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Latest digital marketing trends

At one time, artificial intelligence, data-driven, marketing and voice search engine optimization (VSEO) were ambitious concepts bordering on the ridiculous. Today, these innovative digital marketing trends are among the top priorities for most business owners in 2021.

And why wouldn’t they be? After all, if your business has any intention of remaining competitive in today's online landscape, you must adapt to the rapidly evolving changes in digital marketing.

As Brian Solis puts it:

“Each business is a victim of Digital Darwinism, the evolution of consumer behaviour when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to exploit it. Digital Darwinism does not discriminate. Every business is threatened.”

Make no mistake: We live in a time when technology marketing moves fast and consumer interests and behaviours are hard to predict. Marketers can no longer stick their heads in the sand and hope that educated guesses and the same old methods will work forever.

Read on to discover social media marketing, video and email marketing trends that will help your business not just survive, but thrive in this age of innovation.

1. Social Media Marketing

• Ads on Facebook
• Advertisements on Instagram

2. Video Marketing

• More videos on the Search Engine Results (SERP) page
• The emergence of webinars and change of direction of virtual events
• Zoom superiority over other video conferencing platforms

3. Email Marketing

• Investment via email is likely to increase
• Email marketing automation is expanding and intensifying
• Building leads with email gives way to Omnichannel marketing

1. Social Media Marketing

In this section, we examine the contribution of social media to marketers' strategies to see what needs to be done

Focus more on areas and what criteria to prioritize in our campaigns.

An upward trend in the use of social media:

There are many statistics on the increase in users' use of social media, But a simple look at our performance or the people we interact with in life reveals how much COVID-19 has accelerated this increase in use. People who spend more time at home choosing and being forced to choose or use social media can easily connect, educate, spend time and have fun; Most importantly, be aware of COVID-19 News and its latest status. Along with this increase in usage, social media is also trying to perform better and more appropriately and adapt itself to user demand. As a result, they are constantly updating and it is natural that marketers' strategies for them also change to get the best results. We plan to predict what social media will approach in 2021 so that we can be better prepared for them.

Increase the impact of user feedback (especially negative feedback)

In 2020, it is enough to be active in social media to see a lot of complaints and criticisms daily that users from different companies and businesses publish in these media, and of course, use all their creativity and skills. And will be a full-fledged content producer! This level of impact requires more business sensitivity in the coming years.

A simple mistake can do a lot of damage; So, we need to have strategies to protect our brand:

• Automatically scheduled ads (such as automatic email ads) should be checked regularly. For example, this continuous monitoring helps to prevent the publication of material or propaganda at a critical or inappropriate time (for example, after a national catastrophe).
• Post and advertise on social media on a rotating basis with the participation of other team members. Check again and again before clicking the publish button! The more diverse people's reviews are, the more likely you are to find flaws in the content and advertising.
• "Listening" on social media is one of the most important activities in this field. It means listening to all the big and small events and collective issues that people are dealing with and reacting to them and of course to the growth of our brand.

Transparency in social media:

Today, users in all fields want more transparency, especially in social media.

There are many questions and concerns about social media, such as Facebook and Twitter; Does the content they show us have a specific orientation? Are they all real? Or fake? How reliable is the data obtained from them? Is it the media that determines the trend of an event or is the trending natural and these media only help to be seen? Given the large volume of content and the number of users in these media, as well as the speed of sending and sharing content, Setting up legal cases is not an easy task. For example, how does Twitter decide which titles to display in its "popular" listings? Selects content based on an algorithm?

Paid ads on social media

The growth of social media is not hidden from anyone, and this has led to the growth of monetary advertising in it. Many users see ads and the impact of social media ads on businesses is very tangible. Money ads on social media with accurate measurement tools can be very targeted. New ways to reach end consumers, such as messengers, authentication, and integrated payment options, also provide many opportunities for further development.

Ads on Facebook

According to Statista, Facebook advertising revenue in 2021 is projected at about $ 94 billion. To take advantage of this huge advertising revenue, here are three advertising trends that we think will be useful in 2021:

E-commerce boom:

While many businesses in the COVID-19 epidemic are struggling with declining sales, e-commerce is up 18 per cent. During this period, some businesses will fall and some will have a very good upward trend! For example, businesses related to gatherings and ceremonies are not in a good condition and will even lead to closure, but the Production of sports equipment suitable for the home environment will and will grow well; Because people stay home more. There are many such examples. Also, due to more housekeeping, people are turning to online shopping and spending more time on media such as Facebook. So, depending on the type of business, you can get good results with the right ads.

Here are some tips to take advantage of this e-commerce boom using Facebook ads:

Advertise the most in-demand Products. By looking at your shopping cart, you can choose Products that are related to improving the space and conditions of the house, cooking, home fitness, online education and .... Products that are in high demand thanks to COVID-19.

Prioritize mobile. In the last quarter of 2019, mobile phones accounted for 94% of Facebook advertising revenue. As mentioned, COVID-19 has increased the amount of time people spend using their phones; So, it is very important to optimize our ads for mobile.

Be helpful. E-commerce is not just about sales and revenue. Think about how your Products might solve a problem or make things more comfortable for people who stay at home. Use this information for your creative Facebook ads.

Advertisements on Instagram

Instagram has evolved from a relatively simple photo-sharing platform to one of the social media giants, packed with business-specific Settings, ad platforms and advanced analytics. We now know almost all the features of Instagram and we will not repeat them in detail, But the following numbers will be useful to remind you of its importance and to continue your strategy on Instagram:

• One billion Instagram accounts are active every month. (!!)
• 90% of Instagram accounts follow a business.
• 500 million accounts use Instagram Stories every day.
• 87% of people say that influencers on Instagram have encouraged them to buy.

Here are some great opportunities for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Instagram is especially useful for helping businesses stay online during an outbreak. With videos, pictures and stories, brands can engage their target audience in really interesting ways. It seems that this platform offers new features, up-to-date advertisements and shopping opportunities that we should at least follow for 2021.

The different types of Instagram ads we have are listed here:

• Story Ads
• Photo ads
• Video ads
• Slideshow ads
• Collection ads
• Advertising in explore

2. Video marketing

It would be unkind to say that video marketing is at its peak! Especially when it seems that new formats, innovations and techniques of attracting audiences in videos are increasing every day.

The point is, the importance of film for all digital marketing channels is growing exponentially. This means that if you are hoping to connect with your audience and attract new people to your brand, "video" is vital. To do this, here are some key video trends to consider:

More videos on the Search Engine Results (SERP) page

We talked about the no-click or one-click algorithm; We said that if a video is more enjoyable and useful to people, Google will probably prioritize it. This is exactly why we see more and more YouTube videos at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). That's why when you search for "Movie Trailers ..." for example, the first thing you see is video slides containing the latest version of the movie. Google thinks you want to watch the latest trailers and immediately gives you what you want. All you have to do is click play. For marketers, this is another opportunity to engage users, build brand awareness. But this time there is no way to fool the system! You can only take advantage of this by creating rich content. So, create more and more useful video content! A great way to recommend reusing long written content, such as Blog posts, is in smaller videos.

The emergence of webinars and change of direction of virtual events

It's a really tough time to be in the event industry. Many parts of the live events have been destroyed by COVID-19, especially concerts, live shows and professional conferences. In 2020, we saw many cancellations and delays.

For many businesses, however, events are an integral part of lead generation and brand awareness. Not surprisingly, marketers use virtual events to produce different results. This challenge will now and in the future become more effective and engaging in how virtual events are developed, especially since face-to-face events in 2021 may be very limited. Webinars, on the other hand, are almost harmless. Marketers are investing more in webinars. The new challenge marketers face is finding new ways to keep webinars engaging, interactive, and integrated using email marketing and lead generation activities.

Zoom superiority over other video conferencing platforms

Zoom has somehow completely overtaken Skype as a familiar video conferencing tool.

Almost out of necessity, thanks to most people who work from home and trust virtual meetings (including teachers!), Zoom has quickly gained worldwide attention. And when we say fast, we mean; Take a look at some of the statistics from a recent BBC article on the rise of zoom:

• A 30-fold increase in usage in April 2020.
• Having over 300 million participants daily, at its peak.
• Expect $ 1.8 billion in sales in 2020.

There are many comments on how to use Zoom for marketing purposes. Zoom is essentially a video platform at its core, meaning you can record sessions and use them

on other marketing channels. This makes zoom reuse obvious.

3. Email Marketing

Email marketing in the last few months of 2020 and 2021 can be one of the most important parts of any business marketing strategy. Here are the reasons for this claim:

Investment via email is likely to increase.

As marketers limit their budget as COVID-19 continues, they are

increasingly shifting to lower-cost options with a greater potential return on investment; Because the need for lead generation and revenue generation is still present during COVID-19. Email marketing allows businesses to grow their leads through a lengthy decision-making process, even without paid advertising. The question is, what should an investment in email marketing look like?

According to Smart Insights, approximately 45% of email marketers consider engagement to be their biggest problem for successful email marketing, and 65% of respondents think that personalization is the best way to make email marketing more effective.

Beyond basic personalization tactics, such as subject or content personalization, you can use other methods for 2021; like the:

Re-interact:

Think of innovative ways to use email to regain the attention of people who have already been involved with you. For example, some e-commerce tools allow you to send personalized emails to people who have left their items in the cart without completing their purchase to access your cart directly. Or go to the payment page.

Email marketing automation is expanding and intensifying

Personalizing email marketing campaigns is generally a good way, but for larger companies, it can be very busy. This is why many organizations are looking for new ways to automate this process. Here is a good example, does marketing automation help physicians improve their patient relationships?

Take some time and create pre-made emails that you send

to your patients based on specific parameters. For example, you can make arrangements to send patients a follow-up email one day or about a day after enrolment to let them know if they have any specific questions or concerns Can contact your team. This small follow-up, signed by the doctor who saw them, is enough to make patients feel that they are of special importance to you.

By analysing websites and linking them to email marketing platforms, which is one of the core principles of email automation, organizations can create email campaigns.

Create personalized based on user behaviour. Of course, the acceptability and efficiency of this type of personalization vary from industry to industry, but it should be a priority in 2021. For example, let Blog subscribers choose the type of information they want to receive. You can then submit personalized content to your liking.

Here are some statistics from Autista Email:

• 90% of consumers find personalization attractive.
• The first rank in personalization by global marketers is related to email activities.
• Dynamic email advertising is the most effective method of personalization in the United States.
• What makes automation so attractive is the ability to automatically collect and share customer data and then perform personalized and timely activities.
• Here are some good examples of email marketing tactics:
• Create welcome emails after logging in to the Blog. This email can be as simple as an email that welcomes new users to a multi-email campaign that introduces relevant resources to users.
• Boost your confirmation emails. How to make order confirmation emails more useful? Is it possible to add links that contain related information or articles, how to read or ...?
• Set up emails to remind customers of their membership anniversary. Appreciating the customer is very effective for him to become a loyal customer! Send automatic thank you emails that can include special Product discounts on the occasion of the customer's anniversary.
• Combine email marketing with your website. Email marketing automation software, such as Active Campaign or HubSpot, can integrate with your website and schedule your email activities based on your website activities.
• Send emails to users leaving their shopping cart in the middle of a purchase. Once you are compatible with your website, you can use marketing automation software to send a follow-up email with a discount code to website visitors to encourage them to return and complete your purchase.

Email breeding gives way to Omnichannel marketing

Few people and buyers in B2B businesses come to you today with their wallets

(although this may be the case in the B2C world) In the B2B world, it's not just about how to grow and produce leads! Most of the time, the "first touch" (awareness and lead absorption) is the beginning of a lead-building cycle that involves several organizational stakeholders and may take weeks or even months. A good way to cultivate lead is "email".

Traditionally, lead generation has been limited to the world of email marketing, but that is changing rapidly. Today, and especially in the B2B world, businesses need to access and nurture leads through multiple channels.

Here are some tips to help explain why this is happening:

• 93% of the B2B shopping process starts with an online search.
• Lead-to-customer conversion rate is the top priority of 74% of companies. (HubSpot) 
• 49% of companies define their sales cycle with influencers.
• 76% of all marketers say they can use Attribution (the process of tracking user activity) now or next year. 
• 52% of marketers now use Attribution reports. ( HubSpot )
• Because lead generation is not limited to email, marketing has become a new rule in all marketing channels. Omnichannel Marketing is a lead generation program that addresses several points in the lead life cycle, including:
  • Organic search; Or how to find people using search engines
  • Organic social media; Or the interaction of people who are involved with your brand through various social media channels.
  • Re-marketing in social media advertising, Or ads for specific users on social media based on their past behaviour and interaction.
  • Re-marketing in program advertising; Which re-targets users in digital media outside of social media.
  • Online markets like Amazon, Walmart and other places where people go shopping online.
  • YouTube videos, which many people engage with daily.
  • Podcasts, a fast-growing medium for entertainment, professional development and market intelligence
  • Sales through various media such as email, LinkedIn messaging and old calls
  • Comments on platforms such as Google, Yelp and Facebook Business

This list goes on and on and on and on.

Given that the number of marketing channels is likely to increase in 2021 and lead breeding cycles to become more layered, diverse and interconnected, it is essential to find a way to implement an approach for all marketing channels.

Conclusion

Omnichannel Marketing is a good topic to conclude this article on the 2021 digital marketing trend.

Like every year, 2021 will put us, digital marketers, in a variety of strategies, tactics and technologies. Success will be summed up in how well we treat people. How empathetic we can be in meeting their needs, recognizing them and responding to them. When a brand incorporates empathy into its marketing strategies, it gives credibility to the customer. The more credibility the customer feels, the deeper the relationship with the brand.

So, the question for digital marketers in 2021 will be where you can create value and adapt to changing consumer behaviours during your customer journey, in SEO, video marketing, email marketing, social media, paid to advertise, and more.