Goodbye 2020! As we enter 2021 in another lockdown, the digital trend continues to grow, and the screen time of the average person continues to increase by the day.  We now spend on average more time looking at our devices than our TVs, but what will the year 2021 bring? 

With a new year comes new trends, however which new trend will be the next TikTok and which trend will come and go quicker than you can say Corona Virus?

Technology continues to change rapidly, so we are taking this chance to share the top five digital marketing trends that we look forward to in 2021.

Mentioned below are the top five digital marketing trends expected for 2021.

Voice-activation trend

‘Hey Siri….Please tell me when lockdown will end?’

Globally voice activation such as Google, Siri and Alexa are dominating this market.  We use these platforms to ask for directions, checking the weather, setting alarms & playing music. Not only this, but they are also integrated into a huge number of everyday devices.  Whether that be your kettle, toaster, watch, TV, or even your Car. 

27% of online users are utilising this trend and this needs to be within all marketeers strategies for 2021 and beyond.  SEO is such a competitive area within the market place and they cannot afford to ignore voice search within their content creation.

According to research, it is stated that 70 per cent of all searches will be the voice searches by the end of 2021. This will undoubtedly have a huge impact on search trends and making it such an important trend for 2021.

Making sure your content is visible and optimised for voice search is imperative for your marketing strategy to be a success.

Shoppable posts trend

Covid-19 has definitely put more focus on online shopping and e-commerce is now becoming such a focus for digital agencies. Online shopping has grown significantly with the increase in ‘shoppable posts’

Amazon recently claimed they had revenue of $1b dollars for the last quarter of 2020 – for first time ever.

A recent survey shows that over 74% of Instagram users said they use Instagram to select and purchase new products. 

With Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube and Instagram, being the biggest platforms for online marketing, this is no surprise that the trend of purchasing products from these platforms are only going to continue to grow.  They are easy to use, convenient and hassle free.

Chatbots trend

Over the past couple of years, many companies are using chatbots to personalise the user experience.

They are replacing humans and its extremely common to find that you will be talking to a ‘bot’ whether that be over the phone, or more commonly on a website when you are seeking some additional information.

These Chatbots allow companies to reduce operational costs and allow the user to have immediate support that will answer your questions 24 hours a day.  It also allows the companies to capture data which can be used for future marketing.

We believe that this is a huge area for growth and many more companies will be joining this trend while lowering their costs.

Short-form video trend

Tik Tok is a great example of how short – form video can capture an audience.  Video will win the war against text-based content and it can grab the viewers’ attention a lot quicker.

In a short survey short-form video was voted the most popular when viewing a product or service, rather than read a boring article.

Short-form videos are easy-to-make, easily digestible, memorable & can push engagement.

In November of 2018, TikTok reported that the number was 680 million monthly active users. We estimate that it has increased to 1 billion as of now (January 2021).  Marketeers simply can not ignore that short-form video is an integral part to the marketing mix and will continue to grow throughout 2021.

The AR and VR trend

These two are becoming one of the most talked about marketing trends.

AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) is a great tool for product development to storytelling as well as content creation.

With the global pandemic there is more emphasise being placed on these tools and have allowed companies to bring products to life through this new reality.

Large organisations such as Ikea can see how this trend can capture an audience and increase the selling potential.  These platforms allow you to take your reality and combine it with new products.  They allow you to visualise howe the new sofa will look in the lounge even before you have purchased it!

We truly see this trend becoming a huge part of 2021.