We saw different trends that came up with digital marketing. Some trends gave a bit of the sweet cake. I am talking about Pokemon Go. Unfortunately, it rose and declined in 2016 but it proved how customers are ready for new trends like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) from the response all over the world. Will 2017 be the big year of implementation? Well, read through the online marketing trends that will likely dominate 2017.
Live Video
Facebook really kicked off this phenomenon with Facebook Live and now we have Instagram jumping on the bandwagon as well. Now social media users are demanding more in-the-moment content! This is a great opportunity in digital and internet marketing. Thanks to increased Internet speeds and our obsession with our mobile devices, live video is a natural fit for our busy lives. With more apps and platforms adding live streaming functionalities, 2017 looks to be the year of live video.
Augmented Reality
We witnessed the beginnings of modern augmented reality with the phenomenon of Pokémon GO that I talked about earlier. Few people would have predicted that it would take off like it did, earning $10 million per day in new revenue during its peak. It’s true that enthusiasm for the app has died down amongst all but AR’s most dedicated fans but its effects will live on in 2017. This app entirely on its own showed the rest of the tech space that users are ready and excited about augmented reality (AR) experiences. It’s also shown marketers that there is a huge potential for earnings in digital marketing. With Google’s VR/AR headset and Samsung Gear VR increasing in popularity, expect to see more brands coming out with AR games, AR ads and attempts to capitalize on the existing AR apps.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is likely going to be as popular as Augmented Reality (AR). However, there seems to be a little bit of difficulty in differentiating the two. I am going explain it to you in simple terms because it’s important to be able to distinguish between the two. Virtual reality technology simply allows people to escape from reality into a virtual world while augmented reality technology allows people to interact with the physical reality and even add or remove something to or from the physical world. Augmented reality is linked to Pokemon Go because we interact with the real world. Think for a second how these technologies can impact digital/internet marketing. This will allow real estate agents to use a 360 degree VR to show an entire estate as if you are physically there!
Marketing Automation
You probably know by now that we’re kind of obsessed with marketing automation. And we’re incredibly pleased to report that we don’t see it going away in 2017. In fact, we see it becoming more relevant than ever before. Businesses are increasingly adopting and optimizing marketing automation in their organizations.
Growth Hacking
“Growth hacking” was one of the key phrases of 2016 but, I’ve found that a lot of marketers still aren’t entirely sure what it is or how important it will continue being. Growth hacking is an internet marketing concept which focuses entirely on the growth/rise/scaling of a startup business. It is a process of rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development to identify the most effective and efficient ways to grow a business. This is huge in digital marketing because users of a product or service increase quickly. This can help ensure that a business expands quickly and reach success earlier in time.
Revised Content Marketing
Content marketing is a timeless internet marketing and digital marketing trend that continues to work. Consumers are becoming increasingly impatient with pop-up ads. Attention spans, in general, continue to get shorter. The average consumer spends about 37 seconds actually reading the content of an article. Most people skim the highlights and ignore entire blocks of information. Effective content marketing must become more “dense”, meaty. Make sure your readers are getting useful, specific information and cut down on the “fluff”.
Niche Markets will be Targeted
By the day, more and more brands are joining the digital marketing platform due to its high ROI. This mostly holds true for the content and social media spaces.
To reach out to their customers better, brands will resort to targeting specific niches which will appeal to a more narrow range of demographics. 2017 will see a lot more companies using more personal level campaigns and content.