Digital Marketing grows leaps and bounds each year. If we don’t keep up with the shifting tides of innovation and technology the likely outcome is to be left behind. At Sagittarius we make it our mission to constantly stay on top with the ever growing digital trends. Not only do we need to keep track of visual trends, but also the technology used to communicate these trends.
Last year, we saw a rise in chatbots, AI and Machine learning and an ever growing “mobile first” world approach to not only website development but also geared at creating shareable, stand out content pieces that sets your brand apart from a diluted amount of online advertisements.
But we are not here to dwell on the past, let’s take a look at a few of the digital trends we will be keeping our eye on in 2020:
“Social Listening”
Thanks to Spotify, It’s easier than ever to listen to your favourite music and podcasts while on the move. Using Spotify to market products is an appealing way for marketers to go where their audience is via audio streaming to promote their campaigns.
This year, rumour has it that Spotify has an unreleased feature called “Social Listening”, allowing multiple people to add songs to a real-time queue by scanning a QR code. This will allow listeners to hear the same songs at the same time. This new feature takes the social aspect of the loved app to a next level.
It is predicted that this new feature could give Spotify a new viral growth channel, with social listening, encouraging longer sessions and boosting ad plays.
Facebook plans to launch ‘GlobalCoin’
Facebook is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency in 2020, allowing users to make digital payments in a dozen countries. The currency, Libra, would enable Facebook’s users to change dollars and other international currencies into its digital coins which can then be used to buy products online. It will also look at paying users fractions of a coin for certain activities such as viewing ads or interacting with content related to online shopping.
At Facebook’s annual Facebook Marketing Summit 2019, Facebook has announced that WhatsApp will be getting Status Ads in 2020 as well introduce changes to Whatsapp Business.
WhatsApp to get Ads in 2020
What form will these adverts take? The company is said to introduce Ads that click to WhatsApp from Facebook, Ads that click to WhatsApp from Instagram and Status Ads in WhatsApp. Users on Facebook will see an ad that will encourage the user to open and share within WhatsApp.
WhatsApp further explains “In order to send and receive status updates to and from your contacts, both you and your contacts must have each other’s phone numbers saved in your address book.”
Will this help marketers fight the “dark social” battle with whatsapp providing a place to share content with their personal contacts while still allowing us to track this engagement? Will Whatsapp lose its appeal as consumers feel their privacy is breached because their WhatsApp data will be shared with Facebook for ad-targeting purposes?
Nonetheless, with over 1.5 billion users worldwide, this is a platform worth exploring.
WhatsApp for Businesses to get richer messaging format options
WhatsApp for Business will get richer messaging format options where users will be able to view Text along with Image in a single message and PDF along with Text in a single message.
The fifth generation of mobile networks, 5G, is finally here! Marketers are hoping this faster connection will help enhance capabilities to sell their products via smartphones as well as increase opportunity for any other connected devices, be that a watch, a car or a household device. “When we look at the smartphone, we say, ‘That’s mobile and everything else is tethered,” stated Julie Coppernoll, VP of global marketing at Intel. “I think that is going to change. I think nothing will be ‘mobile’ anymore because everything will be mobile.”
TikTok, which has become massively popular with younger demographics and recently amassed around 1 billion downloads around the world.
Initially, the platform appeals to Gen-Z, allowing them to showcase creative videos. Will this trend filter out to an older demographic? This will be the thing to watch this year and will answer the question many brands are posing, “Is getting on this app even worth it?”
Having said that, many brands are using this app to engage with a younger audience to gain brand awareness and engage with an audience that in the past, may have been tricky to reach. Guess and NBA are a few brands who are using the platform to showcase a lighter side through creative, appealing campaigns.
Using Tiktok, Guess created the the #InMyDenim challenge, which involved users filming themselves in all sorts of places while wearing the brands new denim line. They also had to overlay Bebe Rexha’s “I’m A Mess.”
This was the first branded challenge to go viral on TikTok and proved successful for Guess. A good example how a campaign can quickly spread and gain brand awareness.
2020 is shaping up to be a progressive year for the digital industry. Do you know where your industry is heading this year? Be ahead of the competition and get in contact with us to find out how Sagittarius can help you achieve your 2020 digital aspirations.
This blog was originally posted via Sagittarius’ website on 24th January 2020.