We all have heard the saying, “Out with the old and in with the new” (especially around the first of the year). With the ever changing world of digital marketing, trends that worked last year – or even last week might not work today. So, if you’re wondering which of the most popular digital marketing trends have reached their expiration dates, here’s a list of 4 trends that are set to expire by the end of 2018 according to Hubspot.
1. Email Drip Campaigns With No Personalization: Sending out a series of emails, and hoping to see high engagements rates is SO out of style. The best way to create an effective drip campaign is to personalize the email you’re sending out. (Personalization is super in FYI). By providing relevant content, based on the contact’s demographics, online behavior and recent engagement level, you’ll not only see a higher engagement rate, but you will also be very on trend – Carrie Bradshaw spirit animal would be so proud.
2. Focusing On Quantity Instead of Quality in Blogs: This trend has got to go. With the Internet being saturated with content, consumers are now wanting quick-quality content that applies to their specific pain points. So, instead of just throwing a blog together full of random thoughts just to say you published a new blog, try focusing on one subject matter per blog and make sure the blog serves a purpose and accomplishes a goal. This will help you drive leads, and support your objectives.
3. Organic-Only Facebook Strategies: The digital marketing world is always changing its algorithms and the way that consumers are targeted, especially on Facebook (hi, data breach). While we’re all rooting for organic targeting to work, it simply just doesn’t. With organic search at its all-time low (around 2-6% of your Facebook fan base sees your message), you have to ensure that your message is getting in-front of the right audience at the right time. The great thing is, you can easily increase your reach by putting a few dollars behind a post to give it a little boost. The money is well worth the results.
4. Relying On Text-Based SEO: Let’s be honest, we all know consumers don’t read (I mean that’s super old school). Therefore, we can’t continue to rely on optimizing using only text-based SEO. We’re a multimedia world now that indulges our minds with videos, images and audio more than ever before. This is why it makes total sense as to why we have to optimize so much more than just our website for users. Good new is, It’s a simple fix. As soon as you can, start applying SEO practices into your videos, images and audio and watch your rankings increase.
As you start to update your digital marketing strategies for the second half of 2018, consider throwing out the old and make room for the new. Now THIS is spring cleaning!
