What’s new this year?
It’s the 2020 update! The fast-paced digital world is all set to take the yearly turn with a greater yearly turnover, making it easier than ever for both the users and the marketers. This year is all set to welcome the multiple new features, applications, updates, marketing approaches and what not.
If 2019 saw Facebook turn into Businesses platform, Instagram turn into the land of Influencers, what will 2020 bring?
Take a look into our digital predictions:
1. Insights-driven Marketing
This new way of using data to “learn more” about the customers, goes beyond contact information to actual details like interests, experience, search patterns and more. Wondering how you search for gifting ideas and see amazon ads on gifts popping up at every window you open? Insights-driven marketing does that magic! Insights-driven marketing is an advancement of data collection that has a direct effect
Things to keep in mind:
- Make sure that your audience is right. Focus on data requirement of your target audience.
- Eliminate bad data. Forget what is outdated.
- Get the numbers right! State real-time facts in percentage and back them up with the sources.
How Brands did it: Pinterest “What if”
This consumer-driven brand, Pinterest that has always inspired users with the “new things”, encourages users to try something that people may be scared of, to eliminate self-doubt. The mix of great graphics and social message made the campaign become it’s first major ad campaign.
2. The Power of Culture
21st century has welcomed the diversity of culture that goes beyond geography, all the way till the hearts of the consumers. The impact of culture lets any brand reach the core of consumer understanding, making it possible to evolve marketing strategies specific to that culture. Sensitive content with a little blend of emotions and a story, has always proved engagement hasn’t it?
But what is new this year?
An overwhelming response over cross-cultural marketing that is connecting people all across the world. Culture is no more about nativity, it’s about creation of a new spirit.
How Brands did it: Dropbox “Love wins”
Dropbox took a new perspective towards the culture with the fusion of ‘The culture of the world’ and ‘The work culture’ with a display of their workplace lit by the bright chromes of the LGBT flag. Their post depicted true acceptance through real-time spaces, making the message reach in-depth.
3. Consumer Privacy and Data Management Plan
“Only 15% consumers are willing to share web activity and only 12% of consumers are willing to share social media activities with the service providers.”
Deloitte
65% of consumers question how brands are using their data.
Security Magazine
Digital marketers are taking a serious note of consumer will and the strong need of compliance to various consumer privacy protection acts.
Trust and Transparency have been the most pronounced words in the recent times. The marketing campaigns have been going beyond the mere use of these words in the content, to making it happen. Most websites and mobile applications have won the trust of the users with a promise of confidentiality that reflect on the curated User Experience (UX).
In this age of fingerprint-locked phone and face-locked computer systems, everything from e-mail and social media platforms have introduced multi-step protection that are also inter-linked with GPS and more.
Information is getting smarter and safer than ever.
Things to keep in mind:
- Be clear on your privacy policy. Mention the specifics of data collection. Transparency is key.
- Mark your boundaries. When data is collected, keep it with your organisation preventing 3rd party intrusions.
- Keep ads to an optimal level. Make sure the user experience is free from link to external site.
- Include a cookies pop-up. Make sure that the user knows it all.
4. A Data-first Approach to Video Marketing
Have you ever noticed how shopping sites pop up in your notifications with offers on your favourite products? This is a work of ‘Data first’ approach where the user experience is made highly personalised according to the interests of the users. With video marketing already taking the digital world by storm, a data-first approach fine-tuning your video recommendations is the best user experience.
72% customers admit that they engage only with marketing messages that are personalised.
Smart Insights
A Digital Marketer’s take:
Putting all those research analyses and insights into this trending marketing mode of video could make them,
- Reach the right audience
- Achieve higher conversions
How brands did it: University of Waterloo : Student recruitment
The University of Waterloo achieved an interactive connection with the users – the student, in a casual-looking video that involved actual occurrences in student life, a typical first day at college, that was close to a campus-tour. The personalised appeal grabbed spotlight across the video’s highlighted parts – The book with the student’s name, name on the packages, cutomised tees at the stall and more. Such a strategic plan towards video marketing could change the brand voice entirely.
Explore more on how Digital Marketing can help your business.
5. Responsive Search Ads
The all new responsive search ads from Google is changing the way advertising works! They are now available in all languages for all advertisers in the Google Ads Editor, making way for only the best ad combinations. Among the 15 headlines and 4 descriptions per ad provided from you, Google’s artificial intelligence reviews your ad by testing different combinations of headlines and descriptions based on individual search queries.
This let’s you predict your ad performance within minutes!
With such an introduction of hassle-free testing, advertising is set to discover new grounds in this year. Explore more.
Things to keep in mind:
- Explore Headlines. Try different lengths, keyword additions and headline types. (Subjective or interactive headlines)
- Never miss the CTA. The right Call-To-Action is the key to performance.
- Don’t try combinations. Google will take care. It will mix up headlines and description during combination, so make sure yours is unique.
6. Micro and Nano Influencers
This era of Social Media Influencers has led to the emergence of a proliferating rise in reviews, marketing and more, which are human-friendly, told by fellow humans. With every account having followers from Ks to Ms, a demarcation in categories of influencers has happened, not missing spotlight on Micro (The Ms, around 1M followers) and Nano influencers (The Ks, around 10K followers).
Micro and nano influencers amidst being a little less on hype, are valuable to the marketers because you never know who will be the next star. Expectations aside, these influencers are important as such, because of their personal connect with their audience, reliability and genuinity.
Why Micro & Nano for the next-level digital marketing?
- The numbers matter. Not the followers number, but the number of influencers you could reach.
- Trust stands first. Micro and Nano influencers have the guy or girl-next-door appeal that the audience trust and rely on for decisions.
- Big people. Bigger personalities. Biggest diversity in content.
- Budget-friendly market campaigns benefit from nano influencers in particular.
- A fresh face is always good. People are interested to know from new people.
How brands did it: Giveaway in partnership with Starbucks
The giveaway for gift cards that come with discount on the classic coffee from Starbucks were smartly planned to reach the audience in a very natural way with nothing but the brand’s iconic cold coffee held in a caffeinated influencer’s hand.
7. The Continued Growth of Stories
The current day scenario has made social media such an open book, that people’s life stories got digitized to become Facebook-Instagram-Whatsapp stories, thanks to Mark Zuckerburg! With the cons set apart, this new way of visual connection coupled with reach has paved a great way for the brands to approach people.
The user-interface of social media platforms urge us to keep viewing the stories and there’s no way a brand could miss such a chance to reach the audience. Story Ads have further driven the possibilities.
With stories, your brand identity is just a swipe away.
#DigiketersMarketingMantra
How Brands did it: Airbnb
Airbnb which has been in the list of brands making in big on Social Media never misses a moment. This story-series which utilises the between-campaigns buffer time with some casual engagement re-assures the brand memory along with a glimpse on experiences ahead. Without being direct-marketing-toned, the new casual turn has won the audience who like seeing new things. Who doesn’t love new a travel goal?
Focusing on instagram alone for your brand? Make sure you get all Insta-specific.
Akshaya Muralikumar
Akshaya Muralikumar, A graduate architect turned writer, specialises writing in Architecture, Construction, Digital Marketing and allied subjects, with an eye for essence in the words. Being "An Architect of Thoughts", she has had her vibrant thoughts transform into words, across multiple blog and magazine platforms.
