Every year I write a predictions article based on what I
see coming to the web in the not so distant future. These predictions cover the
gamut from conventional advertising, to digital marketing, from new tech toys
for our homes and personal use, to innovative game changing technologies that
will alter the world as we know it. Some of my predictions are based on research,
visible trends and the emergence of breakthrough technologies. Others are based
on what I see as missing in a world full of me too products, poor customer service
and blatant false advertising. In this episode of Working the Web to Win, I am going
to go out on a limb (again) and see if I can keep my 98.5% prediction batting average
streak going for another year. So read on and discover what my crystal ball has
in store for 2016 and beyond.
Artificial
Intelligence – First off I want to start with some of the big
trends that will have a huge impact on all technologies. AI, is one of those technologies.
Every major tech corporation is investing heavily in AI. These include IBM, Apple,
Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon. These companies have already released the
AI hound on the consuming public as integrated benefits of their Smart devices.
This includes: cars that drive themselves, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, Digital
assistances and other smart appliances. Many of the search engines for the big directories
and social networks have rolled out portions of these products to increase efficiencies
and to lower labor cost for their companies. Drones and robots are becoming things
of science fact. AI – coming to an Internet of Things product near you today!
Cloud Computing
– Cloud
computing has become a godsend to many businesses small and large. It has also become
a staple of many individuals hosting their music, photo and video libraries online
verses using that old hard drive or other backup device. I see most companies moving
their software products to the cloud because they can make more money in the long
run selling their services as a subscription. This also allows them to produce more
predictable income - two very important components of a sustainable business. Cloud
computing is closely tied to our love for instant gratification, convenience and
on demand content, storage of our data. The cloud also lends itself as a vital aspect
for the utilization of the Internet of Things. Move over PC – say hello to my cumulus
friend.
Programmatic – You’
may or may not have heard this term yet, but in the advertising world it’s the buzz
word of the year. Programmatic’s is a series of digital advertising technologies
designed to provide predictive automated advertising sales and media buys online
by computers, based on active client data and selected goals. This will be a huge part of digital advertising
by 2017 and most of the big players will be using it. Also, by that time it will
be working its way into the entry level marketers as well. If all things are equal, this technology can make
it so that media buys are much more targeted and should produce better ROI. However,
having said that, all software driven advertising products are susceptible to sleight
of hand (i.e., fraud) and I predict that programmatic’s will be infiltrated by the
same greedy players that have tarnished Pay Per Click and Pay Per impression advertising.
SEO Predictions – Every
year, the search engines make changes to their algorithms. You don’t need a crystal
ball to know this. However, I see new changes coming to Google, Yahoo, Bing and
Facebook (yeah, Facebook is a search engine) for very different reasons. Google
has already incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) into their search ranking
factors, and has a major push to get everyone on board with their cloud computing
services. Yahoo is in bed with Microsoft and of course Microsoft owns Bing. Microsoft’s
two biggest initiatives include clouds and AI tech. Hmm, I see a trend here. Facebook is heavily investing
in its own AI called “M” and will be launching it on their platform as well. Cloud
computing and AI will begin to pervade every aspect of digital marketing and our
world, especially as we move into the Internet of Things Era. (Have you see the
new Terminator movie?)
Social
Media Predictions – Not long ago I predicted that one of the top
social media players would make a misstep and fall from grace. That player happened
to be Twitter. Twitter is ripe for a hostile takeover and I predict one of the tech
giants will swallow it up. Some say it will be Google, I think it will be Microsoft,
since it is one of the few tech giants that does not own a piece of the social pie.
We will continue to see the jostling of the players’ market
share as they buy up smaller players and tech companies. I still predict that the
social media companies that move to more business friendly practices will continue
to grow and stay strong. Facebook which has not been business friendly has managed
to grow and stay strong by acquiring other companies and technologies. However,
it is my belief that if a company wants to stay the world leader in social media,
it has to lead in customer service and be business friendly. At present Facebook
is not leading in these criteria.
Terrorists will continue to exploit social media as a means
to draw recruits to their causes. Eventually this will be curtailed by governments
and technologies. However, the terrorists will fight back by creating their own
social networks and smart device apps, creating a digital arms race in the near
future.
In the past few years, social media has evolved into a medium
that includes pay per click, pay per impressions, pay per acquisitions and e-commerce
sales. It is now a broad spectrum medium that covers News feeds, blogging, photo
galleries, video and member platforms that produce a rich multimedia experience.
It has added video casting and video communications
as a centerpiece of their networks. New players like Periscope and others will emerge
and be swallowed by one of the big players.
Social media will move into the arena of social movie watching
where online TV show and movie networks provide content to socially active audiences,
which in turn can interact and rank the content they are watching live. This will have a direct effect on the profitability
of content being streamed and this voting will affect how movie marketing is selected
and implemented in the not so distant future.
Pay Per
Click – as of late, pay per click has been exposed as having a dark
underbelly. Some studies
have shown that as many as 60 percent of PPC spends are for bot clicks. As we
move into the era of Programmatics the temptation of cheating is almost too strong
for greedy media marketing companies to ignore. What’s funny is they can easily
get away with it if you understand the math. They don’t have to cheat you for 10%
of your media buy. It doesn’t have to be 5% or
even 1%. They can skim a half of
a percent and make millions, if not billions,
each year without anyone noticing. Another way they make a fortune is on the stop
order on all media buys. Stop orders always seem to go over by a few dollars (i.e.
you set the stop order at $500 and it stopped at $508 instead). If you multiply
this by a million advertisers, you have an 8-million-dollar in overcharges. Now make sure you understand, I am not saying
Google, Facebook, LinkedIn. Twitter or Microsoft are cheating you (even though some
of them have been caught cheating in the past). What I am saying is that they can
cheat in a way that will go unnoticed. This nickel and dime thievery will draw enough
attention to cause someone to mount a lawsuit on their integrity. This trend will
only get bigger, (time to buy big tech giant stocks).
Security
Predictions – The Hack-a-ton will continue and will show not
slow down anytime soon. Bad guys have a big edge and they are organized. Add to
this they now have easy soft targets like smart appliances, mobile devices, smart
cars and automated drones as targets. The Internet of Things will add to this nightmare
and insure it will get worse. On top of that, they have a new frontier – Artificial
Intelligence! Not only will they be able to exploit this burgeoning technology,
they will be some of the leading engineers developing smart software that does the
hacking for them!
High Tech
Predictions – There will be a multitude of old technologies that
come of age in the next few years. Many new technologies (like nano tech) that have
debuted in recent years will change our world forever. 3D printers are entering
the mainstream, now being sold in places Like Sam’s Club and other retailers. All
of the big players will continue to upgrade their cash cow technologies. Smart phones,
tablets, smart watches, health trackers, smart clothing, smart appliances, smart
cars and smart houses will become the norm. From a business and consumer point of
view – people will have to choose sides.
What I mean is, you will have to pick a
family of products to go with. You will be an Apple family, or an Android couple,
or maybe even a Microsoft clan user! Wearables will evolve as all tech does, but
the greatest gains will come when the tech companies shrink the size and triple
the life of the batteries in these products. Waterproofing will become standard
and devices will also become more rugged, flexible and more ubiquitous. I foresee
Casio becoming a big player by the virtue of their solar charging watch technology
in the near future. They will either sell this tech to other companies in an effort
to catch up or transfer this tech to other smart devices to expand their lines.
Politicians
and the Political Process – They say all is fair in love, war and politics
– at
least that’s what many politicians would have us believe. In the last several election cycles politicians
have made promises they never intended to keep. Heck, there’s nothing new here.
What is new however, is how politicians can highly target social media constituents
with positive, negative and deceptive messages. This trend began in earnest with
the 2008 election. Enter Programmatic’s and we now have even more highly target
ads bombarding us. And, as stated earlier in this article, automation comes with
the risk of fraud and deception. Politicians have gotten very good at creating political
ads that are designed to persuade or dissuade voters, even though the ads contained
deceptive information. We as a people need to become more informed and active in
the political process if we want to keep our fragile democracy. Elections that are
determined by uninformed voters are a sure pathway to the loss of freedom and the
American way. Believing what is said on the internet is not a strategy for being
informed.
Speaking of fraud, I predict that a major scandal will emerge
in the voter fraud arena.
Americans have
to wake up to the fact that many elections in our country are now being processed
by computers. And wherever computers are used, fraud can be used to change the results.
We need to ensure that safeguards are put
in place to make sure elections are not stolen. The most important things Americans
can do is hold the press to a higher standard. In the last 20 years or so, the press
has lost most of its objective nature and now usually reports with the slant of
an agenda. We need to stop this type of reporting by patronizing media companies
that hold higher objective principles and by voting for those politicians who speak
out against bias reporting. We live in a highly automated world. It is becoming
more automated everyday. The last thing we need is an automated political process
picking our leaders. Automation and politics is a sure formula for the destruction
of our democracy.
In this article I have provided a look into nine subjects that
are evolving before our eyes. The next four years will bring about vast changes
to our world. The near future holds radical changes for conventional and digital
marketing. New innovative inventions will alter how we live, work, play and consume
things. Most importantly, these changes will affect our political process and the
way of life we have as Americans. It is my hope that every American will take responsibility
to learn about the automation they are using. We need to take responsibility for
what we buy, use, listen to, and who we elect as our leaders. The Internet of Things
has vast implications for the loss of freedoms and privacy. We need to speak out
and elect people willing to take the time to understand the use of these technologies
and to make sure they implement safeguards for our protection.
That’s my opinion, I look forward to reading yours.
If you feel your business could use some help with its marketing, contact us at 904-410-2091,We will provide a free marketing analysis to help you get better results. If you'd like a free copy of our eBook, "Internet
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Hector Cisneros is a partner, COO
and Social Media Director for the award-winning, Internet-based marketing
firm, Working
the Web to Win, in Jacksonville, FL. You can
connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+,
LinkedIn,
and YouTube.
He’s also the co-host of BlogTalkRadio’s “Working the Web to
Win,” where he and Working the Web to Win’s co-founder,
Carl Weiss, make working the web to win simple for every business. He's a
published author of three books, "60
Seconds to Success"(available at Amazon and B&N),
and "Internet
Marketing for the 21st Century," which you can
get by filling out the form above. He’s also the co-author of the new book, “Working The Web to Win,” which is
now available on Amazon.com.
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