Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and along with several other popular social media networks have been continuously updating their platforms, and it is therefore important why marketers do keep up-to-date with the recent developments in the existing social media world.

Here are 2018 changes in digital marketing:

1) Video on demand, in demand

Social media content has to be eye-catching and is indeed good video content. Whether one is marketing on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat, it does appear so that social video engagement stats are indeed going to be through the roof in 2018.

One has to keep in mind that mobile comes first as 90% of Twitter video views and 60% of YouTube views are now from users on the mobile devices.

In fact, marketers are preparing to increase their budgets for mobile ads in order to focus on video within the next few months.

2) Social media influencers are becoming influential:

One must no doubt take note of the fact that there are many advantages of social influencer marketing. Competition s stiff in the market and every brand tries to vie with each other. To brand does manage to stay in the limelight.

In order to avoid the pressures of competing with the existing rival brands, marketers will actually be looking out to developing more long-term relationships with the given key social media influencers in 2018.

Another key advancement as far as influencer marketing strategy is concerned is authenticity. Consumers can in fact easily detect the influencer-brand collaborations that appear to be forced and also call them out, which is why savvy marketers will also focus on building up organic relationships with influencers that do mesh with their respective brand in 2018.

3) The EU’s crackdown on data collection

In 2018, the European Union is much serious about companies collecting consumer data. On May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is going into effect. Will one’s company be prepared for this?

The GDPR does give EU citizens more control over their personal data. Each time the company wants to collect information from a consumer, it will need to get explicit consent from the individual.

That data could be anything from their location to their name to their email address. On top of that, the company will need to tell the person what data they plan to collect and how they’ll use it. The company has to comply or else there will be a fine.

4) Chatbots taking on:

2018 will be focusing on brands getting onto social media bots. Chatbots have been in operation now for years on end. Off late many improvements have been there. In fact, more brands are actually concentrating upon chatbots for customer support and also perfecting their chatbot marketing strategies.

5) The new mode of storytelling

Social media “stories” cannot be ignored by marketers in the coming year as they are gaining much popularity. Unique features and presentations are offered although they tend to follow the same concept. Stories do capture the best moments of a day and then most of them vanish after a set period of time.

Naturally, 2018 is the important year for digital marketing as it plays a vital role in social marketing strategy.