A few years ago, the job of a weekly newspaper like ours was simply to publish a print edition every week. Today it is a little more complex. As the platforms have multiplied, it is now necessary to be visible on each of them. Besides the weekly distribution, we also need to feed our website and make regular posts on our Facebook page, Instagram and Linkedin. Video content should also be favored to allow us to reach an audience expanded and increase our number of subscribers.
The digital shift is well and truly underway and it requires additional time and resources. We discuss this phenomenon with Éric Girard, manager communications and marketing at Proxima Centauri, a consulting firm that offers, among other things, consulting and training services to businesses.
For more than 22 years, Mr. Girard has been a graphic designer. Over time, he turned to social media. He has also worked for the Saguenay microbrewery, La Voie Maltée, which relies heavily on its digital platforms. Its Facebook page has over 36,000 subscribers.
Unmissable visibility
Today, Eric Girard believes that it has become essential for companies to be visible on social networks. However, their presence depends on several factors. In particular, you have to know your target customers. “There is no point in being on all the networks if your customers are not on Instagram. For example, we focus on Facebook, we deploy a good strategy and we benefit from good visibility. It will pay more than if you were on 3 or 4 different social media ”, specifies Éric Girard, who reminds us that each platform has its uses.
The marketing manager recognizes that this extra workload can cause stress or worry. The important thing is to take your time and integrate these new tasks into working hours.
Social media manager
For 22 years, Mr. Girard has witnessed tremendous progress in the digital field. He gives the example of the creation of the post of manager of social networks, a job that did not exist just a few years ago.
The competition becomes all the fiercer as our news feeds are inundated with news and images. For companies to stand out, they must therefore take the time to refine their visual and the quality of their publication, hence the choice to hire a social network manager. The objective of social media being to attract customers, the business must absolutely seduce by its visual and its photos. “It’s really important to look after your image, otherwise your social media strategy will definitely never work. ”
In addition to the image, the ethics of the company and its values are more and more at the forefront of the priorities, as much for the workforce in search of employment, as for the consumers.
A set
Éric Girard believes that the pandemic will have further demonstrated the importance of a good digital strategy. Over the course of his career, he has often witnessed a similar trend: when a business is not doing well, the first place it cuts is often in advertising or marketing. Indeed, it can be difficult for an entrepreneur to perceive the benefits of these sectors, since we do not receive tangible results in return. However, they are essential to ensure the visibility of the company and to develop a feeling of belonging among its customers.
Mr. Girard emphasizes that to be effective, the digital strategy must not be deployed in silos, but be integrated as a whole comprising the company, its website, its online sales and its social networks.
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