11 Excellent Digital Marketing Insights to Drive Success This Year: E-commerce Link Digest

Bon jour, Big Thinkers! Just heading back from a quick trip to Paris, so I hope you won’t mind if I skip the setup this week and instead get you directly to this list of 11 excellent digital marketing insights to drive success this year. Enjoy:

1. The aptly-named Customer Think asks what experiences will ultimately define “‘customer experience'”? Good question, with an excellent answer. You’ll also likely appreciate these excellent insights on driving seamless experiences in 2016 too.
2. Mobile Commerce Daily explains why OpenTable is banking on Apple Pay’s meteoric rise. It’s possible you might want to do the same. They also provide some excellent insights into why mobile payments will rule.
3. Mobile Marketing Watch looks closely at what’s next for brands’ social marketing strategies.
4. Brian Solis offers an excellent set of 26 disruptive tech trends for 2016 – 2018. Fantastic read. This set of five fast digital marketing posts featuring February’s top trends makes for a helpful companion piece.
5. Future Commerce looks at Twitter’s new timeline and explains what marketers need to know. You might also want to check out Josh Steimle’s list of the top 100 most-followed CMOs on Twitter for additional insights into your digital marketing success in this year.
6. HubSpot put together a terrific infographic outlining how internet behavior is changing around the world.
7. Marketing Charts asks, “what’s mobile’s influence in-store?” Even better, they provide some solid answers. Just remember though, that combined with these 6 things marketers need to know about beacons (courtesy of CIO.com), helps to explain why mobile may be bigger than you can think.
8. Another great Mobile Commerce Daily post says that mobile budgets get smarter in 2016. As you think about making your budget smarter, consider these five reasons marketers need to get ready for mobile messaging, too.
9. TechCrunch says that Facebook’s private photo-sharing app Moments now supports video, just another sign that marketers must make room for mobile video in their marketing plans this year.
10. Chief Marketer provides 3 insights to market to Gen Z, who along with the shift towards mobile, represent three key e-commerce themes you need to know this year.
11. And, finally, if you’re looking for a key insight on how you can drive success this year, consider how to best take advantage of every opportunity this year—and beyond.

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”: