Last time, I began to take a look at how social media is going to take a further hold over people´s lives in 2015. Admittedly, I´ve made that sound a bit Black Mirror, but for marketers this could well prove to be a good thing.
In this article, I´ll add to those predictions on social media, and also throw a couple more general content marketing trends into the mix. Wasting no time, then:
The death of SEO as we know it
Let´s face it, good old-fashioned SEO is basically based on bending, and all too often breaking Google´s rules to manipulate its algorithm in your favour. Those days are long gone, and methods such as link building are on their way out, in favour of a content-based strategy. The secret to “doing SEO” is rapidly becoming not to “do SEO”. If you´re putting out great content that´s engaging, useful, has a purpose and is shareable, SEO comes as a by-product of this.
Bye-bye banner advertising
As competition heats up in the rapidly growing ad tech market, the need to differentiate is crucial. Companies like ContentClick are developing programmatic, native ad-serving technology designed to drive highly-engaged consumers to your site by recommending relevant content (it could be yours) based on the article they are currently reading in mainstream media. This strategy delivers dramatically better results than traditional banner adverts, but it does rely on a steady supply of quality content to drive the process.
LinkedIn looking lively
It´s not looking gloomy for all, though. Some 88% of B2B marketers are already on LinkedIn and, prompted by development of a publishing platform on the site, more and more journalists are taking note. Business2Community says LinkedIn will become “the only source of reference needed for employers and employees” in 2015, with more paid users set to get on-board.
That new publishing platform is said to be a particular draw, offering businesses opportunities to build and develop a professional brand by engaging their followers in long-form content, whilst also allowing firms to establish an expert voice on specific subjects.
Which trends do you see taking off? Do you agree that social media offers the most powerful platform for engaging audiences across the world?