Trend Newsletter Digital Hub Special Edition #2

Like the dappled sunshine in the "golden hours" and autumn leaves covering the city streets, you can find this graceful yellow in life's short, glowing moments of happiness and destiny. You can use Fortuna Gold in your designs by combining shades of blue for a high-profile palette, Set Sail Champagne for a gentle palette, or jewel tones such as amethyst purple and turquoise green for a stunning palette.

3. Tidewater Green (# 2F4F4F): Tidewater Green, a color that refers to the rising of the sun, the change of seasons, the rotation of the earth on its axis, and the ocean tides; In addition to its dynamic structure, it shows itself in both yellow and blue tones. Resembling a large forest canopy and a dark body of water at the same time, the base of this color is turquoise, making it a gray blue-green hue. Tidewater Green, with roots in both the blue and green spectrum; It has many different complements such as red-orange, lavender, and sage.

Source: Shutterstock

2. Consumers pay attention to who they will shop from: Over the past year, consumers have turned to “near me” searches to find the closest business for their convenience and to support local businesses hit hardest by the pandemic. As consumers pay more and more attention to where they shop from, they also consciously decide whom to support. For example; Searches such as "black-owned" or "sustainable business" are on the rise. To gain consumers' confidence in their ethical stance, brands need to convincingly adopt social and environmental issues to their daily work.

3. Consumers now expect better opportunities:  Due to economic uncertainty, many consumers are looking for an opportunity or promotion when shopping. The increase in searches of consumers like “seller name + discount” after reviewing products on the internet is remarkable. For consumers who can easily compare prices on the internet, the discount has now become an expectation.

To cope with this situation, you can offer opportunities to facilitate the customers' decision-making process. For example; even if you do not give discounts on your products, you can take advantage of the deep-rooted behavioural tendencies we call "the power of free" and send small gifts to your customers with the products they purchase or attract the attention of your customers by offering free shipping.

4. Consumers expect comprehensive delivery options for each product:  At the end of 2020, while there was an increase of over 50% in "delivery" searches in the food and grocery shopping category, consumers now expect the same delivery services for niche categories such as gifts or hobby products. The change in the demands of their customers in this way pushes the brands to adapt to new needs. For example; restaurants now sell DIY dining sets to their customers, or lifestyle brands produce personalized gift boxes. These are mainly based on a combination of delivery and contactless delivery options.

In order to respond to these changing demands of your customers, you can offer solutions such as next-day delivery, delivery at certain time intervals, or easy pick-up for returns.

5. The dynamism in consumer demand will continue:  While uncertainties stemming from the pandemic continue all over the world, consumer behaviour will continue to be equally uncertain. For example; In early 2020, searches for "toilet paper" showed a sudden rise and then fell, with companies starting to work from home, "home wear products" surpassed all other clothing products and still remain in trends. Brands also need to keep up with these changing demands. It is predicted that these new consumer needs will continue in 2021, although the demands may change over time and leave new ones instead of deep-rooted habits.

You should follow the trends in order to behave in accordance with the demands of your customers and keep up with the changes. You can also prepare yourself for short-term, rapid changes in demand by using automation tools.

Source: www.thinkwithgoogle.com

So, how can you avoid these negative approaches to social media?

1.  Try not to impose your own point of view, but to adapt to your audience:  In 2020, brands attracted attention not only with their products but also with their reactions to social events. Companies that have remained silent, especially about human rights or political debates, have begun to lose followers on social media and take negative turns, while users in the audience have expressed that they are no longer able to connect with these brands. To survive in this new era, your brand must support an approach. Otherwise, you may run into the danger of losing even your loyal customer base. The approach you will support, of course, should not be a completely different approach from your brand. By adhering to your content strategy and brand values, you can include diversity in content and advertising types, ensure that your brand is loved and that your message reaches its goal without comments that will damage your reputation. At the same time, to avoid narratives that are likely to cause controversy, you can focus on platforms where the conversation is personalized, which leads your audience to more exploration.

2. Pay attention to the cultural environment: Before sharing on your social media accounts, be sure to evaluate what is on the agenda and whether the content you will share is the right content for that day. You should also consider your message in terms of cultural sensitivity, brand positioning, and brand safety. In addition, you can draw attention to your social media content and ads by checking your audience's interest, perhaps even creating opportunities where your brand can add value to the community.

3. Always have a backup plan: Be prepared to do crisis management based on the reactions to your content, especially in times of uncertainty. How you proceed according to the negative comments on your content is of course primarily related to the comfort level of your brand on this issue, but Digitas' suggestion is to distract users with a new creative or content when 20% of the comments are irrelevant or negative. Afterwards, it is extremely important to control the content that leads to such negative comments in order to prevent such situations from happening again in the future.

Source: www.thinkwithgoogle.com