As I was watching a livestream of
Coachella on my phone, I was thinking about how social media has helped
reinvent brands, publicity, and countless businesses, including my own. As I
watched Will and Jaden Smith perform, I couldn’t help remembering how I had
worked with the Smith family way back in the day. In the course of a
decade, my company has evolved from event planning into online marketing and
promotions. Many of the clients that I used to work with today have also all
evolved when it comes to social media.
— Roc Nation (@RocNation) 20 April 2019
Back when Jaden, Willow and Trey
were all pre-teens, we worked on many of their birthday parties for
years. We had everything from large mascot characters and trampolines, to
a Matrix-themed party where Trey ended up filming an actual Matrix spin-off.
That wasn’t all: Our creative team
worked to create a haunted house that ended up in People Magazine. At the time,
going “viral” wasn’t an option. Most of the business we got was from referrals
from our clients.
Now we have all kind of clients
contacting I Think an Idea on the regular,
we’ve transitioned into a full-service digital marketing agency that does SEO,
PR and branding for several luxury clients. We understand attention to
detail and how to partner with influencers that can help grow a network online
to large numbers. We’ve grown alongside brands like Twitter and Facebook and
have evolved with them to meet ever-changing client needs in a nuanced,
high-tech world.
There is a formula that needs to be
followed when you’re building large brands online, but it helps if you’re able
to think outside the box first. Your campaign could be a combination of
high-quality content, email marketing, SEO, partnering with large traffic
sites, utilizing Facebook ads, and creating a site that attracts partnerships
and new visitors. Perhaps the most important thing these days is also
making sure that you’re maximizing all sides of the social media
experience--including live streaming, chat, and targeted ads-- and
cross-marketing on social media.
Here’s the thing: There are no
secrets online. Everyone has access to the same information. It’s what you do
with it that counts.
The difference between a successful
marketing strategy and one that is not working is what you do with the
information, how you plan the strategy and execution.
We come across many large teams
working for a brand or a nonprofit that frequently miss the metrics of what
they should be doing. Owners hire an inexperienced team that perhaps
knows social media but only on a surface level. They do not truly
understand SEO and in fact, many
are not looking at the documented traffic a site generates through Google
Analytics.
A client we have may have millions
of dollars in business revenue and many resources, yet they do not know what to
look for when it comes to social media marketing They look at the social
media of a celebrity or a large brand and they want to get the same traffic and
audience. They don’t understand that Google isn’t a game you can win. At least,
not instantaneously.
Celebrities and social media
influencers have a large audience because they have lots of channels of
distribution that built their brand. They do not solely rely on a video
going viral, because they are constantly putting out content regularly for
10-20 years the same was any large brand should do. It’s part of their job as
public-facing people.
Just like a huge sensation like
Beyonce didn’t happen overnight, there are no overnight successes when it comes
to Google. You have to maximize all that you have on multiple channels
and find a flow that works. Slowly and steadily, the traffic will come.
For our clients, our game plan
looks like this:
1)
Website Optimization ( Image, User Experience, Maximizing UX
)
2)
Create a Call To Action
3)
Content Creation: Writing Articles That Rank on Google
4)
Video Content Creation
5)
Image Content
6)
Podcast Marketing for Brand, SEO, Link Building, and Audio
Audiences
7)
Partnerships with Networks with Traffic
- Featured Articles/ Blogs
- Podcasts
- Links Posted on High traffic sites
- Mentions on Youtube Channels – Offsite
- Social Media Mentions
9)
Traffic Goals and Brand Blueprint
10) Monetizing Traffic and
Opportunities with Sales, Sponsorships and Paid Partnerships.
