Inbound marketing is a lever that evolves and is used to attract new visitors to its website. Discover 5 inbound marketing trends to consider and follow 2018.
Inbound marketing remains one of the most cost-effective strategies for attracting new users and retaining existing users. Consumers are increasingly distancing themselves from traditional , intrusive and generic advertising methods by choosing to gather as much information as possible before buying a product or ordering a service.
Inbound marketing , or inbound marketing , is a strategy that consists of attracting the customer towards oneself rather than picking them up with outgoing marketing techniques (advertising, direct mail, representatives visits …).
Requiring the combination of various marketing expertise (communication, digital,
It is already clear that content marketing , presence and dissemination in social networks have reached maturity. With this in mind, let’s review 5 inbound marketing trends that will become a common practice.
1. Explore new Formats
Brands are developing more and more video media that work particularly well. In general, the videos broadcast by companies tend to become more and more personal and less related to the brand. The work on the brand takes second place but remains an important underlying value, since a video has a positive impact, to which the consumer can identify.
The brand is immediately associated with the campaign, which allows it to reinforce its image and its notoriety.
As videos become more and more popular and competitive, Personalization becomes an increasingly important feature in content creation and delivery to capture the interest of prospects and customers. The video format fits directly into the inbound marketing trends to be exploited in 2018.
2. Live on Social Networks
Social Networks offer a unique opportunity for our brand to be perceived as an interlocutor closer and closer to its users, and for this, it is necessary to care for the content delivered.
We must also take the greatest care of the interaction and response time provided to our community, as well integrate it into all of our actions. Generally we position here the role of the community manager to animate the social networks of the company. Among the trends allowing a rapprochement, the live video is for example an axis to develop to engage more its customers and its prospects.
Facebook Live, is a good example of why this is one of the inbound marketing trend, Especially since 100 million hours of video are viewed daily on this social network. A technological potential that allows for closer and faster communication between brands and their customers.
Facebook is not the only way to generate audiovisual communication. Social Networks such as Periscope, YouTube, SnapChat and Instagram will also continue to be used for this purpose. It all depends on the type of business, its objectives and the audience wants to reach.
Social media is also where engagement and loyalty to your company / brand is built: by publishing content tailored to each platform, targeted to your audience, you will shape your community of followers.
Another good point for social networks, the many tools of measurement and analysis they provide. A must to check the performance of your strategy.
It’s also good to probe your audience’s preferences: what content do they prefer, do they download more white papers than podcasts? Do they watch your videos? The goal is, of course, to focus your efforts effectively.
Finally, because the ultimate goal of this strategy is to convert the prospect into customer and generate sales, it is essential to use the calls to action ( call-to-actions ), placing eg promotional offers visible on your website, or by publishing well-researched redirect links on your social networks.
Nevertheless live video is still a great way to create proximity to your target before sliding to the IRL (In Real Life).
3. The Mobile Format
Inbound marketing trends also rely on the mobile world, Since Google introduced Mobile First, with a real focus on charging time and the user experience first and foremost. It is also at the level of advertising displayed on mobile (interstitial) that Google intends to penalize certain websites.
However it’s not new since April 2015 Google penalizes websites that are not optimized for mobile phones. But this nonconformity not only negatively interferes with the evaluation of the search engine, but also on the search engine users.
In addition, brands will be more and more interested in full mobile by developing applications . The full mobile requires significant investment but it is developing. More and more websites will have to optimize the user experience and allow users to fully benefit from their mobile to do everything from there. Therefore, having a user-friendly mobile platform is a requirement for an Inbound Marketing Strategy.
4. What uses can Make of AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has long influenced inbound marketing techniques and combined with them to significantly improve the company’s performance. The relation between intuitive technology and marketing processes is already a constant element in today’s business world.
Artificial intelligence is probably a necessity for today’s users.
The new AI software is able to realize cognitive processes from recording the data provided by consumers to facilitate their tasks and provide them with an optimal experience.
The Best example? Nothing more and nothing less than Google. The search engine that is able to analyze, segment and interpret data on a large scale to always provide the most accurate answers based on the characteristics of each user. Artificial intelligence will consider at the level of inbound marketing trends to follow.
Beyond strengthening targeting and information capabilities, AI is beginning to automate customer interactions.
5. The Advocacy Process
Your customers and employees are your best sellers / ambassadors! This is good: by implementing an advocacy approach in your company, you will be able to generate leads more efficiently and quickly while strengthening your employer brand.
You will also have a direct view of the real impact of your content, because of the actions deployed internally. Relying on its employees to create ambassadors, is one of the most powerful levers to develop its visibility and viralize its contents among the digital channels where you are present.
By doing so, you will help make your inbound marketing strategies actions that will pay off more quickly on the internet. One of the inbound marketing trends that will have to be counted in 2018.
