More than ever before social media has taken up a position of paramount importance due to its centrality in digital marketing. There are ways which can boost any brand’s value through social media. First of all the marketers need to be relevant to its particular audience. It depends on demographics so geo-targeting can be a valuable method. All posting must be done bearing in mind that there are real people who will read them. So it is essential to be humane and appropriate in terms of timing. Social media marketing must try to elicit a sense of pleasant surprise. The modern trend of using hash tags must be done, but not too much to disturb readability. Influencers must be tagged so that organic brand advocacy can take place. Importantly, all social media tactics must be measurable, so metrics must be defined for proper business analysis to be conducted. This will enable the brand to takeaway crucial learnings from the project.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2016/12/15/how-to-boost-your-brand-through-an-effective-social-media-strategy/#64d7b0f17752

Millennial marketers are pursuing a radically different approach towards marketing than their counterparts from the Baby Boomer generation. While for the earlier generation, digital marketing is one of the long line of marketing tactics including broadcast, radio or print, for the younger ones, a digital or mobile first approach is what suits them. As per a research report submitted by Magisto, millennials spend a whopping 58% of their total marketing budget on digital means as opposed to a measly 14% by baby boomers. Another startling statistic provided is that 90% of millennials use video as a marketing tool as opposed to only two-fifths of total baby boomers polled. Video provides unique storytelling opportunities. Similarly, e-Marketer confirms that 2016 witnessed for the first time digital ad spends exceeding those of the television. A lot of companies these days are digital natives, and this being conceived on a digital format itself such as Dollar Shave Club on YouTube.

Source:http://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/marketing/how-millennials-in-the-workplace-are-revolutionizing-marketing/

2016 was a very interesting year for digital marketing as some poignant trends were displayed. One of them is that social searches have increased exponentially with Facebook developing its own search algorithm. Real time live marketing is taking place using social platforms such as Google Trends, Twitter or Snapchat which was particularly leveraged by Gatorade. With the launch of Facebook Live and ongoing popularity of YouTube, live video streaming has taken on a new dimension. It now facilitates increased engagement as used up by 50 Cent to publicize their TV show Power. It also allows damage control as used by Southwest Airlines after several of its tickets got cancelled in a short span of time. The Pay-Per-Sale (PPS) model saw an evolution with hyper-focus from advertisers using social media platforms such as Pinterest or Twitter. The San Jose Sharks used Facebook’s targeted ads function to earn thirty three times more revenue than ad-spend. The market for Wearables also saw an increase mainly due to i-Watch. Advertising is now much more visually driven across all social media channels. The concept of remarketing is now being used to target potential customers who have visited the product page but have not made the final purchase. The scope of predictive analytics keeps rising thanks to further increase in availability of Big Data. Several brands are now combining mobile specific web sites with mobile apps to provide the ultimate progressive web apps. Overall the speed of usability of websites has accelerated as per data provided by Kissmetrics. This has been well provisioned by Accelerated Mobile Pages Project.

Source:http://www.business2community.com/brandviews/marketo/10-trends-defined-digital-marketing-2016-01723822#bgZzhCwXYpTMHgIw.97

While several teams contribute to business success, present day trends point towards growing importance of IT. Thus marketers need to collaborate at a greater level with IT. SAS is one organization that has adopted IT as fulltime partner. Some best practices have thus emerged during such collaboration. First of all marketing and IT departments must focus on a common goal. Digital marketing for example cannot be executed without the common objectives of these two fields. The marketing strategy itself must explain the digital road map about to be pursued by the organization. By this data will be fortified as top priority, automation will be pursued and business analytics will be used to empower all marketers. Bridges must be established between marketing and IT to make sure their respective skills can be utilized effectively by the organization. Data needs to be used in a cohesive manner across the organization. Business reporting, use of graphics and trend analysis has to be maintained in single pattern.

Source:https://hbr.org/2016/12/why-marketing-needs-closer-ties-to-it?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date&spMailingID=16061807&spUserID=OTY0OTMwNTk5NwS2&spJobID=920550778&spReportId=OTIwNTUwNzc4S0

Social media marketing can often go wrong if certain basic tenets are not follows properly. As social media is among the most important channels to conduct digital marketing it is crucial to keep in mind certain points. First of all, connect must be established with the right people rather than en masse. The approach must be tailored for the industry specific and influencers in the sector must be targeted. Also specific need related platform needs to be chosen as the same social media channel may not work for every requirement. Due market research needs to be conducted before plunging headlong into that industry. For this blogs on relevant issues need to be published, curated content shared and use of infographics made to arouse the interest. Each social media platform has a specific time when it gets best response. This needs to be taken care of for example Facebook does best between noon to 3 pm and LinkedIn between 7 and 9 am plus 5 and 6 pm in the evening. Finally, the marketers need to focus on the main objective of the organization. It is creative and attractive to develop a healthy social media presence, but ultimately it must lead to business benefits.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2016/12/09/five-social-media-tips-to-create-a-focused-marketing-strategy/#532132476fd0

Brands need to take great care of their social media handles and presence due to the major role such platforms play in digital marketing. Thus some mistakes have been identified which must be avoided at all costs. Firstly, marketers must avoid posting incessantly. Similarly, followers must not be spammed regularly. There must be consistency across channels and in the message communicated. Posts must have some educational or broader appeal rather than selling constantly. Brands have a pre-conceived notion of themselves and their marketing campaigns. Such formulaic responses cannot be expected all the time as the market is dynamic, all the more so on social media which is largely used by younger people. Inappropriate jokes must be avoided as humour shows personality and that cannot be wrecked. Similarly, no part of corporate communication must display insensitivity towards others or social issues. Just to get the additional attention, brands often resort to leveraging the latest trends irrespective of being relevant. Unless the marketers fully grasp the concept, no trend must be blindly spoken of. The loyal followers must never be ignored, but constantly engaged with. Finally, integrity must remain strong so that no misinformation is broadcast to dupe customers. The modern customer can gauge the integrity better due to social connect.

Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-johansson/the-10-social-media-mista_b_13295772.html

Marketing forecasts have been made for the upcoming year with five particularly prominent ones being listed. First of all, it is understood that Marketing on the Cloud will hit off in 2017 by integrating social media, content, automation and advertising all aligned together. Marketers who can conduct data driven business analytics will rise further as it has been understood to be the best method for predictive marketing. The alignment between marketing and sales will continue as marketers will adopt greater role in the actual selling process. The B2B method of Account Based Marketing or ABM will rise further in importance. An interesting development will be the rise of CMOs to become CEOs as marketing is getting that all-important position.

Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chirag-kulkarni/top-5-marketing-predictio_b_13133852.html