Digital Marketing in 2016 does not need a definition or much explanation. To sum it up and keep it short, the best it can be put as is that it is the art, theories, techniques, marketing skills and digital know how stacked up together that can make an individual or an organization, a digital marketer.
Over the years Digital Marketing has seen huge highs and when I am omitting the lows, it is on purpose. Organizations and people have made lakhs and crores with elementary ad campaigns and have only benefited. However the lows of digital marketing on the easier front have started.
What are the challenges in 2016:
1. Ad Blocking: We have done a comprehensive post about ad-blocking here: http://www.developmentlogics.com/blog/impact-of-ad-blocking-on-marketing/ . Just into 2016 and we saw Mozilla launch the first ever ad free web browser. Now users are becoming aware about threats associated with some advertisers and often want an ad free experience. A huge population of internet savvy users is expected to shift to an ad-free environment using browsers or add ons.
2. Catching up: Every day, there is a new technology or change in place that needs to be adapted to. An example of this could be Facebook’s instant articles that have just been launched. Instant Articles load upto 10 times faster as claimed by Facebook and as a word of experience, they do. Facebook and Twitter are still the biggest platforms to engage users and if any marketer lags behind in that direction, there could be serious consequences.
3. Type of Content: The age of more is gone and it has been very well established. Articles need to be less now with more interactive content. Graphics, Videos, Animations and other such interactive media can attract more people. And let us accept this that there are thousands of websites just like you and are covering the same stuff, what is going to make you stand out is the quality of your content.
4. Collaborations: There is no way to do away with collaborations or not have them at all. There are so many scared cat videos online, how do you plan to get noticed? Spend a lot of money? Well, if you can do that, there is no harm but it is always better to save a buck and collaborate with other organizations and people to get your messages out.
5. Pay to play: I through across this while reading an article on Forrester Researcher which claims that Facebook shows brands posts to only 16% of the fans on that page. Unless someone has opted to get notified or individually opens a page, chances are that your content is getting away with unnoticed. The only workaround is efficient social media management or pay to get it done.