With each passing year the benefits of having an online presence have become increasingly important for business. The growing number of digitally literate consumers creates an opportunity to build trust and create good digital experiences with your target market improving customer satisfaction. In the post-pandemic market, the demand for businesses to meet customer needs and demands digitally has been exponentially emphasised. Digital marketing experts will highlight the importance of a strong positive digital presence to complement your other marketing efforts.

Why digital marketing is important?

Why is having an online presence becoming increasingly important?

Growing Global Digital Users

According to Hootsuite 67.1% of the global population uses mobile phones. That’s 5.31 billion people who have access to handheld devices, of that 4.95 billion have access to the internet. In South Africa alone there are 41.19 million active internet users as of January 2022, with 28 million being active social media users, which is 46% if the total South African population (Statista, 2022). These numbers are expected to continue growing thus businesses that don’t adopt and include digital marketing strategies will fail to reach their customers effectively.

A strong digital presence gives you the potential to reach 41.19 million South Africans and without it you are already one step behind your competition. As your business grows, your brands’ online visibility and reputation have a huge impact on your brand reputation. If customers can’t find your business online, they are less likely to trust your business and therefore you will be losing out on potential leads and sales.

With the increasing number of internet users and active social media users ensuring you have a strong cohesive and user-friendly online presence is the best thing you can do for your business. Using digital platforms to reach your target market gives your business the opportunity for brand building and customer engagement to generating leads and sales.

Advertising to a Digital Audience and Understanding Internet Users

On average South Africans spend 10 hours and 46 minutes on the internet daily, this is significantly higher than the global daily average of 6 hours and 58 minutes. That means South Africans spend just under half their day on the internet further incentivizing digital marketing efforts.

To successfully target your digital marketing campaigns knowing where your audience spends their time online is crucial. This is important as advertising through the wrong digital platforms and channels won’t attract the right customers to your business. You, therefore, need to ensure you have a good understanding of who your customers are and where they spend their time online.

As of February 2022, the top 5 most popular social media platforms, ranked by the percentage of internet users between 16 and 64 years old who use the platform each month, were:

1. WhatsApp – WhatsApp is the most used social media platform in South Africa with 95.4% monthly usage.
2. Facebook – The most used platform is Facebook; it also accounts for 57.61% of web traffic referrals from social media platforms.
3. Instagram – Instagram is the third most used social media platform and accounts for 7.73% of website referrals
4. Facebook Messenger – Facebook’s popularity Facebook messenger is also in the top 5
5. Twitter – Although Twitter is only the fifth most used platform, at 11.86% it accounts for the second most web traffic referrals after Facebook.

Thus, the most widely reaching Social Media platforms with good web-traffic referral prospects would be Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This means If you want to have a solid digital presence to create a trusted and recognizable brand it is important to invest in at least one of these platforms in addition to your website. The platform you choose should be informed by your understanding of your target market and where they spend their time online, not just the potential audience reach.

How can Ignite Media help you?

The increase in internet users brings about increased customer awareness and user demands for brands to adopt and implement digital strategies that meet customer expectations and are on the right digital platforms. 77.8% of consumers use social media platforms to research information about brands and products prior to purchase.

This means that your company needs a strong digital presence with excellent user experience on your websites and social media platforms to build trust and authority with customers.

At Ignite Media we’re a boutique digital marketing agency in Cape Town offering specialised services that is not only geared at meeting your business objectives, but meeting your customer’s unique online expectations too. Through creative and bold thinking, we help you achieve a sustainable competitive advantage with strategic and innovative digital marketing services from website design, SEO Services to social media marketing services and more.

Get in contact with us to find out how we can help you create or improve your digital presence today, or browse our service offerings and portfolio.

All statistics and images used within our blog is credited to We Are Social’s 2022 Digital Report for South Africa.

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