The digital marketing landscape is ever-evolving. For marketers, one of the biggest challenges is to constantly update and get a firm grasp on changes. As we kick off the new year, here are 5 digital marketing trends for you remain on the top of things and help with shaping your strategies in the new year.
Prioritisation of Reels
If you are an Instagram user, you may have noticed the increasing appearance of reels content in your Explore page or timeline. It is no secret that short-form videos is dominating social media feeds, owed to the ripple effect by TikTok. As Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram had shared, Instagram will be shifting away from a photo-sharing app to a platform to one that is more video-focused.
Compared to the standard video format on Instagram, these short-form vertical format videos generate an incredible average organic reach rate of more than 20% by taking advantage of trendy filters, audio, and mobile-friendly format.
With such promising numbers, it is expected that Instagram will continue to prioritise reels over other content format. So why should brands care? With a discovery algorithm that prioritises reels, posting reels content on the platform is crucial in not only helping your brand to stay relevant, but to boost your brand by giving your content better chances of showing up in the Explore page. Overall, adopting more of such content format can potentially translate to increased reach and engagement for brands.
Audio-first Experiences
It is hard to overstate the impact that TikTok is having in the digital marketing sphere. One of the trends arising from the boom of TikTok is the rise of audio-first content. Unlike other video platforms, TikTok started with a strong emphasis on audio as a crucial element to the user experience from the get-go. Now, be it TikTok, Instagram or even LinkedIn, the rise of audio experiences is evident on most platforms, with introduction of ‘music’ features and audio remixes on Instagram and YouTube as well as growing popularity of podcasts on LinkedIn.
Moving forward into 2023, audio-first experiences is set to carve out space for themselves in terms of advertising and become a valuable outlet for brands.
Phasing Out of Third-Party Cookies
In recent years, tech giants such as Google and Apple have been progressively phasing out of third-party cookies, providing options for users to opt out of being tracked. With more browsers blocking ads and third-party cookies becoming obsolete, retargeting users and tracking advertising effectiveness such as conversions will be a major change that digital marketers would have to re-adjust to, in a cookieless future. Read more about the shift from third-party cookies in our article here.
User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is a trend that will continue well into 2023. Because of its authenticity in an era where consumers are consistently bombarded by ads, UGC stands out as a social media strategy and a great way for brands to create social proof on digital platforms. Brands can thus continue to engage UGC through more interactive content, contests and explore repurposing UGC as part of the social media strategy.
Growth of the ‘Creator Economy’
Influencers and Content Creators may appear as interchangeable terms. However, there is an inherent difference that lies between these spheres of digital marketing. While influencers act as tastemakers that influence their followers through aspirational lifestyles and recommendations, content creators are artists that focuses on expression, through creating niche content such as dancing, comedy, cooking tutorials or even advice channels that catapulted into popularity with the rise of TikTok (Yes, it’s TikTok again).
The creator economy offers numerous opportunities for creators and marketers alike. For brands, this poses huge opportunities for increasing brand awareness through collaborations with content creators who are able to bring across the brands’ message in a highly targeted manner due to their content and audience-niche. As the Creator economy continues to gain momentum, brands that learn to leverage on this channel stands to benefit from awareness and better engagement by tapping on the existing niche audience of their content collaborators.
If you have yet to plan your 2023 marketing strategy, now is the time to start. Contact us for a discussion on how we can help with achieving your marketing goals.
