Even though we’re halfway through 2019, many businesses are still looking for the right strategy to get ahead of the competition and reach more customers. Over the past few months (even years), digital marketing has shown no signs of stopping or slowing down. In addition to businesses that are run completely online, offline businesses are seeing the value of adding a presence online, both to drive traffic to their brick and mortar store and to make online sales to supplement their offline income.

Here are the top three digital marketing trends in 2019 so far. Whether your business is entirely online or is a hybrid, these need to be a part of your thinking, going forward.

Social Media and SEO

There’s been a decade-long debate about whether social media and SEO are interconnected and whether or not they depend on each other. If you haven’t lived under a rock for the past 10 years, you know that the situation in the digital marketing world changes constantly, so the answer to the question of connectedness has evolved.

So what’s the case now? Thanks to an experiment that the team at Hootsuite did, we know the answer.

The short answer would be, “Yes, social media can help with SEO.” However, it’s crucial not to overwhelm your followers and to deliver only high-quality content. Regular posting is valuable, but spamming people won’t do you any good. Therefore, if you don’t have anything valuable to say, stay quiet until you think of something.

Of course, don’t build your entire SEO strategy around social media alone, because you’ll fail miserably. Make sure to find the right balance between SEO and social media marketing because the connection between the two is growing every year.

Conversational Social Media

Although many marketers are still behind the curve in creating proper social media marketing strategies, most businesses have realized that social media and SEO need to be cultivated in parallel.

However, the climate has changed, and social media marketing shouldn’t be considered a one-way street anymore. Instead, you should focus on interacting with customers and paying attention to their feedback.

Social listening skills, getting honest reviews, and even reading through your competitors’ reviews can help you get a clearer picture of what your target audience really wants. Interacting with your potential customers in your target audience will not only help you increase their trust and build your brand, but will also help you to improve your services for a positive impact on your business overall.

Ask and It Will be Given to You

Asking your customers questions and providing relevant answers when asked will help you build brand recognition because good feedback travels fast, and building a group of loyal consumers will only do good for your company and website.

Make sure you have a visible online reviews section and ask your audience to contribute. Getting first-hand feedback is the best thing you can do for your business because even when it doesn’t work in your favor, you can see what you have to work on. Pats on the back are nice, but they won’t get you anywhere.

Maintain Your Social Media Profiles

Maintaining your social media profiles means you should have a clean design, a great logo, and a regular posting, but it means more, as well. Make sure you post only high-quality, shareable content that’s valuable to a broad range of readers. We have been working on that at IM NewsWatch, by the way, weeding out news that is only valuable to a small number of our readers.

Your clients and potential clients often come to social media because they want to separate the wheat from the chaff and think the best way to do so is to read only what others found valuable, only what has been shared.

Wrapping Up

If you’re new in your niche, don’t expect to achieve immediate success and thousands of followers on social media in the first few months. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Stay patient, make sure you post valuable content, and interact with your readers. If you follow those three strategies, you’ll find a loyal audience sooner than you expected.

SerpWatch has created a helpful infographic on how to take advantage of social media trends to promote your business:


7 Trends You Must Know for a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign

SerpWatch

Sharing is caring