9 Tremendous Posts About 2016’s Top Digital Trends: E-commerce Link Digest

Well, that went fast didn’t it? One week of the New Year in the books already. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see all that’s ahead as we ramp up into 2016 next week. But, before you look too far ahead, take a moment to review these 9 tremendous posts about 2016’s top digital trends to kick off your year the right way. Enjoy:

1. According to eMarketer, four in five retailers say mobile is having a major effect. I can’t decide if the fifth one is lying or wrong.
2. Luxury Daily encourages you to embrace the holy trinity of digital: mobile video, data and artificial intelligence. Sounds about right to me. Mobile video, data, and personalization all play a part in my three trends to watch in 2016 and I suspect you’ll need to soon make room for mobile video as one of 2016’s top trends.
3. eMarketer also brings us one of the sillier headlines I’ve seen in a while, claiming marketers expect their businesses to be more mobile in two years. 2 years?!? What exactly do they think is happening right now? More than a third of those surveyed already get greater than 20% of their business from mobile. But as mentioned on this week’s podcast, I suspect the businesses lagging those numbers should put the blame squarely on their mobile customer experience.
4. Speaking of customer experience, Fast Company’s Co.Design blog outlines 10 key design trends for 2016 (and how to make the most of them). Very useful.
5. Top Rank Blog highlights a number of key content marketing tactics: influencer content pros, cons, examples and best practices to get your year off on the right foot, while the ANA says ‘content marketing’ is word of the year according to The Drum.
6. Also on this week’s podcast, we talked a lot about content marketing, and specifically this post from Search Engine Land that says you should forget your testimonials page, 2016 is the year of reviews. Given that I’ve illustrated how reputation management remains the single most effective way to improve your brand’s digital marketing, I quite agree. Check out both posts and I suspect you will too.
7. Ragan outlines 10 digital branding and marketing trends to watch for in 2016. Among their top picks? Mobile video (on Facebook, specifically), reputation management, artificial intelligence and personalization. Are you sensing a trend here?
8. CMO.com highlights a PwC study that notes most orgs haven’t appointed a Chief Digital Officer. Expect to hear lots more about this in the coming months as more companies figure out the necessary keys to executing digital effectively.
9. Finally, you won’t want to miss this outstanding round-up of 20 key concepts for the year ahead from the top posts of 2015. Good stuff all around.

If you’re interested in learning more about making the social, mobile web work for your customers, be sure to check out these “8 Digital Strategy Posts to Start Your Week Right,” this set of “10 Must-Read Posts About Mobile Commerce and Content Marketing” a fun collection of posts featuring “Google, Mobile, E-commerce. What More Could You Want?” and all the rest of the entries from our E-commerce Link Digest series.

And if you want learn even more about how your customers’ changing behavior shapes e-commerce and marketing, be sure and register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You can also check out these slides and video from my recent webinar, “Digital Marketing Directions: Three Key Trends Driving Your Marketing Next Year”: