New Report Highlights Skills Shortage in Digital Marketing
In today’s rapidly changing world, digital transformation is no longer an option for business. Yet, with digital at the heart of all things marketing today, there is no guarantee that business will survive this fast-paced modern industry either. It is a fine line to cross, and a workforce who is oblivious to these changes can be crippling to any organisation. In a recent global survey published by The Economist Group and the Digital Marketing Group (Perpetual Evolution: The Interplay of Talent and Technology in the Future of Marketing), research highlights a dire shortage of critical skills and talent within this space. Based on interviews with more than five hundred international marketing executives, the report indicates that 74% of marketing executives are of the belief that the marketing industry faces a critical talent shortage of digital experience, marketing experience and soft skills needed to meet customers’ increasing demands. The marketers identified ‘customer experience’, ‘strategy and planning / brand management’ and ‘data and analytics’ as crucial to their organisations’ success and business performance. The survey further points out that many of these marketers will need to place a strong emphasis on recruitment and reskilling of their existing workforce equally. With global marketing struggling to ‘future-proof’ organisations during this skill shortage, business needs to become diligent about ongoing employee development and agile teams in order to easily adapt to this constant digital evolution. Need help with your copywriting, social media or digital marketing strategies? Then contact WSI OMS...
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Social Marketing Tip: Make the Most of LinkedIn’s Search Functionalities
In this blog post, we are going to discuss a few steps for using LinkedIn to find and connect with any business executive or any company that you want to promote your business to. Connect at the Right Level The first step to getting the most out of LinkedIn is to use the LinkedIn search functionality. You can search for a specific person, a company or even search by job titles in a location. Keep in mind who it is that’s going to be using your products or services. Instead of going to the very top of the organisation chart and then getting kicked back down, start thinking who at the mid to senior level is going to use your services and start looking up those individuals. If you have a software as a service product for social media marketers, for example, you are going to look up social media managers, social media directors and perhaps even a VP of social media. If you start going too high up the organisational chart to a chief executive officer, for example, it would probably get harder to connect and engage. Join Industry Groups The next tip is to join industry groups. LinkedIn has thousands of groups, not simply based on the industry, but also based on locations. If you’re looking to grow your local professional social network in the city or town where you do business, just run a quick search for that city or town. If you are in a specific industry and you’re looking to connect with more professionals in your space or in your industry, look up that industry and start joining groups. You can join up to fifty groups. This allows you to, within each of these groups, to post content and engage in discussions. And, more importantly, by being a member of these groups, you now have direct access to send an email or connection request to anyone within the group itself. Are you interested in social media marketing techniques and strategies to enhance your reputation and help you prospect for new leads? WSI OMS offers a range of digital and social media marketing services that can be customised for your business. Contact us for more information...
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How to Make Your Social Marketing Strategy More Personable
It’s no secret that LinkedIn is one of the most important social networks, if not the most important social network for entrepreneurs and sales professionals. The reason for this is the sheer size of LinkedIn’s database, which now boasts over 600 million professional users spread around the world. With so many people on the platform, how do you make connections that put your brand and marketing messages in front of more people? As anyone who has been doing social marketing for a while will know, it’s all about building relationships. Here are a few ways to start: Stay on Top of Your Client’s News Find content related to the company that you’re trying to market to. The easiest way to do this is to set up a Google Alert. If you have a Google Alert set up for that company, you will be notified by email any time that company gets a mention in the news. Use that Content to Your Advantage Let’s face it, no one wants to be prospected. They want to be engaged! And, with the keyword in social media being “social”, you should find a way to socialise. The easiest way to do that is to congratulate or acknowledge your prospects based on company news and announcements that are public. This is something that you will be able to do on an ongoing basis thanks to the Google Alerts that you set up. What you are going to do is go back to your prospect, and in your dialogue with them, mention the news. Here’s an example of a message you will send them: “Hi Brad, I just saw on Business Insider that your company was named one of the top ten corporations in your industry – congratulations! Hey, by the way, if you have a few minutes, I’d love to hop on a call with you next week to see how business is doing.” It’s easy to see how the above interaction is different from just approaching someone and trying to market to them. Focus on the Individual The next tip is to make your conversations less about the company and more about the individual. Every single person at any company has a professional goal that might not necessarily be tied to the company goal, but it’s their goal and it’s important to them. If you really want to get down and dirty and be an amazing digital marketer, you have to make marketing personable. Really get to know your prospects, find out when they will be going to conferences, whether they are travelling to your city any time soon and how you can get more face time. Are you interested in digital and social marketing techniques and strategies to enhance your reputation and help you grow your brand online? WSI OMS offers a range of digital and social media marketing services that can be customised for your business. Contact us for more information...
read moreContent Marketing Rules to Follow When You’re a Real Estate Agency
The real estate industry is an ambitious market. So, if you want to stand out from your competitors, you need to employ content marketing to build your reputation. While new agencies attempt to enter the marketplace all the time, there are a few rules to follow in content marketing that will help you to establish your agency’s status. Content Marketing Rules for Real Estate Agencies: Do the Research The first step is looking for questions that your audience might have. You’ll need to spend time researching your audience, their needs and how you can address those issues. The results of this effort will provide you with many possible topics that would be of interest to your audience. Once you have those topics, it becomes easier to focus your efforts on information that will be valuable and to provide good resources to your audience. Provide Solutions Content marketing doesn’t stop at the research phase. The second step in the process is formulating answers to the questions you established in the first step. This is where topics are transformed into solutions for your audience. Always aim to add value for your audience, and be very careful to never add a “hard sell” approach to your solutions. The idea with content marketing is to educate and inform, not to peddle anything to your audience. Once you build up your agency’s reputation, audiences will be more receptive to your sales pitches and listings. Upskill If you’re planning on being effective at content marketing, you’ll need to brush up on some aspects of digital marketing. Social media marketing, search engine optimisation, link building and quality web design are effective tools that you’ll need in your content marketing toolbox. You don’t need to become an expert at using these tools, but the more you understand the more empowered you’ll be to succeed at content marketing. Become the Local Expert People want homes and communities, not just a local building to live in. You need to become the expert in the neighbourhoods you operate in so you can give your clients the inside scoop on the place they might be calling home. Establish yourself as an expert on local life through good content marketing, and people will reward you with their loyalty. Local news and happenings are perfect topics to cover in your content marketing. And. it will solidify your agency’s reputation as part of the community. Don’t Forget the Visuals The visual message in your content marketing is just as important as a clean, beautiful show house. By using your agency’s visual style not only in listings but in content marketing too, you’ll strengthen your brand message and help audiences to immediately recognise the content as yours. Good visuals will entice your audience to read the content you’ve created, thereby growing the influence of your content. Make it Easy To Reach Out You can have the most beautiful visuals and meticulously crafted content, but if your audience can’t get in contact when they like what they see, your entire content marketing endeavour fails. You want your audience to see you as a resource they can easily engage with because this creates leads without you even trying. Always include a way for clients to get in touch after they’ve read your content. If you need...
read moreHow to Get More Engagement on LinkedIn
Are you slogging away at crafting content that gets minimal engagement? Then these social media marketing tips on how to get more views and better engagement on LinkedIn, are for you. Get Help from Your Friends When posting content to LinkedIn, the number of shares you get directly following your post impacts LinkedIn’s algorithm. If people are commenting and sharing within the first few hours, LinkedIn takes notice. A good social marketing tip would be to reach out to your friends and colleagues before you post an article. Ask them to like it to increase the number of people who will see your content in their news feeds. Post Directly into LinkedIn Posting someone else’s article on LinkedIn isn’t the best way to get engagement. This is because the reader then has to click on the article, go read it, go back to LinkedIn, and comment. As you can see, this just adds additional steps for them to engage with you. So, you actually get more engagement if you type your post directly into LinkedIn Publisher. Tips for Posting While LinkedIn does give you 1 300 characters, they only show the first three lines of what you’re writing to people. Given this, make sure you have a hook that will compel them to click and see the rest of your post. Secondly, space out your text instead of having it in one big, thick paragraph. Content that is presented as a wall of text is hard to read and will not engage readers. Use subheads as well as shorter sentences and paragraphs to improve readability. Thirdly, it’s important to note that posts that perform well generally share a perspective. Whether it’s your opinion, personal experience or an interesting observation, make sure you’re adding something new to the conversation. Are you interested in digital and social media marketing techniques and strategies to enhance your reputation and help you grow your brand online? WSI OMS offers a range of social and digital marketing services that can be customised for your business. Contact us for more information...
read moreMarketing on LinkedIn: Tips for Greater Post Engagement
In this blog post, we will discuss all the secrets on how to make your LinkedIn posts get more views and more engagement. We will also cover tips about the LinkedIn algorithm that will be really helpful to make sure your posts are seen by more people, as well as discuss the psychological insights to help you understand what kinds of posts compel more people to engage with you. Invest in Native Content The first thing to know is that LinkedIn rewards native content. Native content means content that originates on that site. When you share native content, you’re not linking out to somewhere else. If you take a link from YouTube, for example, and post it on LinkedIn, LinkedIn will show it to your network and you will get some engagement. But, if you film your own video and upload it directly to LinkedIn, LinkedIn will show it to way more people because they want to reward users for creating content on their platform instead of encouraging people to visit a different website. So, to get more engagement, upload your videos directly to LinkedIn. Another tip is to write your articles in LinkedIn publisher instead of linking out to a blog or article on another site. Tips for Posting Articles When posting articles on the LinkedIn publisher, keep in mind that what will also help you get more engagement from people is content that is of very high quality. Writing high-quality content means including details, specific examples, screenshots and personal anecdotes and, of course, a fabulous attention-grabbing title always goes a long way in generating interest. And, on that note, two quick tips on how to have a great title are as follows: Have a number in it. Just having numbers in the title makes more people click. Show that you have a unique perspective. Having a different point of view to other digital marketers online or other people in your industry will pull the reader in. This may sound a little bit clickbaity, but it works. Get Engagement Quickly LinkedIn takes note of how many likes you get in the first few minutes and how quickly you’re ramping up likes on a post. It is for this reason that it is really important that you get that engagement quickly when you post something new. So, reach out to colleagues and ask them to like and share your content. Are you interested in social media and digital marketing techniques and strategies that will enhance your reputation and help you grow your brand online? WSI OMS offers a range of social media and digital marketing services that can be customised for your business. Contact us for more information...
read moreHow Blockchain Is Changing Digital Marketing
Blockchain technology; which has mostly been associated with cryptocurrency and the finance industry; could soon become the latest curve-ball to hit the world of digital marketing. Predictions from industry experts point to blockchain being a disruptive influence for the marketing industry, and it seems that artificial intelligence and analytics are set to take a backseat when it comes to game-changing technology. Blockchain technology is based on the principle of creating a publically available digital record of transactions across many computers. This record or “block” is connected to other blocks in the chain and can’t be altered without altering the other blocks connected to it. It creates a way for transactions to take place between two parties without needing verification from a third party. 4 Ways in Which Blockchain Technology Is Changing Digital Marketing: Access to Digital Data Blockchain can put a stop to businesses pulling and selling their clients’ information without paying the client for the use of that information. Certain browsers are using blockchain technology to allow clients to “sell” their attention to businesses. The client can watch ads and get paid for doing so, instead of getting bombarded by online advertising they never asked for. Blockchain will certainly change the way that digital marketers collect and use consumer information, and it will give consumers power over their own data. Marketers will have to get their data directly from consumers and may, therefore, pose opportunities to win customer loyalty. If the brand or company can win the customer’s trust, they will be rewarded with consumer information. Strengthened Security Blockchain adds security to online interactions because each transaction in a block is stored in a decentralised manner, which makes it incredibly hard to hack individual accounts and entire databases. Various companies are creating ways to allow consumers to use their information as a key to access apps without those apps storing information on their servers. These companies aim to give consumers back the rights over their own data. Digital marketers can use this added security to their advantage by supporting consumers in their efforts to control the use of their data and by being transparent in the way they use data that they have access to. If done correctly, digital marketers can gain the trust of their audiences by embracing extra security. Verification With the verified chain of transactions, blockchain technology can help take the guesswork out of online transactions. Instead of hoping that manufacturers are being honest in marketing products, companies can verify conditions such as the origins of a product as well as how much workers are paid. There is no way to alter records once recorded in a block, which may give the consumer peace of mind knowing that they are really buying what is being advertised to them. Clearer Indication of Ad Spend Yet another benefit of the verified chain of transactions, blockchain can give a clear trail of where every cent goes in advertising transactions. This ensures that the advertiser is aware of every intermediary in the process and that inefficiencies can be removed from the process. While many developments are still new in blockchain technology, it is clear that they will change digital marketing in many ways. And, if marketers gain an understanding of how blockchain can benefit their efforts, they will...
read moreOur Best Email Marketing Tips to Grow Your Small Business
For small businesses with limited budgets, email marketing can be a cost-effective way to target clients with a customised message and get measured feedback on its performance. We’ve gathered our favourite tips to incorporate email marketing in growing your small business. Get Your Business Growing with Email Marketing Successful email marketing focuses on a simple message, which is communicated clearly and highlights the value of the message to the client. Here’s how to succeed with your email marketing strategy: Give a Little, Get a Lot Start with an incentive to get your clients to sign up. This can be in the form of exclusive benefits like checklists, free templates and handy guides aimed at solving a problem your client might be facing. By providing value, you’re building loyalty and positioning yourself as a respected resource. Loyal clients will pay attention, engage with you and refer your business to others. Don’t Spam Want to know why clients unsubscribe? Spammy messaging and communication overload. If your message only sells and offers no real value or these communications clutter their inbox multiple times a week, you’re going in the trash. People don’t normally hang around to watch infomercials, so don’t mimic those tactics in your email marketing. Customise Your Message Research your audience and find out what kind of voice they will respond to; then adopt that voice when communicating with them. Just remember that the voice isn’t limited to wording only, it includes visuals too. Aim for a message that is consistent and customised to fit your audience for maximum impact. The key to success in email marketing is to establish trust. So, always meet your clients’ expectations, offer real value and be consistent. If you implement these tips, you’ll see real results that you can keep reaping the benefit from. Need help with your email marketing? Contact WSI OMS...
read more3 Tips for Hiring Digital Marketing Graduates
Digital marketing is a growing industry and, therefore, attracts the attention of many marketing graduates. It is a relatively new branch of marketing, which can make it a little tricky to put together great teams. If you’re in the market to hire, here are a few tips to make the process a bit easier. Hiring Graduates for Digital Marketing Should I Look for Qualified or Experienced? The great debate in hiring comes down to qualifications versus experience. And, while certain professions have very specific requirements and highly specialised training, digital marketing can afford to be less strict on requiring formal qualifications. Because so few higher learning institutions offer courses specifically on digital marketing, you may need to cast your net wider to include candidates without formal qualifications if they have sufficient industry experience. A skills test or practical demonstration of the candidate’s skills and experience may show you exactly what you need to know to make an informed decision about a candidate, whether they have a formal qualification or not. What Skills Should I Look For? The most important skills in digital marketing are communication and organisation. Although marketing is a fairly creative field, the top skills to look out for (especially at a more junior level) has nothing to do with ground-breaking ideas and mind-shifting creativity. When a candidate has excellent communication skills (both verbal and written) and demonstrates the ability to clearly communicate in different situations (email conversations, interviews, etc.), they have already become a higher value candidate. If good communication skills are paired with impeccable organisation, the candidate should be ranked highly on your list. In essence, marketing (and digital marketing) is about communicating a message to an audience. And, without solid organisational and communication skills, the ideas will lose their impact or end up not reaching their target altogether. Arguably, these skills can be taught. But, in such a case, the candidate should really excel in other areas such as creativity, market awareness and analytical thinking. Characteristics that Should Make a Candidate Stand Out If you’re lucky enough to have candidates with the ability to communicate and organise, you can create an effective ranking system by looking at other characteristics that will add value to your organisation. Here are some characteristics to look out for: Creativity and Enthusiasm: The industry is highly competitive, and fresh ideas paired with passion can often mean the difference between closing a deal or losing the customer. Coping in Stressful Situations: Calm, level-headed team members can dictate how an emergency is handled. Interpersonal Skills: Candidates need to be able to work well with others to keep the team productive and harmonious. These tips should help you to hire the correct digital marketing graduates who have the necessary experience and skills to help your digital agency reach its goals. For more resources on digital marketing, social media marketing, content marketing and web design visit us at:...
read moreDigital Marketing for Non-Profits
Digital marketing can be a cost-effective and simple way for non-profit organisations to spread the message about their cause. Because the goals of non-profit organisations differ from those of for-profit businesses, the approach in digital marketing needs to shift. Here’s our guide to digital marketing for non-profits. 5 Digital Marketing Tips for Non-Profits: Inform Your Supporters Communicating with supporters of your cause is a vital part of spreading your message. When creating content such as blog posts, social media posts and newsletters, you’ll need to provide the relevant information concisely, in a manner that is visually appealing and easy to share. This will help your message to reach a wider audience and find support from new volunteers and donors. Keeping your supporters up to date with the latest news, developments and events will create more opportunities for supporters to get involved, spread your message and raise funds. Network and Connect A well-maintained network is a priceless asset for a non-profit organisation, and digital marketing can play a key role in building and retaining a network. Make use of email marketing, social media and your website to establish and grow your digital network. When you gain valuable contacts, place them on your VIP list for event invites and reach out with courtesy messages to update them on developments in the cause. The same principles are applicable to creating relationships with media outlets. But, in this instance, you’ll need to find out how each outlet wants to receive information from your organisation and what their conditions are for sharing your press-releases and content. Share Your Knowledge Reach out to relevant publications and offer to create guest posts on topics that would benefit their readers. By creating content that they can share with their audiences, you’re establishing the status of your cause and positioning yourself as an expert in the field. The key is to understand how your expertise can be useful to their readers and to let this knowledge guide you when writing content. Be sure to reshare the content on your own platforms so your audience can find it. Engage On Multiple Social Media Platforms Cast your net as wide as possible by engaging on multiple platforms. People often choose one or two social media platforms and regularly engage on those sites, so you want your message to be available to as many possible supporters as you can manage. Don’t overextend your team by choosing to be on every available platform. Instead, do research about your ideal audience’s platform preferences, and speak to them where they are. Invite Your Supporters to Take Part Use digital marketing to invite your supporters to attend upcoming events. Use all the platforms at your disposal to increase your reach and provide a way for supporters to attend the event in a virtual manner, if possible, through live streaming of the event. Create a digital packet for guests to download by scanning a QR-code and include relevant details on how to donate, upcoming events and FAQs about the organisation. These 5 tips go beyond the realm of social media and will help you to use digital marketing to create awareness and attract supporters for your non-profit organisation. For more on digital marketing, social media marketing, SEO and web design, contact WSI OMS...
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