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Out With the Old and In With the New: Five Marketing Trends for 2018

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As a small business owner, “out with the old, in with the new” should be more than just a saying; it’s a valuable business philosophy.

As the year draws to a close, it’s time to look at what marketing tactics aren’t working and get onboard with the latest trends. We’ve put together a list of five of our favorites to give you a boost in 2018.

1. Long-form text-based content

Text is going by the wayside. People have less time and shorter attention spans; when they’re browsing the web, they’re looking for easily digested snippets of content. Considering that mobile web browsing surpassed desktop browsing in 2016, the fact that it’s less convenient to read long-form text on a smaller screen should be steering you away from eBook and PDF formats.

Shifting your content towards more dynamic and interactive forms will give you a huge boost in customer engagement. This can be accomplished with videos, motion graphics or animations, online quizzes and surveys, and interactive landing pages that are responsive and mobile-friendly. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and think about how you engage with your mobile device.

2. Explainer Videos

A growing trend in this area is explainer videos, which are short, simple videos that explain a product or service. This can be in the form of a product demo with an on-screen personality, an animated video with motion graphics, or even a photo slideshow with subtitles and music. People are four times as likely to watch an explainer video than read a text description. Boost engagement further by inviting the audience to give feedback on each video, which will also help you adapt and provide a better experience for them in the future.

3. Text-based SEO

In the same vein as long-form text content, text-based SEO is no longer the dominant force behind search strategy. Your customers are now searching for videos, images and audio, not just text. If you aren’t paying due attention to your multimedia, you’re missing potential customers who are trying to find you via non-traditional search.

The solution is to optimize existing images, videos and audio files by giving them accurate tags and keywords, and to start cranking out new multimedia content on a regular schedule. Once you develop a strategy for optimizing your multimedia content, it’ll become second nature going forward. Identifying the right keywords and tags for your content will depend on your industry; researching how your competition handles this task will offer valuable insight.

4. Facebook Organic Reach

It wouldn’t be a new year without new changes to the way Facebook organic reach functions. Only a fraction of your existing fans will ever see your posts using unpaid methods. You may have already noticed a decline in your organic reach. The change was implemented to encourage businesses to use boosted posts and ads, which are now the best way to increase your reach with efficiency and precision. Facebook has developed an incredibly versatile suite of tools to help you target customers based on demographics like age and gender, location, and interests. You can monitor your Facebook ad campaign and make changes in real time to get the most bang for your buck.

5. Integrated Social Messaging Apps

Lastly, a growing trend to consider in 2018 is integrating social messaging apps into your marketing strategy. Research from the Ofcom Communications Market shows that over 60% of the total mobile audience used Facebook Messenger. The number of people using messaging apps in general is growing fast, and it’s in your best interest to join them. Customers want to be able to chat directly with a business, for the same purpose that a phone call would serve. For many, messaging apps are their primary method of communication, a trend that is not going to reverse course anytime soon.

We’re constantly monitoring changes and trends in the world of online marketing and would love to share more of our insight with you to help you grow your business. Contact Dream Local Digital now to learn how we can boost your marketing effectiveness and ROI.

Interested in learning more about the latest and greatest 2018 trends that will help your business thrive and stand out from your competition? Watch our webinar recording, “Trends for 2018 That You Need to Know“. 

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