New Year, New Me: 2022’s Newest Digital Marketing Trends

New Year comes and goes, and so do our yearly resolutions. But isn’t that the same for our business as well? The first day of the new year serves as an excellent marker to measure our growth from the previous year and remain a good benchmark for us to measure things along the year.

But what do we do with our existing strategy? Do we change part of it or keep it wholesale? While we can’t say with certainty for your organization (we all have different objectives, missions and goals), there are undoubtedly different trends and ideas floating about 2022 that we can take into consideration. So what are some new (or growing) trends that we need to watch out for?

User experience is the new social currency

Yes, we as a digital marketing agency aren’t going to stop doing what we do best, but we too are learning that the game no longer just revolves around SEO and SEM. As more users and agencies figure out how the Google algorithm works, the advertising landscape becomes increasingly noisy and muddled. With more and more advertorial jargon getting thrown about, the one that rises to the top are inevitably pieces of earned media and word-of-mouth. Reviews become a track record of proven success and excellence.

No, we’re not going to talk about buying reviews or biased reviews from our friends and family. But organic, positive reviews come when user experience is taken into consideration. Crafting a narrative with digital strategies that are followed up by an excellent product is the way to go. One leads to another – so make sure you have both if you want to create organic reach that generates a loyal consumer base.

Influencers’ increasing influence

Pardon the tongue in cheek header; we just couldn’t help ourselves. But that really is the truth of the situation. From the biggest of stars: Keanu Reaves and his success in the John Wick franchise leading him to headline one of the biggest games of 2021 – Cyberpunk 2077, the revival of the Matrix franchise in Matrix: Resurrections (literally) and eventually leading to discussions of his inclusion in the MCU, many organizations seem keen to cash in on his growing brand and success. The success of Spiderman: No Way Home has talks about Andrew Garfield’s iteration of The Amazing Spiderman receiving renewed attention, with fan discussion of a new movie or his inclusion in the next Venom entry. But that isn’t really that different with local influencers, albeit on a smaller scale.

Many businesses realize the allure of marketing based on a personality and lifestyle, aside from marketing a product itself. This two-pronged approach has started as an almost amateur trend but has seemingly gained traction with big corporations like Apple hiring the likes of Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga for their recent advertorial campaign. Successful mindsets are sure to trickle down, and the brand of local influencers like Kim Lim and Andrea Chong that have seemingly figured out how social media marketing works, might not be the only homegrown successes we might get to know.

Couple this with the various trending platforms, from past mediums like Facebook, Instagram and eventually towards Tiktok and the short video (dubbed ‘shorts’ format) on YouTube, you are sure to see individuals cash in on the new arenas for marketing and advertising.

Meta

Meta. There really isn’t anything else to be said about it. While the technology is still firming out, it already has the backing and awareness of most (if not all) of the major digital players in the market means it’s something we have to watch out for. Majority rules, and if everyone stakes a claim in the new Metaverse, those that have yet to keep an eye out for the inevitable changes are bound to lose out.

While many companies have started experimenting with new strategies or laid out new groundwork, we recommend that companies and organisations watch by the sidelines and see how it develops. Let the experiments be carried out by more prominent players and create trends and lessons to learn from before we take our step into this new pond.

Conclusion

We share some of the new (or growing) trends that we are watching out for as a digital marketing agency, and we, too are preparing for the inevitable. Whilst some of it has been around for a while now, their burgeoning influence will see a cresting point in 2022 or the years ahead. Companies and businesses will do well to stay ahead of the curve and prepare their business strategies with this in mind.

And with all new things that change, we also have the trends that remain. Stay tuned for our next blog entry as we share the trends that we have observed in 2021 and the years prior that we know are here to stay.