Top 2023 Digital Marketing Trends Every Business Should Know

If you have already started your 2023 digital marketing plan, you may want to consider adding additional channels, or maybe you need some help planning digital content, or just haven’t gotten around to expanding your social media efforts.

Whatever the case, time moves much more quickly in digital marketing, and the time is now to plan your strategy for increasing sales, improving your customer or client base, and capturing all of the newest trends that will be dominating the digital marketing landscape in 2023. Here are a few predictions for next year, so you can start preparing now if you haven’t already!

Just in the last year, Google has overhauled its Analytics platform. In 2022, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) began replacing Google’s flagship Analytics platform. GA4 uses advanced machine learning in a full digital ecosystem to understand consumer behaviors while providing feedback to advertisers on their ad audience’s experience. The new GA4 follows several other AI improvements at Google, including a new format for broad match keywords, and an all-in-one solution for Shopping ads called Performance Max, which aims to use machine learning to deliver the best performance of ads for businesses with hundreds, and even thousands, of product listings. 

If you’ve ever worked with digital marketing professionals or agencies, you’ve undoubtedly heard the word “algorithm” at least a dozen times. Algorithms determine the Google or Bing search results you see when you type something into the search bar. Algorithms organize the social media posts you engage with, and most important of all; algorithms determine the advertisements and often the media pieces you see on a regular basis. The goal of this new advanced AI is to make marketing smarter while removing the guesswork from the advertiser, and connecting consumers to the exact right products and messages that would compel them to immediately contact a business or complete a purchase. 

The bottom line: Machine learning and AI are tools every business currently leveraging digital marketing should be familiar with. This allows you to cater your campaigns, ad copy, and core messaging with the knowledge that machines and algorithms are going to carry that message to a more targeted audience than ever before. 

In modern marketing, the term “employee advocacy” has two definitions:

• The youngest generation knows its worth and expects to receive a competitive salary and benefits
• Employers that treat their employees well will turn those employees into brand advocates and beacons of trust for new customers

What this means as a trend: Global giants like Starbucks and Nike have been hyper-focused on changing and improving their employees’ experience over the last few years, and plans will continue in 2023. 

A recent study from PWC shows that 46% of consumers will abandon a brand if its employees are not knowledgeable, and a bad employee attitude is the number one factor that stops individuals from doing business with a company. 

Millions of dollars are spent each year by large corporations attempting to keep their employees happy with perks, research, and poll-taking. Now is the time to dive into platforms like Glassdoor and LinkedIn to understand employee sentiment and the trends associated with white-collar workers. Speaking of LinkedIn…

According to Insider Intelligence, LinkedIn will capture nearly 25% of US B2B ad spending by 2024. The largest underlying factor in this rapid growth is the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 shifting the way many businesses interact. At the time, business interactions were 100% virtual, and many businesses then adapted to the new format and decided to keep it. Indeed, the coronavirus crisis may have changed the way businesses interact in the digital space for the foreseeable future. 

Millions of employees have shifted jobs and careers since 2020, causing a massive boom in the use of LinkedIn, and the platform remains the most viable way for B2B businesses to reach employees, potential clients, and partners, and to gather an audience for events, trade shows, and services. Fuze7 strongly suggests that B2B clients build LinkedIn into their immediate plans strategically. 

The battle for short video supremacy has been raging between Facebook and Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube for months, and will only get the ratchet treatment in 2023. Facebook and Instagram began paying influencers to create Reels and Stories after rolling out the Meta Content Creator Bonuses program in 2022. 

Data coming out of YouTube shows a major split in the types of video content that consumers interact with. According to Statista, more than 70% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile devices. Cellphones play nicest with vertical video formats and in short increments, allowing the video footage to buffer much more quickly. Additionally, the newest generations consuming this content are exhibiting shorter and shorter attention spans when it comes to video stimulation and brand messaging. With the rapid rise of TikTok, other social channels are attempting to stay relevant by competing in the short-form video format.

What does this mean for your content efforts? Focus on filling Reels, Stories, and TikTok with shorter brand messages that include elements of comedy and timeliness. Ask Fuze7 how we plan this content by contacting us today!

A threshold exists for the effectiveness of influencer marketing. The threshold is not a predetermined dollar figure, but there is most definitely a point where advertising on traditional channels is less-effective for small businesses than paying an influencer to promote a product or service to their much larger, custom-catered audience. In 2023, large corporations are predicted to use influencers less and less, while the opposite is true for small and local businesses. Small businesses looking to grow a dedicated audience and increase brand awareness should strongly consider using an influencer to get their message out.

Social media and Google Ads should still be implemented, but save room in your liquid marketing budget for what we refer to as micro influencers that will carry your message to a more focused- and affordable- audience in the short term. 

Need a comprehensive strategy for leveraging digital marketing trends in 2023? Drop an email to info@fuze7.com or give us a call at (503) 830-0355.