Simply put, Digital Marketing is marketing over the Internet. It makes use of the internet and includes various strategies like SEO, PPC, Content marketing, Email Marketing, Video marketing, etc. The most used and modern form of marketing, digital marketing can make or break a brand or company. Digital Marketing campaigns form the foundation of a Brand or Company. Digital Marketing agencies and Digital Marketers keep on updating themselves with the new trends in Digital Marketing.
In the following blog post, I will be talking about the top 10 new trends in Digital Marketing
- Voice and Visual Search
Statics show that websites which redesign themselves to support visual and voice search will increase their digital revenue by 35%. Such is the popularity of visual and voice search that almost every company has started incorporating them in their digital marketing strategies. Users prefer visual and voice searches over typed searches. Users find visual and voice searches time saving and interesting and pay more attention to products and services found over voice and video searches. Google has adopted these futuristic search features for displaying SERPs over it. Every digital marketer needs to create a company or brand’s digital strategy keeping these new features in mind.
This trend has a direct impact on the SEO rankings of a company’s website as Google is partial to websites using the latest trends and techniques. Companies incorporating voice and video searches of their products must follow two important guidelines:
- Using the correct and descriptive keywords
- High-Resolution Images for visual searches.
Websites using targeted keywords pop up frequently as voice and video search results than websites using ambiguous keywords.
Websites must have high-resolution images of products in their online inventory again with sharp and precise keywords. I cannot stress enough on keyword importance! Brands using visual strategy must collaborate with social media channels like Pinterest or Instagram as these are image specific. It will not only expose them to a wider audience but also generate leads and traffic to their website. Following the correct format while uploading product images that pop up as visual search is a must.
- Shoppable Posts
Shoppable Posts have given online shopping a whole new meaning. Ecommerce business is and will continue to prosper due to this trend.
Today, almost every e-commerce business has a Business Instagram account and even verified Facebook and Pinterest accounts for lead generation and customer exposure. Users prefer shopping through the product and company’s social media accounts than actually going on the product website as it is easy and convenient. So what e-commerce companies do is they set up shoppable posts. It involves posting the product pictures with the details and price of the products. The price and details are tagged on the product image so when you tap on the product picture for more information, You can either shop it directly or you are taken on the company’s website page where you can shop and view other products. This is a great way for website owners to generate leads and increase website traffic. Statistics state that companies using shoppable posts garner more exposure and sales.
- Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence will take digital marketing to great heights. It will make it futuristic and sophisticated. With the help of AI, digital marketers will be able to develop user-specific digital strategies. AI is used to collect data, analyse it and use the analysed data for creating user-specific digital strategies. Digital marketers will understand what content or strategies work and which don’t. Websites using AI will show products or contents specific to users. AI will help in brand targeting. Marketers can know micro-trends, and even predict trends with the help of AI. They can analyze user information like age, demographics, likes and dislikes and only display relevant products and content. AI combined with AR and VR for Product promotions increases user engagement with brand and user curiosity and satisfaction towards the brand. Chatbots are a product of AI and are the new customer representatives of many e-commerce websites. These chatbots solve product-related problems quickly by giving direct and specific answers, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.
- Social Media Trends
Today, every company has a social media account for promoting their business and products. Social Media trends have a powerful impact on users and play an important role in every company’s digital marketing strategy. Social Media Trends in the form of Social Media Contests, Social Media Stories or even Social Media messaging apps are going to be positive digital marketing strategies. Companies use social media contests like Quizzes, Giveaways, etc to generate user interest and engagements. Social Media Stories are an excellent way to promote new products, feature behind the scenes of product creation or to promote discounts. Companies usually post user reviews on their social media handles intending to increase user engagement and brand awareness. Further, many companies post behind the scenes of product packaging or HOW TO product tutorials to generate customer interest. This makes users more connected to the brands and can even increase brand followers. Social media messaging apps are used for providing a satisfying customer service experience. Users prefer communication via apps like Whatsapp and Facebook for solving any product related queries as it is convenient and faster. It is an inexpensive and easy and direct way of customer service.
- AR And VR
Using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in your digital marketing strategies will help to connect users to your products and brands on a deeper level. This experience is called visceral experience. AR and VR create deep and meaningful product-related user experiences. They help the consumer make better decisions and personalise experiences for them. It also helps in increasing brand awareness and user engagement. Example, Samsung collaborated with NASA for one of the campaigns of its Gear VR headsets. With the help, the 4d lunar gravity experienced users using the Gear VR headsets could experience the actual moon landing. They could be a part of a moon landing experience. Such strategies increase user satisfaction, engagement and brand awareness and loyalty.
- Google Trends
Digital Marketing Strategies have to incorporate Google trends like Featured Snippets, Verified Listings for increasing its SEO rankings. How does Google Trends help a company’s Digital Strategy? Featured snippets or no click searches on Google solve a users query without even going on the actual website. The users type a question on Google and get answers in the form of a no-click search. How does this benefit a company? If a website creates content using precise images and keywords, then Google will feature the website content as a featured snippet which can lead to increased SEO rankings for the company. Further, it might also generate a users interest towards the website, leading to an increase in Click-Through Rates. Local Businesses like Salons or Dentists can make use of Google verified listings to attract potential customers. They can register themselves on Google My Business Listing. Registering your local business will provide essential information and state the geographical location of your business to potential clients. If a user searches for “salons near me” on Google will then your salon will be the first to pop up as a search result. Potential customers will know your salon’s timings, working day and start ratings given to your salon by previous customers. Verifying your business will help you gain an advantage over other similar businesses.
- Automation Of Marketing
Including marketing automation in your digital marketing strategy will increase efficiency, generate more leads and save a lot of time.
Marketing automation involves generating automated responses for activities like E-mails or automated responses related to customer services of products. This strategy helps you to generate timely and effective responses to users. You can also schedule your responses and save a lot of time. Email automation helps generate new leads, saves time and budget. Marketing Automation in the form of chatbots offers direct and immediate customer service help. For a good marketing automation strategy, it is important to sign up with a good automation platform.
- Content Trends
Content Strategies like creating User-Generated or personalised Content will be in trend for a long time. Content forms the building blocks of every digital strategy. Creating personalised content by generating user profiles will help in attracting targeted users for your website. A user profile consists of a list of targeted users with respect to their location, age, interest, behaviour etc.
Personalised content in the form of Call To Actions or emails or landing pages can help generate more leads and increase website traffic. AI can be used for creating user profiles which can then create good personalised content.
User-generated content in the form of online reviews, simple Q&A’S can be powerful for SEO and user experience. User-generated content is unique as good reviews can make or break products.
- Influencer and Video Marketing
Video Marketing is one of the most impactful digital marketing trends and is going to continue to grow this year as well as in the next year. Video marketing like creating personalised email videos, product videos or live stories on Instagram and Facebook generates more user response and engagement towards the brand. Further, users respond better to product videos than product images as it helps them to understand the product before buying. Using video marketing strategies for your brand is cost-effective and easy and leads to more conversion rate than any other digital marketing strategy.
Influencer Marketing is a modern digital marketing strategy and will continue to trend in the future too. Influencers are people who have a good amount of followers over social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. Every influencer has a specific niche. Example: A fashion influencer will only promote fashion products like cosmetics, accessories. Whereas as a Food influencer will write restaurant reviews or promote new restaurants and cafes on their social media handles. Influencers have a powerful impact on their followers and using them in your digital marketing strategy can be fruitful. You can use influencers to promote the products or services offered by your company. Influencers promote products or services in the form of posts or stories on their social media handles. Influencers also review products and services and post it as user reviews. This gives your company a wider audience and helps in Lead generation and increase of website traffic. The influencer must promote your product or services in a precise manner as a wrong message can lead to the opposite results.
- Google ADS Trends
Using automated strategies for Smart Bidding in Google Ads is not a new trend. Many business owners still struggle to include it as an effective social media strategy. What is smart bidding in Google ads? With the help of the smart bidding feature in Google ADS, marketers no longer have to perform extensive market research for creating exceptional Google ADS. Google uses Machine Learning to analyse user-specific data like user behaviour, user likes and dislikes, user device, user location and how these factors can lead to maximum conversion rates. Smart bidding involves a set of automated strategies that help in creating specific and targeted Google ADs. Smart bidding has many advantages; it saves on research time and creates Google ADS which can attract more users further it allows you to create campaigns in advance and schedule them for a specific release date. It also helps to make Google ADS available for Smaller businesses.
This trend has many drawbacks like google analyses the data for you which means that you have no control over data analysis. Since the process depends on machine learning Google cannot always state a target audience or specific data and it also lets you set limited campaign goals.
