Marketing Trends 2016

 

1) Teenager's are going to ditch Facebook: Over the years there has been a slow but distinct drop in Facebook's Active teen user base. With the number of social media platforms Teenagers are shifting to newer social media platforms. A poll in 2012 had Facebook as the preferred social media for 42% of teenagers but a recent survey of 2015 found that facebook was the preferred social media platform of only 15% of teenagers.
2) The Rise of the social CRM: No longer can brands consider different digital platforms separately; more and more brands will link all their digital presence (Websites, social networks, email etc.) into one single analytical entity. This will help in understanding each customer in better light. The preferred channel that each customer chooses to interact with creating separate digital personas and grouping individuals accordingly. Brands which will be able to track multiple channels will be able to leverage this knowledge to earn the business.
3) Social Search Optimisation: Many social media platforms for example Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook have created new search functions. Social Search optimisation could be the new way of reaching customers looking for specific products.
4) Increased Social and Native ad Spend: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn have all invested heavily in their advertising platforms in 2015, with new features offering more ways for brands connect with audiences. With the rise of ad blocking software’s for mobile as well as computers, Social media and native advertising will be an effective alternative to Search engine based marketing activities.
5) Social Selling will be the next big Disrupter: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Google. All have introduced a ‘buy button’ recently, hoping to turn browsing into buying. The attraction for these platforms is obvious in terms that apart from generating revenue from Social-commerce, Brand engagement will rise along with gathering of valuable user data.
6) CMO's Will Spend More Than CIO's on technology: A recent report by Gartner stated that the typical IT budget was around 3.6% while that for marketing was around 10 % of overall revenue. As marketing becomes more technology centric such as social listening and Mastering Big data to overcome competition more will be spent on MarTech (Marketing Technology).
7) Social Media is going to spread Like wildfire: Social media over times has moved beyond the traditional departments of marketing and PR and is now ever-present in various other departments such as HR, Legal, It security etc. This trend will only grow in strength in the coming time.
 8) Influencer marketing will rule the roost: Although Influencer marketing has not been of much effect in the past but with better understanding of consumers and Influencers, and how consumers interact with a specific influencer will only help in improving ROI from this channel. The Organisations which crack this first will be the one which will turn out victo
rious.
9) The Deflating Tech Bubble: Signs are showing that the tech bubble is slowly deflating with valuations dropping for firms such as snapchat, Dropbox etc. This will only drive these organisations to invent newer ways of generating revenue.
10) New Players in the Social Space: There have been many new entrants in the social media space; one significant name to be mentioned is Meetup which is focussed on driving the Virtual world back to the social world. Many Groups on meetups have gatherings in excess of 100's of people and some brands have started sponsoring these events partly to reach out to extremely targeted audiences. One will need to keep a lookout for similar spaces as the Virtual and the real world collide.

About The Author : Ruben Das  is a marketing head at a Startup specializing in both online marketing as well as Offline Marketing


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