Has the approach to digital marketing changed in 2024?

Authored by Sanjana Nischal, Founder, Digital Kong.

In today’s fast-paced era, where one Instagram Reel can boost a brand’s sales to unfathomable numbers, digital marketing and social media have played a crucial role. It is not surprising that in March 2023, TRAI recorded 881.25 million internet subscribers in India alone. This is a clear indicator that digital marketing is undoubtedly the way forward for any brand’s success and growth.

In 2024, digital marketing will definitely be taken over by two tools: social media and AI. Marketers can churn out the full potential of both these tools to their advantage but if done responsibly. AI as a marketing tool is an easier and quicker option for creating compelling campaign strategies with the updated information available on the internet space. As content creation, graphics, content/ copywriting, etc fall into the marketing spectrum, AI is a holy grail for marketers to build their clientele with refined outcomes. When it comes to social media and its role in running successful marketing campaigns, the results are not concealed at all. It is clear that the power social media holds is unimaginable and it has an edge over other marketing tools at the moment. Safe to say: clubbing AI and social media together is a match made in heaven.

The way ahead

Digital marketing and social media both are going to be even more lucrative in the coming years, but at the same time, the harsh and neck-to-neck competition will make it difficult for the newcomers to even set their foot in the market. Today’s consumer is smarter and has easy access to almost anything and everything, thanks to the internet. It is not just thinking out of the box anymore but has to be groundbreaking. To break out of the clutter and have that shock factor is getting trickier to achieve. So, given the current trend, we have also had to rethink our approach at Digital Kong for our brands in 2024, and using social media AI tools have been a game changer for us. These tools help us gather detailed insights about our audience, forecasting and identifying trends, etc which gives us a better headway when creating campaigns.

Here are a few insights and tips that we have been following at Digital Kong and could help someone who is looking to utilise social media and digital marketing in the right direction:

Content that connects

I think the approach towards social media is inclined more towards community building than just a brand posting about their products or an ongoing discount. So, I think that shift is up where brands actively try to collaborate with complementary brands. And they're trying to build a stronger community. The whole idea is to get like a loyalty base made for their brand. Along with AI you can do a lot of things.

Brand positioning can be shown a lot better with AI now. For example, the CGI posts/ ads have been used by several brands. With CGI you can showcase a huge product. Let's say, a life size lipstick falling down or placed right in front of India Gate, which is impossible to capture or imitate even through advanced filming techniques. It also comes with massive creative liberty. Apart from that, I think transitions reels, which have really nice seamless transitions, get picked up very easily because those are appealing to the eyes, it's like a dopamine hit. Basically, the content that is attractive and at the same time, it is informative. This kind of content works much better because the visual way of storytelling has changed.

The viral bandwagon

A few things digital marketers are implementing to build the right connections with their audience are picking up topical trends, which can be a latest meme template or a trending audio or sound that people find interesting. The natural hook being cleverly using them to educate and inform people while grabbing their attention.

When I say it is going to be difficult for the marketers and their social media teams to catch up with the trends, I mean it! These trends are ever changing and the duration to attract your target audience has reduced from 15 seconds to 3-5 seconds. The first 5 seconds will decide the fate of your content. Either it will be a viral hit or will be lost in the clutter of content.

To name a few global and national trends and events that people leveraged for getting traction were: a Taylor Swift concert, landing of Chandrayaan, or just Orry being a live-r. The idea behind following these trends and making something around it is to get it picked up by the audience instantly. It creates more relatability and there is definitely way more engagement and traction on those posts. So, as an agency, it is equally important to stay updated and jump on the bandwagon of trends to create the same presence you will provide your brand.

The art of story-telling

We have realised a lot of brands are built only on digital media, Instagram has been paramount for us in terms of sales, recognition, story-telling. One such brand is raw beauty where 60-70% sales are coming from Instagram only. It is extremely community driven. Another example would be Mona B under our portfolio. Their audience is specific and how their story is weaved around recycled collections and the brand ethos on their social media have really garnered a special community of people who willingly tag the brand and reach out to them for collaborations. The reason being: a good product, great initiative, excellent communication and relatability with their audience.

Breaking the barrier

Some tips would be to effectively use social media, especially in today’s virtual clutter. Look at data every day, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly and draw parallels to what is working and what isn’t, do not only rely on your gut feeling and what you think will work.. Make use of social media to your advantage by understanding its potential and relevance to today’s generation. Especially, the brands and marketers willing to break the growth plateau, should use it to crack the GenZ audience and witness the magic!