Social Marketing Trends to Watch in 2014

Any modern marketer should by now be well aware of the three fundamentals of online advertising: content, search and social. The importance of content and search shouldn’t come as much of a shock to advertisers, as blog posts and keyword optimization have been a staple of online marketing practically since the advent of the Internet. What today’s businesses are really going to want to focus on is the social aspect. Indeed, over the last few years, social media sites have exploded, with popular outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube boasting billions of registered users between them.

But like any online entity, the landscape of social is an ever-shifting one. New trends and technologies come and go, with all but the most universally lauded websites enjoying anything resembling longevity in this fleeting Internet age. Add to that the mobile revolution and social networking is poised to undergo even more crucial changes in the coming year. Here are just three of the top trends that those with an interest in social marketing should keep their eyes on.

Social media marketing becomes mandatory

Just as many companies employ article writers to contribute blog posts, look for these same organizations to establish entire social media departments. Many businesses have already created these in-house departments, as the benefits they have on lead generation and ROI are undeniable. Plus, it simply won’t be tenable for any marketing operation to overlook social in 2014 and beyond.

Images over text

Successful marketers know the value of original, authoritative text content. But what more and more of these same folks are learning is the value of “share-able” content. And in 2014, how likely a piece of online content is likely to be shared among users will be directly related to how many images it contains. Sites such as Pinterest, Slideshare and Tumblr have skyrocketed in popularity due to the emerging trend of pictures over words. There’s been a sharp spike in how much visual content has been passed across social networking sites in 2013, and this will only compound in the coming year.

Google+ dominates

All but written off by the majority of online aficionados when it was released in 2011, Google’s social platform has slowly but surely won people’s hearts. This is evidenced by the fact that, at the moment, Google+ ranks second only to Facebook in terms of unique monthly users. The reason this should matter to marketers is because Google+ is as much a launching pad for all encompassing search engine optimization as it is a social network. It utilizes social signals to deliver a tailored search experience to each individual user. And when one factors in Google Authorship, the writing on the wall states that this could be the most dominant social site of 2014.

In the end, marketers are going to want to pay particular attention to the rise of video-based social networking sites. Above all else, look to the competition between major platforms such as Facebook and Google+ to yield big innovation in order to keep up with these video trends.

Christopher McMurphy is an online trend spotter focusing on marketing and SEO. But his talents extend to copywriting and press releases as well.

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SEO is Good, SEO + PPC is Better

It is undeniably true that having strong SEO is a good thing. Having a powerful search engine presence helps keep you visible. It also gives your business the marketing advantage to magically appear before your customers’ eyes when they are searching for you, or your product, online.

Sounds like the perfect way to market your website online, right? Not quite.

Although SEO should always be a part of your online marketing plan, it does have some setbacks. Luckily, these setbacks are easily avoidable when you compliment your SEO with Paid Advertising, or a PPC campaign.

Here a few big reasons why you simply must take advantage of paid advertising…

PPC Attracts More Buyers—It has been found that 50% of people clicking though to retailers sites from paid ads are more likely to buy than those who clicked through organically.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather more buyers over just plain traffic, any day.

SEO Takes Time— Ranking on the first page of search engines doesn’t happen over night. Depending on the key terms you are gearing after, it could take weeks, months, or even longer to appear on that golden first page of search engine results. Some of the more competitive terms can be next to impossible to ever rank for.

What’s that old saying? Location, Location, Location? If you can’t be seen, no one can find you. If no one can find you, your sales will be looking quite slim.

Paid advertising gives your business the chance to get in front of your customer now. As soon as your campaign has been approved you will begin appearing in search results. From here you can start split testing what works for your paid ads and what doesn’t, such as different copy, colours, or keywords. Let’s face it: faster is better.

Get to the Top and Stay at the Top—Great. You landed yourself a stellar placement within search engine ranks. However, your work is far from over.

Far more resources are required to not only gain, but maintain your search engine placement, than with a PPC campaign. Not only do you have to consistently perform keyword research in order to develop LOTS of relevant content, and backlink to other sites, and share with your networks, and so on, and so on… But on top of all this: search engines are constantly changing their algorithms, making staying on top of search engine ranks a never ending task.

PPC is much more manageable than this. To maintain your placement, you simply have to keep your campaign running. As long as your campaign is receiving bidding power, has a high quality score, and is using the right keywords, the PPC engine won’t stop.

Although there is no question about the necessity of ensuring your site follows at least a basic SEO structure, PPC helps to reach your customers on a different level. It allows you to reach your customers today; rather then when you finally get your ranking together. As well, it helps you to maintain an on going search presence, even when climbing to the top of the organic searches is out of reach.

Whether your putting in all the man-hours and surfacing organically, or you are taking advantage of PPC, just make sure your customers can find you online.

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