The world is evolving and technology is taking over. We are truly in the digital age. This year 90% of adults in the UK are internet users, up from 89% in 2017, so it’s understandable that everything we do is now online, including entertainment, banking, communication and even currency.
The shift to digital means that companies are having to evolve too, this means adapting their advertising and marketing strategies to fit a digital climate. For brands to go digital, and be successful at it, they need to keep up with current trends. With 3.58 billion internet users worldwide, advertising and marketing is making the transition from traditional to digital, this has created a new line of marketers – digital marketers.
With 42 million social media users in the UK, social media is one of the key players when it comes to digital marketing. Social media has ultimately opened up a new opportunity for brands and content creators alike to market their products/services to a whole new audience. Social media platforms are also used to gain insight into what target consumers want and need, and this has paved the way for various innovative trends to dominate the market in 2018.
Interactive Chabot’s
Chabot’s are actually not new to the digital scene, but this year they have become even more prevalent in digital marketing. A Chabot is a computer program that uses A1 to conduct a conversation through auditory or textual methods. By 2025 the Chabot market is expected to reach $1.25 billion with an annual growth rate of 24.3%.
Chabot’s are generally used as a customer service tool and to increase the chances of a positive customer experience. Chabot’s can increase the chances of a positive customer experience because users are almost guaranteed to get a quick and accurate response to an enquiry. Chabot’s can be implemented into a brands website, but brands could also implement Chabot’s through their Facebook Messenger if this is where a business gets a lot of engagement.
As well as being a vital tool in creating a more efficient way to handle customer enquiries, it is also a more cost-effective strategy in comparison to hiring customer relations staff to do the same job, which wouldn’t be as efficient.
Voice Search
Voice search is a speech recognition technology that allows users to search by saying what they want to search out loud rather than typing. Voice search is becoming increasingly popular as more people are on the go, and want easy and quick ways to access information online. Voice search products include Google Assist and Google Home, Amazon Echo, as well as Apple’s Siri and HomePod.
Unlike normal searches, voice searches will only give the most related answer to a query, so businesses will have to be proactive in creating content that answers consumer’s potential queries. Within the content, it will be important for content creators to use more conversational language rather than short keywords. This is because when consumers are using voice search, it is only natural to say full sentences.
Story Telling
Social media “stories” are taking over. First introduced by Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook closely followed suit. Each story feature on the different social media platforms is slightly different, but they all follow the same concept.
Instagram stories allow users to post quick snapshots of their day, and the post will disappear usually after 24 hours. This creates a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) amongst users as they don’t want to miss out on the stories.
With it becoming an increasingly popular tool, especially on Instagram, there are more and more brands using the tool to create social media content.
Influencer Marketing
Famous YouTube and Instagram stars with a large following have created “Influencer Marketing”. Brands will approach certain social media stars to advertise their product and service and in return, they will get paid. The idea behind this is brands feel like real people who advertise their product/service are more likely to be trusted by potential consumers rather than advertisements.
In order to partake in successful influencer marketing, a brand has to carefully select the right influencer to make sure they are targeting the right consumers.
What do you think the next digital marketing trend will be? Tell us your thoughts over on Twitter @VizulateDigital
References
https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/itandinternetindustry/bulletins/internetusers/2018
