Digital Marketing Trends to Include in Your 2022 Marketing Strategy

We saw many digital marketing trends come and go in the past year, changing the way people use and perceive social and digital platforms. As the digital landscape rapidly evolves, it’s crucial to take an in-depth look at any upcoming trends to assess what kind of impact they can have on your brands and how you can leverage them to maximize ROI. So many innovations and new features were introduced last year, such as Facebook’s Metaverse, which will not only continue to evolve within Meta, but also within other apps and companies. With 2022 just beginning, what new digital marketing trends are going to pop up and what is going to stay behind in 2021? Here are some of the most impactful digital marketing trends we believe will have a considerable influence on how brands should approach their marketing plans in 2022.

Personalized Customer Service and Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

One of the hottest digital marketing trends is the use of AI technology to create an incredibly personalized customer service experience for consumers. As brands, we all know how important having quality customer service is to maintaining brand loyalty, especially in the retail and ecommerce sectors. “The customer is always right” or “The customer always comes first” are business mantras that have been around for as long as we can remember. It used to be taboo to use a bot for a brand’s automatic replies over DMs – cringeworthy, in fact. Well, times have changed and the artificial intelligence (AI) technology has advanced tremendously, with the ability to simulate very personal interactions with consumers to create a seamless purchasing experience. It is time for brands, small and large, to lean into the wave of the future – personalized automation.  According to Semrush’s 2021 study, customer experience has been enhanced for 40% of businesses through AI marketing and personalized content is being endorsed by 71% of marketers using AI. 

SMS Marketing

There used to be a time when the idea of receiving a promotional sales text message was a major turn-off. For brands, SMS marketing was reserved for large companies because it was too costly to implement. Like everything else in the world, consumer’s perspectives of their wants and needs have changed, even though the pandemic has slowed down our lives.  We are constantly bombarded with information, advertisements and content. Online purchasing habits have increased, people also desperately want to know when the next sale or promotion is happening – or just a simple reminder, like any digital marketing advertising campaign would provide. Remember that SMS marketing is optional; if people want it to stop, they’ll unsubscribe. But for those that stay subscribed, you’re already speaking to a loyal audience that you can keep in your sales funnel. Did you know that 48.7 million people chose to receive business SMSes in 2020?

Online Payments with Crypto-Currency

Since Bitcoin came into play, the use and development of crypto-currencies has sky-rocketed, and it is expected to reach even greater heights in 2022. The rising interest in the cryptocurrency world could result in consumers buying products online using digital coins rather than traditional payment methods. Although there aren’t concrete rumblings about this potential trend yet, crypto-currency could help businesses and apps increase sales and performance rates. El Salvador has already jumped ahead, being the first country to approve bitcoin as a legal tender.

Platform-Specific Digital Advertising Campaigns

Brands that want to make a mark online will have to work even harder in 2022 to create ads that are tailored to each platform. We all know that each social media platform has its own set of unique nuances. Just as in the organic space, the content in the paid advertising realm also have to fit in seamlessly into each platform, otherwise they don’t add value or drive ROI.  With brands allocating much of their budget in digital marketing ($285.2 Billion in the US in 2021), you want to make the most out of the money you’re spending.

The Incorporation of VR and Other Tech Innovations

There is no denying that technology is becoming one of the most innovative spaces in the world and the integration of digital marketing and tech developments is no different. Facebook (Meta) has become the biggest leader in this area, with the development of the Metaverse. They plan on continuing to dominate by incorporating VR to build a digital identity between users and VR avatars. Since Meta reached 59% of the world’s social networking population, this move could create a huge shift in social media technology. Another prominent feature that could be seen in social media soon is coming from Snapchat. Currently, they have scanning filters for variety of things, such as math problems, dog breeds and songs (in partnership with Shazam) but they are looking to expand it. They plan on adding a feature that will allow to scan logos and products to provide more information to their users about them.

people using virtual reality

The Rise of Short-Form Videos

Platforms such as Tik Tok have become one of the most used social media platforms in the world, demonstrating the power of short-form video content. We’ve talked about short-term video content before in our 2022 Social Media Trends blog post, but it warrants another mention here, as there is so much crossover between digital marketing and social media. As a result, apps such as Instagram and LinkedIn have focused on using this content type.  And it’s working for brands. The NFL teams’ Instagram accounts have garnered 67% more engagement in their Reels than traditional still photos. We will continue to see Short-Form videos influence marketing strategies in the digital, social media and PR landscape for many years to come.

At FAULHABER, we plan to leverage as many digital marketing trends for 2022 that make sense for our clients and for our own agency.  Get in touch with us here or subscribe to our newsletter for industry insights and relevant news.