Digital marketing is the main area one has to focus on when advertising their products and services. With the advent of technology, the face of the market is constantly changing. The policies, rules, and tools you use are not static; they are updated with a staggering consistency.
In order to keep up with these changing trends, one needs to follow the ongoing industry practices. In short, you shouldn’t relax after having mastered one algorithm or getting a certain number of viewers. Your preferred social media platforms, as well as the content you provide, should always be under scrutiny. If you don’t have this adeptness and flexibility, you’ll be wondering how your audience got so disinterested.
Below are the digital marketing trends that every company could anticipate in 2018. Having this knowledge beforehand would make you just in time for keeping up with the changes online. Read on for an insight into these trends and how to implement them:
- Live Streaming Video
Facebook Live and Instagram Live are just two examples of how anyone can promote their brand through live video. The video is an extremely attractive and engaging marketing tool. It draws in social media users like no other form of content can. Live video has an additional charm and attraction that is especially successful with millennials as well as older generations.
Simply put, a live video on social media is not difficult to access. Plus, it shows viewers what is happening in real time. This gives them a special feeling as if they are actually experiencing something instead of just watching it. Viewers or potential customers can ask questions about products and services as well as avail special discounts by tuning in.
In fact, video streaming has become so popular in 2017 that it comprised three-fourths of all internet traffic. With Facebook Live still a relatively new addition, there is no sign of this popularity fading anytime soon. In fact, marketing managers should work on improving customer communication through live videos. This can include hiring charismatic hosts and spokespeople as well as live streaming their important events.
- Mobile Video Advertisements
It is estimated that the expenditure on mobile video advertisement would grow by half by the time 2018 rolls around. Conventional television, newspaper, and radio advertisement expenditure are likely to fall. Plus, people aren’t even going to be using laptops or personal computers most of the time. Why should they, when they have almost everything they need in their smartphones?
On average, the smartphone user is estimated to watch more than half an hour of videos on the phone every day. Facebook ads are already a very effective way of marketing. Inserting advertisements into Facebook videos are causing some irritation among users, though. However, the advertising game on social media is just getting started. Companies should get in the loop before they’re left behind.
- 3. Strategies For Growth Hacking
This is not the illegal sort of hacking, but more a way of getting more views due to certain methods. For instance, SEO is the most common form of growth hacking strategies. It targets those people who are already searching for things relevant to your company.
Technology is also constantly allowing more and more search options. The ridge between the customer and the company is hence shortening rapidly. Holding contests, giveaways, promotions, etc, are just more strategies calculated to fire up the popularity of one company’s content.
Of course, the end result of all these strategies is improving sales. The more views a site or page gets, the more orders would come in. in this manner, the company could even become a trend in itself. Of course, they would still have to come up with decent-quality products and services.
- Ai (Artificial Intelligence)
Artificial intelligence is the next step after big data and machine learning. More and more companies are now using AI to customize their delivery systems. The main use of AI, however, continues to be advertising. A Facebook user with specific searches would find advertisements related to his interests.
However, one drawback here is that an AI strategy can be quite costly. It may also require certain skills that many do not have at the moment. Hence, an employee with such experience would be highly valued, but would also be eligible for a high salary. As such, smaller companies and startups are at a disadvantage as far as AI usage is concerned.
Once a company can invest something in developing an AI strategy, the return can be boundless. High-performing marketing teams are those who use AI within their marketing campaigns. What’s more, experts have stated that AI usage would actively increase within the next 2-5 years.
- Viral Everything!
Viral obviously means different things to different people. When it comes to marketing, though, going viral is a powerful and lucrative concept. It’s not just cat and baby videos that go viral anymore. Marketing campaigns can also become crazily popular all over the globes. The catch is, however, that this type of popularity can be positive or negative.
Of course, any company’s marketing team would seek to develop content that is worthy of going viral in a positive sense. This takes a huge amount of effort, as viral content has to be funny, unique, attention-grabbing, and much more. At the end of the day, a little stroke of luck is also necessary. It also helps to keep up with the current news and political situation before trying to start a viral campaign.
- Geofencing
Let’s face it; smartphones users feel like they’re missing a limb if they’re away from their devices. They are constantly engaging with their phones on an average on 75 sessions per day. Geofences are the areas where mobile users are triggered to use their devices. For marketers, geofencing technology is very precious. They would love to know that a user is online in a specific place, so they could send relevant promotional messages.
Hence, many companies are now encouraging their customers to allow location sharing. They highlight the benefits of doing so, and may even consider offering certain discounts for this. In exchange, customers would allow the company’s app to track their location. This may seem creepy at first, but can be very useful. For instance, a customer could move to a different country and get knowledge about a branch of their favorite restaurant nearby.
- Micro Influencers
These influencers have a relatively small following, but an immensely powerful influence. This may seem like a paradox, but it’s not that complicated. What one needs to work on is not the number of people that follow a certain profile, but how they are swayed by it.
Micro influencers are actually four times more likely to get feedback from a certain post than macro influencers. Hence, they are more valuable than those influencers who have millions of followers. Since the influence is what would get the sales rising, digital marketers need to concentrate on micro influencers.
The reason behind this surprising trend is that the audience for micro-influencers is very loyal. They are following a person or brand that caters to a specific niche. Plus, micro inducers are seen by customers as more genuine and hence unlikely to ‘sell out’. The trust is there, much more so than obviously paid recommendations by celebrities or straight-out ads.
- Brand Blogs
Seeing a blog for a specific brand is not a new thing anymore. Companies are now controlling their own content and using blogs as a way to get through to customers.
These blogs contain interesting customer stories, reviews, recommendations, testimonials, company updates, and a whole lot more. It can thus provide a lot of market value by making sure the customer knows as much about the company as possible.
A brand blog is different from a social media page because the content is all in one place. It would also have a search option, something that Facebook still needs brushing up on. Plus, it is much easier for a marketing team to keep their loyal customers updated on a blogging platform.
Promotions, competitions, vouchers, etc, are even more ways in which a brand blog is an increasingly popular trend. In 2018, we may see more of these blogs with more facilities and add-ons than before.
Wrap-Up…
Digital marketing trends in 2018 are likely to allow for more communication between the customer and the company. Hence, marketing managers need to make sure they’re working on the expected trends. A little extra effort now would mean the company has a head start when the next quarter rolls around.
Of course, these trends may make marketing even more complicated. It is hard enough to predict what human would want in the next year. It is even harder to make them consider purchasing what you have to offer. If used correctly, these trends can be of great help. However, not every trend is applicable to every company or their output. Hence, a bit of experimentation and instinct is needed in order to get the most out of the market.
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