Video marketing trends for 2022

Summary

What are the video marketing trends for 2022? In this post, we’ll examine them in seven points:

1. The importance of live video, which multiplied during the pandemic and is here to stay.
2. The centrality of all aspects regarding SEO.
3. The need to be omnichannel and mobile-first.
4. Personalized video, the real revolution for video marketing.
5. Interactivity, which marks the transition from one-way to two-way communication.
6. The emergence of two opposite and complementary trends: short videos in TikTok format and quality long form videos.
7. The promises of integration with AR and VR technologies.

Introduction

Digital Marketing is an ecosystem that is constantly changing at an accelerated pace.

The only option is to keep up without getting stuck in yesterday’s certainties that could change tomorrow.

What’s more, the real challenge is always to look ahead. Winning over the competition can be achieved by the organizations that are able to intercept and take advantage of new trends before the others.

Beware, though. In this changing landscape, marketers have one thing in common: the power of video.

Video is the digital media that guarantees the best diffusion, the medium most able to attract attention, facilitate the comprehension of messages, and stimulate engagement.

This is not just our opinion, backed up by indisputable data. But what are the video marketing trends for 2022?

We collected them below, breaking them down into 7 points.

1. More and more live video

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a game changer, and it’s only natural that it will have a big influence on video marketing trends for 2022 as well.

In the toughest times of the lockdown, we’ve all become accustomed to the proliferation of live streaming video events, from music, to theater, to corporate events. Many brands have also taken advantage of this type of content to create a deeper and more engaging connection with their customers.

Looking solely at the period from March to August 2020, the increase in live video broadcasts across all digital platforms was a whopping 300% (uscreen.com).

Mind you: all of this is here to stay, even beyond the emergency period.

And the reasons are very simple and intuitive; just consider these figures, by way of example:

• 80% of audiences prefer watching a live video over reading a corporate blog post (source: Livestream)
• The engagement rate of a live video is, on average, 6 times higher than that of a recorded video. This comes mainly from the higher propensity for comments and interactions. To be precise: live videos receive an average of 10 times more comments than standard videos (Source: 99firms).
• In addition, the average viewing duration of a live video is 3 times longer than a recorded video (Source: Livestream).

In short, all of the data points in the same direction.

However, pay attention to one central aspect: video quality, which, especially in live mode, is a critical issue for the audience. A poor quality of transmission is often what leads a user to detach.

2. Video and SEO: nothing new but…

Search Engine Optimization is fundamental for digital marketing. If you’re not reachable on search engines, it’s as if you don’t exist. And, so far, nothing new.

The point, however, is that video is becoming increasingly important to achieving the best rankings. Again, it’s not just about impressions, it’s a reality, as described by data and statistics.

According to Forrester, pages that contain videos are 53 times more likely to end up on the first page of Google (Source: inc.com).

And, to complete the picture, these other figures should never be forgotten:

• The top five organic results on Google’s first page garner 67.60% of all clicks (martech.org).
• In contrast, only 0.78% of Google users click on results that appear on the second page (backlincko.com).

However, it’s not just about embedding videos. It’s all about quality and relevance.

So how can you further improve the SEO rankings of your videos?

Here are some key points to consider:

• Build an effective and consistent context around it.
• Pay maximum attention to technical and backend aspects.
• Take care to create good thumbnails.
• Always aim to produce high-quality content
• Pay attention to the educational side (How-tos and Q&A videos, for example, often receive excellent placement because they respond to the real needs of the audience).
• Always have a data-driven perspective in mind
• Have a constant, long-range, and continuously updated planning.

We’ve covered all these aspects extensively in our post on how video can help boost your SEO.

Omnichannel and mobile-first

This is another video marketing trend for 2022 that is certainly not new, but rather a trend that is becoming more and more consolidated. The effectiveness and success of a video campaign depends on your optimization based on different platforms and devices.

First of all: there’s a huge difference between viewing a video on desktop, tablet, or smartphone. In fact, a video campaign must be perfect for all of these devices…with a special focus on the mobile side, because that’s increasingly how people enjoy online content around the world.

But it doesn’t end there.

There are also huge differences in the distribution of videos through your company website, on YouTube, on social media.

Each platform has its own rules and best practices (as well as its own specific target audience).

Uploading content to Instagram is different than doing it on Facebook or Twitter. Not to mention a platform like TikTok, which is on the rise (and we’ll come back to the “TikTok format” in one of the next points).

In short, it’s no longer about one-size-fits-all.

It’s about adapting your campaigns based on each individual channel and platform in an increasingly automated way. This is where the path to maximum effectiveness lies.

The personalization revolution

As we said earlier, when it comes to channels and platforms, the days of the one-size-fits-all is over. This is all the more true when it comes to recipients.

The real boost to the effectiveness of a video marketing campaign is something very old: tailoring your content to the characteristics of the people viewing it, to their real-time behaviors, to their desires.

This is the personalized video revolution, perhaps the most promising of the video marketing trends for 2022, marking the shift from one-to-many communication to true one-to-one dialog.

Personalized videos are automatically generated and distributed in omnichannel mode by specialized platforms such as Babelee!

From monologue to dialog: interactivity

We introduced a crucial keyword in the previous point: dialog.

In fact, it is possible to go beyond the one-to-many approach to a one-to-one approach by making sure that your videos are no longer configured as one-way messages, but as a true two-way exchange between company viewer.

In short, this is the turning point of interactivity.

You can build data-driven and personalized videos that react in real time to the navigation choices of the individual user, automatically re-designing themselves.

This maximizes the proximity between company and customer.

Clearly, interactive videos are the perfect tool for inserting tailored call-to-actions, resulting in soaring click-through and conversion rates.

Very short and long formats

Let’s address this penultimate point with a question: when it comes to videos, is there an ideal length?

The answer is no. As we’ve seen above, it depends on the channels, the platforms, the content you want to convey and the individual recipients.

Yet, with that premise aside, two trends are starting to emerge, two opposing and complementary trends.

On the one hand, short videos, which use a quick narrative and try to hit the viewer’s attention in a few seconds. This is the format launched by TikTok, the social network that has seen the most growth and traction in younger market segments in recent years (and also Instagram reels).

On the opposite front are long-form, increasingly high-quality videos. These are perfect for selected targets, but for giving an elevated image of your brand or product. The results in terms of engagement are often surprising.

We will come back to the topic of short form and long form and the ideal choice according to your business in an upcoming post.

The frontier of AR and VR

We’ll close out this post on the video marketing trends for 2022 with a topic that has been on the crest of the wave for some time now, but that seems finally ready to bear fruit.

We are referring to the application of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality systems in video marketing technologies.

Again, the pandemic has worked as a real accelerator, and there are already many fields of application, from healthcare, to retail chain campaigns aimed at providing an innovative “try before you buy” approach. Then there is the whole gaming side that is growing, but also the application for education, with AR and VR systems specifically designed for school activities of any level and grade.

What is certain is that the margins are still enormous. As is the capital that is increasingly being invested by technology sector leaders.

Again, in conclusion, it’s all about keeping your eyes open. And being ready before the competition!