Newsletter #160 Three Web Must Dos For 2014

On the Web's leading edge things continue to change rapidly and many of yesterday's 'leading edge' activities have turned into 'must dos' during the past year. So what are they?

1. Mobile. Use has continued to grow exponentially:
   25% of Americans use only mobile devices to access the Internet, in developing countries it is far higher - Kenya it is 99% (Source: mobiThinking)
   Desktop computers, tablets and smartphones all have different impacts on intent to visit, with mobile devices ranking surprisingly high, at 42%, 36% and 22% respectively (source: AOL and InsightsNow)
   48% of people who use Facebook on a daily basis access it entirely on mobile (source: Facebook)
   More people now surf the Web on tablets (8% of total) compared to 7% on smartphones and tablet visitors spend 54% more and view 70% more pages (source: Adobe Digital)
   
   Netinsites Must Do: Building a responsive site has become a 'must-do' if you want to drive business through your Website. You might as well start building a Website that adapts to a variety of screen sizes, as this diversity will only increase - Google Glasses is an example. Also how can you tailor your service for mobiles - SMS messaging may be an option?
    
2. Facebook. Facebook's monthly users hit 1.19 billion as of September 30, 2013, an increase of 18% year on year.
   48% of 18-34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up, 28% before they get out of bed (source: Statistic Brain)
   
   The social giant is the place that most connected people in the world hang out in. It is also a place that users find familiar and comfortable and are therefore quite likely to interact with a brand such as yours. It is also often the first port of call when they want to ask questions, recommend or complain.
   
   Facebook needs a strategy - how will it tie in to your other communications and who will be charged with keeping it current? Should you run competitions or advertise on Facebook itself to boost your profile?
   
   Netinsites Must Do: If you deal with the public setup your Facebook presence (if you haven't already). Make sure your Facebook link is in all digital communications, assign someone to keep it up to date and look for automated ways to post the other content you create.
    
3. Your Digital Marketing Budget. There is a strong case to reallocate your marketing budget with a greater emphasis on digital as people increasingly expect to be able to find the information online rather on printed matter.
   
   In a wide-ranging study of 455 FMCG campaigns across Western Europe it was found that online marketing was the second most efficient medium for driving short term sales in the FMCG sector (behind cinema) and this despite the fact that in that market online was only 4% of the spend (source: Microsoft Advertising and BrandScience)
   
   A recent Garner survey also found that over 50% of digital marketing is outsourced, and that's from companies with an average revenue of US$5 billion! Finding and retaining employees with the skills to execute digital marketing campaigns in such a rapidly changing environment is a challenge even for companies of that size. So if your company is smaller than that average revenue, you'll probably struggle even more.
   
   Netinsites Must Do: If you haven't done much digital marketing like search engine optimising, pay per click advertising or setting up a social media presence, find an advisor you can trust. Allocate a test budget that covers a three month period and put in place tools so that you can measure the results. Test and measure over the three months, adjust your spend or try something else if it is not worthwhile.
    

Best wishes

Alex Garden