Businesses Facing Rise Of User Pays Internet In 2020

The days of marketing over the Internet for free are on their way out as the playing fields shift to favour those with big budgets.

"The Internet of 2020 is heavily weighted towards pay to play," says Kim Voon, CEO of digital marketing agency Insight Online. "It is actually a significant social and economic shift because the things that made the Internet great -- the ability for any business no matter how big or small to gain traction based on virality, quality content or search engine optimisation – has been slowly corroded.

"Previously, anybody who put in the time and work could build an organic following online. Building organic reach through any platform was a case of using your smarts, creating good content and working hard. In 2020 the Internet has become the playground of big budgets."

Voon says social media and search engines are significantly more advertising environments than before. To develop any sort of reach, or even to get seen, will generally require ad spend.

"The biggest players online like Google and Facebook need to keep growing due to the pressures of being a public company. Google is achieving revenue growth with tactics such as giving advertising more screen space, squeezing organic visibility (organic results are sinking below the visible page) and growing their monetisation strategies.

Voon said we're also seeing an increase in “no click” searches.

"Previously when a customer searched keywords, they would need to click through to the relevant webpage to get the information that they required. Now, a lot of the time Google extracts the information from the website and it just pops up on the search results page – think about anytime you search for the weather, airline tickets, hotel reservations, or movie times

"Twitter and Facebook are the same. They dislike the idea of users leaving their site and as a result they're making it far more difficult to link off the website.”

Voon says that the cost of advertising ranges between moderate to expensive.

"The more you spend the more people you will reach, so make your dollar spend count. Previously it was more qualitative in that you could rely on good content. Now you mostly pay. The impact of good content, or organic results, is decreasing. Regular posting on your Facebook or webpage is no longer good enough.”

Voon offers the following tips to companies navigating the user pays environment:

1. Don't confuse strategy with tactics 

Getting seen or found online costs money, which means people need be clear on who the audience is. Do market research into where that audience gets its information and uncover their issues and problems so that you create Ads that resonate. Test, measure and revise.

"Spend more time with your target market to make your advertising dollars go further."

2. Beat content shock

Good quality content used to make a significant impact, but the Internet is now saturated with content. You can download a free guide on just about any topic you can think of, which means your audience has also become far more granular in finding answers to their specific needs.

3. Raise the bar 

Voon says too many digital channels focus on the last click, which stifles storytelling.

"Brand adverting is very story orientated, but there's no way to measure its effectiveness. With digital advertising we have lots of measurement, but the focus on last click is too narrow. Digital needs greater creativity and brand advertising needs greater accountability.”

For more information visit: https://insightonline.co.nz/

© Scoop Media