Introduction Connector is a specialist agency in Digital, Social Media & Mobile Marketing, we help companies with their digital strategies. We are the forefront of emerging trends in business & marketing and we would like to share our expertise and advice on digital tendency. In this study we will have an overview of ten trends revolutionising business such as Social Media, Digital & Mobile Marketing, Big Data or Augmented Reality.

Content Marketing AKA Inbound Marketing involves attracting people to your company by creating interesting and useful content which earns the attention and trust of potential customers. In contrast, Traditional Marketing or Interruption Marketing tries to sell to the customer through constant advertising, cold calling and spam email, offering nothing useful for the customer. Today, 93% of B2B marketers use Content Marketing, costing them 62% less than traditional marketing. 90% of customers find custom content useful and 78% of those believe companies behind this content are interested in building good relationships. Good content marketing strategies contain a mix of different types of content and will position you as an industry expert over time.

CONTENT MARKETING

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Social Customer Service, AKA Customer Service 2.0, is the response of organisations to the increasing demand for an online channel of communication with businesses. Today, around 20% of the worlds population is using social media (SM). Though that might not seem like a lot, 45% of those people will share a negative experience on social media and expect a response within an hour. Surprising then that 60% of companies don’t respond to customer on SM at all. The good news though is that those who receive good customer service will tell others about their good experience. Given these stats, it's crucial that companies have a comprehensive social customer service strategy covering things like how to respond to positive and negative comments, what tone to use and when to escalate a complaint. Having one will help on the way to social customer service success.

SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

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Digital listening means locating and analysing what is being said about a company, brand or individual on the internet. Using social listening tools will help companies quickly and easily track keywords people are identifying with their brand, see whether sentiment about their company is positive or negative and much more. In fact, 85% of marketers say digital listening helps businesses to engage in dialogue with potential or current customers. Digital Listening is a strong support technology for companies, allowing them to accurately measure what is being said about them as well as monitoring what is being said about their competitors. Companies can then improve their decision-making and easily adapt their strategy to their digital environment.

DIGITAL LISTENING

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Mobile Marketing is the name given to marketing on or through a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet. It is estimated that around 4 billion people world-wide own a smartphone and that in general, 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to customers taking an action, with over 50% leading to a sale. It is estimated that mobile marketing will account for 34% of Google’s worldwide ad revenue by the end of 2014. Mobile Marketing can involve developing an app, planning a mobile focused campaign or creating an integrated advertising strategy. Mobile interactions can change the customers’ path to purchase if companies can influence them at specific points by delivering a value-added experience. It gives the opportunity to effectively engage customers.

MOBILE MARKETING

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a way to superimpose a layer of computer generated content over a live view of the world. Tech companies, clothing, makeup and furniture companies have used the technology to ease the friction between intention and action - letting customers instantly see how a product relates to them and purchase it easily. While AR technologies like Google Glass may be too advanced for some consumers, many consumers already own an AR device - the smartphone. Considering the rapid rise of AR, the marketing possibilities using it and the fact that investment in AR is set to reach $2.5 billion by 2018, AR is set to be a good investment of companies time and money.

AUGMENTED REALITY

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A mobile app is a computer program designed to run on smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. There are currently around 9 million apps available on Android and Apple and these apps collectively were downloaded 50 billion times in 2013. Currently, there are more iPhones sold per day than babies born and the mobile market is estimated to be worth $25 billion by 2015. Advantages mobile marketing has over tradtional marketing includes in app advertising and push notifications, which 70% of people find useful. So, it's definitely time to get on board with mobile apps. Options for using mobile apps range from advertising on pre-existing apps to creating bespoke apps of your own. Needs will be different for each company and app development should be carefully considered re. cost, time investment etc.

MOBILE APP TRENDS

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Mobile websites are basically just websites that are loaded on mobile devices, however, the key difference is that they must be optimised. For maximum exposure and minimal customer frustration, companies should adopt a mantra of mobile first or mobile optimised web design. 1.2 billion people now access the web from a mobile device and 61% of those people have a better opinion of brands who offer a good mobile experience to customers. People will abandon a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load and will abandon a purchase if the shopping cart isn't optimised for mobile. Mobile web is set to skyrocket over the coming years so if you haven't optimised your site for mobile yet, do it now.

MOBILE WEBSITES

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Digital video is video which is available and distributed online through your own website, a host website, a video hosting platform or a video advertisement. In the last two years, spending on online video has doubled, and it's set to double again in 2015. Using a video on a landing page typically increases conversion rates by 80% and 1 in 6 digital videos are viewed on a mobile device so once again, mobile optimisation for all your digital marketing content is key. Because of all this, video must include a strong CTA which integrates with your offline marketing message. The popularity of micro videos will also continue to increase so marketers should consider how to utilise platform such as Instagram and Vine to spread their message.

DIGITAL VIDEOS

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Data analytics means capturing data which can be analysed in order to understand and improve your digital marketing campaigns and strategies. Data analytics is without doubt the key to understanding all your digital marketing efforts, be they social media, pay-per-click ads, display banners etc. In addition to using multiple analytics tools for recording your data, you need to implement a measurement plan which takes into account the different analytics the members of your teams are interested in. Once you've gathered your data, it's time to analyse what's working, what could be working better and what's not working at all. Data analytics is the backbone of every successful digital marketing strategy. If you're not measuring this data, your company isn't going to be going anywhere fast.

DATA ANALYTICS

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A social network is a dedicated website or application which allows users to communicate with each other by posting a variety of comments, images, videos and other content to each other. Perhaps the best known social media site is Facebook, but there are a plethora of others, each with different uses. LinkedIn and Twitter are the other most common sites, but Snapchat, Vine, Bebo, Instagram, Badoo and Tuenti are just some of the other sites which exist, each offering different marketing opportunities. Engagement and advertising opportunities on social networks are huge, with paid advertising options, bespoke apps, multi-page development and opportunity for exceptional customer service and interaction.

SOCIAL NETWORKS

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1. Overall, social network use is highest among 18-29 year olds (89%), 30-49 year olds (72%) and 50-60 year olds (60%) though the 65+ bracket is also on the rise (43%). 2. There are 1.15 billion Facebook users. 189 million of these users are mobile only. A fifth of them log in five times a day. 3. Visually driven social media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram are set to gain more traction in the coming years. 4. 93% of marketers use social media for business. 5. 80% of customers prefer to engage with a brand on Facebook.

SOCIAL NETWORKS

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E-commerce refers to commercial transactions which are conducted electronically through the internet. 40% of world-wide internet users state that they'e bought a product online with two thirds of these people believing they will get a better deal online and the other third believing they'll get an even better deal if they check out social media too, and they're not wrong: online sales from social networks are set to grow by 93% in the next four years according to Booz & Co. E-commerce is set to grow by 15% in the next two years and according to Gartner and Juniper Research, almost 50 million of these new e-commerce customers will be buying via a mobile device, so as we mentioned, mobile web optimisation is key.

ECOMMERCE

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Digital Out Of Home advertising refers to dynamic media displayed on digital signs to deliver targeted messages in specific locations to specific consumers at specific times. DOOH can be hugely useful for targeting potential customers who try to avoid traditional marketing channels and getting them involved with your marketing message. Forbes reports that 71% of people often notice digital advertising messages when outside of the home. So to reach customers who are avoiding traditional media, and to reach more of them, investing in DOOH is the way to go. Check out some really ingenious example of great DOOH here.

DIGITAL OUTDOOR

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Conclusion At Connector we strive to stay connected with businesses and individuals, keeping them up to date with the latest digital trends and developments. If there’s something we haven’t covered here that you’d like to know more about, let us know in the comments below, on our Facebook page or on Twitter. Not sure where to start when it comes to your company’s digital strategy? Contact us today to see what we can do for you.

References Content Marketing Institute Demand Metric McMurry/TMG Sales Force Desk SAP Forbes Search Engine Land Emarketer ABI Research Mobile Statistics.com

Brand Channel Responsys Mobify.com Shutterstock & comScore The Oxford English Dictionary Jeff Bullas.com Search Engine Journal Hubspot Booz & Co. Forbes

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