Will Digital Marketing’s ‘twenty-twenty vision’ just be 2019 in hindsight?

The secret to successful Digital and Social Media marketing is to be aware of current trends – and then devise a strategy to include these in your marketing plan. We find that many trends predicted for 2019 are still prominent though as we go into 2020, so will Digital Marketing’s ‘twenty-twenty vision’ just be 2019 in hindsight?

In other words, will the revolutionary changes that have taken place in the last couple of years still be the predominant trends in 2020?

Personalisation through A.I

Artificial Intelligence (A.I) has to be the most dramatic and effective trend to hit this industry in many years. Through applications like Chatbots, brands are developing an element of personalisation, improved customer experience and analytics, said to be revolutionary in this marketing space.

Interestingly 74% of consumers are happy to give up data for a more personalised ad experience. Chatbots are actually preferred by the public to live call centre interaction, because they are said to be more attentive, don’t argue with the customer and more accurately record the customer’s request!

The real progression in many industries this year has been the emergence of actual robots that play more active physical roles!

Give your brand a voice

With advertising on the mobile phone being the largest area of growth in advertising, it is estimated that Voice searches, found in many mobile apps and devices, not only grew as a trend through 2019, but by 2020 50% of all searches will be voice searches!

Digital assistants along with Voice searches will continue to grow in use simply because they are integrated into products that help us complete tasks more efficiently. Facebook Messenger tested voice search with the new M Assistant button in Android, which has allowed usage in a hands free application. Brands should look at this as another good possible area of more personal connection with clients in 2020.

Tell your story

The Stories format is growing 15 times faster than posts in the Feed, with WhatsApp status being by far the biggest. In 2019 it registered 450 million daily counts and Instagram, a not so close, but still impressive, second with 300 million daily counts.

This is evidence enough to encourage more marketers to try them out and they will just continue to become even more popular in 2020. This year even more marketers will integrate Stories into their marketing strategies as an effective method of reaching their customers.

Methods include creating fun polls, countdowns, engaging videos and behind the scenes content that is also interactive.

Making messages

WhatsApp also lead the field in another growing trend – big brands considering ways to tap into private messaging. Facebook messenger is the closest ‘also ran’ here, but there are many successful platforms as private messaging is just such a massive Global social media trend.

Good news for brands wanting to tap into this lucrative market is that in 2019 WhatsApp was already in the process of developing space for ads to appear alongside its status feature and Facebook messenger are also finding ways for private chatters to engage directly with business.

Live your story through VR

In a previous article we reported on the massive growth of storytelling as a cornerstone of social content and an excellent brand building opportunity. Now with the incredible popularity of live-streaming features across all major social networks, storytelling has shifted to more spontaneous, real time content – better known as ‘story-living.’

In 2020, brands will need to be open to creating live, unscripted experiences that result in impromptu moments. The adoption of Virtual Reality will greatly enhance the story living experience, because there is far more impact when users are fully immersed in it.

Video is vibrant and more than viable!

With U-tube now being the second largest search engine in the world, the massive growth of video as a brand marketing medium continues and can only continue to grow in 2020. U-Tube are obviously leaders in this space, but competition is fierce and ‘in the know’ Digital and SM marketers can advise accordingly.

It may also be astute to seek advice regarding video size and content as these all play a role in the efficacy of the product as a marketing tool.

So, will Digital Marketing’s ‘twenty-twenty vision’ just be 2019 in hindsight? In some ways yes, but in all these fields there has been phenomenal growth and a number of advancements.

Although 2019 trends are still the key role players as we go into 2020, we are in an age of rapid change, so I do believe the Digital Marketing whirlwind we will experience in the next decade has just begun to blow!