7 “MUST-HAVES” IN DIGITAL MARKETING IN 2021
Those who cannot change their mindset, their way of thinking, literally cannot change anything. Permutable brands, companies, and individuals are blooming and flagging mind-blowing content online. Some brands keep surprising us out here, and you cannot help but think to yourself; How did they come up with this idea! Because they are fast to implement and fall in line with the new digital and marketing trends that we have elaborated below, So should you!
1. Inclusivity
Topics on race, sex, religion, and disability have been trending online over the years. Brands create images, videos, blogs, and social content that entangles all these aspects. Many are afraid of slipping the tongue and getting trolled, especially by users on Twitter which can be detrimental to the brand.
This year we have seen companies embracing Easter and Eid festivities in their social media platforms, for example, sharing the images of their racially mixed employees and wishing them success in their festivals. Brands are showing up. They can speak for themselves that the campaigns or ads met their expectations. Those who demonstrate an awareness of the bigger societal picture generate lots of goodwill and develop deeper connections with their consumers.
It’s up to you to challenge the assumptions you make about your audience and tell stories that not only cover local issues but those that are worldwide. Diverse and inclusive marketing helps your audience to grow and boosts your account performance in general. Implement marketing strategies that reflect Reality, celebrate the variety of individuals in the social community, and research cultural intelligence and practice these.
2. Influencer Marketing is shooting through the roof.
Social Media influencers are getting paid by companies to promote their brands, and as the years go by, they are significantly growing in numbers. Brands now include them in their marketing budget because who wouldn’t want to minimize their marketing cost and maximize the profits all at once. Hence companies have engaged in influencer marketing for it’s cheaper than running ad campaigns, yet it delivers good results. Not only have Influencers broken the record of digital marketing where they help meet a variety of brand marketing goals, but also they generate successful leads and sales. A dedicated and well-mannered influencer will get you popular within a short period. You will get a much higher engagement from small to big-time influencers, which will cost you less.
3. Sustainability.
Degrading the environment to benefit yourself shows that one does not care about nature and the living things that dwell in their external environment. Some brand’s efforts to reduce any negative impact they may cause to the environment and at the same time meet our needs are noticeable. A good example is the Starbucks company. Its goal is to double its recycling through recyclability, compostability, and reusability of its cups and packaging by 2022. Such brands that care about the environment are winning our hearts out here.
4. Interactive content is always in trend.
During the pandemic, users spent more time online than they used to. We could see Brands acting fast to increase the number of times their audience engaged with them. They generated relatable content with memes, gifs, videos, and news.
Wanting to stand out in algorithm-based socials and feeds is a practice that brands are trying by having puzzles, brainteasers, quizzes, trends, hashtags embedded in their content.
This trend has become so addictive. Audiences find themselves, kind of, addicted to social media and other platforms and leaning towards brands that give them a good laugh or relate to their current situation.
5. User-generated content to win hearts.
Brands leveraging UGC are so attractive because they create a more authentic buying experience. From product reviews, social media photos to unboxing videos, brands have strategically crafted these in their content mix to create content that does wonders. Unfilter your content and ride with this content. It is free and bona fide than branded content.
Posting this content increases the confidence of the customer. How? It strategically takes them through every step of the buyer’s journey. How many times have you looked up a product’s usage online before purchasing it? I have done it so many times.
We all have unanswered questions about a product or service but UGC shares insights on purchases and experiences. Personally, nothing scares me like buying a product, and then it backfires or under-delivers.
These days your audience is eager to know how you perform, so let them see. It influences their buying decisions and gives them a more engaging shopping experience
6. AR and VR technology are changing the game out here.
Virtual Reality may be in the commencement stages, but Augmented Reality experiences have been rising over the years. AR enhances visual content for sharing on social media with features such as filters and is now used on several major platforms like Snapchat and Instagram.
It reflects Reality by adding digital elements to it and changing the way things look, and the audience feels as if they are there with you. Online businesses have found this helpful to creating entertaining and building engagement in their applications, websites, and social pages. An example is Instagram camera filters. It adds makeup glow, baby faces, or bunny ears to images and videos.
Application developers use this great technology and experiment with other Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality functionalities. It gives an exciting experience to their profile visitors.
7. Video content is on the rise.
One of the most engaging social platforms of content that has become a trend is the TikTok app. The hashtag challenges on TikTok such as don’t rush, makeup tutorials, step-by-step cooking shows, and the Q&A’s flooded social media during the lockdown in 2020. From short videos or to long video content, we honestly cannot come back from Live streaming. Hence videos will be the future of content. In fact, by 2022, most of the content will be video content.
Companies have stirred up their creativity with videos in their content marketing strategy to stay relevant online. Join in this trend by adding story features to your social content and ads. Add them to websites or on platforms dominated by image or text content to keep the audience on your website or profile for a long time.
