As we move further into 2024, marketers must keep a pulse on the latest trends and innovations shaping the industry. Consumer behaviors, technologies, economic factors, and more are evolving rapidly, requiring brands to stay agile in their strategies. Let’s dive into our top digital marketing trends for 2024…
Social SEO refers to optimizing social media profiles and posts in order to expand your reach and better attract potential customers through search. The most successful social SEO strategies lean into unbranded search terms, utilize hashtags and captions, and tap influencers to support the strategy. When implemented correctly, a social SEO strategy can: improve search engine rankings; increase traffic; and drive conversions.
Over the years, TikTok has continued to evolve its content capabilities, creator resources, advertising tools and ecommerce features. Most recently, TikTok launched TikTok Shop, which allows businesses and creators to sell directly through shoppable content on the TikTok app. Users may find and directly purchase products via Lives, FY page videos, pinned content, or the new “Shop” tab. TikTok is also testing a new feature that uses technology to identify objects in a post before offering a link to “find similar items on TikTok Shop” by clicking into a page of products.
Social listening refers to monitoring and analyzing conversations happening on social media platforms to understand what people are saying about a company, brand, product, issue, or keyword. Social listening can be used for: consumer insights; trend identification; reputation monitoring; crisis management; competitive intelligence; and customer satisfaction. It’s all about monitoring conversations and crunching data to turn social conversations into meaningful insights that support an organization’s business goals.
Video still reigns supreme and there’s a time and place for both short and long-form content. In summary, short-form content tends to reach wider audiences through shares, while long-form content goes deeper on topics for a highly engaged audience. Using both allows expanding reach while showcasing in-depth knowledge. The two can work together by having long-form pieces amplified through shorter quotes, stats and snippets optimized for social media.
Short-form videos are defined as videos under 90 seconds long and are best for driving social engagement on social media apps. Short-form video is a great way to get quick information to time-sensitive audiences, and allow marketers to produce content more frequently.
On the other hand, long-form videos are over 90 seconds long and best suited for streaming platforms and social media apps that allow for longer video content, including YouTube and TikTok. Long-form videos are an effective way to showcase thought leadership, drive SEO and thoroughly educate audiences on niche topics.
In 2024, we’ll continue to shift away from third-party cookies and towards first-party data, personalization, transparency and privacy-conscious strategies. In order to be successful in the year to come, marketers will need to strengthen relationships and trust with customers, balancing the need for both personalization and privacy.
First-party data is collected by brands and includes history, website behavior, app usage, etc. This type of data leverages website analytics, purchase history, loyalty programs, email marketing, surveys, app usage data, surveys, etc. Companies typically have direct relationships with these customers, and the data tends to be accurate as it comes directly from the source.
Zero-party data is shared by customers and includes preferences, interests, beliefs, needs, habits, etc. Customers opt-in and tell brands exactly what they want or how to meet their needs, which creates a two-way dialogue between customers and brands. This type of data uses website polls/forms, social media groups, quizzes/assessments, conversational surveys, interactive content, loyalty programs, etc.
AI is officially mainstream – and it’s about time brands and marketers get on board. When combined with industry expertise and brand knowledge, AI tools can help to: optimize copy for SEO; streamline social listening strategies; suggest content iterations to improve personalization; adapt and analyze the tone of content; and predict campaign outcomes. We recommend starting slow and understanding how your audience feels about AI before fully leaning in.
Ready to leverage these trends to level up your 2024 marketing strategy? Reach out to our team of experts today!
Written By: Breann Antokal, Associate Director of Business Development