Contents

Introduction___________________________________________________________________________________________________3

Methodology__________________________________________________________________________________________________4

How did we do in 2021?__________________________________________________________________________________5

2022: What the crystal ball says____________________________________________________________________9

Trend #1: Retro Revolution___________________________________________________________________________ 1 0

Trend #2: Community Content_____________________________________________________________________14

Trend #3: Mixed Reality________________________________________________________________________________19

Trend #4: Influencer Commerce__________________________________________________________________26

Trend #5: Noiseless Niche____________________________________________________________________________31

Trend #6: Consumable Content __________________________________________________________________35

Trend #7: Cross-Generational Marketing___________________________________________________39

Trend #8: Social Support ______________________________________________________________________________ 4 3

Trend #9: Audio Activity________________________________________________________________________________ 4 7

Trend #10: Improved Inclusivity__________________________________________________________________50

Bonus trends________________________________________________________________________________________________54

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 2

Introduction
History has always been cyclic. And if we’ve learned anything from our past,
it’s that pandemics change society.

The Bubonic Plague led to the Renaissance. The Spanish Flu led to the
Roaring ‘20s.

The COVID-19 pandemic has parallels with the plagues

of our past. It wouldn’t be a stretch to predict that
much like our past pandemics, our tumultuous
present will lead to a great societal change in 2022.

The events of the past two years made new needs crop up and brought
about a radical shift in the way companies do business. This post-pandemic
recovery period is a watershed moment in which we’ll decide the future of
business and marketing.

As we transition into 2022, the main goals of every business should be to

understand shifting consumer needs and capture new growth opportunities.
That’s why we’ve compiled this list of 10 digital marketing trends that are on the
upswing — so you can win big in 2022.

This eBook will show you where the digital marketing world is headed, how
leading brands are already capitalizing on these 10 trends, and actionable tips
on how you can leverage them. The trends are also supplemented by insights
from monitoring 100 million online sources, listening to 100,000 brands, and
analyzing more than 8 billion pieces of content published online.

!
ght in
m p ri
s ju
Let’

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 3

Methodology
To understand the biggest marketing trends of 2022, we used Falcon,
Brandwatch, and BuzzSumo to analyze topics seeing uplift which brands can
leverage for future success.

As part of the research, we used:

Falcon to look into Brandwatch to

what 100,000 brands analyze public online
are saying on social conversations
media and how their across Twitter,
fans are reacting. Instagram, Reddit,
blogs, forums, news
sites, and more.

BuzzSumo to analyze the

performance of over 8 billion
pieces of content published
across the web.

In addition to our analysis, this eBook also features insights from industry
leaders, influencers, and reports from Morning Consult, Stackla, eMarketer,
App Annie, Forrester, Gartner, and McKinsey.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 4

How did we
do in 2021?
We cannot predict the future until we’ve looked at how we did in the past.
Let’s see how many of our past predictions came to fruition with this quick
retrospective.

Our scoring is based on our internal research and goes from A to F, where A is a
trend that reached its full potential in 2021.

The 10 trends we predicted

for 2021

The year of The rising

disruption: tide of social
Social-in-place. commerce.
Trend: The COVID-19 pandemic forced Trend: Lockdowns have not only
people and brands to create new made people spend more time
behaviors on social. And, in 2021, we on social media but also shop
saw their usage grow, with people more online. Social commerce was
spending more time on social flourishing during the pandemic,
platforms. Online community with brands looking for creative
building has never been more crucial ways to compete for online buyers.
for brands. Social networks also introduced
creative ways for brands to sell
Our score: A their products and services to
the community.

Our score: A

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 5

 Outspoken The expanding
brand activism. world of AR.
Trend: 2021 proved that brand voice Trend: The world of augmented and
matters more than ever. Consumers virtual reality is definitely expanding,
increasingly want to buy from with more brands testing the AR
purpose-driven businesses that waters in 2021. Instagram filters and
align with their personal values. virtual try-ons all saw a boom in 2021,
At the same time, they do not making this a trend that will continue
hesitate to call out a brand for being well into 2022 and beyond.
inauthentic and performative. It
looks like brand activism is Our score: A
here to stay.

Our score: A

Data privacy:
Under the
Ephemeral
microscope.
content: Point,
shoot, story.
Trend: Data management has been
a leading theme for most social
networks in 2021, especially as they
Trend: Raw and authentic micro- looked for new ways to provide
content became more popular than personalized experiences while
perfectly-polished newsfeed posts. protecting the data privacy of their
But while Stories and Reels continued users. With Google phasing out third-
to capture audience attention in party cookies soon, consumers
2021, Twitter and LinkedIn shut down will gain more control over their
their versions of Stories. It goes to personal data while marketers will
show that some ephemeral features be challenged to customize the
can be fleeting after all. customer journey for their leads.

Our score: B Our score: A

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 6

 Niche SoMe Video formats
platforms: open new doors.
A broader Trend: Video continues to be the

horizon.
preferred content format across
social networks, and in 2021 they
came in different shapes and
Trend: Niche social platforms like sizes. Reels became a popular
Twitch and TikTok grew in 2021 and ephemeral feature, YouTube
expanded to wider, not-so-niche Shorts and Snapchat Spotlight
audiences. Brands found such gained traction while LinkedIn
social networks as a great resource invested in long-form videos, and
to find new leads and grow their Instagram shared a vision for
communities. In 2021 these more turning from a photo-focused to a
‘niche’ social networks offered video-oriented platform.
easier access to big audiences, less
competition, and advertising which Our Score: A
was often available at lower prices.

Our score: A

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 7

 A fork in the Social media
advertising as public
road: Privacy vs relations 2.0.
personalization. Trend: Social listening has been on
the rise in 2021, enabling businesses
Trend: Balancing privacy and to hear their audiences’ voices
personalization was a leading and react accordingly. Marketers
theme in 2021. It shaped the social are no longer the sole creators of
advertising world, with users their brands — consumers and
looking for customized experiences influencers are shaping up their
but feeling hesitant about stories and contributing significantly
sharing their data. on social media.

Our score: A Our Score: A

Nothing did
e.
stay the sam
In 2020, we predicted that in no year
would the notion of an “ever-
changing marketing landscape”
be more applicable than in 2021.
And the year proved us right.

2021 saw the introduction of new

social networks like Clubhouse, the
growth of old ones like TikTok, a
boom in social audio, the sunsetting
of niche pandemic faves like
Houseparty, the arrival of dozens of new features in our favorite social media
platforms, and several other marketing shifts, opportunities, and innovations.

As we emerge out of the pandemic, more of these innovations and growth

8
opportunities will appear, presenting you, as a marketer, a ripe chance to
leverage the following key marketing trends just as they crystallize.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io

 2022:

What the
crystal ball
says

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 9

 Tren
d #1

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 10

 Overview
In September 2021, Blue’s Clues’ Steve Burns got in front of the camera and sent
millennials who grew up watching the show into a tailspin. For a lot of viewers,
Blue’s Clues was an integral part of their formative years. This simple video
features Steve in costume explaining his abrupt exit 20 years ago. It helped Nick
Jr. garner over 2M likes and 529K retweets, and it was just a part of the show’s
25th-anniversary celebration.

l g ia
ta
How is a children’s show relevant Nosys.
for digital marketers, you ask? pa

The COVID-19 pandemic — a time of immense global upheaval — has made us

long for simpler times when words like masks and vaccines were not a part of
our daily lingo. This collective longing for the years gone by has made nostalgia
marketing a big part of every marketer’s playbook.

And we have the data to back it up. According to Brandwatch, the mention
volume of the words “nostalgia” and “nostalgic” is much higher now than
compared to pre-pandemic times.

People are clearly craving the

comfort of the familiar in these
tumultuous times, and it shows.

It’s not just Blue’s Clues.

• Tamagotchis have made

a comeback.
• Oreos launched a limited edition
packaging that lets you create
your own mixtape.
• ABBA announced its first studio
album in 40 years.
• ...and a lot more brands are
indulging in nostalgia with their
campaigns.

The old-school vibe is undoubtedly

11
in again.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io

 Early movers
Pepsi hit the right notes for Grease.
To celebrate Grease’s 50th anniversary, Pepsi reimagined You’re the One I Want,
featuring rapper and songwriter Doja Cat. The brand used this campaign to
launch two limited-edition flavors complete with retro cans and callbacks to
the soda shops of the 50s and 60s.

Per Falcon Benchmark, this video ended up being Pepsi’s second most engaging
of all its videos in 2021 at the time of writing this eBook.

NYX Cosmetics and the Y2K aesthetic.

In July 2021, NYX Cosmetics became the first brand to use Triller’s livestream
shopping — another 2022 trend right here — to host a throwback-themed
event. The show featured early 2000s pop stars, who recreated their Y2K looks
using the NYX Cosmetics Fall 2021 collection.

#Y2K #aesthetic #didyouknow

Word cloud of the
keywords and Y2K is having a
phrases brands
moment on social
have used while
discussing Y2K on in 2021, with several
Instagram in the brands like H&M,
past year. ColourPop Cosmetics,
and DollsKill all
publishing posts
around it.

Data from Falcon

Starburst and the little lad who likes berries and cream.
With the Berries and Cream trend blowing up on TikTok and amassing over 1.2
billion views, Starburst launched an official “Little Lad” Halloween costume in
2021. The brand also ran sweepstakes, asking fans to recreate the original song
and dance from the 2007 commercial in their TikToks for a chance to win the
official Little Lad costume.

This is an excellent example of brands being required to move at the speed of

social. The Little Lad built up steam on TikTok in August 2021, and by September
Starburst had taken notice, tweeting about it and eventually launching a whole
campaign around it.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 12

 #piggyback #marketing
If a trending
hashtag appears, AXE, The Habit Burger Grill, Dominos Australia, and several
can brands be far
other brands also piggybacked on the #BerriesAndCream
behind?
trend across different social networks.

1
Marketer takeaways
Find the right theme.
What retro idea do you want to use for your next campaign? Whether
it’s relaunching a much-loved product from your past like Starburst or
commemorating an anniversary through a brand partnership like Pepsi, you
need to identify the exact themes you think your audience will connect with.

For which you need to…

2
Research your audience.
Think of the different personas in your audience. What’s the
demographic? Which generations do your products or services cater
to the most? Now, put that together with the themes you think will

3
invoke the warm fuzzies in your audience.

Be timely and relevant.

Is there a current trend you can associate with your brand? Start planning for
these eventualities so you can put something out right away. Starburst noticed
the Little Lad trend and had an entire campaign, press release, and everything
that goes with them running in less than a month.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 13

 Tren
d #2

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 14

 Overview
In 2021, Trusted Media Brands — the owner of Reader’s Digest, The Family
Handyman, Birds & Blooms, and others — added another company to its
portfolio by acquiring streaming and social video company Jukin Media.

The latter had already gathered over 100 billion lifetime views and
its addition will quadruple Trusted Media Brands’ monthly audience reach, giving
it access to a massive stash of user-generated content.

Why is this important?

More and more brands are realizing the value of user-generated content and
putting in measures to scale it.

eed
• According to a report by Morning Consult, Gen Z and
n
Ther UGC
Millennials are less trusting of the average brand.

fo also t in • A survey by Stackla revealed that only 19% of

is iden ta: consumers find brand-created content authentic.
ev e da
th • 56% of consumers also revealed through the
Stackla survey that they’re more influenced by
social posts when online shopping than during pre-
pandemic times.

Consumers today are belief-driven and increasingly look for authenticity

from brands. We did just tell you that nostalgia marketing is in, but the glossy
perfection of the ‘90s is definitely not.

#trending #fyp
TikTok made me
buy it. Take, for example, CoverGirl and their Clean Fresh Skin Milk
Foundation. The brand went vegan in 2019 and dropped a
new line of makeup which flew under the radar for many.
That is, until a TikToker made a now viral video declaring
that this $7 foundation was much better than higher-end
brands she’d tried before. Much like other TikTok-famous
products, this one flew off the shelves, and its sales are
up by 269% compared to 2020.

While the concept of user-generated content is not new, this shift towards
belief-driven buying has made peer reviews and word-of-mouth marketing way

15
more important than the carefully curated Instagram feed of a brand.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io

 You
hear
d it
her
e fir
st

“Alignment to a customer’s capital-V “Values” is

surmounting the idea of “value for money”; there’s an
increased need for meaningful connection around
important factors like diversity and inclusion. A big-
ticket ATL campaign around CSR is one tactic, but for
brands to get authenticity right across the buyer
journey, they need to show that authenticity, not just
shout about it.

The need for mission-led brands that are diverse

and inclusive in how they communicate is no longer
a ‘nice to have’ – it has become a commercial
imperative. Today’s consumer wants to align with
mission-led brands that they can trust
and that are authentic.”

Alex Vaidya
CEO, Storystream

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 16

 Early movers
Clinique says #ZitHappens. can use while featuring their Saks
In a bid to reach younger audiences, hauls on social media. The #SaksStyle
Clinique launched a TikTok campaign hashtag has been used in 118K
called #ZitHappens to remove posts on Instagram at the time of
the stigma that surrounds acne. writing this eBook.
According to Sameer Agarwal, the
vice president of Clinique North #LulusOriginal and the next viral
America, this campaign not only dance challenge.
reached new audiences but also Online retailer Lulus partnered with
helped drive sales. HerCampus and Jalaiah Harmon to
create an original song and dance
Saks embraces the UGC style. in a bid to encourage a dance
Saks Fifth Avenue has been ahead challenge on TikTok. As of writing this
of the UGC game for years now with eBook, the #LulusOriginal hashtag
a dedicated hashtag customers has amassed over 10.8 million views.

1
Marketer takeaways
Analyze what your customers are sharing.
Research the audience that’s already posting about you. Analyze the
demographic that posts the most about you, see which product they talk about
most, and ask yourself more questions about these users and their behavior.

2
Answering them will help you craft a strategy to leverage UGC at scale.

Conduct a challenge.
Ever seen how fast a TikTok dance challenge catches on? One of the
best ways to ensure UGC is to initiate a contest or challenge and
encourage users to participate in it.

3
Engage with the community.
Encourage the users already posting about your brand through reposts,
sharing, and mentions. Your community is vital to building a strong UGC strategy,
so interact with them and be more receptive to the UGC you already get so you

17
can inspire more.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io

 You
hear
d it
her
e fir
st

“The strategic role of UGC in marketing will evolve

massively in 2022.

Brands that can earn and nurture a customer’s trust

will win out. Elevating and celebrating User Generated
Content — real content, created by real people —
will play a huge role in connecting brands with their
customers in an authentic and meaningful way.”

Alex Vaidya
CEO, Storystream

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 18

 Tren
d #3

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 19

 Overview
Augmented reality is a trend thrown around a lot at the end of every year as
a prediction for the future. But at no time has the impact of the virtual on the
physical shown more signs of growth than during the pandemic.

One could even say that the pandemic has accelerated the trend, with brands
having to go full digital in a blink. In fact, McKinsey reports that both businesses
and customers experienced five years’ worth of digital adoption progress in
just eight weeks in the beginning of the pandemic.

“Hybrid” is the word of the year

across all industries, thanks to
pandemic-induced shutdowns and
digital adoption. And both mixed
reality and hybrid events have
seen an increased volume of online
mentions over time, according to
research by Brandwatch.

This amalgamation of the physical

and digital will stick around in 2022,
especially with big companies
like Facebook backing this trend.
Incidentally, Facebook, Inc. has now
been rebranded to Meta, with the
company creating 10,000 new jobs
across the European Union to help build the metaverse. Facebook has also
already made its first big investment in the metaverse, spending $50 million on
research programs to ensure these products are developed responsibly.

#meta #tech #ar

The metaverse
goes beyond digital In September 2021, a new music-related game show called
marketing.
Alter Ego started airing. In the show, contestants sing from
backstage while motion capture technology transfers their
movements to their digital avatars on screen.

On the other side of marketing, events are also going hybrid. A Forrester survey
reveals that 58% of marketing leaders agree that “all flagship B2B marketing
events will be hybrid in two years”. It’s not much of a stretch to say that the

20
future is hybrid, irrespective of whether we’re talking about work, events,
conferences, or retail.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io

 You
hear
d it
her
e fir
st

“The shift to hybrid events reflects changing

attendee behavior and expectations. Hybrid events
have the ability to create truly transformative
experiences. We must let go of any unconscious
bias we may be holding about the format and
include hybrid events in our roster to reach a larger
audience of potential customers.”

Dino Kuckovic
Director of Community & Events
Falcon.io

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 21

 rst
er e fi
h
d it
hear
You

“When thinking about ‘Mixed Reality’ in the realm

of hybrid events, the new opportunities presented
by not only technological advancement, but by
also gaining acceptance of the community of
the benefits and authentic relationship building
capabilities that virtual experiences provide will
inevitably offer global event organizers enormous
new opportunities in 2022 to enhance industry
connection at scale.”

Brian Leddy
VP, Business Operations
Adweek

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 22

 Early movers
Burberry’s social retail store.
Launched at the end of 2020, Burberry’s social retail store in Shenzhen, China,
was the start of a new line of digitally-enabled, immersive retail experiences.
This specific store is centered around a custom WeChat mini-program that
allows customers to interact with the brand both in-store and online.

#shopping #socialretail
Nike, too, has its
own social retail First tested in Guangzhou, China, Nike opened yet another
store called
store in 2021 in Seoul, South Korea. With pandemic
Nike Rise.
restrictions easing and consumers tentatively returning
to brick-and-mortar stores, we believe that gamifying the
in-store experience with social apps will redefine retail
commerce in the coming years.

Etsy House and the online marketplace.

Etsy came up with an interactive AR experience for shoppers to tour a virtual
house comprising curated items from its marketplace. This new feature joins a
long line of AR experiences Etsy has started providing, including an AR feature
that lets you see how art prints would look on your own walls before hitting Buy.

Macy’s now allows live shopping.

The retailer launched live shopping in October 2021, with weekly livestreams on
Macy’s Live. In addition to watching in real-time, customers can also catch all
previous broadcasts on the website.

#shopping #trending
Social and
livestream
shopping are here
to stay.
According to
BuzzSumo, the
terms “social
shopping” and
“livestream
shopping” have
both seen an uplift
over the last couple
of years.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 23

 Burger King keeps it real with NFT.
In September 2021, Burger King partnered with Sweet, a nonfungible token (NFT)
platform, as part of its Keep It Real meals. Each Keep It Real meal box carried
QR codes that guests had to scan to unlock one of three digital collectibles.
Collecting all three NFTs led to various rewards for customers.

#nft #crypto #ethereum

Budweiser has NSFW
NFTs in its Ethereum
wallet… In addition to Burger King, several different brands have
jumped on the NFT bandwagon, including, of course,
...is a sentence we
never imagined Budweiser. The beer brewer even changed its Twitter profile
ourselves saying. picture to a hand-drawn beer rocket NFT. Revealing its
But here we are. wallet address, however, led to trolls sending in NSFW NFTs
to Budweiser.

The trolling aside, several other brands like Visa, Arizona

Iced Tea, Dolce&Gabbana, and Taco Bell have also got in on
the NFT hype.

At the time of writing this eBook,

the number of brand tweets around
NFTs has been steadily increasing
throughout 2021. The tweets are
primarily from brands belonging
to sports, banking and finance,
technology, luxury, retail, education,
and personal care industries.

Data from Falcon

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 24

1
Marketer takeaways
Implement an innovation mindset.
The current marketing landscape demands innovation and testing. You need to
be creative and develop out-of-the-box means to rise above the social media
noise. Whether it is a digitally immersive retail store, a hybrid event with a social
media play, or something as simple as an Instagram filter, you need to embrace

2
the innovation mindset to stand out.

Think engagement, think gamification.

Immersive digital experiences are an excellent way to gamify
marketing. They also help create a buzz around your products or
services and prompt users to engage with your brand. Make sure
your gamified campaign isn’t just engagement bait, though. Your
campaign needs to be true to your brand identity and also resonate

3
with your audience, providing them with some value.

Choose the right tech.

Social retail, AR, NFTs… This trend of blending the virtual with the physical
provides a lot of different creative avenues to go down. Don’t jump on the
bandwagon just because all the popular kids are doing it. For instance, a mom-
and-pop store will definitely not switch to social retail overnight — at least, we
aren’t in that season of Black Mirror yet. Instead, think about what will engage
well with your customers and pick the right tech for it.

#brand #examples
Bonus brand
examples: • CLIF Kid’s back-to-school AR campaign.
• General Mills partnered with Meijer and Obsess for a
virtual football tailgating experience.
• Verizon’s immersive AR treasure hunt.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 25

 Tren
d #4

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 26

 Overview
According to eMarketer, US social commerce sales will increase by 35.8%
to $36.62 billion in 2021. Social commerce is one section of the eCommerce
umbrella that is clearly booming and will continue to grow.

US Retail Social
Commerce Sales, Social commerce sales % change
$79.64
2019-2025
Billions and % change $67.32

$56.17

$45.74
38.9%
$36.62

25.2% $26.97
35.8%
24.9% 22.8%
$19.42 19.9% 18.3%

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Source: eMarketer, May 2021

While we’ve already looked at livestream shopping and UGC, one aspect of social
commerce that will gain considerable traction in 2022 is influencer marketing.

er s
n c • Help you reach a bigger audience and create

n fl ue brand awareness.
I n:
ca • Sway your target customers’ purchasing decisions.
• Improve brand loyalty and trust.

The meteoric rise in popularity of apps like TikTok and Twitch also shows the
potential for activating influencer partnerships. We predict that 2022 will see
the impact of influencers reaching the bottom of the funnel, and helping with
quantifiable conversions.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 27

 You
hear
d it
her
e fir
st

“Brands that can’t incite word of mouth on their

own in social media miss out on engaging in the
place where we spend most of our time online. The
solution? Developing relationships with others in
social media who have an affinity for your brand or
similar products. We trust people more than brands,
so it’s time for your company to stop advertising in
social media and start collaborating with others to
take advantage of the potential
for influencer commerce.”

Neal Schaffer
Digital & Social Media Marketing
Consultant, Speaker & Author

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 28

 Early movers
Wonderful Pistachios partnered with streamer GoldGlove.
This packaged foods company sponsored streamer GoldGlove’s live streams
to reach his vast audience base on Twitch and YouTube. The brand also ran
exclusive promotional offers for viewers in a bid to broaden its clientele.

#didyouknow
Did you know?
80% of esports fans eat or drink while watching live
streams. This was a Wonderful opportunity for this brand to
reach new audiences.

Dr Pepper at zero gravity.

To promote its Zero Sugar soda, Dr Pepper teamed up with Triller to take 20
influencers on a zero gravity flight. This was definitely a unique way to use
influencer marketing to drum up excitement about a product release.

The Charli & Dixie x Simmons mattress.

In early 2021, mattress brand Simmons partnered with the D’Amelio sisters
to launch a memory foam mattress. They also promoted it through a TikTok
sweepstakes. This was a smart approach to speaking to the Gen Z crowd on
TikTok, especially considering the net follower count the D’Amelio sisters have.

#follow #dameliofamily
Follower count
Charli D’Amelio: 125.2 million #SimmonsDreamRoom had
Dixie D’Amelio: 55.2 million 47.8 million views at the
time of writing this eBook.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 29

1
Marketer takeaways
Define your goals.
To build a proper influencer marketing strategy, you first need to identify
your goals and key results. This will help you work backwards and identify the
influencer(s) who will help you achieve your goals.

2
Find the right influencers in your niche.
Once you’ve listed your goals, identify the influencers operating
in the same vertical or niche as your brand. Their followers will
already be invested in their content and the topic they are known
for, so their opinions and endorsements mean a lot. Micro and
nano influencers, in particular, can help you engage better with your

3
niche target audience.

Use analytics to measure results.

Like any other marketing campaign, influencer marketing efforts need a strong
feedback loop. Measure the return on investment of each campaign to build a
data-backed influencer marketing strategy.

#influencer #kpis
How do you
measure success Ask your influencers for more data to measure success. In
anyway?
addition to their engagement metrics, also keep an eye on
site traffic and your own engagement around the time to
see if the influencers are sending any visitors your way.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 30

 Tren
d #5

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 31

 Overview
In 2021, you cannot wander into a Barnes & Noble without encountering a
“Trending on #BookTok” table.

BookTok, the book community of TikTok, gets over 20 billion views and has even
given brick-and-mortar stores a sales boost. Just the hashtag #BookTok had
over 24 billion views at the time of writing this eBook.

This is a larger sign of the importance not just of short-form entertainment like
TikToks but also of subcultures and communities.

Social media is noisy, and some users are moving away to create niche
communities where they can communicate with like-minded individuals about
shared interests. These communities give users a sense of belonging, especially
in a time of immense upheaval where human connection is lacking.

Niche communities exist in both bigger platforms — through your Slack

channels, Facebook Groups, subreddits, and forums — and as smaller social
networks. Steering conversations in such communities is also easier because of
the topic focus, increased engagement, less noise, and even less competition.

#fishing #outdoors #reel

Did you know?
The fishing subreddit r/fishing has seen a good growth in
posts in 2021.

2022 will definitely see users

migrating to smaller communities
and forming subcultures. This is
why a lot of brands, too, are already
targeting niche communities in
their marketing. Jumping on this
trend early can help you build strong
relationships with your audience
before the competition does.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 32

 Early movers
433 and the goals it serves across social.
433 is a niche football community that has grown over the years and tries to
live up to its name as The Home of Football. The community is spread across
multiple social networks and creates content that stands out on all of them.

433’s Instagram #trending

follower count has
grown by 60.7%
since 2020.

Data from Falcon Benchmark

Hot Topic, Discord, and Anime & Beyond.
The retail chain created a Discord server called Anime & Beyond for the anime
fans in its audience. Hot Topic already sells anime apparel and accessories. This
Discord server was a great way to appeal to the already big anime fanbase in its
target audience.

#discord #niche
Other brands with
a Discord presence According to data from Falcon, while the industries having
include Adobe, Taco
conversations on Discord include the usual suspects like
Bell, Sacramento
Kings, UK Defence Technology and Consumer Electronics, other verticals like
Journal, and many Sports, Education, Retail Chains, and Food and Beverage also
more. feature in the list.

LetterboxD breaks the box office.

This social media site just for movies
has blown up in the last couple of years.
BuzzSumo, too, notes that the engagement
of content around LetterboxD has seen
a major uptick since the beginning of
the pandemic. It’s yet another sign that
users want to settle in with their niches of
shared interest.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 33

1
Marketer takeaways
Identify your goals.
Who do you want to reach? Where do they usually hang out? Do you want to
create your own channel, or is it okay to participate in conversations in an
existing channel?

Once you have your answer, act on one of the

following two tips.

2
Create a community around your niche.
Communities have become high-growth channels. Create a Slack
channel, Discord Server, Facebook Group, or any other kind of online
community where your audience can create a shared bond over
your niche. Ensure you don’t focus too much on making a sale and
inadvertently drive users away from your community.

Are you ready to Join Grow With Social, our community on Facebook to talk
grow with social? trends and connect, learn, and grow as digital marketers.

3
Mark your presence in an existing community.
Instead of creating a new online community, you could always establish your
presence in an existing one. Run ads on the communities that allow them —
subreddits and niche platforms like Dribble and Goodreads, all allow advertising.
You might also want to participate without running ads — just make sure you’re
adding value to the community when you’re posting.

#tacotuesday #foodie
Global Taco Day on
Discord On Global Taco Day, in addition to creating its own Discord
server, Taco Bell also dropped gift cards and special offers
in other channels and across various social networks.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 34

 Tren
d #6

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 35

 Overview
According to a report by App Annie, TikTok has now beat YouTube’s average
watch time for Android users in the US. This is particularly impressive because
the network only allows for a video length of three minutes, whereas YouTube
allows much longer videos. The latter is also behind in terms of engagement,
with BuzzSumo showing that video engagement on YouTube has declined by
37% since 2020.

TikTok’s meteoric rise in popularity in such a short period of time has not exactly
gone unnoticed, with the other social networks coming up with their own
snackable clones including Instagram (and Facebook!) Reels, YouTube Shorts,
and Snapchat’s Spotlight.

Much of TikTok’s success can be attributed to its short-form content that’s

authentic, entertaining, and democratizes social media for all.

#goldfish #attention-span
Turns out even
goldfish are better Studies have shown that the average human attention span
than us.
has fallen from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds now.

So if you’re still with us and reading this beast of an eBook,

take a bow!

With decreasing attention spans comes an increased appetite for digestible

microcontent. The shift to mobile has also created the need for pithy content
that captures your audience’s attention quickly.

Visual storytelling, in particular, sticks around in people’s minds more than text.
This is where your images, videos, infographics, and memes stand out in your
audience’s eyes.

2022 will see more brands embracing micro-content

to reach large audiences.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 36

 Early movers
Pepsi’s bite-sized docuseries on Black cuisine.
Pepsi partnered with celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson to launch a docuseries
on the history of Black-owned restaurants. This campaign was a part of Pepsi’s
Dig In initiative, and the videos went up on Dig In’s Twitter and Instagram and
Marcus’ YouTube channel.

#trending
You have to
taste this. This post was Pepsi’s most engaging of all its Instagram
posts in 2021, up to the time of writing this eBook.

Snackable content — the Sparknotes version.

This study guide brand has seen an immense rise in following on Twitter and
Instagram, and not just amongst literature majors. This success can definitely
be attributed to the classic literature memes Sparknotes posts. No one can
resist slamming down the like button when they see posts somehow relating
Edgar Allen Poe to Parks and Recreation.

Sparknotes follower growth rate since January 1, 2019.

Instagram: 548.5% Twitter: 2376.2%

Data from Falcon

Neutrogena debunks myths on TikTok.
This personal care brand debuted its first TikTok campaign in 2021 by
debunking skin care myths in short videos. This approach helped the
brand reach a wider audience and appeal to them with educational,
snackable content.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 37

1
Marketer takeaways
Remember that brevity is key.
This may be obvious, but any piece of snackable content should be skimmable
and easy to consume. At the same time, it should also inform your audience and
entice them to engage with it. If you’re creating video content, remember that

2
every second and every word counts.

Don’t shy away from repurposing.

Snackable content doesn’t have to exist in a vacuum. You can also
repurpose your existing long-form content into snackable bites for
social. This will also drive people to your website, giving your content

3
a nice bump in traffic.

Leave room for serendipity.

Snackable content does occasionally involve jumping on trends, pop
culture moments, and Twitter memes. By all means, plan your long-term
snackable content calendar, but also be ready for bandwagon-jumping when
the need arises.

#memes #squidgame
The Squid Game
sensation. With this Netflix show taking the world by storm, several top
brands, including Razer, Pepsi and Budweiser, piggybacked
on the trend with memes and references to Squid Game.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 38

 Tren
d #7

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 39

 Overview
Gen Z seems to be the one generation every marketer is trying to get the
attention of. In 2022, however, it is imperative to look beyond the fads of just
one generation and understand them all to market better.

Gen Z The oldest Gen Zers are 24 at the time of writing and are
seen as the trendsetters with enough influence to control
consumer behavior and create cultural shifts.

Millennials The oldest millennials have turned 40 this year and have a
lot of spending power.

Gen X Gen Xers are in their prime working years and earn way
more than any other generation.

Baby Boomers Baby boomers have had more time to accumulate wealth
and have $2.6 trillion in buying power.

Many businesses have been slow to realize that just focusing on millennials and
Gen Z with their digital marketing is missing out on key audiences with a lot of
buying power (Gen X and baby boomers). If your brand has people of all ages in
its target market, your marketing must also cater to the different generations
and their preferences.

#politics #movies #games

How do you
understand According to Brandwatch, politics is a big part of Baby
the priorities
Boomers’ 2022 outlook. On the other hand, Gen Z is more
of different
generations entertainment-focused, with many of their conversations
in 2022? featuring excitement for movies and games coming out in
2022. This is a simple example, but it shows that these two
different generations have two different sets of priorities
for and thoughts on the coming year.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 40

 Early movers
Walmart targets Gen Z with 4Walls.
Walmart now has a TikTok channel dedicated to interior design called 4Walls
aimed at Gen Z and millennials. Launched in July 2021, the channel already had
over 301K followers at the time of writing this eBook.

#trending
Walmart 🤝 TikTok
The retailer has seen massive success on TikTok, with the
official Walmart account seeing more than 850K followers at
the time of writing.

General Mills and Gen X.

General Mills celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Monster cereals with their
return in retro-style packaging along with a remake of the Monster Mash song.
In addition to being a total shoo-in for the Retro Revolution trend, this campaign
also shows how General Mills is appealing to Gen Xers by making them nostalgic
for the ‘70s.

#trending
All the monsters
in one bowl. This 50th-anniversary post garnered General Mills its
highest engagement on Instagram in 2021 up to the time of
writing this eBook.

19/99 and inclusive beauty.

19/99 is a Canadian beauty brand that launched during the pandemic and
has already caught a lot of attention for staying true to its word of being age-
inclusive. As its name indicates, all products are made for women between the
ages of 19 and 99. A simple scroll through their Instagram feed will show you
just how generationally inclusive this new brand is.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 41

1
Marketer takeaways
Find out what makes each generation tick.
Gen Z isn’t just about TikTok, just like millennials aren’t just about killing the
doorbell industry. Each generation has specific and unique characteristics.
Identify those and put them together with their spending power, the social
networks they haunt, and more, and you have an excellent generational

2
strategy for marketing.

Adapt your messaging.

What works for one generation may not work for another. Make sure to
adapt your messages for each generation depending on the insights
you’ve gleaned about them.

3
Use diverse marketing efforts.
If your audience is diverse in age, your marketing content should reflect
that. Ensure that all your customers can see themselves reflected in your
marketing messages and that you aren’t pigeonholing your content to focus on
just one age group.

#social-listening
What’s the world
talking about With social listening, you can tap into trending topics
right now?
amongst your target audience and understand their
priorities better. And breaking conversations down
by different audience segments, like generation,
can help you to find the nuance that’ll help your digital
marketing resonate.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 42

 Tren
d #8

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 43

 Overview
Customer crankiness is apparently at an all-time high right now, with
WSJ reporting that adults are throwing tantrums while dining, flying, and
shopping. If there’s one thing you need to know about irate customers, it is that
they talk. And usually on social media.

Times are a-changing, and it’s no longer enough just to list a customer support
email on your social media and call it a day. Customers expect help and answers
in a blink, and your support team needs to respond just as fast.

With brands going fully digital in 2020, the need to provide prompt customer
service via social media has also risen. In fact, Forrester predicted that digital
customer service interactions will increase by 40% in 2021.

Using social media — an inherent marketing medium — to provide prompt

customer service has already become a must-have. In 2022, marketers need
to be prepared to see this expand beyond answering basic queries to using
chatbots, providing personalized advice, and more.

#happycustomer #love
Customer service
and top retail Quality customer service is essential to deliver an excellent
brands.
retail experience. Here’s how top retail brands handled
customer service via Twitter in 2021.

According to Falcon Benchmark, the top customer service

response in the retail industry seems to be to invite
customers to DM the brand. This might mean that some
grievances are taken out of the public domain, but that
won’t work every time.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 44

 Early movers
(Culture) Kings of productivity.
This Australian premium streetwear brand — and a Falcon.io customer — has
managed to double the number of direct messages and improve productivity
by a mile. As a brand with an ever-increasing customer base, Culture Kings still
puts the customer first and provides excellent service by replying promptly.

Spotify really cares.

Some brands prefer running a whole separate account for social customer
service, and Spotify is one of them. SpotifyCares has been ahead of the social
customer service game for years and is an evergreen example every new
brand should look up to. The team answers users promptly, be it about feature
requests or helping with issues.

#reply-time #customer-care
SpotifyCares’
average reply time.

According to Falcon Benchmark, on average, SpotifyCares

replied to customer queries in over 1 hour, 46 minutes
in 2021.

BMW Germany and Whatsapp.

Whatsapp is one platform some brands are already using to send personalized
messages to their customers. BMW Germany, for instance, uses Whatsapp
to optimize workshop customer service. This has led to the brand’s callback
requests dropping by 60% thanks to real-time Whatsapp updates.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 45

1
Marketer takeaways
Use social listening to communicate with customers proactively.
According to Gartner, only 13% of customers have received proactive service
from brands. With social listening, you can proactively look for trends, jump into
conversations with customers, and fix issues quickly instead of waiting for an @

2
mention with a complaint.

Create a new handle for customer support.

Like Spotify with SpotifyCares, create a dedicated customer service
handle on social media to respond to customers and support them.
Alternatively, platforms like Falcon can help ensure that all messages

3
flow into one inbox, and you never miss a customer ping.

Document, document, document.

Social customer service is relatively new, after all, so make sure to document
your processes and edit them on the go so your support team can put their
best foot forward on social.

#falcon #engage
Psst… Ever
considered Falcon Tools like Falcon can help you come closer to your
for customer
customers on social. You can manage all social media
service? 😉 engagement from one inbox, create custom response
templates to common questions you receive via DMs, and
do so much more.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 46

 Tren
d #9

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 47

 Overview
Starved of social interaction, live
audio quickly became an avenue
for consumers to be entertained
and informed, and for marketers
to connect with those consumers
in 2021. It all started with the
social audio app Clubhouse, which
immediately led to several clones
cropping up as new apps or
additional features in existing social
networks.

According to BuzzSumo, engagement

around Clubhouse content has been
declining in 2021. However, there is
a 76% uplift for Clubhouse when you
compare total content engagement In 2022, audio in general will surely
in 2021 against 2020. The decline be a part of the marketer playbook.
could, perhaps, be attributed to the TikTok has always been a trendsetter,
app coming off of closed beta and and even this app has realized the
the initial attention jumping to the importance of audio, adding a roster
next big thing. of Sound Partners.

#trending
People love listenin’.
As the Brandwatch
Bulletin recently
reported, the number
of people tuning in
to podcasts is only
increasing, showing
that the audio
market as a whole is
here to stay.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 48

 Early movers
Estée Lauder dares to love audio. league would be creating exclusive
Thanks to a partnership with The audio content on Twitter Spaces. As
New York Times, the beauty brand part of the partnership, the NFL also
jumped on the audio bandwagon promised to host 20 Spaces for the
with its Dare to Love campaign. 2021 NFL Season.
The campaign followed a creative
storytelling narrative, with artists WWE, Spotify, and Greenroom.
and influencers talking about WWE and Spotify’s The Ringer formed
different types of love. a partnership in August 2021 to
create original content, including
NFL and Twitter’s multi-year post-match conversations on
partnership. Greenroom for the SummerSlam
The NFL and Twitter announced a and a podcast.
multi-year partnership wherein the

1
Marketer takeaways
Be human.
The whole concept of live audio is backed by users expecting authentic, non-
curated conversations around topics of interest. If you’re getting into social
audio as a brand, try to be genuine and human to connect with your audience
better. After all, social audio is more a branding exercise than a way to advertise

2
and make a direct sale.

Partner with influencers.

We did say influencer-backed social commerce is going to be a trend
in 2022. Partner with an industry influencer to host a conversation on
a topic relevant to your brand, industry, or niche. NARS Cosmetics got it

3
right with this Clubhouse conversation with influencers.

Sponsor a room.
Not willing to talk yourself? Sponsor a conversation — preferably around your
niche — to give your branding a boost amongst attendees.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 49

 Tren
d #1
0

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 50

 Overview
First things first: Inclusivity is not a
marketing ploy to increase profits.

Why, then, is it on this list?

That’s simple.
Your products and services are not
targeted towards just one type of
customer. That’s why your marketing
should strive to represent everyone
irrespective of race, sexuality,
gender, religion, and more.

We used Brandwatch to look into

mentions of accessibility and
inclusion across all sites, and
discovered that conversations
around these topics have been
growing across 2020 and 2021. The past two years have seen a lot
This indicates that inclusivity is of calls for better representation in
something every brand should be media and advertising, diversity in
working towards bettering and the C-Suite, and for businesses to go
improving over time (it’s not a one- beyond performative activism and
time-only task). do better. 2022 will see more brands
taking this to heart — making
inclusivity and accessibility a top
priority for everyone.

#diversityandinclusion
Word cloud of brand
tweets around
diversity, equity,
and inclusion in
2021.

51
Data from Falcon

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io

 Early movers
Olay’s #DecodeTheBias initiative. sending 50 girls to Space Camp in
In 2021, Olay partnered with the next five years as part
Algorithmic Justice League and Black of this initiative.
Girls Code to challenge algorithmic
bias, wherein beauty searches McDonald’s, FaZe Clan, and inclusion.
prioritize white models. This initiative McDonald’s partnered with the
aims to send 1000 girls to code eSports organization for content
camp and pursue careers in STEM. activations around diversity and
inclusion. FaZe Clan’s announcement
Frito-Lay’s back-to-school blastoff. tweet fetched the brand over 40K
This snack brand partnered with likes on Twitter.
aspiring astronaut Alyssa Carson for
the Back to School Blastoff initiative.
Frito-Lay aims to diversify STEM by

1
Marketer takeaways
Be mindful of identities.
If your website, post, or ad features real humans, is there an identity you’re
over-representing? Surely, your product isn’t just used by one set of people, so
make sure to represent people equally, regardless of their age, race, sexuality,
religion, or gender identity.

2
Words have power.
So, choose them carefully. You don’t want to exclude an entire group
of people inadvertently. “Hey, guys”, “ladies and gentlemen”, and other
commonplace expressions are all exclusionary in one way or another.
Be mindful of the words you use in your marketing communications so
as not to other the very audience you’re marketing to.

3
Practice what you preach.
Inclusivity is not a box you check off to win marketing points by posting
statements on Twitter. Start internally and see if your team has members from
diverse cultural backgrounds. Even if there is diversity, biases can still exist.

52
Approach inclusion as something that requires constant assessment and
sensitivity checks rather than a one-and-done type task.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io

 You
h ear
d it
her
e fir
st

“Everyone today is focused on creating content.

But in a world where content is abundant, what we’re
missing is context. How can you create content that
drives attention towards context that makes
the world a better place?”

Benjamin Von Wong

Artist, Advisor, Activist

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 53

Bonus
Trends
While these 10 trends should definitely be top of mind
for all marketers, here are a few more that almost
made the list and still deserve to be mentioned.

Marketer AI & automation.

mindfulness. Integrated chatbots, predictive
personalization of content,
Businesses will no longer shy away automated ad campaigns, and other
from speaking about mental health AI influences will gain ground in 2022.
and well-being online. Hopefully,

Decentralized
they’ll also walk the talk in 2022.

Crumbled giants.
cookies. Considering users’ issues with Big
Tech — misinformation, lack of
With Google phasing out third- privacy, and data ownership, to
party cookies soon, marketers name a few — can federated social
will look for alternatives to track platforms be far behind?
user identity in 2022.

Fandom future.
Personalized
privacy.
Whether brands rope in unexpected
celebs as ambassadors or use
immensely popular K-pop bands in
Brands will continue to grapple with livestream shopping events, 2022
balancing providing the magic of a will see marketing and fandom come
personalized experience with data closer than ever before.

54
privacy laws.

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io

You did it!
You’ve made your way through all our predictions
for 2022.

Go, you!

Bear with us for a few more minutes to see how you

can put the trends to good use. But, before that…

Time to ...

Take a deep
breath, in
through your

!
ough
a t ’s en
th
Ok,

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 55

You know
the trends.
Now what?
Are you ready to start implementing some changes in your marketing? Gather
your colleagues and answer these questions to figure out your next trend-
backed marketing campaign.

What is the purpose of our brand?

Which trend from this list fits our brand best? Why?

How can we adapt it to fit our branding and tone of voice?

What are our KPIs and how are we going to measure them?

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 56

Well done,
you.
Now that you know which trends will dominate in 2022,
you definitely have an edge over your competitors.
es:
If you liked this eBook, check out some er guid
oth
of our

The Fluff-Free Guide to Instagram Marketing

The Brandwatch Guide to Trend Spotting

Why You Should Tap Into Trending Content Before Your Competitors

The No-Sweat Guide to (Social) Content Marketing

The Practical Emoji Guide for Social Media Marketers

If you really liked this eBook, give us a shout on social. 🙌

2022 Digital Marketing Trends — Falcon.io 57

 y 25-2 6, 2022
Januar

We’re bringing the heat at

Let’s talk more trends at Spark Digital, our

free two-day virtual summit.

Hear from industry experts, get your

burning questions answered, and join the
conversation on January 25-26, 2022, one
marketing trend at a time.

SAVE MY SEAT
Take your marketing
to the next level
in 2022.
The trends you’ve seen so far will definitely give your brand a
competitive edge, irrespective of your industry. Helping you
grow with social is our thing, so here’s how we can help.

Spot emerging trends. Get competitive intelligence.

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