Digital Marketing Trends are similar to fashion trends in many ways. Every season something new comes along that captivates the consumer and becomes an instant hit, only to see itself fade away after a few months. Every year new strategies and approaches emerge which take the internet by storm and then eventually get replaced by newer strategies. Today’s post will keep the focus on Digital Marketing and in particular some of the most popular marketing trends that will be the center of attention in this year.
Google Plus – Integral for All Businesses
It’s no secret; Google wants users to start using Google Plus. Over the months, it has be using its influence and authority as the leading search engine in the world to give its social platform Google + the edge over arch rivals Facebook and Twitter. And this time, it looks like it has paid off. If you look at the recent updates, they have cleverly improved their search algorithm to factor is social signals from social media platforms with special emphasis given to Google Plus. The reasons for this move were two-fold. First and foremost, to give Google Plus the edge over the competitors and second, to pressure Facebook and Twitter to give Google Crawlers access to their internal pages index which they have currently blocked Google from viewing.
While this tug of war rages on between these tech-giants, consumers and small businesses should immediately start creating and building their Google Plus network, in addition to their current ones.
Location Based Services
This will continue to play an important role in the coming months and beyond 2012. There is a rich resource of consumers out there and they all want to be found. Websites like Foursquare will continue to thrive and technologies like Google Wallet despite the privacy issues will only get better and better. There is an ever present need of the consumer that demands companies to understand their daily life and make things easier for them. Nowadays it’s all about Near Field Communication and if the rumors are true and if the next generation iPhone does in fact incorporate it in its design, location based service will become just an integral as inbox and voice mail.
Hello Mobile Marketing
This is a no brainer. Mobile marketing may have been a luxury or an accessory in the past but from 2012 onwards it will become a mainstream necessity no company could afford to be without. Furthermore with HTML 5, mobile sites will be able to perform all the functions that an app can without having to go through the tedious process of long downloads and other issues. The U.S. Mobile Ad spending is expected to grow 47% in 2012. In light of this it can be safely conclude that apps will decline and mobile sites will continue to grow, expand and thrive.
These may just be three digital marketing trends however there is one thing about them that sets them apart from the rest; unlike most trends, these trends are here to stay. They will never be replaced. In fact it is very likely that they will become the de-facto standard in the years to come. With that in mind, all companies whether big or small and even new startups should start implementing them into their business model right away. It will pay off in the long run.
About the Author: Jane Kelly is a business consultant with 10+ years of experience in working with all kinds of small to mid-size companies.