Online Media: What Is It & How To Use It

When people talk about online media, they are talking about a variety of ways to use the internet and social media to grow your business. Media refers to the type of medium we acquire information and knowledge from. It includes things, like a newspaper, radio, TV or the internet. It has always been a part of society in distributing any message to a targeted audience. In this digital age, where the Internet dominates most communication channels, many types of online media sprouted to suffice the demand for it.

What Are The Basic Forms Of Media?

Today, there are three primary forms of media that we can acquire information from easily. Two have been around for a very long time. One is relatively new, but has become the dominant form of media used throughout the world.

Print Media

This is the medium of communication by print. The Tang Dynasty in China published the first books somewhere around 868 AD. So outside of word-of-mouth, this form of communication has been around the longest by a large margin. This media for distributing information includes books, newspapers, magazines, brochures, flyers, direct mail, banners, billboards, business cards, and many more.

Broadcast Media

Broadcast media means transferring information and content through audio and visual channels, including videos, audios, photos, etc. The most well-known forms of broadcast channels are TV, Radio and Movies, but there are few other methods that fit this category.

Online Media

Simply put, the Internet is Online Media. Whether it is audio, video or test, it is the content that is shared through online platforms. We will talk about the different channels that you can share this online information with others later in this post.

It’s important that you understand what it is before you start using it. For example, if you’re a blogger, then blogging would be considered online media. It is because bloggers use their blogs to educate their readers. They also use their blogs to promote their products or services. They use them to generate revenue from ads and affiliate products on their blog posts.

If you sell ebooks for a living, then posting them on platforms like Amazon Kindle could be considered online media. An ebook will create more traffic from potential buyers who may not have found your website yet. In this post we’ll go over how to effectively use these methods in order to grow your business!

What is online media?

Let’s define online media and go over some examples. Online media is a variety of ways to use the internet, digital marketing and social media to grow your business.

-Blogging can be used as online media because bloggers can promote their products or services using this method

-Posting ebooks on platforms like Amazon Kindle are considered online media. They create more traffic that will bring in potential buyers who may not have found you yet.

List of Online Media:

Search Engines, like Google, Bing, YouTube, Pinterest – The KingPins of Online Media

These search engines help people navigate the vast world we call the Internet. Without these search engines, it would be difficult to find what we are looking for on the world wide web. These search engines are more valuable than the old Yellow Pages phone books from many years ago.

Websites, Blogs & Ecommerce sites

• Today there are literally billions of websites, blogs and ecommerce sites that you can find online to provide you educational, informational or entertainment content. There are sites that can give you advice or save you money. There are some that take your money as you buy your favorite food or merchandise. It is unlimited what you can find and do online through a website.
• Websites and other online media has replaced encyclopedias, books and the need for libraries in many communities.

Media Sharing Networks- Share videos, audios and photos in one place

• Not so many years ago, people would carry around in their wallet of purse worn out pictures of their families and kids to show to friends and co-workers. Today, you would be laughed at by your co-workers if you did that. Instead, you pull out your smart phone that is connected to the local WiFI network and share not only photos of your family, but videos of your children at play.
• We can also post photos, videos and audio files on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. You can do this to share with people around the world. Online media has very little imitations and it keeps expanding everyday.
• Today’s world, social networks is where most people share media friends and colleagues. As social media platforms continue to evolve and innovate, they are including new features like augmented reality, live video, TV, and much more. Some of the social networks that use media sharing include Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
• Media sharing networks are crucial today for brands and businesses looking to market their businesses effectively. These networks are used for building brand awareness, lead generation, and audience engagement. That is why traditional media, like radio, TV and print are becoming dinosaurs in the world of advertising and marketing.

Online social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok & more)

• Social media or commonly called social networking sites, are the most popular online media being used in our everyday lives. Some of the largest Social networking sites include, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn and others. Today, there are nearly 4 billion social media users around the world. And that number is growing with each passing day.
• Social media’s primary purpose is to connect like-minded people and friends together in small groups or through larger communities. With the large number of daily users, social media is widely used for advertising and marketing businesses. Using various strategies, tactics and content, savvy marketers can grow their market share by reaching these captivated consumers.

Email – The forgotten online media

• Sometimes we forget how important emails are in the online media world. Most of us have at least one email account, most of us have multiple accounts. We usually have one from our work and one we label as our “personal” email account. Whether you have one email address or 10 email accounts, email is a very important part of our communication with other people.
• Through email, we stay in touch with family, friends, clients or vendors. We use email to share our latest photos, proposals, price quotes or most recent data. Despite the growth of many social media platforms over recent years, the number one most effective way to market and communicate in business is with emails.

Consumer Review Networks

• The primary focus of this online media is to share information about specific businesses, brands, products, services, travel destinations, and more. These sites, like Yelp and Trip Advisor, allows consumers to give their honest opinions and reviews about their experiences at a particular business.
• When reviews are honest and fair, it helps others consumers decide whether they want to try a particular restaurant or other business. These services can be very helpful. You do have to take them with a grain of salt because not all reviews are fair or honest. Sometimes a competitor or a disgruntled former employee will try to undermine the success of that business. In general, you can find review that are legitimate and fair.

Zoom Meetings, Live Webinars and Live Conferences – Emerging online media

• Since the pandemic began in 2020, live webinars, Zoom meetings and live chats have exploded into our world. These meetings or events are easily organized by you as a one-on-one sales meeting. Or they are used as a group presentation. Either way it can help generate new leads, close business or educate prospects about your products and services.
• This type of online media has revolutionized how we do business worldwide. And it is only going to grow more in the coming years so we all need to embrace it.

Online communities – Q&A sites and Discussion forums

• Online forums continue to grow as more people embrace them. These forums are online communities where people share their knowledge and expertise with others users who have common interests. Forums like Reddit, and Quora give people the opportunity to answer questions, comment, react, debate, and discuss a particular topic. While there are specific forum sites like I have already mentioned, you can also find many online discussions on social media platforms too, for example Facebook groups.
• Online forums are great way to get answers to perplexing questions about many different subjects. People are so will to help others and guide them in the right direction. For the most part, it is the best in humanity in action. It’s people helping people by educating them and sharing their advice on how to do things.

Mobile Apps – Online media on the move

• Today one of the most popular online media is the mobile app. If you have a business that encourages online business, like a restaurant then you need a mobile app. You need an app to keep up with the competition. A properly developed app to help you grow your business exponentially in the coming months and years. Your app can give consumers all the pertinent information about your business on the smart phone, tablet, laptop or computer.
• An app that has your locations and menus on it makes it easier for consumers to do business with you. It’ll be extremely helpful for your regular customers, but it will help you develop new customers too.

Reputation management

Monitor what people are saying about your business online and respond to questions, comments, complaints etc. in a timely manner. It’s also great for getting feedback from customers on their experience at your business or store. This information can help you to improve the quality of services they receive next time around. Finally it’ll help build trust among current and potential clients. It shows them that there is someone who cares about their opinions/experience with your company!

Online courses – Education through online media

• Today there is more training available than ever before. Most training is found through online media platforms. Platforms like, Coursera, Skillshare, Thinkific, Udemy and many others. These training platforms offer courses in just about everything imaginable. We are seeing more and more corporations developing their own courses to train their current and future employees. Let’s face it, in our work-from-home world, universal training that is available through various online media is critical to the success of many larger companies.
• This type of training is not just for large entities. More training is being offered in areas that will help freelancers who want to work from home. This includes areas, like writing, graphic design, coding and many other areas. Not to mention the hobbyists, who want to learn how to make candles, grow certain plants and learn new crafts.

Online newsletters & events

• These are perfect tools for keeping track of all changes. They also engage the existing customer base as well through an interactive approach where they get involved sharing experiences. The latter might also lead to the creation of online communities where like-minded people can meet and discuss ideas, share best practices etc.
• Online media is what every business should consider using in order to stand out from the crowd! There’s no denying that online marketing allows businesses who are willing to invest time into it (not money) grow their online presence exponentially by putting themselves in front of a targeted audience who has already expressed an interest in similar things they do or sell!

The most important point is not just being present but engaging with your target market because simply showing up isn’t going to get you anywhere if you don’t have a plan for converting visitors into leads which eventually convert them into paying customers. Use these tools wisely and think outside the box to come up with a strategy that is right for your business.

Online Media versus Traditional Media (Broadcast & Print Media)

Now that we have looked at online media thoroughly, let’s look at how it stacks up to the traditional broadcast and print media. We will compare and contrast both media to see what provides the greatest strengths in the different areas of marketing and advertising.

Brand-Building

When we talk about brand-building, we are really talking about building trust with the consumer. Both traditional and online media are able to build consumer trust, but traditional media’s long-track record in this area gives them an edge today. I believe online media is rapidly gaining ground in this area, but traditional media continues to be an excellent choice in building trust with potential users for any product or service.

Consumer Engagement

Traditional media really cannot solicit a lot of immediate engagement. Radio stations can ask listeners to call in for their feedback and TV can do the same on their news programming, but print cannot not get an immediate response. There is no doubt that online media, particularly social media, can engage with people and get a quick response.

Since its inception and growth, social media has dominated in the area of engagement. The audience’s ability to engage in real-time has completely changed advertising and marketing. Look at how much it has impacted government elections over the past few years. It has become a game-changer in marketing industry. My company, MaxDRIVE Marketing, has helped many clients turn their business around through effective social media campaigns and engagement with consumers.

Accurate Data & Analytics

Data and analytics drives online media. The numbers in an online media marketing campaign don’t lie. The numbers are simple to monitor and track. With this kind of transparency, it is good for the businesses that are doing the marketing. Additionally, it is good for the media outlets used. There are numerous data analytics tools to use to measure the effectiveness of your marketing.

With traditional media, there really isn’t a way to track and monitor data or look at analytics. It doesn’t mean it is not effective. However, it does means there is no concrete data to look at during or after a marketing campaign.

Cost-Effectiveness

When it comes to cost-effectiveness, online media, in general, much less expensive on a cost-per-thousand (CPM) basis. This is particularly true when you compare it to direct mail, TV and other print media. CPM is commonly used advertising metric that measures how many advertising dollars you must spend to reach 1,000 people. One of the primary goals of any advertising campaign is to reach as many target consumers as possible at the lowest cost.

Online media is not only more effective in reaching your targeted demographic, but it is consistently more cost effective too.

Simply put, an effective TV advertising campaign isn’t cheap. Be prepared to spend a large sum of money. While doing a campaign on Facebook or other social media, your investment will be a whole lot smaller. In fact, a little money will go a long way in giving advertisers more exposure and better results.

Reach

Today, more people use online media to get their daily news fix. Therefore, the reach of online media is growing rapidly. While just a few years ago, TV was the number one source of news and information for most people.

That is because social media and other news sources have become more accessible and convenient to use. It is right on your mobile phone and available whenever you need a news, weather or happenings update. Content is available whenever you want it. And the reach is growing constantly as more people use smart phones on a daily basis.

Responsive Feedback

Online media can provide instant response and feedback to anyone who wants it. Social media and other platforms make it easy to provide feedback quickly on just about any subject or current activities. The feedback is in real-time and it is two-way. Generally speaking, traditional media is only one-way communication.

As time and technology moves forward, online media will become a more valuable resource for everyone. Some forms of traditional media will survive into the future. Unfortunately, many forms of traditional media is fading away. It is being replaced completely by online media.