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6 Online Marketing Trends You Can No Longer Afford To Ignore In 2014

By Niall Devitt Published January 13, 2014 Updated March 17, 2023

Online marketing trends have already moved at breakneck speed for

6 Online Marketing Trends for 2014:

#1. Content Marketing

Ok, so there is nothing new with highlighting content marketing as something that businesses needs to take seriously during 2014. However, I believe that the last 12 months have seen content marketing go from very important to mission critical.

Traditional mass marketing through television, radio, newspapers etc. has become less effective and is being replaced by companies who now produce valuable content designed to target, engage and drive conversations with their customers online.

top B2B content marketing strategies 2013

According to the Content Marketing Institute, the top 10 B2B content marketing strategies are:

  1. Social Media
  2. Articles on the business’s website
  3. eNewsletters
  4. Blogs
  5. Case studies
  6. Videos
  7. Articles on other websites
  8. In-person events
  9. Whitepapers
  10. Webinars

#2. Guest Blogging/ Reverse Guest Blogging

Again, nothing new here but guest blogging has also seen explosive levels of growth in the last 12 months and it’s easy to see why:

  • 8 Brands That Benefit From Guest Blogging – SocialMediaExaminer
  • The REAL Benefits of Guest Blogging – MOZ
  • Triple Your Traffic by Guest Blogging for Backlinks – ProBlogger
  • The Only Benefit of Guest Blogging that Matters – MyBlogGuest
  • How Savvy Inbound Marketers Get Results From Guest Blogging – Hubspot

Reverse Guest Blogging

Reverse guest blogging is where you find and invite quality bloggers in your niche to write content for your website/blog. Select the right bloggers -> and they bring audience, social shares and backlinks to improve the visibility of your website.

Guest blogging has become an increasingly effective and popular option to grow business but the focus of any guest blogging campaign must be on quality: website, author and content. 

#3. Search, Social Signals and Google Authorship

While there remains debate as to how exactly they interact with each other – it’s starting to become clearer that search and social are getting more intertwined and that this trend is likely to continue.

Google Authorship:

Google Authorship

How Google will choose to use Authorship is another matter but for now it allows you to claim your content and have your avatar and information show up on SERPs.

#4. Long(er), Thick(er) Content

Recent analysis concludes that thicker content and longer form copy is more effective when it comes to rankings.

Thick Content

SerpIQ looked at the top 10 search results for over 20,000 keywords and showed that the average length for a page that ranks in the top 10 results had at least 2,000 words or more.

#5. Mobile Friendly Content

This may seem contrary to my last suggestion but bear with me.

The widespread and growing use of smartphones and tablets by customers means that it’s now necessary to create content that is accessible and displays well on mobile devices. Business Insider calculated that one in every 5 people now own a smartphone and one in every 17 own a tablet.

one in every 5 people now own a smartphone and one in every 17 own a tablet

There are a number of ways to create mobile friendly content, but I’m unconvinced that you can do mobile friendly and thick content, at the same time. Hence, it appears to me that there is now a requirement to do both. You will need to plan for and include both mobile friendly and thick content in your content marketing strategy during 2014. 

#6. Social Media Diversification and Sophistication

The argument as to whether or not businesses needs to be on social media is over but the discussion as to how a business should use social media has just begun:

  • IBM defines the Social Business Model as: “Businesses move from liking to leading when they look beyond social media to see how social technologies drive real business value. From marketing and sales to product and service innovation, social is changing the way people connect and the way organisations succeed”
  • Companies like IBM and Ford may lead the charge in this regard, however the deeper meaning and context has up to now – been lost on the majority of senior managers – who continue to think of “social” as a set of frivolous activities confined to their marketing teams.

I expect that this will be the year when this starts to change. Social will become more deeply embedded within organisations, will be used to tackle a more diverse range of business problems and will start to achieve notable wins over traditional approaches – in areas such as Recruitment, R&D and Customer Service.

Will 2014 be the year that CEOs wake up to social?

Social Business Whitepapers:

  • Social Customer Service, Care and Support – The Ahain Group
  • Attracting Top Tier Talent, Social Recruiting – The Ahain Group
  • Ecommerce and Digital – The Ahain Group

Images: ”Tablet computer and financial charts / Shutterstock.com“

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Niall Devitt

Digital expert, top 10% influencer with over 10 years’ senior management experience - including managing projects and teams, and growing companies in the Irish, international and online marketplaces.
Co-founded one of the largest B2B blogs in the world, helped grow a B2B social media to over 1,000,000 members, created the strategy for one of the most effective SME Facebook pages in the world and have grown 3 business websites (TweakYourBiz.com, BizSugar.com & MyKidsTime.ie) to in excess of a 100,000 unique visitors per month.
Have consulted and worked with both corporate and SME clients on leveraging digital to drive business KPIs. Speaker at industry events, have authored several industry reports on the Digital Economy and appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Business Insider and other leading online and offline business publications.
Specialities include: Entrepreneurship Business Development, Start-ups, Business Planning, Management, Training, Leadership, Sales Management, Sales, Sales Process, Coaching, Online Advertising, Blogging, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, SEO, Social Media Strategist, Digital Strategy, Social Media ROI, User Generated Content, Social Customer Care.

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Contents
6 Online Marketing Trends for 2014:
#1. Content Marketing
#2. Guest Blogging/ Reverse Guest Blogging
Reverse Guest Blogging
#3. Search, Social Signals and Google Authorship
Google Authorship:
#4. Long(er), Thick(er) Content
#5. Mobile Friendly Content
#6. Social Media Diversification and Sophistication
Social Business Whitepapers:
Connect with Tweak Your Biz:

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