Module 2-The Online Ecosystem Final LK

Module 2: The Online Ecosystem

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Table of Contents

MODULE 2: THE ONLINE ECOSYSTEM ....................................................................................................... 4

1. W HAT IS AN E COSYSTEM ? ....................................................................................................................... 4

2. W HAT IS AN ONLINE E COSYSTEM ? ........................................................................................................... 4

3. S TARTING TO BUILD AN ONLINE E COSYSTEM ........................................................................................... 6

3.1 Build a content rich website ..................................................................................................... 6

3.2 The amount of content on your site ........................................................................................ 9

3.3 Measuring how well your website is doing ......................................................................... 10

4. M AKING YOUR ONLINE ECOSYSTEM WORK ............................................................................................. 11

4.1 Select social media platforms that are right for your brand ........................................... 11

4.2 Collect e-mails and treat them well ....................................................................................... 13

5. C REATE A CONTENT STRATEGY AND PLAN ............................................................................................ 14

5.1 What makes you unique from similar businesses to your own? .................................. 14

5.2 What should your content strategy be? ............................................................................... 14

5.3 How do I plan my content? ...................................................................................................... 15

5.4 Constantly update your ecosystem ...................................................................................... 15

6. C ONVERT BUSINESS GOALS INTO ACTION PLANS .................................................................................. 17

6.1 Writing an action plan ............................................................................................................... 17

6.2 Monitor the progress ................................................................................................................ 18

6.3 Action plan template ................................................................................................................. 18

7. S UMMARY ................................................................................................................................................ 19

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Module 2: The Online Ecosystem

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

 Describe the components of an online ecosystem  Explain how the components of an online ecosystem can be harmonised into an online business  Convert business goals into an action plan for online delivery

1. What is an Ecosystem?

In biology we learn that an ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals and other organisms including weather and the landscape work together to create a bubble of life. All of this works together to enable the ecosystem to survive. The ecosystem can be small or large and contains living and non-living parts.

It’s about how we can interact with our environment and make it work for everyone. An example of how we can interact with our environment is through recycling.

2. What is an online Ecosystem?

In business, we create our own ecosystems so the business can grow, thrive and make a profit. However, due to the impact of various events that are sometimes out of our control we need to look at creating a new ecosystem to ensure our business’s survive. Change is a constant in business and if we don’t adapt we will not survive, just as a biological ecosystem will die if something is removed from it and it doesn’t find a way to adapt and change.

Due to changes in the world we need to ensure our customers are able to interact with us and with our brands. An online ecosystem means the following:

Having complimentary digital pieces such as social media, an email marketing campaign, a strong website, a blog strategy, etc; so we can always be in touch with our customers in a meaningful way to ensure our business doesn’t ‘die’.

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The online ecosystem is a way to map your organisation’s presence on different digital channels. For example, you may be on a few social media sites already such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, etc – have your own website, operate your own blog and have a good e-mail list that you send information to customers every now and again and perhaps run a podcast. This is called having a ‘ brand presence’ and they all combine together to create your online ecosystem.

It is important that they all link together and you need to ensure:

 Each individual presence represents your company well and matches your marketing goals  Ensure the way your customers (audience) move through your channels and onto another is done on purpose

Activity 9

Instructions:

a) Work in a small group or with a partner. b) Brainstorm on paper, ideas you have about creating your own online ecosystem. Include any ideas and thoughts that you think of. c) Once you have done your brainstorm, highlight / circle / underline any ideas that you may be able to put into action.

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3. Starting to build an online Ecosystem

3.1Build a content rich website

If you wanted to find out what was happening in the world or how to build something you would probably go online to find that information using a search engine such as Google or Yahoo.

If you want your customers (target audience) to find you when they are looking for your product or service you need to create and develop a website to welcome them.

Your businesses’ online presence is tightly linked to how successful your business will be. Creating a content rich easy to manage online ecosystem is the key to your success in today’s environment.

You want traffic (i.e. people) to find what they are looking for when visiting your website. They must find it easy to navigate (like using Google maps to find a place in the city), when they type in queries and the questions they may have – all the way to finding the right solution (your product or service) that fits their needs.

You need to run your customer’s journey into a website funnel . If you think of your website as a paper brochure, it will have some products or services listed, some pictures or photos, some pricing options and different ways to contact you.

The start of the buyer’s journey or the bottom of the funnel

The Funnel

Search engines, have changed in terms of what information gets you noticed online. You still want to prepare a ‘brochure’ but in a digital-friendly way; however, this is only leading buyers to the bottom of the funnel or it will be at the end of the buyer’s journey i.e. people ready to buy, looking for the right partner and price. If you think of strangers who may have a problem, but they are not yet sure of the solution yet, this is where your online ecosystem can start to steer them in the right direction. A content rich website is typically in the form of a webpage or a blog post.

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Let’s look at an example.

You are the CEO of a company that has 10 employees. You have just received funding and you are trying to get the word out. You have developed a good accounting software package that has been used successfully in two companies who have had issues with their payroll in the past.

The start of the buyer’s journey will be the top of the funnel. Your buyer is probably having issues with payroll. Think like the buyer, and develop search queries as follows:  What to do when payroll goes wrong?  How can I safely automate my payroll?  Why does payroll take so much time?  How can I link quotes, invoices, and payments successfully?  What payroll system is the easiest to use?

A formal keyword search can help unlock more queries you could consider, but knowing the main items that buyers will look for will be a good start if you think about funnelling buyers down to the products you offer. It may mean creating some blog posts or web pages that can answer some of these queries and other questions. For example, a blog post on What to do when you miss a pay period , is a good start to get a stranger to start looking at your accounting software and perhaps buying it so they don’t miss a pay period again.

Don’t rush the potential buyers to your pricing, but offer some middle of funnel content instead.

The middle of the buyer’s journey or the middle of the funnel

You have the stranger’s attention – this is the hard part. Now you need to get the right information to the right prospects / customers / buyer’s.

You can do this by providing some web pages, blog posts, PDFs, downloads, e-reports, etc – whichever format you think your buyer would prefer that gives away the knowledge they need to understand the solutions that exist.

So let’s say someone lands on your website as they are wanting an accounting payroll system. They have landed on your web page as they want more information about the solutions you can provide for them. You can trade their e-mail address and other information for something ‘free’. This could be a downloadable guide or perhaps some free templates they could use.

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The end of the buyer’s journey or the bottom of the funnel

This is the same content as your paper-based brochure. Your buyers want a seamless digital platform, but they want a good provider. It’s time for you to show why they should pick you. On your website ensure your product pages are full of testimonials, product review, value propositions and reasons for them to pick you instead of another competitor. The most common mistake now is thinking inside-out instead of outside-in.

Address what your buyer’s care about and their concerns with the right message and you will see a much higher conversion rate.

3.2The amount of content on your site

This is about the buyer’s (your potential customer’s) journey. The more you hook your buyer in further down the funnel, the more they will read from you. Quality over quantity is always the rule!

At the start of the journey you are dealing with strangers – people who have never heard of you, who landed on your website. This is where you grab their attention on your online digital ecosystem – and you want to give them more information. Pairing search queries with helpful blog content that quickly and efficiently addresses problems or concerns is how to do this. Don’t overwrite and oversell too early on in the process.

In the middle of the journey , find ways to educate prospects (buyer’s) with helpful digital resources, more blog content, or web pages means a bit more contents. Take note of the following:

What do your competitor’s write?

 

How long is it?

 Does it match the buyer’s you’ve come to know and love?  Are their gaps in length you can address?  Are there gaps in content type or format you are well positioned to provide?

If you know your prospects love videos and no one else is doing it, try use it in your ecosystem so they land on your website. For example, you could send an email with a link to a video that is promoting your product or service.

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When you are approaching the close – the end of the journey – present a strong case.

Why is your product or service competitive? What examples do you have as evidence (reviews, features, testimonial, pricing). What type of messages will appeal most to the types of buyer’s you attract?

Activity 10

Instructions:

a) Develop a rough idea of a paper-based brochure for your company as it is now. Once you have done this, ask a group member to comment on it and give you feedback. b) Think about how you could convert the paper-based brochure into website content, i.e., what would you include on your website and what wouldn’t work. c) If time permits, share your ideas with other groups and get feedback from them as to what content could work on your website.

3.3Measuring how well your website is doing

It is very useful to learn how to measure if your website is doing well or not. You also need to find out if the information you have used is attracting customers. There are different tools available to you to do this automatically, for example, Google Analytics.

It’s all about measuring how much traffic comes to your website.

Make sure you use attention grabbing headings and colours to attract your customers. If your website is boring your customers will also be boring.

If a website is poor to work or access you will lose traffic very quickly. You can route as many visitors as you want through sophisticated digital marketing, but if your website is a pain to use, you have a disconnect in your digital ecosystem.

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Activity 11

Instructions:

a) Work with a partner. b) Carefully read about the different areas you can measure to see if your website is doing well or not. c) Decide on two measures you could possibly use and give practical examples of how you would apply them to your own website.

4. Making your online ecosystem work

4.1Select social media platforms that are right for your brand

An online audience enjoys being connected to the brands and digital experiences that stand out and match with their personal and professional values.

Think about your market, your product and your goals.

Which social media platforms will reach your target customers and give them the information they need?

Where does the next generation of customers spend their time?

Where do your customers hang out?

Which social media channels can you use?

Do you have enough money to manage all the social media channels?

What pictures are you going to use to

How much website content do you need?

attract your customers?

These type of questions will help you to make effective decisions based on where to spend your time and energy.

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You need to select a social media channel that suits your customers. If your customers like to use Twitter, then you need to do more posts on Twitter. If your customers prefer pictures then you need to post more on Instagram. If you are starting out with a website, then choose one or two social media channels that you are used to using to market your business. You can always add more at a later date. Visit your competition’s websites. See how they attract customers. Identify what they give away for free to get the customer’s information and e-mail address. Learn from this and decide what would be best for you to use in your business. Everyone will interact with their customer’s in a different way. Watch to see how you competition uses social media. Do they post on Facebook every day? Do they use Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram more? Try do what they do and see if it works for your online business.

How much or how little do you want to interact with your customers?

Watch how your competition works with customers online

Learn from your competition and ‘copy’ what they do

Continuously evaluate what works and what doesn’t

See how customers react to your social media posts. If they don’t react at all it shows you that your posts are not working and you need to try something else. You need to work out what will work for you and your customers.

You need to measure the following:

Engagements: How many people - liked, commented or clicked on your post?

Impressions: How many people saw your post?

Clicks: How many people clicked on a link in your post?

If the social media site isn’t working for you, you need to drop it and move onto something else. More clicks means more traffic back to your website and ultimately with a healthy online ecosystem, means more conversions.

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Activity 12

Instructions:

a) Work with a partner. b) Write down all the social media sites you currently use. c) Discuss how you could use these sites to market your online business and give practical examples.

4.2Collect e-mails and treat them well

The more e-mails you get the more customers you will have.

You need to offer your customers who visit your website something for ‘free’ to get their e-mail addresses. This is the way to build a good database of customer information. You also don’t want to send e-mails to your customers and then have them ‘unsubscribe’. This means they are getting tired of your e-mails and you can lose many customers this way.

Depending on your industry, your audience may be tired of e-mails they see as ‘spam’ and may not want to sign up because of this. You also need to consider the new POPI legislation whereby you cannot use anyone’s information without their consent. We discuss POPI in more detail in Module 5.

Permission based e-mailing

The best way to get e-mail contacts is to trade them for something of value. For example, this could be:

Helpful guides

Free downloads

Free templates

Useful tips Discounts

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5. Create a content strategy and plan

You need to be able to create the right content and keep it up to date. You will need to manage website messaging, e-mail and sharable social media information.

5.1What makes you unique from similar businesses to your own?

What makes your company, products or services different from others who work in the same industry or who attract the same customers as you do?

You need to find out what makes your organisation unique. What will attract your customers? Identify your weaknesses and strengths and research your competition to identify their strengths and weaknesses.

5.2What should your content strategy be?

Do you need to hire some talented people to help you? Can you educate yourself by reading or researching? What kind of content are you wanting to put onto your website? How will you position yourself in your market? How do you plan to grow?

Consider the following:

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Build valuable content your audience will like

Build content for each stage of the funnel

Use measurements to help you find content that works for you and your customers

Think about different ways to advertise your business

5.3How do I plan my content?

Have a content plan that keeps everything on track. Do this every three months. Three months gives you the chance to stay on top of things that may change e.g. pandemic lockdowns, without being pressurised to work out what you will be saying one year from now.

Here is an example of a content plan. This can be used for every month in the year.

Month: January

Day of week

Date

Author

Type (blog, social post, etc.)

Topic

Working title

Working draft link

First draft due

Final deadline

Final link

5.4Constantly update your ecosystem

Being up to date is key, especially for an online environment. People get tired of ‘old’ information very quickly and are very quick to move onto the next site. This means you should be flexible and able to adapt to changes quickly. For example, if you have been using Instagram more than other social media sites, perhaps it would be to your advantage to use Instagram less and Twitter more.

Your audience is the compass you need to follow. This is critical if you want to be competitive online.

(Magneti Blog, 2021)

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Activity 13

Instructions:

a) Work in a small group. b) Together brainstorm possible content you could include on your website. By sharing ideas with each other, you may be able to identify additional content you never thought of. c) Discuss some ideas as to how you would keep your audience interested in your website or how to increase traffic to your website.

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6. Convert business goals into action plans

Creating an action plan will help you to achieve the SMART goals you have set for your online business. An action plan makes it easier to track and achieve your goals.

A good action plan outlines the steps you need to take to achieve your goals and reach your target by setting a timeframe in which to achieve your target. There is always a start date and an end date.

An action plans helps you to stay motivated and it helps you to monitor the progress towards your goals. This allows you to stay on track and within budget.

6.1Writing an action plan

To create an action plan you need to:

Set SMART goals

Create a list of actions

Monitor the progress

Set a timeline

Allocate resources

We have already discussed how to set SMART goals.

 Create a list of tasks that need to be done to reach your goal  Breakdown your main goal into smaller goals  Make sure your actions can be achieved and make them smaller if you need to

Create a list of actions

 Set a date to achieve your main goal  Set a date to achieve each task  Monitor this so if you don’t achieve your timeline, you can adapt and change it

Set a timeline

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 Decide if your main goal is a large goal or a small one  The bigger your main goal the more resources you need to help you achieve it  Allocate people to certain tasks if you need to  Make sure you have enough resources to set up your website, e.g., money, data connections, etc.

Allocate resources

6.2Monitor the progress

 How will you know each task has been completed on time?  Hold regular meetings if you are working with other people or track your own progress if you are working on your own  You can measure how many tasks have been completed  How many customers have visited your website, etc.

6.3Action plan template

Templates will help you to create an action plan. You can use one like this one.

Problem: Goal: Action plans:

 Actions (steps you plan to take to achieve your goals)  Persons in charge or person responsible for handling each step  Timeline (deadline for each step)  Resources (assets needed for each step)  Potential barriers (factors that may prevent you from achieving each step)  Outcomes (desired results for each step)

Evidence of success: Tracking and evaluation process:

e.g. increase in traffic to your website by x%

e.g. assessing sales made, profit, number of customer complaints, etc.

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Activity 14

Instructions:

a) Work on your own. b) Use the template below to create an outline of an action plan you could follow to establish your online presence and create an online ecosystem. This will just be a rough draft that you can work on later.

Problem: Goal: Action plans:

 Actions (steps you plan to take to achieve your goals)  Persons in charge or person responsible for handling each step  Timeline (deadline for each step)  Resources (assets needed for each step)  Potential barriers (factors that may prevent you from achieving each step)  Outcomes (desired results for each step)

Evidence of success: Tracking and evaluation process:

e.g. increase in traffic to your website by x%

e.g. assessing sales made, profit, number of customer complaints, etc.

7. Summary

To summarise we have identified what an online ecosystem is. We have looked at all the parts that make up an online ecosystem.

We have discussed various social media sites that you can use to advertise your business and why this is so important. You want to attract as much traffic to your website as possible so you can make a lot of sales. We have found that it is important to set goals to work towards. We need to break down the bigger goals into smaller ones. Once this is done we can allocate tasks to certain people or we can create a list of tasks we need to complete to set up the online ecosystem. It is very important to monitor what tasks we have achieved and what we haven’t achieved until the website is up and working well.

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Bibliography Magneti Blog. (2021). The Complete Guide to Building and Online Ecosystem . Retrieved November 27, 2021, from https://www.magneti.com/blog/guide-to- an-online-ecosystem/

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