We're living through a time of significant change, and it's challenging to make sense of it all and determine what's best for your business or organization. We're here to help and have identified some marketing trends for 2022 and beyond. Take a look below for all the details or watch our 30 second summary if you don't have time to read.
We plan to write about these trends in more depth throughout 2022. Be sure to sign up for our email list or follow us on socials (links at the top of this page) to keep up.
Social Selling Will Continue to Gain Popularity
Did you notice more and more opportunities to shop for items in Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest posts this year? Facebook and Instagram created Shops, allowing people to purchase items directly from social media on its platforms.
In 2021, it's estimated that people spent over $36B in the United States (a 35% increase) and will increase to $79.6B by 2025. Worldwide, social commerce is an $89.4B market right now, with forecasts reaching $604.5B in the next seven years. If you're an e-commerce company, it's time to invest in social selling if you haven't already.
In 2022, you can expect to see improvements on this rapidly growing way to shop with more shoppable posts, better product discovery algorithms, and payment processes, particularly from Facebook and Instagram.
Video will continue to serve as the #1 content form online
If video is not a part of your marketing strategy or if you're putting in minimal effort, it's time to jump on the bandwagon. Video will continue to be the top way to engage with people in 2022, especially short videos like Tik Tok and Reels.
People watch an average of 18 hours of online video per week. This is two more hours per week than 12 months ago and a staggering 7.5 hour increase per week across the past three years.) (Wyzol)
Videos receive 21.2% more interactions than images and 18.6% more interactions than ad carousels. (Sprout Social)
54% of people want to see more video content from marketers (Hubspot).
People will continue to "vote" with their wallets
Many social and political issues have divided the US. People increasingly support and spend money with brands that align with their values and get loud about those that do not. Even if companies are taking a neutral stance, many employees and customers pressure them to take one. Businesses and their leaders will need to spend more and more time addressing these issues.
We expect this trend to continue and recommend auditing your brand's values and determining if your business practices are aligned with them. Better yet, take a step further and ask yourself about how your current business practices are fair and supportive to your customers, employees, and society as a whole.
Click here for an interesting take from The New York Times.
Online privacy will continue to increase
This year, Apple included a new privacy feature that requires apps to ask for permission to track people's behavior across the web and other apps. Google also introduced a Privacy Sandbox that protects people's privacy and plans to phase out cookie tracking by 2023. This is intended to curb targeting advertising down to the individual.
Although we will applaud these efforts, it will be more challenging to segment your target audience, and you will need to adjust your marketing strategies and tracking processes accordingly. If you haven't already, you must start planning for how you plan to engage with more data privacy now.
Forbes discusses what online privacy means for marketers here.
We'll continue to hear and learn about the metaverse
In 2021, we started to hear technologists and companies refer to the metaverse. Even Facebook changed the name of its parent company to Meta. What is that?
"Think of it as the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. Zuckerberg has described it as a "virtual environment" you can go inside of — instead of just looking at a screen. Essentially, it's a world of endless, interconnected virtual communities where people can meet, work, and play, using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps, or other devices.
It also will incorporate other aspects of online life such as shopping and social media, according to Victoria Petrock, an analyst who follows emerging technologies (NPR)."
This is a relatively new concept to many people, and exactly how marketing fits into this emerging technology is still playing out. We recommend the following developments on this emerging technology in the coming years.
We plan to write about these trends in more depth throughout 2022. Be sure to sign up for our email list or follow us on socials (links at the top of this page) to keep up.