What the Experts are Saying about 2022

WHAT MIGHT 2022 HAVE IN STORE FOR US?

If you were able to get a break over the holidays, I hope that you're feeling refreshed and ready to take on the year.

I also recognize that you're also likely facing a mountain of unread emails, so we're going to keep this edition of the Brief short, to the point, and (hopefully) filled with a bunch of thought-starters that will help to kick start your thinking as you prepare for the year ahead.

To do that, we scoured the Internet for the most insightful and well-informed predictions about the adventure that will be 2022.

We'd also love to hear from you:

• What are your predictions for 2022?
• Do you disagree with any of the ideas below?
• Is there something that we missed?

Reply to this email to let us know.

SOCIAL MEDIA

1. TikTok will continue to be the fastest-growing social platform, and significantly more purchases will happen in-app
2. Brands will invest in NFTs as a way to connect with communities and gain credibility
3. People will interact more in clusters (ie. Facebook Groups) and interest-based communities (ie. Discord), and less in public newsfeeds
4. Brands and platforms will push for longer, more in-depth content - ie. TikTok introducing 3 minute videos

Source: The Drum (interviews with executives & leaders)

EMAIL MARKETING

1. The pullback of third party data means that we'll all start getting creative with first-party data - ie. segments by sign-up source, purchase history
2. Emails will operate more like landing pages with increased functionality - we'll make creative use of GIFs, surveys, reviews, and other in-email functionality
3. SMS as a complement to email will increase dramatically
4. As social media, digital advertising and other top of funnel activities become more difficult and expensive referrals become more important, and email will play a key role in referral programs

Source: @EComChaseDiamond (Twitter thread)

GROWTH MARKETING

1. Influencers are no longer just advertising channels, they are full-funnel sales partners
2. Artificial Intelligence is over-hyped as a marketing trend and under-hyped as an efficient tool
3. Video isn't just for social media anymore. We'll see much more short-form video further down the sales funnel - ie. on-site, emails, customer support
4. Every person on the marketing team must be able to understand and discuss analytics in order to make better decisions at every step in the planning process

Source: TechCrunch (interviews with executives & leaders)

SEARCH & ADVERTISING

1. Google continues to get better at understanding search intent, rather than just search terms, so we need to match our content to people looking to learn, to browse or to buy
2. With so much noise, word of mouth will become more important than ever - SEO and ads are how we'll make sure that we show up when people are searching what their friends were talking about
3. Privacy is increasing, but ads aren't going away, so the marketers who pay the closest attention to privacy changes will get the best results
4. 2022 is the year of Omnichannel marketing. Translation: Make it just as easy and memorable to interact with you wherever people are looking, whether that's on search, social, or in a physical retail location.

Source: AHrefs (first-party predictions)

STRATEGY

Tomorrow at 2pm PST Scott Galloway (NYU Stern, Section 4, @ProfGalloway) will be hosting a free live webinar on his predictions for everything from tech to business and beyond.

Here are a few of his teasers:

1. Facebook's pivot to the metaverse will be a flop
2. Nuclear energy investments will increase dramatically, fuelled in part by the rise of crypto
3. Stock prices will revert to fundamentals (ie. no more meme stocks)

Registration link: profgalloway.com/2022-predictions

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting