Twitter Business on trends and insights to help agencies plan for 2022

Whether you’re a brand or an agency, the objective is the same – put a solid plan in place for the year ahead so you can accomplish (or over-deliver on) your 2022 business goals. 

We’ve got four of the biggest business trends for the marketing, creative, tech, and digital sectors in 2022.

Original research

This is particularly important for agencies to take note of. Original research not only helps your clients become thought leaders in their industry, but it also helps your agency to attract other brands that want to follow suit. 

You can cleverly repurpose parts of your original research and create attention-grabbing social media posts. For example, take an interesting stat or insight and create a Twitter Image Ad that leads followers to the landing page with the full research report. 

You can also use gated original research for lead generation. For some inspiration on upcoming events, you and your clients could check out the Twitter Marketing Calendar.

Short-form video 

Short-form video has now become the status quo on social media and this will continue to be a business trend in 2022. The quicker audiences can consume your message, the better. 

People should also be able to consume it on their mobile in any situation and still understand the message of the video – on a loud train, in a quiet waiting room, or on their couch at home.

The most important takeaway here? Your videos need to be optimised for mobile. Video content should also:

• Be less than 15 seconds long – six to 15 seconds is the sweet spot for Twitter videos
• Have a sound-off strategy 
• Show your brand logo straight away. Keep the logo fixed to the top left or right of the screen throughout 
• Have clear placement of your product if applicable 
• Include human interaction 

Micro-influencers

Consumers respond well to micro, or nano, influencers for a simple reason – they feel more relatable, genuine, and therefore, trustworthy. Social media is the home of the micro-influencer. On Twitter, we see the influence they have every single day for all kinds of businesses – beauty, fitness, gaming, food, entertainment, travel, lifestyle, and lots more. 

Although micro-influencers have smaller followings, their audience often has higher engagement levels, which boosts brand awareness. 

If you’re not sure how to find micro-influencers, start with your client’s own followers and see if any of them have large followings – the best advocates for a brand will be genuine customers.

You can also use Twitter’s Advanced Search function to find hashtags associated with your client’s industry or service. Check to see if there are people who post about the topic or use the hashtags often and have good levels of engagement on their posts. These could be the micro-influencers for you.

Purpose-led marketing

Businesses and their customers have been through a rollercoaster of highs and lows for the last couple of years, to say the least. Businesses have had to re-think their products and services, how they’re delivered, how they communicate with their customers, and their relationships with employees and suppliers. 

Values have shifted, and consumers place more worth on a business’ approach to equity, social responsibility, sustainability, diversity, transparency, and trust. Basically, consumers want brands to care. 

In 2022, let your client’s customers see behind the curtain. Share eco-friendly business efforts, provide a behind-the-scenes look at company culture and the people who bring your client’s products or services to life. Encourage your clients to connect to the conversations their customers are taking part in online. 

Plan different ways your client can share more of the purpose behind their business throughout the year. Connecting with their customers in this way will drive stronger relationships and help build trust, which is key to customer retention and loyalty. 

When it comes to planning marketing campaigns, Twitter leaves no stone unturned – check out the 2022 Twitter Planner to see for yourself. 

We’ve compiled some of our best tips and tools to help you brainstorm and plan your marketing campaigns on Twitter for the year ahead. Learn our best practices, how to align your campaigns with your business objectives, and tips for setting your campaign targets.