Emerging Digital Marketing Trends That Will Change Everything

Digital marketing is fast-paced industry, and things change every day. Now that we're a few months into 2016, I thought it would be a great time to look at trends we're seeing now, and things we expected we'd be experiencing by now. There are plenty of time, so let's just jump right into it.


DIGITAL MARKETING TRENDS THAT WILL CAUSE MAJOR CHANGE THIS YEAR

Mobile usage
This almost seems like old news, but it's definitely worth mentioning. What's trending now with mobile usage is that consumers are no longer using mobile devices out of necessity or because they're out shopping. They are now choosing to use them, even when their laptop is sitting right beside them, turned on and available to use. People are now preferring to use their mobile devices for various reasons, such as privacy and the sheer familiarity and enjoyment of their apps. It's now more important than ever that businesses embrace this mobile shift and start optimizing to create a fantastic mobile experience. Consumers are choosing mobile over other devices, and when they are displeased, they do not spend their money.

Search Engine Optimization
SEO has changed drastically over the years, and will continue to do so. The big thing right now is that Google is dedicated to understanding the intent behind the keyword search. Rather than focus on the keywords the searcher entered, they are trying to uncover what the person actually wants to find. Turns out, they are no longer one in the same. Their RankBrain algorithm is similar to artificial intelligence. It is machine learning that has the ability to learn from previous experience, and make assumptions based on prior events . This is the tool that Google is using to figure out what the intent is, that is hidden within the keywords. Ultimately, Google just wants to provide consumers exactly what they're looking for, and they've realized that keywords often aren't a representation of the exact outcome they are looking for. Today's consumers do not want to be served with a list of blue hyperlinks when they pose a question on Google. This results just forces them to do more digging and more work. What they want is to be given the answer, which is a solution to their problem.

Voice Assistants
Personal, digital or voice assistants have really gotten big over the past few years. There is chatter that these functions have the power and ability to completely change the digital marketing industry. More and more people are turning to assistants like Siri to ask their questions. It's interesting to think about, because if you're turning to Siri for your questions, rather than Google, how does that effect the search engines, and SEO? And if Siri is turning to Google on your behalf, how does your natural language effect the search queries? This is going to be one of the major trends to watch this upcoming year.

Social Media Advertising
Social ads are nothing new, but their usage continues to grow. It's been predicted that by 2017, digital ad spend will finally surpass that of TV. It's hard to imagine, but it looks like we've finally gotten to this point. As competition and budgets increase, it's going to become more important than ever for businesses to have a solid social media strategy in place. Throwing money at various platforms won't work. You need to establish where your ideal customers spend their time, and put yourself there in a meaningful way. While paid advertising is important, you also need to make having an organic and value-providing presence a priority.

Podcasts
Running your own podcast may sound crazy, but it's become a major part of many content marketing strategies. According to a report from Edison, close to 46 million Americans listen to podcasts each month, and those people average 6 every week. Those are pretty impressive numbers, and something that will continue to grow. If you're a small business, starting your own podcast may not seem like a possibility at the moment, but at least get your feet wet. Start listening to some podcasts that interest you, and get a feel for the industry. Podcast advertising is always an option to consider, even when you can't host your own.

Marketing Automation
This may or may not become a major trend this upcoming year, but I certainly hope it does. Larger, older companies often lag in this department, and it's time this gains more traction amongst them. Younger, more agile and tech savvy companies all get it. They see the value in investing in software that saves time and money, reduces errors and allows for extremely detailed tracking and analytics. Customer conversion can be increased dramatically with effective automation practices in place.

Video & Live Streaming
Both of these have absolutely exploded this year, and won't be going away anytime soon. Whether you're using one of the multiple live streaming options, or simply killing it on YouTube, there's no denying the power video has on consumers. More and more companies are realizing this and making video big part of their marketing strategy. According to the Web Video Marketing Council, 73% of B2B marketers say that video positively impacts their ROI. This is interesting, because we're not even talking about regular consumers here. What's more is that this same study found that 96% of B2C marketers are now using video in their marketing, so clearly the other 4% need to get with the times.

Buy Buttons
These little buttons are now everywhere across various social platforms. How did we ever live without them? You no longer have to go to a company's website to make a purchase. You can simply click the button that floats through your news feed and make that purchase. While many marketers and companies don't like the idea of losing control of their branding and getting fewer customers to visit their website, it's really not their call. This is something that consumers have demanded, and I suspect usage will just continue to expand on this one.

Wearables
This seemed like a fad a few years ago, but we can no longer call it that. It's now common place for people to check their texts on their watch. I kid you not, there was a seven year old standing in front of me at a local retailer and she had a FitBit. I don't even have one of those! HubSpot was predicting that by the end of this year, 28% of people will have wearable technology. That is a huge number, given how new this still is. Businesses will have to start considering wearables in the very near future, if they're not already.

HubSpot put out an article last year of major trends they're expecting to see -- definitely worth a read as all but one are different from what's listed here.

What would you add to this list?