A wise man once said, “You cannot move forward without understanding your history.”
In 2021, despite a global pandemic, the digital marketing industry saw several advancements. While some of these updates have made our jobs easier, others – like Apple’s iOS 14 update – have required us to get more creative.
We’re going to explore some of last year’s digital marketing trends with the benefit of hindsight in this article. Hopefully, this provides some insights into what 2022 may hold.
AN INCREASE IN DIGITAL MARKETING DEMAND
In 2021, unquestionably the biggest event was the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic. In response to these threats, many countries imposed lockdown measures, where citizens were required to stay at home. Therefore, the majority of their communication, work, and information were received digitally.
Many people may not see this as a major change. However, countless businesses discovered that with everyone at home, the eyes of the world are now firmly fixed on the internet. Therefore, more traditional marketing channels became more common.
Content marketing has become an increasingly important channel for companies like MeiggsMedia to reach their customers. In fact, 82% of marketers are actively investing in it.
This trend is unlikely to end by 2022. As a result, competition for the attention of people will become more intense. Even now, brands discover new ways to pique people’s interests. Yet this doesn’t always mean that promotions need to be flashier or bigger.
One example is Coinbase which spent over $6.5 million on an ad during Super Bowl LVI, which featured a floating QR code box. Pretty simple, right? The site received over 20 million hits within minutes and even crashed.
SEO OPTIMIZATION AND BEING SEEN FIRST
If a person is unsure about something, the first place they go is to Google. With 90% of all searches passing through its platform, Google is not only the most popular but also the most dominant search engine in the world. Searching Google for information or products and services is a popular activity among people.
Before 2021, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was already a huge industry. But last year, it reached a new level of importance. Nowadays, it’s no longer enough for your company to have its own website. It needs to rank on the first search engine results page.
In order to achieve this, you must develop an effective SEO and link-building strategy, starting with relevant content. It may sound simple, but you have to trust me, it’s not. There is fierce competition for the same spot.
As a result, companies need to understand the pain points, values, and experiences of their target audience on a daily basis in order to be successful here.
After you understand who your audience is, create interesting content and spread it through multiple channels. Post on social media, write in your company blog, contact influencers, everything you can think of.
Engagement is one-factor marketers tend to overlook. Make sure to include a call-to-action in each post along with interesting content. One of the simplest ways to boost a campaign has historically been through email marketing. Adding multiple CTAs to a long-form landing page can boost lead generation by up to 220%.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON THE RISE
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has existed for a long time. However, it is no longer confined to science fiction. There is a widespread belief that incorporating AI into business operations is too costly or impractical. Yet, it has proven both to be practical and cost-effective with recent innovations.
AI-based writing tools have been implemented by companies of all sizes in their copywriting processes. As an alternative to paying a writer, AI writing software handles your research and writing. You simply enter a topic, provide an approximate length, and click enter. A full-length article will be generated by the system within just a few minutes.
With tools such as Copy.ai and Jasper, businesses are able to save time and money.
Using AI to write is only the beginning. Tech engineers are constantly looking for new ways to streamline business processes by using Artificial Intelligence. Siri and Alexa are examples of smart personal assistants, as are chatbots, voice-to-text functions, and spam filters.
A market of $62.5 billion is predicted for AI services by 2022. By 2025, that value is expected to reach $126 billion. You can see the explosive growth in this industry when you consider that its value is just over $19 billion in 2020.
Micro-influencers And Their Impact
The most common way for companies to have their products endorsed is to work with influencers. But what if they aren’t able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars?
It was last year that micro-influencers emerged as a solution to this very problem. Individuals with between 10,000 and 50,000 social media followers are considered micro-influencers. Influencers are determined to target a particular niche or group of people.
As an example, consider Instagram pages that target moms. It is common for the micro-influencer behind such a page to be a mother herself. There were helpful tips on taking care of babies, life hacks, remedies for occasional problems, and even reviews of different products.
The fact that followers can more easily relate to micro-influencers experiences also makes them more likely to accept their product recommendations – to the point where some of them have cult-like followings.
Micro-influencers don’t quite outperform Kim Kardashians and Kylie Jenners just yet. As a result, companies are increasingly using these personalities because they are cheaper and their niche audiences are easier to market to.
WORK AT HOME IS HERE TO STAY
During the Covid pandemic in 2020, remote work became a necessity for companies. The business world has accepted remote work in 2022 despite many struggles to adapt.
Right now, 58.6% of American workers work remotely, which is a large number. Yet Covid didn’t invent this trend. An already happening shift was simply accelerated by the pandemic. In the last 12 years, remote work has grown by 159%.
Remote work presents many challenges, of course. It was challenging for employers to track the progress of all employees. Distractions at home – such as balancing work and household chores or listening to screaming children – were impossible to avoid.
After a while, however, we saw the benefits. Remote work actually saves employers up to $22,000 per year per full-time employee. Plus, remote workers save up to $4,000 per year on average.
There are some amazing project management tools available on the market today that have made the transition to remote work far more seamless. With these tools, team members could share updates, accomplish tasks, and remain in touch despite their distance. In addition, an in-app calendar automatically tracks key dates and deadlines, so that nothing is missed.
Thanks to these advancements, B2C and B2B content marketing strategies could be adapted to remote work environments.
IN 2021, WE LEARNED A LOT ABOUT DIGITAL MARKETING
It is an understatement to say that the business landscape changed in 2021, especially for digital marketing. Since then, we have seen several innovations that will forever change how we do things: from the rise of digital marketing and micro-influencers to artificial intelligence and remote work.
But, to be honest, it could have ended up being a blessing in disguise. As we went through these changes, so many companies reduced unnecessary expenses, streamlined processes, streamlined procedures, and focused only on what was important.
We have learned to be ready for anything from the past year. At first, change may be frightening, but through time, we should become accustomed to it. Ultimately, challenges help businesses and individuals to grow.
Our Las Vegas SEO agency can help you grow your business in 2022 and beyond by taking your online presence to the next level. Contact our agency today to learn more about our services.
