2017 DIGITAL MARKETING ROADMAP: PREPARE TO PIVOT
PREPARE TO PIVOT YOUR PLANNED DIGITAL MARKETING TACTICS FOR 2017 BY SETTING UP GOOGLE ANALYTICS TO MEASURE BEST PERFORMING CHANNELS.
It is not about following the latest technology or social media channel, but more about knowing how your target customers are navigating the internet, where they are most likely to find your brand online, and what it takes to get them to buy. Once you know this, and have a defined way to benchmark the performance of your digital marketing tactics - then you are set to finalize your plan.
To assist you in benchmarking digital marketing performance, it is important to find a place to temperature check your in-bound referring channels. The most efficient way to do that is by monitoring the change in performance of “Channels” as Google Analytics organizes it. This includes Organic Traffic, Paid Traffic, Social Referrals, Email, Referral and Direct Traffic.
Driving more traffic to the website with a focus on best referring channels will inevitably result in more sales. This will enable you to prepare to change direction in the coming 12 months if, and when tactics that were outlined in your 2017 plan are not producing the results that you had expected.
How to benchmark digital marketing performance and prepare your 2017 plan:
Check your Google analytics (or other analytics platform) and do a benchmarking report to compare improvements month over month, and year over year.
Using Google Analytics to benchmark and pivot: You will need to pivot in 2017 as consumer behavior and platform algorithms will change – quickly.
Facebook as an example, has in the past 12 months gone from some organic reach for Business pages, to zero organic reach without a "boost" or paid campaign. In the digital media environment we live in now, things can and will change. Quickly.
To ensure you are prepared to pivot your strategies in 2017, set up campaign goals and KPI’s including; increases in Organic referral traffic (from Google and Bing), Social referral traffic, and dig deeper into Referring sources of traffic as well. Keep in mind that "Social Referrals" or Social Signals, Referral traffic and Direct traffic are all part of how Google (and Bing) determine Organic Search ranking.
When reviewing changes to Channels, look at decreases in bounce rate, and increases in time-on-site as an indication of user engagement coming from each. Organic traffic typically sees the highest amount of engagement, which is also why it remains an key digital marketing tactic. Search visibility is critical for any brand, product or service.
Set up campaigns, and identify conversions that may include: Email sign up, Traffic to a campaign landing page, a transaction, or a click to call.
Run a monthly benchmarking report to see what digital tactics are moving the needle, and what channels are driving the most engaged users, and most conversions. It does not take long to see what content, paid marketing tactic and channel is providing results.
This approach to benchmarking at a macro level can be scaled to any business, whether your website gets 10,000 unique visitors a day or 100. Following this approach will help to shift strategy, spend and tactics as needed over the coming months. Be ready to pivot in 2017!
Read more about what you need to know for finalizing your 2017 Digital Marketing Plan here
ABOUT: Alicia Whalen is a Digital and Social Media marketing consultant, speaker and digital entrepreneur. She is also the Co-Founder of www.hashtagio.com - a platform that harnesses the power of social media and user-generated content, and empowers brands to close the broken path-to-purchase. Alicia has spent over a decade helping professionals understand how to embrace digital and social media in all facets of business.