Reaching more customers digitally

Today, no company can afford not to be present online. In addition to the company's own website, there is a wide variety of social media channels. From LinkedIn and Tiktok to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to Pinterest, Snapchat and (brand new) BeReal - this often causes confusion. Which channel is the right one? What makes sense to reach more customers digitally?

Each platform has its own peculiarities. Different algorithms, advertising and posting options don't make it easy to navigate through the social media jungle. In the digital world, many things are intangible, but behind the technology, customers remain humans. This is reflected in their behavior on social media. That's why you should know your target group precisely and know which channels they use. The creation of one or more buyer personas is helpful. They depict the ideal customer with their interests and disinterests, age, profession, etc. This makes it easier to get into their mindset and adapt the strategy accordingly. The better you know the target group, the higher the chances of success for digital customer acquisition measures.

Only those who know the target group can reach them digitally.

SEM, SEA and SEO

However, the best content is of no use if companies cannot be found online. That's why SEM (search engine marketing) plays a major role when it comes to acquiring new customers online. A distinction is made between the results of search engine optimization and paid advertising. SEM is a marketing strategy for search engines that consists of search engine advertising (SEA) and search engine optimization (SEO). The aim is to attract visitors to one's own website via search engine results pages. SEM, SEA and SEO and are long-term issues that should be optimized constantly and best by professionals.

Content on the test bench

Wildly disorganized, not coordinated, without a red thread - if the content is chaotic, impersonal and appears artificial, it will hardly attract new customers. Trying to land a viral hit in an inauthentic way will fail in the vast majority of cases. Even "classic" advertising elicits only a weary yawn from most people. Just because people speak highly of a product on the website or in social media doesn't mean they'll click on the "buy now" or "more info" button. That tends to be the exception. Advertising should entertain, inform and offer real added value for the target group.

SEO and SEA as well as authentic content are prerequisites for winning new customers digitally.

Measure clearly, act clearly

Due to its measurability and ad placement, social media offers great opportunities despite a small advertising budget. To avoid throwing money out of the window, continuous tracking and evaluation of measures is one of the most important tasks. This is the only way to make necessary adjustments and successfully implement strategies. In the case of online ads, very specific targeting is crucial in order to reach the target group. Again, it's trial & error - try and measure. Conversion tracking, for example the order conversion rate, click through rate (CTR) or registration conversion rate, combined with other key performance indicators (KPIs), makes it clear which path should be taken.

Conclusion

Only those who select the right channel, offer added value and continuously monitor performance (measure KPIs!) will win customers in the long term. Often, a lot of money is burned with the wrong measures and attempts are made to play on as many channels as possible. This quickly leads to getting bogged down. Time and energy are spent on platforms where the target group is not active.

Sustainable success can be achieved with the right channel, added value and performance monitoring.

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