Digital marketing is not just about running online ads; it's not just sending bulk emails or making YouTube videos once in a while. Oh, and it's definitely not about just having a Facebook page!
Bangladesh is currently riding the ways of the digital ocean. Marketers have started considering the digital space as a serious marketing media. But majority of the digital marketers in the country are self taught and are using their knowledge from other forms of marketing in the digital marketing space. Even though this helps to integrate digital marketing with other forms of marketing, it still runs the risk that marketers are shunning some very basics in this relatively new marketing field. So, here goes my take on some of the things that digital marketers in Bangladesh need to watch out for.
Get a website, please!
Digital marketing starts from your most primary owned media a.k.a Your Website. Not having a website and doing digital marketing is like being in the departmental store business without actually having a shop space where people will come to buy stuffs from you. 
A website is an actual presence of a business on the internet. It connects the business to the world of internet with it's own unique presence. A lot of people wrongly assume that a Facebook page can be used as an alternate of a website. Using a Facebook page as your only internet presence is like selling your stuffs by standing inside another person's shop. That shop owner may give you some space but you will never be able to have your way completely. You will be running your business but spending a lot of time to keep someone else happy. It might work for the short term, but if you really want to succeed and grow big, you will need your on space i.e. your website.
A website is an actual presence of a business on the internet. It connects the business to the world of internet with it's own unique presence. A lot of people wrongly assume that a Facebook page can be used as an alternate of a website. Using a Facebook page as your only internet presence is like selling your stuffs by standing inside another person's shop. That shop owner may give you some space but you will never be able to have your way completely. You will be running your business but spending a lot of time to keep someone else happy. It might work for the short term, but if you really want to succeed and grow big, you will need your on space i.e. your website.Use social media for specific purpose
Once you get your website up, you should focus on social media. That's where people are spending time on the internet. Catch your target customers attention by engaging with them on social media and getting them to come to visit your website. But then, you might think of which social media should you be on? In Bangladesh, Facebook is definitely where you want to be. As per BTRC's (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) internet subscribers report in August 2015, there are over 50 million active internet users in Bangladesh.
And a huge portion of these users are on Facebook. Just like most places on Earth, Facebook has revolutionized Bangladeshi society. But as a marketer, you shouldn't be stuck on Facebook only. Facebook is where you engage with your audience. But there are some other major social media that you can consider:- YouTube: It's your own video channel. You can make commercials, promo videos for event, tutorials or howto videos for your product/service and publish it on YouTube.
- Google+: Well, Google wanted to rule social media with it. But it is safe to say that they have failed and it seems really, really unlikely that they will ever be any competition for Facebook. But being on Google + helps you to be find-able online through search engines.
- LinkedIn: You must never try to sell your product/service on LinkedIn (unless you are an HR company). Be on LinkedIn as a company and show your followers how amazing it is to be a part of your company.
- Twitter: Popularity of Twitter depends highly on growth of smartphone usage and availability of on-the-go internet. Bangladesh seems to be moving towards that direction (but in a painfully slow manner). So it would be wise to be present on Twitter and grab the wave once Twitter becomes popular in Bangladesh.
Analytics are really, really important
They REALLY are. Digital marketing is amazing because you can simply write something on your website, social media or blog and find out exactly who, when, where, why & how someone interacted with that write up and made a purchase from you. This is what makes digital marketing absolutely amazing. The power of insights are incredible. For your website, simply set up the free Google Analytics tool. It's good enough and gives a lot of insights. Facebook has free insights tool but you can also subscribe a social media monitoring tool to get great insights. Set goals & measure everything!
Analytic tools give you the necessary data to find out the ROI on your digital spends. The more attributes you can measure, the more data you will have to know your audience better and understand whether your spending is actually making any sense. Below are some examples of digital marketing goals:- Daily website or social media page visits
- Average time spent on website or social media page
- Traffic sources including area, ISP, browser etc.
- Average engagement of Facebook posts
- CTR of online ads
- No. of add to carts or actual orders placed
Goals can be anything that is relevant to your business. They can be for your whole digital marketing strategy and for specific campaigns as well.
That's it. Watch out for these if you are trying to market a product or service on the internet in Bangladesh. So would you agree to this list? If not, let me know why and share your thoughts.
N.B. (All images used are taken from the internet. I don't have any copyrights or ownership for any of these.)
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