Digital marketing keeps constantly evolving as new methods and strategies are introduced with the hope of increasing user engagement and increasing sales. Unfortunately, the ever-changing digital marketing practices were pushed into overdrive during the pandemic after most businesses started moving their operation to the online environment. 2022 is a year where the newly introduced methods of 2021 reach their peak. That will lead to new strategies that will shape the digital environment in the next few years. In most cases, it is essential to follow the trends. You must check the most recent dates, for example why digital marketing is important in 2022. So let’s take a closer look at the digital marketing trends in 2022, and explain how you can use them to get closer to your audience.
The End Of Third-Party Cookies
Google is the largest search engine globally, and it’s constantly updating its systems with new features and removing old ones. Every time that happens, digital marketers have to align their strategies with the new website ranking rules.
For example, Google already announced that they would end third-party cookies supported a few years ago, and the moment is finally here. But how does that impact digital marketing trends?
The current estimations say that over 70% of all internet users use Google Chrome to interact with the internet. As you can imagine, cookies play a significant role in many areas, including marketing campaigns.
Advertisers are forced to change their approach to online user behavior tracking, which completely changes the marketing game’s rules.
Third-party cookies are the backbone of most successful marketing strategies, and their removal will significantly impact all marketers out there.
Third-party cookies have been in focus in the past few years due to rising concerns about online privacy. Most users don’t like the idea of a computer tracking their every move on the internet, which pushed Google to end the age of third-party cookies and user tracking. That will lead to tectonic changes in digital marketing.
Firstly, advertisers will have to shift to using first-party data to collect consumer information. They will have to ask users for information directly through online surveys, gamification strategies, or other means.
Image by Gerd Altmann from PixabayThe Growth of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has been around for years, but it saw massive growth in 2020 and 2021. Moreover, it’s expected to grow in popularity even more in 2022.
According to digital marketing experts from Hubspot, over 34 percent of advertisers are looking to invest in influencer marketing this year. Many of them focus on significant budgets on mobile web design and short-video marketing.
That shouldn’t be a big surprise, as these marketing methods proved to be more effective than most others. About 50% of all marketers will increase spending on this type of marketing, and 1 out of every ten advertisers say that influencer marketing has the most considerable effect on their ROI.
Therefore, we expect to see more advertisers shift their efforts from traditional methods to influencer marketing.
Short Video Content
Most marketing strategies are created according to current consumer habits, which have changed immensely over time.
The only thing that stays constant is the fact that consumers don’t like to spend a lot of time viewing ads. In other words, advertisers have to find a way to present their offers quickly and make them memorable.
They tried doing that in multiple ways in the past, but short videos turned out to be the most efficient approach after years of trying.
More and more marketers are aware of that, so the number of businesses investing in short video content is expected to increase in 2022. Hubspot found that over 89% of global marketers will keep investing in short video ads in the next few years.
Long-term videos are still used to tell stories and describe products, but shorter videos are much better at capturing attention and engaging users. Therefore, introducing TikTok-style videos into your video marketing strategy could help you gain a competitive edge in the markets.
Focus on High-Quality Content
Content is and has always been king when it comes to marketing. However, while mediocre content could still result in some conversions in the past, the future is very different.
Consumers have learned not to trust everything they read on the internet, so today, most of them are willing to consume content only on proven, trusted websites. They expect to get high-quality content and won’t settle for anything other than that.
That changes the game for marketers everywhere. Businesses have to increase their efforts to produce high-quality, attention-grabbing content that provides value. It also has to be highly accurate and easy to remember. As you can probably imagine, this changing environment puts brands and businesses under a lot more pressure. They have to spend more time and money on content creation, and they also have to monitor every individual post much more closely to see how the customers react to it.
The essential thing to remember among all of the content marketing tips, is that high-quality content leads to higher user engagement and more accurate targeting. However, the new turn of events will require a complete overhaul of existing processes for many large, well-established brands out there.
Image by Firmbee from PixabayGrowing Importance Of Mobile Optimization
The mobile-first approach to website design has been around for years. Mobile-first websites were a thing about ten years ago, evolving to the responsive website design, which is considered the gold standard.
The need to optimize the user experience for mobile users was evident during the pandemic, and the trend is still growing strong.
Since over 50% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices, it’s clear that websites must be mobile-optimized, especially because the number of mobile users is still growing with no signs of stopping.
As gen Z improves its buying power, website owners and online marketers invest more into mobile optimization. Mobile is here, and it’s here to stay so that mobile optimization will be a thing not only in 2022 but also in the long term.
Personalization Is Essential
As the international markets grew over the decades, consumers became “spoiled” because they suddenly had more options. That led to the rise of personalization on all fronts, including marketing.
The general audience has become segmented into smaller pools, so personalized campaigns make the most sense. Moreover, it’s proven that personalized campaigns have higher engagement rates, conversions, and positive user feedback.
Therefore, one of the major digital marketing trends in 2022 is personalizing campaigns according to your customer’s needs and expectations. The road to complete personalization isn’t easy. It requires a lot of data collecting and analysis, usually done by unique software solutions, analytics tools, etc. Once these tools uncover user expectations, businesses can personalize their campaigns, improve the overall design, and get closer to the audience.
Conclusion
Digital marketing trends are closely tied to technological advancements and user behavior. As the world becomes more and more connected and faster, marketing strategies have to adapt to the new environment.
The focus in digital marketing trends in 2022 will be on personalization, high-quality content packed in short videos, and continuous mobile optimization.