Today I found myself attending a lot of Brands and Marketing Track sessions, which most likely stems from my marketing background. As an undergrad, I studied marketing and hope to work within the marketing industry after graduating. I was able to hear amazing panels about what’s new in marketing and some of the big trends they’ve seen over the past few years. Unlike before, User have come to expect companies to actively engage and create relevant content for their users on social and online. Here are some of the major takeaways from some of the Brands and Marketing sessions:

Fountain of Youth: How Brands Can Drink From It

During the “Fountain of Youth: How Brands Can Drink From It, ” the major trend they discussed is the collaboration of social influencers in brand advertising. Many big companies are now paying social influencers to promote their brands on their various social media platforms. Over that last few years the popularity of YouTubers and social media influencers has skyrocketed. Millions of loyal followers find themselves tuning into these influencers regularly and finding a way to relate to them on a personal level. Because of this, marketers are now wanting to utilize this loyal follower base to penetrate specific markets.

Donna Bates, Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications & Content Development of Universal Studios, offers this piece of advice for any company thinking about using influencers as a marketing tactic, “go all in and and don’t be afraid.” She recalls there being many times that she was put in an uncomfortable situation when working with influencers and wondering just how much she should “push the envelope.”

What Followers Want: How Social Evolves in 2018

In the “What Followers Want: How Social Evolves in 2018” panel, panelist Tutti Taygerly- Facebook Product Design Manager, Josh Dickens- Instagram Design Manager, Rajni Jacques- Teen Vogue Fashion Director and Gene Liebel of Work & Co discuss the users imperative need to become content creators. Users want to be able to create their own content and turn a mundane event into something memorable by using stickers, gifs, etc.

They also touched on social media influencers like the previous panel I talked about. There are so many social influencers that are thriving and making significant money by simply using social media as a way to share their own content and reaching their desired audience.

Another big topic they discussed is how social media is lets people galvanize movements such as the #metoo movement, as well as allowing people to connect and find communities in quick and efficient way.

The New Age of Story: Marketing for a Visual World

My last panel of the day, “The New Age of Story: Marketing for a Visual World” was all about a big trend marketers have seen over the last couple of years–the increasing utilization of visual storytelling in marketing!

90% of the information people retain is visual in nature.

This is a huge percentage! As consumers are bombarded with information on a daily basis, it has become imperative to create visually stimulating and relevant content in order to capture consumer attention. Therefore many marketers have turned to using visual communication as a marketing tactic. Visual communication is a graphic which represents information to efficiently and effectively create meaning and when necessary LIMITED text is used to explicate the meaning.

85% of marketers used visuals in 2017 with 73% planning to increase their use in meaning.

By utilizing powerful images and relevant information in your marketing content, a company is much more likely to see positive ROIs, as well as be an efficient way to use your marketing dollars. In a study they found most users only look at the headline and/or skim the content, therefore it is vital to ensure that you are communicating only what is important to your message.

Throughout all of these marketing panel I found a common theme, VISUAL CONTENT IS KING! The average teenage spends 9 hours on social each day, so it is no wonder marketers are scrambling to find the most effective and efficient digital marketing plan.