
When it comes to conducting business online it all comes down to internet marketing. Internet marketing can be broken into several categories as well like, seo, advertising, list building, public/customer relations, etc.; but most marketing activity boils down to expanding your reach and building an audience for your brand, business, or cause. This audience will most likely arrive from a target demographic, but their levels of engagement will vary from person to person. Depending on the content you deliver and how you deliver it, this will affect how engaged the audience is. My observation is that members of your audience can come in three basic levels of engagement.
Level 1 - Just Visiting
Unique Visitors (Scrap Visitors)
Unique visitors are individuals that have simply checked out your website/profile one time. To understand why there is a low level of engagement from unique visitors is to understand why I consider unique visitors as “scrap” visitors. This may seem insensitive of me, but really the use of this term derives from the visitor’s mentality. A unique visitor is typically someone who just comes across a link to your content/website through a search engine or a social media bookmark. The reason why they are visiting is to fulfill a self-serving need to satisfy their curiosity/desire. Once they have finished consuming as much free content as needed for their satisfaction, they leave with no interaction like your content was their candy bar and your website/profile was the wrapper. We all know what we do with the wrappers.
For webmasters, there is some use for scrap visitors, though. Scrap visitors are a great metric for measuring your organic and referral marketing efforts. If the number of unique visits/hits is growing or staying consistent, than you can conclude that whatever you are doing is generating results. If you are an affiliate marketer, your website’s/profile’s total average unique visitors represents an estimated reach for your advertisers and sponsors. Lastly, your unique visitors should be viewed as a running average of possibilities your profile/website has to create a new return visitor, if you continue to develop your marketing tactics.
Return Visitors (Recyclable Visitors)
Return visitors are simply unique visitors that have come back for a second helping or more of your content. Like scrap visitors, a level one return visitor is just coming back to continue consuming content to fulfill their desire without any interaction passed that, but the fact that they are coming back means they are evolving toward a new level of engagement as a “recyclable visitor”. Recyclable visitors are individuals who are consistently reusing your website, and this a good sign for your business/brand/cause. This means the more content you continue to provide for them, especially on a consistent basis, the more likely they are to reach a new level in engagement.
Level 2 - Interacting
Interaction is the next level of engagement from members of your audience. Within a level two audience there are four different points of interaction that measures how active your audience is:
· Like Button, Voting, +1 Button, Favorite, Bookmark, etc.
· Commenting, Direct Messaging, Emailing
· Sharing, Retweeting
These first three points are the most likely of the four interactions a visitor will opt to engage in. Acknowledging these interactions and reinforcing them by promoting ongoing discussions and sharing of opinions, is how to begin a process of building a relationship with your audience, and gain their trust.
· Subscribe, Register, Like (Facebook Page), Follow, Sign-Up, etc.
This is the fourth point of interaction members of your audience can do, and is a gesture of a member’s committed interest/loyalty to your business/brand/cause. These members of your audience, combined with the members who partake in the other three points of interaction, could be considered fans of your business/brand/cause. These individuals are the members of your audience that aid in spreading your message, by talking about your business/brand/cause with their circles of influence.
Level 3 - Contributing
The highest level of engagement comes from a level 3 audience. Members of this audience are fans that have become patrons of your business/brand/cause, and they opt to play an active role in showing their support through several different methods that include:
· Donations
· Purchasing Your Products and/or Services
· Attending/Participating in Special Events & Fundraisers
Patrons are the fans that want to do more than just spread the message, but actively promote/support your business/brand/cause by, for lack of a better explanation, putting their money where their mouth is. They are your most supportive members of your audience, and are the ones who actively want to see your business/brand/cause continue. They perceive value in your business/brand/cause, and are willing to imbue your business/brand/cause with value by spending their time and money with it. Once you have reached a level 3 audience, be sure to pay extra attention to those within your audience who are actively propping up your business/brand/cause, and they will continue to pay extra attention to it.
Unique Visitors (Scrap Visitors)
Unique visitors are individuals that have simply checked out your website/profile one time. To understand why there is a low level of engagement from unique visitors is to understand why I consider unique visitors as “scrap” visitors. This may seem insensitive of me, but really the use of this term derives from the visitor’s mentality. A unique visitor is typically someone who just comes across a link to your content/website through a search engine or a social media bookmark. The reason why they are visiting is to fulfill a self-serving need to satisfy their curiosity/desire. Once they have finished consuming as much free content as needed for their satisfaction, they leave with no interaction like your content was their candy bar and your website/profile was the wrapper. We all know what we do with the wrappers.
For webmasters, there is some use for scrap visitors, though. Scrap visitors are a great metric for measuring your organic and referral marketing efforts. If the number of unique visits/hits is growing or staying consistent, than you can conclude that whatever you are doing is generating results. If you are an affiliate marketer, your website’s/profile’s total average unique visitors represents an estimated reach for your advertisers and sponsors. Lastly, your unique visitors should be viewed as a running average of possibilities your profile/website has to create a new return visitor, if you continue to develop your marketing tactics.
Return Visitors (Recyclable Visitors)
Return visitors are simply unique visitors that have come back for a second helping or more of your content. Like scrap visitors, a level one return visitor is just coming back to continue consuming content to fulfill their desire without any interaction passed that, but the fact that they are coming back means they are evolving toward a new level of engagement as a “recyclable visitor”. Recyclable visitors are individuals who are consistently reusing your website, and this a good sign for your business/brand/cause. This means the more content you continue to provide for them, especially on a consistent basis, the more likely they are to reach a new level in engagement.
Level 2 - Interacting
Interaction is the next level of engagement from members of your audience. Within a level two audience there are four different points of interaction that measures how active your audience is:
· Like Button, Voting, +1 Button, Favorite, Bookmark, etc.
· Commenting, Direct Messaging, Emailing
· Sharing, Retweeting
These first three points are the most likely of the four interactions a visitor will opt to engage in. Acknowledging these interactions and reinforcing them by promoting ongoing discussions and sharing of opinions, is how to begin a process of building a relationship with your audience, and gain their trust.
· Subscribe, Register, Like (Facebook Page), Follow, Sign-Up, etc.
This is the fourth point of interaction members of your audience can do, and is a gesture of a member’s committed interest/loyalty to your business/brand/cause. These members of your audience, combined with the members who partake in the other three points of interaction, could be considered fans of your business/brand/cause. These individuals are the members of your audience that aid in spreading your message, by talking about your business/brand/cause with their circles of influence.
Level 3 - Contributing
The highest level of engagement comes from a level 3 audience. Members of this audience are fans that have become patrons of your business/brand/cause, and they opt to play an active role in showing their support through several different methods that include:
· Donations
· Purchasing Your Products and/or Services
· Attending/Participating in Special Events & Fundraisers
Patrons are the fans that want to do more than just spread the message, but actively promote/support your business/brand/cause by, for lack of a better explanation, putting their money where their mouth is. They are your most supportive members of your audience, and are the ones who actively want to see your business/brand/cause continue. They perceive value in your business/brand/cause, and are willing to imbue your business/brand/cause with value by spending their time and money with it. Once you have reached a level 3 audience, be sure to pay extra attention to those within your audience who are actively propping up your business/brand/cause, and they will continue to pay extra attention to it.