Hey guys,
Affiliate marketing trends tend to come and go, just like those jackpot sales associated with them. This means it’s critical that marketers follow the trends within their specific niche if they really want to make steady and sustainable profits with affiliate marketing in 2022. And if you’re one such marketer looking to make sure your business runs smoothly this year, then you’ve come to the right place!
Read on and learn how to run a successful business with affiliate marketing in 2022!
One of the most important things affiliate marketers need to do is to be vigilant about what the next opportunity to make money online is. Obviously, big e-commerce dates like Black Friday and Cyber Monday come around every year and they need to be marked with a big red pen in your calendar. But apart from the Cyber-5 shopping madness season, there’s a number of other events that should be taken into account, too!
Below you’ll find a list where we cover exactly what dates you should note down for the whole of 2022 to make sure your profits are coming in steadily this year.
Just take a look!
Trends change, times move on and people want different things. However, that is not the case when it comes to influencer marketing in 2022. There are more influencers than ever before on social media, on YouTube, and of course on affiliate marketing forums and websites. In fact, according to the InfluencerMarketingHub, the influencer market was worth $13.8 Billion in 2021 and 75% of companies now have a budget for Influencer marketing.
This means more people are talking about endorsed products, which is a good thing for the industry as a whole. People are used to the way they operate by now too, and some influencers have amassed a large enough following that they could sell anything they want.
Looking at our own niche, for example, some of the affiliate marketing influencers have a reputation of making millions through using techniques proven to be effective in turning website and landing page views into sales. But it’s not all about the sales, it’s about trust, too. They can then help other affiliates to do the same if they are looking to earn some more money through a training program or affiliate forum. And these affiliates put their trust with the gurus, just like regular customers put their trust with influencers.
It’s unavoidable to talk about affiliate marketing trends without mentioning social media. There are also a few trends that are worth noting down this year to make the most of that fact.
Top social media trends for affiliate marketers in 2022:
Reading online reviews as the way to find out if what someone is selling online is the real deal, or if it’s going to break in two minutes, or more importantly, if it’s worth your hard-earned money — is still very much on. But the way we look for reviews in 2022 is now going to be different.
That’s because the trust level of reading things online has gone down in recent years with consumers becoming more and more conscious of what’s an actual, and what’s a fake review.
We all know that it doesn’t take much to write a review of a product on Amazon or Google, all you need is a laptop or smartphone with an internet connection these days. And although some reviews require you to make a purchase of the product you are reviewing, this is not difficult for those persistent in making sure they have a 5-star review on their products for their customers.
So, if we are losing trust in the old online review systems, then where do we turn to in order to find the truth and ultimately understand whether the product or service we want to buy is worth it? Well, there are a number of new ways we are finding the answers to this question.
The first place people go to for reviews in 2022 is YouTube, as after all it is still one of the internet’s biggest search engines and has thousands of people creating content about nearly every topic.
And so, while some of the reviews available on YouTube are obviously sponsored by the company that makes the product, there is often another channel that is creating a video with fewer views giving an honest portrayal of their daily use of such products. And alongside the reviews comes a number of How to guides that show potential clients exactly what to do with the product to get the most out of it when they do bite the bullet and make the purchase.
All of this information allows consumers in 2022 to be able to make an informed decision about the product they are intending to buy. Ultimately helping them to make a purchase decision — whether fuelled by influencer’s reviews and those actual reviews.
This is why reviews, as a way of gaining trust for promoted products, are still an important part of advertising strategy for both brands and affiliate marketers alike. They are an important step in the buyer’s journey, and using them in your affiliate marketing materials could lead to gaining more conversions of your products.
So, maybe include a link to a YouTube video that shows the product in a good light, but in an informative and unbiased way on your product offer page. You never know, it could lead to more conversions for your affiliate marketing campaigns.
Another place internet users are turning to for product opinions is online forums. In this case, they are looking for honest reviews and various how-to guides on products they intend on purchasing. Places like Reddit, Quora, and others offer unbiased reviews of products that people are actually using.
While these people are not being paid for their review of a product, the language they use and the detail that they cover can be more trusted these days than some of the reviews that are left on e-commerce sites, which seem to be written by bots or people that have not considered every detail of the product.
These reviews are felt to be less attached to the big e-commerce companies and therefore distanced from them, meaning that the author of the review is somewhat more credible in their depiction of the product’s flaws or benefits.
This is why one thing you can do as an affiliate marketer in 2022 is to attach screenshots of reviews for the product you are promoting, but not simply from an e-commerce site but, for example, from a forum instead.
Many businesses in 2022 will be looking to make their profit by utilizing technology to become more efficient. Are you wondering if you can do the same with your affiliate marketing business? Well, you’d be surprised what’s possible with technology in our area of business these days. From chatbots and AI-powered automation, through intent targeting and audience matching — the possibilities are endless and only growing! So, let’s have a look at some of those.
It is obvious that technological advancements have increased productivity in business since man discovered the use of tools, but how can the new technology we have mentioned be applied to affiliate marketing?
Well, there are a few things that you can already do to your affiliate marketing campaigns to get the tech to work for you. For example, utilizing the possibilities brought by campaign automation. Whether you use this technology in the form of a/b testing, campaign capping, automatic filtering, or Rule-based optimization — it saves you a lot of time and money when used correctly.
One of the hottest trends of 2022 is taking advantage of technology to improve your business, and when it comes to Zeropark campaigns one of the ways you can do just that is via our own AI-powered Rule-based optimization (RBO) feature.
What is exactly rule-based optimization and how can you use it in your next campaign? Well, it’s quite simple really. It’s a way to make your campaigns run themselves with a set of fixed if-when rules that your campaign follows based on the Zeropark algorithms. Just like presented in the example below.
A/b testing can be used in your campaigns to find out which elements get the highest conversion rate (CR). After all, it is all about the best conversion rate in this game we call affiliate marketing. You can do this in several ways and by testing various segments of elements to ensure that your campaigns have been fully optimized for the highest CTR or CR possible.
Simple things like testing the colors and images you use for each campaign can make or break the deal, so make sure you test which ones get the best results.
Additionally, if you find that you spot a pattern with a certain color for example, then it may save you time with future campaigns as you can start with this color to see if it will work with similar campaigns to achieve positive effects.
Affiliate marketing is branching out from traditional communications such as email, and can now be found in computer games, augmented reality, and virtual reality. These are still in the early stages but is this the way the market is heading?
It’s 2022, you must have heard the term metaverse by now unless you’ve been living under a rock. It’s been bandied around by the likes of Zuckerberg and others to describe the virtual space in which we will all be living in the future or for some of us… right now. This was intended as a computer gaming space, but it has endless opportunities for people. Some are already discussing how they will work in an office in the metaverse, or exercise there rather than out in the physical world.
So, is 2022 the future? Some might say so.
In 2022, you can point your smartphone camera at items around your home and it will be able to identify them or give you more information about them through programming from Google Lens or Apple’s Visual Lookup.
But big brands like Burger King and Ikea have gone one step further and already used augmented reality in their advertising. This is certainly a trend that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
While this is unlikely to be coming to affiliate marketing campaigns in 2022, due to the trickle-down effect of technology this may become your new reality for your landing pages soon enough. There are however a few virtual reality and augmented reality affiliate marketing programs to sign up for already.
In 2021, there was a marked change in the way we shop, as the global pandemic has affected many aspects of our lives and store shopping has been hit the hardest. There are more and more hurdles put in place to shop in person these days, and it has even become a joyless experience for some. While brick-and-mortar sales have declined in the last few years, Shopify has noticed that the online retail sector has taken up the slack.
According to Forbes, one big trend will be the continued growth of e-commerce in 2022. This is due in part to the previously mentioned declining retail outlets but also due to the pandemic-speeded and increased success of e-commerce in the last few years.
What does this mean for affiliate marketers?
Well, brands will need to switch their marketing efforts to attempt to tap into that growing market online. One way to do this is through affiliate marketing. The best affiliate marketers make money with e-commerce all year round with well-placed e-commerce ads.
Again, this comes back to the affiliate marketing calendar we mentioned earlier, as well as market adaptability to make the most of the opportunities to profit online throughout 2022.
Well, not anymore.
Many people have heard key phrases like ‘Ok, Google play music from Spotify’, ‘Alexa search for…’ ‘Hey, Siri, what’s the weather like today?’ These are just some examples. And although not all content has been voice-search optimized just yet, marketers who pay attention to the shifting sands of online marketing trends have surely done so already.
The biggest e-commerce players have already implemented some competitive bidding wars for the suggestion these personal assistants can make to users. An example of this is the brand suggested when shopping via an Amazon Echo. It can be any number of products for a particular spoken keyword phrase, but if a brand wants to be the one at the top of the suggested list, then they have to pay a premium for this top spot much like the sponsored links in the search results page within Amazon or the PPC ads on the Google SERP.
So, in 2022 it will be necessary for affiliates to try to penetrate this market with their ads or at least pay to have their products mentioned as a suggestion. This will of course be dominated by brands that have larger spending capabilities but alternatives are also available.
This means that SEO isn’t just about what gets you to rank on the SERP, it’s needed for vertical search to show customers what they are looking for too. And although this is technically a form of competition to Google they actually favor promoting sites that do well for vertical search as they ultimately serve customers better in their search for what they are looking for.
This is important because the searches that are carried out on these e-commerce sites can be monetized via advertisements.
So, if you haven’t started search marketing just yet, this may be your opportunity to get started in 2022.
According to Business Insider, internet users these days are going straight to their favorite shopping sites (in this case Zalando) and relying on the search box within the website to locate the item they are searching for. While this doesn’t seem like a big change, it is one that needs to be taken note of as this is an opportunity to make some real money.
Here’s a recap of each trend mentioned in this article that you should note down for this year:
Magda
Affiliate marketing trends tend to come and go, just like those jackpot sales associated with them. This means it’s critical that marketers follow the trends within their specific niche if they really want to make steady and sustainable profits with affiliate marketing in 2022. And if you’re one such marketer looking to make sure your business runs smoothly this year, then you’ve come to the right place!
Read on and learn how to run a successful business with affiliate marketing in 2022!
Seasonality: Key dates of 2022
One of the most important things affiliate marketers need to do is to be vigilant about what the next opportunity to make money online is. Obviously, big e-commerce dates like Black Friday and Cyber Monday come around every year and they need to be marked with a big red pen in your calendar. But apart from the Cyber-5 shopping madness season, there’s a number of other events that should be taken into account, too!Below you’ll find a list where we cover exactly what dates you should note down for the whole of 2022 to make sure your profits are coming in steadily this year.
Just take a look!
Influencers still have a seat at the affiliate marketing table in 2022
Trends change, times move on and people want different things. However, that is not the case when it comes to influencer marketing in 2022. There are more influencers than ever before on social media, on YouTube, and of course on affiliate marketing forums and websites. In fact, according to the InfluencerMarketingHub, the influencer market was worth $13.8 Billion in 2021 and 75% of companies now have a budget for Influencer marketing.This means more people are talking about endorsed products, which is a good thing for the industry as a whole. People are used to the way they operate by now too, and some influencers have amassed a large enough following that they could sell anything they want.
Looking at our own niche, for example, some of the affiliate marketing influencers have a reputation of making millions through using techniques proven to be effective in turning website and landing page views into sales. But it’s not all about the sales, it’s about trust, too. They can then help other affiliates to do the same if they are looking to earn some more money through a training program or affiliate forum. And these affiliates put their trust with the gurus, just like regular customers put their trust with influencers.
Social media marketing trends
It’s unavoidable to talk about affiliate marketing trends without mentioning social media. There are also a few trends that are worth noting down this year to make the most of that fact.Top social media trends for affiliate marketers in 2022:
- Video content will continue to dominate…
- TikTok isn’t going anywhere, so hop on!
- Influencer marketing will keep growing, too, you guys.
- Buying items through social media will become the norm.
- Paid advertising will be scaling even more.
Trust in online reviews in 2022 is different
Reading online reviews as the way to find out if what someone is selling online is the real deal, or if it’s going to break in two minutes, or more importantly, if it’s worth your hard-earned money — is still very much on. But the way we look for reviews in 2022 is now going to be different.That’s because the trust level of reading things online has gone down in recent years with consumers becoming more and more conscious of what’s an actual, and what’s a fake review.
We all know that it doesn’t take much to write a review of a product on Amazon or Google, all you need is a laptop or smartphone with an internet connection these days. And although some reviews require you to make a purchase of the product you are reviewing, this is not difficult for those persistent in making sure they have a 5-star review on their products for their customers.
So, if we are losing trust in the old online review systems, then where do we turn to in order to find the truth and ultimately understand whether the product or service we want to buy is worth it? Well, there are a number of new ways we are finding the answers to this question.
The first place people go to for reviews in 2022 is YouTube, as after all it is still one of the internet’s biggest search engines and has thousands of people creating content about nearly every topic.
And so, while some of the reviews available on YouTube are obviously sponsored by the company that makes the product, there is often another channel that is creating a video with fewer views giving an honest portrayal of their daily use of such products. And alongside the reviews comes a number of How to guides that show potential clients exactly what to do with the product to get the most out of it when they do bite the bullet and make the purchase.
All of this information allows consumers in 2022 to be able to make an informed decision about the product they are intending to buy. Ultimately helping them to make a purchase decision — whether fuelled by influencer’s reviews and those actual reviews.
This is why reviews, as a way of gaining trust for promoted products, are still an important part of advertising strategy for both brands and affiliate marketers alike. They are an important step in the buyer’s journey, and using them in your affiliate marketing materials could lead to gaining more conversions of your products.
So, maybe include a link to a YouTube video that shows the product in a good light, but in an informative and unbiased way on your product offer page. You never know, it could lead to more conversions for your affiliate marketing campaigns.
Forums may be the new space to find online reviews
Another place internet users are turning to for product opinions is online forums. In this case, they are looking for honest reviews and various how-to guides on products they intend on purchasing. Places like Reddit, Quora, and others offer unbiased reviews of products that people are actually using.While these people are not being paid for their review of a product, the language they use and the detail that they cover can be more trusted these days than some of the reviews that are left on e-commerce sites, which seem to be written by bots or people that have not considered every detail of the product.
These reviews are felt to be less attached to the big e-commerce companies and therefore distanced from them, meaning that the author of the review is somewhat more credible in their depiction of the product’s flaws or benefits.
This is why one thing you can do as an affiliate marketer in 2022 is to attach screenshots of reviews for the product you are promoting, but not simply from an e-commerce site but, for example, from a forum instead.
Harnessing technology to make marketing easier in 2022
Many businesses in 2022 will be looking to make their profit by utilizing technology to become more efficient. Are you wondering if you can do the same with your affiliate marketing business? Well, you’d be surprised what’s possible with technology in our area of business these days. From chatbots and AI-powered automation, through intent targeting and audience matching — the possibilities are endless and only growing! So, let’s have a look at some of those. How to use AI to boost profits in 2022?
It is obvious that technological advancements have increased productivity in business since man discovered the use of tools, but how can the new technology we have mentioned be applied to affiliate marketing?Well, there are a few things that you can already do to your affiliate marketing campaigns to get the tech to work for you. For example, utilizing the possibilities brought by campaign automation. Whether you use this technology in the form of a/b testing, campaign capping, automatic filtering, or Rule-based optimization — it saves you a lot of time and money when used correctly.
How can you implement Rule-based optimization in your next campaign?
One of the hottest trends of 2022 is taking advantage of technology to improve your business, and when it comes to Zeropark campaigns one of the ways you can do just that is via our own AI-powered Rule-based optimization (RBO) feature.What is exactly rule-based optimization and how can you use it in your next campaign? Well, it’s quite simple really. It’s a way to make your campaigns run themselves with a set of fixed if-when rules that your campaign follows based on the Zeropark algorithms. Just like presented in the example below.
What exactly is A/B testing?
A/b testing can be used in your campaigns to find out which elements get the highest conversion rate (CR). After all, it is all about the best conversion rate in this game we call affiliate marketing. You can do this in several ways and by testing various segments of elements to ensure that your campaigns have been fully optimized for the highest CTR or CR possible.Simple things like testing the colors and images you use for each campaign can make or break the deal, so make sure you test which ones get the best results.
Additionally, if you find that you spot a pattern with a certain color for example, then it may save you time with future campaigns as you can start with this color to see if it will work with similar campaigns to achieve positive effects.
The future of marketing is virtual and augmented reality
Affiliate marketing is branching out from traditional communications such as email, and can now be found in computer games, augmented reality, and virtual reality. These are still in the early stages but is this the way the market is heading?It’s 2022, you must have heard the term metaverse by now unless you’ve been living under a rock. It’s been bandied around by the likes of Zuckerberg and others to describe the virtual space in which we will all be living in the future or for some of us… right now. This was intended as a computer gaming space, but it has endless opportunities for people. Some are already discussing how they will work in an office in the metaverse, or exercise there rather than out in the physical world.
So, is 2022 the future? Some might say so.
In 2022, you can point your smartphone camera at items around your home and it will be able to identify them or give you more information about them through programming from Google Lens or Apple’s Visual Lookup.
But big brands like Burger King and Ikea have gone one step further and already used augmented reality in their advertising. This is certainly a trend that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
While this is unlikely to be coming to affiliate marketing campaigns in 2022, due to the trickle-down effect of technology this may become your new reality for your landing pages soon enough. There are however a few virtual reality and augmented reality affiliate marketing programs to sign up for already.
★ 5 VR affiliate marketing programs to check out:
- Oculus Affiliate Program
- VR Cover Affiliate Program
- VR Sync Affiliate Program
- Levelup Reality Affiliate Program
- MobFish Affiliate Program
2022 will be another big year for e-commerce
In 2021, there was a marked change in the way we shop, as the global pandemic has affected many aspects of our lives and store shopping has been hit the hardest. There are more and more hurdles put in place to shop in person these days, and it has even become a joyless experience for some. While brick-and-mortar sales have declined in the last few years, Shopify has noticed that the online retail sector has taken up the slack.According to Forbes, one big trend will be the continued growth of e-commerce in 2022. This is due in part to the previously mentioned declining retail outlets but also due to the pandemic-speeded and increased success of e-commerce in the last few years.
What does this mean for affiliate marketers?
Well, brands will need to switch their marketing efforts to attempt to tap into that growing market online. One way to do this is through affiliate marketing. The best affiliate marketers make money with e-commerce all year round with well-placed e-commerce ads.
Again, this comes back to the affiliate marketing calendar we mentioned earlier, as well as market adaptability to make the most of the opportunities to profit online throughout 2022.
The way we search for online purchases is different in 2022
It has also been noticed that the way that users are searching for items to purchase online has changed. Traditionally, users browsing for particular items online e.g. running shoes, would go straight to a search engine and type in their keyword phrase to find the best deals available for that particular product.Well, not anymore.
★ Voice search
Among various newly emerged trends, it has been recorded that many consumers are now searching for items online using their voice these days. With the introduction of smart devices in smart homes, as well as virtual personal assistants available on mobile and desktop devices this number is only set to grow. With Google Assistant already having over 500 million users, for example.Many people have heard key phrases like ‘Ok, Google play music from Spotify’, ‘Alexa search for…’ ‘Hey, Siri, what’s the weather like today?’ These are just some examples. And although not all content has been voice-search optimized just yet, marketers who pay attention to the shifting sands of online marketing trends have surely done so already.
The biggest e-commerce players have already implemented some competitive bidding wars for the suggestion these personal assistants can make to users. An example of this is the brand suggested when shopping via an Amazon Echo. It can be any number of products for a particular spoken keyword phrase, but if a brand wants to be the one at the top of the suggested list, then they have to pay a premium for this top spot much like the sponsored links in the search results page within Amazon or the PPC ads on the Google SERP.
So, in 2022 it will be necessary for affiliates to try to penetrate this market with their ads or at least pay to have their products mentioned as a suggestion. This will of course be dominated by brands that have larger spending capabilities but alternatives are also available.
★ Vertical search
Another search trend that has been noticed is the use of what is coined as vertical search. According to Search engine land this one of the recent market changes worth taking note of in 2022. This is simply the name given for searches that occur on websites of a particular vertical. For example, shoppers searching for computer games online are skipping the search engines like Google and Bing and heading straight to online retailers (like BestBuy, or Amazon) stocking these games for their primary search.This means that SEO isn’t just about what gets you to rank on the SERP, it’s needed for vertical search to show customers what they are looking for too. And although this is technically a form of competition to Google they actually favor promoting sites that do well for vertical search as they ultimately serve customers better in their search for what they are looking for.
This is important because the searches that are carried out on these e-commerce sites can be monetized via advertisements.
So, if you haven’t started search marketing just yet, this may be your opportunity to get started in 2022.
★ Shopping habits of Gen Z & Millennials
We can’t forget the new generation of shoppers is also having an impact with Gen-Z having fewer problems trusting technology to help them make purchases online. Many brands will need to take advantage of this market to reach the new generation of shoppers that expect everything to run quickly and securely (and don’t forget sustainably, too).According to Business Insider, internet users these days are going straight to their favorite shopping sites (in this case Zalando) and relying on the search box within the website to locate the item they are searching for. While this doesn’t seem like a big change, it is one that needs to be taken note of as this is an opportunity to make some real money.
The top affiliate marketing trends of 2022
Here’s a recap of each trend mentioned in this article that you should note down for this year:- Seasonality — note down your affiliate marketing calendar itinerary now!
- Improving brand awareness — learn how to do it with affiliate marketing.
- Brand safety — remember why this should be included in your affiliate marketing strategy.
- Influencer marketing in 2022 — utilize it for your affiliate marketing business.
- Harnessing technology for advertising — automate, update and save both time and money.
- AR & VR — don’t forget these are earning their place in future advertising.
- Preparing for cookieless advertising — act now.
- Improving user experience — UX is more important than ever.
- E-commerce changes — what you should focus on to keep your campaigns sustainable all year round.
- The way we search has changed — keep up with the new demands of modern consumers.
- Pandemic effects on advertising — get into the best remote job during a pandemic!
If you'd like to learn more, read the article and get insights on:
- Improving brand awareness with affiliate marketing in 2022;
- Keep your brand safe with affiliate marketing in 2022;
- 2022 could be the year of cookieless marketing;
- Improving user experience in 2022;
- Advertising on Buy Now Pay Later platforms;
- The effect of the pandemic on advertising.
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Magda
