Change is inevitable. Although, in this ever-changing world, nothing changes faster than the digital marketing trends. While 2020 has shown us the maximum changes, it could be well predicted that 2021 too will bring along new strategies, new trends. Even when the world remained stagnant for months, digital marketing continued to grow at a faster rate.
The more we stayed at home, the more time was spent online. This has created a sort of comfort for the consumers to stay at home and still manage to get done with their essential stuff. This has pushed many online businesses to think out of the box and prepare for more human-centric ways to connect to their consumers.
In 2021, we will witness the same energy, similar trends. Digital marketing will become increasingly common; brands will strive to create their place in the ever-increasing competition on digital platforms. Businesses would face a lot more challenges, and live-streams would be where the population be found.
One important trend that would be seen in 2021 would be an increased concern for privacy and data protection. Keeping this in mind, companies have started preparing strategies to fit into the predicted trends. With this, there are a few other 2021 digital marketing trends prediction listed below:
If you haven’t noticed yet, Artificial Intelligence is influencing the future of every business, every industry virtually. In 2020 when the world was locked down, we saw massive growth in the dependence of artificial intelligence among people. It has become a part of the ‘new normal’, making it the most important trend that would see in 2021. It has become the top priority of digital marketers and online businesses.
If you are a business owner and want your business to multiply in this competitive online world, they are the reasons why you must adopt AI as well; Artificial Intelligence helps you to sustain a competitive advantage. It reduces cost, makes the work more efficient. It analyses consumer behaviour and other patterns to track and understand their needs by availing the necessary data from social media. Therefore, in 2021, more and more online business owners would start adopting Artificial Intelligence for growth and understanding consumer psychology to favour their business.
Programmatic Advertising refers to the automated buying and selling of advertisements with the help of Artificial Intelligence. It is used by digital marketers or online business owners to make their transactions more efficient and easier than manual advertising. AI automates the advertisements which attract only the targeted audience.
It makes the entire dealing with the consumer part faster and more effective. According to eMarkterer, 86.2% of digital display ads in the U.S. will be programmatic by 2020. This significant percentage will only grow in 2021. All over the world, digital marketers are opting for Programmatic Advertising to save their time and efforts and still obtain better results, and it will be one of the major trends in 2021.
A business always has consumers coming with queries, complaints or inquiries about one thing or the other. This demands a customer service desk that every business, be it online or offline, must have. However, most of the concerns of the consumers tend to be similar and attaining each one separately demands a lot of time and patience.
Over the last decade, with the emergence of the chatbot, the scenario has shifted. The chatbot is AI-based technology with instant messaging, chats with the consumer day or night. This automated system helps in reducing the workforce and solving the concerns of the consumers in real-time, effectively. Even consumers prefer chatting with a chatbot as they are available 24/7 with unlimited patience, unlike humans. This trend would grow even more in 2021 as the world has seen a major shift from offline to online.
Videos attract consumers the most. In 2020, the most consumed content on social media was video content. For consumers, when they waxtch a brand video or a video about the product, it increases their trust for the brand and helps in making a positive purchasing decision. It is wise to incorporate videos in digital marketing as it has a higher appeal regardless of the age of the consumer.
They can approach, watch and understand a video at their own pace, leaving a bigger impact on their minds. It is by far the most popular way for consumers to know about a product and make a confident decision about the same. Videos are in comparison to texts more efficient as it is less time consuming and easier to understand. However, to attract more consumer, choosing the right thumbnail, adding subtitles and keeping all these small details in mind is most important. Studying the choices of the consumers and such patterns helps in gaining better accountability from prospectively consumers.
The world was at home, and the only way to keep it going was through live meetings, online classrooms, webinars and live streaming. These constant live-streaming actives have proven that people do not need to gather physically at a place to connect and discuss ideas. They can simply, at the comfort of their homes, attend discussions and save their time and efforts. This also enabled the world to connect globally, which, even in 2021 and later years, would continue to do so.
At the same time, Influencer Content has also reached its peak. Influence Marketing is certain word-of-mouth publicity of a brand, product or business through Influencers who are also called mini-celebrities who have a certain following and can reach the target audience. Influencers leave a lasting impression on the minds of their followers as they trust their word and see them as one of them. This trend has increased a lot last year and in coming years it will just blossom.
User-Generated content has become one of the most; if not the only, important parts of digital marketing. It refers to the content generated by the consumers of the product or brand on the business’s website. This content is viewed by other potential customers and is often considered more reliable than the brand’s original content.
As it includes the consumer’s trust value, digital marketers have been focusing on UGC to enhance consumer experience online, as it is perceived as more authentic and honest. In this innovative age, when consumers are more intelligent than anyone else, UGC can be a great digital marketing strategy. Many online business owners adopted this in 2020, and the trend seems to continue in 2021.
Voice search has been on trend for the last couple of years. It has made the entire searching experience easier for the consumers as now they do not require to type words to convey what they mean and rather speak out and get the result they demanded. Lately, visual search has also appeared and gained popularity as it has taken the entire searching to a new level. Through visual search, people can now upload an image and get specific results.
This has become more common in online shopping as all a consumer needs are to upload the picture of what they wish to buy even if they do not know what it is called. Not surprisingly, many brands have already started coming up with ideas to enhance the consumer experience through voice and visual search. This not only appeals to the consumers but also makes their searches more specific and more effortless. While the visual search was not so famous in 2020, it is predicted to be quite trendy in 2021.
So here were some of the many predictions that could be made about the digital marketing trends in 2021. The world is changing, and so are us.
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