As with any industry, trends change every year. Affiliate marketers are constantly adapting to these changes in order to remain competitive in this ever-changing environment. Here are some of the most anticipated changes that will take place in the affiliate marketing industry in 2022.
1. The rising importance of micro-influencers
As we have seen in the previous years, the role of online influencers picked up the pace and it's going to increase furthermore in 2022. The role of influencers in marketing is expected to keep growing.
Many people in the industry anticipate this trend to happen and here is what some industry leaders say about this:
ŞŞencan Özen, Owner at ReklamStore
I think the importance of micro-influencers will increase in 2022. Influencers specializing in a particular field have a great ability to convince their audiences.
That’s why I think that micro-influencers who produce quality content will attract more attention from the affiliate world in 2022 with their high conversion rates. New features and trends on social media like live shopping will also give more power to marketers in this area.
ZZane Mcintyre, CEO at Commission Factory
Influencers with hyper-targeted audiences and niches will see the greatest success in their campaigns. As we digest so much content digitally now more than ever we will seek influencers and content that is not so broad but targeted to us specifically.
Trust plays an enormous role here, where macro-influencers do not have the same level of trust as the micro-influencers and this creates a continued opportunity for more social media stars to rise.
WWouter Groenewoud, General Manager at Traffic Company
The influence of ‘influencers’ will grow even more, especially in niche markets.
As stated above, many people agree on the fact that influencers will play a major role in the affiliate marketing trends of 2022 and this gives clear insights to affiliates who haven't ventured into influencer marketing to start looking in that direction in 2022.
2. The booming trend of e-commerce will continue
The current booming trend in e-commerce is expected to continue and grow furthermore. This is backed by the 2020-2022 pandemic which has forced many offline buyers to shift to online buying.
Industry leaders agree with this and some left the following remarks:
PPatryk Hoffmann, Founder&CEO at Mylead
If it comes to the most desired affiliate marketing trends, my prediction is that it will stay the same for the next year. It means that all the data indicates the increasing popularity of e-commerce. That’s mostly because of the pandemic. In some areas, online shopping has become the only way to purchase products.
The problem has been promptly adjusted by e-commerce players. According to JDSupra, nonstore sales in the United States increased by 31.3% in December compared to November 2019. This trend will continue to accelerate.
MMorten Grothe-Kraemmergaard, Managing Director at Salestring.Com
The corona crisis has made it clear that the future of shopping more than ever lies online. There are thousands of webshops looking for a way to boost awareness on the lower level without having to spend a huge amount of cash they don’t have on search, media agencies, etc.
Without any doubt, e-commerce is going to be bigger in 2022 based on the impact that the pandemic left on the digitalization of shopping experiences.
3. Smarter Tools and Softwares
Tools and softwares are expected to become smarter. Trackers, cloakers, spy tools, bots, and other tools are expected to get more advanced. Patryk Hoffmann, the founder, and CEO at Mylead had a say about this:
"Modern tools like Content Lockers and link cloaking systems. Content Lockers are great if it comes to monetizing content. It allows affiliate publishers to block a certain part of their website. Once a recipient wants to unlock it, they have to perform a certain action. On MyLead, we have four types of Content Lockers.
If it comes to a link cloaking system, it contains two elements. One is a safe page which is basically a landing page that social media bots and moderators are directed to. The real recipient is directed to a proper sales page. MyLead has created a link cloaking system called HideLink. With its help, publishers can promote any type of offer on restricted social media platforms, like Facebook. Access to any tool, including HideLink and Content Lockers is free to each MyLead publisher."
4. AI and Automation Will Transform Affiliate Marketing
Artificial intelligence will change affiliate marketing in 2022. It will save brands time, energy, and resources, and enable companies to increase their sales. It could be anything from helping you find an influencer or affiliate for your campaign, or GPT-3 tools for writing AI copy, creating video ads and so much more.
5. More Traffic and Opportunities
All affiliates will admit to this, every year the traffic stats tend to increase and this always brings new opportunities to the table. In 2022, we expect nothing short of that. The number of internet users keeps going up and it's up to affiliates to find where their target traffic is and monetize effectively.
Anna the General Manager at Mobityze says:
"The affiliate market will definitely grow because, after the pandemic, many were forced to look for income while sitting at home. This is an attractive market for many and can bring good profits. With the influx of new people into this market, competition and problems with some of the existing traffic sources will increase. But, I think, thanks to this, we will have new sources of traffic.
As for the verticals, I think nothing will change much, all verticals have their own audience, which will not go anywhere. Is that the crypto advertisers will attract a little more affiliates from other verticals."
6. Live Shopping Will Become More Popular
Already a booming industry in China, live shopping is expected to expand its popularity to other markets. Livestream shopping will be something that influencers get into more and more - it’s already gaining some popularity on platforms such as Twitch, where gamers will play a game, and then issue a coupon code to drive sales. In November, YouTube hosted a live shopping week for the first time, and it will become an increasingly popular channel as more and more influencers jump onto the bandwagon.
We are excited to see how far this will go on other streaming platforms like Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and also Twitter spaces.
7. Video Content Will Continue to Command Attention and Drive Traffic
As we have seen in 2021, short videos and influencers have gone hand in hand and we expect this to grow further in 2022 with the expansion of Youtube shorts, Instagram reels, and Tiktok.
Tiktok and Instagram are now prioritizing short videos over text as it provides better engagement rates for them and also to the advertisers who want to get the attention and emotional connection with their buyers.
Conclusion
The year has just started but as people involved in the affiliate marketing industry, we expect a lot more to come. The above trends are already anticipated but we could have more coming in 2022 especially with the explosion of cryptos. NFTs, the metaverse and so many groundbreaking technologies.
The most assured trends that we see that should at least be tested by affiliates in 2022 are the combination of e-commerce, influencer marketing, and promoting short video content on Instagram reels, Tiktok, or Youtube shorts.
All in all, the future is exciting!
