TOP TEN TRENDS IN DIGITAL MARKETING IN 2020

If you’re out of date with your digital marketing trends, you’re limiting your brand in both reach and repetition. You may be blissfully unaware of new marketing trends, but your target customer and your competitors are not. The digital marketing landscape is constantly changing. To help you stay ahead of the curve, below we outline the 10 best digital marketing trends in 2020.

1.    Chatbots Take Off

Many companies will continue using a chatbot, they’re effective software programs that interact with website visitors and customers. Chatbots communicate naturally with people viewing the site and can answer their questions in real-time.

Chatbots either use verbal interactions or chat windows to help web users find what they’re looking for. Hiring an individual to monitor and communicate with visitors on your website can be expensive, but chatbots save costs by answering common questions on your behalf. And subsequently, customers tend to appreciate the personalized service and getting their questions answered quickly.

2.    Voice-Powered Search Accelerates

As the growth in technology continues to increase rapidly, we will start to see more people using smartphones with voice assistants. Features like Google, Alexa, and Siri are useful in digital marketing.

Voice assistants can search for things, read text loudly, and even voice dictate text messages for you so that you can be hands-free. Voice search is also essential when using it for your business. It’s helping in the growth of a mobile-friendly movement and adding value to local SEO. Voice search also boosts the use of artificial intelligence and prioritizes semantics of searches.

3.    Single Marketing Software Providers Dominate

There’s an enormous number of marketing technology solutions out there. This number is overwhelming, which is why many companies are switching to one software solution that contains all the tools that they need. HubSpot is a perfect example of an all-in-one marketing software solution, as is Marketo, and ActiveCampaign.

Other companies, like MailChimp, who historically only provided email marketing services, are now adding marketing automation capabilities, landing page builders, and ad platform integration. Consolidation among solution providers is accelerating in response to the user’s desire to have all of their marketing tools under one umbrella.

4.    Shoppable posts

Although shoppable posts on social media have been introduced over two years now, 2020 will witness an explosion of these blinking dots, primarily because of easier, out of the box integrations with third party apps and ecommerce marketing tech.

As the number of Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest users are growing and buying impulses are triggered through feeds and stories, ecommerce businesses are realizing the impact social can have on their ecommerce sales with measurable numbers and increased traffic.

Furthermore, interactive ads would minimize bounce rate and reduce the sales funnel as customers are provided with a seamless online shopping experience.

5.    Direct messaging

In a bid to get more personal with customers, brands are taking the conversation to DMs. As a means of streamlining customer service and assisting in sales, direct messaging is becoming one of the hottest digital marketing trends of 2020.

Through messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, or through private messages on social media like Twitter or Instagram, brands are building stronger connections with their customers. These forums offer the convenience of text with the immediacy of a phone conversation, all in an environment the user is already familiar with from talking with friends.

Brands find DMing customers to be effective for forging relationships, whether addressing complaints, taking sales orders, or even just goofing around. This technique works best when you encourage users to message you by providing your handle or username, and maybe incentivizing them with an exclusive deal or coupon code.

6.    Sentiment analysis

Sentiment analysis, or social listening, is the practice of analyzing the reactions of users and customers to a product or service, typically on social media or other places online. Online reviews and posts aren’t always a black and white “I like/dislike this.”

Maybe a user likes the product on a whole but one particular feature gets in the way. Maybe the product is fine just not what they were expecting.

Sentiment analysis usually involves data-collecting tools and algorithms to scour online responses to your brand and evaluate them. Again, this isn’t a new digital marketing trend, but new technology is making it more popular than ever before. Advances in natural language processing let computers understand the meanings behind what humans say online, including slang and emoji.

Sentiment analysis tools like Critical Mention, Repustate or Lexalytics reveal what people really think about your brand. You can then use that data to fine-tune not just your products, but also your strategies for sales, marketing, social media and content.

7.    Alternative and niche social media channels

Despite optimism over Facebook’s most recent earnings, the continual declines of both user growth and public opinion have shaken confidence in the platform’s dominance. Likewise, Twitter is seeing a similar plateau in growth, leading to a shift in power. To be clear, both Twitter and Facebook will remain useful marketing tools throughout 2020 and beyond. But the exodus has already started.

Alternative social media channels are already seeing new interest and promising growth levels. If you can start developing your presence on these “secondary” sites now, it’s likely to pay off in a few years after they continue to rise. In particular, Snapchat, Pinterest, Medium and Reddit are becoming new favourites for marketers lately.

8.    Programmatic advertising

Just like with sentiment analysis, don’t send a human to do a robot’s job. AI and machine-learning algorithms are designed to make your work easier, and that includes optimizing your online advertising campaigns.

Just like with sentiment analysis, don’t send a human to do a robot’s job. AI and machine-learning algorithms are designed to make your work easier, and that includes optimizing your online advertising campaigns. Handing off these tasks to an automated system can be best for both you and your business.

9.    Smart Bidding in Google Ads

Google Ads has introduced smart bidding which, according to them, uses machine learning to optimize for conversions or conversion value in each and every auction. Smart bidding strategies include target Cost-per-acquisition, target ROAS (return on ad spend), maximize conversions and enhanced CPC. Smart bidding has been introduced as a subset of automated bid strategies.

With smart bidding, not only businesses can have better conversions but also people can get more relevant ads.

10.    Live Video

Video marketing has been one of the biggest trends in the last two years and it’s going to continue in 2020 too. However, this time it’s going to be Live Video. Live videos have already been a trend in social media and it is going to expand further into the web. The possibilities of Live Video, in the form of live webinars, shows, live interactive videos, etc. can offer great leverage for brands, marketers and content creators. 

Live video is great for grabbing the attention of your social audience on Facebook or Instagram. These types of videos are so attractive to viewers because they tap into “FOMO” or fear of missing out. When you’re not sure if a live video is going to contain a tidbit of information that you can’t get anywhere else, or it will mean you’re the first to find out about some new and exciting news, you’re going to want to watch it.

Conclusion

A lot of the stuff mentioned above isn’t talked about a lot and they aren’t popular marketing topics that everyone wants to hear, but it is the future. These are trends that will come true, some already are, and you have to adapt for them. Here’s the beautiful part, though. You just read this, and now have a chance to act on the information before your competition. So, make sure you go and do so. I want to see you not only succeed but I want you to beat your competition. And I believe you can, whether you are a big company, or just starting off with very little to no money.

7 Digital Marketing trends for 2020

Here are 7 digital marketing trends for 2020 that we expect will see the most traction:

The rise of new social platforms

while user growth has slowed down across most key markets, India has shown no such trend. This is a direct result of easy accessibility to mobile Internet and cheaper smartphones with the advent of Jio. This has consequently led to the huge influx of new social apps in digital markets, like TikTok, Helo, Sharechat, Vigo, Bigo, Firework and some more in the pipeline.

The year 2020 will likely see a rise of even more such apps as these have proved to be a hit with new data users, having tapped into vernacular content and the interests of people in smaller towns. And since a large chunk of internet users from rural India - 251 million to be precise - have contributed to the growth in the total number of Indian Internet users this year, 2020 can expect to see a higher demand for social apps that cater to this demographic.

Vernacular will go mainstream for brands

On that note, with so many first-time internet users, the rise of a lot of social platforms have seen their tremendous growth simply because they offer their content and services in vernacular. Language-driven services have had such an impact this year, that even Amazon and Flipkart are planning to get on this bandwagon soon to catch up with new age players like Niki.ai, Bulbul tv and Shop101.

With a higher demand for vernacular content online, brands across segments will be forced to explore and deliver too if they want to see bigger growth. Storytelling is an impactful way to engage and connect with customers, and when done in a native tongue, the outcome is very personal and unique. This is evident in the thumbstopper format that Facebook offers, which intends to tell a story without sound, in order to capture the essence of a story and be able to tell it to speakers of any language. A recent campaign done by Swiggy called #SwiggyStarhunt is testimony to this. Targeting at their delivery partners to showcase their talent via TikTok, they launched the campaign in 11 languages to grab their attention. It resulted in over 1500 entries from 400 delivery partners receiving 44+ million organic views, reaching a pan-Indian audience and giving Swiggy the uplift it deserved.

AR will pick up momentum

4G has taken India’s markets by storm, and Indian service providers are eager to capitalize on this moment to drive user and customer engagement. Augmented Reality can be used in a multitude of ways, changing experiences across different sectors, be it retail, live events, museums, real estate, education or automobile.

Facebook introduced Spark AR this year for the general public, which allows users on Facebook and Instagram to create filters and upload them online. Other users can then save these and apply them to their stories. Facebook has been seeing a lot of success with the launch of this product and this will probably ‘spark’ AR trends even more. Google had already rolled out Google Lens which is an image recognition technology that uses the point and shoot feature to show fitting search results. These two giants have showcased the diversity in the use of AR and how successful it can be when implemented right, driven by function.

Voice will also start driving e-commerce

E-commerce is the way of the future, and with search interaction having increased, leading companies will find voice a profitable technology to drive sales and revenue. This has already been evidenced in the huge investment Amazon has put into Alexa and Google into Google Home and its Google Assistant. Businesses will see voice user interface as an innovative tool that enables faster, more efficient customer engagement as voice commands surround every sphere of life, driving purchases, payments and more. Voice ordering, already a popular phenomenon in the US, will start picking up in India as well. Brands are also tying up with new-age start-ups like Niki.ai to engage with the next billion Internet users. These AI powered start ups build user experiences that are not just intuitive but also in a language that the customers in the Tier II and III cities are comfortable in, making it easy for them to place orders using voice commands.

Better audience targeting through AI and first-party data

It’s quality over quantity, always. Which is why, many brands are now wanting to capitalize on their first-party data, instead of opting for second and third-party data. First-party data allows for exact, valuable insights into a customer’s direct engagement with the brand, whether it’s their individual interests, which ads they engage with, or how much time they spend on the brand’s website. This information is unfiltered, specific, and relevant, which helps to build an audience profile that is an exact match with the product or service in question. It is also cost-effective, as it’s free, and is lawful and transparent. Nike is one such company, which has already announced that they will be selling only directly going forward.


Influencer marketing will have a rocky 2020

Social media platforms have seen quite a few changes this year, which were a little surprising for everyone. At one end, there are platforms like TikTok and Sharechat, which incentivized influencers, and at the other end, Instagram rolled out an update that removed the like count. The Advertising Standards Council of India has also announced that they are framing new guidelines and rules in a bid to protect consumer interests, which will include influencer marketing under its purview. With the aim to curb forms of misleading information, the reach influencers have, the kind of information they put out, and the engagement brands have with influencers may all change in 2020.

Online to Offline Attribution will be more prevalent

It is commonly believed that as the world became increasingly digital over the years, physical stores began to see less engagement. But this doesn’t hold true for brands that rely heavily on location, like hotels, restaurants, and auto dealerships. Even today more than 95% of commerce in India happens offline. For such brands, online to offline attribution is extremely relevant and useful, as this metric helps brands to trace and identify which online ads can be attributed to driving in-store foot traffic.

While Google Store Visits is already live and being used across brands, other platforms will also start leveraging location data, combined with first party and CRM data, to showcase what results digital is driving for retailers and offline stores. This can be a game changer for traditional brands that did not have digital as a key aspect of their marketing campaigns. The start of the next decade will likely see a lot of brands who are not yet using digital come online to use this tool to engage with customers better and drive sales insightfully.

Digital Marketing Glossary: The Ultimate List of All Digital Marketing Terms

Facebook Profile

A personal Facebook account created by a user by signing up on Facebook is Facebook Profile. Any normal FB profile of your friend, acquaintance or brand is Facebook Profile.

Facebook Business Page

A public web page on Facebook, which is used to represent a brand, business or company and gives users an access to Facebook Ads Manager.

Facebook Ads Manager

A tool that is used for creating, channelizing and managing Facebook ads in the most automated and efficient manner is Facebook Ads Manager

Google Analytics

An Analytics platform created by Google, which is and used for analyzing nearly every aspect of a website’s performance

Google AdWords

Online advertising platform of Google that allows advertisers to reach customers via search and display networks. PPC Ads on Google run via Google AdWords

Google My Business

Google’s platform that businesses can use to provide important business information like Name, address, phone number, website link, hours of operation, and reviews to appear in search results, location searches, map packs, and more

Google Hummingbird

A Google algorithm update that was intended to completely update the way Google interpreted the search queries of users. After this update, search results are directly related to the query typed in search bar

Google Maps

Google provides location and navigation services via Google Maps. With the help of this users can find any location with utmost ease

Google Panda

A Google algorithm update that is used for analyzing the quality of a website’s on-page content and its exact interrelation to queries it was being displayed for

Google Penguin

Google Algorithm update that focuses on analyzing the quality of links pointing to any particular site. It checks the overall quality of the Backlink profile of a site

Google Pigeon

A Google Algorithm update that focuses on offering locally relevant results to searchers. This algorithm plays a significant role in success of local businesses

Google Search Console

Earlier known as Webmaster Tools, Google Search Console that helps webmasters to measure the visibility of a site on search pages and indexability by Google crawler bots

GCLID

Full form is Google Click Identifier that is a small string of numbers and letters, which are used as a unique ID badge for visitors to a website

Gravity Forms

A WordPress plugin that keeps track of all completed form submissions and adds a customizable contact form to a website

HARO

A type of Emails, which are sent three times a day from Monday to Friday for gaining PR and link opportunities. 

Header Code

Certain code is placed in header section to find things like Schema Markup, Adwords Code, Analytics Code, and other tools.

HTML

Set of codes that let web browsers know how to display a webpage. Full form is Hyper Text Markup Language. It includes starting and ending elements for most of the markups.

HTTP

A Protocol used by WWW (World Wide Web) for defining how data is formatted and transmitted on the web. It also guides web browsers and web servers about the actions that they should take for responding to a command. Full form is Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.

HTTPS

Full form is Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure and it is a secured version of HTTP that means its functioning is similar to HTTP but with better security.

Hreflang Tag

A code in the HTML of a website that lets search engines know about the spoken language used by a web. It is very useful for websites that have versions in multiple languages.

Hyperlink

An HTML code that is used for creating a link from one webpage to another web page. When you click on it, you will be directed to the destined location.

Iframe

An HTML document that you find inside of another HTML document on a website that is used for embedding content from one source onto another.

Impression

Number of times an Ad is shown is called Impression. This is one of the most popular terms of Pay per Click Advertising system.

Inbound Marketing

Activities and strategies used for attracting potential users or customers to a website by educating and building trust about your services, product and/or brand and to have a good web presence.

Index 

Refers to all of the web pages that Google has crawled and stored so that they can be shown to Google searchers. The act of Google copying a web page into its system is Indexing.

Digital Marketing Glossary: The Ultimate List of All Digital Marketing Terms

Display Network

A network of those sites and apps that show display ads on their web pages is Display Network. The Display Network of Google spans around 2 million websites

DNS

DNS is Domain Name System that gives IP address a name because for internet users, remembering letter and words in website URL is easier compared to remembering numeric characters of IP

Dofollow

A hyperlink that does not have a ‘nofollow’ piece of code added to it is Dofollow hyperlink and it passes SEO equity to the destination URL that “nofollow” never do

Duplicate Content

Used for instances when portions of same text are found in two or more different places on the web. It causes ranking issues for all the websites that have same content

Ecommerce (or E-Commerce)

Stands for Electronic Commerce that defines those businesses, which are conducted online such as an online retailer who sells products and services direct to the consumer. E-Commerce classification includes B2B, B2G, B2C, C2C and C2B.

Email Automation

Computerized systems that use software and tools to automatically send emails based on defined triggers and do repetitive email marketing tasks

Email List

A collection of email addresses that Email Marketers can use for channelizing targeted email marketing campaigns to the audiences who email address is comprised under that Email list

Email Marketing

Use of email for generating leads and acquiring customers or for ensuring any other type of conversions is Email Marketing. Newsletters, Events, Marketing Offers and Announcements are different types of Email Marketing

Featured Snippet

An information in the form of summary that Google pulls from a website and places directly into search results for showing quick answers to common and simple queries that searchers type in Search Bars. Google programmatically does this by using most relevant details from an a site that has good authority

Facebook Advertising

Marketing on Facebook with the help of Facebook Ads to reach the target audiences via Facebook’s ad network is known as Facebook Advertising. It includes paid ads on Facebook