8 Marketing Trends To Watch In 2023
The New Year is fast approaching, which means one thing: there’s a stack of exciting marketing trends emerging that have the potential to change the game for brands and businesses.
The marketing, consumer and social media landscape is always evolving so brands and businesses can’t just rely on what’s already been working. In fact, the secret sauce to success is experimenting with new trends, emerging tech and the latest features to see what works (and what doesn’t) for your brand.
Let’s dive into some marketing and social media trends we expect we’ll be seeing everywhere in 2023.
1. In-app shopping
In-app shopping isn’t exactly new. Instagram and now TikTok have made big strides in allowing brands and consumers to access a digital storefront without ever leaving their respective social media apps.
Instagram famously now lets you make purchases through the DMs and TikTok is expanding its TikTok Shop experience. Both are allowing brands to better engage with their audiences. With social media, brands now have the ability to create a digital storefront through social media apps like Instagram and TikTok.
Plus, Instagram reports that 70% of shopping lovers turn to Instagram to discover new products. Research from Statista also shows that social commerce is steadily growing and isn’t slowing down anytime soon so expect to see new developments in in-app shopping all throughout 2023.
2. Long-term influencer-brand partnerships
Influencer marketing has been around the block for a while. It seems like every influencer is churning out sponsored ads with brands all over Instagram. Why? Because it’s one of the best marketing strategies out there.
But, since customers are catching on to influencer marketing it’s essentially leading to ‘influencer fatigue,’ with 47% of consumers saying they are fatigued by repetitive influencers. Basically, we’re tired of seeing influencers with different sponsored products in each new post.
That’s why long-term influencer brand partnerships might be the answer in 2023. Instead of quick and easy content with a different product, we expect to see influencers taking on a brand ambassador role to build trust, and authority while still remaining authentic and selling products.
3. User-generated content (UGC)
Much like long-term influencer-brand partnerships, UGC will be taking over in 2023. If you’ve ever scrolled through TikTok and bought a Korean skincare product because a random person on your for-you page showed you their authentic results you’ll know how influential UGC is.
UGC is basically the new word of mouth and since anyone can create UGC (without fancy equipment and a studio) it’s becoming a cost-effective and influential marketing tool to harness. Plus, the research shows UGC is considered 2.4 times more authentic by consumers than branded content.
If you haven’t already, 2023 is the year to prioritise building a UGC strategy that ensures you’re gathering and sharing authentic content created by your real-life clients and customers.
4. Voice search for SEO
Voice search will soon become the future of online searching. Thanks to Alexa, Google and Siri, 71% of consumers would rather voice search a question than type it.
So how does asking Siri a question impact your marketing content? Well, how you type and how you speak can be pretty different and that impacts your SEO.
That means you’ll have to tailor your marketing content like your blogs to use full phrases and questions that are usually used in conversations between real people. In other words, developing an engaging, conversational and human brand voice has never been more important.
And, since most voice searching is used to answer questions, building out your FAQs in a question-and-answer format is the key. You’ll also want to make sure your answers are quick and punchy since voice search answers tend to be short.
5. Video Marketing
Video content is seeing a big push in social media marketing with TikTok dominating the social media landscape and Instagram prioritising video content through Reels.
Marketers have the opportunity to create short, snappy and impactful video-based content that drives engagement and increases brand awareness. If you aren’t convinced yet, 84% of consumers are persuaded to purchase a product after watching a video of it.
On top of that, live streaming is also a big trend to watch in 2023 and is seeing immense growth. Things like live shopping where promotions expire when the live stream ends generate massive sales, keep consumers engaged and also build brand awareness for your target audience.
Brands like Nordstrom, Khiels and Aldo are already taking advantage of the push in video content through live shopping and partnering with stylists, influencers and industry experts and are seeing massive engagement results.
6. AI for analytics and product recommendations
The AI market is expected to have a yearly growth rate of 120% and many marketers are putting AI at the top of their lists in 2023. While AI can’t replace the human touch for every single task or role, it can be an added help for things like analytics and product recommendations.
So, what does this mean for marketers? Brands want to sell products and that means they’ve got to keep customers through the whole sales journey and AI can help. With real-time analytics and insights and real-time targeting, AI can help markets create better customer retention strategies.
Plus, AI product recommendations can help customers find products they want and need quickly which generates more sales. Figures from Amazon show that 35% of purchases made were from product recommendations and 75% of Netflix’s content is also based on recommendations.
Basically, AI can make the shopping experience better for both consumers and marketers by pointing out the right products to the right customer at the right time.
7. An emphasis on representation and inclusivity
2022 saw some great improvements in representation and inclusivity. Brands started expanding their product ranges to include more shade, body and price inclusivity and more campaigns that are inclusive of race, body, age and sexual preferences.
But, there’s still a long way to go in 2023. Brands that don’t prioritise representation and inclusivity both on-screen and behind the scenes will be isolating themselves from a wider audience.
71% of consumers expect brands to promote diversity and inclusion and Gen Z and Millenials in particular aren’t just pushing for inclusivity in advertising campaigns but they want to see more equitable brands as a whole.
8. Consumer Privacy
In 2023, we expect to see customers stopping to trust businesses that don’t protect their data or who aren’t transparent about it. So, companies have to get on board with changes in consumer behaviours and act fast.
To make consumers feel more confident about their data privacy, companies should go for the authentic and transparent route. This means being upfront about what type of data they collect, a data management plan and standard processes of alerting customers about how they are storing their data. Plus, consent is more important than ever so giving customers an option to opt-out is also important.
A new year means new marketing trends that will be exploding on the scene. While things like AI are on the rise, they can’t always replace a human element when making killer content. Plus, you’ll want to make sure your content is voice search SEO-friendly in 2023 to keep up with trends.
Ready to make 2023 your best year yet? We’re here to help you develop the copy and content to make it happen. Want to team up? Let’s chat.