How to harness the digital ecosystem.
The digital ecosystem, while it may sound daunting, is really a simple premise. It boils down to the idea that your digital media and channels (ie) website, social media, email, advertising etc… must not exist in a vacuum. Instead, each should reinforce one another, generating a dynamic digital ecosystem that constantly attracts, retains, and engages both new and existing customers.
There are three types of media in your digital ecosystem, owned, earned, and paid. Here is a breakdown.
OWNED Any channel you own and control like your website and social media accounts
EARNED Anything that you have earned like reviews, news articles, or unpaid endorsements
PAID Anything you pay for like advertising
The digital ecosystem working together as a dynamic system.
Your website, your most important piece of owned media, acts as the revolving door and digital hub for your business, constantly receiving traffic from various channels. It’s crucial that you make it a place where your audience wants to stay. That requires a couple of things;
A well planned site that is easy to navigate and intuitive for users – do not bury your information.
Well produced content that is engaging and informative, as well as optimized for search engines.
Imagery that is compelling and reinforces your content.
A design that supports your overall brand strategy.
Landing pages and calls-to-action that keep users browsing, enticing them to share information.
Each of your channels must be strategically designed to push and pull users throughout the digital ecosystem – the longer you can keep them the better, think of it like a game! So, what does that look like in practice? Here’s an example.
A new user sees one of your reels on Instagram and is intrigued.
One click and they land on your instagram page and see all of your posts.
They see that you are running a contest so they follow you before heading over to your website using the link you provide.
They land on a carefully constructed landing page. This page gives them details about the contest, enticing them them to sign up with a compelling promise.
They sign up, get entered, and then land on a new page where you share something that prompts them to keep browsing, perhaps a few recent blog posts.
They click on a blog post that highlights an interesting customer story.
Your blog post has lots of links, one is to a recent PR piece that helps build trust and credibility.
This link may send them away from your website but since you’ve captured their info you can re-engage them any time.
In 2 days, you send them an email that shares a poll you are conducting, which allows you to capture more specific data about their demographics, interests, and questions.
They click the link. And so on, and so on… until they make a purchase, book a service, or share your business with a friend!
By harnessing your media channels and designing them so they reinforce one another, you are building both engagement and trust. Each channel and piece of content reinforces the next and along the way you collect more detailed data helping you identify and personalize their experience.
Harnessing the digital ecosystem helps you pull your audience down a funnel, capturing them at each stage of the buyer’s journey from awareness to consideration, purchase, and retention.
With this ecosytem in mind, you can see how important it is to build your website and social media channels (your owned media) effectively. That means creating compelling content AND making sure that you are using platforms that work together providing you the data, analytics, and integrations that allow you to market effectively across all media channels.
So, how do you build an effective website that acts as a hub for your digital ecosystem? Here are some tips, but if you really want to learn more, I highly recommend checking out our online branding course, Start-up Ace. We walk you step-by-step in the creation of a strong, strategic brand as well as take you through the 8 key steps to building an effective website. In the meanwhile, consider these important things when building a website.
Always assume that your audience wants to find quality information with ease.
Content is the key, find out your audience’s needs and answer their questions.
Your website must echo your brand, be cohesive throughout all your digital channels.
Information must be organized and easy to navigate.
Support your audience at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
Creating a thoughtful, well planned digital ecosystem is essential if you really want to compete in today’s market. It’s no longer okay just to throw up a website that simply has a contact form. If you put in the time to harness all your channels effectively, they will start to work for you!