Digital Marketing.

Social and digital marketing have hit their stride — and now that everyone is back from winter break and settling into the new year, it’s time to review the lessons learned from last year, and look forward to what’s needed for your company to shine in 2017. From the evolving world of artificial intelligence to expectations of instant communications, Stacy DeBroff, CEO, and founder of Influence-Central shares her take on the social and digital marketing horizon, based on her research and work with over 350 national brands last year.

1. New Products Roll in For the Brand Revolution
“As consumers – via social media – we all have a seat at the marketing table —by sharing our needs and priorities through direct feedback and our purchasing choices. We’ve seen the impact of the ‘brand revolution’ on key consumer-facing industries,” DeBroff says. “In the coming year, brands will become even more attuned to the needs and priorities of the consumer, and increasingly shape their product offerings around the latest lifestyle trends.”

2. A.I. Solutions Point to a Brave New World
2017 will be the year when we will look more to artificial intelligence to lend a helping hand. “This current trend with start-up brands, as well as data analytics, identifies applicable A.I. solutions as a way for consumers to navigate in an increasingly complex world,” DeBroff notes. “From advanced electronics applications, to pinpoint analytics that predicts consumer needs as they arise, A.I. is on the way, in a big way."

3. “Instant” Speeds up as the New Normal for Gen Z
What happens when you grow up surrounded by social media and technology? Expectations of instant communications and entertainment become inevitable. Generation Z consumers gravitate to instantaneous social channels such as snapshot, Instagram, and the new social app Musical. Li. “The downside?” DeBroff explains, “This generation has grown up with an instant response as its baseline expectation. We can count on at least three platforms we’ve never heard of rising to social prominence next year that embraces faster, more pictorial, and more spontaneous ways of rising Gen Z to bond.”

4. Niche Curation Sorts Information Overload
“We find ourselves awash with more information than has ever been available to us as humans, and we simply can’t process it,” DeBroff concludes. “As a result, we’ve increasingly come to rely not just on curated information, but on the people we most trust to curate this information for us in a way that resonates with our lifestyle, interests, and values. In 2017, consumers will be on a mission to find peer specialists with niche expertise to filter recommendations that meet their needs in a customized way.”

5. Mobile Devices Forge On-the-Go Consumerism
In 2017, DeBroff predicts we will see the emergence of a new “electronics evolution” with innovative technology and apps for the mobile phones we keep tethered to our sides. “As these devices offer up smarter, faster, and more intuitive information, they will become even more ingrained into our daily patterns and connected culture — and dramatically influence consumers at the point of purchase. Mobile devices will emerge as shoppers’ most valued shopping partner, as consumers check them for