Digital Trends in 2020

As the year 2020 draws to an end and we inch closer to 2021, NOW is the best time to witness where we are headed and what marketing trends will become the talk of the town in 2021.

In the yesteryears, all businesses needed to do was to get a functional website in place and a Facebook page to create buzz about them. Today, especially with COVID-19 clutching businesses with its tentacles hard, one cannot think of flourishing without leveraging the potential of 360-degree online distribution. As we head towards 2021, more innovative technologies and tools will surface, compelling marketers to acclimatize in order to make their businesses stay viable.

Read on to find out what will be the top marketing trends defining 2021

Chatbots to monopolize customer service

Acting as a virtual concierge, a chatbot is an AI-enabled technology that employs instant messaging to chat in real-time with your customers or people who visit your website.

Surveys suggest:

• Chatbots will power 85% of customer service by 2020
• Top benefits of chatbots are 24-hour service (64%), instant responses to inquiries (55%), and answers to simple questions (55%)
• 63% of respondents prefer messaging an online chatbot to communicate with a business or brand
• By 2022, chatbots will help businesses save over $8 billion per annum
• 80% of businesses want chatbots by 2020

Many customers prefer interacting with chatbots as they are responsive 24/7, give answers promptly, accurately recall your entire buying history, and never lose patience. These virtual assistants offer outstanding customer service by meeting customers’ expectations and automating repetitive tasks – which means that you can focus on more important work.

Video Marketing Will No Longer Be An Option

Video Marketing has become one of the most important marketing trends of late, and is likely to define success in marketing over the next 5-10 years, when it will no longer be an option but necessary to stay ahead.

Need proof? Sample these numbers:

• 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand’s video
• 72% of businesses say that video has improved their conversion rate
• 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions
• 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor after viewing a video
• Video is by far the most popular way customers want to learn about new products:

Programmatic Advertising

The term implies using artificial intelligence for automating ad buying so you can target more specific audiences. This automation is much more efficient and fast, which means higher conversions and lower customer acquisition costs.

Influencer Marketing

More of a word-of-mouth marketing, influencer marketing focuses on using important leaders to augment your brand’s message to a larger audience. Influencers could be celebrities who are popular, or personalities from a particular social media platform with a massive niche following. Influencers aid in getting the word out about your business or the product or service you deal in.

Why choose influencer marketing over corporate advertising?

• 63% of consumers trust influencers’ opinions of products much more than what brands say about themselves
• 58% of people have bought a new product in the past six months because of an influencer’s recommendation

Social Media Messaging Apps

Today the dynamics of social media messaging apps have changed. They are no longer used to only to stay connected with your loved ones. Businesses across all industries and sectors have started leveraging the power of social media apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp in the recent times.

Surprised? Check these out:

• 1.3 billion monthly users are active on Facebook Messenger
• 10 billion messages are sent between people and businesses on Facebook Messenger every month
• WhatsApp has 1.6 billion active users and 55 billion messages are sent via every day
• The top three social messaging apps – WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and WeChat – have more combined users than Facebook or YouTube

These statistics depict the popularity of social messaging apps, and since people are spending more time messaging each other, it makes sense to market your company’s products and services where your potential customers are hanging out.

Personalization Is The Key

Personalizing your strategies is the key especially when you are chalking out a digital marketing plan for your brand because:

• 63% of consumers are highly annoyed with generic advertising blasts
• 80% say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences
• 90% claim they find personalization appealing

Social Media Stories

It was Snapchat that surfaced with the concept of ‘My Story’ but gradually Instagram and Facebook came out with their versions, and now it is YouTube that has come up with their format of story called ‘Reels’.

The benefits of employing social media stories are:

• Increased brand awareness
• Constant engagement with followers
• Cost-effectiveness
• Increased traffic to your web page
• Opportunity to reach younger audiences

Get inspired by some of these ways to use social media stories:

• Use polls within Instagram Stories
• Add links to your social media Stories
• Take advantage of Snapchat geofilters
• Add location tags
• Add mentions for other brands and your fans
• Give live video a try when creating Stories
• Invite followers to explore more with clear call-to-actions

Content Still Matters, Context Is Everything

Content being the king always, it continues to be the key component of digital marketing, albeit it is opined that emphasis should be more on the nuance of it. Of course, quality still matters but now what matter more are context and targeting.

The advice from Google’s John Mueller is that “rather than chase the latest SEO trends, it’s more important to ensure a site has fast speeds, useful links, and well-written content.”

As a matter of fact, content marketing is so important that 88% of B2B content marketers agree that creating content makes their audience view their organization as a credible and trusted resourc

Leveraging The Power Of Voice Search And Smart Speakers

The increasing use of voice search has made it imperative for companies to reorganize their digital marketing plans in 2020.

Sample these stats:

• 50% of all searches will be via voice by 2020
• 55% of all American homes will own a smart speaker by 2022
• 72% of people who own voice-activated speakers say that their devices are used as part of their daily routines
• Voice shopping is set to jump to $40 billion in 2022, up from $2 billion today
• Global smart speaker shipments have almost trebled between Q1 2018 and Q2 2019, growing from 9.36 million units to 26.1 million units

Considering the potential of smart speakers as lucrative channels for driving sales, more and more businesses will be seen trying to tap into this prospect in the year 2021.

Interactive Content Will Become Critical

Interactive content is when users can interact with all digital platforms. 2021 is going to see a shift from conventional text-based content to dynamic content that people can engage with that can offer them an immersive experience.

For instance:

• Quizzes and polls
• Embedded calculators
• Augmented reality ads
• 360-degree videos

People like it not just because it’s fresh and original, but because it makes them feel more connected to brands and more involved in the buying process. Interactive content is more engaging, more memorable and more likely to generate the results your business needs.

Wrapping it all up

For anyone who’s looking to tap into the indefinite power of digital marketing, being a part of the change is the mantra. One must keep on looking and moving forward and strive to adopt innovative technologies, strategies, and tools for gaining a competitive edge over their rivals, to stay ahead in this dog-eat-dog world of marketing!