Q: What are the biggest trends in the online marketing industry in 2012? Are things as easy as before to make money … or are there NEW ideas that need to be implemented to maintain the same level of success?
A: This is a very common question that comes up through our articles, blog posts, and even newsletter subscribers. The truth is, if you are a passionate professional or online entrepreneur working in the branding, blogging or business industry, you NEED to know what works NOW … and what no longer works.
I want to share with you 3 key trends that are vitally important in my own business, and that I truly believe that each and every successful business owner (or online agency) should adopt ASAP, or risk being trampled. .and left behind by who they are.
1 – Communities are essential
Static websites, or even simple blogs, are no longer enough to stand out in your space. You have to think about the community FIRST and configure the infrastructure to create an interactive environment where your users can become content creators and evangelizers for your blog, your brand and your business. The good news is that the Facebook-style marketing model can be EASILY implemented on all blogs running WordPress (the world’s most widely used blogging platform) with free plugins that can transform your blog into an interactive community in just one hour. (if you are slow!)
2 – Dynamic navigation environments
It used to be that marketers didn’t have to think as much about design … since the direct response mantra was design, it didn’t matter. (Think of the long, sales-heavy text pages of yesteryear still used by some marketing “gurus” in 2012)
The truth is, in my own business, I’m seeing firsthand how much design and cross-device access is transforming my own communities and conversions as well. According to recent statistics, approximately HALF of Facebook’s 900 million users access the site a significant portion of the time through a mobile device or iPad (or similar reader). Unless you are creating responsive or responsive environments that adapt to your users’ screens, you will exponentially increase your bounce rates, lose readers, and of course suffer from an SEO point of view as a result. (since page stickiness is an important factor in determining how relevant your pages are to searches that send you traffic)
3 – Control what you create
Short location marketing strategists are forgoing traditional blogs and websites for social profiling and social media brand building. The truth is, this is a BIG mistake, because if you don’t control the content you create, you run the risk of losing it all, to the whim of someone else’s agenda or business goals. For instance? I’ve seen people who have built a huge Facebook presence lose everything overnight … when FB decided to delete their page. Or those who built their entire business around sites like Squidoo or HubPages or even just article directories … only to find that when those sites get slapped or punished, you suffer too.
When you control what you create and own where you post, you rarely run the risk of going out of business due to factors beyond your control. Using social media as a complementary strategy is SMART. But using it as the only strategy is super dumb … and very short too.