Nowadays if your business does not have online presence, you might as well close shop. With the popularity of social media and the convenience of online shopping, your audience can easily be found on the web, making online marketing key to generate sales and to raise awareness for all businesses. So what digital marketing trends are in store in for 2020?
Increased personalised marketing
Personalised marketing is expected to grow exponentially. Just sending a generic email to thousands of customers is no longer viable. With the emergence of customer relationship management tools and advanced AI software, businesses are now able to segment their audience into smaller sub-segments. Think about Amazon and Netflix who use personalised marketing. You are shown and recommended products and films based on your history so the content shown to you is consistently relevant.
Shoppable Posts
Although still relatively new to digital marketing, shoppable posts are expected to grow due to their sheer convenience. Currently available on Instagram, a shoppable button allows customers to purchase a product without having to leave the Instagram platform. In this way, the customer is more likely to make a purchase since less clicks are required.
AI software for SEO
With the development of new AI software aiming at improving SEO, the online playing field will begin to even out. Software houses are currently working on an AI system which can fix any SEO errors thus removing the previous competitive edge some sites had with larger budgets for SEO optimisation. MarketBrew and Can I Rank are such tools that use AI to improve a business’ SEO by mapping out keywords by region and search engine modelling.
Content… and more content
The demand for content will continue to grow, specifically the need for fresh content. For 2020, uploading fresh content onto your website and social media will be the determining factor which will set you apart from your competitors. Fresh content also allows you to promote a variety of products and services in unique and attractive ways which will engage online audiences.
Voice Search
With the latest trends of Google’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, voice search is increasing in popularity. According to Amazon, smart speaking shipments grew by 200% YoY since 2018. In fact, it is estimated that 50% of online searches in 2020 will be done through voice as it becomes a simpler method of searching for what is needed. Therefore, ensuring your website is SEO optimised for Voice Search is important so customers find you with ease. Optimisation can be done in a variety of ways such as using casual speech across all online platforms and targeting long-tail keywords.
Chatbots for Social Media Pages
In a nutshell, a chatbot is a software which allows you to have a human to machine conversation. Some social media platforms such as Facebook are making use of integrated third-party chatbots such as ManyChat and Chatfuel into their API system in order to provide the opportunity for such conversations. Chatbots also build customer data based on interactions between the social media page and the user, and this data can then be used for future promotions and re-marketing.
Improved data analytics
Currently many digital marketeers rely on Google Analytics for data. It provides information on website conversions, traffic and much more, but it has its limitations. Google Data Studio makes up for some its limitations by allowing you to have more widgets on your data dashboard and being able to have as many data reports as you need. Google Data Studio is the next big thing when it comes to reporting and data analytics for all online marketing activities for greater visibility on the business’ overall online conversions.
Influencer Marketing will continue to grow
Influencer marketing has grown significantly especially in Malta with many brands reaching out to influencers to promote their products. This trend is estimated to continue growing throughout 2020 so we are certain that we will be seeing more product placements on local personalities over the coming months.
Keeping up with the constantly changing digital marketing trends can at times be daunting however it is vital that businesses keep abreast of the ways in which their digital efforts can improve to be a step-ahead of competitors and to maintain a healthy return on their investment.
Carina Borg is founder of CB Content Creators, www.cbcreators.com – a digital marketing
agency specialising in the field of social media marketing and content across online
platforms.
As published in timesofmalta.com
