2020 produced some big changes and challenges to the digital marketing industry. It put into perspective how quickly you must adapt your marketing strategies to be ahead of the competition. Now that we have had a year to learn and see how consumer behavior has evolved, here are some performance-boosting digital marketing trends to utilize in 2021.
Personalization Is a Necessity
The need for a personalized marketing strategy is a must moving into 2021. We have seen the success that companies such as Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon have had with their extremely detailed personalization efforts. Consumers are becoming more exposed to individualized experiences and expect that same level of personalization from every company they interact with. With a large number of companies focused on building better relationships and experiences for their consumers, companies that aren’t focusing on creating a tailored experience will be left behind.
Here are some personalization stats to take note of:
- 71% of consumers feel frustrated when a shopping experience is impersonal. – Segment
- 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging. – SmarterHQ
- 70% of millennials are frustrated with brands sending irrelevant emails. – SmarterHQ
- 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them. – Accenture
- 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences. – Epsilon
Video Content Is King
Video continues to be one of the most popular and best performing types of online content as we move ahead into 2021. This is because the human attention span has been rapidly decreasing over the last 15 years (all thanks to technology). We saw a big trend in short form videos in 2020 from the social media platform, Tik Tok, which was later emulated by Instagram and YouTube because of the huge success. As a visual species, consumers find videos more engaging, memorable, and more popular than any other content type. If you want to increase conversions and exposure, adopting a video marketing and content strategy is more
important than ever.
Video Marketing Stats:
- 66% of consumers prefer watching a video to reading about a product. – Wyzowl
- More than 55% of shoppers use online video while actually shopping in a store. – Google
- Twitter says video on Twitter is 6x as likely to be retweeted as photos.
- 54% of consumers want to see more video content this year. – Hubspot
- Wyzowl’s research shows that people watch an average of 16 hours of online video per week. And, 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.
- 80% of video marketers say video has directly helped increase sales. – Wyzowl
Social Commerce
Social commerce took a big stride in 2020 which was mainly boosted because of the global pandemic. The most popular social media channels are all continuing to upgrade their platforms with more eCommerce capabilities, making it easier for consumers to purchase without even leaving the platform. For example, Pinterest has shoppable product pins and catalogs, Facebook and Instagram have online store fronts and shoppable posts, YouTube has shoppable ad formats, and Tik Tok is partnering with Shopify to enable online sales. It’s a no-brainer that companies need to integrate their online stores with these social platforms. The need for a quicker shopping experience will be crucial for future success.
AR & VR
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are two technological advancements that are poised to take over the future of business. AR and VR allow companies to bring their regular shopping experiences to life. For example, Google recently launched a “try it on” AR feature for select cosmetic queries, that lets consumers virtually try on beauty products. IKEA implemented an AR app that lets consumers virtually place furniture in their home before making a purchase. Many brands have already started to implement this technology, and while video is still dominating the content world today, it’s only a matter of time before AR and VR become the next big thing.
Conclusion
It’s safe to say that 2021 will be a year filled with adapting, transforming, and innovating your digital strategies. If you’re interested in implementing some of these new trends into your marketing strategy, contact our marketing professionals to see how we can help.