THE first Newsquest digital seminar to take place in Colchester was also the most attended in the country proving businesses are serious about being online-savvy.

Participants left the Weston Homes Community Stadium today armed with free knowledge on how to begin maximising their brand’s reach online and a personalised digital health check with key analytics from their website, and their main competitor.

Rachael Dunn, business development manager for Newsquest Specialist Media, started with the basics like having an attractive and up-to-date website before venturing into social media touchpoints and why "little and often" pays off when it comes to digital marketing.

Gazette:

Expert Rachael Dunn has 17 years’ experience in the media industry

Before handing over to social media guru Scott Hornsby, her final message was for businesses to consider where they are now and to set realistic goals for what they want from their digital marketing strategy over the next three to six months.

For the 600 million active brand pages on Facebook, Scott explained why video is their future, and why a significant algorithm change means consumers will begin to see far fewer posts from brands like those in the room...starting now.

"That's a heck of a lot of people to fight against to be seen," he began.

"A hundred-million hours of video is watched on Facebook each day so video is huge.

"A platform like Facebook Live allows you to engage in real time and get into people's lives."

Gazette:

Chris Hatton, regional editor-in-chief of Newsquest Essex and north London

And on Twitter, where there are 300 million active users, tweets last just 14 minutes, which nobody in the room guessed correctly.

He said: "Unless you get a retweet or a conversation starts off the back of it, it's dead.

"Everyone must have a social media strategy. We've changed the way we consume news and content now which means brands are constantly having to fight for people's attention."

Guests also heard from Chris Hatton, former reporter turned regional editor-in-chief and Mike Harper, Newsquest’s managing director for Essex and north London, who described what has become an “increasingly complex and fractured” digital landscape.

Gazette:

Mike Harper setting the digital scene at the event

He said: "Most people know us for our trusted newspaper brands and if we were to set out today and ask 98 unsuspecting souls, they would be able to tell you the name of one of our brands in Colchester.

"Brand values in particular are really important to us and something we guard feverishly."

He added: “Being a trusted brand is a really key message in terms of digital performance and if you take anything away from today it would be, how do you plant your brand as a trusted one online?

“It’s the Wild West out there, it really is.”

Gazette:

Our free seminars cover best practice when setting your online marketing plan.

Topics will include:

• How the marketing landscape has changed

• Setting realistic marketing objectives

• Multi-channel marketing

• Online display – getting it right

• Social media – is it right for your business?

To learn more about our products and services, click here for Reach Edge.

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