Every year, we observe new and surprising digital developments that create the groundwork for marketing's future. Even in a difficult year like 2021, we have not been disappointed.If anything, digital marketing trends in 2022 are expected to be some of the most ground-breaking ever.

TikTok, which has already surpassed all other platforms as the biggest social media channel among Gen Z users, continued its surge at the start of the year. NFTs and cryptocurrencies gained traction, generating discussions about the future of finance. Google said that third-party cookies will be phased out by 2023, giving advertisers and digital marketers less than two years to find new ways to reach their target audiences. Most recently, Facebook changed its name to Meta to reflect the company's desire to embrace the metaverse, a 3D virtual environment.

The year 2021 was marked by change and innovation. We've witnessed a huge shift in the way consumers consume media in the last year, which has forced organizations to entirely rethink their digital strategy in order to accommodate these unanticipated changes. So, to assist you to get off on the right foot in the new year, we wanted to give some insight into what marketing and sales teams might expect in 2022.

Apply Video To Social Media

With 68 percent of customers choosing image-based content and 50 percent preferring video content, the new year may be a good opportunity to mix things up.

This year has witnessed significant changes in the social media ecosystem. With TikTok and Instagram Reels dominating the social landscape, videos are projected to be the most popular type of social media content in 2021. Customers responded they would rather watch a video about a product or service than read about it. In fact, 84 percent of individuals claim they were persuaded to purchase a product or service after seeing a brand's video.

Try adding interactive components to your marketing and sales films to take it a step further. Interactive videos are a new sort of material that allows viewers to engage with the video itself, giving a unique user experience. 43 percent of customers prefer interactive video material over other forms of video content because it allows them to choose what information to watch and when to view it.

Include Digital Sales Enablement Tools

Instant gratification is everything to today's consumers. And, as COVID alters consumer behavior, customers want everything to be done online. In 2021, consider implementing a few digital techniques and technologies that allow your contacts to easily communicate with your sales team on their terms.

• Chatbots: Chatbots enable visitors to establish live online chat conversations with corporate staff via the company website. Businesses may employ a live online chatbot like Drift to provide assistance, qualify leads, and even convert leads.
• Video prospecting: Use video prospecting to differentiate yourself from rivals and to personalize the sales process by putting a face to the name. Personalize your message and include a call to action for them to schedule a meeting with you.
• Pre-recorded demonstrations: Pre-recording your product demos will save you time throughout the sales process. You'll deliver a wonderful user experience by allowing viewers to pause, stop, and rewatch the demo whenever it's convenient for them.
• Appointment and scheduling software: Use appointment scheduling software such as Calendly to automatically and correctly arrange meetings with leads on the go.
• Online transactions, invoice makers, and e-signature solutions, such as DocuSign, may be used to give an easy and quick turnaround on purchases.
• A paystub generator is a web-based program that automatically generates pay stubs for employers. They provide several advantages to a company.

Automate Your Duties

With all of these new techniques, it's critical to automate as much as possible to save time and allow you to focus on higher-priority initiatives. Here are a few chores that can be automated:

• Automate notifications: You may have emails sent to you whenever someone converts or sends you an email, alerting you to follow-up.
• Automate marketing emails: Schedule all of your marketing emails to your chosen contacts ahead of time.
• Schedule your social media postings on various platforms in advance to automate them.
• Automate lead flow: If someone downloads a certain resource, you may immediately send them an automatic email with a link to that content. You may also keep sending scheduled automatic emails with further material on that issue to assist progress them down the funnel.
• Set up reports in Google Analytics and your CRM to follow customer behavior and automate analytics reporting.

Are you prepared for digital marketing in 2022?

So there you have it: your handy guide to the top digital marketing trends set to make a stir in 2022. They are difficult to ignore, and you will not want to. Keeping up with these trends will be the most effective way to stay competitive, expand, and maintain consumer loyalty.

Technology continues to lead in 2022, from NFTs to AI to data privacy. It's going to be a big year for technical advancements, marketing tools, and forward-thinking tactics, so if you make any resolutions for the new year, make them about your agility, flexibility, and willingness to change with the times.

Do You Lack Time Or Bandwidth?
After you've reviewed this list of digital tactics to consider including into your 2022 digital strategy, it's time to assess what's truly doable for your company. If you don't have the time or resources, consider hiring a digital marketing firm to assist you with time-consuming or highly specialized marketing jobs.