2016 has been an exciting year in the world of search engine optimization and social media marketing - what are the main developments to inform your marketing?
The two fields of social media and search are constantly evolving, with plenty of changes that prompt shifts in consumer and marketer behavior.
In order to succeed, you should adapt to these changes and employ the latest and most effective strategies.
The following are 15 social media and search engine marketing trends in 2016 and what you should do to stay ahead of the curve:
1. Mobile optimization is a must.
Last year, mobile generated more traffic than desktop and laptop search. With virtually everyone using their smartphone or tablet to find information online, it goes without saying that business owners must cater to the needs of their mobile audience to generate leads and increase conversions.
If your website still isn’t optimized for mobile, then you risk losing out…
Retention strategy often takes a backseat in marketing efforts, find out what leading global travel brands are doing to combat this.
Performance Horizon and WBR Digital have recently joined forces to publish the Benchmarking Performance Marketing and Digital Strategy in the Travel Industry Report, which we got a sneak preview at. They surveyed a large range of executives representing leading global travel brands back in may to unearth their findings.
The report brought up some interesting results. Email marketing is by far and away the most favoured channel when it comes to customer retention, followed by Social Media, which is used by 63% as their primary driver of customer retention.
Bringing up the rear was Marketplaces and Comparison Shopping Engines with 8% and 11% respectively. This was of interest to me, particularly the lack of…
How to target your customers at the very moment they want your products
Does your data tell you when and why your customers are most in need of your products and services? Can it deliver that insight right at the time the need arises? We explain how marketers can use data and insight to target home movers, ensuring they reach them at the time they’re most likely to engage.
Marketers are always looking for better ways to acquire prospects, retain and engage their existing customers. Each year, UK companies lose over 20 per cent of their customers, according to our research with nearly 200 of the UK’s leading marketers.
The research also highlights the fact that 45 per cent of UK marketers say replacing these losses with new customers is their biggest challenge. For the remaining 55 per…
A study by YouGov in association with Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has found that ad blocking use has declined between February and July, previous to that ad blocking software use was increasing.
The fall of 0.5% between February and July, which is from 21.7% to 21.2% came from a representative sample of 2011 adults aged 18+ in the UK.
The findings are announced as Facebook are taking action to stop ad blockers from working on the social network, which works by making the ad blocker unable to tell which is advertising content or isn't. Facebook also isn't the first website to trial anti-ad blocking software and it probably won't be the last. Another study found that ad blockers are actually breaking the internet, for example the research by Oriel (a technology company) reported problems with the British Airways website and with Vodafone's site too.…
A study highlighting the generational differences between technology buyers has revealed that some techniques will not work for everyone.
Why do generational differences matter?
The research was conducted to answer the question of what content works and for whom. Good marketers challenge the way they work and the methods they use, what could work, or did work might not be what always works. Marketing is about trying and adapting techniques and tailoring the marketing to effectively get to the end goal of having more clients and customers.
Baby boomers (1946-1964) tend to use case studies and articles by industry analysts, and as shown through their preference for face to face meetings and vendors websites: this generation simply want the facts.
Generation X-ers (1965-1977) value tradeshows and conferences as well as recommendations from peers.
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A look at marketing through the lens of economics
I wouldn't call Mark Ritson a hero of mine, that'd be far too lame and I'm sure he'd laugh at me if he found out. But I think he makes some rather important points and I tend to sit up and listen whenever he has something to say.
Recently he has been bemoaning the 'tactification of marketing', which I think is an important enough issue to warrant making up the word 'tactification'. Marketers are increasingly distracted by the latest 'shiny object', and go chasing after it. This leaves them with less time, inclination and ability to sit down and think long and hard about the things which really make marketing campaigns successful; proper research, segmentation, positioning and strategy. The result is to dumb down the discipline and open the door to a whole host of people who are great communicators to call themselves…
Recent analysis has highlighted how more often than not, longer-form content out-performs short-form.
The introduction of "Panda" changed the search landscape quite drastically. No longer was awful, poorly written content dancing around at the top of the SERPs, instead it is wallowing away in the "double digitted" results pages.
The ever-present Brian Dean over at Backlinko recently conducted some analysis of over 1 million Google search results, to answer the question...
Which factors correlate with first page search engine rankings?
It's a great piece, so I'd recommend checking it out. But one of the most pertinent takeaways for us here at Smart Insights, were the findings around content length. It's something as a editors and content creators we wrestle with on a daily basis.
Something that comes as no surprise is that there is a blatant correlation between…
With the ever changing digital landscape, where do our CMO's see the future of their marketing departments?
The economist recently published their report The path to 2020: Marketers seize the customer experience, which is based on a global survey of 499 CMOs and senior marketing executives, plus in-depth interviews with leading CMOs to research which technologies and customer trends are likely to change marketing organisations.
The research eluded to some interesting trends, the first of which is that it takes into account that all CMO's have some form of strategy and a goal they are trying to achieve. At Smart Insights, we're big advocates of having a strategy in place to help you reach your goals. If you want to do a little further reading on developing your own strategy, have a read of this post.
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Selling to your existing customers is much easier than attracting new ones. So keep them coming back.
Do you want more returning customers? The kind of customers who spend more and visit more often?
Then a loyalty program could be the perfect tool to add to your customer retention arsenal.
Why? You may ask. Let’s start with the most reasonable fact: because it makes you more money. That is, of course, if you do it the right way.
Here’s a quick stat that’s worth remembering: Keeping a current customer costs you 3-10 times less than acquiring a new one, depending on the industry you are in. According to WordStream, small businesses spend between $9,000 and $10,000 trying to attract new customers on Google paid search campaigns in just each month on average. Just image how much more efficient you could be if you could switch that re-activating existing customers and getting repeat…
Pokemon Go beats top social Apps for engagement
The hype-machine is very much in gear when it comes to Pokémon GO. We've seen at the top of the app store for downloads since it came out, and all manner of viral videos involving it. You may have heard about the number of Pokémon GO downloads which are astounding with over 65 million downloads and 10 percent of Android users who have downloaded the game.
But it doesn't look like GO is just a quick 'flash in the pan'. People are doing a lot more than just downloading it. According to data from SimilarWeb, Pokémon GO is the leading app for daily engagement time in the US right now. It's users are on the app for an incredible 43 minutes a day, double other engaging platforms like Instagram and Snapchat and four times what Facebook messenger manages.
These are pretty amazing engagement stats, and whilst Pokémon…
