In a year of uncertainties, it’s safe to say that there is one universal truth: 2020 is not going as planned. For many businesses, this year has looked like a whirlwind of scrapped strategies, chaotic data, and perplexing questions like, “Where do we go from here?”
While none of us could have ever predicted the current business climate, there is yet another universal truth — digital marketing is the key to adapting and succeeding in this new reality. The benefits of having a robust digital presence have already made themselves clear this year.
Here’s what’s happened so far.
More people are online than ever before.
What if your website could reach 4.5 billion users around the world? It sure can. As of 2020, that’s how many people are online. And 3.8 billion of them are active social media users. Today, the average person is spending almost 7 hours online every single day — that’s 40% of their waking hours! This year has experienced massive surges in user growth:
- Unique mobile phone users increased by 124 million.
- Internet users increased by 298 million.
- Active social media users increased by 321 million.
Video conferencing is the new normal.
The work culture is shifting, and it’s a digital shift. The world has embraced remote work, and teleconferencing is no longer a choice. One of the most popular video conferencing platforms, Zoom, reported a record-breaking customer growth of 354% in customers with over ten employees for Q1.
- In just four months, Zoom saw 30x growth in daily users.
- In April alone, over 300 million people were using Zoom daily, banking up a heaping two trillion meeting minutes.
Ecommerce is leading the charge.
Salesforce released its Q1 Shopping Index, tracking the activity of more than 1 billion shoppers globally. The findings were a shocking indicator of the new retail landscape. Where Q1 shocked us, Q2 proved this shopping behavior was here to stay.
- There was a whopping 20% growth in Q1 e-commerce revenue versus a 12% growth in Q1 2019. Even wilder, there was a 41% spike in the last 15 days of the quarter as people and businesses began to practice social distancing.
- Mobile e-commerce traffic grew by 25% across all industries.
- Finally, in Q2 global digital revenue grew by a record-breaking 71%.
How brands can position themselves for success.
We cannot say this loud enough — GO DIGITAL! The world is adopting e-commerce, mobile apps, and video conferencing as the new standard. Businesses are learning the hard way that there are times where digital is the only way for customers to engage and purchase. There has never been a better time to perfect your digital strategy.
Getting online is a great first step, but it’s now more important than ever to create a strong omnichannel approach that makes solid first impressions, creates trust, and builds long-lasting customer relationships. Here are three important trends to get behind:
1. Interactive video content. Lazy, rapid-fire content is out. High-quality content is in. Video content (particularly live video) is quickly taking over as the number one way to engage and inform. In a world with stay-at-home orders and remote offices, we’re craving interaction more than ever. Live streaming provides a way to build personal relationships from behind a screen.
2. Easy, convenient customer experiences. Your user experience could be the reason someone chooses you time and time again over others. Websites should be responsive, and should have a clear customer journey that empowers visitors to quickly and easily find the information they are looking for. Companies are pursuing several strategies to create a pain-free, and even fun, transaction for customers. Chatbots offer 24/7 service. Marketing through messaging apps builds an instantaneous line of communication.
3. Personalized marketing. Let’s face it… the internet is about to become even more saturated as everyone fights for a piece of the digital pie. More than ever, people do not want to be talked at. Social media should be conversational and focused on community building. Emails should be targeted, sent to the niche customer groups who would engage and benefit directly.
This year has been record-shattering for digital marketing, and we’re only halfway there. Great news — the audience is ready and waiting, and the opportunities are endless. Interested in growing your business digitally? Contact us. We’d love to help.
