5 digital marketing approaches to avoid in 2016

Digital marketing has become the cornerstone of success for many businesses out there. If you are looking for consistent returns in the long-term, then you need to stay informed of the practices and trends in your niche. You are going to need constant reinvention in order to stay afloat, which means that what worked in the last few years may not be a great recipe for success in 2016.Some approaches in terms of web design, SEO and social might be counter-intuitive to what you are trying to implement, so you might want to stay away from them at all times.

Below are some digital marketing approaches to stay away from in 2016.

Spun content

For those who have kept an eye out for updates from Google, it is common knowledge that the search giant launched the Penguin algorithm to, among other things, deal with spun or duplicate content. Over the years, the engine has constantly updated this algorithm, enabling it to detect cases of content that is not original. If you have been submitting the same basic content with multiple alterations, then this one will do you more harm than good. In fact, Google has already announced that its penguin 4.0 update for 2016 will work in real time, offering another dimension to the whole concept of optimization and cutting down cases of resubmitted and random content.

Purchasing back links

A lot of people have gotten away with the practice in the past but currently, search engine giants have smarter ways of detecting what is legit and what has been purchased. Non-legitimate backlinks are treated with a particular level of strictness and will invite penalties from Google. You might actually have those penalties reversed at some point in the future, but the time wasted and opportunities gone by will not be worth all the hassle. Besides, acquiring legit backlinks has become very easy, eliminating the need to buy anything.

Focusing too much on ads

Sure, digital advertisements will go a long way in helping you capture the imagination of internet users, current clients, future potentials and information seekers in general. However, after that, you need to keep them riveted on what you want to offer. In this case, you will be directing clients to your website, so you have to spend some time sprucing it up in terms of graphics, loading times as well as general user experience. Do not pay too much attention to your ads at the expense of the optimal performance of your website. This is your front, your face. It tells clients and potentials what sort of a business person you are and what strategies you are trying to implement in order to succeed. Provide an irresistible sense of appeal and steer clear of boring black text against swathes of white space.

Treating online and offline marketing as non-integrated appendages

In 2016, a lot of digital marketing will take place, but this should not be at the expense of tried and tested offline practices. There are many companies out there practicing online marketing as well as offline advertising, but with each out of synch with the other. You need to project the same image across the board. If your approaches are disjointed, you are sending mixed signals about your brand, and this will confuse your audiences. Integrate your digital and offline marketing strategies so that at the end of the day, you offer the same message to your demographic. At the same time, avoid focusing too much on one approach at the expense of another. Try to strike a balance between the approaches you use at all times.

Auto play content

This has been a bad idea right from the beginning. Auto play video or audio might catch the attention of users at first, but it simply ends up annoying everyone after a few seconds. The sounds are distracting and take the focus off what you are really trying to do. If you want to integrate this type of content into your blog or website, simply have a ‘play’ button where the user clicks on at will if interested.

Digital marketing is all about staying on top of things. Keep yourself updated and stay away from outdated digital marketing approaches that do not work anymore.