The Online Marketing Services industry is constantly changing. As Online Marketing continues to become an essential part of the marketing mix of small and large businesses alike, online spending and budget allocation for online marketing activities continues to increase.
Here’s our take on the 6 Online Marketing channels to watch in 2012:
Search Engine Optimization – 2012 will see SEO continuing to play a vital role in helping businesses grow by gaining a larger share of it’s online customer base. What is changing however, are the ranking factors that determine your position with the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Content has always been king. Your website’s performance is now important too.
Website Usability -Website usability ties in closely with SEO because Google is placing a strong emphasis now on website usability. Your website’s page load speed, Bounce Rates (Single page visits), good internal linking is all taken into account, when determining rankings.
Local Search –Local Search is becoming a more significant marketing channel and local search queries now account for 20% of total. It has proven extremely effective for large and small businesses that operate locally as more consumers are wanting to visit businesses to touch, see, and feel for themselves their offerings, or at least have the peace of mind that they could if they wanted to…
Social Media – Social Media’s popularity in increasing brand awareness and building relationships continues to grow. Businesses with a solid Social Media presence may also benefit from better rankings within the SERP.
Mobile Internet – Mobile internet is growing at an astonishing rate especially with the latest advances of Smart Phones with the mobile internet expected to overtake desktop internet in 2012. Having a mobile-friendly website can help businesses grow and create a competitive advantage.
Video Marketing – Online video is quickly becoming a virtual requirement and one of the best practices for businesses to gain a competitive advantage.
Key consumer insights:
- 35% of today’s consumers spend more than 180 minutes online per day
- 20% of searches on Google are for local businesses
- 57% of internet users search the web everyday
- 46% of daily searches are for information on products or services
Activities Consumers Engage with Online:
- 87% search
- 78% product research
- 66% product purchase
- 61% use social networks
- 59% search “How To” info
- 32% rate product or service
Highlights on Online Marketing Spend:
- 28% of businesses are shifting their marketing budget to encompass digital channels
- 24% of all marketing was used on digital marketing in 2011
- 64% will be increasing their budget for SEO
- 70% plan on increasing their investment on third party social media services.
- 54% expanded their marketing budget for SEO, social media, blogs, etc., in 2011
According to a survey of online businesses, social media sites that have generated the greatest amount of customers are: LinkedIn and the company blog – 57%, followed closely by Twitter – 48% then Facebook – 42%. Source: http://www.6smarketing.com
Money budgeted for placing ads on social networking sites is predicted to increase from $1.4 Billion in 2011 to $2.5 Billion in 2012. Source: http://www.6smarketing.com
This is an excerpt from our more comprehensive Online Marketing Trends 2012 research article.
