Digital/Online media is any type of communication that uses electronic devices for its distribution. Online media can be invoked, viewed, modified and distributed through electronic devices. Online media make use of software, online games, live streaming videos, websites, social media and online platforms for advertising purpose.
Even though digital media has become an integral part of our day to day life, organisations are still sceptical about supplanting their print advertisements with it. Online media has altered the way marketers operate. Traditional form of marketing have waned and replaced by all kinds of new revenue streams that also bring clutch of challenges with it.
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Online media and marketing aim to create an internet presence via digital channels, such as organic search, social media, paid advertisements and other web-based platforms. The aim of online media and marketing is to enhance the customer’s level of awareness about the company’s business and attract new customers to the brand.
Conventional media entails various sorts of communication technologies, some of which have prevailed for hundreds of years. Newspapers, magazines, books and other printed materials were among the first conventional forms of media. The digital era, however, changed the tide and paved the way for a new set of media transmission methods and devices.
Online media and marketing aim to transmit information through a digital device or medium. In other words, it is any means of media that utilises electronic device for its development, exchange to other medium, viewing and storage. Organisations often use digital forms of media to advertise their businesses and the services offered. Considerable modern marketing encompasses some form of digital media to create and beam advertising content.
Online media, additionally encompasses several online advertising, promoting companies and their brands to cater to specific section of customers using various types of digital communication. Online media advertising considers how personal equipment or virtual channels can convert prospects. A virtual advertising approach may also use more than one system or be cognisant of all of its efforts on a platform.
Online or digital marketing is all about promoting services and products via the Internet. Online marketing is the use of web-based aqueducts to disseminate messages about an organisation brand, products or services to probable customers. Methods and techniques accustomed for online marketing predominantly entails email, online advertising, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Google AdWords etc. The primary goal of online marketing is to reach potential customers through channels where they spend time reading, searching, shopping and connecting online.
The proliferation of the internet for business and personal purposes has created new channels for advertising and marketing activities, such as those described above.
Characteristics of Online Media
Rapid technological evolution is a reality in our day and age. We receive a deluge of information every day from various sources. We never fall behind in terms of information on any front thanks to the internet.
The invention of computers and the spread of the internet introduced the idea of new media to the process of news gathering and reporting. The new media does not exclusively bank upon written word for communication, rather it combines text with slew of visual components, such as animation and enticing caricature.
The following are the characteristics of online media:
Addressability
In the advertising world, organisations compete against each other to reach the zenith and accumulate as many customers as possible. Online marketing facilitates accessibility as it enables organisations to reach masses over a very short span of time. Online mediums can be harnessed to attract more customers and generate online traffic.
Myriad of advertisers excel and succeed in generating leads through the use of array of online marketing platforms. Third-party cookies have conventionally been utilised as a proxy to identify those consumers who have visited the website earlier as well.
Through the use of cookies, an advertiser can customise the offerings as per the consumer preferences and interests. Moreover, many online sites offer the function of registration in which customers will be apprised about latest offering and deals.
Connectivity
Online communication tends to be predominant in influencing consumers through the use of advanced technical means of communication. Online media plays a pivotal role in disseminating information to the masses.
Organisation can connect with their customers through the company’s blogs or establish brand communities so as to bolster the bond with customers and ensure long term relation with them. For instance, organisation can launch an Instagram page so as to ensure brand loyalty, retain customers, boost sales, establish and engage audience.
Control
Control over online media infers the placement of media, timing and frequency of advertising the targeted audience is exposed to. Online media enables advertiser where the advertisement will be placed how often will it appear and on which all platforms it will appear. Advertisers have controls over the media in terms of visibility and control over where advertisement will be posted so as to promote business and reach out to mass consumers.
Advertisement
In the prevailing scenario, having online presence is a necessity of almost every business. Whenever we scroll and check websites or play a free game on your smart device: advertisements pop up everywhere on smart devices.
Advertising through Search engine marketing and pay-per-click advertising have gained considerable prominence in order to promote online. Apart from that, advertising has now turned more personalised and brands can reach out to audience they seek to target as well as reply to customer inquiries. This is called personalised marketing and gives a sense to costumers as if they are chosen for something, which establishes their trust in the brand or company.
Interactivity
Website, a form of online media, has interactivity forms which is a crucial component for web design. It enables consumers to engage with it. The simple and straightforward accessibility to the online platforms enables several people to communicate on web pages, blogs, forums, chats, social networks, conferences, etc.
Online consumers are the ones who allow the medium and the message to proliferate. The correct combination of visuals, creative effects and information entice a larger clan of people and allured them to visit a website frequently. It is a potent tool of online media that fascinates users every time.
Hypertextuality
Owing the trait of hypertextuality, online news has a significant influence on readers. Hypertextuality is the key aspect that facilitates the assimilation of array of information so that those users can derive and go through various genre of information including headline, hyperlink that further redirects to elaborate information, reports and audio-visual content.
Communication multimodality
A plethora of people utilise online websites, blogs and social media for conversing. Users of online media can interact with the information by writing, speaking, or touching in addition to reading, viewing, listening and experiencing it. Online media communication can be more fluid and also facilitates two-way or multi-way communication. Online users can text message or voice message, a contact, a location, a link to a humorous video they just watched, or a snapshot of a humorous meme.
Impact
Through innovation, considerably more appealing methods of connecting with the target audience, online media holds traditional information media in check. Online media are cost-effective, less brittle, broadly encompassing and somewhat complex. This suggests coexistence between the old and new models rather than their extinction or replacement.
To conclude, online media can come in array forms and its onset has resulted in considerable advances.
Online Communications Objectives
Every living being on the planet feels a constant urge to share or receive information with others in its environment. A shared language between the sender and the receiver is necessary for effective communication.
Man has consistently worked to enhance the effectiveness of communication. From prehistoric to current times, communication languages and techniques have altered perennially to gratify the surging needs for information’s complexity and speed. It would be beneficial to examine the key turning points in occasions that supported advancements in communications.
Effective online communication is a potent tool in building teams and organisation. Since the dawn of humankind, societies have expanded and grown through the advancement of several types of interactions: verbal, non-verbal, written, spoken, and in the prevailing scenario online communication.
All of these form have served one prime purpose of exchanging information from one person (or group) to another. Any form of visual, spoken, or written connection between people that takes place online is inferred to as online communication. Since this sort of discussion is relatively new (in comparison to the others), it might be challenging to navigate its dos and don’ts and to determine the best communicative medium.
Online communication goals and ideals influence how a company or individual communicates with customers, employees, or other stakeholders. Developing an online communications strategy enables the organisation to be arranged and abide by to consistent standards for all forms of online interactions.
Objectives of Online Communication
Some of the objectives of online communication are as follows:
Shaping brand image and brand attitudes
Online communication is made possible harnessing sophisticated communication tools that disseminates and broadcast information swiftly and easily. Online communication is closely linked to brand image and brand trust. Online communication has been of pivotal importance for companies, as it builds brand image and brand equity.
The correct amalgamation of social media sites and various online platforms play a substantial role in establishing brand image and create a positive perception of the brand. Online communication apprise the consumer about the brand, and also alters the judgement about a brand. This in turn helps to give a competitive edge over competitors.
Moreover, online communication stimulates a positive effect on the consumer, thus, the utilisation of online communication positively affects the brand image and brand attitudes.
Generating trial
By augmenting brand awareness, organisations can enable audience to recognise the brand; thus stimulating them to try the product. It provides an ideal situation for the company to win the customers and turn them into loyal ones. Generating trials ought to be part of an extensive online communication campaign. It holds true when an organisation diversifies a brand or when launching a new product. By generating trial, organisations can encourage customers to switch to its own brand.
Actuating the audience
Advertisers can use motivation as a communication goal when striving to convince someone to do something. Online communication help advertisers achieve their goals and improve their performance. Advertising organisations may use motivation as a communication goal when trying to engage customers around a common purpose or goal.
For example, a fitness company can create an advertisement that encourages its customers to go to the gym or buy its fitness equipment. Through the use of advertisements the organisation can showcase that its product/service are superior to that of competitors and gain competitive edge in the industry.
Moreover, advertisements assist the company to enhance consumers’ knowledge about the offering and perception about the brand. This can benefit customers by helping them achieve their goals, but it can also help businesses generate demand for their products and services.
Some individuals and businesses may interact with the intent of sharing knowledge. They may elucidate about the processes, showcase facts or apprise the co-worker on relevant information. The aim here is to share knowledge so that both parties can assimilate this knowledge and utilise it to influence decision-making.
Organisations can share expertise with customers to educate them about new products and markets. One can also make the world a better place by transmitting knowledge and helping the customers become well informed. Examples of this knowledge sharing include online smoking cessation campaigns and informational pamphlets.
Persuading an audience
A company or individual may connect with the intention of persuading someone to do something that may help them. Businesses may correspond with the intent to persuade their customers to use their products or services. Through the use of attractive advertisements, organisation can motivate consumers to switch to its brand or attract new consumers by offering attractive deals.
Similar to actuation, this type of persuasion may be less focused on persuading the client to achieve their goals. For instance, a fitness company can motivate its customers to hit the gym and persuade them to buy the workout clothe, so as to create a surge in demand.
Generating demand
Businesses or individuals may correspond with the intention of creating demand for their products or services. This includes explaining the perks of the product and communicating needs within the market.
Online advertisements can generate demand by offering special discount coupons upon checkout and providing deals for first time customers. For example, a salesperson can invoke demand for a product by explaining how quickly the product sells out.
Growing brand awareness
Businesses or individuals can also communicate to increase brand awareness. Akin to the goal of allocating knowledge, those who use this communication goal can characterise their brand to potential customers and draft stories about the requirement that the brand meets.
However, the disparity between the two goals is that brand awareness is more focused on demonstrating the perquisite of the brand itself than generic information about the market. For example, a company may use online communication to exhibit its brand presence and convey its story to an audience.
Online Communication Tools
Online communication is the process of sharing information using digital technology. In the working environment, employee virtual communication speeds up exchange of information and facilitates teamwork. Owing to the power of technology, employees have access to crucial information swiftly, removing obstacles that hamper productivity. Needless to say, online communication tools accessible to organisation make it easier to share feedback, voice ideas and collaborate with customers. This leaves more capacity for purposeful employee commitment.
Some of the online communication tools are explained as follows:
Search engine optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation, SEO is the process utilised to optimise the technical configuration of the company’s website, making the content relevant and enhancing the level of popularity so its pages can become accessible and more relevant.
SEO enables websites to be ranked higher and be more prominent on search engines. SEO is the science of enhancing and increasing a website’s visibility when online surfers scout for products or services. The higher the visibility a site has on search engines, the higher will be the chances of the brand driving sales and customers.
The most crucial factors to bear in mind while optimising an Internet web page for search engines include:
- Quality of content
- Level of user engagement
- Mobile-friendliness
- Number and quality of inbound links
Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Marketing or SEM, is one of the best approaches to developing an enterprise in an increasing number of aggressive marketplaces. SEM is defined by the array of tools, techniques and strategies that enable to enhancement of the visibility of websites and web pages through search engines.
In other way, the goal of SEM is to gain better search engine positioning on Google search engines and other similar sites. Through the use of SEM, a brand can elicit the online traffic to its site and grab the attention of online viewers. SEM ensures the optimal placement of a brand advertisements so as to maximise consumer attention.
SEM entails both SEO techniques and search engine advertising. However, the majority of marketers make use of SEM to refer specifically for search engine advertising or paid results. SEM is one sort of marketing that can be highly effective in drawing online traffic to the website and generating leads.
The steps to build an SEM strategy are pretty straightforward:
- Conduct keyword research
- Select those keywords that are related to your business and have the right intent
- Open Google Advertisements and set up a campaign
- Select the most relevant keywords
- Create an advertisement that will be displayed in the SERPs
- Choose a bidding strategy and pay for each click one gets
Social media marketing refers to the system of a marketing brands, products and services through social media platforms aiming at targeting the proper audience. It includes publishing useful content, customer engagement campaigns, advertisement campaigns, etc. to construct brand awareness, increase sales and ensure greater traffic on your site. The most popular Social Media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, etc.
The utility of social media is depicted as follows:
- Create brand awareness: Across various social media platforms, organisation can broadcast their story. In other way, the organisation can exhibit why they provide the product/ services, keep audiences abreast about new offering and even narrate employee stories to have emotional bond.
- Generate leads: Through the use of social media organisation can have tangible conversations and engage with the target customer base by sharing videos, news and latest trends. Not only will it help the organisation to establish rapport with potential customers, but these strategies may bear useful leads.
- Paid placement: Paid placement is a crucial aspect of revenue generation and brand awareness through social media. Social media marketing on social sites involves paid social interaction that is harnessed to derive an expected result. It enables the organisations to run online campaigns that are not only strategic, but also extensively emphasised on Return on Investment (ROI).
- Reach and frequency: One of the most apparent utility of social media is that it facilitates smooth flow of online communication. There are myriad of users on social media platforms. It offers a great chance for organisation to reach a mass online audience that are keen about the products or services. It is now feasible to interact with users across the globe through the use of social media.
- Better targeting: In this day and age of online communication, drafting a social media marketing strategy is one of the most prudent way to reach the target audience and devise content that caters to their needs. Another important utility of social media is targeting, by targeting we infer to the ability to select the audience to whom the advertisement will be telecasted.
Social Media Marketing (SMM) (additionally referred to as virtual advertising and e-advertising) is the usage of social media—the systems on which customers establish social networks and provide data— to create a company’s brand, increase sales and attract Internet site visitors. Social media marketing is a powerful tool for organisations of all sizes to reach out to prospects and customers. Online surfers find out, learn about, follow and transact with brands through social media.
In this day and age of technology, if an organisation is not advertising on platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, it is missing on a great deal.
The strength of Social Media Marketing (SMM) is pushed through the remarkable capability of social media in three core marketing areas: connection, interplay and consumer statistics. Social media advertising is the manner of creating content material for social media systems to sell merchandise and/or services, construct a community together along with the target audience and allure visitors towards the commercial enterprise.
It is essential to know about the forms of social media site:
- Full-blown: Full-blown social networking platform is the one where a person can share updates, images and videos, take part in social events and groups and do a range of other activities, such as Facebook, Instagram etc.
- Specialised: A specialised site is the one where a person tends to undertake a specific task. Such as on LinkedIn, where user tend to establish professional networks.
- Microblogging: These are sites that enable users to share brief written entries, which can have embedded links to product and service sites, or would direct the user to some other social page. Microblogging sites generally have ‘wall’ or ‘newsfeed’ that enables a user share information with specific followers. The most prominent microblogging site is Twitter, with has in excess of 321 million active users.
With new capabilities and systems rising each day, social media advertising is continuously evolving. Social media advertising is all about finding and gathering target audiences and clients where ever they are and have social interaction with different brands.
Some of the benefits of social media marketing are as follows:
- Increase brand awareness: Predominant number of customers research merchandise through social media. So, a brand needs to have exceptional expenditure on distinct social networks to take gain of the customers’ social media interests. One must choose the desired social media platform.
- Boost website traffic: Although many social media systems permit proprietors to promote their products without going to an external website or touchdown page, social media remains a platform to attract a lot of visitors. For instance, 11% of all Internet site visitors originate from social media.
- Faster and simpler content material distribution: If an organisation sells its commercial products via content material advertising, it may distribute the content material efficaciously with SMM. People continually exchange useful, exciting and entertaining data with their friends on social networks.
- Higher conversion rates: With higher visibility, an organisation tends to have higher opportunities for conversion. Every social media blog post, image, video or comment may drive the consumer to the company’s website and increase online traffic. Social media marketing enables an organisation to leave a positive imprint through a humanisation factor.
- Instantaneous feedback: Nowadays many brands have their official social media handles on which customers can provide their valuable feedback and shopping experience. Through the social media pages, the organisation can review the negative feedbacks, work out on the short comings and fill the void to enhance customer satisfaction.
- Accessibility to wide audiences: Social media empowers the organisation to use an array of communication tools to reach to large mass and widens audience reach. This infers there is a high scope of reaching to the target consumer base and alluring the right consumers for the brand. Nonetheless, it is also crucial to keep a consistent target audience and disseminate main message across all social channels.
- Networking: Online communication infers to the utilisation of social media platforms to target potential customers and communicate with them. The essence of social media marketing is to deliver brand and marketing communication through the use of the most effective social media channel. Social media marketing can help the organisation to build credibility and good rapport among their existing customers or probable customers.
- Public relations: Online communication paves way for maintaining public relations with and intent to establish cordial relationships with consumers, stockholders, etc. The advantages of social media marketing is that it is cost effective and credible as the online campaigns are showcased on various social platforms which are visible to wide audience.
- Customer and audience engagement: Social media marketing enables brands to link directly with customers and like-wise offer them the chance to communicate directly with the organisation. Unlike conventional media, which only has one-way communication, social media marketing offers two-way communication.
- Mobile marketing: Mobile marketing means carrying out marketing and promotional activity through the smartphones of the consumers. These days, all mobile devices are smartphones and feature centres like high-pace net support, place enabled and a couple of applications support. Hence, Mobile marketing makes use of those centres to market products through push notifications, mobile-optimised ads, etc.
- Email marketing: Email marketing dates back to the system of sending mailers to potential clients for marketing products, driving sales and building brand image. The idea of email advertising is simple—the marketer sends a promotional message and wishes that the prospective customer clicks on it.
- Online events: Online events also known by other names such as virtual events, virtual conference or livestream experience, is inferred to an event that entails people communicating on an online platform over the internet, instead of meeting in person. The aim of online event is to emulate the event experience in an online environment.
- Websites: The Internet and the use of websites have grown by leaps and bounds over the past ten years or so and have become exceedingly important as a marketing communication tool. In today’s rapidly changing business environment, it is also an important source of income.
- Pay-Per-Click: Pay-Per-Click is a part of paid media that is used to increase the rankings on search engines through paid means. Pay-per-click is used to improve scores by transferring on pinnacle of the quest results and power more traffic. It is referred to as PPC, as on every occasion the advertisement is clicked by anyone; your advertisement account is charged for it.
- Content Marketing: Content forms the bottom of any kind of conversation or marketing that is available online or offline. Online communication performs a first-rate position in attracting the proper audience. Content marketing refers to the procedure of marketing your content material throughout diverse media via emails, messages, blogs, etc.
Emerging Trends in Digital Media
Digital media is the most pervasively used term nowadays. In a simple way digital media aims at attaining marketing objectives through applying digital technologies and media”. The system of digital marketing is run through an infrastructure network that is globally standardised for the business processes of the enterprise and their system of information and communication technology.
So, digital media is about utilising digital technology to achieve marketing objectives. There is no immediate need for digital marketing to always be distinct from the marketing department as a whole, as the objectives of both are well aligned.
Gradually, we are heading towards a digital India which is evident by the way digitisation is taking place at such a rapid pace. E-commerce websites are offering all the products and services through online portals and there is a sharp increase in the magnitude of e-commerce websites.
Digital media is an aspect of electronic media to reach the target customer through ways of promotion of products or brands. Digital media also pertains to the process of promotion of products, brands activity, selling of products and services via online marketing.
Digital media consists of online marketing, internet marketing or web marketing. The changes in the digital media have resulted in new forms of communication evolving towards new methods of marketing.
Digital media makes use technology that opens scope for new value in business models, customers’ experiences and the internal capabilities to bolster fundamental key operations.
Digital marketing provides an organisation the competitive advantages that involve unique combinations of digital and physical resources. Furthermore, digital marketing includes both the digital-only brands and traditional players that are introducing digital technologies in their business operations.
Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is making an immense impact on a wide range of industries. IoT is also having unprecedented impact on day to day life of the average consumer as electronic devices can seamlessly transmit data to the web and back to product manufacturers. IoT technology is enabling organisations to make their products/services more alluring for consumers by addressing to customer aspirations and responding accordingly. IoT is empowering marketing organisations to better market their products/services as they are now able to access customer data.
The collected customer data can be harnessed by organisations to gain better understanding about customer preference and create more precise marketing strategies. This customer data is invaluable as it offers insights into consumer behaviour, making it easier for organisations to market products/services as per customer needs.
Nowadays, the Internet of Things or IoT is deemed as the most popular digital marketing technology that ensures the ubiquity of various mobile devices, such as smartphones, digital devices and personal digital assistance.
These interlinked devices are effectively applied and cover various fields, such as smart cities, smart buildings, vehicles and smart health care systems. IoT applications are used by modern marketing organisations for remote asset control, remote monitoring, office Internet and smart attendance system.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is making its presence felt globally adding to the capabilities of business analytics and business intelligence. A large amount of data and the complexity of handling business data have resulted in business enterprises adopting artificial intelligence in business analytics tools.
AI helps with developing analytical insights into studying fresh data, using technologies like machine learning, predictive analytics and natural language processing. The business entities can organise data by creating performance metrics, spreadsheets, charts, graphs and other forms of visual applications needed for making complex decisions more easily.
Artificial intelligence enables organisations to perform the following specific organisational functions:
- To comprehend and read the written text like suggestions and user feedbacks
- To classify and recognise photos and visual images
- To enable facial recognition by recognising facial features and objects and allow product recommendations
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) is a fast emerging digital marketing trend that enables organisations to offer their customers unique experiences with the ease of tapping into their mobile devices. In general, a customer seeks to try out products including clothes and jewellery to check how it looks on them.
Through augmented reality, potential customers can model and try on cosmetic product (make up), fashionable apparel and an extensive range of home-related products without actually being at outlet. AR obviates the need for plethora of physical inventory as it enables consumers to try on various items and choose the one that best aligns with their needs.
AR enables organisations provide their customers with unique, engaging experiences through a combination of real and virtual interactive elements. AR allows probable consumers to virtually sample make up products and accessories, enabling them to depict how they look those products prior to actually buying them.
It also allows organisation to augment their brand value and brand perception through smartphones, mobile devices and related devices.AR-powered changing rooms discards a great deal of hassle, facilitating consumers to browse through the digital wardrobe of clothing products at the touch of a finger.
AR also empowers the consumers to specially customise and tailor products as per their needs. Famous fashion brands such as Topshop and Timberland are spearheading in developing AR fitting and changing rooms to offer their customers a visualised shopping experience to assist them in choosing clothing items.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is a term used to describe the experience that essentially put the consumer or potential consumer in another world or dimension. It may be used in reference to entirely virtual world or the world that assimilates a mix of real and virtual scenario. Through the use of VR, organisations can place their offerings closer to the eyes of consumers. VR enables consumers to try on the products in a new way.
Organisations utilising VR offer consumers an opportunity to browse various products without physically venturing incoming to the store. A prime example of VR is of IKEA virtual store that offers a chance to explore room departments virtually at any time. This empowers consumers to explore and even buy products without leaving their comfort zone.
Virtual Reality (VR) empowers the company to bridge the void between shopping experience and subsequent action. Organisations can leverage VR to provide digital experience in lieu of a physical experience, which can promote products and services.
Step-by-step Approach of Evaluating the Digital Media
Evaluating the goals in context of digital marketing
An in-depth analysis of the exact goals an advertiser has previously set for the campaign is the first stage in any review of a digital marketing strategy. This is the first problem advertiser should address if no goals are set yet. Take the time to assess whether you are hitting your target predictions if you have previously set targets.
Additionally, consider whether your previous goals still apply to the business in light of how it is performing right now. If necessary, adjust the goals to take into account new objectives or adjustments to the range of goods and services being offered.
Review the profiles of your target market
Additionally, it is critical to keep in mind that the foundation of any successful digital marketing strategy is carefully crafted that describe the precise demographics of the target audience for advertisement campaign. Therefore, even while as an advertiser should not start a new marketing campaign until it has a general concept of the demographics, interests and online behaviours of the target audience, an advertiser should constantly update this profile using the most recent information.
For instance, if the advertiser goal was to target young people on Facebook but Facebook insights show that middle-aged women make up the bulk of the advertisement “likes,” an advertiser may need to review every aspect of marketing campaigns to take into account this new customer information.
Check out your online presence
As an advertiser one seeks to frequently evaluate whether or not one is actively engaged on the appropriate digital properties as advertiser re-evaluate the types of customers to target. Imagine, for instance, that a person works in a field that caters to women between the ages of 18 and 26.
If an organisation started its digital marketing campaign before Pinterest became the rage on social media, the organisation will be missing out on a huge potential source of traffic. Whether the organisation did take the time or not to check to see if it present on the right media platform.
Review your messaging tactics
Next, consider the particular message categories an advertiser distributing as part of the digital marketing initiatives. Consider, for example:
- Which messages—such as blog posts, videos, podcasts and text-based status updates—perform best with your audience?
- Do your audience’s reactions to the language you’ve chosen for various messaging pieces seem to be positive?
- How often do consumers spread your marketing content via social media?
We can witness strong levels of interaction with the branded materials and a high number of social shares as people spread the content to others if the digital marketing message is in accordance with the potential customers’ expectations. If an advertiser is devoid of such outcomes, it might be because the company’s message or the customers’ interests are not aligned.
Check the ROI of your digital promotion
An organisation’s overall ROI should be the last consideration when evaluating the success of the digital marketing efforts. Even though figuring out the precise returns can be challenging, advertisers eventually discover that the data they are able to provide is well worth the work.
Advertisers must monitor two different variables to calculate ROI:
- The investment in digital marketing activities, taking into consideration both time and money commitments, as well as the financial return on any conversions you are tracking.
- Imagine that a particular business has invested `Rs 500 in digital marketing assets and `500 in labour hours to promote them to get a general notion of how this seems. Now, if you determine that inbound visitors from social networking websites have accounted for 10 sales at Rs 20 each (for a gross profit of `Rs 200 total), you can see that you’ll want to scale back or realign your digital marketing efforts.
Measuring Effectiveness of Online/digital Advertising
The central reason why an advertiser needs to measure the influence of online advertising campaign is that all advertising is an investment. Every stockholder demands to know how their capital is being spent and most importantly, when they can forecast a return on investment.
The finest way to answer this question is to evaluate the online advertising campaigns in terms of how much fund was spent and how much revenue was generated. There is a hidden paradox that every marketer intends to know.
At times online advertising campaigns may fail or have unpredictable successes. This is a risk for marketers who like to experiment and push boundaries and there lies a real growth potential there. But unless and until an advertiser collects, stores, processes and visualises data related to advertising campaigns and marketing, these campaigns will prove worth the expense. How all this advert campaign processing is done depends on the marketing analytics system used by the company.
The effectiveness of online media can be measured in the following ways:
Increased Traffic
Website traffic infers to total number of people who visit company’s website. Compare pre-campaign, in-campaign and post-campaign traffic data to track campaign effectiveness. While we cannot account for all visitors to the campaign, the significant increase in daily online traffic could be a result of the campaign’s marketing strategy.
Web hosts must provide daily, weekly, or monthly reports of recorded website visits. An ideal way to ensure traffic growth is a direct result of a specific advertising campaign, whether online or in-store visit, is to use a unique promotional code in the ad. Ask the customers to use this code when ordering online or in store, or to use phone number for phone orders only.
Conversions
Conversions can include a variety of calls to action, including: sales, clicks and registrations. Banner advertisements use a distinct code that attempts to trace viewer interactions from the first click, to collecting registration information, to completing the sale. By measuring the number, frequency and type of conversions using unique tracking codes, advertisers can identify the most effective ads.
Running advertisement variations allows one to change the wording, fonts and overall message of the advertisement to determine what resonates most with the consumers. Calculate the return on investment by adding up all the sales from the advertisement campaign and dividing that number by the total cost of online campaign. This is much easier for online-only retailers than for retailers who sell online and in-store, or only in-store.
Engagement
Dwell time is a term used to describe the percentage of impressions interacted with by users and the duration of inter-action. Mouse touches, clicks and interactions are essential metrics that are gauged to find out about dwell time.
Assuming that the user’s eyes move synchronously with the mouse, it is clear that the dwell time associated with an advertisement provides a reasonable estimate of the time a user is physically looking at that advertisement impression on the screen. Longer stays mean more user engagement and more adequate online advertising campaigns. There are companies that practice dwell time measurements.
Measuring ROI
Keeping a check on the Return On Investment (ROI) is of pivotal importance for success with any online marketing campaigning. Gauging the ROI enable the advertiser gain insight into what is bearing result and what changes to be brought to enhance overall results. ROI is a metric that demonstrates how much funds were invested in the company in relation to earnings.
For example, if an organisation put in `Rs 10,000 into online marketing initiative and consequently reaped `Rs 30,000, ROI would be like:
So, the net ROI in terms of percentage would be 200%.
Post Tests
Online media testing is essential as it furnishes data-driven insights to the organisation regarding digital marketing initiatives. Post testing of marketing activities is a straightforward way to know in depth about the target audience and optimise advertising initiatives. Post tests are performed following undertaking advertisement campaign. The fundamental aim of this test is to delve into the performance of advertisement campaigns and draw some results from it about the future conducting of advertisements.