How do you make your business stand out in the digital age?

Picture an Uptown street corner with 10 people standing with signs advertising their business. Will the neon poster be seen first or will the owner jumping up and down and chanting a slogan have a better chance at being noticed?

Marketing on social media is not all that different. Business owners are using creative measures in digital media to get potential customers to acknowledge their business with a click, share or a comment.

Add value to your company

There is pressure to update content regularly, but this doesn’t mean anything goes. Posts still need to be appropriate for the audience the business is trying to attract. The message must also be compelling; otherwise, it can get lost in the clutter.

“There’s so much competition for everyone’s attention,” CabanaVR co-owner Wende Whitus said. “You have to differentiate yourself somehow.”

Wende and her husband, Greg Whitus, produce 360-degree virtual videos for the travel, tourism and hospitality industry through their new company CabanaVR. They create interactive promotional videos and virtual reality tours for companies such as Lake Norman Luxury Yacht Charters, Carefree Boat Club of Lake Norman and Lake Wylie, and Anytime Fitness.

Greg recommended finding material by following experts in your industry and posting articles, videos and impactful ads that will add value to a company’s message.

“If it [digital marketing] is used properly, you’ll drive traffic to your website, your business and you create buzz about it,” Greg said.

He used the example of NoDa Company Store’s recent string of videos on YouTube. The videos are creative and reinforce the brand and the tone of the store.

“I instantly got that it [NoDa Company Store] was light hearted, fun and a little quirky,” Wende said. “Those posts have to match the ethos of the business.”

Find a way to be interactive

“One thing people are wrestling with is, ‘How do I get my voice heard in a digital age?’’ Wendy said.

She suggested posts with 360 videos or live stream because they engage viewers and do exceptionally better than plain text and photo posts.

Excedrin released a 360 video showing the effects of a chef having a migraine at work.

“It was a fascinating way at looking at aspirin,” Greg said. “It added value to Excedrin. It showed what this [migraine] looks like. It was an impactful ad.”

While your budget may be slightly smaller than a multinational company, there are ways to make a 360 video using a mobile phone’s panoramic photo feature and uploading it to Facebook.

YouTube, Facebook Live and Periscope offer live streaming options that can work for “how to” videos or on-location tutorials.

“You have to be smart and strategic in what you do and how you utilize these tools,” Greg said.

CabanaVR: (980) 318-0014

Photo: CabanaVR

This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 10:00 PM with the headline "How do you make your business stand out in the digital age?."