The Future of Digital Campaigns

COVID-19 stopped the world from spinning. All of a sudden, people could no longer go out as they pleased. Instead, they were stuck in their homes for months on end and had to adapt to living that way. These circumstances lead to people becoming accustomed to having food delivered, shopping online, and working from home. In came new kinds of digital campaigns.

Though COVID-19 restrictions are beginning to ease, the world probably won't return to normal for quite some time. Just as people have adapted to the changes in their life, companies have had to adapt their marketing strategies. With this in mind, many companies have moved to more digital campaigns to reach their target audience.

Online Consumption Increases

During quarantine, it was out of the question to have an in-person event. To get around the lack of in-person options, companies trying to market their products and services had to think creatively. Many of them created videos, digital marketing platforms, and even virtual events in an effort to connect with their customers. According to Forbes, internet consumption increased dramatically to 70% and streaming more than 12% in March 2020.

Engaging in the digital sphere with webinars, blogs, landing pages, websites, mobile, email marketing, social media, and more really opened up company engagement with their customers. When surveyed in 2021, 84% of marketers said they put an increased value on digital experiences during the pandemic, and 85% of marketers showed an openness to exploring new digital products.

Content Creators and Publishers Surface

Putting content online has always been occurring, but not nearly at the rate it grew to during the pandemic. Nowadays, everyone, including the guy raving about conspiracies, is on the internet posting content, and some of them are even getting paid for it. That's because there are so many people online to see their content. There are approximately 3.8 billion social media users around the world, so there are many people you can target as an audience.

Media powerhouses like Snapchat and TikTok dominated the short video market when the pandemic hit, and Instagram became extremely popular. People flocked to Instagram to post photos of their boring quarantine life and find commiseration in others experiencing the same. With so many people on Instagram, it became a great place for companies to market their products and services. There were so many eyes on the app they were pretty much guaranteed a vast audience.

To put perspective on just how many people are online posting content, there are over 500 billion blogs on the World Wide Web. Blogging wasn't the only kind of digital writing to take off in recent years either. In 2017, self-published books cracked the one million mark. There are many courses, tutorials, editing tools, and one-on-one coaching available. With blogs and digital campaigns, anyone can become a content creator. Content creators produce all types of content like knowledge, insight, poetry, reviews, fiction, and much more.

Chatbots Carry Conversations

When you enter a website for a business, you will often see a little chat box pop open in the corner of the screen. "We are here to help you" is often proclaimed in large letters. With the rapid increase in online shopping, businesses had to find a way to keep up. An online chatbot was the answer.

The chatbox will pop up and has Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can respond to your questions and try to help you find what you need. Businesses do this by programming the AI with frequently asked questions, so it has answers already prepared for your questions. In addition, the AI's have been developed so well that they can respond to you in a comprehensive manner, almost as if you are speaking to a real person.

Being able to answer customers' questions 24/7 is obviously a huge benefit to doing business. A chatbot can also collect data from users on the website and tailor the information given based on the customer's needs. This is an invaluable resource that you should look into if you aren't already using it.

Virtual Reality Takes Consumers to an Alternative World

Even when you are stuck at home and can't go into the store, some businesses have got you covered. In some places, you can have the experience of shopping in-store by using devices like VR glasses. If you have looked into buying a house recently, you may have seen housing websites using technology that allows you to look around inside without actually being there. This is similar to the technology that businesses are using now to create a virtual shopping experience and digital campaigns.

Recently, IKEA has jumped into the Augmented Reality shopping experience. Customers have not been able to head to the store in person due to lockdown, so IKEA is using AR to provide customers with an in-person experience even when they are shopping online.

Shoppable Social Posts Create Convenience

As it turns out, Smart Insights has determined people are spending roughly two and a half hours scrolling through different digital platforms on their phones. If customers are already online, you want to meet them where they are. Creating a shoppable post for your business and running it on social media sites is a great way to get your product or service in front of potential customers.

According to data from Instagram released in January 2021, around 130 million users click on shoppable ads every month. That is a lot of people you are missing out on advertising to if you don't have shoppable ads. These ads make it simple for shoppers because they don't even have to leave their social media app to do their shopping.

If you're not sure if shoppable ads are worth exploring for your business, get some help from creatives and advertising professionals. They can help you create a design and plan out your content for shoppable posts.

Once you have taken some time and developed your digital campaigns, schedule a free discovery call with us, and we will help you develop a brand strategy.

The world is evolving around us, and your digital marketing strategy needs to evolve with it.