The you in the article refers to all the professionals who are in one way or another practices SEO-related activities. This article is simply based on one simple question – how will I make use of this forecasts.
From the point of view of “you” – the foot soldier
As a web content creator, I often encounter some forecasts with regard to SEO and internet marketing for the next few years. Sometimes as far as 2016. From my own point of view I usually am wowed by these figures because I just so love numbers so all of those graphs in just one article is mine of data for me. (You can create multiple articles from just on primary source).
Judgment or statistics?
There are two main types of methods used in making marketing projections – judgment-based and the other one is based on statistical resources.
I will not dwell deeper into the different sub-types. Basically, the methods used are either based on intentions, opinions of experts, etc. or the ones based on statistical inferences which result in analogies, extrapolation, etc.
Because, I am always injecting some numbers into my articles, there are some SEO forecasts and projections that I encountered.
The latest SEO forecasts
Some forecasts and projections on the growth of internet marketing (of course, including SEO and SEM) were released last year and this first half of 2012. These highlight the growth in terms of revenue from the industry. Most of these reports gave emphasis on the role of social media in promoting a brand name.
These are the two most prominent forecasts that I encountered:
• US Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2011 To 2016 (Forrester)
• Gartner Says Worldwide Social Media Revenue Forecast to Reach $16.9 Billion in 2012 (Gartner)
What are the forecasts?
The forecasts point to the trend of increase in spending for interactive and social media marketing.
According to Gartner, social media revenue will mostly come from advertisements. The total revenue will increase by 43.1% from $11.8 billion in 2011 to $16.9 billion in 2012.
Furthermore, according to Forrester’s Forecast, in year 2016, the total spending for interactive marketing (social media, mobile, etc.) will reach $77 billion. However, social media will only eat up 4% of the total spending – and they called it “moderate growth”.
How can I make use of these projections?
Continually tap the social media resource
This is repeated over and over again – maximize the use of social media.
One way that social media marketers can exploit this trend is to incorporate social media tools and techniques in their marketing campaign. The process of incorporation should be done at the onset of the marketing campaign. It should be part of the core methods.
Of course the final result is profit for the different social media sites. However, through investing in social media campaigns marketers and SEOs will gain more brand exposure with lesser investment.
I bet you already know what the best sites to use in marketing are. The list from Social Media Marketing Industry Report for 2012, includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs (in general), and YouTube.
Be more mobile
A few years from now, mobile will be the name of the game. Companies (including internet giants like Google) are still adjusting to the marketing in social media marketing. Basically, the potential of this market is still to be fully realized.
The same report from Forrester also mentions to the rise of mobile marketing. More and more people use smartphones and tablets. And this is one of the potential markets that companies and marketers should explore more. There is already a growing habit of purchasing online – 47% used their mobile devices to purchase stuff online.
Conclusion
The forecasts seem to point out the continuing trend of shift from traditional to a more interactive marketing. And sooner interactive marketing will be synonymous with social media marketing. So how can the front liners, like marketers, make us of the forecasts again?
Given that most, if not all, of marketers focus on social media now, will there be a saturation of marketing campaigns to the point that regular social media site users will limit their time in accessing their social media sites because of too much add campaigns?
Forecasts often dictate the actual events. In SEO, SEM, and internet marketing, yearly forecasts are being released by big companies. In this article, Ric, a link builder from Agentsofvalue.com, provides some tips on how to make use of forecasts.
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