2020 was the year that businesses, small and large, all over the world were forced to change their ways on how they operate, with many products and services moving to online platforms and employees continuing to work remotely as a result of the global pandemic.

In addition to this, lockdowns and isolation periods have also caused a change in customer behaviour, meaning all the necessary changes to digital marketing will continue to change and evolve throughout this year.

So, what are these changes to internet marketing and what is it that we need to look out for in order to engage new customers as well as to keep hold of existing ones? We’ve outlined 5 areas below:

1. Social Media Marketing

The pandemic has resulted in people spending more time online than ever before, so in order to keep earning a profit, it’s crucial that you commit to your social media marketing resources.

As we keep coming in and out of lockdowns, physically going to a shop to browse or buy is getting more difficult, especially when non-essential shops have to close. Many people don’t want to leave the house at all or unless absolutely necessary, resulting in the increased use of online platforms instead. This is where having a strong social media presence is necessary to reach your target audience, as well as ensuring that your company brand and products/services are getting noticed and then shared around by users and potential buyers.

2. Interactive Content

To get a higher rate of engagement in your social posts and/or website, you will need to increase the interactivity of your content. This is a good way to get your audience’s attention and engage with them, as well as showing that your business is up to date.

A few good ways to do this is by live sessions, surveys, asking questions and holding polls & quizzes. Another idea is to offer giveaways and create competitions to get people talking and sharing. A few prizes won’t break the bank, especially when it’s a great opportunity to build up the number of followers and potential customers.

3. Ensure your Business Information and Local SEO is Correct

One of the most essential things for small businesses is to ensure your company details and local listings are up to date and established across all platforms and search engines.

‘Google My Business’ listing is quite useful in giving valuable information about your company. Say you own a café for example, if someone is walking around a town and searches for café’s nearby, you will display on the search if your information is up to date – and obviously you would want the right contact details to be visible if they were to contact with any questions.

With this in mind, ensure that your local listings have a specific area to make sure your business is picked up and found in the ‘near me’ search, as well as keeping finer details up to date such as opening hours – you don’t want to be closed when you state to be open.

4. An increase in Voice Searching

Now that many people are using voice assistants like Siri and Alexa etc, it means that it’s not just text searches that your content needs to be optimised to.

With this in mind, you need to ensure that your content is available in both voice and textual cases, meaning a change in the types of keywords you use in your content. For example, when people speak to Alexa, they mainly use words like “why” and “how” in order to receive the answer they are looking for, so if your tone is more conversation-like, you are much more likely to be shown in voice searches.

5. Using Messaging Apps for Marketing

Messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are now two of the main platforms that this generation uses to engage with friends and family. However, with the ever-changing times there’s now huge potential for business as well, with Facebook continuously developing new features in this area, there’s a great opportunity to engage with a huge audience of where there is now over a billion users on both the above platforms alone.

Although Messaging apps are a huge part of communication, you still can’t be without the trusty email marketing platforms, which is also going to be a big part of 2021 as these instant messaging platforms are where people are most active day to day. And on the topic of instant messaging, live chat options are very popular for any questions from an extensive audience, so incorporating something similar using one of the common platforms could be a good option for your business.

All in all, digital marketing has no fixed approach or eternal rule book to abide by as it’s ever changing with the world around us, so all we can do is focus on our goals and follow the current trends where appropriate.

SEO and interactive content that gives informative and beneficial information to your market is crucial for engagement and maintaining your existing audience.

Dedication to your social media marketing resources and creating your own individual content by your distinctive brand will help to make a difference to your online presence.

We hope that 2021 is a better year for all!

(Images: undraw.co)

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