For those who work in the marketing department of your company, especially in digital marketing, being aware of technological trends, and how they are going to impact the future, is vital to being sure your company remains relevant. You are going to need more than just excellent content writing and a site content writer who can pull it all together in record time if you are going to engage potential customers.

Over the next couple of years, what trends, technologies, innovations, and ideas are going to most likely make a serious splash in the online marketing world? Let’s take a couple of moments to explore the most prominent ones, and why, if you’re not paying attention already, you should start doing so now.

Augmented and Virtual Reality

Pokemon GO, for all of its pop culture ubiquitousness, which was much to the detriment of many a parent and pedestrian nationwide during 2016, was actually way ahead of the curve in terms of the way they were implementing augmented reality into their online marketing strategy. It’s also something anyone who is part of their in-house digital agency should have had their eye on.

For those who may be unaware of what I am referring to, Pokemon GO had a feature where you would go to a physical location, log in to the game, and it would trigger specific AR content to appear that could only be unlocked at that location. Utilizing this kind of technology not only allows brands to make their content more exclusive, and therefore desirable, but can also use it to drive actual foot traffic to a physical location as well. This is an increasingly valuable commodity in an era so dominated by both online retailing and marketing.

Virtual and augmented reality technology is only going to become more consumer-friendly as its costs drop over the next couple of years. As that continues to happen, people who work in digital marketing should be paying attention to how they can use this technology to actually convince people to buy a product, especially if the product ties in to the VR experience.

Ad-Friendly Google Voice and Alexa

Another major technological innovation those in charge of digital marketing should be paying attention to are artificial intelligence guided voice assistants, such as Google Voice and Alexa. They can provide a wealth of information to those who work in digital marketing, especially for content writing.

One of the biggest advantages these types of artificial intelligence guided voice assistants provide for marketers? They are highly effective data collection devices. Nothing excites people who work in online marketing more than data they can actually act upon. These devices are essentially giant, continually updated databases of what people shop for, what kind of music they listen to, what kind of movies they watch, whatever affects their daily lives.

The reason this is so useful to site content writers is that it allows you to know what words people are using to search for a specific item, down to the exact phrase. Once a skilled site content writer has access to that kind of information, it will allow voice search optimization on site content in a way that mirrors those searches.

In other words, if you always ask Alexa, “Find me the cheapest 2% milk near me,” a site content writer can take the “cheapest 2% milk near me” portion of your query and work it into the site content of whatever milk company they are writing copy for. If your digital marketing department is not already paying attention to how Google Voice and Alexa are already changing the world when it comes to consumer data, then it’s time they start doing so now.

More Prevalent Live Streaming Videos

As online marketing continues to expand its already powerful reach into our everyday lives, another trend is an increase in the amount of digital video content being produced, especially with live streaming functionality.

While the live streaming is limited at this point, Facebook, and by proxy Instagram, which it now owns, are going to continue to expand this technology. As of right now, Instagram only allows you to live stream with one other person at a time. Once that expands to multiple people, it could, seemingly overnight, become an invaluable marketing tool.

Live streams that are visible to thousands or even millions of people nationwide, essentially become telethon length commercials, which, as of right now, are unaffordable to advertisers. The moment this becomes an option, however, expect to see a constant expansion in “watch parties” for new products that last a full twelve or twenty-four hours before launch, complete with celebrity endorsements. 

As these technologies continue to expand and develop, their pervasiveness in the world of digital marketing will become even more omnipresent. A smart fridge will not only warn that you are out of milk but will also start playing milk commercials on its mini LED screen. For those who may be wondering when the future of online marketing will arrive, well, it’s already here.

Sound complicated? It is! That’s what we’re here for. Turn to us for how the latest technologies such a voice search optimization can be leveraged to enhance your digital marketing strategies.