4 Ways to Turn Marketing Ideas Into Engaged Customers

Having engaged customers is, of course, the holy grail for marketers. Some may argue that increasing sales would be the ultimate goal but I would argue back that the most engaged customers are the happier they are and in turn the more revenue will be generated.

A recent global survey of 255 executives across a range of industries and functions from both the brand agency sides of the aisle conducted by Forbes Insights and sponsored by Oracle Marketing Cloud, identified four (4) keys to success in translating marketing visions into more engaged customers via a better relationship between brands and agencies.

1. Successfully mine all of the today’s rich sources of data. 

There is, of course, no shortage of data available. In this context, however, attribution is essential for understanding the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and knowing which investments will deliver the best results. 

Lisa Donohue, CEO of Starcom USA says they tag all the digital media used in each campaign, whether the channel is the Internet, mobile devices or television. “This helps us understand who is clicking on the ads and what do they as a result. Ultimately, we can then tell if they have made a purchase, which puts us in a better position to track the efficacy of the strategy that we implemented.” 

However, Kevin Koh CEO of DDB Group Korea cautions marketing organizations to not lose sight of the art and science of the profession. For example, he sees great value in information that can help convince clients of the efficacy of a new campaign. But while important, the wider use of data analysis shouldn’t be allowed to quash creativity. 

2. Capitalize on the latest technologies for understanding customers and managing marketing programs. 

Survey results revealed that marketing executives express a widespread understand- ing that the latest digital technologies are powering marketing efforts for agencies and marketing organizations alike. 

Survey results also showed that brands and agencies are relying on a range of technologies to further their customer- engagement efforts. Among the most widely deployed applications are social networking tools, web analytics, digital advertising platforms, marketing automation systems and multichannel campaign management programs. 

3. Enhance professional and personal skills.

 New demands mean agencies and brands require new skill sets to be successful. This includes finding people with a broad understanding of businesses, not just the marketing function. “As corporations rethink the role of marketing, we’re seeing deeper integration not only between marketers and their agencies but between marketers and peers in the operations, technology, product and finance departments,” says Patrick Adams, Head of Consumer Marketing, North America. “What makes a stellar head of marketing today is someone who not only has the marketing skill-set but who can also flex across technology and product/merchandising. That skill-set makes for a great marketing leader and will ensure success in the future.” 

4. Balance local and global imperatives. 

Mindful that brands have a global reach, marketing executives must pay attention to regional differences across various international markets. Top local considerations, according to the survey, are what existing technology foundations are prevalent in a target country and the cultural characteristics that must be addressed. 

Executives say brands can’t effectively connect with local customers without a strong regional presence in important markets. Adams says PayPal relies on marketing teams dedicated to overseeing consumer experience in local markets and those teams interact frequently to discuss performance results, new product launches, and other initiatives. 

Source: http://bit.ly/26I4EF9

6 Ways Startups Waste Money on Marketing

Marketing will be where the majority of startups spend most of their budgets. The average B2B marketer spends 42 percent of their budgets on marketing. Yet there are so many startups that don’t always get the results they want simply because most of their dollars are being wasted. If you are failing due to ineffective tactics and tools, this guide is going to show you some of the most common mistakes you may already be making, and how to turn things around.

Building a Following on Social Media

Your marketing budget should be spent partly on social media. But so many startups are convinced that building a following is going to lead to success. The problem with this is that social media reach is no longer what’s best for business. Facebook has seen organic reach crippled. Investing all this time into building a following is nearly pointless because what you’ll quickly discover is that you can have 100 likes on Facebook yet still make more money through advertising than someone with a thousand likes.

When only a fraction of your following will ever see your posts, building a following on social media is an entirely fruitless pursuit, so save your money.

Building a following remains important, but it should come through purchases of your products not through ‘like’ building campaigns.

Giving Up Too Soon

Startup owners believe that their product is so great that it’s sure to gain traction within a matter of days. Many small businesses begin with a twinkle in their eye and then realize they are not going to have an easy time.

Rather than persevering, they give up too soon. Many small business owners begin with high expectations and then when these aren’t met they believe it’s a problem with their business. You have unrealistic expectations if you demand that your business becomes a success within two years.

Not Understanding Your Audience

You can target any niche in the world with advanced marketing and advertising tools these days. To make the most of this you have to actually understand your audience, though. It’s necessary to have the image of your perfect customer, along with their likes/dislikes, and where they hang out.

If you are unable to understand your target audience, your targeting is always going to be slightly off. Conduct customer research before you start to waste your marketing dollars.

You Have No Idea How You Attracted Your Loyal Customers

The most loyal customers in your brand will be the ones who purchase every new product or service without question. These are the people you can rely on. At the same time, you need to know how you got them in the first place. It’s important for you to have a good idea for how you found your most loyal customers, so you can continue to replicate these tactics.

With most startups, the top fifth of your customers may account for up to 70 percent of your overall revenue, and this won’t change much as you grow.

Wagering Everything on One Marketing Campaign

Marketing is a game of trial and error whether you’re a small business or a large business. There are lots of things you can try and part of your growth period is to test out all these different tactics. But it’s difficult to do this when you’re wagering your entire marketing budget on a single campaign.

Don’t give yourself one shot to make your startup work. There’s a time and a place for this, but it’s not now. The best way to handle marketing as a startup is to start with extremely small scale tests.

Scaling up your marketing efforts should be done with extreme caution and only when you are sure that you are actually getting results. If it doesn’t work at a small level, it’s certainly not going to work at a higher spending level.

Not Tracking Your Results Well Enough

And then there are times where you are simply not tracking your results well enough. This tends to happen when startups gain a little bit of success in the beginning. They become so caught up in their success that they forget to track their results and compare them against the past.

Only by keeping track of your marketing results can you keep an accurate record of what works and what doesn’t. Without accurate measurements, you are going to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

 Source: http://bit.ly/1VjevgT

Social Media Strategy: where to begin?

Social media are a necessary part of any marketing strategy, but they should also be a part of your SEO strategy. As social media become more popular, Google and other search engines can’t ignore them any longer. Tweets and Facebook posts don’t get the highest rankings in Google, but Facebook pages and profiles for sure do. But how do you know which social media to use? In this post, I’ll walk you through the first steps of determining a social media strategy: finding the social media that suits both your business and your audience best.

Which social media suit your business?

The first step in determining a social media strategy is whether that social medium is one that you’d want to be found on. In other words, does the social medium suit the message and branding of your company? And on top of that: does this social medium offer the options and reach you’re looking for?

Social media like Facebook and Twitter offer a lot of ways to advertise and make your brand and company known beyond the scope of your followers. With other social media, this can be more difficult and would require a lot of hard work to get the same results. Make sure to think about what presence on the considered social media would mean for your company. Make sure that this aligns with how you want your business to be branded.

Which social media does your (desired) audience use?

Different kinds of people use different kinds of social media. So you have to know what social media your audience uses. And for you to know that, you’ll have to get to know your audience. This requires some effort and research, but it will definitely be worth it. For instance, if your company mainly works in the business-to-business area, you should definitely be active on LinkedIn. And if you have a young audience, your business is best off using social media such as Snapchat, Vine, Tumblr and Instagram:

Social media you can’t ignore

At the moment, there’s basically only one social medium you really can’t ignore and that’s Facebook. Why? Let me show you:

Facebook currently has nearly 1.5 billion active users every month. That’s over 20% of the entire world population being on Facebook at least once a month. So you can see why this is one bandwagon you’ll want to get on.

A blog or website should thus definitely have its own Facebook page. And your posts should all be shared on Facebook. That way, all the people who follow your page see new posts in their timeline. WordPress can do this automatically for you when you publish an article. Some people will like, share or comment on the Facebook posts, be giving them, even more, exposure.

Think about your social media strategy!

The main thing you should take away from this post is that you should determine your social media strategy, before your start. It’s easy to waste time, effort and money on the wrong media and/or the wrong goals. So bear in mind these 3 key questions:

• Who do I want to reach with social media?
• Which social media suits my business?
• On which social media do I find my target group?

 Source: http://bit.ly/1pR9SNO

5 Leadership Strategies That Get Results

Leaders are often thrust into their positions. They are promoted; they are entrepreneurs whose businesses grow and require the employment of others. All of a sudden they must lead others, and that can be a scary prospect. If this is you, relax. Over time, you will adjust and adapt and get the help you need to become a good leader. For the moment, however, there are some things that you can do to survive. While great leaders all have a large repertoire of skills and traits, they all also incorporate these 5 strategies into their leadership approaches. So, here are those strategies – you can implement them right now if you stay mindful of the behaviors that they require.

1. Integrity

While this may not be considered a strategy per se, the behaviors that come from having integrity are. Leaders with integrity are honest with their team members. They do not cheat; they do not cut corners; they do not slough off while all others are busting their butts. Instead, they have a set of principles for work that they model for their subordinates, and then they can expect the same from those subordinates. For example, if a project is going to have big challenges and require extra hours to meet a deadline, the leader is right there, working along with his/her team. And ordering the pizza or the Chinese goes without saying. A leader with integrity is admired by his subordinates.

2. Time Management

Strategies for time management should be a big priority. How do you schedule your day? Do you have a plan? Has that plan resulted in a prioritized list of the tasks to be accomplished by the end of the day? With each new project, time management comes into play. What is the timeline for project completion? How will it be broken down into manageable tasks that are then assigned to team members? How will you monitor the time management of others as they fulfill their responsibilities? What resources can you acquire that will streamline mundane tasks and help your team members streamline theirs as well? There are many facets to time management but they all begin with one thing – a plan.

3. Communication

Like time management, there are a number of elements in effective communication and each is a strategy that you must incorporate:

• Holding regular meetings with your team will be critical to forming good relationships with them. They need to understand your priorities and expectations, and you need to know what they need to do their jobs. When in the midst of a project, everyone needs to share his/her update. If there are issues or challenges, meetings in which everyone has an opportunity to make suggestions and team members can collaborate in creative problem-solving serve to solidify relationships among team members. And your willingness to listen endears you to them. They need to have a stake, and having the ability to be totally open with you will encourage “ownership” in all that the team must accomplish.
• Meetings with individual team members is another critical element. First, you need to get a “feel” for each member’s strengths, challenges, likes and dislikes. You also need to communicate that you care about each individual on a personal level. You want them to feel comfortable addressing any issues with you openly; there are times when employees’ have personal circumstances or crises which may impact their performance. They need to know that you are a leader with empathy and a willingness to be flexible when necessary. This is how you gain loyalty and trust.
• Praise is an element of communication too. When there is a job well done, an employee wants to know that you recognize and appreciate that. Be honest about praise and provide it when warranted. And if you are not able to hand out a material reward, then give that employee something else – half a day off will do nicely.

Leaders communicate with words and behaviors. Make sure that your communication strategies are encouraging openness, an atmosphere of trust, and confidence in team members’ abilities.

4. Delegation

To have leadership skills means that you have the ability to delegate tasks appropriately. These are the strategies that you must implement:

• You have taken the time to know each team member as an individual. And because you have done this, you have the information you need to delegate tasks. When you break down a project into smaller task responsibilities, assign them according to strengths and taking into account what members like to do.
• If you find skill deficits as you monitor task completion, see to it that the individual has the opportunity for training and coaching. This sends a strong message that you are invested in your people. When they know this, they will work harder and invest themselves in what needs to be accomplished.

5. Being a Servant

Employee morale is something you never want to damage. And a large part of keeping morale high is your willingness to be of service to your team. It is your responsibility to ask them what would make their jobs easier. It is your job to find the resources they need and to work alongside them when “crunch” time comes. It is your job to turn their complaints into problem-solving opportunities. When you do these things, then you can keep your expectations for their performance high and they will do what is necessary to meet those expectations – they are loyal and committed because you are to them.

Source : http://bit.ly/1OpWOmO

10 Key Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media for Business

When it comes to interacting with consumers, there’s nothing more effective than social media. Keeping tabs on what’s happening on social networks, you’ll gain valuable insight into your target audience, forge meaningful relationships with your customers and create a community of brand followers. It’s clear that every professional out there needs to be present on social media. Here are 10 key do’s and don’ts to help you survive on social platforms and build a strong brand that resonates with a wide range of consumers.

1. Do know your target audience

Without knowing to whom you’re addressing your messages, you cannot enjoy the full benefit of social media. Your social media accounts should be tailored to match the expectations and preferences of your target audience, not reflect your personal interests. Consumers don’t really care about you as a person – they’re far more interested in what you can do to help them in solving a problem.

That’s why you should know who you’re talking to before you start posting stories and sharing your expertise online. This is where 80/20 rule comes in handy. Make sure that 80% of your content is relevant to your target audience and 20% of it is specifically about your offer. This is a formula that works perfectly for self-employed professionals.

2. Don’t forget to set privacy settings

Just like you use them on your personal files, you should do so with your business accounts as well. Be careful when posting – just because you can delete a post doesn’t mean that the internet will forget. You have no idea about who might have seen it before you decided to delete it – and they might have saved this information. Always think twice before posting something or sharing content. Make sure to have full privacy settings in place and protect your passwords. Never give your passwords to other people and make sure they’re hard to crack. If your social accounts fall into the wrong hands, they can cause you a lot of trouble.

3. Do set the standard for good behavior

Even if social media and similar online activity seems more private, it’s hardly so. Every single thing you write and share will leave a permanent mark on the web. That’s why you should always set a standard for behavior online, showing your audience that you treat your online presence seriously and are in full control of your reputation on social media. Good online behavior will never lose you customers – your reputation as a solid company with great social media following will only help to boost your visibility on the web.

4. Don’t rely on automation too much

Automation is great for scheduling and organizing your social media activity, but never rely exclusively on such tools for posting. If you do, you’ll quickly lose that valuable personal touch with clients which makes your brand stand out. Show that you’re human and strive to make engagement experience for your target audience more personal.

5. Do pay attention to timing

Post only when you’re sure many people are listening. It’s pointless to be active in social media at times when there’s hardly anyone out there to engage and respond. That’s why you should always keep tabs on analytics and find out when your followers are most active on specific social media platforms. Use this information to your advantage when scheduling your posts – engaging consumers in these time frames will help you to make the most from your social media activity.

6. Don’t forget to respond or delete negative comments

Responding to comments, even if they’re negative, is a must. If you fail to respond in time or at all, count on your audience to notice that and change their perspective on our brand. Without active engagement, you’ll send a message that you don’t really care enough about your customers. You should be using comments as opportunities for interacting with your audience.

Show your audience how you deal with both positive and negative situations. That’s why you should never, ever delete negative comments. The person who posted them in the first place is still out there and seeing your lack of acknowledgment and outright denial will just enrage them. Stay calm and try to solve the issue – this is how you avoid a damaging PR disaster.

7. Do strive for originality

Be original and try different forms of content. Only by shaking things up once in a while you’ll keep your audience on their toes and wanting more. Be creative and show your personality. This is how you can gain loyal following – it’s what makes you stand out from others. Make sure your social channels are engaging and leave consumers with a positive impression.

8. Don’t be confident to the point of arrogance

Sometimes you might want to share your expertise and start to sound a bit too arrogant. If you want to make the most from your online presence, never use that tone. Don’t try to come off as a know-it-all – this isn’t an attitude that makes people like you. Respect the value your audience brings in to your conversation and keep an open mind – it’s not like you’ve got an answer to every single question. You can learn a lot through your interactions – always acknowledge valuable contributions from the community.

9. Do understand which social media networks work best for you

Before you create an account for your business on every single social network you know, pause for a minute and reflect on the social media landscape for a while. You’re using social media to meet your customers halfway, so what’s the point of being active on a platform none of your relevant audiences use? That’s right – when analyzing your target audience, you should also strive to learn about their favorite online hangouts.

Just because everyone has a profile on Facebook doesn’t mean that you need one as well. Remember than in order to bring you benefits, you’ll need to invest time in each social network – choose only those which are most relevant to your sector and audience. If you’d like to drive more traffic to your website and improve customer engagement, you need to choose networks that really fit your type of business.

10. Don’t share too much information too often

Don’t be hyperactive on social media – otherwise you risk coming off as someone who has no idea about when they’re doing. Take extra care about the content you share and make sure it’s 100% relevant and engaging. Sharing too much information can seriously damage your business operation. Just imagine what could happen if you share hints or pictures of your brand new product too early – you simply lose the momentum and effectively kill the entire product launch campaign. Post consciously and responsibly.

Becoming aware of these key do’s and don’ts of social media for business will help you to unleash the full potential of your brand and build a vibrant community of loyal followers who are genuinely interested in what you’ve got to say.

                Source : http://bit.ly/1JZv0KE

10 companies with outstanding social media presences

Some can discount the importance of online marketing, especially when brand managers' efforts on social platforms become stale. Model your campaigns after these organizations instead.

There's been endless debate over the last few years as to whether or not social media marketing is dead.

Recently, the Content Marketing Institute finally put the debate to rest—or tried to—with a podcast arguing that social media isn't actually dead, we're just using it wrong. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that there are still plenty of companies that are rocking social media marketing and can inspire the masses to follow suit with their perfected strategies.

Here are 10 to start following today:

1. Old Spice

When Isaiah Mustafa stepped into the role of the ultimate Old Spice guy, the drugstore cologne-turned-viral sensation attracted a legion of followers across multiple social media channels.

The brand's managers keep exploring unexpected ideas, like having Mustafa answer tweets on YouTube. What Old Spice really gets right is the emotional element of marketing, making followers wish their man was as suave as that cologne guy.

2. TEDx

It’s not easy to take informational lectures and turn them into sensational content that everyone is talking about.

TEDx doesn’t just nail its medium, it also manages to turn authentic storytelling videos into bite-size, shareable content across social media. Check out the organization's Twitter page and you'll see everything from how asteroid mining can help us live in space to how loneliness scrambles our thinking.

All this is sandwiched in between awesome food pics from TEDx events around the world.

3. Newcastle Brown Ale

Newcastle pioneered self-aware advertising in a quest for "no bullocks" messaging, and got it right.

For starters, the brand took the genius concept of not having enough cash to put together a Super Bowl ad, and produced one anyway. Without the funds to broadcast it to millions, Newcastle instead spread the ad around social media to poke fun at itself, its budget and the Super Bowl.

Essentially, Newcastle called bollocks on the idea of needing millions to effectively earn global recognition.

4. Starbucks

Unlike Newcastle, Starbucks probably has the budget for Super Bowl-worthy ads. However, the coffee company's stand-out feature on social media is how it has taken the idea of engagement to a whole new level.

For a while, Starbucks even gave customers the option to manage and reload their coffee cards on social media. The company also makes it easy to find nearby locations, look up international Starbucks spots and apply for jobs at its stores.

5. Denny’s

This dining franchise has quickly earned the reputation of being deliciously weird on social media.

Denny’s has mostly ditched the idea of traditional promotional specials and asking diners how they like their burgers and omelets. Instead, Denny's has worked to stand out from its competitors and attract a younger crowd.

6. Staples

The office-supply juggernaut gets plenty right, like educating and informing its audience and offering gift card giveaways and product promotions. Staples also thrills followers by making fun of office culture and the doldrums of cubicle life.

The chain recognizes that its followers are into more than just paper clips and office furniture. Staples engages that audience by asking questions like, “Who is your favorite “Star Wars” character?” alongside offering quirky videos on office party etiquette.

7. NASA

It’s not just geeky space talk and shuttle news on NASA’s social media channels. The organization's Mars Curiosity channel on Twitter wows followers with the latest mission to explore that planet's surface.

Its Rover takes photos of everything from two-story Martian dunes to silica deposits. It also turns out that those nerds at NASA also have a great sense of humor. One of their recent Tweets simply said, "I'm on a road trip to Mars' Bagnold Dunes. What's new with you?"

8. Pampers

Pampers knows its target audience well and embraces that nurturing parent vibe accordingly.

The company regularly hosts photo contests to encourage moms to upload photos of their babies and offer information on their rewards program. Pampers' #BetterForBaby campaign tugged on heartstrings by showing struggling families trying to make their babies’ lives better.

By the time we see how Pampers transforms their lives, social media followers are wiping away tears in secret.

9. GoPro

YouTube turned GoPro into a viral sensation with its extraordinary videos created by users wearing the tiny camera. GoPro understood that user-generated videos and the value they created wasn't just a trend. Scores of GoPro converts are creating amazing videos, from pelicans flying to skydivers taking their first jump. The videos are contagious and widely shared.

GoPro videos have become more than just people watching shaky adventure footage on YouTube. There’s even a GoPro channel on Virgin America Airlines and a streaming option right from Xbox.

10. XBox

XBox’s Twitter page resembles a buttoned-up corporation sending out news, promotions and slick advertising photos. Meanwhile, over at its @XboxSupport handle, gamers can get near-instantaneous answers to their issues.

That may be their most powerful strategy in social media marketing. In between tweets assuring users that it's working hard to answer everyone's questions, Xbox also offers resources such as phone numbers and common topics addressed online.

What are your favorite companies that are still rocking social media marketing? 

Source : http://bit.ly/1P5QSnO

5 Essential Search Trends That Will Impact Online Revenue In 2016

What will search marketers need to focus on in the coming year to stay ahead of the curve? Columnist Jim Yu explores five trends to keep an eye on.

The search and content marketing world has undergone some major changes during 2015. The stage has been set for a shift away from producing content for its own sake. Instead, there is a trend towards the use of search and social data to guide content creation. This development will be a critical part of boosting engagement for brands and helping their content attract the desired audience.

Although the content itself has a central role to play in the conversion of customers, the importance of the more technical side of search optimization should not be overlooked. The industry maturation has also impacted where brands need to focus their efforts on the behind-the-scenes tasks that help to drive content forward and into the limelight.

Here are five SEO trends brands should pay close attention to as they move into the New Year.

1. Mobile Apps Will Need To Be Optimized

Mobile apps are likely to become an increasingly significant factor for search and brand exposure in 2016. The year 2015 already saw mobile searches overtake desktop searches, and the use of mobile apps has been growing. These apps are going to become essential for the mobile user experience.

Any doubt about the importance of apps can quickly be put to rest by noting that 52 percent of all time spent on digital media is consumed by mobile apps. Also, 42 percent of all mobile sales generated by the top 500 merchants came through mobile apps.

To keep customers engaged with the brand, these apps need to be optimized. Well-designed mobile apps should align with the organization and the brand message that you are promoting.

Remember that when people are searching for apps in the app store, they are just going to be seeing the icons with minimal information. All images used with the apps, particularly the icon, need to be visually engaging and encourage people to click to learn more.

As the app begins to find users, make sure to keep an eye on the ratings and reviews. If customers start to complain about any particular errors or usage struggles, then correct the problem right away and let people know that the issue has been addressed.

2. Structured Data Will Become Even More Significant

In 2015, Google announced the usage of their new machine-learning system, known as RankBrain. This A.I. technology has been designed to better understand the intent of searches. Google says that it has been particularly helpful when the search engine faces a query it has not seen before. This ranking factor has quickly become prominent, as the search engine giant claims that it is the third most important ranking signal in their algorithm.

These developments indicate that A.I. is likely to become an even more significant factor in 2016 and beyond. As Google and the other search engines are able to better incorporate machine learning into their algorithms, they can potentially develop an intelligent algorithm that can learn what customers are looking for and maximize their user experience by showing the best possible sites.

On a technical side, to anticipate this development, brands will need to focus on structured data. Structured data markup, such as that found on schema.org, helps websites communicate with search engines by precisely describing what is on the page rather than leaving it up to the spiders to interpret. This helps search engines display the website more accurately.

In the past, missing or inaccurate structured data markup could usually pass by unnoticed or with a minimal impact on brand performance. As the search engines become more intelligent, however, they are likely to also become more dependent upon this extra data — failure to do it correctly will have a greater impact on site success.

When using the schema.org markup, brands should always use Google Webmaster Tools to make sure the markup has been used correctly. The Structured Data Testing Tool will make it easy for brands to ensure that they have added everything accurately.

Brands should ensure that their markup has been used throughout the site consistently — particularly for rich content, such as videos on the website. Structured data markup will help ensure that rich snippets appear whenever possible, such as in video search results. This can increase the click-through rate for the site by making it look more appealing on the search engine results pages.

3. Site Layout Will Become More Significant

In 2016, engagement will take center stage. On the competitive content battleground, brands have to focus on increasing engagement to keep visitors interested and coming back to the site to progress towards conversion.

Site features, such as the layout, will be an important part of rising above the noise of the modern content battleground. When customers have trouble finding the information they need on a website, they are likely to just click back to search results. An estimated 50 percent of potential sales are lost because customers cannot find what they seek.

Ensuring that the site is optimized for visitors and conversions means primarily that it is easy for customers to navigate. Examine your site data and see how visitors are reacting. Are there certain pages that are not being visited? Are there high numbers of people who click on several different pages in rapid succession, only to then click off the site? These people were looking for something in particular but could not find it.

To counter this impact, you need to look at how your site is organized. Make sure that subcategories are easy to understand and navigate. Drop-down menus can be very helpful because they help to minimize clicking for the visitor. Consider adding an internal search, particularly for e-commerce sites, to help customers find what they need even easier.

Keep in mind that site layout and optimization also applies to mobile. To do this properly for smart devices, you need to make sure you understand what your customers do on the site. For example, providing the brand’s contact information and a click-to-call button up front can be very helpful. Look at your mobile data to better understand what customers are doing on your site and make sure that your mobile pages are ready to maximize the on-the-go user experience.

4. Links Will Still Be In The Spotlight

The first big Penguin update in over a year is anticipated to hit within the next few weeks. This update has promised to clean up link struggles that have been plaguing websites since the last Penguin release in 2014. This impending update has many people on their toes, wondering how this will impact link building.

Brands should be making sure that they are in a position to take advantage of this update and not get hit with penalties that will get the New Year started off on a bad foot. This means taking a careful look at the current link profile. Look for anomalies like sudden spikes in the number of backlinks for your page.

It is also important for brands to focus their efforts on earning backlinks that will have a positive impact on the page. Keep in mind that links from reputable websites, the ones that would positively impact a backlink profile, will be ones that need to be earned.

Solid websites know that linking to other websites will be like a vote of confidence for that site. These websites will only link to pages that they feel meet the quality and value that they provide for their own visitors. Building a quality backlink profile, therefore, means focusing on:

• providing high-value content for visitors
• creating a well-designed, easy-to-navigate website
• promoting content through social to get it in front of influences and reputable sites
• seeking guest posts on quality web pages.

On the flip side, brands should also review their backlink profile to identify any potentially problematic links. If you spot any spam sites linking to your page, disavow them through Google. It is not worth the risk of having these in your backlink profile with the new update coming.

5. Search Will Be Less About Just Website Rank And More About Overall Content And Online Presence

The year 2016 is likely to see maturation in online marketing as success becomes less defined by a website’s ranking and more about the overall online presence of the brand. The website will need to be well integrated with the rest of the online platforms, especially social media.

Facebook in particular has been working on developing a better search experience for users, and it is likely to become increasingly sophisticated in the coming year. That means brands have to be prepared to optimize their online presence on social media. This will become particularly significant with the growing importance of mobile apps, like the Facebook App and the YouTube App. Customers will likely use these with an increasing frequency, which means that the content posted on social media needs to be ready for these searches.

This optimization process requires paying close attention to both the posts made and how the profiles themselves are completed. Businesses should make sure that they describe themselves as completely as possible within the About Us sections. Use vocabulary that customers employ and data-backed keywords. The posts should incorporate high-quality images and engaging text. Use the Open Graph Protocol to maximize your control over how your content appears when posted to Facebook. Make sure that articles included are mobile-friendly. Link posts across the different platforms, such as including links back to the website and blog.

Overall, stop thinking of website development and social media marketing as two different entities. They should instead be treated as a two parts of the brand’s overall web presence.

Final Thoughts

As the online marketing industry continues to grow and refine itself, marketers are likely to feel the pressure as they struggle to stay on top of the latest developments and ensure that their search and content marketing initiatives perform.

2015 has been an exciting year as the industry has developed, and the next year also seems to have many new trends in store. I look forward to seeing what other exciting developments evolve over the next 12 months.

Source : http://selnd.com/1TY84vw