6 Digital Trends to Watch for in 2022
As we start the new year and reflect on the last, we can see that 2021 was truly a year of evolution and agility. These past few years have seen a dramatic increase in digital transformation, and that focus on digital will continue into 2022. The way the world works has evolved with hybrid workforces and job flexibility, and we are now more connected than ever before. If we have learned anything, it’s that the importance of digital strategy as part of your overall marketing plan is more crucial now than ever.
Not sure where to focus your digital strategy for this year? Here are some top trends to have on your radar:
1. Video dominates online content.
It’s no secret that videos have become the most popular choice for content consumption today, and no surprise that this will increase throughout the year. Video marketing will continue to be one of the biggest digital trends for 2022. According to Social Media Week, users spend 88% more time browsing on websites that have videos. The use of video should be an essential part of any digital marketing strategy for this year. Videos give viewers a real person to connect to through voice, emotion and body language. Using video on your website and social media channels makes it easy for your audience to consume and share your message, all with the click of a button. Try adding video testimonials and case studies to provide authenticity and a trustworthiness for your brand that you cannot portray through text alone. To stay relevant in today’s digital world, make video an important part of your digital portfolio this year.
Check out this client testimonial video for inspiration:
2. Engage with interactive content.
In today’s digital world, consumers are looking for creative content that goes beyond traditional text. They are looking for new, dynamic ways to engage with your brand, so this is a great opportunity to think outside the box as you plan for the coming year. Use interactive content to grab the attention of your online audience and increase conversions on your website. Great examples would be to use interactive calculators, quizzes, videos, animations, infographics, images or essentially anything else you can make dynamic and that your audience can engage with as part of your website and marketing campaigns. Research has shown that interactive content can receive up to two times more engagement than static content – so make sure to include it in your digital plans for this year.
3. Digital storytelling as an essential strategy.
Using digital tools to tell your brand story is a way for businesses to quickly get across their narrative in a way that is more authentic and more likely to get through to consumers who are bombarded daily with ads. In today’s modern landscape, people are tired of just hearing how your company or brand is better than the competition. Instead of just focusing on benefits, consumers want to hear through brand or client stories what your product or service can do to solve a problem. Doing this builds trust and credibility in a world where a lot of traditional advertising is seen as too cold or impersonal and too much of a hard-sell. Try adding digital storytelling to your plan for the year – this could be in the form of a brand/culture video, client testimonial video, short video snippets for social media, or even a powerful or thought-provoking digital image.
Here is a good example of a brand/culture video:
4. The rise of shoppable content.
We live in an era where ‘see-now want-now’ is the new mentality and online shopping has changed the way we purchase items. Now with the increase in popularity of social media like Instagram and TikTok, influencers and brands are making it easier than ever before for consumers to purchase their products. Now is the time to start thinking about how to incorporate some of these concepts into your online marketing plan. A good place to start is with shoppable content, which essentially is any type of content that provides direct purchasing opportunities. This could be a direct link to purchase as part of a video, image or article and makes it extremely easy for a consumer to go from seeing an item to purchasing it – and in as few clicks as possible. As people are online more and more, it’s important to think through how your business can provide easy purchasing opportunities to your audience in the content you create and promote. There are applications for this for both B2C and B2B companies.
Social media has done more to transform digital marketing than any other medium, ever. It is a powerful platform that gives businesses opportunities to reach their audiences in a fast and cost-effective way. With the explosive growth of social media in recent years, platforms have been quick to update and reinforce their privacy policies to ensure consumers’ data remains safe and this will continue throughout 2022. In addition, social media algorithms, which are how posts are sorted in a users’ feed based on relevancy, will continue to evolve and focus more on quality content. Essentially, social networks prioritize content they think you will want to see in your feed first. For digital marketers, this can be an ongoing puzzle to try to figure out how to best get your content seen by those you want to see it.
These tips may help:
Experiment with different content types. This is a great opportunity to test out which content type resonates most with your audience. Which performs better: posts with images vs. posts without? Or long-form vs. short-form videos? The point is to switch things up and never post the same thing over and over, allowing you to stay one step ahead of the algorithm.
Algorithms tend to optimize native video content, which are videos uploaded directly to social media and played in-feed (instead of uploading somewhere else and posting a link). Using these videos in your marketing strategy might help you stay ahead of the game.
Check out this video created for social media by CJBS, a Chicago-area accounting firm:
6. Personalization is still important.
So much of a person’s information is online and consumers expect at least some sort of personalization when they go to a website or when they interact with your brand online. People expect the content they are looking for served up to them at the right time and format and to be relevant to them, and it is important to think about that as you plan your strategy for this year. Even segmenting your message out based on industry vertical or different personas can go a long way in making sure your message resonates with your audience.
We are in a time where exciting marketing opportunities are endless, and the digital horizon is just beginning. Looking for inspiration for where to start or how to elevate your marketing strategy and create engaging content? Mark Campbell Productions is a nationwide full-service video production and photography team ready to take your brand to the next level. We will partner with you to create the content that will stand out in your marketing campaigns, enhance your digital presence and will showcase your brand in the best way possible. Let us come up with fresh ideas to make your marketing budget go further and help you create content that will make a real impact to your bottom line. Give us a call or complete our contact form today!