2016 - 7 DIGITAL TREND MUST KNOW

1. The rise of content marketing (yes, even more!)

Companies running an active blog generate 67% more leads on a monthly basis compared to those who don’t blog. Content marketing strategies will continue unabated in the upcoming months. Marketers can not move back to the traditional tactics of push marketing. In fact brands will be spending a lot of time creating more relevant and inspiring content than ever before!

Don’t believe us? Here are 10 surprising content marketing statistics you must know!

2. Blooming marketing analytics (number crunching for everyone!)

Marketers are already using dozens of analytics tools to keep a track of engagement and business performance on digital platforms. Expenditures on marketing analytics are set to rise by over 60% (source: CMO survey). Market data will become crucial in any brand endeavor and customer acquisition tactics. Companies are all set to utilize the vast information and content pool created online by consumers. Decision making in an overload of information and content, will be led by real data and not mere instinct.

3. More videos than ever (you’re going to need a better internet connection!)

The use of videos for marketing purposes has been steadily growing. Videos are a perfect way to show how a product works. Brands have started focussing on video content more than their text-only content strategy. Videos allow for greater engagement, lower site bounce rates and also showcase product usage in multiple scenarios.  Browsing through their social media timelines, consumers are more likely to get attracted to a video advert that immediately grabs attention. We do expect to see a lot more ‘how to’ or inspirational brand videos for some years. Social media driven videos whether on Facebook, Vine, or Instagram are likely to go up as well. Video traffic growth has been shared by Cisco in its reporting stating:

It would take an individual over 5 million years to watch the amount of video that will cross global IP networks each month in 2019. Every second, nearly a million minutes of video content will cross the network by 2019. Globally, consumer internet video traffic will be 80 percent of all consumer Internet traffic in 2019, 79% in 2018, and 74% in 2016 up from 64 percent in 2014.

 4. Humanization is the new automation (get up, close and personal – or lose!)

The only way to make consumers interact with content, is personalization. Offering personalized content means sharing relevant and knowledge based posts to offer a solution to consumers. Companies that have been making an effort to humanize their content strategy, have been able to:

a) increase sales,
b) inspire users to stay longer on their websites &
c) foster customer satisfaction

It’s important here to note that personalization requires companies to first know their consumers well. This may well begin by drawing out buyer profiles and knowing consumer demographics, and behavioral preferences. One size definitely does not fit all!

 5. Storytelling to hit the market with a bigger bang (fables, fables all around!)

How do you stand out when the entire industry is focussing on churning out relevant content? You simply ditch the conventional and try something unexpected – storytelling. Unique storytelling techniques are the most sought requirements laid down by leading brands. Perfect for driving in engagement and nurturing leads, stories help brands align consumers to the emotional core of the brand. A mix of visual and contextual storytelling inspires emotions in consumers and increases trust.

RELATED: 5 quotes about marketing from great storytellers.

6. Micro targeting is the new mantra (because big things come in small packages!)

Targeting niche audience sizes and making use of data led advertising tools bringing in more effective results from campaigns. Targeted campaigns are two times more effective than non-targeted one size fits all campaigns. A study suggests that retargeted display ads inspire a lot more people to search for the product. It comes as no surprise that businesses are making targeting strategies more elaborately than ever. Facebook and Instagram allow marketers to really delve deep into the various options to select the right users, definitely allowing brands to spend their dollars wisely.

 7. Online advertisements to skyrocket (get ready to shell out some more moolah!)

Internet advertising is expected to rise by 10% on a global rate (PWC shows the CAGR between 2014 to 2019 is over 12%). Mobile ads will grow by a whooping 45% (see more predictions by eMarketer here) and online ad expenditure is set to rise through the year. With organic reach on platforms like Facebook taking a nosedive, and Google ad-words consistently becoming more expensive, it comes as no surprise. Sure organic branding and growth is one way to go, but targeted paid advertising is definitely allowing firms to expand their consumer acquisition at a faster rate.

Get more inspiration in the video below with Gary Vaynerchuk- from 2013, but still relevant :-)!

Source: http://www.brandanew.co/7-digital-marketing-trends-for-your-brand-success-in-2016/