What will digital marketing be like in the next 10 years?

The future is unpredictable.

We beg to differ. 

So, supported by well-researched theories and statistics, we will predict the future of digital marketing. 

The digital era is here. Conventional marketing dictums are fast disappearing. 2020, being a historic period of disruption, accelerated some trends and killed off many others that were already waning. 

Today’s customers/audiences have several combined touchpoints to make shopping decisions, attention spans have gone down drastically (hours to minutes to seconds), and competition is stiff. Not only that but segmentation has become more complex-a customer who will only buy the cheapest flight tickets can spend thousands on an Apple iPhone or laptop. 

So, according to us and any leading digital marketing company in India and the world, with changing times, the marketer has to be not only creative but also able to deliver the creative material to the relevant customer through a relevant touchpoint. 

It is astonishing to realize today that Facebook “once” dominated the world. Twitter “became” a battleground for politicians, YouTube & Instagram “revolutionized” content. Did you notice the past tense in all of that? All this and more have already happened. 

But, what next?

What will digital marketing look like in 10 years? 

Let’s take a deep dive.

The future of digital marketing in 10 years

AI will come to the forefront

Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO, had claimed that artificial intelligence or AI will be “vastly smarter” than any human soon. He has also predicted that AI will overtake us by 2025. 

So, yes, the next tech for digital marketing is AI.

AI will provide better personalization

AI will have a HUGE impact on customer experience. It will help create personalized experiences more efficiently and systematically. Providing interactive and customized purchase experiences will become the norm & will be made possible by consumer behavior analysis. 

Analytics tools will become smarter

The analytics tools are going to become a lot smarter with AI through meta-analysis of broad-spectrum data sets and next using that same data to make its own decisions. 

AI will find its use in everything-from content creation, voice & face recognition, chatbot, digital assistants to highly targeted marketing strategies, and much more. 

Example

Currently, Google AdWords’ automated auction-based bidding system takes the heavy lifting & guesswork out of advertisers’ minds. It lets advertisers pay the lowest possible cost per conversion. 

High effectiveness of AR/Augmented Reality

Science-fiction-like visions will be mainstream in the future with Augmented Reality or AR. AR is predicted to go onto becoming a trillion-dollar industry by the end of the 2030s. 

IDC recently revealed that from 2019-2023, the global AR market along with the VR market is predicted to see a 77% compound annual growth rate.

What’s coming in the future of AR/Augmented Reality

Marketers will use AR to enhance user experience and provide real time-feel for their audiences through tools offering more engaging, interactive, and personalized experiences. 

B2B and B2C marketing will disappear completely, giving way to B2E or Business to Experience marketing. 

360-degree photography and videography are already there. Eventually, through AR advertisements, viewers will have the ability to have more control and interact with the content. 

Example

1. IKEA is already doing this. Through AR, the company is changing how we buy furniture online. Using a smartphone app you can now take a picture of your intended space and then mix and match different furniture to find the right combination. 
2. Skincare brands like OLAY are doing it too. Take a picture of your face through their app and they’ll determine your skin’s age as well as problematic areas. Then they’ll provide you with a suggested list of products for your skin. 

The rise of Virtual Reality 

Being an experienced digital marketing company, we can vouch for the fact that virtual reality or VR will be one of the most disruptive technologies of this decade. 

In fact, VR is already here. According to a study conducted by the Global Web Index in 2016, more than two out of five people in the 16-34 age groups are interested in VR headsets. Interesting fact, as of 2020, almost 26 million VR headsets are owned globally by consumers.

What’s expected off of virtual reality

Storytelling is an irreplaceable tool in digital marketing. Virtual reality will enhance storytelling by enabling users to connect with a brand/its story/campaign with such an in-depth emotional intensity that it is unscalable through traditional media. 

Example

A great example of VR marketing can be seen in Tom’s Shoes. It is a California-based company known for its philanthropic approach. For every purchase, they give away a pair of shoes to the underprivileged. They used an ingenious VR tool to create a beautiful experience-that of giving every customer a trip to Peru, where they would gift someone a shoe. They set this up as an in-store customer experience enhancer.

The evolution of Voice Marketing

Voice search is not new. It’s been there for ten years. Voice assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa have brought this a step forward. 

3.25 billion people already use voice-activated search as well as assistants globally. The number is predicted to hit 6.4 billion in 2022. Gen Z’s stats suggest that 38% of them are willing to make purchases via voice-activated ordering.

A new door has opened

The increased use of such voice assistants has opened new doors for marketers. How? By allowing contextual interactions with users. Voice marketing can take personalization to a whole new level. 

Brands will need to optimize their digital content for voice search. A conversational tone will be used in most content, along with long-tailed keywords and detailed search phrases. 

Example

Starbucks is doing it and doing it well! They have an app that lets people order & pay in advance. The ordering can be done with voice cues using Amazon’s Alexa or most recently Samsung Bixby in the South Korean market. This simplifies the process of buying drinks.

Ecommerce will be smartly integrated with retail

The first wave of disruption brought eCommerce into the industry. The next wave that is currently going on and will continue till the 2030s, will be all about creating integrated solution-combining e-commerce with retail. 

Online-versus-offline clearly doesn’t work, so brands are quickly adopting both! The idea is to deliver value to customers no matter where they are, at home or in-store. The two experiences are merging.

Example

1. McDonald’s is already doing it through its barcode menu. The digital solution is fully integrated with a payment gateway. No need to touch a menu card, just scan the QR code, see the menu, place the order, and pay through the app. Simple. 
2. Sephora has an app letting in-store shoppers access essential information about products pretty quickly. The app has an AI feature that lets customers see how some products like makeup will look on them.

Influencer marketing of the future

Influencer marketing is already booming. It is predicted to become a $15 billion industry by 2022. Not only that but according to recent reports, 63% of marketers intend to increase their influencer marketing budget in the next year. People want relatability over aspirational today and that will be the trend even in the next 10 years. 

Next stop evolution

Technology will get more involved in influencer marketing connecting talent to consumers more seamlessly, immediately, and scalable. 

Real-time incubations will be rampant where the audience is a part of the process, from designing to manufacturing to shipping. Interpersonal advice through celebrities who look like “you” will become popular where the said celebrity will model the product/service. 

There will be highly interactive brand experiences involving ad personalization. For example, in a car ad with Liam Hemsworth or our very own Ranveer Singh, you could sit right by him and truly experience the ride through technology. 

Inanimate celebrities will become widely popular like Barbie was once, and Qai Qai is today. Many celebrities who have passed will be reanimated through technology for marketing.

Social media shops will become a better part of online shopping

You see it, you like it, you buy it! There will be no barriers to buying things you like on different social media platforms. 

Instagram is already making it possible through its shop; the others will follow suit. The shops will be fully automated, the experience real-time, and the process smooth. 

“Phygital” will be the new norm in social media shops. The “phygital” space will slowly become more and more interactive, oftentimes allowing audiences to have a say in the customization of products. 

Example

Facebook is connecting users to sellers directly through “shops.” It is a single shop where businesses can create an online store not only on Facebook but also on Instagram. You can choose to feature certain items and tell your brand story with customizable fonts and colors. Your customers can connect with you through WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct Message. 

Content marketing will grow

About 70% of marketers are currently actively investing in content marketing. It is only going to increase in the future. 

The future of content marketing requires more than “fun” content. It requires empathy, creativity, and adaptability wrapped in technology that connects you to your customer. So, that is exactly how it is predicted to be in the next 10 years. 

The next is here

The topical authority will replace keyword research because Google is getting smarter about semantics and link relevancy, so brands with more in-depth coverage will be the forerunners. 

Value-driven practical content will have more value, gated content will reduce, interactive content showing product/service use will increase. Not only that, in content marketing, original research with in-depth insights will gain more popularity. 

AI will be implemented in content marketing. It will be helping streamline content load, decipher the ever-changing world of content marketing, analyze user data, and understand user intent.  

Machine-generated content and content atomization will also be widely popular. 

Affiliate marketing will cover more ground

Affiliate marketing fuels about 15% to 20% of total online sales.

According to recent reports, the affiliate marketing industry in India will cross the $835 million mark by 2025. 

The future

Affiliate programs will become more popular and more rewarding for the users. The world will be full of enthusiastic affiliate marketers because it will involve you, and me, and everyone else. 

People not engaging with it will start to lose out on great deals for little time invested and hence forced to follow suit. 

Example

1. Thought leaders offer free ebooks to consumers of their popular books. 
2. Influencers offer sweet deals to their audiences if they use their affiliate link.

The change in B2B marketing

For B2B marketing, the focus, at the moment, is on the bottom of the funnel-like lead generation. But in the next 10 years, the focus is predicted to shift to the top of the funnel-like brand building. 

Upcoming events

It will be more data-driven than today. There will be more focus on brands for social justice. Finally, hyper-targeting will decrease. Instead reaching “maximalism” will be the goal.

Brand advertising will be huge by 2030-2031. Franchise formulas will be used to monetize content, an example of which can be seen in Disney. Hyper targeting, as discussed, will come to an end. 

Example

The franchise formula can be seen in the Walt Disney brand. They used big bets, offered familiarity as well as nostalgia, granted consistent distinctiveness, and adopted merchandising on all grounds. 

Government interference in social media

We are entering a new era of social media regulation. This is mostly due to an increase in data leaks. 

What’s next up?

Many apps will be regulated or banned, many ads and what they showcase or how they showcase it will determine its popularity or even their relevance. Brands will have to be more careful about their social media image and statements/campaigns. 

Many governments are blocking or asking for answers from different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

To sum up

In a nutshell, the change we will see in the next 10 years is already afoot. To see your brand succeed, you have to keep up with the changes. Digital marketing is key to a brand’s success, if you have it under control, nobody can stop you. Ask any top digital marketing company and they’ll tell you customization leading to personalization aided by technology is the future of digital marketing. Ace it and you’ll be a success.

Note:

MMBO is a leading digital marketing agency in Delhi. We are a full-service digital marketing company with an experienced, energetic, and enthusiastic team of marketers, creatives, and visionaries. After extensive research into the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, we crafted content discussing the future of digital marketing.

Original source

Latest social media marketing trends 2021

 2020 was chaotic. With everybody stuck inside, people turned to social media like never before. Considering 3 billion people are on social media, the shift was evident and powerful. 

Now, as we've entered a much anticipated new year and are into the second month of 2021, vaccines are rolling out, we're inching towards positive change, gearing up about climate action, and much more, social media is only becoming even more important. 

Social media is known for rapid change. It often boggles the minds of social media marketers and businesses alike. More so after such an unpredictable year. 

After much research and survey, the leading social media marketing agencies in Delhi NCR and the world have predicted a few social media marketing trends for 2021. Here we'll discuss just that. 

These trends can make or break your brand this year, trust us, any social media marketing agency will agree. 

Social media marketing trends of 2021

• Social commerce will get a new lease

According to a Hootsuite survey, about 73% of respondents indicated that their most important social media goal for 2021 is increasing new customers. Ask any social media marketing agency worth it's salt and they'll say that this year is all about the ROI of social media marketing. With more people on social media, skeptical brands will experience tangible ROI from social media. There will be a broader set of social media ads and new purchase methods within posts, stories, & live streams with the "buy now" option will automatically increase ease of sale. 

•  Live streams and influencer content will rise

Live streams have been an integral part of 2020. The cancellation of in-person events stopped people from participating in any. This led to an uptick in the number of people tuning into live-streams. People tuned in to many types of live streams, from branded live streams to live streams of their favourite celebrities, from online workshops to online seminars. 

• AR will come alive

Immersive experiences through virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in platforms such as Snapchat and Tiktok have become extremely popular in 2020. As the world steps into pandemic recovery and people find the confidence to indulge in more than basic necessities, brands will find the opportunities to connect virtual experiences to customer experience. Slowly AR will become integrated within how brands do business. 

• Purpose-driven marketing will take precedence

The smartest brands will realize that the best way to sell anything is to showcase how their product/service will either fit into the desired customers' life or how it will improve their life. 

It is important to be transparent. Mystery doesn't work anymore. People will only buy your product/service if they feel connected. To connect, they must understand themselves and their potential customers. A report from Deloitte states that, to do this, brands need to “be deeply attuned to why they exist and who they are built to serve”. 

• Goodwill & sustainability will be the message

2020 really tried us all, and brands often came to the forefront to show their goodwill towards the communities they serve. While brands doing good things is not uncommon, it wasn't as prevalent as it has become today. In fact, consumers are starting to hold brands who do good things and do good things right in high regard. 

According to a survey, 81% of consumers strongly feel that companies should help improve the environment. The feeling has only intensified in 2020 and trickled right into 2021. People want brands to keep sustainability in mind at all times. Any social media presence that can depict that has the potential of being praised by the lot. 

Want to know how to do it right? Consult a specialist like MMBO and you’ll be good to go. 

• Be inclusive, that’s the right way

The cultural shift towards inclusivity is impacting purchase behavior, according to a study. People want to "see" the inclusivity as much as they want to experience the inclusivity. So, the visual aspect of your brand, i.e. social media presence, should showcase how inclusive you are. 

There are many more exciting social media marketing trends, opportunities, and challenges are on the 2021 horizon. Things like snackable content and social media shopping will trend while maintaining authenticity through it all, and staying afloat through the cut-throat competition will pose challenges. To get a more in-depth understanding, click here. 

2021 here we come

2020 has been an extremely difficult year, and its challenges have leached into 2021. However, social media marketing is one thing that has kept many brands afloat and helped many other brands reinvent themselves. Now, it's your turn. For a consultation or more information, you can consult an expert like MMBO, a top Digital marketing company in Delhi NCR.

Social media marketing for B2B companies: A Detailed Guide

 In 2020, more people are moving online. Due to the pandemic, internet traffic has increased manifold. With so much competition between B2B companies, social media marketing is a good idea. 

How to promote B2B business on social media?

There are some common mistakes that many B2B companies make during social media marketing. The most common mistake is not hiring professional digital branding companies in Delhi NCR, who understand the social media strategies required for a B2B company. 

A detailed guide on social media marketing for B2B companies.

• Social media marketing.

Handling various social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook can be overwhelming. Most companies open accounts on every platform and create unappealing posts.  Social media marketing agencies in Delhi NCR, like MMBO, would suggest targeting only one platform where you can reach the company’s decision-makers. The most preferred platform for this is LinkedIn.

• Customizing the social media account.

Everyone is focusing on social media marketing, and your company needs to stand out. Digital branding companies in Delhi NCR recommend customization to ensure that your company is unique. It involves basic things like choosing the right profile picture and the right company banner. 

Some common mistakes are the banner or profile picture being cut out, wrong dimensions of the images, and generic banners unrelated to the company. Mistakes like these should be avoided, and a digital marketing agency in Delhi can help:

1. An ideal banner should include the marketing hook of your company. 

2. The bottom side should list the company website and all the other social media handles. 

3. The profile picture should be square so that it does not get cut out and looks professional.

4. After that is done, the next thing to focus on is a short, crisp description of your company.

• Strategic plan

Confused about how to formulate social media strategy for B2B businesses? Strategy for social media marketing of B2B company can make all the difference between a flourishing business and a struggling one. Usually, an online marketing company in Delhi NCR comes in handy in such scenarios. 

For a strategic plan, you need to set goals that form the foundation of your strategy. Secondly, you need a content plan. For this, you will have to decide how much content needs to be published. 

• Posting content.

For a B2B company interested in social media marketing, multidimensional content is necessary to build trust among clients. It will also single you out, making your page more exciting, which keeps the engagement high. Posting different content daily like infographics, behind the scenes, images, etc. will interest your target audience.

• Paid advertisements.

A social media marketing company in Delhi, like MMBO, would recommend running paid advertisements. Organic reach on social media platforms like Facebook has increased drastically, and their ads are inexpensive. Through these paid advertisements, you can reach a greater audience in a short time. It is an effective way to get traffic and generate leads. You can target the ads by marketing them based on geographical locations, interests, job titles, etc.

Also Read: 10 social media metrics tracking which will make your social media campaign better

Google Page Experience Update: Time To Focus On UX For Better Ranking

 In the past few years, we have seen more and more businesses, both large corporates and small start-ups, have brought their business online to gain their potential customers on the internet. This increased online inclination has given rise to a mad rush to rank better in the search engine results pages. Previously, Google used several signals like mobile friendliness, safe browsing and hundreds of other factors to rank pages. They have recently introduced a set of signals collectively known as the core web vitals which they will incorporate in their ranking algorithms. According to a digital marketing company in Delhi and those worldwide, this new page experience Google update is the first one in a slew of measures to make UX an essential ranking parameter.

This blog will discuss what's Google page experience update is all about and how a creative digital marketing agency in Delhi NCR can help to utilize this update. Other than this, it will brief you about how much time an online marketing company in Delhi has to enhance the UX metrics of their clients websites before the new update rolls.

• What is Google's new page experience algorithm update?

After the new update is put into the action, Google ranking algorithm will combine UX metrics such as loading time, interactiveness, and visual stability of a page while loading numerous existing signals to rank it. However, the priority will continue to the relevant content. In case two sites have a similar range, the one that scores higher in the UX metrics mentioned above will be ranked higher on the SERPs. So, getting back to the UX basics seems worth it for businesses.

• What is the reason behind this new update?

According to many agencies providing SEO services in Delhi NCR, this is an initial step towards Google giving more emphasis on UX related metrics for ranking websites. Google believes that evaluating page experience for a better web is necessary and will lead to more user engagement. It will be a win-win scenario for both businesses and their prospective clients and make the web a delightful place.

• What can be done to improve UX?

An excellent digital marketing agency like MMBO, can significantly help to enhance your site's UX. Few areas that the best SEO service company can help you make the most out of this update is by making optimum use of tools like page speed insights and analyzing the data that Google will provide for websites regarding these metrics. While keeping this together, the company helps in making modifications that will transform your site's UX for the better results. They can also help by modifying your site's design and running multiple tests on the updated site before the new update rolls. Given that SEO experts can help you in various ways, it is wise to hire an SEO agency to take care of your UX site.

• When will this update come into action?

While announcing the new update, Google said that it was well aware that businesses were now busy dealing with the problems caused by COVID-19. So, it would not incorporate the core web vitals immediately but maybe next year. It also said that it would give a notice period of at least six months before incorporating these metrics into the ranking algorithm.

Now that you know all about the new page experience update, we hope that you can leverage it to take your business to new heights.

ALSO READ: How brands changed their social media strategy during the pandemic