Back in the day, online marketing was mostly about tweaking websites to catch the eye of search engines. Then, it shifted to posting great content and finding reputable websites to link to yours. Nowadays, it’s still about good content and interacting with your audience on social media.
If you’re assisting someone with their campaigns, there are tools for online marketing to help you out. We’ll talk about these tools to make managing your marketing efforts easier.
WordPress
When it comes to online marketing, WordPress is a standout tool. It’s easy to use and packed with tons of features. You can create and manage websites, blogs, and online stores all in one place. Let’s dive into how you can make the most of WordPress as one of your tools for online marketing.
Follow these steps to get started with WordPress for your online marketing efforts:
- Choose a Hosting Provider: Pick a company to host your website. Look for ones with special plans for WordPress to get the best performance.
- Install WordPress: Most hosting companies make it easy to set up WordPress with just one click. Once it’s installed, you can start customizing your site.
- Select a Theme: Find a design for your site that matches your brand and goals. There are lots of free and paid themes to choose from in WordPress.
- Add Content: Start creating and publishing content on your site. Write blog posts, make pages, or show off your products – WordPress makes it simple to add and edit content.
- Optimize for SEO: Use plugins like Yoast SEO or All in One SEO Pack to make your site better for search engines. These plugins give you tips on how to improve your site’s visibility.
- Promote Your Site: Once your WordPress site is ready, tell people about it! Share your content on social media, send emails to your audience, and use other online marketing tricks to get more visitors.
Canva
Canva is an excellent tool for online marketing, offering easy-to-use features that allow you to create stunning visuals for your campaigns. Whether you need graphics for social media posts, blog headers, or promotional materials, Canva has got you covered.
Here’s a simple guide on how to use Canva for your marketing needs:
- Sign Up: First, sign up for a free Canva account. You can also opt for a premium version with more features if you need them.
- Choose a Template: Canva provides a wide range of templates designed for various purposes. Select a template that fits the type of content you want to create, whether it’s a social media post, flyer, or infographic.
- Customize: Once you’ve chosen a template, it’s time to customize it to suit your brand and message. You can easily change the text, colors, fonts, and images to match your branding guidelines.
- Add Elements: Canva offers a library of elements such as icons, illustrations, and shapes that you can add to your design to make it more visually appealing. Simply drag and drop these elements onto your canvas and resize or reposition them as needed.
- Upload Your Own Images: If you have specific images or logos you want to include in your design, you can easily upload them to Canva and incorporate them into your layout.
- Preview and Download: Once you’re happy with your design, preview it to make sure everything looks good. Then, download it in your preferred format, whether it’s JPEG, PNG, or PDF, and share it on your desired platform.
- Explore Additional Features: Canva offers a range of additional features such as photo editing tools, collaboration options, and brand kits for premium users. Take some time to explore these features and see how they can further enhance your marketing efforts.
MailChimp
Mailchimp is a powerful tool, particularly for managing email campaigns. It offers a range of features to help you create, send, and track the performance of your email campaigns.
Here’s a simple guide on how to use Mailchimp effectively:
- Sign Up: First, make an account on Mailchimp’s website. It’s free to start!
- Create a List: Make a list of people you want to send emails to. You can add them manually or import contacts you already have. Group them by things like age or interests to send targeted emails.
- Design Your Email: Mailchimp has lots of templates to pick from for your emails. Choose one that fits your style, then add your text, pictures, and logos.
- Personalize Your Emails: Make your emails feel special by adding your customers’ names or other info with merge tags.
- Send or Schedule: Ready to send? You can do it right away or pick a later time. Mailchimp also helps you test different versions of your email to see what works best.
- Track How They Do: After sending your email, check out Mailchimp’s tools to see how many people opened it, clicked on links, or made purchases. This helps you see what’s working and what needs tweaking.
- Keep Getting Better: Use what you learn to improve your next emails. Try new things like different subjects or sending times to see what your customers like best.
Hootsuite
Another popular tool is Hootsuite. It’s easy to use and has lots of features, even in its basic version. Unlike some other tools, you don’t need to download anything – you just use it in your web browser.
With the free version, you can manage up to three social media accounts all in one place. If you upgrade to the pro version, you can manage even more accounts. Plus, you can schedule posts easily.
Here’s a quick guide on how to use Hootsuite for your social media marketing:
1. Secure your team setup
It’s crucial to know who in your team can use the social media accounts and how they’re being used. Hootsuite helps you keep your accounts safe, even as team members change. One handy feature is Secure Profiles, which asks you to approve tweets before they go live. This helps prevent any harmful tweets from being posted accidentally.
2. Engage daily and track your campaigns
With Hootsuite, you can use its dashboard to handle either a special social media campaign or your regular community-building tasks. You can organize different streams to keep an eye on different types of content, like mentions and news. This is great for tracking hashtags. Plus, you can schedule up to 50 messages and make a list of followers you want to interact with more.
3. Measure your performance
Hootsuite recently updated its analytics feature, making it easier to create custom reports with a new interface. You can now measure how well your campaigns are doing using the built-in Social Analytics reports. If you see areas for improvement, you can adjust your strategies accordingly.
HubSpot
HubSpot offers a wide range of features to help businesses attract, engage, and delight customers.
Here’s a simple guide on how to use HubSpot effectively:
- Sign Up: Start by creating your HubSpot account. You can pick a plan that fits your budget and needs. There’s a free version with basic features, and paid plans with more options.
- Set Up Your Account: Once you’re signed up, HubSpot will guide you through setting up your account. This means adding info about your company, connecting your social media, and bringing in your contacts.
- Create Content: HubSpot gives you tools to make different kinds of content, like blogs, landing pages, and emails. Use these tools to make content that your audience will love.
- Optimize for SEO: HubSpot has tools to help you make sure your content shows up in search engines. Find the right keywords, tweak your meta tags, and improve your site’s rank in search results.
- Publish and Promote: When your content is ready, put it on your website and share it on social media, through email, or with ads. HubSpot helps you manage your promotions and see how well they’re doing.
- Engage with Leads: HubSpot’s CRM tool helps you keep track of your interactions with potential customers. Use it to stay organized and keep in touch with your leads.
- Measure Results: HubSpot has tools to show you how well your marketing is working. You can track things like website visitors, leads, and sales to see what’s going well and what needs work.
- Continuously Improve: Use the info from your analytics to make your marketing even better. Try out new ideas and see what gets the best results. Keep tweaking things until you find what works best for you.
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a powerful tool for online marketing that helps you discover popular content, analyze trends, and identify key influencers in your industry.
Here’s a simple guide on how to use BuzzSumo effectively:
- Sign Up: Start by making an account on BuzzSumo. You can pick a plan that suits you, and there’s a free trial to check it out first.
- Explore Content Trends: After logging in, use BuzzSumo to find out what’s popular in your field. Just type in words related to your industry to see what people are talking about.
- Analyze Competitors: See what your competition is up to. Put in their website or social media links to see what’s working for them, and get ideas for your strategy.
- Identify Influencers: Find the big names in your industry who can help spread the word about your business. BuzzSumo helps you find them based on topics you’re interested in.
- Track Mentions and Backlinks: Keep an eye on where your brand is mentioned online and who’s linking to your website. It helps you understand how people are talking about you and where you can improve.
- Create Content Ideas: Use BuzzSumo to brainstorm ideas for new content. Look for topics that haven’t been covered much or take a fresh angle on popular subjects.
- Engage with Your Audience: Share interesting content, team up with influencers, and join conversations that matter to your audience. BuzzSumo helps you know what’s going on so you can jump in.
- Measure Performance: Finally, see how well your content is doing. Check things like how many times it’s been shared, how people are engaging with it, and who’s linking to it. This helps you figure out what’s working and what’s not, so you can do better next time.