The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving with innovative technologies, platforms, and strategies. As we enter 2024, I have taken the liberty to synthesize and simplify several key trends that will shape digital marketing over the next year and beyond. I do want to give credit to the esteemed marketing experts I had the honor of moderating at a recent SEMpdx future panel event for inspiration regarding a few of the trends. Here are eight notable digital marketing predictions and trends to help marketers prepare for the road ahead:

Thought Leadership Gains Traction with SEOs
With an increasing focus on optimizing for Google’s E-E-A-T, a component of Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (SQEG) recently, 2024 will see an explosion of interest and focus in brands partnering with thought leadership to create high-ranking content. Google’s SQEG focus on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness is best addressed by brands whom engage with subject matter experts that regularly speak, write and secure press mentions. This is particularly exciting for me, as a digital marketing thought leader for 28 years. For more information, check out the Moz SEO Content Predictions blog post for additional detail and validation.

Humans and Computers Swap Roles
Historically, humans have used MarTech to augment marketing content, search engine optimization and other disciplines. With AI evolving significantly in the past two years, the roles will reverse, where humans will increasingly augment marketing processes in 2024. AI will now take the lead on identifying topics, then creating and optimizing content while humans will play an essential role in providing uniquely human narrative that is also consistent with the brand message framework and ensuring both consistency with voice and integration with an overall omnichannel strategy. Additionally, humans will need to diligently verify and fact-check AI-generated content, to identify and eliminate any hallucinations that may create legal or ethical liability.

Artificial Intelligence Optimization (AIO) Will Gain Awareness and Credibility as a Marketing Discipline
Playing off the previous prediction of AI driving key marketing activities, humans will evolve into guides, editors, and advisors to AI. Enter AIO, a new and evolving discipline at the intersection of AI prompt engineering and marketing prowess, ranging from copywriting and search engine optimization (SEO) to email marketing, graphic design, advertising and landing page optimization. In a broad sense, successful copywriters, developers, and designers will evolve into AI-savvy editors who create something new, unique, and valuable upon a foundation created by machine learning tools. Marketers that embrace AIO in their digital strategy are blazing a trail in 2024, not just keeping up.

Marketers will Become Developers
With the increasing adoption of low-code platforms like Mendix, Appian, and Microsoft Power Apps, to rapidly develop applications, anyone can be a developer without knowing a line of code. Similarly, workflow automation platforms Zapier, Integrately, IFTTT and HubSpot Operations Hub make automating standardized, repetitive processes easier than ever. When it comes to AI, anyone can now create a custom chatbot using OpenAI’s GPT builder. Combining these robust platforms enables marketers to create a wide variety of tools to automate, streamline and improve marketing. With an ability to rapidly and affordably create tools that enhance the customer experience (CX), marketers will see improved conversion rates.

With Help from AI, Marketers Will Effectively Target User Intent to Increase ROI
While predictive analytics, personalization, localization, and semantic search focusing on user intent have been available to marketers for two decades, the rapid growth and evolution of AI created new opportunities by synthesizing these capabilities into affordable solutions. Since Google incorporated BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) in its search system in October 2019, marketers have seen the benefits of optimizing for context over keywords. AI takes that to a new level by analyzing mounds of data and provides the opportunity to recommend (if not display) personalized content to target audiences throughout the customer journey. AI will help copywriters, SEOs, advertisers, email marketers and web developers create highly curated user experiences based on intent, in real-time, dramatically impacting ROI.

Google Will Shift Focus to Ecommerce as SGE Evolves
As Google continues to roll out and refine its Search Generative Experience (SGE) to the public in 2024, there will be a natural reduction in traffic to high-ranking websites and ads currently displayed in search engine result pages (SERPs). To offset the projected revenue loss, Google will focus heavily on optimizing ecommerce functionality and further personalizing search results to better monetize the customer journey in search and better position against competitors like Amazon, which is the most popular starting point for product searches. Social platforms are also aiming to take away search market share and evolve their own ecommerce capabilities. Brands should look for new opportunities to target searchers with enriched product listings that streamline the shopping experience by integrating with shopping feeds, marketplaces and ecommerce websites.

Social Search Will Continue to Erode Google’s Search Market Share
Although Google will continue to hold a majority market share in terms of consumer search, alternate platforms will continue to erode market share. Amazon overtook Google as the most popular platform for product searches years ago, and the trend will continue. Increasingly, consumers have started informational searches on social media platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest and Reddit. This shift will force SEO professionals to look beyond Google to social media platforms and content optimization. Keep in mind social platform content optimization should include all form factors, from video (vertical and standard), images, audio and of course, text. A deep understanding of each platform’s algorithm will be required in 2024 and beyond.

Marketing Will Return to The Fundamentals
With AI proliferating all aspects of marketing, including lazy marketers’ focus on generating reams of low-quality content, consumers and search engines alike will become jaded and trust will be lost. To combat the deluge of unoriginal content, smart marketers will revisit the most effective (albeit old school) marketing techniques, leading with compelling storytelling via authentic voices. While ChatGPT can create logical stories on-the-fly, a competent marketer can craft a truly memorable and meaningful story that is unique, relevant, and actionable. Forward-thinking brands will focus on conversational content and marketing, leveraging not only remarkable stories but AI to help refine targeting and personalization (rather than the other way around).

Over the past two-plus decades, I have seen and experienced significant shifts in how humans seek information, communicate, and collaborate, thanks to the Internet. However, AI is a far more impactful evolution that will change human behavior in profound ways well beyond streamlining marketing. With tremendous power comes responsibility and I believe myself and my fellow marketers must be diligent in our monitoring and use of AI-generated content. Despite ethical, moral, and legal challenges we must navigate in the years to come, AI is by far the most exciting tool we have at our disposal, and it should be leveraged to create more effective marketing in 2024 and beyond.

The post 2024 Digital Marketing Predictions including SEO, SEM, and Social Media Trends appeared first on SEMpdx.

The digital marketing ecosystem has experienced dramatic changes, particularly in the last few years. For example, Web 3’s metaverse provided brand marketers to think in new dimensions during the pandemic. More recently, ChatGPT made artificial intelligence approachable and exponentially more impactful on virtually every aspect of marketing. In this article, we explore digital marketing strategies and tactics that haven’t worn well in the past decade, to ensure your 2024 marketing plan is both timeless and forward-looking.

Building a digital marketing department
Marketing should be agnostic to media type, and so should the strategist be developing and implementing marketing campaigns. As such, companies need to conduct a skills assessment of existing marketing teams to determine who may need training or who may need to be replaced with talent that natively understands both digital and analog worlds. This obsolete strategy is still an issue for most marketing teams that have not focused on integration and will continue to haunt slow adopters.

Designing a website via internal stakeholder committee
The primary reason for the lack of user-centered design is that most websites are built by a host of departmental managers who have far too much say on colors, fonts, images, and copy. The problem with committee-based design is that these representatives make decisions based on their personal tastes and preferences versus those of the site’s intended user. While this approach is increasingly uncommon, it is still a very real issue due to the group thinking inherent in corporations.

Creating content for content’s sake
With rampant adoption of ChatGPT and similar generative AI platforms, content is easier to create than ever before. This trend has exacerbated the desire to focus on quantity of content over quality, which is only hurting brands in the long term. Successful brands will spend the time to research, develop, optimize, and syndicate content that matters to their constituents and works well across device types and screen sizes. At the very least, invest in high quality editors if you plan to cut copywriting staff due to increased ChatGPT reliance.

Doing black-hat SEO
Google has developed a detailed set of guidelines for search-friendly website design. If you follow their rules, you will be much more likely to rank for desired search terms. Even Bing operates on very similar terms: no IP-spoofing, redirects, hidden or duplicate text, etc. To boil it down, do good marketing and Google will reward you with higher rankings. Google’s E-E-A-T updates identified and penalized a significant number of websites for violating best practices, yet companies still feel the pull of the quick wins that black- and grey-hat SEO can supposedly provide. Big mistake. Play for the long game with compelling content, clean code, and the kind of site credibility and authority that can only be earned, not bought.

Avoiding landing page testing
Unfortunately, not much has changed over the past decade, in terms of landing page testing and optimization adoption across the marketing landscape. The companies that “get it” continue to invest and evolve their efforts, resulting in ever-increasing conversion rates. Far too many marketers, however, are too busy, skeptical, or unlearned regarding the benefits of landing page optimization (LPO). I believe a significant percentage of these remaining marketers will finally commit to testing, if not diving full-bore into LPO in 2024, especially with help from ChatGPT and similar AI-powered tools.

Focusing on engagement in social media
In the first wave of social media marketing (1995-2009), marketers focused on gaining followers and fans. The second wave of social media (2010-2014) focused on conversations and engagement efforts. The third wave (2015 and beyond) focused on three primary areas: collaboration, conversions and brand narrative. Smaller companies, business-to-business organizations, and profit-driven corporations should now focus more on conversion-based strategies and tactics that drive revenue. Bigger consumer brands will shift focus towards developing a brand narrative that helps consumers identify with the company and fit it into the picture a person has of themselves (i.e., shared values like environmental or social issues). Brands will focus from being “Liked” to being “Attached” to the consumer.

Paying third-party vendors to represent your brand in social media
The most common excuses for outsourcing social media management include a lack of internal resources and a lack of proficiency with social platforms. The bottom line is that nobody knows your brand better than your employees, partners, and other advocates. Let them oversee spreading the good word, not a low-paid college graduate working from home. I wish this were less common than it is, but many brands still feel the need to outsource their voice in social media, rather than building the resources in-house (with guidance from experts like us, of course).

Underestimating the power of video (and audio) marketing
I speak regularly about social media and search marketing and am a huge champion of multimedia content, especially video for marketing. I’m still amazed that the marketers to whom I present so often lack cohesive video (and audio) organic and paid content strategies. YouTube is still the world’s second largest search engine, so what are you doing to get into that conversation with consistently compelling content? Brands of all sizes and shapes also need a coherent TikTok and vertical video marketing strategy to be relevant in 2024.

Renting email lists
With the understanding that building an email database in-house is still a highly effective sales and marketing strategy, companies continue to test new strategies to grow their list. Some of the more effective methods of building a house email list include SEO, PPC, direct (mail) marketing, co-registration (email) with partners, contests (via social media platforms like X/Twitter and Facebook) and most importantly, search marketing. This has not changed, and thankfully, fewer organizations are renting low-quality email lists that typically generate a high percentage of spam complaints.

Sending unsegmented or untargeted emails
Despite the evolution of email marketing platforms, a significant percentage of businesses (particularly smaller ones with limited budget and bandwidth) continue to send out unsegmented or targeted emails. Spending the time to understand your email list by digging deep into the analytics and contact profiles, even with help from AI, can reap huge rewards. From there, create and target content based on indicated preferences, as well as demographic and psychographic information. Leveraging the power of AI now available in many email/CRM/marketing automation platforms, watch the value of each subscriber increase exponentially, with incremental effort.

Gaming online reviews
Most brands understand the power of social proof in the form of customer reviews. Unfortunately, too many brands are quick to “buy” or influence positive reviews. The result is the risk of being penalized by search engines, directories, and other review sites. The greater danger is consumers seeing through the charade and taking their business elsewhere. The short answer: create compelling and memorable customer experiences that will make them want to create and share positive reviews. Many companies are focusing on customer delight in 2015 and will bubble to the top as a result.

For a business to succeed in this increasingly complicated and noisy digital world, marketers must let go of obsolete ideas and embrace the concept of continually testing evolving techniques and technologies. The outdated digital marketing techniques outlined above are best retired in 2023, to free up bandwidth and budget for greater success in the years to come.

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On January 11th, I was honored to participate in a panel of esteemed digital marketing colleagues, hosted by SEMpdx. The title and theme of our panel was “The Future of Digital Marketing” (2022 Edition). My fellow panelists included: Tricia Davis-Payne with Webfor, Anna Madill with Avenue, Mike Rosenberg with Veracity and Shuree Jones with Rain the Growth Agency. The conversation was lively and insightful to the degree I felt obligated to share highlights and supporting articles. I hope you find these resources helpful in planning your 2022 digital marketing initiatives.

2021: What did we see and learn as search engine marketers?
• Influencer marketing is here to stay. All panelists agreed. If you don’t have a program in place, check out this article: Influencer Marketing Strategy Best Practices, Tips and Trends
• Voice search has yet to gain the traction we all expected, but it still has tremendous potential for knowledge-based industries. Learn more here: Best Practices for Voice Search and Position Zero Optimization Strategies
• Virtual and hybrid events are the new normal. If you haven’t built these events into your marketing, or haven’t marketed them effectively yet, check out this article: Leveraging Virtual Events to Engage Customers & Prospects
• NFTs, blockchain and cryptocurrency generated significant buzz last year, but how can brands and digital marketers take advantage of the emerging technology? This article sheds light: How Brands Can Use NFTs to Engage Consumers and Generate Revenue
• One theme that has only increased in intensity is the needs for brands to be socially and ethically responsible, or they risk losing customers. If you haven’t invested the time to understand this powerful buying behavior, this article may offer insights: How to market to the ethical consumer: 6 effective marketing strategies
• One of the more contemporary trends that impacts marketers and employers is The Great Resignation. It’s not a question IF you’ll be personally impacted, but WHEN. To learn more about what The Great Resignation means and how to mitigate employee exodus, check out this article: How to manage during The Great Resignation
• Another trend we’ve seen and will continue to see in 2022 is a renewed focus on the creation and optimization of multimedia content, including images and video. To learn more about video marketing optimization fundamentals, this timeless article is a good starting point: The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing on YouTube

2022: How can we help businesses be more successful in the year(s) to come?
• While SEMpdx is rooted in search engine optimization (SEO), a majority of the topics we covered in our session fell outside of that core discipline. The one exception, however, was the prediction that Google’s Multitask Unified Model (MUM) will be a major factor in search rankings in 2022 and beyond. To read more about Anvil’s thoughts on MUM and other digital marketing trends, check out this SEMpdx blog post: 2022 Digital Marketing Predictions
• The moderator asked me to kick off the conversation about 2022 predictions, so I opened with my favorite prediction about ‘metaverse’ being the buzzword of 2022. Virtual reality (VR) worlds may not be ready for prime time, but marketers need to have a POV and start planning today. For more insights, check out this post: Marketing in the Metaverse
• Another hot button of mine and that of the Anvil team in 2022 is a deeper integration between paid and organic keywords and supporting search marketing strategies. While I’ve extolled the virtues of SEO & PPC integration for over a decade in my PSU SEM Workshop, it was refreshing validation to hear it directly from an SEO guru in a recent Anvil Brown Bag with Wil Reynolds of Seer Interactive. This article sheds additional light on the peanut butter and chocolate of organic and paid search – Search incrementality: How paid and organic work together for better performance
• Due to the loss of third-party cookies thanks to Apple’s new OS, brands and advertisers are scrambling to produce alternative targeting options. One trend that has blossomed in late 2021 and will continue to bloom in the years to come is the idea of leveraging first-party data and reselling access to third parties. Big box retailers outside of Amazon, Target and Walmart are adding retail ad networks to their revenue streams. Learn what brands like Lowe’s, Macy’s and Kroger’s are doing from this article before you take the leap yourself: We Can Have Retail Media Networks And Privacy: 4 Principles
• One hot topic with the panelists is the growth of short-form video as a marketing tool in 2022 and beyond. TikTok is now a more popular domain than Google. Instagram and other short form video options on platforms like Facebook and YouTube validate that the format is here to stay (or return, if you remember Vine). To learn more about emerging short form video trends, read this article: 6 Short-Form Video Trends Online Marketers Should Watch in 2022
• On the other side of short-form video is live-streaming and its sister, live shopping. What began as a buzzword in 2021, live shopping has evolved into a viable ecommerce platform play in 2022. One part influencer, one part unboxing and one part ecommerce, live shopping provides brands new ways to reach consumers in a post-pandemic remote-shopping world. Evaluate your options by reading this article: Live Shopping Is Making A Comeback: Here’s What Your Business Needs To Know Now
• Due to the relative short panel duration, we weren’t able to cover all digital marketing trends or get too deep in any one prediction. As a result, I felt it would be prudent to share additional concepts and supporting articles for more context. These are just a sampling of the most topical trends to consider in 2022 that we didn’t get a chance to cover during the panel session:
o Five marketing experts share their 2022 trends
o Explore the top trends of 2021 according to Google Search
o Looking ahead: nine trends that will steer marketing in 2022
o Google’s Guide to User-Generated Content
o Ecommerce Trends: Social, BNPL & BOPIS
o Five Proven Ways to Pandemic-Proof Your Business

While we as panelists had less than an hour to share our thoughts and answer questions, the event was packed with insights. I recommend attending future SEMpdx events and joining as a member, if you agree with me that the ROI of membership is outrageous. Feel free to share your thoughts on 2022 marketing trends or react to our predictions in the comments section below.

The post SEMpdx Panel Event Recap: 2022 Digital Trends and Marketing Predictions appeared first on SEMpdx.

The Metaverse will evolve from distraction to (virtual) reality for brands
While many believe Facebook’s rebrand as Meta and focus on the metaverse is a strategic distraction from bad press fueled by the Facebook Papers, we believe at Anvil that its horsepower, deep investment in the metaverse, along with additional investment by other major players like Microsoft, will inspire many brands to dabble in the virtual world in 2022. While consumers maybe a few years from caring about the metaverse, early adopters will embrace the novelty and utility. We’re hoping that the 2022 iteration of the metaverse is more than just a glorified Second Life.

Web 3.0 will become ubiquitous
Consumers’ concern over data security and creating a safer online environment to share personal data will be driving forces that fuel the growth of Web 3.0 technology in 2022. The evolution of blockchain technology in particular will provide a safer user experience (UX) for consumers, where they will feel safe sharing first-party data and know exactly how third-party platforms are using personal data. Combined with improved AI functionality, semantic metadata and 3D graphics – Web 3.0 will deliver an improved and better UX for all users. As full data transparency is on the horizon, this will accelerate the transition and put control of data back to where it belongs – the user.

Video marketing will become a vital part of any online marketing strategy
Consumers rely increasingly on the video to make decisions about the products they are buying. Video platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok feature live streams, unboxing, and testimonial product videos, which are going to gain popularity in 2022. As a result, video optimization and advertising on TikTok and YouTube will be increasingly necessary. Google has also rolled out structured markup features like clip markup which help users find important individual parts of videos, increasing the need and value of optimization for commerce. Using new and emerging markups on a brand’s most popular videos will help to improve user experience and Google’s ability to digest and index the video content.

MUM will strengthen Google’s ability to understand more complex searches
Google is always working to get users quicker, more seamless access to information. MUM, or Multitask Unified Model, uses AI to formulate an understanding of the context behind searches and will have a greater influence on search results in 2022 and beyond. Google recently demonstrated how MUM works, showing that search results would attempt to fully answer a search query with text, imagery, maps, and more. With MUM, content strategies will need to provide unprecedented depth, in order to provide searchers with all the information in a single result. The days of providing only topical information on a given webs page in order to gain organic visibility in target searches are numbered.

OTT will gain traction as ad targeting options decrease
Security and privacy demands are creating problematic limitations with third-party cookies and data tracking. Facebook, Apple, and Google Chrome are limiting data collection capabilities. Social media and search engine platforms will become much more generalized, with decreased targeting capabilities. Ad platforms will eliminate audience targeting, limiting advertisers to first-party data collection. These changes will encourage more brands to explore connected TV, podcasts, and platforms like Spotify that have their own internal marketing platform where the user controls what content they want to see. Products like Google’s smart TV and the new Roku TV are allowing viewers to stream content and enjoy gaming, utilizing click-to-buy on-screen ad placements. Smart TVs will be getting smarter with shopping from your own home with enhanced OTT streaming advertising options.

More businesses will move to DTC eCommerce
Due to the pandemic, businesses ranging from psychiatrists to car dealerships have begun marketing and selling products and services direct-to-consumers (DTC) on their websites. Companies are tired of losing profit by selling wholesale to distributors and evolving technologies have made eCommerce approachable to even the smallest business. Even larger retail chains are starting to focus more on DTC eCommerce, limiting physical store locations, retail footprints, and headcount. Brands like Nike are limiting distribution of its footwear and apparel so they can sell more direct and other brands will follow suit in 2022. The additional margins gained by DTC eCommerce sales can be reinvested in digital marketing to further increase profitable revenue. We predict brands will sell on select marketplaces (like Amazon, Walmart.com, and Target.com) to augment reach and revenues, but will still rely primarily on DTC.

More companies will offer retail media networks leveraging first-party data
With the impending loss of third-party tracking cookies in 2023, companies and marketers alike will be exploring new opportunities to reach prospective customers. Companies such as Target, Walmart. Recently, Lowe’s launched its own media network, allowing advertisers to utilize its company’s first-party data and reach customers as they shop online. As the pandemic accelerated the adoption of online shopping, we expect retailers will offer additional advertising opportunities on digital storefronts in the coming year.

Third-party cookie data will begin to sunset itself
With the anticipation of platforms eliminating third-party cookie data, marketers are forced to produce workarounds. Even though Google has pushed out its third-party data sunset date to the end of 2023, users and businesses have been preparing for the loss of critical targeting data with various workarounds, including the increasing use of first-party data. With Google failing to find a viable solution that meets everyone’s needs thus far, we predict there will be some sort of industry compromise by mid-2022, resulting in third-party data naturally sunsetting by year’s end on most popular platforms.

Influencer marketing will fuel sCommerce
Influencer marketing has gained notoriety within the digital marketing ecosystem as an essential strategy in the past few years. At Anvil, we believe the next evolution for influencers is to become the foundation for successful social media eCommerce (aka sCommerce) in 2022. In addition to important metrics such as engagement rates, influencers will be commonly compensated based on a commission structure related to conversion rates (leads or sales). With a greater focus on performance metrics, influencers will achieve a higher level of credibility with brands. Micro-influencers will rise significantly in popularity due to their accessibility to small businesses and the appeal of being able to target nuanced audiences. Retail eCommerce brands invest in direct shopping formats on popular social platforms, including TikTok.

Multicultural representation in marketing will continue to increase in importance
The digital age, accelerated by COVID-19, has created a world that is more interconnected than ever before. The term “global village” carries increased weight as even extremely remote areas see mobile device use continuing to reach saturation point. The success of international content breaking into the US mainstream has also led to an acceleration in engagement and demand for global representation. South Korea’s Squid Game on Netflix is the latest example, following the Spanish global hit Casa de Papel (Money Heist). With content publishers leading the way, brand advertisers will follow suit, developing new strategies to maximize the relevance of multicultural inclusion within marketing messaging, including messaging from the US’s own backyard.

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June 4, 2019 – SEMpdx held its last educational event this week before breaking for summer.  We welcomed Sean McEntee, Senior Director of Client Services at 3Q Digital, who gave an excellent presentation, “Make YouTube Your Newest Performance Channel”.  Following are some of Sean’s tips and insights that stood out from the presentation:

• There are two main advertising formats: In-Stream and Video Discovery. It’s important to separate these formats by campaign.
• Prioritize TrueView for Action. Keep in mind this requires you to use Smart Bidding, so avoid the “Maximum Conversions” setting in most cases.
• A companion banner is a 300 x 60 opportunity to message your value proposition. It displays prominently on both desktop and mobile.
• When building your campaign structure, assign one video ad per ad group. Google favors high view-through rate over high conversion rate.  You can use ad group bids to prioritize top converting videos manually.
• Layer multiple targeting types whenever possible. Remember, YouTube is an awareness platform by nature and has a very high reach.  Only a small percentage of your applicable targeting types will convert at a high rate.
• Advance targeting includes Custom Audiences (tip: target users based on search behavior) and Customer Match & Similar To (tip: upload existing customers to re-target and/or create “similar to” audiences).
• When developing video creative, consider best practices such as winning the first five seconds (i.e. the skip function), displaying a clear call-to-action, creating DR-friendly ads (i.e. CTA overlays), and testing frequently.

After his presentation, Sean stayed for a generous Q&A session.  It was an engaging and very informative event that gave attendees actionable takeaways.  To learn more, view Sean’s presentation slides.

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1. Customer experience is the next big thing – This brings together content strategy and user design.
2. Content quality over quantity – Before creating any new content, take care of your existing content. Think ROT: redundant, outdated and trivial.
3. Cooperative content takes center stage – Cooperative content includes a topical plan, user-generated content and employee-generated content.
4. Video becomes de-facto – With new apps continuing to roll out, video shows no signs of slowing down. Find a way to tell your story with video.
5. Paid social as important as organic – This is a mind shift for us, but nevertheless a new norm. If you want your message to be seen, be willing to pay a little money.
6. Owned social comes roaring back – Start thinking about what you can be an expert at.
7. Search teams up – Modern SEO is complex! It involves technical consultation, themes, content strategy, user experience and integration across multiple channels.
8. Local gets it right – It’s critical to get that local ranking, yet we still see missing information in search results. Be sure you’re covering best practices – everything from local search platforms to aggregators to tactical integration and more.

Focus on these themes in 2015 and you’ll be well on your way to making effective gains in your digital marketing strategy and, ultimately, your bottom line.

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February 10, 2015

Looking at video marketing as it relates to SEO, Casey stressed it’s more than just video snippets.  In fact, results from an in-house rich snippets test showed there is no return of video snippets in web search.  So Wistia came up with a strategy: Your Home vs. The Playground.  Place conversion videos on your home site and brand videos on YouTube.

For those running PPC campaigns, video holds great potential.  The key is to provide a clear call-to-action when the video ends.  Also keep in mind that your video needs text for context.  Don’t leave viewers wondering why they’re watching your video.

Videos can also be effective when retargeting, depending on the medium.  For example, targeting doesn’t work with video on Twitter, so stick with content.  On the other hand, it has been successful on Instagram and Facebook.

When adding videos to your website, it’s important to limit the number in your funnel.  Two is usually a good rule of thumb.  After that, visitors get the idea and don’t engage in more videos.  For each video that you do use, be sure it conveys a different message.

Casey shared a wealth of knowledge with everyone and provided us with actionable tips and key takeaways.  Video is still under-performed for SEM campaigns, so now is the time to implement it for an upper hand over your competition.  If you’re new to video marketing or have specific video questions, Wistia has excellent resources on their website: www.wistia.com/community and www.wistia.com/learning.

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I went a bit long here. at about 10 minutes, but it might be worth watching if you want to be more efficient.

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Sorry Todd, but here’s the fix – Before embedding the Youtube code in a WordPress post, go to Users – your profile – and UNcheck the box for “use the visual editor when writing”. It’s stupid, but that all it takes to fix the issue. Sorry – blame Microsoft I guess…

Anyway, I thought this was a great video, very entertaining, and I first ran across it a couple of days ago on Jack Humphrey’s blog…

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A great way to engage the community to follow the new videos being uploaded to You Tube & participate in their evaluation. There’s a pretty good chance that a certain number of viral videos will emerge from this process and when one of these dunk videos goes viral, Rudy’s promotion is taken along for the viral ride.

NBA players are getting the hang of viral videos…if you haven’t seen Chris Bosh’s self-made commercial encouraging people to vote for him for the All Star Game, you really should check it out…over 425,000 people already have.

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