Guest Column : Digital Marketing Trends that might need to die in 2018

With more and more emerging technologies in the market, the momentum of the digital industry has been extremely fast pacedthroughout 2016. 2017 saw our market get up to speed with the velocity but changing trends and technology can make today’s truth be yesterday’s news.Here’s a look at a fewdigital marketing trends that we might see the last of in 2018.

Fall of Organic reach on Facebook:

The percentage of organic reach on Facebook has been falling since 2014 as Facebook has become a true commercial platform. Facebook was looked upon initially as a must have platform to promote a brand or product but lately due to the commercialization of the platform, organic reach is slowly being phased out and will eventually come to an end.

At the end of 2017 Facebook introduced in select markets a separate news feed for corporate pages. Withseparated feeds, users would have to make a choice to physically view their corporate feed to be able to view this content. However, paid media still appears on the viewer’s main feed which in turn will eventually sign the death of organic reach.

Last-click attribution:

Last click attribution is a web analytic model which gave credit for a sale or conversion but has been replaced by data driven attribution. Data driven attribution is trending because it gives clear insight to understanding the potential consumers and theirpreferences. This techniquetracks the entire buying path of the consumer, whereas the last-click attribution model only helped identify the final sale.

Downfall of Mass Emails:

Mass email used to be one of the trusted ways to keep consumers informed about new launches of products and services. This has changed over time with users preferring to unsubscribe from irrelevant content. With pragmatic technology, hyper-targeted and individualizedcontent is becoming the expectation of consumers. Personalization along all stages of the sales funnel is crucial to a brands success and brands are stepping up their marketing strategies to strive for deeper connections with their consumersin 2018 and beyond.

Customer Review Sham:

A good rating or review for aproduct used to help a positive perception, attracting customers but we are all too well aware of the “fake news” scams with the hijacking of brand communication channels. As new innovations are emerging it will be easier to spot fake reviews.Companies like Amazon have proactively taken an initiative to stand against false reviews and worked hard to make their customer reviews genuine. Several companies have also started to join the movementtaking legal action against fake reviewers.Fake news is not dead but the stand against it is strong.

Questioning of the Influencer Market:

Brands pour millions of dollars into influencers, but consumers are becoming more savvy and seeking authenticity in the voice. Influencer Marketing is all about building a real connection between consumers and influencers. While the practice has taken off in 2016 and trended in 2017, it is limited by the fact that consumers today might link too easily, influencer led content to brand led content. Influencer marketing’s biggest strength is authenticity and in 2018 more than ever, marketers will need to put the human connection at the heart of their brand messaging.

Keeping on top ofchanging trends and technology will always be top of mind for brand marketers but if there is one thing to take away we must ensure that2018 must be the year of authenticity, personalizationand consumer connections for every brand and consumer alike. 

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