Digital marketing relies heavily on numbers. Analytics, statistics, data gathered from your campaigns, and content performance will all give you tangible proof of how your marketing is coming along. So what can you do with these numbers? How can you utilize them so that you can strengthen your marketing efforts down the line? Here are a few great ways to review this data, and help you make better decisions in your digital marketing as a result.
Website
SEO is one thing you need to strongly consider when creating your website. Have you also thought about what the website copy is saying to your target audience as well? There are many ways to look over analytics, from how the SEO is working to your advantage, to which landing pages are the most viewed.
By reviewing your website’s click-through rates and bounce rates, for instance, you can glean some important information you may have overlooked when first creating the site and then shift gears to reflect your new marketing goals accordingly.
Social Media
Gathering data from social media platforms is easier than ever. With the streamlined Facebook Business Suite, you can look at how your business is performing on both Facebook and Instagram (if the accounts are linked). Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, and LinkedIn have their own analytics features which can break down by post, by week, by month, etc. So how can you organize this data and use it to your advantage? First, it’s helpful to do an overview of which platform is garnering the most engagement, reach, and followers.
Let’s say you’re a business whose target audience is women, aged between 21-30, and interested in home design. Your best social media platform may be Pinterest or Instagram. Compare these two platforms, how they’ve performed for your business and target audience recently, and narrow down which posts have gotten the most attention. That’s one great way to hone in on your marketing campaigns moving forward, by looking over the proven facts and figures of these specific platforms and their posts.
Another important thing to consider with social media is how the apps are constantly changing and evolving. For example, Instagram’s shift to more video-heavy content, as opposed to their usual static images of the past. This will be a major factor in how you approach your target audience, what the numbers may say about the content you’re pushing, and how you can shift your marketing efforts to acclimate to these changes.
Did you know that email marketing is one of the most efficient, yet overlooked, marketing efforts? It’s high time to utilize this form of communication! No matter which application you’re using for your email campaigns, it will be useful for you to analyze the data being sent your way.
Platforms like HubSpot and Constant Contact can give you some great analytics for your email campaigns, but knowing how to read them and tweak your emails will be super handy in your marketing. How many customers are leaving your emails unread or unsubscribing? These are vital to look over, along with what content garners high open rates.
PPC Advertising
Google Ads, social media ads, or however you approach the ads for your business are key to your marketing. One takeaway from pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is the information you can gather on how successful the campaign was. (One note: even if you think your campaign wasn’t a “success,” it will still help you get some insight into what needs changing, and what was effective this time around!) These numbers, like who you reached, where they’re located, the click-through rate, and more will provide answers in your future ads endeavors.
Marketing is a numbers-driven game. The great thing about numbers, though, is they don’t lie. You can easily view the information before you and create your own game plan for proven results. While your digital marketing may rely on some areas of creativity, the data will always be the missing puzzle piece to give you a peek into the big picture.
