5 Digital Marketing Trends Brands Need To Know About In 2022

All brands out there that are starting to prepare their digital marketing strategies for 2022 need to know what trends are set to determine promoting in the following year. This article explores the digital marketing trends expected for 2022. 

The digital marketing field is an ever-changing area that you need to keep up with if you don’t want your brand to fly under the radar. As consumer and market trends continue to evolve and transform by the day, so do the ways we promote our products and services.

Now, there has always been around the turn of each year. 2022 will be no different, especially since the entire world went through a yearlong (and still counting) pandemic. In the past year and in 2021, the digital marketing industry had to adapt very quickly to highly abrupt changes like the suspension of in-person events, which led to a massive shift towards digital, decreased or frozen marketing budgets, and so on.

That being said, let’s see what 2022 has in store in terms of digital marketing trends to know what to expect when looking for a  to promote your brand.

• In-person events with a digital component

Marketers call this “Hybrid events.” But first, let’s create some context.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought some profound changes around the world. Most of these changes were related to in-person events like social distancing restrictions and closures among businesses. As a result, significant brands events like tradeshows, conferences, or store grand openings were no longer on the table.

Forced to adapt, digital marketers quickly organized all these events in a digital form, which soon became the new “normal” to meet with customers and potential buyers.

Now, in 2022, people expect to live in something that feels like a post-pandemic world. So, marketers need to adapt again to create events that will attract and engage.

This is why are expected to be the new “thing” in 2022.

What is a hybrid event like? Audiences have witnessed some pretty exciting digital events with innovative technologies like AI and VR used to enhance their experiences. So, when they go back to traditional in-person events, they might find them somehow boring. That’s why marketers plan to cater to both audiences, tech-savvy customers, and those who missed in-person connections, with hybrid events that will happen in-person but have a powerful digital component in them.

• Featured Snippets-optimized content

In 2022, brands are also expected to fight for position zero in Google with featured snippets-optimized content.

No-click searches, commonly known as featured snippets, are not something new in the digital marketing field. They’ve actually been around since 2014 when Google first introduced them. And, at that time, they created some buzz in the search engine optimization community.

So, why are they set to be a big trend in 2022?

Well, one reasonable explanation for the “comeback” of the is that brands needed some time to get frustrated that Internet users don’t click on their websites because they quickly find the answers they need in the no-click searches section.

So, for those brands who want to combat this disadvantage, the fight to get there is starting to be a real thing. How do you get there? With valuable content that actually quickly offers the answers to Internet users’ queries.

• Involvement in philanthropic missions as a part of marketing

The pandemic changed one more thing about consumers: it made them more aware of their values or the missions they should fight for. So, again, brands need to adapt and show involvement as well.

Over the past few years, consumers have become more aware of how companies affect the environment or specific social challenges. So, they slowly started to shift their attention to those brands who did something about it and got involved in reducing their impact on the world.

Now, during the pandemic, consumers had more than a year spent in lockdown, with plenty of free time to learn more about what’s happening around the world and how getting involved can help combat some of these challenges. So, they are expected to be more focused on buying from and supporting brands that show commitment towards social and environmental issues.

That being said, another digital marketing trend expected to take shape in 2022 is related to partnerships made between brands and non-profits to show involvement in philanthropic missions.

• Content optimized to meet visual searches

The Internet constantly evolves the way it works to make things easier for users. Today’s Internet users are busier and more eager than ever before, meaning that they want everything to happen easily and quickly, including finding information with minimum effort.

This is where voice and visual searches are set to shine.

Visual searches are expected to grow in the following years, which is why digital marketers should pay attention to optimizing their content too. Consumers will no longer waste time writing specific keywords to find answers to their queries but rather take a relevant photo of what they want to know more of and wait for search engines to provide the answers.

• AI and influencer marketing will go hand in hand

For a number of years now, influencer marketing continued to be a big thing in digital marketing. It’s clear that influencers really meet their purpose of influencing consumers buying decisions. So, it’s expected that influencer marketing will continue to be a big trend in 2022. Data supports this, too: a majority of marketers claim that they plan to .

But, in 2022, some changes are expected to happen to the sector: a better collaboration with artificial intelligence.

AI can help brands identify the best influencer for their voice and audience and show data on how the campaign is expected to run and bring results. AI has the advantage of being able to analyze thousands of influencers, looking at their audiences, posts, videos, and so on, and determine which one is the right one. In this case, ROI is basically assured for brands investing in influencer marketing in 2022.

The post 5 Digital Marketing Trends Brands Need To Know About In 2022 first appeared on Digital Connect Mag.