Marketing Changes and Trends We Saw In 2021

What a ride 2021 has been. For a small business or any business for that matter, the uncertainty of lockdowns and restrictions caused havoc in the world of business. But you know what did increase? Online marketing. In January 2021, the average time that Canadian’s spent using the internet per day was 6 hours and 23 minutes. The rise of online business demand continued to increase throughout the year. In light of that craziness, let’s take a look back at what has changed in marketing and advertising this past year.?

Video marketing

Video marketing is continuing to sore as a source of internet traffic. Research shows that most people prefer to watch online videos than television, and by 2022, it’s predicted that 82% of all internet traffic will be streaming video content. Marketers should take advantage of creative video content to increase sales, reach, and engagement by posting it across various platforms including on social media, in their blog articles, as ads, and at any in-person events that you may be attending when possible. This content might include webinars, demos, social media videos, how-to-videos, testimonials, live streams, etc. By creating videos, your engagement increases with your customers as they spend more time watching the videos you have created. Those too lazy to read articles *which is many of us* will watch videos and often without the sound on which is why many platforms have moved to auto-subtitles. Good video content, with a solid call to action, will increase your ROI. This trend will not be slowing down anytime soon, so jump on that train as soon as you can.

The rise of TikTok

You know, TikTok is not just an app for young teenagers to post dancing videos as you had previously thought. TikTok has an algorithm that helps bring you more content like the content which you spend the most time watching or that you engage with the most in its app. The homepage of the app is called the “For You Page.” Businesses can take advantage of posting industry-related content which will reach people that are “on that side of TikTok.” For example, if you work in a dentist’s office, believe it or not, there is a “dentist side of TikTok” that is very popular. On TikTok, you also have the potential to reach people in a specific area that can grow your business if you work with TikTok and content strategically.

In 2021, TikTok reached over 1 billion views with a 45.1% increase from the previous year.?

Global TikTok User Rates:

Under age 18 = 28%

Ages 19 – 28 = 36%

Ages 30 – 39 = 18%

Ages 39+ = 19%

On TikTok, it’s totally normal to take a current trend and remake it or make it your own based on what type of business you are in. You don’t necessarily need to come up with a brand new trend in hopes it will go viral, unlike other social media platforms. TikTok wants you to go viral by taking a current trend and revamping it to fit your niche.?

Plus, by creating TikTok videos, those videos can be repurposed for multi-use content and can be posted on Instagram as Reels, posted to Facebook, or you could make a compilation video of all your TikToks for YouTube that is a longer-form video. You can also incorporate them into a blog post you’re writing too. The possibilities are endless! And, video is not going anywhere. The time is now to get on board.

Shopping using social media platforms

Instagram launched a new feature recently to include live-stream shopping. This means a business, an influencer, an entrepreneur, and so on, can talk about their products during a live stream and viewers can purchase the products directly from the stream. Think of it as the new age shopping channel for those of you who remember when the shopping channel was MASSIVE! This new evolution will be great for businesses during the holidays, or for an Instagram user wanting to show off their Christmas wishlist, new product releases, demonstrations of products, etc.?

Twitter also announced that they will be launching a shopping option to allow businesses to launch a shopping module on the top of their Twitter pages. They are also rolling out live stream shopping options for people to shop directly from the app. And, Facebook and Instagram have long had their online shopping tools available as well.

An e-commerce first mindset has sparked the drive for businesses during this past year with COVID-restrictions forcing businesses to find a way to survive without brick and mortar traffic. Even service-based industries like law firms and real estate agents are providing their services virtually with appointments and meetings online. Companies are tracking their conversion rates and customer journey more than ever before. Automated services like live chat boxes, email automation systems, ticketing systems for customer service, and more have been implemented on many websites this year with the rise of digital shopping to ensure the best customer experience possible. Brands want to provide exceptional customer service because they know that service is an area that they can stand out given that customer service has been lacking in the past few years. So, now is the time to make a strategic decision to focus on your social media more and more by replying to comments as soon as possible and ensuring that websites are user-friendly with a customer service first approach. There will be a cost to doing this right but, that is an investment that will seriously increase your ROI and revenue. In this area, if you are not already doing it, you can bet your competitors are.?

Virtual events:

Many events were still postponed in 2021 due to the pandemic, or there were evolved into digital events that businesses could take advantage of from wherever they were. For large trade shows, many businesses took part in a digital trade show to increase their brand recognition and might have even held exclusive deals for those who attended these events. This gave businesses the opportunity to be a part of events that are farther out of their zone as well that they normally wouldn’t get a chance to promote themselves in. Maybe you could afford the time or cost of sending your team to Atlanta for a week-long conference in your industry but, you could afford to have your key players sit in on a digital segment from that conference online. Fingers crossed that more B2B events will be held in 2022 in-person, but we don’t foresee digital events disappearing. If anything we will see more pop up.

Email lead generation is here to stay

Many businesses are choosing to branch away from the boring email structures and are having more creative fun with their emails in the form of storytelling. Those doing it right, the emails are interactive so they increase open rates and grow subscriber lists to create an owned audience. It’s also a smart way to create a voice for your brand and help drive those call-to-action sales in a measurable way.

Brand activism

This year we saw a lot of brands stepping out of their comfort zone and speaking up about controversial issues in 2021. Many brands choose to spread awareness and promote vaccinations for COVID-19 which may have increased engagement on their brand pages but, also caused some uproar among certain individuals. Brands are not following the cookie-cutter foundations any longer, and are increasingly talking about controversial things that they may have been hesitant about in the past. This is likely out of frustration from restrictions and because the world is starting to realize in a big way just because we have always done it that way, doesn’t mean that is the only way. More big-name businesses are promoting Black Lives Matter, Child Lives Matter, and Pride Month as the years go on. The pandemic has taught many businesses the importance of flexibility and not sticking to the status quo when it comes to their marketing initiatives. It has also made them listen up, and watch for trends and hot topics they can jump into the conversation on. They are putting their brand values at the forefront of their marketing for everyone to see and standing behind a real voice.

Tongue-in-cheek advertisements:

Many brands are going back to the early trend of 2000s cringe-worthy advertisements. Now that video content is so popular among all the social media apps, people are creating funny advertisements, almost like memes, in video format to break away from their competitors. They branch off from funny trends on TikTok and create advertisements that make you go “what was that?!.” Brands are having fun with their advertisements in the hopes that they will go viral and create a buzz around their business. In short, CREATIVITY is making a comeback in advertising. Going viral means more brand recognition. And more brand recognition means more leads. And more leads means sales! It’s not really rocket science.?

Everyone is an influencer:

Back in the day, there was a certain type of person who was considered an “influencer.” They were either on a reality tv show or became popular posting videos on the rise of a social media app. It sounds pretty similar today, but now brands are starting to recognize the value behind brand recognition and having their own face to the brand, instead of hiring someone famous to do it for them. Many people are using social media to highlight their credibility by giving their audience tips and tricks related to the product or service of their business to show off their knowledge and skill level. This is what makes your audience realize you are in fact, an expert in your field. For example, a home reno company might create a video about how to fix a doorway which you can do yourself. You may think “why are they giving away their secrets?” Well, they are actually using their industry knowledge to show that they are professionals in the industry. They also are encouraging viewers to work with them or to demonstrate how it should be done correctly so that a consumer can recognize when it is not done correctly. Consumer education is key no matter what business you are in.?

It’s almost like everyone is an influencer these days by being on social media. If you feel nervous and awkward and don’t feel like you have the confidence to be in front of the camera, think of it like you’re on a zoom call. You’ve been doing Zoom meetings all year, and have been forced to look at yourself on camera. You may still cringe, but the value of showing yourself in the video or in photos to showcase your products or services is so important. Eat the frog! For those that don’t know that reference, it means just do it. It will get easier and your confidence will grow over time. If you really can’t jump in yet, ask your coworker who may be more comfortable. The bottom line is that original content is better than posting stock photos. Make your content your own, and create a face behind the brand. Providing your expertise shows credibility and will increase your sales.

What is print nowadays?

The print industry was already going downhill pre-pandemic, but as the world is still continuing to fight off Covid-19 restrictions, the print industry has really struggled this year and last. No one is going out and about so physical copies of flyers or business cards are not being picked up or handed out. There are hardly any large events that businesses need business cards for networking, and many newspapers are going fully digital… including in small towns. Even billboard advertising and bench or bus advertising have gone down due to the lack of people commuting though we are starting to see traffic increasing slightly. But, if you are investing in bus seats or billboards the reality is that fewer people will see those ads than have in the past. With so many working from home now, businesses are putting their budgets more heavily into digital marketing. However, radio advertisement has been surprisingly popular this past year both traditionally and online with streaming apps like Spotify and Pandora. More and more people are tuning in to the news, especially because they don’t know what the next day brings in terms of lockdowns. Which poses the question, will print survive in 2022? Barely, but it will evolve and adapt into new ways and thinking positively, this pandemic will eventually end.

Digital advertising rules:

These change often, but this year we had some significant updates that really changed the game on digital advertising. There was a huge change and restriction on privacy laws in digital advertising and with the new ISO update. On the ISO update, you can now with the latest update of software on your iPhone opt-out of tracking information which means that Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc. can’t track what you are most interested in across multiple platforms. They can still track within their own apps but, across platforms, tracking has been squashed a bit. We say a bit because there are other ways to track things if you take the time to build the system but, in a nutshell, if you were opt-out you will see less of the content that interests you and more random stuff popping into your feed, ads or not. There are pros and cons to this. Pros are that your information won’t be tracked. Cons revolve around the fact that the advertisements you see (which is still an abundance) won’t be targeted to you. It also means that business owners aren’t able to customize their audience as much to target their specific demographic. Especially if the industry of the advertiser falls into credit, housing, employment, or social issues. Those specific parameters are now limited on many platforms so you cannot target a specific demographic like those between the ages of 25 – 35 looking to buy a house. This change was made to increase equality rights but, has become a big pain for small businesses managing their advertising on their own not knowing how to create a strategy that works to attract the audience they want within the rules and regulations. And, if you violate the rules each platform has outlined, you can straight up to get outlawed from advertising.

Google and Facebook / Instagram also made changes to the way their remarketing ads and on Google their paid search ads run. In the wording of an ad on Facebook or Instagram, you can’t target a certain type of people like age, gender, and specific demographics and you can’t pinpoint call out a specific reference to an audience in the language you use. For example, you might have said in the past something like:

Are you hunting for your dream home and want to sell your current home quickly??

That’s not allowed anymore.

Stressed out from maxed-out credit cards and need a loan??

You can’t say that anymore.

Want to divorce your spouse and don’t know where to start?

Nope. Not going to work.

What does work? Highlighting yourself.

XYZ Loans is a company that helps its clients secure loans with many options available.

XYZ Law Firm is here to help our clients navigate divorce.

As an experienced real estate agent with 25 years of experience buying and selling homes in the X market, I have helped many clients move into their next home.

It’s tricky. And, the rules change nearly every day it feels like. That’s why leaving your advertising to the professionals is a good idea to help you optimize your ads to run to their fullest potential so you will save money and increase sales in the long run.

On that note, digital advertising on any platform also changed how you pay for ads. They are still pay-per-click or cost-per-thousand-impressions but, you can expect to now pay tax on top of that cost. Many brands didn’t realize until you actually paid attention to how much your ad spent in a day because they missed the updates and notifications or ignored them as they were announced. Little things in the advertising and digital world change quite often, so you always have to be on your toes and in the know to make sure you aren’t wasting ad dollars or your time.?

The introduction to the META Universe!

This was a huge announcement that shook the world of social media in 2021. Mark Zuckerberg, the good ol’ creator of Facebook, announced that he was going to change the name of his enterprise.. and call it “META” to play on the words to the metaverse. Claiming that it’s essentially a virtual reality multi-platform that people can use in a digital environment to communicate with each other. The main difference is that Mark plans to roll out a 3D component with VR headsets. But, we shall see what “Meta” does in 2022. In all honesty, though the metaverse has been here for a while. We all live on our screens and have for years.

Long story short, the digital marketing game is always evolving at lightning speed. If your business has not adapted to an online digital marketing strategy at least in the past year, what are you waiting for? There are many resources available on our website for you and the 3SIXTY Marketing Solutions team is happy to help you with all of your marketing needs digital or not. We’re results-driven, we make it easy, and we are here to help!