Types of internet marketing strategies

An effective online marketing strategy includes efforts across multiple platforms. Here are a few different types of internet marketing to consider:

According to a 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center, 72% of US adults are on social media, up from just 5% in 2005. And while younger Americans are heavier users, nearly half of adults over 65 are on at least one social network. 

This means that no matter your target audience, you’ll be able to reach your customers on social media, whether they’re on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or another platform. Depending on your goals and budget, there are a couple of different ways to approach social media marketing:

• Organic. Organic social media marketing is anything you can do on the platform for free—your in-feed posts on Instagram, for example. organic posts on social media are a cost-effective way to engage with your customers and shape your brand’s identity.

• Paid. Paid advertising on social media—think promoted posts with demographic targeting—can help you reach more potential customers and target a particular demographic.

When making purchasing decisions, people tend to trust other people more than they trust advertisements, even if they don’t personally know them. Partnering with an influencer, whether they be a celebrity or someone with a smaller following that matches your target audience, can be part of an effective internet marketing strategy. Influencer marketing can happen on various platforms:

Social media is the most common way brands engage with influencers, who are especially prolific (and powerful) on Instagram and, increasingly, TikTok. 

While social media might now be the more dominant form of influencer marketing, bloggers still have a lot of sway with many demographics. 

An added bonus is that many bloggers typically maintain social media accounts with a heavy following, meaning that brands who engage with bloggers have the potential to get more exposure across multiple platforms. Lifestyle industries, such as fashion, travel, cooking, and parenting, in particular, are where blogs are especially powerful marketing tools. 

Affiliate marketing is similar to influencer marketing but has a different payment model. While influencers are typically paid flatly for a post, affiliates (usually blogs or mainstream magazines that can include links in their content) that feature your product are paid by sales or by clicks when they refer customers to your site. 

Most online marketing strategies involve some type of email marketing. According to a recent Hubspot report, the three most effective email marketing strategies are subscriber segmentation, message personalization, and email automation campaigns.

When customers share their email with a brand, that allows the company to solicit them for future marketing campaigns, including but not limited to:

• Welcoming new customers

• Advertising new products or services

• Sending discount codes or promotional offers

• Promoting new blog content

• Following up on an abandoned shopping cart

• Soliciting product feedback 

Content marketing is a marketing plan that includes the creation and distribution of valuable content online to attract and engage potential customers. 

This can include social media, but more often refers to a brand’s in-house blog, where they can share stories and case studies related to their products, industry, or other topics their customers may be interested in. 

Content marketing can be an effective tool for educating and engaging with your customers, and it can attract a larger audience to your site when paired with a strong SEO strategy. 

SEO is a set of practices designed to make your website more easily found by search engines, including Google. Some steps toward improving SEO are:

• Using relevant keywords for the topic

• Adding title or header tags

• Linking to relevant pages, both internally and externally

• Build backlinks to your website

• Offering a positive user experience, which can come down to a faster download speed and pleasing web design for both desktop and mobile devices 

Search engines like Google and social media platforms like Facebook offer paid advertising to reach more of your target market: 

• Pay-per-click (PPC). One of the many benefits of web advertising is that it typically allows you to track performance better than other platforms. In some cases, the payment model will reflect this. Many search engines and websites bill you based on how many clicks your ad placement gets. 

• Search engines. Advertising on search engines essentially buys your way to the top of search results. This tactic can be helpful when your website is new or you have a lot of competition for market share, as these conditions make it hard to earn a high ranking organically. 

• Website. A variety of websites, including news sites, magazines, and blogs, offer pay-per-click banner ads. 

• Paid social media posts. These give you the option to target potential customers based on demographics, interests, and behaviors, so you can reach those who will be interested in your products or services. 

Some businesses create or sponsor podcasts as part of their internet marketing strategy. You can also seek out podcasts related to your industry and offer to be a guest on them. Podcasts can be a useful tool for thought leadership and brand building, in addition to driving traffic to your website. 

These highly shareable graphics are a pack of information in one image, making them an effective way to deliver a lot of information in a consumable format. Infographics can be used on social media to attract attention and drive traffic, or included in a blog post to support the written portion.