Digital Marketing is very dynamic, and the rate of progress that it makes every year is simply mind-boggling. In 2015 we saw some significant developments. We are very hopeful that the digital marketing trends for 2016 will also provide many new opportunities for digital marketers. Here are some trends we expect to see in the coming year.

1. Social Media

There was a time when to find information, you used to head for Google first. Over the past couple of years, social media platforms have also started to gain prominence in this regard. In 2015, Twitter became the hotspot for finding new trends and hot news, and also for expressing opinions. Facebook remained a wider platform that you use to connect with your family and friends and share more personal news. LinkedIn also became much stronger as a professional network

This trend will become even stronger in 2016. With reports coming in that Facebook is testing its own search engine and a business messenger, exciting times are ahead of us. We believe social media will become more important than ever for companies for brand building and lead generation.

2. Instagram and Pinterest will gain more importance

We also expect Pinterest and Instagram to become more important for digital marketers. Pinterest is testing out animated pins that will allow you to do interest-based targeting for your customers. Instagram, on the other hand, is expected to introduce paid advertisements on its platform. This will be an exciting possibility as it will give an entirely new way of reaching out to customers on this popular mobile photo and video-sharing network.

3. Mobile will be more important than ever

One of the very important digital marketing trends in recent times has been the shift toward mobile. In 2015, more Google searches happened through mobile, than via desktop computers. Google has been very serious about giving an improved experience to mobile users for some time now. Earlier in 2015, it introduced the famous “Mobilegeddon” update to its search algorithm. This shook up the SEO world, as sites that were not mobile-friendly saw a quick drop in rankings. This update forced some Webmasters to restructure, and many others to redevelop their sites from the ground up.

If you’re still stuck with a website that requires panning and zooming on mobile devices to see them properly, then it’s time for you to think hard. Your visitors and even Google are no longer going to forgive you for the poor user experience. If you want your bounce rates to be low and search rankings to be high, it’s time for you to make your website mobile-friendly in 2016.

4. The world will shift more toward mobile apps

With the arrival of smartphones, the world shrank and came to our palms. Next year, user adoption of mobile apps will see a further surge. Google is now offering app indexing which brings in new business opportunities for companies. Predictably, many e-commerce companies started to augment their mobile app capabilities and look at it as a big catalyst for business growth. They are now offering special discounts for users who are shopping through apps to push up app installs. Some companies have even gone app-only. This is a trend that will become even stronger and more companies will do similar experiments in the coming year.

5. Identity-based pay per click

Identity-based pay-per-click allows you to target a specific person on the Internet. This enables you to deliver targeted content tailored specifically for his consumption. This allows you to get as much micro-targeting as you possibly can. You can serve specific ads to certain people depending on their exact needs. This way brands can solve a specific problem that a customer is facing, and this increases the chances of winning business from him many folds.

Recently, Google introduced identity-based pay-per-click on its AdWords platform, and it is now available to everyone. Companies, especially the ones in niche segments can use this functionality to increase the ROI of their marketing spending significantly.

6. Video

The use of video is already widespread, and next year it will become all-encompassing. Talk about webinars, education, or even an online conference, video will be everywhere. Companies will use live streaming of video more actively in their digital marketing efforts. Google is also reportedly testing video ads for its search engine result pages, and sooner or later they will make an appearance alongside the text and display ads. Interactivity will be the name of the game, and the days of viewing only text ads will soon be past.

7. The demand for good content will increase manifolds

If you have read through all the digital marketing trends for 2016, you would be knowing this one. Content is the base of the Internet and is all-encompassing in every digital marketing effort Be it text, video, or images, content is everywhere. Digital marketers will continue to create engaging and useful content, update old content with the latest developments, and experiment with new content formats in 2016. This is one factor that will remain constant many years into the future. Interactive content will gain more importance and might require digital marketers to think about their content strategy from the ground up.

Marketers should continue to create great content to attract and engage leads, so that they spend as much time as possible on the website, and also eagerly wait for more.

So gear up to take advantage of these upcoming digital marketing trends for 2016 to add greater value to your customers. This will make them engage with you more, and remain loyal to you for a long time.