Digital Marketing Trends To Watch For

Your business needs to reach as many clients as possible in order to maximize your profits and grow. To do that, you’ll have to keep up with the latest digital marketing trends, and you should be talking about this with your digital marketing agency.

But which trends are worth pursuing? How can you know which tools to invest your time and money in?

That’s where White Peak comes in. We’ve developed a list of six essential digital marketing trends for your business to keep an eye on.

While you do not have to do them all, we recommend picking one or two to focus on this year and implementing them into your marketing strategy.

1. Chatbots & Messaging Apps

Customers are accustomed to getting an instant response, and the conversational nature of chatbots can help guide them along the purchasing process. This is transformational for support teams because chatbots, even automated ones, can answer questions before they become problems after purchase. One study shows that support leaders are 30% more likely to report an increase in customer satisfaction when implementing a chatbot strategy to their marketing plan than those who don’t.

The same goes for messaging apps such as Snapchat or Facebook Messenger. According to a HubSpot study,  when a brand is available and active on a messaging app, over 66% of consumers will feel more confident about making purchases. Additionally, 55% of consumers feel more connected to the brand.

2. Longer, Shoppable Videos

54% of smartphone users spend their time watching videos over 20 minutes long. This is an increase from just 29% in 2016. Explainer, how-to, and unboxing videos give this visual generation a closer look at products and services, so they know exactly what to expect before making a purchase. They can see the product in action and handled by another user.

Even more intriguing to brands is the functionality of adding a CTA in the video to bring viewers directly to your product page. This strategy is helpful for additional purchases, like accessories they might need for their new product.

3. Visual Search  

Adding high-quality images with keywords can increase traffic because people are able to find your page from images online. According to Gartner, by 2021, brands that redesign their websites to support visual search increase digital commerce revenue by 30%. This is especially true for consumers searching for a new look rather than just one product. For example, a user might be interested in purchasing a new headboard for their bed. Upon browsing your website, they are shown an entire bedroom set with dressers, a bedside table, and more. This encourages purchasing a collection. When 90% of information transmitted to our brain is visual, this is the way to go. 

4. Shoppable Social Media Posts

Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook have all added ways to shop through their apps. This can be done through paid or organic posts. The great benefit is that you can focus on specific target audiences and tailor the posts to their needs. This eliminates the need for the user to search for a product, as the shoppable post will lead them directly to the product page on your website. 

Instagram, for example, allows brands to tag products shown in an image. Like that purse the model is holding? Simply click on it to make your purchase. This is a versatile way to market, as it can be applied to images, videos, articles, and whatever content your brand creates.

(Check out our post: 11 Tips to Increase Instagram Engagement)

5. Personalized Content

How can your brand stand out when the average user is inundated with content?  Grab their attention with personalized elements. The more personalized, the better because the customer will feel like you are speaking directly to their needs. This can be accomplished using Cookies that gather information about the user visiting your website. For example, if they land on your website by searching “fall wardrobe,” you can change certain elements on your homepage that will show them the top fall wardrobe styles of the year. 

6. Voice Search

More than 40% of people do at least one voice search per day, and this number continues to increase. Voice searches are usually people looking for something local because it is faster using voice search, and they most likely are in a rush or on the go. Also, voice searches tend to be longer questions or searches. This means that users want to be given a short and easy answer to their questions.

Digital Marketing Trends Tell You  A Lot About Customers

Let’s face it, customers can be a moving target. When we start to see digital marketing trends developing, it’s usually a reaction to what customers are looking for. Pick a few of these ideas from the list and try them in 2021. It could be what helps you dominate your competitors this year.