It’s time to review the past year and strategize for the new year. We think it will be important to plan for these online marketing trends in 2019.

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Privacy

With big changes like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and a growing unease about privacy protections, it’s more important than ever to pay attention to how we collect, access, store, and use information. This includes our followers names, locations, IP addresses, and contact information like email addresses.

Make sure your site and business are protected by implementing solid privacy policies and disclaimers. While auditing your site and systems, make sure you are using hard to guess passwords that are changed periodically. Especially those passwords that could be disastrous if hacked, like you bank, PayPal, and website. You should also review what third party tools you are using to ensure that they are secure and reputable. Such as social media schedulers, email marketing services, and plugins on your website.

If you don’t already have a privacy policy and disclaimers on your website, it’s time to do so. Investing in these will help legally cover your butt in the case of a privacy breach and potential lawsuits.

Anti-Spam

Just as there is a growing unease about privacy protections, the general market is also becoming more sensitive to spam and junk emails. Keep this in mind when you’re contacting new clients or sending out a newsletter. Take a moment to consider what your audience is going to view as spam and make sure the content you are sending out is of true value to your readers.

Always ensure you have your follower’s permission to collect their email address and make it clear that you intend to add them to your marketing list.  Most of the popular email services like OptinMonster will have systems built in to confirm consent through checkboxes and double opt-ins. If there is any chance someone may access your site from Europe, then this step is crucial in remaining GDRP compliant

Quality

There is more noise and content online now than there ever was before. Help your social media profiles and website content stand out by providing authentic quality material. This is not a race to see who can create the most blog posts or share the most pictures. Your followers will remain loyal if you show them that you respect their time by always producing high quality meaningful content. Quality over quantity is key!

Get Methodical

The days of irregular and sporadic social sharing are over. To make the most of your online marketing efforts you need to get methodical and set up a system. If you’re not consistent, you will lose you audience’s attention to those who are. But don’t fret, there are so many tools and resources to help you! Get yourself set up with a social media scheduler like Hootsuite or Tailwind, and a graphic editor like Adobe, PicMonkey, or Canva. From there automate your social media posts to ensure they’re consistent regardless of how busy you get. And if you don’t want to do it yourself, there is always the option of hiring someone else to do it for you. Like Parallel 70 for example! Book a free consultation here.

Influencers

While influencer marketing is still a hot topic, we’re beginning to see an increase in micro-influencer marketing. Unlike the typical influencer, a micro-influencer tends to have a tighter knit following of less than 10,000. But some of the micro-influencers command more authority with their followers and may have more influence on their audience’s opinions. This may be of special interest to smaller businesses that can’t afford to work with large influencers or for brick and mortar shops that want to keep their marketing efforts closer to home. This is also useful if you want to target a specific niche and can work with micro-influencers that are specifically in that niche.

Voice Search

The rising popularity of voice controlled devices, such as Amazon’s Echo Dot and Apple’s Siri, have added a new level of considerations for anyone who sells products or creates content online. You’ll want to start ensuring that your content is voice search friendly so you audience can easily find you. At the current trends, voice marketing is poised to become as big or bigger than mobile marketing is.

Are there any other trends you think will be important in 2019? Share them below!

Do you need some help with your online marketing strategy? Check out our other posts: 25 Posts for Instagram, 25 Posts for Twitter, Content Upgrades , or book a free consultation with us!