In the course of the decade, digital marketing has seen technological developments that have exponentially changed the nature of marketing. Understanding what makes consumers tick is crucial now than it ever was before. Here are 50 digital marketing strategies to help you take the world by storm.
- Interactive Content
Polls, filters, votes and reshares are just a few examples of the way social media apps have changed the way users interact with each other and they love it. Not only does it give them the opportunity to engage, but they can share their opinions and interact with brands online in a whole new way. 2020 is the year to capitalize on this.
- Shoppable Posts
In 2020, platforms like Instagram have reshaped to allow content marketers to give people shoppable posts. This cuts through the noise, gives visitors a reason to stay and is extremely shareable. 91% of buyers prefer interactive content when engaging with brands online.
- Social Messaging Apps
Messaging apps are becoming popular ways for businesses to communicate with their customers who prefer to have direct contact with brands. Through personalized marketing, businesses can establish contact and build relationships. Over 10 billion messages are exchanged between customers and businesses on Facebook Messenger each month alone.
- Personalization
95% of users aren’t converted consumers after checking into websites. By recording patterns of what consumers typically buy, websites like Amazon are gaining customers through personalization. Brands will want to personalize individual user sessions as much as possible – and we’re already seeing it happen with chatbots!
- Chatbots
Chatbots are software programs that are capable of conversing with consumers online. When consumers inquire, 82% expect a response immediately, and Chatbots do so in real-time, being unbiased and informative. 77% of customers say chatbots will transform their expectations of companies in the next five years.
- Conversational Marketing
Instead of having customers wait days for a response, conversational marketing uses intelligent chatbots to converse with people when they’re on your website, and instantly help them with any queries they have. This makes it comparatively easier for them to engage with your business and generates the right kind of leads.
- Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing is the process of marketing across multiple social media platforms in order to connect with audiences on more touchpoints. Catering to a more enriched social experience while maintaining a cohesive brand image is important as you get inside the head of your ideal customer’s buying journey in 2020.
- Influencer marketing
Influencers can spread the word about your business through social channels. It’s generally more authentic than corporate advertising and 58% of consumers say they’ve bought products because of an influencer’s recommendation.
- Organic Reach
Picking the right platform is just as important as picking the right influencers. Instagram and Facebook now prefer paid media while Tiktok is on the rise for its organic reach. Remember, quality not quantity.
- Voice Search
Smart speakers and other similar digital tools are an emerging business. There are lots you can do to optimize your site for voice search, like using long-tail keywords to maximize your content’s accessibility. Now broadened by AI, you can potentially keep track of your consumer history.
- Immersive Tech: AR and VR
Augmented reality and virtual reality are quickly becoming a trend; through immersive videos and apps like that of IKEA, customers can now see what a piece of furniture would look like in their space or what a café’s interior would seem like, all from the comfort of home.
- Live Videos
Social media has propelled video marketing in recent years with apps like Facebook and Twitter, all supporting live video streaming. This accounts for over two-thirds of all internet traffic, and this share is expected to jump to 82% by 2020.
- Stories
24-hour disappearing stories are the internet’s new way of inducing FOMO(fear of missing out). Whether it’s places, food or memories, stories bring in incredible engagement and you can count on them sticking around.
- Big data
In 2020, Big data proves itself to be a practical marketing tool for companies big and small. Thanks to machine learning and automation, you’re no longer limited by the amount of data you can process or the insights you can extract, and this is one trend you should exploit.
- Single Marketing Software Providers
Consolidation has accelerated in response to the user’s desire to have all their marketing tools under one umbrella. The average enterprise uses up to 91 marketing cloud services. HubSpot is an example of an all-in-one marketing software solution.
- Page Speed
Page speed will continue to be vital to your website’s success in 2020. 25% of users will abandon a page if it doesn’t load in four seconds and they’re not likely to come back. Focus on improving your page speed in 2020 and watch your site’s performance improve!
- Next-GEN SEO
Google’s BERT update has made an impact on the SEO world. It’s improved ability to understand a searcher’s intent will affect complicated search queries that rely on context. Thus, search results are going to improve drastically.
- The Social CEO
It’s important for top executives to be social. This expands your company’s image, portraying it as more reliable to your users. A few of the best ways are by posting to the company blog or tweeting.
- Digital Transparency
In 2020, consumers are more likely to value a brand’s transparency than anything else in a company. In an age where information is widely available, revealing the process of what goes into making products can help portray authenticity.
- Visual Search
Research has shown that people prefer visual content to plain text, and the use of search engines that offer reverse image searches has increased.
- Predictive & Augmented Analytics
Predictive analytics identifies patterns and attempts to predict the future. We’re bound to see more of this, for example, Amazon Assistant allows users to permit product recommendations.
- Geo-Fencing
With its help, retailers are using geofencing to deliver to target audiences, using advanced technologies like RFID and Wi-Fi. Research shows that 54% of users convert from a segmented push.
- Progressive Web Apps
Progressive Web Apps offer the functionality of a native mobile app without being limited to one device. By 2020, smartphone users are foreseen to reach 2.87 billion. With page views on mobile increasing year-over-year, mobile is crucial to digital planning.
- User-Generated Content
UGC is a powerful resource for brands that want to tap into the Millennial and Gen Z markets. Encourage your audience to share unique content by offering them incentives, such as discounts. This can increase brand engagement and drive conversion rates as more people discover your brand. A survey found that 90% of shoppers reported that UGC influenced their decision to purchase more than any other form of advertising.
- Blockchain Technology
A blockchain is a time-stamped series of data records that is regulated by a cluster of computers not owned by any organization. Each of these blocks of data is secured and bound to each other using chains.
- SERP Position Zero
Outranking in the search engine result pages is no longer the main goal your business should be targeting. Featured snippets and other “on SERP” information means users don’t need to click through to websites to get the information they’re looking for. Position Zero is the most coveted position because it’s right at the top. Achieving this requires different SEO techniques. Be the first in your industry to get there.
- Smart Bidding
Smart bidding has become more prevalent and recently, updates were announced at Google Marketing Live for Google Ads. This improvement will optimize your bid and you the best value. This will even give you the ability to optimize bids across several campaigns and set bids to automatically change when the sale starts or stops.
- Better Analytics
Not investing in analytics these days implies impaired results. Given the omnichannel approach, most brands take on, the average consumer engages on up to six platforms before purchasing. Consequently, companies are now moving beyond the scope of Google Analytics for solutions.
- 5G Technology
One of the most noteworthy trends on the rise is 5G technology. A new era of digital communications, its impact will be felt across every industry. It could possibly disrupt the digital duopoly of Google and Facebook by arming telecom companies with unprecedented data.
- Privacy Marketing
People want to know that their data is safe, and digital marketing teams should get strategic to reinforce their commitment to privacy so they can earn the trust of potential customers and develop an “intimate” relationship through thoughtful engagement.
- Website Security
Visitors make up their mind about your security within seconds. If they feel unsafe, bounce rates increase. There have been over 3,800 data breaches within organizations. As a result, only 25% of consumers trust their data is handled safely. Website security is no longer an option.
- Long-Form Content
Posts that are at least 3,000 words long attract the most traffic, offering readers an in-depth exploration of topics. This allows content creators to establish themselves as an expert on a subject and gives them more scope for targeting keywords.
- Alternate Search Engines
It’s impossible for other search engines to give Google a run for its money. That being said, DuckDuckGo – a privacy-focused search engine has gained popularity. While Google has become embroiled in data scandals such as the Cambridge Analytics fiasco, DuckDuckGo has seen massive growth as it recently hit 1 billion searches.
- Neuromarketing
Neuromarketing analyzes measurements of a person’s brain activity to determine the types of content they find engaging. It essentially designs marketing materials to evoke specific neurological reactions that trigger emotions or responses that are linked to purchasing. SPARK Neuro is a leader in this space.
- Funnel marketing
Using your consumer’s personal data, you can create sales funnels that adapt to their previous actions. Rather than users who hit a roadblock dropping off, your funnel can adapt to deliver content most likely to keep them moving. Backed by artificial intelligence, machine learning will help you deliver convincing content at each stage of the sales process.
- Rise of Podcasts
The number of podcast listeners continues to grow. But it’s not just that more people are listening to podcasts — it’s that they’re becoming more engaged with them. If there’s a clear demand for audio content in your industry, 2020 is the year to make it happen.
- Multilingual Era
Platforms are trying to bring a good flavor of world languages to attract their viewers. On YouTube, vernacular language-based content will be most consumed in 2020.
- Digital PR and SEO
If improving your SEO is one of your aims for 2020, you should look into building backlinks from Digital PR initiatives.
- Hidden Likes
Instagram has been experimenting with hiding likes. The idea to create more of a meritocracy and help smaller creators. First rolled out in Canada, this move reflects a trend towards focusing on community.
- Content Inclusivity
Statistically, approximately 285 million people worldwide suffer from visual impairments. In 2020, it is time to move away from the ‘one-size-fits-all’ mindset. Making the web more inclusive is gaining momentum. Adding captions on video content and descriptive captions as alt-text for images has already become commonplace for content creators.
- Interpreting and Collecting Data
Marketing teams can now predict the behaviors of their audiences more accurately. However, many skill sets are misaligned with this new reality. It is vital that marketing teams become well-versed in data storytelling.
- 1st Party Data
Until recently, third-party data was highly utilized for marketing executions. A survey suggests 80.1% of respondents said they’re comfortable sharing information for personalizing marketing messages. However, 16.7% said the same for third parties.
- Goodbye Google Analytics
Transactions no longer are as simple as someone buying from you, such as repeat purchases and checkout bumps. Additionally, there are so many different ways you can generate revenue for your online business, such as partnerships. Companies have started using analytics solutions that tie into their database better, such as Amplitude.
- Mobile Advertisements
As consumers are mostly busy on mobile phones, companies target them through mobile advertising. This trend is touching new heights, as it is estimated that it will account for 30.5% of global ad spend.
- Sentiment Analysis
Response undeniably affects our progress. The sentiment analysis algorithm suggests that if your reviews aren’t positive, your website’s ranking is negatively affected. Eventually, your content should have all the ingredients such as good user experience and authenticity.
- Customer Retention
A huge part of customer experience is focused on retaining customers. Loyal customers help to increase brand awareness as they’ll talk about your products. Personalization will certainly help you achieve this.
- Gen Z
The trend has shifted from targeting Millennials to Generation Z; 2020 is the year to put more focus on the next generation of consumers. This is the first generation born virtually online. They’re more tech-savvy and less brand-conscious.
Also Read: What is a Marketing Bot?
- Topic-focused Content
Google’s algorithms look at more than the quality of a single page when ranking it, assessing the holistic value of websites from the perspective of the individual searcher. The idea is to cover a wide breadth of topics falling under a single umbrella.
- Page Speed
25% of users will abandon a page if it doesn’t load in four seconds and they’re not likely to come back. Focus on improving your page speed in 2020.
- Content Marketing
Content demonstrates expertise to potential customers reading your articles or pages. In short, it fuels SEO so focus on creating interactive content.
In conclusion, these marketing innovations revolve around data. Artificial intelligence means we’re capable of insanely complex things. 2020 is a year to adapt, improvise, implement and overcome.
Image Credit: Analyticsinsight
