5 digital marketing mistakes to avoid – part 1


We are usually at loggerheads over which medium to use when promoting content. Do we go with the medium most reliable? Or with the medium requiring more attention and traction? What sort of content will audience of medium X be interested in viewing over audiences in medium Y?
A clear and evident mistake like this on our part saw us reach out to the wrong audience for our ad post and saw us fill the role with someone who was probably not the best fit for the job.


We are halfway through 2015 and a lot of us have already turned our attention towards promoting our business or brand via the digital medium. A quick look around in cyberspace shows us the 10 common mistakes that digital marketers are making till this day. There are some obvious, and some not very obvious ones that are preventing brands from tapping into the true power of digital marketing:
Having a one dimensional social media strategy

What happens: Businesses these days tend to forget the medium they access is social in nature. They share and post content but forget to conduct conversations or provide any real engagement with their audience.

What needs to be done: Firstly, just like a museum curator scours the globe for interesting finds to add to their museum, you need to visit sites and blogs looking for interesting content to engage your viewers. It shows your brand as being proactive and aware of changing situations. You’ll also help the original creators by spreading their work.

Secondly, you need to share with your audience user generated work. If a customer creates online content praising your brand or product, reward him by sharing it on your platforms. This bonus content that your fans have shared helps you get exposure while doing half the work.

Trying to rush progress but ending up causing confusion

What happens: Maiden digital media strategies usually leave companies lacking vision or goals. Marketers end up implementing the wrong technologies or products which are unable to solve the company’s problems. Incorrect implementation could lead to teams underperforming and a lot of the company’s time and money going to waste.

What needs to be done: Take the time to research available technologies, establish goals and develop your strategy in order to know what the company’s digital journey going forward should be. Identify KPIs for measuring the progress of your plans and once the marketer ensures this is the right solution for the company, merging with other platforms and scaling can be done.

No range in your content

What happens: When beginning your strategy, experimentation with a single type of content is bound to happen. However, as your company expands its digital footprint, you will need to create different kinds of content to engage different customers across various verticals. For example, long form content sways potential customers towards making an informed decision about your product. Shares are driven by multimedia and image-based content and help you diversify your audience.

What needs to be done: Firstly, blogging regularly helps position you as someone who knows what they’re talking about. It also tells your audience what exactly your company’s specialities are. Blogging assists in indexing pages which helps drive your SEO rating up.

Secondly, creating in-depth content such as e-books and white papers helps your customers do the research they need to before buying your products.

Thirdly, Adopting a multimedia approach helps drive shares. Mixing up your digital content helps you convince your audience that your product is worth buying.

Presenting content that fails to carry the brand message

What happens: Digital marketers feels flooding their pages with content is effective for building their reputation online. They tend to believe visibility results in engagement. This is almost never true.

What needs to be done: Show you understand the meaning of quality over quantity. As content is king in driving the digital marketing experience, companies must post engaging content rather than flooding pages with irrelevant content. Such content will strengthen customer loyalty and advocacy while subpar work will only get lost on your page.

Neglecting analytical tools

What happens: Businesses tend to share content without tracking the performance of each post. This is a huge mistake. Posting content is more than just about WHAT you post; it is about WHERE and WHEN you post it. Use analytics to beat your competition and capture a larger piece of the pie!

What needs to be done :

Look at your social media numbers – If you use tools such as HootSuite, they provide you the right information over how your posts are doing. If you aren’t using tools, use each social network’s metrics. For example, use the insights tab on your admin panel on Facebook to measure metrics like engagement, likes etc.


Look for patterns – answer questions like ‘Do you get more engagement with your posts at 12pm versus posts at 6pm?’ or ‘Do posts with images perform better than posts with no images?’. Knowing these answers empowers your brand to best understand your customer and customize your content accordingly.

There are a few more prominent mistakes that are noticeable from a digital marketers point of view.Watch this space for part 2 of this blog post.



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