NABAS – The Balloon and Party Professionals Association – has identified a number of the most important digital trends that balloon artists and decorators need to know for 2021.
The article was published on the association’s blog at the start of the year and covers a range of key digital marketing areas, including voice search, social media, Google My Business, video content and online events. The last year has seen online usage change in line with new working environments as businesses grow their digital offering to meet the new needs of the ‘new normal’. Here’s what NABAS advised looking out for in 2021 and what these trends could mean for your business…
Voice Search
Optimising for conversational search is an ongoing effort. As you plan, execute, and update your content for 2021, keep a few questions in mind – what answers, information, content, or experience are your target audiences looking for? For example, instead of optimising for ‘party shop Hertford’, you should consider how your content answers the question: ‘where in Hertford (or near me) can I buy party accessories?’
Google My Business
The demand for local search remains high, with more than a billion people using Google Maps every month. For anyone with a shopfront, this presents an exceptional opportunity to boost your rankings and get noticed by people searching for your services in your area, so keep your Google My Business listing complete, detailed and updated on an ongoing basis.
Social Media
The good news is that social media usage is up for everybody across all channels, including Facebook. The biggest growth has been the use of video and live streaming, with Instagram seeing an overall usage increase of 40%, with 70% of people using Instagram Live. The latest app to take the world by storm is TikTok, with over 300m downloads in 2020. The interactive video channel provides the opportunity to create fun, engaging and lively content which can then be shared across other channels.
Video First
YouTube continues to dominate and 2020 saw a 20-30% increase in usage. YouTube is great for sharing video content and meeting Google’s growing need to serve search results in ‘one-click’. Video results now appear in response to Google searches, so if your video is tagged and optimised correctly, Google may favour it above a text solution, driving traffic directly to your content.
Virtual Events
2020 has decimated the events industry, which has been great news for the new face of conference calls. For digital marketers there is the opportunity to offer a new, instant and valuable level of content marketing, in the form of webinars, training, product assistance and demonstrations.
The New Normal
The shift and changing patterns of online usage and content consumption is changing to match new work/life patterns. It is important to remain positive about the overall increase in opportunity to reach your audience, particularly on social media. Video will be key in 2021 and beyond and, as with any other year, it is always prudent to spend time exploring new channels, platforms and features to make your digital presence as engaging and interactive as possible.
This is a truncated version of the full blog, which was published on the NABAS blog earlier this year.
