An online alphabet for the digital age…
Here’s Part 1 of the glossary if you missed it!
JavaScript:
The most commonly used programming ‘language’ that is used to make web pages interactive. Since JavaScript is so popular, it can be used on any platform or browser, and doesn’t require continuous downloads from your website. With JavaScript, you can make your website easier to use for visitors to the site, therefore ensuring more success for your company.
Klout:
A score developed from your social following, influence, and reach. It is great to look at if you want to keep an eye on and measure social influence. Klout analyses truckloads of social media content each day, tracking the content’s movement, popularity, and reactions, and then distilling your social influence to a single number between 1 and 100. Klout helps you find the people that are creating, aggregating, and sharing content online, which also creates a measurable reaction as well. Major companies are also starting to take notice as a person’s Klout score is a great indication as to how well they create buzz online.
For anyone looking to connect with like-minded business people, or if you’re just looking for a job, LinkedIn is the place to start. It’s seen as a business-oriented social platform that is mainly used for professional networking. Professionals and businesses use LinkedIn to connect with one another, share interesting articles and information, as well as search for jobs, or look for potential employees to hire!
Mobile
There’s no denying the fact that mobile is taking the world by storm – South Africa included! According to research, Facebook Mobile reached 543 million monthly users which represents a 57% Facebook mobile penetration from the 955 million user base worldwide, and South Africa is among the top 10 countries with the highest Facebook mobile penetration (a mighty 84% of users log in via their mobiles)! Other improved statistics included an increase from 33% to 41% for users that browse on their phone; and a jump from 13% to 24% for app downloads.
Let’s face it – nowadays, everyone is practically born with some sort of mobile device attached to them, and it’s normally the first thing you check when you wake up and last thing you see when you fall asleep. Every type of company, from banks to retail stores, are creating mobile apps in order to benefit from the mobile frenzy – and with internet connection and accessibility continuously improving, mobile popularity is only set to increase further!
Newsletters
The marketing tool that should not be forgotten or overlooked: email newsletters! One of the major advantages is the fact that you have the power to control exactly when you send your messages to your database – you don’t have to worry about who will and won’t see the email, and now you can even synchronise your newsletters with your social media efforts by adding share buttons in order to increase your email’s CTR (Click Through Rate). You can even set it up so that your newsletter is automatically shared to your social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
Other benefits of email campaigns include them being cost effective, efficient, immediate, they generate speedy responses, are highly customisable, and are a great tool to manage your contacts and keep messages specific and targeted. But most importantly, your campaigns leave a digital mark which can be measured and analysed quite extensively.
Overload
Prevent social media burnout by making better use of your time and formulating a daily, weekly, or monthly content strategy plan for your blog and social platforms – depending on your business and target market. By planning what you could post or write about in advance, a lot of time – which is usually spent searching the internet for information, ideas, links, and images – is freed up to worry about the other aspects of your digital marketing.
By now I’m sure that we have all experienced or at least heard of the frenzy known as Pinterest! A pin is simply the term given to a visual post or picture that has been added to one of your categories or ‘boards’. These pins are either added through a ‘Pin It’ button offered by Pinterest or uploaded straight from your computer.
And so concludes the second installment of The A – Z of the 21st Century! Do you agree that mobile is the next big thing and is your website mobile-friendly? Do you have a few suggestions of your own to add to this glossary? Don’t be shy to share! And be sure to watch this space for the third and final installation of this online alphabet …
