We did it: we made it one more rotation around the sun, which means that it�s time for annual industry predictions roundups.
We�re most interested in what we can expect as digital marketers, and what will make brands the most successful at growing their content audiences and consumer bases in 2017.
You�ll probably hear a lot of the same things�content is still king, social is still growing, and marketers are looking forward to the future of virtual technologies, but we�re here with some actionable items that you can use today to kick off your wildly successful 2017 digital marketing strategy.
Use video to capture your audience�s attention.
In 2016, we almost heard about nothing else but video marketing. That�s because it works. The use of video as a content medium for marketers to leverage is only going to grow.
Video adoption is increasing at a higher rate than any other platform simply because marketers are seeing a good return. According to Forrester, including video in an email leads to a 200-300% increase in click-trough-rate (CTR). Not only that, but one minute of video is equal to 1.8 million words as it relates to content value.
It also gets you in front of more consumers than other types of content�According to ComScore, 45.5% of users viewed at least one video online over the course of the month.
The impact of video is growing�but let�s talk about the elephant in the room. It�s expensive to create quality produced videos for marketing purposes. The trick isn�t to max out your budget to make as many videos as possible, but to use your budget to make the highest quality, largest lead generating videos you can, even if you release them less frequently.
Genuine testimonials are a huge SEO opportunity now.
Testimonials definitely aren�t a new concept�getting your successful customers to talk about their experiences with you publicly will be key when it comes to marketing strategy success.
But it�s no longer adequate to just gather as many reviews as you can. Now, testimonials can be coded so that search engines recognize them as genuine, meaning they�re even more valuable than ever.
The more reviews on your website, the better your search engine optimization (SEO) will be�and they should be everywhere, including home page, contact page, and any other page in which a quote is relevant.
Wearables are the newest emerging market to reach consumers right now.
As marketers, we hear a lot about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) when we talk about trends�but these mediums aren�t large enough yet to give you a realistic ROI. �Wearables� is the new medium you should be focusing on right now.
In 2016, 72% of the US population owned a smartphone. Smartphones aren�t going the way of the mixed tape anytime soon, but wearables will start to catch up in popularity very quickly.
Industry experts predict that by 2018, the global wearables market will reach $19 billion. A lot of people will have jumped on board the wearables bandwagon, and the medium won�t be saturated with content.
Consider adding a wearables marketing strategy to your 2017 planning, for an opportunity to reach a new set of customers with little competition.
Augmented reality is coming back.
Remember Pok�mon Go? It seems like it was a flash in the pan in 2016 when it started, and then quickly died out. The success of the augmented reality game means it will be coming back�whereas this latest game was just a test, its success means there�s a huge opportunity for the gaming market, and therefore for marketers as a segway to the virtual reality environments of the future.
2017 is your opportunity to experiment with augmented reality campaigning, partnerships and lead generation from a medium that�s still brand new.
If you�re going to get ahead this year, you�ll need to be looking towards all sorts of technologies of the future.
Whether it�s video, SEO, wearables or augmented reality, the world of marketing campaigns is taking a step towards some futuristic mediums, which means it may be time to rethink how you�ll reach and influence your customers this year – and beyond.
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