Three Digital Marketing Trends to watch out for in 2023
9 min read
9 min read
By Teodora Atanasova
The global digital landscape is constantly changing, and 2022 left some marks on the industry. There are several significant trends that are shaping the digital marketing field as we speak, which will further unravel in 2023. Given the time of the year, while marketers work hard on developing plans, going over projections, budgeting, and shaping new campaigns – it could be helpful to share three major digital trends to be on the lookout for.
These trends we’re about to cover were some of the most spoken-about ones in 2022, circulating not only within the tight industry groups but among the general public, so let’s go ahead and check them out!
Metaverse is not new on the landscape, and it hasn’t just appeared out of nowhere but has a more strategic and vivid concept in the current context. We all remember Active Worlds, Second Life, and Sims as similar metaverse experiences from before, but 2022 was somehow marked by the incredible hype built up around Metaverse, and even we tried figuring it out in early 2022. Still, despite all the why’s and the how come’s, the metaverse has been identified as a promising digital touchpoint with great potential. In its early “2022 Pulse Survey,” PwC revealed that 46% of respondents, including CIOs and CTOs, “consider the metaverse very important to their innovation strategy.“
The question is whether the fully immersive metaverse experience is still decades away. This is yet to be found out, and we’re hoping that 2023 will bring some solid answers. What we can do here and now is check out some of the major brands testing the field out and getting creative with their metaverse experiments.
The first ever Metaverse Fashion Week runs from March 24th, 2022, featuring luxury brands. The Web3 event featured over 61 brands, including Dolce & Gabbana, Etro, Elie Saab, Imitation of Christ, and many more.
Nike couldn’t skip on this, so make sure to check out their metaverse transformation here.
From a marketing perspective, there are countless ways of creating more interactive brand experiences. But there are several obstacles to the mass adoption of the metaverse at the moment, which we should be aware of:
As of 2022, the app has over 1.2 billion monthly active users and has been downloaded over 2.6 billion times.
In comparison, Instagram reached 1.4 billion, while Youtube – 2.2 billion. Nevertheless, TikTok has one of the most engaged users out there, making other platforms adopt the same algorithms to keep up. When asked in the 2022 GlobalWebIndex survey how they mainly use TikTok, most respondents answered: “to find funny/entertaining content.”
YouTube has recently introduced its monetization of YouTube shorts, making it more appealing for creators to share their videos there rather than in TikTok.
Globally, users spend an average of 95 minutes on TikTok, which is well ahead of all other social platforms, including YouTube (74 min per day) and Instagram (51 min per day).
The projections show that the platform’s growth is about to slow down:
60% of TikTok’s users in the US are Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012). In 2023, TikTok will have 45 million Gen Z users, while Instagram will have approximately 37.3 million.
One of the main reasons behind TikTok’s success sits in the virality of the content shared on this app. Getting views on YouTube or social engagement on Facebook and Instagram has been challenging. Although these platforms try to adopt similar algorithms, the organic reach is on a decline, making it almost impossible to reach people outside your follower base without investing in paid promotions.
YouTube, on the other hand, has a slightly different approach, prioritizing watch time, frequent uploads, high thumbnail click-through rates, and monetization. But unlike TikTok, it doesn’t allow users to use licensed music freely.
In 2022 it was interesting to see brands trying to benefit from using TikTok, which seems to be considered a “creators’ platform”. Well, the brands need to start acting as creators. And if you’re interested in how small business owners can advertise on TikTok, make sure to check out our dedicated article on this topic.
If you are starting out on TikTok just now, remember a few essential tips:
We are coming to the end of the cookie tracking policies. This has been an ongoing topic for the past two years. As a result, marketers have been preparing different strategies to overcome the obstacles of limited targeting options. Still, the cookie-less future has yet to become a reality. In fact, Google gave 3rd party cookies another year and postponed its plans to 2024.
But let’s quickly talk about what could be done after the depreciation. First, it is important to make the differentiation between the cookies:
Looking at it from a surface, one could say that finding a suitable replacement for third-party cookies is complicated. However, most players in the programmatic space have been working on and rolling out their identity solutions. For example, The TradeDesk and LiveRamp have deployed Unified ID 2.0, which uses Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), Google’s Advertising ID (AAID), and the user’s logged-in email to identify a user.
After the demise of 3rd party cookies and until a universal identity solution fills the gap in targeting capabilities, brands will need to find effective ways of reaching, engaging, and selling to their audiences. Brands likely find it hard to accurately target consumers through paid advertising, which leads to pushing for more organic traffic. The process requires complete website optimization, where SEO holds the central role.
The B2B marketing approach would be adopted more from B2C companies, where 1st party data, email marketing, and SEO are the most valuable sources.
First-party data is the information that you collect directly from consumers: their names, address, email, phone number, and all the interactions you’ve had with them. First-party data allows a high degree of personalization across nearly every digital channel, primarily via email.
To leverage first-party data, brands must nurture relationships with their audience. Therefore, there are some tools you should pay special attention to, such as:
A strategy that companies use to manage interactions with customers and potential customers. CRM helps organizations streamline processes, build customer relationships, increase sales, improve customer service, and increase profitability.
Software that collects and unifies first-party customer data to build a more coherent view of each customer. These data collection source includes behavioral data (based on the actions taken on the website or in the app, etc.), transactional data (customers’ purchases and returns), and demographic data.
DPM is a platform used for collecting and managing data. They allow businesses to identify audience segments, which can be used to target specific users and contexts in online advertising campaigns. DMPs may use big data and artificial intelligence algorithms to process and analyze large data sets about users from various sources.
As an incredibly dynamic ecosystem, the digital marketing world keeps surprising us on a regular basis. But as long as you’re trying to keep up with all the emerging trends relevant to your business, you will do just fine! And, in case you are wondering how to build your marketing strategy for 2023, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via info@aryxe.com – We have a team of experts covering social media marketing, digital advertising, content marketing, graphic design and so much more and we’d be honoured to partner up with you on your marketing journey in 2023!
Resources
https://slate.com/technology/2022/02/second-life-metaverse-facebook-comparisons.html
https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/tip/Metaverse-pros-and-cons-Top-benefits-and-challenges
https://metaversefashionweek.com/
https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/
https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/quicktok/online/Gen-Z-TikTok/pc/en
https://blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-stats/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-gives-third-party-cookies-another-year/459412/
https://www.businesswire.com/news/
