Digital marketing across all channels offers a fast-paced environment in which to work. Whether you’re an in-house marketer or a small-business owner trying to manage it all yourself, sometimes it can feel intimidating to keep pace with all the change. Fortunately, there are always good resources when it comes to staying current on changes and trends. From mobile and video to voice searches, there are many trends in SEO that are transforming business branding in 2017.
Voice-controlled navigation has been a feature of smartphones since Apple introduced Siri, and it wasn’t long before her knowledge base was expanded to include voice searches online. Today, most mobile operating systems and mobile devices integrate voice search technology to power hands-free operation of devices.
When it comes to SEO, voice search is changing the way that marketers look at marketing tactics. In particular, this applies to keyword usage. As of 2016, at least half of mobile phone users are using voice search. Small Business Trends points out that 55% of teens use it daily, while 56% of adults reportedly “enjoy using voice search.”
The challenge for you comes in how you manage your keywords. With voice search, the old rules are out the window. Searchers now use the spoken word, which means you’ll need to craft targeted marketing efforts that accommodate for different vocal patterns, dialects, and languages. Colloquial terms will also become more important in digital marketing and SEO in 2017.
This isn’t as new a factor as voice search, but video content is nonetheless playing a major role in the changing SEO landscape. Written content might still be the norm for the moment, but don’t be surprised if video surpasses it at some point in the years ahead. Content variety matters, to be sure, but so too does adapting your marketing to meet those different demands.
Video ads, webinar meetings, step-by-step tutorials, and other video content are a critical piece of a strong, diverse marketing approach for your brand. It allows you to not only reach consumers in a more content-rich manner, but also connect with them across various platforms, such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and others.
[pullquote]Pointing out all of the trends that are changing SEO in 2017 is one thing, but acting on that information is another.[/pullquote] For some businesses or marketers that can be difficult without the actionable data required to make effective changes. There are services available to help small businesses and marketing departments adapt to the changes by helping them sort through the clutter.
For example, those who learn about Chatmeter, and similar services, find such online review management services helpful. Chatmeter, as an example, helps marketers keep up with and engage customers in meaningful ways that can help the business grow. You get reliable, actionable data that is useful in analyzing your brand’s performance online and adapting to ensure it remains responsive to the needs of the consumer base.
The value of a mobile-optimized or mobile-only website has been apparent for some time now. Consumers are increasingly conducting all of their online searches and shopping from mobile devices while they’re on the go, and that means a preference for mobile-optimized sites, mobile sites, and even mobile apps for your brand.
Google is catering to the demands of the masses by prioritizing the search parameters for mobile results. Google bots will crawl through the mobile version of your site, or a responsive mobile-optimized version, before trawling through your desktop version. The content on your mobile site should be optimized to meet that action and catered to the needs of mobile shoppers.
As alluded to earlier, the best digital marketing campaigns are the diverse ones that capture the attention of a wider consumer base. Multi-channel has been the leading option in this department for many digital marketers, but while that focuses on your brand’s presence on more than one platform, a new option is arising.
Cross-channel marketing focuses on effectively using multiple channels to promote your business in an integrated way. Rather than having separate concepts or approaches for email campaigns, mobile-app-based ads, and social media activities, you use all three of these platforms (for example) to present your brand in a coordinated effort that promotes continuity of message.
The digital marketing universe moves at lightning speed, but with help from new services and apps, you can keep tabs on your brand and better manage your brand image across multiple channels at the same time.
Author Bio: Mia Walton works for a marketing company. She often writes about SEO, video marketing, branding and other marketing topics for small to medium business owners.
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