Few things change faster than Internet marketing. That’s just the nature of the game. Marketing has always been a fast-evolving discipline, as businesses work to find new ways to gain a competitive advantage. Add the Internet to that equation and things move exponentially faster. That book you have on online marketing, copyright 2010? Sorry to deliver the bad news, but even the library probably doesn’t want it now. It was outdated a year ago.

What worked in Internet marketing in 2011 was notably different than what worked in 2010, which was a big change from 2009, which was totally unlike 2008, and so on. That’s how quickly things evolve these days. As a business owner, you can let this become a problem, or you can benefit from it. If your competitors are still using 2010 strategies, you hold a crucial competitive advantage by employing a 2012 game plan.

That said, what is the 2012 game plan? That largely depends on your industry, your needs and your market. Ring Ring Marketing can show you which tools will benefit you most, and where your resources are best spent. But here is a general overview of where online marketing is headed in 2012:

Costs-Per-Click Will Continue to Rise

Advertising dollars keep moving from offline to online, which means one thing: Costs-per-click will just continue to get more expensive. Is this bad news? Well, “more expensive” is never good news, but what’s important is that you consider how this affects your industry at large. Everyone will be paying more, providing savvy marketers a distinct advantage. It’s more important than ever to know exactly how to use keyword management and marketing campaign structure to get top conversion rates and as much return on investment as possible. Bottom line: Having surgical precision in your Internet marketing will be more important than ever in 2012.

Social and Mobile Internet Use Skyrockets

The number of mobile and social Internet users has multiplied several times over, seemingly overnight. It’s no longer enough simply to market on a single website, and this trend will continue powerfully in 2012. Mobile applications, Google Places, Facebook, Twitter and related platforms have become critical to successful online marketing. It’s crucial to understand the best strategy to leverage these platforms while it’s still relatively inexpensive to do so.

Facebook Gets Down to Business

The reach of Facebook became so massive over the past two years that one of the biggest motion pictures of 2010, The Social Network, portrayed its development, and its creator was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. In 2012, Facebook remains an enormous player in the online landscape, and it will only become more business-oriented. It will expand its advertising beyond its platform to publisher sites, providing targeted ads based on demographic and placement characteristics.

How can you be sure you’re keeping up with the evolution of online marketing in 2012? Ring Ring Marketing will be happy to provide you a free analysis of your marketing efforts to be sure you’re positioned as well as possible for the new year.