5 Ways Data Can Improve Your Campaign

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There is an old saying that knowledge is power, and this can also be applied to your social media campaigns. Knowing the data behind why people click on a particular post, what makes your site visitors share that post and who exactly is reading your content can result in a more targeted campaign that has a higher success rate.

Forbes Insights conducted a study showing that of 331 senior executives, about 70 percent expected to rely on data for digital marketing in coming months. Here are some ways using data improves marketing and PR campaigns:

1) Use Data for Social Media 

It can be difficult to know where to invest your time. You can choose from, among others, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. Using data has the benefits of finding out:

  • Which social media sites have a larger audience in your targeted demographic.
  • Which demographic responds best to your posts.
  • The best time of day to post.

2) Overcome Past Mistakes

Smart marketers use data to figure out what they’re doing wrong and how to change it. Successful website owners know that there will be a few bumps along the cyber highway. Data can help them figure out where the potholes are and overcome them.

  • Use tools like Google Analytics to see which posts and pages are most popular.
  • Find out where visitors are coming from and target those groups with user profiles.
  • Redo pages on your site that aren’t ranking well.

3) Focus on Appearance

According to Mathew Sweezey, a B2B marketing expert with Pardot, a Pardot survey found that 70 percent of respondents admitted that the look of content had an impact on whether they saw the content as authentic and credible.

  • Big beautiful images draw readers in.
  • Know which social media sites respond best to the use of images in advertising campaigns.
  • Even the layout of the content and how “skimmable” it is can make a difference in how readers see your site.

4) Post Early and Often 

According to HubSpot’s Marketing Benchmarks report, companies who post more often get more traffic. Understanding the data behind these studies can help you understand how often you need to post. The study found that:

  • Publishing 15 posts per month brings in five times more traffic than not blogging at all.
  • Increasing posting frequency from 3-5 times per month to 6-8 times per month almost doubles sales leads.
  • Blogging 1-2 times per month results in 70 percent more leads than not blogging at all.

Further analysis done by WebpageFX found that scheduling posts early in the day, and on Mondays and Thursdays, provides the best results. On top of that, they found that longer content performs better and draws more links, and that posts with images get more views. With that information in hand, you can drastically improve the results of your campaigns.

5) Use Data Daily

John Walker, a digital marketing manager, pointed out that big data truly can improve your marketing results, but you have to use it before and during your campaign to get a handle on how well your campaign is doing. Be ready to make adjustments as needed.

  • Check statistics daily, especially if you are doing a campaign on a social media site. If you aren’t getting the results you want, change things up. Make the image bigger, change the wording and change your target audience.
  • If a search term is performing low, shift to the higher-performing terms.
  • Figure out which elements on your landing page are driving conversions. Do ongoing A/B testing. Make immediate adjustments.

Learning to use data for your marketing needs may seem a bit overwhelming. Take small steps, trying out different methods. Once you start to see the results of using data to improve your campaigns, you’ll find it easier to implement these methods.

sarahSarah Landrum graduated from Penn State with degrees in Marketing and PR. Now, she’s a PR Specialist writing in her free time. Sarah is also the founder of Punched Clocks, a site dedicated to helping young professionals navigate the work world and find happiness and success in their careers. You can find Sarah tweeting @SarahLandrum