By: Varun Tikku – WAVIT Copywriter

Throughout history, technological progress has always fuelled innovation in a variety of industries. Keeping up with progress is an intrinsic part of the marketing process, you have to stay up to date with the newest preferred methods of communication to form lasting connections with your audience.

The birth of the internet in 1983 was not a game changer at the time, but by the 1990s its incredible potential was undeniable. Since its inception, the internet has become an essential part of the vast majority of people’s daily lives. It has brought people from around the globe together in a way that used to only exist in the realm of science fiction. The first smartphone was created by IBM in 1992, but their popularity only took off in 2007 with the introduction of the first iPhone. Today, smartphones have integrated themselves into every aspect of our lives, from our morning alarms to the shows we watch to go to sleep and everything in between. In the past, people have been slow to adopt new technology, but today, people are far more invested in technological progress than people in the ‘90s. While this trend has been accelerated by the events of the past year, interest in technology has been consistently growing for over 2 decades. Recent events have simply boosted our pre-existing interest in technological advancements, which is something every marketer needs to take note of.

Check out our predictions for 5 crucial technologies for marketers in 2022:

1 – Digital videos retain their throne as the king of content – Both short and long form videos are being consumed by the audience at a faster rate than they consume food and water. While the popularity of short form videos is rising faster at the moment, the audience still hungers for more long form content and it is our job to feed these appetites throughout 2022

YouGov: 75% of millennials watch a video per day. By 2022 it is predicted to account for 82% of all online traffic. 87% of users have expressed interest in high quality branded video content

2 – The exploding e-commerce industry is going to truly take off next year – Every major social media platform is integrating live streamed shopping; videos that can be clicked on that will redirect you to an e-commerce site where you can buy any product you see in the video. While they have been in the process of developing this new technology, it is not yet globally scaled across all platforms, this every major player’s end goal during 2022.

26.2% stated they used social media to find products to purchase. In addition, 27.7% use it to find inspiration for things to do and buy, and 22.7% like to see content from their favourite brands. Live streamed shopping integrated into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest.

3 – VR and AR marketing solutions will continue to be increasingly adopted – AR tools have already been used over 2021 by big names such as IKEA to allow customers to reimagine their rooms with new furniture. AR try on tools are being developed by many companies, with Snapchat leading the charge, this trend will likely gain real traction over 2022 as the technology is perfected, further fuelling the e-commerce revolution.

70% of consumers feel that finding clothes online that fit is really difficult, and returns are a $550 billion problem for businesses – Carolina Arguelles, Global Product Marketing Lead, Augmented Reality at Snap.

4 – The rise of NFTs and the Metaverse will give birth to the meta marketing industry – The rebranding of Facebook to Meta suggests that most human connections will be formed in a virtual Metaverse in the future.

Several notable NFT brand activations have been prevalent through 2021: McDonald’s, State Farm, American Eagle, Toys R Us and many more. These concepts have been gaining traction in a variety of industries and they have only recently been brought to the public eye. This means that 2022 is likely to give birth to an enormous meta marketing industry which all marketers need to follow as pre-existing content can easily be turned into NFTs which are hugely popular among the younger generations.

5 – Increased adoption of AI solutions – AI is already prevalent in SEO and SMM, while conversational AI will increasingly provide customer service solutions as the underlying technology is developed and adopted further throughout 2022.

Drift leadership report: 79 percent said AI is one of the technologies that will impact marketing in the future. Salesforce Research: Marketers’ use of AI soared between 2018 and 2020, jumping from 29% in 2018 to 84% in 2020.