going with traditional advertising (TV, radio, billboard, etc.) or digital (search, display, and social ads), we need to know these three things to get you the right campaign to meet your objectives.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Do you ever feel like your website is just lost in the Google forests or the swamps of Bing?

It could be that even though you have the greatest services and products in the industry, you're just not getting found. Changing that is the goal of SEO.

But what does that actually mean? A lot of people talk about SEO but how does it actually work?

There are two distinct types of SEO we work with at Force 5.

Content SEO

Is your site well-written and easily conveys the information searchers need?

Is it clear what you are trying to say on each page?

Does that match the intentions of someone typing out the keyword you want to appear for?

Technical SEO

Are your headings set up in the right order and clearly show how your page/article is structured?

Does the page load fast and look great on mobile?

Have you eliminated all unnecessary code and updated all your website software to the latest versions?

That sounds easy enough, but what's the trick?

Well, it's actually harder than it first appears to even identify when there are problems. That's why we use professional SEO tools to analyze your website, dissect the copy, run it against competitors for the keywords you need to rank for, and more.

This gives us the data we need to make optimizations and see how they affect your rankings.

Want to see how this works in a small-scale? You can have your site analyzed for FREE to get a basic audit of what works and what doesn't work. Just use the simple form below.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free tool from Google, the leading search engine in the world, that lets you track visitors to your website, their behavior, their conversions, and much more.

You can access key information like:

How people are finding your site?
What they are like (where they are from, language, device, and more)
If they are clicking ads?
Do they fill out a form, call you, or take some other desired action?

Force 5 can help you set up and configure this platform to serve your needs, as well as get you a regular report so you can keep on top of these metrics.

Google Analytics 4: Time is Running Out!

Because Google Analytics is so widely used, you probably already have it on your site. But there's an upcoming change that will require your action.

Google is moving to a new platform called Google Analytics 4. This platform is already out and available, but most sites haven't yet adopted it. That's a problem because the existing Analytics solution that you probably already have will stop collecting data in July 2023!!!

We want to make sure you're prepared. We can get your property set up today so you already have built up a collection of data when July comes around. No reason to delay. Let's get this knocked out so you're ready for 2023 and beyond!

Schedule Your UpgradeContact us today to get your GA4 upgrade going!

What Kind of Results Can we Get?

With digital marketing, it isn't uncommon to get a very high ROI on your investment. Here are the results one recent client (a trailer manufacturer) found:

💵 $6,000 Client Investment
- 44 Requests for Quote
- 13 Requests for Brochures
- 28 Requests for Dealer to Contact
💸 $2.126 million in Sales Pipeline Potential
💸$320,000 in Confirmed Sales

See More Digital Marketing Case Studies

Digital Marketing FAQS

What's the best platform for my ad?

There simply isn't an easy answer for that question. It all depends on who your audience is. Different groups of people use different platforms. We have the data to help you decide, but we need to first understand who you want to engage with your message.

How can I tell it's working?

Digital marketing is unique in that it has metrics upon metrics upon metrics to show you how your ads and posts are performing. Depending on your goals, we rely upon certain ones more than others, but in general metrics like clicks, conversions, and purchases are most valuable.

Do I need to be on insert platform name here?

Yes, regardless of how long you've been in business, there's never a bad time to think about and build up your brand. Especially if it's time for a visual refresh. Brand Building is a good fit for new and old companies.

Is there any subscription costs to starting a Google Analytics account?

For 99% of businesses, no. There is an enterprise-grade solution available but most companies do not require it (even very large ones). If you are a candidate for this upgraded service, we'll let you know, but it's unlikely.

Can your team help us make content for social media?

Yes, the Force 5 team does offer managed social media services. If you wish for us to generate post content, just let us know, and we'll create a strategy together.