The Evolution of Digital

The evolution of digital has come along way since the invention of the “World Wide Web”, the first ever web robot and the first tweet. We explore all things digital from past to present, and how they have evolved over the years and how it has influenced digital marketing techniques today.

The Rise of SEO

The rise of content marketing has become a massive part of a successful SEO strategy. Google has steadily refined what it considers to be “good” content over the years, but it was the Panda update in 2011 that got rid of spam like content and keyword ‘stuffing’. Now they have brought us Google RankBrain, that allows Google to understand concepts, meaning you could reach your audience by ensuring your SEO is optimised with the best content.

Google RankBrain is a machine learning algorithm that is used to sort search results and helps Google process and understand queries. What makes is so unique is the fact it is no longer just a hand coded algorithm, (even though human engineers still work on the algorithm) RankBrain is able to do its own thing in the background, tweaking the algorithm on its own! 

The Rise of Social Media

There are now 4 billion people around the world using the internet. Over half of the world’s population is now online and nearly a quarter of a billion new users came online for the first time in 2017.

The use of social media has also rapidly increased, as the number of people using the top platform in each country has increased by almost 1 million new users every day in the past 12 months! Moreover, more than 3 billion people around the world use social media each month, with 9 in 10 of those users accessing social media through mobile devices.

There are has been a rise in mobile social themes:

• One in every three minutes, on mobile, is spent using social media.
  • For example, reading the news ordering your weekly shop, spending time on mobile is corresponding with Social Networking.
• Mobile Video is the dominant version of social content.
  • It is getting harder to stand out. 46% of respondents say they are implementing social videos
• 60% of internet users primarily use social sites to find entertainment
  • This is why social networks fill their feeds with short bursts of mobile video content.

Digital Voice Assistance

When speaking to your Artificial Intelligence (AI) System, you are talking to your virtual assistant – rather than having to type – which helps you get things done quickly and efficiently. This means more multitasking!

Therefore, the virtual assistant is always available to provide information quickly and easily. This is also a positive thing for brands as companies will be able to advertise effectively, where everyone can hear it! This provides a new and efficient way to create brand awareness.

Voice-activated speaker owners, welcome brands as part of the experience. They are open to receiving information that is helpful and relevant to their lifestyle, this is shown through the statistics of what owners would like to receive from their brands:

• 52% of people would like information about deals, sales and promotions
• 42% of people would like information about upcoming events or activities
• 39% of people would like options to find business information
• 38% of people would like access to customer service or support

Consumers are always looking for answers and recommendations in this day and age and depend on search to provide them with the answers they want. By using an AI system marketers will be able to promote their brands through the speaker and consumers will hear the advertisements that are promoted and take them into account.

Development of Search Engines

The “World Wide Web” was created in 1990, it wasn’t made publicly available until 1993. After its launch, MIT created the first web robot and it worked through a programme called “Wandex”. At this time, Yahoo was the world’s best-known search engine at the time, wasn’t an Internet-wide search engine, instead, it was a large-scale searchable site directory.

In 1998, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page made history by creating PageRank. The PageRank algorithm organised web links by the link’s popularity and relevance. AdWords, Google’s advertising program, was launched in 2000. The engine’s popularity led to an entire new form of marketing through the creation of SEO and SEM.

Today, Google remains the world’s most popular search engine.

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation refers to the software that exists with the goal of automating marketing actions. Many marketing departments have to automate repetitive tasks such as emails, social media, and other website actions. The technology of marketing automation makes these tasks easier.

These are the latest statistics on the rise of marketing automation:

• Marketing Automation drives a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead
• 80% of new marketing automation users saw an increase in their number of leads and 77% had an increase in conversions
• 63% of marketers, plan to increase their budget for market automation this year
• 91% of marketing automation users agree it is “very important” to their overall success of online marketing

The rise of Marketing Automation has made our lives as marketers easier, as we are able to use techniques and skills for our online marketing, the demand for marketing automation tools has risen a significant amount as our digital technologies have developed.

The evolution of digital goes far beyond the things we have mentioned in this blog as it is continuously growing and developing in front of us. Digital is now an integral part of all marketing – it’s not a standalone channel. It’s part of all disciplines, and should be thought about from the outset of any marketing solution – not as a bolt on or separate area.