Top digital marketing tips and trendsetters for 2018
Keep on top of your game this year and get up to date with what’s new so far in 2018.
Clearly social advertising has left a massive impact which seems to be everlasting.
Businesses big and small are flocking to cheap and easy advertising which has a big impact on sales.
But plenty of changes have occurred over the last few months and it’s time to catch up.
Video advertising
Advertising mid-stream on Facebook videos seems to have crept in on the last updates and as annoying as it is for the user, your ad is simply unavoidable.
Well unless they just click off, but most companies will pay good money to sit between those must-watch, intense videos.
With the rise of 360 video/imagery and live stream now readily available, it gives marketers the flexibility to be creative with advertising.
With a huge percentage of users coming from mobile devices, a massive billion hours of videos are watched on YouTube and 8 million on Facebook each and every day!
Chatty chatbots
Gone are the days of waiting on hold to your electrical company and large phone bills for short calls.
The Chatbot is so in fashion right now.
Over 61% of consumer interactions are made through online chat.
A massive 58% of users being millennials.
More and more companies are using these chat facilities to provide great customer support and customer retention.
Top Tip on Data
Another massive change in 2018, is the data you collect while marketing.
With GDPR looming, the fine details cannot be left to a third-party consultant or agency.
How you handle all your data must be compliant by May of 2018.
New data protection regulations (GDPR) are being rolled out across the EU.
This in short now means instead of just taking data from your consumers you will need explicit consent from each individual and must ensure any requests for the data you hold are complied within a timely manner and completely deleted if deemed necessary by the consumer.
This is everything from their location to a simple email address so long as it is personally identifiable.
I’m sure a lot of people may think this will not affect them if they are not in the EU, or maybe when we come out of the European Union this will no longer count.
You’d be completely wrong.
This law counts for pretty much everyone trading online and although it may seem just another change in the law to stop companies accumulating huge amounts of data (which they can potentially sell) in fact it is put in place to protect EU citizens.
So even those outside the EU have to prepare for this.
Don’t leave it to your marketing agency, chase it up!
The cut-off date is the 25th of May 2018, and if you fail to comply then expect a hefty fine.
Storytelling
Instagram has set the trend in storytelling and following great results seen by its owner
this quick-fire storytelling style has also been added to Facebook.
Less known “reels” on YouTube also follow suit giving users the ability to show short snippets of their day to build into a storyboard.
But how can you turn this into great marketing?
It’s pretty simple, all you have to do is video everything.
People love to see behind the scenes of a business, for example, I recently watched a storyboard of a fashion shoot.
From start to finish, makeup, meet the photographer and even having a drink and food after the shoot.
It provides that little extra connection between businesses and consumers, making them feel subconsciously like they are a part of what you do which, to varying degrees translates into online support in the future.
It’s a really big thing and you’d be foolish to miss out on this one.
Voice marketing
20% of Google searches now come from voice search.
With such devices as Alexa and Google Home smart speaker, we have seen a huge rise in voice search queries which means updating key web pages with appropriate schema data and ensuring your most important pages have AMP versions.
Although this seems complicated, your marketing agency should be able to cover this for you.
It is really important to keep up with this trend as 20% is a large rise in such a short period of time.
If you enjoyed reading these digital marketing tips then check out even more useful marketing information on the pages below, to help your business reach its full potential.
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