By Rene LeMerle
Expert Author
Article Date: 2012-01-05
What does 2012 hold in store for online marketing? Where 2011, saw some major changes such as Google entering the social media world with Google+, Facebook and Twitter playing a large role in product promotions and an increase in mobile searches, experts predict more such changes in 2012.
In 2012 the Internet world will continue to dominate the marketing strategy of all small and medium business which will focus on utilizing the various online marketing tools available. Here are some predictions for online marketing in 2012:
Mobile Marketing
2011 saw an astonishing 5.3 billion mobile subscriptions and it is being predicted that mobile ad spending will jump to $20.6 billion by 2015. Users are constantly seeking improved and intuitive mobile versions of websites that allow them to easily shop and find the items they want. So if you still do not have a mobile friendly version of your website its time you look into getting one. Mobile will not only help you gain improved visibility of your campaigns it will also help you invest more accurately in performance advertising and paid search.Smartphone Apps
As adoption of Smartphones continues to rise it is expected that 23% of the mobile user population will turn to smart phones by 2012. This means that more and more users will be looking for apps that are easy to download and use. There is no reason why you should not think of targeting this audience by creating your very own app.
Social Media
Social media emerged as a clear winner in 2011 for both PC and mobile marketing. With users frequenting social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Foursquare the trend is sure to continue in 2012 as well. It is being predicted that 2012 will be the year of customer relationship marketing where social media will play a pivotal role in cultivating and building relationships with your online consumers on a more personal level. Companies that develop personal marketing tools and relationships will win the customer over the long term.
Paid Advertising
With online marketing getting better ROI than traditional marketing more and more SMB's are engaging in paid advertising to get guaranteed audience to their sites. However experts predict that this method of marketing will work best if businesses are able to find a balance between their campaign costs and ROI.
When it comes to advertising on social media sites like Facebook, it is predicted that 2012 will be the year of "friends". Google and Facebook will begin to incorporate social likeability and sentiment measurements into ad rankings. Advertisers will then need to invest heavily in promoting "+1's" and "likes" to consumers via PPC ads. This will be good news for consumers as ads for more popular products and brands are presented more often.
Search Engines
Search engines and mobile search have become the 2 leading sources of website traffic so your website's visibility and accessibility are 2 major factors that keep your audience engaged and determine the click through rate of your web pages. Google has made it essential for websites to score well on engagement metrics in the long tail of search results. You will no longer get a lot of search traffic for obscure terms that you don't have good strong results for. The Panda update has increased the quality of relevance in the longtail, and don't expect Google to just give this traffic back to the sites they don't think deserved it in the first place. Make sure to learn from your bounce rate, and improve those engagement related metrics.
Although no one is 100% certain what direction online marketing will take in 2012, it is clear that the future is bright.
Comments
