Digital Marketing Trends To Look Out For In 2020

With the New Year drawing closer, you need to start thinking about the campaigns you are looking to deliver in the next 12 months. Some businesses will already be prepared, having planned their marketing strategy months ahead of time, but many will probably be stuck focusing on peak, leaving future plans trailing behind. Regardless of where you sit, you’ll need to have a better understanding of how 2020 will look on the digital marketing front.

Habits of consumers change and technology evolves to suit the needs of the user and the business, meaning that what may have been a successful strategy one year, could fail and be obsolete the next. This is why it’s important you assess any industry changes now before you begin implementing your campaigns.

Let’s take a look at the digital marketing trends you should be focusing on for 2020.

Meaningful Content

With just over 3.4 billion people using social media globally, it’s one of the most popular marketing tools for businesses. This isn’t news, nor is the fact that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for brands to build engagement on their social posts. Even some of the biggest brand names out there have very few actual likes and comments on their individual posts. A big part of this is down to users becoming numb to the content that often saturates their newsfeeds, meaning your usual posts just aren’t hitting the mark like they used to.

2020 will see a rise in brands trying to create meaningful, valuable content that connects with audiences on a deeper level. This includes creating communities and content that encourages conversations and interactions that are more than a simple like or share. Create bold campaigns that showcase a more human and personalised element to your brand, rather than just self-promotion.

This meaningful or valuable content can come in a few different forms.

Interactive – Think filters, games, quizzes and polls. Interactive content is more likely to get engagement and create a big impact. It gives people a reason to stick around as well as to share with their friends and family, furthering your reach.

Storytelling – Since the launch of Snapchat, sharing short snippets of our day to our newsfeeds has increased in popularity. With Facebook and Instagram jumping on the bandwagon too, ‘stories’ should be a key part of your marketing strategy going forward. They can provide an insider view to behind-the-scenes of a brand, or just generally be easy-to-digest, short-form content that users can get behind and enjoy. 

Word-Of-Mouth

Another big trend in digital marketing which will see an even bigger rise in 2020, is word-of-mouth marketing. A big part of this is influencer marketing, which brands are already really starting to get behind. However, instead of shooting for the stars and aiming high with their choice of influencer, brands will start to take on more micro-influencers who might have a much smaller following.

Many high-profile influencers have been exposed as untrustworthy in the last year, and a high follower count no longer has the same impact as it used to when it comes to promoting a brand. Instead, users are putting their trust in smaller influencers who build better relationships through engagement and honest reviews.

We are quick to trust the opinions of our friends and family because we know they will be honest and don’t expect anything in return, yet an influencer with over 1 million followers on Instagram is more likely to say something positive because they are being paid or receive lots of perks for being a brand ambassador.

Go for the smaller influencer with better engagement and you’re more likely to see results.

Branching Out To Alternative Platforms

While Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn reign supreme as social media platforms, brands are starting to realise that they are having to fight harder for engagement. 2020 will see more brands experimenting with alternative platforms to the top 4, including investing time and money in the likes of TikTok and Pinterest.

We all know video creates impact, which is why TikTok is rising in popularity, particularly for 16-24 year olds. It’s still early enough for your brand to jump in on the action and build up your fanbase on the platform. If your audience matches that of TikTok, now is the time to take it by storm.

Pinterest isn’t exactly the new kid in town, but it is gaining even more popularity. Consumers use the platform like a search engine, finding inspiration and creating mood boards of their favourite images. Recent research even suggests that retail brands can see 2x higher returns on Pinterest than other channels, signifying that this could be the standout marketing channel for businesses in 2020.

Voice Search

More people than ever now own a smart voice assistant, which means voice search is also on the rise. We all understand the importance of SEO and trying to increase our rankings on search engines such as Google, but many businesses have failed to adapt and optimise their website for voice search.

In 2020, make it a priority to include more long tail keywords across your website and as part of your SEO strategy. Think about how consumers might use voice search to stumble across your products or services and adapt the content across your site accordingly. 

We have been working with our clients ASC Direct to develop a content strategy over the past couple of months that includes blog content. 

Make sure you adapt your content and page titles so they are optimised for voice search. The quicker you get on top of this, the further you’ll get ahead of the competition.

Shoppable Posts/Social Commerce

Social commerce is a way for consumers to discover new products on their newsfeeds. As an ecommerce business, shoppable posts will allow you tag in the products on your website to make it easier for your customers to shop. It’s also a great way to drive traffic to product pages.

With more people than ever using social media as a form of inspiration and influence when it comes to making purchases, shoppable posts should be a priority for businesses looking to expand their reach and increase conversions. 

We’ve worked with leading fashion retailer Yumi to implement shoppable posts using the BigCommerce integration. Below, you can see how easy the purchasing process is with shoppable posts, enhancing the customer experience and providing your business with yet another sales channel.

Are you surprised by any of these trends? While most have probably played at least a small part in our marketing strategies over the past few years, 2020 will be the year they truly shine.

For help with your digital marketing campaigns, our team of marketing experts and SEO specialists can make sure your business thrives in 2020. Get in touch with us today.