This is part of a series of posts that explores the “Adaptive Digital Strategy Framework”, an operative guide that I created to plan, execute and manage online strategy programs more effectively and efficiently. Each of post of this series comes with an audio podcast in which you will find the audio version of the post with additional audio commentary about the discussed topics. The name of the podcast is “FIR On Strategy with Andrea Vascellari”.
If you conducted your context analysis, defined your audiences, objectives and strategies, well then it’s time for you to focus on your tactics.
Yes…the most important thing is to remember that nothing happens overnight.
How does this work?
People search on Google solutions for their problem and they find your content. If it helps them in satisfying their needs, people will then happily share your content by either blogging about it or recommending it to friends in their social networks. This will increase your authority and the authority of your content so you will show up higher in the search results that Google will offer to those who are searching for solutions. But this will only happen in the long run. To prove it I conducted a test here on my blog.
After the first spike related to the launch of the post, the traffic decreased to then constantly increased in the long run. These are some numbers that will help you to get a better idea:
Conclusion: Google will trust you as more people trust you and to reward you it will give you, and obviously your content, a higher authority. So follow these tips and be patient. It will payoff in the long run.
What are some of the first steps a business owner should take when creating his or her digital strategy? I shared 4 tips to better reach your target audience during an interview with Andrea Genovese of Wind Business Factor. The video is in Italian, but the original transcript has been translated into English below by my team at itive.net. Enjoy!
Andrea
The Experience of a Business Owner
When a business owner is going to use the web for the first time he or she should keep a few important things in mind. First and foremost, a business owner should no longer think of the web or “digital world” as something disconnected from the real one.
Today, the web is constantly evolving. And a consumer and a business owner can do business exactly as they would if they were downtown “IRL” (in real life).
First, the most important thing to understand is where you are as a business and where you would like to go. Therefore, at this initial starting point there is a need to create a digital strategy that will allow you to reach your goals.
Second, you should analyze the tactics that will be utilized to achieve your objectives and reach the finish line. After that, you could reach out for support from somebody who has experience in this arena. It could be a web agency like us at itive.net, it could be an external consultant, an online communicator who in a certain sense could help you move through these “first steps” of the digital world.
Before you start to do any of this, though, be silent and use these, one of the most important organs we have, your ears. You have to listen carefully in order to learn about what is happening in your niche market. You have to be attentive listeners and figure out the dynamics that are in your market, as well as to identify the needs of your consumers. Once you understand the current situation within your market, you should contribute to the conversation and become an active member who interacts with the digital communication dynamics that are already taking place in your field.
In summary, the 4 tips for creating digital strategy are:
Listen to what is happening within your niche market
Analyze the market dynamics
Evaluate the needs of your consumers
Contribute to the conversation and to the digital dynamics
How do I increase visibility online? This a question that people and organizations ask me quite often, so here’s a list of basic tips that will set you on the right path to increase your visibility online:
Create good quality content (detailed, informative, slim, no jargon, etc.)
The content must be relevant for your target audience.
Optimize the content syntax.
Tag the content properly.
Promote the content in the right digital venues (social networks where your target audience lives, etc…).
Tailor the content promotion for the digital venue in which you are sharing it (links for twitter, photos/videos on Facebook, etc…).
Share it at the right time (during the day, on specific weekdays, before/after a product launch etc…).
Nothing will happen overnight. To get Google’s “soul” to trust you as a relevant source on information you need to be patient. Results will come in the long run.
There are also more advanced SEO tactics that my team and I utilize – they change according to the nature & objectives of the projects we are working on. So go ahead and have fun testing out the tips I shared, then if you need some help or if you have more specific needs feel free to get in touch with us. We’ll be happy to help 😉
I can’t tell you how happy I am about this new feature! I’ve been waiting ages for this. It’s handy to upload data to the cloud but when you deal with a huge number of files you need a way to transfer offline archives to the cloud without then spending extra time in reordering everything once everything is online. This new Google Docs feature solves the problem.
Google Docs is an essential tool that I use on a daily basis with my team and clients. If you are not familiar with Google Docs I encourage you to have a look at it, I’m sure it will come in handy.
“Personas scours the web for information and attempts to characterize the person – to fit them to a predetermined set of categories that an algorithmic process created from a massive corpus of data. The computational process is visualized with each stage of the analysis, finally resulting in the presentation of a seemingly authoritative personal profile”.
How to use it?
Run ‘Personas‘ before and after a campaign, product launch, news realease, etc. and you’ll notice how the digital portrait will change. This is a great tool that can help you in defining how a brand, or personal brand, is/can be perceived online and whether your communications plan got the right message across or not. Remember: this is a complement, not a substitute to your strategic communications plan.
I mentioned Personas in my report last year in August 2009 and I kept playing around with it for the last 6 months. It’s a valuable tool and I’m still using it so I thought to show it in action with this video. Enjoy it!
All this is nothing without a plan! Please keep it in mind.
The focus of this post is more at tactical level. Don’t forget your strategy. Your analysis must support, focus and be related to your overall strategy. If you have no idea of what I’m talking about I suggest you to have a look at a couple of other posts I wrote and that you might find interesting: Communications Planning Guide: A step by step road map that will help in crafting your plans at strategic and tactical level. Communications Plan – Strategy & Tactics: Helps you in understanding the difference between strategy and tactics. Way to many people still confuse or mix the two. 7 New Marketing Tips for your Organization: What new marketing does and why it works. List of basic tips that you can take into action in your business/organization.
Had a look at Personas? Got some inspiration, ideas, suggestions? Go on! Share them in the comments or via twitter @vascellari (in order to help me and other readers to monitor the conversation please remember to link back to this post!).
This is part of a series of posts that explores the “Adaptive Digital Strategy Framework”, an operative guide that I created to plan, execute and manage online strategy programs more effectively and efficiently. Each of post of this series comes with an audio podcast in which you will find the audio version of the post with additional audio commentary about the discussed topics. The name of the podcast is “FIR On Strategy with Andrea Vascellari”.
