How to stay up-to-date with emerging media trends & tactics

SEO for voice, podcasts, TikTok… staying up to date with the latest media trends can feel like a full-time job in itself. But not keeping up can mean being left behind. For this article we caught up with Lucy Fuggle, content marketer for PieSync from HubSpot to take a look at five media trends in 2020 worth paying attention to and a simple overview you can put into practice for your marketing strategy.

Video is becoming more popular – and easier to produce 

Video is not a new marketing tactic, but it's effectiveness and popularity keeps increasing. Today, 83% of marketers say video is a good investment, and more than 50% of consumers prefer video content to other forms of branded content. As a result, ad spending in the video segment is forecasted to surpass $28,000M in 2020 and reach an impressive total market volume of over $35,000M by 2024. 

While video was once expensive to produce, new technologies have made it accessible for everyone. There's no longer any need for costly production teams or marketing agencies to create video; all you need is your phone and ideally a decent editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro. 

Stay updated: HubSpot's Ultimate Guide To Video Marketing is a great place to start. 

New social platforms are emerging 

Social media is no longer a new phenomenon in marketing, and most brands today have a presence on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Youtube. But the social media landscape is continually changing and evolving, and companies who don't pay attention risk losing out.  

TikTok is an example of a new platform offering massive opportunity for marketers. With more than 800 million active users in the age span 16–24, it's a channel you don't want to ignore if Gen Z is your target audience.  

Stay updated: Social Media Today and Social Media Examiner are great resources for all things social. 

Voice is the new text – it's time to adapt your SEO strategy  

"What's your Alexa strategy?", is a question marketers will soon need to be prepared to answer. As the use of voice search is rapidly increasing, digital marketers have to rethink and expand how to view SEO (Search Engine Optimization). As people start talking to their smartphones, computers, and voice assistants (such as Google Home devices and Amazon Echo), optimizng content for text search won't suffice.  

According to predictions by ComScore, 50 percent of all searches will be made in voice in 2020. And most of them will be done without the user even looking at the screen. So just as marketers have long worked hard to adapt content for mobile, they will now need to focus on adapting it to voice search.  

Stay updated: Neil Patel, the king of SEO, writes a lot about voice and search on his blog.  

Micro-influencers are increasingly popular 

A large number of B2C brands and a growing number of B2B brands are leveraging collaborations with social media influencers. That's no longer news. But what is new is the trend towards targeting smaller influencer accounts with smaller audiences.  

There are several reasons for the rise of micro-influencers. One is that large influencers are very expensive to work with. Another is that even though they may have massive followings, those audiences are often not as engaged as the ones of smaller and more personal niche accounts.  

According to a survey by Edelman, 49% of people said they trust information from influencers with a small following, while only 36% said the same of more famous online personalities. By going micro instead of macro, many companies are spending less money, building more trust, and seeing a better ROI.  

Stay updated: The Influencer Marketing Hub provides plenty of insights and news on influencer marketing. 

Podcasts are appreciated and trusted by customers 

Podcasts are growing rapidly in popularity. In 2020, the advertisement spending in podcasts is forecasted to surpass half a billion dollars and deal values for exclusive rights to big names are skyrocketing. 

From a marketing perspective, podcasts differ from many other channels. Podcast audiences tend to spend several hours per week listening to their favourite podcasts, which means a high probability of reaching your target audience with advertising.  

According to Statista, listeners in the US rate ads in podcasts to be among the best-targeted ones. The attitude towards advertising during podcasts is positive, and ads are not avoided and filtered out in the same way as on many other platforms.  

Stay updated: To learn about podcasts, listen to them! The Podcast Host is a good place to start. 

How will you keep up with emerging media trends? 

In this article, we've had a look at five essential media trends in marketing: 

• Video is becoming more popular – and easier to produce 

• New social platforms are constantly emerging 

• Voice is the new text – you'll need to adapt your SEO strategy  

• Micro-influencers are increasingly popular 

• Podcasts are appreciated and trusted by customers 

As you plan your marketing strategy for 2020 and beyond, throw one or two emerging media tactics into your marketing mix and keep up-to-date with trends and best practices by following sources such as the HubSpot blog. 

As always when it comes to marketing, trial and error is part of the process. The sooner you try out new tactics, the sooner you will find out what works for you and your audience. 

Interested in learning more about Content and Social Media Marketing? Check out our online shortcourse here

About the Author

Lucy Fuggle is a writer, adventurer, entrepreneur, and content marketer for PieSync from HubSpot. She has a decade of content marketing experience, working with brands such as Switzerland Tourism, Stack Overflow, and Turing Fest.