Digital Marketing Philippines

Yes, you can pay via ads. But if you have a lit/fire content that has potential to grow its presence and engagement organically, here are ways to further enhance its potential (no, I don't want to say viral, ugh... but possibly, I guess 🙄):

Comment on Your Post

Depending on the nature of your post, you as your page can add a witty comment to complement and get more reactions or comments about your post.

2. Follow Through with Another Comment

If a user comments, you can reply to their comment to form a conversation so that they can be enticed to further engage on that post. It can be casual depending on your brand marketing / image.

3. React to Comments

If some comments are hard to converse with, simply reacting to their comment may still help them feel engaged. Do this a day after posting so they may also remember the post and possibly even share it should they remember and consider it.

4. React / Engage as a User

Add fuel to the "social" fire by using your personal account to engage on the post further. Share with caption "lit comments" if the comments on that post are truly fun. Your friend circle might enjoy and engage too.

If you're managing another related brand page, engage using that too.

5. No, Don't Misspell Something (unless you're desperate)

In reference to the meme above, typos can indeed get some comments from Grammar Nazis but it can give off an unprofessional look for your brand which is a no-no if you're brand marketing is all about professionalism or academics.

6. Tag Other Social Pages/Accounts or Influencers

If you're working with another popular account, engaging with them can notify their followers too, increasing post awareness and possibly more engagement.

7. Insert Location

This helps enhance localization in marketing. It also gives the algorithm an idea on to which users your content would be suggested.

8. Use the Local Slang/Terminologies

Again, it helps in localization. It can also entice more user engagement.

I have pet peeves when it comes to other users on social media.

Yes, we're not perfect but I'll just put these here because it can make you look less cringey on social platforms.

Liking / Reacting to Your Own Post/s

Self-love is good but not to the point of liking your own post. It looks a bit sad and desperate. Just because nobody reacted on it, it doesn't mean nobody actually liked it or saw it. Some users may not be participative or reactive enough, they're "lurkers." Some may be a day or so late to see your post. If you're seeking engagement, do so with posting good content or ad boosting it if you have the money for it.

2. Messaging for Likes/Reacts/Comments

This sounds more desperate. Unless it's for a school project or contest (geez, why do these schools/teachers do this? Popularity contest much?), then it's understandable. Getting authentic reactions rather than forced ones will also let you know who are the authentic ones in your friend group or friend list.

3. Wrong Simple Grammar

A typo is forgiveable but basic grammar mistakes have stopped me many times from sharing a possibly good post/meme (unless it was intended as part of the joke). Yes, not everyone use English as their first language and I'm not preferring advanced to master level of English proficiency here but not sharing posts with basic grammar mistakes saves from further spreading the adaptation of wrong grammar usage by other people. They may believe those mistakes are normal. 😬 The power of Google lets us double check our grammar before posting, fyi.

4. Sharing a Post without Reacting First

I dunno, it's like stealing credit even if I didn't create the post and only shared it too. A simple react first feels like a virtual "I see you, homie" so I appreciate that when someone decides to share my shared post lol.

5. Sharing Fake News (and believing them instantly)

Google. Please. Quickly exit social for a sec and just google. Check the post's comment section too to see if anyone has fact-checked already and laid down the actual truth. Don't just blindly share, use your mind's ability to critically think please.

We all know by now that SEO isn't an overnight thing. Similar to how a seed is planted, it organically takes time to grow into a seedling then into a full-grown tree or plant that will finally yield its fruits. But those fruits are sweet and continuous.

So how can you further yield more fruits or maybe get some of the possible market share online for your business/service?

If you google "seo trends 2025," you'll yield these results; let's discuss them further:

USER EXPERIENCE

This has always been the core of Google's efforts and the reason why it started. Remember how Google began? It wanted to offer a clean and accurate search results interface compared to its cluttered competitor back then (Yahoo!). It's no wonder Google still continues to prioritize this in terms of giving quality scores to user-friendly websites.

You may think your website is already user-friendly and optimized. But have you ever thought how Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Netflix, and many other websites still continue to make tweaks here and there eventually throughout the years? That's because they continue to learn their audience's nature and internalize or study their user interface, find possible pain points or ignored features and improve further. That's how they can remain on top of the game. If world history and humanity is constantly evolving, then so does the Internet landscape. This is also why Data Analytics is important in SEO and Digital Marketing.

So how can your website offer that amazing user experience Google wants? Just think of what the human user wants and eventually everything will follow.

What do human users want? Well, you're a user too at some point so list those down. Go through your website's conversion steps and check what may seem like a pain to the users. Fix those. Always check your website through mobile since majority of users are on mobile than desktop. Check your website's speed. Fix error pages or broken links. Go through other websites and list down your favorite features which you think may be applicable to yours too. List down your least favorite features and optimize your website to avoid having those. Get opinions on your design so you can adjust on possible pain points you have overlooked.

VISUAL SEARCH

10 years ago, I've always been an advocate of this -- optimizing images through proper naming of image files and proper description on alt text. Although users see the Google search results page most of the time, there's also that high chance of users going through Image search results. We even have Video results now. Never take it for granted. SEO in 2024 and even this year 2025, visual search is truly valuable.

VOICE SEARCH

Why is voice search becoming popular? Because hands-free technology is here and it continues to evolve. Smart watches, smart glasses... They are heavily used with voice search. For this type of keyword usage and insertion, you have to speculate and check how users possibily speak to their hands-free devices when doing voice search. Possible samples are:

"Who were the past presidents of America?" VS common typed search keywords like "USA past presidents"

Best to optimize for both depending on the value of your content to the intended users.

If we scroll down to the search results, this is what we'll see:

LOCAL SEO

Good for you if you already began local search optimization before. Aside from using local keywords (e.g. best Italian food LAS PIÑAS, best ravioli MANILA), how can you further implement local SEO?

Set up your Google Business Profile and complete the info needed there;

Ensure NAP consistency (Name, Address, Phone number) on your GBP (or GBPs if you have multiple locations);

Garner local reviews on your GBP;

Post website content relevant to your local area;

Get local backlinks (you may check your competitors' backlink profiles).

AI TOOLS

This has no direct impact on SEO but it can rather assist SEO professionals with their planning and implementations. ChatGPT for example may be used for semantic keywords or faster meta data creation. The use of these tools can speed up SEO work especially for agencies or those with multiple client websites. Some people have negative views about AI tools but they're just that, TOOLS. Similar analogy to how a knife may be used for cooking or for weaponization, it depends solely on the user. Ethical usage is key.

BRAND MARKETING

For 2025, owning your brand means:

truly sticking and owning your tag lines and logos, creating brand-centric content;

separating optimizations for your sub-brands;

topical authority (expertise) in a specific niche to position you as a trusted source within your industry;

active brand reputation so set your Google Alerts to monitor and manage or address online conversations/perception about your brand;

community building and management (which is semantic to number 4);

strategizing and implementing for zero-click search awareness (the rise of "zero-click searches" where users get information directly on the search results page, ensuring the brand presents a strong and informative snippet).

FEATURED SNIPPETS

Here's a good quick guide about featured snippets (https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/featured-snippets). This is an old SEO strategy and it just continues to thrive for 2025.

Schema Markup isn't a Featured Snippet but it can enhance you on SERPs so best to invest time and efforts in Schema. Here's a good video tutorial:

TECHNICAL SEO

"Enabling JavaScript allows us to better protect our services and users from bots and evolving forms of abuse and spam and to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information." -Google spokesperson

Many major web browsers support JavaScript but some potential cons to relying heavily on JavaScript are slower page loading time and difficulty for search bots/spiders/crawlers to understand page content.

SEOs and Digital Marketers know that getting a Wikipedia page and backlink is a very juicy digital achievement. The link juice is the primary aim for it, plus the kind of branding/online presence it establishes as well.

WRITING

It's not so easy to get published on Wikipedia. The approving Wiki editors are very strict. Aside from grammar, the content has to be unbiased. It won't get published if it sounds like PR content. Here's an example between PR sounding and objective/unbiased:

PR - "The BlahBlah Company is the best digital agency founded in 2018 by John BlahBlah, a multi-awarded SEO guru with over 2M followers on social media."

Objective / Unbiased - "The BlahBlah Company is a digital agency founded by John BlahBlah in 2018."

Avoid superlatives and other statements that don't have supporting published written articles/links from credible sites (like famous news sites, organizations, etc) for such claims.

CITATIONS

Now that you know the difference between sentence formulations, next would be backup links/resources to support your statement/s.

Like I said, every statement to be written must have a supporting backlink. The screenshot below shows that there are "citation links" as to why such statements were written and approved by Wiki editor/s.

When you go down to the bottom of every Wikipedia article, there's a list of citation links to show proof that the statements in the article are correct/valid.

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE / CMS

Formatting the content such as bold, italic, hyperlinking, and so on is different compared to your standard HTML. There would be a bit of a learning curve for this but they have a guide for formatting. You are allowed to preview your work before submitting/publishing it in their CMS.

THE SANDWICH METHOD

To seem like I was an objective/unbiased contributor in Wiki, I had to mask myself virtually. I didn't sign up using my work email (e.g. [email protected]) and I used my home/mobile hotspot Internet connection (IP address). Then, the content needed to have a bit of dirt on the article's subject to really be unbiased, but tried to make it short and light.

The sandwich method is writing a paragraph that doesn't shade the subject in the intro and latter parts of the whole article and putting the shade in the middle. That is if such dirt content exists. Adding this truly gives you an objective / unbiased rapport as a Wiki contributor.

MY SAMPLE WORK

I used to work for a famous Southeast Asian E-commerce company back in 2013-2015. Back then, the Lazada Wiki article was published but needed to be updated/edited. Since leaving the company, it underwent many changes so the Wiki article has also gone through many changes too. It used to be separated into different countries (Lazada Philippines, Lazada Malaysia, Lazada Indonesia, etc) but the Wiki editors might have decided to consolidate everything into one link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazada

But the localized version still exists which I wrote: https://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazada_Philippines

It's the exact content of my English version (but now was changed and merged into the currently existing article version). When you check "View History" of a Wiki article, you get to see when it went a change and who made the change.

When you see the very bottom/start of the editing history, that's me with the username "TheSentenceFormulator"

By now, I've forgotten the login details for it since it was just a secondary task for my SEO duties back then. We were busy with ongoing On-Page optimizations and Off-Page optimizations (a growing e-commerce company meant a growing number of category, product, promo, and sale web pages).

With the wide growing interest in digital marketing, advertising, and business, the number of "schools" or programs and courses also grew. Some colleges or unis also offer it as courses and programs by now. From where I'm from, I think it started in 2016 onwards.

But which ones hold real value? If you learn from it, it holds value of course but not everyone can afford the paid courses or certifications.

Facebook/Meta has its Blueprint learning materials which is open and accessible to everyone but the certification costs around $99 to $150. Usually, digital agencies are the ones who are up to it

So to my fellow digital scrooges, I'd recommend the following free learning and certification sites instead:

HubSpot Academy has many digital marketing courses and topics in a self-paced environment that anyone can take. Simply sign up for a HubSpot account, learn, take the exam, and get your certification. It expires in a few years too so retake when necessary.

Digital Marketing involves a lot of Google-related services and tools so it's also nice to go through and get free certifications at Google Analytics Academy. All you need is a Google account (use the account you want your certification tied to). It is also self-paced and certification expires after 2 years. It enables you to learn about Google tools and optimizations.

Google also offers certifications for SEM/PPC Google Ads Certification which mostly has a 2-year expiration. It also allows you to learn the Google Ads dashboard/tools and optimizations.

How's the current online landscape?

Been on hiatus because I took up part-time work as a social media planner and marketing consultant for a local brand. Also did a side hustle not related to digital marketing (well, maybe a bit for sales) which I will shamelessly plug now lol: https://www.facebook.com/pandalick https://www.instagram.com/pandalick.ph/ http://bit.ly/pandalick

Anyway, what seems to be the landscape on digital now so far? As of writing (January 19, 2024), here are some I've noticed and researched too which hopefully may help you in your digital efforts.

Google Lays Off 100 Employees Freshly announced, what a way to start the year, right? I hope those employees can find new work soon.

It is said that the reason was "to trim costs and bureaucracy as it embraces artificial intelligence." The New York Times article also states that "YouTube has struggled to fully recover from an advertising slowdown in the past year and has contended with strong competition from TikTok, the short-video service popular with younger users."

Although YouTube came up with Shorts to match TikTok (even Facebook and Instagram with Reels), the younger generation has cemented themselves in TikTok. Of course, the developer itself continued and continues to optimize itself to avoid being a "one-hit wonder" among mobile apps (like the sad case of Bondee.)

But as an online marketer, how does this kind of news affect you? If you rely heavily on YouTube for marketing, it's best to explore TikTok since this kind of effect already shows that there is great potential in marketing on that platform. If future bugs occur on YouTube, at least you have already explored and planted yourself in TikTok. But of course, you need to analyze and strategize first if your industry fits such a platform. Otherwise, your efforts will just be a waste.

Google Helpful Content Update A major search engine algorithm rollout that started Sept 14, 2023 (took 14 days to roll out so ended Sept 28), the HCU is described by Google as "generates a signal used by our automated ranking systems to better ensure people see original, helpful content created for people in search results." Google also ensures that "If you're producing helpful content, then you don't need to do anything; in fact, this system may be good for your site, as it is designed to reward helpful content."

It is what it is so like this blog, Digital Marketing Course PH, which doesn't primarily aim for SEO rankings but rather, to provide helpful content, I won't be affected by such a rollout. My domain may seem SEO-keyword-driven (I even got a request to not renew payment so some other SEO/agency could take it I presume lol) and it partially is but it's just something direct, straight to the point as to what this whole blog/site is about. It's also a cheap price compared to other provided selection so I chose it. LOL!

For SEOs/website owners, I would suggest focusing on quality and in-depth content moving forward thanks to this rollout, rather than producing quantity (daily or weekly). I know agencies tend to use quantity as their service/package, but maybe it's time to rethink your SEO service packages to clients. SEO is an investment and you are the experts rather than the client so best to explain this to them. SEO is like planting, it would need time and nourishment for it to grow and bear fruit. SEO is different from SEM (instant results but paid) after all.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) The topic is expansive but since this blog niche is digital marketing, let's best focus on that. Google earlier announced that it laid off workers to embrace AI and the recent CES 2024 showcased a lot of AI-embracing tech. For Google's CES 2024 announcements, the "Google apps and services come to more cars" part is eye-opening for a marketer like me. How?

It means that the improvement and continued use of Google Maps should be an opportunity for businesses to improve their presence and information on Google Maps. (Personally, I'm a heavy Google Maps user myself when I plan trips and drive.) You should be on it and should be showcasing relevant information and prioritizing customer reviews on the app.

Will it impact your SEO? Yes and No. Check the hyperlink for in-depth explanation regarding this answer.

Facebook Marketplace

In case you missed it, a few days ago the Google Ads Youtube account streamed their latest news and upcoming updates regarding their tools so advertisers will be in the know of said changes.

The video is an hour long but has been segmented for easier consumption. And if you can, playing it in x2 speed and using captions may make it faster for you. Enjoy:

Don’t tick out email marketing in your possible digital efforts just yet. I used to think it was a dying or aging effort and that social media is going to kill it. But a speaker (I forgot his name lol) in the free IBM Digital Marketing University event we went to back in 2016 said that (not in verbatim since I forgot and have no record of it) millennials are forgetting that everyone who signs up for anything, even social media, will always require email and go back to using email.

It’s true. When you work, emails are still being used for formality and backtracking or filing purposes. But that’s not the only point for pursuing email marketing. Digitalagencynetwork.com wrote that “...in social media, content is filtered by them and do not reach all people. Email marketing is up to 40 times more effective than social media, according to a study done by McKinsey & Company. The same study also shows that the buying process happens 3 times faster than in social media.”

Of course, this will not always apply to everyone. It may be not as performing as indicated in the statement/study or it may even outperform that data depending on campaign optimization.

Like in any marketing campaign, trial and error plus analysis will surely give you the sweet spot or optimal performance.

I can’t personally say what email marketing campaign should you use since there are tons of business industries with various services or products and target audiences out there. But as for what I know, here are some of the simple things I can possibly recommend when creating your email campaign (do a test if you want and check to see if it does work for you or not).

Above is a sample screenshot from my inbox. As you can see, it can get competitive when a user is subscribed to many newsletters. Email marketing is not my great expertise but I try to observe.

As humans, we are visual beings so the one with emoji/s will surely catch my attention first. Aside from that, all caps is noticeable too so for the ZALORA brand, that’s a good move but for AirAsia, they would rather focus on their offer as people can be more promo-driven rather than brand-driven when it comes to messages. That’s a good strategy as well.

Often, users immediately opens an email based on just the headline but don’t disregard the following gray text (intro of your email content) just yet as they may still provide short info to the user via peripheral vision.

So you have successfully passed the initial hurdle of email marketing which is convincing a user to open your email, what’s next? A good and worthwhile body of course.

Ensure that your info is clear, direct, complete, convincing, and has a call to action for your very campaign objective (whether it’s to have them go to your website or reply to your email to buy/sign up for something). Apply KISS (Keep It Short and Simple). Images play a nice role here too as people are visual beings after all.

Apply UTM-tracked links to your content as well if you wish to further study or analyze email user behavior.

If you’re tracking competitors’ Facebook efforts, checking our their running ads may also be beneficial to you.

This is the link on how to do it: https://www.facebook.com/help/314419145702905

But here’s a clearer step-by-step process:

1. On mobile, visit the Page you wish and click See All in Page Transparency section.

2. Scroll down to the bottom and click Go to Ad Library.

3. You will see the count of currently running ads of that FB page. Also, you may click Filters in order to filter the search result per country, period, ad type, etc.

4. Be sure to click the Apply button in order to get the filtered search results.

“Worshipping” Google has been a long time running joke among SEOs. We use tools from actual Google itself and from 3rd party companies/orgs who created tools that would be beneficial for SEOs/Digital Marketers. Among the many existing Google Chrome extensions to date, here are the ones I use and find helpful:

MozBar

The MozBar is very easy and helpful in terms of easily check the SEO scores of a website (PA, DA, links, spam score).

Page Analytics

It’s a quick visibility of your site’s Google Analytics data from the frontend view. Helpful for design performance analysis too.

Tag Assistant

Allows you to see the multiple Google accounts/tools embedded in your site. Also, it gives bits of helpful insights about your Google Tag Manager.

Wappalyzer

This Chrome extension allows you to quickly have an overview of a website’s backend programs or tools so you can somehow understand the nature of its efforts. Digital Marketing PH’s (this site) is shown in the image below.

SimilarWeb

SimilarWeb quickly gives you the global rank, country rank, or category rank of a website so this enables you to learn how “popular” a website is in the VERY WIDE world wide web. 

Check my Links

This allows you to immediately see any broken hyperlinks within your site so you can remedy it or allows you to easily see the broken links within another’s website and possibly reach out to them for SEO assistance (if you know what I mean).

Hunter

Hunter allows you to easily see the contacts/email addresses of the people or owner of a website. This is great for assisting you in outreach efforts.

Not everyone can afford paid tools (unless you’re working in digital agency or digital company) so here are a few free tools that can be helpful for your digital marketing efforts:

Google Analytics

It’s easy to install and has always been free! Check out some YouTube tutorials here depending on your CMS or site: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=install+google+analytics

Google Analytics help provide deeper analysis of your site and its visitors. It can assist in matching data with other platforms as well like Facebook, YT, Instagram, Twitter, Email, Ads, etc.

Think with Google’s Digital Marketing Toolbox

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/

These free tools from Google itself are very handy. They’re quite easy to use and understand as well since Google does its best to always improve its UI/UX much like its roots on how it beat the Yahoo! search engine (ad free, clean, and shows accurate results).

GTMETRIX / Google Page Speed Insights

https://gtmetrix.com/

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

This allows you to check and solve any site speed problem within your website. A slow website might lead to a bounce or exit from a user, thus missing out on a possible lead or sale. Site speed is also a ranking factor on Google S.E.R.P. or Search Engine Ranking Pages (for SEO) and on ad quality (for Google ads). Some deeper level of fix needed like code bloat may require the help of a web developer. Always be careful and mindful of the add-ons you will install into your website so you won’t have code bloat. Also, try to compress images (https://compressjpeg.com/ and https://compresspng.com/ are free and easy to use) as bigger file sizes of images may slow down the site speed. Surely, there are some images that do not require to be of pristine quality in your site.

Keyword Rank Checker

https://smallseotools.com/keyword-position/

It allows you to see the position of your site in terms of S.E.R.P. depending on the keyword/s you want or is/are relevant to your site (”By Keywords”). The “By URL” allows you to see the keywords that your site is/are already ranking on.

Google Keyword Planner

https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/

This is accessible via Google Adwords account (which is free long as you have a Google account/Gmail) and this tool allows you to see which keywords have search volume (search volume means the popularity of a keyword among searchers/users). It’s a waste of effort to rank on keywords that are not being used by users after all. (Tip: It’s easier to rank for brand keywords, meaning your name brand, since no one else is competing for it unless your brand name uses common words.)

SimilarWeb

https://www.similarweb.com/

This allows you to see your website and other websites’ (a.k.a. competition) performance/ranking data and efforts. But the traffic data isn’t exactly the same compared to Google Analytics. Still, it allows you to have a feel of competitors’ performance since you can’t access their Google Analytics accounts.

UberSuggest

https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/

This is a working list but so far here are the ones I found best:

@careermarketer 

https://www.instagram.com/careermarketer/

The account features “confessions” from various anonymous marketers. It contains funny and relatable posts to marketers everywhere. Anyone can submit their “confessions.”

@marketing​_humor

https://www.instagram.com/marketing_humor/

Funny memes galore, follow this account if you want a relatable laugh.

Marketoonist

https://marketoonist.com/

https://www.instagram.com/marketoonist/

https://www.facebook.com/Marketoonist

There are so many free and paid online courses/materials now available regarding digital marketing. For anyone who wants or needs free learning materials, I suggest the following which are from the actual platforms themselves. Anyone can take them at any pace. Certifications are either free or must be paid for (Google is free #GoodGuyGoogle).

Google Skillshop 

Where: https://skillshop.withgoogle.com/

Who: Ideal for SEOs, Adwords / PPC Specialists, Data Analysts / Specialists, Ecom Marketers, Small business owners with websites, Waze advertisers

Note: Learning about Youtube advertising is available here

Google Analytics Academy

Where: https://analytics.google.com/analytics/academy/

Who: Ideal for SEOs, Adwords / PPC Specialists, Data Analysts / Specialists, Ecom Marketers

Facebook Blueprint

Where: https://www.facebook.com/business/learn

Who: Ideal for Social Media Specialists, Paid Social Media Specialists, Facebook Advertising Specialists

Note: Instagram advertising is within Facebook

LinkedIn Marketing Labs

Where: https://training.marketing.linkedin.com/

Who:  Ideal for Social Media Specialists, Paid Social Media Specialists, HR / Recruitment (for micro businesses)?

EXTRA: Copywriting

Where: https://www.emarketinghacks.com/copywriting-for-dummies/

Who: Copywriters, Creatives, Content staff, Digital Marketers

Note: This is not a course, just a one pager but definitely stock full of info for both beginners and pros alike.

This is a normal question regarding digital data. What is a good CTR rate? What is a good CPC? What is a good conversion rate? There is no set standard on stone. Yes, there may be articles floating out there on what a good benchmark would be but my recommendation is Internal Benchmarking.

Every business is different in the sense that internal goals, internal processes, internal manpower, internal resources, and internal decision makers are different. There’s also a non-disclosure agreement within companies so you really can’t compare with competitors. Even if you get a hold of their data, you may not be able to get the same results and goals.

Google Analytics has a Benchmarking tab within their Audience tab and it can be customized per country and per industry but it is based on website performance, not the overall digital marketing performance unless you’re an ecommerce website with end-to-end data tracking in Google Analytics.

This can be a reference but the marketing efforts per business is different so it cannot be a set-on-stone benchmark for you.

On to Internal Benchmarking, this is a progressive process wherein you launch your initial campaigns and then compare various tests of what may or may not seem to work for you. You try to improve the numbers you get by changing or tweaking your campaign (like changing design material or the ad copy, or even the targeting). For the website, the CTA button may be experimented on or the design layout or textual content. There are many things that can be tested but ensure one at a time to avoid guessing which factor helped in the improvement of performance.

There are various metrics to be discerned in almost every department. The HR department has their Training Effectiveness Index, Training Efficiency, Employee Happiness Rating, Absence Rate per Manager, Overtime Expense, Employee Productivity Index, Training Expenses per Employee, and so on. The Admin department has their Total Occupancy Costs, Workload Staff Ratio, Percent of Staff Fully Trained, Worker Safety, and so on.

It all depends on what goals you are interested in and should primarily be focusing on. Of course, for Marketing or Digital Marketing, it has its own KPIs but which one should be focused on by top-level management to tie it up with your overall business KPIs? It also varies per industry but in general (for both B2C and B2B), here are your ideal major KPIs in terms of Digital Marketing.

In ecommerce, sales are somehow already part of Marketing’s KPI because a salesperson is usually not much needed in terms of “caring for a lead to convert into a sale.” Although brick-and-mortar stores have its inhouse sales people or store clerks, they provide assistance rather, not much on selling to a customer. For ecommerce sites (assuming you have already the necessary analytics tools integrated into your ecom site like Google Analytics), it’s already direct so for the KPIs for various divisions like SEO, Social Media, Paid Ads, Email Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, here are the following:

SEO

Sales = This can be checked in Acquisition tab > All Traffic > Channels tagged as Organic Search. Direct can also be tagged as part of SEO efforts if there are acquired backlinks (BLs) with rel=”noreferrer” attribute but it is also in correlation with other channel efforts as some would still type in directly a URL when they see a Google Display ad or social media ad. A tip would be inserting special UTM links for SEO efforts in order to truly attribute whether the backlink is tagged as  rel=”noreferrer” or not. It is also advisable to look into the Referral traffic in case there are acquired data from SEO efforts within it as well for proper attribution.

ROI  = Although SEO is always known for being “organic” or “free”, it really isn’t. It can be but it will truly take quite a while. Blog commenting may be counted but the rel=”nofollow” attribute won’t provide link juice. Not being able to link to anchor texts for relevant target keywords won’t be helpful, too. So setting aside a budget for possible web owner partnerships or exchanges may be helpful in getting the high quality backlinks you need. Of course, purposeful content and context should still be at the center of these efforts. Calculating the ROI for this can be:

> Monthly Revenue - Monthly Budget Spent

> Avg Cost per Backlink versus previous month

Calculations should be running as backlinks are permanent. For example, from April to December, $3,398 has been spent for 55 acquired backlinks via guest postings and linking, that’s an average of $62 per BL so far. Let’s say you got $5,510.73 revenue from Organic and other SEO efforts counted in Referral plus 20% of Direct Traffic’s revenue (20% sample amount: $3063.75) assuming that some BLs have the noreferrer attribute, so a total of $8,574.48 in revenue from SEO. That’s an ROI of $5,176.48. The ROI when compared to paid digital channels may seem small but remember, BLs are permanent unlike paid ads that disappear once the budget is spent/gone.

Again, these are suggested metrics for top-level management or business owner consumption as these people are most likely to be interested in the overall business metrics. You as hired Digital Marketer or SEO Manager will still have the final decision on what metrics to present.

Social Media

Sales = Check the Social and Referral channels plus (Others) data in  Acquisition tab > All Traffic > Channels to see the sales/revenue.

ROI = If there are no paid efforts and you get revenue data (lucky you), then the only expense here would be the rate of your hired staff vs the revenue from the channels. You can count the paid tools and budget spent for creatives here as well vs the revenue. Then other key metrics to share that could be of interest to top-level people would be the increase of followers. reach, engagement vs the previous month/s or year/s.

Paid Ads

You paid for it, of course you should get relevant KPIs here. For social media ads, it is advisable to use UTM when tracking on Google Analytics aside from actual Ads Manager dashboard. For Google Adwords, it can be easily integrated into Google Analytics since they both belong to Google.

For ecommerce, it can usually immediately reflect the end sales data (accounting will have to re-compute for the refunds, etc.). But for B2B or brick-and-mortar businesses, the end sales data will have to be integrated in a more complex manner in order to generate the ROI and RoAS data.

When you hire an agency, you would have to consider the agency fee and tax within the computation to truly see the business ROI.

Email Marketing

This can be done through UTM tracked links as well and separate promo/discount codes to appropriately attribute the conversion/sales generated for this channel / effort. Consider the subscription fee for the tools as part of the cost when you try to track conversion / sales / ROI data. For Gmail ads, it is actually covered by the Paid Ads or Google Adwords platform but can be taught or passed to email marketers as part of their job description. It can be a collaborative effort as well instead with paid ads specialists.

Affiliate Marketing

Consider the influencer fee/exchanges (if any), aside from the commission they earn for the referral conversions/sales. Certain tools are available now for consolidating, tracking, and sending out commissions to affiliates. The bonus part here is aside from potential sales, you get brand awareness efforts here at minimal costs (like an added bonus aside from potential sales).

Added: Web Development

If you haven’t read part 1, you better read that first lol (https://digitalmarketingph.tumblr.com/post/637078767298314240/recruiting-digital-marketers).

Here are some sample job posting templates you may want to copy (but review or edit some as you deem fit within your organization’s needs) so that you won’t look stupid among viewers (yes, we share it among our friends and make fun of it because you expect a lot with a blue-collar wage / rate offer). Educate yourself and get respected.

Experienced Copywriter

-Knows the basics of SEO copywriting (keyword insertion, word count, anchor text) -Can write / cover various topics -Keen on research -Able to write objectively / formally for articles or leisurely for blogs -Knowledgeable with Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools -At least 1-2 years of experience required -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, or any other related course

Entry-level Copywriter

-Can write / cover various topics -Great command of the English language, written -Keen on research -Knowledge of using Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools a plus -Will work under supervision of Senior Copywriter or SEO team -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, or any other related course

Experienced SEO

-Knows onpage and offpage optimization -Knows how to use Google tools (Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Analytics, Console, Merchant, etc) -Knows Moz, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, other SEO tools -Knows how to navigate through CMS platforms (Wordpress, Blogger, Shopify, etc.) -Create and present SEO reports  -Knows / understands Basic HTML -Good copywriting skills -Knowledge of marketing funnel / wheel a plus -At least 1-2 years of experience required -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, IT, or any other related course

Entry-level SEO

-Will work under supervision of Senior SEO  -Knows / understands Basic HTML -Knowledge of using Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools -Good copywriting skills -Detail-oriented -Keen on research -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, IT, or any other related course

Experienced SEM

-Knows how to use Google Adwords / Suite, analyze, and present post-campaign data -Basic or brief knowledge on SEO a plus, able to work with SEO team and other related teams -Plan campaigns with other teams, execute campaigns, AB testing -Create and present SEM reports  -Knowledge of using Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools -Knowledge of marketing funnel / wheel a plus   -At least 1-2 years of experience required -Detail-oriented -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, Accounting, IT, or any other related course

Entry-level SEM

-Will work under supervision of Senior SEM for Google Adwords / Suite and post-campaign analysis -Basic or brief knowledge on SEO a plus, able to work with SEO team and other related teams -Plan campaigns with other teams, execute campaigns, AB testing -Knowledge of using Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools a plus -Detail-oriented -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, Accounting, IT, or any other related course

Experienced Social Media

-Manage and publish on multiple social media platforms (e.g. FB, IG, YT, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, etc) -Professionally respond to social media queries via PM or comments (unless you’re an ecommerce company, a team of customer service reps may be formed for this so social media person can focus on push marketing) -Will work with graphic designers / creative team for content planning and production  -Will work with Social Media Ads team, SEO team, and other related teams -Updated with the latest online or social media trends  -Knowledge of using Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools -Create and present social media reports -Good command of the English language -Knowledge of marketing funnel / wheel a plus  -At least 1-2 years of experience required -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, Design, IT, or any other related course

Entry-level Social Media

-Will work under the supervision of Senior Social Media -Assist Senior Social Media on queries -Must stay updated with the latest online or social media trends  -Creative, can work well with others -Good command of the English language -Knowledge of using Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools a plus -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, Design, IT, or any other related course

Experienced Social Media Ads specialist

-Knows how to use FB / IG ads, LinkedIn ads, Twitter ads, and present post-campaign data -Will work or coordinate with Social Media, graphic designers / creative team for content planning and production -Plan campaigns with other teams, execute campaigns, AB testing -Create and present ad reports -Knowledge of using Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools -Knowledge of marketing funnel / wheel a plus -Good command of the English language   -At least 1-2 years of experience required -Detail-oriented -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, Accounting, IT, or any other related course

Entry-level Social Media Ads specialist

-Will work under the supervision of Senior Social Media Ads specialist -Must stay updated with the latest online or social media trends -Creative, can work well with others -Good command of the English language -Knowledge of using Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools a plus -Must be a graduate of Communications, Marketing, Journalism, Accounting, IT, or any other related course

Experienced Data Analyst

-Can navigate through various data platforms (e.g. Tableau, Data Studio, MS PowerBI, etc) -Create presentable data formats from other teams for easier digestion of upper-level management (so they can make quicker and more logical business decisions) -Plan campaigns with other teams, execute campaigns, AB testing based from gathered data -Create and present reports -Knowledge of using Google Docs, Drive, and other related software tools -Knowledge of marketing funnel / wheel a plus -Knowledge of SEO, SEM, Social Media metrics and reports a plus -At least 1-2 years of experience required -Detail-oriented -Must be a graduate of  Marketing, Accounting, IT, or any other related course

Entry-level Data Analyst

-Will work under the supervision of Senior Data Analyst -Easy to adapt to various software / tools -Tech and Internet savvy -Comfortable with analyzing and presenting (assisting the Senior) numbers, reports, data -Detail-oriented -Keen on research -Must be a graduate of Marketing, Accounting, IT, or any other related courses

Digital Manager

Who doesn’t like memes? Here are some I found funny, enjoy!