A New Year has begun and for a lot of people, this means a brand new online marketing strategy. 2016 certainly was a wild year with countless changes to SEO, social media, and online advertising as a whole. If you’re already scratching your head about what you can do and don’t want to be left behind, perhaps it is time you tried something new?
Here are three unconventional online marketing strategies which you could consider looking into in 2017:
LinkedIn Groups
Remember LinkedIn? The social network that you signed up with and then never use? Well, they announced quite a few, much needed, improvements to their “groups” in November and it looks like the time has finally come for you to give them a shot. The biggest problem with LinkedIn groups is that it was plagued by marketers and spammers. But now, the groups are all going to be invitation only. They have also added the feature of unlisting groups so that they are hidden from search results.
With groups being more streamlined, it becomes so much easier for you to communicate with various other businesses. This still isn’t a fantastic platform to be selling your products on but it is certainly a salient opportunity for networking. There are many professionals who use this site which is not really quite the same for Facebook which can be for professionals but it is also teeming with goofballs and screw-ups. Building strong relationships today could be just what you need to lay a strong foundation in the future.
LinkedIn does not allow you to contact someone unless you know or have worked with them. This does hurt the networking prospects because this limits opportunities but they have their reasons for doing this.
Facebook Custom Audiences
It isn’t easy for you to constantly receive impressive results through advertising. It is quite hard for you to identify wonderful target audiences on Facebook for products. Even if you do identify them, you can’t really predict if your ads are going to do well with them or not. So instead of trying and blasting your ad over a huge geographical area, it makes more sense to try out the custom audiences feature. Custom audiences are basically small, defined user groups whom you can target with your Facebook advertisements.
The easiest way of building this is through your email list. If users have already chosen to receive your newsletter, they are probably going to be more receptive to anything you are selling. One other technique you can consider using is the retargeting pixel. This is a poignant way for you to find the users who may just be interested in your product since it only targets the users who have visited your website. This is a majestic tool to help you convince users who may currently be on the fence with regard to your products or services.
Don’t Underestimate Split Tests
It is essential for you to split test all of your advertising. Every single thing from your email subjects to your landing pages need to be split tested. What happens here is that your audience is divided into two groups and then both groups get to see different versions of an ad. Remember, advertising takes a lot of finesse if you want it to work in your favor.
There is no fixed route either. Different people will find success with different styles. It is highly unlikely that your first ad is going to be optimal or go viral or whatever. So create 2-3 different variations of the same ad. Experiment with images, formatting, copies, etc. while allowing the campaign to run. It will quickly become clear that not all ads work well. Cut those ones off right away while increasing the budget for ads which are proving to be effective. That is only logical.
All professionals should remain flexible.