Marketing is changing faster than ever. I mean, there are ALWAYS new algorithm and Google updates, which means sometimes it can be hard to keep track of all the new marketing trends.
As we head into the New Year, we thought it would be only fitting to share some of the most important marketing trends that will continue in 2023 to aid you in your long-term marketing planning.
1. Chatbots can Increase Engagement
Many websites have handy chatbots that can answer user queries. Chatbot usage has doubled since 2020 and we can only predict this trend will continue. Chatbot technology is proving to be very successful for many reasons;
Automates customer service
Keeps customers on your webpage for longer
Improves overall website efficiency for users
Creates a better user experience.
Online shopping is one trend that will continue to prevail and grow in 2023 therefore increasing customer engagement is vital.
If you DON’T have an active chatbot on your website, we recommend adding one. If you DO have a chatbot on your website, we recommend optimising your automated messages and ensuring that actual people are available to chat as well.
2. Video is Vital
Video has always been a part of digital marketing, but in this past year, it has come to the forefront and is now one of the most effective forms of marketing.
With TikTok reaching 1 BILLION active users (to put that into perspective, the population of India is 1.3 billion!), it is a hotspot for small businesses to reach new customers, generate engagement and make sales.
Do not underestimate the power of video, video exclusive platforms such as TikTok are ideal for promoting your business via video, however, don’t forget about your trusty favourite social platforms.
For example, reels on Instagram can go viral and produce an extraordinary number of views and engagements. Customers like video content as it is often more personal, informative and shows the real person behind the business.
Want to see this in practice? Click here to visit our Instagram page and see how we use reels in our marketing strategies.
3. Mobile Site Speed can NEVER be too Fast!
Website traffic is overwhelmingly mobile; however, most websites still don’t have fully mobile-optimized experiences.
How often do you surf the web on your phone vs a computer? If you are like the majority, you will search on your phone more than a computer, 50.47% of the time to be exact.
When undertaking website optimisation, you should make sure the user experience is excellent for all devices. To get you started, these are a few things to watch out for:
Check all images fit on a phone screen without needing to scroll
Ensure titles fit fully on the screen
When using moving graphics/text make sure that it does not harm your load speed. Too many movements can harm your speed and visually impact user experience.
4. Step it Up with Social Media Shopping
For most, online shopping has become a staple way to purchase items from the comfort of your own home (whether that is due to the pandemic or just enjoying browsing Amazon from your bed! No judgement here), but how about making purchases through your social media platforms?
With the likes of TikTok and Instagram launching their own shopping features this year, this new way to buy is likely to grow in popularity during 2023.
81% of consumers currently research potential product purchases using social media, and with these features cutting out the process of going to an external website, social media shops should be included in your marketing strategy.
Keep an eye out for any updates, changes or new features available on these shopping sections to make the most out of your consumers. Each additional step your customer has to take is an opportunity for you to lose their custom.
5. Will the Metaverse be Mighty?
When Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would become ‘Meta’, it caused speculation as to how this would affect the world of social media marketing. With some marketing strategies revolving solely around Facebook, the name change alone was confusing but the unveiling of his plans for a virtual reality world was even more mind-blowing.
This Zuckerbergian digital universe isn’t quite ready yet but we can only imagine how virtual reality worlds could change the face of marketing.
On Twitter, Meta announced, “The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection. It’s a collective project that will be created by people all over the world, and open to everyone. You’ll be able to socialize, learn, collaborate and play in ways that go beyond what’s possible today.”
Marketing may not directly be affected, however, new products and services will be on the horizon which could produce a need for more creative marketing styles.
Summary for marketing in 2023
There are many trends and new developments to the world of digital marketing that we should all watch out for. If you are involved in digital marketing, it is vital that you stay up to date to make the most out of your marketing strategy.
Think about what you want your marketing strategy to achieve, do you want more traffic to your website? More engagement? Do you want sales on other platforms? Use the latest trends and news to reach your goals as hopping on every marketing trend will not help if it is not relevant.
Lastly, don’t forget the basics. Customers still like to read reviews, customer photos will continue to build trust and a sense of personality from your business can go a long way.
Marketing shouldn’t be scary, it should work FOR your business and not AGAINST it. If you find yourself overwhelmed or confused about what marketing strategy is right for you then look no further.
We understand the people, the resources, the processes and tools that go into making your business run smoothly and we get the struggles companies like yours experience with the heady world of marketing.
If you want help with your marketing strategy in 2023 from a marketing agency who will understand you then get in touch now to see if a New Year can mean a new start for your marketing.
Bad news first, chilly weather is here to stay for a bit, the good news is that the season of festivities is beginning. Yay! Before you don your fancy dress, we’ve got a roundup of the best marketing news and straight off-the-shelf marketing updates for you!
Not a week goes by without a change to social media or Google, it’s exhausting, we know! It is vital for your business to stay up to date though on all the latest shenanigans so that you and your business can thrive – not just survive.
First up;
Instagram Merges IGTV and Feed Videos
In early October, the Instagram account @creators announced Instagram is merging IGTV and Feed videos into a single format: Instagram Video.
Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has been hinting at a more “simplified video experience” on the platform for a while. By merging IGTV with Feed videos, Instagram has a single destination for longer form video content – providing a clearer distinction between Instagram Reels. To support this change, Instagram is introducing several new features for Instagram Video:
A new Video tab on Profile
Trimming
Ability to upload video captions
People and location tagging
60-second Feed Previews
You’ve probably already seen it by now, but the new Video tab will replace the old IGTV tab on users’ profiles, with a new “play button” icon.
CREATIVE in TiME say: Don’t know about you, but we likey the sound of this one!
Goodbye Facebook?Facebook changes name to ‘Meta’
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook is changing its name to ‘Meta’. The parent company will now be known as “Meta”, he said. It will also get a new logo, with a blue “M”.
In a presentation at the company’s annual Connect conference, Zuckerberg detailed how his company aims to build a new version of the internet, he said, “We believe the metaverse will be the successor to the mobile internet, we’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are”.
On Twitter, Meta announced, “The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection. It’s a collective project that will be created by people all over the world, and open to everyone. You’ll be able to socialize, learn, collaborate and play in ways that go beyond what’s possible today.”
The move comes after a tumultuous time for the social media giant. They’ve been battling criticisms from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic decisions and the policing of abuses on its services. Not only this, but we cannot forget about the six-hour outage, on October 4th affecting all its platforms. What a crazy month for Facebook. Wait…we mean Meta?
CREATIVE in TiME say: Things must be bad when you change one of the biggest company names in the World!
More than Half of Marketing Emails are Threatened by iOS 15
Apple’s popularity as an email service, and the company’s push into data privacy, means that advertiser’s ability to understand the performance of their email marketing campaigns is being challenged. This is according to data from email marketing company Litmus.
Apple recently launched iOS 15 and as part of this Apple says the Mail Privacy Protection feature “hides your IP address, so senders can’t link it to your other online activity or determine your location. And it prevents senders from seeing if and when you’ve opened their email”.
More than half of all emails opened are at risk – the iPhone Mail app is the market leader and is responsible for 40.3% of all email opens, with the Apple Mail app on Mac devices third (11.3%) and the iPad Mail app seventh (1.4%).
This comes at a time when email marketing has grown in importance for many brands – it can be a cost-efficient way of enhancing first-party data and can allow personalised messaging in the absence of third-party data.
CREATIVE in TiME say: Although e-mail still one of the most effective direct marketing tools out there, do we really need more challenges to getting them past the gatekeeper!? Sigh!
Facebook tests option for Cross-posting Facebook posts to Instagram
Users are currently able to cross-post their Instagram stories and posts to Facebook but in this new feature, cross-posting can flow the other way. The feature is yet to be formally announced by has begun to roll out this month to a small group of people.
Facebook has begun to interlink their multitude of apps in recent months. Allowing cross-communication between Instagram and Messenger users is one of the ways Facebook is connecting apps. By interlinking apps, they make it more difficult to fully leave Facebook.
With this new feature, users will be able to cross-post:
Up to 10 photos
Single photos
Single videos
Currently other imaging formats such as GIFs and text-only posts are not able to be cross shared. This may be in a bid to keep Instagram relevant and popular amongst young users in response to growing popularity of other social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat.
CREATIVE in TiME say: Meh. Not sure this is the best rollout idea ever. We will reserve judgment though.
Potential Google Search Algorithm Ranking Update between October 15th – October 18th
Google is known for updating its search algorithm ranking frequently and October was no exception.
A flurry of chatter in the SEO community revealed that within this timeframe, many people noticed changes in their rankings, and most were not positive. Huge ranking changes were experienced with some people revealing 20%, 30% and higher drops in their traffic and ranking for their keywords!
Did you experience a drop in your SEO within this period? Due to quiet changes in the algorithm, many businesses will feel the negative repercussions. If your SEO rankings and your traffic dropped, this may be why!
Do you even know where you can find your analytics? Have you got them but don’t know what they mean? Fear not, we are here to help. Get in touch to discuss your analytics with the experts.
CREATIVE in TiME say: Yup, some of our customers definitely felt this in the gut, some were absolutely fine. Either way we always knew what was happening because we monitor results weekly. #brushesshoulder
Bonus: Instagram Stories Link Stickers Are Now Available to Everyone!
News just in, every Instagram account will now have access to Instagram Stories Link Stickers. Yes, even those with less than 10K followers!
Instagram Stories link stickers were first introduced last month for accounts with 10K followers, replacing the “swipe up” link.
According to Instagram, “We made this decision based on feedback we heard from the community about how impactful it would be for creators and businesses of all sizes to benefit from link sharing to grow in the same way larger accounts do.”
So how do you add it?
Head to the Instagram Stories sticker tray and select the link sticker (if you don’t have access yet, sit tight. It’s coming don’t worry!)
Paste your link into the link field.
Switch the text and color by tapping on the sticker.
And hey presto! You’ve just added your first story link! You’re welcome.
CREATIVE in TiME say: We’ve been waiting on this one for a looooong time. If you’re a business, you NEED to utilise this feature!
We hope you enjoyed our monthly roundup, check back in next month for our November roundup! You can even have it delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter! Just send your email over to andrea@creativeintime.com(subject to iOS 15 🙈 of course).
Whilst you wait, does your business need a hand staying up to date? Maybe you’re struggling to keep on track with all of the new marketing changes? We’ve got your back!
Book in now for a discovery call and our marketing business can help you with all the latest strategies and changes.
Autumn has arrived, say goodbye to the long summer days and hello to crunchy leaves and woolly jumpers! Before we look ahead to Halloween (and Christmas!) we’re looking at the best marketing updates and interesting marketing news from the month of September.
As you know, social media and Google are CONSTANTLY evolving. There’s a new algorithm change every single week, and it’s important for your business to stay up to date with the latest news and updates to please each social platform and Google.
Check out our marketing business monthly roundup of the latest news and tips down below.
Instagram have Spilled Allll the Tea on Hashtags!
Just 3 months ago, the @creators account shared that their hashtag best practice is to use 8-15 relevant hashtags per post, but just yesterday, they revealed the rules have changed once again.
Instagram are now recommending just 3-5 hashtags per post in order to boost content’s discoverability. According to Instagram, using 10-20 hashtags will now NOT help in getting additional distribution.
It looks like hashtags are becoming less important in Instagram’s eyes, with more of a focus on Alt text, and keywords in posts. I mean, when was the last time you searched for a hashtag to find what you were looking for, as opposed to just searching a keyword in the search bar?
TikTok Has Reached 1 BILLION Active Users
If social media is a big part of your digital marketing, then you will likely be aware of an app called TikTok. Many people think that TikTok is an app for the younger generation and that including it in their marketing is not worthwhile, however, it is becoming an ever-growing platform for small businesses to reach customers and create sales.
Are you wondering is TikTok good for business? Keep reading and we’ll tell you why it is.
Just this week, Tiktok has reached 1 BILLION active users this week!
“More than 1 billion people around the world now come to #TikTok every month to be entertained as they learn, laugh, or discover something new!” – TikTok
The rise of TikTok is not a shocking one – the algorithm makes it easy for ANY user to go viral, even if you have little to no followers.
This month, TikTok has also revealed a partnership with Shopify and is pilot testing TikTok Shopping which will bring new features to assist businesses in creating content and make it easier for customers to buy their products.
If you are a small business with a creative streak, there is no better time than now to hop on the TikTok trend, the reach can be astounding and video is quickly becoming one of the best marketing techniques.
Google are working on Indexing Instagram & TikTok Videos
Google is seemingly working on deals with Instagram and TikTok to index their video content in search results.
Currently you are unable to use Google to search for Instagram and TikTok videos. If this deal were to occur, it could bring a large new audience to these platforms who may otherwise not use them.
This expansion could in turn bring more search queries to Google if users are aware of the larger variety in results. It could also turn Google into a port of call for both articles and videos and can bring more overall opportunities for publishers to be found.
The information has details from Google of early talks with Facebook and ByteDance who are the respective parent companies of Instagram and TikTok.
Bringing more platforms and types of media to Google searches could be an amazing opportunity for businesses and lead to new marketing opportunities, how exciting!!
LinkedIn are shutting down LinkedIn Stories.
LinkedIn have announced that they are going to be removing LinkedIn Stories by the end of September!
Liz Li, Senior Director of Product at LinkedIn had this to say on the matter: “We want to embrace mixed media and creative tools of Stories in a consistent way across our platform while working to integrate it more tightly with your professional identity.”
LinkedIn made this decision due to feedback from users. Users feedback included that they want to create longer lasting videos which could be visible for longer than 24 hours and it also became apparent that users needed some creative tools to help them tell their stories.
We look forward to seeing how LinkedIn uses this feedback to create a new and improved video feature that we can all benefit from!
Chatbots
Did you know that chatbot usage has more than doubled since 2020? A third of all marketers now use a chatbot to interact with customers.
The pandemic had an effect on the use of automated systems as it increased the requirement for online purchases.
Do you use a chatbot? More people than ever still prefer making online purchases and therefore increasing your engagement is vital. Automated systems are growing in sophistication and can aid you to provide tailored content to your consumers.
We hope that this monthly roundup will keep you up to date with all the latest marketing news and updates, check back in next month for our October roundup!
In the mean time, does your business need a hand keeping up to date? Maybe you’re struggling to keep on track with all of the new marketing changes? We’ve got your back!
