4.  Higher conversion rates.  Social media marketing results in higher conversion rates in a few distinct ways.  Perhaps the most significant is its humanization element; the fact that brands become more humanized by interacting in social media channels.  Social media is a place where brands can act like people do, and this is important because people like doing business with other people; not with companies. 
Balancing search and display for digital display ads are important; marketers tend to look at the last search and attribute all of the effectiveness to this.  This then disregards other marketing efforts, which establish brand value within the consumers mind.  ComScore determined through drawing on data online, produced by over one hundred multichannel retailers that digital display marketing poses strengths when compared with or positioned alongside, paid search (Whiteside, 2016).[44] This is why it is advised that when someone clicks on a display ad the company opens a landing page, not its home page.  A landing page typically has something to draw the customer in to search beyond this page.  Things such as free offers that the consumer can obtain through giving the company contact information so that they can use retargeting communication strategies (Square2Marketing, 2012).[45] Commonly marketers see increased sales among people exposed to a search ad.  But the fact of how many people you can reach with a display campaign compared to a search campaign should be considered.  Multichannel retailers have an increased reach if the display is considered in synergy with search campaigns.  Overall both search and display aspects are valued as display campaigns build awareness for the brand so that more people are likely to click on these digital ads when running a search campaign (Whiteside, 2016).[44]
Email Marketing: Email marketing is still one of the most effective digital marketing channels.  Many people confuse email marketing with spam email messages we all receive per day, but that’s not what email marketing is all about.  Email marketing is the medium to get in touch with your potential customers or the people interested in your brand.  Many digital marketers use all other digital marketing channels to add leads to their email lists and then, through email marketing, they create customer acquisition funnels to turn those leads into customers. 
A disadvantage of digital advertising is the large amount of competing goods and services that are also using the same digital marketing strategies.  For example, when someone searches for a specific product from a specific company online, if a similar company uses targeted advertising online then they can appear on the customer's home page, allowing the customer to look at alternative options for a cheaper price or better quality of the same product or a quicker way of finding what they want online. 
Social media often feeds into the discovery of new content such as news stories, and “discovery” is a search activity.  Social media can also help build links that in turn support into SEO efforts.  Many people also perform searches at social media sites to find social media content.  Social connections may also impact the relevancy of some search results, either within a social media network or at a ‘mainstream’ search engine. 

To cease opportunity, the firm should summarize their current customers' personas and purchase journey from this they are able to deduce their digital marketing capability.  This means they need to form a clear picture of where they are currently and how many resources they can allocate for their digital marketing strategy i.e. labour, time etc.  By summarizing the purchase journey, they can also recognise gaps and growth for future marketing opportunities that will either meet objectives or propose new objectives and increase profit. 

Another disadvantage is that even an individual or small group of people can harm image of an established brand.  For instance Dopplegnager is a term that is used to disapprove an image about a certain brand that is spread by anti-brand activists, bloggers, and opinion leaders.  The word Doppelganger is a combination of two German words Doppel (double) and Ganger (walker), thus it means double walker or as in English it is said alter ego.  Generally brand creates images for itself to emotionally appeal to their customers.  However some would disagree with this image and make alterations to this image and present in funny or cynical way, hence distorting the brand image, hence creating a Doppelganger image, blog or content (Rindfleisch, 2016). 
Brand awareness has been proven to work with more effectiveness in countries that are high in uncertainty avoidance, also these countries that have uncertainty avoidance; social media marketing works effectively.  Yet brands must be careful not to be excessive on the use of this type of marketing, as well as solely relying on it as it may have implications that could negatively harness their image.  Brands that represent themselves in an anthropomorphizing manner are more likely to succeed in situations where a brand is marketing to this demographic. " Since social media use can enhance the knowledge of the brand and thus decrease the uncertainty, it is possible that people with high uncertainty avoidance, such as the French, will particularly appreciate the high social media interaction with an anthropomorphized brand."  Moreover, digital platform provides an ease to the brand and its customers to interact directly and exchange their motives virtually.[35]
Engagement with the social web means that customers and stakeholders are active participants rather than passive viewers.  An example of these are consumer advocacy groups and groups that criticize companies (e.g., lobby groups or advocacy organizations).  Social media use in a business or political context allows all consumers/citizens to express and share an opinion about a company's products, services, business practices, or a government's actions.  Each participating customer, non-customer, or citizen who is participating online via social media becomes a part of the marketing department (or a challenge to the marketing effort).  Whereas as other customers read their positive or negative comments or reviews.  Getting consumers, potential consumers or citizens to be engaged online is fundamental to successful social media marketing.[20] With the advent of social media marketing, it has become increasingly important to gain customer interest in products and services.  This can eventually be translated into buying behavior, or voting and donating behavior in a political context.  New online marketing concepts of engagement and loyalty have emerged which aim to build customer participation and brand reputation.[21]
In May 2014, Instagram had over 200 million users.  The user engagement rate of Instagram was 15 times higher than of Facebook and 25 times higher than that of Twitter.[50] According to Scott Galloway, the founder of L2 and a professor of marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business, latest studies estimate that 93% of prestige brands have an active presence on Instagram and include it in their marketing mix.[51] When it comes to brands and businesses, Instagram's goal is to help companies to reach their respective audiences through captivating imagery in a rich, visual environment.[52] Moreover, Instagram provides a platform where user and company can communicate publicly and directly, making itself an ideal platform for companies to connect with their current and potential customers.[53]
Several customers are turning towards social media to express their appreciation or frustration with brands, product or services.  Therefore, marketers can measure the frequency of which customers are discussing their brand and judge how effective their SMM strategies are.  In recent studies, 72% of people surveyed expressed that they expected a response to their complaints on Twitter within an hour.[111]
To this end, companies make use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram to reach audiences much wider than through the use of traditional print/TV/radio advertisements alone at a fraction of the cost, as most social networking sites can be used at little or no cost (however, some websites charge companies for premium services).  This has changed the ways that companies approach to interact with customers, as a substantial percentage of consumer interactions are now being carried out over online platforms with much higher visibility.  Customers can now post reviews of products and services, rate customer service, and ask questions or voice concerns directly to companies through social media platforms.  According to Measuring Success, over 80% of consumers use the web to research products and services.[30] Thus social media marketing is also used by businesses in order to build relationships of trust with consumers.[31] To this aim, companies may also hire personnel to specifically handle these social media interactions, who usually report under the title of Online community managers.  Handling these interactions in a satisfactory manner can result in an increase of consumer trust.  To both this aim and to fix the public's perception of a company, 3 steps are taken in order to address consumer concerns, identifying the extent of the social chatter, engaging the influencers to help, and developing a proportional response.[32]
In May 2014, Instagram had over 200 million users.  The user engagement rate of Instagram was 15 times higher than of Facebook and 25 times higher than that of Twitter.[50] According to Scott Galloway, the founder of L2 and a professor of marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business, latest studies estimate that 93% of prestige brands have an active presence on Instagram and include it in their marketing mix.[51] When it comes to brands and businesses, Instagram's goal is to help companies to reach their respective audiences through captivating imagery in a rich, visual environment.[52] Moreover, Instagram provides a platform where user and company can communicate publicly and directly, making itself an ideal platform for companies to connect with their current and potential customers.[53]
Let’s say, for example, that you run a construction business that helps with home repairs after natural disasters and you want to advertise that service.  The official term for the service is “fire restoration,” but keyword research may indicate that customers in your area search instead for “fire repair” or “repair fire damage to house.”  By not optimizing for these two keywords, you’ll lose out on a lot of traffic and potential customers, even if “fire restoration” is technically more correct. 

Another way search engine marketing is managed is by contextual advertising.  Here marketers place ads on other sites or portals that carry information relevant to their products so that the ads jump into the circle of vision of browsers who are seeking information from those sites.  A successful SEM plan is the approach to capture the relationships amongst information searchers, businesses, and search engines.  Search engines were not important to some industries in the past, but over the past years the use of search engines for accessing information has become vital to increase business opportunities.[31] The use of SEM strategic tools for businesses such as tourism can attract potential consumers to view their products, but it could also pose various challenges.[32] These challenges could be the competition that companies face amongst their industry and other sources of information that could draw the attention of online consumers.[31] To assist the combat of challenges, the main objective for businesses applying SEM is to improve and maintain their ranking as high as possible on SERPs so that they can gain visibility.  Therefore, search engines are adjusting and developing algorithms and the shifting criteria by which web pages are ranked sequentially to combat against search engine misuse and spamming, and to supply the most relevant information to searchers.[31] This could enhance the relationship amongst information searchers, businesses, and search engines by understanding the strategies of marketing to attract business. 

Those engaging with your company online via mobile devices need to have the same positive experience as they would on desktop.  This means implementing a mobile-friendly or responsive website design to make browsing user-friendly for those on mobile devices.  It might also mean reducing the length of your lead generation forms to create a hassle-free experience for people downloading your content on-the-go.  As for your social media images, it's important to always have a mobile user in mind when creating them as image dimensions are smaller on mobile devices, meaning text can be cut-off. 

Great Social Content — Consistent with other areas of online marketing, content reigns supreme when it comes to social media marketing.  Make sure you post regularly and offer truly valuable information that your ideal customers will find helpful and interesting.  The content that you share on your social networks can include social media images, videos, infographics, how-to guides and more. 
Instagram has proven itself a powerful platform for marketers to reach their customers and prospects through sharing pictures and brief messages.  According to a study by Simply Measured, 71% of the world's largest brands are now using Instagram as a marketing channel.[58] For companies, Instagram can be used as a tool to connect and communicate with current and potential customers.  The company can present a more personal picture of their brand, and by doing so the company conveys a better and true picture of itself.  The idea of Instagram pictures lies on on-the-go, a sense that the event is happening right now, and that adds another layer to the personal and accurate picture of the company.  In fact, Thomas Rankin, co-founder and CEO of the program Dash Hudson, stated that when he approves a blogger's Instagram post before it is posted on the behalf of a brand his company represents, his only negative feedback is if it looks too posed. " It's not an editorial photo," he explained, "We're not trying to be a magazine.  We're trying to create a moment. "[57] Another option Instagram provides the opportunity for companies to reflect a true picture of the brandfrom the perspective of the customers, for instance, using the user-generated contents thought the hashtags encouragement.[59] Other than the filters and hashtags functions, the Instagram's 15-second videos and the recently added ability to send private messages between users have opened new opportunities for brands to connect with customers in a new extent, further promoting effective marketing on Instagram. 
Another ethical controversy associated with search marketing has been the issue of trademark infringement.  The debate as to whether third parties should have the right to bid on their competitors' brand names has been underway for years.  In 2009 Google changed their policy, which formerly prohibited these tactics, allowing 3rd parties to bid on branded terms as long as their landing page in fact provides information on the trademarked term.[27] Though the policy has been changed this continues to be a source of heated debate.[28]

Video Marketing: YouTube has become the second most popular search engine and a lot of users are turning to YouTube before they make a buying decision, to learn something or just to relax.  There are several video marketing platforms, including Facebook Videos, Instagram, Vimeo to use to run a video marketing campaign.  Companies find the most success with video by integrating it with SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing campaigns. 

Prioritizing clicks refers to display click ads, although advantageous by being ‘simple, fast and inexpensive’ rates for display ads in 2016 is only 0.10 percent in the United States.  This means one in a thousand click ads are relevant therefore having little effect.  This displays that marketing companies should not just use click ads to evaluate the effectiveness of display advertisements (Whiteside, 2016).[44]
It’s hard to believe that the Internet is now multiple decades old.  Affiliate marketing has been around since the earliest days of online marketing.  It’s a great solution for businesses that are risk-averse or don’t have the budget to spend on upfront marketing costs.  Use affiliate marketing to build a new revenue stream for your ecommerce or B2B business.  Get Started
It’s hard to believe that the Internet is now multiple decades old.  Affiliate marketing has been around since the earliest days of online marketing.  It’s a great solution for businesses that are risk-averse or don’t have the budget to spend on upfront marketing costs.  Use affiliate marketing to build a new revenue stream for your ecommerce or B2B business.  Get Started

Digital marketing planning is a term used in marketing management.  It describes the first stage of forming a digital marketing strategy for the wider digital marketing system.  The difference between digital and traditional marketing planning is that it uses digitally based communication tools and technology such as Social, Web, Mobile, Scannable Surface.[59][60] Nevertheless, both are aligned with the vision, the mission of the company and the overarching business strategy.[61]

5.  Higher Brand Authority.  Interacting with your customers regularly is a show of good faith for other customers.  When people go to compliment or brag about a product or service, they turn to social media.  And when they post your brand name, new audience members will want to follow you for updates.  The more people that are talking about you on social media, the more valuable and authoritative your brand will seem to new users.  Not to mention, if you can interact with major influencers on Twitter or other social networks, your visible authority and reach will skyrocket. 
Social media marketing provides organizations with a way to connect with their customers.  However, organizations must protect their information as well as closely watch comments and concerns on the social media they use.  A flash poll done on 1225 IT executives from 33 countries revealed that social media mishaps caused organizations a combined $4.3 million in damages in 2010.[93] The top three social media incidents an organization faced during the previous year included employees sharing too much information in public forums, loss or exposure of confidential information, and increased exposure to litigation.[93] Due to the viral nature of the Internet, a mistake by a single employee has in some cases shown to result in devastating consequences for organizations.  An example of a social media mishap includes designer Kenneth Cole's Twitter mishap in 2011.  When Kenneth Cole tweeted, "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo.  Rumor has they heard our new spring collection is now available online at [Kenneth Cole's website]".[94] This reference to the 2011 Egyptian revolution drew an objection from the public; it was widely objected to on the Internet.[94] Kenneth Cole realized his mistake shortly after and responded with a statement apologizing for the tweet.[95]
Balancing search and display for digital display ads are important; marketers tend to look at the last search and attribute all of the effectiveness to this.  This then disregards other marketing efforts, which establish brand value within the consumers mind.  ComScore determined through drawing on data online, produced by over one hundred multichannel retailers that digital display marketing poses strengths when compared with or positioned alongside, paid search (Whiteside, 2016).[44] This is why it is advised that when someone clicks on a display ad the company opens a landing page, not its home page.  A landing page typically has something to draw the customer in to search beyond this page.  Things such as free offers that the consumer can obtain through giving the company contact information so that they can use retargeting communication strategies (Square2Marketing, 2012).[45] Commonly marketers see increased sales among people exposed to a search ad.  But the fact of how many people you can reach with a display campaign compared to a search campaign should be considered.  Multichannel retailers have an increased reach if the display is considered in synergy with search campaigns.  Overall both search and display aspects are valued as display campaigns build awareness for the brand so that more people are likely to click on these digital ads when running a search campaign (Whiteside, 2016).[44]
Your Brand Persona and Target Audience.  When you eventually start creating content, you have to know who you’re talking to and tailor your brand voice to appeal to them uniquely.  If you aren’t targeting the right audience (those people who will lean in to hear what you’re saying), you won’t find success.  And, if you can’t find a way to stand out, you’ll blend into the hordes of other brands competing for attention in your industry. 
As digital marketing continues to grow and develop, brands take great advantage of using technology and the Internet as a successful way to communicate with its clients and allows them to increase the reach of who they can interact with and how they go about doing so,.[4] There are however disadvantages that are not commonly looked into due to how much a business relies on it.  It is important for marketers to take into consideration both advantages and disadvantages of digital marketing when considering their marketing strategy and business goals. 
For example, to implement PPC using Google AdWords, you'll bid against other companies in your industry to appear at the top of Google's search results for keywords associated with your business.  Depending on the competitiveness of the keyword, this can be reasonably affordable, or extremely expensive, which is why it's a good idea to focus building your organic reach, too.