The use of the internet only keeps getting more and more important for businesses these days. Many organizations started relying on digital marketing and other online services to promote their brand, and then we hit this pandemic.
As companies were forced to shift their operational procedures to adopt the work-from-home routine, digital networking and marketing became even more critical. If a business cannot establish its presence on the internet or does not use online networking tips, it can consider itself obsolete.
Business networking plays a major role in spreading the word about a brand and its products. In the earlier days, business referrals mostly used to come from personal contacts or through past professional references. But these days, a business can build a strong digital networking framework without even knowing the people in the network in person. Simply by implementing various digital marketing tactics and being creative in their branding approach, they can attract a large audience to get engaged with their brand.
If you have been facing problems getting your word out about your products and services, you have come to the right place. Today, we will discuss how you can establish a strong network of prospects for your products by creating a digital networking plan that is feasible and quite cost-effective. But before that, let’s clearly define the concept of digital networking.
What is Digital Networking?
Digital networking is the process of building an online community around your brand by reaching out to large audiences in your specified niche to keep them engaged with your business. Digital marketing helps expand your network to increase your sales ultimately.
When you build your network over the internet, you have no limitations to the number of people who can join it. Whether you know someone personally or not, whether they have purchased from you or even heard about your brand, if you reach out to them with a message that resonates with their lifestyle, they will be willing to join your network.
This does not mean they will automatically or instantly convert into your customers. But at least you will be bringing them one step closer to start purchasing your products or services. The concept is similar to that of a sales or marketing funnel. First, you reach out to the masses who somehow match your target audience. Gradually, you filter out those likely to need the kind of products or services you offer. Eventually, a portion of them will end up buying from you, causing a rise in your sales revenue.
A common way to build your network across the internet is by conducting digital networking events. Some examples of digital networking events are as follows.
- Webinars
- Online gaming competitions
- Social media polls
- Live broadcasts on Youtube
- Virtual watch parties
- Video call sessions on Zoom
- Active blogs and forums
- Live chat sessions
Importance of Digital Networking
There are many benefits of digital networking for your business. Some of them are discussed below.
1. It Builds More Brand Awareness
The more people you have in your digital network, the more your brand name gets popular. This means you will be able to build greater brand awareness among your target audience. More people will hear about your products and services and see your advertisements. Your content will be shown to a greater number of potential customers.
When your marketing reach is enhanced and brand awareness is increased, it gets easier and less costly to promote your products further. By putting in efforts to build your network, you can cut down on the long-term costs of your marketing and promotional activities.
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2. It Increases Customer Lifetime Value
When you keep your customers engaged with your brand, they are more likely to continue buying from you. If they are regularly updated on the discount offers and new product launches you are coming up with, they will remain interested in your products and services, and won’t easily switch to your competitors. This in turn increases your average customer lifetime value.
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It is easier and cheaper for any business to continue serving its existing customers than working on getting new customers. When your customer lifetime value is high, you’ll be able to reap the benefits of minimizing your marketing costs and maintaining a high profit margin. This is a great benefit of digital networking.
3. It Reduces Marketing Costs
Most of the digital networking methods do not cost much. Some digital networking events can even be conducted free of cost. For example, if you regularly conduct live webinars and do not automate them, you wouldn’t need to use a paid tool or software to repeat your broadcasts. You can simply appear live every time you run a webinar.
If you want to save time, however, you can purchase a monthly subscription for a webinar automating tool, which is still not going to cost you much. Most automated webinar software tools cost less than $30 a month. There are some free automated webinar platforms available as well, but they come with only limited features in their free plan.
Other digital networking events, such as Facebook Group polls, can be conducted free of cost as well. If these events are successful, they can build a large audience within your online community, which in turn will bring you more sales in the future, without having to incur additional marketing expenses.
4. It Provides Competitor Updates
When you interact with your prospects during digital networking events, you are able to receive constructive feedback from your audience. People usually participate in digital networking events light-heartedly. They are not under pressure from any brand or person when they are, for instance, taking part in online game competitions. In such a mood, any comments they pass about your brand can provide very honest feedback to you.
Sometimes such feedback from your customers can also give you updates about your competitors. If a certain participant mentions to you, for instance, that they prefer a certain brand for buying shampoo, you can ask them why that is. If you are also selling shampoo, you can find out what’s lacking in your product in the eyes of a potential customer. Having frank conversations like this is a very constructive form of digital networking.
5. It Enhances Employee Motivation
When your business is involved with active digital networking practices, your staff can also feel the liveliness in your corporate environment. This keeps them on their toes to perform their tasks efficiently and socialize in the digital networking events. Overall, it helps keep them motivated at their jobs by giving them chances to come out of their mundane office work routine.
Networking Tips to Get More Connections
If you want to enhance your digital networking efforts, here are several techniques you can adopt.
1. Build a Professional Website
Having a professional website to showcase your products and services can go a long way in highlighting your brand’s existence. If you have an appealing website, you can proudly give its link to everybody in your audience during your marketing campaigns and digital networking events.
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Building a website does not take too long if you use a suitable website developing platform. Strikingly offers most of the features required to create a basic website in its free plan. After you sign up for your free account with us, the page will direct you to our template selection, where you can see a lot of ready-to-use web designs. All you have to do is select one, and start keying in your website content, using our drag-and-drop feature.
Your website can be a one-stop platform for all your prospects and community members to get in touch with you, inquire about your products or services, get information about your business and brand. It also helps build partnerships or strong relationships and even allows customers to purchase your physical products if you attach an online store to your site.
2. Focus on Content Marketing
The more high-quality content you produce, the more you’ll be able to establish a perception that you are an expert in your field. Content marketing is good for enhancing your digital networking efforts. Your customers will build trust in the information and knowledge you provide about the industry and will be inclined towards giving more preference to your brand. This way, you can build a strong brand image, which will favor your business in numerous ways.
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If you build your website on Strikingly, you can add a blog section where you can post as many articles as you like to do your content marketing. We understand the needs of businesses to grow and provide all the necessary features to our users at very reasonable rates.
If you are interested in creating a fully functional website on Strikingly, you are welcome to join by registering for your free account with us at our landing page. We love to see our users’ businesses grow and support you in any technical issues you might face.
