Three Dominant Marketing Trends for 2016

Three Dominant Marketing Trends for 2016

By Rebecca Fox

To state the obvious, marketing has evolved profoundly over the last few years. Where platforms were once fickle and everyone predicted social media to be a passing trend, we have now been ushered into an age of solid platforms, diverse advertising options and a myriad of free outlets to the public.
Yet with all progress, change is a constant. Marketing professionals have to step twice as fast as previous generations to stay ahead of, or even keep up with, all the changes affecting the market. Below are three prominent trends which I believe will influence the marketing industry in 2016.

1. Real-time updates will dominate.
Social media is already an “in-the-moment” beast but some apps are more “real time” than others. A perfect example of this is Periscope, recently acquired by Twitter. It allows users to give a live video broadcast versus shooting a video and posting it later via a third party platform, like YouTube. Periscope’s real time abilities allow users to post videos the way Twitter and Snapchat post comments and photos: instantly.

2. Buy buttons are the future.
“See it, want it, have it” is one trend social media is currently driving. Major platforms like Facebook and Pinterest have already initiated a “buy” button on their advertiser and user pages, making purchasing power immediate. Mobile users browsing Facebook or Pinterest, sites awash with intriguing and exciting products, now have the ability to purchase what they see without ever leaving the app. With Instagram reportedly on the verge of joining this trend, it is a strong bet that online retailers and marketers will rely more and more on the one-touch purchasing power of “buy” buttons.

3. User privacy will be even less secure.
The dangerous backlash to such easy sharing is unintentional oversharing. With increasing high profile security breaches (Sony and Ashley Madison), users will continue to have more cause for concern for their online security. Snapchat exploded onto the market with promises that once your picture’s time limit expired, it simply disappeared. Unfortunately, this security feature was routed and as a result, there were a lot of embarrassed and unhappy users out there. The escalation issue of online privacy is requiring Facebook to implement more privacy awareness tools for its users because as tensions mount, only platforms that can offer reliable security will succeed.

If you have any questions or comments about emerging marketing trends, or about any other marketing-related topic, feel free to send them our way.

You can connect with the Young Company team at 949-376-8404 #4033 or sarah@youngcompany.com. And be sure to follow us for the latest brand marketing news and tips.