As a passionate marketer, I am always looking for new behavior insights through analytics, surveys or reading recent studies released by research companies or universities. My goal as a marketer is to create relationships and memorable experiences. As I sat down to ponder what will be an effective tool for me to use this year in my profession I discovered a myriad of articles—all of which highlight and “predict” 2016 year of marketing trends.
Facebook Live
This is a neat live-streaming service that we can look forward to in the upcoming months. Right now it is available for a select group of users. It’s as easy as broadcasting live through the push of a button on your profile page. Similar to Periscope, you will be able to see all the live viewers and comments in real time. Your viewers can subscribe to you and receive notification for the next time you are live! This is gold for marketers because one of our goals is to create long-lasting relationships with our customers.
There are multiple live-streaming strategies you can implement, and it all depends on your business goals. For example, if you are rolling out a new product you can use Facebook live to introduce the product and create weekly product demos. The important thing to remember with any live-streaming video service is to stay active and post frequently. Additional examples include Q & A video sessions or showing your company behind the scenes to give your audience a more complete view of who you are and what you value.
Intentional Digital Rabbit Holes
Apture was a service which Google acquired a few years ago that allowed readers to search and explore content without leaving the webpage. This is what many marketers would call an “intentional digital rabbit hole”. As someone hovers or clicks on the link, they will see “additional information” in a popup window. Marketers suggest that this improves the user experience without causing them to bounce off a website. This feature can be utilized for those websites that have lengthy pieces of information. Content marketing is still very important and we are still constructing ways to improve the reader’s experience through research and design.
Social Sharing Through Social Payments
Venmo, now owned by PayPal, is a social payment service that allows friends to pay each other back for anything from shared meals to flight tickets. You can sign up through Facebook and choose to add your bank account information, debit or credit card. This payment app has been very successful due to its unique social aspect. The transaction details are shared on the user’s news feed and their network of friends with a message and emojis. Now we have interesting insights into what people are spending their money on, if they choose to share that in the message they post. Previously the service was closed off to merchants, but recently PayPal released that they will allow merchants to accept payments through Venmo. Bulk purchasing discounts, or warehouse pricing, would be another strategy used with Venmo users to add to the pricing section of a marketing plan. As marketers, it’s important for us to understand how and why people are spending their money and use popular services to reach millions of users.
As marketers, it’s important for us to understand how and why people are spending their money
Drones Used In Marketing & Advertising
The era of the drone has come upon us! Marketers can take advantage of this recent invention and utilize it for behavior research or advertising in the sky over a festival with a banner attached, flying above our heads to create awareness about a new service or product roll-out—also known as aerial advertising. This, of course, is not the only way marketers can use drones. Companies, may start using drones to deliver packages, while others could use drones to carry small fliers to promote lunch specials in a specific area or deliver promotional products such as t-shirts. Drone advertising is still in its early stages due to liability reasons, but once those are kinked out it could be potential for profitable returns.
Content Marketing Still On The Rise!
With any marketing strategy, patience is a must because results take time–it’s an inevitable fact we cannot ignore. According to Quinn Whissen, a marketing expert contributor on Marketing Land, “content marketing is booming every year, with 88 percent of B2B marketers and 76 percent of B2C marketers using it in 2015.” This year we need to stay educated on what the market is digesting in forms of content such as media storytelling, visual graphs, imagery and interactive content. Year by year, content marketing is shaping the way our consumers learn about new products and services, and year by year it changes. Some things to keep in mind for your 2016 marketing strategy:
- Long-tailed conversational style keywords (More people are using “voice search”)
- Mobile optimization (Does it look good on mobile?)
- Bite size content like mini episodes (Keep is simple!)
Artificial Intelligence: Virtual Secretaries
Machines may start to understand you more than your mother. Digital assistants like Siri are rising up as more and more tech geniuses are developing machines that will understand humans. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg made it his challenge to code an artificial intelligence assistant in 2016. We know this is a hot trend this coming year because Japan has already created a robot to help wake up your children, check if you have turned off the oven, and other household chores maintained through an app on your phone.
It’s like having your own R2D2 in your home—pretty soon we may be taking over other planets and riding on spaceships! Now think how this may affect marketing and advertising. Through these little virtual assistants we will have a creepy amount of information about consumer habits and behavior, allowing us marketers to better understand our customers and provide exactly what they want.
Social Responsibility
Marketers, if not already, should really capitalize on corporate social responsibility. Why? Because it shows you care and it creates that trust between your brand and your customers. A recent study by Cone Communications revealed that 70 percent of millennials will spend more on brands that support a cause they are passionate about. If that is not enough to convince you, note that millennials represent $2.45 trillion in spending power, according to AdWeek. For this 2016 marketing strategy consider adding social responsibility to the mix, sit back and watch your numbers grow.
70 percent of millennials will spend more on brands that support a cause they are passionate about
Happy 2016 and Happy Marketing from us at Fahrenheit Marketing! If you are stuck with ideas on how to amp up your marketing initiatives this year give us a ring and we would be more than happy to consult with you on ways to gain new customers or improve your current marketing strategy.