By David Tomas, on 22 November 2021
2021 is coming to an end, and it's time to start thinking about marketing trends for 2022 and creating your plans for the year ahead.
In 2021, we started to live in the new normal and we have been consolidating the many changes that 2020 left us with. We live in a much more digitized society than a couple of years ago, and this digitization will only continue to grow.
Do you want to know what online marketing trends 2022 will bring? At Cyberclick we have made a selection of the most interesting ones, so read on!
Marketing Trends for 2022: Strategy
1. The Arrival of the Metaverse
One of the most talked about pieces of news in 2021 was the announcement that Facebook's parent company will be renamed Meta, in reference to the metaverse.
The metaverse is a virtual digital world in which many actions in our daily life can be carried out through 3D avatars. There are currently many organizations working on this concept, from Facebook itself to the South Korean government. One of the pioneers is Epic Games, which has organized massive virtual events within its video game Fortnite.
2. Human-Centric Marketing
The marketing paradigm is evolving from customer-centric to human-centric. We no longer think of our audience as mere consumers, but as partners in an increasingly personal relationship.
To adopt a human-centric approach in your company, start by asking these questions:
- What can the people who are part of the company achieve?
- How do your business decisions affect people?
- How can you create value for the people who work with you?
3. User Privacy Is a Priority
Digital privacy has become a major concern for many people. We want to be connected, but not at any cost.
In response, companies have started to prioritize user privacy when designing their solutions. Both Apple and Google have taken significant steps to restrict cookie tracking, and in the coming years we expect that user data protection will increasingly need to be taken into account.
4. The Expansion of Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising has become one of the most popular and profitable strategies for brands.
In 2018, Amazon entered the programmatic advertising business and became a major player in the online advertising sector, alongside Google and Facebook.
Source: eMarketer
But the big news in recent years is that large U.S. companies, such as Walmart or CVS pharmacy, jumped into this market to offer their own programmatic solutions. This is undoubtedly one of the most promising digital marketing trends for the coming years.
5. Account Based Marketing: Segmented Content Delivered via IP
If you work in B2B marketing, you've probably heard of this marketing trend.
Account based marketing involves using real-time ad buying and IP-based identification to create a highly accurate real-time marketing technique. The resulting campaigns are low-budget, as they have a very small reach. However, they reach exactly the target market need you want to connect with. The content reaches only the professionals in the companies you are interested in, segmented through their IPs.
These are three of its main uses.
- Acquisition: ABM has great potential for acquiring new customers. Just create a list of the companies you want to reach and create specific content for each of them.
- Nurturing: if you need to nurture your existing customers, you can use ABM to display nurturing content on your website, instead of relying only on email campaigns.
- Expansion: once you have contacts in a company, ABM can be a great tool to expand your business to different departments and divisions.
Source: Bloo.Media
6. Inbound Marketing Is More Vital Than Ever
According to Hubspot's Not Another State of Marketing Report 2021, inbound marketing is one of the top marketing trends marketers will invest in by 2022, second only to short-form video. In fact, more than 80% of marketers plan to maintain or increase their investment in inbound marketing.
It is also worth mentioning the evolution of inbound marketing in recent years. Its basic premise (attracting users rather than targeting them directly) remains the same, but we are moving from conceiving the customer journey as a conversion funnel to adopting the flywheel methodology, in which the different phases feed back on each other.
7. Event-Centered Workflows
Traditionally, email marketing workflows were a series of emails that started when the user met a series of requirements and was then sent periodic communications.
In contrast, with workflows focused on events, you start with an event (for example, a webinar organized by a brand) and schedule previous and subsequent emails to reinforce attendance and interaction with the content.
8. Mobile Marketing Automation
Today, more than 50% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. It is no longer enough to just incorporate mobile into marketing strategies; you must adopt a "mobile first" approach.
When building your marketing plans for 2022, don't forget to include a mobile marketing automation strategy, which collects information about your audience (such as location, browsing habits, device type) and uses it to create automated content streams (SMS updates, push messages, discount coupons, etc.).
9. The Internet of Behaviors
From the internet of things, we have moved on to the internet of behaviors.
The internet of behaviors is based on collecting and interpreting information about the behavior of people when they are using a given technology, and then using that to develop and promote new opportunities.
The result is that you can improve user experience and offer advertising for products and services that really bring value to your audience.
Marketing Trends for 2022: Ecommerce
10. Live Stream Shopping
Live stream shopping consists of organizing sales sessions through live broadcasts. The public can purchase the promoted products and interact live via a chat function or feedback buttons.
Source: Campaign Asia
Although it is still a very new idea in the West, it is already well established in China. In fact, it is estimated that during the first half of 2022, one third of Chinese Internet users attended a live shopping session.
This type of ecommerce is particularly important in the fashion, beauty, food, electronics, and home furnishings and decoration sectors. It is estimated that by 2026 it could account for 10 to 20 percent of ecommerce.
11. Chatbots and Live Chats to Sell
Chatbots and live chats are increasingly present in sales and lead generation processes. According to ReveChat, 79% of companies say that including a chatbot has improved their results.
Some of the advantages of this tool are that it shortens the lead generation process, allows you to track the user and send personalized offers, and helps detect pain points in the buyer journey.
Messenger chatbot integrated with Shopify
12. Sales Automation
Marketing automation is becoming a must for companies of all types and sizes, and of course this includes sales processes.
According to McKinsey, up to 30% of a sales team's tasks can be automated. Here are some of the most common automations you can use in your company:
- Send success stories to potential customers.
- Create special discounts for abandoned carts.
- Distribute tasks within the team.
- Assign leads to agents.
- Create sales flowcharts with contacts and pending tasks.
13. New Shopping Options on TikTok, Twitter and Pinterest
Social media shopping is coming in strong in 2022. These are some of the novelties:
- In early 2021, TikTok began in-app shopping testing in partnership with Shopify. TikTok Shopping is defined as "is a suite of solutions, features, and advertising tools that give businesses the opportunity to capture the full power of TikTok's influence on purchase decisions."
Source: TikTok Shopping
- Pinterest has announced the expansion of its shopping features to several countries. These functions allow people to make purchases in searches, boards, through Lens and in Pins.
- In September 2021, Twitter launched a test of a "Purchases" tab, which displays a history of purchases made within the application.
Source: Twitter Commerce
14. Headless Commerce
Headless commerce is a new page architecture where the front-end and back-end parts work independently and an API is used to connect all channels of an online store.
This technical innovation is a new way of thinking about online sales, as it allows you to generate a truly omnichannel experience, integrating both the website and social media channels or voice assistants.
In turn, this is a great advantage for ecommerce, since according to Saleslayer, users who consult several different channels of an online store spend 10% more than those who only consult one.
Marketing Trends for 2022: Social Networks
15. YouTube Gaming
Following the success of Twitch, YouTube has updated its streaming platform to make it more attractive to the gamer world. Among the most important changes, the following stand out:
- New remuneration methods for creators similar to Twitch.
- Subscriptions with different payment levels.
- Possibility of giving away subscriptions.
- Option to redirect a channel's chat to that of other streamers (known in Twitch as "hosts" and "raids").
16. Caffeine: A New Social Network for Broadcasters
Caffeine is a social network focused on live broadcasts, ideal for gamers and other content creators. Its great advantages are its simplicity (its creators claim that you can start uploading material in as little as 15 seconds) and its social functions, which set it apart from other streaming platforms such as Twitch or YouTube Gaming.
Source: Caffeine
17. Social Ads: Higher CPC and Stable CTR
Following the accelerated digitization of the economy and society in general over the past two years, the cost of social media ads has increased. According to Emplifi's State of Social Media and CX Q2 2021 study, the overall cost of social ads increased by 85.1% during Q2 of 2021.
For marketers, this means we're under a lot more pressure to make the most of budgets. Fortunately, Facebook Ads CTRs have remained stable, allowing for a positive ROAS.
18. More Visibility for Branded Content on Instagram
Instagram has always been one of the star platforms for collaborations between influencers and brands.
Influencers are required to disclose collaborations with brands in order to promote transparency to users. To facilitate this task, Instagram has now incorporated new branded content tools that make it easier to tag promoted posts.
Source: Cyberclick
Marketing Trends for 2022: What's New from Google
19. Web Stories from Google
In recent years we have become accustomed to seeing the Stories format on multiple social networks, such as Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. Now, this content has reached the world of SEO.
Google's Web Stories is a content format similar to Instagram Stories, but designed to boost websites. Web Stories will appear in both Google's search results and its content discovery platform, Google Discover.
Source: Google
20. Position Zero on Google
The world of SEO has undergone a real revolution: the most sought-after position in Google search results is no longer the first one, but position zero.
Position zero, or a featured snippet, is a result that is displayed above the rest and with a more visible format, which includes a fragment of the content, a URL and sometimes an image. It is a real magnet for impressions and clicks, so it should be present in optimization strategies.
To increase your chances of appearing in position zero, it is highly recommended to present your content in the form of answers to common user questions and to include structured data on your website.
21. The End of Expanded Ads and the Rise of Adaptive Ads
As of June 30, 2022, Google has announced that it will no longer be possible to create expanded ads in Google Ads.
Their place will be taken by adaptive ads, which combine advertisers' creatives with machine learning tools to show relevant results to as many people as possible. This format allows you to combine up to 15 different titles and 4 different descriptions.
Source: Data Feed Watch
22. Data-Driven Attribution Model
When planning your PPC strategy, it is essential to choose the right attribution model, as your ROAS will be calculated based on it.
Therefore, for 2022 it is very important to keep in mind that the default Google Ads attribution model will move from last click to data-driven attribution. Instead of applying the same pattern to all conversions, this model takes into account a variety of signals to spread the value of a conversion across different touch points.
Source: Adapt World Wide
Marketing Trends for 2022: Other Developments
23. User Generated Content in Email Marketing
User-generated content is a treasure trove for brands, as it increases social proof. By seeing that other people are loving our products, it's easier for our potential customers to convert.
We usually associate user-generated content with social media, but it doesn't have to stay there. In fact, one of the marketing trends for 2022 is to include this type of content in emails to encourage conversions.
24. 3D Creativity in Outdoor Advertising
Digital marketing trends have taken to the streets through new 3D creatives on billboards.
This novelty has been with us for less than a year, since 3D creatives were previously limited to LED screens. The result is spectacular actions such as the new Volkswagen campaign or The Walking Dead ad in Plaza de Callao in Madrid, which manage to surprise passers-by and generate interactions and brand awareness.
25. The 5G Revolution on OTT Platforms
5G is a technological leap that enables greater connectivity, faster data transfer and lower latency. According to a Nevion survey, 82% of broadcasters believe it will eventually replace traditional digital terrestrial or satellite distribution.
The leap to 5G opens up a world of opportunities for OTT platforms such as Netflix, HBO, and Amazon Prime, which will no longer be limited by connectivity. For marketers it is also a very exciting development, as it will enable new augmented and virtual reality applications without the restrictions we are used to.
