The future of Digital Marketing

Where will digital marketing be in 10 years time? what about 5 years time? According to Adobe’s Digital Distress survey 76% of marketers felt that marketing has changed more in the past 2 years than the previous 50.

There are numerous trends and innovations taking over the digital marketing realm some you may know more than others. Some of the big buzzword trends are AI, chatbots, email and marketing automation, adwords, VR and AR (which was discussed several weeks back).

Here are two trends you may not have realised are starting to look like they are taking over the digital realm.

1. Video

Yes, video! Many disregard it as a growing trend but the numbers don’t lie and to ignore it or underestimate it can be harmful. According to Cisco by 2021, 82% of internet traffic will be through video.

In a 2017 Facebook earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “I see video as a megatrend. That’s why I’m going to keep putting video first across our family of apps.”

Here are some reasons why live video so attractive and expected to grow:

i). It’s authentic: In some cases, editing may take the originality out of it and smart consumers know that they are only being shown what the business wants you to see. But with live video, viewers can see events as they occur and there’s no feeling of a “doctored” video.

ii). It’s cheaper: Editing videos and other production costs can eat into your marketing budget through time and labor. With a live video, your only need is a camera and internet connection.

iii). It activates FOMO: With an uploaded video, social media users can always come back to view it. For a live video though, there’s some thrill in watching it live.

There are many ways you can apply live videos for your business. Some are:

i). Hosting an industry event: When your business hosts an industry event, it can be an opportunity to establish your reputation in your industry to prospects and customers by recording it as it happens.

ii). Product launch: This is one way to add glamour to your product launch. You can create more awareness for your product and viewers can see the demonstration of how to use it.

Apart from live videos, there are many other ways to use video for your business. Many website visitors today prefer watching videos to reading a text because it’s easier to visualize the concepts.

Having video versions of your written content gives you an opportunity to reach a wider audience and when you consider that YouTube is the second largest search engine, then it creates a lot of opportunity you can generate for your business.

2. Voice search

 With the improvement in voice recognition, voice searches have been increasingly getting more popular. Smart speakers can be used to order items and control smart devices your home solely through verbal command.

There are many reasons why voice command leads to profits. Some of them are:

i). Voice search is easier: It’s easier and safer for people who are on the move to talk to their phone rather than type. With voice command,you can still type while walking without breaking your stride.

ii). Voice search is faster: People can talk faster than they can type, which means they can also perform a voice search faster.

Now, you may be wondering how these affect your business. Here are a few reasons why you should optimize your website for voice searches:

1) Voice search usage is increasing on mobile: in 2016, voice searches accounted for 20% of searches on Android devices and it’s only getting higher.
2) Smart Speakers are becoming more popular: with the introduction of Amazon Echo a few years ago, followed by the Google Assistant and Apple Home pod, smart speakers are becoming popular household items. According to research by NPR and Edison Research, 39 million Americans currently own a smart speaker.

3) Majority of people using voice search are performing a local search: When people perform a voice search, they’re usually looking to buy from a local business.

To optimize your website for local SEO rankings and voice search, you need to note the following:

– Voice searches are usually longer than typed searches: Since they’re way easier, voice searches tend to be longer than typed searches. Therefore, optimizing your content for long-tail keywords* is important if you’re targeting voice search.

– Voice searches are conversational: Most people perform voice searches like they’re talking to someone else so it’s important to make your website content conversational.

* More about creating voice-command friendly content: Some experts think voice could comprise 50% of 2019 searches. Therefore, this makes long-tail SEO strategy more vital than ever. Why? People tend to voice search with full sentences and questions, not a specific domain name or a few keywords. Factors like loading time and site organization are also becoming more important in an age of quick, on-the-go mobile and voice search.

Think about your own website and its loading time. Is it worth investing in a professional audit and a capable web designer experienced in optimizing for mobile and voice search to stay up with the trends of 2019?

Also, as search engines grow more and more sensitive to user intent, it becomes increasingly vital that every image, video, and piece of content is appropriately tagged with meta descriptions and alt-text. Search engines use these bits of information to promptly categorize and serve up your content to users. Without them, you lose traffic – more so in 2019.

So what do you think? Do you look at video and voice searches in a different light or do you think they are pointless tactics in the realm of digital marketing? Are there any interesting trends you know about that I should go over? Did you enjoy this blog post? Let me know in the comments below.