The rate of digital adoption is skyrocketing—which means we have to understand digital better to avoid being left behind. . Deutsch LA’s DSchool gives us the opportunity to come together and talk about the future.

Deutsch LA recently held a week-long 101 course on digital marketing for the entire company to give everyone a common literacy and proficiency in digital across the creative process.  The first session, “Thinking Digital,” gave 11 tips to help you understand digital:

1. Digital is a layer

With access to the web so close at hand, anything can be digital. Even more than just computers and phones, all of the objects we interact with are becoming increasingly digital.

2. Digital is a bridge

Digital has created a bridge between media and what we experience. Every digital execution should provide us with an opportunity to interact with a new experience.

3. Digital is a feedback loop

Everything action we take in the digital realm is measurable. In order to be successful, we must incorporate this data to make qualified choices.

4. Digital is iterative

Because we can measure this data, we can learn and adapt almost in real time.  It’s a power no other media has. Use it to your advantage.

5. Digital is participatory

When you create something in digital, you invite participation whether you want it or not. Sharing is NOT an unconscious act. The more a brand can appeal to a user’s collective identity and personal status, the more likely someone is to share that brand.

6. Digital is mainstream culture

Mainstream culture has fully adopted the web. Memes are everywhere. Borrowing from a successful digital execution doesn’t work. You have to re-contextualize the idea to appeal to a distinct group of people based on their shared interest.

7. Digital is self-selected

Everyone’s experience on the web is different. Advertisers tend to build experiences where they feel they have control, which requires that people diverge from their normal browsing behavior. But brands need to create things that people seek, not things that seek people.

8. Digital is small groups

It only takes 300 people to get the Internet mobilized for you. On the web, it’s about reaching small, active groups to influence the passive majority.

9. Digital is unpredictable

There is no trick to “going viral.” A brand’s best bet is to craft a series of small executions with the hope that a one might do the trick depending on how those small groups react to it.

10. Digital is shaping expectations

As people are exposed to new digital experiences, we can begin to see the demand for similar experiences in other situations.

11. Digital is friends with benefits

Brands need to remember, it’s not what the number of fans means, but what they get out of those people. They need to ask the question, “What are we getting out of our relationship with our fans?” Let Facebook provide the opportunity to generate value for and from your fans.
Keep these 11 tips in mind during your next project. And check back for recaps on the remaining seven DSchool Sessions. Next up: The State of Digital Media.

2012-08-30