As November draws to a close and the holiday season approaches, along with the usual gifts and outdated New Year’s cards, it’s time to look at the key digital marketing trends for 2018.
We’ve already discussed and made some predictions about the web design trends for 2018, graphic design trends for 2018, and email marketing trends for 2018. In this post, we’ll take a broader look at the digital marketing trends for 2018, highlighting the essential elements to consider when planning any marketing campaign in the new year.
Social media never stands still. In 2017, we saw Twitter increase its character limit, while Instagram—the leading visual platform—introduced live video, one of the most engaging new features.
So, without further ado, let’s dive in! Here are the digital marketing trends for 2018.
Digital Marketing Trends 2018: Video, Chatbots, and Gen Z
Video: A Rising Star
It’s no secret that video content has become increasingly important in recent years. Sharing videos across social platforms generally drives much higher engagement than static images, resulting in more retweets, comments, and shares—especially on Facebook.
Live streaming on Facebook has become one of the most prominent formats in 2017, and many businesses are expected to tap into its potential in 2018. It’s a digital marketing trend you can’t afford to ignore.
Instagram and Snapchat have also embraced live video through their Stories feature. Creating Stories on these platforms allows you to connect with potential customers in a more personal, authentic way, which can have a very positive impact on your digital marketing strategy.
Thanks to today’s technology, producing engaging video content doesn’t have to mean a big investment. Smartphones make it easy to create authentic, direct videos and share them across platforms, resulting in content that feels more real and immediate.
Ephemeral Content Takes Over Social Media
As mentioned above, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook Stories have been—and will continue to be—a major digital marketing trend in 2018. These photo and video sharing options are known as ephemeral content.
Ephemeral content is defined by its limited lifespan—usually available for just 24 hours. This format is especially popular among younger millennials and Generation Z. While some digital marketing experts may be skeptical about its effectiveness, when used strategically for the right audience, ephemeral content can deliver surprisingly strong results. We encourage you to experiment and see for yourself.
Here are some advantages of incorporating ephemeral content into your digital marketing campaigns:
- This type of content is seen by users and potential buyers as much more authentic and genuine than traditional ads or posts, where the intent to drive sales is often too obvious.
- Because the content is only available for a limited time, it creates psychological pressure known as “FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out)—the anxiety of missing out on something happening online. This can prompt users to act quickly, driving more immediate engagement.
- It gives the impression of an active, dynamic business by sharing snippets of daily life, which helps strengthen your brand image.
Chatbots: C3PO Is Closer Than You Think
A chatbot is an application designed to interact with your audience in a way that increasingly resembles human conversation.
Chatbots provide customers with quick answers to their questions. Because they’re automated, they offer support 24/7—including holidays (apparently, they’re not interested in taking New Year’s off just yet). In today’s fast-paced world, where customers expect instant responses, chatbots are a smart solution.
Currently, there are around 100,000 active bots on Facebook Messenger, resulting in about 2 billion user-bot interactions every month. If you haven’t tried this yet and your business receives a high volume of customer inquiries, 2018 is the year to consider adding chatbots to your digital marketing strategy.
Generation Z: The Smartphone Generation
As we’ve already mentioned, Generation Z is a key audience to focus your marketing strategies on. What sets Gen Z apart from previous generations is that they’ve grown up with smartphones and the internet at their fingertips. They’re more impulsive, expect everything instantly, and won’t hesitate to turn to your competitors if your experience is slow, poor, or lacks proper attention.
If your business targets a young audience, you absolutely need to make Instagram (especially), Snapchat, Twitter, and other social networks the cornerstone of your digital marketing strategy in 2018. Don’t hesitate to post Instagram Stories, share videos, photos, go live, and more.
Some tactics to win over Generation Z:
- Make them part of your brand image—collaborate with them and turn your brand into the next big thing with the help of social influencers.
- Be real and authentic. On social media, not every product photo needs to be professionally shot. Share everyday moments, casual photos, spontaneous videos. Let your potential customers see what goes on behind the scenes at your company.
- Promote your products in an appealing way—make your brand “cool” so that influencers are naturally drawn to promote it.
Above all, Generation Z has smartphones practically built into their DNA, making mobile the most direct gateway to reach them.
Personalized Content and Timing
Personalized content continues to be a cornerstone of any digital marketing strategy for 2018. It’s much easier to sell to a specific target audience, so segmentation and careful selection are essential.
Creating and promoting personalized content is a direct shot at your goal. Study your target audience and build a profile to understand what interests them. Segment by age, gender, education level, likes, location, and more. Put yourself in their shoes—ask yourself if your content will truly interest them, or if it will just result in a lost impression or click. Anticipate their questions with content marketing and guide them through their buying journey.
Another key factor is timing—when you publish your content on social media matters. Each platform has its own optimal posting times. Here’s a summary image, and we may dedicate a full post to this topic in the future, as it’s a crucial factor and a definite digital marketing trend for 2018.
Conclusions
As we can see, it’s increasingly important to keep new generations in mind if we want to stay ahead of the competition. Don’t be afraid to innovate and try out all the new tools at your disposal. If you’re not on Instagram and your target audience is young people, 2018 is the perfect year to make it a central part of your digital marketing strategy. If you’re already there, experiment with the latest features: go live, post multiple Stories a day, and more.