Basically, a digital ecosystem is a bunch of technologies that work together to deliver information to your customers about your products and services. A digital ecosystem (let’s just call it a DE, shall we?) can operate in-house or as a multi-company interconnection. It’s also a great buzz term to toss around at meetings.

Example 1: A healthcare DE could digitalize multiple processes to make the patient experience easier by, say, grouping appointment scheduling, messaging, test results and prescription refills all on one site. If you’ve ever communicated with a doctor via an online portal, you’ve entered the world of DE.

Example 2: Google’s unspeakably vast DE connects the Google search engine, Chrome web browser, Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Calendar, Chromebook, Google Maps, Docs, Android, YouTube, and God only knows what else.

DEs give businesses of all types and sizes maximum opportunity for growth and innovation by generating new sources of revenue, tracking, and analyzing data, and tons of other techie stuff. It looks at platforms and channels through audience analysis, insight, and strategy so you can see how people interact with digital media and how you can use it to your brand’s advantage.

A well-oiled DE is high on the business must-have list. Really high. Like, neglecting it is kind of a death wish. Which is why yours needs to be a) existent and b) operating at full- on honey badger capacity. Hence, auditing.

Too many brands launch a website or Google profile and then completely abandon it for months or even years. Don’t be that brand. An audit of your digital ecosystem can help identify low-hanging fruit (easy fixes and updates) or aha moments (omg, there’s the problem!) and can crank your digital performance all the way up to eleven.

The Big Three

When auditing your DE, here are three important questions you need to ask:

1. Is your social media presence working for your brand?

If you’re tempted to say, “define working,” keep reading. There are ways you can measure this stuff.

• Sales — How’s your conversion rate? If sales go up (or God forbid, down) after a social media blitz, you’ve got evidence that it’s having an effect. Want to find out precisely which social is working hardest? There’s an app for that.
• Google Analytics — This data-driven bulldog of an application can monitor your website traffic and tell you which social media page each visitor is coming from. Armed with that information, you can fine-tune your social grid accordingly.
• Vanity Metrics — Essentially popularity contests, vanity metrics measure things like how many fans and followers your brand has, as well as the number of Likes, Favorites, Shares and Retweets it gets. These metrics can be ego-boosting, but popularity can be a fickle friend (remember high school?) Also, sometimes Likes and Follows don’t translate to actual sales. Still, they can give you an idea of what content gets the most interaction and when.

2. Does your brand have a digital style guide?

Developing a consistent brand starts with creating basic rules to define its overall look and feel.

Your brand guide is the main touchstone keeping everyone on the same page. It should include clear instructions on color palette, fonts, tone of voice, imagery, and logo use. For instance, if your brand sports a blue & orange logo online but a pink & puce version in print, customers get confused. Consistency is king in logo-land. Your logo is your ambassador, your flag, your gang sign. Don’t futz with it. Take your cue from the big guys: If Nike used the swoosh on X-formerly-known-as-Twitter, but went with dancing daisy petals on their website, it just might kickstart the Apocalypse.

Your digital brand guide might also include your mission statement — a short-and- sweet testimonial of what your brand stands for, what it wants to achieve and how it intends to make a positive impact. While you’re at it, incorporate a positioning statement too, i.e., what makes your brand so kickass and why it can serve your customer way better than other, less kickass brands.

Finally, make your brand guide digitally accessible to everyone on your team: your designers, art directors, writers, marketers, partners, affiliates, and anyone else using your brand elements. Not to put too fine a point on it, but your whole brand identity depends on it.

3. Who’s watching the website?

Your website is a vital part of your DE. Often neglected, it can be an important element in helping you identify your customer base, improve user experience, boost sales and a heap of other good stuff. But it needs consistent TLC. Start by asking basic functional questions:

• Is your website easy to navigate?
• Is the journey intuitive?
• Do all of the links work?
• Is anybody checking the contact inbox? (We’re talking to you, phone company.)

Seem like stupid questions? (Do all the links work? Really?) Dude, seventy percent of small businesses don’t even have a freaking CTA. The point is, don’t assume. Studies show it takes about 0.05 seconds — that’s 50 milliseconds — for users to form an impression of your website that may determine if they stay or leave. A little maintenance work is a small price to pay. We’d also recommend spending a minute on these babies:

• Is your website optimized for SEO? Could anything get you blacklisted?
• Are your pages properly titled?
• What is your site speed? (47 percent of users expect a 2-second loading time,

max.)

• Do you have duplicative content?
• What kind of reviews are you getting about your product, service, or user experience? Are you engaging with your audience and addressing reviews?

Need help managing your digital ecosystem? Morgan & Co. can perform an audit for you, find your issues and fix them, too. We use a strategy-first process that positions your brand’s digital environment uniquely in a marketplace to grow brand awareness and generate share of market. Just visit the Contact link on our homepage or give us a call at 504.561.5062.