29/03/2022 - Top 3 Marketing Myths | Website Blog | Purple Creative Studio
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Top 3 Marketing Myths

Digital marketing incorporates so many different tactics for engagement and exposure of businesses and the many different ways to approach it can be a bit daunting. Whilst there are lots of things you can do right, there's also a lot of misinformation out there. What many businesses think are the best tactics when it comes to their marketing strategy can turn out to be costly mistakes! To try to avoid making these mistakes we have put together a list of the most common marketing myths we hear within the industry and the main reasons to avoid them when it comes to your next campaign.


🦄 Myth #1 - Market to Everyone


Whilst many of us want to ensure we get the widest reach possible for our businesses and get everyone’s eyes and attention on our content so that our reach figures are as high as possible, it’s not always the strategy that will be the most effective or promote more sales. For example, if you are a business selling specialist machine parts for cars, you don't want to be marketing to young people who don't drive, you are better off targeting mechanics or car enthusiasts. This is often seen in your social media analytics if you are getting high reach but lower engagement or if you are seeing a large number of people unsubscribing from your mailing lists. 


It’s much better to effectively target your audience and focus on people who would be interested in your products or services and ultimately those who are more likely to make a purchase. To achieve this you need to take time to get to know your audience by researching their behaviours as well as finding out their wants, needs, desires and pain points to form different buyer personas to target them with specific campaigns. 


Defining your target audience can affect the type of language you use, your brand voice and the type of content you create and share. Mailouts can also be tailored and sent to segmented lists rather than your whole audience often resulting in more clicks and opens due to customers feeling the information is more relevant to them. It will also ensure you aren't wasting time and resources with broad campaigns that are seen by a wide audience but resonate with very few, which can quickly use up your budget without achieving any of your targets!


Ultimately it should result in a better relationship with your customers and a stronger marketing message with a higher chance of success whether that is through social posts, email campaigns or paid advertisements.


🧚 Myth #2 - Use Hashtags Everywhere


Whilst hashtags are a great way to gain exposure within the circles of tags people are actively searching, it’s important to use them wisely! The best place to use them is Instagram and it's a good idea to do some research on the optimum tags to use beforehand. Instagram is the platform that is most common to see them and they do increase reach and engagement, so putting anywhere between 5 and 30 hashtags and ensuring you change them up often can be hugely beneficial. 


Twitter is also a great place to be reactive and jump on current trends using a hashtag in a post. When it comes to Twitter you already have a small word count limit that other social platforms don't have so it's best to stick to one or two hashtags to save those precious characters. Tags known as ‘hashflags’ (which you can read all about in our previous blog here) have recently become extremely popular and can be a great way to get your business seen by individuals who are engaging with and discussing a topic related to your brand. 


However, hashtags shouldn't be used on every social platform out there and you should take care to not litter hashtags within the body of your text. One of the biggest examples of where hashtags aren't effective is Facebook. They simply aren't a key feature that's well utilised by Facebook - just think about the last time you searched a hashtag on Facebook? It’s likely never or rarely! It’s a much better idea to include keywords in your post rather than hashtags. Another thing to stay away from is cross-publishing your Instagram posts to Facebook - this often carries over the hashtags and posts can look a bit of a mess with 30 hashtags hanging around on the end of the post. Focus on high-quality copy and good imagery over hashtag use!


🐉 Myth #3 You Can Use Your Facebook Page As A Website


This is something that is increasing due to the rise in social media usage and the fact that setting up a Facebook page is easy, quick and free! Social media pages are a great way to resonate and connect with your audience and keep them up to date on a platform that they frequently visit, with around 53 million active users in the UK alone. That said, once you’ve got your audience on board and reacting to your content you then need to give them a call to action and you may not want your only option to be a direct message or call. 


A website gives you something to link back to through your social media pages and is a place for more information about your business and its services, the story behind it and the place for customers to purchase products or submit enquiries. For example, if you encourage people to direct message you via Facebook, you may not get all the information you need to answer the enquiry in full. If you instead direct people to your website you can tailor the contact form to your liking, including all the information you require from the customer when they fill it out. You can also keep track of these sales and enquiries much more easily on a website and set up secure payment processes. 


Social media and websites do go hand in hand though as both contribute to your Google ranking. Websites, however, are a much better place for you to be recognised for keywords and rank in the search engine, and they’re a great place to post news updates and blogs which your target audience may enjoy reading and benefit from.


Measuring goals and targets are easier with the addition of a website too, for example, if you run an ad on Facebook or link a post to a specific call to action to be completed via your website you can then measure the success of that campaign using Google Analytics. It’s also worth noting that many campaign ads on Facebook actually require a website URL which is important if your campaign has a focus on paid advertising! Google Ads are also more likely to perform better and be more credible by using a website URL over a social link.  


You'll also notice that social platforms such as Instagram and Facebook often ask users to have an account and log in to view content on the platform, which isn’t often a requirement to view content on a website. This is something some of your customers may not want to do and thus you miss out on potential sales and lead generation! 


When it comes to web content your website can be tailored to help it rank higher in Google searches and your social media can be used to back this up, despite the regular changes the likes of Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and Twitter introduce frequently. It's a good idea to have your website set up and in place when you set up your social media pages so you can boost traffic alongside boosting your social engagement. 


Hopefully, these tips will help you create your own successful campaign, but if you want further help with your digital marketing content and strategy please don't hesitate to get in touch to see how we can help.

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