As of January 2020, 59% of the world’s population is active online.
It’s growing harder and harder to ignore that our world practically revolves around technology in one or another. Brands also have to face this fact daily as they develop marketing campaigns.
It’s obvious that technology is rapidly evolving, which means that digital marketing is changing just as quickly. How can you stay current and plan the best campaigns possible this year?
We can help you out! Keep reading below to discover five of the most important digital marketing trends of 2020!
1. Stories
Say a potential client checks out a brand’s Instagram profile. It’s much easier to get a taste of their content through a quick story than by scrolling through post after post.
Stories may only run for 24 hours, but you can pack a lot into them. They offer the ability to add text, and you can often insert links into the stories themselves. This makes them great for linking customers to limited-time offers or snap sales.
If you want to promote an old Instagram post, you can easily push it by sharing it through your story. If you’re hosting a promotional event, tag your location in the story so clients know where to find you.
Stories are also a great place to post behind-the-scenes content and casual content. These types of posts will make your brand seem more personable. Followers like knowing there are real people behind the products and content they’re viewing.
2. Marketing through Collaboration: Micro-Influencers
Instagram is a hotbed for influencers promoting products. You’ve probably stumbled across product review videos on YouTube from big channels as well.
Companies have been scrambling to collaborate with big influencers, and the stakes have grown higher and higher. When company and influencer collaboration was still in its early stages, it was enough to simply send an influencer free samples as compensation. Now, big influencers often expect monetary compensation in exchange for product promotion.
Reaching out to micro-influencers is a great way to take advantage of influencer collaboration without blowing your marketing budget. Micro-influencers tend to have anywhere between 2,000 and 50,000 followers, and they often create very niche content.
By working with a micro-influencer rather than bidding for a collaboration with a massive influencer, you can find a smaller content creator whose content already aligns well with your brand. Smaller influencers often have a more personal relationship with their audience. Their followers are more likely to trust any products that the influencer promotes.
3. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence will play an important part in every successful digital marketing campaign in 2020. It can be extended to various branches of digital marketing, which makes it useful for just about any and every campaign.
Targeted advertising and personalized content is a big concern for many companies. AI can help businesses collect relevant information to create this content.
For example, AI can analyze customer data to help create a successful email marketing campaign. With unique customer data, the AI can determine when would be a good time to send the email, what content to include, etc.
AI is also being used to run chatbots for businesses. These chatbots can deliver customer service 24/7 by providing immediate responses. This can then reduce customer service expenses for companies.
Chatbots can answer up to 80% of routine questions asked by customers. This leaves actual customer service agents free to address more specific and urgent customer questions.
4. Visual Digital Marketing Trends: Videos
A study published by Forbes found that 75% of senior executives watch video content on business-related websites each week. The study also found that over 65% of senior executives will visit a vendor’s website after viewing a relevant video. Clearly, video marketing is key to networking and building relationships with potential clients.
The beauty of video marketing is that it creates a personal relationship with potential clients without the need to meet them face-to-face. If done well, a video can create a personable and welcoming reputation for your brand.
Videos also give you a platform to teach potential customers about your products. Tutorial and unboxing videos are all over YouTube, so why not beat tutorial YouTube channels by creating the content first? Attract more views by cross-posting videos on your website, a YouTube channel, Facebook, etc.
Videos are also a great place to teach about other relevant information about your field that customers are searching for. In videos such as these, you’re able to not only assist a potential client but also display your knowledge.
5. Shoppable Posts
Shoppable posts are one of the best digital marketing trends if you have physical products.
Shoppable posts are exactly what they sound like—posts featuring a product that will take a shopper straight to the product listing simply by tapping on a link embedded in the post. This removes the need for a shopper to hunt for the link in a caption or on the business’s profile.
Consumers can lose interest and move onto a new potential purchase in seconds. But if they’re provided with immediate access to buying a product, they have less reason to simply scroll past an appealing image.
The implementation of shoppable posts has been a success, especially on Instagram. Instagram allows businesses to push a desired aesthetic in a compact form, and brands can link up to 5 separate products in one post. This is especially effective for brands pushing collections of products as a whole.
Finding the Perfect Strategies
Digital marketing trends are always shifting, so it’s of the utmost importance to stay on top of what’s fresh and most effective. The five trends above should give you a taste of where the digital marketing scene is headed in 2020.
To learn how we can help you with your digital marketing campaigns, set up a consultation today!
