I'm always surprised by the popularity of tactical predictions for digital marketing at the start of the year. But I shouldn't be, one of the most common questions I get asked through the year 'is Dave, what's the next big thing, what's new in digital, what should I be thinking about?' As always, I've been keeping an eye on what the specialists are saying and I have written a roundup of most useful predictions on digital marketing tactics that are close to my heart like SEO, Social marketing, Email marketing and analytics. My own predictions aren't the run-of-the-mill predictions of innovations, rather they're about what the most savvy digital marketers get already, but others maybe don't because they're stuck in trad media thinking or it's so difficult to change the way their marketing is managed and resourced. So here are my recommendations for…
Well, it's near the end of January, so time for a predictions roundup. This time I'm separating the tactics from the strategy and I will post soon on my predictions and recommendations for approaches to digital marketing strategy. I've grouped the trends / predictions in these 4 tactics areas: 1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 2. Web Analytics / Website design 3. Email marketing 4. Social media marketing I know that many specialist agency and client-side digital marketers focus on the individual tactics that matter most to success for most companies in online marketing. These key tactics are SEO, Social, Email marketing and Analytics, so here's a round-up of the most popular posts in each of these categories. In my commentary, I've also picked out what I think really matters most or is a significant new trend in 2010 limiting myself to two posts from the best known commentators in each area.

2010 Search Engine Optimization predictions

1.…
Just read an interesting post on Ecommerce strategy over on Econsultancy from Matt Curry who runs the Wiltshire Farm Foods website amongst other things. He's discussing a new year review to prioritise the activities to improve performance and is using a useful 'divide and conquer' framework to think through the factors which drive performance of an Ecommerce site and how you measure them. The diagram he uses reminds me of this diagram that I have in my Ebusiness and Ecommerce Management book taken (with permission) from Ashley Friedlein's 2003 but still relevant book (see end of post for reference). I think Ashley's diagram is stronger since it not only looks at referrers but splits out first time and repeat visitor types. Here's the diagram:

Matt's diagram is a good way to look at all the factors, but Ashley's works back one…

Key campaign ingredient = momentum!

For me, momentum or inertia is a key ingredient of digital campaigns. Digital enables you to create momentum by adding more appealing content or apps or rewards through time, rather than just a short burst campaign. With the viral affect from the audience sharing the value you can offer, momentum grows further through time.

The McDonald's Flavourhood Facebook campaign example

I thought it would be good to share some of the thinking behind The Flavourhood campaign which was recently written up behind the paywall on New Media Age since it shows how momentum was built in through a strategic commitment to creating value linked to through the app and through partnering with social sites like Facebook and Spotify. Writing in New Media Age, Nathan Cooper, Creative Director of Riot 180 Amsterdam described it as: "A cunning combo of…
Thanks to the power of Twitter and with especial thanks to my followers on Twitter, this post is a showcase of businesses from a range of sectors who are using the recently revamped (Feb '09) Facebook pages which now look more like individual profile pages. The Facebook pages page doesn't really give any good company examples - just the NYT, so in a Tweet I asked "Do you know good examples of Facebook company pages please?" Retweets previously recommending this post on DaveChaffey.com before Smart Insights launched: // Since I wrote this article in February 2009 - see 10 business examples retained at the bottom of the post, there have been some more good company examples and tips. Econsultancy have highlighted these in their 2010…
The surge of interest in social media over the last two or three years has been accompanied by a surge in social media books seeking to demystify the topic - and I have had lots of requests for recommendations of the best books. Everyone's preferences for books to help improve marketing practice differs, but I think what most look for are practical guidance and tips; tools to apply to help analyse and improve performance and a framework to bring all the tactics together to help with planning and process.  Examples of companies who have successfully applied the principles are also essential and learning from failures is good too, although those aren't naturally publicised. For social media, I think marketers also need guidance on how to use the specific types of social media presence and how they integrate with other digital media such as email marketing. A useful framework for types of social media…
My tip for the best book to help you with your marketing in 2010 isn't one of mine, or one on social media, although recommendations on this will follow soon since I have had a lot of questions about the best book on social media recently. Instead, my recommended book is on marketing analytics. Please recommend the books which you think will help marketers most across the whole of marketing to the comments. TIA! The main audience for this book is arguably for web analytics specialists who will probably have already devoured the book and enjoyed the great chapter on careers advice. But I think there are gems for all involved in marketing in this book which will help you get the most out of your traditional or online marketing in 2010. In fact, I think the book's title is much narrower than the content which covers many aspects of customer insight…