Digital marketing is a key component to any marketers success as more and more consumers are turning to mobile devices for relevant, timely content from companies and brands. As a result, they do not only have to stay on top of key performance metrics and areas of investment but to also be able to engage and convert consumers through the buying journey.

So let’s have a look at 5 of the latest and most prevalent digital marketing trends dominating the industry currently whether you are a business owner, marketer or simply interested in Digital Marketing.

Augmented Reality Gets Real

It is about to be the biggest year yet for Augmented reality in 2018, with some major stars aligning in recent months. As is known, the technology overlays digital information onto the viewer’s physical environment and has  often been popularised by the likes of Pokémon GO. But AR already goes a lot deeper than just games and is poised to boom in 2018 thanks to recent developments and launches from Apple, Google, Facebook, and Snapchat amongst others.

Video Marketing will grow

Even though 2017 was already a great year for Video Marketing, 2018 will only be better and bigger as marketing companies and large brands incorporate video marketing into most, (if not all) aspects of their customer experience. In fact, video marketing is projected to account for almost 80% of total internet traffic by 2020! If you haven’t adopted visual content into your marketing strategy, now is the time to do so.

A Shift to Social Media Spend

Seventy-eight percent of retailers surveyed will spend more in 2018 on social media marketing according to a recent research and although 67% said they will use email marketing and driving mobile conversion as a way to get more customers, a fairly considerable 10% of the largest retailers reported they will keep their budgets exactly the same as 2017.

“Brands are looking at social media not just for brand building but for acquisition and performance media,” said Marissa Tarleton, CMO at RetailMeNot Inc. “In the past, marketers were putting aside a social budget for brand building, but brands are now putting more investment on social media because they can see a return on investment.”

When evaluating social media, Tarleton said the most important factors to consider are targetability and measurement.

Chatbots

The customer experience is about to be revolutionized for brands, who can now personally engage with users, at scale and in an swift fashion.  It is estimated that there are already over 11,000 bots on Facebook messenger with 350 million users on the platform, so I  expect big increases in the use of bots in 2018 and thereafter.

Privacy Protection Will Be a Major Priority Across the Globe

With the application and implementation of new privacy regulations across the world, brands that sell to customers in Europe and beyond must be prepared to comply. The new European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in particular, will redefine what online privacy means for all brands and organisations that use such advertising means, as they’re faced with requests (and requirements) for the permanent erasure of customer information through the “right to erasure” and restrictions about how prospect data is collected and used for marketing initiatives. What is more, the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal has brought many questions to the forefront and security, privacy and data protection will be major issues concerning digital marketing in 2018.  Consumers will start prioritising companies and products that put their information security as their first priority in and beyond as these attacks continue to become more common, and smart marketers will begin using privacy protection and data security as a value proposition across all industries and product offerings.

Tell us what other trends you foresee or predict for 2018 and we’d be happy to add them to our tips above.

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