Digital marketing is evolving at an extremely rapid pace. New technologies and platforms are being released almost every week, while the overall strategies and best practices for leveraging digital marketing remain relatively constant. This constant change means that digital marketers must constantly be on the lookout for new tools, tricks and techniques that can help them reach and engage their audience in new and innovative ways. To help you stay on top of these changes and implement them into your own digital marketing strategies, below is a list of what we consider to be some of the most important developments in the world of digital marketing this year so far –
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality or AR technology is a type of computer-generated content that leverages the real world around us. It is often used in conjunction with other technologies such as virtual reality and mobile apps. Through AR technology, users can see digital information or images overlaid on top of the real world, with the ability to interact with the information or images. AR content has been used for everything from marketing and product demonstrations to educational tools.One of the most prominent examples of AR technology is the Pokémon Go app, which has been hugely successful thanks to its ability to seamlessly integrate with GPS and other location-based features. AR has already proven to be a hugely effective marketing tool, with brands capitalising on the technology by creating AR campaigns that allow users to interact with and engage with their products in new and interesting ways.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality, or VR, is another technology that has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent years. VR is a type of computer-generated content that allows users to experience a virtual world, complete with sound and visuals, through a head-mounted display or other device.VR has been used to create a number of different types of content, including 360-degree videos, interactive experiences and even simulations. For example, Coca-Cola recently used VR to create 360-degree videos that let users explore the world of music through the eyes of a rock star.One of the most prominent examples of VR technology is the Oculus Rift headset, which was recently acquired by Facebook for $2 billion. While the Rift is a gaming device at the moment, it is also being used for a number of other applications, including business and medical training.
Big Data
Big Data is the term used to describe the large amount of data that is collected and stored by businesses and organisations. The data collected can come from a variety of sources, including social media platforms, emails and online transactions.The use of Big Data has become especially prevalent within the digital marketing world, with many brands and companies now collecting and analysing user data in order to improve their marketing efforts.In fact, many experts now predict that data-driven marketing will become the norm by 2021.There are a number of ways in which businesses can use Big Data to their advantage, including targeting the right audience, measuring campaign effectiveness and optimising digital ads. One of the best ways to get started with Big Data is by using a marketing automation platform.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is a computer program that can think and act like a human. In recent years, we have seen the increasing development and implementation of AI technology in a number of different fields, including healthcare and marketing.There are several ways in which AI can be used in the marketing world, including personalisation, optimising content and creating new types of ads.One of the most prominent examples of AI marketing is Google’s Smart ads, which were first introduced in 2016 and use AI to determine the user’s interests based on past searches. The Smart ads are now being used by over 100,000 businesses worldwide and are expected to generate an annual revenue of $9 billion by 2021.
Machine Learning
Machine learning is a form of AI that allows computers to improve their performance based on previous examples. To put it simply, a machine learning program is able to learn and adapt based on its own experiences, without being explicitly programmed to do so.For example, a machine learning program could be trained to identify spam emails. Once the program has learned what spam emails look like, it is able to identify and filter out emails that are likely to be spam.
Summing up
The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving and growing. This means that marketers must always be on the lookout for new tools, tricks and techniques that can help them reach and engage their audience in new and innovative ways.As you can see, there are many different technologies that have been developed over the last few years that can be used to improve a company’s marketing efforts. While some of these technologies are still in their early stages of development, others have become extremely popular in the last few years thanks to their ability to revolutionise the way we interact with content online.