2020 forced us to change course and to increasingly approach the reality online to make us heard and visible to clients. This is the time to think seriously about digital transformation, not only with regard to the operation of human resources, such as the need to work in smart working, but also for all the other activities of the company, including business promotion. Those who do digital marketing successfully, know well the importance of adapting to changes and also for the 2021 new scenarios and trends are expected, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though during 2020 we have seen a positive trend in the role played by web agencies, what challenges can we expect in 2021?
NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR WEB AGENCY
Digital marketing is constantly evolving and this makes it difficult to predict the changes that will affect this sector in the coming year. But, the latest data on the world of digital marketing and the effects of lockdown show how already from 2021 we will see a consolidation of inbound marketing, that strategy behind digital communication focused on the possibility of increasing the ability to be identified by potential customers through the web. This has led not only large businesses, but also many SMEs, to project themselves into the digital world and to give themselves a face on the web, promoting their services and products through personalized websites and e-commerce. The difficulty, however, lies not so much in the creation of a website, but in the professional and strategic management of its online presence, which requires the help of web agencies specialized in web marketing in order to achieve satisfactory results. An important factor to watch out for is to make sure that the web agency you rely on takes care of the SEO side and the placement of your site in search engine SERPs.
TRENDS EXPECTED IN 2021
For businesses, digitalisation is no longer an optional issue but a strategic one. In fact, from the latest data provided by the e-Commerce Observatory, online purchases grow for information technology up to +20%, for clothing up to +22%, up to +18% for publishing and up to +37% for beauty and pharma products. Another sector for which net growth is expected in 2021 is food and grocery, which exceeds 70% of online purchases in 2019.
Given the strong growth of agencies specializing in website creation and e-commerce, competitiveness between the different agencies is at the forefront of the 2021 challenges, requiring the effort of the agencies to show their competitive advantage to ensure that they are chosen.
In making people understand the importance of accurately positioning themselves on the web, another of the challenges faced by web agencies is the aim to improve businesses online positioning. In addition, it is important to focus on trends that are able to capture the customer attention. Among the most important we find:
- the creation of interactive content
- the importance of exploiting social media by changing its approach
- use engaging, informative and immediate video content
- using SEO friendly related topics
- the optimization of featured snippets
TOWARDS THE “SOCIAL RESET”
The need to improve our online presence is also linked to the need to take care of our own social profiles in the best way and, again, the challenges and trends that each web agency will have to face in the near future have been dictated, in part, by the pandemic. A research conducted by We Are Social has in fact shown that the lockdown has helped changing our relationship with social media, from the way we use them to the role they play within our lives. The role of social media has changed so much that there has been talk of Social Reset. What does this paradigm shift foresee in detail?
The research has identified 6 trends that each web agency will have to take into account to review its social strategies in the near future:
- simple life: often considered places where you can express narcissism and individualism, social media is increasingly proving to be places that allow you to rediscover the simple pleasures of life, the sense of belonging to a community and the desire to connect with others
- practical advocacy: we are moving towards the overcoming of “slacktivism”, of lazy activism, and we are moving towards a greater mobilization that arises precisely from social networks;
- in-feed intimacy: the idea of social media as cold and de-humanizing places is also overcome. Social media are, in fact, a way like any other to keep in touch with our loved ones. Not for nothing, during the first lockdown, Care React was introduced on Facebook, to demonstrate emotional closeness;
- reliable idols: the role of influencers and idols is also beginning to be discussed. In a world saturated with information, users are becoming more and more selective and looking for someone who can add value to their feed;
- unbound platforms: the way to use the “old” digital platforms is always taking new forms. It is important for brands, companies and web agencies to understand the direction of these changes and to support them;
- open-source creativity: social networks have become the perfect place to create together, regardless of geographical distance.
CHALLENGES FOR SEO
To conclude, it is important to reiterate that, although the world of digital transformation is constantly evolving and difficult to predict, digitalization provides many opportunities for all those who want to emerge. In this constantly changing context, it is important to rely on specialists and web agencies such as Moka Adv, which can be a point of reference for all those who want to optimize their online presence in a winning perspective.
IMPORTANT CHALLENGES
Humanization of digitization
The pandemic has implemented the digitization of society and the economy and the improvement of the relationship between man and technology. The phenomenon, known as tech-love, is impacting on different aspects of people’s lives, but also on brands. They found themselves faced with the need to invest in new tools and technologies: it is not just a matter of replacing the impersonal voice of a chatbot, but also of redefining touch points and ways of making purchases for users. For example, since online shopping has become the primary sales channel, knowing the customer’s preferences and tastes is no longer enough. It therefore becomes a priority to capture his attention with coherent methods and approaches, reach him through the right touchpoints and communicate through an effective tone of voice.
Pay attention to the Google ecosystem
Exploiting the potential offered by SEO is essential. With the new normality brought by Covid 19, the information and content sought by users have increased: for example, those who sell physical products know that the information must be more detailed, precisely because the customer may not have the possibility to go to the physical store to view the product. Creating new informative content about items and their delivery, conveying a message that makes potential buyers feel safe, are details that make the difference.
To conclude, it is important to reiterate that, although the world of digital transformation is constantly evolving and difficult to predict, digital transformation offers many opportunities for those who want to emerge.
Furthermore, to the question “What are the 3 main challenges facing a web agency in B2B marketing?”, Among the most frequent answers we find: providing the customer with an optimal experience throughout the customer-company relationship. Customer-centric B2B companies are those able to understand not only how to attract the customer in the first place, but also how to create a relationship of trust that transforms a simple customer into a brand ambassador, able to spread a positive image of the company and directly influence the demand for the product.
Although it is clear that the customer must be put on a golden pedestal to have optimal results, well, only about 22% of web agencies claim to excel in the CX (customer experience).
In this context, it is important to rely on specialists, such as the Moka Adv team, who can be a point of reference for those who aim for their online positioning to be successful.