Yes, it’s that time of the year again when we look back to the 300 or so days of strategic planning, fierce implementation and thorough data analysis and see just how good we’ve been at playing the SEO game by the book. 2015 has been a challenging year, to say the least: Google has made it clear that it rewards those who adapt their web presence to smartphones and tablets while it penalizes those who fail to do so, its local rankings got a facelift and its search algorithm was updated with the quality factor. In addition to this, the overall user behaviour changed, with more than half of search engine queries being performed on mobile devices. We already know how all these things affected our marketing and sales efforts from strategy to conversion – some of us adapted fairly quickly, with good results, while others struggled to keep up with the rapidly evolving shifts and trends of this wonderful digital universe.

This being said, there’s one question left: what will 2016 bring in terms of SEO trends?

Mobile Now, Mobile Tomorrow

Remember that time when you were brainstorming together with the team from the web design agency in order to create the best website ever? Now take this memory and transform it into a vision: a vision of you and that team brainstorming again, this time for the best mobile version of your site, meant to give your visitors/customers the best possible user experience in terms of speed, layout, information and processes (such as checkout, support, contact etc.). And if you’re willing to take things further, why not consider an app, too? With Google currently experimenting indexing and ranking app-only content (Android only), this might be a good opportunity to expand the way you connect with your customers.

Content Stays King, Changes Clothes

Content is, undoubtedly, one of the best manners of approaching SEO in a long term strategy. Why? Because it’s valuable: valuable for the reader, valuable for the creator, and valuable for search engines. However, standards are changing. If up until last year and this year, written content was the most common way of delivering information, the shift towards other forms of content such as video is already happening, largely due to the rise in popularity of social networks such as Snapchat and Vine. Even more so, content that is evergreen (tutorials, guides, editorials) and interactive (quizzes, games) will be getting more and more traction among users. 2016, time to get creative!

You Speak, Google Listens

With features such as Apple’s Siri, Windows’ Cortana and Google Now becoming increasingly popular, a new type of search language is emerging: think long-tail keyword queries with a conversational tone. Consequently, Google’s Hummingbird algorithm is being continuously adapted to focus on the meaning of an entire search query rather than on just a few particular words. Therefore, companies who will adjust their communication and translate their corporate messages into friendlier, more appealing terms, will see an increase in traffic and user engagement.

Social Media Gets Indexed

If you’ve noticed tweets or facebook statuses being featured among search engine results, it’s because social media giants and Google have partnered in providing answers to search queries in a way that questions the borders between web and social media. Tweets and status updates will soon have their own value in terms of SEO, giving businesses a whole new playground for their optimization strategy.

Smart Keywords, Rich SERPs

Search engines, and particularly Google, have come a long way since their inception, evolving from a query-based approach to a user-centric one. While keywords themselves and the way they are interpreted by algorithms are becoming more complex, allowing publishers a bigger flexibility in their SEO approach, Google’s search pages are also changing: the information is now being structured and displayed using a variety of SERP elements such as paid ads – written and video, rich snippets, knowledge graphs, carousel results etc. At the first glance, all these elements can be seen as a threat to organic search results but companies and publishers can use them as opportunities to increase their traffic by creating content suitable for these formats.

Hype or no hype, SEO has been shaping the digital universe continuously, greatly contributing to the success or the demise of countless businesses. Thus, the importance of having a future-oriented approach and a comprehensive SEO strategy cannot be stressed enough.

What are your plans for 2016, SEO-wise, and what do you think will have the greatest impact on achieving your goals?

Content marketing – a necessity for every business in order to stand out from the digital crowd. But, in order to reap its benefits, it needs to be based on a solid strategy and the right tools, from sourcing content to writing it and disseminating the information. Take a look at the infographic below for some interesting data and very useful tips:

The Evolution Of Digital Marketing Trends

The rise of search engine giants and social media networks have not only changed our lives, they also transformed the entire online ecosystem, bringing us new technologies, new digital trends and infinite business opportunities. As a consequence, digital marketing evolved into a more  sophisticated process, crowning content as the new king of the Internet while providing businesses with a powerful tool to help them step-up their online game: content marketing.

But since technology develops faster than one could say”retina display”, online trends are bound to follow its pace and to constantly redefine the best medium for capturing consumers’ attention.

Content marketing in itself has more than one dimension and, in the past two years, the way we convey our messages in online has changed from “tell” to “show”. In other words, our focus has shifted from written social media to visual social media, the latter becoming a powerful tool of engagement and conversion.Thus, the existing social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have become more visual, while image and video based networks such as Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat and Vine have grown in popularity at an astonishing rate.

Why Did The Shift To Visual Content Happen?

It’s been long known that we are visual creatures. Before writing, our ancestors used cave paintings and petroglyphs to communicate and 93% of our communication is non-verbal. Add to this the scientific stats that say only 20% of people remember what they read while 80% of people remember what they see and do, and that visuals are processed 60,000X faster than text and, voila, we’ve got ourselves a visual Internet.

What Does The Shift To Visual Marketing Mean For Business?

First, let’s take a look at the following statistics:

• in December 2014, the top 8 social networks combined drove 31.24% of overall traffic to sites;
• in 2015, traffic analytics company Parse.ly has revealed that Facebook generated with 5% more traffic to news/media sites than Google;
• Pinterest is now the second largest driver of traffic worldwide;
• Instagram delivers 10 times more engagement per post than Facebook or Twitter;
• surveys says that future marketing trends are headed towards Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn.

In a nutshell, your business needs social media more than ever, and a smart content plan is an opportunity to secure a strong competitive leverage. Even more so, in an environment where the race for customer attention is already crowded and tight, creating and using digital assets such as infographics, photos, and videos is now a vital game-changer.

Successful Visual Marketing Examples

To show you just how important visual communication is, we chose three examples centered around three companies that rocked visual content and successfully used it to gain awareness, active followers and customers:

1. Birchbox

As a company that delivers monthly beauty products samples in personalized boxes, Birchbox centered its online marketing plan on how-to videos and tutorials featuring the products sold on their online shop. Simple and effective, this tactic creates exposure, awareness and loyal customers.

2. GoPro

Founded in 2002, the company produces the world’s most popular action camera, waterproof, shockproof and able to record in HD quality in any type of environment or conditions. So it’s no wonder that their digital marketing strategy is based on stunning action videos which they showcase on their website, making viewers want to go out and get up close and personal with an extreme sport while capturing it all on a GoPro camera.

3. Starbucks

In April 2014, Starbucks launched the White Cup challenge, asking their customers, followers and fans to customize their cups and upload their creations on Instagram using the hashtag #WhiteCupContest. The challenge gathered more than 4000 submissions and the winning design, belonging to a young art student from Pittsburgh, was transformed into a limited edition reusable cup available for sale in Starbucks locations across US. This is a great example of how a company can both spark engagement and use resources generated by fans to increase exposure and conversions.

Now that we’ve covered the what, the why and the who, the remaining question is:

How To Use The Power Of Visual Marketing For Your Company?

The truth is, when it comes to online marketing, there’s no one-size-fits-all recipe. However, regardless of how big your company is and what kind of products or services it provides, you can achieve great results by going social and visual with your content as long as you respect the following guidelines:

1. Be authentic

Don’t try and emulate someone else’s content or strategy – today’s consumers and savvy and intuitive so they’ll feel when something or someone is not being their true self. Instead, ask yourself this question: what is your brand’s essence? What are the means it can be captured with and what are the assets it can be translated into best?

2. Be stimulating

As human beings, we love being stimulated by emotions: we love loving, we love laughing, we love satisfying our curiosity by finding out new things. We love being human! Can you convey your company’s values and messages in a humanizing and stimulating manner? This is a question a lot of businesses struggle with, especially those that activate in areas that are not as popular or engaging as others. But here’s the thing: every business, every product, every object, every concept has at least one interesting trait or story behind it that can be portrayed in an attention grabbing piece of content. It’s time that you point to yours!

3. Be relevant

If you want to capture your audience’s attention and to maintain it, too, you have to be relevant. And there’s only one way you can achieve that: by providing real value to the your demographic. Be it an infographic, a picture or a video, your visual content must be relevant to you and to your customers and it should always provide value (and by value we mean something that makes people tick, such as valuable information, entertainment, exclusive offers etc.) because the internet might have a short attention span but it also has a very good memory.. and you want your brand to be remembered for all the right reasons, right?

The bottom line is, in today’s digital landscape a picture is worth more than 1000 words and your brand must speak visual by creating image and video-based content that’s relevant and shareable: infographics, because they can convey hard-to-digest data in an appealing and engaging manner; memes, because they tap into people’s emotions and personality traits; videos, because they’re great at showcasing how-to information; presentations, because they’re professional.

Not long ago, New York Times’ study The Psychology of Sharing revealed an interesting insight: 68% of the respondents share content on social media because they want to define themselves to others. So, by defining your target audience and delivering tailor-made visual content following the guidelines above, you’re set to achieve success.

In the meantime, use the resources below for more advice and useful information on visual marketing:

17 Stats You Should Know About Visual Content Marketing in 2015

10 of the Latest Surprising, Revealing Studies on Social Media

The Power of Visual Storytelling in Content Marketing (Infographic)

The Top 5 Instagram Trends To Watch Out For In 2015

The 10 New Rules Of Visual Content Marketing

27+ Handy Tools for Better Visual Content Marketing