- \n
- Trends to Approach Your Audience<\/a><\/li>\n
- User Experience Trends<\/a><\/li>\n
- Campaign Trends<\/a><\/li>\n
- Design Trends<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n1. Digital Marketing in 2022:\u00a0 Trends to Approach Your Audience<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
In this section, we’ll take a closer look at the trends surrounding email marketing, social media channels, the importance of influencers, and the rise of social commerce.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Over 3.8 Billion active users on social media<\/li>\n
- An average user has accounts on 9 different social media platforms<\/li>\n
- More than 90% of social media users access the platforms on mobile devices<\/li>\n
- Poor customer service<\/a> is the number one reason why consumers will unfollow a brand on social media (56%). The second reason is posting irrelevant content (51%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
1.1. Email Marketing<\/h4>\n
What will never change is the basic principle behind email marketing to send the right message to the right person at the right time. In order to do this the right way, however, the blueprints undergo constant changes. Email marketing is effective and its value is constantly growing, but so are the stakes.<\/p>\n
1.1.1 Personalization<\/h5>\n
Undoubtedly, the most important email marketing trend is still a must for personalization<\/strong>. The culture is shifting as the pandemic has changed the way we all consume emails. Audiences want a more personal connection with brands, on a more human level. It’s all about a real, authentic interest in your customers. To do that, think of more dynamic content and utilize AI- approaches that have proven successful by bigger companies. When you address your audience by their name and give relevant content, it feels like an email sent by a friend. This way more subscribers will engage and feel listened to and valued.<\/p>\n
Although this one seems very challenging for some, there are various email personalization tools to make it much easier.<\/p>\n
1.1.2 Appreciation<\/h5>\n
Customer appreciation emails<\/strong>, such as birthday, anniversary, milestone or thank you emails, enjoy high rates and a deeper connection between a company and its customers. Through showing much-needed during the pandemic empathy and emotional connection, you build relationships, trust, and inspire engagement and loyalty.<\/p>\n
![\"Email](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/02073637\/Digital-Marketing-Trends-2022-email-marketing-appreciation.png\")
Thank You by MD Nurul Huda<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
1.1.3 Design<\/h5>\n
Sending boring emails is unthinkable these days. Every subscriber is looking for entertainment, so designers and marketers have to get creative when designing emails. A good fun design can create a friendly atmosphere for newcomers and cement relationships with the audience you already have. Especially popular are animated gifs, dynamic effects, cartoons, and overall creative designs.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, don’t overdo it with elements as another strong trend is rising. Minimalism<\/strong> has been pretty popular in the past year and is most likely coming to take over email campaigns as well. However, this is hardly your only option. You can get creative and trendy and craft amazing brutalist, neon, and even cartoony emails that your viewers will instantly fall in love with. You could check the Graphic Design Trends 2024<\/a>\u00a0or Web Design Trends 2022<\/a> for more inspiration and ideas on how to captivate your audience in style.<\/p>\n
Keep in mind, that emails aren’t landing pages and you should always follow the best practices and make sure you’re aware of how every element renders on different platforms and email clients.<\/p>\n
In addition, it’s an absolute must to have a responsive design that renders perfectly on mobile<\/strong> devices as nearly 90% of all users will open your email from their smartphones.<\/p>\n
![\"Email](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/02074440\/Digital-Marketing-Trends-2022-email-marketing-Design.gif\")
VAAY USA by Supun Udara<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
1.2. Influencers<\/h4>\n
In short, influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that relies on social proof. The brands benefit from influencers (celebrities, bloggers, and other influential individuals) to mention their products and services, thus relying on the trust these individuals have already built up with their audiences.<\/p>\n
Influencer marketing is relatively new and untraditional but this new manner of targeting seems to be resulting in excellent numbers. So what are the most important rising trends?<\/p>\n
1.2.1 Mature Market<\/h5>\n
Influencer marketing is no longer limited to only teen and young adult audiences. This gives a new opportunity for brands to grow awareness in social media and gain relevance.<\/p>\n
1.2.2 Micro Influences<\/h5>\n
Influencers with less than 10K followers are on the rise. They have limited reach in comparison to bigger influencers, however, they are more affordable to work with and have the advantage of niche audiences and high engagement. For this reason, many smaller businesses and local brands find them extremely efficient.<\/p>\n
1.2.3 More Niche<\/h5>\n
Most bigger influencers tend to promote a variation of products and services, which often dilutes the expected results for all brands involved. To prevent this, brands have already started looking specifically for influencers who can cater to their niche. This results in many influencers creating multiple accounts each dedicated to a different niche, or simply ditching some of the niches.<\/p>\n
1.3. Social Media Channels<\/h4>\n
Thanks to the statistics<\/a>, it’s easier to make predictions on which platforms to prioritize.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Facebook<\/strong>: 2.74 billion monthly active users<\/li>\n
- YouTube<\/strong>: 2.29 billion\u00a0monthly active users<\/li>\n
- Instagram<\/strong>: 1.22 billion monthly\u00a0active users<\/li>\n
- TikTok<\/strong>: 689 million<\/li>\n
- Reddit<\/strong>: 430 million<\/li>\n
- Twitter<\/strong>: 353 million<\/li>\n
- LinkedIn<\/strong>: 300 million<\/li>\n
- Pinterest<\/strong>: 459 million<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Other statistics to consider when preparing your strategy:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Instagram has the highest user engagement<\/a> compared to any other platform.<\/li>\n
- Visual content achieves 40 times more shares<\/a> than content that is only text-based.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
1.4. Blogging and Vlogging<\/h4>\n
One thing will never change and that is the need to create exciting content for your audience outside of promoting your services. This includes helpful tutorials, tips, or even memes.<\/p>\n
In addition, the more blogging and vlogging become popular as a tool in digital marketing, the more important it is to improve the experience of your content. There is nothing more frustrating to an audience than an article plagued with ads and pop-ups or numerous featured products and services between the paragraphs. This results in a lot of scrolling and disrupts the experience. Focus on the content.<\/p>\n
1.4.1 Highly Visual Content<\/h5>\n
![\"Visuals](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/26094318\/ezgif-3-10de8f1351f9.gif\")
Crocodile Inside \/ Lacoste \u2014 Film<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
Blog articles are much more engaging with videos and infographics. Users should be able to understand your content just by scanning through the page.<\/p>\n
Videos should also be on point and feature engaging visuals such as animations and animated infographics, or any visual example rather than just a person talking on a camera the entire video.<\/p>\n
1.4.2 Relevant Content<\/h5>\n
Thanks to analytics, nowadays it is much easier to gain comprehensive knowledge about what your audience likes and engages the most with. The more you post, the more data you will get and the better data-driven decisions you will be able to make.<\/p>\n
1.4.3. Voice Search<\/h5>\n
With the rise of smart speakers, more and more users search through voice commands. It is important to optimize your blogs for voice search so your target audience could easily find your content.<\/p>\n
1.5. Social Commerce<\/h4>\n
A trend in itself, social commerce is convenient and slowly but steadily becomes a preferred option amongst users. The shopping happens directly on the social media platform or leads to a product page with an immediate option for purchasing.<\/p>\n
Instagram launched Instagram Checkout in 2019 to allow purchases directly on its platform.<\/p>\n
Facebook launched facebook shops in 2020 in order to help smaller businesses bring their storefronts.<\/p>\n
As is a relatively new experience with rising numbers, the prognosis point to social commerce representing 4.3% of all eCommerce sales. According to Insider Intelligence, US retail social commerce sales reached almost 35% to $36 billion in 2021.<\/p>\n
![\"Social](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/02075307\/Digital-Marketing-Trends-2022-Social-Commerce.png\")
Design by Cristian 99sx<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
\nAs a marketer, your website should be outstanding in order to attract clients. These marketing website designs<\/a> can inspire your new website.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2. Digital Marketing in 2022: User Experience Trends<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
The stakes become higher as everyone, including your customers, had a difficult time in 2020. Everyone expects better support, better experience, better everything. A brand is expected to be empathetic, open to a more personal connection with its audience, and more open to showing how it’s getting things done.<\/p>\n
2.1. AI personalization<\/h4>\n
Consumers are looking online for the same quality of service they would get in a traditional retail environment. They need brands to provide them with what they need, which requires the same brand to have the means to predict that. The answer is hyper-personalization through AI.<\/p>\n
AI personalization tools make it possible for brands to leverage gathered data and translate it into a personalized experience for their audience. Based on country, age, searches, and purchases, every consumer will easily find exactly what they need.<\/p>\n
This brings us to the next point:<\/p>\n
2.2. Data-Privacy Restrictions<\/h4>\n
With all the scandals surrounding social media platforms for tracking, collecting, and leaking user data, it’s natural for customers to be wary of how their data is handled. We can all expect increasing browser privacy restrictions to follow after Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention Update.<\/p>\n
Data privacy restrictions give users control over their data, so brands need to transition to an opt-in approach in order to earn trust. Always be aware of the newest data privacy regulations to be able to adapt and balance your strategy.<\/p>\n
2.3. Reviews<\/h4>\n
This is now more of a norm than a trend. When we go on an eCommerce website and decide on a product, the first thing we look for is actual customers’ reviews, ideally with attached photos or videos of the product. The possibility for customers to give their own unbias comments about a brand will give a better reputation and competitive advantages to the brand. Especially if there are reviews from trusted sources.<\/p>\n
When it comes to benefits. the brand can also share these reviews on their social media platforms to show how real people feel about their services and spread even more awareness.<\/p>\n
The most relevant and trusted reviews are the ones through Google’s business.<\/p>\n
![\"User](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/02075734\/Digital-Marketing-Trends-2022-Social-Reviews.png\")
Design by Mariaye Vickery<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
2.4. Better Product Visualization<\/h4>\n
It’s no news there are eCommerce websites that sell low-quality replicas of products but use the images of the original product to trick users into buying. This is why authenticity is another important thing you need to guarantee. Your audience will be looking for better visualization: preview images, product videos, 3D models, and everything that will convince a consumer that this is exact;y what they will get.<\/p>\n
![\"Product](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/02080047\/Digital-Marketing-Trends-2022-Product-Visualization.png\")
\u201c700\u201d Design by GOAT 1<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
2.5. Freebies \/ Tests<\/h4>\n
It’s no secret that freebies can generate a lot of sales over time and this has never been more relevant. More brands use freebies in order to introduce their services to audiences who are unfamiliar with them. Offering helpful and wanted products and services for free inspires loyalty and expands your customer’s knowledge about what you offer. It also encourages them to make a purchase.<\/p>\n
Examples of what you can offer include a free eBook, social media content calendar, how-to guides, podcast, a sample of a product (ex. if you offer a premium 300 slides of PowerPoint presentation, you can offer 15 free slides as a sample).\u00a0 You can offer a 30-day free trial for your users to test your software.<\/p>\n
When it comes to effective marketing, however, the most popular strategy is to offer free valuable digital products in exchange for the user’s email address. This way you will be able to drop by their box and let them know more about your services through relevant compelling emails. In short, freebies will help you generate a bigger audience.<\/p>\n
\n3. Digital Marketing in 2022: Campaign Trends<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
Digital marketing campaigns aren’t constant and depend specifically on the current circumstances your business is in and what you wish to achieve. Despite that, we can pinpoint that brand awareness, social media followers (bigger audience) and\u00a0 SEO score<\/a> are always worth considering. So what are the trends?<\/p>\n
3.1. Video Ads are the Future<\/h4>\n
- Visual content achieves 40 times more shares<\/a> than content that is only text-based.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- YouTube<\/strong>: 2.29 billion\u00a0monthly active users<\/li>\n
- Facebook<\/strong>: 2.74 billion monthly active users<\/li>\n
- User Experience Trends<\/a><\/li>\n