Marketing is a constantly changing landscape, especially when it overlaps with the transformative tech industry. With new methods of engaging and interacting rolled out every month, if not week, marketing has never been more exciting. Here are 10 up-and-coming words and phrases you need to know before planning your 2016 marketing strategy.
1. Dwell Time
Dwell time, or the amount of time a user spends on your site, is becoming an important metric to gauge interaction. This metric correlates with the increase in content marketing. As brands seek to engage users on newer and deeper levels, they need new methods to understand how users are interacting with their content.
Retro clock by Balazs Kovacs Images
Retro clock by Balazs Kovacs Images
Increased dwell times have been linked to higher conversion rates; this means dwell time can show what content works and what doesn’t, allowing marketers to optimize future content endeavors with conversion in mind.
2. Content Brands
Content marketing is no longer a suggested marketing approach; if you aren’t creating original, useful, and interesting content for your users, then your brand will be left behind. The future of content marketing means a shift from branded content to content brands. The basic difference is that branded content is meant to push a product or service, while a content brand is meant to build a relationship with an audience. This relationship is then leveraged to create a loyal customer-base ready for conversions.
3. Episodic Content
As content marketing becomes a mainstay in most marketing efforts it is also becoming more sophisticated. One aspect of this evolution is the focus on narrative content that often comes in installments.
Vintage inscription made by old typewriter by MyImages - Micha
Vintage inscription made by old typewriter by MyImages – Micha
Look to the rising popularity of podcasts, which often come in weekly installments centered around a particular theme, topic, or narrative style. Episodic content allows you to create marketing cliffhangers — endings that encourage users to come back for more.
4. Buy-and-Share
The ability to buy products straight from social media and to share these purchases online is an emerging trend in marketing. Earlier this year, Pinterest introduced the Buy It button, which allows users to shop for products straight from the site. As buy buttons become commonplace, marketers will need to find ways to make these purchases social and sharable.
Man's hands holding a credit card and using smart phone by d8nn
Man’s hands holding a credit card and using smart phone by d8nn
5. A/B Testing
With access to stronger website analytics, A/B testing has become an indispensable source of user data. Also called split testing, this method allows you two test the effectiveness two versions of your website, looking at everything from headline text to paragraph text, images, social buttons, call to action buttons, etc. The effectiveness is often dependent on conversion rates: Which variation of your website turns traffic into more purchases or sign-ups?
6. Influencer Marketing
Snapchat, Instagram, and Vine are no longer fringe media — they are as important to marketing efforts as Facebook and Twitter. A method that plays particularly well on these platforms is influencer marketing, which focuses on key personalities in a demographic rather than the demographic as a whole.