Social media continues to offer opportunities for brands to connect with consumers in new and interesting ways across a wide variety of platforms. Looking to the future, let’s discuss digital marketing for 2021.
- Automation and AI –
It is predicted that going forwards, 30% of businesses will incorporate AI into their online sales process. As the future of digital marketing is becoming more conversational with online consumers who are eager to get instant answers to their questions, chatbots will play a BIG role this year. According to IBM, 265 billion customer requests are recorded per year and businesses spent nearly $1.3 trillion to address them. Using chatbots could help save up to 30% of this cost! As it is predicted that chatbots will power 85% of customer service by the end of 2020, we suggest that you enable this feature on your website if you haven’t already done so.
- Voice Search –
Your content is already optimised for text searches, but have you optimised your content for voice searches yet? Studies are predicting that over 50% of all searches will be performed via voice search in 2020. As a rapidly increasing amount of us are searching through voice rather than text, research deems that by 2021, 70% of all searches will be voice searches. You can learn more about how different marketing ideas can help pivot your business here.
- Social Media E-Commerce –
Have you ever bought an item directly off a post on Instagram or Facebook? You have then helped form the social commerce trends for 2021 and beyond!
Did you know:
87% of e-commerce shoppers believe social media helps them make a shopping decision.
1 in 4 business owners are selling through Facebook.
40% of merchants use social media to generate sales.
30% of consumers say they would make purchases directly through social media platforms.
The feature of selling through your social media accounts goes hand in hand with influencer marketing and even the rise of conversational marketing, as consumers are getting more used to getting their needs met instantly. If you haven’t done it already, we suggest that you get this set up instantly!
- Influencer Marketing –
You must have heard about this previously, and if not you are most likely exposed to it on a daily basis! In short, “Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing ideas involving endorsements and product placement from influencers within an industry”. With approximately 58% of people saying that they’ve purchased something online in the last month due to seeing it on an influencers social account, we don’t see Influencer Marketing going anywhere any time soon!
Psst! Many types of influencers are no longer trusted by consumers as they are viewed as disingenuous. In fact, 61% of consumers will trust the recommendations of friends and family over celebrity endorsements. Your focus should therefore be to engage with nano- or micro-influencers (who are already advocates of your brand). In comparison, smaller influencers such as those who are likely to be part of your communities tend to have better relationships with their followers, creating a higher level of trust. In turn, this can lead to more engagement at a lower cost, as well as increased trust in a brand that is more likely to culminate in conversion.
- Video Marketing –
Video marketing is about to dominate and if you’re not already involved it is time you jump on this trend now! Studies show that 72% of businesses say that posting videos have helped their conversion rate, with over 70% of consumers sharing a company’s content when it contains a video. What are you waiting for?!
As digital marketing and media communications is an ever-evolving subject, we hope these strategies will help you as you start strategising for the year ahead. For more help forming your media strategy, get in touch.