It’s all about the Metaverse….
So what is the Metaverse?
The metaverse as envisioned by Matthew Ball, a venture capitalist and writer, and later on Zuckerburg, is “an expansive network of persistent, real-time rendered 3D worlds and simulations.”
Basically it’s a hypothetical version of the internet that supports online 3-D virtual environments. It’s done through personal computing and virtual reality and augmented reality headsets.
If you still can’t get your head around it, elements of the metaverse exist already. Think Roblox and Fortnight.
I won’t go into the Metaverse too much in this post as it’s a world of its own. I just want to let you know it exists and Facebook has already changed its name to Meta.
How will it effect marketing?
Virtual reality will need to be part of your businesses marketing strategy. It will help bring your product and services to life. VR and AR brings the shopping experience to another level.
More on the Metaverse in another blog… just be aware it’s coming….
Word of Mouth is gold… and Influencer Marketing is becoming more mainstream
Influencer marketing will become more mainstream and will feature in more businesses marketing strategies. Influencer marketing started as a unique way of gaining brand awareness and increasing product reach. In 2022 we will see more businesses investing in influencer marketing or allocating a bigger budget to influencer marketing.
You may think that you can’t afford a celebrity to promote your product. The reality is that more than 56% of marketers are investing in micro-influencers. Micro-influencers have a smaller following (typically thousands to tens of thousands), although they might post more often or be quite strong with their content and influence in their niche market.
Why use an influencer? Because they are ‘real’ people, they have quite a bit of trust with their audience and can really help to promote a product’s brand awareness.
Things to look out for when choosing an influencer – Don’t just choose on followers. You want an influencer who has an engaged audience. Do they get clicks, subscribes and purchases?
If you want some tips to get started with Influencer marketing, download HubSpot Guide – The Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing
Video Content is still strong but short form content wins!
We all know that video content is huge. More people are consuming content in video format and in 2022 video should feature strongly in your marketing tactics, although the key is to keep it short.
Long form videos can be great for offering in depth information about your products or brand, although most marketers are finding that getting to the point with short-form videos can actually be more effective.
TikTok and Reels have grown massively, and many businesses are finding increased engagement when posting a short form video.
Mobile optimisation is more important than ever
You just have to look around to see that more and more people are on their phones. Did you know that more than half of annual online website traffic comes from mobile devices and tablets?
If you have a website that isn’t optimised for mobile, you are missing out on so many potential customers. You also want to make sure that if you are selling online, the purchase process is easy on mobile devices. Keep the steps to a minimum and make sure all of your website actions can be done on mobile, tablet or desktop.
64% of SEO marketers call mobile optimization an effective investment.
More business will use SEO
All businesses must ensure that their websites can be found on Google. While SEO is not new, search engine optimisation strategies are becoming more common place in business’ marketing strategies.
As Google algorithms evolve, your SEO plan also has to evolve.
61% of marketers say improving search engine optimization to grow their organic presence online is their top inbound marketing priority. Hubspot
- Keyword optimization is a priority. Identifying your business’ target keywords and creating optimised content to rank your business for these keywords should be a priority.
- SEO will continue to focus on video and image optimisation for best results. This involves ensuring all your website images are compressed and are keyword optimised.
- Link building continues to help build your brand authority and assist with search ranking.
- Optimising old webpages or blog posts can help get new traffic.
- Voice search tactics will continue to play a role. Using FAQs or including long tail keywords can help your site appear for more voice searches.
Most importantly, your SEO should focus on both technical and keyword strategies along with creating an excellent user experience.
Permanent Social Media Content makes a comeback!
Many businesses jumped on the Instagram Stories bandwagon and invested a lot of time in content that only stayed around for 24 hours. While this type of content can be effective, most businesses found that they are getting better results through traditional videos and posts that show up on a platform’s feed and can be viewed again days later.
Most importantly, when deciding what type of social media posts and platforms you are going to invest in you need to be clear on your brand, what message you are trying to portray and what you are trying to achieve.
Many businesses invest heavily in social media, although without a strategy and clear objectives a lot of time and money can be wasted.
Consumers will start using virtual reality and augmented reality
As we know, the Metaverse is coming and more businesses are finding ways to include VR and AR.
- Virtual reality is viewing a computer generated scenario.
- Augmented reality is viewing the real world augment.
VR and AR are used to supplement and improve customer experiences online and at events. It has been slower to take off simply due to the pricey equipment, but as prices come down more business will start using VR and AR as part of improving their customer journey.
Inbound Marketing will remain as a core component of marketing
Inbound marketing is the process of creating quality, valuable content tailored towards your target audience. A focus is back on wowing the customer. Gone are the days when it was just about getting new customers. Now with word-of-mouth marketing being one of the most powerful marketing tactics, it’s smart to not just serve your customers but WOW them, resulting in happy customers who promote your business for you!
Content marketing trends:
Did you know 47% of buyers view three to five pieces of content prior to engaging with a sales rep. Content marketing will continue to be a major marketing tactic in 2022. The key is to know your market and produce relevant, useful and entertaining content.
Best types of content:
- Video is still number one
- Blogging isn’t going anywhere – Tip: Websites with a solid blog have more search potential and can implement SEO strategies easier than sites that don’t
- Case Studies are great for building brand credibility
- Infographics are a great shareable piece of content
Social Media Marketing Trends
Pretty much all businesses will now be on one type of social media platform. If you’re not, then you should be as nearly 80% of the population is on one form of social media.
Live video still proves to be popular. This is due to consumers wanting more authentic, relatable content.
Tik Tok will continue to grow, there are currently over 1 billion users.
LinkedIn continues to grow and is a great place for marketers to be.
Most businesses trying to build a brand will focus on three to five social media platforms.
If you want to know what platforms you should be on, ask yourself these questions:
Do you have a team or agency looking after your social media or do you do it yourself?
Which social media platforms align with your brand and audience?
How much time will it take to master a platform?
Can you repurpose content across platforms?
Before you go out and set up every social media platform you can think of, it’s really important to work out how much time you can commit to building the platform and where your customers are actually looking.
If you’re just starting out, I suggest mastering one social media platform first.
In 2023, brands will invest in more automation and AI
AI isn’t to replace humans but to improve and expand our ability to connect with our audience.
Types of AI businesses are implementing:
Chatbots and virtual assistants
Content creation and curation
Did you know that half of consumers expect a response within 10 minutes to a marketing, sales or customer service enquiry?
