Build an audience that will build your digital business

                             

There’s a big audience out there for almost every business under the sun. But there’s an equal amount of companies and brands competing for that audience.  

71% of marketers already use content marketing to engage customers and generate leads.What you need is the right formula to stand out, stay on top, and keep growing your base.

Image source- smejoinup.com

Content marketing is targeted at building your reputation and visibility and is NOT about promoting your products or services. It’s about adding value to the people who consume your content.

People don’t want advertising when making purchasing decisions, they want valuable information. Content is the best way to achieve what advertising is supposed to achieve— to get people to know, like, and trust your brand, without boring them with advertisements.

It’s content that people desire and seek out, and it’s great content that Google wants to rank well in the search results so those people can find your business.

 Content fuels customer engagement at all stages of the customer life cycle. It helps to educate the audience about the buying process and how to get the most out of the purchase.

When you post content on a continual basis, people begin to feel that they have a relationship with you, even if they are not interacting directly with you. They start to see you as “good people” which leads to their trusting you and what you have to say. Who doesn’t want that?  And if someone trusts you, they are more likely to buy your products and services and more likely to tell others.

Given that relationships are a major goal of content marketing, here are some tips you should keep in mind while creating content for your business:

·        Create new and exceptional added-value content.

·        Invite dialog and ask questions.

·        Respond to comments directly on your posts or on social media.

·        Find ways to help people who reach out to you.

As you do more and more of this, your relationships with your readers/viewers will grow. You will find they will:

·        Subscribe to your content

·        Share it with others

And with time you’ll have a loyal audience for your digital business.

So, when are you adjusting your strategy, skills and resources to make the move forward with content marketing?

What does the future of e-commerce look like?

Are you amazed at how much e-commerce has changed over the last few years?

Do you want to discover what’s next?

         

 Close your eyes and imagine shopping on an online store with a friend, virtually trying things on your avatar that is a representative of your likeness and choice with conversing in real time, all while sitting comfortably on your bean bag.

Does it fascinate you?

The good news is- This isn’t far away.

For those who are lazy but crazy for shopping, e-commerce holds so much more in near future.

           
We're already seeing increased personalization, more individual-to-individual communication, more humanlike algorithms and more specified, diverse social platforms.

These social platforms are connecting businesses to customers continually. The key word here is "connect." What else is social media about if not connecting? By marrying personalized customer information with the power of social media, e-commerce is creating incredibly targeted and robust data-driven marketing interactions in real time. Also, the technology has taken the customer experience to the next level. Days are not far when social media would be even at more fingertips, and people would be connected more than ever. Through smart use of social and online data, companies would create content that would match every step of the customer journey. Companies will compose messages extra personalized  to give their customers a further personal touch when they interact on social platforms. The likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest will play an important role and increase in social revenues through ‘buy buttons’ and better paid ‘ad options’ will take e-commerce by storm.

With smaller screen trend, e-commerce players will see mobile commerce as the most preferred route. Much better services than 4G will hit the market, with which internet penetration would take a significant leap, giving another boost to mobile commerce. Changes in lifestyle and shopping choices will see buyers preferring online channel over physical channel to save time and seek wider range and possibly comparative pricing.

 Among other nations, the Indian e-commerce industry will emerge at a phenomenal rate, generating a plethora of digital opportunities with it. Even though the country has made a late entry to the sphere of e-commerce, it is fast catching up with global players like Amazon, ebay, Walmart and will reach new heights further.

There are currently 35 million people buying online and this will increase to 300 million in the next four years. The other overwhelming trends are as follows:

Yes, the future is almost here! The common saying about the Indian retail consumers' "can't touch, won't buy" mentality is diluting at an increased rate and  consequently we shall see online shopping  become mainstream in next few years to come.