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WINTER 2021 45 DIGITAL LINGO I f you're trying to step up your digital game, here are 5 C's you will want to explore to help you maximize your online proper- ties and activities, and learn how to monitor analytics that matter. 1. Call To Action (CTA): A CTA en- courages prospects or customers to take an action, and can be in differ- ent forms such as a text hyperlink or a button that says "Shop Now" or "Download White Paper." The CTA might be subscribing to a newslet- ter, signing up for a demo, or mak- ing a purchase. The CTA might be "Subscribe to our weekly newslet- ter," "Watch our new demo video," "50% off today only," or "See our fall collection here. "Remember to be creative but to be clear. Too many CTA in one marketing piece may confuse your customer, so be fo- cused for best results. 2. Conversion rate: The conversion rate is the percentage of customers, or potential customers, that takes the specific action encouraged in your marketing campaign. Market- ing efforts focused on convincing a prospect or customer to take the next step moves them along in the customer journey and into your sales funnel, so conversion rate is an im- portant metric. Conversion rates vary depending on marketing chan- nels and industry, so consult bench- marks to help you understand how you're performing when measured against your competitors and peers. 3. Community management: Com- munity management is the process of building communities (online or offline) for your customers, fans, and even employees. It means fos- tering an authentic and engaging environment for your brand. A com- munity may gather on your social media channels either in Pages or Profiles owned by you or they may operate in fan-managed environ- ments. Marketers should know the benefits and pitfalls of both and find ways to engage with these com- munities to work on customer ser- vice issues, exclusive fan events or perks, and even nurture them for ideas and intelligence. 4. Cost of acquisition (CAC): Ev- erything marketers do is about customer acquisition and retention. Customer acquisition refers to all of the activities involved in obtaining a customer. CAC refers to the aver- age cost of acquiring a customer, and may be determined by using this formula: sales and marketing expenses ÷ total number of custom- ers = CAC. This number, coupled with CLV (customer lifetime value), can tell you about the potential prof- itability of your business model. 5. Content Creators, AKA Influ- encer Marketing: It's more than TikTok, Instagram Stories, or spon- sored blog posts. Influencer market- ing is not arbitrary and should be a part of every marketing strategy. It can be a highly effective way to tap into a customer persona or build re- lationships with those who have the power to convince their audience to trust their recommendations and referrals. Influencers may have built a fol- lowing by being knowledgeable and expert in a specific field, based on their experience, education, or status. They can create engag- ing and high-production content for their audiences and can drive results. But don't get excited only by number of followers, because it needs to be about the connection and reliability they have built with their fan base/followers. Consider partnering with micro-influencers (those with less than 10K follow- ers), as this can benefit your busi- ness or brand when there are mu- tual values and engaging content. ■ Susie Erjavec Parker is a writer and expert on the current and future state of social media and digital mar- keting. She also consults on public relations, marketing trends, and the intersection of consumer behaviour. Watch the MCC website at www.jointhechamber.ca for a series of digital marketing posts from Susie.

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