10 Digital Marketing Trends for 2021

The world Covid-19 pandemic had a great impact on digital marketing, so every business should adapt quickly to the new digital marketing trends and practices in 2021.

2020 was an unpredictable year. E-Commerce sales went off the charts, workers have been on videoconference calls for many months, and people are spending even more time on social media. All these changes in behavior also changed the way brands connect with consumers and clients.

Now it’s time to move on, so we’ve prepared a list with the 10 new Digital Marketing trends for 2021. If you’re interested in taking your business to the next level this year, this post is for you.

Let’s begin!

1. Interactive content

Content marketing isn’t new, but the new trend for 2021 doesn’t consider the audience as a passive listener anymore. This new content tries to engage the users and get them to interact with the brand or company.  The main goal is to capture their attention and make them remember the brand through games, videos, surveys, etc.

2. User-Generated Content (UGC) to improve customer experience

User-Generated Content, or UGC, has been for many years a very useful way for brands to build strong relationships with their clients, because customers want amazing experiences with their favorite brands.

Hence, user-generated content (UGC) has everything you need for this 2021, to differentiate yourself from your competitors and engage with your clients with amazing content that:

• Builds and reinforce communities
• Allows you as a brand to find new customers and clients
• Helps you to identify pain-points in your clients
• Has everything your users need, want and are used to

3. Emotions come first

This pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, and emotions are all over the place. In this new scenario, brands must communicate and connect with their user’s emotions, focusing all your marketing efforts in engage by:

• Identifying the users’ feelings, fears and hopes, to see how the brand can help them to deal or overcome with the situation
• Being useful and timely, because many people are struggling to find help in some specific moments or situations
• Becoming a friend or someone they can trust, instead of only being a simple services or products provider

4. Omnichannel communications

These times have been challenging for all of us, and we’re always looking for new ways to communicate quickly using digital channels that helps us to avoid physical contact to keep everyone safe.

It’s necessary for brands to make an additional effort to have as many digital communications channels as possible, and listen to their customers on a daily basis. This means opening omnichannel communications, and offer customer service on social media, on WhatsApp or Telegram, and improving the information and customer service options on their own website, app or phone channels.

This is especially important when it comes to E-Commerce stores, since users look for a quick and easy way to find all the information they need to make a purchase in a few minutes. You should be available to answer questions and eliminate doubts or fears new digital users may have.

5. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, will be very soon almost everywhere. So, those companies able to implement artificial intelligence in their processes, communications or tech tools in this 2021, will benefit the most from it. They will be able to survive in these hard times, by reducing personnel costs, increasing growth, improving customer service and setting themselves apart from the competitors.

Today, AI is found in many different fields, such as:

• Content creation
• Communications
• Marketing
• E-Commerce transactions
• Product recommendations
• E-mail customization
• Production lines
• Customer service
• Process optimization

6. Chatbots

Chatbots are not new, but will become very important in 2021 for digital marketing.  This technology is based on AI, what we just talked about.

A chatbot uses instant messaging to chat with people in real time, being able to attend many users at the same time, and available 24/7.

Thanks to this availability and the instant response, many users prefer to interact with chatbots for quick questions or simple queries, because they usually offer a great user experience and satisfy the need of a quick answer. 

7. Storydoing

This is the next step in storytelling. With storytelling, you captivate the users and make them engage with your brand’s experience. 

However, storydoing takes them one step further. You take your clients to actually live your story, making them feel great and welcoming them into your brand experience. You no longer just tell a story, but you make your users a part of it.

8. Third-party cookies down

Early 2020, Google announced it will be stop being compatible with third-party cookies within the next 2 years. This is 2022.

As we all know, cookies have been used for years as a follow-up method from announcers and advertising platforms, allowing us to do remarketing, retargeting and identify users according their browsing preferences.

However, this change means we should implement new technologies and new ways to reach out to consumers while respecting their privacy. This is a huge challenge for digital marketing paid campaigns in the near future.

9. Video campaigns for Google Ads streaming platforms

Video keeps on being a digital marketing trend this 2021, and Google knows it. So, Google Ads implemented a whole new TV section on their advertising platform, where brands can manage video campaigns to be shown in streaming platforms.

This takes the competition to a whole new level, because video is one of the most consumed and preferred content formats, and has an infinite ability to emotionally connect with consumers.

10. Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 is the newest version for the Google Analytics platform we all know.  This update analyzes users’ behavior on every digital platform they use, and replaces sessions for events as a unit measure.

The biggest change is the App + Web property, which focuses on better understanding the clients’ life cycle across all digital platforms and assets.  Definitely, a game-changer.

These are the biggest and more important digital marketing trends for this 2021.  Knowing them before you create your digital marketing plan will give you a great advantage and will allow you to improve your connection with your users or clients.

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11. Facebook Ads limited ads

Facebook recently implemented a new limit to the number of active ads a page can have. This aims to improve ad performance and get more important insights about each ad performance.

Conclusion

Change is always happening and is important to adapt quickly to the new things around us. This allows us to have an advantage and differentiate ourselves from our competitors.

We invite you to apply these digital marketing trends on all your marketing campaigns and efforts, and make the most of this 2021!

If you’d like some help to design and implement a solid marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to contact us! We’ll be happy to help!