9 digital marketing trends to follow in 2017

Predicting future digital marketing trends is hard, especially in a domain that that continues to evolve with new technologies.  The last few years have seen a literal explosion of online marketing channels , usage of which are likely to see a geometric growth.

As an industry watcher now for several years, adaptability times have reduced significantly for marketers. No sooner has one mastered a particular digital channel and learned how to use it to market a brand, one realizes that the world has changed to something new. We are living in an age of continuous change

Marketers, Entrepreneurs and Brand owners understand the importance of being at the cusp of change so that they can ride on the change that is happening. Here is my list of top 9 digital marketing trends & predictions that you can ride the cusp of starting today-

1. Marketers will stop relying solely on Google.

No, this doesn’t mean that Google will become any less popular. It means that marketers will diversify their focus and will aim at accomplishing their goals through more means than just Google, including more direct forms of interaction with their target markets (social media marketing, viral marketing, email marketing etc). Consumers will be increasingly using other forms of search to get information that they need. P2P marketing will increasingly side-line Google premier position as the advertiser’s darling.

2. Mobile is the future

With more and more people opting to use the internet through their phones,a key digital marketing trend of 2017 will be all about mobile search, mobile optimization and mobile conversions. Haven’t you already noticed it around you? Flipkart, eBay, Myntra – they have all gone mobile. Their apps are drawing in more sales than their websites, which is saying a lot seeing that this is happening in India and not in America (where people use their mobiles a lot more than their laptops).

3. Social conversion is coming.

That’s right. Conversions are going to happen through social media marketing. It is one of the unheard digital marketing trends right now, but soon enough it will only get bigger and better as the year progresses. The best part about this is almost all brands and businesses already have their social networking vehicles already in place, one need to just work on social media marketing strategies to come up with positive results. But of course, the biggest problem comes with leveraging these platforms to give them solid conversions.

4. Brands that humanize themselves will win.

That’s because people like buying from companies that they know, like and trust. This phenomenon is called emotional branding, and it’s a form of marketing communication which isn’t going anywhere. These ads generate positive emotional responses in the minds of their consumers. And let’s face it – emotion trumps logic. Love, friendship and companionship – call it what you may, but you cannot deny the amount of ads that have started showing emotional content.

5. Marketing automation will be more popular

In 2017, one of the digital marketing trend will be the usage of software that will allow marketers to run marketing campaigns and customer management programs on the fly. We are moving to an age of Big Data where data analytics is going to play a key & pivotal role in winning and retaining consumers. A Digital Marketing Trend that combines data with rapid, multiple responsive communication linked to business rules will drive consumer interaction. Integration of data points from multiple sources – social, website, store, events, and sales team will drive marketing automation to drive personalized delivery of content.

6. Content creators are more necessary than ever.

Content will still be king, and it will be more important than ever. Demand Metric, a global marketing research & advisory firm, states that 90% of organizations now market with content, and that content marketing is an astounding 62% cheaper than traditional marketing. So be it blogs, guest posts, social media, e-books, white papers or whatever it is that you’re investing in content marketing – keep doing it. Organic content will definitely be one of the popular digital marketing trends and predictions in 2017!

7. Google’s search algorithm will keep on changing.

This will always remain the most frustrating part of Digital marketing – not knowing what makes Google tick. Panda, Penguin, Pigeon – as long as there are animal and bird species out there, Google will keep adding newer algo’s to complicate every marketer’s life! Google always gives importance to blog, content and Search engine marketing, but as soon as its secrets are revealed, its algorithm changes. This is why it’s a smart bet to invest in the algorithms of Bing, Facebook, Twitter and even the mash-up of Google and Twitter’s algorithm.

8. Conversion Rate Optimization has high ROI.

CRO is a process through that one can maximize the number of visitors to your website that convert into profitable leads. And you should care about it for many reasons. For starters, keeping an eye on your CRO helps you monitor your final profit or loss via ROI. Second, since CRO focuses on converting people you already have hooked (instead of getting new leads which may or may not pan out) by giving them exactly what it is they’re looking for. And this makes CRO a lot more cost – effective. So now, instead of spending a lot of money for ad placements or even organic traffic, companies will begin to focus on maximizing their CRO.

9. Focus will increasingly move to Content Distribution

As content continues to proliferate, marketers will continue to seek out new ways to distribute content to their audiences. Content distribution platforms will be the new social mecca for digital marketers as consumers will increasingly start preferring to be served content of their choice rather than be hit by the deluge of content on existing channels. A core Digital marketing trend would be businesses primarily focusing on content marketing to get the brand ranked on 1^st two Google pages. How and where to distribute will be key questions in marketing boardrooms in near future rather than what to create?

We are living in an interesting pivotal phase and  can expect to hear new work category for interns, freshers as – digital marketing jobs.  Question is, will the knowledge lead one to fortune or the lack of it lead one to be washed away in the flood?

This article was originally published by the Author on LinkedIn

About the Author:

Rajesh Menon is a digital marketer and entrepreneur. He runs a start-up Agencyonnet, while juggling with his primary business of running his digital agency – Impact Marketing , where he advises and works with brands and companies on helping them tell effective digital stories to their customers.

He is contactable on LinkedIn and Twitter.

pic courtesy- http://stevetodd.typepad.com/