There is a lot to process when it comes to the year that was in digital marketing. For one, although your business has relatively survived the past decade without following trends and strategies such as pay-per-click ads, that will not work now and in the future. If there is one thing that this pandemic has taught us, it is to pay attention to emerging trends and reshape the way we do business to these trends whether they stay for a short or long time.
Digital marketing in 2021 will revolve around two schools of thought. The first is that marketing campaigns should address real and emerging issues; evoking emotions from their audience and tailoring content that fits individual needs and demands. The second is to focus on the metadata; fine-tune search engine optimization that will put your page on the top of search engine results.
For larger businesses that already have marketing teams in place, all they need to do is reassess their campaigns, reinvest in the right, and keep up with the current marketing trends. But for small businesses that have barely scraped by during the pandemic, how are they supposed to change their whole marketing strategy and accommodate the new marketing strategies this year? Like many businesses in Singapore, professional SEM services that will restructure their campaigns according to the new demands of the market can help you through it.
Inclusivity
Believe it or not but 2021 will be a year where your audience will demand companies to take a stand, either for or political and social issues. More and more, they will look for inclusivity in your content — religion, race, physical and mental disabilities, gender, etc. They want your brand to represent every member of society. You have to use images, text, videos, and blogs to be inclusive of everyone.
Influencers
You’ve seen the rise of influencer marketing in the past five years. This will boom this 2021. The more people are confined in their homes, the more they will try to live through the lives of those they see on social media. They will follow celebrities and personalities; see which places they deem to be COVID-19 safe.
They will start to support advocacies. With more time in their hands, they are bound to pick up information about social and environmental injustice. If you are going to use influencer marketing, make sure you choose someone whose values and leanings align with your own.
Livestreaming
Surely, you know by now just how important live streaming is. In a year where people have to literally stay and isolate themselves at home, the only form of entertainment and human connection they have is to watch livestream videos by their favorite celebrities and personalities. There, they can interact with these personalities and attend “public” events.
Facebook said that live views spiked by 50% during the lockdown while Instagram’s increased to 70%. TikTok now has 800 million active users, a far cry from its numbers in 2019. People’s interest in livestream videos will continue at least for a couple of more years.
Featured Snippets
It is time to think about how you’re going to get on the featured snippets of Google’s search engine results. The featured snippet is that boxed-in link on the top of the search results. It’s commonly referred to as position zero because it’s above the first spot on the results page. It displays extra text and information about the query, thereby making it the more likely search result the web user will pick.
Sustainability
There is no denying the fact that environmental sustainability will be the most important issue in the next decade. At least 81% of consumers feel that they need to support companies that have sustainable practices and stay away from those that don’t. Younger consumers are more conscious of the brands that they support. Make sure to highlight your environmental advocacies and sustainability campaigns in the next year.
User-Generated Content
Customer experience has always been an important component of your marketing strategy, but it has never been as critical to a business as it is today. Customers want businesses to value them. The best way to do this is to feature them on your social media pages. Instead of investing all your time on influencers, show your loyal customers that you appreciate their patronage by reposting their content on your official pages.
Voice and Visual Search
Perhaps one of the most important changes that will happen to digital marketing this year is the reliance on voice and visual search. Consumers are going to use their smartphones and voice-activated devices such as Alexa to search for recipes, weather information, and so much more. Take note that voice searches will highlight just one search result. How do you get to that lone spot? That’s what your SEO strategy should also strive for.
The pandemic pushed e-commerce to the forefront of all industries. With this heavy reliance on e-commerce, businesses should work harder to provide what customers want. It’s not going to be easy, but it is necessary to keep up with the changing times.
