There are so many digital marketing trends on the market that you can get lost in them.

To simplify the task, I collected twelve of the most essential tools and practices that your business needs to grow in 2021 and years to come.

Let’s check my list of the top marketing trends to find out those that suit your business best and define how to turn them into ROI-driving opportunities.

In this article, we are going to overview:

• top content marketing trends 
• top SEO trends 
• dominating social media marketing trends
• high converting video marketing trends
• emerging trends in MarTech
• how to use these to your benefit (practical tips!)

Let’s get started. 

12 Most Prominent Digital Marketing Trends in 2021

Below are the top marketing trends divided into basic categories that will help you power your marketing and sales strategies this year. 

Content Marketing Trends

In 2021, make sure to focus on these key content marketing trends while creating content for your website, blog, or any other platform. 

1. Content expertise

Today, more and more marketers agree that content value and in-depth expertise are more important than keyword spamming and obtained backlinks. No, this is not a reason to abandon these still-essential SEO strategies, but a reason to bring your expertise to the fore. 

Here is how you can do it:

• Do your own research. Authentic research is quite a valuable piece of content. To come up with it, you have to be creative and experienced. You are better off intentionally skipping the articles created by your competitors and instead of being guided by your vision and scientific data. Such a clear vision will help you create something unique.
• Share your case studies. Most users searching on the web are looking for practical tips and steps to solve their problems. Your real-life case study may help them do it and allows you to showcase your expertise one more time. 
• Interview industry experts and opinion leaders. This is a winning way to add even more authority and credibility to your content. 

2. Content repurposing

Creating expert content takes a lot of time and resources. That is, you have to be smart with the materials you already have. Transform them into other, no less engaging content types to kill two birds with one stone. 

For instance:

• Transform your research into an article with facts and statistics. This type of content works well for generating backlinks.
• Turn your research notes into appealing infographics or a video. Visuals are one of the most shareable types of content.
• Share video interviews with opinion leaders and industry experts. Video content is one more marketing trend, plus this is an opportunity to reinforce your content value and credibility while driving engagement. 

3. Quizzes

The use of interactive quizzes is another digital marketing trend in 2021. This is a simple but effective approach to boost lead generation with content marketing. On average, quizzes have a 31.6% lead capture rate. 

Here is a simple example. Warby Parker uses a quiz to help users find the glasses that will suit them best. 

However, the opportunity for product suggestions and lead generation aren’t the only benefits of using quizzes in your content. It can also work for researching users’ pain points, buyer profiles, and automatizing lead generation. 

SEO Trends

Applying digital marketing trends in accordance with the SEO best practices will help you improve your site rankings and make it more visible in search engines. Below are some of the SEO trends you may incorporate into your marketing strategy: 

4. Voice search

One-third of the US population already uses voice search features. This digital marketing trend of 2021 is also driven by the popularity of smart household devices. You’ll need to optimize your content according to the voice search specifics as well. 

Here is how to get started with this task:

• Make sure your website is perfectly optimized for mobile devices.
• Prepare two lists of questions. The first list should contain the most popular questions, while the second will have more specific and long-tailed ones. Find ways to organically embed them in your content, plus provide short but meaningful answers. 

5. FAQ sections

This SEO trend is the logical continuation of the previous one. When the users search with voice, they, in most cases, ask questions like those they ask in real life. Embedding a FAQ section with user-generated questions is a winning opportunity to make your content more SEO optimized and work with user concerns. 

Pro-tip! Use Answer the Public to find the questions your users actually ask, classify them according to your products or services, and embed them right on the product/service page, in addition to the general FAQ page most websites have. You can also use these insights for selecting the long-tail keywords (check out the next point).

6. Niche-specific long-tail keywords

Using specific long-tail keywords is a universal and efficient method to create expert content with SEO rules in mind. Such an approach allows you to stay more focused on your topic and provide more specific details that will be helpful for your users while helping Google and other search engines index your content better. Research the keywords with the help of Ahrefs (type in a general keyword to get a great list of long-tail keyword ideas).

When writing, maintain a balance. Make sure to use general keywords of high-frequency, industry-specific keywords, and location-based keywords (if appropriate) in your copy. 

Social Media Marketing Trends

There are a lot of social media marketing trends on the rise in 2021, but we suggest focusing on two dominating ones. 

7. Cooperation with micro-influencers

Influencer marketing is the most powerful marketing approach in social media nowadays. To make it even more effective for your business, consider getting in touch with micro-influencers from a semi-business niche. Despite having fewer subscribers than popular celebrities, they still have more personal and trustful relationships with their audience. This is just the case when less quantity means more quality. 

For example, here is how @hellorigby, lifestyle and fashion micro-influencer partnered with Embellish Beauty to promote their products while sharing their core values – sustainability and naturalness. 

8. Social media chatbots

Chatbots are a must-have social media marketing trend that modern users expect to see on company pages. 74% of millennials consider instant social media communication important to get a positive brand impression, and the use of chatbots helps to streamline your conversation with your subscribers and potential customers. 

By incorporating a chatbot, you also give users the opportunities to get instant replies to the most frequently asked questions and be aware of the latest updates and discounts, as well as automate numerous routine tasks of your customer support, present a company with the provided range of services, and collect leads requests via catchy CTAs and contact forms.

Video Marketing Trends

Using videos, particularly YouTube marketing, is one more top marketing trend you ought to start following (if you haven’t done it yet). Videos have the power to drive engagement, entertain the users, and sell your products or services at once.

Developing an in-house video marketing team and strategizing the production can be time time-taking and you would need to invest in equipment, tools, and system. This is the reason why a lot of startups and businesses partner with experienced video technology companies that have an impressive portfolio running video marketing campaigns relevant to the industry their products and services belong to.

Consider using the following video marketing trends in your campaigns: 

9. Shoppable videos

Shoppable videos allow the viewers to instantly add a showcased item to the shopping cart. To put it simply, these are product videos but with better conversion potential. This approach is especially suitable for the retail industry, and here is how United Colors of Benetton skillfully used it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tqmlUochp0&t=17s

10. TikToks 

TikTok’s popularity is on the rise. This is a video social media platform with nearly 700 million users worldwide. Let’s check out Walmart’s TikTok campaign that perfectly combined social media marketing trends with video marketing trends and influencer marketing.

The retailer giant recorded a video devoted to the Black Friday Sale. It partnered with seven TikTok influencers, developed a branded hashtag #DealDropDance, and encouraged users to create their own TikToks expressing their after-shopping emotions. Here is how it looks.

In a nutshell, TikTok is a great place for sharing short, funny, engaging, and entertaining videos. Consider this platform if your business specifics can be matched with the specifics of TikTok and its audience. It’s a brilliant channel for entertainment, educational, and eCommerce companies. Moreover, it’s the right platform for increasing sales on digital downloads on Etsy using different TikTok tactics.

What’s more, leveraging the power of TikTok ads for promoting Black Friday Deals is a super effective digital marketing trend.

MarTech Trends

Most of the emerging trends in marketing are technology-driven. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented and virtual reality are top innovations that change the ways brands convey their marketing messages. 

11. AI and ML

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been some of the most trending marketing topics for several years already. They open up a lot of promising opportunities for your business and can be used beyond your marketing strategies as well. 

The simplest examples of AI- and ML-powered marketing trends in 2021 are recommendation engines and chatbots. But here is how you may use smart technology to benefit your business even more:

• Find out how your users behave on your website with the help of Hotjar
• Use Uberflip to personalize your content for each of your users
• Discover the most winning content marketing secrets of your competitors with Unmetric
• Optimize your sales funnel with BrightFunnel and make it more effective 

12. AR and VR

Augmented and virtual reality technologies are very promising trends in marketing. They are more innovative embeddings of the “try before you buy” approach. 

For example, IKEA’s mobile app powered by AR allows users to find out how a new item will fit their interior. H&M’s mobile app gives shoppers an opportunity to try on the outfits before ordering them. In the latter case, an AI-driven algorithm will also suggest the best items based on the shopping history, physical parameters of the users, and their availability in the nearest store. 

Using augmented reality in conjunction with artificial intelligence is a trendy and effective way to provide your users with an immersive and interactive experience. Think about the ways you may use them for your business as well.

Conclusion

As you can see, there’s a great list of fantastic 2021 marketing trends you are welcome to try. But keep in mind that using digital marketing trends for the sake of fashion only isn’t the wisest decision. Each of the online marketing ideas we have discussed in this article offers a promising opportunity, but to benefit the most, you have to be smart with the chosen tools and channels. 

ReVerb can help you create the trendiest, most competitive, and holistic promotional strategy to reach your prospective customers, engage them with trending marketing topics, and level up your sales! Get in touch with us for more details.