The Biggest Digital
Marketing Trends for 2018
2017 is skedaddling towards a close, and the new year is
just around the corner. As the holiday season settles upon us, now’s a good
time to take a look at your current marketing methods and making the necessary
revisions to suit shifting trends. What’s ‘hot’ now might soon be vanquished
and replaced by the next latest-and-greatest thing to sweep the marketing
realm.
So, without any further ado, let’s outline the trends that
are predicted to make the biggest impact on digital marketing for 2018.
1. Deliver personalized
content and unique customer experiences
The majority of communications these days are conducted
behind a screen, and it’s safe to say this has left plenty of consumers lusting
after something a little more intimate. Herein, personalization is rapidly
gaining traction in the world of digital marketing.
Content remains the beating heart of campaigns, with recent
stats from Curata indicating that 75% of marketers have increased their
investment in content marketing for 2017. While we know that content marketing
is indeed, important, the very nature of it is taking a particular turn that’s
worth paying attention to.
According to Monette, 94% of digital professionals believe personalized
content is “critical to current and future success”. To further back this up, HubSpot
has reported that personalized content performs 42% better than non-personalized
content.
How to leverage personalized content:
- Start small and easy. Target ‘low-hanging fruit’
in your client database: in other words, names and emails.
- Using this simple data, kick off a series of
lead-nurturing campaigns that offer prospects access to insightful content in
exchange for more data. For instance, offer them a free downloadable e-book,
which they can access by filling out an online form.
- Start employing targeted calls-to-action (‘smart
CTAs’) – these are personalized CTAs that are shown to visitors of your website
based on their lifecycle stage.
2. Embrace the
marriage between SEO and content
While on the topic of content, let’s look at how this stream
of digital marketing is becoming more and more intertwined with SEO. A study by
BrightEdge showed that 97% of digital marketers now believe that SEO and
content are converging into one single function, which means it’s high-time to
start treating them as so and find ways to help the two works together.
In fact, organic search drives 51% of content consumption,
therefore a fluent strategy in place can help you garner better results.
How to leverage the
SEO and content conversion:
- Trawl through your SEO data to learn how
prospects are consuming and engaging with your content. Pinpoint what’s
generating interest and encouraging users to take action.
- Look into how users are engaging with different
types of content across different channels and devices.
- Continually analyze and measure results.
Remember that interests shift, and make sure you implement tangible goals for
different stages of the customer journey (i.e. from awareness to conversion).
3. Master the
micro-moment
On average, people check their phones 150 times a day. It’s
the first thing we look at when we wake up, and the last thing we see before
going to sleep at night. While we’ve discussed the importance of micro-moments in
the past, it seems this trend will only continue to reshape the way businesses
approach their marketing next year.
The prevalence of smartphones has engineered an immediate
reaction for consumers to reach for their pocket devices when conducting research
and making transactions these days; hence, businesses need to be wary of how
they are delivering information to their prospects. Simply put, businesses that
can offer consumers immediate answers and solutions have a much better chance
at forging strong, and long-lasting relationships.
How to leverage
micro-moments:
- Anticipate precise micro-moment needs and
address them. If you can give consumers a simple touch point for deciding what
to do, where to go and what to buy, they are more likely to engage with your
brand.
- Understand that the customer journey is not a
one-way sprint to your cash register; it weaves and winds, and the best way to
ensure your prospects make a purchase is to offer them a high-value service.
- Shift your focus from your brand objective and
put yourself in your customer’s shoes. This will help you develop an immersive
and humanistic shopping experience.
4. Get onboard video
marketing
Did you know that, as of this year, 63% of businesses are
using video in their marketing methods? It’s a trend that plenty of companies
are quickly latching onto, and rightfully so: the fusion of images and words
makes for the perfect communication vehicle.
Not only are consumers far more likely to ‘like’ and ‘share’
videos when it comes to social media content, but this medium of marketing is
also a highly effective way to depict your brand story. It literally gives your
business a face, thereby making you much more relatable to your customers.
How to leverage video
marketing:
- Hook your audience within the first three
seconds. This means you need a very clear opening that’s going to grab their
attention.
- Add large-and-legible text to your videos. The
majority of digital consumers watch videos on their smartphones on mute, so
it’s vital that you convey the content via easy-to-read subtitles and
descriptions.
- Find inspiration in your current content; turn
blog posts into vlogs and give your audience insightful, educational videos
that provide tangible value to them.
5. Sharpen your brand
messaging on social media
Digital consumers are increasingly yearning after consistent
brand messaging and intuitive interactions when it comes to social media.
Channels like Facebook and Instagram are often the go-to for users who want to
research a brand before deciding to engage with it, hence businesses need to
understand what kind of tone they wish to adopt, and they need to maintain that
throughout their social media presence.
Furthermore, users are much more attracted to content that
taps into their emotions, which means it’s important for businesses to
understand what compels and motivates their audiences. By creating content that
channels their audience’s emotions, companies of all natures can increase their
social media ‘spread ability’. After all, social media is the perfect platform
to shape and share your brand story, and no story is successful unless it finds
a way to spark an emotion in an audience.
How to leverage your
social media presence:
- Ask yourself how current customers might feel
about interacting with your brand on social media. Are you providing them a
fun, engaging and stimulating experience?
- Determine which social media platforms are most
suitable for your business and consider dropping or reducing the time you spend
on those that aren’t delivering the lead generation or brand awareness you’re
seeking.
- Take the time to sit down and establish a solid
brand voice that you will rely on to create a fully fleshed-out social
presence.
