Digital Marketing Trends: A Year in Review, And the Year Ahead

As we race towards a swift end to 2017, it’s time to look towards the upcoming future. But we cannot predict the future without looking at the progress made in the past. 2017 was revolutionary for the digital and social landscape, wherein we saw innovative uses of technology for marketing purposes.

We saw an escalating rise of user-generated content and influencer strategies that changed the way consumers communicated with brands. Video marketing became the big thing of the year, engaging users in Live, 3D, animated, and augmented formats. We saw CMO and AR pushing the boundaries of digital to create engaging experiences for customers. The content was the King in 2017, and great content was considered as the trailblazer for user engagement.

Will this trail of perfection follow through in the coming year as well? We can only predict and try to keep up as the industry changes with time. Here we bring to you the key highlights of the trends in Digital & Social Media Marketing bound to flourish in 2018:

Rise of Brand Storytelling

• The digital world is more diversified than ever. In order to stand out from the crowd, cohesive storytelling should be a part of your communication strategy. Since content drives the customers, a relatable experience will help builder a stronger brand recall in the audiences.
• Video, as a content format, has revolutionized the way content is consumed in the digital and space. Apart from promoting brand recall, it also engages the viewer into an expressive, emotional response. We predict Video will get a lot more focus in the coming year.
• Co-branding is a unique marketing partnership that boosts brand awareness and builds business. Co-branded Content, in association with content creators across YouTube, Netflix, Buzzfeed, etc. will evolve & help brands in driving consideration & buying patterns.

Advent of Voice Control

• The power of Voice is the next big thing to trend in 2018. With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), Voice control devices like Amazon Alexa, Google Home & Apple HomePod- stand to become household brands with greater penetration in Indian markets.
• Advancements will continue to be made with Voice-based assistants to provide seamless interactions across multiple smart devices at homes & offices.

Algorithm to Artificial Intelligence

• Machine Learning is poised to take automation to the next level. We predict it will evolve significantly in the upcoming year, especially in the areas of natural language processing and chatbot applications.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to become more mainstream than ever. Brands will be using automated AI technology to design their Digital Marketing Campaigns, making smart, outcome-based decisions for cost-effective results.

Cross Channel Marketing ROI

• Programmatic Media Buying, algorithmic purchase, and sale of advertising space in real-time, will significantly increase to optimize spending across channels.
• With increasing investments on Walled Garden platforms (like Google, Facebook, etc.), brands will need to rely on with attribution mapping throughout the entire customer buying journey from brand awareness to acquisition.

Smart Content Marketing

• Smart content is more than just well-written content. For contextual communication with online users across the website, email, and social media, Personalized & Customized content will be key in the coming year. 

Influencer Management

• Influencer marketing has spun the social media market on its head. And we see it continuing to rise in 2018. We predict Brand Advocates and social media influencers will be increasingly used for effective brand promotion and recognition, with an organic push to drive a higher share of voice.

 - Evolve Digitas