Into the Digital Age
According to an Oxford Study, the Digital Age, also dubbed as the Information Age has been brought upon by the rapid change from the traditional industry caused by the Industrial Revolution to an economy that mainly relies upon information technology.
This age has created a lot of new ways on how we gather, process and use information on our daily activities as well as providing a more convenient way of getting things done. From food, transportation, communications, finances, and even on-demand services, things are now being done digitally. Indeed, this age has made a lot of traditional industries, be it big or small into stepping up their games and challenging the flow of the current changes.
Back then, businesses are doing things based on their traditional ways where they are all accustomed to market their products and services such as handing out brochures, flyers or any other form of physical means. But these ways won’t work anymore because of the recent shift into a digital economy where most of the consumers now are millennials and online. As what they say, disrupt or be disrupted.
Based on Harvard Business Review, these are the industries where the executives believe that their businesses will be greatly affected by the digital age.
As per HBR, “90% of these organizations profess to have a digital strategy in place. But the sheer pace of change has created a skills gap, which is stopping many of these organizations from moving more quickly.”
So what can these traditional industries do to meet these changes head-on?
Most of them already started to establish their digital presence and innovated their way of marketing their content such as providing or doing newsletters, blogging, influencer marketing and social media.
Among these, social media is the leading channel to reach consumers online through content marketing. On a recent data by Hootsuite and We Are Social, in 2019, there are already 3.48 billion users on social media, with the global total growing by 288 million (a whopping 9 percent) since this time last year.
In the Philippines alone, there are already more than 40 million social media users. They use social media for:
- News
- Information
- Communications; and even
- Influence in making purchase decisions.
The challenge for digital innovation
The challenge for businesses is to find the right person that can maximize their content marketing needs while at the same time minimize their costs. A recent study from Upwork shows that a lot of businesses are looking to outsource such services to freelancers or get a virtual assistant instead that has the skill set because:
- 3 times cost effective instead of hiring full-time employee
- They only pay when they need the service
- They can save from rental space, utility and equipment
- They can save money from training and recruitment process
Surprisingly, a lot of these businesses preferred to get virtual assistants from the Philippines and India not only because of the rate but also because of the quality of work. Most virtual assistants have this top in-demand skills:
- Social Media Management
- Email Marketing
- Project Management
The top 2 being part of the content marketing really shows how important it is for brands and businesses to continuously establish their presence online in making sure that they can attend to their customers.
In the upcoming years, we will surely see most businesses online, swimming in this digital age, striving to make their digital content remarkably amazing to make sure that they don’t let their consumers leave them.
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Contributor: Christine Chavez
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