The New Year is right around the corner, meaning many businesses are currently reviewing their marketing plans for 2015. In a LinkedIn article, Marketing professional Eoin Mulvihill recently gave his predictions for the industry in 2015, based on trends in clients’ data and more general trends.
1.) More high-quality paid advertisement on social media
Mulvihill predicts paid content will soar in popularity, and that businesses will need to become more savvy when it comes to Facebook’s algorithm.
“Once brands realise they have to pay for the majority of posts to be seen, they will be a lot smarter with what they post. Brands will pay more attention to Facebook’s algorithm which boosts popular posts, and will endeavour to only promote content that they believe will be interacted with,” Mulvihill says. “This will result in a positive user experience for the end-user, and will force companies to really ensure they are on the money with their content.”
2.) Short-form videos with call-to-actions
While 2014 marked the advent of the popularity of short-form video, in particular with Vine and Facebook’s internal video hosting platforms, in 2015, these platforms will become even more common. Brands will use Facebook’s internal video platform to create short-form videos with call-to-action links, then direct traffic to custom-made landing portals on their own websites.
3.) Inbound Online Marketing
Inbound online marketing is the process of getting leads through creating optimal content for users, and represents another area that Mulvhill expects to increase. As more businesses understand the value of SEO, businesses will want to invest in inbound marketing.
4.) Reformatting of Quality Content
Content marketing will remain important, as it was in 2014. But now, reformatting, with pictures, infographics and animation is the key. In addition, “We’ll see a rise in higher quality content being shared in multiple formats on multiple platforms,” Mulvihill states.
5.) Mobile First
More than 40 percent of businesses’ traffic comes from mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. Already, many brands have taken the step of creating a mobile-friendly website. Increasingly, other businesses will also embrace mobile in their marketing. Knowing your target audience, including their past purchase history and preferences, is important. In fact, many of the trends just discussed rely on customer data being collected, for instance:
- Inbound marketing requires insight into your target user’s search terms and preferences to create relevant content.
- The distribution of content across platforms requires understanding which of your users are on which social platforms, and what type of content appeals to them.
“Marketing departments who have been lax about data collection will be kicking themselves and this will result in a ramp-up of customer data collection initiatives as brands seek to find out as much as they can about their customers in both offline and online situations,” Mulvihill says. “As the online marketing forum becomes more crowded, intelligent and detailed customer data will shift from being optional to being an absolute necessity.”
An internet marketing agency can help you develop effective and innovative marketing strategies. KeyMedia Solutions offers mobile advertising solutions, as well as targeted internet marketing, among a range of other services.