7 Digital Marketing Trends You Can’t Ignore In 2019

I’ve always been intrigued by technology. Back in 2016 - when I was still a student - I published my first blog article on how technology makes our lives easier.

Now, I realize that the term The Fourth Industrial Revolution was first coined at the World Economic Forum the same year.

Whether you like it or not, we live in an era of robots, machine learning, AI, smart speakers, self-driving cars, and other emerging technologies. 

Because of rapid technological advancements across all verticals, it’s important to stay on top of the latest trends. Especially in digital marketing.

The predictions below are far from complete but I do believe that these trends will play an important role in the digital landscape this year.

Although many of these innovations have already been gaining traction in the US, the adoption rate in European countries has skyrocketed over the past few years.

Let’s dive in. Shall we?

1. Our camera as a tool for information discovery

One of the innovations I’m really curious about is visual search.

In December 2018, Google published an update outlining the future of visual search through its machine learning app which goes by the name Google Lens.

This photo-recognition tool can look up words from images and has the ability to identify more than 1 billion objects. Mind-blowing isn’t it?

As text is becoming more and more saturated, it’s not surprising at all that all tech giants are jumping on the visual bandwagon. Humans are visual beings after all.

Thanks to companies like Google we have access to billions of images. What if we could use this data to simplify people’s lives? This technology makes searching for answers easier.

It may sound like a cliché but I’m sure you’re familiar with the idiom: “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Sometimes it’s easier to rely on visual search when you can’t find the right words.

Visual search possibilities are endless. Just think about the following innovations which may become a reality in the future:

• Scan business cards and automatically add contact details to your contact list
• Point your camera to a marketing book and receive more information about the author
• Take a selfie with someone you met during a marketing event and automatically send them a connection request on LinkedIn
• Receive personalized in-camera image ads or shoppable videos

Many of the above-mentioned things - which popped into my mind - may seem far-fetched but they’re coming. Shoppable videos already exist by the way.

Companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, and many others are all working on visual search solutions.

This technology is still in its infancy so it will take a few years until it becomes part of our marketing plan.

2. Creating trust through conversations

While 2018 was all about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), 2019 may be an opportunity for marketers to restore trust.

Consumers have changed and they’re more concerned about their privacy than ever before.

Let’s go over a few innovative ways on how you can win your customers’ trust this year:

1. Create a community

Communities are (online) places which consist of like-minded professionals who share common interests.

Creating an engaging online community takes time but is completely worth it in the long run.

A community brings your brand closer to your audience and creates a place for learning. This is also called education-based marketing; a strategy which establishes trust and credibility with your fans.

How do you do that?

I’m a big fan of Facebook Groups. In my Facebook Group, Digital Marketing Belgium (5,000 members), for example, we share tips & tricks on digital marketing, invite experts to #dmbvoices series, and just help others when possible.

This is a strategy you can use for every type of business. Just create a place for learning, providing value and helping out. Good stuff will happen.

2. Provide real-time support

People want answers and they want them fast. Thanks to instant gratification, human beings expect to receive feedback as fast as possible.

Technology makes this possible.

Messenger apps like Facebook Messenger have been gaining a lot of traction lately.

More than 1.3 billion people use Messenger every month according to Statista. And did you know that approximately 1.5 billion users use WhatsApp on a monthly basis? That’s insane.

I expect to see more one-to-one, real-time and authentic conversations this year. More conversations will result in more messenger ads and probably an invasion of smart chatbots to nurture conversations.

Conversational marketing will be a buzzword in 2019. Instant messaging is here to stay.

3. Voice search is just around the corner

Especially in the US, voice search is taking the industry by the storm.

Let’s take a look at some recent stats and predictions from a trusted source, Wordstream:

• About 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020
• About 20% of all US households (57.8M out of 252M) have access to smart speakers but this number is expected to rise above 50% in 3 years time
• Vendors reported more than 200% percent year-on-year growth in unit sales in Q1 2018

The market is mainly dominated by Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home, according to Voicebat. Sales numbers in Europe are picking up but the US holds the largest market share.

At the moment, smart devices are mainly used for music streaming, searching for information (e.g. weather), looking up historical facts, checking out news, setting alerts/timers. Or are just used for fun, says a recent study from Nielsen.

Apart from allowing users to access information faster through smart speakers, voice search will play an important role in SEO.

Optimizing your page for voice can be done by including question phrases, as voice search is way different than regular searches, says Neil Patel, an expert within this field. This way, you’re optimizing your site for user intent.

Of course, this is just one example of the many tactics you can adopt.

Together with visual search, voice search will revolutionize the way we look for information online.

In my opinion, 2019 will be the year where many digital marketers will look into voice search but it will still take a few years before it will become part of our gameplan.

4. The explosion of video content

Wave video, Lumen5, Reevio, Magisto and Adobe Spark. What do these video tools have in common?

They allow marketers to produce high-quality videos with a low budget. Creating videos used to be hard. Not anymore.

However, creating videos remains a very lucrative business for agencies.

In my opinion, most businesses still think that high-production videos perform better than low-budget ones. That’s not true.

High-quality videos shot with your camera are more authentic and will appeal more to your target audience.

This year, I expect more “Live” videos, more AI-driven video tools and huge wins for YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn - three platforms that think video-first.

5. New ways of advertising

Over the past years, many social platforms have changed how their algorithm works.

Facebook, for example, has evolved toward “meaningful conversations” and dramatically decreased its organic reach, especially for company pages. As a result, advertising on this platform has become more expensive as more brands are paying for clicks.

It feels like we’re constantly evolving toward a “pay-to-play” economy.

Of course, there are many differences across the multiple social channels.

To give you an idea, LinkedIn allows me to reach thousands of impressions for free while Facebook's organic reach is very limited.

It still surprises me that only a small percentage of all LinkedIn users (I guess around 1%) produces content on LinkedIn.

Today, LinkedIn is the go-to platform and will get you tons of impressions for free. Use your personal brand to boost your business. LinkedIn is the perfect place for that.

Overall, content production is on the rise as Google processes 3.5 billion searches per day. And more content means more advertising.

Thanks to all these changes, new ways of advertising have evolved. Think of Google’s new shoppable display ads for example. Or Netflix’s skippable video promotions.

This year, I expect new ad formats and improved targeting possibilities.

Creativity will be key to stand out in this noisy world.

6. Improved personalization for an unique experience

“Artur, we’ve added a film you might like.”

If you’ve been watching movies on Netflix lately, you’ve probably received multiple personalized emails with similar subject lines.

Thanks to data and AI, Netflix is able to create unique experiences and recommendations. This goes further than basic segmentation.

No more emails based on demographic data. The next level of personalization will be driven by artificial intelligence and smart data by combining various elements, such as behavior, context (weather), location or your customer’s beliefs.

Possibilities are endless. Imagine receiving personalized winter clothing recommendations from your favorite store when weather predictions look severe.

Fast technological advancements and machine learning will allow marketers to create unique experiences for individuals.

7. Stories everywhere

Stories, an ephemeral type of content which was originally introduced by Snapchat, are rapidly on the rise since recent news feed algorithm changes forced marketers to discover new ways to gain traction.

During a conference call in January 2018, Facebook said that stories will become more popular than regular posts:

“Stories are on track to overtake posts in feeds as the most common way that people share across all social apps.”

In December 2018, Facebook rolled out Group Stories globally, a feature which I have been testing heavily in my own group of 5,000 members.

I expect Stories to dominate the social media landscape in 2019.

Over to you!

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