6 Latest Trends in Digital Marketing that You Must Know

When businesses talked about digital marketing a few years ago, it was just about having a basic website and a Facebook page. But the digital landscape has evolved drastically over the past couple of years and today, it is one of the crucial elements that determine the success of a business.

If you want to survive and stand out from the crowd, you should make sure that you keep up with the latest digital marketing trends.

Following are some of the latest digital marketing trends

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
2. No-Click Searches also Known as Featured Snippet
3. Voice Search
4. Visual Search
5. Automated & Smart Bidding in Google Ads
6. Live Video 
   

1) Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Today AI has transformed the face of marketing. A few years ago, marketers were reluctant to use AI as a part of their digital marketing strategy. But many world-renowned brands like Amazon, Spotify and Tesla have adopted these technologies and have proven successful. Today, AI has become one of the key tools in the world of digital marketing.

AI possesses the ability to collect and analyze data, apply them and also react to them and this has revolutionalised the field of digital marketing. Customer relationship management is one of the key improvements that AI has brought into digital marketing. AI allows businesses to create a strategy that is highly customer-centric by optimizing the collection of customer information and filtering the valid data. With these analysed data, marketers can easily and accurately identify customer needs and offer the right solutions.

Some of the main applications where AI is used in digital marketing are AI chatbots that have made the customer service easier, more productive and a better experience, personalised email marketing campaigns based on user behavior, AI digital advertising, content curation etc.

2 ) No-Click Searches also Known as Featured Snippet:  

• Generally, when you have a question, you type your question into Google, hit enter, and click on the article that best answers your question or gives you the information you need.
• Sometimes though, the answer is suggested to you in a paragraph at the top of the result page. These boxes, called Position Zero in search engine results, often come with an image and all the information you were looking for displayed in an easy to distinguish box. You have the answer you need, so you don’t need to click on an article. 
• This is what’s called a no-click search. Google and other search engines provide these to help people find answers quickly and keep people on their website (and off of yours).
• For business owners wanting to attract visitors to their website, it can be frustrating to see lower traffic because Google is handing your potential customers the answer. But, these snippets don’t always spell bad news. 
• When search engines use your website to show information to searchers, it shows you’re providing valuable content. The trick is to make sure you add something to these snippets that will draw the reader in and entice them to click on your website for more information, and away from the search engine that has provided them with a quick answer.
• No-click searches may be beneficial to the reader and the search engine company, but you can also use them to your advantage. Being the subject of a no-click search means you’re halfway there — people are interested in what you have to say. Your next step is to attract them to your site for more of what you have to offer.

3 ) Voice Search: 

• I’ve mentioned voice search a couple of times already, so you knew it was going to be on this list. Voice search shows no sign of slowing down and will continue to be a major influence on how brands create content and market themselves online.
• We’re not quite at the commonly cited prediction that 50% of searches will be driven by voice in 2020 (we’re currently sitting at about 20% according to Google), but this statistic is probably not that far in the future. The smart speaker business is booming, with around a quarter of US households now owning a Google Home, Amazon Echo, or another smart speaker.
• Consumers are also expecting to use voice search more in the near future – 61% of those aged 25–64 who already use a voice device intends to use it more in the future according to research by PwC.

4) Visual Search:

•  Instead of typing a description into Google, users can now upload an image and get information about an item just from a picture. If they’re uploading a plant photo, the search returns species information, while a landmark image will return historical data. When a user searches a product, it returns similar products and where to buy them. Google Lens, Pinterest Lens, and related search tools turn a user’s camera into a search bar.
• How can your business leverage visual search? You can Add high-quality images tagged with descriptive keywords, introduce an image search into your online inventory, and (if your target market uses Pinterest), consider advertising on this platform. Brands that advertise with them get the benefit of boosted search results.

5) Automated & Smart Bidding in Google Ads:

• To get the best possible results from a Google Ads campaign, Ads specialists analyze every piece of data and continuously tweak and adjust keywords, bids, and ad phrasing. While this obsessive attention to detail gets results, it’s exhausting. A business owner trying to run a campaign may become completely overwhelmed and end up failing.
• Enter automated bidding strategies. These allow Google to use machine learning to analyze the tremendous amount of data it has on its users to adjust your bids in real-time. Ads specialists can embrace automated strategies while still being in complete control. Automated bidding isn’t anything new – Smart Bidding made its debut in 2016 – but most business owners aren’t aware of what it is or what it does.
• It’s important to note that there are still plenty of human strategies involved in optimizing PPC performance. You can’t just set it and forget it and expect results – you still need to test everything, including testing automated bid strategies against each other.

6) Live Video:

• The live video industry is expected to be worth over $70 billion by 2021. Live video is incredibly popular with consumers, and people spend three times longer watching live video than they do watch the pre-recorded video.
• Video content is also the most popular way for consumers to learn about new products.
• When the live element is added, this makes the video more engaging as the audience feels they’re a part of it and can influence the content, rather than just passively watching.
• 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. 
• The following diagram shows the most preferred method to find out about a new product or a service by people and 68% prefer a short video.

• 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.

Make sure you are up-to-date about all the latest digital marketing trends and make sure you continuously update your digital strategy to match these new technologies.

Read more: 

2020 Trends In Digital Marketing