Is your digital marketing keeping up with the latest trends? Unlike fashion trends, you need to continually improve your online advertising.

By employing these marketing processes in your online strategy, you’ll be up to date with your competition and in some cases, ahead of others in your industry. We’re giving you some of the most influential trends from 2022. If you haven’t already put these practices into your advertising, now is the time. You don’t want to be left behind in the world of digital marketing.

Does Your Website Have a Conversational Chatbot?

Chatbots have made it much easier for consumers to receive the information desired and answers to questions asked. These chatbots are no longer extremely robotic. Instead, these bots act and respond more like humans, with conversational tones and answers to the questions asked. While there are still some questions that can’t be answered by chatbots, which would be the perfect time for the chatbot to refer the consumer to the human team during business hours. These chatbots allow people to get answers when your business isn’t open.

Use Hybrid Events to Bring Your Team Together

The COVID-19 pandemic created more virtual events and remote operations than ever before. One of the most important digital marketing trends that continues into 2022 is the use of these virtual events. In fact, some companies that used to have physical office locations around the world now operate entirely from remote locations. The increased use of Zoom conferences, virtual events, and remote work has become the new normal. Although some teams are back at the office, more employers than ever before offer a hybrid approach to the workweek.

Is Your Advertising Offering a Native Approach

What does native advertising mean? This type of advertising shows up in your digital content in a non-disruptive manner. Thankfully, we’ve moved away from the pop-up advertising world into one where the ads are more often located within the content. Utilizing native advertising allows for a seamless flow with the content and design of the web page to ensure the ads that appear look like they belong in the content. The blended approach of native advertising fits right in with your content.

The Mobile-First Approach Is Absolutely Necessary

When you build out content, do you use a mobile-first approach? If not, you should. This is one of the most important digital marketing trends from 2022, replacing the need to implement a mobile-friendly approach. In previous years, it was only important to update your site to ensure it looked right on mobile devices. Today, more searches are done using smartphones and tablets than any laptops and desktops. This means your site needs to be mobile-first with every piece of content.

Third-Party Data is Out, First-Party is In

One of the largest shifts in the digital marketing world is the movement away from using third-party cookies. These cookies have been used to collect data from users, which is then used to offer them products or services. The shift has begun, and you need to collect only first-party data. This means actively engaging with the user to sign up for advertising rather than collecting information simply because they visited the pages on your website. First-party data is collected directly from the source, making it more relevant and useful.

Privacy is Optimized Through Alternative Search Engines

Although Google is the largest search engine in the world, and it has a pretty high degree of security, the privacy settings aren’t optimal for many users. Online users looking for a bit more privacy are tuning to alternative search engines such as DuckDuckGo. Is your content found on this search engine? This is one of the most important digital marketing trends for the privacy-conscious user that wants to protect their information and not be offered ads based on their search history.

Local SEO is Much More Important than Ever

How can a small business with one store compete with a giant like Amazon? They can’t. What they can do is compete in their local area by utilizing local SEO and marketing. If consumers are searching for products and services sold by a local company, it’s easy to beat global giants to the punch by being easy to visit and contact. Are you using local SEO practices to advertise your company? You need to. Consumers can find your business and come to your location easily.

Online Reviews Continue to be a Huge Part of Your Digital Efforts

What is your online rating? Have you asked for reviews from customers that have had a good experience at your business? You want to be as close to a five-star-rated business as possible when you’re searched for on Google or any other search engine. Excellent reviews, and lots of them create credibility and trustworthiness for your company. More consumers than ever look at the reviews and expect companies to have a high star rating before trusting that company with their business.

Quality is Finally More important than Quantity

The early days of SEO practices and online advertising were entirely dependent upon how many keywords were used in the content. This practice of keyword stuffing made some content hard to read and understand. One of the biggest changes and most important digital marketing trends is the movement toward quality content over quantity. This content needs to be useful, engaging, unique, and informative. Quality content shows your authority on the subject, which earns higher positions on Google and other search engines.

Voice Search is Huge

To go along with the expanded use of mobile devices for search results, voice search has become one of the most popular ways people find information. They push the microphone button and tell Google what they’re searching for. Does your company show up at the top of the list when users engage and complete this type of search? It’s important that your content is optimized for voice search. This can be done with subheadings in your content that could match the questions many users will ask when conducting a search.

These are just a few of the digital marketing trends from 2022 that should be part of your online marketing strategy. Put them to work and make sure your company can easily be found at the top of various search engines.