Digital marketing trends for 2016

December and January are the new silly season for most news & media publishers. There’s a myriad of last year in review and what to expect next year covering all sorts of topics.

Digital marketing is no exception.

Last year I spent a good chunk of time reading and digesting reliable sources to bring you a few trends for the new year. This year I had no such privilege (two words: small baby).

Instead, I quickly browsed a handful of sources, from average-rated to downright dodgy (yes, I click on random links from Facebook posts sometimes – the equivalent of sleep-walking on a screen).

So here is a very short, down-to-the-point list of trends worth mentioning for digital marketing in 2016.

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#1 Mobile, mobile, mobile

There is still a bit of desktop on B2B, a tad of tablet here and there, but expect all main digital interactions to happen on a typical smartphone screen. If you’re still talking about “optimising for mobile”, you are late. Digital is mobile.

#2 Social media = pay-per-click

Consider Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and others alongside Google ads, as part of your PPC strategy. That they’re social media platforms is almost beside the point – what you are doing is designing clickable PPC, not managing communities. Everything else should be shareable anyway, not just what you put out on social media. Each platform has certainly its own “personality” and specific features, but you don’t need different teams managing social and PPC.

#3 Watch out for opportunities via messaging apps

Messaging apps (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Snapchat, Google Hangouts etc) are already big for many customer segments, and they will continue to grow in 2016. Brands can/should use them to build customer relationships and for social spread.

#4 Keep publishing content

Content marketing is still very important but less of a buzzword. “Content” is thus absorbed into the mainstream of publishing and syndication, which have become the bread & butter of marketing communications alongside old style advertising. In 2016 expect more video and cross-platform content campaigns.

#5 Lots of data revolution(s) still in the making

Big data has been jargon du jour for a few years but I believe there is still a lot more it can deliver. 2016 will be a big year in that respect. The UK government’s midata initiative launched in 2015 with voluntary organisations. Programmatic continues growing and is spreading to traditional media such as outdoors. And the internet of things continues expanding with new possibilities such as the wonderful smart bra.