A decade ago, it was easier to appeal to the audience. Companies would jam their brands in the vicinity of the targeted consumers, and also appeal to their tastes. For example, a soap commercial broadcast during television or radio drama series breaks was enough. That’s how the shows earned the name ‘soap operas’. Some of the famous brands are known to produce soap operas to advertise their own products during the commercial. Fast forward to today, brands are taking drastic steps to initiate communication with consumers. Ever since the advent of the Internet, we see brands recommending products to consumers. This is how e-commerce websites execute ads. Marketers are marrying technology with digital marketing to gauge maximum insights of the markets and get closer to consumers than ever before. And where’s it all heading? It’s heading towards a more closely connected world where all the digital action happens.

What's next?

1. Searching for social networks

   Soon, search and e-commerce are expected to go beyond Google. Consumers will move away from the traditional route and rely more on social media for making purchase decisions and researching about brands (source: socialmediaexaminer). Currently, Facebook is testing its own search engine, to help users find information without venturing to Google. While consumers are ready for a new way to search, businesses are expecting stronger capabilities to boost their visibility.



2. Changing the future of advertising

   Over the past five years, marketers are making enormous investments online. Social media channels are coming up with innovative advancements for businesses. For instance, 360i recently launched a campaign ‘#CatchDrogon’ before the much-awaited premiere of Game of Thrones. It was a simple game launched on Twitter, which was later introduced on Facebook and Instagram. The result: the total viewership jumped by 21% and over 1.16 million new viewers watched the premiere—the best record in the show’s history and for HBO. With such results, businesses in the coming years will witness advertising like never before. This is how we are shifting from native advertising:

   • Messenger for business: The market is bullish about Facebook Messenger for Business (source: TechCrunch and Forbes), which enables marketers to have a direct interaction with their customers. This much awaited update in the Facebook Messenger app is introduced for people suffering from app fatigue, a messenger that will enable users to buy products online, receive order notifications as instant messages, and share their purchases with friends.
   
   
   • Snapchat advertisements: The future will give more importance to personalized and real-time content (source: TechCrunch and Forbes). Snapchat adequately takes advantage of these two factors. Using Snapchat advertisements through the Snapchat Discover channel, marketers can connect with the ideal Discover channel partners and showcase their ads. This will enable marketers to share time-based, personalized, and recent content with the customers in real time. For instance, CNN holds one of the prime spots in the Discover channel home screen. The Discover content on the CNN home screen uses an informal and personal tone of voice for their audience with a fun or inspiring quote in the end. The Snapchat handle of CNN is creative and perfect for a diverse audience.
   
   
   • Instagram advertisements: With over 55 million photographs shared every day, Instagram is one of the world’s largest social ad platforms. Instagram ads can be created directly through Facebook’s Ads Manager and Power Editor. This platform offers three advertising solutions: photo ads, video ads, and carousel ads. With these three formats, enterprises can drive business results and increase brand awareness.
   
   
   • Identity-based PPC marketing: A few years back, the display targeting options would cost merely 50 cents (Cost per Thousand Impressions) CPMs, but with increased targeting options, PPC has gained popularity. There will be a demand for extremely engaging content, which will be targeted to a very niche audience. This identity-based PPC marketing is done by targeting social profiles, identity, or habits captured of the target audience over a period of time. So, if done correctly, identity-based PPC provides marketers a greater chance to get customers’ attention and make the content viral. Moreover, marketers will use digital assistants such as Cortana and Siri to share more intrinsic insights with the consumers.
   
   
   • Pinterest advertisements: The Pinterest ads, famously known as ‘promoted pins’, bring a massive opportunity for businesses to drive leads and sales. These promoted pins allow marketers to target a specific group and add relevant keywords to drive conversion and increase visibility. Marketers can share animated video ads and images through Pinterest. The best thing about Pinterest ads—users have complete control; they can watch the ad or choose to ignore it.

    



3. App indexing

   Search conversion is vastly dominated by mobile. Users are looking for search results not only through mobile browsers, but also from apps. Ever since the Google mobile-friendly ranking algorithm went live in April 2015, app content search has become the new phenomenon. App indexing helps Google index apps in the search results similar to a website. Links to the apps appear in the search results, letting users quickly land on the right content with the app. But, does app indexing even matter? Yes, it does. App indexing provides an improved search experience for mobile users, Google can effectively drive higher engagement with these apps, and Google will have the ultimate control. Google is not the only entrant in the market, Bing allows the Windows phone to display app results too. Bing has a marginal share of the smartphone market and of the global search as well.



4. Emergence of virtual reality

   With the rise in the interest for technology, virtual reality has finally found its footing in the market. This new technology is poised to transform the Gaming and Entertainment industry in the coming years, while showing a promising potential to enter other markets such as Healthcare and Manufacturing. Wearable technology has already taken the market by storm, while virtual reality follows. With an improved learning experience, enhanced virtual reality experience, and new technology, virtual reality will be worth the bargain in the new age marketing.



5. Videos generate extreme engagements

   Videos are becoming the most preferred option for people to find entertainment and information online (source: theguardian.com). With Google supporting video content in its search algorithm and almost every social network offering video ad services, it is no doubt that video content is effective. When we consider the potential reach, video is unrivaled. YouTube alone receives over one billion visitors per month. One of the recent videos that generated extreme engagement is of Volkswagen. The video Volkswagen After Sales: The Booking was viewed 155 million times. In the coming years, more experiments are likely with video ads because they are naturally engaging, and in the age of surplus information, it is important to offer content that is easy to understand. Soon enough, videos will dominate the online market.



6. Omni-channel experience

   Multi-channel has been in the industry for a long time. But, the successor of this technology is Omni-channel. Omni-channel provides a seamless shopping experience to customers across all channels—desktop, mobile, tablet, or in-store shopping. It is all about being there at the right place and at the right time. For an effective omni-channel experience, it is important to track the customers’ online behavior and provide suggestions based on that pattern. Get insights about your target audience, adopt their shopping or travel journey, and provide an enhanced experience.



7. Content re-marketing

   Content is still the reigning king. Content marketing is broadcasting content in various formats such as blogs, e-books, infographics, white papers, and articles. But what happens when a reader has already been to the website, read the content, but hasn’t converted to a lead? This is where businesses rely on content re-marketing. It is a simple process, retargeting the readers before they exit the website. Content re-marketing gives an opportunity to offer something new to read or showcase the existing content in a better and quirkier format. Content should be your identity to compel the reader to visit your website again or convert into a lead.



8. Data-driven decisions

   Today, every business needs to become decision-driven, and to achieve that, it is important to include data-driven decisions. Data scientists will be in high demand since digital marketing decisions will be more logical than just a game of intuition and skills. Data-driven decisions simply mean making data accessible to everyone in the organization. Powerful data platforms that detect user behavior and offer consumer insights will become less expensive, which will, in turn, mold more accurate marketing strategies (source: Salesforce and Forbes).



9. Mobile content—less is more

   Consumers are glued to their smartphones and this is an opportunity for businesses. Soon, email marketing campaigns may gain higher importance as tools to capture mobile users as leads. Marketers will focus on content that is more mobile-friendly, meaning, content that is not just easy to read and view, but one that provides simple call-to-action interactions.

Digital marketing is on the rise. That being said, we need to find a way to communicate with our target audience past the search engine; however, this does not mean that we dethrone Google, but find direct forms of interacting with the target market. The algorithms will change; they will be delightful, infuriating, disappointing, or confusing. But they certainly will change and we, as marketers, need to be armed. The digital marketing world is fickle. Let’s embrace these trends and make way for better conversion and ROI.