Digital Marketing Trends: What 2022 Has In Store For Us

The upcoming new year is filled with excitement and wonder. As for the past two years, we have seen dramatic changes in the world. In the world of marketing, the global shift to an online landscape could not be denied, as the number of internet users has steadily been increasing. In this article, we're going to take a look at digital marketing trends that were born from the events of the past two years and how they can affect the upcoming year.

We all know that the pandemic of 2020 has seriously affected how we function in the world. And inevitably, this starts a cascading effect that affects every industry, which includes marketing. Businesses with an elaborate traditional marketing campaign might have seen their plans disrupted and need to start from scratch again. But if anything is sure, it's that marketers will adjust and adapt to the changing circumstances. In this article, we're going to take a look at projected trends and digital marketing news for the year 2022.

Facebook Is Going For More

Almost everyone has heard it at this point, but Facebook has changed its name to Meta. Facebook, the website, is still Facebook, of course. However, the parent company now holds the name Meta. This was done as the company is branching into more and more services and industries, not just social media. With its acquisition of Oculus a few years back, this did not come as a surprise. Still, every marketer needs to be aware of the announced features and services, such as virtual conferences complete with avatars and a streamlined approach to their products.

Influencer Marketing Will Reach New Heights

Influencer marketing, one of the newest forms of marketing that arose in this social media-dominant world, is still expected to reach new heights. In 2021, it reached almost 14 billion dollars in revenue, and this figure is expected to rise in 2022. Major companies are finally leveraging niche and community-focused influencers to market their wares, something that we're seeing adopted en masse. Art software companies, fitness brands, even car manufacturers are now tapping influencers and their large stream of followers for marketing opportunities.

Emphasis On Mobile Platforms

It's obvious that more people spend more time on the internet. In fact, this very article is published on a website. But it's not just that. More people are spending more time on the internet on their phones. A decade ago, such a statement might seem ludicrous, but nowadays, it's a very common sight to see. What this has resulted in is that more and more businesses and marketing agencies are adopting a mobile-friendly approach to their online platforms. SEO companies, digital marketing agencies, and ad content-creating businesses all offer mobile optimization, as the traffic on smartphones is significantly higher than on desktop. This trend will continue through 2022, perhaps for years to come, as smartphones have now become very convenient and efficient to use.

Virtual Events Are the Future

Due to the pandemic, quarantine measures were established, and as a result, large physical gatherings or face-to-face social interactions have been severely limited. Not to be denied socialization and human interaction, people turned to video conferencing software to still reach their friends and loved ones. Marketers have taken note of this trend and have started holding virtual events in place of a physical one. Being that virtual events are more accessible. Even for those living in far-away locations, virtual events have seen a significant increase in popularity. Virtual events have provided individuals and companies a way to connect despite the physical barriers imposed on everyone, from concerts to tabletop RPG conventions to even graduations and weddings.

Artificial Intelligence Is Helping The Modern Marketer

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being continuously developed to the point that it can now be utilized for more intensive purposes, such as chatbots and analyzing customer habits. It is already used as a way to automate menial tasks like recording and reporting website traffic and looking for keywords to optimize search functionalities. Still, more businesses and technology developers are looking into making better use of its functionalities to make predictions based on a set of pre-existing data. With the continued increase in the power of AI, we can all expect to see it play a more prominent role in the future of technology, especially in digital marketing, as it's an industry that's data and statistics-reliant.

Final Thoughts

We're already seeing some of these trends in effect today. In the coming years, we can expect these to be more prominent, especially in the year 2022.