As technology advances, all other industries follow in suit and the world of digital marketing is no exception. New features emerge every day, while old features either evolve and improve or become obsolete. The landscape of present-day digital marketing is constantly shifting and those willing to stay in the game, need to learn how to adapt. So, here are five digital marketing trends you should start (or keep) following in 2018.

Changes in the world of content marketing

In the past, people went to blog posts for basic information and usually preferred skimming to reading. Today, however, blog posts that are 3000 words or longer are all the rage. So, does this mean that people nowadays prefer to read more than they did just a couple of years ago? Sadly, no. The reason for this shift in popularity is the fact that finding a massive piece of content allows them to get all of the information they need from a single source. Ironically, going for a larger content piece saves time for an average internet user, which makes it more convenient and, therefore user-friendlier, to begin with. If there’s one thing we know for sure in the world of digital marketing, it’s that user-friendliness always yields positive results.

Apart from this, the average time of writing blog posts has increased. For instance, in 2014, an average time for writing a blog post was at about 2 hours and 24 minutes, whereas, nowadays it is at 3 hours and 20 minutes. This increase in writing time has picked up the pace by quite a bit, seeing as how the shift from 2014 to 2015 was only 11 minutes, whereas between 2015 and 2016 it jumped by 41 minutes. Overall, the averages are not the only thing that changed but the median, as well. The number of people dedicating less than an hour to a blog post is on a rapid decline, while the number of those writing a single piece for more than six hours is on the rise.

In other words, in 2018, demands for both quality and quantity in content marketing are going through the roof.

Outsourcing is gaining in popularity

While some argue that having an in-house team is a more frugal option in the long-run, no one can dispute that immediate results and even long-term performance lean in favor of outsourcing. In order for your in-house team to outperform a specialized digital marketing agency, you would have to A) heavily invest in both hardware and software, B) hire top-talent, C) constantly invest in their education and D) have enough patience to wait for these results. With outsourcing, most of these steps can be skipped. Moreover, with platforms such as 2 Easy scouting for potential outsourcing partners is a simpler and more reliable process than it ever was before.

Voice search is now a massive trend

The problem with the issue of voice search marketing (voice search SEO, in particular), lies in the fact that most marketers are so used to safely ignoring it, that it is too difficult for them to acknowledge its importance in 2018. Namely, 55 percent of teens and 41 percent of adults use this feature on a daily basis, which is more than a reason enough to give this trend your full and undivided attention. Moreover, optimizing for voice search is not the same as optimizing for its standard (text-based) counterpart, it requires exact, grammatical keywords (as they would be spoken in normal conversation), rather than those with omitted articles and prepositions.

Think about new dimensions

While some digital marketers still argue over which is superior, 2D or 3D animation, others have moved on to adding more and more dimensions to the equation. Namely, since 2016, we’re experiencing a rapid advancement of the AR technology, through various apps and platforms. Same can be said about VR as well, especially since the release of flagship devices such as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift a couple of years back. This technological trend (same as the voice search) stands to completely revolutionize the world of digital marketing as we know it, which is something most digital marketers need to start worrying about.

The use of chatbots

Finally, technological trends of machine learning and deep learning have made present-day bots so sophisticated that it would be simply senseless to ignore them. Of course, a human customer service is always a more efficient option. However, chatbots are more frugal in the long run and they respond immediately. These two trends alone are more than a reason enough for all serious marketers to at least consider using them.

Conclusion

In all honesty, neither of the trends from the list above can be considered as new in 2018. Unfortunately, a staggering number of entrepreneurs and digital marketers, for some reason, still fail to acknowledge them to the degree which they deserve. For you, on the other hand, this could be a once-upon-a-lifetime opportunity to gain a competitive edge against companies and brands with much larger marketing budgets. This alone can be a huge incentive and a powerful motivator.