#SMTrends2019: 5 Digital Marketing Trends to watch out in 2019

Nishit Vora, Marketing and Media Strategist FoxyMoron, shares insights on digital marketing trends that will dominate the industry in 2019.

There are now more than 4 billion internet users worldwide, each spending an average of 6 hours online every day. Digital marketing, simply put, cannot be ignored. On an average there are almost 70-80 apps on most mobile devices and almost half of them used in a month's time. Every year, new technologies come out, the existing ones get smarter and prospects get savvier only for us to be bombarded with messages.

And the explosive growth of the digital world doesn’t stop there. The significance of digital marketing has grabbed a considerably higher share in the overall marketing mix. Yet the approach and execution is still templatised and outdated, agility in this space is the key.

Without further ado, here are five digital marketing trends for 2019:

Acceleration of Ephemeral -

The world of social media is constantly changing and the one star that's shining bright is Ephemeral. Ephemeral content, which lasts only a short time before disappearing, was something that was initiated by Snapchat. Other platforms like Instagram and Facebook are following Snapchat’s footsteps and even What's App is now a part of that bandwagon. Commonly known as 'Stories'.

Ephemeral content is fleeting, and unique, which appeals to many (especially younger) users. As video marketing is (almost) taking over, storytelling via this boosts the audience loyalty and keeps them completely hooked.
But content that comes and goes could get easily forgotten, so ensure the content strategy covers consistence use of Ephemeral because it's inexpensive, authentic and can result in great engagement from your most loyal & dedicated followers.

The Differential Platform: WhatsApp -

The way WhatsApp has disrupted our lives and changed the way we communicate to become this one stop communication pillar, brands should leverage this into their digital marketing mix.

With the number of business accounts slowly increasing and WhatsApp taking control over fraudulent messaging, the dynamics have shifted from making it not only a messenger platform to possibly becoming the new social media platform.
With Facebook's media integration with its business accounts, this cross platform ad reach could redefine the lead generation industry too.

It's just matter of time before Facebook starts monetising it. Till then, make the most of it.

Rise of the Micro to Nano Influencers -

Influencer marketing took off in a big way last year and the coming year we'll see the rise of influencer management platforms and tools enabling micro-influencers - category specific influencers who are able to drive consideration for brands via storytelling.

To be honest, there's enough of those salesy-gimmicky-pitchy type brand push of content from the influencers. And brands haven't been able to get a bang for their buck on it.
These micro-nano influencers are hidden gems and just as relatable as everyday consumers making them approachable and trustworthy.

Apart from them being affordable and authentic, this has opened up a new rung of brand advocacy and brands could champion this using more experiential & experimental content creation tactics.

Voice Search has arrived -

50% of all searches will be voice searches by the year 2020 and 20% of mobile queries on Google are voice searches, and that's where we are headed. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are indeed changing the way search functions, but we've just reached the tip of the iceberg yet. With dramatic improvements in technology, Voice Assistants are better in understanding user behaviour and Siri as well as Okay Google have become the new search tabs. What we are witnessing is a massive cultural change and if we don't adapt to it, we will trail behind.

Currently, all the groundwork is being laid out in terms of skills, language & behaviour understanding. Going ahead, these intelligent digital assistants will be able to predict basis our lifestyle, daily routines therefore recommend rather than just respond as of today. The need of the hour is to understand and focus on linguistics, paying attention to the smart device advertising to ensure we adapt to the changing face of online search.

Programmatic -

Programmatic advertising simply means using AI to automate ad buying so you can target more specific audiences increasing productivity, performance and efficiency with the use of data. Deeply segmented platforms are shifting consumer preferences and expectations to be more personalised being at the right time with the right ad placement, and are additionally driving the nature of digital media towards programmatic.

The precision led personalisation of messaging and media helps deliver higher quality results over 'spray and pay' impression led buying. AI offers predictive capabilities to streamline the relationship between the publisher and the advertisers at a speed beyond what an average human planner can accomplish.

It additionally will help with the following;
- Build separate custom inventory management and ad selling algorithms to use with each client/brand.
- Provide personalised recommendations, options, and rules depending on location and industry.
- Ultimately improve fill rates, increasing ROI and ad revenue when used effectively and efficiently.