There’s no question that the digital marketing trends undergo some significant changes with each passing year, and 2022 will be no different. In fact, it’s very likely that some dramatic changes happen during the coming year, and the most prudent businesses will not only plan for some of these but they will prepare accordingly to actually capitalize on those coming changes.

As forecast by our premier SEO company in Michigan, here are some of the most significant digital marketing trends that will become apparent during 2022. It will definitely be to your advantage to plan for these and actually make use of them.

Advent of the Metaverse

It is expected that the Metaverse will begin to get a firm grip on the digital world in 2022, and this will have a huge impact on the future of the web. If you haven’t heard of the Metaverse yet, it’s a term that includes both virtual and augmented experiences. These two have been around for a while now and have had some modestly growing popularity. Smart betting says that next year will be the one where the Metaverse really takes hold and begins to become dominant. Now is the time to start thinking about opportunities for your business in both these spaces.

LinkedIn will Explode in Popularity

While this platform has steadily grown into the role of a rising star in the digital arena, next year will be one that sees it gaining even more active users and engagements every quarter. The platform has been extremely proficient at launching new features which deliver better results for business clients, and that will drive even more business their way. If you’ve been thinking even casually about establishing a presence on LinkedIn, next year is the time you should definitely invest.

SEO Gets a UX Facelift

One of the most useful and oldest forms of digital marketing, search engine optimization, will become more refined and more integrated next year. For a number of years now, search algorithms have become much smarter and more contextual. Your digital marketing efforts in the SEO arena should recognize that and focus less on the tricks of black-hat SEO and instead deliver a more meaningful and outstanding experience to users. Digital marketers should therefore put more emphasis on providing the best possible user experience.

Facebook Will Not Disappear

Contrary to the dire predictions of many industry observers, Facebook will not be shutting its doors anytime soon. Recently, headlines have been filled with important executives exiting the company, but there are still nearly three billion users on the platform, and those numbers continue to grow every month. Don’t panic and rush for the exits just because of the headlines. Instead, you should assume Facebook will be alive and well into 2022.

The new Social Currency will be Experiences

Businesses are still trying hard to earn social attention and promote word-of-mouth among followers. With the advertising landscape becoming busier all the time, it becomes more and more difficult to achieve success in these areas. That means digital marketing trends for 2022 are to focus more on creating experiences at all touchpoints with customers and go the long way toward earning word-of-mouth on social media.

Websites will Get Faster

Traffic on websites has become amazingly mobile, but it’s still true that most websites do not provide fully mobile-optimized experiences to their users. Speed will become more and more important to users, with more options available to them. This makes it critical that your company’s website is fully optimized for mobile display and interaction, otherwise, you’re likely to be left in the lurch in favor of a better user experience on another website.

More Digital Jobs will be Available

There is no doubt that digital skills are more in demand now than ever before. Still, there’s a big gap between the number of businesses searching for digital skills and the actual number of digital skills available in the marketplace. Organization leaders should plan to upgrade the skills of their staff members in the digital area, and marketers should especially enhance their skills in order to stay relevant in the highly competitive marketing landscape.

Algorithms will Keep Reigning Supreme

Virtually every aspect of digital marketing these days is becoming more and more driven by algorithms, and that includes display ads, social media newsfeeds, email, search engine optimization, and social ads. Most algorithms are all trying to accomplish the same basic thing, and that is to enhance the user experience. In order to stay relevant, digital marketers in 2022 will need to provide an outstanding user experience, or marketers can expect that their content will be pushed to the background.

Businesses will Consolidate on a few Chosen Channels

Given that the number of options available in digital marketing has literally exploded, it follows that many businesses have since become spread quite thin across a number of channels they’ve invested in. Next year will see many businesses consolidate their investment, and withdraw presence from some channels in an effort to dominate one or two channels. The digital marketing trends in 2022 will become more focused on one or two channels and have the objective of doing just a few things better, so as to achieve greater success.

Marketers will Get More Strategic

Automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence will remove a lot of the grunt work associated with digital marketing, as they start handling more of it. That will allow options in digital marketing to grow even more. To remain successful in 2022, marketers will need to think strategically and focus on those elements which really drive business growth for them. These are the areas that should be concentrated on, while others can be de-emphasized.

Privacy Regulations versus Competitive Advertising

Today’s digital ads rely heavily on data for automatic optimization. There are new privacy regulations in the pipeline, for instance, the iOS update and the elimination of cookies, and these will have the effect of reducing the data used in artificial intelligence. The smart digital marketer will consider the impact that these new privacy regulations will have on their advertising initiatives, and be proactive about making whatever changes are necessary.