Stay ahead of your competition with the top digital marketing trends 2021 that attract new customers and drive conversion rates.
Digital marketing has changed at breakneck speeds over the last decade, and this rapid evolution doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Marketers need to upgrade their strategies to keep up with competitors in today’s digital landscape. Content marketing, social media, paid advertising, and SEO are still important digital marketing channels to attract high-quality leads and drive conversions. However, it’s time to adjust how you leverage each of these strategies with the latest technologies and trends. Here are our top digital marketing trends 2021 to help you stay ahead in the upcoming year:
Interactive Content
Although content continues to dominate digital marketing, many consumers are looking to engage with new types of content. A study found that 91 percent are seeking more visual and interactive content, which keeps visitors on your page longer, drives social sharing, and boosts brand awareness. We recommend creating more interactive content in order to reach new customers in 2021. In fact, marketers say video is the best way to attract attention on social media.
Customers also respond really well to live videos. Facebook Live usage increased by 26.8 percent year-over-year and Instagram Live skyrocketed by 70 percent, both of which will likely continue in 2021.
Augmented and Virtual Reality
In recent years, both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have become massively popular and are emerging as top digital marketing trends in 2021. Virtual events, fashion shows, and concerts are allowing brands to entertain and educate without a physical audience. For the first time ever, Gucci launched a new AR experience with its shoe-try-on campaign on Snapchat. Customers can simply scan the promo shop code, try on the latest trends in footwear fashion, and purchase their favorite pair, all while using the lens.
eCommerce on Social Media
With the eCommerce boom and launch of Shops for Facebook and Instagram, more consumers will be shopping on social media platforms in 2021. Nearly 70 percent of shoppers use Instagram for product discovery and 130 million users tap on its shopping posts every month to learn more. There are several ways for eCommerce stores to create shoppable posts, making it easy for users to shop directly from your social media posts and shortening your sales funnel. We recommend featuring product names, prices, and links in your social posts to drive conversion rates.
SERP Position Zero
Ranking number one on search engine results pages is no longer a marketer’s end game. Position zero is now the objective, represented by a featured snippet above the search results. This top spot provides information directly related to the search query. Position zero is the first thing that users see on SERPs, and as such, it should be the target of your SEO efforts in 2021.
Search engines feature the position zero snippet that best answers specific search queries. The best way to earn this top spot is to provide high-quality content that matches your customers’ specific needs. Today’s search engines are smart enough to understand what searchers are looking for and can even gather context clues, so it’s important to write for humans, not robots. We recommend using long-tail keywords and language that your target audience uses to search for answers to their questions.
Smart Advertising
2021 is the year to get smarter about your advertising campaigns. Many platforms are focusing on machine learning by collecting and aggregating customer data in order to provide more targeted advertising campaigns. Google uses machine learning to optimize your bids and maximize your conversions. The search engine recently announced Google Ad updates that will likely lead to automation and smart bidding becoming the new standard.
Personalization
Today’s consumers are skilled at ignoring generic ads that have no real connection to them, so 2021 is going to be the year of personalized marketing. It’s much easier now for marketers to get closer to one-to-one communication than ever before using marketing automation. In a recent survey, 80 percent revealed they’d be more likely to give their business to a company that offered them a personalized customer experience.
If you have hundreds of current customers and potential leads, why communicate with them as if they are all the same person? Don’t miss an opportunity to create meaningful connections and build customer relationships through your 2020 marketing campaigns. We’ve found that segmented lead lists with personalized emails perform better than excessive eNewsletters sent to our entire database.
