Monetizing Engagement

There are many ways to monetize digital engagement. Some are twists on old models enhanced by technology, while others are completely new. Today's marketer should be knowledgeable on the many options and understand which is best for the brand. In this lesson on Understanding Monetization Models, you will learn to:

• Describe and explain 10 of the most common monetization models
• Explain the pros and cons of each monetization model
• Identify the appropriate pairings of monetization methods with products and services

Prior to the digital revolution, brand engagement was very difficult to track and even harder to measure. New technologies have allowed brands to track different types of engagement through many different channels. However, this has also led to new challenges. For example, what metrics should you track, and what type of brand engagement is most important? By understanding how to recognize, measure and foster meaningful engagement, marketers will be better equipped to maximize the customer experience, leading to better ROI. In this lesson, you will learn to:

• Identify and explain different types of customer engagement
• Which metrics are most important for monetizing engagement
• Identify the engagement actions that lead to improved ROI

The customer journey is the sum of experiences that a customer goes through when they engage with your brand. The number of channels available today offer multiple touchpoints to engage with customers but also make it challenging to create seamless omnichannel experiences. How can today's marketer create meaningful engagement in an omnichannel world? In this lesson on omnichannel and the new customer journey you will learn to:

• Describe what specific factors influence today's customer journey.
• Identify methods for tracking engagement at different stages of the customer journey.
• Recognize the relationship between brand consistency and ROI.

The hottest buzzword in marketing today is content marketing. Brands are racing to create content that will engage their customers and keep their brand top of mind. But how do you create content that drives engagement? And what are the best ways to use content to engage with consumers? What form is best for your brand's goals?  In this lesson you will learn to:

• Describe the rationale for content marketing as a method of improving brand engagement.
• Explain the different forms of content marketing and when to use them.
• Identify the key elements of creating effective monetizable content.

The importance of designing specifically for mobile to achieve meaningful engagement with your customers cannot be overstated. How can you take advantage of new technologies to reach and engage prospects and customers on their mobile devices? What are the differences between engagement strategies for your website and mobile? In this lesson you will learn to:

• Discuss why being mobile-first is critical for impacting engagement and monetization
• Explain different types of app engagement and monetization methods
• Describe what’s next in mobile and how it will impact customer engagement

Marketing is all about reaching the customer. Technology is revealing new ways to do this at a faster pace than we've ever seen. In-home voice control, virtual reality, and a myriad of ways to present information, experiences and ways to monetize. How can you determine the best way to use new technologies to reach your audience? In this lesson, you will learn to:​​

• Discuss how the impact of new media is driving engagement.​
• Explain how to engage and monetize with the different types of new media.​

Gone are the days when "link in bio" was the only way to drive sales from social media. Legacy social platforms like Facebook and YouTube, and mobile-native platforms including Instagram and TikTok, are all evolving to make social commerce easier than ever for both brands and buyers. ​​In this lesson, you'll learn:​

• To define social commerce and its relation to eCommerce​
• How to engage and monetize using social channels​
• How to identify emerging channels for influencer marketing

"The power and impact of experiences that create emotional connections between brands and consumers is finally being appreciated and understood," says Chris Meyer, CEO of experiential agency George P. Johnson.  ​"Experiential has finally taken its place at the adult table as it relates to marketing mix and investment." Meyer cites the following factors driving this change: ​

1. Millennials not only expect but prefer experiences over any other engagement ​
2. Data-driven platforms that allow hyper-personalization and provide stronger metrics​
3. Heightened creative thinking applied to experience design for more valuable interactions ​

In this lesson on Monetizing Experiential Marketing, you will learn to:​

•  Describe experiential marketing and how it relates to engagement​
•  Explain the different types of experiential marketing​
•  Demonstrate how experiential marketing works with social media and ecommerce​

Ensuring that your customers are receiving a great experience throughout their journey with your brand is essential to creating lasting engagement. It can also be the key factor in retaining both their attention and dollars. A critical aspect of this experience is User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design. ​​

In this lesson, you will learn to:  ​

• Identify the differences and similarities between UI and UX in the design process ​
• Recognize the elements of effective design for engagement

Measurement is the holy grail of marketing. The omnichannel marketing mix commonly used today is complex, and it is not always easy to understand how to optimize marketing spend. It's about nonlinear, multitouch engagement, which is complicated to measure. As a result, many new tools and models have been developed. In this lesson, we'll introduce you to some of those methods and tools. You'll learn how to:​

• Identify and explain common KPIs for tracking engagement​
• Recognize and describe the value of an affinity scorecard​
• Identify and explain different attribution models​

If you’re going to monetize engagement, you'll need the right tools. That’s where marketing technology—mar tech for short—comes in. The tools for managing brand experiences range from those delivering the top layer that users see, such as a corporate or brand website, to the back-end data storage. Because these systems appear as a pancake-like “stack” on diagrams, they are collectively called the marketing, or mar-tech, stack. ​

In this lesson, you will learn to:​

• Identify and describe the different tools for executing and measuring engagement and monetization​
• Consider the right factors when choosing tools for executing and measuring engagement and monetization​
• Explain how to work with different parts of your organization to achieve marketing goals​

There are many different ways to effectively engage with customers in ways that lead to profitable actions. Advanced technologies, along with new and emerging monetization models, offer exciting opportunities for marketers to continue evolving how they reach consumers. But it really comes down to better identifying customers, connecting with them, understanding their needs, and using the information and technology we have available to take a customer-first approach that drives favorability and consideration. ​

In this lesson, we will look at how three different organizations are connecting with their customers to drive measurable engagement:​

• How The Weather Channel Is Fighting the Flu​
• Budweiser Launches an Omnichannel Campaign to Reach Millennials​
• Lush Cosmetics Reinforces Customer Connections With UGC​