The ever changing landscape that is digital marketing is a constantly moving target, which means that watching the latest trends is how you stay on top. As experienced online marketers, we have seen our fair share of trends come and go. Learning what to look for as long-term marketing solutions is key to any marketers success. In 2014, we are sure that these trends will continue to gain momentum and solidify their position in the digital marketing landscape.
Authorship Gains Meaning
With Hummingbird comes an increased importance for Google Authorship and AuthorRank. Authorship allows writers to connect their articles with other content online and their Google+ profile. The author’s basic profile information also appear in the search along with listed results, and Google ranks authors, driving credibility. Google will continue to consider the quality of published content when ranking articles from a particular author. If you haven’t established authorship for your business, establishing it now is crucial to your future marketing efforts.
Connected Devices
There is no doubt about it, mobile devices and templates are taking up a larger share of the market every day. The way that mobility has already impacted the way we communicate and use the Internet has been forever changed. At today’s current take rate it is anticipated that by 2020 the world will have over 24 billion connected devices, and this represents the opportunity to continue to market to a growing audience. Connecting with consumers has never been so timely.
Consumers current experiences, state-of-mind, and feelings will become increasingly relevant to target marketing. Messaging will leverage in-the-moment events to align interests and thoughts, therefore inciting actions. Engagement and memorable experiences will continue to increase as this in-the-moment marketing engages the ever increasing audience.
Buzzwords are the New Kings of Content
Any experienced marketer knows the time honored mantra ‘content is king’ so we know that it’s not a new concept. In an increasing effort to engage and establish brand ties with a relevant audience the content is no longer one dimensional. Social media has transformed the creation of content into an ongoing conversation where dialogue takes place across every contact point, continues in social media and requires that brands listen to the consumers.
Mobile Apps Will Increase Their Footprint
Applications such as Instagram, WhatsApp and WeChat continue to trend and businesses should become early adopters. Instagram now has over 150 million users and shares 16 billion photos a day, and businesses have began adopting apps like Instagram to communicate with their audience. The simple, unique formats utilized by these apps have made the barrier of entry minimal, and small businesses that adopt early win big. Integrating new mobile apps into their ecosystems, before the platforms become saturated with businesses, increase engagement and brand awareness among developing markets.
Sponsored Content
Unlike long used paid advertising forums, sponsored content in social media will continue to gain momentum and importance. Dollar for dollar social media generates triple the revenues of other online marketing techniques. As brands continue to reach out to fans and engage them, sponsoring content and established publications will continue to see increased market share. Google continues to give top ranking to articles from editorial sources and less to individual companies. Sponsoring content in one of these publications may easily gain top placement not through Google, but directly through the publications. While the spend on social advertising continues to rise, the spend on display ads will continue to decrease.
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