The majority of people will agree that digital has changed their life (for good or bad). Life is certainly more convenient from online shopping/banking/to keeping in touch with friends and family.
Digital marketing activities are set to change in the future with emphasis being added to “value”. I have complied a Top 10 Digital Marketing facts.
Digital Marketing is growing
Every business needs to market their selves/products/services. Traditional marketing is still very popular with online marketing growing in popularity. Mobile marketing is the fastest growing digital channel which is predicted to rise 12-15% in the coming year. Digital marketing focuses on engaging, it doesn’t interrupt like traditional marketing methods. Digital marketing’s emphasis is on the end user and making their experience a good one, hopefully meaning use of your service or sale of your product. Digital marketing growth rates are hard to predict with various experts stating digital marketing is likely to rise at least 26% in 2017. It was expected in 2016 that the internet will overtake TV to become the largest medium for advertising.
Social Media is key
We spend on average 106.2 minutes per day on social networks! 73% of smartphone owners access social networks through apps. We love social – 91% of online adults use social media daily, it’s a fully established part of our culture. Social covers Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Tumblr, etc to name but a few.
Many businesses fail to engage with their followers on social media (either they use the wrong type of content or don’t offer an experience to engage customers). It has been reported that 20% of Facebook users have purchased something because of an advertisement or comment that they have seen on that medium. People value opinions of their peers and are influenced by their comments./p>
Facebook has reportedly 1.71 billion monthly active users!! Twitter reported 313 million monthly active users.
Attached is an interesting article taken from the Business Insider.
Consumers hate online ads
Banner ads are annoying. Similar to traditional marketing methods banner ads distract and interrupt. Consumers generally don’t mean to click on banner ads, it seems banner ads are positioned in a place where you can’t help but accidentally click. If you are considering a banner ad, ensure you employ an expert to assist you in this avenue.
Make a great first impression
As the saying goes, first impressions count. In 0.05 of a second a user will decide if your website is suitable for them. Various studies have shown first impressions are formed on several factors: colours, structure, symmetry, text, fonts, spacing, etc.
Google found in a recent study that websites with low visual complexity were noted as highly enticing and created a positive first impression./p>
Remember: User experience and satisfaction is key to inbound marketing.
Analysis
As mentioned in my Behind the Scenes – Data Analytic’s blog, analysis is a vital role in digital.
A good digital marketing data analyst should:
- Collect data regarding your business
- Visit your website
- Track page views
- Review bounce rates
- Analyse how much time was spent by users on your website
- Gauge your social media followers
- Inspect and translate findings into plain business dialect
- Suggest implementation to improve business
- Define a development plan
- Furnish metrics of implementing this plan
- Regularly report on findings
- Repeat analysis
Invest
Businesses in the digital era need an online presence. Consideration of many factors will determine the price of the overall website build and future maintenance. Many small to medium sized business find having a website built confusing (factoring in what type of website suits their needs and how much a website should cost), without any thought to the continued maintenance expense. Researching competitors and their online presence is a must. In the world of business there is a smarter and more nimble competitor just around the corner with a better use and understanding of technology about to steal your market.
Having a website built is not the end of the digital expense. Websites need regular monitoring and maintenance. It needs to evolve with trends. Within the “digital” category falls: social (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc), blogging, website build, website maintenance (SEO), website analysis, Pay-Per-Click campaigns, etc). When deciding and allocating budget for digital, consideration needs to be given in setting goals and obtaining a clear direction. Many digital marketing experts suggest allocating around 11% of a business’s annual revenue to digital marketing.
Videos are a major part in the online experience
Video has a major part in a user’s online experience. Digital marketing is all about adding value to the user. How great is it watching the item you are considering purchasing! Recent surveys found consumers would prefer watching a video as to reading text. Successful online videos are less than two minutes long. On average we (the general public) watch around 38 hours of YouTube per month. It is expected that video popularity will grow in the online era.
The United Kingdom is a leader in the digital experience
The fast paced eCommerce within the UK is leading Europe. In 2016 the UK is expected to spend £67 billion on online retail sales, a 25% increase from 2015. Many consumers research buying products online before buying either online or in store.
In a Daily Mail article 82% of UK internet users regularly shop online, which is the highest of the 28 EU member states. Other countries monitor the UK for trends and the UK is widely seen as a leader in digital./p>
Blogging is a necessity
Blogging can influence.
Blogging is becoming a popular source of information. It’s an avenue to highlight your experience, expertise and to share your wisdom (adding further value to the user’s experience, gaining trust and showing what a reliable source of information you are). Many consumers will look to blogging expertise. 81% of businesses consider blogging an important asset to their business as it raises awareness and interest.
Good blogging requires time and effort. A good blog should take around 4-6 hours to write and be at least 500 words./p>
Why Google is important
How many of us refer to “I’ll google it” when referring to searching on the internet? I for one, have used Google as a search engine for the last 15 years. Rarely will I deviate from Google.
Google currently covers 90% of the search engine market and is the most popular search engine in the UK.
Google is important due to its sheer size of reach. Most of the visitors to your website will find you through Google’s search facilities.
While emphasis is on Google when referring to SEO, other search engines use their own ranking system based on Googles.