Digital Marketing Trends To Look Forward In 2016-17

The overall online spending is growing exponentially due to the constant state of flux in the Digital Marketing landscape, and the marketers are making millions from it. The top-notch are reaching the highest highs of the digital sphere effortlessly; however, there remains a long list of names that are toiling to cross the bar of mere $1000. The question arises- What the best-class marketers are doing that everyone else is failing to attempt?

While we can clearly see the pace at which digital world is growing, one thing is certain that to be ahead in the race, marketers have to adapt the evolving digital trends sooner than others. As we are through with half of the year already, and the marketers have started gearing up for 2017, here are some of the digital marketing trends that will shake up the digital world in coming months.

Content Will Only Get Stronger

With 88% of the marketing done through content, standing out in the crowd has become extremely demanding in the digital world. To broaden the scope of content, marketers will focus on creating distinctive, hyper-targeted, and authoritative content that reflects the creativity quotient of the team and engages the users effectively. New types of content like simple quizzes, clickable whitepapers, HTML5 infographics, etc. will be leveraged by marketers to build confidence, develop brand, and become a true thought-leader in their segment. As too much of unneeded verbiage is already scattered online, the businesses will now aim to rise above the noise by contributing something original and substantial to attract and engage the visitor.

Rise Of Live Video Streaming

The customer of today wants information in real time and real fast! With so much of content flooding ceaselessly online, you can no longer rely on a static blog or image to leave an impact on the user. The brands that incorporate live videos in their marketing strategies are receiving more engagement from the visitors. An average visitor seeks for an immense experience that connects him/her to the brand, for which live streaming platforms like periscope, Facebook live, Snapchat, and meerkat are rapidly booming.


Source: wideo.

IOT Is Here To Stay

The Internet is not just the internet anymore. It has become an invasive part of the ecosystem that’s slowly taking over the things we use daily. As per 51% of the world’s top global marketer’s, IOT will completely revolutionize the digital world by the end of 2020. Marketers will further rely on real-time data to learn how customers interact with the products, take decisions, and make purchases. Not just that, IOT will also help to learn about the customers and leverage upon the gathered data to improve the customer service.

Growing User Generated Content

A research from twitter shows that about 50% of the visitors look for customer reviews before taking decisions. Also, over 92% of the visitors trust user recommendations over any other form of advertising media- This is where the importance of user-generated content comes into play. Soon the user-generated content will cover a major share of online content. The trend is economical, result-oriented, and highly effective to engage visitors and push them down the sales funnel.

Impact of Online Reputation Will Grow

80% of the customers agreed that online reputation of a company impacts their purchase decisions heavily. Marketers have realized the impact that online reviews and opinions have on their business. In coming months, more and more companies will make efforts to enhance their online reputation. As Google is now conveniently displaying a company's review alongside the search result, it would become crucial for the marketers to have good customer reviews in their bank if they want to make it large in the digital landscape.

New Search Engines Will Boom

Conventional search engines like Google, yahoo, Bing, and Dogpile could only extract the pages that are easily accessible or are large enough to be located on World Wide Web. However, there are other lesser known engines like Broadreader, Dotmis.com, omgili, etc. that dig deeper into the web and extract results. The new trend will use various social media applications, and strategies to find small but vital information from groups like Behance, Reddit, Tumblr, and other password protected sites and blogs that are ignored blatantly as they are hard to find, or not registered with search engines.

Infographic courtesy of: Click.

The ever-evolving digital sphere is playing in trillions, and to be at par with their efforts marketers have to adapt the emerging trends as quickly as possible. Here's a piece of advice for the businesses that are constantly trying to leave their mark in digital world - Every business has its own data and metrics that guide the managers to take actions and form strategies. Observe the trends and look for inspiration, but don't simply copy what the top-class marketers are doing. The outcome might deceive.

Thanks for the read! Good Luck.

Author's Bio:

Anurag Gupta shares the bracket with the rising entrepreneurs in the digital marketing industry. He has been instrumental in designing and implementing the digital marketing strategy for Weblinkindia, one of the topmost Web Designing & Development Companies in India. His limited knowledge and experience, accumulated over the years, find a vent on several online platforms including this one.