The Hottest Digital Marketing Trends To Watch Out For 2022

Digital marketing is made up of numerous moving parts.

• You can increase visibility and organic traffic through SEO.

• Build a brand with your social media presence.

• Marketing automation can save you time and provide more personalized engagement.

• Managing PPC can mean “skipping the line” on search engine result pages.

‍

These moving parts are continually evolving as new technologies, tactics, and interminable Google and Facebook algorithm updates keep many digital marketing teams on constant alert.

Once upon a time, artificial intelligence, data-driven marketing and voice search engine optimization (VSEO) were aspiring concepts bordering on the ridiculous.

Today, these innovative digital marketing trends are among the top priorities for most business owners in 2022. As we enter a new decade and tech continues to rapidly evolve, Let's take the opportunity to share the digital marketing trends we are excited to see in 2022.

Below, we will cover 7 of the hottest digital marketing trends of 2022, to give you an edge over your competition.

‍

Table Of Contents

1.  Featured Snippets & No-Click Searches

2.  Visual SEO

3.  Local SEO

4.  Reels Ignite Organic Instagram Exposure & Sales

5.  Personalized Content

6.  Customer segmentation

7. Video Marketing

‍

Featured Snippets & No-Click Searches

For many, the goal of SEO has been to get your listing in the “position number one” spot of search results. Now, going into 2022, the end-goal is continuing to shift to more SEO visibility in “position zero.”

‍

‍

Position zero refers to Google’s “featured snippet”

2022 SEO marketing trends are prioritizing it above all else.

The featured snippet works differently than other search results entries—for one thing, it is separated by a small box and located at the top.

More importantly, it also displays extra, relevant information with the attempt at answering the user’s question without them needed to click on it, prompting the nickname “no-click search.”

For business owners wanting to attract visitors to their website, it can be frustrating to see lower traffic because Google is handing your potential customers the answer. But, these snippets do not always spell bad news.

When search engines use your website to show information to searchers, it shows you are providing valuable content.

The key is to make sure you add something to these snippets that will draw the reader in and entice them to click on your website for more information, and away from the search engine that has provided them with a quick answer.

There are many ways you can do this. Think about how you can update your page titles to indicate what searchers will get when visiting your site.

You can also use schema to enhance your content and provide details about your website’s trustworthiness and authority, like ratings and reviews

‍

Visual SEO

You already know you can search for images and videos by typing in keywords, but did you know you can also submit existing images for a search, or even take original photos and search for context?

As more users discover these visual search techniques, it changes the overall landscape of SEO in general.

‍

‍

When a user searches a product, it returns similar products and where to buy them. Google Lens, Pinterest Lens, and related search tools turn a user’s camera into a search bar.

‍

How can your business leverage visual search?

You can Add high-quality images tagged with descriptive keywords, introduce an image search into your online inventory, and if your target market is on a specific social media platform, such as, Pinterest, obviously advertise on it.

‍

‍

Brands that advertise with them get the benefit of boosted search results.

To capitalize on the increased amount of visual searches, you want to make sure your image and video SEO campaigns are prime:

• Use quality images

• Always include alt text in your image descriptions

• Having an image sitemap will increase the likelihood of your images being discovered by search engines

• Use descriptive filenames for images before uploading them to your website

• Include your target SEO keywords in the file name and videos.

‍

In addition, familiarize yourself with Google Lens, especially if you are an ecommerce brand. Handle your SEO techniques right, and you can take traffic away from competitors when shoppers conduct picture searches for products or barcodes of your image.

‍

Local SEO

Google frequently updates their local SEO algorithm, so if you are a local business, you should continuously update your businesses appearance in local results too.

In a way, local SEO is even more powerful than broad SEO—people searching for a specific type of business with their geographic location have more intent to purchase, so it is easier to convert them.

‍

‍

Having a geographically-defined service area with Google My Business listing aids in showing up for “near me” searches.

It also lets customers learn more about your business within Google Search results. At a glance your potential customer can see your open hours, address, and star rating left by other users.

In order to make sure the information displayed is correct, you should verify your Google business listing and keep information up to date.

The benefits of verifying your business are:

• You can manage your business information in Search, Maps, and other Google properties.

• Verified businesses are considered more trustworthy and reputable than unverified competitors.

• When you verify your business, you’re preventing fraud in the event that someone else tries to act as the owner and claims your listing as theirs.

‍

If you are not sure about your listing, you can check the verification status of your Google My Business listing. If it hasn’t been, you can start the simple process to get your business verified by Google.

‍

Interactive Content

Adding interactive sections to your website is a great way to provide value for visitors, get them to engage with your website, and learn more about them.

Interactive content doesn’t just promote more engagement, it also improves the user’s enjoyment. Interactive content like quizzes, open-ended questions, surveys, contests, giveaways, polls, calculator widgets, etc., can do wonders for your brand. At the very least, they increase the length of time users engage with you, which helps your standing in algorithm-based searches and feeds. But more importantly, people want to be engaged, so interactive content almost always improves your user experience.

Interactive content is part of the greater trend towards personalization, by allowing the users to answer for themselves or have their opinion heard, they feel a more personal connection to the brand.

Don’t forget it can also be used to collect data on user preferences, such as for product or site improvements.

‍

‍

Reels Ignite Organic Instagram Exposure & Sales

Though there are plenty of fun and fancy features rolling out for marketing on Instagram, such as (Instagram launches shopping in Reels, its TikTok rival) the trend is clearly moving towards video which moves sales.

We have seen this pattern when Stories came out in 2016. Engagement and reach for feed posts decreased as Instagram moved the attention of its users to 24-hour disappearing Stories.

‍

‍

Now in the end of 2021 going into 2022, we are seeing the same thing happen; reach is dropping for Stories and feed posts but is exploding for Reels. With Reels you can expect 10 times the number of views you would have expected for your stories or feed posts.

In addition, creators can add a “Branded Content” tag to their Reels to be transparent about when they are working with a brand to promote their products, which is a form of paid promotion.

‍

‍

‍

The company says many Reels already feature shopping content, like fashion looks, makeup and skincare, or other product how-tos. When people view an Instagram Reel with this content, they will be able to now tap a “View Products” button to either buy, save or learn more about the featured products.

‍

Personalized Content

Content is everywhere – videos, blogs, emails, social media, etc. In order to get your content to stand out from the “noise,” you need an inbound marketing strategy that is personalized to your users.

From calls to action to the copy of a landing page, the content you use needs to be hyper-targeted to the exact customer you are trying to reach, or it will go unnoticed.

Creating and using buyer personas can help you craft content that directly appeals to each customer segment – increasing engagement and loyalty, and boosting sales and conversions for your business.

‍

‍

So, how to create personalized content?

First, integrate your CRM with your CMS or website so you can begin segmenting your customers and leads into populations, including:

• Location

• Interests

• Behavior

• Referral

• Products or pages recently viewed

• Name

‍

Simply addressing an email to a customer’s name, or using their location to send targeted emails (such as things related to the weather, national holidays, or sporting events) can build rapport.

Almost 90 percent of marketers reported seeing measurable improvements after implementing personalization strategies, and more than half reported a lift greater than 10 percent. Just remember to make personalized content concise and do not go into too much in-depth detail of their interests or behavior.

‍

Customer segmentation

A trend that is not new but is very popular again is customer segmentation. The idea is simple: instead of a small number of large marketing campaigns targeting general audiences, it is better to have a large number of small marketing campaigns targeting specific audiences.

Customer segmentation means grouping your target audience by certain traits or behaviors, such as demographics or shopping habits.

This allows you to more accurately tailor your content to suit their preferences; for example, having two separate email lists for big spenders and small spenders, and sending different newsletters to each that feature different products.

‍

‍

This strategy works best for personalization and customer engagement, as your followers receive content hand-picked for them.

Beyond email lists, you can apply customer segmentation to specialized ads on different sites, categories of blog content and social media content for multiple communities.

‍

Video Marketing

Video launched to one of the top forms of content in 2021, and that trend shows no sign of stopping in 2022. Think about the benefits of video marketing:

• Customers respond well to videos.

• They increase engagement.

• It’s an effective way to show off new and existing products.

• It’s easy to put together and cost-effective, especially compared to graphics and copy.

‍

‍

‍

Another great benefit is that video marketing offers one of the highest conversion rates of any form of marketing.

Like every other digital marketing trend, even continuing trends get updated. Video is no different.  

•Personalized video advertising is being integrated into emails to create more personalized messages, share information more quickly, and prevent your message from being lost in a wall of text. Emails with videos have a click-through-rate that’s 8x higher than traditional email.

• Product videos make customers feel more confident in what they’re buying, and they can offer a better sense of scale and specifications that text and pictures just can’t.

‍

There you have it, 7 of the hottest digital marketing trends expected in 2022. This past year was a rollercoaster ride and we here at Veza Digital wish you success in 2022. On that note - take these trends and make your mark in the digital marketing world.