Staying Ahead in Digital Marketing: When and How to Pivot Your Approach

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Speaker 1: We talk a lot in business about pivoting, but

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what about pivoting your marketing?

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Things are always changing and we always have to be pivoting to

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be the most effective that we can.

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Let's talk all about that and I want to share with you my

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advice on what exactly you should be doing when we talk

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about marketing pivoting.

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On this next episode of the your Digital Marketing Coach

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podcast next episode of the your Digital Marketing Coach Podcast

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.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot to cover.

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Whether you're a marketing professional, entrepreneur or

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business owner, you need someone you can rely on for expert

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advice.

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Good thing you've got Neil on your side, Because Neil Schaefer

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is your digital marketing coach , helping you grow your business

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with digital-first marketing, one episode at a time.

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This is your digital marketing coach, and this is Neil Schafer.

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Speaker 1: Hey everybody, this is Neil Schafer and welcome to

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my podcast as your digital marketing coach.

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This is episode number 360.

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And yes, it has been a while since the last episode.

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Thank you for all your notes.

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There are some times where, in order to get things done, you

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literally need to unplug a lot of other activities in order to

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proceed forward on things that are strategic to your business.

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What is unique about what I provide is that my product and

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my marketing are sort of one in the same right.

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They are all about this information and education

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related around digital content, influencer, social media

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marketing so sometimes things can get intertangled.

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But, as you know, I've been working really hard on my next

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book and really writing two books at once, because I'm

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writing a book and a workbook that is going to be a companion

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to that book, and I'm happy to say that I have progressed.

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But there have been some delays and well, I hope to have a

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better update for you in the near future.

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Enough about my personal news.

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I want to on this podcast and maybe future episodes based on

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your feedback.

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I want to give you some of the latest news that I've been

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seeing and my analysis and my advice for you before we get

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into today's main topic.

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So a few things that obviously are happening right now in the

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world.

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We see the whole TikTok ban, which is obviously getting more

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closer to reality here in the United States and even in Europe

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we're starting to see the TikTok light battle ignite this

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week.

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So we do not know where TikTok is going, but we have not.

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I guess TikTok in India and some other countries has been

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completely banned.

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I just think that at this point , tiktok is so intertwined with

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youth, culture and with business .

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A recent data showed that TikTok shop has really picked up

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steam, and TikTok themselves have released this data that

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says, hey, small businesses more and more rely on TikTok for

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their marketing, for their business, as well as successful

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creators, right.

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So I cannot see TikTok being completely banned.

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I could see, maybe, them having to sell off some of their

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assets or what have you.

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But if you are involved in TikTok, it would not stop me.

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And if you've been thinking about getting involved in TikTok

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for your business or for your own content creator business and

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you put it on the sideline because you're not sure, I would

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still go full steam ahead, because the content that you

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create there you can use anywhere.

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You can use in YouTube Shorts.

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You can use in YouTube shorts, you can use an Instagram reels.

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But TikTok is a different vibe and if you want to tap into, you

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know what our youth alpha generation, or gen alpha, gen Z

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and even younger millennials, what they think there is no

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better place to do it than TikTok.

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So my advice is full steam ahead on TikTok, regardless of

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what you read in the media.

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All right.

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Another one I want to talk about is Meta announcing that they

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are going to be using a new AI assist technology throughout all

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of their properties Facebook, instagram, whatsapp Messenger.

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This is really exciting because AI can be extremely helpful.

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It is yet to be seen how this is going to impact the way we

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use these sites, but considering the amount of time that we

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spend on them, the ability to be able to tap into a AI assistant

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right there, I think, just means it's going to become more

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stickier and maybe we even start using some of these social

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networking sites as search engines.

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Why go to Google when we can get the answer right there in

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our Facebook AI assistant?

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So interesting times.

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I urge you to sort of play around and understand how that

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might affect the way we use these meta-owned sites, Hard to

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say as businesses what we should do, as professionals what we

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should do, but we should definitely be understanding of

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what is going on in the world and better understand how we can

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also leverage that for our business and for ourselves.

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The third bit of news I want to bring up is a recent

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conversation that Google had that actually trended on Twitter

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and for some reason it made a Twitter trending topic on my

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Twitter feed.

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Sorry, I still call it Twitter.

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I do not like calling it X, so call me old fashioned.

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Regardless, it had a conversation where Google said

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that you can rank high in search engine results without

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necessarily a lot of backlinks.

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You can rank high in search engine results without

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necessarily a lot of backlinks, and the SEO community obviously

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gave a backlash because generating backlinks is sort of

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standard practice.

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It's what a lot of SEO agencies actually do as part of their

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business model, and also some people are saying well, if

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Google says A, you should do B.

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Because they're saying that, because they don't want to

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encourage that behavior.

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So you need to read between the lines.

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Yada, yada, yada.

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I will say just over the last two months, or I should say over

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the last six months, there have been a lot of fundamental

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changes in the Google search engine algorithm and I think you

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have all seen them.

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I have talked about them, I still continue to see them play

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out and for a site like mine, for a variety of reasons, it has

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not been positive.

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Now there are many reasons to invest in content right Above

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and beyond search engine rankings.

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You still need content for your emails, for your social media,

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for your web copy, and it takes time to build authority.

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And what's interesting is that not every site has seen a

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decline.

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I see major brands are seeing an increase in website traffic.

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So there are winners and losers and you need to have a

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long-term approach.

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But this news about Google, you know, devaluing the value of

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backlinks.

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I will say this and I have a dedicated chapter in my new book

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about backlinks right, not because I can somehow monetize

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that.

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I do it because I still think it is a best practice, because

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if you are a search engine, how do you judge the authority of

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content coming from a domain?

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There are many ways of judging it, obviously, but a backlink is

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a very, very strong signal that I think still has value.

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I think it's about the quality and the relevance of the

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backlink, and I will agree with Google that I have had content

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that ranks higher than major brands with more backlinks,

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because I think my backlinks were more relevant.

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So it is definitely not a volume game, but really it's the

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search engine changes that I want to talk about today.

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This is the topic of pivoting right, and I want to share with

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you what I have been doing and my advice for you.

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So pivoting in marketing is critical, especially in digital

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marketing, is critical for a lot of reasons.

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We can consider pivoting sort of how we adopt our strategy.

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You've heard me talk about this PDCA approach of always having

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a data-driven approach and it all ties in with that.

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But it's also having a regular look at your data, at your

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metrics, and actually making decisions and taking action.

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Not waiting, but looking at what is happening now and

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realizing that it is not going to go back to where it was

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before.

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It was not a blip, so the search engines definitely is not

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going back to the way it was before.

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You know Google has to compete against AI to begin with.

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Google is also leveraging AI, so if you're already getting

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generative AI in your results, that's a huge part of what you

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see when you look at a search engine result, google is also

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right, favoring community-based discussions.

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From Reddit, from Quora, I have also found that Google in

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general is favoring content that comes from well-established

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brands Not all the time, but more than there were before.

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And I also notice uncertain transactional keywords.

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For instance, social media scheduling tools is a classic

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one, where I just republished a blog post.

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Google in the past would often have in the top 10 results.

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A few of them would be the top X social media scheduling tools.

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I personally prefer reading those posts because it gives me

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an idea of what companies I should have in my radar and from

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there I would do my research.

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But now Google is directly putting up individual tool names

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, thinking that, oh, people aren't looking for listicles,

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they're actually looking for the tools.

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And now you have to open up 10 different links to decipher and

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find out what these tools are about and do you want to

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purchase them or not.

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And now these listicle types of sites have really been pushed

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down radically in the rankings.

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And all of this means that not being established brand, having

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a lot of listicles still offering the same value, the

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exact same content that generated a lot more traffic

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just a few months ago generates a lot less traffic today, but I

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still continue on because content is still an asset, it is

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intellectual property and, in my case, as I begin writing my

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next book even though this new book is not out yet more on that

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to come in the near future I am just going through my blog

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posts and realizing that I already have a book.

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I already have 40, 50 words of content.

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When I want to create a presentation for a speech that

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I'll be doing in Mexico City in May hope to see some of you

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there, hola, I can lean into the content that I've already done

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research on that, I've already codified right, and I can reach

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in.

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And if you're a business, obviously for email sequences

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and webinars, what have you?

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You get the picture, but you need to pivot.

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So I talk about in my book this library of content, and I

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realized the library of content of keywords that I created is

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just old.

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I created it primarily in 2020 and 2021, and it's 2024.

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People's search preferences are different, the technology is

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different.

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Everything has evolved right.

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So it was a really really good exercise.

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One of the reasons why I took a little break from podcasting was

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to really you know, my entire SEO and content strategy relies

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on my library of content, keyword research.

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So I really invested the time to do it right.

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And that research also includes confirming search intent, which

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is literally going into Google search results for that keyword

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and opening up a lot of tabs.

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So it is very time consuming, but once you get it done, you're

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done and then you can work off of that.

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But I also realized once again it is a pivot.

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It is a keyword pivot, but it's also understanding.

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You know what, for certain keyword queries that I might've

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used to have a chance of ranking in the top 10, that is not

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going to happen today.

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That is a huge pivot, which means now I can focus resources

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on other keywords, other topics.

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You get the picture.

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Another interesting pivot that has happened because of the

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search engine results, not just from a content creation

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perspective, is the fact that inevitably, larger brands in

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general are owning a lot of the top search engine results.

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However, videos are coming up prominently from YouTube and the

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videos aren't necessarily coming from large brands,

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because a lot of content creators still rule YouTube and

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that gives you a clue that in the age of AI and in the age of

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these new search engine rankings , people are still looking for

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video and, in fact, google has decided that YouTube is a key

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differentiator, that people are going to use AI for some things

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and they are going to use YouTube for others, and

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therefore, why not put the YouTube results front and center

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, meaning that, obviously, from an SEO perspective, youtube

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videos and video in general in the era of AI, becomes all the

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more important.

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Another pivot that we need to make and we should take action

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it's not about, oh, we need to start doing this.

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It's like how and when are we going to start doing that and

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are we going to start measuring the impact of that?

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And obviously this goes beyond search Social media.

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We've always had to pivot because the algorithms have

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always been changing and we've always had to change.

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We have new content formats, new social networks, so I think

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that we all understand this, but at a deeper level, you know,

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every month I look at the traffic that is generated from

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social media, which obviously goes down over time as a

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percentage of my traffic.

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It had always gone down, but recently, with a decrease in

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search engine traffic from Google, it actually now

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comprises a larger percentage.

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Right, once again, you need to have multiple revenue streams

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and multiple marketing channels and know when to pivot from one

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to the other strategically to be most effective.

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The aha moment I had is that Twitter has really declined,

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like really declined, and month to month it seems to decline.

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But the last two or three months it has declined where, in

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parallel, the traffic I'm getting from Pinterest is

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blossoming again to where not only is Pinterest taking over

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Twitter as the number one, but LinkedIn is now number two and

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Twitter's gone down to number three.

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So why am I investing more time on Twitter than I should be

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doing on a Pinterest or LinkedIn ?

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And this goes the same for your business.

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I believe we should be nimble, we should be agile with our

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pivoting, and the pivoting doesn't have to be a major pivot

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, but it can be these small little pivots that can help us

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be more effective.

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And speaking of the search engines, I had shared with you

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when I talked about how useful is your content.

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When I talked about the early days of the latest Google

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algorithm changes, I said you know, google hasn't necessarily

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said that AI content is bad, although recently they seem to

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equate a lot of AI content with spam.

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But I was very transparent in that, starting in man back in

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2020 or 2021, I had AI generated content at the end of my blog

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posts in terms of frequently answered questions, so you

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wouldn't even see them unless you got to the very end of the

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blog post and they were 100% AI generated.

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And, in fact, when I went to Jasper's AI conference and I met

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up with some AI and marketing experts, they thought it was a

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brilliant idea, right, and they were ranking in featured

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snippets.

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But one of the reasons why my content, or I should say my

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search engine rankings have gone up, I don't know, but Google

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has always said don't create content for search engines,

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right?

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Don't create YouTube videos for algorithms.

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Create them for people.

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Create content for people.

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Add value.

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If you're always adding value, the algorithms will catch it at

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some point Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but at some

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point.

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And I realized the epiphany for me as part of this pivot is what

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am I doing?

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Those FAQs were clearly written for SEO and not for the purpose

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of providing value to my reader .

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Because guess what this is the other epiphany moment of the

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pivot here If you're writing just simple FAQs or simple

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content, search engines do not need that content.

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That content is going to be provided in the form of

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generative AI, right.

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So this means that we need to go a little bit deeper with our

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content and while you know, google has said, hey, don't

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write any more words than you need to be short and concise.

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What have you?

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I still think that you know shorter and concise topics are

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not going to be the topics of blog posts in the future.

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So once again, we have to pivot , and one of the things I did

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and while I do have a VA help for some aspects of my blog

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management, I literally went through at the time about 715

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blog posts and made sure that the FAQs were all deleted, right

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.

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There were other changes I made, but it was a really good sanity

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check to say, hey, is this content still providing value?

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Was it written for search engines?

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Right, and it wasn't, obviously .

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And I do use AI tools like Phrase F-R-A-S-E Go to

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neilschafercom slash phrase for my affiliate link I'll put that

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in the show notes as well which help align my content with the

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search intent based on the top results that the search engines

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are providing.

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But the content is still human written and, in fact, even

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though I have guest bloggers, I use AI detection tools to make

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sure it is human written.

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But it is a pivot right, and maybe the biggest pivot out of

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all this, out of all these changes, is email is creating

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more lead magnets, creating more ways, providing more

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information, more value to expand my community of readers

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and provide more value in those newsletters as well.

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Like I want to create more value in this podcast by

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introducing these three latest news topics.

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So we always have to be pivoting .

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Things are always changing.

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If we rely on what worked yesterday, we are not going to

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grow and I want to challenge you to look at your own marketing.

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Do you see a downward spiral in any of the metrics that you're

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looking at?

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It is especially effective when you compare social media

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channels or when you compare different things, different

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channels, different topics and you have a dashboard or some

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sort of reporting system or a Google sheet or an Excel

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spreadsheet that allows you to do that on a regular basis.

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Now in my upcoming book, I do have a dedicated chapter on

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reports and this is one of the value-added features that I

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offer for all of my Fraction of CMO clients is being able to put

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this in a spreadsheet on a monthly basis to be able to

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decide well, what is going to be our North Star going forward,

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and the North Star.

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This month might be different than last month.

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It's about these micro pivots, right?

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We're not talking about Netflix changing from a DVD to a

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streaming model, or Adobe from a product-based to a SaaS model.

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We're not talking about the business model pivot, but it is

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the digital marketing pivot.

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It is a strategic pivot.

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It is also a tactical pivot and it has to happen a lot more

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frequently than you think, just because that the speed of change

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in technology, in algorithms, in consumer preferences, in the

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digital transformation and in AI demands it more and more today.

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So I want to challenge you right , and if you don't know how or

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where to pivot, I want to invite you.

00:18:50
My digital first group coaching mastermind is now open for open

00:18:54
enrollment.

00:18:55
I used to have a waiting list, but it is now open for anybody.

00:18:58
You can go in, you can join and you can immediately access our

00:19:03
weekly Zoom meetings, the quarterly private 30-minute

00:19:06
calls that I do with you, and our engaging Facebook private

00:19:10
community.

00:19:10
Go to neilschafercom slash membership.

00:19:13
Hopefully.

00:19:14
You know that I'm the real Neil , so it's spelled

00:19:16
N-E-A-L-S-C-H-A-F-F-E-R.

00:19:18
Always need to remind you of that.

00:19:19
I wish I had an easier to spell last name, but I don't.

00:19:22
Regardless, I hope that you will accept the challenge if you

00:19:26
need that help and if not, I hope that you will be as excited

00:19:30
to read my next book as I am in releasing it to you.

00:19:33
So on a final note, on another personal note, I am going to be

00:19:37
traveling probably the week that you listen to this in Berlin,

00:19:41
germany, where I am actually working on my next book.

00:19:43
My next book is going to be going back to my roots as a

00:19:48
LinkedIn author and I continue to get business for LinkedIn

00:19:54
trainings.

00:19:54
I continue to get readers for my free LinkedIn book.

00:19:57
Go to neilschafercom slash freebies if you haven't

00:20:00
downloaded my Maximizing LinkedIn for Business ebook, and

00:20:03
I just continue to.

00:20:04
You know my UCLA extension class on personal branding how

00:20:08
to become an influencer.

00:20:09
I have a dedicated module on LinkedIn branding and I think

00:20:12
it's time to really codify that into a book and serve more

00:20:15
people with it.

00:20:15
So if you are looking for specific information on LinkedIn

00:20:19
that you don't think is out there or you think is lacking in

00:20:21
other books, maybe you have a case study that you want to

00:20:23
share with me for potential inclusion.

00:20:25
I'd love to hear from you, because over the next few months

00:20:27
I'm going to be shifting gears with the publication of this new

00:20:30
book, of working on my next book, which I'm really going to

00:20:33
push myself to try to publish this year as well, for a variety

00:20:36
of reasons.

00:20:37
So, once again, go to neilschafercom, slash contact,

00:20:40
or you can email me, neil N-E-A-L at neilschafercom.

00:20:43
I would love to hear from you and continue the conversation.

00:20:45
All right, everybody.

00:20:46
That is it for another hopefully inspiring episode of

00:20:50
the your Digital Marketing Coach podcast.

00:20:52
This is Neil Shafer, your digital marketing coach, signing

00:20:55
off.

00:20:57
Speaker 2: You've been listening to your Digital Marketing Coach

00:20:59
.

00:20:59
Questions, comments, requests, links go to

00:21:04
podcastneilschafercom.

00:21:06
Get the show notes to this and 200 plus podcast episodes at

00:21:11
neilschafercom to tap into the 400 plus blog posts that Neil

00:21:16
has published to support your business.

00:21:18
While you're there, check out Neil's digital first group

00:21:21
coaching membership community if you or your business needs a

00:21:25
little helping hand.

00:21:26
See you next time on your Digital Marketing Coach.