Digital trends are ever evolving and, as such, so is digital marketing. Regardless of what industry your business is a part of or what products or services you offer, the latest digital marketing trends cannot be ignored.
This year in particular has been quite a rollercoaster ride for digital marketers across the globe considering how Covid-19 has changed digital marketing in 2020. Digital marketers were required to make their marketing strategies as flexible and adaptable as possible to keep up with the ever-changing digital environment.
But, there are some digital marketing trends which have arisen in 2020 that will carry over into the New Year. That being said, here are five digital marketing trends to keep in mind for 2021.
The Growing Popularity of Instagram
Social media has become a normal part of our lives and ignores the barriers of demographics with nearly everyone from teenagers to their grandparents now being active social media users.
However, a study conducted by Forbes, shows us that Facebook is currently the most popular social media platform among those aged 65 and older. While Facebook is definitely not “dead”, there are other more modern contenders that have come to the fore which are now giving Facebook a run for their money.
Instagram has now become a major hit for younger users and now boasts over 1 billion monthly active users making the photo sharing app one of the most popular social media networks in the world. As recorded in October 2020, over two thirds of Instagram’s total users are aged 34 years and younger.
This gives Instagram a unique edge that digital marketers should not ignore. With all its unique, interactive features Instagram has definitely become the platform for capturing younger markets.
Video Marketing
It has been said before and it’s time to hear it again: video marketing is the way to go. If you have not included videos as a part of your digital marketing strategy, then the New Year is the time for you to do so.
In a world governed by cellphones, people are watching more and more videos than ever before. According to a study conducted in October, popular streaming site YouTube has approximately 30 million daily users with over 1 billion videos been watched daily.
Not only are 70% of videos watched on YouTube done so using a mobile device, but 37% of 18 to 34 year olds reportedly binge watch YouTube daily.
But it’s not only video which has become popular among users, but live streaming too. Whether you are live streaming on popular streaming networks, like YouTube or Twitch, or on social media platforms, like Instagram or Facebook, you are guaranteed to grab your audience’s attention.
Not only are millennials the largest consumers of live streaming content, but they are also the largest creators of live video content on the Internet with particular reference to the rise in popularity of TikTok. As of 2020, Tiktok has over 800 million active users with 41% of users being between the ages of 16 and 24.
All you need now is a compelling topic or an influencer to reel in your audience and kick off your video marketing strategy!
Interactive Content
As social media has proven, younger audiences are becoming more engaged with social media content because of the new interactive elements used on these platforms.
Examples of such elements is live streaming or video marketing but there are also other interactive content elements that can and should be included in a digital marketing strategy such as quizzes and polls.
Most social media platforms now allow quizzes and polls to be added to social media pages. Not only is interactive content a great way to gather valuable data and information from their target audience but it is a great way to breed brand loyalty.
Research has determined that quizzes and polls, and other forms of interactive content, are not only great for engaging with your target audience on a platform but also allow the target audience to feel like their thoughts are being heard. This feeling develops into brand loyalty over time.
Content Marketing
Good, well-structured content is still plays an important factor in the success of content marketing. While the way that Google evaluates the quality of content is continuously changing, it does not take away from the fact that quality content is important.
Google’s search algorithm has become more sophisticated to focus more specifically on the search intent of the users. This means that digital marketers will have to more deeply consider their target market so that content can be tailored more accurately to the needs and wants of the target audience.
After the update was implemented, Google urged digital marketers to focus on improving website loading times, writing quality content, which should include useful links, instead of only following the latest SEO trends.
As a result, content developers have begun applying a more “conversational” approach to content writing to better cater for the search intent of the users instead of focusing on keyword stuffing.
Voice Interaction
As technology has advanced, interactive voice search applications like Alexa, Google and Siri have all become a normal part of life and, as a result, search behaviour.
For many, voice searches have become the preferred method of searching. In fact, current statistics reveal that 41% of adults use voice search at least once a day.
Because of this, content developers need to carefully consider how content is been displayed. Instead of keyword stuffing, content should rather be focused on the way that people speak.
But this is not the only new obstacle that digital marketers face because of voice search.
When a text search is entered into Google, the search engine results page (SERPs) will display a full page of results. However, voice search usually only presents a single choice for the searcher’s query making voice search highly competitive.
Digital marketers optimising content for voice search should rather focus on the keywords that searchers would speak instead of the keywords that will be typed to gain that zero position in the featured snippets on Google.
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There you have it – a not-so-new but still highly relevant set of digital marketing trends that are still going to be relevant in 2021.
When developing a new digital marketing strategy for 2021, do not forget the importance of Instagram, video marketing, interactive content, voice interaction and good content marketing.
Need help developing a digital marketing strategy? Contact the digital marketing team at Online Innovations for assistance with developing a digital marketing strategy for your brand.
Call us on 041 365 4919, email sales@onlineinnovations.com, or visit our website at www.onlineinnovations.com to find out more.