The 7 Hottest Digital Marketing Trends to Follow

Every year, new digital trends emerge in the marketing sphere. What worked a couple of years ago in your marketing strategy might not work for you this year. That's why marketers should always be updated and aware of the changes occurring in order to keep up and adapt to emerging digital trends. From the rise of messaging apps being the new marketing frontier in digital advertising and the new trend of public channels to the rapid development of AI and machine learning technologies – all these trends must be taken into consideration not just to adapt, but also to compete and become ahead of your competitors.

Listed below are the hottest digital marketing trends that you must follow

A new Marketing Niche – Social Media Messengers

Lately, marketers have discovered a new niche to target consumers – Messaging apps. Did you know that messaging apps have almost the same amount of active users as social media? In fact, you could do a lot of marketing on messaging apps than on social media. For instance, you could use messaging apps instead of CRM  – a simpler and more cost-effective way to manage your customer interaction. Or you could do message marketing instead of email marketing since email marketing continues to decline. Lastly, a new trend has emerged in messaging apps called public channels. Here, you can broadcast any type of content instantly without the judgment of algorithms.

The Rise of Privacy Concern

If you're not from the EU or UK, then you probably haven't heard of the importance of GDPR. "GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a new regulation agreed by the European Union which seeks to improve transparency and the effectiveness of data protection activities." All agencies collecting customer data such as emails or phone numbers must explain and obtain consent on why and how their data will be used for. Agencies or marketers who fail to align themselves with the GDPR principles will likely be fined by the customer or the government if noticed. Now that the GDPR implemented, consumers are already starting to pay attention to how marketing agencies are handling their online data and information. Keep in mind that although this rule is implied in the EU, marketers targeting EU audiences who fail to meet the GDPR requirements can also get sued and fined if noticed.

Vertical Videos are a MUST

This might sound a bit out of the blue, but if you're a creative marketing agency and want to publish any type of video; promotional, animation, interviews, explainer, case studies, 360-degree virtual reality  – always upload them vertically. Studies show that 94% of the time, we hold our phones vertically. In fact, users usually skip, scroll down, or don't watch the entire video when shown horizontally on their phones. If you've noticed, Instagram launched Instagram Reels to make it easier for users to watch videos without actually flipping their phones. So if you're thinking of uploading a video soon, don't forget to do it vertically to increase user engagement and get a higher completion rate.

AI and Chatbots for Smarter Marketing

The world is getting smarter and more intelligent with the rise of AI and machine learning. But what is AI really? How is it simplifying everyday tasks and making our lives more efficient? To begin with, AI is an intelligent machine that can gather facts, information, and data through human input or intelligence. In other words, AI acts and thinks like a human. AI can be used in so many ways. In terms of marketing, AI can help marketers understand how their targeted audience is learning about their products or services by analyzing consumer behavior and gathering data from different platforms. In terms of messaging apps, and chatbots, an AI feature can be embedded to make your communication easier and faster. Mobilemonkey, for instance, is a smart Facebook Messenger platform that lets you build chatbots to schedule and bulk-send interactive and engaging content, offers, and campaigns to Facebook Messenger contacts without writing any code. This super easy-to-use platform is great for non-technical marketers to carry out marketing automation without the need for writing a single code.

Influencer Marketing Still Trending

Influencer marketing began rising in 2017 and was being successfully utilized by 80% of marketers. Today, influencer marketing continues to thrive in all possible areas. Brands and businesses are still generating massive revenues from this strategy. There are even influencer marketing platforms such as Famebit where brands and influential creators collaborate for branded content endorsements on YouTube, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Moreover, there are even smarter influencer marketing tools where not only brands and content creators collaborate for branded content, but also a platform that allows brand owners to track and analyze the creators' accounts. With the popularity of influencer marketing continuing to grow, it's important for brands to understand how to reach their target audience without oversaturating them with the same content (Check out our blog post about audience overlap in influencer marketing)

The Voice Search optimization

Voice search is booming now more than ever! Thanks to smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon Echo, voice searches have been increasing and getting more popular. After experiencing the ease of using voice search, consumers began to realize how this technology is making their lifestyle more feasible. With the improvement in voice recognition, searching is done faster and easier when using our voices. Some marketers believe that 50% of searches are likely to be done via voice by 2020. If voice search continues to expand by the coming years, it will perhaps bring the end of SEO. So, for your next marketing campaign, don't forget to add voice search optimization to your list.

Guest posting is the New PR

Don't limit your growth by just posting articles on your own personal blog. Write and submit articles to a whole new audience and websites! Yes... guest posting is still alive and more effective than ever. They still help you build organic traffic and boost your credibility and online presence. In fact, marketers are now turning their press releases into blog posts and publishing them on different websites as guest posts. By submitting a guest post, you are not just adding value to your website but also to your PR strategy. But before submitting one, make sure to submit it to websites with a higher domain than yours, and insert backlinks to high-quality websites and yours.

Personalization in digital marketing

One trend that can't be ignored is the importance of personalization in digital marketing. Personalized emails and targeted advertising have been shown to increase engagement and conversions. To learn more about how to effectively personalize your marketing efforts, check out our blog post on 7 Proven Strategies for Writing Reach Out Emails That Get Results.