Going Digital is popular and Going Green is trendy too. And that is why the sustainable businesses are going digital too.
Digital is the media to reach youth, to take away a piece of their time and a platform where they can be heard.
kyle (photo credits)Digital is also convenient, less time taking and it mostly connects the consumer at leisure time so the chances to be seen, read & responded are double.
GoD is the short form for Going Digital. And now the green is going digital too. But have you ever thought why green is going digital? Well, I would say going digital is green. It is a greener practice. Wonder How?
Check out these simple Digitally Green Practices
Virtual Meetings
A virtual meeting is a green practice as it helps you save fuel and that further helps in saving environment. It is also cost effective and saves time. It also eliminates the need of those paper printed reports, share them online through pdfs, and take notes on Google docs and save those notepads. Virtual Meetings are good. They are green and digital.
Green Tip: If pictures are not possible use a clock face to help yourself and others know who is on the call.
Go Paperless
Did you realize how & when your surprise greeting cards become obsolete and you started sending e-cards and now do sweet little things on social networks to wish & surprise your loved ones! The emotions are same; it is only the mode of conveying them that has changed.
Going Paperless is possible now. Going paperless is green. Digital media enables you to read, write and share without paper. If you are a book lover, buy kindle and go green. If you love writing – do it on machine and keep notepads for notes only. Use GPS and cut the maps. Go green – do your bit.
While we talk about Going Paperless, did you know that SEO is a paperless marketing strategy and that makes it a green strategy?
A single online search query generates 7 grams of carbon dioxide, according to a Harvard University physicist. Google alone handles more than 200 million daily queries. Google is aware of this and is going the bit to stay green as an organization. In fact, many IT giants world over are taking steps towards cutting down the power consumption, they are subscribing to more and more green corporate habits and promoting it among the employees too. One such initiative is Blackle , google’s energy efficient search engine.
Green Tip: You know that keeping a black desktop background saves power and therefore it is a green habit.
Go Green on Social Media
Like mentioned in the beginning, going green is trendy and going digital is popular. And social media provides a perfect mix for the likeminded people who are ready to look for, explore and listen online. We can say those who believe in the power of social media. The marketer likes to go social for two reasons, one – he gets to meet the compatible people who have some zest about environment and two – to meet those who take great interests in social responsibility.
Both the kinds are there, hooked on to social networks and trying to go green in some way or the other.
Some of the absolute Green sites for social networking include, Care2 which is considered the big daddy on green going online, interestingly care2 was incepted in the year 1998. Another one is GreenPassions, an absolute dating site for the environment loving singles who prefer green over pink-rosy dates. If you go and check this site you will find people with other green interests like wildlife conservation, recycling, organic farming etc. Few other examples include, Veggiedate which enables vegetarian dating for vegetarian singles.
Then there are several Car Pool sites across countries, one such interesting website is WorldCarShare for the similar purpose and it operates globally.
For more passionate green lovers, who not only want to follow & practice green habits, there are sites like Greenpeace, TheCarbonDiet etc
All the above examples add relevance to marketers going digital. The above sites help the marketer reach out the green minded customers, who believe in the power & significance of sustainability. They also work as the platform for the marketer to reach out through green mediums like search keywords and allows them to target through display ads.
Therefore, the marketers should take note. Green is going digital as the consumers across the world are going digital. They must adapt and realize that social media provides everyday new opportunity to explore green loving customers and to reach out the others. They must keep in mind that their communication & offerings align with the social site they collaborate with.
Green is here to stay. Go Digital Go Green.
Have fun 🙂
About the author: Jigyasa Laroiya is a brand enthusiast and is now founder-director at her brand start-up 30TH FEB. For more than 5 years, she worked on understanding, conceptualizing and executing brands & business consulting services. Before opening her own firm, she worked with agencies like Contract Advertising, Alia Group. She is also been associated as a resource person with IIM Shillong.