How to Dominate Digital Marketing in 2014

There’s officially only 75 days until the end of the year. The pumpkin patches are up, Halloween is on its way, which means the holidays are just around the corner. Another year is almost upon us and with each new year brings new changes for the web and social media marketing fields. The digital atmosphere continues to evolve and “raise the bar” and if you’re wondering how you can improve your online marketing efforts for 2014, have we got some tips for you!

Social Media

Forbes released an article Wednesday about the changes on the web and social media horizon next year. This upcoming year, businesses can expect to see:

A Dedicated Social Media Staff

To avoid inconsistencies between organizations and departments within a business, it’s expected that there will be a shift towards companies delegating or seeking a totally dedicated social media staff, equipped with knowledge, skill, and experience in the field.

Google+ Gets to Shine

Ever since its release in 2011, poor Google+ has been placed as a bench warmer in the social media game. Both businesses and customers found it hard to adapt and keep up with, but 2014 might be when Google+ finally gets to shine with more expected content and users. Google’s made it clear this year that in order for marketers to get great search rankings, they’ll need to get a Google+ membership A.S.A.P.

Search Engines 

More Exposure

Google’s gone through a swarm of new changes as it builds a bigger and better platform for its users. With the growing rise of voice, local search, and customer online reviews, marketers need to ensure that everything is correct on all third party business directories, local search sites, and online review sites. Nothing is as off-putting is not being able to find a business because it moved and the address online isn’t correct. Even more frustrating is posting an online rating that a business is unaware of, and as a result never heard, praised, or resolved.

Better Search

With new Google changes such as the Panda and Hummingbird, users can expect to find more of what they’re looking for in search results. Content marketers will have to be on the ball with creating content that answers those questions. And that will take placing themselves in their customers’ shoes to determine what questions customers are most likely to type into a search engine field.

Search and Social Paired Together

The relationship between social media and search engines grows as search engines consider rankings based on activity and engagement on social media sites. In addition, new features that have been added on search engines, like Bing, will require businesses to be more focused on keeping active social media accounts.

Content Marketing 

The Rise of Bookmarking Sites

Time is of the essence nowadays, and busy people want to know what’s going on “at a glance,” at all times. That’s why bookmarking sites and content aggregation sites (such as Digg, Redditt, StumbleUpon) will become popular. In addition, marketers will get a chance to promote their content and increase reach on these sites. Bingo.

Promotion By Content

The old-school, “push” way of marketing will become irrelevant as more and more customers want to read why they should consider a company’s product or service instead. As a result, content marketing will flourish as more and more users seek helpful, relevant knowledge to soak up about a topic, rich high-res videos to watch, and case studies and testimonials to review. Marketers will have to remain true to their buyer personas by the inbound marketing way, reaching out to specific customers individually rather than broadcasting a generic message to absolutely everybody.

Mobile 

Words Just Won’t Cut It 

Text is useful and efficient, but it will not be enough. In order to keep up with everyone who’s checking in, posting photos, and taking videos, businesses will have to discover what’s new on social media – taking advantage of platforms such as Instagram and Vine and putting their creative hats on to provide and interact with customers an a higher level than just simply posting a status.

Be Responsive to Get a Response

Responsive web design – fluid sites that adjust to any screen size – will be even more important in 2014 as the rise of mobile and tablet use increases even more. 50% of the average global web users now use mobile as either their primary or exclusive means of going online (Digital Buzz Blog). The way that users interact with a brand is through many different media and on many different devices.

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About Small Screen Producer

Small Screen Producer is a full service, marketing firm located in Houston, Texas that specializes in online digital media marketing through a 4-step process. Step 1: WE PLAN a custom web presence strategy for your business through website design and development, mobile development, social media account creation and branding. STEP 2: We then POSITION your brand through Pay-Per-Click advertising and search engine optimize tactics that include on-page and off-page SEO that are Google and Bing approved. STEP 3: We then PROMOTE your brand using an Inbound marketing strategy or a content marketing strategy to help you accomplish your marketing goals. We do this through blogging, video production, infographics, call-to-actions, landing pages, and free educational offers. We help you build trust and rapport with your customer base. STEP 4: We then PROTECT your brand’s web presence with a reputation management program that monitors social media and on line reviews. Get started today with a free online marketing assessment of your company’s web presence. Your company deserves it.