The digital marketing world is evolving every day and trends come and go, but some are here to stay. This industry requires its people to stay on their toes and quickly learn new trends to be relevant to competitors. Check out these six digital marketing trends happening now:
Video
It’s no surprise video makes this list because it has been an important marketing tool for a few years now, but in 2017, online video accounted for 74 percent of all internet traffic. Did you know 500 million people watch video on Facebook every day? More people are willing to share videos than a text or photo post, so it’s important you are creating videos that represent your brand, connect with your audience and are filled with shareable content. Break out that tripod and get recording!
Reviews
This might not seem like a digital marketing trend, but it is. Reviews are often the first place a consumer will look when deciding on purchasing your product or service, or eating at your restaurant. In fact, 91 percent of users regularly read online reviews, and 84 percent of users say they trust online reviews like it’s a review from a friend. It’s important you respond to reviews on your social media pages and Google listings frequently, especially to negative reviews. This helps to build a relationship between your brand and its customers while showing transparency with potential consumers. Not to mention, reviews are a great way to incorporate keywords to help with SEO.
Targeted ads with a specific purpose
We know consumers aren’t looking at ads anymore; they’ve been oversaturated for so long, consumers can almost completely ignore them. That’s why marketers should focus on more targeted ads with a specific goal in mind. The targeting allows the content to be more personalized and relevant to the user it’s trying to reach, which will entice the user to actually acknowledge the ad. People love personalization and they like to see content that matters to them.
Chatbots
Used mainly in the customer service industry, chatbots are gaining new life. More and more brands are using chatbots to help their customers with problems, choose phones, get banking help and more. Millennials are huge chatbot users with 58 percent saying they’ve used one before and 77 percent saying they would use one from a major brand. Improving the customer experience on websites is important to customer satisfaction, so chatbots should definitely be on your list.
Stories
Snapchat started it, Instagram followed it and now YouTube and Facebook have their own stories feature. Each one is a little different, but the concept is the same: record parts of your life and add it to your story for your followers to see. Stories are a great way to capture moments in photos and quick video. Major brands have been utilizing their Snapchats and Instagrams to reach out to their audiences and create a new way to engage them with their brand. Stories aren’t going anywhere, so it’s important to create content specifically for these platforms that are easy for consumers to use.
Influencer marketing
Influencers aren’t going away, but more organic influencers are going to take the lead. As mentioned above, consumers rely and trust online reviews like they are a personal recommendation from a friend and what is special about those reviews? They come from real people, not paid influencers. Consumers are looking for people they can trust and who feel like they are a friend, rather than someone who has been paid money to say something positive. Find influencers who can relate to your audience and build a real connection with them. More organic influencers will take the win this year.