With 2026 on the horizon, it’s time to consider what digital marketing trends deserve your attention to make your socials pop in the new year. We asked our team of specialists for their insights on the trends they see emerging and the ones here to stay, so you can focus on what actually works and skip those that aren’t worth your time or money.
Digital marketing and the broader marketing Industry
AI is reshaping the marketing landscape, which we are already witnessing in rapid advancements. Brands must rethink how they structure, create, and distribute their content to stay visible in 2026. Here are our predictions:
AI-Native brands take the lead
Brands are moving from using AI for simpler tasks like blog writing and using it to build in-depth AI-Native systems. These systems elevate strategy, content production and insights, causing a shift in marketing workflows. Moving forward, owned audiences, clear digital footprints and strong brand architecture will matter more than ever.AI now controls who sees your content. We’re already seeing this across many multimodal AI algorithms and digital channels like Google’s AI-first search and Meta’s Andromeda.
The distribution is based on structure, patterns, concepts, and behaviour, rather than keywords or targeting settings. AI will continue to take over, meaning it’s essential that AI can read and understand your content, who it’s for, what it’s saying and where it belongs in the algorithm, or visibility will drop.
Semantic Signalling Takes Centre Stage
With AI driving all discovery, semantic signalling becomes non-negotiable. Your content must clearly communicate who it’s for, the topic, what consumer cluster it belongs to and its intent.
The shift:
Before: Marketers could choose the audience. (Machine learning)
Now: AI chooses the audience based on how clearly your content signals who it’s for. (Modern multimodal AI algorithm)
These multimodal models analyse text, images, video, audio, layout and visual elements simultaneously. These are where your semantic signals come from in order for the AI to develop meaning and understanding. The clearer the signals, the stronger your distribution.
For example, if you want to reach a higher socio-economic audience, you no longer target them through settings. Instead, you signal it through elevated language, minimalist visuals, curated settings, and premium cues. But if you use phrases like “affordable” or “huge discounts” with bright colours, busy graphics, or flashing elements like stars and arrows, or set your ad creative in an environment like an older kitchen, you might find it reaching the wrong audience.
One clear semantic meaning = stronger delivery and better performance.
Keep in mind, this principle isn’t only for Meta advertising. it applies to any digital platform powered by a modern AI-driven multimodal algorithm.
Retail Media Networks industry will continue to grow
As privacy laws tighten, cookies weaken, and third-party data loses power, large retailers like Coles and Woolies will accelerate the growth of their retail media networks. These platforms thrive as they have access to rich first-party data like transaction histories, loyalty program data, purchasing behavioural patterns and clean data environments, giving them a major advantage.
For smaller brands, these networks offer attribution and clarity gaps that other ad platforms, like Meta, can’t provide without cookies.
And where there is profit, expect more players. Large brands with strong first-party data will catch on, and these big players will build their own media networks to create a new revenue stream.
Search Engine Marketing and AI Optimisation
In 2026, search will continue to evolve into an AI-driven system. To keep up, brands must adapt their strategy to ensure they are visible and findable across engines, platforms and multimodal touchpoints. This means adopting more than traditional SEO tactics and creating content that aligns with AI search behaviours.
Key shifts to consider:
- Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is becoming the essential SEO discipline for ranking in AI-driven search results.
- E-E-A-T and Human-Centric Content Become Crucial as AI prioritises expertise, authenticity and trust signals.
- Moving away from Keywords to Entity-First and Topical Depth
- Multimodal Search and Omnichannel Visibility: Users are increasingly using voice commands and visual search (e.g., Google Lens) across platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and AI chatbots, which means semantic signals must be consistent everywhere.
Websites
With the evolution of search, it’s no surprise that websites must also adapt to ensure their content is discoverable, understandable, and trusted across platforms.
Key shifts to consider:
- Copy needs to be optimised for AI search and tools like Google’s AI Overviews and ChatGPT to be understood, cited, and featured. 66% of people now use AI regularly (Forbes, 2025), highlighting the importance of AI-optimised content. Ensure your copy is semantically rich, factually accurate, and clearly structured.
- LLMs.txt optimisation will be essential, as it guides Large Language Models (LLMs) to use authoritative content.
- The user journey is now heavily influenced by Zero-Click and conversational search, meaning the quality of User Experience (UX) for both humans and AI models, alongside the integrity of the structured data in the Google Merchant Center (GMC), is highly important for conversion and citation.
Online Ads
In 2026, it’s essential for brands to focus on a seamless user journey from discovery to conversion.
Key shifts to consider:
- Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO): Optimise ad content to be clear, structured, and readable for inclusion in AI answers.
- Social platforms are integrating payment directly (Social Commerce), and messaging apps (like WhatsApp) are moving from simple chat to full transactional systems. Paid ads will focus on driving users into low-friction purchase paths. Social Media could be not only TOFU, but also MOFU of the funnel stages.
- First-party data and strong measurement frameworks are critical: It’s important to track and understand your customer journey.
- Interactive and engaging content is crucial: Creative must capture attention and connect with audiences effectively.
- Generative AI in Creative: Leverage AI to create personalised, high-quality ad assets.
Social Media and Content
Brand strategy is a must! All posts must be considered, and brands should work towards building real engagement by actively responding to ideal customers. Success in social media will come from meaningful interactions, consistent messaging, and investing in your community.
Key shifts to consider:
- Brands must actively engage rather than relying on a set-and-forget strategy. Target and engage with your ideal customers. Otherwise, it’s not social media, it’s broadcast media.
- Organic socials are the place to test your Meta Ads creative. See what gets reach and engagement before throwing the big bucks behind it.
- Carousels continue to deliver! Ensure carousels include text and provide value to your audience.
- Niche communities will continue to have better success than going viral. The algorithm values topics + audience consistency more than follower count. Creators will grow by developing strong connections with their audiences rather than by having a large audience.
- Quality storytelling over “aesthetic influencers” brands should prioritise authentic narratives and build a reputation in their industry niche.
Creative
Stand out in crowded feeds with new approaches to storytelling, photography and design aesthetics.
Key shifts to consider:
- Concise storytelling in reels: using single static shot reels with quick & succinct storytelling all within the frame. A technique currently being adopted by many high-end fashion, sporting and food & beverage brands.
- AI-assisted creative will be a major trend in 2026, enabling brands to optimise content and target their audience with creative across Meta.
- Raw, authentic photography will be a trend in the new year, replacing the highly produced images of the past for more natural, relatable visuals.
- The ‘Wes Anderson’ aesthetic: Whether you’ve seen his films or not, you’ve probably seen multiple ads influenced by his style. The aesthetic has become synonymous with charming, eye-catching social posts featuring emphasised symmetry, pastel colours, quick, witty one-liners, and eccentric props and styling.
We’ll be welcoming more than just the new year in 2026, with new trends increasingly driven by AI. Success will depend on clarity, engagement, and adaptability, harnessing an evolved strategy that optimises content, targets the right audiences, and prioritises meaningful connections across every platform.
It’s time to leverage the power of your brand across digital channels. Book a strategy session with Red Herring Digital to discover the best angle to position your business to reach aligned customers.
