In 2021, especially as we have lived and are still living amidst a pandemic, digital marketing is a definitive go-to, which makes a lot of sense: people can only mostly live through their screens nowadays, so why not focus your marketing efforts there?

Throughout 2020, so many digital trends and news happened that you can barely keep up such as the rise of video content, snackable content, and ad personalization.

As the first quarter of 2021 is close to wrapping up, it’s about time we prepare you with the digital marketing trends you need to jump on to boost your business in 2021.

It is important for you to know what’s trending when setting your marketing strategy because, for starters, these trends basically tell you what the world is focusing on and what content you can create and guarantee they’ll consume.

For example, in 2020, TikToks and Instagram Reels were all the hype: according to Forbes, TikTok grew by a shocking 75%. Logically thinking, if you don’t go with the flow considering the growth TikTok has seen, you’d be missing out on great opportunities to grow through it.

Trends can act as guidance when you feel lost as they can give you an idea of what the world is focusing on at the moment.

Moreover, one of the most important reasons why you should keep up with digital marketing trends and consider them when setting your marketing strategy is that if you don’t, your strategy will be boring and outdated.

Think about it: It’s 2021 and the digital marketing world is on one path and you’re on another because it had been working for the past 5 or 10 years; you believe it’s safer that way. I’m here to tell you it isn’t; you should always keep an open mind and experiment for the sake of your company’s growth and success.

All you need to do is follow two simple steps: research and experiment. Consistently do your research to follow up on what’s trending, and experiment to see how you can use this trend for your benefit.

Sometimes you may just need to observe your target audience and what they’re reacting well to. For example, if your target audience is teenagers and young adults roughly between the ages of 16 and 25, and you go on TikTok and find that most of the users there are of the same age, then you would go ahead and experiment using TikTok to reach out to your audience.

Saving you most of the research, we’ve compiled a list of the digital marketing trends that are predicted to make your brand the next big thing.

Online events and webinars are a must

As we spent 2020 and are expected to spend at least part of 2021 at home and online, it makes sense that all of our activities have adapted to being online. One of these activities was events where brands and organizers naturally adapted by switching to online attendance: according to Wild Apricot, the number of organizations organizing an online event has doubled in 2020.

People love events: it’s an opportunity to learn new things and meet new people; in fact, even event organizers enjoy organizing events.

As people get more and more bored with lockdowns, routines, and sad news, holding online events can be a good way to engage your audience and give them a break.

How to use this trend?
Use an online event to engage and educate your customers. You can do a bit of research and determine what about your product confuses your customers most, and explain it to them in a webinar.

You can also hold a whole event with a theme and invite guest speakers as you would if it was an on-ground seminar, for example.

Focus on: Customer needs and questions, useful content

Interactive content wins

According to DemandGen, 93% of marketers believe that interactive content is highly effective when it comes to educating prospective customers.

Interactive content can be anything: polls, quizzes, interactive ebooks, blogs, and infographics, emails, webinars, 360 videos, and more.

Even Netflix has some interactive movies and tv-show specials, and to be honest, they’re pretty cool.

How to use this trend?
For starters, you should know that you don’t have to try this just for the sake of it so it doesn’t backfire. Think and evaluate whether you can actually bring value through interactivity, and based on that, decide whether to give it a shot or pass.

If it’s a go, you don’t have to create the content from scratch; you can repurpose one of your already published pieces of content and turn it interactive then test to see how it goes.

Short, creative video content is all the hype

Snackable video content was all the hype in 2020 and it’s wrapping that vibe up and bringing it right into 2021 and all for good reason: everything became snackable.

Fun content, useful content, tips and tricks, information: you name it. Everything suddenly could fit into a short video frame and become fun and easy to consume to the extent where you start scrolling in TikTok or Instagram Reels and get lost for hours and hours there.

It didn’t take that long of a time for business and even celebrities to join the club and start contributing to creating snackable content.

How to use this trend?
This one is a bit flexible: you can do anything: short interviews, tutorials, how-tos: anything. Almost every piece of content you can write, you can, most probably, turn into a TikTok or Reel.

Podcasts and audio content are connecting people again

Did you know that as of January 2021, according to Statista, Clubhouse currently has over 2 million daily users?

Moreover, according to Business Insider, podcasting will become a billion-dollar industry in 2021.

This is easy to explain: you can listen to a podcast anywhere, but you can’t read a piece of content anywhere. Moreover, if a podcast is for 20 minutes with so much content discussed, it’ll take you 20 minutes to listen to; however, you would never consume that much content in the same 20 minutes.

I don’t think we need to tell you more about why this is on our list: apparently, people enjoy listening to other people talk more than you think.

How to use this trend?
Podcasts are just a different content distribution method that you can try. You can start by sharing your expertise, discussing relevant trends and topics, discussing a problem your product solves then sharing your solution and more.

Chatbots are no longer a luxury but rather a need

As everything became online, chatbots became less of a luxurious product and more of a product every company needs to employ for its own sake.

According to Salesforce’s State of Service Report, chatbot usage statistics show a 67% increase between 2018 and 2020. Such an increase contributes to how chatbots turned into a necessity.

It’s not just chatbots. According to Gartner, 37% of the organizations they surveyed back in 2019 now use A.I. whereas A.I. usage grew a shocking 270% over the past few years.

It needs no further clarification: chatbots and artificial intelligence deployment can help you manage your customers better, enhance your business processes, automate your workflow, and more.

When it comes to A.I., it’s truly now or never.

 Build your smart chatbot today.

How to use this trend?
You can build an efficient chatbot equipped with A.I. for your business through WideBot’s services and self-service platform. You can easily hit two birds with one stone here!

Personalization is the way to your customer’s heart

As we see technology wow us with mind-blowing advancements, it’s no surprise that at some point customers will be expecting more. According to Accenture, 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them.

It doesn’t just work for the customers; according to Google, 90% of leading marketers say personalization significantly contributes to business profitability.

It honestly makes sense; if we can provide customers only so much, why not also make them feel special and heard?

How to use this trend?
Personalization and data are besties, and the three of you are like the golden trio. Make use of the data you collect from your customers to personalize their experience even if for a little bit just to test. A little personalization can go to various places for you. Start with creating buyer personas and see where that takes you.

Influencers are your besties

It is no surprise that influencers are big in 2021, and it makes sense: many brands tend to lie, and customers tend to trust influencers more as they see humans talking to them rather than brands just looking to make money.

According to Oberlo, 8 out of 10 consumers have purchased a product after a recommendation from an influencer. Moreover, actually, 93% of marketers actually use influencer marketing.

There are several things an influencer can do for you starting from sharing a promo code for your brand, reviewing your products, down to advocating for your brand and more.

How to use this trend?
Do your extensive research finding an influencer whose scope matches yours to guarantee they’re relevant. Reach out and see how you can use them for your own benefit.

E-commerce gets social

Social e-commerce is basically like the world of e-commerce decided to give us everything on a silver platter. You’re scrolling through Instagram and you fall in love with this product, well, why wait to check it out? Do that now. You know what? Buy it now.

According to TheDrum, it is forecasted that by 2021, the global social commerce market will increase by about 34%. Moreover, 87% of consumers state they have taken action after seeing product details on Instagram.

Plus, social commerce in the entirety of its existence is the best of both worlds for marketers: get traffic and make sales all in one place.

How to use this trend?
Start by choosing the right platform where both you and your customers belong. Start targeting your audience and make sure to bring exclusivity to your social store to guarantee your customers will budge. Don’t forget to make the purchase process simple and seamless.

Communities are growing and helping you grow

It is no surprise that with all the distancing that we’ve had to do and will still probably have to do, people are trying to find a way to remain connected to each other.

Building a community for your brand means bringing your customers and fans closer to each other and to your brand: it helps you connect to them on a more personal level.

Moreover, it brings you into direct contact with your customers for you to understand their needs and for them to be able to get to know you as humans rather than a brand.

How to use this trend?
Do a bit of research and understand which platform you can use to build a community for your brand: some people use forums, Reddit, or even Facebook groups.

Create a plan for how you aim to approach your customers. Keep in mind, it is gonna take a bit of time in the trial and error process, but that shouldn’t stop you. Experiment, test, and work on enhancing your approach while also growing your community.

 

There is only so much you can do this year to take your brand to the next level. While we can only advise you when it comes to most trends, we can definitely do much more for you if trend #6 is one of the trends you’d like to give a shot.

Through WideBot, you can build one amazing chatbot that can definitely boost your brand’s performance when it comes to marketing, sales, and your quality of service overall.

 Build your smart chatbot today.