Key Marketing Trends 2021 – Part 3: Social Tech

In this series of articles, we look at what key marketing trends will shape 2021.

How AR, Voice marketing, QR codes, and the passing out of 3rd party cookies will shape marketing in 2021.

It was about time: a change in the ad tech scenery. Cookies are dying, and that is a good thing. In 2021, ad tech will bring change to the way brands interact with consumers, they will have to.

From AR to Voice and QR codes, consumers will seek new contactless and direct ways to interact with brands, whether it be to seek information (voice marketing), discover new products or services (AR), or explore new ways to engage with their favorite brands (QR codes.)

Augmented Reality, finally 

Years in the making, the AR revolution could finally be upon us, boosted by platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram.

Some will argue that COVID-19 has forced brands to find alternative solutions to their “IRL” touchpoints. And while that probably did accelerate the change, consumers are actually at the heart of the AR revolution: 1 in 3 AR filters on Snapchat is created by users or influencers.

Jumping on the bandwagon, Instagram now allows anyone – brands, businesses, influencers, and even users – to create their own filters for others to use in their Stories. The future is here, at the crossroad of UGC and AR, and brands will have to get used to it.

Social platforms will enter the world of voice marketing

According to PwC, 71% of consumers would rather use a voice assistant than text queries when searching for information.  In 2020 alone, 36% of US and 16% of UK voice assistant owners have purchased items through their speaker more than once. 

But voice marketing is about much more than this. Social media platforms are now testing new ways to communicate via audio because they find this medium to be much more engaging than text. Clubhouse has led the way and now Twitter has started testing Spaces, its own take on how audio conversation rooms could become the new social medium.

Goodbye, Cookies

Third-party cookies are a dying breed. And with them, an entire industry is faced with uncertainty.

Firefox and Safari have blocked them since 2013, but now Google Chrome is about to do the same. And Chrome represents over 56% of the global web traffic. Of course, that does not mean this will be the end of retargeting (you will still be able to leverage and target Google Ads and Social ads the platforms’ first-party cookies), but now, first-party data – the one you acquire by engaging with your customers – will become key if you do not want to find your brand’s hope locked in the dependency of a single platform (although Facebook would certainly want you to think differently…)

Want more? Check out our Key Marketing Trends 2021 for Content.

An initiative by SuperHeroes, The Attention Academy is a collaborative platform where research, innovation, and international creativity help brands win, retain, and convert a digitally native generation—you know, the ones with micro-attention spans, and millions of options at their fingertips.

If you are looking for solutions to really grab the attention of your audience, contact us now.