Reflections Edward Sanchez Digital Marketing
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| (Sanchez, 2015) |
This month while attending Full Sail University for my Entertainment Business Masters degree, I had the
wonderful opportunity to learn about Digital Marketing from our course director
Kristen Stewart. My intended goal for this course is to learn how marketing
plans are created and why exactly, are they so integral to this day and age.
Within the first week I learned what “Content Marketing” is and it’s relevance in marketing field, the importance of “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO), and discussed what factors
maximize the efforts of an SEO campaign. We also discussed useful tools
currently available that aid in monitoring the performance of strategies being
used in a campaign. Lastly, by the
second week we covered topics pertaining to best practices for using “Paid Searches” and planning our own
campaign for our specific business.
What is “ContentMarketing”? It is the strategic act of driving profitable customer
action, utilizing valuable content created and distributed to a specific target
audience. When it comes to content marketing not all content is created equal.
A creator should ensure the content made is valuable, relevant and consistent with
the consumers they are trying to attract. However content alone will not be effective, a
marketing strategy must accompany the content. How do you create quality
content when you don’t know who your audience is? What do you do after you gain
the attention of an audience? The marketing strategy answers these questions.
Ultimately content marketing is the integral piece of the puzzle needed to
communicate with your customers and piqué their interest in a specific product.
(Content Marketing Institution, 2007)
I was truly
interested in (SEO) or “Search Engine Optimization”. I had
heard the term before and the name alone caused my brain to shut off. Kristen
was able to demystify it and explained it simply and plainly. SEO is how search
engines rank your content and it’s relevance to consumers. Understanding SEO
enables you to customize your content and create it in such a way that
optimizes its relevance, potentially resulting in a higher ranking. Search
Engine Optimization is free (organic), a company cannot pay to be placed or
ranked higher than another company, and they must optimize their content similar
to everyone else. This infographic
illustrates some of the best practices to enhance your content for SEO
Using a blogger account created for the purpose
of acclimating students to the digital world, Kristen explained how to set up
specific tools that will aid us in learning the concepts of Digital Marketing. We linked Google Analytics, Webmasters, and
AdWords to our blogs, which afforded the class the opportunity to observe these
tools in action. Ms. Stewart recommended
other resources such as Google Adsense, SEMRush, Spyfu, Keyword Density
Checker, Pintrest, and more be researched to determine how each can benefit us
individually.
Lastly, we discussed
the pros and cons of utilizing a “Paid
Search” strategy for digital campaigns. When you search a topic, do you
genuinely avoid the ads that populate at the top of a search? If you are like
me, the answer is a resounding yes. Statistically, numerous consumers avoid the
paid ads. However, having a paid ad may offer validity with a company to a
certain degree. Consumers may overlook the paid ad, but actively seek the ad
free version of the company further down the list. Using a combination of “Paid Search” and “SEO” can create a sense of legitimacy in the consumers mind.
