The whole of 2020 was hit by a pandemic, uncertainty, retrenchment etc. Many businesses closed down while some businesses started booming exceptionally. Let us talk about the three digital marketing channels that you need to be familiar with in 2021. They include Platforms like TikTok, online live selling and paid advertising.
TIKTOK
TikTok started off as an entertaining app which provided short clips and users could understand how the platform worked. Now it has become a place to share lifestyles and trends.
On the app, literally anyone could become a content creator and get to express their own talents and imaginations in the form of dance, lip-syncing, and the like!
Its user base predominantly belongs to the Gen Z, as they grew up with technology and enjoy short and fast content clips.
The artificial intelligence (AI) built into the app also learns about the consumers behaviour and allows them to customize their own content.
It uses micro and macro influencers with a huge amount of fan following to expand their audiences.
Develop and fully become a “Marketing Platform” with new feature design and various ad placement to support brands that want to reach their target audience through the app. TikTok has tested its new marketing feature to let brands embed the link that directly connects to the online shop, to elevate the platform to fully become a “Social Commerce” app.
TikTok allows brands to create official accounts and design ads that will appear on the video clips.
Pre-roll ads that appear the moment someone launches TikTok.
In-feed ads that appear on the feed while the user is scrolling
Branded effects: Where brands create filters for the content creator to use in videos, similar to snapchat and instagram
Hence, you have to be certain to know about TikTok as a quality digital marketing channel.
Live Selling
This is a digital marketing channel worth watching in 2021. It used to be an uncharted territory for many retail businesses but now, it is the place to be.
Due to the pandemic lockdowns, shoppers moved their consumption of goods and services online.
E-commerce sellers such as Lazada, Shopee and Zalora annihilated their physical retailers competition with each reporting a major spike in platform and user growth.
Consumers are now more confident and open to buying things online, which is a habit they developed during the lockdown.
Regionally, Shopee observed an increase in live streams up to 70 times. During its 12.12 sale, the platform clocked 2.7 billion plays on in apps games and 450 million views on Shopee live over three weeks.
The (Lazada) marketplace has become livelier with a multitude of brands holding events, product launches and live streams.
With Covid-19 accelerating the normalisation of online shopping, we expect this trend to endure as economies resume and more brands, retailers and malls migrate online.
Hence the sooner you realise, the better it is as live selling is here to stay as a digital marketing channel.
Paid Advertising
The total ad-media spend for Singapore is set to grow to SGD1.2 billion by the end of 2021, which is a significant increase on its 2019 figure of SGD470 million (more than 2 times!).
This shows how powerful paid advertising traffic is as a digital marketing channel for businesses at the moment as it not just builds brands, but also increases awareness and generates sales as well as leads faster than any other marketing channel.
Paid advertising will continue to be one of the most significant drivers of sales and revenue. The majority of the spending is projected to go towards social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn followed by Google ads.
Utilizing digital marketing services to implement both organic and paid methods in your online campaigns still proves to be a winning combination. It is most powerful when used together.
Tailoring a digital marketing strategy that can span across multiple platforms like SEO, PPC, and social media all plays an important role in positioning your brand online.
Hence, paid advertising is here to stay as well, and perhaps maybe here to stay forever as a digital marketing channel.
So, how will these three digital marketing channels help your business?
To conclude, we have just identified three digital marketing channels you need to be familiar with in 2021. This does not mean there are no other channels but you get the idea. These channels are the ones which we feel that could impact our businesses lives the most. Till next time!