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ARTICLE
Following a game-changing year for the world of marketing, Greg Cartwright compiles 10 top digital marketing trends for 2022 – based on predictions from the world’s biggest digital geeks!
When I put together my digital marketing forecast for last year’s New Year issue, we were in the throws of the biggest crisis the world has faced since the Second World War. Understandably, the pandemic has changed the face of marketing and made us realise just how important our digital devices are – not just for staying connected with the people we love, but the things we love too.
This year, whilst the virus still looms like a dark but steadily dissipating cloud, the changes in digital marketing trends are a little less pronounced. Social media use remains high (just ask TikTok), VR and AR still offer a brave new world, and people continue to be drawn to longer high-quality video content. But since last year we’ve seen some new developments as people yearn for a more honest, private, genuine online experience: a crackdown on cookie usage, more conversational marketing styles, and a less-is-more attitude to content consumption.
Based on predictions from some of the best marketers in the world, here were the top trends included in my 2021 forecast:
1. TikTok
2. Video content is king
3. User experience, site speed and mobile-friendly design
4. Webinars and video conferencing
5. Google My Business
6. VR and AR
7. Social commerce continues to grow
8. Interactive content
9. Social media remains essential
10. Customer-centric approach
Many of these trends from last year remain relevant in 2022 (marketing moves fast but not that fast!) but you’ll notice some have become less important as new trends and predictions have taken hold. One example being webinars and video conferencing which, while essential during lockdown, are likely to see a dip as people embrace in-person events once again.
As with previous forecasts, I’ve tried to cover a wide variety of marketing topics whilst excluding those trends I don’t think can be harnessed by you as a mobile DJ. By staying abreast of current and emerging trends, you can ensure your digital marketing strategy is optimised for business growth in 2022 – a year that should see live events back in full swing and guests packing those dancefloors once again…
If your DJ business operates on a local rather than national level, then the importance of optimising your visibility in the search results using Google My Business cannot be understated. When a prospective client is searching for a DJ in their area, it’s your business details you want to see appearing at the top of the page – not those of your competitors. Just make sure your company details, opening hours, photos and web links are up to date, because nothing looks unprofessional like incorrect information.
Don’t have a Google My Business account? You can ‘claim’ your business via Google Maps. Open Maps and search for your business, then follow the verification steps to claim the business as yours. You’ll then be able to manage your opening hours and contact details, upload photos, respond to reviews and set your ‘service area’ (for instance, within 20 miles of your office or home). According to LinkedIn, “having a geographically defined service area with Google My Business listings aids in showing up for ‘near me’ searches.” This really is a must for 2022.
For several years, the trend in content marketing has been to create a large amount of content quickly. After all, with short attention spans and the fast-paced nature of social media, you had to be constantly coming up with short, fresh content just to keep up with your competitors. But things have been changing recently. Look at YouTube: we’ve started seeing more creators putting out longer, well-produced videos for their audiences.
It’s the same with blogs too: longer posts that go into huge amounts of detail. The key is to make this longer in-depth content easy to understand and to make it useful for your target audience. Increasingly, audiences want to see better content less often, rather than a constant stream of low-quality stuff. You’ll be rewarded with higher audience engagement and increased visibility in Google and YouTube searches.
A non-mover really. This applies in 2022 just as it applied last year and the year before that and so on. Google loves websites that it knows are fast, easy to navigate and mobile-friendly – and it prioritises these websites in its search results. Gen Z in particular is all about mobile devices, spending up to six hours a day browsing content on their phones – so making sure your site displays well on a smartphone is essential for business in 2022.
In last year’s forecast, I recommended revisiting your site and making sure it ticks these boxes. After a tough year, it’s understandable that spending money on your website may be hard to justify. But remember you can use free analytics tools to check your page load speeds – the aim being no longer than three seconds! And the templates on many free website builders like Wordpress, Strikingly and Wix are optimised for mobile straight out the box.
We all know the importance of good reviews, both as business owners and consumers. In 2020, TrustPilot reported that nearly 90% of consumers worldwide make the effort to read reviews before making a purchase. And this remains an important statistic in 2022.
A flurry of bad reviews could destroy your ability to win new customers, whilst solid scores can put you ahead of competitors and reinforce the trustworthiness of your company. LinkedIn’s marketing experts say, “the most useful review for a business to receive is through Google Business. These are the most trusted sources, they’re the most visible, and your Google Business listing lets people call or visit the website.”
While you may wish to make Google your focus, just remember there are other places reviews can appear, including Trustpilot, Facebook and even your own website. Always stay courteous and helpful when responding to reviews (even the completely unreasonable ones!) as this reflects on your brand too.
These days social media is a big part of the consumer experience. But it isn’t just the core platforms you want to focus on – most users split their time across multiple social media platforms and, understandably, companies have followed suit. Of course, managing multiple social media accounts can feel like a full-time job in itself – so check out some free social media scheduling tools like Hootsuite or Later to help reduce the pressure.
TikTok remains the popular new kid on the block, having launched itself into the stratosphere during the first lockdown when bored users, stuck inside, turned to this wacky new platform for some light relief from the weight of the pandemic. Its popularity continues to grow and – as we’ve written about in this magazine – the potential is there for DJs to do very well on this music-focussed platform.
As consumers, since GDPR came into force we’re all more aware of our online privacy – whether we’re browsing Amazon for our Christmas shopping or providing our details for a newsletter or free download. GDPR protects our data rights but now Google has vowed to cut back on cookie tracking on Chrome in 2022, giving users more confidence in the privacy of their online activity.
Of course, this is potentially bad news for businesses. Third-party cookies are used to track visitors to your website, provide key analytics on how they interact with your content, and even serve them display ads based on their browsing habits. If – or when – cookie tracking ends, businesses will need to get more creative in how they gather data about their customers; it will need to be more direct or interactive, such as surveys or gamification. When cookies do finally go, the stronger your CRM (customer relationship management) system and the more customer data you have, the better.
When I put together my digital marketing forecast for last year’s New Year issue, we were in the throws of the biggest crisis the world has faced since the Second World War. Understandably, the pandemic has changed the face of marketing and made us realise just how important our digital devices are – not just for staying connected with the people we love, but the things we love too.
This year, whilst the virus still looms like a dark but steadily dissipating cloud, the changes in digital marketing trends are a little less pronounced. Social media use remains high (just ask TikTok), VR and AR still offer a brave new world, and people continue to be drawn to longer high-quality video content. But since last year we’ve seen some new developments as people yearn for a more honest, private, genuine online experience: a crackdown on cookie usage, more conversational marketing styles, and a less-is-more attitude to content consumption.
Based on predictions from some of the best marketers in the world, here were the top trends included in my 2021 forecast:
1. TikTok
2. Video content is king
3. User experience, site speed and mobile-friendly design
4. Webinars and video conferencing
5. Google My Business
6. VR and AR
7. Social commerce continues to grow
8. Interactive content
9. Social media remains essential
10. Customer-centric approach
Many of these trends from last year remain relevant in 2022 (marketing moves fast but not that fast!) but you’ll notice some have become less important as new trends and predictions have taken hold. One example being webinars and video conferencing which, while essential during lockdown, are likely to see a dip as people embrace in-person events once again.
As with previous forecasts, I’ve tried to cover a wide variety of marketing topics whilst excluding those trends I don’t think can be harnessed by you as a mobile DJ. By staying abreast of current and emerging trends, you can ensure your digital marketing strategy is optimised for business growth in 2022 – a year that should see live events back in full swing and guests packing those dancefloors once again…
1. Local SEO (Google My Business)
If your DJ business operates on a local rather than national level, then the importance of optimising your visibility in the search results using Google My Business cannot be understated. When a prospective client is searching for a DJ in their area, it’s your business details you want to see appearing at the top of the page – not those of your competitors. Just make sure your company details, opening hours, photos and web links are up to date, because nothing looks unprofessional like incorrect information.
Don’t have a Google My Business account? You can ‘claim’ your business via Google Maps. Open Maps and search for your business, then follow the verification steps to claim the business as yours. You’ll then be able to manage your opening hours and contact details, upload photos, respond to reviews and set your ‘service area’ (for instance, within 20 miles of your office or home). According to LinkedIn, “having a geographically defined service area with Google My Business listings aids in showing up for ‘near me’ searches.” This really is a must for 2022.
2. Longer, simpler, better content
For several years, the trend in content marketing has been to create a large amount of content quickly. After all, with short attention spans and the fast-paced nature of social media, you had to be constantly coming up with short, fresh content just to keep up with your competitors. But things have been changing recently. Look at YouTube: we’ve started seeing more creators putting out longer, well-produced videos for their audiences.
It’s the same with blogs too: longer posts that go into huge amounts of detail. The key is to make this longer in-depth content easy to understand and to make it useful for your target audience. Increasingly, audiences want to see better content less often, rather than a constant stream of low-quality stuff. You’ll be rewarded with higher audience engagement and increased visibility in Google and YouTube searches.
3. User experience, site speed and mobile-friendly design
A non-mover really. This applies in 2022 just as it applied last year and the year before that and so on. Google loves websites that it knows are fast, easy to navigate and mobile-friendly – and it prioritises these websites in its search results. Gen Z in particular is all about mobile devices, spending up to six hours a day browsing content on their phones – so making sure your site displays well on a smartphone is essential for business in 2022.
In last year’s forecast, I recommended revisiting your site and making sure it ticks these boxes. After a tough year, it’s understandable that spending money on your website may be hard to justify. But remember you can use free analytics tools to check your page load speeds – the aim being no longer than three seconds! And the templates on many free website builders like Wordpress, Strikingly and Wix are optimised for mobile straight out the box.
4. Online reviews
We all know the importance of good reviews, both as business owners and consumers. In 2020, TrustPilot reported that nearly 90% of consumers worldwide make the effort to read reviews before making a purchase. And this remains an important statistic in 2022.
A flurry of bad reviews could destroy your ability to win new customers, whilst solid scores can put you ahead of competitors and reinforce the trustworthiness of your company. LinkedIn’s marketing experts say, “the most useful review for a business to receive is through Google Business. These are the most trusted sources, they’re the most visible, and your Google Business listing lets people call or visit the website.”
While you may wish to make Google your focus, just remember there are other places reviews can appear, including Trustpilot, Facebook and even your own website. Always stay courteous and helpful when responding to reviews (even the completely unreasonable ones!) as this reflects on your brand too.
5. TikTok: more powerful than ever
These days social media is a big part of the consumer experience. But it isn’t just the core platforms you want to focus on – most users split their time across multiple social media platforms and, understandably, companies have followed suit. Of course, managing multiple social media accounts can feel like a full-time job in itself – so check out some free social media scheduling tools like Hootsuite or Later to help reduce the pressure.
TikTok remains the popular new kid on the block, having launched itself into the stratosphere during the first lockdown when bored users, stuck inside, turned to this wacky new platform for some light relief from the weight of the pandemic. Its popularity continues to grow and – as we’ve written about in this magazine – the potential is there for DJs to do very well on this music-focussed platform.
6. The end for cookies?
As consumers, since GDPR came into force we’re all more aware of our online privacy – whether we’re browsing Amazon for our Christmas shopping or providing our details for a newsletter or free download. GDPR protects our data rights but now Google has vowed to cut back on cookie tracking on Chrome in 2022, giving users more confidence in the privacy of their online activity.
Of course, this is potentially bad news for businesses. Third-party cookies are used to track visitors to your website, provide key analytics on how they interact with your content, and even serve them display ads based on their browsing habits. If – or when – cookie tracking ends, businesses will need to get more creative in how they gather data about their customers; it will need to be more direct or interactive, such as surveys or gamification. When cookies do finally go, the stronger your CRM (customer relationship management) system and the more customer data you have, the better.
7. Conversational marketing
The full review can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 111, Pages 64-68.
