What is digital communication and why is it essential?
What is digital communication and what is it used for?
Your messages and communication media, whether informative or promotional, are becoming increasingly dematerialised in response to new uses.
Digital communication therefore needs to be an integral part of your digital strategy and communication plan.
The good news is that it represents an incredible lever for acquiring and retaining customers, as a complement to a well thought-out web marketing strategy.
Here's a quick overview of the main digital communication resources and tools available to you:
What is digital communication?
Let's start by putting aside the question that often comes up: what's the difference between digital and digital? The answer is "none at all".
The term "digital" is in fact an Anglicism for "digital".
So digital communication is the same thing as digital communication.
You're well on your way!
In the professional sphere, it refers to communication strategies and actions using digital media, i.e. communication channels such as :
- websites
- blogs
- social networks
- newsletters or emailings
- mobile applications.
The message can be transmitted in the form of :
- text
- photographs
- illustrations (computer graphics, for example)
- animations
- videos.
Several digital communication channels...
The website
A real showcase for your company's activity and your offering, the website acts as a dematerialised, interactive presentation brochure.
Internet users can consult your offer there, in a "virtual window shopping" approach, to compare it with that of your competitors, or even make purchases (if you have an e-commerce platform), or request information, quotes or demonstrations.
That's why it's so important to take care of it as a digital communication medium in its own right, while taking care to comply with the RGPD.
The blog
A blog is like a simplified website, used most of the time as a complement, to diversify web media and broaden the means of reaching your target audience.
Your culture, philosophy and brand image are developed here, as is your commitment to gender equality or the environment, for example.
You share content regularly, in the form of posts, to :
- communicate with your target audience on subjects related to your business,
- create an attachment to your company,
- drive traffic to your website by linking to its content,
- reach a new audience,
- share your expertise.
Social networks
The potential for engagement on social networks, i.e. for generating interest and interaction, is very interesting because their variety and specific features mean that they can speak to a very wide audience.
New conversational platforms are constantly emerging: after Snapchat and WhatsApp, TikTok is all the rage among teenagers, for example, who are very keen on sharing videos.
If you want to reach your prospects, who are very much in demand from other brands on a multitude of channels, you need to choose the social media that make the most sense for your company and devote some time to them.
Newsletters or emailings
Emailing is a highly effective and economical communication tool. As a digital mailing, it enables your company to send information directly to your customers and prospective customers' mailboxes.
It's a great way of sharing both promotional and informative content, in addition to your website, blog and social networks.
The advantage here is that your company isn't waiting for potential visitors, it's knocking on the virtual door of the people it wants to communicate with.
This digital communication tool therefore acts as a relay to the other means used, to send traffic back to the site or mobile app, and to share expertise and content.
It's all about staying in the minds of your consumers.
Mobile applications
More and more companies are investing in their own mobile applications, so that they can be found directly on one of the most widely used devices in the world: the smartphone!
With notification systems, you can send information about new products, the availability of a product, or a promotion via pushes: the message appears on the phone as a banner, like a text message or email.
The interfaces are particularly well thought-out, encouraging micro-interactions, animations (you're probably familiar with GIFs) and personalisation.
Recent techniques are being used to further seduce consumers and help them to imagine themselves, with virtual reality for example.
... and several digital communication techniques
There are several techniques you can combine to improve your digital communication.
Advertising
A great classic, advertising has not spared the web. Whether frontal or more devious, it is everywhere: display banners, advertisements at the start of or in the middle of a YouTube video, etc.
But with ad-blocks, in response to the rejection by some Internet users of these more or less invasive ads, digital communication has had to be adapted and made more subtle.
Hence the use of techniques such as paid search, also known as SEA (search engine advertising).
SEA is advertising on search engines , and allows you to buy keywords- the ones your target audience types in when looking for information about a product or service such as yours.
Your ad appears at the top or bottom of the first page of results on Google, simply differentiated from the natural results by the word "Ad" that precedes it.
Social networks are also getting in on the act, with Facebook Ads for example.
Finally, on both websites and social networks, the new trend is towards native advertising, and in particular in-feed advertising: ads are integrated into the heart of content, in a targeted and contextualised way, so that web users read them without even realising it.
But they are not always receptive to this type of approach, so you have to be more cunning and combine advertising with other techniques.
Natural referencing
Natural referencing or SEO (search engine optimisation) is a very good alternative, to be used on its own or as a complement.
It consists of positioning your company on the keywords most searched for by your prospects on the Internet and corresponding to your offer and expertise.
These keywords are the same as those chosen for SEA above, but they are naturally integrated into your editorial content, videos, etc., whether they are published on your website or not, whether they are published on your website or blog, or hidden in their structure (tree structure, metadata).
Social media management
Social media management is all the communication actions carried out on social networks to promote your product or service and make it visible.
But it also involves animating and moderating exchanges, and maintaining a link with your community of users and fans. This is known as community management.
In all cases, the aim is to develop and enhance your company's brand image on social networks.
Content such as videos and illustrations are the most effective, because they get shared a lot - buzz guaranteed!
Brand content management
Brand content management refers to the management of editorial content (videos, tutorials, articles, forums, webinars, white papers) offered on the internet. It's a discipline that has an impact on all your communication initiatives, whether it's via an emailing, or sharing content on a social network, your website or your blog.
This qualitative content is not promotional in the first instance, even if the ultimate aim is to sell.
They have multiple objectives:
- to develop your company's visibility;
- tell the story of who you are, arouse emotion and sympathy;
- optimise your natural referencing;
- communicate your expertise and reassure your target audience;
- reinforce your positioning with an editorial line and graphic charter that are consistent with your values and messages;
- more subtly attract people who are resistant to advertising.
What are the objectives of digital communication?
Why use digital communication?
As you will have seen from the various media and techniques discussed in this article, the objectives, and therefore the challenges, of digital communication are numerous and vital in a highly competitive market.
You will have noticed that there is a fine line between digital marketing and digital communication, the latter being the result of the marketing strategy adopted.
In short, marketing focuses on the product and the customer experience, whereas digital communication conveys your company's brand image on the web and encourages exchanges with your audience.
It enables you to :
- Create and maintain links with your ultra-connected target audience;
- interact with your audience wherever they are, throughout the day;
- dematerialise your communications operations and save money in the process;
- improve your company's visibility, as a complement to a more physical presence;
- develop your company's reputation (its e-reputation) and convey a modern image;
- promote the virality of your communications.
How do you set up digital communications?
Here are a few bonus tips:
- Be true to your brand image and therefore consistent in your digital communications strategy to reach your target audience, otherwise you'll be wasting your time and sending out a blurred message. It's not a question of going everywhere, but of going to the right places. Studying the customer journey can help you select the most appropriate communication channels.
- Adapt :
- your message to your target audience, but also to the chosen channel (tone, formatting, etc.),
- your content to the different media (computers, tablets, smartphones) with a responsive architecture.
- Keep abreast of trends in :
- the practices of both your audience and your competitors,
- the emergence of new communication channels and conversational platforms,
- digital communication tools to help you manage and monitor your operations.
Don't hesitate to read the article above to find out more about defining a communication strategy that includes digital.
Spoiler: given the minimal cost of web communication, the return on investment promises to be interesting!
Article translated from French