Customer engagement is the driving force behind business growth and digital marketing is the one potent tool that online businesses can utilise to ensure that their message continues to resonate with the customers. Here are the top 5 trends that your business should be tapping into in order to stay on top of the game.
1. Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing made its first appearance in 2010. It’s a customer centric marketing strategy that is frequently implemented to deliver a unified brand message across all digital marketing platforms. This means that a customer’s omnichannel experience, be it on social media, apps, blogs, email, and any other digital platform is seamless with the consistent exposure to relevant and on-brand offering. With any platform, channel, or device that your customer chooses, omnichannel SEO marketing ensures that your brand’s message adapts perfectly to their needs. According to Clickz, some of the benefits businesses have seen from riding the omnichannel wave include:
- Engagement rate going up from 5.4% for single channel marketing to 18.96% on omnichannel
- Purchase frequency skyrocketing about 250% higher on omnichannel vs. single-channel marketing
- Average order value went up to about 13% more per order on omnichannel vs. single-channel marketing
- Customer retention rates recorded to be 90% higher for omnichannel vs. single-channel
2. Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising is an artificial intelligence (AI) powered tool which automates the process of buying digital ads. Programmatic advertising can be integrated with customer data platforms so that digital ads can be optimised to adapt to the target audience’s preferences and lifestyle habits. Manual ads are configured keeping in mind factors such as the keyword, time, and location. According to a report by eMarketer, the spending on programmatic advertising has gone up to almost US $130, 60% of which is by companies based in the US. Keeping in with the average figures, programmatic ads spending is expected to climb by 18% in the US.
3. Social Media Stories
Snapchat was the first social media platform that introduced the trend of a digital story which would disappear in 24 hours. Major social networking platforms like Instagram and Facebook soon followed suit with their own versions. From there on out, it is safe to say that social media stories revolutionised the internet as well as the social media marketing space. A video story allows companies to target their customers with highly relevant and instant messages making them feel more connected to the brand. Research by SproutSocial shows that 65% of customers feel more connected to brands that regularly post stories on social media. It can be difficult for businesses to maintain that level of customer engagement and track the results. An SEO agency has all the tools and expertise and it would be able to expertly provide organic social management services so that you’re constantly creating social media stories that deliver consistent results.
4. Chatbots
We have all come across some form of chatbots as we browse websites. A chatbot is configured to handle the preliminary steps of the marketing process such as gathering customer details, answering general customer service queries or solving basic tech problems for customers. With AI, chatbots have evolved into virtual assistants that provide customers a human-like chatting experience. Customers are happy to interact with chat bots because they are instantly responsive with 24/7 availability. With the ability to store and recall the customer’s entire buying and communication history, chatbots can be designed to offer excellent customer services to ensure customer retention and loyalty. They also allow businesses to use the talents of their workforce on new projects for business development.
5. Serp Position Zero
Position zero is the information you see at the very top of any Google search result page. Google refers to this as ‘featured snippets’, and further explains how it works: “We display featured snippets when our systems determine this format will help people more easily discover what they’re seeking, both from the description about the page and when they click on the link to read the page itself. They’re especially helpful for those on mobile or searching by voice.”
The featured snippet attempts to accurately answer the search query by giving a description of the page’s content in the result. Naturally, this is the most sought after position for any website. According to research by Ahrefs, the top-ranking search result gets an average 26% of clicks in the absence of a snippet, but when there is a snippet for a particular keyword, the average clicks percentage goes down to 19.6%. Google uses algorithms to determine ‘whether a page would make a good featured snippet to highlight for a specific search request’. Companies can get their pages optimised from an expert SEO agency towards getting featured snippets for their pages, however, Google search algorithms have the final say in whether a particular page will get the featured snippet. In addition to search volume, intent and organic competition, now as a part of your keyword strategy, you can check the value of keywords by checking whether a particular keyword has featured in the featured snippet. As the search engine giant continues to utilise more AI in its algorithms, we can expect to see an increase in the serp rank zero results and SEO marketing strategies which will adapt to these trends.
Work with Experts in SEO Marketing and Digital Marketing in Singapore
As the best digital marketing agency in Singapore, we at First Page Digital are thought leaders with our fingers on the pulse of the latest digital marketing trends. Our incredible team of SEO marketing experts, content writers and digital marketing specialists will help you to adapt these trends for your business so that your business continues to grow and reach new heights. Contact us today to start the journey of taking your business to the next level.