As the internet continues to grow at a rapid pace, jobs in the digital marketing industry are growing as well. Those interested in dipping their toes into the field (and current digital marketing professionals looking to get or stay ahead of the competition) should know what to watch for in the coming year. Let’s break down some of the digital marketing trends coming our way in 2022.
User Experience is Paramount
One of the most critical trends in digital marketing for 2022 is ensuring you’re offering users a satisfying experience. One way to ensure a quality user experience is by being authentic. Gone are the clickbait days; people don’t want to feel tricked. Now, users value authenticity and personalization over just about everything else.
One of the biggest parts of building a successful and reputable online persona, business, and community is creating a feeling of trust with your users. Providing the best possible experience for people visiting your website, app, or social media channels is the way to reach those goals. While you won’t be interacting with users face-to-face, working to create a safe and reliable experience establishes a sense of relatability and security.
You can cultivate a sense of trustworthiness by creating great content, making sure your website or app is up-to-date and sharing regularly across various social media channels. Be as user-focused as possible by gathering feedback from consumers including how they found your product or site and what they thought of it. You can get this information by asking your customers directly via surveys and emails, as well as using analytics to collect and interpret data about your customers and how they engage with your site. Use this information to establish genuine connections with users and provide them with an enjoyable overall experience.
LinkedIn is Gaining Popularity
Officially launched in 2003, LinkedIn has been around since before Facebook. And with now more than 774 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is one of the most widely used social media networks. While many may have created a LinkedIn profile for personal use or to help with an individual job search, LinkedIn can also be a great place for businesses to connect with followers, build a brand, and drive sales. Whether you’ve started a Linkedin Page to recruit and hire employees, drive traffic to your website, gain more followers, engage with your community, and/or sell your product, there are ways on LinkedIn to foster all those kinds of connections.
LinkedIn has always been a business-forward social media network, so it makes sense that it’s become a place where brands can flourish, and individuals can become thought leaders in their field. Known as the place to go for online networking, job hunting, and creating professional connections, companies with LinkedIn pages can use the professional social networking site to funnel traffic to their website and other external links as well as work to cultivate a community of followers and customers. Hubspot found that LinkedIn is a great source for discovering leads—277% higher than Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter). With stats like that, it’s time to capitalize on the resource and join the 55 million companies on LinkedIn.
Importance of Website Optimization & Speed
How often have you waited around for a site to load versus navigating away from it? Site speed is critical. According to a study by the Aberdeen Group, a one-second delay in page load times yields 11% fewer page views, a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction, and a 7% loss in conversions.
Optimizing your page for the most successful user experience possible means your site is up to speed—literally. Both site speed and page speed are important. Sites and pages that load slowly have a higher bounce rate and visitors simply don’t stay on pages that take a long time to load. Ensuring both your whole site and individual pages within are going as fast as possible will help your business. You can even conduct speed tests to see how your pages stack up and what you can do to improve rates.
Power of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have become a part of our everyday lives whether we realize it or not. For example, have you ever wondered how Netflix makes recommendations for what to watch next or how Spotify provides playlists based on your listening history? Have you asked a chatbot a question on a website? Have you virtually “tried on” clothes or makeup? That’s machine learning. Being able to integrate automation is the future of digital marketing because it allows machines to do the grunt work for many digital marketing professionals so they can focus brainpower elsewhere—likely on strategizing for the next big breakthrough! In 2022 and beyond, digital marketing professionals will need to adjust their strategy to account for artificial intelligence and machine learning.
However, it’s a delicate balance, because as artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities and use are on the rise, so too are users’ concerns about privacy. Threading the needle between harnessing the power of AI and ML while simultaneously respecting users’ desire for more privacy and accountability is a challenge many digital marketers will face in 2022.
Desire for Privacy & Accountability
We’ve all seen recent headlines about accountability in advertising and on social media. Between conspiracy theories, harm to young users, and the selling and sharing of information, there’s a general growing mistrust around the media and digital marketing as a whole. In 2022, users are looking for more privacy for themselves and accountability from digital media.
More users want privacy from ads and want to feel safe across social media platforms. These requirements from consumers will shape the way digital marketers connect with their target audiences in the coming year.
Influencer-Generated Content & Collaboration
Many users see influencers as everyday consumers just like them, so influencer posts come across as a recommendation from a friend rather than an ad. Influencer marketing is the hottest trend this year (it’s on track to hit $13.8 billion in 2021!) and will only continue to move upward. Adding influencer-generated content and collaboration to your digital marketing strategy is a popular and savvy way to expand and promote your product or brand.
Influencer marketing helps you grab the attention of another follower base, promote your brand, gain credibility, expand your reach, enhance brand awareness, and drive sales. Influencer posts are often relatable, align with a company’s values, and provide a chance for business owners to connect with niche audiences.
Quality Not Quantity
With so many digital marketing channels to choose from, including email marketing, content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media marketing, it can be easy for businesses to spread themselves thin trying to utilize every single one. Experts recommend focusing on a few channels to get a message across, rather than bombarding users with content anywhere and everywhere.
Knowing how to use various channels while being an expert in one or two is referred to as a T-shaped model. When it comes to digital marketing, knowing how the industry works is important because it provides context and overall understanding, but trying to master every channel at once can be foolhardy. Although the channels within the digital marketing field are interconnected, it’s not necessary to create and share content in every single one.
As your familiarity and understanding of the different channels grow, you can expand your strategy. But creating quality content for a few channels will be more effective than a bunch of mediocre content on every one of them. While exploring the various channels, see what you enjoy working on or what you’re good at. Producing resonant, meaningful content is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy, especially heading into the new year.
Digital Jobs are on the Rise
If you’re looking for an industry that will continue to grow and expand in 2022, a career in digital marketing is a solid bet. According to LinkedIn, current jobs and skills in the highest demand are digital or exist in the digital or media space. There is also a skill gap between digital jobs that need to be filled and qualified candidates, leaving opportunities for those just entering the field. It also behooves companies to upskill their current workforce to keep up with current digital marketing trends. If your team could benefit from some extra knowledge and understanding around digital marketing, take a look at Noble Desktop’s onsite and corporate digital marketing training.
Individuals ready to learn niche skills or who want to shift careers can find digital marketing courses, bootcamps, and certificate programs in their location using Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me tool.
Learn Digital Marketing
If you’re ready to learn more about this fast-growing industry or considering a new career path, enroll in a digital marketing class to keep up with the latest trends in the industry and figure out how to use them to your advantage. You can attend in-person classes at Noble Desktop’s New York City location or attend live online digital marketing courses from anywhere in the world.
For a more comprehensive look at digital marketing strategies, take a look at Noble’s Digital Marketing Strategies bootcamp. The bootcamp is a 12-hour course that delves into the important role digital marketing strategy plays in a company’s overall success. The bootcamp is also offered as part of the 78-hour Digital Marketing Certificate, which dives deeper into each aspect of digital marketing.
Other resources offered by Noble Desktop include its digital marketing blog which has detailed articles about career paths within the field and offers industry tips and tricks, among other topics. You can also check out Noble’s seminar on YouTube entitled The Pillars of Digital Marketing Success.