Today, Easypromos, a global leader in digital promotions, announced its 2017 Forecast for Trends Shaping Digital promotions in 2017. According to the company, 2016 demonstrated an increasingly intensifying digital promotions environment as businesses, agencies and brands focused a greater share of marketing efforts on online and social media channels to engage with a growing digital audience. Looking ahead, the company forecasts that digital promotions will continue to solidify themselves as a cornerstone of innovative marketing programs globally, with marketers embracing new tools and capabilities launched by social media channels.
Below are 6 Trends which will serve as the foundation of industry-leading marketing programs heading into 2017.
1. Marketers will Connect Digital Promotion Leads to CRM Platforms
Having proven the benefits or hosting digital promotions to drive leads, this year, marketers have started to look for ways to connect these channels directly into their CRM platforms. This enables marketers to automate the integration of the data collected during a promotion. In 2017, marketers will continue to connect their digital promotions platforms to acquire and integrate new leads through automated platforms to more easily, quickly and directly connect with their audience in relevant ways that drive results.
2. Omnichannel Marketing Will Drive Usage of Promotional Codes
More and more marketers are using online applications to reach their target audience with promotional codes they can redeem for a discount or gift such as a gift card or coupons. While promotional codes are being used within online stores prevalently, they are also being used in stores more and more because of their simplicity in distribution and redemption for consumers either online or in-store. Promotional codes also allow marketers to track the entire process (from the participant who registers and generates the lead, until it is exchanged for the prize), which contributes a lot of value to the marketing campaign. As more marketers integrate omnichannel strategies in 2017, online promotional codes are certain to grow as a popular digital promotion.
3. Popularity of Online Sweepstakes Will Move to Facebook Live
This year, Easypromos saw more marketers launch Facebook Timeline Sweepstakes than ever before. Offering an opportunity for participants to win something by simply liking or commenting on a Facebook post has shown to monumentally increase engagement and visibility for a company or brand. In 2016, companies have broadened its use to not only a post, but a photo or a video, and most recently, a Facebook Live broadcast, offering a gift to be given randomly to someone who has commented or liked to the live broadcast. In 2017, the immediacy of Facebook Live will be used to offer a live sweepstakes with the winner announced during the broadcast, and thus driving even more engagement and greater transparency in winner selection.
4. Social Streaming Will Drive Popularity of Facebook Live Polls
As more consumers and social media channels embrace online video, streaming tools such as Facebook Live will generate greater demand among brands to offer live surveys and polls. The strategy has been proven to drive a very high reach by those who’ve embraced it first, as it engages with an audience in real-time by soliciting audience input. With the creation of simple, reliable applications that facilitate live polling, this marketing strategy is sure to take off in 2017.
5. Video Contests Will Fuel User-Generated Social Content
The generation and distribution of videos by users is a growing trend, particularly due to the proliferation of smartphones equipped with cameras putting video capabilities in the hands of millions of users. In 2016, more and more brands embraced video promotions including online video contests which ask participants to upload a video for a chance to win a contest or sweepstakes. In 2017, brands will turn to video contests to create user-generated content even more, as it not only broadens awareness of a marketer’s product or service, but builds an audience of brand ambassadors which inspires greater confidence in a product of service among a broader audience. Video content has value in itself, since it is the most appealing content audience and marketers can repurpose it to fill various social media channels.
6. Digital Promotions to Shape Brand Ambassadors
One of the greatest strengths of a digital promotion is its ability to enable a marketer to collect data and additional content about a consumer, follower or participant. It is becoming a very cost-effective, reliable and secure way to identify qualified leads for the brand or product, as well as offer relevant content that can drive engagement back to a company or brand. In 2017, innovative marketers will continue to use digital promotions like contests to get to know their customer better and shape them into brand ambassadors.
About Easypromos:
Easypromos is a global leader in digital promotions offering a self-service, easy-to-use platform to create and manage digital campaigns seamlessly across any social media network or device. Launched in 2010, Easypromos has powered digital campaigns supporting contests, sweepstakes, quizzes, surveys, and more through simple, customizable solutions that are easily shareable for more than 250,000 promotions worldwide. Clients span 50 countries, with promotions running in 24 languages.
Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/01/prweb13960183.htm
