When the pandemic hit, marketer needed to go from upgrading standard practices and strategies to hitting the reset button, trying to adopt to a nearly impossible environment that caused businesses to close, reopen, and then close again just weeks later. These were indeed uncharted waters and they needed to adapt quickly, not to grow but to survive.
Here are a few digital marketing trends we saw that are working for businesses as they fought to stay in the game:
Featured snippets provide instant answers to commonly asked questions. They became especially important during the pandemic, as they allowed users to get quick answers to specific questions without having to search for them themselves. Since internet users were searching for everything in the context of the pandemic, featured snippets were a coveted part of main websites and landing pages.
Featured snippets also lead to more than a two-fold increase in the click-through rate. This means that they are excellent tools for increasing online traffic and leads. You should add a featured snippet answering specific questions that are trending these days, keeping in mind what people are searching for most often.
Brands need to develop and expand their e-commerce platforms and social media networks now more than ever. When in-store visits came to a halt, retailers that survived adopted with a robust platform to continue doing business seamlessly. Businesses that already had a highly operative e-commerce platform before the pandemic thrived compared with those that are just setting one up.
There’s no denying that sales dropped drastically during COVID for pretty much everything that’s not considered essential. Businesses suffered from retail store and warehouse closures, as social distancing became the norm. Having a reliable e-commerce platform is important to keep and grow sales and continue to make your products accessible to your clients.
Expanding your social media network is equally important, as social media heavily influences consumer behavior. The current environment calls for a strong online presence on social media and optimizing your e-commerce platform to retain customers and keep sales constant.
Another trend that has been on the rise is over the top, or OTT, TV and connected TV. Basically, these are videos or ads that are distributed via internet-enabled or connected smart TVs and devices, such as Roku, Amazon Fire, and Apple TV, “over the top” of your internet service provider’s service.
This technology allows marketers to “take over” a household and feed messages and creative across all devices, including TVs, mobile devices and tablets. Now that more people use internet streaming as opposed to cable TV, OTT allows you to serve up creative no matter how your audience is watching. Since 2018, OTT has been growing, and now the pandemic is helping it gain more traction as a way to capture a captivated audience by ZIP code, demographic, or lifestyle in a very targeted way.
OAK Interactive is a leading digital company that has been helping brands improve their on-site organic search and off-site rankings. Contact us and let’s talk about how our expert search engine optimization services, can help your business in Houston grow.
