Digital Marketing Trends in 2017

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Don’t you just hate it when you come up with what you believe to be a solid marketing strategy but end up with unexpected, less satisfying results?

I mean, you work tirelessly, spending lots of time doing research to make your digital marketing campaign as effective as possible, but you still can’t seem to get through to your target market.

But what if you could do something, utilize specific techniques that have the best chance of working to strengthen your marketing strategy and connect to a wider audience? What if the answer to your marketing problem lies in the growing digital marketing trends you didn’t even know existed?

We have heard of the different tips, the ideas, and the insights provided by experts in the past on how to effectively market your business, your brand, and instill your message in the mind of your target consumers. But how do we know which ideas, which marketing tips are still going to be effective in 2017 and in the ensuing years?

Here are some of the significant digital marketing trends that will carry on in 2017 and beyond. Some of these may surprise you, while others probably won’t.

Top Digital Marketing Trends to Consider in 2017

1. There will be more focus on relevant and personalized content development as businesses try to connect with their audience on a deeper and more meaningful way.

Content marketing has always been one of the top avenues that businesses utilize to get their message across to their target audience. Content, in the form of articles, videos, infographics, and images, is very effective, especially when done correctly.

In the past several years, content marketing has been one of the main forms of marketing that a lot of brands rely on to reach a wider audience. And there’s no clear sign of it slowing down any time soon.

There is, however, a noticeable shift in the way content is being developed and how it is used in order to attract audiences. For instance, in the past, quantity was a significant factor when it came to content marketing.

Online marketers develop as much content as they can to flood the Internet, especially social media, in an effort to attract followers and potential customers to the client’s business website while increasing the site’s ranking on search engines.

This kind of content marketing, however, has become ineffective and has fallen out of favor with search engines like Google. The search engine giant’s latest algorithms have shifted the focus on quality rather than quantity.

So what am I talking about?

Although content is and will always be a significant factor in any digital marketing strategy, creating inconsequential content for the sake of having something to post on social media and other channels is no longer enough or even practical nowadays.

If you want your digital marketing strategy to be effective and survive in 2017, you need to start putting more effort into your content development and focus on quality rather than quantity. The key to high-quality content is relevance, having the substance to engage readers, and the ability to reach your audience in a deeper and more personal level.

This is how you strengthen your content marketing campaign, and subsequently solidify your digital marketing efforts. Undoubtedly, this is also how you develop trust and partnership with your consumers.

2. Mobile devices will go on to dominate the lives of every consumer, and therefore continue to be a crucial factor in digital marketing strategies.

Advanced electronics technology has successfully penetrated our daily lives with all our smartphones, tablets, and even our wearables. As technology continues to evolve, mobile devices become more intuitive and smarter.

The app design and development industry will soon be coming up with some interesting new innovations that will keep consumers more reliant on their devices, especially when it comes to choosing products and services, and purchasing.

With that said, it has become all the more crucial to have a mobile-first mentality when developing an effective digital marketing strategy to connect with your consumers, build trust, and develop a loyal consumer-base for your brand.

What does this mean for your online marketing strategy?

As a whole, your marketing strategy should lean towards mobile users. Nowadays, there are more people who use their mobile devices to surf the Internet, go on social media, research products and services, and make purchases. If you want your digital marketing strategy to be effective in reaching the right audience, you’ll have to adopt a mobile-first approach.

3. The power of social media marketing will continue to grow in all aspects, including customer relationship management (CRM) and customer care.

Social media plays a significant role in any digital marketing strategy. Since the vast majority of consumers in the online community rely on social media for gathering, disseminating, and the sharing of all kinds of information, from the most relevant news of the day to the latest and most awesome products they’ve discovered, it makes sense to take advantage of this avenue to deliver your message to a specific audience.

Not only that.

In addition to using social media platforms for brand awareness and marketing your products and services, you can also utilize social channels for customer relationship management (CRM) and customer care.

You see, the beauty of social media is that it can be an effective tool for dialogue between a business and its customers. Unlike television and print, consumers have an almost real-time method of communicating their concerns or satisfaction to the entity that has provided the service/product.

Through your social media page, your customers have an efficient way for communicating with you and with each other. And since you can communicate with them directly and individually, you are effectively connecting with your consumers on a more personal level. And this is how you will ultimately develop trust and customer loyalty.

4. Mobile SEO will become increasingly important, as search engines like Google pay more attention to mobile searches through their mobile-only index and accelerated mobile pages (AMP).

As you may have figured out, this particular trend is connected to the mobile-first approach in developing digital marketing strategies. It can’t be stressed enough how important it is that you should always consider mobile users when developing your digital marketing campaign.

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, or AMP for short, is an open-source system that allows developers and marketers to develop fast and highly responsive web pages for mobile devices. It’s essentially a form of HTML that has been stripped down to the basics to provide better and faster user-experience.

Nowadays, speed is important. How fast your pages load on mobile devices, how quickly they react/adjust to the different screen sizes of mobile devices, and so on.

But what about digital marketing trends that will no longer be as effective in 2017?

Digital Marketing Trends That Will Start to Lose Steam in 2017

Just as there are specific trends that will continue to grow in relevance and effectiveness in 2017, there are also digital marketing trends that will begin to show signs of slowing down and lose their significance.

1. The use of pop-up ads will begin to die out as users are becoming more and more inclined to visit websites without them.

Ever noticed how annoying pop-up ads can be? Now, imagine it’s your consumers that are feeling the irritation every time they visit your website. The last thing you want is to annoy or irritate potential customers by using pop-up ads.

Fortunately, Google will soon put a stop to this off-putting strategy by looking to penalize websites that still use pop-up ads to entice users with special offers and product discounts.

Do pop-ups even work?

Apparently, they do, since a lot of marketers are incorporating it in their marketing strategy. But research has shown that users prefer to visit a website free of pop-ups compared to those that have them.

So you might want to consider this particular annoying trend when you’re planning your digital marketing strategy for 2017.

2. Buying fake reviews to promote products and services.

This is a deceptive, dirty, and downright disgusting tactic that no reputable business or online marketer should ever entertain. You may not be aware of it, but buying fake reviews to promote a particular product or service has become a popular marketing trend in the recent years.

However, know that this trend will soon die out as consumers become more savvy and intuitive. Most consumers may check online reviews for specific products, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will believe everything without proper research. So you should be careful if you’re using this tactic. You might end up losing more than just a customer.

Your brand’s reputation is at stake. So think about that if you’re thinking of buying fake reviews to boost your sales.