It is crazy to think that 2017 is already almost over. It has been an incredibly busy and eventful year. Lots of cool things went down, including the start of what we have going on here at SocialSurge Marketing.
While this is a time to reflect on the year that was, it is also the time to start looking forward to what 2018 has in store for all of us. Marketing strategy is always changing. What works right now might not work tomorrow, next month, or next year. The problem is until that time comes, we won’t really know what those changes are.
The good news is, we can always make predictions… and better yet, bold predictions! I cannot guarantee that any these will actually happen, but based on what we are seeing with our clients, this is what we see as the big trends for next year.
My 5 Bold Predictions For Marketing In 2018
- Traditional email continues to decline, but something else takes its place: Traditional email’ has seen quite the decline over the last 10 years or so. Open rates have declined from 80% at its peak, to as low as 20% – 30% today. Long story short – people just do not read their emails anymore. Now emails won’t go away completely, but marketers are going to have to try and find new ways to communicate with people. The new communication method could be a number of solutions, but our main suspect is Facebook Messenger or maybe even SnapChat for younger consumers.
- Live Video Become The Norm: Have you gone live yet? No? Well, I am willing to bet that you do at least once sometime in the next 12 months. The last few years have seen a boom in video. Now, almost all of the social networks (looking at you Snapchat) has some sort of live streaming option for all users. Over the next year, expect to see live video on social networks almost completely replace the use of the prerecorded stuff. Not only do the social networks like the authentic content, but more and more people are consuming video content in different ways than traditional television.
- Amazon Creates A Social Network: I am going to be honest here, I have no evidence to suggest that this is even being worked on, but think about how cool it would be? Think about it, Amazon clearly has all the tools to create something like this. You can create your Amazon profile and have it connect directly to your amazon prime account. You can share with your friends the music that you are listening to, the shows you are watching, and even the items that you are buying. It would be like combining Spotify, Netflix, and Facebook all in one place. Think about it Amazon… You are welcome for the idea.
- Google Ads become obsolete for small business – Facebook takes over: This is kind of happening already. The Google Ads market is so saturated, that the prices are at a level never seen before. Even for you to try and compete on local, hardly used keywords, you might be paying $5 for every click you get. This is why many small businesses are going to make the switch to Facebook advertising. Not only are the targeting options better and you can select the market that you want to go after, but you are paying FAR less per action which makes it a much affordable option for those who are on a budget.
- Twitter Makes a MASSIVE Comeback: I might be Biased here because I LOVE Twitter, but I think 2018 is the year it comes surging back in importance. One thing that Twitter has going for it is that there still is no direct competitor. You just cannot beat its brevity and cleverness. As the year goes on, I think we see Twitter get a nice little boost in interest, especially as the younger discovers how easy it is and as Twitter continues to add new features of its own!
It is entirely likely that none of these predictions actually come true. That is what is so much fun about marketing – you have to always be on your toes! I cannot wait to see what 2018 has in store and we hope that you can’t either!