Question

Digital consumers are creative, subversive and culturally aware. Focusing on social media activity, identify one or more brand where digital consumers are interacting with or posting about those brands in creative, subversive and culturally aware ways.

Answer 1

The world of marketing is constantly changing, especially in the modern era of social media, automated ad tech and audience analytics. Brands need to stay on top of these changes to successfully reach their audiences, especially as consumers become savvier and more skeptical of advertising.

Because the members of Forbes Communications Council live and breathe marketing every day, we asked them what today's marketers can expect to see on the horizon this year. From technology like virtual reality and artificial intelligence to overall strategies like influencer and account-based marketing, here's how you can take advantage of the latest trends.

1. Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is becoming increasingly commonplace as a marketing tool for brands big and small. The challenge is using VR in a way that makes sense for your overall brand messaging and target audience. VR marketing is still emerging, so it's a great time to explore your options and get ahead of the curve. - Ashley Murphy, Stribling & Associates

2. Interactive Content

Many brands, especially in the B2B space, have relied on blog content or PDF content (white papers and guides) to generate leads as part of their content marketing strategy. This year, you can expect interactive web experiences to take the lead in engaging visitors – experiences that display thought leadership content in more compelling, animated and visual ways. - Erin Moloney, Perficient Digital

3. Pinterest

Though Pinterest is often seen as a niche social media platform, I predict it to be the next big thing. Using Pinterest Lens and its functionality to engage with customers and put your products, services and style in front of consumers will be a surefire way to capture additional marketing attention in 2018. - Adam Durfee, Y Digital Agency

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4. Artificial Intelligence

Early adopters of AI have already found it to increase user engagement. However, integrating AI with a site's chat box or Facebook messenger will require perhaps even more creativity and understanding of the brand's target market. AI still has to address customer needs and problems just as aptly as a human agent, and it helps if the AI experience delights customers in a fun and lighthearted manner. - Amanda Hinski, Frost Valley YMCA

5. User-Generated Content

In the next year, consumers will crave authenticity from brands. Our recent survey showsthat 86% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they support, and 60% say user-generated content (UGC) is the most authentic form of content. By integrating trusted and engaging UGC throughout their multichannel marketing efforts, brands can win consumers' hearts and wallets. - Mallory Blumer, Stackla

6. Voice Search

Voice search is one of the most rapidly adopted technologies in recent history and it's changing the way consumers interact with the world around them. When you ask a question, you don't get 10 links back; you get one direct answer. Marketers should ensure the main voice providers (Google, Apple, Microsoft) have the correct facts about their businesses so they can provide the correct answers. - Elizabeth Walton, Yext

7. Honesty

Brutal honesty is a current trend that has been gaining steam, and we should all expect it to continue in 2018. Marketers can take advantage by clearly stating what their products and services are good at and where they need improvement. These statements can be backed up by objective customer reviews. This honesty translates to brand integrity, leading to trust and sales. -Pat Scheckel, Singlewire Software

Forbes Communications Council  is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies.   Do I qualify?

8. Chatbots

Chatbots are popping up everywhere, both in Facebook and other live chat solutions. As chat-based AI takes off, I expect to see more chatbots being utilized in everything – answering FAQs, placing orders and getting in touch with customer service. Marketers should be on the front lines embedding sales material and messaging as their company rolls them out to ensure they drive real value. -Zach Kwarta, Endurance International Group

9. Account-Based Content Marketing

ABCM will help B2B companies target unique personas as individuals within a company. Marketers now have the opportunity to steer away from a one-size-fits-all advertising approach to a highly targeted, unique user experience, leveraging a customized content journey with micro-sites, landing pages, images and/or calls-to-action. - Tami McQueen, 31south

10. Educating Consumers

As decision makers are being inundated with data – and we all know that data is different from knowledge – we must as marketers strive to be educators. Buyers are creating their own paths to purchase, and we have the opportunity to showcase and highlight key objectives and knowledge base points for the end consumer. By making content easy to understand and locate, we can capture mindshare. - MaryAnn Holder-Browne, One Network Enterprises

11. Experiential/Event Marketing

Experiential and event marketing are seeing a big resurgence, and brands will lean in even more to those types of marketing activations. I think that music tour sponsorships will have new life because of this – brands can do even cooler venue activations that audiences interact with, and they'll get broadcast out to a much larger digital audience. -Sherry Jhawar, Blended Strategy Group

12. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has been trending up and was the marketing buzzword and hot topic in 2017. In 2018, I expect job openings to surface specifically for in-house influencer marketing, and for influencers to act as the new media buy at a more efficient cost. It will take some time to nail it, but you might as well start now. - Benjamin Trinh, Postmates.

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