Hype or Hope: Top 5 Digital Marketing Trends To Swat In 2017

Trends come and go. May it be fashion, technology, business, cosmetics, or something else, trends change and don’t last forever. It is the flow and ebb in the digital marketing world. As a result, business people feel like they are mapping uncharted waters when it comes to attaining the requirement of budget and strategy for the year ahead.

The media choice today have grown more than ever, and many companies are left battling for less attention. The needs and demands of competitive and trustworthy digital marketing agencies like SEO Gold Coast also soared up high. Now, here’s the biggest digital marketing movements that you should pay attention this year (2017).

1. Advertorials or (Native Ads)

Advertorial is an original fusion of advertisements and editorial features. Advertorials are adaptive to the style of the website, but commonly includes a call-to-action strategy in the content that links the sponsors’ site.

These ads are typically seen on publishing websites like BuzzFeed and Forbes and may come in different forms. On the presidential election last year, news sites are bombarded with sponsored ad contents that posed political commentaries.

2. Trusted Testimonials

Testimonies may not be a new concept, but this year (2017), businessmen and entrepreneurs should think outside of the ‘traditional testimony’ box. It’s no longer enough to gather reviews in local directories.

Recently, testimonials can be ciphered so that search engines acknowledge them as such, making them one of the most valuable pieces of the website content. Your site will be prominently placed on search engine results if you can generate more reviews on your site.

Testimonials should occupy the upper corners of your website including home page, contact page and other pages that are relevant to the rest of the content. It is also advantageous to present different types of demographics and buyers to promote a variety of products that you sell or problems that your company solves.

3. Excursion Into Video

As we know it, a video is an essential tool in your arsenals for digital marketing. Of course, this area will stay for a long time. Just next to Google, Youtube is the second most used search engine on the web that offers enticing visual opportunities to capture the attention of the viewer.

Digital video supplies a collection of other formats as well as 360-degree videos, webinars, and videos made for Instagram. There is live streaming too that is becoming more universal, that is why developing your video strategy is important.

The addition of Facebook Live in the arena has only secured a dependable spot for live video marketing with any company’s marketing mix. We can even see different enterprises that are harnessing live videos in a variety of ways like demonstrations, guided tours, and product launches just to name a few.

As a bonus, using live video chat interactions increases the company’s customer’s satisfaction by engaging with their clients in real time.

4. VR (Virtual Reality)

Relatively new and possibly a little premature for adoption in some cases, virtual reality holds promising marketing opportunities that are going to be hard to ignore soon. It is more than just a technology to anticipate.

Creating virtual narratives that resonating with the target audience opens opportunities for companies to leverage people’s curiosity over virtual reality technology and converts them into profit and establish customer relationships at the same time.

The famous outdoor and hiking apparels manufacturer Merrell launched a campaign called VR headset where the user could walk around and immerse in a virtual journey where they experience a realistic engagement in the scene like walking over a treacherous wooden bridge in the mountains.

This kind of experience is undoubtedly more engaging to the customers compared to other forms of digital marketing because it allows the users to completely absorb the content with fewer distractions. And because this concept is exciting, consumers are more likely to remember the experience for a longer period.

The only downside of the concept is that only larger companies can afford to incorporate VR into their marketing budgets because it’s very expensive.

5. Mobile Mainstay

It should not come as a surprise that 50 percent of searches are now conducted on mobile phones. The inclusion of mobile strategy in the digital marketing plan is a must. To some clients, mobile website traffic is dominating over desktop traffic, and this trend is expected to last for a long time.

If you are not confident that your website has a mobile charm, you can just visit the website using your phone and check how the site displays on the screen. The overall visual and mood of the site should change on the mobile. For instance, the call-to-action buttons may appear larger, and contents may be directly modified to a simpler version.

Additionally, optimizing mobile is paramount in creating a seamless experience for a substantial portion of customers. So, take your time to augment a functional design rather than a separate mobile site.

Takeaway

The ever-evolving world of digital marketing is in the constant state of flux. Indeed, it is a real challenge for digital marketers to stay relevant, keep up with the latest trends and remain in the loop with strategies and cutting-edge technologies. However, at the end of the day, what always matter is the satisfactory experience that customers get because your products or services are commendable.