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Digital Marketing 2022: The Future of Marketing

Digital Marketing 2022: The Future of Marketing

Feb 4, 2022 | Content Marketing, Digital Marketing

digital marketing artwork on brown wooden surface

Digital Marketing in 2022

November through to January is one of the most exciting times for anyone who does digital marketing. It's the time when budgets are drawn up and the new marketing strategy is solidified.

As a small business owner, you don't have a team of marketers working on your behalf to formulate a winning digital marketing strategy to ensure your marketing efforts are a success. Because of this, it can be intimidating to plan your marketing strategies for this year.

But don't worry, because we've spent our time looking at all the data that matters to identify key digital marketing trends for 2022.

We've identified the best digital marketing trends that are working right now to generate leads and grow your business today, and through 2022.

What Are the Trends of the Future?

Fortunately for business owners, digital marketing has never been more important and there is no shortage of strategies to choose from. This year alone we've seen content marketing become increasingly popular as well as social media advertising adopt a new strategy called paid-social media advertising which enables brands not only to advertise their products but also connect with audiences on different platforms like Facebook or Instagram without paying extra fees by using an algorithm so they can target potential customers based off interests relevant just what he/she might need at any given moment!

In 2021, content marketing was one of the leading forms of marketing used by businesses. Brands with a blog generated over 67% more leads than ones without a blog, and the revenue for content marketing will exceed $300 billion in 2022.

Social media marketing has also skyrocketed, with 54% of social media users using these platforms to research products. Marketing professionals have prioritized social media in 2021 because of its high time investment. The average user spends just under 3 hours per day consuming these networks; Which makes it clear that this platform will be important for brands looking to promote themselves online going forward.

Digital marketing is especially useful for small business owners. It’s cost-effective, has an extensive reach, and is instrumental for building brand awareness and trust.

But we know it can be overwhelming to develop your digital marketing strategy as a small business owner – especially if you don’t have much experience with digital marketing.

So with that in mind, we've put together a list of key trends that you need to know about in 2022. We’re sure it will keep your business profiting all year long!

Here are some of the key digital marketing trends you need to follow in 2022:

Influencer Marketing

In 2021, influencer marketing is worth over $13 billion. We live in a time where consumers trust sales influencers' recommendations over traditional celebrities, with 49% of consumers using influencer recommendations to influence purchasing decisions this year. For teens and younger demographics, this number is even higher; Over 70% of teenagers rely on influencer recommendations for purchases.

Social commerce is more powerful than ever before thanks to the power of influencers. Social commerce allows you to use influencers and micro-influencers to sell products directly to new customers on social media networks.

Influencer marketing is a significant trend in digital marketing strategy that will continue to boom in 2022. The rise of micro and nano-influencers means that small businesses can capitalize on this exciting marketing; There is a high return on investment on influencer marketing expenditure. For each $1 invested, businesses can make up to $6.50 ROI on influencer marketing.

influencer woman in black long sleeve shirt holding white smartphone -- she is implementing digital marketing

Conversational Marketing is “IN”

Conversational marketing refers to the use of chatbots and live chats for marketing purposes. Able to provide users with instant access to customer support, conversational marketing makes your business accessible to customers 24/7.

Conversational marketing is a powerful marketing automation tool that leading brands utilize. This aids with data collection, qualify leads and provide premier customer experience services.

The best part about conversational marketing is it’s fully automated. It literally works for you in your sleep and can be set up fairly easily.

Facebook, WordPress & Wix all offer chatbot artificial intelligence tools that small businesses can use today.

The Power of Short-Form Video

Short-form video is skyrocketing in popularity. The growth of social media channels such as TikTok and Instagram Reels has caused short-form videos to become a booming digital marketing trend. It's important to incorporate short-form video into your digital marketing strategy.

Short, snappy, and to-the-point, short-form video marketing allows you to share key marketing messages in 15 seconds. These marketing messages are memorable, engaging, and resonate with consumers. Expenditure on short-form video is predicted to rise in 2022, and many leading marketers are investing more into it this new year.

Brand Challenges & User-Generated Content

The rise in short-form video marketing gave rise to other digital marketing trends such as brand challenges and user-generated content. Both of these offer prime marketing automation opportunities and allow you to produce interactive content with existing customers.

Interactive content is key to boosting engagement with your digital marketing efforts. Many marketers incorporate brand challenges into their marketing strategy in order to boost the amount of user-generated content created by existing customers.

User-generated content is content that is created by consumers and is key for building brand trust and awareness. Consumers are more likely to trust the content that is created by other consumers, and it requires minimal marketing efforts on your behalf.

Blogs and Website Content Are Still In

Blog and website content is still popular and will continue to be popular through 2022. You can utilize AI tools like Answer the Public to find what your consumers are searching for and develop a content strategy around it.

As of 2021, over 70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing. Effective content marketing will help you rank higher on Google's search results, which means more targeted traffic for your business!

person using MacBook Pro

Your Email Copy

With an average return on investment of $36 for every $1 spent it's important to include email marketing in your digital marketing strategy.

But your email marketing results are only as good as your email copy. Create engaging email copy to compel your subscribers to click on your email offers and purchase you’re promoting. Once you have a customer email list, you can literally create sales on demand. So make sure you keep your list engaged with content that matters to them.

Wrapping up…

Digital marketing isn’t the future of marketing, it’s right now — and it's more important than ever for small businesses to capitalize on it now.

By implementing any of the digital marketing trends we mentioned above, you can take full advantage of powerful marketing strategies that will vastly improve your ROI digital reach with your audience.

Need help marketing or even creating your content? Book a time to chat with Jay of JVI Mobile Marketing here.

5 Tips to Get the Most from Your Local Business Blog

5 Tips to Get the Most from Your Local Business Blog

Aug 19, 2019 | SEO

hands typing on a laptop writing a local business blog
Photographer: Corinne Kutz | Source: Unsplash

5 Tips to Get the Most from Your Local Business Blog

Blogging is still one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website and attract new customers. But are you making the most of your local business blog? Maybe not.

If you’re not, the big question is what should you be doing? The answer starts with numbers and ends with specific advice. So, let’s dig into some statistics, and then we’ll look at 5 tips you can use to put your blog to work for you.

Blogging by the Numbers

A massive study of blogging, which reviewed 912 million blog posts, revealed some helpful information that can help you improve the performance of your business blog. Here are some of its key findings.

Backlinks

Backlinks are still one of the most important ranking factors for Google. The blogging study found that long-form content gets 77.2% more links than short-form content. That’s a huge difference, but it also has its limits.

The study also found that there was a sharp drop-off in links once a post crept over 2,000 words. But, that said, 94% of all the posts analyzed had no backlinks at all.

It’s also worth noting that some post formats and titles get more backlinks than others. The three most popular post types for backlinks were:

  • “What” posts
  • “Why” posts
  • Infographics

Those three formats got 25.8% more backlinks than “how-to” and video posts.

Social Sharing

You might think that blogging can help you out on social media, but the numbers don’t bear that out. For example, there’s no correlation between social sharing and backlinks.

It’s also interesting to note that very few blog posts perform well on social media. The study found that 1.3% of “power” posts generate 75% of all social shares.

There were some specific findings about the length of headlines (longer headlines get more shares) and questions (local business blog posts with questions in the headline get more shares than those without questions.)

List posts are more likely to be shared than other posts, too – and by a significant amount. They get 218% more shares than “how-to” posts and 203% more shares than infographics.

The so-called ‘sweet spot” for getting your blog content shared on social media is between 1,000 and 2,000 words.

One final statistic to inspire you: one study found that blogging can improve your chances of getting a high rank on Google by as much as 434%. How’s that for an impressive number?

Tips to Improve Your Local Business Blog

The data from that study is useful because it can provide you with a framework to improve your business blog. Of course, there’s more to worry about than backlinks and social media, but other bits of data from the study point in a direction that may be useful.

With that in mind, here are 5 tips to improve your blog.

#1: Create (and Stick to) a Blogging Schedule

The first tip is to blog regularly and stick to a schedule. There’s some evidence to suggest that blogging four times a week is optimal. In fact, companies that blog at least 16 times per month get 3.5 times as much traffic as companies that blog between 0 and 4 times per month.

16 blog posts might seem like a lot. But what you may find is that creating a blogging schedule will help you be more disciplined about coming up with blog ideas and getting those posts written. And remember, you can always hire a writer to create blog posts for you if you don’t have the time or inclination to do that much writing.

#2: Give Your Posts Compelling Titles

It turns out that titles make a big difference when it comes to generating traffic, social shares, and backlinks. Here are some pointers:

  • List posts tend to perform better than other types of content on social media. That’s part of the reason that sites like Buzzfeed have so many lists. People like them and you can use that knowledge to grab more traffic for your site.
  • Give your posts long-ish titles. One study found that blog posts with titles that had between 6 and 13 words performed the best.
  • Ask a question. That big blogging study found that blog titles that asked questions got 23.3% more social shares than posts without a question.
  • Be provocative. Saying something that’s surprising or controversial can get people to click even if they’re not inclined to read blog posts. There’s a reason they say that curiosity killed the cat!

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but when it comes to writing for your local business blog, names matter! Need ideas? Check out HubSpot’s blog topic generator or Inbound Now’s idea generator.

#3: Check Your Word Count

Earlier, we mentioned that the “sweet spot” for blog length is between 1,000 and 2,000 words, with longer posts getting more engagement, backlinks, and sharing than shorter posts.

Does that mean every post you write must be long? Of course not! But, if you’re in the habit of cranking out 300-500 word blog posts, it can help you to write a long post occasionally. It might turn into one of those so-called power posts that generates traffic on social media and Google.

#4: Add Compelling Images

This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s surprising how many businesses don’t bother adding images to their blog posts. There’s research that shows that people retain far more information when it’s presented with a visual aid than they do without visuals.

PRO TIP: Pixabay.com and Pexels.com are both great no cost options

#5: Add Social Sharing Buttons and Widgets

People are far more likely to share your blog posts if you make it easy for them to do it. That’s why it’s a good idea to add social sharing buttons to your posts.

Be smart about it, though. If you offer a full menu of social sharing buttons, you may find that it has the opposite effect to the one you want. Where’s your social media audience? If they’re mostly on Twitter, put a Twitter button and use the “Tweet this” widget to allow people to share key quotes from your blog. If you’re marketing business-to-business, put a LinkedIn button on your blog.

The good news here is that it’s not hard to improve your business blog. It’s mostly about being aware of what the numbers say and figuring out a blogging schedule and strategy that’ll work for you. If you do that, the clicks, shares, and links will follow.

Need a review of your local business blog? JVI Mobile Marketing can take a look and give you suggestions for what you can do to get more eyeballs to your posts!