Digital marketing is a rapidly growing and dynamic field. It is becoming increasingly important for SME’s to capture their target audience through the internet and to have continuous engagement throughout the customer’s experience. The dynamic nature of digital marketing means that new trends are continuing to emerge and change. Here are some of the current trends that SEO companies for small business use which have emerged and are beginning to shape businesses marketing practices.
The growth of mobile users
While mobile phones are no longer a new phenomenon, their pervasiveness has dramatically increased. Mobiles especially smart mobiles are one of the primary ways in which consumers get information and content.
More and more digital marketing strategies are creating sites and pages that can be accessed not just via the internet, but that are mobile friendly. Businesses are also beginning to communicate with their consumers through their mobiles, especially via text messages. Ticketing companies for example are beginning to SMS tickets to customers, rather than just emailing them.
Automation
We often think of automation as a phenomenon that affects industries such as manufacturing or construction. However, more and more marketing strategies are beginning to use automation in the form of ‘chatbots’ to communicate with customers.
Chatbots are essentially intelligent tools used by businesses on the internet to perform a number of functions such as: engaging with customers, answering questions, or even closing business deals. If set up correctly many people will struggle to tell that they are not talking to an actual person, but a robot.
Technological developments in recent years have meant that these chatbots are more efficient and useful for businesses.
Reviews are becoming more important
There is a growing trend across the internet for websites and forums to incorporate ratings and review functions. While similar types of functions have been around for a while, the integration of them through Google is relatively new.
Google’s ranking system looks at online reviews and ratings of sites and services and includes them in their overall evaluation of where a site should be ranked in its search engine. It is in Googles best interest to give priority to those sites with high rankings, so as to provide its users with the greatest and most relevant results.
Digital marketing campaigns are subsequently targeting customer reviews in an attempt to improve their online reputation and become more accessible to internet users.
The growth of ‘influencer marketing’
In recent years we have seen a decline in the popularity and success of traditional advertising methods and means i.e. telling an audience what your product or service does and why they should buy it. That kind of approach, especially on the internet is becoming less effective as people search for something they see as being more authentic and relatable.
This is where the ‘influencer’ comes in. The influencer is an individual identified by the company as having influence over their target market. The firm subsequently gets the individual to promote their product.
This type of marketing is extremely popular on social media platforms such as Instagram, where online celebrities can be seen promoting certain products or brands through posts, blog updates or captions.
Voice searching is changing user browsing
As technology has developed, voice command and voice searching has become increasingly popular, the popularity of services such as Siri is an example of this. This trend however is changing how internet users browse the internet and subsequently adjusting what they do and don’t see.
Unlike a regular Google search which shows a whole page of results, a voice search will only display the top results. This means that there is a growing pressure on businesses to get their websites and pages to be considered top results.