2021 – Forget The Crystal Ball, Look Back And Think

We are heading towards that really silly time of year where post after post tries to predict what 2021 will look like. It’s interesting to go back to last year’s predictions and, surprise surprise, apart from the social media and its effect on internet marketing, few made predictions either accurate or worthwhile. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be looking forward – if you’re in business, then that should be a constant in your life.

What is interesting is to look back over the last twelve months. What has worked (and what hasn’t)? I don’t necessarily mean within your own business either since you should be making note of what your competitors are doing, what is working for them, and whether or not you have made up any ground, lost ground, or shot ahead of them.

You should also be looking at how others are using social media, particularly Facebook, and comparing it to your own attempts. Social media marketing is by no means new, however, the approaches required on sites like Facebook is new. A lot of businesses taking the Facebook approach are doing so without any history to guide them – much of it is trial and error – so we can learn from their attempts.

I don’t need a crystal ball to see where internet marketing is going. Social has become the main channel and that is being mastered in two ways: offering something unique or special; and by opening your business to true multi-way communications. Search is not dead, social is not yet king, but customers are increasing online at a rapid rate. Our internet marketing has to satisfy their needs using the best in pull marketing.