We’re more than halfway through 2021, which means it’s time for your business to start preparing its digital marketing plan for the new year. Plenty has changed over the past 18 months, so it’s important to be as ready as possible. Start thinking ahead now to ensure you maximise reach and increase revenue.
Digital marketing has seen a very turbulent yet exciting last 18 months, where businesses have had to adapt to new technologies and internal practices. The progression of digital marketing in the next 18 months and trends that are happening can be divided into five main categories.
5 digital marketing trends to know for 2022
Video marketing
Increasingly, standard text and image-based posts are falling flat as digital growth continues apace. These days, the best way to appeal to target audiences is to capture their attention with video marketing materials that offer them value. As such, animated marketing videos are growing in popularity.
Animated videos are a great way to liven up an otherwise potentially dry post or piece of information. They are also great for inviting engagement. This is a great way to create stronger
customer relationships and is part of a wider shift towards more interactive digital marketing content.
User-generated content
Another key component of interactive content that looks set to take 2022 by storm is user-generated content or UGC. This basically refers to any and all content created for or about your brand by a consumer, whether that be a review, a social media comment, or blog post.
Consumers trust word-of-mouth marketing, whether it comes from a family member or a favourite online influencer. And, with 93% of consumers saying that online reviews influence the purchases they make online, it’s crucial that your brand encourages UGC now and into the new year.
Listen to more ways digital marketing can help your business post COVID
New approaches to personalisation
Personalisation has been the biggest buzzword in digital marketing for a little while now. However, in 2022, marketers need to prepare for the game to change. In 2021 Google announced it was going to eliminate all third party cookies from Chrome by 2022. However, they have now extended this deadline to 2023 giving marketers more time to work out how they will deal with the phase-out. So, while offering users a tailored online experience remains crucial, digital marketers will have to find new ways of doing so.
Keeping up communication with consumers on social media and via email newsletters will be essential, as will monitoring online sales and patterns of engagement. In other words, more
organic ways of getting to know your customers are likely to take centre stage.
Email flows
In this day and age, it’s all about offering your customers a service that is both well-tailored and convenient. Introducing email flows to your digital marketing strategy can help you do exactly that.
An email flow will automatically trigger a relevant email response to a customer’s action on your website. So, they’ll never feel out of the loop or forgotten when shopping with your business. And, even better, you won’t have to waste people-power by trying to ensure that all customers are reached at the right times manually.
Technology trends
You simply can’t have a list of crucial digital marketing trends without a nod to the technologies that drive them. Tech has encouraged new, more efficient, and more appealing ways of doing business.
Here’s how to use it to your business’s advantage in 2022.
1. Automation
Email flows are just one example of automated marketing processes in action. Other aspects of a marketing campaign can be automated, too, including instant messaging and advertising. Often, these automations will be coordinated through a single platform.
2. Chatbots
Recently, live chatbots have been popping up everywhere, with more and more brands opting to use them to better communicate with customers. The best part about them is that they’re often AI-powered, meaning that they don’t take time away from people that already have plenty to do.
3. Virtual reality
Due to the restrictions imposed on meeting and real-life interaction during the coronavirus pandemic, virtual reality technology began to take off. Moving forwards, virtual reality is likely to continue growing in popularity now that its uses have become more widespread, having expanded into virtual product experiences, tours, and events.
With one eye on the new trends set to shift the digital marketing sector in the new year, your company can get ready to take advantage of all the upcoming changes now. These predictions offer your business the best chance possible of preparing for all that 2022 is likely to bring.
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