It’s always wise to keep up with the digital marketing trends of right now. As we head into warmer weather, schools letting out, and COVID-19 vaccines rolling out across the country, moods are high and the digital frontier is getting wilder than ever before.
Marketing in the digital landscape, understandably, is morphing once again. And we’re ready to stay on top of all the changes. Read below to get a sense of some of the major digital marketing trends of the moment.
Videos are snappier
TikTok experienced a meteoric rise over 2020—they now have over a billion users, with 200 million users in the U.S. alone. The video app’s modest video maximum clocks in at a brief 60 seconds, and many videos even fall under 15 seconds long. This popularity is indicative of a larger trend: the move toward lightening-fast video in higher quantities.
Consumers and brands want videos that are even shorter than they’ve wanted in the past.
Consumers and brands want videos that are even shorter than they’ve wanted in the past. So prepare to meet this trend head-on by keeping quality high and accelerating quantity—all while shortening your videos to include only the most relevant info.
Ads are smarter
With the start of 2021 and the rapid growth of marketing in general, we’ve got to turn elsewhere for targeted ads that serve customers in the best way possible. Enter personalized marketing: it’s growing exponentially, with a large percentage of consumers saying they’re actively turned off by marketing that’s generic and impersonal.
This broader interest in personalized content makes sense when we consider the growth of media like personalized video—something that our own industry is embracing more and more. Customers want to see content that speaks right to them, and marketers need to take heed.
Searches are louder
Here’s one you might not expect. Voice searches are growing massively in popularity, and experts estimate that 50% of all searches on the internet will soon be driven by voice. This comes on the heels of a rise in popularity for virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, as well as the popularity of audio-based social media like Discord and Clubhouse.
Voice searches are growing massively in popularity, and experts estimate that 50% of all searches on the internet will soon be driven by voice.
What this means for markets is that your key phrases needn’t stay short and snappy—and your audio design needs to be on point. Unlike the trend in video to go shorter, today’s search phrases can be longer, more descriptive, and more tailored to verbal inclinations. Because more and more, your customers are going to be finding your brand by speaking up.
Chatting is faster
Last but not least, chatbots continue to gain more popularity. While the pandemic caused a slight dip in chatbot adoption, large and small brands alike are turning to AI-driven customer service, feeding into consumers’ desires to be more independent. Increasingly, we’ll see products and services marketed, promoted, and serviced for human customers with no human being on the other end.
But AI isn’t a perfect tool: many companies are currently sounding the alarm on how AI, used incorrectly, can harm efforts toward diversity and equality. So despite chatbots’ and AI’s convenience and other pros, always consider ethics and ground rules before adopting this type of new technology.
Making digital decisions
Maybe not all of the above trends are relevant to your brand’s marketing. That’s okay. What we will say is that trends are changing faster than most can imagine—so buckle up, dig a little deeper, and consider where your digital marketing might be headed.
This is a big year, and we’ve got to be ready to take it on.