We have seen strategies and tactics with excellent results in the past year. These same strategies are likely to have the same effect in the future!
Today we are going to cover five digital marketing trends that are becoming the general direction that digital marketing is going toward in 2022!
1. Focus on User Intent
Search intent refers to the reason users are doing those searches. Google tries to understand the meaning of all search queries and the category of information we’re trying to find.
Google will rank informational intent queries the highest.
An example can be “How to change a flat tire.”
Google can also know your intent when you Google something like Amazon. Google knows a user is trying to navigate to the e-commerce website most relevant to their location instead of information about the Amazon River.
Google’s sophisticated machine learning algorithms like BERT or MUM are introduced to make the search engine more humanlike, which means that the search engine should understand information and humans.
Search Intent is Google’s business, so don’t expect this to go anywhere.
How Can You Optimize with Search Intent in Mind?
You can start by looking at the search results pages for a particular query and identifying the three Cs of search intent.
- Content-type – What is the overall type of content? Is it a blog post, product page, or video?
- Content Format – some standard formats include how-to-guide, list posts, reviews, comparisons, etc. The article
- Content Angle – The Unique selling point of the content piece. This can be content with the words “best,” “cheapest,” and “freshness.”
Identifying the three Cs of search intent will give you a better idea of what kind of content Google “recommends” to its users for particular searches.
2. Word of Mouth is Still Thriving
Did you know that 83 % of respondents from 60 countries trust recommendations from friends and family?
What about 74% of purchasers (auto, beauty, and smartphone categories) identify recommendations or Word of Mouth (WOM) as a point of influence for purchasing decisions?
Online Media allows us to measure WOM. The following are some ways WOM works today.
- Social Media – WOM is seen in both conversations and sharing content.
- User-generated content about brands and their products includes customer reviews, unboxing, or fans posting pictures on Social Media (Instagram, Facebook, etc.)
- Influencer Marketing – This type of marketing is working so well and is based on WOM. People trust other people more than brands.
How to benefit from Worth of Mouth?
It’s essential first to create a great product or service. How is this product a great benefit to consumers? Does it make their lives better?
Naturally, if people genuinely like your product, they will talk about it to others.
Here are some ways you use WOM as a strategy.
- Encourage users to share pictures or short videos of your product under a specific hashtag.
- Create content that appeals to your consumers
- Share positive testimonials (keep it humble)
- Engage in conversations. Or even starting them. Although this may seem a daunting task, courage and marketing can go a long way in the marketing world. You can also learn a lot from your consumers.
3. Privacy Factors and Digital Advertising
Let’s talk about third-party cookies. Third-party cookies are small text files set by a website used to track users between websites (and show retargeting ads, for example).
Safari and Firefox browsers already block third-party cookies by default.
Google planned to stop supporting third-party cookies in Chrome by 2022 but then delayed it until 2023.
With iOS 14, Apple began requiring a voluntary opt-in for its users’ Identification for Advertisers (IDFA). What does this mean? Companies like Facebook won’t track you across apps and websites unless the user has permission.
As we head on to the future, 42.7% of internet users worldwide use ad blockers.
As if this wasn’t enough, products built with security and privacy in mind, designed to “rescue” you from data-harvesting monopolies, are popping up everywhere. For example, DuckDuckGo, Brave, Signal, ProtonMail, and Blockchain smartphones.
Internet users will have more privacy when browsing the web.
Will Digital Advertising Go Away with the Privacy Factors?
Google relies mostly on ad revenue. At the time of writing this post, Google is working on a new browser-based tracking standard called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC).
Big publishers are opting to use their own data aggregation rather than third-party ad solutions.
After Facebook was affected by the IDFA, Apple’s own ad solutions became more attractive.
It seems brands that want to use online advertising after 2023 will still have options. The brands’ only caveat is to adapt to the new standards and different forms of advertising (like buying ads directly from publishers)
It’s essential for brands and marketers to diversify their marketing channels. It’s a good idea to invest in omnichannel marketing.
4. Omnichannel Marketing an Absolute Must
Omnichannel marketing is about giving consumers, or prospects access to your products, offers, and support services on all channels, platforms, and devices.
The purchase rate of omnichannel is 287% higher than single-channel. Consumers expect businesses to be available on any channel that’s convenient for them. It is better to have more channels in your mix. More channels allow more convenience to your customers.
How to Offer Omnichannel Experiences in Three key Areas
- Seamless Experience: when attention is hard to retain, consistency is the key to getting customer loyalty. Users can now search for product info on a website, then look for reviews on social networks, engage with a company at the point of sale, and receive push notifications on their smartphone. Each piece of the journey should be consistent and complementary, so marketers need to provide a seamless experience, regardless of the channel or device used.
- Customer Journey Map: a recent study says that 89% of customers have stopped doing business with a company after experiencing a poor customer experience. An omnichannel strategy operates across different channels simultaneously. What you need, then, is a map that depicts how clients connect with your brand and product at every step of the process. ‘Where’ and ‘How’ become more crucial than ‘What.’ A customer journey map acts as a complete framework that enables you to understand how to plan an efficient strategy and adapt in real-time.
- Promotion. Promotions through many channels: Twitter, YouTube, Google Ads, and other kinds of sponsorships
5. Video is an Essential Marketing Channel
Did you know that 79% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy or download a piece of software or app after watching a video?
YouTube is still the second-most visited website by organic traffic. Video is the primary form of marketing media being created in 2021, followed by blogs and infographics.
What to do about Video Marketing?
Video marketing is about accessibility. We watch videos on our computers, mobiles devices, and TVs.
Video marketing is about using videos to promote and educate your target audience. It’s also used to increase brand awareness and social engagement, allowing you to reach new and bigger audiences.
When making a video for your brand, you should choose a primary objective based on what you want to achieve.
How long should your video be?
Well, it depends.
A brand awareness campaign can be as short as 15 seconds to 2 minutes.
Educational content can be anywhere between 5 minutes to 120 minutes.
Entertainment content can be from 10 minutes to 180 minutes (depending on the format).
One format that can work for all audiences, objectives, and industries is:
- Problem
- Teaser
- Solution / Story
How to Get Views for Your Videos?
Embed videos on your blogs and web pages. Embed your videos in relevant posts.
You can also share videos through other video platforms. You can create short teaser clips and encourage users to visit Youtube for the full content.
Lead Generation Videos
These are videos where you ask people to opt-in for a webinar or something else that’s free. You then nurture this lead and try to sell your product.
Conclusion
The future is uncertain, and things are constantly changing. To cope with uncertainty is to start taking action. Today we covered five trends that we think will continue to prevail in 2022.
Do you want your brand to be noticed in 2022? We can help you! Contact us today to learn how.
