The digital media has made the world smaller in terms of effortlessly connecting people from different countries and cultures. In the digital era, the growth of digital marketing in the business industry is immense from the last few years. Whatever industry you belong to, or whatever products and services you offer – digital marketing trends cannot be ignored by anyone in this modern digital era. And to keep up with your competition, you must keep up with the latest trends and technology. Each year, several new digital tools and technologies emerge which help marketers to connect to new audiences, build brand loyalty or promote their products and services.
Ever thought about how the latest trends and technologies can impact your business positively and how you can take advantage of it. What new tools or platforms can you use for your brand, product or service? How can you improve customer support and customer experiences? In 2020 a business needs little more than a website and a social media page, the digital landscape is evolving so rapidly that it’s hard to keep up. In order to keep their organizations at the top, as a marketer, you have to adopt these new technologies and tools. If not adapted on time, you’ll surely be left behind. Read on to discover the latest digital marketing trends you should be following in 2020.
According to a website ‘eMarketer’, “worldwide digital ad spend is predicted to reach over $375 billion by 2021.”
1) Chatbots
The AI-based technology, Chatbots will continue to be an important part of digital marketing in 2020. It uses direct instant messaging to chat in real-time, all day, with your customers. Surveys show that Chatbots will control 85% of customer service by 2020 and it will help businesses save over $8 billion per annum, by 2022. Top benefits include:
- They provide 24-hour service.
- Instant responses to inquiries
- More than 62% of respondents prefer messaging an online chatbot to communicate with a business or brand.
- Many customers choose to interact with chatbots as these virtual assistants offer excellent customer service, they are responsive 24/7, give answers quickly, precisely remember your entire buying history, and never become impatient.
2) Interactive Content
Customers love to interact and engage with the brands and businesses they follow. By creating interactive content you not only engage with your current customers but can also attract new or potential customers.
In 2020, many businesses would see a shift from conventional text-based content toward dynamic, engaging content that gives users an immersive experience. For example, you can think about:
- Quizzes and polls
- Interactive embedded calculators
- 360-degree videos
- Interactive Infographics
- Polls and Surveys
- Interactive E-books
- Webinars
3) Conversational Marketing
When consumers have a question, they always look for an immediate response. Here comes, Conversational marketing, the marketing which facilitates a one-to-one conversation, immediate connection between marketers and customers. Unlike traditional approaches, this form of marketing can be made available across multiple digital channels, allowing customers to connect with brands whenever they want.
4) Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is the most popular form of social media marketing, at present in the digital industry. In this type of marketing, a brand uses key leaders or influencers to promote their brand digitally. These influencers are often Instagram or YouTube personalities with a huge niche following, who facilitate spreading the information about your business or product through their social media channels. Influencer content may be enclosed as testimonial advertising on your brands’ channel.
5) Voice Search or Voice Interaction
Bored with typing the query into a search box? Voice search is a machinery technology where a query or question is answered by a search engine or a digital assistant. It allows users to make a search on the internet by vocally asking a question or query on a Smartphone or any smart device. It plays an important role in providing all the appropriate information that anyone is searching for through audio. Voice Search totally depends on AI and it is getting smarter day by day, also the inaccuracy made by voice assistants like Alexa, Siri and Google have reduced greatly.
To deliver value-based content effectively to their customers, these brands are already using voice search in their digital marketing strategies:
- In some countries, Domino’s allows its customers to order through voice search, without even placing an online order
- PayPal users can connect, Siri to exchange money with friends, family or businesses
- Nestlé provides a function where the device gives voice instructions as you cook
6) Shoppable posts (social commerce)
In March 2019, Instagram launched a new feature, which lets users complete their purchase from within the Instagram app. With e-commerce and social media both growing at such a huge rate, brands are using this Instagram feature, to attract people from a social media app to buy their products and services. Yes, visual commerce marketing through the platform, is taking off as more consumers are willing to buy products they see in their feeds on social apps. In November 2019, Instagram reports that the platform has more than 1 billion users, and around 88% of them already follow different shopping brands.
7) Social Media Stories
Marketers can make good use of FOMO (fear of missing out) through, Social Media Stories. Since these types of stories disappear after a period of time, a brand has an opportunity to attract more people to its website or to interact with its customers. The concept of “My Story,” was first introduced by Snapchat, then Instagram & Facebook and then YouTube unveiled their own story format.
There are numerous benefits of using social media stories, such as:
- You can constantly connect and engage your followers
- Through Instagram stories you have an opportunity to reach potential audiences
- You can use story polls within Instagram Stories to interact with followers
- Stories are great to increases brand awareness
- They are cost-effective as well
- You can invite followers to explore more with clear call-to-actions
8) Video Marketing
More than 72% of businesses and brands say that video marketing has improved their conversion rate. Video marketing is a not new term for the digital industry, but it is on its boom from the past few years and will rule the industry for more years to come. About 54% of consumers say that watching product-related videos makes them more convinced in making purchase decisions.
If your website includes video, it’s 40X more likely to drive organic search results as compared to text content. Google pushes pages that include videos higher in the rankings as people find video content more compelling and convincing. Your social media presence with more video content will help you to attract more and more customers and users.
9) More Focus on Customer Retention
For a successful business, a company should not only focus on acquiring new customers but also retaining existing ones. Every company should understand that it takes less investment to keep existing customers happy, as the registered data helps save costs. Retaining customers helps a business to increase its revenue as keeping existing customers happy will tend to create referrals.
Also, the existing customer will be more straight and honest with you regarding any issues, giving you a fair chance to improve your brand, product or services.
