5 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2016

2015 was the year of content marketing, the rise of responsive web design, and the decline of Facebook reach. What digital marketing trends do we think business owners should watch for in 2016? Let’s discuss.

Digital Marketing Trends for 2016

The digital marketing world is quickly changing. Ideas and tactics that once worked can swiftly be ruled inferior by people and search engines in the blink of an eye. From personification to streaming video, here are five digital marketing trends that we think are going to hit the mainstream and be important for your business in 2016.

Technical SEO Knowledge Will be a Must

Technical SEO’s reaped many awards in 2015 and many people noticed. As a Business owner, you should start beefing up your SEO skills so you can have a better understanding of not just how the internet works, but how your website works too. Learning how to do a technical website audit, or even a basic audit, can be extremely valuable when figuring out how to improve rankings and user experience in 2016.

Personification Will be Important

Thousands of pieces of content are published everyday, flooding our blog readers and inboxes to the max. In order to get YOUR content seen and read, it’s important to make sure your inbound marketing strategy is personalized to your users. From call to actions to the copy of a landing page, the content you use will need to be hyper-targeted to your user or it will miss the mark. Creating and using buyer personas can help you craft content that directly appeals to each customer segment – increasing your chances of getting content read and getting those readers in your sales funnel.

Streaming Video Will Continue to Grow

With consumers looking for more personalized messages, the importance of video will continue to grow. Thankfully, video is now easier than ever before as social media sites, such as Facebook, Periscope, and even Snapchat, started to invade the 2015 digital market with live streaming options. When all you need to do is turn on your phone or click a button on a tablet, look for more ways to use video and create one on one engagement with customers in 2016.

Media Buys Will Continue to Evolve

Sponsored content was new in 2015 as companies experimented with new advertising methods to get their brands in front of more people, beyond the normal banner and search ads. This type of advertising was not just an experiment but a huge success for companies such as Vox Media and Buzzfeed, and we expect more sponsored content in 2016. Try partnering with a complimentary service or product in your industry to create sponsored content that will get your brand in front of new potential customers.

Wearables Will Change Geotargeting

For years companies such as Swarm and Facebook have been trying to figure out the geotargeting game, but wearables are actually starting to make it work. With devices like the iWatch, companies are getting access to a variety of geo-data that they’ve never had before. Smartphones and watches may soon start delivering ads based on your location. And if your business is local then it will be a great way to get new information about how people make decisions on-the-go – allowing you to craft tailored content to get them into your store that very day.

Tags: Digital Marketing