6 marketing trends on stage at Webstock 2016
When trying to figure out what the best people in digital marketing in Romania are working on, there is hardly a better place to go to than Webstock. The entire conference is a big opportunity to meet marketing professionals and to get inspired by their work and experiences.
So, I’ve compiled a list of the main 6 marketing tips we learned about at the conference:
1. Storytelling continues to drive the conversation.
They might not have an important marketing background, but Webstock has placed a couple of celebrities (such as Marian Godină or Paula Herlo) on the main stage, because engaging audiences, regardless of the project, is an impossible task without a powerful story behind it. Quality content drives sales and engagement. The speakers talked about why the content created must always be relevant for the targeted audience.
2. Social media is taking over the internet.
Not only that people are spending more and more time on social media apps, but the networks themselves are trying to integrate functionalities that have previously been associated with competing services, like video content, online shopping or news.
3. Half of the things we consume online is video content.
Between Facebook, YouTube and Netflix or any other local video streaming service, we spend more time watching videos online rather than on TV. And statistics show that this consumption habit is becoming a trend. So it should not come as a surprise that services like YouTube, Hulu, Amazon or Netflix are placing huge bets on creating original content. This might be the most important takeaway from Webstock: whenever possible, use video as a tool to attract users.
4. AR and VR will become synonymous with marketing.
While companies like Facebook, Google or Samsung are investing in VR technologies, and while Pokemon GO has started a global phenomenon around augmented reality, we rarely see them applied in Romania. Still, Bitdefender has proved that a well thought out campaign can be successful. They have built a virtual fortress inside a mobile app using AR that users could explore while wearing a normal pair of VR glasses. And it feels like the beginning of something big.
5. Blogging isn’t giving up… just yet.
In one of the conference’s panels bloggers talked about how little things have changed over the years. But in an era defined by social media, mobile apps and video content, bloggers seem to believe that not adapting their strategies is the best solution. Without claiming that they are not still relevant, but not keeping up with the trends doesn’t foreshadow a glorious future. Blogging is reluctant to accommodate these new trends and it’s hard to believe that we will be talking about blogs the same way we do today in a couple of years.
6. Educating clients is still a struggle.
In a country where clients expect impressive results with small or no budgets, changing this mentality takes time, but marketers shouldn’t accept it as normal. We, as marketers, need to constantly explain the importance of building strong and memorable campaigns. The only way we are going to gain the trust of our clients is by delivering results, but we can only achieve that with their support.
Overall, Webstock remains one of the most important stages in Romania where marketers meet to discuss their projects and to try to anticipate what the future brings. With this year’s edition it’s clear that this article should be in video form and should be posted directly on Facebook.
