The We are Social and Hootsuite Global Digital Overview of 2020 highlights essential digital marketing trends, growth, and good marketing practice. Industries, both big and small, will need to consider these factors in order to effectively navigate the broader landscape of the digital world. The report encourages brands to take action in three critical areas in order to positively impact their consumer touchpoints:
Social Self-Care
We are beginning to see a new way in which users want to interact with the online world. There has been a strong movement towards creating a safe social space with online users taking a stance on creating a healthier way to consume the digital. This movement has placed emphasis on brands to create content that uplifts communities and be more vigilant about the position that they take on social matters.
The idea here is to ensure that your brand has a good mutual relationship with its consumers. According to the overview, “in 2020, brands will support consumers in creating and enforcing healthier digital habits.” This understanding stems from the rapidly growing awareness of mental health across the globe. This awareness is vital in understanding how your consumers are wanting to be spoken to. It’s not simply a trend that brands can capitalize on but rather a deeper look into who your consumer is and how you can market your product better to them. Instagram has already begun rolling out a form of this in removing public likes from their platform.
By building this trust with consumers you will find that it will also reinforce the values of your company. Through this, you will be able to actively engage with your consumers as they begin to rebalance their digital lives.
Reality Anxiety
Cambridge Analytica and fake news forced online consumers to be more wary of the information that they give to companies online. In addition to this, there has been a rise in misinformation that seems to spread across the internet like wildfire. This decline in consumer trust has come as no surprise with the rise in deepfakes and other ways to misinform online users about topics. Serious allegations against both individuals and companies have been falsely made and could potentially result in ruined reputations across the board.
So, how will your brand navigate these tremulous waters? The simple answer is to ensure complete brand transparency with your consumers. In doing this you will leave your consumers with a less disassociated feeling from the truth. In building this trust you will find that your business essentially champions honesty over misinformation. Consumers will naturally be attracted to this and it will open up a positive dialogue for your industry with a gradual flow of communication.
Regulated Spaces
With Social Self-Care and Reality Anxiety becoming more apparent within the online world, communities and large-scale platforms are coming together to regulate the space in which content is consumed. This means that there is a mass movement of implementing new rules and regulations across various platforms about the type of content that is shared and to whom it is being shared to.
This rise has grown from the lawlessness place that the internet is. Meaning that there has previously been no implications for negative online activities, which in turn, do affect the offline world. We are beginning to see social platforms becoming more vigilant in regulating the content that is shared, and brands will need to do the same if they wish to survive. According to the Overview “in 2020, brands will need to adapt to a new range of rules and restraints in digital spaces.”
By doing this, there is a huge opportunity for a company to see significant growth as it streamlines its approach to social media and the online world. Make being more attentive to your content a priority in order to be one step ahead of your competitors.
So, what does this all mean for South African companies? The Global Digital Overview discusses similar digital trends within the South African context from 2019. There are 23 million active social media users in South Africa, this has grown by 28% from January 2018 to January 2019. Therefore, if companies wish to see success and profit online, they should take advantage of the three above-mentioned changes regarding how they communicate on their consumer touchpoints. Consumers are growing so, grow with them.
We believe in the power of growing businesses online through various tools and platforms. Interested in understanding how to implement these three changes in your business? Let’s chat. Coffee is on us: +27 (0) 21 461 7180
References and links
- The We are Social and Hootsuite Global Digital Overview of 2020 : https://wearesocial.com/digital-2020
- The We are Social and Hootsuite Global Digital Report of 2019 South Africa: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2019-south-africa
- What is the Cambridge Analytica scandal? : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q91nvbJSmS4
- Instagram to start hiding like counts in the U.S.: https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/instagram-likes-like-counts-hidden-1203399222/
- Everybody is talking about: Deepfakes: https://wearesocial.com/au/blog/2019/09/everybody-is-talking-about-deepfakes?utm_source=trends_digital&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=digital_2020&utm_content=textlink_Slide
