What used to work doesn’t work anymore, and it’s not what clients are asking for. Content marketing is in high demand and sooner than later holding on to your old ways just won’t cut it anymore. Agencies will either have to adapt or move out of the way - Do Bigger Agencies Offer Better Quality Service?

Before choosing a digital marketing agency to manage your content it is necessary to consider certain points – which can be quite confusing if you’re not sure where to start. For this reason we’ve compiled a digital marketing checklist, which will assist you in making the right choice.  

Don’t shy away from asking important questions such as; who is the team dealing with my account? Are the individuals capable of generating compelling content and are they capable of then successfully promoting that content?

You should consider the below points regarding the company’s own facts and figures – this will give you a proper indication of who you’re working with and what they can accomplish.

The Right Questions to Ask

Consider the following for each individual company:

Ask these important questions:

• What are the names of the people working on my account?
• Can I see their Twitter accounts?
• What are their individual job roles?
• Show me which content they’ve created before and how exactly I will benefit from their expert knowledge.

Look at the company’s website:

• Is the website logical?
  The website should be user friendly and easy to navigate through.
• Is the website attractive?
  The design should be attractive, yet functional.
• Is the website rich in content?
  The website should exist of useful content that serves a purpose. Not enough content can add to a minimal feel and might look nice, but it doesn’t tell you anything. Too much content, on the other hand, looks messy and can confuse visitors.

Does the company have a blog?

• How often do they publish?
  Blogging is a time consuming job as it is necessary to publish at an absolute minimum bi-weekly. Ideally, a blog should be updated daily with a new article. Publishing should also be consistent – if 26 articles were posted one month but only five were posted the next, that’s something to be concerned about.
• What do the blog stats look like?
  Is there a constant growth in blog traffic? If articles are well-written and promoted successfully there should be.
• Are the articles of a high standard?
  Are articles well-written and do they consist of well thought out concepts and well researched ideas? Remember, a blog is not a self-promotion platform. It is a place to share industry relevant news and become a trusted opinion leader in a given field.

Social Media:

• What do their stats look like?
  If the company has a strong social media presence, their follower list will be proof of this. It’s not necessarily about having millions following you, but about having relevant and quality followers.
• How strong is their presence?
  A Twitter account needs to be updated by the hour, preferably 24 hours, and seven days a week. This is made possible by scheduling tools. Other social media accounts should be updated at least once a day – by posting photos, videos, links to blog articles etc.
• What exactly do they do?
  The company should be willing to explain exactly how they manage your social media accounts – they need a strategy and you need to be kept in the loop.

Other Forms of Content:

• How does the company use call-to-actions to send visitors to their landing pages?
• Are they able to explain how they optimise landing pages by making use of AB testing?
• Do they make use of a wide variety of content, such as eBooks and videos (and are these of good quality)?

Digital agencies should excel in writing, photography and video production – this is, after all, what content exists of. Employees need to be able to write well and produce high quality video and photography. The agency should have definite in house video production proficiency. According to Cisco video will contribute to at least 86% of all Internet traffic in the next three years [Read more]. It’s worth making sure that your digital agency is experienced in this department.

The communication between the agency and client is of utmost importance. Having answers to the above questions will ensure that your relationship with your digital agency is clear and open right from the start.

When choosing a digital marketing agency, conduct the necessary research to make sure that they indeed do what they advise others to do - Does Your Digital Agency Eat Its Own Dog Food?

Think I’ve left something out? If you have any other necessary questions that you think should be added to this list, let me know by commenting below or connect with me on Twitter @Soundidea.

Sound Idea Digital is a complete digital marketing agency. For more information, contact 012 66 44 227 or email to info@soundidea.co.za

Carina Claassens is a Writer for Sound Idea Digital l carina@soundidea.co.za l Sound Idea Digital l www.soundidea.co.za

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