The start of the new year might see you head to the drawing board to plan out your marketing strategy for the year ahead. As with anything marketing trends come and go and what made for great marketing in 2021 may not be for 2022.
To help keep you ahead of the trend and ensure your digital marketing campaign isn’t stale before it has begun taking note of some of these trends that are sure to be popular in 2022.
Influencer marketing will be stronger than ever
Influencer marketing is not a new concept and has been used by brands for years now but what you can expect is that it will continue to grow and brands are likely to be developing stronger longer-term relationships with their chosen influencers.
It is worth mentioning that with the increased growth of influencer marketing you should expect the regulations to be tightened up also. If you working with influencers you need to be mindful of the rules on disclosure of advertising and ensure everyone is working above board to avoid any negative repercussions.
One of the great things about influencer marketing is that it is open to brands with almost any budget, so even if you consider yourself to be a smaller brand you are not excluded from the realms of influencer marketing. What is more influencer marketing has proved to be a very effective form of marketing that when done correctly reaps great rewards.
Influencer marketing is expected to be such a strong trend in 2022 as it is built on trust and a relationship between the marketer and the customer and customer trust is a trend you can expect to be prevalent in 2022. The type of influencer marketing that will be open to you will of course depend on your budget, to give you a better idea of where your brand and budget will sit here is a brief overview of the type of influencer marketing that is available.
Micro-Influencers; If you are a small brand with a small budget dipping your toe in the water of influencer marketing then micro-influencers are where you are likely to start. Micro-influencers typically have a small social media following ranging from one to tens of thousands. While their following may be low you can expect their engagement to be high and the influence to be strong.
Micro-influencers have typically built up a loyal following of people who are interested in what they have to say and importantly, trust what they have to say. This can be particularly niched if the influencer has found a particular niche.
Micro-influencers are typically ‘everyday’ people who run social media accounts in conjunction with their lives, day jobs etc and as such, they do not request such high budgets
Macro-Influencers; A macro-influencer is generally someone who has a following of over one hundred thousand and are typically household names. Occasionally they can be ‘everyday’ people who have grown their social media to such an extent that they cross over into the world of ‘celebrity’. This is particularly common with parenting bloggers, beauty bloggers, or automotive bloggers. Macro-influencers will have a higher reach than micro-influencers but equally, come with a bigger budget.
Mega-influencers; these influencers will have millions of followers doting on what they have to say and as such their influence can be strong. That said these influencers are generally reserved to the biggest of brands as they command the biggest of budgets.
Social commerce
The days of social media just being social have long gone and marketers and brands alike have been infiltrating social platforms with advertising for a long time now. But, what you can expect to see develop in 2022 is a shift toward social commerce on these social platforms from more and more brands and retailers.
Social commerce or social shopping is all about replicating the shopping experience of inspiration and discovery via social media. Essentially it allows brands to sell products to customers directly through social media. It is a win-win for all parties.
Social media giants do not see their users being directed away from their channels, brands can get directly in front of customers and remove potential hurdles to purchase, and for customers, buying what they want has never been easier.
Platforms such as Instagram already have ‘shopping’ tabs and options available for brands to utilize social shopping but you can expect to see this rolled out over more channels and see these platforms dedicating their algorithms to prioritize their shopping functions.
Social media has never been more important
If influencer marketing and social commerce rises as predicted you can be sure of one thing, prioritizing your social media content has never been more important. As such, dedicating a proportion of the budget to socials is going to become the new norm. Whether you look to hire social media executives or invest in AI social media tools such as GlideSEM, which can help generate ideas and captions for your socials. In 2022 you will need to take the time and money to proactively run and grow your social media accounts.
If you want your social media to be a success in 2022 focus on building relationships and trust with your followers. They do not want socials to be a non-stop advertising campaign, rather something that adds value to their lives and gives them something in return for their time.
Behold the Metaverse
Like it or not the Metaverse is coming and you can expect to see its influence starting as early as now, 2022. The Metaverse is not just Facebook anymore, it is a virtual world of augmented reality, a virtual reality that takes place in 3D with holographic avatars and videos. In the Metaverse, you can expect to enjoy gaming and socializing but what is primed to set it apart is that it is also projected to become a place where people work, shop, and spend large amounts of their free time.
As with any business, it will derive a large proportion of its funds from advertising, and as such brands and marketing executives should be thinking about this virtual space and how they can use it for their marketing strategy. A top tip will be to get ahead of the trend and get in early while the advertising space is still cheap (or at least cheaper than it is expected to rise). As the Metaverse takes off and its popularity is proven you can expect advertorial space to rise in cost.
Audio content advertising is on the rise
Thanks to platforms such as Clubhouse audio advertising content is back but it has come a long way from typical radio advertising. Clubhouse is an invitation-only chatroom that does not use any visual content, something quite extraordinary for the 21st Century.
It was however incredibly well received and now has millions of users, so much so that platforms such as Facebook and Twitter found themselves rushing to catch up. Given the popularity that audio content has enjoyed marketers have started to look to ways in which they can push their content via the audio stream.
Podcasts remain a firm favorite when it comes to audio advertising with more and more brands dedicating a portion of their budget to audio advertising. Ways brands can utilize audio content is to create a typical advert that runs before, during, or after a podcast. Alternatively, they can hire influencers to take part in a podcast and in doing so discuss their branded collaboration or even by setting up and running their own podcast.
