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Digital Marketing Trends 2022: The Top 9 to Know

Digital Marketing Trends 2022: The Top 9 to Know post images
Image courtesy of Elio Santos

Written By : Jordan Beaumont

Posted 14/06/2022

2020 was an unprecedented year. A year that forced businesses to move online, fast-tracking the journey to transformation. There has since been many ground-breaking trends in digital marketing, with technology continuing to advance at a rapid pace, and change awaiting us around every corner.

Amidst all the uncertainty in recent times, one thing is for sure. Digital is more important than ever. The future of marketing will also be more diverse, increasingly inclusive, and better connected to customer needs.

Today, customer expectations have shifted drastically, and businesses need to pay attention to their digital strategies. Here’s a look at 9 of the biggest digital marketing trends in 2022 that will shape your next move.

1) Digital wellness is going to be a big deal

This year, there’s going to be a big focus on digital wellness. According to TechRepublic, mental health apps are going mainstream, with digital changing how we deliver self-care experiences.

What we’ll also see is the rise of mindful website design. Screen-time for adults increased by 76% in 2020, and with everyone spending more time online since the pandemic, it comes as no surprise that people are now considering their digital health.

Cleaner, simpler website design will become popular, with things like white space, dark mode, customisable options, and the correct use of colour psychology being key for creating balance.

2) Make way for world class CX

Marketing is no longer just about convincing people to buy from you. It’s about making real connections through genuine interactions, and across multiple platforms. Customer experience (CX) is one of the most important factors for decision-making, with 73% of shoppers pointing to customer experience as a key decider when looking at products and services.

This research by PwC also tells us that customer experience impacts how much people are willing to spend with a brand, with 43% of consumers happy to pay a premium for greater convenience and 42% willing to pay more for a friendly and welcoming experience.

3) Trust matters in content marketing

One of the biggest digital marketing trends in 2022 is a push on content quality, not quantity. In fact, quality really matters in 2022 because Google’s E-A-T score will be a major ranking factor. Google E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness – and it’s these three elements that will raise the bar for content creation.

In a nutshell, E-A-T scores differentiate between high and low quality content, deciphering whether a page is valuable to its users, and whether your brand is a trusted information source.

To meet Google’s guidelines, make sure your content is helpful in answering questions, solving problems, or providing new information, data or research. It should also be written by subject experts, be posted on an authoritative site, and be backed up by reliable sources.

4) SEO is much more integrated

As mentioned above, Google’s E-A-T scoring system makes quality and trust more vital than ever. Maybe in the past, optimisation was more of a game, with hacks and tricks to manipulate search engines. But as search algorithms get smarter and more contextual, it’s clear that businesses need to focus less on these techniques, and more on providing a meaningful user experience.

Avoid keyword stuffing, don’t use clickbait titles to gain traffic, and always consider the user’s needs before optimisation. Create content that provides value to your audience, and write for humans – not search engines.

5) Mobile apps are thriving

Apps are an upward trend in digital marketing, and there are now 6.6 billion smartphone users in the world. While that’s not exactly a news flash, it may surprise you to know that smartphone users are spending 90% of their time on apps, not browsers.

Apps are being used at an incredible rate too, with over half (49%) of all users opening an app 11+ times a day. And looking specifically at millennials, one in five open an app 50+ times in a single day!

6) Personalisation

Another digital marketing trend in 2022 that brands need to keep an eye on is personalisation. Not just personalisation – but hyper-personalisation – which involves the use of data to deliver more personal and tailored products, services and information.

According to McKinsey, 71% of consumers now expect companies to deliver personalised interactions, and of those, 76% get frustrated when personalised features aren’t available.

If you want to impress and truly engage with your customers, this is the year to move away from cookie-cutter experiences and create a fully tailored journey from start to finish.

7) LinkedIn is growing and growing

One of the social media platforms to take notice of this year is LinkedIn. It’s growing at an incredible rate, and is fast becoming an invaluable platform for B2B businesses. With a user base of more than 140 million members – including 46 million business decision-makers and 17 million opinion leaders – there’s no better network for lead generation.

If you’re after those high-value accounts, LinkedIn is also the most-used social media site amongst Fortune 500 companies. Furthermore, LinkedIn makes up almost 50% of all social traffic to B2B websites and blogs, making it a fantastic way to promote your content.

8) Video consumption is bigger than ever

As well as LinkedIn growth, we’re seeing a lot of video consumption driven largely by Instagram Live and social platforms like Tik Tok.

Both millennials and Gen Z prefer to watch videos when it comes to researching products, so it makes sense to consider a video-first approach if your audience is largely made up of the younger generations.

A recent study also tells us that almost three quarters of marketers achieve better ROI with video content compared to static imagery.

9) There’s value in long-form content

While video content continues to rise, there’s still a lot to be said for high-quality, long-form blogs and articles – so long as it provides value. This is the time for relevant, well-researched and well-written content to shine.

Think thought leadership pieces, useful guides that solve problems, opinion pieces that deep-dive into complex issues, and data-rich research articles that empower the reader with information.

Not only can quality long-form content position brands as experts in their field, but they boost your website stats. If readers are engaged, they’ll stay on site for longer – and Google rewards sites with higher dwell time.

For more content trends in digital marketing, see our recent blog post.

Do you need help with your digital marketing strategy in 2022?

At Identify Digital, we like to stay ahead of the curve with the latest digital marketing trends and techniques, and we can support you with our range of digital marketing services – including web design, app development, content creation, SEO, PPC, and more.

To talk to a digital marketing agency that cares about winning your business results, call 01924 911333 or fill in our online enquiry form.

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