Digital Marketing Trends for 2022 (our wicked predictions)
Hello fellow digital marketing musketeers!
Having seen all of the amazingly innovative and exciting features/ trends that emerged last year I bet you might be wondering what is to come for 2022.
Well, I decided to reflect back on what I saw in 2021 in marketing and I have some predictions to share.
Here is the official Grevillea Marketing List of Digital Marketing Trends (ones that I think YOU should be taking on board into your digital marketing plan) that will be even bigger in 2022. Let’s get into it!
Short Form Video Creation
There’s nothing more enticing to stop the mindless scroll than a short form video in your feed. More and more social media platforms are embracing not only video content but short-form video content that gives users what they want without pushing their attention spans.
Instagram introduced Reels to echo the momentum of Tik Tok, plus Instagram Video to enable longer content to exist for content creators and brands that want it (interviews, behind the scenes, special looks etc.). Facebook has had the ability to post videos on their platform for a while now but hasn’t seemed to jump on the bandwagon with creating features for editing or adding music.
As a result, Tik Tok and Instagram have reigned supreme and audiences are responding excitedly to how brands are using those features. Video has a fantastic ability to blend entertainment, strategy and marketing together in a way that doesn’t feel overly salesy (if you execute it thoughtfully!).
It can help build the emotional connection to your audience, storytelling in a human way, and best of all, hold the audience’s attention for a long time and truly engage with the message you are trying to convey or the product you are wanting to promote.
Short form video can be well worth investing in and with Instagram and Tik Tok having such user friendly ways to film and edit, it is getting easier and easier to incorporate into your marketing strategy.
Inclusivity
Slowly but surely, inclusivity is making its way to the mainstream and audiences are taking notice! Many of the apps you know and use have become more inclusively designed for those with disabilities or impairments and how digital marketers embrace this will be important. Some examples of things you can take on include:
Image Descriptions: This is text that is written below your post describing it visually so that a screen reader can communicate it to their user and they can visualize it even if they cannot see it for themselves. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram allow specific areas for you to add in your descriptions or ‘Alternative Text’ and you will find it more and more in social media feeds.
Closed Captions: For those who are deaf or hearing impeared, closed captions are the perfect way to help fully engage with video content. They will describe the nature of the video, dialogue, sounds, music and other aural elements via text on the screen as the video is playing so that the watcher can follow along in real time.
Hashtags Capitalisation: Like image descriptions, hashtag capitalisation is a very helpful way for a screen reader to easily read a post and communicate it. By capitalising multiple words in the one hashtag you are essentially creating a space between them, so that when read back to the person there is no confusion about whether the hashtag has one word or two in it. Another suggestion is to minimise your use of emojis as this can be a distracting aspect to the text when trying to put all of the words and information in the post together.
Colour Contrast: For those who have low vision, having visual content with contrasting elements that are easy to decipher from one another is something that can help them understand the visual much more easily. A suggested ratio for contrast between text and background is 4.5:1 but going beyond this is an excellent idea too!
Collaboration
The saying that we are stronger together has never felt more relevant but also appropriate for 2022.
Whether it be through the use of brand ambassadors to connect to your audience, or working on a collaboration with a brand that you feel would be a match made in content heaven, collaboration can add another dimension to your business. Connecting with another biz online can provide greater exposure to their audience and send them to YOUR socials. But keep in mind that the planning and execution of the collaboration can determine your level of success. Not only should a clear, strategic content plan be agreed upon, but you should make sure that you have done your research and feel confident that this partnership would be an AWESOME fit. If you were to collaborate with another brand that you knew your audience wouldn’t engage with or respond to then the likelihood is that you may not get any real result out of it. So plan and strategize properly and you will be good to go.
New Platforms, New Opportunities
I have spoken a little about this before, but nowadays it feels like brands are throwing away the digital marketing rulebook and forging their own path (yay!)
You don’t have to be solely operating on Facebook or Instagram in order to really find your people and connect to them. As I discovered in the last year, Pinterest has the ability to help MANY amazing businesses from ecommerce to service based make their mark, drive traffic and establish themselves on the platform effectively.
What’s even better is that you don’t have to immediately jump into Ads in order to see progress. Pinterest is very organic strategy friendly and doesn’t require an insane amount of time or money dedicated to it.
Branching out into new platforms that support the mediums your brand would be best suited towards (text, video, imagery etc.) can be a real game-changer and is a trend that I think many more businesses will start to take on.
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that we can’t really predict exactly what will be a huge success in the digital marketing world as there is so much innovation and change happening at the one time. But some overall themes would have to be the pursuit of consideration, authenticity and human connection, however, it feels right for your business. I hope these trends gave you some ideas and inspiration and cannot wait to see what 2022 brings!