''If a business is not using video, they are now behind their competition'' - Digital Marketing expert Sage Lewis.
Buenos Aires, AR (PRWEB) February 26, 2014
The word “engagement” may be dangerously close to making marketers cringe from overuse, but with social media continuing to reign in media campaigns, the focus on engagement continues to sharpen.
With this in mind, Yum Yum Videos explored the current trends in marketing and what some experts believe we’ll see emerging in 2014.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media still experiences reluctance from small to mid-sized business, but many brand experts believe that a strong social media strategy will become imperative for small business growth in 2014. In a recent poll by Adobe, 14% of marketers placed social media as the primary key to superior performance over the next three years, ranking it higher than both digital advertising and public relations efforts. Facebook and Twitter led the way as the top social media marketing channels with Google+ rising rapidly over the last three years to take third position. 73% of online adults now frequent a social networking site of some kind and businesses who adopt a cohesive, strategic approach to social media may gain the upper hand.
ONLINE VIDEO
Online video is a rapidly growing, versatile marketing tool and a full 81% of senior marketing executives now use video content in their marketing programs. If a business is not using video, they are now behind their competition, according to Digital Marketing expert Sage Lewis. From one initial investment, a single video offers great mileage integrated across your landing page, social media sites, YouTube, pay-per-click advertising or connected to QR codes and viewed on mobile devices. In fact, mobile video traffic represented 53% of traffic by the end of 2013. Video and email marketing seem to be a match made in heaven, offering a 200-300% increase in click-through rates when included in business emails.
SEO
SEO is still misunderstood by many, but optimizing your SEO strategy remains an important marketing tool. Placing focus on local SEO can deliver highly targeted consumers directly to a business website and physical location. Online video is an excellent tool to help increase search engine optimization with video results appearing in 70% of the top 100 search listings on Google.
MOBILE:
Mobile marketing gives anytime, anywhere access to information and smartphone usage in the US increased by 50% in 2013. Marketers can no longer look at mobile use as a marginal audience as nearly 40% of the time people spend online is now through mobile devices. Video remains king of mobile with reports showing that two out of ten mobile subscribers watch video on their devices, generating more than 50% of traffic on wireless networks.
CONTENT
Content marketing continues to be popular, but the trend is leaning towards a focus on customization and branding. 78% of CEOs think custom content is the future of marketing. Sharing great content effectively across all channels, from a Facebook page to YouTube, blogs and other social media in a cohesive way to get the message out. 68% of consumers are likely to spend time reading content from brands they like.
Though there may not be many surprises in the current marketing trends, the growing statistics continue to be impressive. There are some interesting new ideas from the experts about the future of marketing that companies may want to start looking at now.
INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE
A strong international presence is becoming more impactful according to Moz.com. In a recent industry survey, the Seattle based company found that 51% of their respondents lived outside of the United States and 47% of respondents reported that they optimized their marketing for two or more languages.
WORD OF MOUTH
Brand advocacy is where Ekaterina Walter, co-founder of Branderati believes brand strategy is heading for 2014 with a focus placed on creating sustainable relationships with true advocates of the brand; marketing through fans, not to fans. Word of mouth recommendation is the main factor behind 20-50% of all purchasing decisions.