We’ve seen some interesting innovation and activity in the early part of 2014 with more and more law firms starting to realise the benefits of Digital Marketing. But what can we expect for the rest of the year? 

Social media advertising

Social media was created with marketing in mind and for each of the platforms to create advertising revenue. Facebook and LinkedIn are already proving that pay per click (PPC) advertising through them works and Twitter is hot on their heels. It was recently announced that the micro-blogging platform has not been growing as much as it had predicted but this has created a new vigour at their HQ, as they work to ensure advertisers continue to buy their advertising space. ‘Sponsored posts’, launched last year, have proven a worthwhile investment and this has been supported by allowing businesses to promote their accounts with sponsored trends. Big consumer brands with huge budgets have used this service well but with PPC advertising literally meaning you only pay if someone clicks on your ad, smaller businesses and professional markets will also find PPC a safe investment.

Twitter company pages

Rumours are always circulating as to what will be the next big thing to happen to the bigger social media platforms and one strong suggestion is that Twitter could create better provision for businesses. New ‘business feeds’ would have different layouts and functionality to give businesses a better way of promoting themselves. Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ already offer this and Twitter could well learn from their early development mistakes to make them the ‘go to’ platform for business.

Smartphone app advertising

While it may not have been a story that captured your interest, the recent saga of Flappy Bird, the game that was pulled by its developer as its popularity ruined his peace and quiet, actually showed us something very interesting. Free apps for smartphones can be massively popular meaning the inexpensive advertising they carry reaches millions. In fact, in the short time it was available, Flappy Bird was downloaded more than 50 million times and made $50,000 a day from adverts placed on the game. It’s not just games that carry advertising either, with a whole host of business, education, finance and productivity apps also helping advertisers reach a wider audience.

Faster connectivity

As more licences are released to networks wanting to offer 4G, mobile users with compatible devices will be able to download your videos and interact with your website much faster. But don’t think this is a loop hole to not optimising your website for mobile use. While your older website might be faster, your competitors’ mobile optimised sites will be superfast. You’ll also need to make sure those not on 4G are catered for.

Video quality

Video is making a massive impact in 2014 and we think it will continue to do so in future years. Interactive video will open up the medium in a whole new way offering clickable links to websites, or control over what viewers see on screen next. This will mean a 90 second video can open up masses of information to the viewer should they wish to find out more. Get your video right and you’ll capture your audience and take them exactly where you want them to go.
 
If you’re on Facebook you may already have noticed that videos play automatically in your newsfeed, Google are now launching this for their search results allowing you to capture a potential client’s attention without them even having to press ‘play’.

Of course no one can truly know what the future may bring but forewarned is forearmed and paying close attention to the developments above will help ensure you’re ahead of the game when it comes to gabbing new trends with both hands.

Dez Derry is CEO of mmadigital, specialising in online marketing for  law firms.