Our Digital Marketing Trend Forecast for 2023
2023 has begun and during this time of year, while we are all focused on resolutions and being our best selves, we discussed what trends we predict in the digital marketing space. This process helps us get inspired and focus on what we believe our clients should prioritise for their digital marketing strategies throughout 2023.
So, we sat down and compiled our top five digital marketing trends that need to be on your radar this year.
Refreshing Content Strategies
Searching for the right mix of content to reach consumers with your message is no easy task, but here’s the good news: social media has never been easier. Take advantage of the latest trends and build a strategy that matches your brand voice, while reaching out to customers in new ways.
Although business owners generally avoid video content as it is ‘more time consuming’ to produce than static content, thanks to TikTok and the changes we are seeing in Reels, more laid back, relaxed content is performing better than high-quality, professional content. Short-form video continues to reign supreme with two-thirds of consumers (66%) finding it engaging, with static images coming second (61%). Social media is visual and marketers who use that to their advantage are primed to win better results for their clients.
Taking this notion further, Sprout Social discovered that in 2022, 37% of consumers found live videos engaging and 32% found UCG to be also. Live video is one of the most relaxed forms on content able to be achieved due to the lack of editing and structure enabled through the form. And UGC has become beloved for being an organic-feeling way to reach target demographics, again, with the more natural and relaxed style taking reign over uniformed and manicured long-form videos, which 24% of the consumers stated to be engaging. Marketers need to take advantage of this trend and change the content they produce accordingly.
2023 is the year of casual content. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to build your brands audience.
Taking a More Nuanced Look at Demographics
As society is working towards looking at individuals with more nuance and inclusivity, we believe there will be a shift towards brands segmenting customers in ways that don’t rely on simply grouping people by age or gender.
For a lot of brands it is helpful to think of customers in this sense as it allows for the prediction of behavioural patterns based on real-world data of such as buying behaviour, digital media consumption etc. We think this is a great first step, especially for businesses who are just starting to understand and segment their audiences. However, as a brand matures and promotional material becomes compared to competitors, we believe that understanding your audience’s preferences and behavioural patterns will become more complex. Consider this, there are approximately 1.8 billion Millennials in the world. Therefore, it’s safe to say that understanding and targeting this group simply based on age will leave you with gaps and missed opportunities.
So, how can a brand begin to understand how to resonate with their target market beyond simple demographics? One way is to ask them. Utilise social media and ads to test which creatives/products/events resonate most. Something else you may find will occur when you begin to consider audiences in a more nuanced way is discovering new audiences you didn’t know your brand had. It may be that a brand’s audiences are segmented based on the devices they use or which grocery store they frequent. We think it’s always top form to try and deeply understand who it is your business is trying to serve, and to then consider the best ways to target them.
Integrating Voice Search into your SEO Strategy
With Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and Cortana, voice assistants are here and they are here to stay. There is no doubt that there is space for every brand to consider how they can best utilise these tools. Implementing voice technology as part of SEO for a business could allow website content to be accessed in a new way while enabling your website to answer user’s questions. Even though voice assistants are in their nascent stages, it's cetainly the future, as when consumers are talking, it’s a good idea to listen.
71% of people prefer using voice search to physically typing out a search online. 71%. This statistic should not be underestimated. The search-technology of the future will be voice-focused. According to Google, 27% of the global online population uses voice search on mobile frequently and 58% of people have used voice search to find information about local businesses. There is so much opportunity for businesses in any industry to be an early adopter and utilise the opportunity at hand.
Voice SEO will help your business by enabling users to find answers to general enquiries from your organic website content. One of the top three reasons consumers want a smart speaker is to ask questions without needing to type, explaining how 80% of smart speaker owners find it easier to use to discover new content and events, and 57% continue to use voice assistants at least once per day.
This is an unmissable opportunity for businesses to increase their reach and engagement in 2023.
Artificial Intelligence: ChatGPT, Dall.e, copy.ai
AI is here, and it's about to shift content creation for marketers into a whole new world.With the commercial introduction of sophisticated AI tools such as Dall.e (for images) and GPT-3 (for words), AI is poised to replace traditional creative work with machines- and the results are fascinating.
AI as an industry has taken revolutionary strides recently, specifically in its ability to understand and actively learn complex relationships between data. Essentially, this means that modern AI can understand new things without any prior knowledge, giving it a unique ability to create original content, without any additional input of information or data. It truly is machine learning.
AI cannot completely make copywriters redundant. AI copy will lack empathy. And marketers will need to add their brand voice to any content when editing. However, Marketers and designers can quickly create new (and original) creative and copy simply by asking an AI platform to create it for them. In seconds, complete and original blog posts, images and more can be quickly produced with minimal effort.
In an era where content is consumed at an alarming rate, the ability to create original work so quickly provides a significant advantage to marketing and creative teams everywhere and in every industry. Marketers should begin to understand this new technology as soon as they possibly can.
Yes, we are entering slightly perilous territory with this new ability to create (so much) content, so quickly. Bad actors can leverage these platforms to create harmful content at mass. This highlights the importance of understanding these technologies and the impact that will incur with it’s adoption in mainstream media. Marketers, advertisers and designers, must use this new power responsibly and should consider implementing ethical business practices focusing on transparency and sources while utilising these tools.
Data Privacy
Over the last few years, there has been plenty of virtual data and privacy scandals, bringing to light companies that haven’t ensured their digital presence is as secure as possible. We have also seen alterations in modern legislation regarding what business can and can’t use their customer’s data to do. These rapid changes are vital for any business with a virtual presence. As we have and continue to see, the companies that ignore the importance of cyber security and ethics will end up in strife.
Forbes described that Data Privacy and User Centricity has become a focal point due to increased government legislation, consumer mistrust and an ‘extreme level of competition in the tech industry’. These factors have allowed consumers to become more and more aware of who is collecting their data, why they are collecting it and what they intend to do with it. In 2023, consumers are aware of the value their data has and that they need to protect it.
Apple has made significant alterations to its privacy features and Google is removing third party cookies, these changes are only the beginning. Forbes predicts that it is now the time for companies to hand back the power to the user and to allow consumers to control how much data is shared.
This impacts marketers through businesses abilities to meet consumer expectations by safeguarding data. This can be achieved through the cultivation of trust between your brand an your consumers, done through transparency with privacy policies, terms and conditions and finding new ways to target customers (without third party cookies). It is likely that this year, we will see an increase in brands accessing new consumers by using incentives (eg. discounts or free gifts) in exchange for email addresses and phone numbers etc. to make a mutually beneficial connection between consumers and brands.