The holidays are all about tradition. For the past 12 years, one of our traditions at Anvil is to is to share our digital marketing predictions for the coming year. It is our pleasure to provide our thoughts on marketing trends for 2018 (and beyond).

Voice Search Will Make Massive Strides in 2018

Digital assistants will dramatically affect the way consumers search in 2018. The 2017 holiday season will prime the pump with consumers purchasing large quantities of voice-assisted devices, including Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple iPhones with Siri and Microsoft Cortana devices.

eBay Makes an Ad Play

As Amazon reaps massive financial success from its Sponsored Products promotion platform, expect other players to step up. One big online reseller that will be making a play in 2018: eBay Promoted Listings.

AMP Pages Will Blow Up & Become a Ranking Factor

As Google continues to roll out Mobile-First Indexing, more emphasis will be put on sites utilizing AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to improve mobile user experience. AMP pages load 4x faster than normal website pages on average, which can significantly improve user experience, CTR, and site engagement.

Brands Will Focus on Fan-Generated Content vs. Influencer-Generated Content

When it comes to showing products in natural settings, there are a number of brands who rely on celebrity photoshoots and repurposing paid influencer content. The influencer scene has become so overblown, that many influencers are pricing themselves out of the market. Based on this trend, we think the bubble is about to burst…

ChatBots Will Take Over Social Media Messaging

According to a study done by Facebook, 56 percent of consumers prefer to handle a customer service issue over chat vs. over the phone. As this trend continues to grow, the need for timely responses on social channels will grow with it.

To learn more about our other digital marketing predictions for the upcoming year, check out the full 2018 predictions article!