As we say goodbye to 2011, there is a lot to look back on in the world of SEO and digital marketing. From algorithm changes to the introduction of new social networks, 2011 kept SEOs / digital marketers on their toes. Below are 4 digital marketing predictions I am making for 2012:
1. Content Marketing + Social Media = SUCCESS: This is more of a tip than a prediction. Effective content paired with social media has shown to be successful repeatedly. My guess is that in 2012, more digital marketing agencies and in-house marketers will recognize the strength of quality content and how social media can help it reach a wider audience.
It all starts with great content.
Whether it’s a strong article, an infographic, an instructional video, or a contest, there are many ways to create engaging content. In 2012, marketers will spend more time making quality content, and audiences will love it.
Add to this the already proven power of social media and you have yourself a winning combination. New types of content and ways of creating it will evolve in 2012 and social media will play an even larger role in sharing it.
2. The Internet Will Be Flooded With Low Quality Infographics: SEOs tend to have a bad name. Infographipcs are making it worse. Megan McArdle wrote about Ending the Infographic Plague and how infographics are growing to serve more of an SEO purpose rather than delivering quality, truthful information like they should be and they were originally intended to. She goes on to say:
“The reservoir of this disease of erroneous infographics is internet marketers who don’t care whether the information in their graphics is right … just so long as you link it. As a Christmas present to, well, everyone, I’m issuing a plea to bloggers to help stop this plague in its track.”
I personally love infographics and have witnessed their SEO power but to say that there are some bad ones out there is an understatement. Now that infographics are better known within the internet community, I predict that 2012 will bring a tremendous number of low quality infographics.
3. Conversion Optimization Will Take Over: Long gone are the days of optimizing a website simply to rank well on search engines. In my opinion, it is all about conversion optimization in 2012 (if it isn’t already). Ranking is great, traffic is awesome but conversions are where it’s at. If you have the rankings and you have the traffic, do you optimize for conversions? In 2012, I predict that conversion optimization will take over. Agency and in-house marketers will devote more of their time and resources into conversion optimization in 2012.
4. Twitter Will Not Reach its Goal of 7 Billion Users: Twitter currently has roughly 100 million users. In December of 2011, Twitter set itself a goal to reach 7 billion users (world’s population). While I will not say that this is unreasonable (even though it probably is), it will not be reached in 2012 alone and probably not any time within the next few years. Twitter is the go to source for finding trending topics, celebrity news, content sharing and pretty much anything else you can fit in 140 characters (or less). I LOVE Twitter but they will not get to 7 billion users in 2012.
What are some of your digital marketing predictions for 2012?