In today’s digitally driven marketing world, there always seems to be something new to try out. In fact, it can be a lot of fun for content marketers, who can explore emerging trends, new social networks and evolving avenues to distribute written and visual content on a near-daily basis.

However, our experience tells us that the most effective online and content marketing strategies have one thing in common—an ability on the part of marketers to excel at the fundamentals. Although a lot has changed (and will continue to change), the fundamentals of search engine optimization (SEO), sound content writing and social media marketing remain the top priorities for any successful campaign.

Let’s take a look at a couple of important tactics that continue to drive online marketing—and that will likely continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

SEO is different now, but still important

Common wisdom today is that SEO is dead, replaced largely by content marketing. But that’s not necessarily true. SEO is still alive and well—although it has changed significantly in recent years.

By nearly every measure, the importance of SEO is growing rather than subsiding. Google processes an average of 40,000 search queries per second, or more than 3.5 billion searches each day.

In the recent past, SEO was about fitting as many keywords and phrases into your content as possible while maintaining readability. Now, keywords are still important, but what’s more pressing is marketers’ ability to provide useful, informative and engaging content to their readers and visitors on a consistent basis. In other words, there is still a substantial need for strong SEO content writers who know how to create material that resonates with a brand’s target audience.

Keep on creating that content

If you were to sum up “content marketing” in one sentence, it would be this: providing helpful information to readers that they can really use rather than a constant barrage of sales-focused messages. Although this practice has exploded over the past several years, content marketing has always been important—going back to the days before the Internet.

Content marketing gives your brand the key building block of a sustainable business: good customer loyalty. There’s an opportunity for companies to answer their customers’ most common questions through strong content, gradually building a level of trust with their readers that leads to long-term loyalty and, ultimately, growth for a business. Brands should continue to create engaging, useful content on a wide range of topics.

Maintaining a strong social media presence

There seems to be a new social media network launching every week, but very few of them gain the traction of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram. How you use social media in your content marketing efforts will largely depend on the nature of your business, but it’s important to stay engaged on a variety of platforms and share the great content you’ve created and published.

Thus, while it’s important for businesses and organizations engaged in content marketing to continue to stay up to speed on the latest trends and best practices, the fundamentals of a good digital marketing campaign remain largely the same. Be sure to make room for strong content writing, social media and SEO as you plan your brand’s online marketing strategy.