5 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2022

2022 will be a year of change for online marketers. The global marketing landscape has changed, disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which shaped new business models and apps. These and other factors will influence next year's digital marketing trends regardless of whether you are in real estate or any niche. 

Some of the digital marketing trends to watch in 2022 emerged in the past five years without gaining enough popularity. However, other trends are new and essential for all businesses with a web presence. Here are five digital trends Marketing Specialists or Marketing Professionals must adopt in 2022. 

Cookie Tracking to Deprecate by 2023

Google intends to phase out third-party cookies in its Chrome browser in mid-2023. However, the company encourages publishers, advertisers, and marketers to adopt privacy-preserving technology and migrate their services to privacy-compliant platforms starting mid to late 2022. Google will publish updates regarding this initiative on the official Privacy Sandbox website, which aims to deliver technologies that enable users to browse the web without worrying about sharing private data: 

"The Privacy Sandbox initiative aims to remove commonly used tracking mechanisms, like third-party cookies, and block covert techniques, such as fingerprinting."

2022 will be a year of change for online marketers and advertisers. Tracking cookies will work until Google finishes testing and implementing new technologies that don't rely on cookies and covert tactics. Nevertheless, digital marketers must prepare to adapt and migrate their services to privacy-compliant platforms in time to prevent interruptions or disruptions to their marketing and advertising schedules. 

Customer Centricity as an Indispensable Marketing Strategy

Customer-centric content and advertising campaigns continue to maintain momentum as essential digital marketing strategies and are trending in 2022. However, the trend grows to include a suite of tactics that refine purpose, inclusion, and trust. You can check out this SEO book by Damon Burton here to learn more effective marketing strategies!

The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer shows consumers' trust in media (social, owned, and traditional) at an all-time low. But things don't look so bleak for businesses, which, at a 61 percent trust level globally, rank better than NGOs (57%), governments (53%), and media (51%). Therefore, marketers and business owners must focus their efforts and energy on building upon this trust and consumer expectations. 

Trust and expectations are the fundamentals of purpose. So, for example, marketers could define trust-building strategies that put people first:

• Focus on data privacy.
• Deliver pertinent and factual information.
• Address societal issues, sustainability, and ethics: According to Deloitte, over 57% of consumers are loyal to brands "that commit to actionably addressing social inequities."
• Engage local communities.
• Provide an inclusive work environment.
• Offer a hybrid work environment (part remote, part in situ).
• Create advertising campaigns based on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
• Have a high regard for/ and ensure proper safety and sanitary conditions for employees and customers alike. 

Rethinking the Marketing Talent Pool 

Marketing becomes increasingly data-driven in 2022 and the years to follow and rethinking the marketing talent pool is an imperative no business owner should ignore. 

Consider hiring digital data scientists with a high level of analytical expertise - a feature that trumps creative skills, according to Deloitte's 2022 Global Marketing Trends. However, data scientists alone are not enough to refine the marketing talent pool: creative skills are still essential, and so are programmers, website and app developers, marketing and sales strategists, ad experts, and content strategists. 

As always, collaboration and teamwork remain the key to success. Since many of the experts involved in creating a solid online marketing strategy are not needed full-time, business owners could consider outsourcing talent from agencies. Other options include:

• hiring part-time staff;
• expanding the talent pool to include international employees;
• offering hybrid working conditions. 

A.I. Reshaping Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing remains a powerful digital marketing strategy in 2022. Influencer marketing spent is likely to grow to $ 15 billion by 2022 from $ 9.7 billion in 2020, BEN Group (previously Branded Entertainment Network) reported earlier in 2021. 

Performance influencer marketing will be a trend in 2022, thanks to A.I. technologies that power results-driven campaigns. Marketers will leverage A.I. to identify the best influencers in their target demographics based on their content, reach, and engagement, rather than just the number of followers. In addition, A.I. can evaluate text, images, and video content quickly and accurately in ways humans simply can't.

In addition, A.I. can predict how many conversions each influencer can generate, helping digital marketers optimize their budgets and assess ROI.

Bringing influencers into the digital marketing equation expands the consumer-centric strategy to new levels because influencers can reach more - and different - audiences than traditional and social media advertising. 

Elaborate, User-inclusive Content Marketing Strategies

Content marketing is no longer a one-way street. Instead, new strategies come to meet consumer expectations and demand. Among them:

• Simplicity versus quantity: Users expect quality content that delivers reliable, straight-to-point information. Consider creating content that answers their questions: use a tool like Answer the People to see what consumers search for within your niche. 
• Include user-generated content (UGC): Embedding reviews, fan social media posts, and influencer content are strategies that bring the consumers in focus, showing that your business is actively listening and valuing their voices. 
• Experiment with interactive content and gamification: A.R., V.R., and gamification bring new dimensions to your content, elevating the customer experience and forging new relationships between brands and consumers. 
• Capitalize on conversational marketing: Storytelling is one of the best approaches to delivering content that resonates with your consumers. Instead of focusing on service or product features, tell customers stories that emphasize how your offer will benefit them, why they need it, and how others perceive it. 

These are five of digital marketing trends to watch in 2022. But, of course, there will be others, and like these five, they will all center on improving the end-to-end customer experience and putting the people at the center of business online and offline.