4 Steps to Reach your Target Audience

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

If you’re interested in creating your digital strategy with us, feel free to contact us or go ahead and click here to fill out a “get started” form and we’ll help you get there!

Do You Need an Infographic?

Do you need an infographic? You might want to talk to these guys.
These are some nice graphical summaries that Daniel, Carla and Bauke created during my talk last week at the Switch Conference in Porto (Portugal). Their contact info is below, enjoy!
Andrea

11-04 Porto (Portugal)

11-04 Porto (Portugal)

11-04 Porto (Portugal)

Daniel, Carla, Bauke and me in Porto

11-04 Porto (Portugal)

Digital Evolution at Switch 2011

Switch Conference 2011

This weekend I’ll be speaking at the 2011 edition of the Switch Conference in Porto (Portugal).

“Switch is a two-day event that gathers people with different background experiences to discuss technology, science, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation in a network-friendly environment.”

My presentation will focus on ‘Digital Evolution’. I will talk about why the need to constantly evolve in the digital space has become something that isn’t just important but necessary for anyone who wants to succeed. I’ll explain why we have to re-think of websites as ‘digital brains’ instead of a simple ‘online presence’ and I’ll give 5 practical tips on how to prevent and eventually overcome 5 of the most frequent causes of digital extinction that brands, organizations and at times also individuals are facing today.

I hope to see you there!

Andrea

UPDATE: These are the slides of my presentation. Enjoy!

Social Costume

Episode: VMC #343 – Social Costume

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Check out what I found in Venice yesterday during the Carnival…yes, a Facebook costume!

When I saw it a thought crossed my mind: A few years ago, I was sending out invites to my friends to join and connect with me on Facebook. Initially, many of them didn’t even reply or check it out and today…well, we all know how things have changed. Facebook became one of the dominant platforms for social networking.

The ‘social’ aspect of the web reached its mature stage and placed a new brick in the building of our future life. The line that used to separate the digital world from our everyday life keeps blurring and it will keep fading away the more the Internet becomes a part of the lives of people in the most far and remote corners of our planet.

Now we got to a point at which people discovered that social interaction can take place online just as it does offline. How are things going to move forward from now on?

At least at this stage, Facebook’s role in how people socialize and communicate is fundamental. Facebook is not redefining social, it’s simply taking it to a new extent. However, it still has the reins of social data and social interaction. I’m wondering if and how things will change once people start feeling the need to be in control of the data they are sharing and using in their social ecosystem. Will Facebook change its nature from ‘social box’ to ‘social catalyst’? Will emerging projects like Diaspora become new fertile lands where people will be able to take care of their own data and social life?

Today’s social costume is a ‘Facebook wall’, what will it be in the future?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Andrea

Social Costume

Episode: VMC #343 – Social Costume

Subscribe to the show on YouTube!

Check out what I found in Venice yesterday during the Carnival…yes, a Facebook costume!

When I saw it a thought crossed my mind: A few years ago, I was sending out invites to my friends to join and connect with me on Facebook. Initially, many of them didn’t even reply or check it out and today…well, we all know how things have changed. Facebook became one of the dominant platforms for social networking.

The ‘social’ aspect of the web reached its mature stage and placed a new brick in the building of our future life. The line that used to separate the digital world from our everyday life keeps blurring and it will keep fading away the more the Internet becomes a part of the lives of people in the most far and remote corners of our planet.

Now we got to a point at which people discovered that social interaction can take place online just as it does offline. How are things going to move forward from now on?

At least at this stage, Facebook’s role in how people socialize and communicate is fundamental. Facebook is not redefining social, it’s simply taking it to a new extent. However, it still has the reins of social data and social interaction. I’m wondering if and how things will change once people start feeling the need to be in control of the data they are sharing and using in their social ecosystem. Will Facebook change its nature from ‘social box’ to ‘social catalyst’? Will emerging projects like Diaspora become new fertile lands where people will be able to take care of their own data and social life?

Today’s social costume is a ‘Facebook wall’, what will it be in the future?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Andrea

Quora: Do We Really Need It?

Episode: VMC #337 – Quora: Do We Really Need It?
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Show Notes & Credits: Powered by itive.net, Quora.

Quora: Do We Really Need It?

Episode: VMC #337 – Quora: Do We Really Need It?
[right click to download the source file – ‘Save the link as…’, video-player available below]

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Show Notes & Credits: Powered by itive.net, Quora.

The Best of PR, Marketing and Social Media – LeWeb 2010

Episode: VMC #336 – The Best of PR, Marketing and Social Media – LeWeb 2010
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Show Notes & Credits: Powered by itive.net, LeWeb, paper.li, Jeremiah Owyang, Brian Solis, Gary Vaynerchuk.

Flip the Funnel – Book Review

Episode: VMC #335 – Flip the Funnel – Book Review

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Show Notes & Credits: Powered by itive.net, Flip the Funnel, Joseph Jaffe, @jaffejuice

LeWeb Conference

Episode: VMC #334 – LeWeb Conference
[right click to download the source file – ‘Save the link as…’, video-player available below]

Paris (a city I love) + LeWeb (great web conference) = Awesome mix.
How’s the event? Massive as usual, tons of people and friends, great networking…I’ll repeat that…great networking. Beside presentations and panels the real value is the huge number of key people you can meet at events like this.
I’m putting together the best snippets concerning marketing, PR, social media and communication. I’ll release that in a video after the conference so stay tuned. Meanwhile enjoy this short overview of the conference that I’ve just edited with imovie on my iphone (just great and sooo handy!).
Andrea

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Show Notes & Credits: Powered by itive.net, LeWeb