The trends of tomorrow can be deduced from what is developing today. We take a look back at what has changed in the world of marketing during this year and make prognoses for 2017.
There has been a shift in social media consumption: people today prefer more private conversations instead of sharing their thoughts with hundreds of people. Even though Facebook is still dominating the social web, people mostly share links on the network. Interactions with friends happen on Snapchat and messenger apps. This will not really bother Facebook as the business actually owns two of the most widely used messengers in Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
The trend towards messengers makes them interesting for marketing. That is why brands will increasingly turn to Chat-Bots to interact with individual customers in real-time.
Marketing automation has been a hot topic for a while now. This trend is going to continue even more as marketers are turning towards the cloud. Large vendors such as Oracle offer cloud-based marketing packages that include features such as marketing automation, content management and analytics all in one place. Marketers can consolidate their data and gain insights from data across the whole customer journey.
The mobile gaming app Pokemon Go has received lots of attention this year. Gamers used their mobile phones to find virtual creatures in the real world. Until today, the mobile game stands as the most successful attempt to bridge the gap between movement in the real world and digital content.
We should not be surprised if brands took notice. Augmented reality describes the enrichment of the analogue world by digital means. It carries tremendous potential to spice up the shopping experience at the point of sale. However, strategy is, as always, the key: augmented reality as a gimmick to draw attention will not lead to sustained success. Brands need to ask how they can use augmented reality to provide customers richer experiences.