As the days get shorter and 2016 draws to a close, we thought we’d take a look back on some of the biggest trends in digital media this past year. Many of the tools and mediums that reached critical mass of popular consumption in 2016 will be the foundation upon which marketers, content producers, and businesses will utilize to engage with, acquire and retain customers in 2017.
Here are the top 5 trends we saw in 2016 that should be carried over to your 2017 digital marketing strategy:
Mobile First
The mobile and tablet generation has been well documented, and the age of internet shopping has barely reached its peak. It should come as no surprise then that the importance of not only a functional, but a meaningful mobile experience was paramount this year, and will be even more so in 2017.
(Photo: Richard Schneider / Flickr - Source: Adobe)
By 2020, Cisco estimates that mobile data traffic will generate over 7 billion DVDs’ worth of traffic… that’s a whole lot of Sex & The City marathons! As such, it’s not enough for your online presence to be merely ‘mobile-friendly’; developing or updating your site with a mobile-first mindset will definitely pay dividends for your business.
When we worked with Community 54 to build their website, it was imperative that users were able to shop for products directly from their mobile or tablet with as much ease as they would on a desktop computer. We also had to ensure the digital representation matched the in-store vibe of the brand and held true to the motto #CommunityOverEverything.
Shoot It. Don’t Spray it.
Over the past 18 months, the prevalence of video consumption online hasn’t gone unnoticed by marketers and businesses, and has subsequently become the most ubiquitous medium to deliver content to consumers.
With video traffic expecting to reach 82 percent of total internet traffic by 2020, it is imperative for brands and businesses to use video in order to reach your target audience, and ultimately drive sales.
However, producing content in the form of moving pictures isn’t merely enough.
Looks Matter
Video became the clear method of delivery in 2016. That’s great. If you can produce quality content. With the mass adoption of video, saturation quickly became a by product, and in turn leads audiences to consume content with a more critical viewpoint.
With every marketer, business and brand vying for consumers’ attention through video, a poor aesthetic and production quality will most certainly make you stand out from the crowd, and not in a good way.
This doesn’t mean you have to hire a professional agency to produce your video content, but it means you must take into account the audience you are trying to reach, where you’re trying to reach them, and the aesthetic approach your business will take; a video uploaded to YouTube or Facebook will not have the same aesthetic impact when being posted to Instagram.
Platforms like Twitter and Instagram are investing more into social video, and Snapchat has become one of the fastest growing networks. As such, dipping the company toes into the deep end of the content pool without a well thought-out video strategy to buoy your business is not recommended.
Instead, work across your company to integrate the efforts of the marketing team with that of sales to develop a unique, personalized brand identity, that will not only resonate with customers, but best represents your business.
Social networks are the bread and butter for marketers to reach customers, but as we all know, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. In recent years, business and brands reaching their fans on Facebook have felt the squeeze, as organic reach has plummeted, and not by accident.
Currently, expected engagement rates for content hover around 6%. This means, even if people follow you, subscribe or like your page on Facebook, more than 90% of them won’t even see your social content, if it isn't promoted with advertising dollars.
However, if your business is armed with a strategy for paid social and search, you can reach the right people with the right message.
If a video is posted and isn’t live, does it make a sound?
Live video is here to stay. And we don’t mean Periscope. In 2016, Facebook opened the floodgates to live streaming video, and it didn’t take long for it to catch on. To compete, Instagram added moments and subsequently is rolling out ‘live stories’, combining the in-the-moment immediacy of Facebook Live, with the fleeting temporality of Snapchat.
Some of the biggest digital brands are taking advantage of live video whilst it still maintains some feeling of novelty. The immediacy of social media draws audiences attention to engage content while it is live (see the urban dictionary definition of FOMO), and with platforms like Facebook, once the stream is complete, you have an archived piece of content that can be repackaged, reused and reposted to extend its life cycle.
You don't have to be as big as Buzzfeed to positively impact your business, either. We're getting in on the Live video trend, presenting a recurring series of informational talks with industry leaders in a segment we call #NuscreenLIVE.
This space will be an increasingly competitive means of branding come 2017, so the best way to diversify your business is to go the extra mile; create value for your customers with relevant content, increase the production value of live video with on-screen graphics, multiple camera angles, and create a program schedule.
Follow our list of New Year's Resolutions, and you'll be driving people through that purchase funnel in no time.
