Marketing Platforms: The Ultimate Guide
With 4.4 billion people using the internet, and 30% of consumers preferring to interact with businesses through social media, it’s no wonder that digital marketing has taken over traditional marketing.
However, it can be tricky to decide which platform to use. Even if target audience narrows down the parameters, there are still a plethora of digital marketing platforms to choose from. Fortunately, I’ve summarized the most important aspects of each marketing platform below.
Digital Marketing Platforms
Among the various marketing platforms discussed, each has different advantages and disadvantages since they work in extremely different ways. From advertising on Google Ads to social media marketing, find the basics of each platform below.
Google Ads
Since it’s the search engine of choice for a majority of internet users, Google Ads is one of the most important marketing platforms on this list. It allows marketers to target users based on a variety of factors, including demographics, browsing habits, and interests, and even allows businesses to pay for certain keywords.
Marketers can also take advantage of remarketing, in which Google targets ads to users who have already previously visited the website. This makes sure that your website is fresh in users’ minds and gives you the opportunity to increase sales by selling retargeting packages to partners. Remarketing is known to increase both, ROI and conversion rates, making this an extremely attractive option.
The platform is intrinsically linked with SEO and has a variety of campaign options – video campaigns, search campaigns, app campaigns, and shopping campaigns are just some examples. The large audience is one of the biggest advantages of advertising on Google Ads, which makes it the PPC of choice for many.
YouTube (through Google Ads)
With 2 billion logged-in monthly viewers, YouTube is one of the most widely used marketing platforms in the world and offers a plethora of digital marketing options. From launching a business YouTube channel to paid advertising and influencer marketing, the platform offers something for everyone. Even within paid advertisements, there are multiple options to choose from, including skippable ads, non-skippable ads, video discovery ads, and non-video ads (such as banners).
Like Instagram, YouTube is known for influencer marketing – however, the longer format allows products to be advertised in more detail. 49% of consumers rely on recommendations by influencers – influencer marketing doesn’t just cause exposure but is a method that is known for conversion. The ROI on this is astonishingly high – every dollar spent results in $6.50 dollars earned back!
However, the main advantage of YouTube is that it is a video-based platform. Human beings are visual creatures, and videos are more effective than any other kind of media. In fact, only 10% of a message is retained when it is in the form of text, compared to 95% in a video – a staggering difference.
One of the most common examples of social media marketing, Facebook offers advertisers an effective way to increase brand visibility and sales. While Google Ads focuses on the brand finding customers, Facebook does the opposite – Facebook allows its users to find the brand.
Facebook as a marketing platform is ideal in a number of ways but has one major advantage that sets it apart from other platforms. Although Facebook boasts billions of users, its true talent lies in targeting. People share more information on Facebook than anywhere else – it is almost a personal diary, a log of people’s lives. This allows marketers to target customers with a specificity that is unrivaled.
Instagram has more than one billion active users per month, and 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business. 83% of users have said that Instagram helps them discover new brands. Not only does Instagram marketing promote brands, but it also drives customers to brand websites and converts sales. In addition to content marketing, Instagram is one of the most popular digital marketing platforms to utilize social media marketing.
Instagram also allows for different kinds of posts, including images, videos, and boomerangs. Most notably, Instagram stories are frequently watched and can show users the details of your business or behind-the-scenes content. Unlike platforms like Snapchat, Instagram also offers the ability to save stories past 24 hours and allows users to host live streams.
Businesses can thrive on Instagram by not only engaging with their audience, but by re-posting their success stories or satisfaction with products or services. This serves as social proof and encourages others to do the same. Instagram marketing can also have a halo effect, i.e., brands can appear relevant and creative simply by existing on the platform.
Many underestimate LinkedIn but fail to grasp that it is one of the best marketing platforms out here for B2B. LinkedIn’s lead conversion rates are thrice as high as other ad platforms – yes, this includes Google Ads.
One of the most useful features on LinkedIn marketing is the ability to send out InMail – this allows personal contact with users and raises the likelihood of them responding. InMail on LinkedIn actually gets thrice the number of responses than regular email does, which gives you the ability to make valuable connections with market leaders.
Paying members can also access analytics and understand how their messages are performing, allowing them to use this insight to change strategies and succeed the next time. LinkedIn also offers a “matched audiences” feature that helps businesses target consumers they have already tried to convert – this allows them a second chance since familiarity with the brand may result in success.
Take Advantage of Digital Marketing
There are many digital marketing platforms to choose from, and targeting the right one depends on your audience, product/service, and the ROI you expect. Because of the overlapping properties of the various marketing platforms, it can be difficult to know which one will work best for you. Even if you’ve made this decision, you may not know the best strategies to go about advertising on the platform, whether it’s due to inexperience or simply being busy.
If you’re interested in discussing this more or any other topics on digital marketing, feel free to contact me to keep the conversation going!
