Digital marketing is fluid. It is always changing and brands have to be able to adapt to that. Take StickerRide as one example of a company that has adapted to 2016. Using a dedicated app, brands can have their stickers placed on cars of ordinary people, who will drive around and passively advertise your brand in exchange for rewards. Successful elsewhere, it has recently launched in the US.
2016 has already started and we have seen numerous changes to the way the landscape works. This article is going to take a look at some of the trends that will take up the rest of 2016.
Video Advertising Will Continue to Dominate
Video is on the rise. It was on the rise last year and it is on the rise this year. YouTube predicts that hundreds of millions of hours of video are watched on the platform every day. Facebook is continuing to promote video advertising and all major search engines are looking to accommodate video.
Just because you operate with video doesn't guarantee success. There's no one size fits all strategy, but video will undoubtedly help.
Live Streaming is Rising to the Top
When Meerkat was unveiled this year, it had other social media networks scrambling to get involved in live streaming. Twitter acknowledged it was in the middle of creating a new platform based on Periscope. And the two have competed ever since.
Social live streaming is no longer a novelty. It will become the norm.
Mobile Wins the Day
The big change was that mobile only surpassed desktop only in the US for the first time. Mobile is going to press its advantage and desktop is going to enter a state of terminal decline. This is a time in the history of the web that every marketer should be watching closely.
The rest of 2016 will see a further thrashing, and that's going to force companies to reevaluate their strategies.
Virtual Reality is Growing
Virtual reality is something that has been on the cards for years. The release of the Oculus Rift in the gaming industry has only ramped up excitement for what virtual reality can do. More and more brands are looking at this new technology and wondering how they can make it work for them.
By providing a client with a full 360-degree experience, there's no telling what you can achieve. And 2016 is the year where brands are about to find that out.
Relationship Marketing is Here
The concept of building a relationship with your target market is not a new one. What is happening for the first time is that brands are dedicating entire marketing campaigns to it. This strategy is designed to provoke loyalty.
This is why a number of prominent brands have already started to work with StickerRide. By allowing their target audience to market for them, it's hoped that these brands will be able to build closer relationships, while at the same time earning rewards for their efforts.
Social Marketing Hasn't Gone Anywhere
The last major prediction or trend for 2016 is that social media marketing hasn't gone anywhere. It's here to stay and it should still be your main priority. The name of the game is to build solid relationships with your target audience. Building up your social media marketing plan will ensure that you are best placed to take advantage of this continuing trend.
But what has changed about social media?
Mobile ads are king and geo-targeted ads are even more powerful. One study says that $15 billion will be spent on mobile ads targeted by location by 2018. And the number could increase even further in the years afterwards, as marketers aim to become more specific in their targeting.
Conclusion - Getting Ready for the Year
Do remember that getting ready for the year is all about making sure that you have a strategy in place. Take StickerRide as an example. They gradually scaled up in other parts of the world, before finalizing a US launch. They already have a good idea of whether they will succeed or not, and to what extent.
Make sure you have a plan and make sure you are scaling your efforts to ensure that you are not wasting any money on a cause that won't benefit you.
Testing is the key to making sure that you succeed in the realm of digital marketing. What do you think is the biggest marketing trend for 2016?