While the Digital Marketing Trends are evolving with every year that passes by and competition is getting stronger and stronger, companies and marketers must be one step ahead when it comes to their brand’s online presence, so that people don’t lose sight of the brand. And because we know not everyone has access to the latest researches about the newest digital trends, we, at Marketiu, published a free 2020 Digital Marketing Trends Report, in which you can find brand new, relevant informations about the digital space in 2020.

Social Media Marketing Trends

1. Niche Social Media Platforms will perform best

Facebook and Instagram have been dominating Social Media for a long time, being two of the biggest and most used platforms around the globe. Facebook remains the most popular Social Media Platform in the UK, having around 45 million users - which means that 70% of brits own a Facebook account. Globally speaking, the total number of people who use Facebook increased by 9% last year, reaching 2,45 billion daily active users (DAU) by the end of 2019 (while Instagram has only 1 billion daily active users).

During the last years, platforms like TikTok have become more popular among the young public segment, while LinkedIn has also gained popularity among B2B companies and Twitch among the gaming community. 

LinkedIn

With over 610 million users, LinkedIn is the top Social Media platform for B2B marketers. In the UK, there are over 28 million profiles, with 60% male and 40% female. Over the last years, LinkedIn has faced a 12,9% growth of users.

LinkedIn’s biggest advantage remains the specific targeting options within the platform. Compared to other Social Media platforms, the users’ data is much more accurate, so that an advertiser can target a specific audience who works in companies of a specific size, in a certain industry, or by their exact role in the company. Therefore, even if the cost per click or lead is higher than on Facebook, for example, there is a guarantee that the result will be much more relevant. Starting from the beginning, our digital marketing agency Marketiu had Linkedin Marketing Services as part of our core offering, and we’ve implemented campaigns from the very launch of the feature in Linkedin; the results have been highly profitable when it comes to customer acquisition. This strategy works best when the clients’ sales team is highly involved, so the leads from LinkedIn can be converted into clients.

TikTok

Because TikTok is a social platform that displays short and engaging videos, it has become one of the young segment’s favourite. With over 800 million daily active users, TikTok is being dominated by Gen Z - people aged between 14 and 24 years. According to Wallaroomedia.com, people who are considered to be part of Gen Z are trendsetters, and that is why they prefer platforms like TikTok, because this is the place where viral trends start.

When it comes to advertising on TikTok, most marketers make use of Influencer Marketing, because lots of influencers are active on this platform, at the same time with Facebook or Instagram. The ad formats which are available on TikTok are “sponsored hashtag challenges”, in-feed video ads or homepage takeovers. Marketers must come with catchy and entertaining ideas for challenges in order to reach their target market, which is the younger segment. That is why most brands choose to make use of influencers, because they can shape the message to reach the target audience in the best way possible.

2. Ephemeral content will gain more popularity

Ephemeral content is the type of content which is available for a short period or time and then it disappears. It has become more popular due to our attention span, which is becoming shorter day by day. For that reason, the Story feature has gained so much popularity - they are short, interactive, and -why lie - addictive to consume.

Snapchat was the first social platform to launch ephemeral content, feature that was copied afterwards by Facebook and Instagram. Actually, Stories on Instagram are the most popular, with over 500 million people who use this feature on a daily basis.

In 2020, the ephemeral content will continue to take over social media, because people continue to prefer short and entertaining content, which can lead to hours and hours of scrolling from one story to another. Another reason would be the people’s wish to be up to date with what their friends or idols are up to, in real-time. This is also what encourages people to follow more content like this or even post constantly - to give other people the feeling of being up to date with everything in their lives. Learn more about our Social Media Marketing Services here.

3. Instagram hides posts likes

Recently, Instagram has tested a new app version in which the number of likes is not visible anymore. It has been tested only in a few countries, but soon it might be applied globally. The reason behind this drastic change would be that the number of likes has become an indicator of our social value, and this “form of validation” is at the expense of our mental health.

Instagram has never stopped being a popular Social platform, especially for the young segment (25-35 y.o). Because of the potential reach of Instagram (estimated at 850 million users), more and more brands decide to have a stronger online presence on Instagram. Another reason why businesses decide to focus more on this social platform is because people spend 40% more time on Instagram than on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.

4. Micro and Nano Influencers

While huge influencers will continue to be in every brand’s attention, don’t underestimate the power of a micro-influencer, who has gathered around a smaller, but a well-defined community. Smaller influencers can offer better engagement and personalised content for their followers, which, if chosen wisely, can be part of your target audience.

Recently, we have seen that brands prefer to associate with micro and nano influencers to promote their businesses, because they attract as much traffic as a bigger influencer, but at a lower cost, of course. The prices start from 100$ per post for a micro influencer, who has less than 25,000 followers, and can reach thousands of dollars for a post, when it comes to big influencers with a huge following base. Regarding the price of Stories, they can start from 43$ and can get up to 700$ per story, according to Wavemaker.

5. Making use of Social Media for Customer Service

People started to use Social Media more than ever to get in touch with the brands they use. It is a fast way to get an answer - and it usually happens after people have bad experiences on other communication channels.

Facebook Messenger has become one of the main communication channels for people, and businesses need to make use of it to communicate with their clients. By using a Messenger Chatbot, everything becomes easier: people can get instant answers and the open rate is much higher on Messenger (84%) than on email (15-34%), for example (chatbotslife.com). If we haven’t convinced you yet to give Messenger Chatbots a try, find out that in 2020 it is estimated that 80% of businesses will choose automatisation and Messenger Chatbots, and that is because 63% of customers believe that every business should be available at any time on Messenger.

What attracts people the most to Chatbots is the perceived availability of the brands they’re trying to contact, because most of the users who get in touch with a brand demand instant replies to their questions. Brands have to adapt their communications and keep up with the people’s needs - and if you want to improve the customer-brand interaction, now is the time to take action.

Content Marketing Trends

1. Video Content is still “king”

Being one of the most interactive type of content, videos are the future of Social Media. According to a Cisco study, 82% of all online content will be video by 2022. And while Facebook users watch videos for an average of 100 million hours per day, the organic reach of photo content decreased by 135%, according to Social Bakers.

It is clear that video campaigns are also on an ascending trend and the investment towards them is expected to reach 25,6 billion dollars by 2023 - that means 128% more than the total spend in 2018. Last year only, 30% of Facebook Ads spend was towards video advertisements. 

TikTok’s evolution also suggests that short videos are becoming a “big thing”, too. While being downloaded for more than 1 billion times, TikTok remains number 4 in the non-games App category on Android - and iOS too.

2. Podcasts are helping brands grow

Globally, there are over 700,000 active podcasts and more than 29 million podcasts episodes, according to Musicoomph.com. An ascending number, knowing that in 2018 there were only 550,000 active podcasts. The top categories are culture and society, business, comedy, news, politics or health. In the UK, the most listened podcasts on Spotify are That Peter Crouch Podcast, Sh**ged Married Annoyed, Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster, The Receipts Podcast, My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark.

Having access to such a big audience, more and more brands choose to advertise themselves during the shows. According to Marketingdive, this type of advertising will generate up to 659 million of dollars in 2020. On the other hand, experts claim it is better to use this channel only for awareness, not for direct customer acquisition. Rebekah Bek, author at Ahrefs, claims that podcast advertising isn’t all about direct return on investment, and it is a useful tool for raising the brand’s exposure and awareness.

Digital Advertising Trends

1. Automatisation, AI and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning allow PPC specialists to make their work more efficient and offer a better service over time - and that is because using big data analysis algorithms, it will automatically know how to resolve certain situations based on previous data analysis and automated actions. This will not only allow your computer take some decisions for you, but some of them will also be better quality because they will be made based on accurate previous data analysis.

However, if you are a PPC specialist, you shouldn’t worry about the future of your job - the human factor will always be needed for the success of a campaign. While technology has the ability to process big data, it lacks the ability to relate and empathise with the people. On top of that, the human decision will always be necessary to make sure that the AI actions are according to the client’s interest.

2. The diversity of the platforms and budget allocation

Rather than just make use of PPC on only one platform, be it Google Ads or Facebook Ads, make sure to test other Social Media platforms in 2020 to find out which fits better to your target audience and which has better results.

And when it comes to the spend of Digital Advertising, whether it’s Google search advertising, video, social or display, they will continue to increase with 15% (according to MAGNA’s prediction). This percentage is by far smaller than in the previous four years - 18-20%.

The most important insight may be that, for the first time in history, digital advertising sales will represent more than half of the global advertising market in 2020: 51,5% (or 306 billion dollars).

Social Media remains the digital ad format with the highest increase rate - 25%, but smaller than in 2018 - 34%, being ahead of video (23% increase rate, smaller than 30% in 2018) or search (14% increase rate, smaller than 19% in 2018). All digital advertising formats are slowing down their increase rates because of the more mature media consumption habits.

Google Search remains the top digital format when it comes to spending, with over 47% of all digital advertising sales (144 billion dollars) - most of the brands redirecting the majority of their budget to this type of format.

3. A personal approach is essential

In 2020, a personal approach will be much more efficient than a “salesy” one. Try writing your ads in a friendlier, funnier way, because this way you will attract more people, who can actually make use of the products that you’re promoting - and consume your advertising messages from a more positive mindset.

Conclusion

This year brings new technologies and changes that marketers and businesses need to make use of, in order to remain in people’s focal point. The customers’ behaviour will continue to change, and that is why brands must be in a constant transition, adjusting their tactics and strategies, in order to satisfy people’s needs, which are continuously evolving.

Set your objectives from the very beginning, get to know your target audience and focus on the quality of the content you are delivering to them. Now you know the latest trends and we encourage you to not be afraid of the unknown - those who risk will have most to win. You know what they say, if you never try, you’ll never know!

Need help or looking to explore the ways in which you can improve your Online Marketing this year?