The world has definitely changed after 2 years of pandemic. Social media and digital marketing have become key to both big and small companies. It won’t be easy to understand how this market will behave in the future. That is why Brazilian content and digital marketing specialist Tiago Ribeiro – also known as Tito – has come up with this extensive study on social media trends. Tito has kept up with the digital transformation of several companies in Latin America and Europe. Because of the coronavirus pandemic he had his contract terminated, and he ended up creating PROJECT RENAISSANCE in his spare time: a free-of-charge consultancy to help small companies in the process of digital transformation.
In 2015, Tito started his international career. In this period abroad, he followed the digital transformation process of several companies of various segments. Before returning to Brazil, he worked as innovation director at Biederman McCann in Paraguay. He also worked as digital director of WPP Group companies, including Y&R in Peru, and as a teacher at the Miami Ad School. While in Europe, he worked for the Hispanic and global market by developing projects in Istanbul, Lisbon, Madrid, Amsterdam, and London, among other cities. Then he returned to Latin America – first in Montevideo, Uruguay, working on projects for all Latin America and the Caribbean; then in Mexico City, Mexico, and finally in Asunción, Paraguay. His portfolio includes projects created for brands like McDonald’s, Carrefour, Coca-Cola, AB InBev (Anheuser-Busch InBev), and Diesel.
Here are the six digital marketing trends Tito Ribeiro has predicted for 2022.
1- After the coronavirus pandemic: Changes in algorithms and Social E-commerce as the main focus.
Despite the growing investments in more disruptive technologies, many executives are worried about recovering the economic losses left by the coronavirus. Therefore, it seems that companies will rather focus on short-term solutions. In 2022 the e commerce will be the focus of platforms, which are expected to announce changes in their algorithms soon. Instagram might include new shopping options and build on regular use so that its users can adapt to shopping within the platform itself.
Shopping in live streams will be a big trend in 2022 as well. Live transmissions are one of the new features to be announced by Pinterest in the second quarter next year, for example. Twitter is also testing a new shopping option on its platform. In China alone, social commerce sales totaled US$186 billion in 2019 (before the pandemic), according to eMarketer. A Research and Markets survey showed global social e-commerce should reach US$ 600.4 billion by 2027. There are a lot of e-commerce platforms and tools that could be used to create an impact strategy. So start working right now on this front.
2 – Mutual purpose – Team synergy and the importance of a good manager.
The coronavirus pandemic greatly reshaped the way we work, either through distance working or hybrid work models. In 2022 it’ll be time for a structural reorganization. Companies, agencies and particularly creative, social and marketing departments will need to invest in new talents.
Strategic leaders are indispensable to avoid the common basic errors that digital marketing teams usually make. The teams will have to work as real gears, and only a true leader can make this happen. Otherwise, customer loyalty won’t be achieved, and employees turnover will increase. So, hire right and bet on experienced talents because 2022 will be a great year for digital marketing. Listen to your clients and staff. This will be necessary more than ever. And having a strong team focused on the same purpose and working in synergy will be crucial.
3 – Meet new demands – TikTok and LinkedIn are in the spotlight.
Taking into account the high demand for video contents will be more than a basic requirement. And such an increased demand for real time content will be a major concern for social media professionals, especially because of new platforms such as TikTok – a powerful tool to reach younger audiences – and Linkedin. Therefore, find a good leader and create a good strategy to keep up this year.
The use of QR Codes have also increased during the pandemic and is drawing attention in markets such as Canada and Asia. Snapchat, for example, is looking to build on QR Code as an scanning option to help users find additional information, special offers, and other exclusive features, such as content creations.
4 – Stronger B2B marketing – The future of sales guided by technology.
Currently, one of biggest dilemmas faced by entrepreneurs and executives is to understand where to put their efforts and how important it is to create strong strategies in physical and online environments. It seems simple, but to know who your real audience is, and what are their needs and preferences, requires a lot of work. One trend that has been of big help is to use digital resources to research, especially in social media.
Personalizing offers, creating new products and keeping a closer relationship with your client, while focusing on innovation when presenting the results, will make all the difference. In the B2B marketing, we noticed that technology and artificial intelligence can make businesses scale exponentially. When it comes to B2C, Amazon is a great example. The company has initiatives such as Amazon Go, a cashless payment technology for large supermarkets that is worth getting to know through platform “Just Walk Out”.
5 – The right way to use influencers – UGC, creating communities, and DNVBs.
Knowing how to use influencers and content creators correctly will make the difference. Hiring an influencer isn’t about hiring a celebrity as a poster boy, it’s about creating a community and lasting relationships.
Both Digitally Native Vertical Brand (DNVB) and User-Generated Content (UGC) are changing the relationship between retailers and consumers and should be discussed in every company using Digital Marketing strategies. However, it’s necessary to define KPI and to create a good narrative (without a good “storytelling”, working with PR and influencers is throwing money away).
Before hiring influencers, hire someone who is capable of creating good stories and has the ability to build a good relationship with the communities. And remember: this isn’t work for interns. If you engage someone with few abilities in this activity, you’re doomed to blow it.
It’s important to remember that according to the Manifesto do Influencer Marketing, 82% of people follow digital influencers rather than personalities and famous people. In other words, people are more influenced by individuals that they feel closer to. According to research by Deloitte, the active participation of consumers in the brand’s channels can bring benefits such as a growth in engagement of about 30%. Therefore, if you don’t work with influencers, your brand won’t sell as much.
6 – The restart of Marketing – The end of Cookies, the start of FLoC .
We’re on the countdown to the easiest and fastest path to impact the audience, although many specialists have already started to speculate about big data analysis in the first-party data model. What will truly be hit by this new wave and the change in data handling is Programmatic. For digital marketing, the end of cookies will represent a possibility for rebirth, with strategies that enable the extraction and debugging of first-party data to implement creative and effective end-to-end campaigns in the purchase funnel and the establishment of audiences and communities for brands.
Google promises to improve the experience with ads through Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), which, in practice, emerges as a new system of group data. But there isn’t a lot of specifics on what types of groups would be created. To conclude, professionals and companies will need to break paradigms, reinventing, innovating, and hiring specialized professionals.
Many other experts are betting on the creation of proprietary audiences as an alternative to the end of Cookies.
Written by Tito Ribeiro, an international reference in social media, the Brazilian Tiago “Tito” Ribeiro is always looking for opportunities. His current field of work is new businesses in content management and digital transformation, with a focus on Latin America and the Hispanic market.