If you have been in the digital marketing world for quite some time, you know that every year, there is a concept, plan, or trend that is expected to have an impact on advertising. One year saw different tactics in getting website traffic through the abundant use of keywords while another witnessed social media’s gigantic influence. If you want to keep learning how to make money online, it pays to be on top of these marketing trends.
Fortunately, this doesn’t mean shelling out a huge amount of money for your marketing efforts. You don’t need a complete overhaul to your plans either. Find out if you can apply these new tactics by tweaking your existing plans.
Check out the top 5 digital marketing trends to watch out for:
1. Live Streaming
Facebook Live, Instagram Live, Snapchat Stories – these are just a few additions to how people connect online. While only recent to the game, these features have shown that people are more inclined to engage in Live Streaming, or in the case of Snapchat, stories that can’t be older than 24 hours.
The success of Live Streaming and 24-hour long social media stories is evidence that people want to be in the thick of the action. They want to know what’s going on right here, right now. If you want to see higher engagement ratings, make sure to bring your audience up to date through live streaming.
2. Personalization
Personalization may seem like a broad and old concept to consider. However, a study showed that 66% of consumers revealed a strong inclination to switch to a brand where they are treated as a real client rather than a statistic.
Will this mean hiring a virtual assistant for your company to quickly respond to inquiries and resolve order issues? Do you need to make your selling approach more convenient and as customized as Warby Parker, an eyewear specialist that offers a Home Try On feature so potential buyers can choose the best-fitting glasses? Personalization means different things for different companies. It’s important to choose a personalization tactic that works best for yours.
3. Influencer Marketing
There’s business-to-business marketing and then there’s business-to-consumer approach. Now, get ready for the consumer-to-consumer brand of advertising. This is what Influencer Marketing is all about.
Instagram and YouTube are teeming with influencers. These are ordinary people who have gained a massive social media following. Because of their wide audience, they are capable of expanding your brand’s visibility by using, promoting, and reviewing your products. Their followers don’t view influencers as commercial models paid to endorse products they may or may not believe in. Influencer marketing is a form of the good, old word-of-mouth promotion magnified into thousands of social media followers.
4. Artificial Intelligence
Don’t be misled. Artificial intelligence isn’t here to take the place of human interaction between brand and consumer. After all, that would just defeat the purpose of personalization.
Artificial intelligence, however, can make your content more suited to the easy navigation of your customers. Have you noticed how Spotify’s Mix contains songs which you haven’t heard before but fluidly fit into your type of music? AI can work this way to make your website more tailored to your customer’s needs.
5. Mobile Video Advertising
Yes, there’s a difference between mobile video ads and desktop videos, $18 billion worth of difference to be exact. That is according to a study that predicts ads on mobile devices to grow to $18 billion in 2018. This finding predicts mobile videos to surpass their desktop counterpart which is foreseen to decline by 1.5%.
Make sure your video creator VA (virtual assistant) will craft video ads especially made for mobile viewing.
If you want to take your business further in the coming years, you can start by prepping your company up for the top 5 marketing trends to watch out for.