Where Will Marketers Go in 2018?

Each new year brings new ideas, new technology, and new ways of thinking – which all lead to new ways to market.

At the beginning of 2017, it was predicted that virtual reality and augmented reality both would start really taking off. But AR soared so much further than VR – mostly thanks to Snapchat, from its simple dancing hot dog to its intricate Stranger Things portal.

No one knows what 2018 will really bring, but the experts are making their predictions. Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting ones.

Voice-optimized content

Instead of typing their questions into Google, more and more people are asking Siri, Alexa, or Genie. In fact, 20 percent of all online searches in 2017 were conducted by voice. The biggest difference between a typed search and a voice search? Long tail keywords. Look for more brands optimizing for those in 2018.

Quantitative marketing

There are marketing “soft skills,” and then there’s data, research, and science. As the world continues to become more digital all the time – and as the political climate is causing a cultural favoring of facts over opinions – marketers are becoming more data-driven and quantitative over qualitative.

Micro influencers

We know that influencer marketing is powerful – partnering up with a fashion blogger who has 5M followers on Instagram. But what about micro influencers? These are the fashion bloggers who have just 5,000 followers on Instagram. This type of influencer is 4x more likely to get a comment on an Instagram post than an influencer with a larger following, and they are more likely to post about niche topics and have loyal followings. In other words, they’re more reachable and have greater influence on their followers.

Explainer videos

Video is huge. In fact, 74% of all online traffic is video. So it’s no wonder why a good explainer video is more effective than a written explanation or instructions. On a website where an explainer video is present, visitors are many times more likely to watch the video than read the text on the page. As an example, Mint has a great explainer video. You’ve probably already watched at least one this week.

Live streaming

Facebook Live was made available to the general public in April of 2016, and Instagram’s Live feature launched in December of the same year. Marketers are already taking advantage of live streaming, but in 2018, look for more polished and professional live stream videos.

This is only the beginning for AR

As we mentioned earlier in this post, augmented reality made strides in 2017. One advantage it has over VR is that viewers never need a headset to experience it, making it more accessible. While VR is becoming a big part of the gaming world, AR has become mainstream and we expect to see marketers use it in big ways in the upcoming year.

So where will you go in 2018? Chances are the year will call for acquiring new skills. It’s an exciting time to be in marketing!