Digital Marketing in 2017 saw several major changes with the industry pretty much getting its wake-up call. There were transformations that will continue to influence and affect the work of digital marketers in the coming year. As we go speeding into 2018, here are 7 predictions about how the digital marketing landscape will evolve and pan out in the coming year.

1. The Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Grow in 2018

AI is not new – in fact, you probably already interact with marketing AI on a regular basis when you see ads in search results and on social media. And, 57% of marketers already use AI.

However, the use of AI for marketing is only going to grow as the technology improves. It’s projected to grow by 53% in the next couple of years.

2. Live Video Usage and Viewership Will Continue to Soar

Like AI, live video is nothing new, but it’s growing exponentially. Everyone wants a piece of Facebook Live.

And, it isn’t just popular with marketers. People love watching live video too. In fact, 80% of users said they’d rather watch a live video than read a blog post, while according to Facebook, live video gets 3x more views.

Here are a few tips for getting started with live video:

• Use live video at events to give followers a behind-the-scenes look at the event.
• Show off holiday displays and sales in live video.
• Use live video to introduce your followers to your employees.
• Advertise an exclusive sale or promotion to anyone who watches your live video.

3. Mobile Video Consumption Will Grow

If your website, and your marketing strategy more broadly, isn’t optimized for mobile yet, 2018 is the year to start. Put simply, search engines will penalize you if your website isn’t mobile friendly.

Besides, it’s no secret that consumers spend much of their lives staring at their phones.

In 2018, mobile video consumption is expected to grow by 25% (and video consumption is supposed to decline on laptops and desktop computers for the first time ever), so get ahead of the competition now by planning a mobile video strategy.

Live video is a great place to start if you’re a DIY kind of business owner.

4. Customer Experience Marketing Will Increase

Customer experience marketing is exactly what it sounds like – making sure the customer has a good experience when you market to them.

And, it’s gaining popularity; 68% of marketers say their business is increasingly focusing on customer experience in marketing.

Customer experience is hugely important. Customers see your business or brand as the sum of experiences they’ve had with you. This could be anything from in-store customer service to finding your local listing online or seeing one of your business’s ads on Facebook.

5. Twitter May Fall While LinkedIn Will Rise

While other social media platforms are seeing steady or rapid growth, Twitter has failed to grow its user base in 2017. Recently, the platform tried to revive its reach by expanding its traditional 140 character count to 280 characters, but this effort’s success has yet to be seen.

As a result, marketers are investing in other platforms to reach their audiences. This trend will continue in 2018 as Twitter continues to die a slow death.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn has made a number of improvements to its advertising platform in 2017 and presented a refreshed user interface, offering new opportunities for B2B and B2C brands. Instagram, for its part, continues to grow at an incredible rate. In 2017, Instagram announced that approximately 800 million people use the platform each month. Their latest tool, Instagram Stories, became more popular than Snapchat just one year after going live, and we expect more people to continue to migrate over from Snapchat to Instagram Stories in 2018.

6. Brands Will Invest Heavily in Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing as a strategy has been growing in popularity for the past few years, but new and different types of brands are now starting to take notice. According to Inc.com, 84% of marketers planned on executing at least one Influencer Marketing campaign during 2017, and businesses generate $6.50 for every $1 invested in influencer marketing. Clothing and beauty brands have had great success with using micro influencers and major celebrities for a while now, but now brands like Amazon are getting in on the action.

7.  Privacy Protection Will Be a Major Priority Across the Globe

With the onset of new privacy regulations across the globe, brands must be prepared to comply. In addition, 2017’s massive data breaches have had a considerable impact on how consumers everywhere think about their online privacy and security. Consumers will prioritize companies and products that put their information security first in 2018 and beyond as these attacks continue to become more common, and smart marketers will begin using privacy protection and data security as a value proposition across all industries and product offerings.

In conclusion…

As it stands now, marketing is likely to become more much analytical and more broad, entering new platforms, situations and mediums, but it will continue to be focused heavily on organic search, improved AI capabilities and influencer-based campaigns. Good luck!

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