Digital Marketing Trends for 2021

The ongoing COVID-19 situation has upended how businesses operate. We’ve seen more products and services move online and many employees will continue to work remotely or in a hybrid setting for much of this year. Months of varied customer responses to COVID-19 have given us some insights into the marketing trends that are working in this new normal and what you can expect in 2021.

What are the key digital marketing trends for 2021 that your business needs to consider to engage and retain current customers and generate more traffic, leads, and revenue?

Here you will find 10 areas where Digital Marketing managers should invest their time and resources this year. If you don’t know where to start, start here — because these ten digital marketing trends might prove the best bang for your business’s marketing.

So, in 2021, will content still be king? Which platforms should brands invest in? How can marketers best engage and retain customers? It’s never too early to start researching, strategizing, and planning — Below are ten predictions of 2021 digital marketing trends that all digital marketers should keep an eye out for. 

1. Artificial Intelligence

If you haven’t already realized it, 2020 may be the year that a lot of people wake up to the dominance of artificial intelligence (AI). It’s sure to be at the heart of global business and industry in the future.

AI can analyze consumer behavior and search patterns, and use data from social media platforms and blog posts to help businesses understand how customers find their products and services.

Artificial intelligence will soon be the driving force behind many services and, currently, we already see it implemented in such areas as:

• Basic communication
• Product recommendations
• Content creation
• Email personalization
• E-commerce transactions

We can use artificial intelligence to:

• Improve Customer Retention and Loyalty
• Predict the Behavior of Your Customer with Propensity Modeling and Predictive Analytics
• Use AI-Powered Chatbots to Improve User Experience
• Leverage the Power of Audience Insights to Boost Search Ads
• Scale Up Your Content Marketing with AI-Generated Content
• Deliver a Highly Personalized Website Experience to Every User
• Optimize for Voice Search Queries
• Identify “Hot Leads”
• Reduce Cart Abandonment
• Target Customers Across Different Channels

2. Chatbots

Chatbots will continue to be an important part of digital marketing in 2021. This AI-based technology uses instant messaging to chat in real-time, day or night, with your customers or site visitors.

Surveys show that:

• Chatbots will power 85% of customer service by 2020
• The top benefits of chatbots are 24-hour service (64%), instant responses to inquiries (55%), and answers to simple questions (55%)

3. The New King of Social: Short-Form Videos

Given the love for all things quick and catchy, marketers looking to target younger customers must invest in their short-form video strategy and execution.

Developing short-form videos may seem deceptively simple, but balancing branded messaging with the carefree tone associated with short-form videos will require customer research, strategy, and creativity. 

Below numbers show the importance of incorporating video into your digital marketing strategy in 2021:

• 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand’s video
• 72% of businesses say that video has improved their conversion rate
• 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions
• 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor after viewing a video

And don’t just think YouTube. There are plenty of ways to drive higher engagement with your video marketing, as you can make a video post or start a live broadcast on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

4. Micro-Moments

A micro-moment is “An intent-rich moment when a person turns to a device to act on a need – to know, go, do or buy.”

People generally make instant decisions within these four Micro-Moments:

• I-want-to-know-moments
• I-want-to-go-moments
• I-want-to-do-moments
• I-want-to-buy-moments

To take advantage of micro-moments in 2021, you need to be where consumers are searching for information in the moment – or, as Google puts it, marketers have to “be there, be useful, be quick.”

In 2021 and beyond, the customer journey will be more dynamic and unpredictable, as it needs to respond to rapid changes in consumer desires. After all, in the mobile age, people have become accustomed to instant gratification. If they think or talk about something, they want to learn more, see more and buy more of it with just a few clicks of a button.

To get the most out of micro-moments in 2021, you should:

• Identify your consumers’ “I want to buy” moments
• Be there in these moments of need
• Deliver relevant content
• Make it easy for them to make a purchase
• Measure every moment that matters

5. Power of Voice Search

Voice search queries often yield different results than if the user had typed in a text-based search. For SEO, it’s a good idea for businesses to be on their toes with voice search components for their consumers who are adapting and switching over to that medium. 

The content must be specifically optimized for voice. It needs to be more direct and conversational so that it will accurately sync with search queries. This will help boost traffic by staying relevant and more visible to consumers. New to voice search? Don’t worry, Read my article on Voice Search Optimization. 

Voice Search Optimization

6. Social Media Stories

First, Snapchat came out with the concept of “My Story,” then Instagram and Facebook stories were introduced, and then YouTube unveiled their own story format: Reels.

Since these types of stories disappear after a set period of time, this is a great opportunity for marketers to make good use of FOMO (fear of missing out).

The benefits of using social media stories include:

• Increased brand awareness
• Constant engagement with followers
• Cost-effectiveness
• Increased traffic to your web page
• Opportunity to reach younger audiences

7. Social Commerce

With e-commerce and social media both growing at alarming rates, it’s no wonder brands are using the two together to maximize opportunities for sales.

Social media is integral to digital marketing, and visual platforms like Instagram are gold for marketers. Better yet, visual commerce is taking off as more consumers are willing to buy products through ads they see in their feeds.

Instagram reports that the platform has 1 billion users, and 90% of them already follow active shopping brands, with many visiting these profiles on a daily basis. So what better way to leverage this massive potential than by using shoppable posts?

E-commerce brands can create and post interactive ads that allow users to click and shop with ease. Instagram believes this will make it easier for businesses to reach prospective new customers, as it will effectively shorten the sales funnel, giving consumers the instant access they desire.

8. Interactive Content

Adding interactive elements to your website or social media is a great way to provide value for visitors, get them to engage with your brand, and learn more about them. For example, suppose you are a realtor and add a simple but effective mortgage calculator to your website. You’re now offering value to your visitors while also learning more about them based on the data that they enter into the calculator. This info, in turn, can help you refine your personas and offer-targeting. 

In 2021, we’re destined to see a shift from traditional text-based content toward dynamic, engaging content that offers users an immersive experience. For example, think about:

• Quizzes and polls
• Embedded calculators
• Augmented reality ads
• 360-degree videos

9. Augmented Analytics

In terms of digital marketing trends, we will see a lot more of this, as it is being used in advanced lead scoring, as well as for segmentation and individual personalization, which helps marketers reduce churn and improve customer loyalty.

One such example is Amazon Assistant, a Chrome extension from the retail giant that allows users to permit product recommendations from Amazon to extend beyond the website to make personalized offers while they are browsing elsewhere on the web.

10. Long-FormContent

In 2021, shorter posts won’t get you anywhere – with Google or your audience. Typically, posts that are at least 3,000 words long attract the most traffic, as they offer readers an in-depth exploration of topics. Long-form content allows content creators to establish themselves as an expert on a subject and gives them more scope for targeting keywords.

A study from Search Engine Journal indicates that long-form content gets 77% more backlinks than short articles, which is critical for driving organic traffic.

These epic posts are sometimes called 10X content or pillar content, which is basically content that provides a complete answer to any question a user may be searching for on a given topic. It’s specifically designed to provide value for the reader, and also to rank highly in the search engines.

The Advantages of Writing Long-Form Content