DIGITAL. Behind this invasive neologism hides first of all the digitization of information media. Yet the essential is probably not there ... But rather in the change of strategy that this dematerialization implies. Focus on digital communication.
Digital communication is above all the digitization of information media. But beyond that, it is also to consider corporate communication as an entire ecosystem, an environment that encompasses and acts in all dimensions of Digital.
From my point of view, digital communication defines, in a digital ecosystem, the communication strategy and actions to be carried out on the web, social media, mobile devices and connected objects.
Digital communication, or digital communication, was therefore first applied to the web, social media and mobile devices. It is now opening up to new channels and technological trends : virtual reality, chatbot and voicebot, connected speakers, big data and blockchain ...
The channels are the supports
Communication terminals have mainly become screens… Smartphones, PCs, tablets. Individual and touch screens. Digital communication signals the disappearance of media and goes through information channels:
- Social networks
- Website
- Blog
- Newsletter
- Mobile app
- Connected objects
Liquid information: flows replace media
Here are 3 practices that are changing with digital communication . Digitization is the erasure of fixed media (posters, brochures, newspapers, etc.) in favor of a flow communication, evolving, less structured, closer to conversation and exchange than to the discourse of Mark.
In the past, information had the state of being "solid", attached to a support which was transmissible and exchangeable. With digital communication, information becomes “liquid”, it is that which passes from one device to another, from one consumer to the next, without the medium being retransmitted.
Information is disseminated as a medium independent of the medium which becomes in the most accurate sense a “channel” in the digital age. Compatible and connected channels, where information passes from one to another.
Animation of communities and production of content
The changes relate not only to the use of these channels, but also to the activities and role of communications services.
Two major changes: the animation of communities and the production of content from which the new trend in digital communication stems, the Ambassador programs.
Animating the various social spaces of the company (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.) has become one of the main challenges of digital communication. This is the central role of the community manager (or the digital communication manager ).
The goal? The sociability of the brand . Listening to conversations about the brand, reacting to comments, nurturing the customer relationship, and building a community, have come to the fore.
The development of brand content
Communication has always been aimed at producing content, but social networks are fueling Internet users' greed… It is therefore necessary to feed the networks with renewed and personalized content.
Some examples of content for digital communication:
- The story telling : the story that creates the myth, emotion or fun
- Expertise content: become the guide in your sector
- Fun content: play, virality and interaction
- Various formats: video, live, photo, technical note, slides share, white paper, webinar, TV, series, clip ...
To go further, discover the Digital Brand Content training to develop an engaging content strategy.
Employee Advocacy: ambassador programs
Another mission in the field of digital communication: the ambassador programs. Synthesis of community animation and brand content, these employee advocacy programs encourage employees to disseminate messages concocted internally on social networks.
An organized speech with the provision of content to be broadcast: a real communication "kit". Each employee has become a communicator, with a personal audience that can have a significant influence, sometimes worthy of a real media. The ambassadors' approach is a logical continuation of community management.
Communication or Marketing?
Communication and Marketing are closely related to the point that communication is often understood as a part or a continuation of Marketing. When Marketing is dedicated to the offer, the products and the customer experience ; communication is devoted to the image of the company and the brand, to exchanges with the public of the company. Operational Marketing will be in charge of “promotional” actions when Communication has an “institutional” (Corporate) focus.
The Marketing department will take charge of display (web banners), affiliation, natural referencing (SEO), paid referencing (SEA), emailing or advertising on social networks , ... when Communication will focus on the animation of communities and the production of content, as seen above.
But this distinction remains very relative: digital has overturned borders, to the point of resurfacing the more global concept of Integrated Marketing Communication , a method of organization widely used in the United States.
What changes digital communication
By promoting massive, public and multiple feedback, social networks are pushing companies to move from top-down information to genuine corporate communication, which is more egalitarian and responsive.
The original sender (the company) is now most frequently in a position to "respond" to messengers and comments from these recipients (customers, employees, institutions). Because it is they, the recipients, who produce, thanks to the social web, most of the information concerning the company.
Companies are therefore in a position to "react" to the messages of its recipients and this is undoubtedly one of the main characteristics of digital communication which requires a review of communication theory .
The successive stacking of technologies and uses (Web> Social Media> Mobile) - and now connected objects, has been replaced by a globalizing vision, associated with a strategic dimension, which positions the agencies and digital communication services. in business, above the tools that conditioned their actions until then.
Digital communication or digital communication?
The communication should be "digital" and not "digital", since this is the recommendation and definition given by the French Academy :
The adjective digital in French means "which belongs to the fingers, relates to the fingers". It comes from the Latin digitalis, "which is the thickness of a finger", itself derived from digitus, "finger". It is because one counted on his fingers that from this Latin name was also derived, in English, digit, "figure", and digital, "which uses numbers". We should be careful not to confuse these two digital adjectives, which belong to different languages and whose meanings do not overlap: we will remember that French has the adjective digital at its disposal.
We can challenge the francization of the word "digital" but the use of the term is required today, as the Web used to face the Web.
“Digital”, beyond its “digital” equivalent, also refers to the action of fingers on screens. Now tablets and smartphones (or smartphones, in good French 😉 are today the main points of access to the Internet; the term "digital" carries with it this "tactile" dimension, obvious and decisive, which is lacking in the word "Digital".
