Digital marketing is a venue of continual change. Marketing techniques that were heroes of yesterday have become the zeros of today as the landscape continues to evolve. From Google algorithm updates, to social media channel proliferation to the ability for all organizations to capture and utilize big data to improve their marketing the pace of change is amazing. With change not only are there things you should add to your program, there are also some that need to be taken out. Here’s a list of tactics you should stop doing this year.

Previously effective marketing techniques that need to stop

1 SEO shortcuts

Not that long ago “Link Juice” was seen as the magic solution for raising the visibility and thus page rank for your website. So naturally, the thinking moved to if some inbound links are good, a lot must be great. And thus, we got the whole mess of link exchanges, directory listings, poor fit guest blog submissions, and my favorite: blog comment spam.

Now, links that are not a fit can actually hurt your site’s visibility. If any marketing consultant tries to convince you there’s an easy fix for SEO, get a new consultant. Done well, SEO is a great tool, but one that takes time.

2 Relying solely on a Community Manager for your company’s social media presence

In early days of social, many companies embraced the Social Media Manager or the Community Manager role as a way to manage their social media presence. This made it easier to manage and control but nearly impossible to scale.

Think of it this way, what if you setup a customer service team with only one person who was allowed to use the telephone?

Now, social media has evolved to become so much more than one voice. Companies who don’t expand their view are missing opportunities to attract and engage new buyers and existing customers. Social has become a part of customer service, selling, and a key driver of your overall thought leadership. This means your company needs many voices, not just one in social.

3 Pushing content quantity over content quality

Seems like 2014 became the year of mass adoption of content and inbound marketing by many companies. This is great as it can be one of the best ways to attract and engage buyers. However, if rushing to publish new posts means you are writing about topics that aren’t relevant for your business or don’t provide quality information for your buyer, then all you are doing is convincing the reader that you’re not a good fit for their needs.

I get asked all the time: what’s the right number of posts a company should write? The answer is as many as you can produce that are of a quality your buyers and customers will love. More content is better but only if it is more quality content.

Digital marketing is always evolving and usually for the better. Be sure yours is doing the same.