Five B2B Trends to Watch in 2022

With the marketing industry continuously changing to adapt to emerging trends, the New Year marks the perfect time for businesses to gain an understanding of upcoming trends, as well as to implement new trends into their marketing strategy for the upcoming year. If you want to see your business develop its digital presence and stand out amongst competitors, continue reading further to find out the five exciting B2B marketing trends your business should embrace in 2022. 

Short-Form Video

As numerous lockdowns led to businesses looking for innovative ways to connect with clients, short-form videos (those under 10 minutes in run time)  proved to be a crucial tool to save time and build loyalty by putting a face to the business, whilst still enabling businesses to expand their reach.

The meteoric rise of TikTok within the past two years led to social media giants scrambling to replicate the success of the ByteDance-owned company, with FaceBook, YouTube and Snapchat all releasing products that catered to short-form videos as they battled to keep users on their platforms. According to BACKLINKO, Instagram has seen an 80% increase in the time that users spend watching videos on the platform, with Forbes estimating that online videos will generate more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022.

Whether it’s user-generated content or product tutorials, short-form videos will prove to be an essential tool in 2022 which not only allows businesses to obtain traction from every inch of the globe but also save significant costs which can be put back into the marketing budget.

When employing video campaigns for our clients, we at Yay!Starter have consistently seen better results. For instance, Facebook advertising campaigns that enlist the use of video ads always outperform campaigns with static assets. So, if you’re looking to find success with social media advertising – our advice is to always include a few video ads in your campaign.

Personalisation

With a plethora of tools collecting customer data at any given moment, consumers are accustomed to targeted ads when browsing online, with 99% of marketers stating personalisation helps advance customer relationships according to WebsitePlanet.

However, despite the effectiveness of personalisation in maintaining customer satisfaction, many businesses fall short of personalising their content across multiple channels, instead focusing on one channel, with email leading the pack as the most personalised channel as revealed by HubSpot that cited that 78% of marketers responded by stating email is their most personalised channel. 

Here at Yay!Starter, we ensure that 100% of our email campaigns – be it cold email outreach or email automation – are always personalised. The same goes for LinkedIn outreach. The higher the level of personalisation, the better – that’s why we create messaging tailored to each individual, which allows us to hit an average open rate of 27%, and a connection rate of 30% on LinkedIn.

In 2022, personalisation will become multichannel, with AI-powered chatbots set to play a significant role by leveraging data and analytics to engage with consumers across multiple platforms, offering rapid responses to tailor to consumer needs that will save businesses time and facilitate the growth of conversion rates.

Audio 

The beginning of 2021 saw audio app Clubhouse disrupt the social media landscape as users flocked to the then invite-only app to have unfiltered conversations, with the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Spotify jumping on the trend by launching audio products on their respective platforms to meet the demand for audio content.

Despite Clubhouse’s overnight success, audio content is nothing new as evidenced by podcasts that have been around for over a decade and continued to gain momentum through the years. However, live and on-demand audio conversations are still in their infancy, and businesses are steadily starting to utilise audio spaces to connect and build meaningful conversations with consumers. One example of this is a grocery start-up, Yummy which created a Clubhouse room where users competed in a talent show to win a $100 Yummy gift card.

Findings by Edison Research revealed a surge in audio listeners in the US, with a 40% increase in the past seven years, as well as significant growth in younger and more diverse listeners. Offering various verticals such as fireside chats, Q&A’s and contest giveaways, audio spaces provide the perfect environment to deeper connect with consumers by presenting a closer look at the brand identity.

Influencer Marketing

Estimated to be worth over $13 billion dollars by the end of 2022, the influencer marketing industry has gained increased prominence in recent years as businesses sought alternative methods to market their brand following the cancellation of in-person events as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

With a multitude of influencers catering to varying niches, 2022 will see the rise of nano (up to 10k followers) and micro (50k+ followers) influencers as businesses look to broaden their online presence without exceeding their marketing budget. Although nano and micro-influencers have a smaller following in comparison to traditional influencers (1 million+ followers), a report by Later and Fohr found that nano influencers with a following of less than 10k enjoy the highest average engagement on Instagram as their posts are specifically targeted to relevant audiences. 

This is something we at Yay!Starter have firsthand experience in due to launching influencer marketing campaigns for our Edtech client, Scholarcy. Through our influencer outreach campaign for Scholarcy, we saw the campaign gain over 800 engagements on social media, as well as a 33% increase in sign-ups to the premium version of the tool.

With start-ups such as Billo acting as a middleman to connect businesses with influencers,  partnering with nano and micro-influencers will not only be a seamless process going forward but will also allow businesses to expand their reach and develop their brand awareness by collaborating with influencers who have shared business values.

Social Responsibility

From the climate crisis to the Black Lives Matter movement, political and environmental issues have dominated news headlines as consumers become more conscious of injustices that have extended to purchasing habits as reported by Nielsen who stated that two-thirds of consumers from 60 countries were willing to pay more for goods that were produced by brands that showcased social responsibility.

With many prominent brands demonstrating their commitment to social causes, most notably cosmetics retailer, Lush who launched the Anti-Social Media campaign last year to bring awareness to safeguarding regulations on social media, consumers now expect brands to address ethical causes on their digital platforms.

With 45% of marketers set to increase their investment in social responsibility in the coming year, and over half (72%) of US-based consumers believing that it’s ‘more important than ever’ to purchase from companies that reflect their values, implementing ethical causes that align with your business into your 2022 marketing strategy will add both transparency with consumers, as well as create brand loyalty.

As marketing continues to evolve, deploying these five budding trends for 2022 will enable your business to create a unique brand identity, as well as stand out in an increasingly competitive market. To further enhance your digital strategy, get in touch with the Yay!Starter Marketing team.