Every agency should pay adequate attention to digital marketing trends because it can make or break an agency. In order to get ahead of your competition, you must stay on top of the trends, and you must always be aware of new advancements that are constantly changing digital marketing.
Elements ranging from simpler strategies, such as influencer and micro-influencer marketing, to more complex methods, such as automation and the state of digital marketing overall need to be well understood by agencies.
Leading digital marketers today shift their strategy toward emerging channels and technologies capable of attracting and converting customers. Recently, a lot of emphasis has been placed on personalization, post-click landing pages, automation, artificial intelligence, etc. than ever before. As a digital marketer, your utmost priority should be customer satisfaction, providing them with top-notch services.
What are the digital marketing trends of 2021? What are the likely advancement in marketing and advertising in the coming year, and how agencies can maximize these to their own advantage?
With all that in mind, here are 15 top digital marketing trends and tactics to integrate into your strategy.
1. Marketing Automation Technology
Automation makes a whole lot of difference, it helps digital marketers to manage and measure activities and workflows which in turn attract customers faster and also enhances business growth. Automation saves employees time and gives managers an outlook into what drives their business all of which makes it clear what to include in your advertising strategy.
In fact, nearly half of all companies implement marketing automation technology and 91% of the most successful adopters say that it’s “very important” to the overall success of their marketing across channels.
Marketing automation technology has enabled immense success across various marketing channels. Automation can come in handy in the following areas:
- PPC advertising
- Social media advertising
- Programmatic advertising
- Native advertising
- Post-click landing pages
There is a really high possibility that by 2022, 80% of the advertising process will likely be automated and the 20% remnant is simply based on the fact that every advertising element will always need a human connection this includes brand value, storytelling, and other experiential strategies.
2. Artificial Intelligence
Machines and technology having the high-functioning ability to perform like humans have been made possible through Artificial Intelligence. Tasks such as when Spotify or Pandora recommends a song, Facebook suggests a photo tag, or you talk-to-text using Siri are simply the workings of artificial intelligence.
Over the years Artificial Intelligence has helped to solve a lot of problems, without support or interference from a human being. This has led to an increase in its usage, therefore, digital marketers and advertisers will have no choice but to include it in their campaigns.
Although, Artificial Intelligence is not aimed at replacing humans completely. It is aimed at improving and expanding the ability to connect with audiences, helping them solve any pressing issue in a hassle-free process. Artificial Intelligence is fast becoming the driving force behind many services.
3. Chatbots
The inability to get immediate answers to some questions can be a frustrating one, especially with online services. This is the fate of a number of consumers, advertisers must be aware that if visitors can’t get answers about products and services as soon as possible, they’ll likely go to a competitor.
The following are some of the benefits of chatbots:
- 24-hour service (64%)
- Instant responses to inquiries (55%)
- Answers to simple questions (55%)
- Easy communication (51%)
Chatbots are also appealing to advertisers this is because of their ability to automate repetitive tasks using machine language thereby saving time, money, and resources.
4. Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising is your best bet especially if paid advertising is part of your strategy. This type of advertising refers to the use of Artificial Intelligence to automate ad buying which enables advertisers to target more specific audiences.
Programmatic advertising automation has helped to develop the following:
- Speeding up the ad buying process without the middleman.
- Serving relevant ads by targeting demographics and context rather than inventory.
- Measuring ROI efficiently.
Developments associated with programmatic advertising have taken digital advertising to a whole new level. It has become more efficient coupled with increased conversions and decreased customer acquisition costs.
5. Influencer Marketing
Influencers can either be a celebrity or well-known leader, with a large number of following more often on social media such as Instagram, YouTube, etc. These influencers help to spread the word about your product, service, or brand among their followers.
Influencer marketing is capable of leveling up your brand to great reach or a large number of people. This strategy has gotten bigger over time, and the results are really massive. You must ensure you collaborate with the right target audience influencers. This trend is definitely not going away anytime soon.
This strategy actually requires a high level of trust between a brand and a third party (influencer). Most times influencers are required to sign lawful contracts which include do’s and don’t especially when working with young influencers who may lack maturity and professionalism.
6. Social Media
Social media is a great digital marketing strategy over the years it has yielded results and will continue to yield results because the whole world is online. The social media world is growing on a daily basis exploring different alternatives is definitely a good idea.
Social media users are becoming more engaged, this is a great opportunity to grow your brand by creating awareness online. Image content helps to create online exposure of a brand. The following are reasons brands are utilizing ephemeral content in their ad :
- Fear of missing out (FOMO)
- More engagement
- Higher reach
- Increased Trust
Social media stories have grown really popular over time, because of their unique features.
7. Social Commerce
The social environment is home to a number of people, sometimes these people want to complete a purchase without any hassle. Social commerce makes it a whole lot easier. You can sell products directly through social media platforms by providing the following:
- More effective social advertising
- A more seamless, frictionless buying experience
- Maximized sales opportunities
- Reduced potential for confusion and abandonment
Social commerce features advertisers use range from buy buttons on social media posts, shoppable posts, and stories to peer-to-peer buying and selling, etc.
With social commerce, you can take advantage of users’ purchase intent when their enthusiasm for your product is at its highest rather than sending users away and losing them as potential customers.
8. More Social Selling On LinkedIn
Though the cost per click on LinkedIn is high compared to other social networks like Facebook, it yields better results as a matter of fact the result is clear. You shouldn’t underestimate the power of social selling on LinkedIn and, more importantly, the quality of leads you’re able to generate via paid ads. There are a lot of decision-makers on LinkedIn, and even more so it will increase with time. If you’re not making use of this platform, you’re really missing out.
9. Short Videos Remaining Popular
Short videos are fast becoming popular worldwide. This trend is increasing on a daily basis especially on social media networks like Tiktok.com, instagram.com, and will continue to move up the popularity scale, and it can be beneficial for all age groups in your target audience. Its power cannot be underestimated, especially from a business angle.
10. Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels is a major trend where businesses thrive. The front line of Instagram’s algorithm is the Reels, this has ultimately become an icon at the center of the app. Creating Reels over standard videos will really go a long way to foster awareness for your brand as many people will get to see your content this will in turn produce growing engagement and shares of your content.