A worldwide COVID-19 epidemic, pervasive social unrest, and polarizing political situations.
As the world accelerates ahead trying to leave behind 2020 in the rearview mirror, is there anyone who can predict 
what the next year would bring?
Wanner Aarts is that one person who doles out the much needed big digital industry predictions based on what went down in 2020 and overall trends he’s seeing. Let’s delve.
Synthetic media (SM)
What is it? Wanner Aarts explains, “Synthetic media is a comprehensive phrase for manipulation, and modification of information and media through automated means. It involves the implementation of AI algorithms to mislead people or change an original opinion or meaning.”
Wanner states that SM includes every element from face-swaps to AI-engineered stock photos and deep fake video bits. SM is definitely on the rise and as per Wanner, 2021 could see more of SM driven content flooding consumers’ everyday social lives.
Google’s “Position zero”
For eons, SEO’s objective has been to bring a listing to the “number one spot” in search results. Wanner shares that moving forward into 2021, SEO’s end-goal will shift to more visibility in ‘position zero’ which is nothing but Google’s “featured snippet”.
It works in a different way than other search engine results entries. It’s placed separately in a small box and positioned at the top. 2021 digital marketing trends seem to prioritize this feature above everything else for its one major element – it shows bonus, relevant information in an attempt to answer the user’s query without her having to click on it.
AI
AI is being put into practice in different ways across diverse business processes and means of marketing. 2021 will also see AI being used to improve communication, consumer satisfaction, transactions, operations, and analyzation of data.
More video ads
Apart from being educational and entertaining at the same time, video ads dole out big chunks of information within a short duration of time. They also have a greater recall element than other ad formats. Thus, brands will use more of video advertising in 2021 to explain their product or service in a better manner.
Voice search
With by-the-minute technological mediums like Google Home and Alexa disrupting the innovation space, the already booming voice search will be in huge demand in 2021.
Wanner Aarts is a successful YouTuber with rare knowledge on how YouTube’s copyright system works. His insights on 2021 digital marketing trends are well worth considering.