In the increasingly digitally evolving world, digital marketing and social media will continue to play a vital role in most of the business strategies, as the businesses look to connect with tech-savvy customers and adapt their businesses for the future.
As the overall digital spend will increase by 20.4% this year and it’s forecasted to be increasing in the next 5 years, businesses and brands must not only plan for the future of digital marketing but be prepared to take advantage of it. Here are the top 7 digital marketing trends to keep an eye on in 2022.
Video
Video has proven to be an essential marketing channel and it’s no surprise that it remains the superstar when it comes to content.
A Wyzowl Video Survey found that 93% of marketers believe that video is an essential part of their marketing strategy — the highest percentage since 2015.
Furthermore:
- 79% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy or download a piece of software or app after watching a video
- 91% of marketers feel the pandemic has made video more important for brands
- Video is the primary form of marketing media being created in 2021, followed by blogs (used by more than half of marketing teams), and infographics
YouTube is at the moment the most popular video-sharing website. It has predictions to grow even more in popularity as the platform because more people will use it for a wider variety of purposes. As the platform is growing and the number of users is increasing, it gives a great opportunity to reach more new customers and engage with them.
Video proves to be great for users and businesses so it’s hard to find a reason not to invest in it.
Storytelling
The key to brand marketing is storytelling and there has been a large focus over the past year on it.
Companies that can leverage persuasive storytelling will have their digital content create value and relatability. Storytelling might not result in direct sales, but it will make your customers think. That way, when they face related issue, you’ll be the first one they turn to.
LinkedIn continues to be a rising star in the digital space. It is currently outperforming other strong social media competitors such as Facebook and Twitter in B2B ad sales. Each quarter they show considerable gains in monthly active users and engagements on the platform.
According to eMarketer, the LinkedIn ad spend for B2B organisations will skyrocket in the 2 years. It means that in the future, more marketers will see the opportunity in using LinkedIn for B2B organisations looking to build authority, attract new customers and partners.
Influencer marketing
Word of mouth (WOM) is the “invisible force” behind many brands’ successes. What is more, it is a great tool to convert prospects to customers. It’s present through social media (in both, conversations and sharing of content), user-generated content about brands and their products as well as influencer marketing.
As people trust other people more than brands, influencer marketing continues to grow (even for B2B). It’s a great way brands can bond with their potential audience and appear more humane.
Privacy
With the recent and upcoming changes, privacy factors will impact the performance of digital advertising. Digital marketers should be preparing for tighter privacy restrictions that will alter the way they can track their users’ behaviour.
New privacy regulations like the iOS update and the pending removal of cookies have been reducing data usage but it’s also the beginning of a new era of trust and transparency between companies and consumers. Marketers should assess the impact that this will have on their advertising and start rethinking their strategies. Communicate with customers about what data you are collecting and for what reasons. Make it easy and accessible to opt-out at any point. And don’t collect any data beyond what you need.
Marketing automation
Marketing automation isn’t going anywhere. The drastic drop in in-person interactions have led companies to invest heavily in digital solutions including chat bots, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, apps, virtual reality and more. We’ve seen companies of all sizes putting their efforts into marketing automation. Automated messages across channels including email, web, social and text can help with lead generation and measuring overall ROI on campaigns. Machine learning and AI allow businesses to collect information about their audience and buyers to craft more effective campaigns. Other trends include chat bots and personalised communications.
Businesses need to adopt marketing automation to streamline their marketing efforts.
Website speed
Website traffic is overwhelmingly mobile. However, most websites still don’t have fully mobile-optimised experiences. As Google launched Core Web Vitals site design, speed will become ever more important. Marketers must make sure their website is optimised.
Keeping on top of these trends will be the best way to stay competitive, grow and secure customer loyalty. But, for long-term marketing planning, you need strong foundations. Strategies and tactics that have shown good results in the past and are likely to do so in the future. Marketers love new trends and to be on the leading edge of new technologies and platforms. But don’t forget to focus on your foundation.
