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Providing a great digital experience is not a differentiator in most industries now, it’s a necessity. Without having everything available at the touch of a finger, customers will quickly find another business provides that mobility. In modern times, digital should not be segmented to one department or merged with the IT, instead digital needs to be adopted by the whole organisation and implemented where it suits, whether that be HR or marketing. At CxO Disrupt Perth, the panel ‘Great Digital Expectations:

 The Next Phase of Engagement’ discussed how digital has a role to play in every facet of a business, and what it takes to engage customers by providing the best user experience possible. Will Customers Ever Be Happy? How to Set The New Bar Consumers expectation has risen tenfold in recent years, as forward-thinking companies like Amazon and Netflix have taken advantage of new digital technologies to provide a seamless user experience.

“It’s worth noting that details matter in the user experience. Users expect the same experience, whether it’s government, utility or with mobile apps like Facebook.” – Steven Preston, Akamai Technologies It’s raised the bar for organizations that don’t even rely on online features, as Steven Preston, Head of Marketing – ANZ at Akamai Technologies, described that every company now needs to match the likes of Facebook when it comes to user experiences. “It’s worth noting that details matter in the user experience. Users expect the same experience, whether it’s government, utility or with mobile apps like Facebook.

” The crucial factor in achieving a seamless customer experience is by first recognizing that digital is not a completely alternative technology or feature for a business. Instead it’s simply a different platform that helps businesses maintain an omni-channel experience. Aaron Collyer, Head of Digital and Creative at the University of Western Australia, says that it’s time we stop creating a gap between digital and physical, and treat them as the same.

 “If you really want it to be a seamless experience we need to stop treating it like a completely separate piece and bring it together,” Aaron advised. Finding Your Unique Value When products are just as easily as available and affordable to buy internationally than locally, it’s essential that businesses realize how exactly they can find their own value through digital channels. Preston remarked that with the difficulties to meet complicated requirements that applications now need, there is no need to waste resources on a product that will have no worth through online platforms.

 “Delivering a great digital experience with the complexity of mobile devices and applications is difficult. So what we try to do is figure out what the unique value is through digital channels and make sure that’s a good digital experience.” However, this can be a challenge for those within the organisation accustomed to doing things a certain way as is “tradition”, promoting a culture of change where this is considered is difficult. Seven West Media’s Head of Digital in WA, Dan Stinton, believes that the key to finding value is by encouraging employees to test new waters and not stick to legacy processes.

“The challenge is getting people who have operated in a way for a long time to now all of a sudden doing things completely different.” Ultimately, it’s clear that the best way to find how a business can best improve their services by trying new things and discovering what works and what doesn’t. Digital Isn’t Always The Answer Sometimes people like the physical presence that humans bring, so it’s important to remember that just because you can digitize it, doesn’t mean you should. Organizations then, must research into what processes are better off staying like they are and which operations can be further improved through digital channels. Preston suggests that platforms are there to add value, and therefore we shouldn’t force everything to go through digital.

“Part of what we do is digital, only part of it. There’s still a lot that we do that isn’t digital and the trick is figuring out what are the best parts that can add value through digital channels and not forcing things that shouldn’t be on digital channels.” Louise Scott, Executive Director Strategy, Brand and Marketing Services at Tourism Western Australia echoed this, saying that things have changed from when digital meant website management.

“Digital is covering all aspects of what we do now. In the past our digital team would just focus on the web. Now we have a greater focus on social media and in our work significantly more.” Although digital plays a great part in providing the best digital experience, finding out the intricacies where people prefer a physical product or service is where the real experience is found.

October 31, 2017 By Rae N. in Advertising Facebook Featured Social Media Marketing As the world’s largest social media platform, Facebook and its users can be a tremendous opportunity for connecting businesses with customers. The platform offers a variety of ways to advertise to and engage audiences for business of all sizes and budgets. However, understanding how to optimize a Facebook ad campaign is not easy. Here are eight Facebook advertising features you need to be using to reach your customers today.

 1. Carousel Ads Carousel ads are a Facebook ad format option that incorporate up to 10 different images in a single ad. Users can click and scroll through the images, which provide content limited only by your imagination. You can tell a story, showcase products, and provide benefit details, and offer deals and promotions. Using such a powerful visual tool in your Facebook ads can encourage greater brand awareness, user engagement and higher conversion rates.

 2. The Facebook Pixel the Facebook Pixel is a piece of coding you place on your webpages that gathers and reports information about your website visitors. With access to powerful data like website visits, product purchases, or webpage behavior, the pixel uses that information to help you target your advertising more accurately on Facebook. Once you add the Facebook Pixel to your site, you can create Custom Audiences on the Facebook ad platform to hone in on interested customers. Plus, you can use that same data to target Lookalike Audiences on Facebook. These are people who might not have visited your site themselves, but match the profile of people who do.

 3. Website Conversion Campaigns the Facebook Pixel offers a great option for tracking calls to action (CTAs) and a subsequent way to use that information to create tailored ad campaigns. With Website Conversion Campaigns, you can track whenever someone completes a particular CTA on your website. You can then take that information and use it to tailor Lookalike Audience targeting on Facebook to reach users more likely to respond to your CTAs.

4. Tailored Ad Targeting the Facebook ad platform offers three powerful options to reach users that are more likely to be interested in your products and services. Behaviors: Your ads will appear in the newsfeed based on user behavior.

These can include the kind of device they use, if they’ve purchased similar products and services, or if they’ve traveled to particular locations. Interests: From the beginning, Facebook encouraged its users to share their interests. You can target ads based on this information, such as hobbies, music, apps, and more. Demographics: The basics of advertising are demographics. They help target your ads to people who meet your ideal customer profile. You can select categories like age, income, gender, finances, and others.

5. Custom Audiences Existing customers are more likely to engage again, more likely to use your products and services again, and more likely to want new information from you. You can create Custom Audiences by uploading your customer data to Facebook and using the ad platform to target those customers right in their newsfeed. You can leverage your website visitors, contact lists, and (if applicable) your app users list.

 6. Engagement Ads Engagement Ads are a means of leveraging people who have engaged with your content before. This type of Facebook ad is used to spread the word about your brand from an interested user’s newsfeed. For example, if someone liked a post on your business page, that post will start to appear in the user’s newsfeed for all their friends and contacts to see. The concept works like a digital version of word-of-mouth. People can comment, like, and share your post for higher engagement with an interested audience.

 7. Video and GIF Ads Video has the highest level of successful conversion in online advertising than any other format. If you prefer something with lower cost, Facebook GIF ads work in a similar manner. GIFs are moving image videos that often look like clips from long-format video. They’re smaller, quicker to view, and cheaper to create, but are equally attention-grabbing. 8. Lead Ads Online users crave speed and convenience. Anything that puts a stumbling block between your customer and a sale has the potential to lose that sale.

 Facebook Lead Ads take some of those obstacles away. A Lead Ad is intended to grow your customer lead list by getting people to sign up for information, provide an e-mail, ask for customer service, or anything that encourages engagement. When you set up a Lead Ad, a form appears populated with information that the user has already provided to Facebook.

 With a low threshold of effort for the user, they never even have to leave Facebook to engage with you directly and provide valuable customer data. Rae is a Content Strategist for Taktical Digital, an award-winning performance marketing agency in NYC. She helps guide clients to curate content across platforms that complements their marketing strategies and builds a more cohesive brand identity. When she’s not working with brands of all sizes in a range of industry verticals, Rae most enjoys exploring the NYC food scene.

 After a big company win, you're ready to kick back and celebrate. And you should -- but not before you spread the word and catapult your news into even more engagement for your brand. These six entrepreneurs share the creative ways in which they announce company wins.

 The good news? Your customers are ready to celebrate with you as long as you keep it authentic. Post a screenshot. Nothing beats that feeling of genuine excitement when you first receive good news. And you can spread the joy to your audience by making them feel as if they were there, too. Kris Ruby, president of PR firm Ruby Media Group, broadcasts exciting news just as she receives it by sharing screenshots.

 "If your company recently won an award or was inducted into an association, post a screenshot on Instagram and Facebook of the email you received with the news," she says. "This is an authentic way of sharing and makes your audience feel like they are reading the news right alongside you. We have used this tactic with clients and the posts garnered extremely high engagement." Tie it to what's trending.

 Brandon Harris, founder of marketing agency NuMedia, knows that a simple way to get your news to trend is to piggyback off of topics that are already trending. In particular, relevant influencers who have a large following are a great resource for spreading the word. "If you can be creative and tie your news to popular trends, you can win points with your base and trend with the news.

 If there's a popular influencer who's a great fit, have them announce it to their followers," he says. "Use your news to offer something appealing to your base in celebration to see if you can get a surge in business without devaluing your brand." Host a press tour. "An 'if you build it, they will come' strategy can work wonders," says Aaron Schwartz, co-founder and COO of international shipping company Passport. 

Whether you travel to another city or stay local, creating a sense of urgency will draw in more press contacts. "Plan a trip to New York or L.A., or even stay in your hometown. Send a personal email to all of the relevant press you want to target about the news you have to share and let them know that you're free for one-to-one discussions over a two-day span," he says.

 "They'll be likely to engage given that your story sounds urgent and interesting." Create custom celebratory swag. Your whole office deserves to celebrate after a big company win, and decking them out in commemorative swag is a fun reward. Dan Golden, president of digital marketing agency Be Found Online, finds that offering unique, branded gifts is win-win because it is also an opportunity for employees and followers to engage on social media. "This year, to celebrate our sixth year in a row on the Inc. 5000 list, we created custom six packs of beer.

 Everyone in the office got a six pack, and we shared pictures on our social pages and blog," he says. "It was a funny, engaging and useful way to casually spread the word, and one that reflected our fun culture.

“Have your customers announce it. John Rampton, founder of scheduling tool Calendar, doesn't save all the glory for himself -- he asks customers to share news on behalf of the company. By empowering your customers as spokespeople, you can create authentic brand ambassadors.

 "We've made different customers our spokespeople and had they announce it on their social media sites and online platforms," he says. "We have found that our audience likes to hear what our customers have to say more than the company since that is what companies do all the time.

This gets their attention." Go live. "Social is everything these days," says Suneera Madhani, co-founder and CEO of financial services company Fattmerchant. Take advantage of social media's ever-growing presence in the lives of your audience by meeting them on a popular platform. "Creating a live Facebook video or Instagram story allows you to reach your audience in new, innovative ways. 

Consumers are already spending a lot of time on these platforms," she says. "Consumers respond to authenticity, so speak from the heart and you're sure to make an impact. All you need is your iPhone and some genuine excitement." The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.