The term “media” can be a little confusing—but this isn’t about tabloid headlines and hairsprayed news anchors. Here, media simply means the different ways to communicate information on the internet. When you create web content, video, sound, graphics and text are all media.
Popular media for the web today can be as simple as tried-and-true text/HTML, or as sophisticated as Flash interfaces that integrate many multimedia elements. Ultimately, your website’s purpose is to communicate your message to your audience as clearly as possible.
That’s a simple, straightforward goal—you just have to figure out the best way to do that. Choosing the right media for your website will have a considerable impact on how well you get your message across. It will enhance your target markets‘ relationship with your site—and, by extension, their relationship with you.
Keep these points in mind when you’re thinking about choosing media.
Know your target market’s media habits
When thinking about the best media to use on your site, keep in mind the first commandment of marketing: Know thy audience. When you choose the appropriate media for your target market, you’re filling their needs by making it as easy as possible for them to use your site. More engagement, less friction—happy audience.
That means a site visited mostly by baby boomers isn’t necessarily going to need advanced Flash applications—but a site aimed at university students might benefit from a little more razzle-dazzle.
Know your objectives
Most websites tend to be more functional than demonstrative; customers arrive with a purpose, usually to gather information. For such sites, irrelevant or “artsy” media distractions would probably be unnecessary and unwelcome.
That means they can negatively impact your goal-achievement—media that take long to load, for example, could reduce your conversions. On the other hand, if you’re a design firm or art gallery, “artsy” is perfectly appropriate.
Yet another reason to set objectives and research your target market.
Know the technical considerations and cost of media
Is your market going to need high-speed internet access and a certain amount of web sophistication to use your media? Consider whether you’ll need to use—and pay for—proprietary applications or programs to facilitate data storage and downloads.
Keep browser and platform compatibility issues in mind.
And think about whether you have the technical expertise to update your site, especially if it incorporates more advanced media like videos or Flash.
Keep it simple
When choosing media, you’ll find that simplicity is usually the best route. Simple HTML text is often the best format.
With text/HTML, users can arrive at the site quickly, scan text for information, and easily work through menus and search engines. Moreover, text/HTML is an effective and low-cost solution that’s easy to update, even if you don’t have any advanced technical ability.
And furthermore, usability studies show that even when sites contain flashy graphics and animations, people’s eyes jump straight to the text.
Oh, and don’t forget search engine optimization. Remember your keyword research? Search engines can’t (yet) search video, but they love text.
Ask your market
Finally, don’t just assume that you’ve picked the right media.
You need to make sure that your media choices are helping you meet your communication objectives.
So ask questions about media when you research your target market. Have them fill out surveys and offer feedback. And measure content use; check your analytics to see if hits, click-throughs and conversions are meeting your expectations.
And, of course, keep tweaking. The right media combination for your market may change—so don’t abandon your website once you’ve made your initial choices. Test, tweak and test some more—and you’ll be rewarded with a site that consistently engages your market.
Especially if it’s consistent. So let’s now see how to guide the style of your content to ensure consistency.