Jawaharlal Nehru famously said, “The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down”. Predicting trends or what is going to happen is like playing with fire, you may burn your hands, but if you get it right even once, it’s like winning a grand jackpot. As 2014 approaches, how about setting atop a voyage and traveling to take a peek into the future? If digital marketing is your cup of everyday tea, join us as we pitch, what would be the trend setters and would set alight the ever changing world of digital marketing.
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#Hashtags will be a new Search Tool
When twitter was launched, it introduced the concept of hashtags where users could simply click on a hashtag and find conversations around the same topic. With twitter covering more and more contemporary topics and becoming a huge source of news, hashtags will be the new search tool. You can search along a hashtag and enter the world of information and conversations around that topic. More and more social networking sites such as Facebook and Google+ have jumped on the hashtag bandwagon and this will only go higher up. The planning and investment in hashtags will be a big trend in 2014 as the hashtag would be your one key to unlock the marketing potential of your device. As hashtags begin to appear in Google Searches, you could be forgiven for calling 2014 the #2014 Year.
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Everyone will focus on #Lifeblogging
We may sit and fear NSA and a thousand other people secretly spying on us, but the big fat reality remains, the internet will live on and people will continue to share precious moments of their life. Microblogging platforms such as Twitter will remain the best places to project your work and to engage with people. Platforms like Pinterest and Google Plus which collect images and are image centric will grow bigger. The likes of Instagram, Buzzfeed will interest people more as they look to derive information in the form of pictures that are informative and context oriented. The collection of images on the internet will grow bigger as largely the services are free and the access to the internet is literally clicks away. More and more smartphones come with Cameras and with wearable tech such as Smartwatches and Google Glasses becoming more and more prominent, the consumer is more likely to share pictures and moment of their life than ever. Apps such as 365project.org are a unique opportunity to connect with the audience and in 2014, be prepared to see more services and application that make use of your personal information to serve you content that is personalised and stitched for you.
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The #Content will Remain Liquid, it will Flow
Content is a bit like music from Beatles, its evergreen, its here to stay, its here to stay forever. As long as the digital world exists, content will be engine to drive it. Nothing is a bigger turn on than Crisp, sharp, engaging and interesting use of words put together. However, in 2014, the focus would be on pushing the content that is visually appealing. We will move towards flatter and cleaner designs. Micro video sites such as Vine and Instagram Video will gain more and more importance as they aim to capture the attention of users and deliver the message within seconds. With data plans still on the expensive side, a user is more likely to click on a Vine content than a full featured 5 minute Youtube video. The blogger industry will remain the focal point as the drivers of opinions and with strategically made relationship programmes, your brand can only profit more. The bloggers are not just content producers but the definition of new world media which is ready to take the fight to the bigger publishers. With the rise of Social media, both branded and unbranded content will equally be important if you want to drive home on successful consumer engagement.
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#Mobile will remain to Captain the Ship
According to the reports, India is the third largest Smart Phone market in the world only behind the likes of China and the United States. There are more than 4 billion mobile phones on the planet and by 2014, it is projected that the Internet usage on mobile will overtake that on desktops. No wonder most web developers are taking that extra bit of care in making their site mobile friendly. And in 2014, this will only grow. With more and more mobile players coming in and the devices becoming a hub of entertainment and knowledge sharing, the opportunity to advertise and push content via mobile will be better than ever. Mobile marketing is well cheaper as compared to buying slots on the TV or even on the web. It is a staggering stat that the open rate of a text message is about 95% while the same of an E-Mail is around 1 to 15%. Therefore with the right mix of mobile web development, mobile landing pages, mobile apps, mobile ads and mobile text messages your brand stands to benefit a lot more in 2014 than ever before.
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E-Commerce and Mobile #Commerce will Continue to Dominate
We live in a world where comfort and ease often superimpose everything else. No wonder the E-Commerce players have been hugely successful. Why travel to a store, when you can sit in the comfort of your chair, with light music playing while you enjoy your favourite lunch and simultaneously with a click on your mobile or tablet order pretty much anything in the world. E-Commerce will continue to thrive in 2014 and things like express delivery or 1 day delivery will continue to see the big players get bigger. Just like in the airline industry, where the Indigoes, Ryan Airs and Air Asia’s continue to emerge and play a key role while Emirates, KLMs and Deltas of the world continued to get bigger and bigger, the E-Commerce world will see players like Jabong, Myntra, Shopclues emerge along nicely. Mobile Commerce will flourish given how widely mobile is used. For transactions, transferring the funds between friend easily and even something as small as booking tickets for a movie show, you are more likely to reach out for your smartphone than any other means of technology. Mobile commerce sales reached $4.7 billion in in the second quarter of 2013, up 24 percent percent year-over-year, and the roller coaster will only go up. (stat via:CMO)
As we move towards the most digitally advanced year, ever, that 2014 sure would be, the five points above would be worth keeping in mind when you execute a campaign or are looking to be success on the digital platform. Whether we will have any other emerging trend or not, is anybody’s guess. Till that happens though, here’s wishing you and yours a very happy and successful 2014.