A strong digital presence is the number one ‘must have’ for doing business today. Why? Because it is now expected by your customers and prospects that you have an online presence. Failure to recognise this and get on the band wagon will inevitably result in your business being left behind.
If you haven’t made the step or you’re just starting out, these are the top 6 expectations in today’s digital business world.
1. Get Mobile Friendly
The growth of smartphone usage is rapidly increasing to the point where it is used more commonly than desktop for search. 97% of 18-34 year olds are predominantly mobile users, whilst 20% don’t use a desktop at all. Of 35-54 year olds, 82% are multi platform users, using both mobile and desktop technologies. What does this means for your business? Your digital capacity needs to be mobile friendly. So, there is no time like the present to develop your communication strategy for this digital age.
If you are not able to reach your audience through mobile search or display ads, or you are unable to provide a satisfactory mobile experience, your business will lose to competitors who are.
2. Create engaging content
Content is the information you make available on the site for your visitors to view and share. This can be comprised of data, articles, images, video and infographics. Content needs to be engaging and informative to pull visitors in. If you can give them a good experience, you’ll boost your credibility and sales are sure to follow. Content is an investment you consider for the life of your marketing, it needs to be well written, relevant and constantly changing.
Great content, that is optimised will be well respected by search engines, like Google and will boost your webpage ranking. Another way to improve organic search is to identify key terms that people would use to search for your product and use these phrases to form content. For instance, if your company specialises in commercial pool cleaning, and you notice that people are searching for ‘resort pool cleaning’, you could create content for a specific page on ‘resort pool cleaning’ to attract that search.
3. Digital Advertising
So now you have a brand new website, nice professional design with well written content. How do you get to No.1? Everybody wants to be on the first page and unfortunately it can take some time via organic channels. Advertising via Google Adwords or on other sites such as Facebook and Youtube will cost money, however, it provides traffic to your website.
Traffic to a well designed and structured website will return enquiries for your product. Even if the person searching doesn’t click on your Ad, it still creates brand awareness. Now it’s up to you to convert that enquiry into a sale. Even though you have paid for the privilege to be on page 1, Google will reward you with better rankings.
4. Social Media
Like it or not social media can be a lucrative tool to entice consumers to use your product or service. There is no guarantee to increase sales via social media, however, word of mouth will always be the most successful sales tool. Now with social media there is no better way to get peoples opinion broadcasted within seconds. Creating a buzz about that great tasting burger from your café or that fantastic paint job on the outside of your customers’ house and having it shared amongst thousands is invaluable.
There are many social media tools such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Linkedin and even Google Plus. Remember to make your posts engaging and regular.
5. Video Content
Clever, informative and regular video content is the most under used form of marketing. Posting a video through Youtube and linking it to your website is a huge benefit to your site’s visibility. Ensure the content is of good quality and relevant to the industry you’re in, remember, poor quality footage with a poorly written script can be damaging.
On the upside, it has a great sharing capacity through social media increasing brand awareness even further. Just remember, Google, Facebook and Instagram love original content.
6. Blog
Maintaining a Blog can be time consuming, however, the rewards are there, some say that Blogs are more effective than social media posts. Writing a blog can be any trending topic or directly involved with your business. You can do a video or invite guests to write for you, if your company is big enough just ask your staff to get involved and take turns writing. It’s the prime opportunity to add that little extra to your website. Google loves extra content and it is the perfect thing to share on social media.
Customer expectations through digital media are growing every day and technology is rapidly moving away from traditional methods of communicating. Spending time on your website and digital marketing is no longer a luxury. With the recent boom in business dealing with smart devices, this has become a necessity. Remember that first impression someone gave you.