The new year is coming even closer day by day and 2017 is definitely coming real fast. While most people are busy preparing for the holiday season, there are others (such as business owners) who are worried about what 2017 might bring to them.
I know what you are feeling and I’m feeling the same too! Being an entrepreneur, it worries me a lot as well!
A few mind-boggling thought are:
- What should I do in 2017?
- Is my business ready for 2017?
- How can I further expand my business for 2017 (and beyond)?
In this article, you will find several powerful (and pretty effective) digital marketing trends to a lookout in 2017.
On the side, I hope you find this useful and feel free to bookmark this for future reference!
How Can Business Owners Prepare (Digitally) For 2017?
1. Social media is here to stay
Social media will forever be growing, at least in 2017. As a business owner, you need to integrate social media into your overall marketing strategy.
It doesn’t matter if you are a brick and mortar business, or an online store. You need a good social media marketing strategy to work with.
Of course, you should know that this blog, shares a lot of effective social media tips. So, make sure you follow the blog either on Facebook, Twitter or even RSS!
Social media in 2017 will be challenging. For starters, there are so many social media platforms which are in the market today. You do not need to participate in every one of them, but at least do participate a little on each platform.
At the same time, focus on ONE social media platform as your main to ensure that, that one platform would be the driving force of your traffic and leads.
2. The strength of video marketing
Have you noticed Facebook Live, Twitter Live videos and even YouTube are constantly being talked about?
The answer is simple. Video marketing is growing and it is the NEXT BIG thing as we speak!
If you are planning to use video marketing as a part of your marketing needs, then you need to ensure that you are doing really, awesome videos.
With thousands of videos uploaded daily on every social media platform, you can’t afford to upload a subpar video and gain probably only 20 views.
You want to upload a video and get thousands of views and shares! And the first step is to create a good video. Sure, you don’t have the video professionally done all the time but at least, edit the video before publishing it.
There are many video editing tools that you can use such as: Window Movie Maker, Adobe Creative Studio and Cyberlink. A good video editing tool or program usually costs around a few hundred dollars. Trust me, if you are serious about getting video marketing work for you, get a da*n video editing tool.
It is definitely worth the investment!
3. Check your stats
As a business owner, you are probably busy with your day to day operations. But regardless how busy you are, take some time to understand analytics. When you understand how your business is moving around, you will have a better idea on how to market it to the world.
Of course, it may sound like a very challenging task in the beginning but it is definitely worth it.
So, what stats you should be checking about?
Typically, you want to know:
- Which post perform the best
- Which post has the most engagements
- Which post gets the most clicks
When you have this data, the next step is to try to replicate the same method to gain positive results from your digital marketing strategies.
Statistics need to be checked through at least on a weekly basis. While you can certainly do it once a month, a full 30 days duration may be a little too late especially when it comes to adjusting your strategy for more positive results.
4. Stay up to date with the latest trends
Digital marketing especially social media marketing is always changing. With technology advancing at an insane rate, you might well find yourself left in the dust in most cases!
Daryn Smith (co-founder of MPULL) once said that “It might be a time-consuming — and sometimes mind-boggling — task, but keeping up with the latest developments in marketing technology, industry norms and consumer trends is non-negotiable. Today’s well-informed and web-savvy customers expect nothing less.”
If you want to be extremely successful in 2017, you need to start reading and keeping tabs on the latest trends to ensure that you are not left out.
But, how are you going to achieve this?
Here’s a simple method that you can use.
- Create a Feedly account
- Add your favorite links or resources (in the form of RSS links) to Feedly
- Every morning, check your Feedly for the latest news and updates
With this way, you will be able to keep updated with the new trends in social media / digital marketing and at the same time, not pulling your hair off because you can’t find the time!
5. Taking more risks
Yes, you hear me right.
Digital marketing trends are always hard to predict. And if you want to be successful, you should practice taking a little risk.
Now, risk in digital marketing usually relates to new marketing methods or programs. You may find yourself in a hot pot with wrong investments (and trust me, it always happens) but there are also those who are able to find the ‘pot of gold’ by taking the risk!
When it comes to taking risks, being bold is one thing; being logical is another.
Taking risks usually, involves money and time. While no decision making is ever easy, performing sufficient research and getting valuable feedback is extremely critical for your business success (especially when risk is involved).
Summary
The future always holds uncertainty and there’s nothing you can do. There are many things business owners can prepare themselves for the coming new year, especially in digital marketing.
Here’s a question for you: are you going to be very traditional, or are you going to be the modern one that finds new horizon to achieve in 2017?
Leave a comment below and let’s discuss!
See also: 6 Social Media Tools To Use For 2017
