Being the new guy at Nitro Digital means I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and when it comes to Digital Media I’m a bit of a novice. Given that I’m the Commercial Manager, it’s probably wise for me to polish up on the basics before I can help any of you guys out with solutions that are right for your business. If you’re no early adopter then we can learn together, on the other hand if you’re the chief Editor of Mashable or some kind of digital media guru then feel free to point out any misgivings. Follow me here.

I hope you enjoy my entries!

Lawrence

What are the benefits of any business employing Digital Media?

Websites

Nowadays consumers have a wealth of information at their fingertips, be it online, on their phones and in the traditional media. Information search pre and post purchase must not be ruled out even for routine low importance purchases. Regardless of your service or product it is unwise to not include a website as a part of your marketing strategy. This may seem obvious but some companies with large portfolios often omit dedicated websites for each and every one of their brands. Brands for low involvement (certain FMCG’s) products are increasingly using their websites as interactive platforms with games and content of a rather ambiguous nature. These websites often encourage visitors to engage in dialogue with the brand through a range of social networking sites and micro blogging tools such as Twitter.

When considering brands or products which are purchased less frequently and as such require more in terms of information search (high involvement) the first port of call will invariably be a website. If a dedicated website does not exist for a particular brand the searcher will be influenced by SERP’s (search engine results pages) and the relevance of the results generated. In the instance that the consumer is looking for a product but has not specified a particular brand their search will be determined by what the search engine deems relevant. Research suggests that many people click through from the top half of any search engine’s results page and are too lazy to scroll down. With this in mind all companies need to ensure they sit at the top of SERP’s for all relevant search parameters pertaining to their product or service.

One of the ways to ensure this visibility is to have a comprehensive website which is rich in content and up to date. This method increases what are called organic results on sites such as Google and Yahoo. However, a comprehensive, content rich and up to date website is not always enough to stay ahead of the competition on SERP’s. Marketers need to adopt additional techniques to ensure high levels of visitor traffic regardless of if they’re selling low or high involvement products.

SEM – Search Engine Marketing

The techniques which increase visitor traffic to websites are now essential to marketers. After all, what good is a great website without any hits? This is where SEM steps in, it consists of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay per Click (PPC).

As mentioned, relevant content is highly important to SEO but there are other technical facets which will determine visibility on SERP’s. Firstly the website needs to be formatted to allow for search engine access to content on the website. This process is known as spidering and the website construction must have spiderability in mind. Secondly, the content, however relevant to the search parameters needs to be embedded within the source coding of the given page. These techniques require the skill of SEO’s who specialise in this field.

Search engines rate websites in terms of their trustworthiness in the following areas:

• Age

• Relevant content

• Links from other websites

Since even the best SEO’s can’t increase the age of a domain or website other ways to harbour the trust of search engines must be employed. Linkability is another way which search engines determine a website’s position on SERP’s. Well established sites will automatically have decent linkability (the amount of inbound web links pointing to their site) but newer, less established websites may not. Dependent on how well known the brand, product or service is offline will determine the amount of inbound links it has online. In the case of an unknown, links can be created with the help of PR work, affiliation with other websites, failing that, they can even be bought.

PPC or Pay per Click helps websites to increase their presence aside from the organic results generated by search engines. Instead, the results appear in their search index or sponsored listings section. Because it involves paying the search engine each time a link is clicked on visibility in SERP’s does not hinge on linkability, age or relevant content.

Charges for PPC can range from a few cents to astronomical sums dependent on if there are bidders for the same search criteria. Although pay per click advertisements may generate traffic to a website it does not secure a sale or registered interest, this means the cost per acquisition (CPA) may be inverse to the amount spent. This is why it is wise for business’ to employ the services of digital media specialists who are able to run SEO and PPC campaigns simultaneously which ensure a high click through rate (CTR) whilst maintaing a low cost per acquisition.

Social Media

The way in which people interact with one another is changing, it makes sense that companies need to adapt to the new ways in which people search for information, interpret and disseminate it. Social media consists of various social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook, Weblogs or Blogs are regularly updated forms of User Generated Content (UGC) which tend to provide ongoing news or commentary on a particular subject. Microblogging sites such as Twitter allow for shorter entries or updates on topics relevant to them and Wikis allow for the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages.

According to research, two thirds of the world’s internet users regularly visit social networks and they spend 10% of all internet time on them. With unparalleled reach over many demographics social networks such as Facebook and Twitter now hold the key to business’ who want to engage in dialogue with their stakeholders no matter where they are in the world.

This generation of Web2.0 users are comfortable with the notion of generating online content on Weblogs (Blogs) or in forums, they are keen to share experiences with members of their online communities, good or bad.

Organisations which are spearheading this movement are creating and managing online profiles which allow for highly targeted advertising campaigns, in depth stakeholder profiling and most importantly allowing people to identify with their organisation on a personal level.

Perhaps the most exciting part of using social media is the notion of viralability – developing a message which members of the online community choose to circulate freely and of their own accord. As the message is passed from person to person it spreads like a virus.

The need for any business or organisation to embrace social media is blindingly obvious. Marketing principles since the days of Henry Ford have revolved around a consumer driven market, their needs and how best to satisfy them. Not to respond to the buzz of social media is to ignore the way in which people now choose to live, communicate and learn.

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