A new year has begun, so every business owner is looking for ways to attract more clients in 2023. To do so, we’d first have to understand Google’s latest algorithm changes in 2022 to adapt to these new updates.
The most important Google updates of 2022, as recorded by Search Engine Land, can be categorized into three groups:
- Core updates: updates that enable a more specific, quicker, and safer search
- Content updates: updates that prioritize the content that has the most relevant and helpful information
- Experience: updates that highlight the best user experience irrespective of the device or platform used for the Google search
To conclude, if you want the content published on your site to rank on Google’s first page, you must provide relevance and top expertise to the users visiting your website.
After you’ve updated your website to comply with new Google policies, you must analyze the new digital marketing trends in 2023 to see which is a better fit for your business.
If your social media channels saw a slight increase among marketers, influencer marketing experienced accelerated growth in recent years, as noted in this infographic done by eMarketer:
In 2022, marketing automation has been a buzzword; in the last quarter of the year, ChatGPT (currently GPT-3.5, but soon GPT-4 will be launched) has been used widely. With the help of this AI tool, one could write and generate content that could assist marketing specialists, programmers, and many more.
To truly probe the digital marketing trends of 2023, I’ve asked 20+ marketing specialists to share their thoughts and opinions with the Hot in Social Media community. I’d like to thank all the marketing experts for sending their suggestions and advice.
If you want to develop a digital marketing strategy that’s useful and coherent for the year that has just begun, I recommend you read the hottest digital marketing trends in 2023.
Don’t forget to share this article on your social media channels, along with your thoughts on the trends you’ve liked most.
What are the Most Important Digital Marketing Trends in 2023?
- Become a better storyteller. In a noisy world, you need to stand out, and the way to do that is to become a better communicator, whether it is on your website, social media messaging, or email marketing. People resonate with and build deeper emotional connections with storytelling, so learn how to use this to your advantage to capture and retain your audience’s interest. This is especially important for email marketing.
- Create an Employer Branding strategy. Employer branding is all about the intersection of employee advocacy, influencer marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing. Redefining / re-energizing your internal culture and celebrating the employee can help impact your marketing in more ways than you might have imagined.
Live Stream Social Commerce Trends with Influencers
Brands are becoming savvier than ever when it comes to leveraging influencer marketing. From fundraising to product launches to events coverage, live streaming offers brands another avenue for influencer marketing.
Live stream shopping (rapidly growing in popularity) creates a unique shopping experience for consumers, especially with Gen Z and Millennials. According to Coresight Research, the U.S. livestream market was projected to reach $11bn in 2021. By 2023, the U.S. livestream shopping market is predicted to be worth $25bn.
Live-stream commerce has been increasingly popular among younger audiences, with users aged 27 and under because they spend three times longer watching live video than they do watching pre-recorded video. When the live element is added, the video becomes more engaging as the audience feels they’re a part of it and can influence the content rather than just passively watching. Not only can brands and businesses benefit from the increased reach and visibility that comes from working with their favorite influencers, but it establishes meaningful connections with potential customers that may have never heard of you before.
Pinterest is absolutely changing the game when it comes to influencer marketing with tools like the ‘Pinterest TV Studio’ app for use in the US and Canada. The app is designed to enable live-stream creators to improve their streaming set-ups with multiple camera capabilities, improved editing tools, and the ability to self-select and schedule their own episodes.
If you’re ready to start incorporating live streaming into your influencer campaigns, you can go here to apply.
Transferring from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 is one of the top trends and necessities for marketers in 2023. The good news is that GA4 allows users to pull more accessible ad hoc reports, while the bad news for marketers is that GA4 leans heavily into privacy, hinting that third-party cookies will soon become obsolete. Moving to GA4 is mandatory, not an option, so the more you can understand, the better you will be set up for success when it launches.
The transition from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 is no easy feat, so you should use an agency or consultant to help you make the move.
Social responsibility and inclusivity are other trends becoming more and more searched on company websites. Clients and future employees want to know what your company stands for and how you plan on contributing to issues they are passionate about. An SEO-written page on your social responsibility and inclusivity is an even better option, allowing those with the same core values and initiatives as your company to find you.
Lastly, interactive website features are crucial with the GA4 change leading to a more significant focus on website engagement. Interactive radars, charts, infographics, polls, etc., keep users on your site longer, allowing them to get to know your brand better.
Yes, short-form video – that’s a given. But, more importantly, is the sea change I’m seeing happening in 2022, which will only grow stronger in 2023.
And that is the shift away from focusing on all the public-facing proxy or vanity metrics of more followers, more reach, more engagement, etc. And, instead, moving towards focusing on metrics that matter, quietly building relationships and growing our businesses without a lot of fuss and fanfare.
Social media will certainly continue to be a critical component of the marketing mix. But we have to stop being at the mercy of big tech algorithms and take back control. Double down on what’s important to you in your business vs. just jumping on some temporary trend that everyone else is doing. Like AI profile pictures, LOL. When everyone else is zagging, I like to zig.
Artificial intelligence is a talked-about trend, and there are many ways business people can begin to include it in users’ experiences of their business. Chatbots, interactive videos, etc. AI also extends to social media algorithms, so understanding how it affects your post once you hit “publish” is something more business people should learn in 2023.
Video is also going to be bigger than ever. Those who aren’t yet taking advantage of visual media should plan to get on the bandwagon! TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are going to be more popular than ever. Consumers are looking for short, engaging content, and there’s no better way to do that than video.
I feel that influencer marketing is also going to be huge in 2023. Leveraging off of each other’s success in win-win situations is hugely powerful.
An email marketing list, and the marketing that follows, is not simply about numbers… it’s about adding value to both your brand AND the consumer. Unfortunately, too many are simply banging away at the numbers.
Consumers do not owe you their attention, and they certainly do not owe you their “permission.” We need to EARN it… permission is earned through quality content and offers genuine interest in and a deep understanding of consumer preferences/needs and a consistent track record that builds trust. Keep the trust, keep the permission, keep the customer.
It’s not just the volume or brilliance of content that matters, it’s how that content relates to them.
If the content is not relevant, it’s nothing more than a waste of your time and a reason for the consumer to take away permission for ongoing interaction with you.
While not a new concept, zero-click content is definitely a trending tactic that I believe will continue to rise in 2023. Marketers are talking more about it, and the audience is now used to consume most of the content instantly. Without the extra clicks.
The tactics are shifting. Repurposing content by finding different formats, visuals, or copy is no longer enough. Creating social-first content is, instead, becoming the norm. Brands are expected to provide actual value through their social media posts — leaving behind the old “link + CTA” post for good.
1. Many brands have been online for a number of years. They may not see the outdated descriptions and images the way their potential first-time customers would. In turn, their online marketing strategies probably need an update. Times are tough, and this is especially when the best marketers win. An online presence audit and new marketing strategy map would be the answer to keeping your company more searchable and findable.
2. Your updated online presence should include web pages with killer embedded brand videos. They should amplify your brand voice and values while offering a human connection with your business. The videos should also be available on Google, so they are individually searchable and findable using tags. Reviews and testimonials – video if possible – should be easily findable on your website and showcased on your social media.
3. If you’re not found in search, your brand will be the best kept SECRET. We now must think in terms of text and voice search. Blogging for SEO should be part of an updated strategy. Think keywords and snippets of text for the most optimal result.
4. Does your ideal client use LinkedIn? Then your LinkedIn presence should be stellar! Refresh your profile. Consider developing a LinkedIn Content Creator status and/or publishing a LinkedIn Newsletter. Both of these moves attract your ideal client and keep ideal audiences engaged with you and your brand — including business professionals and executives (decision-makers).
The most important digital marketing trend going into 2023 is the shift away from social media behemoths run by billionaires (Meta, Twitter) and towards smaller, more community-based, and crowdsourced networks like Mastodon and Discord.
In 2022 Facebook – once the undisputed king of social media platforms – struggled to maintain its position among the Top 10 apps in the U.S. App Store. The #1 non-gaming app right now is BeReal – a social media app that has grown leaps and bounds (73.5 million monthly users and growing) all without advertiser support.
This speaks to the importance of diversification in digital marketing. Marketers should never rely on just one or two platforms to build their brands and their community, but rather they must continually explore and experiment with new tools, with a laser-focus on their audience and where they spend their time online.
Easily, one of the most important trends, not just for social media in 2023, will be personalization.
We’ve already seen it pop up, and statistics show that personalization does lead to higher engagement rates. We’ll be seeing more ways to share what you like, with more options on how to share it.
I’ve noticed that live streams have also become quite popular as well, especially over Twitch.
One of the most interesting things about a live stream is how the viewers are actually able to engage with the streamer, even taking part in or shaping certain aspects of the live stream.
This allows for a much more personal viewing experience.
Successful accounts will grow more successful. It’s the “rich get richer” problem but on social media.
Can smaller accounts catch up? Yes, but they need to produce super high-quality content and promote it relentlessly with social videos and influencer collaboration.
I’d be remiss, of course, not to mention the importance of the PESO Model in a digital marketing or communications program.
It takes all four media types—paid, earned, shared, and owned media—and combines them for an integrated program that drives trust and credibility and, most importantly, leads. It’s easy to measure it’s effectiveness, and it works, no matter your objectives. It’s time to embrace the PESO Model.
The days of “interruption marketing” (cold calling, email marketing, and advertising (paid media)) are over, the data backs this up. We all know that business takes place on social media, not in an interruption, spammy way, but in the people on social media, having conversations, just like we have always done, human-centric commerce.
The winners in business today will be those that empower their teams with digital skills so, sales people, marketers, and employees understand what it means to walk digital corridors and have digital conversations.
As the analog businesses continue to fall behind, it is down to the digital business to grow their market share, build their commutative advantage and build their digital dominance, pushing out the analog competition from the market to obviation.
Whether we like it or not, video is here to stay. However, 2023 will be the rise of short-form video. We’ve seen an increase in short-form content with Tik Tok, Shorts, and stories.
For businesses reading this, this doesn’t have to mean all your videos have to be 1 minute long. It just means the gateway content you create to tease your bigger content has to be in the short form, e.g., if you have new content coming up, you can create a short 1-minute video sharing its benefits with a cta to the longer form piece, which might be a blog or longer video.
It used to be all about being present on one single channel and dominating, but the truth is now, in 2023, it will be more important than ever to have these micro-videos shared across multiple social platforms. If you’re shy on video, you can always create audio with a still image overlay.
This is now your chance to shine! as the video will outrank other content pieces in the algorithm on Facebook and is more eye-catching than images for IG.
Christina Garnett
Principal Marketing Manager, Offline Community and Advocacy – HubSpot
Advertising will shift not just because of the uncertainty of Twitter but because consumers are used to traditional tactics, and Gen Z rejects ads and tries to avoid them as much as possible.
It’s time for marketers to be more thoughtful about how they communicate with their audience and connect with them instead of relying of gimmicks.
My gut says we’re once again going to see a lot of change on social media in 2023. So the list below is by no means an all-inclusive list, but they’re what I’d consider my top three.
- LinkedIn growth.
Between Twitter’s meltdown, the great resignation, and folks looking for work for a variety of reasons coming out of the pandemic, LinkedIn has grown exponentially over the last year or so. While it’s still not the spot to air your grievances with your BFF (like some folks choose to do on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, et al), if you grasp it as a BUSINESS platform, there’s some real power there for hiring, networking, and finding amazing companies to partner/work with. - Employee advocacy.
People want to hear and learn from people, not businesses. The companies that are going to rule social media in 2023 are going to find a way to tap into their employees and engage them in mutually beneficial ways to get their messages spread. - Visual content.
Algorithms across all platforms prefer visual content. Users prefer visual content. Both prefer short videos over static images but show static images over text posts or links (if those types of posts are even allowed – *cough* Instagram and TikTok *cough).
If we thought that 2022 was chaotic, with tons of changes and updates for social media platforms, the year to come seems even more promising when it comes to changes.
The most important digital marketing trend that will stick is video content.
As the attention span has narrowed even more, users are more attracted to bite-size information encapsulated in video content. However, the text will continue to matter in digital marketing 2023 as long as it’s quality and no-salesy content.
As long as you offer your customers an experience, a feeling, instead of directly commercializing a product or a service, you have great chances of winning over their hearts.
The marketplace model is on the rise, as is social commerce, particularly in the Asia markets. It’s important to be aware of the increased demand by consumers for single-item product purchases and to cater to that in social campaigns.
Investment in the use of influencers continues to rise, but the type of influencer has evolved to include more niche influencers for specific markets.
Jeff Korhan
Digital Marketing Speaker, Author and Founder – Landscape Digital Institute
Breaking through the filters that clutter and compromise the digital experience continues to challenge most marketers.
This may sound old school, but one of the most successful methods for getting noticed is being truly passionate about the topic. It’s a question we should all be asking ourselves.
Publishing content that has been carefully researched and packaged for consumption is one way to do that. This may also include publishing with greater frequency or with longer-form content. What works will vary, but it’s safe to say that some aspect of abandoning the status quo is worth consideration.
For 2023, I see the building of digital communities and ecosystems within market specific sectors as an important trend.
Engage authentically. We still find people “posting” instead of “engaging”. Most of the world considers posting without engagement to be spam. Please don’t spam.
