As consumers continue to turn to email, the mobile web, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter more than ever before, it's imperative that marketers are prepared to adapt their approach in order to successfully engage with customers and get their message across. With the steady growth of web enabled mobile devices and consumers' increasing appetite for content the opportunities – and with it the competition – have never been greater.
So what should marketers be focussing on for 2011? Will it be the 'year of mobile'? What will give you the edge and make you stand out in 2011? What follows are some trends and techniques that might help you direct next year's online marketing budget.
5 Online Marketing Trends To Respond To
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Like it or not, social media is here to stay. Much more than just a way to stay in touch with friends and family – it's changing the way we do business too. Despite the undeniable presence of the social networking phenomenon, many small business owners remain in denial about the need to adopt a social media strategy as part of their marketing plan.
Taking Facebook as an example – according to the latest statistics, there are some 500 million active Facebook pages (Source: Facebook) – a number that is growing at an exponential rate. Out of that 500 million, around half log in on a daily basis, with more than 1.5 million representing local businesses. Now consider that the average user on Facebook has at least 130 friends – the marketing potential rapidly becomes clear.
Getting Social Media Marketing Right From the Start
With the World Wide Web increasingly accessible via a myriad of devices – many of which are mobile – the rate at which internet users consume their chosen content grows at a pace. Global time on social media sites is soaring; up 82% (Nielsen). News consumption is a socially-engaging and socially-driven activity, especially online, and participation is through sharing rather than contributing news (Pew Centre).
There is little doubt these trends will continue into 2011 as consumers read, share and publish content online with friends, family, local businesses and even global brands. With so much choice of content to consume, your marketing messages can easily get missed, or worse, ignored completely as consumers divide their increasingly limited time among their trusted online content outlets.
Content Marketing: Think Pull Not Push
As if the ever-changing world of search engine optimisation (SEO) wasn't difficult enough to keep track of, the world's largest search engine – Google – recently announced key changes to the way local search results are displayed. Not to be confused with Facebook Places app, or the similar service from Foursquare, Google has called it's new baby Place Search.
What does this mean for local businesses then? To start with, let's turn to Google themselves for an explanation: "...a new kind of local search result that organises the world's information around places. We've clustered search results around specific locations so you can more easily make comparisons and decide where to go." (source: Google).
"A faster, easier way to find local information"
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