15 digital marketing priorities for 2026

 

The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving and I often get asked by people – “what should I be focusing on?”.  So I have listed 15 priorities for 2026 which you can read though and I hope you find them useful for your business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Understand how generative AI tools such as Chat GPT and Google Gemini can help you achieve your digital marketing goals. When you know how to use these tools they can provide you with strategies tailored to growing your business and can be a huge help in generating ideas for social media posts, improving the content on your web pages plus lots more. A top priority for 2026 should be to understand these tools and they are constantly evolving and improving. You should assume that many of your competitors are already using these tools.
2. Ensure you have a website – don’t just depend on having a social media presence. Your website is your sales environment that you want to drive people into in order to generate sales. It will allow you to appear high up in Google search results and you can also drive people from social media to your site where they get more information about your product or service
3. Focus on increasing your website conversion rate. Lots of businesses have a website that simply looks pretty. You should ensure that your site is employing lots of proven tactics that will tempt your website visitors into enquiring and purchasing. Otherwise you might get lots of traffic but very few sales.
4. Get your website appearing high up in Google search results. The people who are searching for what you offer have the need and the intent so you will convert more of this type of traffic into sales. If you don’t know how to do this you should learn about SEO.
5. Optimise your Google business profile to get found high up in search. When people search using the name of a town or county in the search, Google puts 3 profiles at the top of the page under a “Places” map result and midway down the page there is usually an extra set of place results so now there is typically 6. This is now hugely important for your business so you need to learn how to optimise your profile to get chosen by Google. If you don’t already have one, setting up a Google business profile needs to be a top priority.
6. AI search will become far more important in 2026. Google has launched AI mode in Ireland and Chat GPT also has AI search built in. Knowing how to get found high up in these AI search engines is becoming a key priority for businesses. Ensure you become familiar with how AI mode works and a) who AI mode is recommending when people search for your type of product or service and b) why they are recommending them.
7. Build your email marketing list in 2026. As organic reach on social media continues to decline you should focus on motivating your social media followers to sign up for your  marketing emails as this will allow you to reach more of them in a way that puts you more in control. Also, try to motivate your website visitors to sign up so you then have a better chance of converting them in the future and there are many  tactics you can employ to achieve this.
8. Focus on making more videos for your website. Studies show that videos on a website increase engagement and conversion rates. People are more inclined to understand the product or service better when they watch a short video. You can easily shoot videos on your phone but if you don’t know how to edit the videos, I highly recommend Capcut if you are willing to pay for it and the Edits app form Instagram if you are looking for a free tool. These easy-to-use editors will allow you to make very professional looking videos which you can then embed on your web pages.
9. Focus on creating short portrait shaped (9:16) videos on all social networks. Portrait / vertical shaped video is now the standard across all the social networks – Reels on Instagram / Facebook, Stories on Instagram / Facebook. TikTok and also LinkedIn . Learn how to use the free edits app to create very eye-catching videos that will get attention in the feeds and will engage viewers.
10. Understand how TikTok works because all the social networks are becoming like TikTok. On TikTok users are mainly shown content (in the For You feed) from accounts they are not following but that the AI algorithm thinks,  a) is very interesting content that, b) they would find interesting. It means that if you post a TikTok video, if the AI thinks it is interesting (based on user engagement) it could be shown to thousands of people. Facebook and Instagram have been going down this route for the past few years and we now have “suggested” content in our feeds. This will increase in 2026. So if you want your content to reach more of your followers and also non-followers, you have to produce content that people find “interesting” enough to engage with (save, share, watch, comment).
11. Consider advertising to your Facebook and Instagram followers. Because organic reach has fallen so much, on average only around 5% of your Facebook followers are seeing your content for free and between 10 – 15% of your Instagram followers. Unless, your followers are so interested in what it is you offer that they chose to follow you to see your content. But around 90% of them are not being shown it. Whenever you want to promote a product or special offer in 2026, you should definitely advertise on Facebook and Instagram to your followers and those who engaged with your content even if they are not following you. This involves setting up audiences in Ads manager.
12. Focus on getting more Google reviews in 2026. The more Google reviews you get the more it will help you appear high up in the Place Map results, the better your chances will be to appear high up in AI search results and if you put the reviews on your website you will also improve your website conversion rate.
13. Measure your website marketing using Google analytics. It is hard to improve your website when you don’t know what is working and not working.
14. Design high quality images for your social media and website content by using Canva. Over 200 million people use Canva and the standard of design on social media has improved hugely in the past few years. People will judge your business based on the quality of your graphics and studies show people choose to purchase from businesses that they trust. Learn how to use all the amazing features in this tool.
15. Become familiar with the main AI tools for image and video editing. The pace at which AI is progressing is phenomenal and my advice is to familiarise yourself so that you are aware of what is now possible. There are some amazing AI tools (Google Nano Banana for image creation) that you can use to improve how you design marketing images and edit marketing videos (You can turn images into videos using Grok for free) 

 

If you have read this list and you feel that you are already on top of most of these priorities – well done! Your digital marketing is in a good place.