Online media – a passport to greater impact

Working on both sides of the Atlantic, we’ve become accustomed to finding that digital media do not respect national boundaries. This leads to interesting conversations with clients, especially where media lists are still organized to target only the top publications in their domestic market.

The UK and US remain divided by a common language that means vocabulary must be adjusted when writing copy about cars / automobiles, mobile phones / cell phones or nappies / diapers. Online media, on the other hand, are bridging the divide by creating increasing overlap between what is found, seen and read by audiences – from York to New York and from Birmingham, West Midlands to Birmingham, Alabama.

Online media can cross the dateline, time zones and national borders. The most influential among them are increasingly accumulating readers in multiple geographies, strengthening their domain authority and becoming more visible in the search results returned to consumers looking for news about their favourite brands, products and celebrities, as well as hot topics and issues. Counterintuitively, they might provide a passport to increased engagement and impact, not just abroad but at home.

It was a surprise to one client that forbes.com had a significant amount of influence on the perceptions of their brand in the UK. Another was taken aback by the audience impact of theguardian.com outside of the UK. Many are incredulous about the international importance of dailymail.co.uk which has an audience of millions around the world. Yet the evidence is persuasive and increasingly we are asked for advice about whether, for example, a US-headquartered lifestyle publication might be worthwhile addition to the media list for a campaign aimed at UK consumers.

While online media are jumping international frontiers, we’re also using our understanding of their power to push the boundaries of media effectiveness evaluation. The ability to rank in quantifiable terms which media are working best for clients, or across their sector, means they can make informed decisions about where to focus time and energy. While it’s tempting to believe that closer-to-home outlets will produce the best results, the only way to know for sure is to discover what your audience is finding, reading and engaging with in the big wide world.

Are you ready to explore new frontiers in assessing media impact? Contact us via hello@metricomm.com or by using the form below, and we’ll get straight back to you!