Digital Marketing Trends for 2022 from Businesses
Digital marketing trends becomes increasingly sophisticated with each passing year.
In addition to SEO, PPC, branding, and UX basics, marketers must today balance expanding social channels, increasing laws, content, automation, and personalization, to mention a few.
As we look ahead to the new year, we asked 30 marketers about the most critical methods they’ll be using this year to increase reach, raise awareness, and optimize income.
Here are the top digital marketing trends to look out for in 2022.
The most important digital marketing trends for 2022
There’s something in here for everyone, from cryptocurrencies to adaptive apparel.
1. The Metaverse
So we’re not fully referring to Facebook here.
The term “metaverse” refers to the virtual worlds of augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D holographic avatars, and video—not just one-time experiences like gaming, but a continuous environment where people work, play and interact.
According to Patrick Casey, director of growth marketing at digital health business Felix Health, there’s a reason for the metaverse’s recent buzz—and marketers should include this virtual environment as part of their 2022 marketing strategy.
This is due in part to the fact that it can provide an altogether new set of performance measurements.
“Marketers will be able to play with how long virtual items are retained in a user’s peripheral vision, how much space they take up in a user’s peripheral vision, and even where users are looking when encountering an ad,” he added.
“These insights can radically re-map what you know about your audience, offering essential guidance in the future.”
According to Kent Lewis, head of digital marketing agency Anvil Media, many businesses will experiment with virtual worlds in 2022, and while consumers “maybe a few years off caring about the metaverse,” brands may still gain from first-mover advantage.
2. Non-transferable tokens (NFTs)
In addition to determining where brands fit in the metaverse,
brands will need to experiment with blockchain technology more to prepare for Web 3.0—the next evolution of the web,
which will be more decentralized, according to Zach Passarella, marketing director of nutraceutical brand Supplement Manufacturing Partners.
“This preparedness will pay off shortly when the web becomes more of this sort of domain after 2022,” he said.
Non-fungible tokens are a popular component of blockchain technology (NFTs).
Non-fungible indicates that it cannot be traded for anything of equivalent value since it lacks equals.
The US dollar, for example, is fungible.
A $100 banknote may be exchanged for five $20 bills.
However, you cannot swap your grandmother’s wedding band (a non-fungible) for anything of similar worth due to the authenticity element.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the digital equivalent of non-fungibles (uniquely generated digital assets such as animation, graphic design, GIF, audio/video clip, or meme) that live on a blockchain.
With companies like Campbell’s, Charmin, and Coca-Cola issuing NFT collectibles last year, Jeff Mains, CEO of consultancy company Champion Leadership Group, believes now is a good time for other businesses to find out how to tap into these digital assets so they don’t fall behind.
Furthermore, as brands such as Adidas begin to collaborate with NFT collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Faizan Fahim, marketing manager at cloud hosting platform Breeze.io, predicts more collaborations—and even brands beginning to sell or give away their own NFTs as a way to build community among their customers.
3. Digital currency
In a similar line, cryptocurrencies will continue to proliferate in 2022, and clever marketers will keep an eye on this trend toward decentralized money.
While bitcoin is currently being utilized by a small segment of the US population, embracing it today might help firms attract new customers—but only if the demographic is a good fit, according to Andrea Chapman, marketing manager at cannabis website Nature and Bloom.
“In terms of payments, for example, cryptocurrencies are pushing major shifts in regards to the main processors like Visa, PayPal, and MasterCard,” Shaun Heng, vice president of growth and operations at price-tracking site CoinMarketCap, noted.
“This has significant ramifications for how products and services interact with their customers, and marketers will be keen to link themselves with the possibility of enhanced demographic reach.”
4. Social business
Retailers ranging from Walmart to Saks experimented with social commerce on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram in 2021.
This will continue in 2022 as companies strive to reduce the time it takes from discovery to conversion.
“It provides marketers with a completely new approach to get their products in front of potential buyers,” said Steve Pogson, e-commerce strategy head at e-Commerce business FirstPier.
However, this 2022 digital marketing trend is not restricted to large corporations.
According to CEO Jena Joyce, after opening an Instagram store in November 2021, sustainable skincare business Plant Mother witnessed a 100 percent boost in income and a 1280 percent rise in referral traffic.
“As a small firm unable to compete with established cosmetic brands with enormous advertising budgets, Instagram shopping has proven to be a viable alternative to paid commercials,” she explained.
…in particular, shoppable live streams
Livestream commerce has a lot of promise as well.
Consumers spend three times longer watching live videos than pre-recorded visual material, according to Rob Illidge, CEO of social media consultancy the Social Republic, which is why so many platforms are making a push into what he estimates to be a $70-billion industry.
Livestreaming has also benefited from the epidemic by providing a safe alternative to in-store buying.
5. Buffering in the supply chain
Although the 2021 holidays have passed, reports regarding supply chain delays and their poor impact on consumer experience continue to dominate.
As a result, Chelsea Cohen, co-founder of the Amazon inventory management app SoStocked, advises balancing marketing objectives with stock capacity.
Furthermore, brands will profit from keeping a 30-day buffer supply.
“Your buffer stock, or backup inventory, protects you from running out of product during unexpected upsells,” Cohen noted.
“It guarantees that there is always enough merchandise available to satisfy delivery deadlines, so clients will not have to wait for their purchase while you replenish.”
6. DEI & Sustainability
Brand values have been increasingly essential to customers in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue in 2022
According to Laurel Mintz, CEO of the marketing agency Elevate My Brand, this involves being open about sustainability and DEI activities in brand messaging.
“As a result, to seem legitimate and have a meaningful influence, fundamental values will need to penetrate all levels of an organization,” she added.
It might even include collaborating with a non-profit.
According to David Bitton, CMO of rental management platform DoorLoop, companies may boost their client bases while also making a beneficial effect by partnering with a relevant organization.
7. Gender asymmetry
Brands such as Old Navy and Pacific Sunwear released gender-neutral apparel ranges in 2021.
This inclusiveness Digital marketing trend is continuing.
Indeed, Damien Buxton, managing director of web design firm Midas Creative, anticipates that more firms will avoid traditional gender roles in their marketing efforts to avoid offending any customers.
“Household and human dynamics have changed and continue to change,” he stated.
“Marketing will become more gender-neutral,
with less emphasis on preconceived notions of what gender an individual is and what they should see.”
Stewart McGrenary, head of mobile recycling comparison site
Freedom Mobiles, stated that as the population diversifies, it is increasingly critical “for businesses to truly reflect a diversity of origins inside their marketing campaigns.”
This is due, in part, to the fact that showing customers other people
who look and live like them makes them feel represented and, as a result, connected to that business, according to Nathalie Walton, CEO of health app Expectful.
8. Availability
We may also expect increased accessibility from businesses such as JCPenney,
which debuted an inclusive range of children’s clothes last year, including pieces for children with impairments.
Svetlana Kouznetsova, a consultant who works with businesses to improve their accessibility plans,
stated that there are over two billion handicapped individuals globally, with $1.9 trillion in disposable income.
“If our demands are disregarded, businesses will lose not just us,
but also our family, friends, and coworkers, who account for an additional 3.4 billion potential consumers,” she explained.
“We control $13 trillion as a group.”
9. No and first-party data
Marketers have another year until Google eliminates third-party cookies, making 2022 the most significant year for data and privacy yet.
“A lot of extremely smart marketers still fail to recognize that,
in reality, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media network you use owns your audience,
” said Brian Snedvig, CEO of Jofibo, which helps job seekers write resumes and cover letters.
“You do not influence them.”
That is why you should start owning your audience in 2022.”
As a result, businesses must incorporate data collecting strategies that value user privacy.
“Make sure your efforts in 2022 help you develop first-party data so you don’t have to rely on others’
data as much,” Dan Close, CEO of We Buy Houses in Kentucky, stated.
Email, newsletters, social networking, and CRM systems are all options.
According to Michelle Ebbin, creator of apparel business Jettproof, zero-party data,
or data provided directly by the user through internet interactions such as surveys, is equally significant.
“While it will need more effort, in the beginning, the data marketers can acquire directly from
their consumers may play a big part in building more customized and customized ads,
” said Justin Smith, CEO of digital firm OuterBox.
Furthermore, marketers must ensure that their agencies “have a clear plan in place for ad placement and measurement following the change [away from third-party cookies],” according to Close.
Marketers may also use Google’s Privacy Sandbox
to test new ways to access customer data without risking privacy, according to Ebbin.
Conclusion
Some of these Digital marketing trends may be simpler for your company to adopt than others.
In certain circumstances, you may make a mental note of them as broad guidelines to keep an eye on,
But remember, the sooner you can respond, the better.
Your current year’s approach should constantly include future years!
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