Digital and Social Media Marketing Trends to Watch (Updated)

What are some of the trends in Digital and Social Media Marketing that you should watch out for?

Digital marketing has become a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their customers and prospects. The key to digital and social media marketing success is understanding the latest trends and staying ahead of them. Here are some trends you should watch

But first, we need to realise that a significant component of digital marketing is social media or social media marketing. It helps organisations reach out to existing and potential customers through various social platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. It is a type of marketing that involves creating or distributing content on social networking websites to promote your brand or webpage. It aims to connect with your audience and encourage them to visit your website.

For several years now, it’s been my firm belief that businesses that thrive are those that adapt their marketing strategies and marketing goals to data from marketing trends.

I  have been reading a lot about digital and social media marketing trends to prepare myself to help my clients beat their competitors.

I have said repeatedly that brands need to keep reinventing themselves and keep learning and implementing what they learn asap.

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You cannot stay in your comfort zone concerning digital marketing and social media marketing. Otherwise, you risk becoming stale and worthless.

Digital Marketing Trends: What Are They And How Will They Impact Businesses

The digital world has changed how we interact with each other and businesses. Several trends impact business today, such as mobile apps, social media, big data analytics, and cloud computing. Trends like these are changing the way consumers shop, communicate, work, and play. So I have listed my choice of digital and social media marketing trends to watch.

In recent years, digital marketing trends have changed drastically. To remain relevant, organisations must align their social media marketing strategies with the growth of social media platforms.

Shift Towards Mobile-first Marketing

The internet has been evolving at a rapid pace over the past decade. As we have seen the rise of mobile devices, social media platforms, and other digital innovations, marketers have had to adapt their strategies and tactics accordingly. Today, many businesses are starting to shift their focus from desktop computers to smartphones and tablets. This trend is commonly referred to as “mobile-first” marketing.

Content Curation Across Multiple Channels

As consumers become increasingly inundated with content, they are looking for ways to cut through the noise and find what matters most to them. You can help guide this effort by curating content across multiple channels, such as Instagram stories. For example, can you create shoppable content through your social media channel?  In addition, do you use data to determine which content performs best and share that information with others on your team?

Increasing Use of Messaging Platforms by Brands

Customer service will be more responsive with platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Because of this trend, brands have been pressed to use messaging platforms as customer service tools to meet the needs of their consumers better.

We will see how wise brands use these platforms as the year progresses. Read this article on how to use these platforms for marketing.

Shift Towards Micro-Influencers

What was the result of that ‘social media influencer’ you hired to mention your brand on their social media?

Were you impressed or disappointed with the result of your influencer marketing campaign? There will be a shift from phoney ‘celebrity influencers’ towards ‘micro-influencers’. So this year, brands will be focusing more on the micro influencer in their niche. Read this article for tips on avoiding scams by so-called social media influencers. Therefore, now is the time to get acquainted with the right micro-influencers in your niche and add them to your social media strategy. Let them assist you in creating lots of video content and other social media content to create awareness about your brand on your preferred social media network.

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Brands Adopting Creative Means to Avoid Brand Fatigue

There will be an increase in advertising by brands who want to engage with their target audience on social.

Brand fatigue will increase with this reliance on advertising to reach their audience.

Many fans are going to get fed up with these adverts. So brands need to find creative means to avoid brand fatigue.

These are exciting times for marketers. You have to advertise, but you need to make sure your adverts don’t suck, or your fans will tune out.

Video Marketing With More Emphasis on Live Streaming

Video marketing is becoming increasingly popular among consumers who want to learn about products and services before buying.

Does the thought of live streaming scare you? There will be a greater emphasis on live streaming to engage with brands in the coming years.

Customers and social media users want to see it as it happens, and they want to experience it in real-time via their different devices. Is your brand prepared to deliver an excellent customer experience through a content strategy based on video marketing? It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. A simple short-form video can go a long way.

Greater Emphasis on Transparency in Social

There’s been a growing demand for transparency on social media for some time now. We were going to see consumers want to engage further with genuine brands’ social media channels about their activities on a social network.

Trust between brands and their consumers has been declining for some time now. So brands that are genuine with active users on their social channels will earn the trust of their target audience.

Re-Establishing consumer trust through greater transparency on social is a social media trend that is vital to the survival of your brand. If they aren’t doing so already, brands should start investing in user-generated content.

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Twitter Alternatives

Is your brand active on Twitter? Unfortunately, Twitter has been stagnant for a couple of years now, while comparable platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and so on have grown. Some experts predict that even the recent acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk is not the solution to their challenges.

So if Twitter does not do something drastic soon, it is time for brands to start looking for alternatives to Twitter.

Voice Search to Influence SEO

Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and so on all rely on voice search. Search engine optimisation will continue to be influenced by voice search.

While investing in display ads, do you also invest in creating audio content as part of your digital asset? Brands need to keep this in mind and focus on tweaking their SEO to cater to consumers using voice search. If you have been relying on ancient myths about SEO, now is the time to stop. Read this article on myths about SEO that you should stop believing. To attract potential customers focus on creating excellent content that can improve your organic search and engagement rate. Tweak existing content to boost their conversion rate.

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Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Marketing Applications

We will see a lot greater use of AI in marketing applications and content marketing. Artificial Intelligence will influence the following areas.

• Email Marketing: With the use of AI in your marketing effort, you will be capable of deciding the appropriate marketing message to send to the proper persons at the right time.
• Website Personalisation: Brands will be using AI to study visitors’ activities on their website to offer visitors relevant content (conversational marketing, blog posts, etc.) at every step of the customer journey.
• Social Media Tools: We will also see higher adoption of AI in social media tools to enable a brand to find influencers, trending topics, and hashtags on social media.

Closing Thoughts

These are some significant trends to watch. There are lots more, but we cannot cover all the patterns now for the sake of time and space.

So which of the trends in digital marketing or social media marketing are you interested in?

If you do not have the time or digital marketing skills and resources for it, contact us to outsource your digital and social media marketing to us. You will be happy you did.

In conclusion, with so many different channels available, it’s essential to keep up with the latest trends in digital marketing so you can know which ones will work best for your business marketing plan and stay ahead of the competition.

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