Digital Marketing

Current Industry Trends: Digital Marketing

Mobile-led Design is Vital Live Virtual Events are here to stay

Mobile use and utility is growing, with social media, news and applications all geared towards phone size and orientation. Appification is also at an all-time high. In 2017, it was reported that 67% of US organisations had apps. This is significant, as in 2013 this number was only 7%. It’ s now vital that companies jump on this bandwagon as mobiles are quicker, more convenient and more accessible than computers.

Social Commerce is Rising

Social commerce is the ‘ shop ’ feature on social media platforms. The ‘ shop ’ feature makes a seamless experience when going from discovery to purchase without ever leaving the platform. It has been reported that 30% of online shoppers are likely to make a purchase from a social media platform, including Facebook and Instagram. It makes for quicker, simpler sales as companies don ’t have to encourage customers to visit their site.

Video Marketing is an Asset

Nowadays, video marketing is not just about YouTube videos, but TikTok and Instagram reels too. All these platforms have been shown to offer big rewards and followership to those who can follow the trends and stay consistent. Online events have become a necessity because of the COVID lockdowns. However, as lockdowns ease, virtual events aren 't slowing down. Webinars were well and truly an occurrence before lockdowns and were utilised by small businesses who had smaller budgets and smaller local audiences. Now companies have discovered that virtual events offered a higher return on investment (ROI) with less expensive set up costs, new audiences reached and higher participation. Live events have proved more effective than pre-recorded events, as they keep attendees more engaged with live Q&As and small discussion groups.

Inclusivity in a Necessity

Everyone is over the excessively photoshopped cover girls; the ken-andbarbie-like models and the only-everwhite-people stock photos on websites. The masses are craving some diversity in marketing. They want people of different colour, race, religion, sexuality, gender and size. No one is afraid of wrinkles, freckles, tummies and stretch marks anymore. To stay relevant, people want to see companies to be inclusive in their visuals (including imagery and videos) and in the topics they talk about.