Standing Out and Staying Relevant in the Growing Digital Crowd!

Every day we open our laptops, power up our tablets, turn on our mobile devices and begin the day. We launch a browser and begin to search across a sea of data – just how much data is behind this screen? Well, according to the Netcraft’s January 2014 Web Server Survey there is 861,379,152 websites (over 861 million websites).  That breaks down to 256 million registered domains, with about 108 million hosts serving these 861 million websites – in case you’re interested in the details.

How, as a brand trying to establish yourself as a leader in your field standout in this ever growing sea of data? What is the secret recipe to stand apart? How do you stay relevant?  Many brands have turned to consumer social sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to ensure that they are both seen and heard, which is important, but let’s not forget the continued importance of the website and the need to use social channels to drive traffic back to the website. It is more important than ever to continue the social engagement from within your website. I agree with what Joseph Guarino wrote in a recent blog post titled, The Importance of a Website – Website vs. Social Media Pages. “Your website is a unique space where you can deliver such a compelling message and persuade your prospects into customers. No other location in the world of social media (or the digital world for that matter) has as much potential persuasive power than your website to build this understanding.”

I started to think about this as we get ready to launch our new OpenText Experience Suite. The Experience Suite provides the ability to unite your customers and customer communities with your web activities. The Experience Suite brings together so many important elements when it comes to creating a compelling digital experience. It is the first suite of tools to bring together a leading digital asset management system, a leading customer communication management system for invoicing or interactive correspondence, a leading web content management system to present the dashboards, web pages and personalized journeys using social tools, all with a strong archive and information governance system supporting it. It is designed to help organizations utilize the powerful combination of web content management, personalized delivery, and social features on a uniform foundation.

If you are thinking about how you will stand out in the digital crowd and stay relevant in a sea that is 861 million strong, recognize that connecting and collaborating with your customers in social channels is really only as good as your ability to also connect this organic customer community with your existing web activities and most importantly, your website. This is where you can start to further amplify your message as a brand, with the help of your customers contributing to the conversation, and stand out amongst the rest.