Top Online Marketing Trends Businesses Need to Follow In 2021
What do you know about the current online marketing trends? If you are like most business owners right now, your plans for the year 2021 are already underway including a detailed breakdown of the steps towards achieving them. Maybe you have started getting the tractions for the year rolling in already.
No thanks to the unprecedented pandemic, you might even be doing it a little differently from the way you’ve done it in past years. For many, they are finally getting to take the ‘force majeure’ clause in their agreement documents seriously for the first time, factoring it into business operations and finances as a business. These are some of the things we have been conditioned to learn from 2020.
But last year also taught us a lot more. Experts believe that it leapfrogged many obstacles to bring forward the next step of our digital revolution. This also holds true in marketing as BTL strategies gain more grounds over their ATL counterparts. Frugality drives the need for tighter reviews on ROI across each channel.
While the medium for distributing contents did not change dramatically, save for the spike in Zoom calls, Tik Tok videos, and Clubhouse rooms, preferences on how branded messages are passed surely evolved. In the online space businesses seeking to grow their customer base are constantly being forced to deal with a change in algorithms across various platforms and regular changes in user behaviours.
It can be concluded that digital marketing went mainstream in 2020 and now absent of choice, businesses are getting set to ride the waves it creates moving forward. I have listed some trends that peaked in popularity in 2020 below, which are also likely to be strong determinants for successful marketing this year 2021. Let’s get through them.
(1) Live Videos:
There is a saying that “if pictures are worth a thousand words, then videos are worth a million” and we’ll all agree. Videos offer a more expressive form of communication, and live video adds spontaneity to the mix. This is a key feature that increases your audiences’ sense of relativity and makes them trust your content’s genuineness more. If these videos are only made available during a limited time frame. Then become completely inaccessible forever afterwards, it derives an even higher sense of urgency among viewers. Who often find themselves unable to leave the platform for fear of missing out.
In an earlier article, Hubspot already highlighted that live video was going to account for about 82% of all internet traffic by the end of 2020. And 80% of people would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog post. (Livestream). Data also shows that almost half of Gen Z watch their favourite shows live on Social media (eMarketer).
Research also estimated that the live video industry increased by 99% in 2020, owing to the pandemic. We are most likely to speculate that this increase is here to stay as supporting factors like the recent 5g internet accessibility serve as adequate infrastructure for this boom.
(2) Audio Content / Podcasting:
While videos require focused attention to follow up with, audio contents can be consumed while multitasking. Therefore audio contents can be consumed when engaging in partially cognitive activities like working or driving. In this regard, audio contents become ideal alternatives where video contents fall short.
In the area of marketing, podcasts often offer a very niche-based following which brands can tap into unique contents or sponsorship. Also short and relevant advertising are also less likely to be skipped when inserted into engaging audio contents.
According to Podcast Insights, there are 1.7million podcasts, with 43 million+ episodes as of January 2021. Comedy is listed as the most popular genre, followed by education, and then news.
This renewed interest in audio content was recently reflective in twitter adding the new voice-based tweets, also the popularity of the new Clubhouse App.
(3) User Generated Content:
Like the name implies, these are candid and authentic content created and shared by customers about a business, it’s product or service experience. This often comes during or after using a brand’s products or service. E.g. product reviews.
According to TintUp.com, more than 86% of companies adopt this content approach as a key part of their marketing strategy. This is due to its resulting high rate of engagement and eventual conversion.
But why is UGC so effective? I believe these are primarily based on three reasons. – They come from people your audience know and trust.
– They are mostly based on the sharer’s direct experience of the products or service offering.
– They are the user’s authentic opinion of the brand.
Despite these, businesses can also control this narrative by organizing paid partnership engagements with influencers to drive the positive discussions about it’s products and services. Also adding a contest, rewards or promotional strategy can really spur this approach to marketing.
(4) Brand Activism and Social Good:
The key to effective marketing is to stay, positively, in the face of your audience. One way to achieve this is to position your brand strongly in the direction they are looking. 2020 saw a significant rise in political, social, and environmental activism. Brands who identified with some of these causes got rewarded with word of mouth, a rise in following, and eventually sales of products and services.
Your consumers are now conscious. They don’t want to “just buy” anymore. There is a growing need for their money to tie into a responsible cause. Whether it’s to save the environment by reducing their carbon footprint, or to stand against racism and other social vices. Brands are now being called on to take responsibility for more than just their products and services.
It is important to note that you need to be very careful what trends you support or bandwagon you join as a business. This is because wrong or dishonest affiliations can lead to stigmatization and eventually boycott of your business.
(5) Branded Content:
The last of the online marketing trends is branded content. Branded content might not be very obvious as a marketing strategy at the start and often seems like shooting off target. For example, when a bank invests in a TV series, or an alcoholic beverage company sponsors a live concert. Initially, it may not be obvious how these activities fit into the brands customer acquisition or service delivery funnel. But they help to keep the brand top of mind, support its overall market positioning, and are strategic in opening new or otherwise inaccessible market segments.
Promoting branded content often requires a clear understanding of the customer demography being targeted. It also requires a great deal of social listening and trend spotting to ensure that these activities tie back into the company’s primary objectives and produce good returns on investments.
These are some of the online marketing trends that I believe will be driving the post-pandemic era that 2021 offers businesses. Which ones will your business be implementing this year?
