Business.com
You don’t have to be trendy to get in front of and profit big from a trend. I brought together an eclectic group to open your mind about digital trends you’re probably not aware of but they’re affecting your business. Or they’re lost opportunities if you stay in the dark about them. Here are 6 “under the radar” digital trends that you should capitalize on this year.
1) Craig Handley – CEO of ListenUpEspanol.com
You’ve probably heard the term “intentional marketing”. We’re seeing it in the Spanish market. To break through media fragmentation companies are using big data.
Facebook looks at user data then puts people into 1 of 3 categories. For example, if a user is a fan of numerous Spanish pages, and posts in Spanish mostly, they would probably be considered “Hispanic-Spanish Dominant” (and vice versa). The Hispanic-All category contains all three of the affinity groups thus allowing marketers to create content more relevant to the consumer.
2) Tom Bukacek – President BlackBoxSocialMedia.com
Because of the glut of competition, just advertising to get customers to your website isn’t enough. You must communicate with them even after they visit your website. This big trend for savvy marketers is called retargeting. People who visited your site previously (but didn’t buy or take the next step) see a specific series of messages/ad your team setup. This strategy will have the greatest marketing and conversion success in 2015.
3) Viveka Von Rosen – CEO of LinkedIntoBusiness.com
One trend picking up speed is influencer marketing. Influencer articles are great because they share different points of view and tend to get exponential visibility as those influencers share the article. Connect with influencers in your target audience, and create a situation that’s mutually beneficial- there’s got to be something in it for them, too.Make it easy to share by giving them Swipe Files and use Click to Tweet.
Influencer marketing works really well with LinkedIn Publisher. Ask them to write about something for you, or to share a piece you’ve produced with their audience. You establish top of mind awareness and trust with that influencer, and possibly gain access to their inner circle.
4) Tim Levy – Coach to CEOs
We’re seeing the strongest results on social media with video. The key strategy is to leverage the paid platforms in Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. Regarding video, you must focus on the second largest search engine in the world: YouTube. YouTube offers paid ads but few are advertising here. It’s a green field opportunity for savvy business owners.
5) David Gonzalez – Top Joint Venture Facilitator
With today’s low email open rates, it seems to reinforce some pitchmen’s claims that email is dead. They’ve been saying this for over 5 years now.
But outbound email marketing is a growing trend in the last 12 months. Tools like Quickmail.io and Persistiq.com allow “drip campaigns” of automated messaging to cold prospects – just like ConstantContact or MailChimp does with opt-in prospects. Even tools like ToutApp and YesWare allow similar functionality for customized and automated “mass messaging” with an extremely personal feel.
6) Michael Drew – CEO of PromoteaBook.com
Surprising trends with books:
- Ebooks DON’T dominate the market
- Traditional brick and mortar retailers still control the game
- Of American households, only 19% bought one book last year,
11% of those who bought read the book. Convincing someone to buy a book is not the same as getting them to read the book.
- Asking someone who has never heard of the author to buy their book doesn’t work
These are trends that were probably not on your radar. That’s good news because it means your competitors likely don’t know about them either. You gain first-mover advantage by capitalizing on these digital trends now. It’s easier to run the race from the leader spot than willing the energy you need to surge ahead then stay there.
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