The world in which we live would hardly be recognised by someone who lived and died half a century ago and who may have caught a glimpse of the television generation.
The children born in the 90’s have only known a world where the Internet was a natural part of their day to day lives.
We now live in a society that verges on a digital tipping point that wraps and integrates our lives with the Web and it is no longer considered a luxury but a necessity in our modern lifestyle.
So what is driving us to this digital dawn that is transporting us from the industrial past of the last 200 years and the TV industrial complex that emerged 50 years ago and embracing us in an information age that challenges our paradigms?
What has brought us to this digital tipping point?
There are essentially 3 elements that have emerged in the last decade that have brought us to this generational shift.
1. Social Media:
This has introduced a digital universe to previously digitally illiterate consumers and households who are now sharing multimedia on their Facebook page and tweeting like Geeks. Despite the personal computer being with us for over 25 years a lot of people including the over 50’s have not had a reason to use the PC except for maybe work. The fastest growing demographic of Facebook is 55-65 year old females who now can use their computer to connect and share online. The ease of use and the compelling nature of the social media platforms has provided a motivation to use a computer that was not available even 5 years ago. Social media marketing is a term that has barely had a life of 2 years.
2. Smartphones:
Smartphones have accelerated our digital evolution because they don’t just sit in the corners of our rooms but they are in the handbag and in your pocket and ring, buzz and vibrate with the latest SMS from friends, family and work colleagues. These devices such as the Apple iPhone are providing broadband wireless internet anywhere at anytime allowing us to engage in online shopping on our way to work as we sit on the train. The latest figures reveal that nearly 10% of online purchases on eBay are now via a mobile platform. Smartphones are changing the way we use the web and immersing us deeper into a world where the web is ubiquitous and on all the time. The trusty analog alarm clock is being replaced by the smartphone on your bedside table and the laptop is now within a arms reach of the bed.
3. The Continual Evolution of Google and other Search Engines:
Search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo now provide information and instant real time search that allows us to research our next purchase or find our way to our next destination via Google maps and are now an essential part of our information centric world.Twitter is now being integrated into Google search that provides you with real time search functionality.
This digital tipping point is making your website an ever important portal and front door to your customers in a world where a digital optimized presence is not a luxury but a necessity in enabling potential customers to find you and then buy your goods and services.
This tipping point is impacting the way we are marketing our brands and Group M predicts that for 2010 the TV and Print will be in decline with online up 8% and mobile marketing up over 50%. In 2013 Magna Globals report predicts that online advertising will be second behind TV at over $100 billion.
So if the web is such an important part of our personal and business lives we need to take a closer look at the importance and priority we bring to bear on our digital marketing in all its forms and the investment required to go from a passive to active online presence and engagement needed to keep you ahead of your competition.
So if you have designed and developed your website and you think its time just to sit back and wait for the enquiries to start flooding in and the traffic to show up to your well designed and new contemporary online web portal then you seriously need to reevaluate your marketing strategy and consider the implications for being found online where social media, mobile and search continue to grow and evolve rapidly.
Image by Wonderlane
