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11 Digital Marketing Trends For 2022

If you asked me in 2019 if digital marketing would be among all the top priorities for businesses worldwide, my answer would be no. These innovative digital marketing trends for 2022 are among the top priorities for most business owners this year due to the pandemic experienced in 2020 and 2021 that had business owners sell and consumers buy online.

For any business to remain competitive and thrive in today’s online market, it must adapt to the rapidly evolving changes in digital marketing. Below are some of the trends to consider or follow in 2022.

Augmented & Virtual Reality

3D Garment on Model Imagery

Think about not having to go to a store to view a particular product. View it right at the comfort of your living room! How is that even possible you might ask.

Well virtual & augmented reality poses a great possibility of increasing engagement, bringing your customers and clients into the fold. A great example of a company that creates augmented reality for clothing is Metail. Using 3D modeling, they help consumers understand their fit preference and comfort through a computer vision experience. 

Unlike the take over of vision with virtual reality, augmented reality adds elements to 3D products. This generates a whole new customer experience and who wouldn’t want to be part of such!

Bing SEO

Google is the king of SEO and it pleases many businesses and marketers to rank high in content in it and generate traffic to their websites. However, with the saturation of content and such limited space to work with, it’s getting difficult to get rankings and drive traffic to your website.

Well, if you’re racking your brain on what to do to get more traffic, go for Bing SEO. Bing which follows second after Google is a profitable channel. It gets 1.1bilion visitors in a month. Although that’s a lower number compared to Google, it has seen an increase of 41.03% in its use for digital marketing since 2019. Also, with a majority of businesses on Google, it means there is less competition for website traffic. Consumers frequent Bing and if you adjust your site for Bing SEO, you can get to increase traffic to your website.

Digital marketing chatbot illustration
Digital marketing chatbot illustration

Consumers look for convenience in all aspects. With everything moving so fast, people want to get whatever they need instantly. If they don’t get what they want from your business, they move on to the next site-your competition. Being able to respond to their questions quickly definitely gives you an edge. However, you must be careful to get everything set up correctly by making sure the pre-programmed responses to questions actually answer the questions. It can be so annoying to get the same response to different questions where the correct response was never created.

Personalization marketing

Email marketing statistics
Email marketing statistics

If you want to stand out in 2021, you need to personalize your marketing – and that means personalized emails, web content, products, and more. Consumers are highly annoyed with generic advertising blasts and most of them say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences since they find personalization appealing. It’s easy to implement this especially with email marketing which has a high return on investment. This is one of the easiest digital marketing trends to implement with the use of the right tools.

The most effective digital marketing trend is Video marketing

Video marketing is one of, if not the most important marketing trend today. This is likely to remain the same for the next 5-10 years. Video marketing trends have shown that it’s now possible to shop exactly what you’re watching through ads. Perhaps in the near future, it will be possible to hover your cursor on a product within the video content and get linked to the online store. Let’s not forget how engaging videos are with music on them and interesting visuals.

The latest digital marketing trend is Influencer marketing

Digital marketing trends influencer
Digital marketing influencer illustration

 Influencer marketing is a type of word-of-mouth marketing. It focuses on using key topic leaders to amplify your brand message to a larger market. Influencers can be well-known celebrities, but more often they are Instagram or YouTube personalities with a huge niche following. As such, they can help spread the word about your business or product through their social channels.

Influencer marketing is generally more authentic than corporate advertising.  The challenge with influencer marketing finding influencers who are trusted by their audience. Not every influencer with a huge following or high engagement rate can help you win consumers. People have become very smart and recognize influencer brands that are authentic by observing their reputation on different matters.

Huge digital marketing trend in 2021: Interactive content

360 degree video

One of the fastest-growing digital marketing trends in recent times is interactive content. In 2021, we’re likely to see a shift from traditional text-based content toward dynamic, engaging content that offers users an immersive experience. For example, think about quizzes and polls, embedded calculators,  augmented reality ads or 360-degree videos.

If you need convincing, consider that 91% of buyers are actively searching for more interactive content. People like it not just because it’s fresh and original, but because it makes them feel more connected to brands and the buying process. Interactive content is more engaging, more memorable, and more likely to generate the results your business needs.

With intense competition on social media slowly suffocating organic reach, paid advertising will become a more trusted force in 2021. And when you consider the Smart Bidding feature on Google Ads, you’d be  self sabotaging not to give it a try. Advertisers can hand the reins of their pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to Google’s AI system, which will then optimize their budget to maximize their ROI. This works for any number of PPC goals. With Smart Bidding running the show, marketers will have more free time to focus on strategy, copywriting, and analytics.

Establishment of brands

We live in a time when consumers are spoiled for choice. It doesn’t matter what niche you’re in – it’s unlikely that you operate in a vacuum. Most consumers say that they feel connected to a brand whenever they trust it. To earn their trust, you have to establish a solid brand.

Better analytics

Modern marketing and metrics go hand-in-hand, so if you’re not investing in better analytics, you’ll struggle to drive the results you want to see. The problem, however, is that the customer journey is more complex now. With multiple channels to manage and a myriad of ways to market your products and services, the job of analytics tracking is fast becoming a massive mission. As a result, many companies are looking beyond the basics of Google Analytics for a comprehensive business intelligence solution or analytics dashboard.

Social media marketing

Digital marketing trends social media pros
Conclusion: Digital marketing is not going anywhere

For anyone in digital marketing, change is an integral part of the job. This is the right time to invest in email marketing and creating more video content. This definitely doesn’t mean that you should stop doing everything else like blogging. The good old article writing will always support your search rankings on Google. Take the leap and invest in your businesses’ digital marketing strategy. It’s obvious that these digital marketing trends are likely to become very popular this year. In case you need a team of creative people to launch you forward, we’re here to help.

The Importance of Local SEO and How to Get the Best out of it

Source:What is Local SEO?

Before we get to the definition, let’s first dig into history. In 2010, before local SEO became a consideration, Google realized that many users would make search queries ending with “near me.”

Users would search for “Barbershop near me,” “Cakeshop near me,” etc. To solve that problem, Google embraced the concept of locality.

Local SEO as the name suggests is how your potential customers get to locate you within a set geographical area. Meaning, only local businesses that offer certain products or services within the set area will compete for location for specific keywords.

For example, for the the keyword “Consultancy services in Nairobi”, only businesses that offer consultancy services in Nairobi will be competing. This reduced competition creates an equal footing for businesses to rank for specific location keywords.

Less competition for keywords and increased chances of your website rankings make local SEO even more desirable.

What Makes Local SEO Important?

  • Increased local search queries with the intent to purchase. The demand for businesses within the consumer’s vicinity has seen a rise of 200% which local SEO maximizes.
  • The local searches lead to action. Mosts local searches result in a shop visit. Considering the local searches being conducted, it isn’t difficult to consider such an outcome!

How to Implement Local SEO to Website

While you can opt-out for professional local SEO optimization, there are certain things you can do to ensure your website ranks high for local keyword searches such as:

Use targeted local keywords

Using targeted local SEO is key in ranking high on Google. While this may be obvious, it may be confusing to get the right keywords especially if you are a beginner.

You can consider the Google Keyword Planner – a free tool offered by Google to kickstart your journey.

Ensure your NAP is consistent

NAP is simply the Acro name that stands for Name, Address, Phone number. This is one of the basic information that users get to interact with to fish out more details concerning your business.

However, not all businesses have their NAP consistent which can be detrimental to their overall business performance.

While the lack of consistency can be confusing and frustrating to the user, it also affects the search engine algorithms which negatively affects your website’s ranking.

Ensuring your NAP is consistent across the board may be but a little effort, however, it can provide impressive local SEO results especially if your competitors also have inconsistent NAP details.

Also, as you clean up your NAP details, be sure to look at any other mentions of your business in the local business directories and other websites and ensure that the details are consistent.

Optimize for mobile devices 

In the digital world, we are in, mobile phones are becoming the next desktop. Most search queries are conducted on mobile devices than on desktops. 

In the US, 56% of local searches are done on mobile. If you are running a site in 2022 that’s not optimized for mobile use, you’re seriously missing out!

Luckily, optimizing your website for mobile devices is not rocket science. There are many pre-built websites that offer that service. 
Alternatively, you can contact us, and we’ll get your website optimized for mobile use within no time.

Build Citations

Put simply, citations are mentions of your business on the web apart from your own website.

Citations majorly influence your website rankings as search engines use them to measure the credibility and legitimacy of your business.  

To build citations, all you have to do is to create a business listing on as many business directories as you possibly can. Besides this, you can look for the most active local business directories and create your business listing on them. As you build citations, remember also to check the NAP consistency.

Encourage consumer reviews on your website

93% of consumers often look at your business reviews which acts as a factor in influencing their purchase decisions. Not only that but also depending on the nature of your business and the industry it lies in, customer reviews can account for 6-15% of how Google ranks your business on search.

Schema markup

When added to your website, it enables the search engine algorithms to find relevant details about your business on your website.

It helps interprate your website information in a language that the search engine algorithms will best understand.

When done right, schema markup enables the search engines to send more traffic to your website which increases your website rankings.

To assist get your schema markup try Google marker helper.

Conclusion

Local SEO sets a positive pace for your business and is the best tool for business growth. If you have questions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below.

What is Social Media SEO?

Source: Storyset

Marketers have become more aware that for them to boost their brand, implying proper SEO strategies is a must.

So how then do social media and SEO links? As the world is growing into a global market, marketers and business owners have then seen the need to integrate different marketing strategies.

Social media SEO or Social SEO is the implementation of both SEO strategies and social media to boost search rankings and drive more traffic to your website.

According to eMarketer, at least 60% of marketers publish content daily. That’s a lot of content to compete with which significantly reduces the chances of your content being visible on the search engine results. However, the right content strategy integration would help in improving your chances.

  • Increase search rankings through social signals.
  • Boost your content engagement beyond organic reach.
  • Boosts brand awareness. As the content on social media is more humanized, it amplifies your online presence.
  • Increases the lifespan of your posts.
  • Through Google link building, it increases the chances of the discovery of content that’s added to different websites.
  • Boosts local SEO through consumer reviews and business profiles.

Each of these areas offers a sinuous web of social signals which, in turn, affects your website’s rankings. This makes Social SEO vital for all businesses regardless of size.

Some of the facts to consider: Your profiles on the different social media sites appear at the bottom of your website and are thus integrated into your business searches. These sites can then be presented as a result of different queries on the search engine by your customers or different prospectors.

Although is Google is the king of SEO, YouTube – a social media site, ranks as the second-largest search engine in the world. Yes, you read that correctly! More people conduct their search on YouTube than on Bing or Yahoo. Yet, YouTube is not the only social media site that your potential customers frequent to aid in making purchase decisions.

What are Social Signals?
Source: How Social Media Supports SEO?

How is social media important for SEO? Since it can drive traffic to your website it then plays a major factor in the support of your SEO.

Through the creation and publishing of quality content that touches base with your target audience, your audience then acts as advocates to your content as they will read and share it with their friends and followers. Who will then share with their followers and the circle continues. Why? Because you have given them something valuable.

Content creation offers a wonderful platform to attract people to your site. And the beauty of it is that it can be in any format as long as it achieves its end goal – to engage its audience.

Some of the types of content that drive engagement, social shares, and traffic are:

  • Blogs
  • Infographics
  • Videos
  • Podcasts

These materials offer relevant and useful content/information to your personas which keeps them coming for more and ultimately driving leads that form the essence of content marketing.

However, the content created could all go to waste if not effectively distributed. That’s where social media comes into play. When you share your posts on your socials, your audience gets to like, share, etc. which amplifies your content. In so doing, it increases web traffic, visibility, and backlinks generation.

For your marketing strategy, it’s, therefore, vital to post useful information that engages your audience – boosting social shares.

Some of the Social Media sites to consider are:
Source: Conclusion

In the implementation of social SEO, be clear of your actions and how you will measure them. Move your attention more towards data rather than going with guesswork. If you want help in incorporating your SEO strategies with social media, contact us.

How to get a long-term SEO strategy for Google to trust you

SEO Image Via Everything you need to know about SEO and Google
  • Keep user in mind
  • Align your goal with that of SEO
  • Produce quality content
  • Add to quality content information customers want to read.
  • External optimization
  • Improve on the speed it takes to access your page
  • Make your website compatible with all devices
  • Make your website easy for users to use and navigate

As many businesses are changing from the traditional marketing style to digital marketing, businesses need to get creative to increase their SEO rankings.

Google is the king of SEO and it pleases many businesses and marketers to rank high in content in it and generate traffic to their websites.

Google has 86.64% of desktop searches. People often turn to Google to seek answers. In other words, if your website is old-school but provides them the answers they need, they’ll go for it and your Google rankings will go higher.

I know you have probably heard of the importance of Search Engine Optimization as a marketing tool, but do you know how SEO works?

SEO is crucial for your business as it brings visibility to your website – this means that you generate more traffic to your site and increase the opportunity for conversions.

Getting a long-term SEO also plays a role in boosting brand awareness, creating relationships with potential prospects and it positions your business as an authority and a reliable specialist in your field.

Nothing just happens, things are caused to be by the implementation of tried and tested strategies. If you are looking to increase your rankings on Google ads then sip some coffee as I take you through how to get a long-term SEO strategy for Google to trust you.  

8 Tips for a long-term SEO strategy
Align your goal to that of SEO

A majority of search engines if not all strive to give their user the best experience they can have. If your website gives the best and right solutions for keyword searches, then Google will have confidence in your content and you will, in turn, rank at the top.

Keep your user in mind
User Frustration Image ViaProduce quality content

In a market where content is more than the population, one can fall into the trap of producing low-quality content. This strategy is bound to fail. One thing that makes you reliable is your ability to produce content that is of high quality.

Content is the vehicle that drives you to your target audience. Write content that is attractive to read, not just throwing keywords in there for sake of it.

High-quality content is one that actually offers solutions or information that the reader needs. It’s also one that’s easy to grasp and attractive. It has zero to no typos rich in keywords and offers relevant links to internal and external sites that customers can use.

You can utilize the use of images, memes, or GIFS to make your article desirable.

On one blog post shared by Google, they said having the right content that’s of a high grade is crucial for rankings and boosts traffic more than the user experience.

Add to quality content information customers want to read.

It’s one thing to write a good piece, but what’s the need if no one is interested? Write content that your buyer actually wants to read. This you can do by conducting keywords searches to gauge the demand of your audience.

Not only should your content be relevant to your audience but also be educational and still interesting. It also has to be shareable.

External optimization.

This is an off-page SEO optimization that occurs outside your site. The main strategy used here is backlink building.  Creating quality backlinks from outside sources back to your site informs Google that you are reliable and valuable.

Some of the backlink-building strategies include guest blogging, the creation of sharable quality infographics, and the use of influencer marketing in your content.

Improve on the speed it takes to access your page.

Once your page takes more than 3 seconds of loading speed, 53% of customers are bound to leave. The longer they wait the faster you lose potential customers. Load speed is one of the key measuring matrixes for Google. Therefore, ensure your website is fast.

Make your website compatible with all devices.

A majority of searches by customers are done on their mobile devices. That’s 60% of the searches. You have to ensure your website is compatible with a majority of devices to gain Google to trust your content.

To crown all that, make your website easy for users to use and navigate.

Make your site visible and easy to find.

Conclusion

As you implement these strategies, remember that SEO is long-term and requires patience to build. It is, therefore, important to make it a part of your everyday habits to build an SEO strategy that’s worth the wait.

Top Kenyan Influencers for Brands

Who is a brand influencer?

A brand influencer is someone who impacts others to show an interest in your business by posting on social media or blogging about it. Usually, these are people with a specific following in a specific niche that they engage with regularly. There are different types of brand influencers such as celebrity influencers, micro-influencers, macro-influencers, and key opinion leaders.

Celebrity influencers

These are individuals who have massive followers in the millions. In Kenya, one such celebrity is Jalango also known as Jalas. He has a following of 2.3M followers on Instagram, and 384,000 subscribers on Youtube. The keyword ‘Jalango’ gets 320 monthly searches on Google according to Ubersuggest analytics.

In the post below on Instagram, Jalango promotes parcels of land in Konza for a real estate consulting firm called Arkland Consult Limited. Jalango has tagged Arkland Consult in his post as well as included information on how to contact them in the video so that his followers can learn more about the firm by following them on Instagram and Facebook and contacting them through the information provided.

Source

Micro-influencers

A micro-influencer is one who has between 1000 and 100,000 followers. They are generally regarded as industry experts or topic specialists who have stronger relationships with their audience. Unlike a celebrity influencer, a micro-influencer has a uniform audience. Due to the type of content they create and the number of followers they have, they usually have a high engagement rate. Brands love to work with them to build more personal relationships with their target audience.

Source

Yvonne Kendi is one such micro-influencer. She has a follower count of 10,800 followers on Instagram and 17,800 subscribers on Youtube. Her niche topic is home styling and E-design services and therefore most of her videos are all about improving your interior décor. She promotes beautiful pieces of furniture, light fixtures, carpets, curtains, artwork as well as maintenance and care with couch and carpet cleaning services.

In the post below she has tagged a company that sells light fixtures-Meydan Lightings- and as a result, her followers will be able to contact them if they want to beautify their own spaces with their lightings. Yvonne makes a perfect micro-influencer for Meydan Lightings because her brand image and lifestyle are targeted towards people looking for design inspiration for their homes.

Source

Macro-influencers

Macro-influencers are a notch lower than celebrity influencers. Their followers range between 100,000 and 1million. Unlike celebrity influencers, macro-influencers gained their fame largely through the internet, either through blogging, creating funny or inspiring videos and posts.

A good example of macro-influencers in Kenya is the Wajesus family of Milly Wajesus, Kabi Wajesus, and their son Taji Wajesus. Their channel on YouTube has 402,000 subscribers on Youtube, and on Instagram, Kabi Wajesus has 693,000 followers, Milly Wajesus has 805,000 and their son’s account has 177,000 followers. According to Ubersuggest, there are 110 monthly searches on Google for the keyword ‘wajesus family’.

Source

Key opinion leader

Source

A Key Opinion Leader (KOL) is a high-level expert in a specialized topic within a particular field. A good example of a KOL is Paula Kahumbu, a wildlife conservationist and the CEO of a Kenyan NGO- Wildlife Direct. She also holds a doctorate from Princeton University and is a lecturer on wildlife conservation.  The keyword-Paula Kahumbu has 203 monthly searches on Google according to Ubersuggest which is a significant number if you compare her with the influencers earlier mentioned.

If your organization or business is looking to attract this type of audience in a very specialized field then a KOL will be perfect for your brand.

How to choose an influencer

If your product has mass appeal and is likely to be appreciated in an audience with varying demographics, consider working with a celebrity influencer. The reason for this is because celebrities have a huge following and as a result can provide your brand with a greater reach. They’re likely to be more expensive than other influencers and this is why it’s better to partner with them when promoting products or services that appeal to the masses so as to make a return on your investment.

On the other hand, if you’re looking to target a certain type of customer but still appeal to the masses, consider working with a macro-influencer. For instance, if you want to target a massive demographic like young women then consider working with a macro-influencer.

On the flip side, micro-influencers are typically known to charge a little lower than macro-influencers due to their smaller follower numbers. However, this means they’re more likely to give your brand value for money as they normally have high engagement rates with their audience. If a micro-influencer built her following of natural hair lovers (naturalistas) through vlogging, a brand selling hair-related products for naturalistas is most likely to gain brand awareness and sales quickly by partnering with them.

When deciding on who to work with, always remember that the larger the audience, the less focused it is likely to be. This is why having a broader offer appealing to the masses will be more beneficial to your brand if your focus is on high follower numbers. It is no surprise that the likes of Jalango promote brands such as Jahazi ugali corn flour because ugali is a staple food in most Kenyan homes.

List of Kenyan influencers and their statistics

InfluencerYouTube subscribersInstagram followersInstagram engagement rateTikTok followersTwitterTopic
Abel Mutua201,000391,0002.30%39,400Comedy
Azziad126,0001.1M1.1M163,000Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty, Entertainment
Bahati613,0002.7M87400195,100Music
Benjamin Zulu29,50037,2006,019Relationships
Betty Kyalo141,0002.7M0.80%106,0001MMedia
Blessed Tugi205,000Other
Caroline Mutoko118,000420,000664,700Personal finance & Investing
Cartoon Comedian182,000354,00020,1002,567Comedy
Chef Ali Mandhry86,700141,0002.00%27,80010,800Food
Crazy Kennar257,000393,00083,60056,300Comedy
Daddie Marto8,6002.00%6,734Comedy
Diana Marua385,0001.6M0.70%9,983Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
DJ Mo1.8M112,500Music
Eddie Butita41,700389,0001.00%14,400145,600Comedy
Edgar Obare105,000372,00071,700Gossip
Eric Omondi511,0003.4M55,70046,100Comedy
Fena Gitu52,500369,0000.60%13,900Music
Flaqo411374,000498,000398,900159,600Comedy
Grace Msalame6540697,0001.20%35,800Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty
Heaven Bahati533,000Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty
Henry Desagu548,000695,0000.30%96,80018,700Comedy
Janet Mbugua42,1001.1M2.30%457553,800Other
Jessy Junction145,0001.7M0%164,000Comedy
Jesus Girl14,20070,200Other
Joy Kendi57,600267,0002.90%32,5002,114Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
Joyce Maina43,000219,0003.20%52,0003,515Media
Joyce Omondi Waihiga22,400774,0000.40%28,400Music
Just doing life10,000Other
Just Gym It44,000176,0005.90%62,500Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
Kalekye Mumo11,2001,3000.10%462,300Media
Kaluhi’s Kitchen62,600116,0001.70%42,900Food
Kate actress119,0001.7M0.90%93,70021,900Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty
Khaligraph Jones459,0001.7M2.10%1,730258,800Music
King Julius122,00062,900252,3001,985Comedy
Ladasha417,000Other
Legally Clueless496012,1000.20%282,500Other
Maggie Mwende50,20035,400Home Decor & Cleaning
Mandi Sarro75,000113,0002.60%35,500Food
Maureen Waititu61,000488,0001.80%Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty
MCA tricky275,0001.5M10,000112,000Comedy
Michelle Anyango41,90016,5001346Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
Milly Chebby130,000221,0003,501Parenting
Mulamwah83,600386,00088,100310,100Comedy
Murugi Munyi (YummyMummy)56,400221,0002.00%24,800Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty
Muthoni Gitau31,40016,900Home Decor & Cleaning
Muthoni missions52,100310,000Relationships
Nasra Rashid60,100Comedy
Natalie Tewa87,300222,00013.90%12,900Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty
Nelly Mwangi21,20049,400Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
Njugush and Celestine486,0002M0.40%14,000134,500Comedy
Nkatha-K17,8008919Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
Nyce Wanjeri29,200554,0000.80%60,4001,029Comedy
Pascal Tokodi83,800905,00049,70015,300Music
Patricia Kihoro39,400219,0001.80%175,900Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
Pika na Raych157,000103,000Food
Rue Baby610,0003.70%174,6002,377Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty
Sharon Mundia69,5003430002.30%65,600Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
Terrence Creative109,000450,0001.50%67,8003,861Comedy
Terry Anne Chebet33,600696,0000.30%536,700Personal finance & Investing
The Murayas (Size8Reborn)216,0002.3M131,500Music
Tom Daktari216,00068,90036,7001,504Comedy
Wabosha Maxine203,000384,0009.30%154,0006,282Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
Wajesus Family (Milly Wajesus)391,000787,0001.80%114,0002,894Marriage, Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty
Wanjiru Njiru4430085,5002,091Fashion Lifestyle & Beauty
Willy Paul665,0001.9M65,70039,200Music
Yvonne Kendi16,10010,000Home Decor & Cleaning
Statistics collected in June 2021

In conclusion

Make sure you determine what type of product or service you’re bringing into the market. Is it suitable for the masses or targeted at a small niche? This will help you choose the right influencer to partner with. Remember, the number of followers alone should not determine who you should work with. Get their engagement analytics to see how many people interact with their posts. Remember that marketing a good product even in the hands of an amazing influencer, will not do well if it is not in alignment with the interests of their audience. Once you have determined who to work with, ask them for examples of their past partnerships with other clients and the results they were able to deliver. If you need to consult, we’re available to advise.

Contact us

Top Fashion Influencers You Should Follow In 2021

Fashion Influencer

The power of influencing with social media

Who doesn’t love fashion? We all love to go online and look at the latest, hottest fashion trends. It may be on Instagram, YouTube, Vogue, GQ, and many other platforms. They all help us make the best decisions when we go out shopping for apparel.

How much is the fashion industry worth?

We also follow various fashion icons to keep us both entertained and amazed at their beautiful designs. Fashion just hits differently and that is why it is an industry that is worth more than $1 trillion globally. According to Statista, the global apparel market was projected to grow in value from 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020 to about 2.25 trillion dollars by 2025. This shows that the demand for clothing and shoes is on the rise across the world.

The effects of the pandemic

However, when the global pandemic hit things took a dramatic downturn. In March, countries started enforcing lockdowns and there were massive layoffs. Since people had less disposable income, demand for apparel dropped dramatically.

As a result, the fashion industry took a strong hit and the numbers dropped. Internationally renowned consulting firm McKinsey released a report this year highlighting the drop. The report titled “The state of fashion 2021” reveals that the fashion industry registered record-low profits.

Compared to 2019, the profit dropped by 93%.

There is a silver lining

Fashion industry statistics

It is not all doom and gloom. McKinsey observes that growth may happen in 2021 though slowly. Even though subdued tourist numbers will keep taking a toll, the digital platforms are expected to soar.

“Where there is positive momentum, the primary driver will continue to be digital channels, reflecting the trend established before the COVID-19 crisis and the reluctance of people in many countries to gather in crowded environments.”

Around the globe, we expect more than 20 percent annual digital growth in 2021 (with 30 percent in Europe and the United States) compared with 2020.

The importance of influencers

Fashion influencers could not be more vital at this point in time. They will help the industry pick up and start experiencing positive projections.

These influencers will provoke more consumers to take up online shopping and shipping. Therefore, the apparel markets are keen to work with influencers who have an engaged following to drive sales growth.

How fashion blogging started

At the beginning of the 21st century fashion blogs started cropping out from personal diaries kept by fashion lovers. They then evolved into sophisticated marketing and economic tools. The advent of social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter saw the explosion of fashion influencer marketing.

This is because the influencers had access to a wider reach. Personally, I only knew of GQ as the fashion bible but now fashion influencers have enlarged my fashion horizon.

Influencers you should follow

There are notable fashion icons, influencers, and ambassadors that you should observe and follow. They have been consistent in the industry and have very innovative ideas. Their professionalism and quality have earned them respectable brand names and followers.

1.   Chiara Ferragni

Influencer and business woman Chiara Ferragni

Chiara Ferragni

Chiara has been a style icon for the past 10 years. She has worked with some of the most prestigious fashion houses. Some of the fashion houses she has worked with are Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), Chanel, Dior, and Giambattista Valli.

She boasts of a followership portfolio of 22.6 million followers on IG. In 2010 she founded the Blonde Salad fashion blog which has now grown into a global retail business according to Financial Times. 3 years later she launched her clothing line called the Chiara Ferragni Collection.

It started as a footwear line which has since grown to clothing accessories and children’s wear.

2.   Camila Coelho

CEO of Camila Coelho collections Camila Coelho

Camila Coelho

Camila is a well-respected Los Angeles-based Brazilian fashion influencer. She has more than 8.8 million followers on Instagram. The 32-year-old has worked with a host of famous names in the fashion world.

Her profile has earned her front-row seats at top fashion shows such as Christian Dior, Oscar de la Renta, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Celine, and Chloe. Coelho has also appeared in the highly venerated MET Gala and Cannes Film Festival.

This relentless model started off working at the Dior counter. She would upload detailed makeup tutorials on YouTube on her favorite beauty looks. The intention was to stay in touch with her family in Brazil.

Gradually, her social following spiked to more than 15 million followers. In no time she was known as one of the world’s top digital personalities according to Forbes.

The influencer partnered with world-renowned Revolve to launch her namesake company, Camila Coelho Collection. She heads the company as its CEO. Last year, at the height of the Corona pandemic, she launched her beauty brand Elaluz. Elaluz meaning “she is light” is a lifestyle brand that encompasses skincare, makeup, haircare, etc.

3.   Lukas Sabbat

Lukas Sabbat

Lukas Sabbat

At the age of 23, this New York native has been able to amass a following of over 2.3 million followers. He gained most of his following at the age of 20. His recognition on the runway for designers such as Lanvin, Laquan Smith, and more contributed to his notoriety.

Sabbat is known for his urban streetwear aesthetic that is setting trends in the men’s fashion industry. He resonates best with people who love tracksuits and how to navigate through various seasons.

4.   Jim Chapman

London-based model Jim Chapman

Jim Chapman

He is a London-based blogger and Instagrammer who boasts of a following of a little over 1.9 million followers. His success in fashion saw him voted as GQ’s best-dressed man in 2015.

As a YouTuber, he has been able to comfortably accrue a viewership of more than 98 million videos from his weekly videos. The Jim Chapman YouTube channel currently has more than 2 million viewers. One of his British GQ videos titled “How to buy a suit” has more than 1 million views.

Take Action

Study the fashion industry and see which fashion best resonates with you. It will help you follow the right influencer customized for you. The fashion industry is diverse and has very many aspects to it.

Different tenets of the fashion industry have different consumers, different products, and even different influencers. Choose the one that resonates with you.

6 Keys To Writing Authentic Content

Remember a time when you landed on a really good blog and the content shared was mesmerizing. How did you feel when that authentic content was something that you could really relate to?

On the flip side, I know you have come across content that was indifferent and somewhat irrelevant to your needs. It is very easy to sense when the author is just releasing facts and points that matter to them and not to the reader.

Why users bounce off from a site

When people sense that the content being released is not empathetic enough, they scroll past it. Google Webmasters say that Google pays attention to how much users spend on a post or a website. If users spend a lot of time on your posts it means that they are gleaning value. As a result, it positively impacts your search engine rankings.

That means that you need to pay attention to the readability of your content and make it attractive to the readers. Authentic content is one of the ways you can keep your readers glued to your site.

The more people enjoy your content, the more they share it and the more Google sends organic traffic to your site. Organic sales and conversions will steadily increase without having to break the bank in exorbitant advertising costs.

Authentic content means having unique insights, articles, topics, writing styles, tone of voice, authoritativeness and so forth. The uniqueness of your website will all the more ensure that you appear among the first in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

The stats

The statistics support authentic content as Social Media Today did a survey which revealed that 90% of consumers said that authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support. This is a 4% increase from 86% in 2017. The change can be attributed to diversity in the brands and a growing millennial audience.

The millennial audience has been attributed to driving the demand for content marketing. More than 70% of millennials say that they find TV ads annoying.

Marketers, on the other hand, have said that authenticity is key to their branding. Social Media Today revealed that 83% say that authenticity is very important to their brands. An additional 61% of marketers believe that authenticity is the most important component of impactful content.

What is authentic content?

According to Medium.com authentic content is content that tries to be of service genuinely to its audience and industry. The source of the authentic content does not try to manipulate their audience since they really intend to help their readers. That is why marketing experts have been referring to authentic content as the new revolution in marketing.

The role of social media in influencing authentic content

Brands started coming up with authentic content when an increasingly aware audience started growing on social media. Social media has given people the freedom to express their pleasure or displeasure publicly.

With social media marketing, companies have been able to employ social media listening and monitoring to see what their target market obsesses about. It is easy to see what makes people tick by observing what they hate and what they yearn for.

Empathy for your audience

This then forms the basis for authentic content. Empathy is the whole point of content that will genuinely help and inform your readers. Without real care for your audience, you will only release indifferent content. People these days shun and sometimes shame irrelevant content.

There are specific examples of companies that have suffered the ire of audiences for inauthentic content. Pepsi’s advertisement in 2017 which featured Kendall Jenner giving a policeman a Pepsi during a protest drew a lot of flack. The condemnation was widespread across various social media platforms. They accused the ad of downplaying the black lives matter protest.

Tips for writing authentic content

1.   Defining your target audience

Define the target audience of your content

Define your audience

Any successful content strategy has to be audience-centered. You, therefore, need to come up with a “reader persona” which stems from your buyer persona. Then you will research what they like and what they need.

2.   Stay true to your identity

Maintain your brand identity

Stay true to who you are

Nobody likes copycats because they come off as annoying and irritating. You should write content that speaks to who you are and what your brand is all about. This is where you develop your brand personality. According to Investopedia, “Brand personality is something to which the consumer can relate; an effective brand increases its brand equity by having a consistent set of traits that a specific consumer segment enjoys.”

3.   Consistency

Your company needs to keep a consistent tone. If you choose a tone of humor and playfulness, your content has to remain that way across all your platforms.

4.   Humanize your brand

Humanize your content

People trust people not brands

Human beings trust people more than brands. That is why more than 60% of readers say that they trust reviews by other users more than the company itself. You should write blogs from a personal perspective. Share your stories from a human point of view and even use the first person account. Such as embracing “I” or “We” and addressing “You” so that the articles and blogs can sound conversational.

5.   Build relationships

Network and build relationships with other people

Build relationships with people

This is particularly important when you want to fuse your content marketing with social media marketing. Your content should not be just about posting things for the sake of it. Authentic content should be about building a genuine connection with your followers. Address them by asking questions and sharing user-generated content.

6.   Be transparent

Transparency about things that your company is doing and also when things don’t work out will be great sources for authentic content. People are genuinely drawn to that.

Conclusion

I started reading when I came across enjoyable blogs and I could not stop clicking on the next article. They were so relatable and it felt like a real person was talking through those typed words. You should look at the content we release here at Digicurated. Look at our blog and see how your successful content strategy can look like.

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We’re looking for a creative video editor to create a short animated video not longer than 3 minutes. The video is meant to creatively explain a simple process of how to get a discount by sharing content with friends. If this is something you can do, please send one sample of your best work and how much this will cost to digicuratedone@gmail.com. Deadline 16th March, 5pm

My Experience Using A Project Management Tool As A Digital Marketer

Let’s face it. As digital marketers, we often need a tool that will allow us to collaboratively work with other content creators to produce great content.

Project management tools help different people in the organization come together. It helps provide a structured communication system between people.

 Communication is a MAJOR key especially when leading a team. Now more than ever, more companies are working remotely and when it comes to managing a team spread out in different continents, having a tool to manage tasks is essential. 

Employees working remotely

This means companies need great communication tools that will help them still collaborate the same way they would in offices.

Every year, poor communication costs small businesses with under 100 employees $420,000 and companies with over 100,000 employees over $62 million. 

Well, it’s because of this concern that project management tools came about as they allow people to interact and manage tasks more effectively and save money while at it.

 When I think of a project management tool, my mind immediately clicks to ClickUp! I genuinely don’t think I have used or heard an easier-to-use, reliable, and efficient tool that allows great management of tasks than ClickUp.

Why Do You Need A Project Management Tool

The correct question should be, why not use project management tools? As a digital marketer, here are the reasons why these tools are a necessity and not a luxury for me:

  1. It’s easy to find your tasks.

Some project management tools don’t clearly outline what tasks you have. I have been using ClickUp lately and I’ve noticed that you can quickly find and organize your activities with it. 

It follows a simple yet intuitive structure.

With it, you can see the documents shared with you, assigned to you, and your private documents. In this way, you are able to plan your work more effectively.

  1. Many Assignees

You know how you have a big task that you need to subdivide among members but want them to know they are all responsible for the task? ClickUp allows you to assign tasks to as many people as you want.

When you delegate the task, your team members get a notification in their emails letting them know about the task.

Collaborative effort

Once the task is done, you can delegate it to someone else who should take over. The delegation is flexible and you can change the responsibilities anytime.

  1. Sends task reminders

We can all be forgetful every now and then especially when we’re handling different responsibilities in an organization. And what better to jog your memory and your team members than with reminders?

Honestly, we all have busy schedules and now, during a time when remote working is the best way to work and stay safe, you will need constant reminders. Your colleagues and employees will need a tool that will constantly remind them of when their tasks are due! 

Not only can you create and schedule text reminders on ClickUp but you can also add attachments too! And if you have a forgetful team member, you can delegate a reminder to them too.

ClickUp takes care of it all, as it emails people when their tasks are due, even on the eve of their due dates.

This helps people be more aware and alert.

  4. You can prioritize your tasks

With ClickUp, you can decide on which are the most important. Based on the urgency, you can add a unique Priority Flag to each task.

5. Allows you to monitor

For me with Clickup, I can see the progress of tasks as they develop. One team member comes up with an idea, creates the copy for it, finds the right visuals, optimizes it, then completes the task. It helps me see all these stages.

This means anybody from a manager to an employee, as long as they have access to ClickUp, can know how far along a project is.

At a glance, you can see:

  • What others are working on
  • What tasks they’ve completed 
  • Who’s overloaded with work

6.  Allows Feedback

With ClickUp, you can directly add suggestions and criticism. It allows you to add comments directly on images, videos, and content. This is great as it allows you to give your opinion on someone’s work and ask for clarification where nec. 

7. Clickup is customer-centric

If you’re someone who enjoys an application that is always in constant improvement, then ClickUp is your ideal project management tool. It keeps getting better every time by providing new features, improvements, and enhancements based on what customers need. For instance, when I first started using it, I couldn’t add emojis easily to my copy but now it’s possible.

8. Time tracking

Being a digital marketer, I love knowing how much time I spend on tasks. This helps me schedule my workload effectively. 

Time tracking

ClickUp allows you to track how much time you spend on a specific task as long as you hit the time tracker button. 

In conclusion…

I can bet on ClickUp however I’m willing to sample other platforms. I just noticed how online task management tools such as Monday.com have a very simplified way to task management with beautiful visuals.

ClickUp is a suitable tool of choice regardless of the size of the business and number of employees! As a digital marketer, I’m very keen on tools that allow me to enjoy the process of creating which ultimately makes my work more efficient.

If you’re conflicted and feel like trying something different than your usual, then you should consider ClickUp or Monday.com! 

Once you start ClickUp, you realize that project management tools are actually key for anyone or a team that want to be productive!

Author: Ann K is a digital marketer at Digicurated who manages social media, article writing, and email marketing. In her free time, she enjoys finding inspirational art and spending time with her friends and family

7 Things To Look For In A Content Marketing Agency

We’ve all heard the famous quote that content is king. The importance and crucial role of content in any business can never be overstated. Therefore hiring a content marketing agency if you don’t have a content specialist or team is key for your content marketing strategy to work for your business.

Top content marketing agencies
Content marketing illustration

Top Content Marketing Agencies

Content that is shared on social media pages, websites, blogs, guest posts, and many other places plays an essential role in keeping followers engaged. At the same time, consistent content brings new followers to the website.

Content Marketing Statistics 

Content marketing statistics

Research from the US-based Content Marketing Institute (CMI) shows that content is big business and it is rapidly gaining good traction unlike in the past when it was looked down on. Here are some interesting statistics and findings that CMI came up with when they researched content marketing.

  • The B2B content marketing statistics show that 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach customers.
  • 86% of B2C marketers think that content marketing is a key strategy.
  • 72% of marketers say that content marketing increases engagement.
  • 72% say that content marketing has increased the number of leads.
  • The Return on Investment (ROI) of content marketing is equally impressive because Tiger Fitness content marketing ROI case studies uncovered that 60% of marketers reported a returning customer rate with video content marketing.

Analyze your competition’s content strategy

Content marketing is especially important for small businesses who are looking to get a share of the market cake in a field that has fierce competition. It is also important to analyze your competitors’ content strategy so that you can come up with something unique.

Experts advise that before you come up with a content strategy you should analyze your target market. Your target market will determine the kind of content that you will churn out. Every audience has very unique characteristics and they are not amorphous.  That is why companies develop buyer personas. 

Your target audience may be millennials, millennial parents, baby boomers, young women, young working men, small businesses in the fashion industry, working women, sportsmen and women, families, and so forth.

Target audience determines content marketing strategy
Communicating with your target audience illustration

Your audience determines your marketing strategy

The audience that you are targeting has different dynamics such as where they can be found, how they like being communicated to. Therefore, the channels you use and the messages that you pass across will change with the audience. That is why not all channels will work for your business.

For example, if you plan on reaching businesses or professionals, content on Facebook will not give you the results that you desire. But if you optimize for LinkedIn and significant investment in Twitter you will build the right following and even get good business.

When you have all that well figured out, it will help you come up with content marketing goals and plans. Your goals will help you find out if you can internally achieve them. If not, you should employ the services of a content marketing agency.

Your goals and strategies will save you time and get you a more focused approach. If your goals are to reach C-Suite professionals, you will look for agencies that develop professional, quality, and data-driven content. However, if you intend to reach the urban youth, you will look for companies that have playful, creative content that uses informal language.

Pointers to great content marketing agencies

These are vital aspects that you should look out for when you are sourcing for a content marketing agency:

target audience for a digital marketing agency

Target audience

  1. Their major audience– There are companies that have specialized in reaching all kinds of audiences but there are those that pick a certain group set e.g. millennials then segment them. You should find the agency whose audience rhymes with yours. When it comes to targeting professionals or business clients, Digicurated has significant experience.
  2. Aligns with your business needs– Even before you scour the market for an agency, you should first assess the specific needs of your business and its particular requirements. This will help you get the right content marketing agency instead of the best one. Business needs such as reaching a new market, pushing a new product, SEO, blogging, accelerated growth, etc. These needs will help you get a fitting agency.
The location of your agency

The location of your content marketing agency

  1. Location– You need an agency that understands the audience that you are targeting, where they can be found, and also where your services/offices have been located.
Vet the agency's marketing experience

Vet the company’s experience in content marketing

  1. Experience– As you vet content marketing agencies you should look into their past projects, samples of their content, campaigns for various firms, and all. 
Vet the agency's niche and specialization

Determining your niche is a light bulb moment

  1. Niche and specialization– Every single content marketing agency has an area that they specialize and do well in. For example, there are marketing firms that specialize in the food industry more than other industries. If you are a restaurant business you will need their services.
Measure the agency's SEO competencies

Measure their SEO Competencies

  1. SEO Performance– Content marketing is one of the most important foundations of any SEO strategy. If an agency’s SEO performance is wanting, you will not get value and good returns for your business. All you need to do is to Google relevant keywords and see how they rank on the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). The best content marketing agencies rank well on search engines.
Consider how much the agency charges

Vet their prices and payment plans

  1. How much they charge and their payment plans– Different companies charge different prices and you need a company that will charge you a price that you can afford. Secondly, the content marketing agencies have different payment plans. 

There are content marketing agencies that do one-year projects and others semi-annual or quarterly payments.

The best payment plan is the one that suits your needs.

Conclusion

There are very many B2B Content marketing agencies and great ones for that matter. However, not all are right for your business. With the above tips, you will be able to choose an appropriate agency that will help you reach your business goals. Look out for additional insights in our top 10 marketing trends in 2021.