We are always trying to predict and exchange ideas on how technology and marketing will evolve and how we can adapt to these changes. As we 2016 begins, it’s time to critically assess and forecast upcoming digital marketing trends to maximise opportunities.Here are 5 key digital marketing developments to keep an eye on in 2016, and tips on how your business can make the most of them.
App Development You may have already seen apps appearing when searching on your mobile device (such as Amazon and Ebay, for example). These apps play the same role as a mobile optimised website, but include more intuitive, user-friendly and engaging elements, such as push notifications. Google is already facilitating significant visibility advantages for owners of apps in 2016. It seems we all need to seriously consider the role apps can play for our business sooner rather than later, so start thinking about how your business could benefit.

Wearable Technology
With smart watches already gaining popularity, we need to be ready for a generation where accessories, hats, trousers and shoes will be able to connect and communicate with the web. So how will this new technology change the way your business should attract consumers? For one, the location-based capabilities can be used to provide content to the right people, at the right time, in the right place. Placing an advertisement when a potential buyer is close to your store/service will provide a vital advantage in the future. The small screens of these devices mean that your content needs to be powerful and to-the-point. These wearable technologies will give great insight into customer behaviour patterns, so marketers can provide hyper-targeted advertisements and content based on the customers’ behaviour.

New Social Media Platforms With Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn becoming saturated with businesses, services and all kinds of other companies, brands will start flocking to more niche platforms such as Instagram, Periscope and Snapchat. These instant, real-time platforms create engaged and passionate consumers, traits marketers crave in potential customers. Snapchat’s introduction of their new brand-centric “Discover” section, suggests that these new channels will continue to be a focus going into 2016.

Interactive Engagement With an endless supply of engaging social platforms, apps and games on offer to consumers, engaging your audience for more than a few seconds is becoming an increasingly difficult task. Interactive content is a key weapon in this battle against a clutter of distractions. Live feeds, Q&A’s, animated presentations, and interactive polls are entertaining and encourage social sharing. Move away from the traditional blog posts and start thinking about original, innovative ways to interact and engage with your audience.

Video Ads will Start Dominating
Online video ads are significantly more expensive to produce than other formats, but prices are steadily decreasing as more publishers push into video and placements open up. Having recently reviewed this area direct with Google we’ve also seen how less competition in this area is resulting in lower direct response prices so there is more balance for R.O.I. than you may presume. Video ads are popping up in unexpected places (not just the usual pre-YouTube ads), as users are becoming more accepting of video ads online. However the dislike for cluttered advertisements and pop-ups mean video ads need to stand out as being entertainment, rather than direct promotion. As ad-blocker technologies become more enhanced, even video ads will have to adapt to avoid being blocked.

So what will your business’ New Year’s resolution be?
Start preparing for an explosion of new technologies. Ensure your company is over-shadowing your competitors by foreseeing and utilising these upcoming digital marketing trends.We'd love to help so get in touch to discuss the opportunities. info@digity.co.uk / 01189 100 012