The Internet has brought many unique benefits to marketing, one of which being lower costs and greater ability to engage with a global audience. The interactive nature of eMarketing, both in terms of providing instant response and eliciting responses, is a unique quality of the medium. eMarketing refers to digital media such as the Internet, e-mail, wireless media, the management of digital customer data and electronic customer relationship management systems.
It also refers to the placement of media along different stages of the customer engagement cycle through search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimisation (SEO), banner ads on specific websites, e-mail marketing and Web 2.0 strategies.
Word-of-mouth (WOM) principles play an important role in eMarketing. People no longer need to wait to meet someone in person to discuss a book they’ve read or an event they attended. Today they simply generate content in their social networks letting everyone know their views. For live events, people broadcast themselves via Twitter for real-time content generation not to mention the interaction as others tweet, retweet, comment, like, or post reactions.
The traditional push communication techniques are becoming less effective while still costly. We have transitioned into a media environment meant to be about conversations where the media and its message represent the starting point for the generation of meaning in social media. Digital media has relinquished the control to audience.
If you’re actively using eMarketing, you have a higher chance of being heard, connected and engaged when you’re part of the WOM network. eMarketing should be used to manage reputation and generate awareness. Brands should care about what people are saying and how they are saying it. They must actively listen and participate in order to humanise the relationship through interactions and manage their reputations.
Whether you’re a blogger, a marketer, or an entrepreneur your opinion counts and can be contagious. It’s now possible and easy to circulate your message via the new digital channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube. The key is to facilitate effective word-of-mouth campaign through these communities.
Each time you’re able to influence experts, opinion leaders, or people with authority you’ll instantaneously gain a little more credibility and access to their fan base. Then the collective minds with shared visions will continue to spread your message forming the viral wave pushing all the way.
If you want to attract relevant audience to your branded social network, you must do more than just spam visitors with self-promoting ads. You need to offer compelling value that keeps your audience engaged as well as perpetuating the interaction. The more interactivity a social network platform allows their users to have, the more engaged users will be which often leads to a greater chance of influencing the network effectively. This is why blogs are still amongst the most influential social media because they encourage bloggers to interact with their audience in a simple and easy fashion.
Although eMarketing is complex, it is critical to the future of any organisation
Kate Elphick Digital Bridges
1 Comment
September 5, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Everything dynamic and very positively!