In a year truly like no other, 2021 has seen a dramatic shift in both consumer behaviour and how business is done.
The effects of the pandemic and stay-at-home orders has led to an increased consumption of social media, with e-commerce now more important than ever before.
This presents both unique opportunities and challenges for brands looking to keep pace with this rapidly shifting online landscape, while continuing to deliver positive customer experiences and stay relevant in the minds of their audiences.
So, what will be fundamental to success in 2022? The Climb Online team have polled opinions and believe the following five trends will be game changers:
User-Generated Content
Consumers want a meaningful connection with the brands they buy from. They are belief-motivated and want to invest in brands whose values resonate with their own. There is a growing need for authentic content, with peer reviews and word-of-mouth marketing becoming increasingly more important.
Encouraging participation with your brand in the form of contests and challenges will allow you to nurture user-generated content and foster that sense of connection and trust with your audience.
Social Commerce
With cart abandonment rates an ever-present problem, it makes sense to dispense with every additional step that risks losing a potential purchase. Social commerce meets your customers where they already spend their time online, by allowing them to purchase directly from the platforms they use the most.
Not only does this remove these potential friction points in the customer journey, but also lets you curate and target the products that will appeal most to different segments of your audience.
Augmented Reality
The pandemic forced brands to seriously innovate when it came to digital customer experiences. 2021 saw the rise of augmented reality experiences like digital showrooms, live shopping and NFTs all garnering brands huge social media exposure.
As we move into 2022, companies will need to consider new immersive user experiences to gamify their brand and encourage sharable user engagement and interaction.
Influencer Marketing
The meteoric rise of platforms like TikTok has opened up huge potential for influencer partnerships for brands both big and small. With a built-in audience who already respect their opinion, influencers can help extend the reach of your brand, while establishing awareness, loyalty and trust.
To get the most out of influencer marketing, you must establish what your desired goals are, and enlist the right influencers within your market niche. Micro and nano-influencers offer fantastic rates of engagement and are within the reach of most marketing budgets. It is also important to monitor the results of each campaign through analytics, site traffic and engagement rates to ensure you are getting a good ROI for each influencer campaign.
Social Audio Content
Apps like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces have established a whole new form of content marketing in the form of social audio. Huge brands are already jumping on this trend, which shows no signs of slowing as we enter 2022
These real-time, unscripted conversations allow listeners to actively participate in the discussion, giving brands a new way to directly connect with their audiences. This extension of conversational marketing is an exciting new form of thought leadership that allows companies to establish credibility, while offering a unique way to personalise the customer experience.
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