Digital marketing forecasts and trends for 2022

Keep up with the times and read about how experts envision digital marketing in the coming year, what they predict and forecast. We’ve gathered opinions from Forbes, Deloitte, Merehead, and other renowned publications.

View the original article on the Academy blog.

• Content

High-quality content remains relevant to users and search engines. The latter are improving in promoting valuable, original content relevant to user queries. 

Video content is growing more popular among users, and this is confirmed by a number of studies. For example, 93% of respondents state that videos can be a potent tool in product promotion. This means video reviews are still a trendy thing.

Besides, most social media already invite users to post short clips: TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram (Reels), and YouTube Shorts. Studies revealed that in the US more videos are being uploaded in 30 days than prominent American television networks have created in the past 30 years. 

More companies employ augmented reality and interactivity in storytelling. For one, Starbucks has developed the Starbucks Cup Magic app which allows users to animate their coffee cups with five characters. 

Podcasts, especially educational ones, keep seeing good demand. Today, podcasts can be a powerful way for products and brands to tell stories and share their emotions, and voice is much better than text in this regard. 

Sephora, McDonald’s, eBay, and Microsoft already run their podcast shows. Take the cue.

• SEO

The share of voice-made queries and mobile traffic is constantly growing. To outperform your competitors, you need to adapt to this trend.

This means deeper interaction with the target audience: feedback, surveys, interviews, and competitors’ experience. 

And never forget about user experience, which search engines also consider. 

• Social media

Today, social media provide brands, companies, entrepreneurs, and publishers with a number of promotion capabilities. But they also pose a danger. In this context, we mean the cancel culture, a hail of condemnation or disregard by users that falls on a company or brand that has done something inappropriate on social media. 

To avoid this cancellation, monitor carefully who you target, check content eligibility and consciousness, study user mood and agenda, meticulously pick influencers you cooperate with.

Alongside other matters, cooperation with influencers on social media remains strong. This tool will be great for extending the reach and building brand and product trust. 

Social media is becoming a handier e-commerce instrument. Popular platforms create solutions for built-in stores. Take Instagram Shopping, for example. 

• Market in general

Inclusion, equality, consciousness

It’s important for the brands, set to win more loyal users, to follow the DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion) principle, and this will be even more critical in 2022.

This gives rise to appealing to the user consciousness. Studies suggest that 62% of users want their favorite brands and companies to emphasize such values as transparency, environmental concern, and fairness. 

• Hybrid events

The pandemic is a powerful factor that changes digital marketing. One of the repercussions it has entailed was the emergence of hybrid events.

Some 2021 examples include TwitchCon and FinCon and a series of Apple Special Events.

Convenience of online shopping

Nowadays, users appreciate the friendliness and quickness of buying online. Here’s the list of the functions specialists recognize as critical for e-commerce spaces:

• One-click purchases
• Quick order placement
• Various delivery (contactless, free try-ons) and payment options
• Easy installment orders
• Auto-filling
• Rich product pages (reviews, delivery terms, and other details).

A noteworthy service that is already in the market (e.g., Kärcher offers it) is an online consultation.

• Data security

Another trend all over the marketing space is ePrivacy and the digital world without cookies. We already wrote an article about that. 

Experts also advise marketers to revisit the targeting techniques (e.g., switch the focus from personalized targeting to cohort targeting) and employ some new tools (e.g., Admitad Teleport) that will help succeed in the world free of cookies and redirections.

• Artificial intelligence

AI remains one of the biggest resorts for marketers over recent years. Mainly used for automation, it helps send users timely and relevant offers, ensure high quality of service and keep consumers loyal and recurring.

Conclusions

• Content marketing is still about valuable and original information. In terms of format, users prefer video clips, podcasts, interactive content, and content that provides valuable insights rather than just sells.
• In SEO, it’s critical to focus on voice search and mobile traffic. A marketer needs to compose a base of relevant keywords and interact with target audiences deeper. 
• Be careful on social media. Make sure your campaign doesn’t bruise anyone’s feelings if you don’t want to be canceled. Continue your cooperation with influencers (especially those not having gigantic numbers of followers)
• Take care of user values and diversity. 
• Make sure it’s easy for users to shop online. Improve your website’s interface and introduce new functions such as online consultations.
• Embrace the new format of hybrid events. 
• Remember how crucial it is to treat confidential information and personal data correctly. 
• Turn to artificial intelligence for forecasting, automation, and customer service.

Happy New Year! May digital (and other) success be with you!