With 2018 upon us, everybody is talking about what they’re going to do, resolutions and what the new year might bring.

With the digital sphere constantly changing and keeping people on their toes, why not go into the new year knowing what to keep your eye on?

Great idea, right?

To make it simple, we have put together the top 5 Digital Trends that you should be keeping your eyes on:

Investing In Influencer Marketing Will Continue to Increase

Influencer marketing involves companies focusing and orientating their efforts around certain influencers in the market rather than the market as a whole.

Why is it beneficial? Individuals who are labelled as influencers have a certain amount of power of consumers and buyers in the market. Because of this, businesses can use these influencers to create brand awareness as well as help persuade buyers to choose their product/service over competitors.

How do we know this works? According to Social Media Today, 74% of consumers look to social media networks for advice when wanting to make a buying decision.

What’s more? 40% of those consumers have bought products based on endorsement or promotion by an influencer.

Artificial Intelligence Use Will Continue to Soar

Artificial Intelligence has been integrated into the digital sphere for a few years now. However, only in the last two years has it really started to take off. It is used for many things, including:

• Capturing customer data.
• Tracking customer behaviour.
• To chat to online users through text, and much more.

To further this analysis, it is said that 57% of marketers are already using AI as part of their marketing strategies [according to salesforce research]. This number will continue to climb as it eases pressure on employees in every business.

Customer Experience Marketing Continues to Be a Focal Point

What is customer experience marketing?

To put it simply, it is the experience that customers have and go through when they interact with the marketing materials that businesses supply.

Why is it important? Well, customers look at and see your business through the experience that they have had with you. More often than not, these experiences are through marketing materials that your business offers.

What’s more? If customers have a great experience with you, they are more likely to become brand loyalists and in some cases, even brand ambassadors.

Video Content Will Take Centre Stage

We all know how the rise of video content online in 2017 affected marketing. What if we told you that it will take centre stage in 2018. Becoming the most important aspect of content marketing for your business.

Want proof? According to Wordstream, video content generates 1200% more shares than text messages and images combined.

What’s more? Viewers retain 95% of a message when seen in a video and only 10% when reading it in text. Yes, video content is needed as part of your marketing strategy.

Transparency Will Become More And More Crucial

With the wealth of information that customers have access to online and with the ease that they have access to It, there is little room for marketers to deceive consumers in the marketplace.

This is where transparency comes in. Along with trust, it is a huge deal.

To be ahead of the pack, review your marketing strategy and make sure consumers have access to the following:

• Access to a platform where they can review your business.
• A behind-the-scenes look at your business and company culture.
• A human element in the marketing activities.

A degree of transparency that will help you effectively position your brand will be achieved if done correctly and effectively.

To conclude, 2018 looks like its going to be an invigorating, exciting and constantly changing year in the marketing industry. As a result, you need to keep up with the trends and stay ahead of the game to market your business effectively.

To put it simply, be customer-centric, authentic, transparent, and make sure that you have included video into the content plan for the year.