Digital Marketing trends in 2018
Every year we hear about different fads. Some work, and unfortunately some don’t quite make it. Marketing and advertising is an industry that’s constantly evolving. It’s something you have to stay on top of to make sure you don’t lose your competitive advantage. So to give you a head start, here are some digital marketing trends that are set to take off in 2018 that you should definitely consider when putting together your marketing plan for 2018.
Influencer marketing is on the rise
Influencer marketing is the process of identifying, researching, engaging and supporting the people who create high-impact conversations with your customers. And it doesn’t have to be expensive, true influencers are happy to talk about brands because of the value they bring to their audience.
With statistics like 70% of millennial consumers being influenced by their peers in their buying decisions, and 86% of women turning to social media before making a purchase, it’s no wonder that smaller brands are wanting to get a piece of the influencer-marketing pie. Just to prove that it works, statistics prove that for every dollar spent on influencer marketing, you can expect an ROI of $6.50.
Social media changes to look out for in 2018
Twitter – you either love it or you hate it. But it looks like Twitter is dying. Its recent efforts to grow in 2017 by increasing the number of characters in a tweet from 140 to 280 have yet to pay off. During 2017, they invested heavily in growing their user base (which failed), instead of making improvements to their ad platform which has led marketers to look elsewhere.
LinkedIn has, however, made plenty of updates throughout the year, which has offered a number of new opportunities for marketers looking to reach a B2B audience. And this is all thanks to the great improvements made to their ad platform.
In 2017, Instagram announced that 800 million people use their platform each month, making it one of the most valuable social media platforms out there. Their latest tool, Instagram stories are more popular than Snapchat even though it’s only been live a year. As most brands get better engagement from Instagram, its no wonder it’s a marketer’s top tool going into 2018.
AI is revolutionizing the way marketers work
Up and coming tools like Intercom and Drift are helping to revolutionize the way we deal with online chats. Instead of having someone at the other end of the computer, marketers can use artificial intelligence-led live-chat tools to interact with clients and prospects. In the very near future, machines are also predicted to start making strategic decisions, by offering tailored content to a user based on data that’s been analyzed. As we all know that prospects react best to tailored content, this could revolutionize the way we work in 2018.
It’s becoming all about quantitative marketing
Although it’s not really relevant for those of you who have small companies, it’s good to be aware of. Big brands are now hiring data scientists to collect as much quantitative research as possible to help them find data that helps their brand grow.
Make way virtual reality, augmented reality is taking over
It wasn’t all that long ago that virtual reality was predicted to be the next big thing in content marketing. But here we are, and virtual reality has hardly taken off in the marketing world. Augmented reality is now set to be the next big thing, but will it just be a fad like virtual reality?
Privacy protection will be more important than ever
It’s not long until the EU rolls out its new regulation, the GDPR, which will have a major impact on the way companies doing business in the EU handle data. This will be a big concern to companies unwilling to risk hefty fines, so marketers are going to have to prove that they’re up to date with the ins and outs of the regulation.
Voice-optimized content is going to be big
20% of all searches on Google are now made using voice search, and that number is set to rise to nearly half in 2018. In order to keep up with this boom, marketers are now set to start optimizing their content for voice search, just as they have done before with other types of SEO.
Customers will be expecting more from brands
We live in an age where brands are no longer in control, and the power lies with the consumers. Consumers are expecting more from brands, so marketers are constantly having to keep up with their demands and deliver so they don’t lose their competitive edge e.g. by offering same day delivery.
Multichannel cold reach campaigns
Nowadays, it’s so much harder to grab the attention of potential clients/cold leads. That’s why moving into 2018, marketers are having to be smart and plan across a wide range of channels to really engage prospects in an exciting way, rather than going for a basic email campaign.
Product placement is set to destroy adblocks
If you’re a consumer, adblocks are great. But they’re a pain in the … for marketers. It’s not all bad news for us marketers, though, as some exciting technology is now on the horizon which will help advertisers get past the hurdle of ad blocking software by using product placement software instead.
3 Responses
Some really good points that i can completely agree on like the voice search and even trying to keep consumers happy to keep that competitive edge and can see start to see a drastic change in the industry.
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Glad you liked it!