The Covid-19 pandemic caused changes in digital marketing planning, and the ever-traditional trend analysis for the market in the following year has an additional component for 2021. The emotional and financial consequences have made professionals to think about their plans under a particular perspective, such as the succession of an atypical period both for business and in the private lives of its possible customers.
In digital marketing, the "new normal" for the sector, mainly in B2C, has already given its signs: according to a study published by the CMO Survey in June, based on surveys with marketers, 84% of consumers declared themselves more open to digital commerce experiences, but 67.2% pointed out that they intended to reduce the volume of purchases, with 43.3% only consuming if there was any promotion or price reduction. Even so, the end of the year, with Black Friday and Christmas shopping showed growth prospects. Thus, the business is expected to evolve. However, according to the study by the CMO Survey, consumer reluctance behavior should last from 6 to 12 months - 2021 will therefore be the moment of resumption.
The trends in digital marketing in 2021 include many new features and even different ways of looking at online marketing, ironically, even in light of the new technologies that emerged during the pandemic. If you want to keep up with what's ahead, stop everything you're doing and check out the main digital marketing trends in 2021 right now, to make your adjustments.
Interactive marketing
A good, functional, responsive website designed to offer the best UX possible has always been essential - but this has become even more fundamental with the pandemic. But now you need to go further and think of new baits to attract traffic to your company's website. Adding interactive elements to your website or social media is a great way to add value to your visitors, get them involved with your brand, and learn more about them. For example, a company operating in predictive maintenance can add a checklist of industrial equipment operations to its website. In this way, the company is offering value to its visitors - while learning more about them based on the data entered in its checklist.
WhatsApp enters the game once and for all
WhatsApp is already a part of the digital marketing tool for some time, but in 2021 this presence tends to be even higher. The platform has been announcing some important changes, mainly for WhatsApp Business soon, which will make this tool even more versatile and offering new opportunities in terms of online marketing.
WhatsApp is not only a digital marketing trend in 2021, but it will also have an impact in other areas, such as e-commerce, as it will soon be allowed to work as a form of payment.
Voice searches on the rise
Still, in the area of ??search marketing, one of the trends in digital marketing in 2021 that is worth highlighting is the increase in searches done by voice, either on Google's own search platform or in applications such as Google Assistant, Cortana, and Siri. According to a survey conducted by ComScore, in 2020, no less than 50% of searches will be done by voice, which greatly impacts how brands should work on their search engine optimization process.
Voice searches have a very different semantic structure than searches typed on desktops and smartphones. So it is necessary to adapt your SEO strategy for this type of research, so as not to lose this internet traffic.
Going live in social media
In the past year, live video has quickly become one of the most popular types of online content. Not only Instagram Live and Facebook Live are becoming more and more popular - about one in five Facebook videos being live streams and 1 million Instagram users watching live videos every day. So much so that other platforms - such as Twitter, YouTube, and, more recently, even LinkedIn - are exploring live video as well. In 2019 alone, Internet users watched 1.1 billion hours of live video. And while that number has certainly grown by itself, the global crisis has only added fuel to the fire.
Today the live video has become a vital channel for many sectors - especially for fashion, music, and entertainment. In addition to many influencers and brands promoting lives on social media, many typically offline events such as festivals, fashion shows, shows, and galleries have also adopted live video, allowing their audience to get involved and experience them remotely. For many people and sectors, lives were saved in 2020 due to the convenience, identifiability, and accessibility it provides, and researchers are confident that this will be one of the strong trends in digital marketing for 2021.
While all of these 2021 digital marketing trends are not a complete list, they are undoubtedly a great starting point for planning your 2021 marketing strategy.
These top trends can help you increase traffic to your site, generate more leads, and increase sales while providing retention of your customer base gained so far. They are also essential to help you better understand what to expect in the coming year and how they will impact the broader competitive landscape.
