Digital marketing and daily life a few years back:
Everyone used to prefer buying and selling face-to-face a few years back. There were not many sales online. Online shopping orders are placed only in case of the unavailability of certain items. People preferred going out shopping for minor things. They just needed an excuse for an outing. Life was easy.
The negative impact of COVID-19:
The virus quickly spreads from person to person. Therefore, governments around the world ordered lockdowns in their countries.
The local and traditional markets got a significant blow. Their sales hit the bottom line. The traders and businesspersons who were proud of their customers had no one left to buy the products. Thousands of people lost their jobs. Due to safety purposes, people locked themselves in their houses. Streets, parks, and marketplaces emptied. Everyone started ordering daily life necessities online as much as possible. However, there were limited online websites for little stuff.
People needed to continue their daily life by any means they could. Like other departments,
education had received a significant blow. Several students lost hopes of achieving their dreams. Many were looking forward to standing up on their feet in the next few years.
The positive effects of COVID-19:
Pandemic spreading and with lockdown for an unknown period; all the hopes came crashing down. However, students picked up their books again within a few months, all thanks to online digital platforms. Many started launching their websites, including malls, super-markets, and
centers. Different apps started coming forward to provide services for online meetings and
conferences. Home offices became a norm; jobless people turned to freelance websites. Those people with no skills started learning, a pleasant wave of change took everyone with it. Everyone started turning to online platforms to earn. Even those who never thought they would.
Digital marketing that was no big deal a few years ago suddenly grabbed everyone’s attention. Gradually, the air of hopelessness started to disappear. Businesspersons started shifting their businesses online. Many individuals increased the usage of social media for business
advertisements. Life indoors became fun with the whole family present at all meals. The usage of every kind of screen increased. The overall impact of pandemics on every aspect of life was very negative. Nevertheless, it pushed people towards digital marketing, improving it. Many opportunities appeared according to the needs of people. Online tutors, sellers, chefs, craft makers, suppliers, and many more opportunities have knocked on many people’s doors.
Technology has eased our pain and suffering.
Pandemic effect on digital marketing:
Pandemic has affected all the fields of digital marketing. But fortunately, in a good way.
Advertisements:
GroupM expects that global advertising will grow by 19% by the end of 2021 due to the pandemic. This means a 15% rise in total ad revenue as compared to 2019. This shows how much pandemics have changed the situations in various fields, especially digital marketing.
Design and Creativity:
Covid-19 has forced people to focus more on their creativity and bravery and brought out the best in them. A large number of people say that the pandemic has enabled them to become imaginative regarding their work.
People have begun experimenting and expanding the capability of their marketing channel activities.
Creator Market:
According to TikTok, the creators are a pool of social content makers that do not rely on the commercial power of persuasion.
Data shows that the creator market has been and will be seeing continuous growth in the future.
Fastest Growing Brands:
According to the report of KKantar’s annual BrandZ, the following brands are the fastest-growing brands of the year 2021;
- TikTok
- Tesla
- Pinduoduo
These brands doubled their value after the increase in social media usage and engagement during worldwide lockdowns.
Video game industry:
The video gaming industry became more popular as people took safety measures by staying indoors. There is nothing to do and nowhere to go to force the young generation to spend most of their time playing games.
Social media usage:
Pinterest alone sees 5 billion searches each month, the most frequent search terms are vacations, outfits, and home renovation. The activity on its platform increased during pandemics.
Facebook still tops the charts in regards to daily visits. On the other hand, YouTube users have increased by 8%.
More influencer marketers use TikTok than Facebook.
Customer Experience:
The confidence in online shopping is at its highest level since 2016. Before the pandemic, people had no faith in buying online products.
They were insecure and afraid. Due to the pandemic, however, they had to push their fears aside. The result: they are now satisfied with online shopping platforms.
Online Banking:
You might be surprised that about 3.7 million UK citizens used online banking for the first time due to the pandemic. Yes, you read that right.
Online Professional help:
Many people turned towards online doctors. A large number, though, used telehealth services for the first time. About 7.8% of adults joined online fitness classes to stay active and healthy.
Leisure and Entertainment:
Financial and health categories are not the only ones that people are using. Virtual visits to museums, zoos, parks, and galleries are on the rise as well.
Meanwhile, a massive 4.1 million population is streaming movies and TV shows to pass the time.
Internet Usage:
According to Lloyd’s Consumer Digital Index, 1.5 million more UK citizens have started using the internet. A report shows that 72% of consumers purchased products online from brands they never purchased before during the previous year. About 67% visited news websites, and 65% made their first video call.
Sharing:
People became closer than they were in the past. Hence, sharing bits of advice and helping each other on any matter according to experience.
To ward off the depression vibes, people are sharing more jokes and funny videos.
New apps and Websites:
Office meetings and conferences cannot take place on usual social media apps. Nevertheless, it will be very disturbing and inconvenient. Therefore, software engineers made many new apps. The need for new apps and websites gave a chance to many developers to show off their skills.
Business apps:
It has been a year since the virus hit us hard. Even then, the number of business apps downloads is high. Business-related apps such as Zoom and Google Meet have the highest growth. In
Europe, a significant increase of 252% took place in the number of business-related apps downloads.
Audio content:
Audio Content Survey shows 76.2% of consumers have consumed audio content since the virus started. Moreover, radio was the topmost preference for audio content among the surveyed.
Employment:
Based on growth and demand, digital marketing has ranked among the top 15. Pandemic had a positive impact on almost every type of digital marketing. Digital content, digital marketing, and social media marketing are especially in demand these days. These industries grew 52% last year. During the lockdown, the online marketing courses saw three-digit in Google searches.
In conclusion
In short, the pandemic regardless of everything had a positive impact on digital marketing as it led to a sudden new beam of business opportunities and growth, but unfortunately also took
away many such opportunities as well. Lastly, the pandemic teaches a lesson that you will find positive things even in dire situations if you look hard enough for them.