4 Major Trends in Digital Marketing
Since nobody can really make heads or tails of what actually happened in 2016… let’s just move onto 2017 already. With politics and economics always in flux, it’s hard to be optimistic about tomorrow, but the future actually looks pretty damn cool. The exponential growth of technology is creating a new realm of information and human interaction, which means there are always new marketing opportunities for any type of business. If you are avid on improving your current marketing strategies and like to stay ahead of the curve, then you should be considering your digital marketing before the big ball drops.
Remember that there is no perfect blueprint to having a successful business, but if you truly want to take your business to the next level, then you’re going to have to try some new things. The trends we foresee taking off in digital marketing next year have already started to surface this year, but the advancements in technology will elevate even the most basic marketing strategies to another plateau. As you begin to look at your branding for the next quarter, position yourself to capitalize on these upcoming trends and tactics.
Native Advertising: Tricky Promotion Tactics?
People are tired of pop-up ads. We always have been! Marketers relying on in-your-face promotion are starting to realize that there are better conversion rates for naturally placed advertisements. Native advertising is a digital promotion practice that moves away from intrusive banners and pop-up ads while embedding relevant content into the actual branding of the hosting site.
This concept is a little over the heads of most startup companies with a smaller ad spend, but should be considered especially when trying to improve your Search Engine Optimization. Over the last few years, we have seen about a 15% increase in native advertising budgets. This is because native ads are viewed 53% more than normal banner ads and some companies using them have yielded about an 83% brand lift. This is a marketing trend that both businesses and their consumers can hopefully benefit from.
Content Authenticity: The Difference Between Relevant Content and Computer-Automated Systems
Are you a robot? Is it just me, or do you get offended when a site’s CAPTCHA tries to verify your humanity? Well, as technology advances and everyone is looking to automate their marketing endeavors, it’s becoming increasingly hard to differentiate between organic engagement and artificial interaction. Even looking at social media, there are innumerous programs and apps that will produce bot followers, fake likes and automated posts. This makes it difficult for marketers to study true organic growth of competitors’ strategies and even their own.
Automated posting and lead generation won’t go away, in fact they will become more streamlined and begin to incorporate levels of artificial intelligence. That being said, now is not the time to be lazy with your digital marketing strategy. Don’t forget your customers are actual human beings, so don’t rely too heavily on automated systems or you may lose a personal touch. Consider building you personality and voice so that your brand stands out from others in your industry.
Live Streaming: Seeing Is Believing
For those who are up-to-date with most social media platforms, we know that videos are the crème de la crème for most successful campaigns. But now more than ever, people want to see real-time activity from their favorite artist, business or brand. Snapchat and the soon defunct Vine were some of the most recent contributors to video sharing, but apps like Meerkat and Periscope broke through the barriers into real-time viewing.
Over the last decade, YouTube has been the most significant video sharing application, but now Facebook is running the game with their Live sharing option and constant updates. Even though the social platform has been taking shots for recent slip-ups in their metrics and delivering false news, marketers and business owners realize consumers will continue to use Facebook for years to come. Even now, they are testing a video tab that will be embedded into the mobile app all while offering streaming across devices such as Apple TV and Google Chromecast, only further solidifying themselves as a formidable opponent in the world of video sharing. Even more recently, the brains at Facebook launched Live Streaming on Instagram (no surprise). With videos receiving 135% greater organic reach than photos and other posts, it’s almost a no brainer to use some sort of video in your online marketing.
Immersive Experience: The Rise of Augmented and Virtual Reality
Live Streaming is not the only visual content to see a spike in activity. Did you know that over one million hours of video has been viewed through Samsung’s Gear Virtual Reality Headset? This is indicative that people are hungry for a new viewing experience with their media.
This year has brought about some promising advancements in web and mobile application design that have been pivotal in the realm of immersive experience. However, we honestly see this trend taking off closer to the end of the decade. We may have seen some progress in augmented reality with the international launch of Pokémon Go and virtual reality tools like the Gear VR and Google’s Cardboard, but there are still real societal challenges such as income inequality that will slow the rollout of some of these media and marketing tools.
New Year’s Resolution: Tomorrow Starts Today
Being successful next year starts this year so don’t wait too long to explore new options with promoting your business in this digital age. Just like having an office doesn’t guarantee you clients, simply having a website is not enough to make an impression on individuals on the internet nor will it truly make an impact your industry. If you want to master your media, then read more on digital marketing and take your strategies to another level!