Businesses need to understand the demographics of users who visit their platforms in order to launch a successful monetisation strategy, a consultant at Google said yesterday.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
This comes as part of efforts from digital marketers and advertisers to get companies to grow a loyal digital audience that can be monetised.
Speaking at the Techzim/TBWA Digital Future 2017 Conference in Harare, Google Technical Solutions consultant Dane Knezic said business needed to have greater understanding of their online users.
“Often on the big story you sort of forget about looking and considering what happens with users six or 12 months down the track, how they are re-engaging on the website, coming back and also how they are engaging on different devices. So understanding the demographics of those users over time and seeing their engagement over time can give you powerful insights as part of your monetisation strategy,” he said.
“So having insight into the referral sources (devices) and where those leads are coming from gives you an insight into where to put more effort in interacting with those communities.”
A monetisation strategy is the process of converting existing traffic being sent to a particular website into revenue with the most popular ways of monetising being pay per click and cost per impression advertising.
Since mid-last year to date, Zimbabwean businesses have been implementing monetisation strategies mainly through social media applications such as WhatsApp.
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As such, more social media advertising firms are being formed with the most noticeable one being Bulawayo-based WhatsApp marketing firm, Zim Markets and Adverts, which had 101 750 advertisers by December 2016.
The companies involved in monetisation strategies are in electronics, computers and accessories, motor vehicles, property rentals, clothes, food, mobile smartphones, as well as services.
TBWA said Digital Future was a platform for helping brands to break usual digital conventions.
AMH managing director Vincent Kahiya said it was important for local developers and service providers to work together to generate relevant content online. He said business leaders should embrace digital if they are to grow their digital business offering.
“The digital strategy must fit into the overall business strategy,” Kahiya said. “There are business leaders who are running companies offering digital products yet they have not embraced digital tools themselves. They have no business running those companies.”
The drive to get companies to increase their digital presence comes when mobile penetration is at 94,8%, according to the fourth quarter 2016 report by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe. The Digital Future 2017 conference ends today.
