I hear people say that the world is fastly becoming digital.
The truth is it is already digital. It all
comes down to how fast you and most importantly, your business can keep up with
these trends.
Gone are the days we market with billboards, and
traditional media. You can do your marketing online and get faster results.
So, today, we will be talking about some of the
digital marketing trends you might want to adopt for your business this year.
Without wasting time, let’s dive in.
Here are some of the digital marketing trends that
will help grow your business:
1. Chatbots
Artificial intelligence (AI) has gradually begun to take over many simple jobs in various businesses. One of such AI-based technology is the Chatbots.
Chatbots use instant messaging to chat with your customers as if they were humans. It is predicted that they will power 85% of customer service this year.
This is however not surprising. Chatbots are responsive 24/7. Unlike humans, they do not sleep. They answer promptly, do not lose patience with your customers, and can recall your customer’s buying history.
Using these virtual assistants for your business helps
to provide great customer service and automate repetitive tasks. That is less
time spent on talking to customers and more time doing more important work.
Many businesses use it already. The question is why
aren’t you?
2. Video marketing
Talk about one of the most important digital marketing trends at the moment, it is video marketing.
Pictures, texts are great but videos get your customers engaging with your content more than any form of media.
No one wants to read a long note about your product when they can easily watch a video. Little wonder why most social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat prioritize videos.
The good thing about videos is that they make it easy for you to reformat your content to suit other platforms. You can rip the audio alone and use it as a podcast. You can transcribe the video and create a text version. You can go ahead to rewrite the transcription and make it into a blog post.
Some of the video trends to take advantage of including live video, 360-degree video, 1:1 video, etc.
3. Influencer marketing
This is already very common and has proven over time
to be very effective.
Influencer marketing is basically making use of influencers in social media platforms to spread the word about your brand.
Influencers are well-known personalities on social media platforms that have a huge following. They have already created a community of their own and you can get them to talk about your business or product to that community.
This works great because it is more authentic and genuine. These people have built trust with their followers over the years so their followers find it easy to trust their opinion.
It is also a more personalized way to reach out. Instead of people seeing a business trying to sell them, they see a friend telling them how much he/she has benefited from your product.
4. Voice Search
The presence of Siri, Alexa, and Google assistant have made it very easy for people to speak to their phone, instead of typing, and get instant replies.
Voice search is one of the AI-based technologies and it is growing very quickly. It provides important information people are looking for through audio content.
Using voice search for your business makes it very easy for your customers to order, make money transactions, get their questions answered, get help, etc., all by just speaking to their phone.
The end goal is to create a
unique and optimized customer experience that will build relationships between
you and your customers and build brand loyalty.
When creating audio content
for voice search, make sure it conversational.
5. Content marketing
Content is at the core of marketing. This is why content marketing will remain extremely relevant for years to come.
To remain relevant and get your audience to view your business as a trusted and credible resource, you need to keep on creating good content. Make sure that your site has well-written content, useful links, and fast loading speed.
This also goes for your social
media platforms and all online channels you use to interact with your
customers. Great content attracts new customers and keeps old ones coming back
for more.
You could also create a free
(or paid) resource about your niche and the problems your customers might be
facing. As long as you are delivering value through great content, you are good
to go.
6. Social media shoppable posts
This is a great trend for
e-commerce brands.
It is no news that most of your customers are on social media and the good news is that you can establish your brand on these platforms.
This is why it is important to take advantage of shoppable posts. Facebook, for instance, allows you to open a shop and include all your products with their prices. Customers can also book appointments for your service directly.
Instagram introduced Instagram checkouts last year which allows people to buy a product they like without leaving the app.
This makes shopping easier and makes your product easily accessible to those who love them.
7. A/B testing
No matter how many trends you decide to try out, testing and optimization sit at the foundation of effective and profitable marketing.
It involves testing two different versions of the same piece of content and seeing which converts the most.
You can do this for your emails, web pages, blog posts, ads, social media post – any piece of content for your brand.
Since people are not
predictable, you do not know which they will respond to. Testing helps you
figure that out and optimize it to make more sales and increase ROI
If you do not know how to run
an A/B testing, read this article to learn how: How to Run A/B Testing to Improve
Conversions
In
conclusion,
Digital marketing is the
in-thing for marketing in this age, but the truth is there are new innovations
and changes made every day. And as a business owner, it is your job to keep up
with those changes and use them to grow your business.
If you have any questions or suggestions, leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.