- Artificial Intelligence (AI) expected to boom in 2022
- Chatbots will take 2022 by storm
- Mobile-first marketing will be a key digital marketing strategy
- Implement a multichannel marketing strategy
- Importance of marketing automation
The introduction of new technologies and the rise in competition has triggered an astonishing transformation in the digital landscape, which continues to evolve at a swift pace.
Over the past few years, some notable trends have cropped up, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which is the simulation of human intelligence demonstrated in computers or machines.
Whether you’re a marketer or a small digital marketing business, it’s essential to keep abreast of changes in search engine optimisation (SEO), social media, email marketing and search engine algorithms as they could directly affect your digital marketing strategy.
Google’s latest algorithm update has made SEO more challenging than before, with the quality and relevance of content to the search query now given more importance.
The multinational search engine company made two significant updates last year, which caused rankings to fluctuate and revolutionised the power of SEO by placing it further into the hands of marketers and business owners.
Marketers who keep up to speed with changes and revise their strategy accordingly to offer the best user experience (UX) will survive Google’s relentless algorithm updates.
With 2022 is just around the corner, we’re going to take a look at some of the major digital marketing trends expected to get underway in 2022 and the impact they could have on online businesses.
Digital marketing trends for 2022
Here are some of the predicted digital marketing trends for 2022, which could impact your online business and the strategies you employ for the year ahead.
A boom in Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fast becoming a must-have technology across multiple industries, including retail, banking, healthcare and logistics.
AI is also an effective tool for digital marketing. With AI, marketers can predict trends and hyper-personalise the customer experience by analysing their profiles and browsing history.
Marketers are also using AI to automate basic tasks such as website traffic reporting to optimise campaigns. For example, AI technology can recommend keywords to help improve a firm’s organic search performance.
AI has been a trending topic for some time now. By 2022, we expect marketers to use it frequently in conjunction with SEO and other digital marketing strategies to improve UX and help boost a company’s search engine rankings.
More than that, AI can help businesses save time and money, making it a helpful tool.
Chatbots and Voiceover
Chatbots and digital assistants have transformed the way companies communicate with customers.
Digital assistants such as Google’s Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri have become increasingly popular. With new research showing that 69% of people are more willing to interact with brands using voice bots, these devices are set to rule in 2022.
According to industry projections, the valuation of voiceover shopping will skyrocket in 2022, hitting 40BN by the end of next year. Consumer spending via digital assistants is also expected to rise in 2022, to reach 18%.
Digital assistants initially came about to help answer basic queries or perform general tasks. However, as chatbots can now understand, interpret and take action accordingly, many businesses are using them to automate customer service to improve efficiency.
Chatbots are used across social media, email marketing, and online platforms in digital marketing as they have become intelligent enough to handle more complex situations.
Chatbots have acquired their intelligence with the help of AI, which gives the software application a personality, making it easier for customers to interact with companies and communicate through other marketing channels such as social media.
AI allows chatbots to offer a hyper-personalised and enjoyable experience, encouraging customers to engage more often with your company.
Chatbots are already widespread across various industries and will be an integral part of effective digital marketing strategies post-2021.
Mobile-First Marketing
Mobile-first marketing is expected to become the future of digital marketing. Early adopters of the strategy are already reaping the benefits, with more people using smartphones and tablets over desktops.
Google tends to use the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. As a result, marketers creating mobile-friendly content are more likely to rank highly in search engine result pages (SERPs).
Mobile-first means focusing on the constraints of mobile and understanding what is essential for the client by streamlining your site to improve the overall online experience. Marketing strategies tend to include optimising your site to automatically adapt for smaller screens, with fluid layouts, fast loading times, and CSS media queries.
Using a responsive design for your website will be crucial in 2022 as it will allow customers to easily access the content on your site, irrespective of the device they are using.
You might also want to consider using accelerated mobile pages (AMP), which tend to increase load times on smartphones and tablets.
Implement Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel or multichannel marketing can be defined in several ways. Still, at its most basic level, it refers to implementing a single strategy across multiple platforms, e.g. email, social media and web pages, to maximise exposure and opportunities to connect with customers.
Customers no longer use one channel and have access to multiple devices, meaning they can use social media on their phones while browsing the internet on their laptops.
Multichannel marketing is about reaching wider audiences by utilising multiple touchpoints, including blogging, websites, social media and webinars.
It’s not enough for businesses to focus on just one channel in 2022 – they need to practice targeting and engaging with customers across multiple platforms to increase their chances of boosting sales.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation refers to using software to action repetitive tasks such as email marketing, social media posting and mobile messaging.
Leveraging software to automate repetitive marketing tasks is becoming more popular and advantageous as it makes more time for other activities to be completed.
Research and data gathering can be time-consuming, so automating these tasks by scheduling them in advance or sending out prewritten templates can maximise efficiency.
Automation will become even more significant in 2022, as it will allow marketers to focus on more high-level, strategic tasks, helping the business grow.
As the digital marketing landscape continues to transform, it’s essential to be aware of potential trends so you can prepare and stay ahead of the curve.
