4 Marketing Automation Trends to Watch in 2018

According to some estimates, worldwide spending on marketing automation software will hit $32 billion this year, and that number is expected to increase in the years to come as more companies begin embracing marketing automation and the tools become more sophisticated.Thanks to products from companies like Hubspot, Marketo and Act-On Software, marketers now have the ability to create highly effective digital marketing programs that were unthinkable just a few years ago.Technological improvements related to machine learning, chatbots and analytics will drive a number of notable developments in the field of marketing automation. Here’s a look at four trends to watch in 2018.A recent MarketingSherpa study found that 58 percent of social media users follow brands on social media. Considering that more than 2 billion people use various social media platforms worldwide, that means marketers can use social media to interact with an enormous number of prospects via social networks.Social media automation tools like SocialDrift allow marketers to automate various interactions that would otherwise be tedious to complete manually. These interactions can drive social media users to take actions like following your brand or visiting your organization’s website.