As a service-based business owner, you constantly need to keep an eye out for emerging digital marketing trends. Keeping up with the newest trends in the digital marketing world will help you develop an effective marketing strategy and grow your business.
Digital marketing trends are always evolving, which is why keeping up with them might not be so easy. Every year brings with it new technologies and trends that business owners and digital marketers must adapt to, and 2022 is no different.
As a business owner, you should always create the perfect user experience for your clients. To do this, you need to be able to overcome various obstacles set forth by the fast-paced changes occurring on the internet. However, staying on top of digital marketing trends has become more challenging than ever.
This article covers the top eight digital marketing trends of 2022 and how you can use them to your advantage and stay ahead of your competition.
The Trends
As each year passes, digital marketing becomes more and more complicated. You might have even read about trending terms like Metaverse, NFT, algorithms, clickbait, disappearing content, and impressions, but you might not be sure what these terms actually mean. To top it all off, new social media platforms keep popping up out of nowhere, making business owners unsure which outlets to focus on.
Keeping up with digital marketing trends is vital for the growth of your online business. Online marketing offers endless opportunities and ways to develop your business, find your target audience, promote your products and services, and communicate what your business is all about. However, with so many different digital marketing tools, techniques, and strategies, it might be confusing for newcomers.
Business owners and digital marketers need to be aware of and adapt to these ever-changing trends if they want their businesses to thrive. Here are eight digital marketing trends that are sure to command the digital marketing game in 2022:
1. The Rise of Meta
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has been generating a lot of buzzes recently. With the rise of Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms, people seem to think that Facebook (or Meta) is dead. Quite the contrary, Meta has around three billion users, and this number will only continue to grow.
The reason why Meta is becoming such a popular online space for digital marketing trends is that it offers user-generated content, accurate analytics, and a real-time experience. Furthermore, it’s a great place to find your target audience and increase your clientele.
Of course, we can’t talk about Meta without mentioning Metaverse, the 3D interactive internet that is poised to take the world by storm. Metaverse is an augmented or virtual reality where you can do almost anything. It’s basically seen as the future of the internet.
Many brands and online businesses are looking to implement this cyberspace into their digital marketing strategies, as it gives business owners endless opportunities for exposure and growth. In fact, many famous, prestigious brands, including Gucci, Microsoft, Samsung, Shopify, Disney, Nike, and more, have already jumped on the Metaverse bandwagon.
2. Privacy Will Be a Key Concern
It’s no secret that privacy is almost non-existent on the internet in today’s modern world. By accepting cookies and making accounts on various websites, users give out their personal and financial information, not to mention usage details. All of this data is tracked by websites and third-party organizations with the aim of creating online ads and digital marketing campaigns.
Since many people have become concerned with their privacy on the web – or the lack of it – it has sparked off many privacy and data protection laws. While this is good news for users, that’s not the case with online businesses that rely on cookies and personal information to build digital marketing strategies.
New privacy regulations might make digital marketing more challenging and hinder business owners from connecting with consumers. The best thing digital marketers can do at this point is to rethink their strategies and use different methods to collect data and reach their target audience.
This allows consumers to take back control of their online identities, and it also builds a trusting relationship between the consumer and the online business. Basically, we’ll be seeing a more ethical balance between digital marketing and user privacy.
3. NFTs and How They May Affect Your Marketing
If there is a digital marketing trend that has been getting a lot of attention recently, it’s the NFT craze. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are units of data that are non-interchangeable and stored on a blockchain. In simple terms, it’s a digital asset that usually represents a real, tangible item that can be bought and sold.
While many believe that NFTs are nothing but a passing trend, others think that they are here to stay. Not only do NFTs play a major role in the world of investment, but they also heavily impact the digital marketing game. But how are NFTs and digital marketing even connected?
Using NFTs allows digital marketers to create a unique brand experience for their consumers. By allowing business owners to directly connect with their target audience, using NFT as a digital marketing strategy increases brand loyalty. Since an NFT can be a representation of virtually anything – tangible and intangible objects – business owners can offer physical and digital products. Not to mention that you won’t have to worry about shipping costs, storage, or possible issues with the product.
4. The Continued Growth of Influencer Marketing
Digital marketing is closely related to social media platforms, and influencers are the link that brings these two together.
Influencers have been around for some time now, and their social media presence only continues to grow. A lot of brands and businesses in the service industry partner up with influencers to get more clients.
Influencer marketing has dominated social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Meta, Twitter, and other apps that have become completely influencer-oriented. Influencers can also take advantage of the newest features those platforms launch, like the Instagram shop, which they can use to promote products.
The reason influencer marketing has been on the rise is that it’s usually effective. Each influencer has their own niche group of fans who are loyal and willing to buy products the influencer endorses. The trick is to find an influencer with high engagement rates and an online presence that would benefit your business. For example, skincare and makeup brands employ lifestyle and beauty influencers to promote their products, while gyms and gym equipment companies hire fitness influencers.
5. Relevance Ahead of Reach
More than anything, it has become important for you to produce content that’s relevant to your consumers. There’s an overwhelming amount of data on the web. In fact, there’s so much data and content that users usually don’t know how to sort through it and find what they’re looking for. In order to create a good customer experience, long-term engagement, and customer loyalty, you need to offer content that’s authentic and relevant.
The goal is to have a group of loyal clients who will continue to work with you over an extended period of time. It pays off much more than a large group of people who you have reached with your digital marketing campaign, who don’t interact with you or your business at all. To put it simply, bigger isn’t always better.
To produce content that’s relevant means that you need to communicate a message that’s true to your brand, but that also reflects the needs of your clients. Moreover, if your content is perceived as relevant by your target audience, they are more likely to engage with it.
6. Simple and Relevant Content
More often than not, users browse on their phones without even looking for anything in particular. Even though the amount of online content is constantly growing, people simply don’t have the attention span to go through all of it. No one has the time to sit through 20-minute YouTube videos anymore. That’s one of the reasons why TikTok has become so popular, as it offers an unlimited number of 15- and 30-second videos.
If the user is looking for something in particular, they will want to find it as soon as possible. Wasting time on reading fluff and unnecessary 500-word introductions is out of the question. If you want to reach a wider audience, keeping your content simple and straight to the point is key.
However, the simpler and shorter the content is, the more pressure there is to make it relevant. The trick is to find the perfect balance between simplicity and relevance. Another reason simple and easy-to-read content is favored is because it provides the reader with value. If your customers are exposed to content that’s not only relevant and easy to read, but engaging as well, it will definitely be to your advantage.
7. More Integrated SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an integral part of digital marketing. Just like digital, social media, and influencer marketing, SEO marketing is also always evolving, and it’s crucial to keep up with those trends. Even though SEO marketing will always have the same basic principles and goals, there are some elements that tend to change all the time, like the algorithm and search trends.
One of the things digital marketers must always keep up with is keyword research. Thanks to Google’s search engine technology advancements, especially natural language processing, keyword targeting is becoming more and more challenging. This is one of the reasons many business owners have started to use content optimization software. There are many other elements to consider, like content quality, on-page SEO, backlinks, and more.
Rather than focusing solely on search engine optimization, business owners should create meaningful, relevant, and up-to-date content.
8. Different Types of Content
Digital marketing trends also revolve around different types of content. Whether you want to write blogs, make podcasts, or film short videos, all of these would benefit your digital marketing campaign. The reason you should create diverse content is that consumers like to be presented with plenty of options.
Some popular types of content include blog posts, social media posts, videos, podcasts, email newsletters, how-to guides, infographics, ebooks, webinars, longer articles, and similar. Some brands and businesses create different types of content, but they only focus on one channel. This helps them establish a relationship with the users of that channel.
Adapt to the Trends
Developing your online business is no easy task. Digital trends, content exposure, and technology are always evolving and becoming more advanced. These are just some of the reasons why business owners must constantly adapt their digital marketing strategies to the changing trends.
If your goal is to come up with an effective digital marketing strategy, Automation Agency can help you. We offer a range of online marketing services, as well as our Concierge service.
Automation Agency can help you grow your business by producing creative and highly converting ad campaigns. With our services, you’ll be able to find your target audience, extend your reach, and promote your services.
