The five basic things consumers do online and why you should pay attention.

Understanding your customers and their intent online is vital for your company. There are five main things people do online – connect, create, enjoy, learn, and trade. Each one of these things are full of marketing possibilities. Why do we do business online or in general, for profit of course! Lets explore how we can take advantages of these consumers habits.

Connect:

Consumers have a low cost medium to connect with businesses and friends locally or across the world with email and social networks. It’s a way to communicate back and forth and you don’t even need high speed access. Almost all Internet users send email (89%).  You can even use your phone, it’s that simple. Other forms of communication include instant messaging, Internet phone calls, and online dating. Most of this communication comes from dedicated sites such as Skype, eHarmony, and Gmail. Remember that, they go through an online dedicated site.

Create:

Connecting is the start, and then they like to create by updating profiles and uploading photos to their favorite social networks. Users also have content creation where they are adding to their web sites, Myspace, Facebook, and Linkedin for professionals are the most used.

                                                        Enjoy:

Seventy-two percent of users go online for entertainment. Over half the users watch videos and thirty-seven percent download music. These numbers will grow as more is offered on the Internet; most TV shows are transferred digitally and on demand. Hulu is a popular program that stores programming for delivery to a PC at any time. As more people make broadband part of their cable packages, it will be smoother for consumers to stream and download. Marketers should keep an eye on popular searches entered into Google or Yahoo! to keep up with the trends.

Learn:

Consumers surf the web for information also. Local weather, driving directions, news, and sports scores are just some examples. Users claim they learn more from the Internet and has made them resourceful. Many classes form major universities have classes online and some students take these classes just for fun! Search engines are the main resource for these users; they can type in any question and get results.

Trade:

Most consumers will shop, buy, or create another form of transaction online. Seventy-five percent purchased products online and a quarter paid for digital access content (like the New York Times). Craiglist is providing any easy way to post a classified!

Ask yourself again, why do you need to purchase display ad’s?  We think it’s pretty evident when many consumers’ lives have these five reasons for going online: connect, create, enjoy, learn, and trade. Each of these activities drives consumers to a specific site, let us at the HELM group help you determine which sites to add your brand to.