A few years ago, companies merely needed a website and a Facebook page. Now, in an era where digital marketing trends seemingly have a shelf life as long as your milk, it is increasingly difficult for businesses to keep up with current trends.

To give you a headstart, we’ve identified the Top 7 Digital Marketing Trends for 2021 and 2022 that should be included in your digital marketing strategy:

1) Algorithms are your new best friend

Algorithms are the deciding factor that influence what content a website or social media platform will present you with. Essentially, they are a set of instructions that are used to retrieve information stored inside your website or social media content, that determine how relevant your business is and who it should be shown to.

As the growth of the world’s largest tech platforms show no sign of decline, understanding how to optimise your content for algorithms is becoming more important.

It may seem impossible to stay up to date with these ever-changing algorithms, but by diversifying and optimising your marketing content, you increase the chances of getting your brand ranked as highly as it deserves to be.

In October 2019, Google released a new algorithm update – BERT. This emphasises the importance of high value content that is suited to what users would expect to find when they search for a particular keyword, as opposed to being reliant on the exact keyword match.

2) User experience

Back in the day, ranking success used to be as easy as investing a little time into keyword research and link building. But, as Google advances, so do their algorithms. There are now over 200 ranking factors, which determine how high your website will rank in Google’s organic searches, with UX (user experience) playing a huge role.

User experience is simply how a visitor experiences your website whilst they are navigating around your webpages.

There are three key things you need to ensure: is your website understandable, easy to navigate, and does it give people what they are looking for?

If your website is hard to use, frustrating or takes forever to load – then your potential customers will simply exit your site and find the same information from a competitor.

3) Video marketing reigns supreme

A recent survey suggested that 74% of marketers say video has a better return on investment than static imagery. Inevitably, this impressive statistic is only going to increase.

Video content is a very effective marketing tool that has risen in popularity, in correlation with the rise of social media. Despite this, not many businesses are using video content as part of their digital marketing strategy.

Its growth is evident in the newest social media trend of 2021: Tiktok.  The app has more than 1.5 billion downloads on the App Store and Google Play. It is a video-only platform that consists of 15 and 60 second user-recorded videos and has become a marketing and advertising focus point for businesses, targeting generation Z, especially.

Watching a compelling video will definitely influence a buyer’s behaviour and can persuade them to convert.  We all live such busy lives, and many people don’t have 15 minutes to read through webpages to find the information they are looking for; instead, they would prefer to watch a video.

Video is an extremely powerful storytelling tool. There are many types of video content that you can use to market your business, including an explainer video, vlogs, tutorials and product reviews.

4) Influencer marketing remains a focal point

Simply put, influencer marketing is a popular type of social media marketing that uses individuals with a dedicated social following to endorse and mention a business’s products or services.

Customers thrive from human interaction and personality, which can be achieved by influencers who regularly engage with their audience. Influencers that focus on personalisation in their content often have higher engagement rates which is very beneficial when looking at the success of a campaign.

This marketing strategy is highly effective because an influencer’s audience is already invested and engaged by the content they are producing. They are essentially seen as experts in their niche and have spent years building a solid trust and relationship with their followers, which businesses can capitalise on through the power of collaborations.

5) Podcasts – the new kid on the block

Podcasts are becoming more and more popular.

Podcasts offer a very easy and convenient way of delivering content and this is catching the attention of many marketers and advertisers.

The rise in popularity is down to a number of reasons. Most prominently, the suitability for everyday use – many people have started listening to podcasts instead of music, as they commute to work or whilst exercising in the gym.

Although this medium is still in its infancy, it is a growing trend with the ability to delve deeper into popular topics through the art of conversation. It also usually involves much less effort than creating a YouTube video for example, as the whole professional production is not always required.

6) PR isn’t dead

Public relations (PR) is the idea of leveraging many media channels to promote your business and create a strong brand awareness.

Essentially, PR denotes how brands spread their information across multimedia, very similar to branding. Whereas branding relies on many visual elements such as logos and website, PR is driven by communication and reputation in your industry.

Taking advantage of PR can be very beneficial for many businesses as it will help to boost your brand’s credibility. Gaining publicity through PR offers a very authentic and informative perception of your brand and can help to build trust with potential customers. Some studies suggest that PR offers more visibility and credibility than traditional advertising which is sometimes perceived as being too ‘promotional’.

It is also a great marketing tool that will help you attract your target audience directly. A very well written piece on your product or service in a niche magazine or online community can be very attractive to those interested in your industry.

7) The importance of you

There is a reason why so many successful marketing campaigns feature a human personality. That is because it allows brands to form a strong authentic connection with their audience.

No matter what industry you operate in, or how large your company is, connecting with your audience on a human level will definitely help to increase your engagement.

The first step to creating a brand identity is, of course, through a logo and packaging. A logo is a great starting point for your overall branding and should be used to identify your business. However, without a face behind the brand it may seem rather impersonal and harder to build a rapport with your customers.

It’s true that people don’t connect with logos in the same way they do with humans. By putting yourself at the forefront of your brand, delivering your ethos and passion behind the business can really help establish your brand as being approachable and relatable – leading to increased engagement and conversion rates.