4 trends to adopt in digital marketing

Digital marketing has opened up new avenues for businesses worldwide in a surprisingly short period of time. As digital marketing continues to evolve, brands need to be on the lookout for emerging trends in the digital marketing arena if they are to remain competitive. Here, we outline four major trends that your brand needs to incorporate in its digital marketing strategy if it is to stay competitive within the industry.

1. Video marketing

When we talk of video marketing, many people will think of video-only platforms such as YouTube. However, there are many other platforms where brands can leverage tools such as live broadcasts and video posts to capture the attention of their audience. Using videos on these platforms can allow brands to reach a larger number of people since media is increasingly being consumed through smartphones. People generally use apps like Instagram or Facebook when they are on the go or during their spare time. It will therefore be more likely to reach more people through short videos or broadcasts on these platforms rather than through YouTube videos, for example. In addition, people find video content far more engaging than plain text or even still images. On top of that, Google displays those pages up to higher rankings that have video content rather than just text.

Video content can also be used to create and publish short, personalized messages by the brand. This is likely to create much higher engagement with the audience since they would feel that they are having a conversation with the brand’s team rather than just being told to buy something through a one way conversation. Live broadcasts are another popular trend that can be used for product demonstrations, interviews with the product team members or teasers and glimpses of the brand behind the scenes.

2. Stories on social media

The concept of stories started all the way back with Snapchat, which is a dedicated platform for sharing stories. They were followed by Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and then YouTube. The reason why so many social media platforms have jumped on the bandwagon is that stories serve as a highly effective way to quickly capture the attention of the viewer. The message needs to be quick since stories have a short duration and disappear after a certain period of time (usually 24 hours). Brands need to convey as much meaningful and captivating content in the story as possible because the next story immediately plays after one ends, and it is a challenging task to create an impact that makes the viewer remember what they saw amongst hundreds of stories on multiple platforms. Stories are the perfect opportunity for your brand to reach a young target audience as well.

3. Influencer marketing

The last 10 to 15 years have seen a tremendous growth in technology and social media marketing. Within social media marketing, the trend of influencer marketing is one which is used by brands to escalate their message to a significantly larger potential customer base. Influencers on social media are those people that have a significant following and they use it influence customer opinions and buying decisions. Perhaps the most important aspect that makes influencer marketing so successful is the level of trust that followers place in influencers' opinions. In other words, it is far more authentic than traditional advertising means, since no longer do people passively accept the advertising that they are made to watch.

Influencer marketing has allowed brands to create customized campaigns for their products which can garner a huge response in terms of actual purchases. To gain a competitive edge, brands are utilizing influencer marketing strategies because it saves them the time, effort and cost of gathering a large audience first and then trying to capture their attention. Brands also benefit from the vast knowledge and experience these influencers have within their respective niches, which can further elevate the quality of the promotional material for the brand’s product.

4. Digital marketing agencies

While digital marketing agencies have been around for quite some time now, their importance for brands cannot be stressed enough. A subcategory of digital marketing agencies are social media marketing agencies, another narrower category are influencer marketing agencies. These agencies serve as a bridge between influencers and brands. Influencer Hub is one such social media marketing agency which provides a comprehensive solution for both influencers and brands to  execute successful Instagram influencer marketing campaigns. With just a few clicks, influencers and brands can register and engage in collaborations that yields fruitful results for both brands and influencers. Whether you are a brand or an influencer, you can check out more about us here and get started on your influencer marketing journey today!