Houston’s Digital Marketing Trends for 2023 – Get Ahead of The Curve – Houston

It’s essential to be up to date on the latest digital marketing trends if you want your business to stay competitive and prosperous online. Here at Houston, we’re always looking for ways to help our clients stay ahead of the curve.

We asked our digital specialists to each identify a trend that will make a big impact in 2023. From a new focus on influencer marketing to an increase in social commerce, these are the opportunities to bear in mind as you build your strategy.

We’ve been watching them closely – get in touch with [email protected] to gain a competitive edge and elevate your digital marketing efforts in 2023.

Employee Advocacy Will Gain More Importance

Zoë Niederhübner:

Some 46% of consumers will abandon a brand if its employees are not knowledgeable (PwC) and bad employee attitude is the number one factor stopping people from doing business with a company.

Employee advocacy is one of the most effective ways for internal stakeholders to showcase employees’ expertise and passion for their company. Sharing and engaging with content from your digital marketing channels – including social media, online PR, and website – can make a real impact.

By demonstrating the strength of your company culture, it can support customer attraction and retention. It also raises your employer profile, appealing to potential talent who might join you. Notably, employee advocacy is also highly favoured by the LinkedIn algorithm, so it can really boost the reach of the content.

Increased Focus on Influencer Marketing

Following the lasting impact of COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis, marketing budgets are expected to be stretched in 2023. As a result, many companies and brands will look to influencer collaborations and partnerships, as well as user-generated content (UGC), as part of their digital strategy.

This type of content is proving more effective than its traditional counterpart, in terms of both costs and results. There will also be a push to build and nurture communities on social media across B2B and B2C, to increase UGC from consumers and to foster a deeper connection to customers.

Here at Houston, we develop new and dynamic influencer strategies for our clients, utilising relevant and impactful creators in their respective sectors.

The Rise of The FYP & Death of The Follower

Following the success of TikTok’s ‘for you’ feature, which resulted in the app’s skyrocketing popularity, almost every other social media platform is pivoting to a recommendation-based algorithm. Meta (Instagram and Facebook) is following suit in the hopes that it will increase their monthly active user (MAU) and ad profits, and the first thing Elon Musk did when he took over Twitter was turn twitter.com into a feed of trending content to replace the log-in page.

This means you no longer need to follow the people or brands you’re interested in to be shown content that is highly relevant to you. For the first time, followers will no longer be the most valuable currency on social media. This is likely to prompt a rethink of influencer marketing strategies and how brands maintain a social media presence.

It’s too soon to tell exactly what the future will look like, but the value of viral content is being redefined. Brands and influencers will need to find new strategies to build loyalty and communities. As a result, you will need to focus far more on quality of engagement over number of followers when evaluating your social media presence and setting KPIs for the year ahead.

Omnichannel Marketing Will Prove Essential

Over 70% of consumers expect a seamless experience across all channels when interacting with a business (Revechat). As more people turn to the internet for their purchasing needs, omnichannel marketing will become an essential strategy for marketers in 2023.

Omnichannel marketing means using all the crayons in the box – email, social media, search engine optimisation, and physical stores – to reach and engage with customers. It means you can reach your target audience effectively with a unified and cohesive customer experience, regardless of channel.

Once they know which channels customers use and why, businesses need to portray a consistent brand identity across them all and create or repurpose effective content native to each. Here at Houston, we have expertise across multiple digital channels, so we are well-placed to help clients conquer this approach strategically and with impact.

The Power of Video Content Remains

Luke Chalker:

Video content is expected to continue trending in 2023, particularly short-form video. This type of content allows businesses to communicate their message effectively in an engaging and visually appealing way. It is favoured by social media and search engine algorithms, helping to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, convert leads into customers, and retain consumer attention.

Online video accounted for more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic in 2022 (Orberlo), and 65% of SMEs and large organisations consider this format the most engaging form of communication for their audiences (Imagen.io). As a result, businesses that invest in high-quality, impactful video content in their digital marketing efforts are more likely to be successful in building brand awareness and generating conversions.

A Shift Towards Brand Discovery and Commerce on Social Media

Social media has long been a place to seek inspiration and influence, and brands will be monetising this more than ever in 2023.

Brand discovery and commerce is growing exponentially as consumer behaviour evolves, particularly amongst younger generations. For example, last year, Google’s internal research showed that 40% of 18–24-year-olds now turn to TikTok and Instagram as their first point of call for brand discovery.

With social commerce on the rise, brands and agencies need to consider how they use their social media channels to be discovered and as a place for consumers to buy.

Think of your social media channels as you do your website  –  a shop window that is often the first touch point for potential customers. Use data to understand how people search and find your brand and make sure you update social copy and hashtags to increase reach even further.

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