10 Trends Driving Digital Media

The marketing space for online business changes fast. And if we want to keep our affiliate businesses above the surface, so to speak, we should always pay close attention to what’s going on and how to take advantage of the current trends.

Here’s a list of 10 digital media marketing trends to look into in the second part of 2013:
1. Websites Seem Old School
Not that long ago, the sole fact of having a website and using it as a business tool was considered “new” and “innovative.” Now, however, it’s no longer the case.
The majority of people spend most of their time online on social media sites as opposed to browsing freely around the web.
Affiliates who are actively present on Facebook or Twitter have a much bigger profit potential.
2. Create a Brand Profile If Your Brand Matters
There’s a dark side of social media as it turns out. When the whole craze started a couple of years ago, everyone thought that all marketers have to do is create brand profiles and then use them for spreading news about what they’re doing.
The surprising part was that nobody really cared about these new brands. And that many social media sites provide much better results for personality-driven profiles as opposed to brand-driven. Unless your brand is highly recognizable already (like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or Zappos).
3. SEO Becoming More “Natural”
With algorithm updates like Panda, Penguin or Penguin 2.0, we can see more and more actions on Google’s part to make their ranking process more natural.
In other words, Google is now fighting everyone who does any kind of active SEO work. This can be witnessed in the way they devalued SEOd links or over-optimized web pages.
4. Guest Posting Becoming Tough
Sticking to the topic of SEO and link building. Guest posting was probably the whitest of all white-hat SEO techniques. After all, it’s based on providing quality content and getting a link as a byproduct.
However, since Google is against active SEO right now, guest posts are believed to be next on the list of devalued SEO practices.
5. Sharable Content is King
The traditional way of publishing or promoting anything on the web was to broadcast your message, so to speak. This meant sending it over to various sites/platforms and relying on volume rather than real user interaction.
Nowadays, broadcasting like this is no longer effective especially for smaller sites promoting their own products or affiliate offers.
The aspect of viral nature is simply becoming more and more significant for your marketing success.
6. The Rise of Content Marketing
Right now, content marketing is the most trendy of all online marketing strategies.
The idea is simple, what you do is create great content that’s valuable to the reader and provides actual insights into a given field/niche. Then, you use this content as your marketing method. This means driving people to your content page and then convincing them to check out some of the things you’re promoting.
7. Mobile-Optimized Content
Everyone’s mobile these days.
Just 5-6 years ago, no one cared all that much about what a website looks like on a mobile display. Now, however, it’s probably the MAIN thing site owners should pay attention to.
It’s estimated that a majority of U.S. mobile users are now smartphone users. This means that there’s a huge market for mobile-friendly sites in all niches imaginable.
Fortunately, the technology makes it easier for us to be in tune with this trend. Sites like ThemeFuse or StudioPress offer website themes that are mobile-optimized from the get-go.
8. Specialized Media And Marketing Tools
Back in the day, marketers were forced to use their own skills when conducting research, spying on competition, estimating profitability and so on.
Today, there’s a lot of tools available that can help you in various areas of your business. Starting from email marketing (MailChimp), to online SEO and marketing campaign management (BuzzStream), to spying on your competition (SpyFu), and much much more.
9. Visual Media Stands Strong
The web today is no longer about mere text content. If you want to keep your business on top of the game, you need to incorporate photos and videos into your marketing as well.
The launches of sites like Vine or the video support for Instagram are the best evidence of that.
10. Outsourcing Whatever You Can
Outsourcing has been with us for quite a while. Over the years, it has become the go-to strategy for growing an online business. The reason for that is because outsourcing tends to be a lot cheaper and in most cases, more effective than hiring a fulltime staff.
You can find contractors on sites like: oDesk, Fiverr, Elance.