Digital Predictions of 2019

As we begin to round out 2018, many of us marketers, consumers, geeks and greenhorns alike are eagerly looking ahead for the next wave of digital and technology trends that will be making the headlines in the new year. 
Let’s peek into our proverbial crystal ball and uncover our top three predictions for digital trends for 2019.

1. CHATBOTS WILL GET SMARTER

I’m sure you may have stumbled on a website in your daily routine of browsing and come across a chat widget. While this isn’t a new development entirely, many of us have been inundated by these ‘helpful’ popups before quickly hitting ‘x’. However, what is changing is the level of sophistication and natural language processing chatbots will undergo in the years to come.  

According to a Spiceworks study, an estimated 40% of businesses plan to adopt one or moreA.I. assisted chatbots or intelligent assistants. This is a staggering number given that this technology is still in its infancy stage. According to RichardSocher, Salesforce’s chief scientist, “NLP (Natural Language Processing) is going to be incredibly important for business – it is going to fundamentally changehow we provide services, how we understand sales processes and how we domarketing.”

Many business owners are banking on this technology, and for good reason. Thisimproved technology has application in many industries including retail, B2B,tech and hospitality to name a few.

2. VIDEO CONTENT WILL BE KING

Have you implemented a video strategy this past year?

Video content is a force unlike any other. According to Hubspot, 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. By 2020, online videos will make up more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic.

How does this translate for business owners when it comes to video marketing? Adoption rates of video marketing have increased and have allowed for brands toimprove their year-over-year revenue, 49% faster than brands who don’t -according to one study. 

As more consumers cut the cord and switch to online streaming services and social media, there will be an emphasis on video content. Brands must wake up to this fact, video marketing shouldn’t be an after thought. It should be a part of your marketing strategy all through out the year.

3. THE INTERNET OF EMOTIONS: EMPHASIS ON CREATIVITY,EMOTIONAL CONNECTION AND NATIVE BRANDING

Broadcast television has continually seen a decline in advertising dollars with 2017 being the first year where digital spending surpassed television ($209 billion, $178 billion) respectively. This is only expected to increase.

Digital advertising has dominated every corner of the internet – thanks to the increase in advertising dollars, attention is being commoditized. As a result, many companies are forced to rely on creativity to tap into their audiences’ emotion with the hopes of changing their behaviour or perception.

The digital advertising industry is constantly re-inventing itself and brands have aligned themselves with personal narratives that resonate with our social media obsessed population. A great example of this, is, LinkedIn – the world’s largest B2B social media network. Earlier this year, they launched a video campaign, “In It Together” which called to redefine the perception of who may be a LinkedIn professional – often stereotyped as being a platform for white-collar professionals.

These videos featured a wide range of professions, from dancers to animators, from different parts of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. LinkedIn took a thoughtful approach as their strategy was to work with agencies in local markets to ensure their messaging was relevant and tailored. In China, the company ditched its black and white creative, as its associated with death.

The narrative of the communication revolved around asking its users, ‘what are you in it for?’ From helping others to creating awareness about their passion projects, to meeting new professionals, one discovered, there were many reasons why 500 million LinkedIn users chose the platform. This was LinkedIn’s first fully integrated marketing program that featured a collection of multimedia advertising (online video, digital, podcasts, radio spots, and SEM). 

Melissa Selcher, Vice President, Brand Marketing and Corporate Communications described their approach like this,

“Our creative team should write a book about doing ad campaigns with real people. The challenges are pronounced. It would be a lot easier for us to use actors. We are trying to show a tapestry of the richness we know exists on the platform, and the creative team helps people who are not trained professionals tell their stories in ways that really resonate.”