[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne of the wonderful things about the Internet is that there are commonalities in technology and UX no matter where you live and access the Information Superhighway. This is never truer than in terms of digital marketing, and though the audience may be different with a different set of cultural preferences, the techniques remain the same no matter what language you speak or what country you happen to call home. Market analysts have identified three digital marketing trends that have been a major component in explosive business growth around the globe. These three digital marketing trends are also shaping Nigerian businesses in 2017. If you haven’t climbed on board yet, it’s time you did. Here’s why.
1. Mobile Marketing
Everyone has had their fill (and more than they can often stomach!) of Google’s Mobilegeddon. Alright, so we get it! More people are accessing the Internet via their mobile phones than they do from stationary desktop PCs and they are conducting more business from their phones and tablets as well. However, there’s more than a responsive website necessary for a mobile marketing strategy so it is vital that you look at the difference between how you market to a mobile audience and how you would reach out to one glued to a PC with a monitor the size of Burj Khalifa. In short, you need to abbreviate more than what will be displayed on that small screen. You need to abbreviate what you say and actually, where you want to say it!
2. Social Networking
Which brings us to social sites. According to America’s elite marketing agency Single Grain, if you want to go anywhere at all with your marketing you’ll go social. This means short little posts often and regularly. Develop a following and Tweet away all day. Of course, you’ll be too busy to post numerous times each day and why agencies like Single Grain employ specialist in social media to get the content out there your market needs to hear.
3) Good Mix of Paid and Organic Content
You will also want to employ a good mix of paid and organic content and marketing. From press releases and PPC ads on the paid end of the spectrum to blog posts on sites of high authority, you should use a well-rounded approach to capturing the biggest audience possible. Organic content is that which shows up in the SERPs below those top three paid advertisements when someone searches for a keyword or a string of words. And, speaking of those paid ads that top the page, those are a great example of paid vs. organic content. The top results are always paid – Google sells that space to the highest bidder – and the ones from about position three are organic.
Nigeria might be one of the most connected of emerging nations in the 21st Century, but there is still a very long way to go. Use these digital marketing trends which have been effective in developed nations of the world, follow their lead, and Nigerian businesses in 2017 will earn their country a genuine place on the map of world commerce.
