Digital Marketing Trends in 2020

The last couple of years has witnessed remarkable growth in the digital space as the number of internet users has gone up to a whopping amount. This means brands have a whole new audience to market to and there are multiple innovative ways to do so. Globally, the amount spent on digital marketing in 2020 is expected to reach $1.3 trillion. As the digital space is growing so much every year, it also brings new trends which are essential to follow in order to reach the target audience, to compete with the competitors, make effective use of every money spent on digital.

Here are the few trends of Digital Marketing in 2020 which you can consider for your brands;

Voice Search –

Twenty percent of searches on Google now are voice searches. With the popularity of Google Home and Alexa, the trend of voice search is growing. Also due to the recent pandemic, many people are working from home and hence staying almost 24X&7 in their abode. Thus, the popularity of these voice enable smart demand is on the rise as people are using them to browse, to check weather, to tune into music, to control home automation, etc. Therefore, shift your SEO strategy towards voice search and optimize your content accordingly. Use long-tail keywords that are more like phrases which people tend to speak rather than typing. For example, instead of “dental clinic Mumbai”, optimize your content for a term like “What are the best dental clinics in Mumbai?”

Virtual Reality –

Many businesses from automaker to tourism are shifting their focus to virtual reality as one of the key marketing strategies in order to give real like experiences to their audiences. As the lockdown due to Covid19 continues in several parts of the world, people are not visiting stores / showrooms physically which makes Virtual Reality a need of the hour. Majorly most of the real estate developers are showcasing their property via VR to create engagement with the prospective home buyers.

Chatbots –

Artificial Intelligence has become an integral part in the evolution of the digital space from voice search to AI enabled website to chatbots. To stand out in the market, apart from making a great product, great customer service is also very important. Chatbot with the help of AI technology uses instant automated messaging to interact and engage the visitors. It can also collect data to understand more about customers and answer to their queries, offer recommendation, and create a unique experience to the customers.

Position Zero / Featured Snippet –

When users look for something on search engine with relevant keywords, millions of results come up, and the results on the first page gets the maximum traffic. As the search result page has abundance of content and it is hard to understand which links to click on, what users want is to search for something and receive an answer immediately. This is when the position zero or featured snippet comes into the picture, where the answer appears in a paragraph at the top of the result page. These boxes, called Position Zero in search engine results, which often come with an image and all the information that users looking for, displayed in a box on the top of the page. Users have the answer they need, so they don’t need to click on the link. Hence it is also known as no-click search. For a featured snippet, research trending keywords that rank for snippets and optimize your content for these search terms.

Mobile First –

Now-a-days most of the people access internet from their mobile phone, thanks to the unending popularity of 4G enabled smartphones. Hence more and more websites are being created with a mobile-first design. Therefore, when a website is getting designed, web/ UI/UX developers keeps smartphones as number one priority and map out the design accordingly to give great experience to mobile users. This include features such as touchscreen-friendly navigation, mobile-friendly navigation menu, expandable sections, lesser content, etc. The website will be multi-device friendly and can be adapted to bigger screens, but the user experience will be tailor made to smartphone users. The most important aspect of mobile-friendly website is the faster loading speed which improves visitor’s experience. There are other features of a mobile- first design which many businesses are implementing such as the use of camera, voice recognition, location tracking, incoming calls, etc. Improving the user experience with the mobile-first design helps users navigate the website easily and increases the chance of conversions.

Social Media Stories –

Social media stories are gaining huge popularity and so businesses are making use of it for effective digital marketing campaigns. It is a great way to showcase products, broadcast events, and even to share behind-the-scenes experiences. It creates an excitement and urgency among the followers and users as it features for only 24 hours. Hence to create engagement with the followers, brands offer promo code, product features updates, etc through stories. To encash the popularity of stories, several brands are also putting their monies on stories ad for brand awareness, engagement, and even conversions.

Smart Bidding –

Google Ads implemented an update called smart bidding. Google uses machine learning to analyze users’ data and sets bids automatically in real-time to optimize for conversions or conversion value in each and every auction. To use smart bidding, you need to have conversion tracking enabled. The 4 key benefits of smart bidding are – advanced machine learning, wide range of contextual signals, flexible performance controls, and transparent performance reporting.

Shoppable Posts –

Businesses with good number of followers can make good use of shoppable posts without always spending on ads on social media. With Shoppable Posts, you can feature or tag a product so that users can see your product and even buy it without going away from your post. Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook have all introduced ways for e-commerce stores to create shoppable posts which made it easier for merchants to sell via social media. Using a native integration, it is now easy to tag and shop products directly in your posts.

Influencer Marketing –

Influencers are the ones who enjoys huge fan base or those who are adored by many for their work. It can be a movie star or sports star or even a chef or yoga trainer. This popularity also follows up to the social media platforms, where they have huge number of followers. Influencer marketing can really be effective as an influencer creates an emotional connect and build trust with his/her followers. Therefore, if you partner with an influencer, the credibility of the influencer adds onto your brand. The influencer should resonate with your brand and there should be a connect with the followers. For example, you can partner with a chef to promote a ketch up brand or you can partner with a sport person to promote energy drinks. Influencers are currently ruling the digital space with so many brands associate with different influencers to promote their business. Even during the pandemic with lockdown in effect, many influencers are shooting in their home with their smartphone and posting content on their social handles to promote the brand they are associated with, among their followers.

Gamification –

Gamification is an emerging digital marketing trend that incorporates game features into a website or mobile apps. It is quite popular and adapted by several brands as marketing strategies to incorporates games that are fun and engaging, to increase brand awareness, recall and sales. Few of the examples are – use the mobile app for a week and get a cashback (increases app downloads and usability), find different alphabets on the website to complete the new product name (increases page views and spending time on website), spin the wheel for a cashback (increase engagement), games in ads (increase awareness), etc.

Data Privacy –

Businesses should comply with consumer data privacy as failing to do so can create a setback for your business. Recently, the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps citing concerns about privacy and national security of the country. Complying with consumer protection standards and informing your customers about their rights can be of great benefit as it can develop more trust between you and your customers. Because of this transparency, you can expect positive word of mouth which may lead to many customers to switch to your brand.

The current lockdown in various part of the globe made digital space even bigger and more and more brands infusing more monies in digital marketing. More and more tech companies are working on different technologies to make digital platform more effective. Therefore, in a quick span of time many more new digital marketing trends will be emerged which the marketers needs to keep a track on and also to implement them effectively as a part of their marketing strategies.

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