8 steps for Pursue and Pursuade

May 5

By: Elena Lazaro

What is Pursue and Pursuade and why do they need a social media digital strategy?

WHAT IS PURSUE & PERSUADE?

Pursue and Persuade is a student-run blog-styled website for the Social Media & Digital Marketing course at Duquesne University.

Pursue

Pursuade

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Pursue Pursuade 〰️

What is a social media strategy?

Hootsuite says, “A social media strategy is a document outlining your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you will track to measure your progress.”

Your social media marketing strategy should

list all of your existing and planned social media accounts
and have goals specific to each platform you’re active on. (These goals should align with your business’s larger digital marketing strategy.)
define your team's roles and responsibilities and outline your reporting cadence.

What are these 8 steps?

For Pursue and Pursuade’s digital strategy, we need:

1. Client / Campaign Goals

2. Target audience definition and insights related to digital

3. Digital marketing insights and research

4. Competitive Summary / Example(s)

5. Strategy summary*

6. Messaging examples*

7. Channels and tracking prioritization*

8. Next Steps

Or watch this video from Hootsuite:

Step 2: Target Audience

Digital marketing students,
small businesses that need digital marketing information

Step 1: Client/Campaign Goal

Drive double traffic
Increase time on site

Step 3: Digital marketing insights and research

Based on Ahrefs.com, the blogging stats are as follows:

77% of internet users report regularly reading blog posts.
80% of bloggers say that blogging drives results.
44% of buyers report consuming 3 to 5 content before engaging with the seller.
Food, lifestyle, and travel niches have the highest percentage of blogs and more than 50,000 monthly blog visits.
71% of bloggers say SEO is their most significant traffic source.
Bloggers who prioritize SEO earn over $50,000 annually, and their #1 traffic source is Google.
71% of marketers report content marketing has become significant in the past year.

Step 4: Competitive Summary

Pursue and Pursuade’s biggest competitors are College Tourist and The Healthy Hangover.

The Healthy Hangover

The Healthy Hangover is a Brighton-based student food blog.
They are on Instagram and Twitter (X)
Their social media strategy seems to post the recipes, but the call to action is lacking since Instagram doesn’t let you add links to the post.

College Tourist

on Facebook and Twitter hasn’t been posted since 2020 or 2021.
They’re under Huffpost
Since the blog is all about students traveling, students can send tips about a location or what they did in a city. An example is “A day trip to Viñales, Cuba.”
- Their social media strategy seems to be the same: pictures with captions indicating where the picture was taken and by whom. There is no mention of the blog and no CTA for the blog.

Aside from Pursue and Pursuade being more active, these blogs picked niche topics like travel and food

Step 5: Strategy Summary

Based on the different presentations for the blog project,

1. Encourage collaboration between students and organizations such as the Duke

2. Focus on student interests

3. Emphasize the impact of multimedia content on social media like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

4. Encourage feedback from other classes or readers

5. Promote the blog further through keywords, SEO, and social.

6. Keep the blog updated

Step 6: Messaging

The goal:

“Bring knowledge and awareness of this class and the blog to the student population.”
- Through current students and alumni of the class, this blog could flourish.

Step 7: Channels and tracking prioritization

We currently use all channels (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter). The content is the same on all channels, but the messaging needs to change for each to attract the target audience.
- By Spring 2025, we want to increase knowledge of the blog by 10%, increase the use of multimedia by 20%, and promotion through Instagram and Facebook by 10%.

Step 8: Timeline/Next Steps

1. Week 1: Research and Planning

Conduct keyword research to identify popular and relevant topics
Create a content plan with a mix of evergreen and trending topics
Define your target audience and tailor your content to their needs
Set specific goals for traffic and time-on-site

2. Week 2-4: Content Creation

Write and publish high-quality blog posts on a regular schedule
Optimize each post for SEO by including relevant keywords and meta descriptions
Create engaging headlines, images, and videos to enhance the reader experience
Encourage social sharing and engagement by adding social media buttons and calls to action

3. Week 5-6: Promotion

Promote the blog posts on relevant social media channels
Reach out to influencers and ask them to share your content
Run paid ads to drive traffic to the blog
Monitor analytics and adjust the promotion strategy as needed

4. Week 7-8: Optimization

Analyze traffic and engagement data to identify areas for improvement
Make changes to the blog’s design and layout to increase user engagement
Test different headlines, calls to action, and content formats to optimize for conversions
Continuously monitor and refine the blog strategy to achieve the main goal

By following this timeline, Pursue and Pursuade can be a successful blog that drives double traffic and increases time on site. Staying consistent, engaging with the audience, and being open to new ideas and opportunities.

References:

(n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved May 5, 2024, from https://www.semrush.com/analytics/overview/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fauthor%2Falison-234&searchType=url&protocol=https

Allison. (2015, May 5). College Tourist. HuffPost. Retrieved May 5, 2024, from https://www.huffpost.com/author/alison-234

Newberry, C., & Wood, A. (2024, March 13). How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy [Template]. Hootsuite Blog. Retrieved May 5, 2024, from https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-marketing-plan/

Ong, Q. (2024, April 23). 73 Blogging Statistics for 2024. Ahrefs. Retrieved May 5, 2024, from https://ahrefs.com/blog/blogging-statistics/

Ross, M., & Barcik, B. (2024, March 12). How to Promote a Blog in 2024. Wikipedia. Retrieved May 5, 2024, from https://www.semrush.com/blog/how-to-promote-a-blog/?kw=&cmp=US_SRCH_DSA_Blog_EN&label=dsa_pagefeed&Network=g&Device=c&utm_content=683861103740&kwid=dsa-2263819779759&cmpid=18348486859&agpid=156312207533&BU=Core&extid=130183991985&adpos=&gad_source=1&gclid=

Wragg, J. (2017, March 9). The Healthy Hangover - Student Food Blog. Student recipes and guides - A student food blog with recipes, reviews and guides. Retrieved May 5, 2024, from https://thehealthyhangover.com/

Pursue Persuade