Digital marketing comprises a ton of different areas – SEO, social media, marketing automation, PPC, and more. New technologies, techniques, and the ever-changing algorithms of Google and Facebook keep many digital marketing teams on their toes, including ours. Part of our job is to stay up to date on the upcoming trends so that our client’s digital marketing campaigns stay effective. As we are entering a new decade and technology continues to change rapidly, we have listed the digital marketing trends for 2021 for you.
Digital Marketing Trends For 2021
Voice Search
“Alexa, how many Germans have a digital voice assistant?”
” 8.6 million, or over ¼ of adults in Germany.”
That’s right, over 25% of adults in Germany have a digital voice assistant like an Amazon Echo or Google Home. In addition, 31% of smartphone users worldwide use voice-controlled search, such as Siri, at least once a week. It is estimated that by 2020 50% of all searches will be done by voice. That makes voice search one of the biggest online marketing trends of 2020. This is the year digital marketers can no longer ignore voice searches. You can do a lot of things to make your website better for voice search, but the most crucial change is to use long-tail keywords like “how to make vegan brownies” instead of a shorter keyword like “vegan brownies.”
Shoppable Posts
By now, you know that social media is a massive part of online marketing. What you may not know is how many people are shopping on social media. 60% of Instagram users say they discover new products on Instagram, and in a survey of over 4,000 Pinterest users, a whopping 70% said that Pinterest helps them find new products.
These platforms have noted that people are using them to shop and have made it easier for merchants to sell on social media. For the past few years, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook have all had the ability for e-commerce stores to create shoppable posts with a native integration that makes it easy to tag and purchase products right from your posts. For online retailers, this is a great way to increase traffic to product pages.
By using social commerce, you can reach new customers, reduce buying barriers, and dramatically shorten the sales funnel. While the number of items that can be bought has increased in recent years, we expected them to become the norm in 2020.
Immersive Techs Like AR And VR
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have exploded in popularity recently and have quickly become one of the top marketing trends. While VR has long been the more popular of the two, AR is predicted to outstrip VR in 2020Large companies like IKEA already use AR. With their app and AR, customers can see what a piece of furniture would look like in their room even before they buy (or even before entering a store)!
Interactive Content
91% of shoppers are looking for more interactive content on the web, and in 2020 content marketing will shift its focus to give people what they want. Shoppable posts, AR / VR, 360-degree videos, quizzes, and surveys are just a few examples of interactive content.
Interactive content will be one of the top marketing trends of 2021 for several reasons:
- This type of content is new and original and helps reduce the noise.
- It gives visitors a reason to stay on the site.
- It’s highly divisible (almost everyone has seen someone share the results of a stupid quiz like “What kind of cheese are you?”)
- Shareability increases your brand awareness.
- And last but not least, people love the interaction!
Smart bidding in Google Ads
Automation is nothing new in the digital marketing world. Still, thanks to the Google Ads updates recently announced on Google Marketing Live; we expect automation and smart bidding to become the norm for many PPC account managers.Google Ads uses machine learning to optimize your bids so you can get the most value out of every conversion. The improvements announced on Google Marketing Live make optimizing your requests better than ever.
You can select conversion actions at the campaign level, optimize your bids across multiple campaigns with several desired conversion actions, and set the proposals to change automatically when a sale starts or ends. These improvements will help you maximize your conversions
Personalization
Personalized marketing was all the rage in 2021. Consumers are tired of seeing generic advertisements that may not have anything to do with them. We switch channels when ads are on (if we still have cables) and pay extra for music streaming services to avoid ads. Traditional advertising and generic commercials are increasingly ineffective.
This is where personalized advertising comes in.
Of the 1,000 people surveyed, 90% said they found the personalization appealing, and 80% said they were more likely to do business with a company that offers personalized experiences. Customers are starting to expect personalization, and there are many ways digital marketers can go about it.
Segmented email lists are one of the most popular ways to personalize your online marketing efforts. Personalized email blasts are 3x better than generic emails sent to your entire list! Most email marketing tools like MailChimp and Constant Contact and marketing automation tools like HubSpot and Pardot make segmenting lists easy. If you don’t personalize your marketing messages, make 2020 the year you personalize your marketing.
Social Messaging Applications
Social media apps like Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and WhatsApp are no longer just sending messages to friends. These apps are becoming increasingly popular for businesses to use to communicate with their customers. Over 10 billion messages are exchanged between individuals and companies every month using Facebook Messenger.
Messaging apps are very popular with companies because customers find direct contact with companies to be convenient. In addition, it enables highly personalized marketing that we already know people love.
Here are a few ways businesses use messaging apps:
- Establishing contact and building relationships
- Educating customers about their business/products
- Boost sales
- Inviting to events
- Win back potential customers
- Providing customer support
Think About How Your Business Can Use Social Messaging Apps In 2020!
Ongoing Digital Marketing Trends
Like the aviator sunglasses and little black dress, some things don’t go out of style. Here are six online marketing trends that have been big in recent years and will continue to be prominent in the digital marketing world in 2021.
Chatbots
In the last few years, we have communicated more and more with bots. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, chatbots are becoming more and more sophisticated and can process more complex requests. This technology will be further perfected and integrated into company websites. Thanks to these new technologies, customer care via the web are becoming faster and more efficient every day – so do not overlook them on your web
Video
Video was a must for digital marketing in 2019 and will continue to be in 2020. In addition to adding videos to your social networks and website, live videos on Facebook Live and Instagram Live are viewed 3x longer than videos that are not live.
Position “zero” In The SERP
Position # 1 is no longer the top position in search results. The zero or “# 0” position, the highlighted text excerpt that appears in front of the search results, is now the top place and very popular.
This prime-time ranking spot usually answers the question or search query and contains a link back to the source of information. Dr. Peter J. Meyers wrote an exciting article for Moz about the “0” position and tips for this ranking.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has been around for a few years, and it’s not going to go away anytime soon. The influencers used to be big celebrities or “internet celebs” with tens of thousands of followers. Still, now companies are turning to people with much smaller social media who follow them as influencers. Leveraging influential people on social media enables you to reach your audience with a voice they trust.
You can find influencers by finding people who demographically reach your target audience and then sponsoring them as brand advocates. Brands that use influencers to get their message across have an 11x higher ROI than other digital marketing methods.
Content Marketing
Will satisfaction still be king in 2020? Believe it!
The content demonstrates knowledge and competence to potential customers reading your articles or pages and what search engines put in their search results. In short, content fuels the fire that runs your SEO, so it’s best never to stop creating content.
Page Speed
Page speed has been critical for several years and will continue to be essential to the success of your website in 2021. 25% of users leave a page if it doesn’t load within four seconds, and it is unlikely to return. Focus on improving your page speed in 2021and watch your website performance improve!
Summary Of The Digital Marketing Trends For 2021
Digital marketing is constantly changing, and we believe the tactics and ideas above will significantly impact the game in 2021. What do you think? What marketing trends do you forecast for 2021?
