Always on – our increasingly connected society

Ofcom introduced its Communications Market 2018 report published this month, with the summary that it “explores how a decade of technological revolution has transformed behaviour.”

Key online statistics in the report which indicate our increasingly connected behaviour include:

• People claimed to spend a total of one day a week online (24 hours), more than twice as much as in 2011.
• Seven in ten commuters use their smartphone on their journey.
• The most popular smartphone activities for commuters are sending and receiving messages (43%) and using social media (32%).
• Most adults acknowledged the value of being connected, with three-quarters agreeing that being online helps them maintain personal relationships. But they also acknowledge its drawbacks, such as interrupting face-to-face communications with others.
• The majority (62%) of time spent on the internet was on mobile devices, and mobile advertising made up 45% of online advertising in 2017.

The evidence shows that digital communication is now fundamental to any communication strategy. It shouldn’t be a replacement for face-to-face or individual communications, nor should it replace traditional media relations activity. However, it provides a very effective platform to share messages and engage with a wider audience and should be part of your communications mix.

For the uninitiated the plethora of social media options can seem overwhelming. Should your company be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or something else entirely? The simple answer is that it depends who you hope to communicate with and what you hope to achieve.

Top benefits

The key benefit of being on social media is an increased brand awareness, including being able to share your business’ unique selling points and ethos. It also means a higher number of links to your content, which in turn boosts search engine optimisation (or how easy it is to find your website) and helps drive sales. Having a page for your business on LinkedIn for instance could help you be found on search engines. You are not going to win a customer with a single post or Tweet, but as part of your marketing and communications strategy, social media can act as an important shop window to your business.

What should we share?

The most important thing on social media is to display personality and a human touch; that’s what being social is all about. Visual and shareable content is the most effective way of building your social media presence, especially short videos

We can help you identify the most appropriate digital avenues to explore, so if you need help telling your social story then get in touch https://www.cbipr.com/services/digital-communications/