Three digital marketing trends for 2016

Like with everything in business, digital marketing is constantly changing and evolving, and for your brand to stay on top, you need to make sure that you are able to adapt to these changes. 2015 was a big year for advances and innovations in digital marketing, and the best and most successful brands made sure they adapted to these changes and embraced these innovations, like mobile friendly algorithms and new social media platforms. So, to help give your business a head start over the competition, here’s a list of three of the possible major digital marketing trends on the horizon for 2016, starting with in-video marketing.

1. In-video marketing grows

Like all three things on this list, video advertising isn’t a new thing at all, and has been commonplace on video channels for years online. However, in 2016 video advertising could change forever, as Google has announced that it will start including video advertisements in search engine results. This means that instead of seeing the usual text based adverts, you will be seeing video ads embedded in your search results. This could change the way that brands use video to advertise their products online, with more focus being placed on video than ever before.

2. Virtual reality finally makes it

Virtual reality (or VR) has been around in one form or another since the 1980s, but 2016 could be the year it finally makes it into the mainstream. While older VR headsets and software were designed for gamers, a new set of technology is set to be released next year that incorporates other elements, like social media, video channels, web browsing, and apps. This presents brands with lots of new places to advertise their products online, which could mean that VR becomes an integral part of any good digital marketing strategy.

3. Application indexing changes everything

Of all the items in this list, the growth of application indexing could be the most important. Application indexing is where Google indexes the content of apps, like those you download from Google Play or the Apple Store, in the same way it does for your webpages, and then uses this data to embed in-app results into search engine results. This could mean more brands using apps to advertise and present their products, services, and content, and could usher in a new era of digital marketing and search engine optimisation starting next year.