Tag Archive for: digital innovation

2017 Year in Review: Digital Marketing

/in , /by

As we near the end of 2017, we recall many of the new ideas and innovations that this year brought to us. In digital marketing, there have been many changes. Digital marketing is centered around change, as it is required for this industry to live and thrive. Now we take a look at some of the biggest changes to digital marketing in 2017.

The Move to Mobile

This past year saw an incredible shift in user preference to mobile devices. It has grown to such a height that mobile search has now overtaken desktop search. The trend began early in 2017, but did not slow down at all. 33.3% of all transactions from Cyber Monday were completed on a mobile device. This mobile activity is up nearly 17% from the previous year.

It is also worth noting that age does not matter when it comes to mobile. Most people assume that the only demographic utilizing these mobile technologies are younger generations. In reality, older consumers are regularly active on digital devices. In fact, 50+ year old consumers had a 12% growth in smartphone usage over the past year. Read more in our article, “How to Reach Senior Citizens Using Digital Marketing”.

Competition Between Social Platforms

In 2017, each major social platform was vying for the spotlight. Twitter attempted to increase their numbers by doubling the character limit from 140 to 280. Sadly, this change did not produce the desired effect they were looking for, as their Q3 reports showed another decline in activity.

Snapchat focused on increasing advertising revenue. Their ‘Snap Pixel’ gives marketers better insight into consumer behaviors, which is certainly valuable when forming any kind of marketing strategy.

In the end, one social media platform came out on top in 2017. There can only be one winner, and this winner is Facebook. Facebook provides a larger audience, better targeting options, and superior results when it comes to digital marketing. Their resources and refined tools cannot be outdone. It is also very likely that their success will only continue to grow in the upcoming year.

The Importance of a Marketing Strategy

Digital marketing has become much more calculated. As the industry grows, experts are looking to make the most precise decisions when it comes to their digital marketing efforts. This means that anyone serious about digital marketing should be using a well thought out marketing strategy.

Long standing organizations have the benefit of possessing a history of data. This data is invaluable. Past behavior predicts future behavior. So, data can show you exactly what decisions to make, without much risk of failure.

However, if you do not have a large database to fall back on, it is best to begin with broad objectives which are then refined over time as you begin to notice what works and what does not. For more detailed information in creating a marketing strategy, please take a look at our article, “Create the Perfect Digital Marketing Strategy”.

Digital Permeation

As the digital industry continues to grow, it expands across many other industries. Digital marketing presents all businesses with the ability to better market their products and services. The main advantage is digital marketing’s low cost. Of course, digital marketing campaigns can become expensive if desired, but most campaigns produce results for mere pennies on the dollar.

This advantage has allowed digital marketing to infiltrate every area of business possible. There are no real limitations when it comes to digital marketing. Any organization looking to sell their product to a specified target audience can do it.

As a result, digital marketing strategies have been developed for entire industries. Food, healthcare, metal fabrication, you name it. All of these industries have been affected by digital marketing, and will continue to be affected in 2018.

How Pinterest Expects to Increase Revenue by $200 Million This Year

/in , /by

Pinterest is quite new to the world of advertising. 2017 marks the third full year that Pinterest has offered their Promoted Pins to advertisers. Such pins allow advertisers to promote their products and services alongside of a user’s normal featured pins.

Revenues On The Rise

These sponsored pins began in 2015, and generated $100 million in revenue by the end of the year. Last year, Pinterest was able to capture a total of $300 million in revenue, according to recode.

The trend isn’t stopping there. In its current fiscal year, it has been reported by recode that Pinterest is on track to bring in at least 200 million additional dollars by the end of this year.

So how is Pinterest driving all of this incredible advertising success you may ask? The answer lies in the company’s recent ventures into digital innovation.

Pinterest Sections

A recent article by Techcrunch released information on a brand new Pinterest feature called Sections.

This new tool will give users the ability to divide and categorize their board into several sub-groups that all coincide with the main board topic. For example, if the main board were titled “Entrees”, then sub-groups could include titles like “Vegetarian”, “Casseroles”, or “Seafood”.

According to Pinterest CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann, “It’s been a really popular feature request for years.”

Sections is still making its way through the beta testing process. The new feature has not been released to all users yet, but will hopefully be appearing to the masses soon!

Ad Targeting

As Pinterest’s consumer base continues to grow, now up to an estimated 200+ million users, the company is searching for ways in which it can utilize this incredible resource.

Last year, Pinterest purchased a startup mobile ad-tech company called URX. Jack Chou, Pinterest’s head of product, explained the buyout by saying, “We can now accelerate our efforts with the URX team, who are leaders in mobile content understanding, recommendations, monetization and discovery.”

These efforts have materialized into 5,000 interest categories that advertisers can now use to help properly position their products in front of the perfect Pinterest users. For instance, many consumers are interested in the outdoors, but what about those specifically interested in hiking across the Appalachians?

Much like the new Sections feature, these interest categories will enable Pinterest users to refine their account into exactly what they want. This provides an enormous benefit to digital marketers and advertisers as they are able to easily reach out to the most specific area of their target audience.

Pin Collective

Pinterest has also been continually promoting their service called Pin Collective to advertisers. Pin Collective is described by Pinterest as, “an external network of world-class content creators including photographers, designers, illustrators, art directors and more who are experts in creating content for Pinterest.”

Pinterest has come together with Popular Pays to build this platform. Pin Collective provides advertisers with the best of the best to ensure the creation of flawless ads.

Adidas and essie are two companies that have experienced this service first-hand. Essie utilized Pin Collective to get an edge on the nude nails trend. The results were very impressive. The top pin of the Pin Collective campaign was saved 4 times more than any previous Pinterest campaign launched by essie.

Ending Thoughts

There is no slowing down for Pinterest. The platform continues to outdo itself every year with better ideas and innovations, both for their users and their advertisers. Here at Onimod Global, we can’t wait to see what they come up with next!