Using the right digital marketing strategy, a marketer can propel the company to the top. But, as an ever-changing changing environment, digital marketing trends rise and fall constantly. Thus, it is vital to keep up with the latest trends.
Moreover, the lockdown and the overall effects of the COVID-19 pandemic over the way we do business have profoundly impacted the digital marketing trends since 2020, and it appears that it won’t stop anytime soon.
As a result, digital marketing is gaining ever greater influence and impact as a result of those developments. Even though digital marketing drastically changed in 2020, it will undergo even more changes in 2022.
One determinant for those changes that caught everyone’s eyes is the rumored death of third-party cookies. Do you remember cookies? Cookies are small text files that contain simple pieces of information used to track your computer as you access web pages.
Particularly, third-party cookies are a tracking code that is placed on a website visitor’s computer after it’s received from another website. Therefore, third-party cookies track visitors to your site and other websites and send the data to a third party who created the cookie, for example, an advertiser.
For years, they have been used to monitor website traffic, enhance the user experience, and gather data that helps target ads effectively. Furthermore, they have been used to find out what the online visitors look up online when they aren’t on our websites.
However, Google announced that the third-party cookies will be phased-out by 2022. So digital marketing trends need to change and adapt.
Aside from the changes regarding cookies, other trends will emerge or evolve in digital marketing as a result of the upcoming major changes. For instance, below are some noteworthy examples.
1. Search engine optimization (SEO)
This should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever owned a website, but the purpose of searching engine optimization is to place your company website among the first results in search engines and improve your traffic to the website. In fact, by using SEO, you can “filter” your visitors so you generate more relevant traffic and get more precise data.
Generally, optimizing your website for organic search is still one of the best ways to gain views, and SEO is crucial for organic search. Therefore, a well-crafted and well-implemented SEO strategy can help you drive traffic to a website and increase your brand awareness.
2. Long-tail keywords
As the web search landscape continues to evolve and become more complex, long-tail keywords are also becoming more and more important. As a quick refresher, long-tail keywords represent highly targeted search sentences that give intent and help your website stand out.
We have already seen significant growth in their importance in 2021, but in 2022 they are likely to become downright crucial.
What caused this? Well, as part of digital marketing tools long-tools have several advantages, including that:
- They are easy to rank for,
- They communicate a clear message, and
- They have a greater impact when they appear in Google snippets.
Also, long-tail keywords are a useful element in any SEO strategy.
3. User’s experience or UX
For any business owner, a good user experience should be one of the most significant success factors. In digital marketing specifically, you need to design strategies and elements that facilitate diversity and accessibility – build for edge cases and you will improve the experience of all users.
And one of the first steps towards a good UX is responsiveness. Keep in mind that your users access websites on various platforms like Google, Bing, or Yahoo through different devices such as desktop computers, mobile phones, voice control devices, and many more. So your company website should provide the same great experience from all of them.
Additionally, your assets and the way they are presented throughout your company’s online marketing strategies and presence also affect your users’ experience. So keep your website and your social presence uniform.
The same goes for your paid digital marketing campaigns, which can have a variety of content and presentation styles. When picking a presentation method, it is always a good idea to keep in mind the target group and its preferences, even if it means going the extra mile.
4. Audio-visual content and Youtube
If audio-visual content was on the rise before 2020, the prolonged and overwhelming lockdown pushed this trend through the roof through 2021. So, naturally, marketers took advantage of this trend and started to boost and improve their video advertisements and live streams.
As expected, video-based search engines such as YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, etc., are even more popular with companies looking to promote their products and services through engaging short videos. In fact, as the second-largest search engine, YouTube is the ideal place for companies to place audio-visual content.
We know, you’re shocked.
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
Whenever a user lands on your website, they expect a personalized experience. And what better way to offer them exactly that if not through Artificial Intelligence? In fact, artificial intelligence has quite a specific role in marketing.
We are not talking about chatbots here -that is a bit further down – here we are talking about artificial intelligence that is used to gather, sort, and process relevant data.
For one, AI is used to track and process user information for personalized product recommendations, targeted ads, or dynamic pricing. But it can also be used for other data-driven systems, such as voice-based interaction interfaces.
6. Chatbots
Speaking of AI, another prevalent trend that we keep seeing over and over again in digital marketing is Chatbots. In simple terms, chatbots are automated conversational interfaces that help increase customer satisfaction and retention. Largely driven by Artificial Intelligence technology, they are a great asset for marketers on their own.
Undoubtedly, the chatbots’ most notable role is to offer recommendations and advice to visitors on a 24/7 basis. But besides the conversational functions, chatbots can also process orders and present offers and coupons, increasing marketing and sales.
If you are not convinced why chatbots are so popular, here are other advantages of having one aside from permanent availability:
- They are faster than humans;
- Their responses are always consistent;
- They can handle several users at the same time;
- Their patience never runs out;
- They are as smart and as nice as you train them to be;
- You can teach them as many languages as you want much faster than you could a human, and the list goes on.
7. Voice Search and Voice control
Similar to the trend of audio-video content, voice search and control started to slowly but surely capture users’ attention. Voice search engines are gaining popularity and becoming a digital marketing trend as consumers prefer them to classic written search methods.
By using voice search, the company can give its digital marketing a boost. Furthermore, it helps them promote their products and services in an easy, convenient, and accurate way.
Voice search offers the possibility of simply asking and listening to the answer, as many people are too busy to search and read the information. Thus is faster, simpler to use, it’s hands-off, and enhances accessibility.
8. Motion Design UI
A compelling, informative web navigation experience is extremely important for online users. Therefore website design is one of the key factors that can influence customer opinion of the products and services provided by the company.
The design is a way of visually presenting the company and pinning the users’ interest, even more, if the design is interactive. Thus motion design UI is named between the increasingly digital marketing trends.
Motion design can evoke emotion and create a closer connection between the user and the brand. In fact, it can give your website a feeling of being fun, meaningful, trustworthy, dependable, or whatever you want it to be.
Pop-ups, scrolling effects, and other elements can be created in a smooth, interactive, and enjoyable way with motion design UI. In other words, it helps marketers spike and maintain users’ interest.
9. Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Another example from the list of ever-present digital marketing trends is Social media marketing. SMM is an incredible branding tool that helps companies increase website traffic, create awareness, and relationships with their customers.
Simply put, SMM helps you can attract and connect with your users at a personal level, building trust and loyalty. More precisely, social trust, which represents a part of the target market that enjoys collaborating with you and believes in your brand.
Furthermore, SMM leads to increased traffic, better SEO, higher conversion rates, improved brand loyalty, and it is cost-effective.
10. Influencer Marketing
While it sounds similar to SMM, it is different enough to earn its mention. Actually, the social media presence of the company is not as important in influencer marketing as the presence of the influencer itself.
Social media influencers shape audience opinions about companies, products, and services. Additionally, to the advantages offered by SMM, influencer marketing enhances brand awareness, connects a wider market, sets trends easier, drives conversations, and creates partnerships.
Overall, by using digital marketing trends like this, marketers can build networks that reach a wider audience than their direct target audience.
Summing Up Our Digital Marketing Trends List
Since change is a crucial element of digital marketing, accepting new strategies, technologies and tools is a must. And the year 2022 is going to be characterized by many changes, some more radical than others.
The changes influence the evolution of the company and its relationship with its customers. Generally, digital marketing trends give us an idea of the general direction in which something is developing, changing, or moving.
While digital marketing is indeed an evolving environment, and digital marketing trends rise and fall constantly, all of them have a common ground.
Undeniably, the pursuit of the best customer experience is the common thread connecting all digital marketing trends.
Digital marketing trends revolve around discovering, understanding, and matching the needs and preferences of your users with technology. Providing your customers with the best possible experience, and communicating with them most effectively generates customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Above all else, in order to remain relevant in the market, marketers should always strive to keep up with digital marketing trends. Although digital marketing does not have a perfect trend or strategy, the trends have crucial importance and can be adjusted according to each company’s needs.
Are there any digital marketing trends you know of that we missed?
