The best way to be ready for 2022 is to have a good idea of what it will entail. That is why, as a Christmas present from us to you and as the last blog post of 2021, we have gathered our predictions for the year that lies ahead.
One of our first predictions is that Reels on Instagram will contribute to your marketing success.
Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, said that platform users are asking for more entertaining video content. Essentially this is a big green flag, from quite possibly the best person to receive it from, telling you to embrace the wonders of video content.
Videos will become a key component in your marketing strategy – but try not to make them boring. The more creative and innovative they are, the more you can stand out in today’s digital world.
As you begin to use videos in your content though, its important to remember that social media users are used to quick and fresh content, their attention span almost at an all time low. Therefore, your Instagram marketing strategy needs to stick to this by creating Reels and short videos for your audience.
It’s not surprising that reels are more successful than generic posts, especially if they feel authentic and allow users to gain a better insight into your company. The best thing of all, the reels can be downloaded from your Instagram account and then uploaded as video to then run as an ad – allowing you to reach new people and build your audience.
This leads us onto our next prediction that short term content isn’t always the answer. 2021 was the year we saw the explosion of TikTok, the widescale adoption of Instagram reels and the introduction of YouTube Shorts.
However, there have been subtle changes that allude to the idea that long form content also performs very well.
On TikTok we saw an increase in video time, from 1 to 3 minutes and Instagram reels went up to 60 seconds. They may be small changes, that initially you wouldn’t think anything of, but it shows that people do want to bring back the days of longer form content and that it does perform well!
It’s not to say that everyone will embrace this though, taking us onto our next prediction – marketers may ignore the marketing basics.
In 2022, its possible companies won’t embrace the video phenomenon. It can be easy to get distracted by the flood of new services, techniques and products that enter the digital world each day. But what will always matter most is the basics.
Using videos, discussing the cost and pricing of your services, offering self-service tools like questionnaires and assessments should always be at the forefront of your business – not spending too many office hours discussing the future of virtual reality and the metaverse.
Coming back to videos, and yes, the amount of mentions they are currently getting by me is a slight indication of the impact they’ll have in the new year…
Our next prediction is that they will build more intimacy and trust than any other content.
Everyone knows that the more trust you build with your audience, the more that you’ll sell.
The past of Instagram was photo based, but now its more important than ever to use video if you want the time you put in to positively affect your business. I know we’ve mentioned reels already, but there are other video options including Direct Messaging and Live.
The better the interaction you have on these platforms, the more you will see your audience returning to them and be genuinely interested in the work that you do.
Moving on from Instagram, video will also affect LinkedIn marketing.
Their launch of Creator Mode this year has been a way to encourage and support professionals in posting original content and to amplify their brand messaging.
Creator mode gives you the option to publish a LinkedIn newsletter to get more visibility for your content and also allows your profile to be converted to a Follow account which means you’re eligible to be featured as a suggested creator to follow.
Our prediction is that LinkedIn will become a more valuable place for video marketing content, with a greater return on investment – due to the nature of LinkedIn and the professional businesses that use it.
TikTok has well and truly made itself at home in the social media house, it already has 1 billion users with an expected 50% increase by 2022.
Despite its comedic features and heavy usage by the younger generations, TikTok has great ecommerce powers. Its livestreaming capabilities provide people with clickable links and the ability to directly sell products from them which will no doubt be crucial in increasing businesses’ revenue.
This therefore puts is in a position to predict that ecommerce will continue to grow on TikTok, with more in app shops to come.
Our final prediction is that genuine storytelling will be at the heart of your marketing success.
The post-lockdown world that we live in means connection has been limited for the past year and a half, which is why it is more important than ever to build emotional connection with your audience.
This can be done through telling stories, behind the scenes post, and sometimes showing a little bit of vulnerability. It will allow them to build trust and credibility, people enjoy the finer details, and the connection will more likely bring people back to your content.
These predictions may not all come true, we’d be very impressed if they did. But its important to remember that new trends will come and go in the new year – adopt them where you can and ensure that they align with your basic marketing strategies.
2022 is right around the corner, meaning this is the last blog post of the year!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Framework Marketing!
