Throughout 2021, the world of online marketing and social media will undergo some significant changes that will have a significant impact on how content is created and consumed. The most significant of these changes is the shift to online paid advertising – a trend that was just gaining momentum when the pandemic arrived. In 2021, online paid advertising will be more important to marketers than ever before.
Traditional advertising – where you pay to have your ads placed on a website or in a newspaper – will still exist but it won’t be what it was before the pandemic. In the past, this form of advertising was often considered a safe bet, especially with the advent of programmatic and automated advertising. While these methods can be effective in driving traffic to websites, they don’t allow for much flexibility when it comes to targeting specific demographics and engaging with users on a more personal level.
With the rise of online paid advertising, personalized email marketing will become even more important. With email marketing, you can target your offers to specific groups of people – be it women between the ages of 18 and 24 or men aged 30 and above with kids. You can also use email marketing to follow up with users who have visited your website but didn’t make a purchase. This strategy will allow you to remind them of the benefits of your product or service and encourage them to make a purchase – even if it’s been a while since they last visited the site.
The Growth of Sponsored Posts
Sponosored posts – where brands pay to have their content promoted across social media – grew by 44% in 2021. This is likely due to the fact that marketers now have more of an understanding of how important content is to getting products and services into the hands of the right audience. With content now more important than ever before, businesses will be looking to pay for the right kinds of content.
The benefits of sponsored posts are many. For one, the content is usually high-quality and well-written. It can also incorporate brand voice and tone of voice, positioning and messaging from the brand. Most importantly, the content can drive direct action – like filling out a form, making a purchase or taking a look at a website or social media page and sharing their experience – all without having to spend a single penny.
The Rise of Affiliate Marketing and Content Creation
In 2021, content creators will see a rise in affiliate marketing – earning a commission when a consumer clicks a monetized link or buys a product that’s promoted on a website – because advertisers now have more of an interest in paying for content that drives sales.
Content creators can also expect to see more opportunities to make money from product reviews, as more brands turn to online review sites for customer feedback. In the past, product reviews were considered a bit of a wild west where anyone could claim to be an expert and list their qualifications before reviewing a product. With the rise of online review sites, qualified reviewers can be found and commissioned to write product reviews for specific websites. As a result, product reviews will become even more important to marketers.
Content is More Valuable Than Ever Before
In the past, content creators could typically expect to be paid per post or per piece of content – like a website article, podcast episode or YouTube video – with no guarantee of consistent or even any income. In 2021, with the decline of clickbait titles and flashy ad placements that often accompany them, content is more valuable than ever before. Writers who can craft engaging, informative content that helps customers will have the opportunity to monetize their work – whether it’s an in-house blog or a freelancing website.
Even traditional media like newspaper and magazine subscriptions are seeing a boost in demand due to the fact that people want to access quality content rather than the free news articles that they may get if they visit a national newspaper website. As a result, they will be willing to pay for content that helps them make decisions about their daily lives – like what events to attend or what products to buy – as well as content that entertains them.
Video Takes Overshadowed Still Images
In the past, marketers might have considered an image to be the best form of content because it’s a simple and affordable way to communicate a message. However, video content will continue to grow in importance because people want to learn about brands and products via short-form videos – like those seen on TikTok or Instagram – that can easily be shared across platforms.
Video is also easier to understand and more memorable than text. As a result, marketers will more frequently use video content in their campaigns because it’s easier for customers to recall and connect with.
Marketing Automation and Personalized Email Marketing
Marketing automation platforms like HubSpot have created marketing landscapes where marketers can finally build and implement personalized email marketing campaigns with ease. Previously, creating a personalized email campaign required a significant amount of manual work and plenty of trial and error. Marketers had to find matching email templates, write automated email campaigns and monitor their performance using spreadsheets.
In the past, marketing automation enabled marketers to simply set up automated email campaigns based on a few simple and well-known metrics. In the coming months and years, marketers will continue to grow smarter and smarter marketing automation tools that make personalized email marketing easier and more accessible.
Content Creation and Publishing Platforms Are Important
Although content creators can expect to earn more money in 2021, they mustn’t forget about the value of the platforms that they frequent. In the coming months and years, these content creation and publishing platforms will become even more important because marketers will be looking to ensure that their content is reaching the right audience – whether it’s via social media, email marketing or SEO – and that they are using the right platforms.
The advantage of these platforms is that they usually provide a variety of tools and services that can help marketers automate crucial aspects of their strategy and create more engaging content. For instance, if you’re looking to create blog posts for your website but don’t have the time to do so, you can pay an affiliate marketer to do it for you using the tools provided by a blogging platform – like Medium or Instapaper.
Pay Per Click and Display Advertising
In the past, advertisers would typically set a monthly budget and stick to it regardless of whether their campaigns produced desired results or not. This is mostly because they didn’t have an effective way of measuring the effectiveness of their ads. In the present day, advertisers can use tools like Google Adwords to track the results of their pay-per-click and display advertising campaigns. This way, they can easily determine whether or not their efforts were worth it – which allows them to adjust their strategies accordingly.
In the near future, advertisers will have access to even more data due to the fact that more companies track and record user behavior online. This data can be found in user profiles – like Facebook and Google users’ profiles – and used to determine a user’s interests, hobbies and activities. As a result, targeted advertising will become even more effective at drawing in a specific audience and encouraging them to take action (like make a purchase or fill out a form).
Now, it’s important to note that all of this doesn’t mean that traditional advertising will disappear. Far from it. Instead, it will just change form and become more targeted.
The takeaway from this information is that marketers should continue adapting to these changes and looking for ways to make the most of them. After all, if advertising becomes less effective, then something else will have to take its place. Either way, this is just the beginning of a paradigm shift in advertising and marketing. As a result, marketers should continue learning how to effectively utilize the tools available to them and create content that will stand out among their competitors.