If you do the marketing for your organization, you know that it changes so fast that you must continually update your skills. Because of the speed, it’s a great challenge that always keeps us busy—it’s never dull. As a result, staying on top of marketing news and trends is essential. So, let’s take some time to explore things you need to ensure your team keeps in mind going forward.
Marketing news includes the essentials such as voice search.
We know that AI is revolutionizing web development. One of the great places it’s happening is through voice search. As a result, it’s now a must-do and not just a nice-to-do to ensure that voice search is part of the essentials for your site. Remember, voice search differs from text searches for search engine optimization (SEO). Because of this, any marketing team should understand how to tailor SEO content for voice search and written text.
An example of the difference between written and voice text is as follows. Someone might type into a search in Google, “best pizza near me” or “pizza places.” However, when people do a voice search, it’s often in the form of a question and as a complete sentence. So, the same search for voice could be, “What is the best pizza place near me?” Or, “Where can I get pizza?” Therefore, here’s a big tip: make sure your writing is conversational and asks questions.
Optimize business content for “near me” searches.
Another essential item to ensure is a detail in your marketing strategy plan is to account for “near me” searches. Now’s the time to optimize your content for “near me” searches. As Hubspot explains, searches of “near me now” have grown by 150%. Searches for “near me tonight/today” have increased 900%. And there’s a 200% growth for searches that include “now” and “near me.”
So, what does that mean for your business? If your business caters to local customers, you have to optimize your content for local searches. One way to optimize for “near me” searches is to ensure your company is listed on Google My Business. Another thing you can do if your business has several locations is to create local pages for each location. In other words, create a web page for each place on your site.
Make social media posts shoppable.
On Instagram, 35% of users will shop within the app in response to a call to action in a post. Pinterest has seen growth in e-commerce, and 75% of users reported they’re always shopping and looking. As a result, savvy marketers understand they have to make their social media posts shoppable, and that’s especially true as competition only increases.
So, if your business sells products, or even if you have services that you want to sell, make it a point to make some of your posts shoppable. Thankfully, the biggest social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, have made it easy for businesses to make their posts shoppable. Test a few shoppable posts and refine your approach.
Chatbots get better and make things easier.
We owe some thanks to OpenAI and generative AI. As we know, in 2023, generative AI was possibly the top topic discussed in marketing. Up to that point, chatbots were clunky. But now, they’re getting so much better, and many people can’t tell whether they’re chatting with a human or a chatbot. While chatbots are not new, we have reached the point where they’re becoming the norm.
Therefore, marketing teams should consider how to incorporate chatbots into their communications with the public. Chatbots are more intelligent and more powerful than even a year ago. Communicating with chatbots has several benefits. First, chatbots can answer straightforward questions about your business, keeping teams focused on higher-level communications and sales. Second, chatbots work on-demand and at any hour of the day or night. So, even when your business is closed, chatbots can communicate with potential customers—on their schedule.
Position Zero in Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).
As I mentioned at the top of this marketing news article, technological changes happen at a breakneck pace. And so that keeps marketers continually adjusting their plans, testing, analyzing, and reviewing performance. So, what’s happening in SERP? Marketers know that being number one is good, but sometimes, being in position zero is even better.
What’s position zero? Google continues its relentless change of algorithms hundreds of times a year. One of the significant changes relates to position zero. That’s when a search produces status, with a small snippet of text excerpted from a website. In short, businesses and marketing teams must keep up with SEO and try to land on position zero just as often as in the first position.
As we know, marketing news is a continual firehouse that every marketing team must decipher daily. Still, marketers have to keep an eye and execute well on what works for them and toss what doesn’t. To stay ahead, it’s part of the business reality and only increases conversations from leads to closed sales.
Looking to improve your marketing results? Visit Elsey Enterprises for more information.
© 2024 Wayne Elsey. All Rights Reserved.