The digital marketing landscape – social media, SEO, content marketing, PPC, etc. – has changed significantly in the past five years.
For instance, there was a time when visual search and artificial intelligence were thought of as futuristic; now, they are an essential part of marketing your brand online. As such, you need to incorporate new trends into your overall strategy to succeed in this high-tech era.
Here are the top eight digital marketing trends for 2021 and beyond.
8 Digital Marketing Trends You Need To Know
1 – Content Is King
Consider this: around 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach customers.
The focus on content is essential to gain targeted traffic; and so, you should be consistent in publishing blogs, posts, whitepapers, etc. and address the concerns of your audience, rather than your own interests.
Use Google search suggestions, Google related keywords, YouTube search suggestions, Answer the Public and Google Trends to find what your target audience is looking for.
2 – Local SEO
Utilize Google My Business to increase your organic traffic and credibility – especially since the ‘3-pack’ appears on top of the first search result and highlights nearby locations as per the keyword.
This listing also makes it easier for local audiences to find information about your business, such as your phone number, website, e-mail address.
The best part is that your GMB profile also has reviews and testimonials from current or previous customers – and since 88% of consumers trust online reviews, this can lead to higher sales.
3 – Exposure Through Video
3 – Exposure Through VideoUsing video-based platforms like YouTube has become a mandatory part of modern digital marketing campaigns – especially since it can increase your revenue 49% faster compared to other mediums.
For this, your videos should fresh, authentic, entertaining, unique and inspiring. Remember, people will only follow and subscribe to your channel if they gain value from your content.
4 – Use Social Media Influencers
Social media influencers are people who have done well for themselves on the social grid and their opinion carries a considerable amount of authority.
Find an influencer who has a good footing in your niche and see if they will promote your brand on their digital profiles, pages, groups, etc.
5 – Add a Live Chat Option
By 2021, 85% of customer services will be handled by live Chatbots as they can automate the process of scheduling meetings, customer service, etc.
This is a better option than e-mails as customers do not have to wait for a few days to receive a reply to their queries – and they can make an appointment as per their convenience.
6 – Adopt Artificial Intelligence
AI is taking over the world; virtual assistants like Google Assistant, Siri and Alexa help us in our daily routine and are capable of controlling our smart homes.
This trend needs to be readily accepted into digital marketing as it can help in automated content creation, finding new opportunities by pinpointing gaps in the current market, forecasting trends, etc.
In fact, it’s been estimated that by 2030, at least 30% of global companies will use AI to improve their sales process.
7 – Visual Search
Visual search has now become possible via OCR and image recognition. As such, your audience can use Google Lens – part of image search – to find a product or place, its cost chart, reviews about it and other related products.
Simply put, brands have to now optimize their products and stores for Google image search.
8 – Better User Engagement
A good user interface helps in achieving better ranking and provides a positive user experience while a bad experience can drive 22% of your customers to your competition.
Do the following to improve your user engagement:
To improve user engagement you should improve your websites’ speed, provide different options for connecting with you, provide a live chatbot, etc.
And that’s it – these are some of the top trends that marketers should adopt as part of their overall strategy.
