The Top 10 Digital Marketing Trends You Need to Know For 2021
Everything you need to know to stay on top of your digital marketing in 2021.
2020 has been a year we’ll all never forget and the impact of the past 365 days of our lives will continue to influence what we do and how we do it in 2021. So how has the past 12 months impacted consumer behaviour and online activity? What can digital marketers do in preparation for 2021 to make sure they stay ahead of the curve?
We’re here to reveal all. Let’s get started with the Top 10 Digital Marketing Trends which heading our way in 2021.
- Get Interactive on Social Media
Nowadays, every brand under the sun has a social media presence. Whether it’s sharing content to an audience of millions or a more humble, local market, every brand is online. This is great for consumers who can interact with almost any company they desire, but with so many competitors fighting for the same market share, just being active on social media isn’t enough anymore. You have to get interactive.
Consumers want to be engaged with in a non-invasive, fun way and interactive social media content is a sure-fire ticket to doing exactly that. We’re talking polls, quizzes, contests and giveaways that allow social media users to quickly take part in brand activity on-the-go, in a way that adds value to their lives and creates positive brand associations.
Interactive content has been shown to enhance sales as consumer brand perceptions improve thanks to the positive interaction they’ve had online with them. We’re all happy to return to a place we’ve had a great experience, right? Well, the same goes for online experiences and brand interactions. In 2021, make sure your brand is a great place to be.
2. Influencer Marketing Will Continue to Dominate Digital
We’ve all been #influenced. How many times have you popped onto Instagram for an innocent scroll and somehow ended up with 4 items in your basket after an influencer tagged a brand? Too many to count, right?
The power of Influencer Marketing has experienced incredible growth over the past few years, so much so that thousands of so-called ‘influencers’ have created a career on the phenomenon alone. It’s an exceptionally effective marketing tool as you’re utilising people who your consumers actively choose to follow and engage with. Allowing brands to integrate themselves seamlessly into the daily lives and consciousness of their target audiences, increasing top-of-mind recall and well, you know the rest.
Not to mention, the unwelcome arrival of COVID-19 did seem to have some positive effects if you, yourself, are an influencer or a brand engaged in Influencer Marketing. Social media usage increased by 40% in under 35s during the pandemic alone, meaning that a heck of a lot more people are engaging online than ever before. This means plenty more opportunities for influencing, and this is something that isn’t predicted to slow down in 2021.
Brands need to delve into the minds of their audience and find out which influencers are featuring in their newsfeeds. 2021 is about who your target audience is double tapping and who your brand needs as your next brand ambassador to ensure you’re in on the influencer action?
3. A New Era of Conscious Consumerism
2020 has seen protests erupt all over the world as thousands of people marched, chanted and demanded changes to be made to ensure a better future for our world. This year introduced era-defining activism on major global issues as people called for action to be taken to end discrimination, violence and intolerance across the board.
From the historical Black Lives Matter protests which took place in the US and had a ripple effect all over the world. To the continued Global Climate Strikes marches demanding real change to be taken to combat the Climate Crisis. Activism has shaped the past 365 days of our lives as people become more and more incentivised to demand change. So, how does this impact digital marketing as we head into 2021?
The answer to that one is in Conscious Consumerism. You’re going to want to take note of that phrase because you’re going to be hearing it a lot more over the next few months. Thanks to COVID-19, consumers have had plenty of time on their hands to delve into researching the brands they buy into. What those brands value, their business practices, their ethos, the treatment of their staff and their contribution to global issues, bad or good. Consumers care about who your brand is and are no longer willing to invest in brands that are unethical in any regard. Especially those who remain silent or worse, actively contribute towards issues of discrimination or environmental destruction.
Brands need to step up to the plate on national and international issues or face the wrath of cancel culture. Although, this doesn’t mean simply posting a few pieces of content online to show that you support a specific cause, it’s about working from the inside-out. 2021 is about ensuring your brand is genuinely aligned with your audience’s behaviour and beliefs. Through meaningful action, inclusion and initiatives to ensure yours is an ethical brand worth buying from, you can showcase the best of your brand to your followers.
4. Remarket Your Content, Not Your Products
Remarketing has been a hot topic over the past few months. Its importance in digital marketing strategies across the board has been growing year upon year and 2021 looks no different. Well…maybe a little different, actually.
For many marketers remarketing involves observing consumer behaviour and from this, creating targeted ads which appear in a consumer’s newsfeed or browser. These ads more often than not are product-driven and sales-focused but recent trends have suggested that this might not be the most effective method. Hear us out…
Whilst remarketing ads featuring certain products, such as specific products a user has previously viewed, remains a useful tool. It’s important to remember that variety is the spice of life, and the same goes for digital marketing. 2021 will introduce a new trend of content remarketing where instead of pushing sales, brands will share knowledge and entice consumers to come back for more…content, that is.
Add value to your audience’s lives by offering them with additional content which they might be interested based on what they’ve viewed on your website. For example, if someone has read your latest blog about Social Media Marketing then why not retarget them with an ad with additional information on Influencer Marketing? Its relevant, connected content which the consumer will most likely be keen to find out more about. Encouraging them to visit your site again, build positive brand-consumer relations and all of those great brand perceptions which often lead to increased sales.
5. Beware the Ad Blockers
A trend which will send shivers down any digital marketer’s spine, the rise of ad blockers. Ad blockers do exactly what they say on the tin — block ads — and this can mean big trouble for digital marketing strategists as online advertising could take a major hit.
Consumers can now block brand ads meaning that marketing investments in tools like remarketing could be rendered ineffective. So, how do digital marketers combat this? This coming year marketers will have to pay very close attention to the performance of online ads and ensure that if there are any that aren’t performing, it’s time to pull the plug.
Ad blockers don’t necessarily mean that every ad you put out there will never be seen, it just means that it’s no longer as simple to gain access to your audience. This means that marketing strategy may need to focus on other methods. Methods which audiences willing choose to engage with, such as social media, content and email marketing.
2021 is the year to get creative with your online marketing communications!
6. A Little (Third) Party Never Hurt Nobody, Or Did They?
Whilst we’re on the topics of digital ads, it looks like the third party’s over too. Third party cookies are being scrapped which means that by early 2022 any tracking activity conducted by parties other than the website a user is currently visiting is being stopped. For any digital marketers which take advantage of third party cookies to track their consumers’ behaviour for targeted ads, this means a reevaluation is due.
Advertisers can no longer take data from other websites or brands to inform their targeting strategy. Instead, they’ll only be able to track their own online performance and interaction. This will mean that brands will have to up their inbound marketing game to drive traffic and extract consumer behaviour data to inform any online ads targeting post-2021.
7. Voice Search Will Define SEO Strategy
Hey Google, what’s all this talk of voice search for 2021 SEO strategy? If it’s not Google we’re asking to answer our daily question, it’s Alexa. Either way it looks like we’re turning to our smart speakers more and more rather than taking to the keyboard to find our answers. A key consideration for SEO strategies heading into 2021.
Brands need to consider how consumers speak to their smart speakers and ensure that those key phrases and words are being used in their SEO strategy. For example, consumers aren’t going to say, “Alexa, bike shop Amsterdam” like they may do if they were typing. Instead, it’s going to be more “Hey Alexa, what’s the best bike shop in Amsterdam for customer service?”
In other words, SEO is becoming more conversational. Whilst it’s still important to be succinct and to-the-point with SEO keyword research and choices, we have to take into consideration how searches are being made now. Just think, what would Alexa do?
8. We’re All Aiming for Position Zero
Yep, you read that right. Position zero. This might sound counterintuitive, but we promise that position zero is exactly where you want your brand to be with its SEO strategy going into 2021.
Position zero or Google’s “featured snippet” is the holy grail of search engine results. Position zero not only ranks your website as the top result on a particular search, it even provides a snapshot of the content they can find on that page. Ensuring searches far and wide can see that your website has the relevant content they’ve been looking for.
But how do you get your website to have a shot in the limelight of position zero? Relevancy is step one. Only the result most genuinely relevant to the search will feature in the snippet. However, there’s a few more tricks to the trade. Focus your SEO strategy on long-tail keywords that people will search when looking for content like yours.
For example, “how to make the perfect banana bread” — we’ve all been there this year. If you use SEO strategies like this and couple that with succinct, relevant content which answers the keyword conundrum, you’re well on your way to the top.
9.0 Where Will Local Businesses Be Without Google My Business?
A somewhat smaller trend but an important one nonetheless for local business marketing. The presence of your company on Google Maps can be what makes or breaks a consumer’s decision to engage with you. This has been particularly important throughout 2020 as people had to stay close to home and shopping local was a top priority.
Ensuring your business is active on Google My Business and is easy to find for consumers is going to be increasingly important in 2021. Especially if you want to take full advantage of the notion shared by many consumers to support their local economy which has suffered so much over the past 12 months. So make sure you’re right there on Google, ready to be found.
10. Take Your Brand Events Virtual
2020 grounded the events industry to a halt meaning that brands haven’t been able to host their annual networking or brand-boosting soirees. This has been a major blow to the events marketing as social distancing meant that groups of people, large or small, couldn’t gather in a physical space.
The challenge of not being able to see each other in real life has led many brands to take to the virtual arena to entertain and delight their audiences. Brands like Adobe, Microsoft, IBM and Cisco all hosted online events which went down a storm with their consumers. With the global pandemic not quite over yet and the resounding success of many virtual events, this is a COVID-19 solution which will likely transform into a full-blown trend in the coming year.
Who doesn’t want to stay in their pyjamas on the couch and still attend an international event?
