Get Ready For A Brand New 'NEW'
As internet penetration continues to increase by the moment, the Internet is going to get:
New consumers
New content
New challenges for brands
As more number of people join the broad bandwagon, content creators will be faced with the challenge of creating faster, crisper, fresher stories for a digital generation.
People across the spectrum of ages will embrace digital. Kids - because it's a generational need and Elders - because it's essential to function.
This translates into tougher challenges for brands - to engage and to convert a digital consumer with content that is not only entertaining, but also memorable.
As attentions shrink and clutter grows, there will be greater pressure to disrupt - on creators and brands, both.
Influencers will be forced to produce good content.
Their power to influence will depend on the quality of content and the money they will spend on the platform.
-Make way for Generation Z!
Millennials, you've been great, and we still love you a lot. But now, it's time to put the limelight on people born in the 2000s a.k.a. Generation Z.
As they hit adulthood in 2018, it opens up a whole new segment of consumers who can be pitched various products and services in innumerable ways on countless platforms.
-Say 'Hello' to Voice Tech
Like e-commerce transformed itself from an alternative to an actual habit, voice technology will soon be second nature to a lot of Indians, if the statistics are to believed.
By 2020 - 50% of all searches will be voice. That's 200 billion searches. That's a lot of people talking to Alexa, Siri, OK Google, Cortana, and many more voice assistants.
Brands will have to come up with marketing strategies that revolve around this habit. It's overwhelming, and exciting at the same time - imagine the possibilities of disruption!
-Ads will get subtler
They will find space between your stories (as they already are), and between your favorite web series, podcast, or the content of your choice. No one likes to be sold to - and hence, banners that scream out at the consumers and spoil the user experience will be damned by the audiences and, consecutively, by the marketers.
-Professional live videos
2017 saw a lot of brands dipping their toes in the Live Video format - which was actively adopted and encouraged by all major social networking platforms. In the next year, live videos will meet video production technologies to create live streamed content that looks stellar and high in production as compared to the current shaky, holding-a-phone-in-your-hand live videos.
-More screens, opportunities.
As the existing architecture starts embracing more screens, an adaptation of existing digital avenues will be better, with newer avenues opening up for brands to reach out to more people. From watches to walls, get ready to display better, more interactive messages which will most preferably be in the video format.
Instagram is gaining popularity. Rapidly.
With a follower figure that's growing by the day, the gap between Facebook and Instagram will be much lesser. Twitter has already reported a decline and it will continue to do so for the next year, until it pulls an 'Instagram' and turns itself around.
And of course, Snapchat's new app update is something the whole social media world is looking forward to.
In a nutshell, you've got more videos, more screens and many more internet-enabled audiences coming your way in 2018. The future is nothing but exciting!
