TOP 7 Online Marketing Trends in 2015

It’s only a few weeks and 2014 will draw to an end. Another year is about to close. Another year is about to start. We’re grateful for the past year because of our many successes and we here at OIR couldn’t be more thankful and prouder that our clients have been part of our many victories this year.

Earlier this 2014, we shared with you the Top SEO Trends in 2014. It has been quite a year for search engine optimization. As expected, Google made a lot of changes like in the past. We took note of a few things: lower value from press release links, lower value from article directory links and guest posts, and the value of authority- and relationship-driven content contributions.

We also shared with you some SEO Trends Ruling in 2014: Google Authorship, Social Media’s Role in Traffic Referral, Guest Blogging, Content Marketing, Increasing Demand for SEO, SEO Becoming More Expensive, Mobile Marketing, and Creativity. When all these things are taken into consideration, businesses can win in the traffic game. It’s a matter of balancing these factors.

As early as now, we’re looking at the possible trends in online marketing this coming 2015. It’s not too early because we want to be ahead in the Internet marketing game. Trends may change within the year but the important thing is for us in the industry to adjust and adapt to trends.

Here are the Top 7 Online Marketing Trends that will dominate Year 2015 according to Forbes:

1. Importance of mobile-optimization

As we said earlier this year, mobile marketing is getting bigger. It will even be bigger in 2015 and more businesses and brands should focus on mobile-optimization. Mobile strategies must be carefully planned. Companies are called to work on techniques beyond having a mobile app or a mobile responsive site. Social media marketing and having a mobile-optimized content will be more significant.

Mobile sites must be both Google- and user-friendly. According to Google, mobile usability is “relevant for optimal search results”. Take note of this for next year.

2. Budget on social media marketing will increase

More brands will understand the importance of social media marketing so they will be more willing to spend on this area. Budget on marketing will increase. We’re not sure if Facebook ad revenue will still be as high but as long as Facebook is still a relevant social network, more people will spend on paid advertising.

Positive results have been seen by most businesses this year, thanks to their social media investment. Paid social ads are becoming more effective and we’re expecting they will still be in 2015. We predict Twitter’s new advertising options will work and bring in more app downloads and website clicks.

3. Content marketing will be bigger

Content will still be king. This will still be a huge part of search engine optimization. About 93 percent of B2B companies shared they used content marketing this year according to a recent B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks report. Of this number, 42% said their strategies were effective.

More effort must be given to content marketing. Some companies will see the need to shift their budget from SEO, PPC, and social media to content marketing efforts. It will not be easy because competition will be tougher than ever. Businesses must look into video content, presentation of case studies, and research-intensive content.

Content marketing must include mobile content to bring in more mobile website traffic. Text must be in short-form and should be easily readable across all devices: desktop, smartphone, tablet, or maybe even wearables like smartwatches.

4. Email marketing will change

Email marketing as another strategy will change a bit. Actually, businesses are called to refocus on this area as SEO algorithms and trends in social media are constantly changing. Focus more on email marketing with effective content marketing.

Since content marketing will be bigger, companies should streamline their email marketing content. One effective way is to convert existing content found in websites into downloadable PDFs like ebooks or whitepapers.

5. Lines between social media marketing, content marketing, and SEO will be more blurred

They say content marketing is the new SEO. However, it will not survive alone without correct search engine optimization techniques, as well as, social media plan. These three will work together effectively to provide the best visibility.

SEO could be a subset of online marketing. It will still include keyword research, indexing, meta tags, and other technical aspects of a website. Content marketing will include creation of high-quality content while social media will help content strategy.

6. Brands will strive to humanize

Customers still want to interact people and brands will begin to realize that. Companies should connect more with their audience on a more human and personal level to have more and happier customers, better brand loyalty, faster audience and market growth, plus higher conversion rates. Social media will be a great tool but brands need to work on this part carefully by making sure they respond to queries regularly and on time.

7. Brands will find new ways to make native advertising more relevant and less promotional

Banner advertising may not be as relevant in 2015. It wasn’t as important this year either so brands may not look into doing that extensively. Banner ads will still be visible but they won’t offer big and calculable ROI. Editorial content marketing will increase and banner ads will be irrelevant.

This coming 2015 we can expect to see more collaborations and partnerships between brands and publishers. There will still be sponsored content but it will be created to amplify primary content. Expect that the things will see, read, or hear in 2015 will be more relevant instead of purely promotional.

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