In today’s business world, interacting with consumers online is a key way companies market their products and services. In many cases, a company’s marketing strategy comes from their internet marketers. Internet marketers craft marketing campaigns for email, social media, and mobile devices, utilize SEO, and often conduct digital marketing analytics to better understand their audiences. To create these digital marketing campaigns, internet marketers must focus on creating content that ranks highly on search engines, sends the right branding signals to consumers, draws in the right audience, and pushes consumers down their sales funnel. Not only must internet marketers understand how to navigate digital tools, but they must also be able to conduct data analysis, track search engine analytics, and build online marketing strategies according to their findings.
Some internet marketers might specialize in social media marketing, while others might focus on market research or marketing across a broad range of platforms. Across all marketing specializations, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, expects a 9% increase in managerial positions between now and 2026. This is especially true for internet marketers, as the increased availability of the internet and mobile devices, ensures more consumers are interacting with companies through online markets. With more importance placed on internet marketers in the digital age, more marketing professionals and business students are looking for various forms of internet marketer education. That’s where we step in; to offer some answers to the question, “How do I learn to be an Internet Marketer?”
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO involves fine-tuning your content so it’s more likely to pop up on different search engines. With SEO marketing, you’ll research popular keywords, or specific words and phrases that a person might use during their online search. SEO helps integrate these keywords into your online content, which helps your content stand out in search results. There's more to SEO than just keywords though—optimizing your website and publishing relevant, timely content are also important.
•For instance, if you run a crafting blog, you might include phrases like “crochet stitches,” “crochet patterns,” or “free crochet patterns” in your blog post. You would want to do this organically, however, since spamming your content with keywords will be distracting for readers and won't improve your search ranking.
•To learn more about SEO, websites like the Google Webmaster Central Blog, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Roundtable, and State of Digital are all great resources.
•Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Open Site Explorer, and Google Keyword Planner are free, useful resources that can help optimize your content.
Pay per click advertising (PPC): PPC lets you market yourself on other web platforms. Using platforms like Google Ads, you can create customized online ads that will show up in search results. You pay the platform that's hosting your ads (like Google) whenever someone clicks on them. With PPC, you set a budget for your ads, which can appear on a person’s tablet, phone or computer.
•To learn more about pay per click advertising, check out blogs like Inside Google AdWords, Word Stream, and PPC Hero—these are all great resources.
Social media marketing: Social media marketing is pretty much what it sounds like: marketing your business on different social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. With social media marketing, you'll typically create a posting schedule so you're regularly posting new content and engaging with your followers.
•In general, aim to dedicate 80% of your posts to non-promotional content (content that your followers will find interesting but isn't trying to sell them something), and the other 20% to promotional content. For the most part, people aren't looking to be sold to on social media, so you don't want to bombard them with too many advertisements. Non-promotional content is still good for your business—it increases your following and brand awareness.
•To learn more about social media marketing, check out blogs like social media Today, Social Media Examiner, and social media Lab.
Email Marketing: With email marketing, you encourage customers (or potential customers) to sign up for your mailing list with things like exclusive discounts and offers. Once you have a mailing list, you can start sending out routine promotional emails that let your subscribers know about your products and services, including any sales and exciting updates. These emails are a great way to engage with your customers, promote your business, and potentially inspire future loyalty.
•Email marketing is very cheap and has the potential to reach a lot of different people.
•For example, you might send a seasonal email campaign to let your target audience know about an upcoming sale.
•MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and VerticalResponse are all platforms you can use to manage your email marketing campaign.
Content Marketing: Content marketing involves attracting customers to your website with high-quality, helpful content that's relevant to your business. Bringing people to your website with helpful content is a great way to increase brand awareness and persuade people to take action (like buying your product or service). The content you produce can include blog posts, infographics, videos, podcasts, and more.
•For example, if your company sells pool products, you might post a series of blog posts that help readers troubleshoot and fix common pool issues. Within those posts, you could recommend specific products that readers might need and that your company sells.
Convince and Convert, TopRank Blog, and Conversation Agent are great resources you can check out to learn more about content marketing.
