Brand Messaging and Overlooked Digital Marketing Trends

Digital marketers and PR officers had a challenging year to navigate, with changing algorithms and the introduction of new privacy regulations - the digital marketing industry had to adjust, and adapt their strategies accordingly. 

While key messaging and communication efforts were used, allowing marketers to reach a broader audience, and improve ROI - The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report indicates that firms are now changing reevaluating how they can better leverage the tools offered by social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. 

In the Benchmark Report from 2021, statistics revealed that more than 83% of firms are making use of some form of influencer marketing, incorporating it into their budgets. While more than 67% already make use of Instagram for influencer marketing. 

These indications only reveal how far and wide digital and social media marketers are willing to go to create campaigns that will increase ROI and brand awareness. 

But while we look towards the upcoming year, with all its innovative and creative software, some trends were still overlooked, which left digital campaigns underperforming and professionals underwhelmed. 

The Losers of 2021

Micro-Influencers 

Although many predicted back in 2020 that micro-influencers will see increasing support throughout 2021 - the industry saw an exact opposite play out.

With such a high number of consumer trust and support, micro-influencers, those between 1,000 and 10,000 followers, were still one of the less used digital marketing techniques in 2021. As opposed to the massive success influencer marketing has become, with a market size of more than USD 13.8 billion. 

Overall, influencer marketing has remained a highly lucrative industry, too many marketers and social media experts are still overlooking the potential a micro-influencer can have on their brand and product. 

Despite the lack of support, around 92% of consumers or social media users will trust an influencer, whether large or small over traditional ad or media campaigns. Over the coming year, we might see more digital marketers adding micro-influencers to their campaigns, and perhaps leveraging their abilities to publically share the brand message. 

Paid and Unpaid Partnerships 

We’ve long been aware of the trend where marketing and PR firms make use of partnerships to grow brand awareness. Yet, despite the great return and increasing ROI partnerships has to offer, there was still not enough support for it in 2021. 

Partnering with a larger brand and firm of course offers better brand recognition, but why are digital marketers not seeing its full potential. 

After Apple announced changes to the privacy permission in its iOs 14 updates, companies had to think of innovative ways to still attract a high volume of organic traffic through paid media partnerships and digital buying strategies. 

Although these sudden changes meant that online users and digital marketers were basically working against each other, there is now a slow uptick in the partnership sphere, as smaller startups and businesses are looking to partner and collaborate with major influencing brands on future campaigns. 

Digital Marketing Trends for 2022

There is already a plethora of new trends that are flooding the market, and digital marketers have the difficult job of now using each to their best advantage. 

TikTok 

The world of social media has found a new love for TikTok, allowing it to dominate the online world throughout 2020 and 2021. 

Those companies who have sought out to make use of TikTok to interact with consumers and potential clients saw their brand interaction increase from 15% to 25% between 2020 and 2021. This comes as more than 40% of Gen Zs are now using the platform as a way to interact and socialize with their favorite brands. 

Instagram Reels

Perhaps Instagram Reels weren’t all the hype that many expected it to be, reels still remain one of the best ways to grow organic traffic on the popular social media platform. 

Reels are shared and pushed to users’ explore pages even if they don’t interact or follow a specific brand. 

But many are pointing to the notion that Instagram and Twitter have been experiencing a decrease in brand recognition via the platform in recent months. Companies are seeing their pages receiving less interaction, even after Instagram announced that the platform is no longer a sole photo-sharing platform, but rather just a video-sharing platform. 

Third-Party Cookies 

We’re still seeing too many digital marketers not fully grasping the importance of third-party cookies. In 2021, more than 30% of marketing professionals were overlooking how third-party cookies can improve brand recognition and interaction. 

At the start of the previous year, a lot of those working in the industry claimed that third-party cookies were dead and that we might not see many of them again in the coming years. 

But as changes from larger platforms such as Google, and the inception of the Metaverse come to life - perhaps we will see third-party cookies making a return in 2022. 

The Takeaway 

2021 was a challenging year, not just for those in digital marketing, but for many operating in a hyper-sensitive and volatile market. Digital marketing still remains one of the most important ways to interact with customers and grow brand recognition. 

While there are some aspects or trends that have been overlooked in the past year, we can’t deny that social media still remains the powerhouse for digital marketing efforts. PR professionals are constantly monitoring the landscape to see where a potential collaboration or partnership can be built -  while digital marketers are steering strategies towards newfound success. 

The coming year will see marketers and agencies be more creative, innovative, and above all better understand how platforms can integrate, offering better returns, and ultimately growing better brand awareness.