The field of digital marketing has improved significantly over the past decade. Everything is moving fast! You are surrounded by countless myriad technologies that affect the industry and your daily life. More recently, you have seen the rise of influential marketing, augmented reality and video content.
By the time you’re ready to launch your campaign, there’s likely to be a whole new revolutionary trend that will change the way you interact with consumers. For this reason, you need to be fully aware of the hottest digital marketing trends for 2020 and beyond and be prepared for them.
Artificial intelligence becomes standard
Will it all take over artificial intelligence (AI)? Who knows? However, it’s a fantastic technology that can be used in many areas of digital marketing.
According
to Techgrabyte, AI is:
“The biggest commercial opportunity for industries and countries in the next
few decades. Those late with AI in the next few years will be at a competitive
disadvantage.”
AI
gives machines the ability to think, react and perform tasks. It also helps
them learn from their own experiences and adapt to new experiences. This
technology is becoming more common because:
It increases the accuracy of work, resulting in fewer errors and improved work
efficiency.
It analyzes to get more detailed data and ideas.
It integrates into algorithms. GPS trackers, voice assistants, home automation
systems and almost all modern technology.
It adjusts to the input data using advanced learning algorithms.
AI successfully replaces people in discovering marketing trends and ideas. Now marketers can use AI to save time and resources by automating digital marketing.
In
short, here’s how AI can give you a competitive edge in your digital marketing
campaigns:
Audience Understanding: You can analyze data and predict decision making and
behavior.
Improved UX: You can use AI data to give your audience the experience they ask
for and need.
Marketing efficiency: with artificial intelligence no longer need to guess!
Using AI-based data and analysis, you can develop a better marketing strategy.
Enhanced performance: With artificial intelligence algorithms, you can automate
monotonic tasks. It can improve your productivity and save time and money.
Higher ROI: AI helps you make more informed decisions about your content. By
integrating AI into your digital marketing, you will be able to attract the
right audience with irresistible offers that they cannot refuse.
Chatbots
Perhaps the most famous example of artificial intelligence technology is chatbots. They’re virtual assistants. You can integrate chatbots into your website, email program, apps and social media messages. With chatbots, you can immediately answer questions. They engage in human conversations that improve the quality of customer service.
Product Recommendations
If you’re doing ecommerce, you can use AI to track customer habits and customer behavior.
Through this, you can create a much more powerful marketing strategy in which you can offer products that your customers want to buy. In addition, you can personalize UX for your audience, interact with them and in the process boost e-commerce sales.
With AI, you can provide a more engaging experience, resulting in faster solutions for your customers.
Content automation
Natural Language Generation (NLG) is an important field of artificial intelligence that will continue to influence content marketing in 2020 and beyond.
NLG uses algorithms to translate data into human language. Among other things, it is already included in the making of news and headlines. The Washington Post’s Heliograf robot regularly publishes about 1,000 articles a year.
Augmented reality
One of the latest trends in digital technology is AR (augmented reality). It’s an image in the real world, as opposed to virtual reality (VR), in which everything you see is created by a computer. As such, AR offers an unprecedented experience combining “real” and virtual elements that users can interact with on their devices.
The
biggest benefits of including AR in your digital marketing strategy:
Increased user engagement: With AR experience, customers will be more
passionate about your brand. This connection is crucial because of the ad
saturation that consumers regularly encounter.
Market differentiation: Highlight your business among your competitors with
innovative augmented reality techniques that promote your products.
Swedish home and lifestyle goods brand IKEA has put augmented reality into practice, allowing customers to see how furniture will fit into the rooms of their homes.
Female beauty brand Sephora has developed an app that allows shoppers to see what a particular make-up will look like on them, using mobile cameras.
Continuous video growth
With platforms such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and Facebook Live, video is a trend that will continue to evolve in the future. Traditional TV content is long gone and now video content is available to users via their smartphones. According to Cisco, 82% of Internet traffic will be video traffic by 2021, so you better start capitalizing on this trend right away.
When you think about video marketing, you need to think about mobile devices. Moving video marketing to mobile devices is one of the biggest challenges that marketers face today. Detailed content and newsletters lose their influence because on a smartphone screen they are difficult to read. With video, you can present the same information in a format that works on any screen, regardless of device.
If you have a video on your website, it is more likely to be on the front page of search results. And why so? Because video improves SEO, it increases the rating of your business.
Including
video in your marketing also opens up opportunities for repurposing content.
For example, if you recorded a video for your YouTube channel, you can:
Decrypt the video content for a detailed text version.
Post the transcription on your blog under the built-in YouTube video to improve
your search rating.
Upload a video with subtitles to Facebook or, if necessary, in VKontakte to get
a more organic impression.
Turn the video transcript into a blog article by adding relevant statistics and
forecasts.
Use the sound of your video for podcast content.
Use video thumbnails in your e-marketing as well as the phrase “Video” in the
subject line to increase your email conversion rate.
Additional video marketing trends that you need to follow:
Live
video: A large number of companies use it for interviews, product
demonstrations and behind-the-scenes acquaintance with the brand.
Video 1:1. To begin with, you will need a high-quality smartphone camera.
Today, it’s easier than ever.
Buy-to-let video: A great way to shorten the path to purchase is to provide the
ability to buy products straight from the video. When the user hovers over the
image/video, the “Buy Now” button appears, with which you can go directly to
the product page.
SEO for video: Relevant YouTube videos get a higher rating. That’s why you
should take SEO video optimization seriously. Use text overlays, hidden
subtitles, and add keywords to the description, title, and filename.
360-degree video content: 360-degree video will undoubtedly highlight you among
competitors.
Voice search
Voice search is becoming more common, especially with the use of voice control devices.
According to research by OC&C Strategy Consultants, in 2017 alone, the volume of voice trading in retail in Russia was $1.8 billion, and in the United States it was $200 million. That cost could grow to $40 billion in Russia and $5 billion in the US by 2022!
Here are some important considerations as to why voice search can lead to a lucrative marketing campaign:
It’s fast: people can talk faster than typing. This means they can also perform voice searches much faster.
Smart speakers are popular: they have become a common household item. As stated by NPR and Edison, 39 million Russians currently have smart speakers at home.
Convenience of local search: When people search for a product using voice search, they are usually interested in buying the product locally.
Voice search can be longer than an input search. That’s why you should optimize your content for long-tail keywords when you target people who use voice-activated devices.
Usually people talk to their devices like people. For this reason, it’s important that your web content is conversational.
Many
brands have already incorporated voice search into their digital marketing
strategies:
Tequila Patron helps its customers get customized cocktail recipes.
Domino’s helps pizza lovers order pizza from the comfort of home.
PayPal users can use Siri to send money to their friends, family or companies.
Tide gives tips for removing stains.
Audio content is also on the rise, and advertising on smart voice devices will become much more frequent. Smart speakers can answer your question with a “Thank you to our sponsor” note or the likes of her.
Live video will continue to grow
Nothing so catches your attention on social media as real time videos. Why is it so and for what reasons is the live video so effective?
Better interaction with your brand
Live video provides real-time interaction. Brands and millions of subscribers can interact with each other around the world! During the live broadcast, people can ask questions, leave feedback or even buy items.
It allows you to have a two-way conversation with your audience. Everyone, including the CEO, CTO or other company representatives, can take to social media today and have a question-and-answer session. He develops a personal connection with the brand and increases loyalty to it.
Huge ROI potential
Time is money and time is everything. Here, live video has an advantage over the previously recorded and recommended video. By itself, the video production process can require a lot of time and resources! You need to shoot videos, edit, code and upload them, which can often last forever.
On the other hand, with live video, there’s no need for post-production costs. In a fully prepared video, every angle and word must be perfect! Users don’t expect such perfection from live content. They want to see raw live videos that immediately benefit.
Blockchain
You’ve probably heard someone talking about cryptocurrencies and bitcoins. It seems that every one of your friends wants to invest in it. But if you focus on the technology behind it – Blockchain, you will open up much more valuable opportunities.
According
to BlockGeeks:
“Blockchain, in the simplest sense, is a series of immutable timestamp data
record that is controlled by a cluster of computers not owned by either one
person. Each of these data blocks (i.e., a block) is protected and linked
together using cryptographic principles (i.e., chains).”
Its effect could go beyond currencies and help marketers promote goods and services.
Take, for example, the use of advertising. The advertisements are excellent and can generate a lot of revenue to your business online. However, the reality is that people don’t want to see ads all the time.
51% of people defend the use of ad blockers because they want to have full control of their online operation. Also, in many cases the use of advertising is excessive.
Thanks to blockchain technology, consumers will be able to charge brands for their contact details. For example, if a company asks a user to subscribe to a newsletter, they can tell them the price for receiving such content. These transactions will be systematically processed using cryptocurrencies.
This approach allows people to better control the content and advertising they receive when browsing the Internet. In such circumstances, you as a brand will need to learn how to offer your customers a real value proposition.
Blockchain practice
Editing texts — Wikipedia is a great example. Every document (page, post) is decentralized. No user is a full-fledged host of this document. And what’s more, you can track when you made an edit, who contributed and where.
Smart contracts in marketing — the conclusion of contracts that can be useful in the work of contractors. You can track what works are done, automate the execution of each stage, monitor the terms of the agreements. They can still be used to acquire licensing rights from content creators.
Confirmation of payment – payment for freelancers, contractors is simplified, due to the fact that there is automation of funds transfer. This technology works not only in the cryptosphere, but also with any other assets. Many payment processing companies are already helping small adapt to this technology.
Targeted advertising is a fairly raw project. The idea is to replace the intrusive ads from Google and other companies that pop up in your smartphones and on computers. They collect information without asking users. Blockchain is needed here to ensure that Internet users are compensated for providing their information. Companies will be able to create a client profile directly from the client himself, not from “black” sources.
The conclusion
The future of the digital marketing industry is determined by modern technology Artificial intelligence, blockchain and voice technologies all transform the ways in which brands analyze and interact with users.
If you want to gain competitive advantage and increase conversion in 2020, you need to adopt the digital marketing trends mentioned above. Start giving consumers the opportunity to communicate, especially through audio and video content. Invest in recent trends and always get ahead of them.
