Digital Marketing Techniques & Trends You Should Not Ignore in 2021

The Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020 changed everything around us. Our regular ‘normal’ is now the ‘new normal’ where people are sitting at home, working from home, and doing everything from their home’s comfort. As it is the evolution of change, it trespassed into ways we shopped, ate, or even watched anything over the internet. There are new digital marketing techniques and trends that can improve your score in online marketing.

With this change being inevitable, all companies, big or small, have had to up their digital marketing techniques to suit the new ways of conducting anything online. As of March 2021, Google was responsible for almost 70% of all smartphone search traffic and more than 90% of total organic traffic. The power of being present digitally has increased exponentially over the past two years.

For any company looking at marking an active online presence, it is all about the buyer persona and target audience at the end of the day. The demand for digital marketing skills increases as much as the need to interpret the audience and create an impression. It has led companies to engage with more professionals who can cater to the evolving digital marketing techniques and trends.

We have listed the Top 10 Digital Marketing trends you need to have in 2021.

Digital marketing techniques and Trends to follow

1. Cutback on Social Media Platforms

Your brand identity revolves around the mediums you use well to target your audience. With 2020 changing how brands are perceived, it is essential to optimize social media platforms more judiciously. As of 2021, there are nearly 4 billion social media users worldwide, i.e., a 5% increase from last year.

There are new social media platforms introduced every day. Let’s be factual; we cannot be on all of them at once. Having a presence on social media is one thing, but having a confusing statement or fact will go against the brand. Instead of being weak on all social media platforms, it will pay to be focused and highly targeted on just three or four.

For example: As an e-commerce website, you would benefit by having a robust and focused presence on Facebook, Instagram, and using WhatsApp Business. It will attract more buyers and help you target the right audience.

Dominate the most beneficial Social Media platforms completely, instead of being on all of them.

2. Social Media Shopping Optimization in 2021

Today, it is not enough for businesses to only have an attractive e-commerce website on WooCommerce or Shopify. Companies need to pay more attention to optimizing social media shopping experiences to increase engagement and visibility across all buyers.

If people usually spent their leisure time browsing through social media feeds in 2019, the numbers went up to compulsive viewing in 2020. The numbers rose to a whopping three hours per day in 2020, from approx. two hours in 2019. It means that companies have a higher chance of showcasing their products online especially if they are present on social media platforms.

(PC: Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay)

Facilitating personalization, discovery, delivery, and payment makes it even more crucial for businesses to give their users a fabulous online experience. Brands need their products to be present wherever users are and digital marketers are making it possible for products to be more accessible to people everywhere.

Experimenting with features to showcase products or goods via catalogs on Facebook or showcasing products during live streaming for viewers to purchase directly on Instagram indicates how we need to optimize social media shopping features fully.

3. The interactive Content digital marketing techniques for 2021

Everyone enjoys a good storyboard, video, infographic, and virtual reality-driven content. Companies need to leverage the benefits of interactive content in 2021. You want to connect with the users, make them feel important, make them feel right with you during all their experiences, and interactive content is the way to go.

It offers engagement and entertainment bundled into one. Few popular ways to create interactive content in 2021 includes –

• Quizzes
• Polls
• Surveys
• Contests and giveaways
• Videos

Utilizing one or a mix of these strategies can boost your business to another level. You are not only enriching the user experience but also giving them precisely what they want.

4. Local SEO Strategy in 2021

With the pandemic hitting us hard, there has been tremendous growth in local searches for products and services. Utilizing Google My Business to build on a solid Local SEO strategy is the best way to boost your digital marketing strategy in 2021.

Having a ‘Near Me’ attached to keywords helps small and medium businesses significantly impact their local audience. It is not advisable to underestimate the use of a Local SEO search strategy to target your business at a local level.

 

There is a higher CTR attached to local businesses easily visible on Google SERPs. Google constantly updates its local SEO algorithms so it will pay to have your updated business information with all photos, reviews, geographic location, etc. readily available.

5. Voice Search in 2021

As per Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, nearly 20% of Google searches are via voice searches. That means people are leveraging the use of learning devices like Alexa, Siri, or Google Home, to search for everything online.

As the tendency to search on voice grows even further, it will become essential for businesses to optimize their content and include voice-based searches into their digital marketing strategies. It is crucial to adopt a more ‘conversational and natural style that matches how consumers ask questions rather than typing them in the text box.

Voice-optimized searches give businesses opportunities to explore new audiences and attracting more people to complete their search query using Natural Language Processing methods.

6. Video Marketing in 2021

Attention span has decreased drastically over the past few years. Today, many users prefer to see entertaining or informative videos than spend a couple of minutes reading a long article. Using video marketing in 2021 will benefit your business and brand tremendously. Audio-Visual content is a powerful tool to attract audience attention and engage viewers with your brand offering. If 81% of people, in general, use Instagram to search for services and different products and nearly 500 million using only the Stories feature, you can only begin to imagine the impact it will have on other mediums that support video creation.

The covid-19 pandemic has contributed to the rise of video marketing as a primary element while building digital marketing strategies in 2021. It is not a temporary phenomenon and will continue to rise in years to come. A mix of written content and visually appealing content will prove to be a great benefactor to your business. Instagram reels, Facebook stories, WhatsApp status messages, etc., have seen a rise in the past year.

7. Webinars in 2021

With no actual face-time with employees, stakeholders, and audience in general, virtual ‘FaceTime’ was the only way to proceed. Webinars and virtual summits have replaced the traditional ‘meet-and-greet’ way in all industries. While many thought that this strategy would not work with traditional companies, it has proved them wrong.

(PC: Wikimedia Commons)

Businesses need to factor the use of Webinars into their digital marketing techniques strategies in 2021. Today, every company is roping in experts from different fields to interact with and create a demand for their products and services.

8. Influencer Marketing in 2021

Having a celebrity brand ambassador to advertise products was the only way we have seen brands grow in the past. Today, the audience is more aware of their choices and wants to see everything that is realistic and strikes a chord.

Many businesses have dropped the traditional route of advertising. They opt for influencer marketing in 2021, i.e., word-of-mouth marketing that focuses on using key leaders. To amplify the brand message to much more significant market size. While we would love to see a celebrity in a moms’ avatar talking about the benefits of a baby product, having a regular mum talk about her challenges. How a baby product has helped them will help build more brand credibility.

Influencers are usually people who have a significant following, reach, and engagement on social media platforms such as YouTube or Instagram. They share stories and do things that resonate with the audience. For example, the global ad spend on influencer marketing in 2020 ranged between $5 to $10 Billion alone.

(PC: Mediakix)

While there are many ‘fake influencers’ in the market, finding the right influencers increases drastically by leveraging correct AI tools. Artificial Intelligence is transforming influencer marketing in many ways. Using ANN (artificial neural networks), influencer performance using NLP (natural language processing), predictive analysis using ANN, flagging posts that do not meet the disclosure guidelines, etc., are different ways to determine a genuine influencer.

For example, Tim Ferris, a podcaster and an influencer, gave a quick one-minute spot talking about his partnership with Audible and directed users to his custom URL where they can get a free e-book along with Tim’s favorite list of books.

In the words of Marketing Guru Seth Godin- “ People do not buy services or goods. They buy relations, stories, and magic.”

9. Push Notifications in 2021

85% of online stores are using push notifications now. More and more companies are including push notifications as part of their strategy for digital marketing techniques in 2021.

A brilliant example of utilizing the power of browser push notifications is Neil Patel. The digital marketing guru has aced every marketing technique that will increase his brand visibility. Benefit the audience in general. Every time there is a new blog published or a new stat released. Every individual who has signed up to receive Neil Patel’s notifications will see a window pop-up. The benefits-

• Immediate attention
• Higher Click-through-rate (CTR)

Notifications trigger behaviors, and behaviors lead to individuals engaging with the content that has just flashed on their screen. The notifications can range from blog snippets to CTAs to personalized push notification messages.

10. Content Marketing with the right SEO

Last but not least, Content marketing continues to dominate the SEO trend even today. With Google introducing the BERT system, it emphasizes natural language that people use in their search queries over forced ones.

(Stats Courtesy: Content Marketing Institute)

Rather than chasing the latest SEO trends. It is advisable to ensure that a website has faster loading time, valuable backlinks, and well-curated content. Creating valuable content makes the audience trust the organization more and adds to their credibility.

Businesses need to continuously invest in content marketing in 2021 & update their site with relevant articles, blogs, and press releases.

In a few words…

Learning digital marketing skills and applying them effectively to boost brand visibility and credibility will add value to all organizations and individuals. The digital marketing space is ever-changing. Even if we can highlight a few of the cardinal points needed today. But no one can predict how the trends will evolve in the future.

If you are expecting to make a mark in your respective industry. These are a few of the Top 10 digital marketing trends you should not ignore in 2021.