The growth of digital marketing has been tremendous in the past few years and it is growing exponentially every year. The consumers have the world at their fingertip due to no limitations or barriers.

A global market has been created and so 2017 promises to play a significant role in growing business through digital marketing. Thus, we bring to you the digital marketing predictions for 2017 for small and medium businesses.

 

 

Cross Device Marketing

Marketing across channels and new devices is the new standard in the business. The marketing strategies should be consistent throughout multiple devices. The first must-have option is mobile optimization of your website. The engaging material that you create must be easy to read and access even on the mobile devices. Doing so will multiply your tracking metrics. Every small and medium business must keep a clear count of ROI per campaign to learn the success rate and the responsive area of the audience.

Influencer Marketing

The big thing exploding in 2017 is the influencer marketing. Social proofs of brands and products serve more trustworthiness top the consumers. Consumers are to trust a brand if any celebrity promotes a product. Small and medium businesses can barter and build relationships with influencers who do not need any money.

Mobile first

It is no surprise that the mobile is going to take the stage in 2017. Everything must be mobile optimized, be it a website or any email campaign. It is time to go along with the viewers. Mobile compatible content will provide successful engagement and conversion.

Native Advertising

Native Advertising is when a business sponsor’s a content on a website and it is the next big thing in 2017. More and more people are coming out of traditional ads and moving towards native advertising. Native Advertising is an advantage for the viewers as they have the full control of accessing the content. The best example for native advertising on LinkedIn is when SAS paid LinkedIn to advertise their content and mark it “sponsored”.

Go Live

Social scheduling and automation are slowly diminishing and “live streaming” is taking over the market. People are eager and attracted to live streaming where they get to interact during the real time. Do not have to revamp the entire marketing strategy, instead, consider adding live streams into the list.

Personalization

Personalization is the taste of consumers. The consumers expect a personal touch. The consumer behaviors, spending habits, language, device preferences, time zones, etc. must be addressed by the marketing teams. It is always better to segment the audience as much as possible.

Engagement Prior to Mass-Quantity

It is important to write and curate content that is valuable and engaging. It is time to replace quantity-focussed strategies with quality content if you haven’t thought of it yet.  Infographics, blog posts and branded visuals are excellent ways to build the original content. However, the content shouldn’t be irrelevant. The content should be only what the consumers want to read.

Social and Data Analytics

Adopting social media as a part of the marketing strategy is not enough. Social and data analytics is equally important. Facebook Insights, Twitter’s Dashboard app, and Instagram’s analytics provide access to relevant insights. Invest time in these metrics and to improve your business.

Tell a Story

Companies must use storytelling to attract the prospects and keep loyal customers. Customers try avoiding harsh advertisements. Consumers must be pulled along your journey in a subtle way. For example, you can create a story which requires multiple posts that the followers must revisit to know the full story.

Video

2017 truly promises that videos are going to be the next frontier. Every social media platform has integrated video capability on their platform. Small and medium businesses must include video as part of their social media marketing. Give it a try and see how the ROI improves.

The Bottom Line

These digital marketing predictions for 2017 for small and medium business will help you to grow your presence and reach digitally to both your followers and new prospects. Incorporate these predictions and get surprised.