2019 is almost coming to an end. As we enter the new year, we have to get ready for new marketing challenges that year 2020 will bring along The top digital marketing trends in 2020 will be largely driven by changes in technology and social media dependence.
Artificial intelligence, voice searches,visual searches, immersive technology will all bring about revolutionary changes in the way we search and buy things online.
So, before your competition gets to it, checkout this list of the top 10 digital marketing trends for 2020 to prepare yourself for the year ahead.
Let’s see how these trends will affect the digital marketing scene in the coming year.
1. E-commerce on social media
Today, social media is so much more than just meet and greet. It has become an important marketing platform for all kinds of businesses. In fact, social media platforms are also proving to be a great place for e-commerce businesses to advertise their products and expand sales.
60% of Instagram users have said in a survey that they frequently discover new products on Instagram. In another survey of over 4,000 Pinterest users, nearly 70% of users said that they use Pinterest to find new products.
There is no doubt that buying and selling on social media will be a major digital marketing trend in 2020.
2. Immersive technology will change how people visualize things
Immersive technology such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are gradually rising to popularity in the digital marketing world. Though VR was the more popular of the two till recently, AR is quickly catching up and will most likely surpass VR’s popularity very soon.
AR is already being used for marketing by big companies. Companies like IKEA that deal in furniture and other products, have integrated AR in their mobile apps to give the user a life-like image of what a piece of furniture would look like in their living space. The same technology can be used to demonstrate how a piece of clothing would look on the buyer or whether a spectacle frame would suit their face type.
Immersive technology is going to be a leading digital marketing trend in 2020.
3. Artificial intelligence will continue to grow
Artificial intelligence has already made its mark in various fields of marketing and customer relations. It is being used increasingly to understand consumer behaviors and search patterns. AI is also being used in chat bots that can use language processing software to decipher what a customer wants and instantly come up with relevant suggestions.
AI will soon be an inseparable part of digital marketing strategies. In areas of customer service, personalization, e-commerce transactions and product recommendations, AI will help accelerate growth and cut down costs.
4. Video marketing will be one of the most important strategies
Video marketing has already proven its caliber in the past few year. In 2019,we have probably seen and shared more video content than ever before. And this trend will also make its way into digital marketing in 2020.
Video is by far the most viewed content as well as most shared on social media. Having a good video marketing strategy for 2020 is going to be extremely essential as that is what people look forward to.Video will also improve SEO as Google gives more weightage to what people want in their search results.
5. Smart Bidding in Google Ads
Google Ads is going to introduce smart bidding on their ads. The latest updates of Google Ads will introduce automation and smart bidding so that you can get maximum returns out of every conversion. The updates will optimize your bids better than ever and will give you the ability to choose conversion actions at the campaign level.
This is one digital marketing trend that many marketers will be looking forward to in 2020.
6. Marketing through social messaging apps
Social messaging apps are already being largely used to promote products and respond to customer queries. In the near future, social messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp will be important channels for business dealings and customer service.
So, it is high time to start planning how you can use social messaging for digital marketing in 2020.
7. Visual search is the latest trend in online searches
Visual search using tools like Google Lens or Pinterest Lens is the newest development in online search. Using visual search, users can now search for products online by clicking a picture of the item with the visual search tool.
Digital marketers will have to optimize their content to appear on visual search as well, to remain relevant in 2020.
8. Voice search and smart speakers will gain more popularity
Voice search has already found to be highly popular among users, particularly the younger lot. By year 2020, almost 50% of all searches is expected to be through voice.
Smart speakers like Alexa and tools like Google Assistant have been instrumental in increasing the popularity of voice searches. It is important for marketers to optimize their content to appear in voice searches and also to find new ways of using voice search as a marketing aid.
9. Personalization of marketing content will be essential for customer retention
To set yourself apart from your competition in 2020, it is going to be extremely important to personalize your marketing campaigns for your customers.
Personalized and targeted content, products and promotions will perform much better than general content. So, start gathering data on customer search patterns and buying behavior to create highly focused content.
10. Social media stories will be a mainstream advertising platform
Businesses have already started using Instagram and Facebook stories as a marketing platform for their products and services. as more and more people get on social media, this trend will continue to grow in 2020.
Social media stories can be a good and inexpensive way of advertising. It is also easier to capture people’s attention as these stories are short and succinct. Try using this trend to your advantage in the coming year.
So go ahead and gear up for the new year!