The Rules of Engagement: NZ Website Study Finds Plenty of Room for Improvement
46% of major websites in NZ do not have a Blog on their website, despite the majority of them using them Facebook and Twitter as a marketing tool.
Only 42% of major companies allowed other people to share content with only 12% allowing interaction in the form of rating or tagging content.
Yesterday I had just finished a phone call with a colleague discussing the differences of the NZ pysche compared to the US with regards to active online engagement, when this report: The Engaged Web in New Zealand landed on my desk (or rather in my email inbox). What great timing and an opportunity to put pen-to-paper (or rather finger to keyboard) and update my own blog!
This report studied 50 most popular/highly trafficked NZ websites (nb. these are large-sized businesses) across a range of industry sectors to see how kiwi businesses engaged and interacted with their customers online. The findings are interesting. Conclusions are, unsurprisingly – “plenty of room for improvement”.
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The Intergen Engaged Web report found that all industry sectors needed to improve their engagement in social media channels and with more than 85% of all New Zealanders now using the Internet, the web is now such a fundamental part of all organisations.
It also discusses how many websites are still following the old model and are fairly static – the content is information-based, loaded on the website and often not changed unless a newsletter pdf is published. In fact, some small businesses still do not even have a website.
The report demonstrates some good examples of companies who are creating online communities and providing content and it goes further by giving some great best-practice advice.
With regards to social media, the report findings show that of these popular websites assessed, 61% had a FB presence and 55% were on Twitter, but 40% of them did not publicise this on their website! (such a simple thing to do).
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One of the top growth areas of web marketing is Mobile/Smartphones (that’s a whole other topic) and whole sectors of the population are now communicating with each other on Facebook and Twitter where before they would email or phone. Content Sharing is Big – over the New Year weekend, more than 750 million photos were shared on Facebook, and statistics show that more than 80% of internet users in NZ sent or shared a photo in the previous year.
These are powerful trends that cannot be ignored.
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So, why would a business be interested in online engagement?
There are many benefits, including:
- Brand awareness
- Personalise their brand
- Add value to their customer base and create loyalty
- Attract future customers
- Customer service and reputation management
- Online sales
- Grow subscriber base
- Increase Search Engine rankings
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And, what about the Business Blog?
As previously discussed in my November blog post about business blogging and content, the Blog is the HUB of a businesses’ communication and social media activity.
It is the space that you own (as opposed to 3rd party sites like Facebook) and that you can use to discuss anything related to your industry or of interest to your customer/potential customers.
Where social media platforms drive traffic to your website, the blog and its contents will keep them there and keep them coming back.
Your Website, Blog and Social Media must be integrated, providing your audience with a seamless communication platform. Although each of these are marketing tools in themselves, do not treat them in isolation.
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Here are some takeaway tips:
Best Practice Blogging Tips
- Well formatted with lists and bold text
- Use good quality and attractive images
- Use multi-media including video where appropriate
- Appropriate length
- Ability for the reader to share the link and comment
- Encourage participation – ask questions
- Informal and personable tone
- Entertain not just sell
Social Media Tips to increase engagement
- Make it easy for the customer to engage with you – promote your social media channels! – link from everywhere, integrate your channels, use the fancy buttons and please do not hide your social media links in your Contact Us page.
- Link to your Blog Posts, and in turn drive traffic back to your space, your websites. And on your Blog articles, give the reader the opportunity to share it. There are some great plug-in tools to easily enable this.
- Spread yourself across the social media sphere, appropriately. Remember your target audience, respect them, don’t automate too much. Be charitable with your information, give away information, share interesting stuff.
- Be active – be involved. Do it yourself, or dedicate a staff member to manage the space, delegate across the team, or out-source the function so you can focus on core business. But be involved.
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Does this sound all too hard? Worried you are missing out on the latest trends?
Speak to us and we can explain how, as a small business owner in complete control of your business direction, you can grab these opportunities and maximise them… before your competitor does !
