The online marketing industry is complex and dynamic. Every year, new software, new technologies, and new marketing techniques are introduced. In addition to this, the changing customer needs and purchasing factors also influence the online marketing practices of businesses greatly. This leads to the introduction of new trends that revolutionize the industry, stay for some time, and are then replaced by newer trends.
It is important that a digital marketer stays updated with the latest online marketing trends in order to help their company build and strengthen their online presence. To help you with this task, we are summarizing the 3 online marketing trends that will dominate the industry in 2018.
1. Videos will Dominate Online Advertising
Video marketing is not something new. It’s being used by a large number of businesses that have the capital required to invest in this relatively ‘expensive’ online marketing technique.
However, many of these businesses use video marketing in order to enhance customer engagement, and not to actually sell the products. You must have watched vide tutorials, customer testimonials, and various other types of videos on businesses’ YouTube channels. But in 2016, video marketing will become a mandatory component of online advertising.
The major reason behind this is that Google is preparing to introduce in-SERP video advertising feature. Consider the possibility and Google’s ownership of YouTube, we can safely say that video advertising will be the primary online marketing trend in 2016 and it may cause text and graphics-based advertisements to go extinct.
2. Network Consolidation May Cause Several Social Media Websites to Dissolve
While there are dozens of social media websites available today, only 4 to 5 of them continue to dominate the industry, such as Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Industry experts believe that many social media websites that are not getting enough traffic may go extinct or partner with the big ones. As a result, we will no longer be able to use the social media website that targets a small niche. Websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that cater to the networking needs of users with diverse demographics and interests will continue to rule the online marketing world. However, LinkedIn remains an exception that targets a niche but even then manages to maintain an impressive user base of over 200 million users.
3. Mobile-Focused Marketing will Bring Business Success
2015 was the year when Google officially announced that mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic. In addition to this, Google also announced its new algorithm which ranks mobile-friendly websites higher than the websites that are not optimized for handheld devices.
What’s important to know is that Google doesn’t penalize mobile websites that do not have a desktop version. This will contribute to the mobile marketing trend and will convince the businesses to focus their marketing efforts to fulfill the needs of on-the-go users.
These are some of the online marketing trends that are likely to emerge during 2016. In order to drive business success through online marketing, it is important that you stay updated with all the latest trends and modify your marketing practices accordingly.
