Reserve with Google
Just a decade ago, marketing used to be quite simple. All you had to do is hire an agency that knows the ropes and you will likely get the wanted results. But those days are long gone. New game-changing technologies are evolving, customers are becoming more demanding, and trends are changing so rapidly that marketers are frequently scrambling just to keep up. Being aware of emerging marketing trends is a fundamental part of remaining competitive and staying on top of the game.
We’ve completed the list of the most prominent trends in marketing that you should take into account and act upon today.
Shoppable Posts
Social media presence has reasonably become an integral part of every online marketing strategy. If you are an e-commerce company and haven’t optimized your company’s account for shopping yet, you are losing money. Social media networks represent huge opportunities for businesses. For instance, 72% of Instagram users say they have purchased a product they saw on the app. That is why you need to do your best to enhance your social media presence.
A good way to do so is tagging products on posts and stories to encourage shopping behavior and make it easy for users to buy directly from your account. For instance, shoppable posts and stories on Instagram look like regular ones but the displayed products are tagged and link to the seller’s website. A user may identify such posts by a little “shopping bag” icon on the upper corner.
Take a look at Olivia Burton Instagram official account, which is a fashion brand. They implemented shoppable posts to get their social media followers to visit the online store. The goal? To shorten the sales funnel by selling directly on Instagram.
By clicking on any post signed with the icon, a bubble will pop up with the product’s name and price.
Augmented Reality to Boost Customer Shopping Experience
Real-time beautification and face masks have already won over the hearts of millions of Internet users around the world. But how is AR used in marketing? In recent years, this technology has become very popular and is considered to be a new trend in marketing.
In 2020, more and more brands are making use of augmented reality to provide their users with an outstanding shopping experience. For instance, Ikea, a Swedish-origin company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances, and home accessories, was one of the first brands that implemented AR in their native application. With this feature, users can visualize what a piece of furniture would look like in their home.
Moreover, AR-based apps make shopping for clothing and apparel easier. Offering customers the possibility to virtually try on the product before purchasing by using their devices’ camera has been taking many brands by storm. For instance, GUCCI has already created its own virtual dressing room integrated into its iOS and Android apps.
As you can see, the opportunities here are endless!
Interactive Content
In a nutshell, interactive content is a kind of content that is created to grab users’ attention and make them take action. Depending on the website, these actions can be a simple clicking to learn more about a product, filling out a form, or answering a series of questions.
All in all, interactive content provides marketers with a way to engage their target audience with interesting experiences, insights, or useful information. 91% of users prefer interactive content rather than traditional formats. To bring more audience engagement, use a proofreading service to ensure the high-quality of every content piece you make.
Take a look at what Orbitz, a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine, has invented. They used a tool like this to make a quiz for their users to find out whether a travel partner they found for the journey the right match. This interactive content is engaging and nutty so that people enjoy it and stay on the site longer.
Personalization Is King
2020 is claimed to be a year of personalized marketing. Consumers no longer enjoy generic ads that have no real connection to them. According to a survey of 1,000 respondents, the appeal for personalization is very high. Thus, 80% of people surveyed indicated that they are more prone to do business with an organization if it provides a personalized experience.
The fact is that to provide a truly personalized experience, companies need the data and analytical prowess. The best advice here is to track absolutely everything your customers do on your site. When it comes to running an e-commerce store, data is power.
Giants like Netflix, Nike, Target, and Amazon have enough data to develop a highly customized experience. As such, Amazon’s customers are given relevant messages at the right place and time. Just look at the snapshot of their homepage. Yours will be different; the homepage is never the same. Amazon is constantly tracking what you’ve browsed and what you’ve bought to adjust their messaging to you.
Personalization can be considered as an integral part of every digital marketing strategy. Arguably, it is what a great majority of consumers anticipate… A study has shown that 79% of consumers feel frustrated if the content on the website they are viewing is not tailored to them personally.
Besides, according to Gartner’s research, at least 90% of marketers will start using personalization in some forms by 2021.
SERP Position Zero
Throughout 2020 and 2021, SEO will remain an important part of marketing but we are now witnessing one of the most essential shifts in the industry in the last decade.
Due to the continuous growth of mobile and voice search, the ways people use search engines (like Google) are changing. As such, being first in the Search Engine Results Pages is no longer the holy grail of SEO and the primary goal businesses should be aiming for.
You’ve probably noticed that some pages show up “above” the first search results. This top spot is considered as “position zero”, a featured snippet located above the search results. The snippet contains the title and URL, as well as a piece of the page’s content that answers the searcher’s query.
According to Google, the algorithm automatically detects pages that provide the most accurate answer to a certain query and features them as a snippet. For instance, we searched “position zero in Google” and here is what happened:
In 2020 and beyond, position zero should be the main focus of your efforts. If you are able to be the first in your industry to get there, you’ll have a great advantage over your competitors. And if you are not sure that you can tackle it yourself, address an e-commerce consulting agency for support.
Summarizing
With the marketing world constantly changing, brands have no other option but to stay on top of these shifts to establish a strong connection with their audience and know what their needs are. By following these marketing trends, you will keep up with the ever-growing industry.
This is a guest post by Alex Husar.
