In order to achieve success in today’s world, a business absolutely must be able to reach out to and communicate with a vast audience. This is how they convey messages, answer questions, solve problems and communicate a sufficient amount of information about their products and services in order to engage consumers and create conversions. For this, they need a tool, and media is that tool. Put quite simply, media are the tools that we use to communicate across distances and time to a broad audience, such as books, magazines, newspapers, film, radio, and television. But while these forms of media have worked very well for quite a lengthy period of time, the fact is that businesses who fail to embrace the digital age and incorporate digital media into their communications are unlikely to do as well as those businesses who do utilize digital media.
What is Digital Media
The term “digital” refers to the use of computers. It also includes the software used to run computers, as well as the movement and storage of digital information. However, digital media is far more complex than simply media that is produced with digital tools. After all, you could consider radio on the internet and newspaper on a tablet to fall into the category of digital media, but this field actually comprises far more, and can, therefore, do far more for a business than digitized radio or newspapers could ever hope to do.
In a simple sense, one could consider digital media to be digitized content, like text, graphics, audio, and video, that is transmitted via the internet or computer networks. More specifically, however, digital media opens the door to interactivity and group forming, which is simply not possible in the same way or to the same extent with traditional media. This interactivity occurs because most computer networks are designed so that one can send a message and receive a response–something that is not possible with one-way (also known as broadcast) media. This means that while traditional media forms can deliver the same message to a considerable audience, it cannot accept return messages. Considering how many consumer decisions are emotional and how connected consumers would like to feel with the businesses they are interacting with, this interactivity provided by digital media is critical. Interactivity can be as simple as choosing and rating shows or as complex as posting pictures and comments to online posts.
Group forming occurs on networked digital media because it is based on computer software that allows for the organization of groups around any sort of topic. Group forming is very beneficial to any business because it can help individuals to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate on everything from parties to brand promotions. Businesses who monitor groups that have to do with their brand, products, services or business, in general, can get a better read on what consumers do and do not like and what they need to do in order to better deliver exactly what consumers need and want.
Digital Media Services
Some valuable digital media services include:
- Electronic advertising distribution. This allows one to place advertising content on national broadcasts, national cable, local broadcasts, syndicators, digital publishes, theatre screens, radio, and much more.
- Production services. In order to prepare content for distribution, digital media service companies can provide audio, closed captioning and subtitling, color correction, digitization, duplication, editorial, file creation, quality control, standards conversion, voice-over insertion, watermarking, and other services.
- Multi-platform video content preparation. Video content can be prepared for OTT platforms, Video On Demand, broadcast television, mobile, online publisher, social, theatrical, print, Blu-ray, and much more.
- File conversion. This includes coding content to fit just about any format and platform specification.
- Preparation and delivery of video content. Video content can be prepared with quality control, color correction, customization, encoding, transcoding, and conversion before being delivered to film festivals, iTunes, OTT platforms, broadcast television, digital/publisher use, mobile formats, digital cinema packages, and much more.
- Archival digitization. Older video content formats can take up a considerable amount of space and lose quality over time. Archival digitization can be used for advertising content, television series, news programs, catalogs, music, TV programs, documentaries, feature films, company meetings, church and religious ceremonies, speeches and lectures, home movies, and more.
- Post-production services. This includes closed captioning, subtitling, color correction, DCP encryption, digitization, duplication, DVD or Blu-ray authoring or replication, editorial, file creation, quality control, voice-over insertion, tagging, time tailoring, watermarking, and more.
This in-depth look at what digital media actually comprises proves that it is far more than traditional media presented in digital form. It actually presents information in a way that encourages and allows for interactivity and group forming, so that consumers are more engaged with the business and with one another in relation to the business. For more information about media services, and specifically, digital media services, contact Web Content Development today.
