In the last decade, digital marketing has completely revolutionized the way we buy and sell products. Online shopping’s convenience has made it a popular choice for consumers and businesses alike.
It is estimated that e-commerce will make up 22% of global retail sales by 2023. And in 2021, 2.14 billion people bought something online globally. Therefore, it is important to stay on top of the digital marketing trends. So that your business can stand out and stay successful among numerous other businesses online.
1. Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing is among the latest digital marketing trends of the 2020s. There is still a lot of skepticism about online shopping. Online shopping memes like “Expectation VS Reality” have taken over social media and contributed to the distrust among consumers about the authenticity of the size, quality and type of product they will receive when they shop online.
As a result, having an Influencer show, try and review a product gives marketing a human touch. Therefore, consumers are more likely to purchase products sponsored and reviewed by their favorite influencers online. A study found that 61% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations before purchasing a product. In 2019, 93% of marketers used Influencer Marketing for their business. Influencer Marketing is estimated to be a $16.4 billion industry in 2022.
Thus, influencer marketing is one of the top trends in digital marketing. Influencer marketing is used by B2C businesses but it is making its way to B2B marketing trends as well. There are different types of influencers suited for each digital marketing channel. Bloggers/vloggers are better suited for SEO as they can give powerful backlinks to your website, while influencers involved in fitness, health, travel or beauty work well with platforms such as Instagram or Tiktok, and there are niche groups such as mukbangers or gamers who work well with video platforms like Youtube and Twitch.
It shouldn’t be too hard to find someone in your country who makes content relative to your brand or niche to advertise your products. After all, the amount of influencers are increasing globally,
2. Short Video Marketing
Ever since TikTok exploded to popularity, short videos have had a great marketing potential. So much so that digital marketing in social platforms have begun to revolve around short video making. YouTube launched “YouTube Shorts”, Instagram launched “reels”, and other big platforms followed. Short videos take less time, attention span, and give sufficient info. Thus, making them a more engaging marketing medium.
More customers are likely to watch a video than read the content when they come across business promotions and ads. So, bite-sized TikTok videos, Instagram reels, Facebook videos, YouTube shorts, Twitter videos and even livestreams are great ways to boost your content digitally. 82% of the global internet traffic is estimated to come from video streams by 2022. Which is what makes short videos one of the current digital marketing trends to look out for in 2023.
3. Personalized Ads
Personalized Ads help you see ads and news for products and services that are in your categories of interest. Infact, Google Ads has been doing this for a long time. And other apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more were quick to do the same in recent years.
Personalized ads are broadcasted by using the audience’s personal profile based on the apps they use, websites they visit and the videos they search online.It also utilizes the users’ liked posts and pages and personal information to create an ad profile. The users are categorized into groups based on the same interests, age and gender, geography and interests among other things. This makes it easier to target specific audiences, resulting in better conversions.
However, it needs to be noted that personalized ads are considered controversial as many people think it is a violation of privacy as they can get too personal. Apps like Facebook are suspected of spying on private chats to send ads based on such. Google recently launched My Ad Center to help the audience stay in control of their data. It lets users to directly control the data used to personalize ads.
In conclusion, while there may be stricter guidelines for personalized ads implemented in the near future, it is one of the digital marketing trends that’s here to stay in 2023. So brands can reach their target audience more accurately.
4. Native Advertising
Native Advertising refers to the advertising channel that fits the format of the media they are published in. Unlike Display Ads, Native Ads blend into the feed, search, listing, or recommendations much more naturally. Native Ads are a great way to sneak your Ads out into the digital world since users are becoming more resistant to bold and intrusive ads.
And Native Ad has adapted to be mobile-friendly too, to spread out to a wider audience. Native Advertising is also estimated to grow by 13.9% in 2023. This makes it one of the current digital marketing trends that will continue in 2023.
5. Virtual events
Pandemic has made a significant difference in the digital world. TikTok became more famous, and virtual events were scheduled one after the other. People realized that virtual events were more convenient than in-person interactions! Online events meant that more people with similar interests could join in despite the geographical boundaries. And you didn’t have to book a venue, bring out the RSVP cards, seating arrangements, snacks, stationeries and all. You just needed a platform to go live and some ads to get the word out.
Even after the lockdown restrictions were lifted, 92% of businesses continued holding virtual events over in-person events. And it doesn’t stop there! It is estimated that 46% companies will host virtual events in 2022 as compared to last year. Thus, virtual events are a current digital marketing trend that will make it to 2023 as well.
6. Audio marketing
Audio Marketing is estimated to make a splash as one of the digital marketing trends in 2023. This includes podcasts, audiobooks, and even specific audios on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and more. Furthermore, it is estimated that 86% of the Gen Z and 72% of Millennials and 46%+ of Gen X consume digital audio content. Also, according to midroll media’s survey, 60% of the podcast listeners bought something after hearing a podcast ad about it.
Out of which, 22% of podcasters listen while driving and commuting. And 11% of podcasters listen at work whereas 8% of podcasters listen while exercising. This is because listening takes just enough attention and very little energy. People can simply sit back, pop some earbuds in and relax to the podcast. Therefore, people are not too fussy when it comes to audio marketing. A 15 second mandatory ad between a couple of listens is pretty digestible to the majority of the people.
As mentioned above, aside from podcasts, specific audios are a good audio marketing tool too. You might have seen some small business videos on TikTok or Instagram with the automated voice.
Something like: “Show us your highest selling product, your favorite product, your most underrated product, your first product, your latest product” and more. Small business owners can use these types of audio to increase their chances of being discovered and to connect with their audiences.
Hence, why Audio Marketing is one of the latest new trends in digital marketing to adopt into your business in 2023.
7. Direct Customer Contact
When it comes to businesses online, the customer service needs to be just as good as the products.
This is one of the B2B marketing trends to look out for in 2023. According to Zendesk, 64% of business leaders claimed that customer service has had a positive impact on their company’s growth. And reportedly, 93% of customers are likely to make another purchase with companies that offer excellent customer service.
Digital Marketing in social platforms like Instagram, Facebook and more are helpful in creating direct customer contact through direct messages. Business accounts on social media also provide the function on “instant replies”. But personal replies from Customer Service Agents (CSA) are much more helpful than automated responses. A report states that 54% are unsatisfied with chatbots and the time it takes before being transferred to a human CSA.
So, a one-on-one agent/customer interaction goes a long way in saving time and customer satisfaction. Similarly, Qualtrics XM reported that 94% of the customers who have rated a business as “very good” are most likely to recommend it to others. And 90% of customers rate immediate response as very important.
That’s why Direct Customer Contact is one of the B2C and B2B marketing trends that will make it to 2023. However, hiring a Customer Service Agent may not be a feasible option for small scale businesses. Depending on the customer flow, the social media account admin can handle all the customer queries and purchases. Just be sure to be on the lookout for message requests, emails and even phone calls.
8. Customer-generated Content
Customer-generated content serves a similar function, but is slightly different from Influencer Marketing. Customer content is almost similar to customer reviews or word-of-mouth promotions. Here, customers created posts and videos like unboxing video, haul videos, photo tags, hashtags, reviews, and more. Infact, 56% of consumers want more customer-generated photos and videos from brands. According to the same report, 2.4x customers are more likely to trust user-generated content than brand-generated content. Because it gives them a more authentic look at the product and reviews.
Users are more likely to buy a product or buy from a brand when they see honest, unsponsored content about it online. Therefore, user-generated content is one of the current digital marketing trends that will be popular in 2023 as well.
9. Interaction Marketing
Interactive marketing is a low-cost, high-impact digital marketing trend that does wonders in boosting a brand’s popularity online. Interactive contents include quizzes, polls, contests, giveaways, and more. Also, interactive content boosts audience engagements, more leads and conversions, brand loyalty, likes and shares, customer learning, and helps in streamlining the customer experience.
Entertaining posts like “Tell us your favorite part about our business”, polls like “Which product do you want us to launch next?”, puzzle contents such as “Match the ingredient with (a certain) product” and more are incredibly useful in getting customer interaction, feedback, and boosting customer learning. This helps customers feel like the brand or business is really listening and catering to their needs.
According to a report, 93% marketers found that interactive content is helpful in educating their customers about their business. And, 81% of marketers reported that interactive content is more effective at grabbing people’s attention. Also, 85% of B2B marketers are currently using or planning to use interactive infographics. Which makes it one of the popular B2C and B2B marketing trends in 2023.
10. Corporate Social Responsibility
Believe it or not, social responsibility is one of the latest digital marketing trends for 2023. Businesses that market themselves as more eco-friendly, sustainable, use recycled products, advocate for social justice, and include a diverse range of models and representatives are much likely to generate and retain customers.
Meanwhile, brands or businesses are boycotted if they are affiliated to discriminatory campaigns, unethical labor and large amounts of irresponsible trash disposal. Fast fashion brands that use sweatshop labor are a good example of this. Although their products are cheaper, trendy and produced in bulk, consumers frown upon and refrain from purchasing from these brands. Socially responsible consumers believe that fast fashion products don’t last and won’t be trendy for long, leading to more waste of resources.
And, when it comes to paying extra, 55% of customers are willing if it makes a positive change to the world’s social and environmental cause. Reportedly 87% customers have a positive image of businesses that support a cause they are passionate about. Hence why you might have seen brands with a rainbow logo in the month of July, “BLM” symbols during February, and more depending on where you are.
Customers are increasingly conscious about where they spend their money and how the brands or businesses they purchase from impact the social and environmental factors. Which is why corporate social responsibility is one of the latest digital marketing trends in 2023.
Conclusion
It is incredibly important to analyze and utilize the latest digital marketing trends to improve your business’ chances of being discovered, loved and recommended. It’s definitely not an easy feat to master on your own, so if you want to boost your business, get a digital marketing agency to handle it for you- like Azency! We are Shopify experts and digital creators here to handle all your marketing needs, from Social Media Management, Design & Branding, SEO, Influencer Marketing, and more.
