With technology advancing faster than the speed of light, remote work becoming more popular than ever, operations automation on the rise and a tumultuous economy to work with, we are entering 2022 with a whole new set of marketing trends on the horizon. It’s certainly looking to be an interesting year for just about every industry out there.

There’s a lot to focus on predicting emerging marketing trends for the coming year. Here, nine professionals from Business Journals Leadership Trust discuss the biggest trends they’re anticipating for 2022 and why we should focus on them.

1. Prioritizing video content in marketing.
Video will continue to dominate social media in the year ahead. With the rise of TikTok and IGTV’s recent rebranding, social media platform algorithms are continuing to prioritize video content, and a recent study reports videos on Instagram receive 49% more engagement than static posts. Consider using videos to show your product or service in action, your culture or your expertise through Q&A formats. – Melea McRae, Crux KC

2. Developing plans for social media videos.
Short videos like Instagram Reels and TikToks will continue to dominate the marketing space. When done correctly, it’s a catalyst for continued engagement with viewers, but be sure to develop a plan. What do you want the viewer to take away from your video? Is it education or entertainment? – Dorian Rader, OneTen° Capital

3. Extracting meaningful insights from data.
What we’ve seen in 2021 with widespread technology adoption is that businesses have a lot of data available, but they don’t always know how to use it. I think in 2022 there’s going to be a major shift and more attention towards extracting meaningful and actionable insights from that data. We might be seeing more tech that will do just that. – Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS

4. Increasing budgets for influencer marketing.
I expect to see increasingly large budgets for influencer marketing. Very few influencers will still post for brands without requiring payment, and the industry is growing at a rapid pace. Brands are starting to see huge ROIs from influencer partnerships, so larger budgets will likely follow. – Lauren Reed, Reed Public Relations

5. Focusing more on vlogging for business.
Vlogging or video blogging is becoming increasingly popular. I have worked with some small business owners who have a goal to post a video blog each day. Given the nature of social media, videos are much more popular than blogs. Consider vlogging. – Jared Knisley, Fizen Technology

6. Offering NFTs with products and services.
Companies will start to offer non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to go along with their products, ranging from sports organizations to everyday products that they can very inexpensively offer like a digital item or experience that only you own as an extra incentive to purchase the product, service or experience they are selling. – Sandy Fliderman, Industry FinTech Inc

7. Maintaining a forward-looking approach.
I believe the brands that commit to maintaining a forward-looking approach to customer experience will thrive. Consumers loathe disruption and reward responsiveness. Taking what we’ve learned this year, communicating to audiences that we have their best interest and continued satisfaction in focus is the direct line to engagement and positive experiences. – Amanda Magee, Trampoline Design

8. Growing social media platform engagement.
Social media platforms, especially TikTok, will continue to grow, and brands will get a better understanding of how they can more effectively target their consumer audience. Marketers will continue to monetize the platform to generate a positive marketing ROI. – Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Advertising

9. Using input to remake the customer experience.
Companies using customers’ input to redraw the experience map will see the benefits in customer acquisition and retention. Those who analyze the impact of the customer experience by mapping out the entire journey will be more successful in winning new customers in 2022. Marketers who conduct deep analysis will help to improve their overall experience and grow revenue. – Jim Kruger, Veeam Software