December is here, the Christmas music is on in the shops and the money is draining from our banks for Christmas presents.

The New Year is literally around the corner and with the ever-changing world of technology, it pays to stay ahead of the game.

We have some thoughts of our own about what digital marketing trends you will see in 2019.

Read on.

AI chatbots are coming to town

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has seen significant growth in popularity and is one of the greatest technologies we have seen.

With this major piece of tech, it is transforming the way we connect with brands and also how we purchase them. While we have seen AI systems use pre-programmed responses to answer our questions, AI has improved and excelled in a significant way where businesses can go even further and implement complex requests, have personalised responses for their users and have an upgraded overall experience.

It is an interesting concept to consider that at least 80% of customer interactions may well possibly be dealt with chatbots.

Think about it.

With this concept in mind, it would result in 24/7 communication with customers as well as a swift shopping experience.

When considering the number of queries that are expressed through a B2B buying experience, chatbots can be extremely useful within this area, providing a fast approach with their responses and a good resource to engage with customers with personalised messages and tone of voice.

Chatbots are a system that you should embrace, not fear.

Think of them, especially at this time of the year, as your little helpers. A team of support for your business growth and development.

Voice search is here – and it’s here to stay

It comes as no surprise that 1 in 5 Google searches are now being communicated by voice queries. This behaviour is on the rise, with the expectation of rising a further 50% by the end of 2020.

This tremendous growth is being seen in homes as well as businesses with Siri and Alexa now being part of everyday life. Customers are making shopping lists to ordering items and also listening to podcasts and music through their systems.

Voice Search is integrated into our faculties of life, with stats that would be hard to ignore, especially for businesses.

Tip: As a business, you should think more active in terms of voice search, planning around these new developments and behaviours into your marketing strategies. If you aren’t using voice search – you should implement a plan of action for the new year in order to ‘keep with the times’.

Live Video is live engagement

Live videos aren’t for everyone and can seem rather uncomfortable if you aren’t used to being in front of a camera. Live video isn’t just for influencers and fitness junkies, so if you haven’t already participated on a small training course, skimmed through some YouTube information videos or read up on the subject – why not make this your New Years resolution?

New opportunities have blossomed for thousands of companies who engage with their users and potential customers, due to the on-growing popularity through various social media platforms, we see videos everywhere.

New and exciting videos are in high demand to allow businesses to be able to differentiate their competitions. Which is why the power of live video is key to have within your marketing plan.

With live video, you have access to your potential customers expressing their thoughts and opinions in an instant and connected way. With that raw and authentic connection, it is fascinating the number of users that will connect with you after just one live video.

The opportunities for live video are endless, such as live captures of events you are promoting to live competitions, interviews and ‘behind the scenes’ live videos of a product you may be developing or a simple, insightful way to express more of a humane side to your company.

Just like AI, stats are extremely hard to ignore, users are more inclined to watch a live video 2x longer than a live video that has past the live time and is now a standard video on social media.

Food for thought.

User-generated content = free content!

UGC has been around for quite a while, but in recent years it has been shining brightly as its potential has been realised.

User-generated content is the unpaid content that has been created and shared by users that are fans of the brand. Available to all, typically through the use of social media, there are many directions you can take UGC.

The most common source of UGC is in the forms of blogs, customer reviews, GIFs, photos of experiences with that brand and much more.

By incorporating and embracing free marketing from your users through UGC, your brand will be seen in an engaging way. Brand engagement has a continuous rise every time when you add consumer expression to corporate marketing.

Are you really surprised? It is a powerful form of expression, with your users telling the world how they feel and how they love your company.

One of the most important factors you must remember is trust. By hearing other customers expressing their feelings about your company and services provided – it is a powerful source and you will see a difference in your profits.

For B2B companies, User-generated content means a vast amount of resourceful and influential content in a short amount of time.

With B2B buyers valuing that personal connection within their social media platforms and also becoming more dependent with the research that social media brings, it is a fantastic way to build trust for companies when fellow buyers have created content.

AR vs VR in marketing

We saw IKEA take AR to a whole new level with their app back in 2017 where they gave their users the power to actually visualise what a piece of furniture could look like within their home.

Here at Unity, we predict that the use of AR will excel and surpass the use of VR in business, but the use of both of these systems will be popular in the future.

In terms of VR however, developers are devoted to the technology it possesses and will give businesses and consumers many benefits for engagement and experience.

In recent events, AR has begun to develop on its own terms, by bringing in virtual elements and combining them with the real world, this will give consumers a virtual and engaging experience that would give your business the ultimate advantage of your competitors.

For these reasons, we believe that within a few years, surpassing 2019 and more 2024-25, AR will have a solid platform and a more accepted place within our businesses than VR.

In an ever-growing technological world, there is and will continue to be pressure for companies to ‘stay ahead of the game’ in terms of engaging content and systems to surpass consumers expectations and competitors plan of actions.

As we approach the end of the year, we hope that this blog has given you some enlightenment and inspiration for your companies approach to your 2019 marketing strategy.

 

What are your thoughts?

If you found this blog interesting, get in touch today!