By 2021, the world’s mobile phone users will have increased by 95 million. That’s an additional 93 million potential customers who could be searching for and purchasing things online using their cellphones. There is a lot of competition among businesses because of the tremendous growth of internet purchases. Many businesses are turning to digital marketing services because they are creative and up to date on the latest advertising trends.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on enterprises all across the world. Since then, people’s buying patterns have changed. In-store shopping is an inclination at this point. Customers are successfully making purchases online, and many businesses have gone online to communicate with their clients. The digital revolution is just getting started. Marketers continue to find new ways to contact their target audiences as the industry evolves. So, where do you think digital marketing will be in 2022? The top ten digital marketing trends to watch in 2022 are listed below.
Marketing on the Internet Businesses will rely more on video and interactive content on social media to draw attention in 2022. However, they will need to back it up by being transparent and honest on their platforms and working hard to establish a community of engaged, dedicated fans.
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According to Social Media Today, these are some social media trends to keep an eye on:
Facebook Pay: This payment option, which launched in the United States in November 2019, would “facilitate on-platform payments, in-stream, making it easier for customers to buy things on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.”
Facebook Watch: This is a video-on-demand service owns by a social media giant “Facebook”
Oculus: Facebook has named Oculus “the next generation of social” because of its virtual reality technology, which enhances social media engagement
Cross-stream messaging: Facebook’s integration of the messaging functions of Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp is known as cross-stream messaging.
Instagram is cutting likes: Instagram is focusing on better humanizing its brand as more people become aware of the harmful effects of social media on mental health.
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- Personalized & Automated Email marketing
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There were rumors at the start of 2022 that email marketing had one more breath to take. Then came the outbreak, which turned everything on its head. Companies have quickly migrated to digital platforms over the previous year, making email marketing once again popular. E-commerce businesses can use email marketing to learn about their customers’ interests, collect feedback, promote products, and boost sales. In the future, this will be even more true.
Due to customers having more time at home and a better understanding of what they want to spend their valuable time on, the way they receive, view, and interact with emails has shifted. Companies must pay close attention to their customers, analyze their email behavior, and watch their natural buying patterns.
As the need for solutions that allow for cross-channel scaling grows, this change is already taking place, albeit on a small scale. Users who are only interested in the email will be relieved to find that cross-channel capabilities can help them increase their business options.
- Conversational Marketing
One of the most effective ways to move prospects down the marketing funnel and convert them into customers is through conversational marketing. Conversational marketing uses techniques like targeted marketing, live chat, AI, and chatbots to talk to customers in real-time, ensuring that they don’t have to wait for a response after filling out a contact form. it’s more conversational. People prefer it that way, so brands cater to them. When customers have a question, 82 percent want an answer “right away.” This type of marketing is efficient since it is quick, direct, and one-on-one.
Conversational marketing has become more accessible because of chatbots in particular. Although the two solutions are frequently linked together, chatbots are only a portion of conversational marketing.
A conversational marketing approach can include any kind of two-way contact, such as phone and email. Despite the fact that messaging is the most common way to contact and reach out to clients nowadays. People enjoy chatting and expect immediate responses, which is why messaging apps like WhatsApp are so popular.
The fundamental of conversational marketing is determining and understanding your customers’ preferred channels, then modifying your tone of speech to match – discussion with chatbots and live chat is typically informal and simulates a casual conversation.
- Google Ads and Smart Bidding
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Paid advertising will become a more trusted force in 2021, as strong competition on social media suffocates organic reach. You’d be a fool not to experiment with Google Ads’ Smart Bidding feature.
In other sayings, advertisers may give over control of their pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to Google’s AI system, which will maximize their ROI by optimizing their budget. This is effective for a range of PPC goals, including:
ROAS Target- Set your goal to generate the highest return on your advertising investment by focusing on ROAS.
Maximize Conversions – Whether you want to increase email subscribers, downloads, or product sales, enhance your advertising conversion rates.
CPA Target – Create fresh leads and customers at a set cost per acquisition.
Smart bidding optimizes your bids based on a range of factors such as device type, location, ad characteristics, browser, time of day & weekday, remarketing list, interface language, and operating system.
Some of these signals can be manually modified, but others (and combinations of signals) can only be accessible using Smart Bidding.
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In 2021, SEO will remain critical as part of a digital marketing strategy, but other factors such as page experience (page speed, UX), and understanding user intent will be required to rank higher on Google.
When it comes to page experience, it’s critical that your users can navigate across your website without difficulty (such as very slow loading times).
If you want to prioritize SEO as part of your digital marketing plan, you’ll need to answer these questions on your website.
- Are your call-to-actions (CTAs) in the correct places?
- Are your visitors completing the task at hand on your pages?
- Are customers visiting various related pages on the website that guide them down the sales funnel?
Another aspect of your SEO strategy to examine is if you’ve discovered and optimized for user intent. Consider whether the person who lands on your page is looking for a navigational, informational, or transactional question. Optimizing for user intent will be the key to not just improving your website’s engagement metrics but also generating conversions.
- Virtual reality
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Virtual reality (VR) is a term that refers to the use of computer technology to create simulated situations. VR allows you to engage with a 3D world that isn’t real by wearing a head-mounted display. By collecting inputs from the computer, the device produces a 3D virtual world that is immersive and looks to be real. Because of its potential to fascinate people, virtual reality is an effective tool for learning and entertainment. When used appropriately, it can help users achieve a wide range of skills and abilities.
YouTube VR is a separate software designed just for virtual reality. You’ve probably heard of YouTube. With YouTube VR, you can watch any video in virtual reality. You can subscribe to channels, create playlists, and view history in this app, just like you can in the YouTube app.
You can also view a video while searching, as well as switch between speech and keyboard inputs. A ‘theatre mode,’ which simulates a big-screen experience, is also available in the app. Both iOS and Android users can get this app for free.
- Using Progressive Web Apps and Going Mobile (PWAs)
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There was a time when laptops were thought to be portable. In comparison to their mobile counterparts, they are now considered to be cumbersome. As a result, we largely use our mobile devices to access the internet. They are smaller and lighter, and they can be carried in your pockets. This is something that search engines, particularly Google, have considered. Furthermore, Google has discovered that we prefer the usability of applications to that of some static or dynamic websites.
When it comes to having your brand not just visible but also engaging, mobile and app-like usability is all the rage these days. As a result, they’ve updated the ranking system to reflect these adjustments. So, unless you want to get buried by your competitors, you’d better adapt. Both of these points should be kept in mind as you move forward, especially since SEO is such a vital tool in today’s digital marketing arsenal.
PWAs, or progressive web apps, are the latest craze. Simply put, PWAs are browser-based, app-like webpages that operate as an app. They provide users the feel of a standalone program and can sometimes be installed as well. There are some instances of PWAs available. Twitter, Airbnb, Yummly, Facebook, Hulu, and Netflix are examples of sites that match the bill. These PWAs are defined by three characteristics:
- Reliable – loads quickly and does not stutter even when the network is slow.
- Fast – Smooth animations allow you to respond quickly to user inputs.
- Engaging – provides an immersive experience and seems to be a native app on the device.
- Chatbots
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In 2021, chatbots will continue to play an essential role in digital marketing. This AI-powered service uses real-time messaging to communicate with your customers or website visitors at any time of day or night.
According to studies, chatbots will handle 85 percent of customer service by 2020. The top benefits of chatbots are 24-hour service (63 %), quick responses to inquiries (54 %), and simple question answers (65 % )
Chatbots are popular with customers because they are available 24 hours a day, answer fast, remember your whole purchase history, and never lose patience. These virtual assistants provide outstanding customer service by anticipating clients’ demands and automating mundane tasks, allowing you to concentrate on more important tasks.
Many companies, including Lyft, a ride-sharing service, are already using chatbot technology. You may arrange voice (Amazon Echo), a Lyft ride by chat (Facebook Messenger and Slack) or and the company’s chatbot will tell you where your driver is right now:
Passengers may use the app to select the sort of transport they want, make a request, track the car’s location, email friends an estimated arrival time, and pay for it. Whole Foods Market, Fandango, Sephora, Staples, The Wall Street Journal, and Pizza Hut are among the companies that have successfully implemented chatbot technology.
- Advertisement based on AI
Artificial intelligence has become progressively absorbed by numerous enterprises and marketing activities throughout time. Businesses can improve their marketing capabilities by utilizing artificial intelligence. From assessing the efficacy of marketing campaigns to analyzing consumer data and tracking leads and sales, we’ve got you covered. AI also aids in the prediction of market behavior and the facilitation of complex tasks. Despite its current dominance, AI’s influence in marketing is growing, with a projected 53 percent increase by 2021.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to automate ad buying in order to target more specific audiences is known as programmatic advertising. Real-time bidding, for example, is a type of programmatic ad buying. This automation is far more effective and efficient, which leads to increased conversion rates and cheaper client acquisition costs.
Real-time bidding is a type of programmatic ad buying that allows for better and faster targeting by allowing ads to be bought and sold on a case-by-case basis, ensuring that the ad is only viewed by those who fit your target demographic.
Every year, programmatic advertising grows in popularity, and in the next few years, it is expected to account for the vast majority of display advertising.
One of the clearest examples of this is the launch of a programmatic advertising campaign by ‘The Economist,’ a digital and print journal, to convince curious people to try the publication. The same campaign generated 6,50,000 new leads, resulting in a 10:1 return on investment (ROI). The Economist’s brand awareness increased by 65 percent.
Highlights in Artificial Intelligence and Analytics
- Marketers are now incorporating AI and analytics into their digital marketing operations, such as content production, in addition to data analysis and trend detection. This digital marketing trend isn’t going away anytime soon or in the foreseeable future, as data-driven insights become increasingly important.
- Search engines and digital marketplaces like Amazon utilize AI and analytics to learn customer preferences and boost efficiency and revenues. Keeping up with these trends will aid you in better designing your digital marketing approach.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) can assist you in automating company activities, including marketing automation. Additionally, you may automate report generation, which is critical for gaining actionable insights.
- Influencer Marketing
In recent years, influencer marketing has risen in popularity. All businesses, large and small, are jumping on board this marketing trend in the hopes of becoming viral and attracting new consumers. Furthermore, influencer marketing is expected to rise to a $13.8 million market by the year 2021. According to predictions, 75% of firms will devote a portion of their marketing spend to this technique in 2021. The following statistics demonstrate why influencer marketing is so popular today:
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- Only 1% of millennials believe in ads. For their purchases, however, 33% of them rely on blog reviews.
- Around 40% of consumers said they bought a product online after seeing it on YouTube, Instagram, or Twitter being used by an influencer.
- Influencer marketing generates a $6.50 return on investment for every dollar spent, according to a study by Tomoson.
Conclusion
Since the digital marketing landscape is ever-changing, it’s critical to understand some of the upcoming trends before planning your digital marketing strategy for 2022. Start by incorporating the above trends into your digital marketing strategy.