2022 digital marketing trends: New digital trends shape marketing’s future every year. Even though 2021 was a challenging year, we have been happy. People think digital marketing trends in 2022 will be some of the most creative ever.
TikTok, the most popular social media platform among Gen Z users, keeps getting increasingly popular at the beginning of the year. Also, NFTs and cryptocurrencies became more popular, which led to discussions about the future of finance. Google will get rid of third-party cookies in 2023. This means that advertisers and digital marketers have less than two years to find new ways to reach their target audiences. Facebook changed its name to Meta to join the 3D metaverse.
What do Digital Marketing Trends mean?
First, it’s essential to understand what digital marketing is. It is the process of marketing and advertising a business, person, product, or service through the internet, electronic devices, and digital technology. It includes social media, email, PPC, SEO, etc.
DM trends are significant changes in the strategic direction of the digital marketing environment. These changes affect how marketers should connect with their target audience.
Top 20 Digital Marketing Trends in 2022
Several exciting new digital advances will change how we talk to our audience. We’ve compiled a list of 2022’s top digital marketing trends to help you plan—your 2022 digital marketing trends to watch.
1. AI-Powered Optimization
AI powers content generation, chatbots, and search engines. Since COVID-19 broke out, the number of services that use artificial intelligence has grown significantly. It’s one of the top digital marketing trends for 2022 that you can’t ignore. A PwC study of more than 1,000 organizations in the United States found that 52% have moved up their plans to use AI.
Here are the most important benefits:
- Improve customer experiences
- Make better decisions
- Make new things and services.
- With Achieve, you can save money.
- Make your work or efficiency better.
Google knows what people want and what they need. If you search “Omega 3 fish oil,” Google understands you want health advantages and hazards.
Digital content optimization
An e-commerce product page won’t rank #1 for this keyword because of this. All your time and effort creating content, advertising, and gaining links will be wasted.
Getting the search intent right is more important than ever, and content optimization is a great way to do that.
2. Conversational Marketing
With all the talk about chatbots, it’s clear that marketing today is more conversational than ever before. Because people like it that way, businesses are following suit. For example, 82% of customers want an “instant” answer when asked a question.
Conversational marketing lets marketers and customers talk to each other in a more direct and personal way.
This type of marketing can be done through multiple channels, allowing organizations to reach clients on their devices, platforms, and at convenient times.
David Cancel, founder and CEO of Drift, says, “Today’s customers want to find what they’re looking for right away, not later…and in the way, people choose to interact.”
The main goal of conversational marketing is to improve the user experience through a strategy based on feedback that leads to more engagement, stronger loyalty, and sales.
According to Drift, 41.3% of customers buy things through conversational marketing.
Companies can use a conversational marketing strategy in the following ways:
- Chatbots
- Customized videos
- emails made just for you
- Virtual sales representatives
One company that did well with conversational marketing is ThoughtSpot. After putting it into place, the company had ten times as many sales conversations, 70% more marketing-qualified leads, and 64% more scheduled appointments. So, we can say that conversational marketing is a vital part of Digital Marketing Trends.
3. Chatbots
One way that conversational marketing is used is with chatbots. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to send real-time messages to website users that look like someone wrote them.
Polls have shown:
- Chatbots are most helpful to businesses when they offer service around the clock (64%), quick answers to questions (55%), and answers to basic questions (55%).
- Uberall says that 80% of users had good experiences with chatbots.
- Juniper Research says that by 2023, more than $112 billion will be spent online using chatbots.
- Insider Intelligence thinks that by 2024, consumers will spend $142 billion on retail goods through chatbots, up from $2.8 billion in 2019.
Many clients like using chatbots because they are available 24 hours a day, respond quickly and remember what they have bought in the past. Also, these virtual assistants provide excellent customer service by going above and beyond expectations and automating tedious tasks, which frees up your staff to do more critical jobs.
As more people get used to them, they will become more critical of a good customer experience. It’s a valuable part of the Digital Marketing Trends that helps build strong customer relationships.
4. Personalization
To stand out in Digital Marketing Trends 2022, you must customize your marketing. This includes customizing content, goods, communications, and so on. It turns out that people like customization:
- SmarterHQ says that 72% of customers only respond to marketing messages about things they are interested in.
- A Salesforce poll found that marketers think the most important benefits of personalization are better customer experiences (64%), higher conversion rates (63%), and more engaged visitors (55%).
- The advantages of personalization in digital marketing trends
- Similarly, Kevin George of EmailMonks says that “personalized emails that are sent based on actions are three times better than emails that are sent all at once.”
When looking at the power of personalization, it’s hard to ignore Netflix and Amazon, which use personalization to suggest products or movies. These companies use personalization well:
- EasyJet has started an email campaign based on customer data and tells stories unique to each person.
- It was telling them where they should fly next. Because of this, about 12.5 million unique emails were sent, and the click-through rate was 25% higher than for emails that weren’t personalized.
- Cadbury’s made a customized video campaign that sends viewers a Dairy Milk flavor based on their age, interests, and location, which they can find out from their Facebook profile. The campaign had a 33.6% conversion rate and a click-through rate of 65%. This shows that personalization works.
- Starbucks employs a gamified smartphone app to collect purchase history and location. This lets customers customize their drinks and encourages them to use the app with a rewards system, which has helped the company earn $2.56 billion.
5. Video Marketing
Video marketing is one of the most successful digital marketing trends, which will likely stay valid for the next 5–10 years.
A survey by Biteable found:
- 60% of businesses use video as a way to market their business.
- 61% of marketers say that video is “very important or essential” to their strategies.
- 74% think the return on investment (ROI) for video is higher than for still pictures.
- 52% of the people who filled out the survey said that video helps them build trust with potential clients.
- Video marketing isn’t only on YouTube. There are many strategies to increase video views.
For example, you can post a video or start a live broadcast on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram. The automation tool on RecurPost is one way to schedule Instagram posts for the most interaction.
Video is a great way to reuse and publish old content or to do it the other way around. It means making a blog post or other content into a video.
On the other hand, you could make a video, put it on your website and your YouTube channel, and then:
- Get it typed up and made into articles (with an embedded YouTube video for better rankings)
- You can broadcast raw videos with subtitles to Facebook (native Facebook videos get more shares and engagement than YouTube videos). You can utilize the audio as a podcast episode.
- Use thumbnails of videos in your email marketing and the word “video” in the subject line to get 19% more people to open your emails.
6. Social Messaging Apps
If you think that social messaging apps are just for sending smiley faces to your friends, consider these facts:
The top three social messaging apps are Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat. Together, they have 4.5 billion users, more than Facebook or YouTube.
56% of messaging app users worldwide have messaged a firm for further information during the buyer’s journey.
Social messaging apps are another way that conversational marketing is used. People expect businesses to be in messaging apps because it’s a quick and easy way to get in touch with them.
Why should your business utilize messaging apps?
- Make contact.
- Give information promptly
- People should take part in things.
- Regain lost customers
- Help out and back up
- Increase sales
So, we can say that social messaging apps are essential to the growth of businesses and Digital Marketing Trends.
7. Live Stream Shopping
Live streaming is another thing that is becoming popular in digital marketing. This is a new idea in the West, but it is widespread in China. If you think that’s too much, consider this: in the first half of 2020, one-third of China’s internet users (309 million) watched a live-streaming shopping session.
Also, in October 2019, one of China’s most popular live streamers, Viya, made about $49.7 million in just one day of live streaming.
The role of live-stream shopping in digital marketing trends
McKinsey says the most popular products to buy through live streams are clothing and fashion, beauty products, food, consumer electronics, furniture, and home decor.
Coresight Research says that by 2023, live-streaming commerce will bring in $25 billion in sales in the US.
Two companies in the United States, Levi’s and Tommy Hilfiger, want to start live-stream shopping events. Amazon, Instagram, and Facebook are all working on making this happen.
Live stream e-commerce is still in its early stages, so McKinsey suggests starting with infrequent streams focusing on 1–5 products and using TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or Amazon Live. Then, switch to a “dedicated in-house team or agency staff to plan and develop content for live streams, including scripts, storylines, hosts, or micro-influencers,” and broadcast them across multiple channels.
8. Voice Search
Voice search is a digital marketing trend that you can’t ignore. It is becoming more and more popular, which has made businesses rethink their digital marketing strategies. If you’re still unsure, consider this:
- 20% of all online searches are done with voice.
- 58% of customers used voice search to find company information in their area.
- 40% of people use voice search every day.
- Voice searches are done 1 billion times every month.
It is already crucial for search engine users. For example, Google Assistant has 1 million actions, and Alexa has more than 100,000 skills. Actions and skills are things their voice assistants can do that make them very good at answering user requests and questions.
Voice Search in the Trends of Digital Marketing
Remember that more companies will make audio content to raise brand awareness, which you should also do. Also, ads will follow. “A message from her sponsor” is how Alexa will answer your question.
The most recent statistics, which are a few years old, show that 27% of all smartphone searches are voice-activated. This means that “trigger words” like “how,” “what,” “best,” and “easy” start the search.
Remember that voice search isn’t another way to push messages and products through content marketing. Instead, marketers need to devise a different plan for getting in touch with customers, and this contact channel should be part of a more extensive, more integrated brand experience.
9. Social Media Stories
Digital marketing trends in 2022 show that social media stories are significant. Snapchat invented “Stories.” Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter followed but called it something else.
Stories are posts that disappear after a day. Even though (or maybe because) they are simple, stories let marketers give accurate information and connect with their audience on a human level.
- Digital marketing trends change because of stories on social media.
- Using social media tales to engage people:
- In Instagram Stories, you can use polls.
- Add links to your Stories on social media.
- Use the filters on Snapchat.
- Place tags should be used.
- Mention other products and the people who are helping you.
- Try out the live video when you’re making Stories.
- Encourage people to learn more by telling them what to do.
10. Push Notifications
Email marketing isn’t as effective as it used to be because of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and stricter privacy rules. Also, younger customers like to talk to companies differently and want to do so through fewer touchpoints.
In 2022, more marketers will use browser push notifications as part of their efforts to reach people through multiple channels. These notifications are also getting more complex and personalized. Using customized push alerts also helps increase sales:
- segmented push messages have a 7% open rate, while general broadcast messages have a 3% available rate (a 2x improvement)
- 54% of users respond to a segmented push notification, while only 15% respond to a broadcast message (a 3x improvement)
- Notifications based on behavior are used to get back in touch with consumers who have shown interest but haven’t made a purchase yet, and to make money back from shopping carts that have been abandoned.
- Push Notifications are a new trend in digital marketing.
- Notifications could even have pictures and calls to action (CTAs) to boost sales from these campaigns. In terms of digital marketing trends, you can’t ignore how important push notifications are.
11. Social Commerce
Social commerce is a form of marketing that has been around for a long time but hasn’t caught on until recently. This is part of how social media marketing is growing. Social commerce has changed thanks to apps like TikTok and Instagram. Social commerce is at the top of the list of digital marketing trends right now.
A billion people use Instagram, and 90% of them follow active retail companies. Many of these people check these pages often. How to sell on Instagram:
Live Shopping uses live streaming.
Shop Tab Ads: These ads are great for e-commerce enterprises that wish to advertise on customers’ shop tabs.
- Movie ads are Reels Ads.
- The same adverts appear on IGTV.
- Instagram Checkout makes selling on Instagram quick and safe.
- TikTok has 1 billion monthly users. TikTok Shopping came out in 2022. It lets artists add a shopping button to their TikTok accounts.
Shopify TikTok Shopping aids in Digital Marketing Trends
A Shopify connection will also pull products from their Shopify product catalogs and show them on a creator’s TikTok profile, just like the Shop Tab on Instagram. Users can also buy things without leaving the app, similar to how Instagram Checkout works.
At the moment, only Shopify retailers in the United States and the United Kingdom who have a TikTok for Business account can use TikTok Shopping.
12. Interactive Content
In the last few years, interactive content has been one digital marketing trend that has grown the fastest.
In 2022, we’ll see a shift from standard text-based content to dynamic, engaging content that gives consumers a more immersive experience, like:
- Polls and quizzes
- There are built-in calculators
- Augmented reality ads
- Videos in 360 degrees
Interactive content is more interesting, easier to remember, and more likely to get your company’s desired results. People like it not only because it’s new and different but also because it makes them feel more connected to businesses and involved in the buying process. Because of this, 91% of customers actively want more content they can interact with.
13. Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing uses many channels, like social media, apps, email, and blog posts, to give customers a better experience and a consistent message about the brand, which leads to more sales and brand loyalty. Digital marketing trends are making it increasingly necessary to use omnichannel marketing strategies.
- Omnichannel Marketing
- Statistics show that marketing teams that use three or more automated channels may have good results:
- On omnichannel, the engagement rate is 18.96%, compared to 5.4% on single-channel.
- The number of purchases made through all channels is 250% higher than those made through only one channel.
- The average price of an omnichannel order is 13% higher than the average price of a single-channel order.
- The rate of keeping customers who use multiple channels is 90% higher than that of customers who only use one channel.
- With more and more SaaS companies offering ways to handle multiple channels more efficiently, it’s easier to use omnichannel as part of your content strategy.
- It’s another way that AI and big data help companies learn more about how their customers behave and tailor their services to each person at a large scale.
14. Augmented Reality (AR) & Immersive Technologies
Augmented reality (AR) has proven to be more beneficial for marketers than virtual reality (VR), which has a lot of big sci-fi ideas like the metaverse.
ARtillery’s research shows that consumer and business AR head-worn sales will grow from $1.6 billion to over $18 billion worldwide.
Similarly, the amount of money made from mobile augmented reality for consumer and business use will almost quadruple from $6.8 billion to $26 billion by 2025, which is a nearly fourfold increase.
Facebook’s long-awaited intelligent glasses are now available to everyone.
Even though the focus is on taking pictures and not on augmented reality, this could be the start of something that changes the game. AR apps are a big part of how digital marketing trends are changing.
Other companies, like IKEA, have also put out their AR apps.
Their IKEA Place app lets people “test drive” their furniture by taking a picture of a room in their house with a smartphone camera (now only iOS 11.0.1). People can turn the table around to see how it looks from different angles.
As AR technology improves, more brands will find helpful ways to use it.
15. Predictive & Augmented Analytics
Predictive analytics is figuring out what will happen in the future by finding patterns in data, using predictive modeling, and teaching a computer to learn independently. Because of its potential, it has become more complex and widespread in many areas.
We might see more predictive analytics tools and apps, like sophisticated lead scoring, customer segmentation, and personalization, as a trend in digital marketing.
Amazon Assistant is one example. It’s a Chrome plugin from the retail giant that lets customers expand Amazon product suggestions outside of the website to make customized offers while they’re browsing elsewhere on the web.
Augmented Analytics improves data preparation and sharing using machine learning and NLP.
The technology used is what makes the difference between predictive analytics and augmented reality:
“Machine learning is used in predictive analytics. Augmented analytics complements human intelligence, allowing us to work faster and wiser on larger datasets.”
Gartner says that by the end of 2024, 75% of organizations will use AI for operational needs. This will cause streaming data and analytics infrastructures to grow by 5X.
16. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
PWAs load fast, give push alerts and work offline. They are not limited to Android or iOS. PWAs let development teams make web apps that work like mobile apps and can be used on any device.
By 2026, it is expected that 7.5 billion people will use smartphones.
Globally, the number of mobile page views is up 57%, making mobile more critical than ever in your digital strategy.
So, as the mobile revolution speeds up, PWAs will become more common.
17. Blockchain Applications
Blockgeeks says that a blockchain is:
“A time-stamped collection of unchangeable data records managed by a network of computers not owned by a single company. Each of these data blocks (i.e., block) is encrypted and linked to the others using cryptographic principles (i.e., chain).”
Here’s an example of what a blockchain is and how it works.
Even though they started by focusing on cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and its uses have significant effects outside the financial world.
According to Leandra Monteiro of IBSintelligence, some of the most important things to look out for in the Blockchain in 2022 are:
- BaaS, which stands for “Blockchain-as-a-Service,” is when a third party sets up and runs cloud-based networks for businesses that make blockchain applications.
- Verifiable Credentials & Self-Sovereign Identity (Universal Identity) will give us credentials that can be checked, are globally resolvable, protect our privacy, and that we can keep on our own devices and show to anyone, anywhere.
- DeFi (Decentralized Finance) is moving away from traditional centralized financial systems like brokerages, exchanges, and banks and toward intelligent contracts on blockchains.
- Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are a type of token made with cryptography and use blockchain technology to link to a unique digital asset that can’t be copied.
- CBDC is a legal currency made and backed by a central bank. It is a digital version of significant bank money based on Blockchain.
- Blockchain technology applications are participating in the latest trends in digital marketing.
18. 5G Technology
In a mobile-obsessed society, 5G technology could be one of the most prominent digital marketing trends of 2022—the upgrading ushers in a new era of digital communications, affecting practically every organization.
George Slefo, who used to be a tech reporter for AdAge, says:
- “When 5G comes out, millions more customers in rural areas may finally be able to use the high-speed data lanes where marketers are selling more and more of their products.” 5G could also break up the digital duopoly of Google and Facebook by giving telecom companies access to more data for ad services.
- The ambitious 5G action plan of the European Union calls for important highways and trains to have continuous 5G coverage by 2025. Also, the technology is meant to power 100 times as many linked devices.
- Without a doubt, 5G technology will change how digital advertisers and regular internet users get information from the internet.
19. Website Security
Website security and privacy are becoming vital. With digital marketing advancements, firms must consider website security.
First-time visitors will judge your site’s safety in seconds. Uncomfortable customers won’t stay. This reduces dwell time, a new Google ranking element.
It means that your site’s ranking might go down if people feel like they need to feel safer on it.
Also, websites will have secure sites after the Core Web Vitals upgrade in 2022. So, from now on, the very least you can do is turn on the HTTPS protocol for your site. This will show your visitors a small green padlock symbol in the URL.
Digital Marketing Trends and the Role of Website Security
In the same way, putting a trust mark or security mark of trust on your website can show visitors that you care about their safety.
20. Live Streaming
Even though video content is the future of social media, the most popular way to market video is through live streaming.
The truth is:
- By 2027, it is expected that the live-streaming market will be worth $184.3 billion.
- People would rather watch a live video than read a blog 80% of the time.
- Live-streaming content is used often by 63% of Millennials.
- Live videos are 3x longer than prefabricated ones.
Consumers desire unique, accurate content that lets them interact with the author. People can also watch the action live. This increases the utilization of the live video.
Instagram has added Live Rooms, a tool that lets users broadcast a live video with up to three other people. This makes Instagram’s live streaming even better.
Also, Badges, Shopping, and Live Fundraisers have enabled Instagram users to support their favorite artists.
Live is YouTube’s name for its live streaming service, and Live is also the name of a feature on Facebook. Social media companies aren’t known for using clever names for their parts.
Digital Marketing Trends: Live Streaming
Both companies want more artists to use their services to reach more people and grow their businesses. In the same way, your business should think about using one of these social networks to make interesting live-streaming videos. Because of the latest changes in digital marketing trends, it’s more important than ever for businesses to look into live streaming.
Digital marketing trends: last thoughts
Here are the top digital marketing trends for 2022. You can’t and won’t avoid them. Following these trends will help you stay competitive, expand, and retain clients.
From NFTs to AI data privacy in 2022, technology is critical. It will be the ideal year for new technology, marketing tools, and forward-thinking ideas. Therefore your new year’s goals should focus on how flexible, adaptive, and willing to change you are.
