Engagement used to mean and still does mean a promise to marry. But in today’s digital world, engagement has also taken on a new meaning. To marketers, it means any type of online conversation with customers.
As such, the definition of engagement in the digital world is much broader. Engagement embraces everything from social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and more, to blogs. It can include comments a company invites on its website and even some contests its runs. Great memorable customer service is the root of it all.
But there is a commonality between the two. The mutual goal between these two contrasting examples is the end game – a lasting marriage.
Digital Engagement
Instead of a diamond ring, engagement in the digital world involves digital tools and procedures Employing them wisely to identify, interact, and have a positive impact with target audiences around an organization’s product, service or issue is the prime goal.
Why Is Digital Important?
Digital reputation management firm Status Labs reported that 90% of consumers haven’t yet decided on their choice of purchase before beginning their search. Google bolstered that prediction by stating that more than half the users of smartphones rely on their phones to find new products or services.
Shopify Plus, an eCommerce platform distributor, this spring supplied the clincher. The company forecasted that eCommerce sales worldwide will reach $4.5 trillion by 2021.
And like a healthy human relationship, digital engagement, too, relies on more than simply being discovered by a potential client. That’s just the start.
Engaging that potential customer and fostering a potential relationship are like a healthy courtship. Companies that recognize and treat a potential transaction in such a way will come out much further ahead.
Have A Design Plan
Engaging prospective customers can take on many different forms. Choosing one or more design plans depends upon how much a company really knows and understands its market.
A highly structured digital engagement design is most effective when prospects are seeking training or education about a particular service or product. This step-by-step approach normally satisfies that type of interest.
A free-range approach, on the other hand, offers many of the same features but lets prospects decide when they wish to be engaged. The hybrid plan capitalizes on the strengths of both designs.
Tailoring is as it sounds. It customizes and matches customer behavior or interests with real-time feedback.
JITAI or Just in Time Adaptive Intervention captures data from wearable devices to prescribe certain actions or behaviors. These are common in health and fitness applications.
There are numerous other design plans and marketers need to decide which fits best for their target audience(s). One, for example, even offers incentives. Gamification is yet another option.
Final Step
As in all other marketing efforts, measurement is important. Marketers must measure the results of their engagement and be prepared to change or adjust their design or plan on their marital pathway with prospective customers.
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