Digital Media: Definition and Examples

In our digital age, it’s important to know the best ways to reach your target audience and boost your marketing strategies. One great way to accomplish this is through digital media. Understanding what digital media is and how it’s used can help you make more strategic decisions for your marketing and attract more people to your business and brand. In this guide, we discuss:

• What Is Digital Media?
• What Are the Benefits of Using Digital Media in Marketing?
• Digital vs. Print Media in Marketing
• Which Industries Use Digital Media?
• What Are Some Digital Media Skills?
• Types of Digital Media
• Examples of Digital Media

What Is Digital Media?

Image via Unsplash by Marvin Meyer

Digital media is information shared through a digital device or screen. Essentially, it’s any form of media that relies on an electronic device for its creation, distribution, viewing, and storage. Companies often use this form of media to advertise their businesses and brands. In fact, a majority of modern marketing involves some form of digital media to create and display advertising content. That includes social media posts, video advertisements, and blogs or research articles.

Related: How To Create a Blog: The Complete Guide to Blogging

What Are the Benefits Of Using Digital Media in Marketing?

There are several benefits in using digital media for your marketing efforts, including:

Easier to Share and Modify Information

Being able to share and modify media can help businesses solve challenges more easily. For example, if a company prints a faulty advertisement in the newspaper, they can’t make modifications once the paper has gone to press. But if the company purchased an online ad, it can contact its advertising department and have them pull the ad, make the necessary changes, and republish. This can also give companies greater control over their marketing efforts.

Increases Brand Awareness

With so many people having access to digital forms of media, it’s an excellent way to reach a wider audience. This can help you increase your sales and revenue. For example, let’s say you want to market a new skincare line. You can easily inform your audience about it by posting on your website and social media channels. Potential customers can then click on the links that lead to your e-commerce store where they can immediately make a purchase.

Facilitates Social Interaction

Digital forms of media have allowed both businesses and individuals to maintain relationships and friendships across time and distance. That’s because it can easily connect your customers with each other and your business. Whether you’re posting updates on social media or responding to comments in your blog, having a way to interact with your target audience can help you build a community around your brand.

Boosts Productivity

When all employees can easily access digital advertisements and information, it can boost the company’s workflow and productivity. The ability to use email, smartphones, and the internet has made it easier for working professionals to finish their tasks quickly, giving them time to get more done during the workday. This increased productivity then helps companies generate more sales and revenue, making them more competitive in their industries.

Easier to Find Qualified Job Candidates

Many companies, and particularly hiring managers, use digital media to attract and source talent to their organizations. It especially helps them attract digitally savvy candidates. Rather than advertising an open job in a newspaper, a hiring manager can post about the position on the company website, the company’s social media accounts, and on various online job boards. This allows them to reach a wider net of candidates and increase their chances of hiring a qualified candidate who best fits what they’re looking for.

Digital Media vs. Print Media in Marketing

Even in today’s digital age, the debate on the effectiveness of print media versus digital media is still ongoing. That’s probably because of the beneficial results both forms of marketing can give your business. For example, the response rate for direct mail marketing is 37% higher than email marketing. But that hasn’t stopped companies from incorporating digital media into their advertising campaigns. As of June 2019, 91% of organizations worldwide used content marketing to promote their brands.

But really, to create the most effective marketing campaign, it’s important to combine both digital and print media strategies. Companies that used both forms of media found a 400% effectiveness rate compared to companies that used just one or the other.

Relevant: 30 Popular Content Marketing Tactics

Which Industries Use Digital Media?

Because digital media is so vast, many industries have different avenues where they can share information. This helps them deliver experiences and information to a wide range of customers across the globe. Here are some industries that use digital media:

• Healthcare: The healthcare industry uses digital forms of media to advertise its services and connect consumers with healthcare professionals and institutions. For example, if you’re looking for a doctor, you can use the internet and your computer to find information regarding reputable physicians in your area.
• Entertainment: This industry uses different forms of digital media, including films, television shows, and music. Thanks to digital media, film, and other forms of entertainment such as music, have become easier to distribute to audiences through the click of a button.
• eCommerce: eCommerce websites use social media to share information about their products or services. For example, they can use both their website and social media accounts to build brand awareness, market their products, and help them generate online sales.
• Marketing and advertising: The marketing industry uses digital media to advertise its promotional materials. For example, a company’s advertising department can share a digital ad on a website to promote the company’s products or services.
• Non-profits: Non-profits use their social media accounts and websites to raise awareness, connect with people, and collect donations. For example, a non-profit can use social media to share information about a new fundraising campaign.
• Publishing and media: The publishing and media industry uses digital media to share various forms of content, including blog posts, videos, podcasts, and news articles. While companies have their own websites that house these forms of content, they can also use their social media accounts to promote this content and redirect users back to their website.

Read more: A Guide To Content Syndication [Infographic]

Types of Digital Media

Though there are several examples of digital media to consider, they all typically fall into the following categories:

Owned Media

This refers to media that you or a company controls and possesses. Some examples of owned media include an electronic device, a website, a blog, a video, or a social media platform. Increasing the amount of digital media you create gives your business greater visibility. This visibility then increases your brand’s authority and improves its ranking on search engines.

Want to learn more about creating and promoting your own forms of digital media? CopyPress has a newsletter that gives its readers key content marketing strategies and tips to boost your owned media’s performance. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Earned Media

Earned media refers to shared information via word of mouth, testimonials, social media, or another format. Essentially, it’s advertising from your own customers. For example, if a customer recommends your services on social media, this is media you earn because they liked your services enough to share them with others. Unlike owned digital media, you don’t have control over what people say about your business and its products and services.

Paid Media

Paid media refers to digital media that you’ve paid for in order to promote your products or services. Typically, paid media aims to drive traffic back to your owned media. You can pay for an online advertisement to improve your website’s traffic, increase sales, and drive a profit. Examples of paid media include display ads and paid search ads.

Examples of Digital Media in Marketing

Now that you know more about digital media, consider the following examples to give you a greater understanding of the formats in which companies use it for marketing and advertising:

• Written content: Businesses use written content as they perform effective content marketing strategies. This can include things like blogs, research articles, and white papers, that inform your readers while promoting your brand.
• Audio: Companies can use audio to market their business through mediums like digital podcasts. They can either develop an ad that runs during a popular show, or create a podcast themselves that talks about industry news and information.
• Video: Businesses use videos for several reasons, including promoting their products and services or creating educational materials. Those educational materials can help companies inform their target audience while increasing their brand awareness.
• Online advertising: Online advertising refers to a form of digital media that businesses use to promote a product or service. Examples of advertising include website banner ads or social media ads.
• Social media: Businesses can create advertisements to attract people on different social media platforms. These ads can either target specific audience members or display to a wide net of users to develop a stronger brand awareness.
• Websites: Businesses generally use websites to describe what their company is about and host an e-commerce store for their customers. Some companies also use websites to display their content marketing materials, such as blogs and research articles.

For example, CopyPress has a library of different eBooks you can download for free. One of our most popular is our eBook on the Content Marketing Pyramid, which describes how different forms of content work together to build your brand. Download your copy today!

Now that you know more about digital media, consider how it can benefit you and your business. When you use digital forms of media strategically, you can grow your business, build a better brand awareness, and increase revenue. Looking for even more ways to attract your target audience? CopyPress has a team of expert writers, editors, and quality assurance specialists who know how to create quality content that converts your readers into customers. Schedule a free call with us today to see how we can help improve your content marketing campaign.