Every industry has their own predictions of what they think will occur or be the trends for the upcoming year. Online marketing is no different! We thought it would be fun to share our predictions on what we think will happen in the online marketing world for 2015. Enjoy what our blogging team put together and let us know what you think. If nothing else, you can come back in December to be amazed by our wizardry (or laugh at how far off the mark we were).
Ashley: “Throughout 2014 Google made a lot of changes to Product Listing Ads (PLA’s). The obvious change would be the migration to Google Shopping; however I’m sure many ecommerce companies noticed that Google really cracked down on product feed attribute requirements. Character limits for product descriptions and titles became stricter, image URLs that were valid yesterday were flagged invalid today, and an extra space in a field could cause the whole feed to malfunction. I predict that Google will really bring the hammer down even harder this year to make sure content within the feed meet their requirements and expectations of searchers.”
Christina: “Bing Ads will be go from being an add-on to a necessity for paid search advertisers. Being the default search engine for iPhones and with the rollout of Product Ads, Bing Ads offer low cost per conversions (based on your industry) and tap into an audience that Google does not. I predict that Bing Ads will up their game with shared budgets, automated rules, and an overall better experience for advertisers and customers.”
Heather: “Video was once accused of killing the radio star, but nowadays radio is more mobile than ever before. So, how will video impact the Internet this year? Why, keep it rollin’, of course. From the latest news on Sling TV to Google’s transparency on video advertising, video will be huge this year. Millennials already have a hate-hate relationship with major cable providers and spend most of their time watching TV through a streaming service or YouTube. In order to reach the young and cable-less audience, marketers will need to get creative with video. The best part: videos don’t necessarily have to be Hollywood quality. A video – with great and original content – captured with decent picture and sound can be posted, shared and viralized if put in front of the right audience at the right time. This will include streaming TV advertising and the interactive features that will enable consumers to engage with the brand during/after the video airs. My prediction: more video, more interactive videos, more targeted media to push the video, and great content that makes consumers want to pull in your video.”
Justin: “Mobile ecommerce is coming in a big way. Consumers worldwide are ready for it. I expect major changes to Google Shopping Campaigns and Bing Product Ads – a truly under-utilized asset – is going global. Amazon will keep on amazonin’ (although don’t be surprised to see more businesses move away from it over fees). But the platform to look out for is Alibaba. Already the largest online marketplace in the world by a large margin, look for them to enhance their mobile marketplace whether through innovation or acquisition. Expect Alibaba’s mobile revenue to break 40% this year within China. If Yahoo! can work out a deal to serve that piece at least in North America, that would be a real feather for Marissa Mayer’s hat (though I’m not counting on it).”
Kaitlynne: “Besides being in front of a desktop computer for work, 95% of my personal internet time is done on my phone. If I come across a website I can’t use from my phone, I rarely move to my laptop to check it out. If your site is not mobile friendly, prepare to suffer. I don’t just recommend being mobile friendly; I think it is a must. Making your brand into an app is an even better idea! If you aren’t willing to update to mobile, you will not survive in 2015.”
Katie: “We saw some big moves in mobile marketing over the past year. In 2014, Internet usage on mobile devices exceeded PC usage. We can expect this shift to continue, and even gain momentum, in the coming year.
“A good mobile strategy is imperative for marketers in 2015. We must adjust our focus, as mobile changes from a secondary channel to a main channel for many users. A ‘mobile-aware’ approach will no longer cut it; campaigns will have to be mobile-friendly, or they will be left behind.
Without a doubt, mobile will be a priority in the next year. I’ll even take it a step further and predict that Google’s next algorithm update will greatly involve mobile performance. I’m not as confident in this forecast as I am in my earlier statements, because let’s face it: not even Google knows what Google’s going to do next. But I am positive that mobile marketing will be a force in 2015.”
Kristen: “In 2015, I predict that content will continue to reign SEOs with an iron fist. Volume will still be a relevant factor, within reason (ahem, press releases and guest blog posts), and quality is always important. HOWEVER, I think we can expect a much stronger focus on originality and share-ability. In order to be more visible, it’s necessary for businesses of all sizes to leverage their own thought leaders/industry experts and capitalize on their awesome selling points. This year, we’ll need to get creative–with unique content, Google won’t be able to say no.”
Leland: “Vine and Instagram will continue to grow, not only as a form of advertising, but as a way to share short videos. The two platforms have had a major effect on the way that people are sharing highlights of sporting events. People want instant gratification and both Vine and Instagram can deliver without having to deal with any unwanted extras. I look for this to continue to grow in 2015, and with Instagram continuing to explode in popularity; I would not be surprised to see it surpass Vine as the go-to instant highlight platform.”
Stephanie: “Link building will be link earning in 2015! As we learned in 2014 “Content is King” therefore we have to create killer content that your customers and peers want to share. The days of asking for or buying a link are limited! (Although, link reclamation will always be there! Monitor your links and make sure the earned ones are still good).”
So what are your internet marketing predictions for 2015? Do you agree with ours or have a different opinion? Let us know in the comments below!
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