New technologies and social media in the last two decades have fundamentally changed the way consumers think, behave, and engage with brands. While traditional marketing models are still applicable, marketers today are learning a whole new set of digital marketing skills and strategies to better connect with consumers.
It’s no surprise then that digital marketing spending is forecasted to account for at least 35% of total marketing budget this year, and is predicted to grow another 12% next year. This increase in digital marketing investment has created a surge in demand for digital marketers. These digital marketers are marketing nerds who are obsessed with analytics and Big Data, but are also highly creative and skilled in everything from copywriting to graphic design, photography, and videography.
If you are a digital marketer or aspire to become one, what are some of the top digital marketing trends or ideas you’ll need to know this year? Onalytica asked seven of the influencers identified in its Top 100 Influencers And Brands research to share their views; check out what they have to say! In full disclosure, I was identified as one of the influencers and was asked to share my opinion on the topic. You can find last year’s list here and 2014’s list here.
What the experts are saying about digital marketing
Jeff Bullas – CEO at Jeffbullas.com Pty Ltd
“There is an elephant in the room for many digital marketers. They love the vanity metrics of traffic, social media sharing, and follower growth. They are hooked on the engagement and feedback that cool content provides to the brand. But they often don’t work on the last few hard yards. It isn’t seen as sexy and it can be boring. It’s converting that traffic and engagement into leads and sales. It’s is time for many social media and content marketers to grow up”
Sam Hurley, Founder of OPTIM-EYEZ
“This saturated, fast-paced digital world in which we live can seem overwhelming for business owners and marketers alike. Aside from the sheer amount of information and data we force ourselves to consume each and every day, there’s one precious unit of measurement which we most commonly neglect: Time. To become a successful business owner, brand, solopreneur, marketer… you have to become a master of time. Digital marketing is evolving at incredible rates, which only feeds our fixation with shiny new objects such as virtual reality and the newest social media platforms. My advice for this year onward? Focus your time and energy into three key revenue generators which suit your business model (and you!). Become exceptional at nurturing these generators and don’t veer off course. Take heed of the new digital trends and adapt, but don’t divert. For these three revenue generators, funnel effort into three primary traffic channels (paid, owned, and earned) that will gain qualified exposure for your business — exposure that converts into sales. That’s all! Test what works and stick with it. Don’t waste your time being a jack of all trades. Finally; build relationships, be yourself, and push your name through social media. I cannot express enough how important this is. Personal branding is absolutely critical for trust, credibility, and inbound leads. Spend time on yourself and everything else will follow. Seriously, I’m living proof of this methodology. I’ve never had to advertise to attract my own clients. My website isn’t even live yet! If this seems crazy to you, it’s time to alter your approach to business. Concepts of marketing will always remain unchanged. It’s only the tools, buzzwords, and technologies that form and shift around us…don’t be dazzled by them. Digital marketing is fun. Profit as a result (and your continued sanity) is better.”
Larry Kim – Founder of WordStream
“We’ve reached peak social – a point at which the signal to noise ratio of social updates is unsustainable – companies, individuals, and automated tools are cranking out so many social updates that post engagement rate is getting crushed. At the same time, the social platforms are obviously looking to monetize their platforms with an increasing number of ads, which further diminishes organic visibility. As more content and ads floods social networks, the slice of engagement for the average brand must shrink because there’s only a finite amount of content consumption and engagement to be had. Social platforms are responding by creating and refining curated user timelines, and only the top brands with the most engaging content will survive.”
Rand Fishkin – Founder of Moz
“Adblocking was part of a huge conversation in 2015, and my guess is that the reaction to this growing technology is going to mimic how entrenched players have reacted to technology leaps in the past — by trying to legislate it away. I anticipate that in either the U.S. or the EU, some form of government action will arise (in the U.S., most likely due to lobbying, a.k.a. our legalized system of bribery) to “protect the interests of publishers and journalists who serve the public good.”
Evan Dunn – Digital Marketing Practice Lead at Transform
“The digital media landscape is complex. With new channels, media and technology popping up every month, it’s only getting more complex. The most critical component of success in today’s marketing universe is a cohesive strategy – a theoretical framework that makes sense of every marketing activity executed by your brand, and provides an architecture for measurement and optimization of every activity. After all, if you’re not sure whether an activity is driving ROI, is it really worth doing? Today’s marketing, whether online or off, must be a scientific art (or an artistic science, either one). It can no longer be gut-driven, dominated by creative, and powered by trendy jargon. Measurement, analytics, statistics, quantification, optimization – these are the stuff of proven strategies. Don’t be distracted by flashy ad-tech, although it is sometimes useful. If your digital marketing objective is growing numbers (customers, sales), then your means of accomplishing it must be by analyzing the numbers. Quantitative Marketing is the future of all forms of marketing, including digital.”
Michael Brenner CEO of Marketing Insider Group
“Ten years ago, you would have found it difficult to find anything labeled “digital marketing” on the job boards or even listed in the descriptions for openings companies were trying to fill. Now, digital marketing is the hottest job title in all of marketing. Digital marketing skills are in such high demand because we understand how to market to today’s always-connected, multi-device consumer. The top digital marketers today combine right and left-brain talents. We are one part content marketers, editors, and writers, who understand how to create the kind of content that people actually want to read and share. On the other hand, we are also one part data nerds, who understand how to analyze all the information available to us as we continuously create and promote content across email, search, social, and even offline platforms. Today’s digital marketer knows how to reach, engage, and convert new customers for our businesses. We defy the old notion that marketing can’t be measured. Because we’re doing it every day.”
Michael J. Schiemer – Founder at Schiemer Consulting
“In today’s ultra-competitive digital marketing landscape, differentiating your company from the competition is paramount. There are too many generic or mediocre digital marketers and digital marketing agencies out there that won’t stand the test of time. Other more established marketers will rest on their laurels, fail to adapt, and become obsolete in a short period of time. I think all digital marketers and agencies should ask themselves three questions: How are you going above and beyond for your clients? What value do you bring to the table that they can’t get anywhere else? What prevents your services from being outsourced or replaced by a few inexpensive software programs? If you can’t answer those questions quickly and confidently, then you need to step up your efforts or find a new industry.”
Top 100 individuals
RANK
TWITTER HANDLE
NAME
COMPANY
INFLUENCER SCORE
1
@jeffbullas
Jeff Bullas
Jeffbullas.com
44.13
2
@Sam___Hurley
Sam Hurley
OPTIM-EYEZ
38.2
3
@MarketingProfs
Ann Handley
MarketingProfs
31.99
4
@AshleyFriedlein
Ashley Friedlein
Econsultancy
28.46
5
@Rocco_Zebra_Adv
Rocco Baldassarre
Zebra Advertisement
27.97
6
@iMariaJohnsen
Maria Johnsen
Golden Way Media
26.57
7
@larrykim
Larry Kim
Wordstream
21.45
8
@randfish
Rand Fishkin
Moz
21.07
9
@PamMktgNut
Pam Moore
Marketing Nutz
18.67
10
@leeodden
Lee Odden
Top Rank Marketing
16.82
11
@acfrank
Andrew Frank
Gartner for Marketing
15.73
12
@dknowlton1
Daniel Knowlton
KPS DigitalMarketing
13.62
13
@DioFavatas
Dio Favatas
Truth Initiative
13.08
14
@evanpdunn
Evan Dunn
Transform
12.53
15
@BrennerMichael
Michael Brenner
Marketing Insider Group
12.43
16
@adamwoodsaus
Adam Woods
Reed Exhibitions
12.37
17
@WBB_13
Brent Bouldin
Bank of America
11.47
18
@jaybaer
Jay Baer
Convince & Convert
10.41
19
@davidbnz
David Bell
University of Pennsylvania
10.32
20
@DaveChaffey
Dr Dave Chaffey
Smart Insights
10.24
21
@chuckaikens
Chuck Aikens
Volume Nine
10.18
22
@JenPolk1
Jennifer Polk
Gartner
9.92
23
@AlexTachalova
Alexandra Tachalova
alextachalova.com
9.76
24
@ajalumnify
AJ Agrawal
Alumnify
9.6
25
@MikeSchiemer
Michael J. Schiemer
Colbea
9.23
26
@jeremywaite
Jeremy ☁️
Colbea Enterprises
9.18
27
@azeckman
Ashley Zeckman
Top Rank Marketing
8.4
28
@MariSmith
Mari Smith
marismith.com
8.18
29
@MelonieDodaro
Melonie Dodaro
Top Dog Social Media
8.11
30
@augieray
Augie Ray
Gartner for Marketers
8
31
@krbenedict
Kevin R Benedict
Cognizant
7.93
32
@SimonYates
Simon Yates
Gartner for Marketers
7.82
33
@NealSchaffer
Neal Schaffer
Maximize Your Social
7.58
34
@Matt_Umbro
Matthew Umbro
PPCChat
7.35
35
@markwschaefer
Mark Schaefer
Schaefer Marketing Solutions
7.21
36
@FeldmanCreative
Barry Feldman
Feldman Creative
7.1
37
@BrianHughes116
Brian Hughes
Integrity Marketing
6.76
38
@ItsDUHnise
Jenise Henrikson
Search Engine Journal
6.64
39
@DanScalco
Dan Scalco
digitalux
6.62
40
@neilpatel
Neil Patel
Crazy Egg
6.59
41
@martykihn
Martin Kihn
Gartner
6.47
42
@MarketingLetter
Dr. Angela Hausman
Hausman and Associates
6.41
43
@lacostejonathan
Jonathan Lacoste
Jebbit
6.37
44
@crestodina
Andy Crestodina
Orbit Media
6.29
45
@markfidelman
Mark Fidelman
Evolve!
6.2
46
@marktraphagen
Mark Traphagen
Stone Temple Consulting
6.06
47
@jacobvar
Jacob Varghese
jacobv.com
6.01
48
@marcusbowlerhat
Marcus Miller
Bowler Hat
5.89
49
@CynthiaLIVE
Cynthia Johnson
American Addiction Centers
5.87
50
@BrettRelander
Brett Relander
Launch & Hustle
5.65
Top marketing topics
Onalytica was interested in seeing which topics were most popular among their identified top influencers, so they analyzed their tweets and blogs from January 1st to April 19th this year, counting the number of mentions each marketing topic received.
Social Media dominated the list with 27% share of voice, with Content Marketing coming in at second with 12%, and Branding at 9%. Facebook, Twitter, and SEO were tied for fourth place at 8%, followed by Strategy and Advertising both at 5% and Analytics at 4%. Email Marketing, PPC, LinkedIn, and Planning all received 3%, with Growth Hacking rounding out the list at 2%.
Mapping the digital marketing community
Onalytica also looked at which marketers and brands were leading the conversation on Twitter, so they analyzed over 1.5 million tweets from December 4th, 2015, to April 29th, 2016, mentioning the keyword “digital marketing,” and identified the top 100 most influential individuals and brands who were leading the online discussion.
Onalytica discovered that there was a very engaged community of high-profile marketers, business professionals, and brands. Below you can see the network map of the online conversation Onalytica created with its Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM), showing the No. 1 Influencer, Jeff Bullas, at the center and the conversations to and from the influencers in his field.
Here’s another network map with the No. 1 brand, Econsultancy, at the center, and the conversations to and from the influencers in its field.
Disclaimer: As ever with these lists, it must be stressed that the ranking is by no means a definitive measurement of influence, as there is no such thing. The brands and individuals listed are undoubtedly influential when it comes to driving discussion in Digital Marketing.
The PageRank based methodology we use to extract influencers on a particular topic takes into account the number and quality of contextual references that a user receives. These calculations are independent of a user’s number of followers, but we do filter our lists based on how much a user is engaged in the conversation and the influence they drive through their networks.
Stop confining social media to marketing. To boost returns, it must be embedded into how companies do business. Learn more about this topic in our research inquiry In a Live Business, Social Gets Its MBA.