The digital portion of masterful strategic marketing is made up of relationships, smart design, the right words, and fully integrated website, blog and social sites.
Relationships
Above all else, over time, the relationships you build through your online work will ultimately generate your best return on investment. Have a great strategy and think relationships for the win.
Smart Design
Design is critical to executing your digital strategy. Poor design or design which is mis-aligned with your strategy can defeat your best effort. Ask a graphic designer and your peers to take an objective look and make recommendations.
The Right Words
Take a moment to consider if your words are helping or hurting:
1. Are your words too salesy for your audience?
2. Are your words in context? Will your whole audience know what you’re talking about?
3. Are your words helping your Search Engine Optimization? Rich keywords will attract searchers to your conversation.
Fully Integrated Website, Blog, and Social Sites
Depending on your strategy, adding the right integration elements to your digital assets can get you the edge you need to succeed. There are many tools available today for integration.
Social Sharing - For many organizations, having a Facebook Like, LinkedIn or +1 button from Google is important. Give your audience ample choices to share your content on their social accounts. Shareaholic.com offers popular tools for sharing.
Shareaholic sharing toolbar example
Social Connectors – Use creative design elements to provide links for your audience to connect with your social sites.
Social Content - Include your social content as part of your website or blog content. This is a smart subtle way to expose your audience to your social community.
Strategic Linking - Make sure you have well defined links that connect your social sites to your website and blog. Your website and blog links are great opportunities to use search engine optimized keywords as link text. Images and graphic elements work best with keyword rich alternative text and links as appropriate.
LSU CE Course
Integrating Web Development & Graphic Design for Social Media is a 2 day course I teach at LSU which discusses all these concepts. Each student has a computer in the classroom so they can immediately apply techniques on their real sites or on example sites. This is the 3rd course in the Social Media Specialist Certificate program. It’s designed to stand alone but some basic Social Media experience is helpful.
The students from the LSU course are following #LSUSMCert on Twitter to discuss the classes and to participate in exercises in-between classes. You’re welcome to connect with us on Twitter or join us in the next class.
View the LSU CE Social Media Specialist Certificate Program Site
