Digital marketing is constantly changing. Trends come and go, and even though some stay, not every business is quick enough to adopt them. By knowing what these trends are and following the latest developments in the industry, you can stay ahead of your competition. Hence, here are the five digital marketing trends that can help businesses in 2022.

Why Should You Follow Digital Marketing Trends?

As mentioned above, understanding how trends work will allow you to apply them to your own digital marketing campaigns. In addition to that, recognizing trends before others do will allow you to gain a competitive edge and start benefiting from these trends before other companies do.

Moreover, understanding the essence of a particular trend will not only allow you to use it but also to use it in an innovative way. With this original approach, you will stand out from the crowd as you will be using the trend in your own unconventional way rather than doing what everyone else does.

#1 Metaverse Is Here to Stay Long-Term

You’ve probably heard a thing or two about Metaverse even if you weren’t actively seeking out any information on the topic. Since Facebook’s rebranding into Meta and the official launch of the Metaverse, everyone has been talking about this news non-stop. Some people see endless possibilities while others warn about the problems that may arise. Whatever your opinion is on this, it is undeniable that Metaverse is here to stay long-term.

Sandra Warner, an expert from the writing services reviews site Trust My Paper, says, “For businesses, the Metaverse creates new opportunities for advertising campaigns. Because it combines AR and VR technologies with social media among other things, you pretty much have a completely new environment for marketing. It’s time to take advantage of it.”

#2 Word of Mouth Is Crucial for Businesses

Without a doubt, using word of mouth as a part of digital marketing is not a new trend. In fact, this technique is as old as time with businesses big and small using it for centuries now. However, in our time, word of mouth has become particularly crucial for businesses. Consumers are used to blocking out ads and people don’t usually trust corporations anymore. This is why word of mouth is a great technique for impactful marketing.

For smaller businesses and independent entrepreneurs, utilizing word of mouth might even be a matter of life and death. A few dedicated customers could easily spread the word about your startup while a giveaway or contest could kickstart your digital marketing campaign. In any case, word of mouth definitely has the power to promote your business better than many other marketing techniques.

#3 Social Commerce Will Continue Growing

Social commerce is a combination of social media and e-commerce. To put it simply, social commerce involves businesses selling their products and services through social media platforms. This allows customers to discover products or services and make purchases without having to switch between multiple platforms. Social commerce isn’t new, but it had a major boom due to the pandemic when everyone started shopping online more than before.

Leon Rossi, an expert from the custom writing reviews site Supreme Dissertations, explains, “Social commerce allows big brands to offer different shopping experiences to their customers. For small businesses, social commerce creates more opportunities to reach wider audiences and grow their customer bases.”

#4 Interactivity and Experiences Are Prioritized

Speaking of shopping experiences, brands are now more than focused on creating the perfect experiences for their customers, both potential and current ones. These experiences largely depend on the degree of personalization and interactivity companies can provide. Consumers want to get individual experiences based on their personal profiles while companies want to improve engagement – that’s precisely why interactivity plays such a big role for the two.

It’s worth noting that interactivity can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so to say. For example, social media is perfect for communicating and interacting with your audience while certain types of content (e.g. polls, surveys) make it a point to promote interactivity. Likewise, new technologies such as AR and VR are now used both in advertising and marketing to interact and engage with audiences.

#5 Ads, Privacy, and Big Data Are All Connected

Last but not least, by far the biggest trend of the recent ones is the connected nature of ads, privacy, and big data. As explained above, customers want to get personalized experiences. However, achieving this is only possible when companies analyze large amounts of data and potentially disregard customer privacy. At the same time, the most effective ad campaigns have so far relied on such data analysis which could also be a problem in the nearest future.

Margaret Chelsey, an expert from the essay writing services reviews site Best Essays Education, notes, “The way cookies are used has changed significantly. That’s why companies and advertisers are panicking. But what I think is truly important is finding that balance between personalization and privacy.”

How Can You Apply These Trends in Practice?

Now that you know what the latest digital marketing trends are, it’s worth exploring how you can use them for your own strategy:

• Metaverse: Keep up with all the latest news regarding the Metaverse and monitor what others are doing with it already. Then, experiment and integrate it into your digital marketing step by step.
• Word of Mouth: Continue growing your customer base and encouraging your audience to spread the word about your brand. It’s a good idea to have an affiliate marketing program too.
• Social Commerce: Utilize the business features many social media platforms already offer to set up your own brand in the context of social commerce.
• Interactivity: Focus on your customers and the experiences they get while interacting with your business. Always make a point to engage with your audience.
• Privacy: Try to find a balance between privacy and personalization. Recognize your customers’ privacy and treat them as people rather than numbers.

Conclusion

All in all, it’s definitely important for you to study and take advantage of the latest digital marketing trends to grow your business. Use the information in this article to help you better understand the industry and start launching more successful digital marketing campaigns.

Author Bio:

Ruby Leong has experience as a blogger and writer. Now, she works as a freelance writer. Basically, Ruby cares about topics that relate to business and education. She devotes her free time to music and singing.