The technology industry has been evolving every year like crazy and this craze is not going vanish any time soon. And, digital marketing trends never really disappear – they just get re-energized or renewed. You know, the same marketing trends with a little boost here and a little push there.
So, it is now your job to learn what’s going to work and not going to work in this upcoming year 2019.
Well, I have made your job easier and listed down the top 7 digital marketing trends that I think will overpower in 2019.
1. Artificial Intelligence
This is one topic that has been around for quite a few years. But this year, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at its peak as it not only helps you engage with your audience but also drives relevant traffic to your business, increase your sales, helps you acquire new customers as well as maintain a healthy relationship with your existing customers.
Integrating AI based marketing into your business ensures that you get accurate end results as it analyzes your database and provides you with valuable insights based on consumer behavior and search patterns.
The most popular example of AI in digital marketing is Chatbots. Apart from this, you can use it to get personalized product recommendations, create and curate content, use in email marketing, digital marketing, web design, improve user experience and receive predictive analysis.
How you use this advanced technology depends upon your vision, but this is an absolute marvel of a technology that will turn out to be a boon for your business if utilized in the right way.
2. Chatbots
As mentioned earlier, chatbots are a good example of the use of AI in digital marketing. Chatbots are mainly used to instantly communicate with your customers, be it day or night, workday or a holiday. Customers feel good when they receive instant replies and this is where chatbots are proved to be most effective. Also, chatbots have an accurate data about the customer’s behavior history and can hold a conversation just like a human, in some cases even better than humans (meaning they don’t lose patience when handling a not so co-operative customer).
Businesses are slowly adopting chatbots into their business and it has been estimated that this is rapidly going to grow in the years to come according to this survey done in 2018.
Investing in a chatbot is not only beneficial in the customer service department but also in the sales department. Using chatbots for communicating with customers and automating repetitive tasks allows you to invest your precious time planning out and implementing your business strategies.
3. Influencer Marketing
Over the years, influencers, mainly from various social media platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram have become a major trend. These influencers have a lot of fan following – their posts, vlogs, pictures or tweets receive a massive engagement from their followers; using them for your business has proven to be quite an effective marketing tool and will continue to be in the coming year as well.
Now, the problem with influencer marketing is that, with this growing trend, the prices of these social media influencers have also grown to an extent that it may be out of budget for many of you. So, an alternative is to look out for local influencers or micro-influencers. Although, these local influencers don’t have such a large following the ones they have are genuine who show authentic interest in their content and can prove to be long-lasting.
So, go ahead and make a list of influencers that interests you. Follow each of their posts, make comments and communicate with them. Then reach out to them on a more ground level and convince them to speak out for you and your brand.
4. Voice Search and Smart Speakers
With the rising use of Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and many other voice search devices, searching for information on the web while doing other activities has become quite popular among users. With time, the accuracy of the results via voice search has improved with lesser errors and instant results.
But the one major thing to keep in mind about voice search is that this is quite different than a regular text-based search. When you search for something in Google, you will see hundreds of search result pages and the possibility of your website being listed there is high. But when a voice search is done, people tend to use full sentences or questions rather than just enter keywords and the search results will be fewer and quite specific.
With almost 39 million Americans using smart speakers like Alexa and Google Home, you need to optimize it for voice search and update your SEO strategy accordingly. Make sure to edit your keywords that are more in a conversational manner keeping in mind the way people speak as compared to when they type.
5. Visual Search
Searching for information has expanded to new levels, and the one that stands out is visual search. Along with voice search, visual search makes the user experience much more delightful and convenient. Even though, this technology has yet to advance, many brands like Google, Pinterest, and Microsoft that have already launched their own visual search engines.
Users just need to snap a picture, upload and search online to get specific results. For example, if you love a dress that a friend is wearing, you can just take a picture and use visual search to get information like where to shop, price, the material of the dress and other details of that identical or similar dress that you have entered.
This technology can prove to be a huge opportunity especially for e-commerce retailer, fashion and home décor brands.
6. Social Media
There is no doubt that social media still rules the digital marketing arena. It is estimated that in 2019, the number of social media users will reach around 2.77 billion. Now, that is a lot of users.
For businesses to flourish in social media, you need to stay up to date about all the changes and trends that are popular at the moment. And let me remind you, that these trends happen a lot and keep changing regularly. Also, being active in just one social media platform will never be enough. In order to reach out to the maximum number of audiences, you need to show your presence everywhere.
So, optimize your content so that it is relevant in multiple platforms and eventually leads users to your website or brand. And remember, always stay updated.
7. Video Marketing
Videos are a great content marketing strategy, but live videos are even better. The authentic nature of a live video is what attracts genuine audience towards your brand. This is a great way to build trust between you and your audience and also increase engagement on a one-one level.
Also, videos can not only be used for interviews or live demos, but you can also branch out and start a live behind-the-scenes video, post clips from an office party, give an office tour, live Q&As, etc.
Videos are no longer limited to just YouTube, now, there are so many platforms available where you can start a live video and engage with customers just then and there. Just make your videos fun, engaging yet make sure that the prime message is delivered across to the audience.
Conclusion
As every year comes and goes, new marketing trends pop out. Some of them stay, evolve for the betterment and some of them just vanish away.
The upcoming year 2019 is all about providing a better user experience using advanced search technologies, personalization, and automation. But it is also about using genuine content and staying on top. I advise you to know your target audience, study their behavior and wants, plan out your marketing strategy and deliver accordingly.