Nobody can truly call themselves a digital marketing expert unless they’re willing to learn and adapt. Every single means that can be used for digital marketing – social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, for example – is constantly evolving and you need to do the same. Techniques that worked a year ago or even a few months ago may no longer be as effective as they once were. These are the 5 trends of 2018 that you need to jump on right now.

The Rise of the Chatbots

We’re all aware of bots being used on social media, but they aren’t just about allegedly gaining a certain outcome in an election. They can be used for many purposes. The AI technology which is used to create bots is improving constantly and they are now much easier to interact with.

Millennials are the target demographic for this kind of strategy. A massive 71% of them said that they would interact with a brand chatbot. Employing this method would mean there would be less need to have a social media team in place, at least one which constantly monitors a brand’s feed and the bots would be able to field any user questions.

Tell a Story

Everybody loves a story, but you don’t need to read a book to get this kind of information. Stories are getting ever more popular for users of Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook to present small sequences of film or photographs to tell people about their day. This method is spreading throughout social media and the advertising world is beginning to catch on to this. Now is the time to make stories a part of your digital marketing strategy.

Video Star

Video content is something that catches the eyes of social media users. Many people have their smartphones set to automatically play video content and as they scroll through their feeds, a particularly great piece of video will make them stop and look. There are more than 8 billion video views on Facebook every single day and 82% of Twitter users regularly view video content. These numbers simply can’t be ignored.

Getting noticed is the key and with the right video you could be reaching millions of new customers. With most social media consumed on mobile devices you absolutely need to be using video in your marketing campaigns.

Under the Influence

Social media influencer-based marketing is now an established method used by a number of top brands, but this year the influence of influencers is set to increase. Social media influencers can be used by a brand to gain traction and even celebrities are a part of this now. This can backfire in some cases as consumers can spot a disingenuous advertising campaign – knowing full well that some celebrities will say or do anything if the paycheck is right.

Authentic influencers with a genuine belief in a brand or product are the way to go and we can expect many brands to be taking advantage of this this year. One bonus of this is that it doesn’t need to cost anywhere near the price of a traditional marketing campaign.

A Halt to Data Collection

The harvesting of data has become something of a hot issue as it has been revealed that Facebook and Google, among others, are watching our every move. It has been said that this is to aid them in tailoring advertising campaigns to our needs and showing us content that is more likely to be of interest, but many people are beginning to find it intrusive.

The EU are ready to clamp down on this practice and that could spell disaster for some marketing campaigns. Any company that wishes to use a consumer’s data must now inform them of this and gain their consent before doing so. Failure to do this could result in hefty fines. Even if your business is primarily outside of the EU, the new rules are expected to have a knock-on effect worldwide. It means that brands will no longer be able to rely on algorithms to bring their content to users and they will need to do much more of the legwork themselves.

2018 is certainly going to be a challenging year for digital marketers, but not an impossible one. By thinking about the above trends when constructing a marketing strategy, you should be able to stay ahead of the pack and your brand will have as much reach as it’s possible to get in a fairly crowded market place.

Remember to keep learning and to keep an eye on your figures when employing any new methods. Growth might not always be immediately apparent, but in the long term, following trends is the best way to move your brand forward.