by Marelise da Silva | Nov 6, 2019 | Digital Media Marketing
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 today.
by Francois Muscat | Nov 5, 2019 | Digital Media Marketing
In digital marketing, trends change rapidly and non-stop. There is always some new technique, software, algorithm change or expert opinion to take into consideration. With the end of this year fast approaching, we’re looking at some important trends that digital marketers need to be aware of for the year to come.
The Top 5 Digital Marketing Trends for 2020:
Messaging Apps
With the introduction of Whatsapp for Business and similar features on messaging apps, digital marketing has found a way to become even more personal. Businesses can now manage a multitude of interactions through these apps, including digital marketing. The ability to create targeted groups, share promotions, host flash sales and bring a personal touch to all these messages is highly valuable to digital marketers, and we predict a steady uptake in using messaging apps for various digital marketing purposes.
Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing
Experts predict massive growth in the use of AI in managing the customer experience by implementing chatbots to drive targeted marketing interactions and manage customer queries. Chatbots can provide real-time feedback to questions without any delay or bias and in this space, they far outperform their human counterparts (who suffer from the normal side effects of being human).
Hyper Targeting
Companies investing in digital marketing expect to see results from their efforts. Hyper targeting turns customer insights into personalised messages to ensure that niche messages reach the correct audience, which improves the return on investment. It also creates brand awareness in the correct way by avoiding customers outside of the target market who may become brand-averse through repeated exposure to unsuitable messaging.
Content Marketing
It shouldn’t be news that content marketing is still a hot topic in digital marketing. The trends in this area are based on the type and format of content marketing. Interactive content and video content are set to take the lead in content marketing. These types of content are engaging, transparent and easy to digest. Consumption of live videos on social media is on the upswing as influencers and content creators become more comfortable in the medium, and consumers are actively seeking to engage with creators they follow in this space.
Shoppable Posts and AR/VR Experiences
Digital marketing meets online shopping in the advent of social media posts that link to e-commerce stores. The idea is to create a seamless experience by showcasing products, enabling the customer to try on the item (or view it in their own home) through AR/VR technology and simplifying the purchase process. Instead of looking at a digital catalogue, the virtual shopping experience is even closer to real life, and that is a powerful extension of digital marketing. Early adopters will be large retail brands due to the large investment it would take to implement virtual reality into the shopping experience.
The digital marketing landscape for the next year already promises great advancement, and we’re excited to discover trends that the industry might have not been able to predict yet. For more information on digital marketing trends for social media marketing, mobile marketing and email marketing contact us today.
by Francois Muscat | Nov 4, 2019 | Digital Media Marketing
Getting traffic to your restaurant can be simple and cost-effective – if you use digital marketing to your advantage. Digital marketing is a powerful tool in getting more traffic to your restaurant, but there’s more to it than posting a few images on social media and having a website. To increase the effectivity of digital marketing for your restaurant, we’ve gathered our favourite tips that you can easily implement in your marketing strategy:
Use Social Media for Your Marketing
Social media loves visuals and is the perfect medium to advertise your restaurant. Thanks to smartphones with great cameras, you can easily shoot high-quality images of your signature dishes, beautiful décor and helpful staff. Shoot some good-looking images, add your location (a function on most social media channels) and post it to social media. These posts will entice hungry clients in your neighborhood to drop by and experience your ambience. Don’t forget to add relevant hashtags to help your audience find you.
Bring Digital Marketing Home with Your Own Website
If your restaurant doesn’t have a website, it is basically invisible to a large number of people. In this digital age, a website will lend your restaurant credibility and will help potential clients to find valuable information (like trading hours, address and contact details) quickly. You need to invest some time (and possibly a little bit of money) in getting a website so you are visible on the digital map. A website also gives you a home for your content and can help you to connect with potential clients through a contact form or newsletter sign-up.
The most important aspects of a restaurant’s website? It should load quickly and be easy to navigate. Keep it simple and stick to your brand.
Use Content Marketing to Set Your Restaurant Apart
Content marketing takes the approach of educating or stimulating interest instead of explicitly promoting a product or service. Experiment with creating a blog to showcase inspiring recipes, give tips on seasonal ingredients and educate your followers on topics related to your industry.
Make the most of special events and holidays to create highly shareable content. This can include special cocktail recipes for Christmas or New Year, yummy cookies for the school holidays and food-related crafts your followers can make with their kids.
If you want to outsource your content marketing, why not collaborate with local bloggers or personalities? Offer incentives and set-up ways to post each other’s content that will be beneficial to both parties.
Get Listed, Everywhere
Make use of the myriads of business listing platforms and focus your attention to platforms specially created for the restaurant industry. You want your restaurant to appear on every possible listing website, restaurant app and local entertainment guide.
We have some fantastic resources that will educate you on the various facets of digital marketing. So, if you’re ready to learn more, visit our blog at http://www.blog.wsioms.co.za/.
by Marianna Muscat | Sep 23, 2019 | Digital Media Marketing
Holidays and other notable days of the year are some of the “prime” periods for business owners and marketers to take advantage of. Here is how to use digital marketing on that big holiday and festive seasons:
• Social Media Marketing
Make sure that you post content related to that big holiday coming up, you can do this a few days in advance of the actual day. You could also post something on the day. Chances are many folks are trawling the internet looking for special deals especially because of the holiday. This brings us to our next point…
• Create Special Discounts and Deals
Leverage the holidays to improve sales during slow months. As we’ve mentioned, people are always looking for a good deal. Offering a discount will encourage people to buy more because they are saving. Give them a reason to buy your product on this day. Some ideas include offering free delivery, buy-one-get-one-free specials or promotion codes.
You need to make sure that you use search engine optimisation to help your viewers find your promotion.
• Can Your Promo Help Your Customer?
Potential customers have problems – and you need to help solve them. The reason customers are looking at content on your website is in the hopes to find that missing solution to their problem.
Use your content marketing strategy to promote this solution for your customers.
•Let Your Audience Know in Advance
You can increase your sales by telling your audience about your specials in advance. Speak to your audience through digital advertising such as social media marketing, newsletters and emails. You could even take advantage of traditional advertising (TV commercials, newspapers, billboards, flyers, etc).
Using the holidays to your advantage can help to boost sales, especially during relatively slow months.
Do you need help with SEO, website design, link building and other digital marketing solutions? Contact WSI OMS today!
by Francois Muscat | Sep 4, 2019 | Content Marketing, Digital Media Marketing
In July, Google announced the launch of its Digital Marketing Transformation programme in South Africa. The tech giant described the programme as a partnership between itself and clients aimed at enabling “business growth through providing customised digital marketing advice, including digital marketing fundamentals, best practices and a focused customised roadmap.”
What will this programme entail? And, how can it help you boost your online marketing strategies from Nascent (the lower end of digital maturity) to Multi-moment (the level at which the top two percent of the world’s digital marketers are operating)?
The programme takes clients through a six-step process, beginning with an assessment of their current online marketing efforts in relation to international best practices. The assessment makes use of the Digital Maturity Benchmark, devised by the Boston Consulting Group. After going through this assessment, your digital marketing work will be benchmarked at one of the following four levels of maturity: Nascent, Emerging, Connect and Multi-moment. If you do not even make it to Nascent, it means that your strategies will need a complete makeover, so as to bring it up to speed when measured against global standards. If your work is Nascent, you will then be helped to devise a strategy to move you up through the next three levels.
If you are sitting among the 2 percent of marketers who are ranked as Multi-moment, meaning that the customer experience you provide moves dynamically and effectively towards desired business outcomes, then you need to just keep doing what you’re doing, while being sure to keep an eye on changing business and marketing trends.
The assessment provides a useful reality check to empower you through data-driven knowledge and self-awareness. The remaining steps of the programme will then help you to develop your marketing strategy to the next level. If you are like 89 percent of the world’s marketers, you will find yourself sitting somewhere between Emerging and Connect, meaning that you need to attend to just one or two key points of transformation to take you into another league.
Looking to create Connect to Multi-moment level digital transformation strategies for your brand? That’s what we live and breathe at WSI. Contact us to discuss your online marketing and allow us to show you how you can make the most of Digital Marketing Transformation.
by Marelise da Silva | Aug 26, 2019 | Digital Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing
Influencers used to be celebrities who would lend their fame to various product endorsements. This has changed over the years: being an influencer is now a full-time job and a source of fame and fortune in its own right.
Influencers have become such an integral part of the social media landscape that they are rapidly becoming an integral part of marketing strategies. They form followings of loyal social media users who are more than willing to accept their product advice and this means increased sales for online businesses and digital marketers.
With this in mind, influencers should now be taken into consideration for any marketing plan. At the end of 2018, influencer marketing agency Mediakix surveyed marketers to gauge the industry’s stance regarding the effectiveness of influencers. The survey revealed that 89% of marketers felt that return on investment on influencers was comparable to, or better than, that of other marketing channels. Sixty-five percent planned to increase their expenditure on influencers.
Why are influencers so popular? Simply put, they have the potential to give your brand a human face, if it doesn’t already have one. Influencers offer consumers someone to turn to for advice on their particular field of interest. Users test the opinions and endorsements of influencers and gradually build trust in them as they find that their points of view yield favourable results. They thus come to take influencer opinions to heart and make purchase decisions on that basis, meaning that if your product is promoted by a particular influencer, his or her following becomes a captive market for you.
Influencers are also quite a bit more affordable than casting well-known actors in ad campaigns – for now at least.
Contact WSI to assist you in creating a great, easily-manageable social media strategy.
