8 Digital Marketing Trends to Invest in 2018

When it comes to marketing trends, unfortunately, there is no magic bullet that tells us exactly what technology or channel will be the most used within the next few years.

The key is in observing users. As users change the way they behave, companies and marketing teams must adapt to them. Personalization, content marketing, the use of multiple channels, are some of the examples of how to respond to an audience that is constantly evolving.

#1 Omnichannel and Multiformat Content Marketing

Content Marketing continues to be one of the keys to converting visits to customers. But now it is not enough to just write content. Users are looking for information in different formats and on different channels at the same time. In 2018 we will see how the content teams become more varied, where designers, experts in video, social media and different formats will be integrated.

The data speaks for itself: according to the study of Demand Gen Report, 47% of user saw between 3-5 forms of content before starting a purchase process.

We must invest in a multiformat and multichannel strategy where the same content is presented in a variety of channels and formats in order to respond to the needs of users.

#2 Personalization

Let’s say things as they are: mass marketing is dead – long life to personalization!

We already know that content marketing will be one of the main focuses of marketing strategies in 2018, this must be aligned with something very important: a personalized experience for each type of customer.

Companies must put aside static content and start investing in dynamic pages that are able to respond to different customer characteristics thanks to intelligent content.

#3 SEO in all your formats

Aligning your SEO strategy with your content strategy is the best investment you can make for 2018. Most likely, your web team and your blogging team are already optimizing your content for SEO, but now we must go further: you have to Make sure you optimize content in all its formats: video, images, social networks, audio etc. The key is to invest in SEO before creating new content. This way you make sure you increase your chances of conversion (8 Game-changing Trends That Will Shape SEO in 2018)

#4 Short Videos

In a culture led by mobile devices, the video is one of the most consumer formats. In 2017, 90% of all content shared by the user on social networks was in video format. Now the challenge is to capture the attention of the audience in the first 3 seconds.

One of the creative leaders of Facebook, mentioned during Social Media Week in London, that not making short videos is no longer an option. Brands that are not using video as part of their social media strategy should start now. And remember, they should be short, work without sound and get attention in the first 3 seconds.

#5 Live streaming is increasing its relevance

While we already know that video will be the preferred format for consumers during 2018, when it comes to social networks, live streaming seems to be taking more prominence. According to Facebook, users spend 3 times more time watching live videos than videos that no longer are. They also comment 10 times more than in a pre-recorded video.

Live videos are a great opportunity to increase interaction with your users, give a more human face to your brand and integrate new formats into your strategy. Over the past year, daily watch time for Facebook Live broadcasts has grown by more than 4x.

#6 Automation of internal processes

If you work in secure marketing you are already using some kind of automation software to schedule your posts on social networks, send emails or track your prospects. Now the key is to use automation tools to optimize your internal sales and marketing processes.

Every company should have a CRM that allows to identify opportunities, generate automatic post templates, schedule meetings with clients with a click etc. If the teams are spending time on manual activities it is because something is going wrong as there are tools to automate almost everything.

#7 Artificial Intelligence

For many, the words artificial intelligence may sound like something from a science fiction movie. Most likely, they are already using it in their day today. If you asked Siri about the climax, or read your calendar, you are already a user of artificial intelligence. In marketing issues, the use of behavioural data to optimize the layout of your website or your chatbot is also artificial intelligence. Although artificial intelligence can be considered “new” yet, within the next 12 months you will see it as an integration to most of the tools we use every day.

#8 Chatbots

Chatbots are a very good example of how automation will have a great impact on the way we do business in 2018. These “virtual assistants” operated by artificial intelligence can deliver customers real-time answers at any time. After Facebook Messenger opened its API, many companies began to test these tools. The challenge is to achieve a user experience that is even better than a typical customer service and allow automating repetitive tasks so that customer service teams focus on adding value.

2017 was one of the most active years in terms of new technologies, trends and formats in the marketing industry. 2018 will not be different so we recommend you be prepared, invest in the key areas to be able to advance these trends and not be trying to catch up later.

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Alok Raghuwanshi is an India-based SEO Professional and author of an SEO and social media marketing blog. Feel free connect with me on Twitter – @araghuwanshi6 – and let us learn from each other.