Three online marketing trends to check out in 2022

Marketing has come a long way. Two hundred years ago, a marketing trend would have been to use the town crier. Today, aside from word of mouth, there are print and digital methods to reach customers. So, what online marketing trends are worth a look at in 2022?

Since online marketing raises brand awareness and results in business growth, it is crucial to stay on top of its trends.

Let’s first review the aspects of online marketing.

Key takeaways:

• In online marketing, a business advertises and promotes products or services over the internet.
• Three benefits of online marketing are: it’s cost-effective, its success is measurable and it’s an efficient method for creating brand awareness.
• Your website is your dominant marketing tool. Aside from providing stellar content, your website must deliver an excellent user experience.
• When using a widely-used social media platform, look for the features that permit you to filter the users to your target audience.
• When it comes to customer data, there’s a fine line between helpful and intrusive.

Facets of online marketing

In online marketing, a business advertises and promotes products or services over the internet. Other terms used for online marketing include internet marketing and web marketing. There is a slight difference, however, between online and digital marketing. Digital marketing refers to marketing through any electronic means, including offline. Since online marketing requires a network, it’s a subset of digital marketing.

Some ways to promote goods and services in online marketing include:

• websites (e.g., search engine optimization and banner ads)
• email
• blogs (i.e., content marketing)
• social media
• forums
• mobile apps

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Benefits of online marketing

There are at least three advantages to online marketing:

• Internet marketing is measurable. Analytics can provide data, such as the number of people who viewed the online advertisement, amount of clicks and the number of those who bought the product.
• It’s more cost-effective. There are no travel or printing expenses with online marketing. While there is a price for promoting your post on social media, you can leverage hashtags to reach your target audience. Using focus keywords in a blog is also a simple and cost-free way to market your business.
• Web marketing is quick and efficient for building your brand. Geography is no longer a limiting factor for reaching your audience. Shoppers can engage with your brand at their location and time zone. They can become familiar with your products and services by reading your blogs or seeing your posts on social media or reading reviews on your site. 

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The online marketing trends to consider

Next, let’s analyze some trends in marketing to see how you can take advantage of them.

1. Optimize your website

Your website is your dominant marketing tool. Aside from providing stellar content, your website must deliver an excellent user experience. Google has a tool called Page Experience that evaluates a website in three categories:

• Core Web Vitals (introduced in 2020) tests a webpage’s speed, responsiveness and stability. The Core Web Vitals then provides a rating of Good, Needs Improvement or Poor to that page. A webpage must obtain a Core Web Vitals rating of Good in all three metrics to qualify for Good page experience status
• Mobile usability tests also run on web pages and must have zero errors to receive a Good mark for mobile devices. 

• HTTPS usage checks that a web page is using HTTPS, meaning it’s secure. A secure website receives a Good page experience status in Google Search. 

Why does ensuring your website has a Good status matter? As Google explains, it evaluates these page experience metrics for each URL on your website and use them as a ranking signal for that page in Google Search results. That’s right. These metrics affect your SEO.

2. Social media trends

Here are some of the latest social media statistics:

• The three most popular social media platforms worldwide are Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp.
• The preferred social media platform among marketers globally is Facebook. Ninety-three percent of marketers surveyed reported using Facebook to promote their business. Instagram came in second place with 78%.
• Marketers consider Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn as their company’s most crucial social media platforms.
• At 51%, Facebook is the most popular social media platform for making purchases, followed by Instagram, with 47%.
• In September 2021, TikTok surpassed one billion users.

What do these figures tell us? Should you put all your efforts into Facebook, Instagram and TikTok? Not necessarily. These numbers are a guide. Ultimately, market on the social platforms your audiences use. If you choose to use one of the popular ones like Facebook, look for the features that permit you to filter the users to your target audience.

3. Customer data

Customers appreciate personalized experiences. However, there’s a fine line between handy and intrusive. Note the following statistics from Deloitte’s 2022 Global Marketing Trends report:

• 68% of consumers find it useful when a brand they regularly shop with provides them alerts when products go on sale. 
• People negatively react when it seems their device is listening to them. For example, you mention your caffeine craving to a friend, and then a coffee ad appears in your social media feed. Most (53%) survey respondents believe this interaction to be “creepy.” 
• While in-depth tracking interactions where the consumer had an established relationship with a brand received more positive responses than scenarios without one, they still fall below not using in-depth tracking in the first place.

The takeaway? Reconsider in-depth trackings like active listening and geo-tracking. If you still choose this route, first build trust with the customer. You can build trust by being transparent in requesting their data and explaining how you will use it. Then, ensure you deliver high-quality products and services, establishing competency.

Keep pace with trends with Optimizely

Today, people conduct business online. Consumers shop on social media and expect their brands to anticipate their needs without being intrusive.

Whether it’s marketing, content creation, or management of e-commerce solutions, Optimizely helps your business stay ahead of trends without guesswork.

Contact Optimizely today to learn more!