No matter what industry you are in, whether you are selling products or services, keeping up with the latest digital marketing trends is necessary. Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, having a strong digital presence is crucial for the survival and success of a business. Consumers expect you to be on the internet as well. Before transacting business with you, they typically look you up online.
Although a navigable, working website and a Facebook page were adequate, nowadays, companies need more than that in the ever-evolving digital landscape. However, in 2018, only six out of ten small businesses do not even have a website. Furthermore, around 35 percent of small business owners feel that their operation is too small to warrant having a website.
To stay updated on the latest digital marketing trends, here are some key points you should note.
#1 Facebook Cannot Be Ignored
Facebook remains massive despite the data breach scandal in 2018 and its losing popularity with the younger demographics. Younger consumers prefer more visual and interactive experiences offered by other platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Nonetheless, people will continue to check on Facebook now and then.
With this in mind, future digital marketers should take more caution when running campaigns on this social media platform. They have to ensure that their target audience is still on Facebook. Otherwise, it would be just a waste of the marketing budget.
#2 Instagram Is a Hit
Instagram is a growing social media platform, with more than one billion users to date. The majority of its user base is younger demographics, particularly those under 30.
Just recently, Instagram decided to “hide” the like button feature from the platform. This experimental move was implemented last year in the U.S. in response to the growing concern for people’s well-being and health. As pointed out in the docu-movie The Social Dilemma, there is a strong correlation between teen girls’ negative mental health and smartphone usage.
On the digital marketing aspect, several influencers have voiced their concern regarding the “hiding” of the like button. We are yet to determine its impact on the digital marketing industry as Instagram continues to implement this move in more countries.
#3 Chatbots for Efficient Customer Service
Another fastest-growing digital marketing trend in 2021 are chatbots. This artificial intelligence (AI) software is a virtual “concierge,” naturally interacting with humans, usually through text chats. Verbal interactions are, however, possible on some platforms. As the system collects more data from customers, it makes the AI deliver a more improved and better service.
In 2020, there are reportedly over 80 percent of businesses plan on using chatbots for their websites. This is not surprising for the following reasons:
- Chatbots provide 24-hour service.
- It can respond to customer queries instantly.
- It significantly reduces overhead expenses for additional customer service staff.
Furthermore, 43 percent of consumers surveyed prefer to interact with an online chatbot rather than talk on the phone from a customer service representative.
#4 Video Is a Must
If your business is not yet utilizing the video market, then it is time you should get on board and hire a corporate video production company. Furthermore, live stream video marketing combined with influencer marketing is a powerful method of digital marketing.
Text-based content cannot compete with video-based content in this mobile-mad world. People nowadays watch more videos than ever before. Consumers even reported being more confident in their purchasing decision after watching product videos. Also, 72 percent of businesses believe that video content helped improved their conversion rates.
#5 Content Matters Even More
Content marketing is going nowhere. It continues to be an essential aspect of digital marketing. Recently, however, more emphasis is placed on context and targeting. As Google is building a deeper understanding of online content, marketers should keep up by tailoring their content more precisely to their target market.
A major Google update, the BERT Algorithm, allows this search engine giant to understand better the natural language employed in search queries.
Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformer (BERT) algorithms refer to a more sophisticated learning algorithm related to natural language processing. This update enables a machine to understand not only the meaning of words in a sentence but also the nuances of context.
What Google advice is to focus more on well-written content rather than chasing the latest SEO trends.
Things are moving fast in digital marketing. As we open another decade in the 21st century, video, AI technology, and interactive content will be among the prominent digital marketing trends. Do not wait and be left behind. Now is high-time to take the plunge. So which digital marketing trend do you like?
