Dissecting #ReThinkMedia: 4 Must-Know Digital Trends

Dissecting #ReThinkMedia: 4 Must-Know Digital Trends

On the 16th March 2016, we sent a member of our research team to #ReThinkMedia to find out where the future of the digital world is headed.

As Birmingham City University’s renowned annual Digital Media Conference, Rethink Media attracts some of the UK’s greatest minds and authorities from the worlds of digital media, social media and digital marketing.

And this means they have a tonne of insights to share.

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Fortunately for you, we thought we’d do the hard work on your behalf distilling our key findings from the conference into 4 must-know digital trends that are sure to keep your business on the right path for the future.

1. Coordination and Communication Are Vital 

Catlayst Coordination and Communication Icon While businesses looking to improve the effectiveness of their marketing output tend to focus on things from a purely strategic or creative angle, internal communication remains a hugely important factor to successful marketing.

And the speakers at #ReThinkMedia concur, placing emphasis on how effective teamwork, communication and project management are the keys to optimising creative, quality control and content ideation processes for businesses.

If you’re looking to keep your team on the same page and your creative output as effective as possible, tools like Slack are a great place to start.

Catalyst Quality Content Icon 2. Quality Beats Quantity, Always 
Quantity has always been the best friend of content, especially for Inbound marketing, but we’re now seeing a deluge of content that is completely changing the way readers consume content.

Readers are extremely picky with what they consume.

Due to sheer volume, these days all content must stand out and resonate with the pain points of readers – anything less and it will be cast aside and forgotten about. Content is now as essential as water to modern marketing (according to Accenture), so you have no choice but to create outstanding content, or find someone who can.

3. Businesses Are Taking Brand Curation Seriously 

Catalyst Brand Curation Icon We’re seeing businesses take an increasingly fond view of social and digital media to curate, reinforce and communicate their brand offering. From the use of Instagram meme creators, to niche fashion bloggers and YouTube vloggers, no medium is off-limits for the modern business.

We’re seeing brands move away from traditional marketing models and adopt their own branding strategies based solely on what will allow them to reach the right audiences with the right messages.

It’s an exciting time for brands, no doubt, but as Instagram’s recent algorithm change has shown, it is vital that businesses avoid an overreliance on social media for developing and curating their brand.

Catalyst Viral Marketing Emotions Icon 4. Viral Content Strikes a Chord 
Countless formulas, algorithms and YouTube videos later, we’re still yet to pinpoint exactly what makes content viral. In the absence of exact science however, we have discovered common themes apparent in each piece of content that goes viral, one of the most noticeable being emotion.

See, viral content elicits an emotional reaction, it strikes a chord, it is significant to the zeitgeist of the time.

And this isn’t just the case for B2C brands. It’s all about relevance and pain points: your industry facing rapid growth? Tap into this with your content. Clients feeling risk averse due to a stagnant market? Frame your content with this in mind to gain trust and resonate with them.

Only humans consume content, so viral or not, it’s vital you inject some emotion into your content with stories that truly matter to your audience.

Research Driven Insight
As with all aspects of marketing, success in the digital arena starts with insight. Insight provides you with the knowledge you need to make smarter strategic decisions, unforgettable content and more productive internal teams.

And this means you need research.

At Catalyst, we understand the importance of time. We know not all businesses are fortunate enough to have a dedicated team of analysts and researchers that can attend conferences on a regular basis.

But this doesn’t mean you have to compromise, if you’re looking to reap the benefits of truly detailed research that keeps you at the forefront of your industry, our Advanced Growth Framework could be exactly what you’re looking for.

To discover more about the unique process that has seen our clients’ average turnover increase by 20.1%* in the past year, simply click the button below.

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