What's next for digital, social and web?

In 2022, online consumers reached 4.85 billion, 62.5% of the world's population.

People are consuming digital content on a daily basis, leading to brands spending more on digital marketing in order to tap into this evolving customer base. Digital marketing has shifted the focus to the mutual relationships between brands and their customers, across websites, mobile apps and social media. 

Technological advances have resulted in digital marketers gaining ground, but as the market is constantly evolving, it can be difficult to stay ahead of the digital curve. As we look to the future, the big question is: what digital, web and social trends will dominate in 2023?

The Power of Digital

One of the biggest trends sweeping the digital landscape is AI Copywriting, with content marketers leveraging automated tools to generate new and original content. Copywriting AI is allowing marketers to be more productive by carrying some of the load when it comes to creating content, generating ideas for new articles or blog posts based on a set of keywords provided by the user. This copy can also help conversions as the AI tools have been trained on online written data and marketing copy, meaning it can produce highly engaging and targeted copy based on different frameworks. Ultimately, AI can help digital marketers across each stage of content production and delivery, enabling brands to better connect with their target audience. 

This links to content diversification - as the more diverse a digital marketing campaign is, the more likely it is to engage, retain and reach a larger pool of customers. Diversity in content strategy means covering a wider range of topics, experimenting with different types of content - such as, blogs, eBooks, videos and podcasts - as well as using a variety of digital platforms. In order to do this, brands need an understanding of their audience and how they respond to different content types. They also need to know what content is working well for their business, in terms of driving traffic and conversions in addition to evergreen content. Once this has been established, marketers can be open to embracing new content types and get to grips with emerging digital platforms to ensure they don’t get left behind. 

Whilst content needs to be diversified, it also needs to be personalised to individual consumers. Personalisation is a way for brands to contextualise the messages and experiences they deliver based on customers' individual needs and preferences. This is increasingly becoming vital to managing and optimising the customer journey as consumers are becoming more digitally savvy and expect a digital-first experience. With that in mind, it’s up to marketers to revisit their strategies to ensure personalisation tactics are at the forefront of all digital interactions.

Tapping into Social Media

In the social media space, it can’t be denied that TikTok is becoming the “go-to” platform for digital marketers. With the highest engagement rate per post, it is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Polished video production still has its time and place, but a recent survey found that consumers claimed short-form video content is 2.5 times more engaging than long-form video, demonstrating its ability to drive brand awareness and better connect with target audiences. TikTok enables brands to get creative with their content as well as leverage user-generated content that is ultimately more authentic from people who have consumed the business’ product or service.

Digital marketers also need to consider employee advocacy - an extremely powerful marketing tool that is pivotal in attracting and retaining both talent and customers. It's all about the promotion of a business and its products or services by those who work in it. Through employee advocacy, companies can increase their visibility, build trust with their customers, and create a more positive brand image. It also allows brands to tap into the personal networks of their employees, which can reach a wider and more diverse audience than traditional marketing channels. 

Furthermore, social commerce is expected to boom in the next few years, meaning brands can no longer afford to ignore its potential. In fact, according to Accenture, the social commerce sector is set to grow three times faster than traditional eCommerce in line with consumers increasing social media usage. With valuable opportunities available, marketers need to truly understand their consumers and optimise their journey across all channels, to deliver an authentic and meaningful experience that builds trust and loyalty over time.  

Enhancing the Web

Cookies have enabled marketers to deliver targeted and relevant ads for over two decades, but with the death of third-party cookies on the horizon, brands need to reconsider their marketing strategy and implement alternative solutions. One of the options available is using first-party data, which requires businesses to ask their audience for information. When taking this approach, marketers need to be transparent and concise in explaining why they need to collect customer data and explain how consumers will benefit from this. Contextual advertising is also available, giving brands the ability to reach target audiences through the context of their online experiences. 

With 58% of the population using mobiles to browse the internet, digital marketers also need to contemplate a mobile-first design approach for their websites. Whilst this requires more usability research to create content that is relevant and user-friendly on smaller screens, the benefits are unmatched. Mobile-first design provides improved performance with optimised content and pages loading faster to bolster usability and decrease bounce rates. When designing websites for mobile-first, it is also much easier to scale to desktop and add features if required.

Overall, digital strategies need to be more targeted towards customers, focusing on their pain points and ever-changing needs. Being aware of the latest digital, social and web trends is fundamental to the success of a company’s digital marketing strategy - it’s vital that brands don’t get left behind so staying ahead of the curve has never been more important.