Why tech is a big drive for marketing

The World Wide Web of social media networks, its users and management tools looks different than even two years ago.

Just as feeds are constantly repopulating and content is changing viral position every hour, the technology allowing the digital world to thrive is ever evolving.

Less than a decade ago social media marketing management was tedious and tiring – involving DIY spreadsheets and boring Word doc reports. And frankly, what may have worked for the company last year won’t be relevant this year.

Welcome to a new era.

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Thanks to constant advances in technology, the current epoch is one of live streaming, one-click shopping, native advertising and sponsored blog content –  allowing brands to be personified, and giving modern marketers the ability to meticulously track all digital tactics for data.

Unlike the permanency of more traditional mediums, marketers have to be agile and analytical to determine the best strategy for customer engagement, reach, retention and credibility. The following marketing technologies do just that.

Cyfe: Set the reporting bar high

On the top of most marketers’ wish lists is access to one tool to rule them all when it comes to monitoring the diverse set of channels that host their brand’s messages.

At first glance the Cyfe dashboard looks too good to be true. Then you dive even deeper and realize that’s just scratching the surface.

Cyfe is completely customizable to feature the necessary information you want to know for any given time period and need to make sound decisions. While the platform offers a whole host of capabilities the ability to quickly overview marketing, social media, sales, and web data is invaluable to operations.

One of Cyfe’s winning features is the full cast of pre-built widgets that allow admins to plug in popular (and niche) accounts ranging from Salesforce to Google Analytics to Shopify.

SEM, SEO, demographics, email opens and newsletter registrations all within one platform? Sign us up.

Webfluential: Allow Influencers to share your story

Think back to high school. There was always that one group that was, for lack of a better term, popular. What they did, wore and said was emulated throughout the microcosm of the school’s social hierarchy.

Now, imagine the internet is high school — no longer is there just one popular group, there are many.

With their ever growing number of blog readers, YouTube subscribers and Instagram followers, each of these niche groups have their own thought leaders, topic experts and trendsetters. So how do marketers reach these new “popular” groups? Enter Webfluential.

Those that invest in influencers are seeing a 6:1 return on investment as well as making $6.50 for every dollar spent on influencer marketing with the top 13 percent earning upwards of $20 to every dollar spent. And brands with big budgets are casting their digital marketing strategy nets to targeted audiences.

But that doesn’t mean your company has to have a multi-million dollar marketing budget to make waves in engagement.

Platform admins can manage account budgets of any size with ease. Campaign logistics management is made simple, plus a dedicated account manager is on standby to ensure all, from campaign briefing to detailed reporting, runs smoothly; with trackable, data-driven campaign results. 

Periscope: We’ll do it live

This live streaming app is by no means new, but is running full steam ahead to be an social networks must for brands of all sizes.

If you’ve heard it before, internalize it now: be on Periscope and offer valuable content.

Periscope offers the broadcasting opportunity of one-to-many in a behind-the-scenes sort of way. Interviews, tutorials, fashion shows, meet-the-team, giveaway announcements… they all pack an IRL punch that users can then comment back and engage with.

Periscope, acquired by Twitter in 2015, is fundamentally different than video platform YouTube, due to the immediate “now” factor. Periscopers feel the need to watch and engage because they know the time to do so on a particular video is fleeting.

Do continuous research on what type of content is popular and works on Periscope by exploring with Dextro technology. The top categories featured on Stream are changing right now as your read this.

Why? The company employs machine learning, or AI, to categorize videos in real time making it more accessible to find interesting streams.

Log in to log profits

For any marketers stuck in a tech rut, holding out on the wealth of information that technology opens the door to, it is time to initiate some much needed changes.

Tried and true marketing practices are not to be forgotten. The four P’s can and should be applied to the modern world of marketing to create a comprehensive, intelligent brand presence that is a force to be reckoned with.

Adding new tools to the arsenal for 2016 is what will make all the difference.

Read next: What we learned from marketing to 2 million teenagers