2020 changed a lot of things – from how we live and work to how we do business, marketing, and a lot more. While some of these changes in the domain of digital marketing were already brewing, some others were a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, here are the top digital marketing trends you should watch out for:
1. Social commerce will continue to grow
Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook will continue to make it easier for consumers not just to search and discover products but even buy them without needing to leave the platform. Not just e-commerce retailers but brick-and-mortar stores too will leverage this trend to drive more engagement and sales.
If you're already using social media to drive your potential shoppers from discovery to purchase, you already know how to benefit from this trend. If not, you could diversify your social media activity with online meet-ups, Q&As, virtual consultations, etc., to connect better with your users. Your goal should be to offer an enriched user experience on your social profiles, which could be done by leveraging the relevant features that help smash barriers stopping potential buyers from making a purchase.
Social commerce is also likely to become more futuristic with voice search and AR (augmented reality). With the quick improvements in voice searches and their rising popularity, social commerce could soon be driven by voice searches and shopping-related suggestions offered by smart home devices like Alexa, Siri, etc.
Once augmented reality gets integrated into social commerce, it could bring a massive change as seeing what a product would look like in your surroundings could be a game-changer when it comes to decision-making. Though these are still early days to comment on the social commerce journey of AR, knowing social media giants such as Facebook and Snapchat have invested massive resources into developing AR capabilities to boost sales on their platforms spells promise.
2. Newer, interactive, and innovative ways would emerge to engage, communicate, and build connections
From moving their entire businesses online to hosting annual events and tradeshows virtually, almost everyone is trying to grab a share of the overcrowded online marketplace. But many are failing miserably. In 2021, the key to your digital marketing success lies in finding newer, interactive, and innovative ways to engage with your online communities. Thus, if you host an online event, you shouldn’t stop after it ends. Rather, you need to have a plan to engage your target audience before, during, and even after the event.
Some businesses are using AI to make their real-time chatbot conversations more human, relevant, and engaging. By meeting their customers’ need to get an ‘immediate response”, they’re encouraging higher engagement with an enhanced loyalty to their brand. You too can take a cue to design interactive and engaging user experiences. The better you engage your audiences, the better and more meaningful would be your connections that you build between your business and your customers. And the stronger these connections are, the better positioned you will be to transform them into leads and sales.
3. Personalization would be emphasized
According to a 2017 survey by Statista, 90% of U.S. consumers find content personalization extremely or somewhat appealing. Amazon and Netflix are classic examples of how businesses can make their customers’ choices easier with recommended products or movie titles based on their past behavior. Personalization will grow bigger in 2021. This makes it important for your digital marketing campaigns to emphasize personalized content, products, services, emails, videos, mobile messages, and more. This way, your business would be able to leverage the power of personalization.
Go ahead and try to make your digital marketing campaigns revolve around these trends to benefit from them.
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