Digital Marketing for 2016

Digital Marketing for 2016 – Review

21 December 2016

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As we draw closer to 2017, we as professionals can’t help but associate the holiday season with a time for reflection upon the past year that has passed us by, and utilize the time as a chance to revamp and recharge for a more successful next. Another trip around the sun- filled with lofty business goals, aspirations, achievements, new clients, successes, roadblocks, and fails. As a business, it is extremely important to audit each aspect of your company based on what you had set out to accomplish at the first of the year- what did you do well? What didn’t you? What can improve? What do you want to accomplish? The same goes for your businesses digital presence.

As many of you all know, SISDigital creates a yearly handbook that helps businesses predict and plan for the upcoming new year from a digital marketing standpoint. Being industry leaders, we find it extremely rewarding and beneficial to spread the wealth of knowledge that we as an agency are proud to have regarding our services. Being the time of year for reflection, we wanted to take a step back and review what our predictions for 2016 were and how they compared to what actually happened.

Category	Prediction	Result
Content Marketing	Rise of the Instafamous, Shift in more personalized content/communication, 360° Video + VR, Quality Content + High Posting Frequency, Shoppable Content will take off, crafting keywords and content based off of user intent (and voice search)
Mobile	Rise of digital assistant optimization, Rise of mobile ads, apps will replace mobile sites
Video Advertising	Video and Facebook- 360° video will take off, Snapchat will offer longer content times, and more affordable and targeted ad options for businesses to utilize, Ad blocking will post challenges, in-SERP video Advertising
Powerball Marketing (AKA Incentive Marketing)	More brands will hop on the giveaway bandwagon which will increase noise, brands will have to up-the-ante for a large reaching and successful incentive campaign, consumers will demand increased transparency, creativity will take flight
Virtual Reality	VR will take off including more hardware items, and content will start to appear in the VR realm
Social Media: Organic	Live streaming will rule, shift to private, social customer service will be a required aspect, Video will stay #1, and social will help SEO
Paid Social	Brands will utilize retargeting campaigns for objectives other than driving conversions, social networks will build space for B2B marketers with targeting options, Instagram users will be a purchasing powerhouse
Influencer Marketing	Instagram + Snapchat will become influencer ad heaven, there will be a shift in power from brand to influencer, brand influencers and brand advocates will blend into one category, rise of “b-team” influencers, FTC crackdowns, tools to find influencers will mature
Real-Time Marketing	Snapchat, Facebook Live will provide a more “real” storytelling platform in real-time
Hyper-Local SEO	Local will take main stage in SEO
Web Design	CSS3 will gain popularity, Hamburger menus, app-inspired web design, infinite scroll adoption, flat design, single page applications

As Merriam-Webster recently announced, surreal is the Word of the Year for 2016- and it definitely seems applicable to everything that happened in the digital realm. There was a ton of disruption from a digital standpoint, but it is important to recognize that these changes were not all bad. As we work on our Digital Playbook for 2017 (expected to be released January), we predict that the word that will best describe the digital landscape in 2017 as chaos. Stay tuned to hear what we will be covering in the playbook, and how you as a business professional can stay afloat in 2017.

While you wait, check out our 2016 Digital Marketing Playbook.

On behalf of SISDigital, we wish you all a safe and happy holiday season! See you all next week!

About Morgan Jones

Morgan is a graduate from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a BA in Communication Studies and a minor in journalism. She brings to the table a vivacious spirit and unique creative energy that she uses in all things SayItSocial. When she isn't being an awesome Digital Account Executive, you can find her running the Wrightsville Beach loop with her dog Grizzly, out on the beach, or on her front porch reading her nook.