Digital Marketing Trends to Embrace for 2018
A new year brings with it new goals and opportunities for change. People make resolutions to leave old habits behind and adopt new ones. Your digital marketing strategy can be treated similarly. While you shouldn’t throw out what’s working for you, it’s a great time to re-assess and look ahead to new marketing methods you can implement. These top digital marketing trends for 2018 could be exactly what your business needs to take its marketing efforts to the next level.
Live Video Takeover
Live video was one of the top trends of 2017 and it’s slated to grow even more in 2018. It has moved steadily into the mainstream with every major social networking supporting the format. Video streaming accounted for 75% of all internet traffic in 2017 and is expected to jump to 82% by 2020. Live video differs from regular video ads for consumers as it is more transparent and authentic due to the inherent un-editable nature of a live stream. Live video on social media also gives consumers the ability to engage in real time, they see 10x more comments than regular video. For marketers last year, live video was a niche, this year it’s an expectation.
AR/VR is Here
Since the beginning, Game of Thrones warned viewers that “Winter is Coming”, a phrase that permeated pop culture. Similarly, virtual/augmented reality has been on the horizon for several years. Just as the prophecy in the show was fulfilled this season and white walkers finally reached the wall, virtual reality has finally come to fruition. From dancing hot dogs to smartphones optimized for AR, it looks as if the technology once dismissed as a fad is here to stay. If 2017 was the year of live video, 2018 could be the year of augmented reality.
Algorithms Evolve
Eons ago, social media news feeds displayed posts simply in the order in which they were published from people/pages you were connected to. Over time, the algorithms for newsfeeds became more advanced and were optimized to serve up the most engaging content to the person scrolling through it. Users are delivered the content deemed most clickable by the algorithm.
In an era of “Fake News” and internet bots spreading false stories, Facebook and other social media outlets are attempting to rise above as purveyors of the truth when it comes to news and the dissemination of information.
Moving into 2018 it can be expected that click-bait headlines will see a dip in impressions as social media sites optimize their algorithm for relevance rather than just engagement.
Mobile Optimization
If your website and your marketing strategy were not optimized for mobile in 2017, 2018 is the year to start. Smartphones are literally attached at our hip from sunup to long after sun down. 57% of users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site. 61% will not return to a website that they had trouble accessing from mobile and 40% will navigate to a competitor’s website instead. Mobile traffic is steadily rising, while desktop traffic is beginning to decline. Get ahead of the curve by optimizing for mobile now.
In a little over a decade, social media has created an audience of nearly 2.5 billion people. It has quickly moved from a few people sharing funny cat videos to one of the best marketing platforms currently available. It is important to change your digital marketing strategy along with the ever-evolving social media giant.
