The start of a new year is a great time to reflect on the past and plan for the year ahead! As we look back on digital marketing trends in 2021 and prepare for 2022, we are excited to see some of our favorite trends, like influencer marketing and visual content, continuing to grow and new trends, like digital advertising and increased website speeds, emerging as we all navigate an ever-increasing digital world. Read on to hear more about these trends so your brand can stay relevant and meet consumers where they are.
Influencer Marketing is Growing (Even in B2B)
Influencer marketing has transformed everything from marketing budgets and KPIs to how brands communicate with consumers and even B2B companies. Influencer marketing grew from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $9.7 billion in 2020. In 2021, it soared to $13.8 billion, indicating steady growth. This year, the market is projected to expand to a whopping $15 billion industry.* Influencers take word-of-mouth marketing to a whole new level as micro-influencers (those with less than 10,000 followers) and macro-influencers (those with 10,000+ followers) share products and reviews daily that drive sales exponentially. What does this mean for brands? Be sure to budget for influencer collaborations and work with someone who has experience working with influencers to ensure you follow all legal protocols and get the best ROI. White Label Studio has extensive knowledge of influencer marketing as this is one of our core competencies. We would love to chat with you about influencer marketing if this is something you would like to implement in 2022.
Increased Visual Content in Blogs
Blogs are a great way to raise brand awareness, build consumer trust, and bring SEO value to your website. With over 409 million people viewing blogs per month**, it is a wise idea for brands to invest in blogs, but with over 8.2 billion blogs being uploaded every month**, it is more important than ever to make sure you cut through the clutter and using visual content is a great way to do that. Only 16% of online readers take in content word by word, but they are much more likely to scan a blog for the key takeaways and information. This is where visuals like infographics and even bold headers can make it easier for readers to scan a blog and pull from it the information they are most interested in.
Privacy Changes Are Challenging Digital Advertising
A rise in consumers demanding that their personal information and online tracking be transparent is posing significant changes to the way marketers approach digital advertising. Options are being added for the consumer to opt-out of data-tracking like with Apple’s iOS updates. In the past, digital advertising has been very dependent on data to optimize ads, but these changes are forcing companies to reevaluate their digital advertising strategy. In 2022, knowledgeable digital advertisers will be crucial in helping companies navigate the best channels to spend their advertising dollars and how to best reach their target audience.
Website Speeds are Getting Faster
Companies and brands understand the importance of having a positive website experience as this is often a consumer’s first destination when researching a brand. Unfortunately, a visually appealing and informative website is only useful if is easily accessible. Slow website load times cause consumers to drop off a website before they ever get a chance to interact with the page. In particular, mobile is becoming the dominant way consumers interact with a company’s website, and, unfortunately, most websites are not fully mobile-optimized. This can be attributed to several factors including improperly formatted photos, an overloaded server, and even design. The best way to increase site speed is to have a full website audit to determine where the issues originate and create a strategy to resolve these issues and increase overall performance. White Label Studio has a dedicated team of website professionals who can perform a site audit and make recommendations to increase site performance.
Happy New Year!
Sources:
*https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-statistics/
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