Comms & Marketing Predictions for The New Year
Wondering what to prioritize when the new year kicks off? Here are some of the best guesses for how things will shift in 2022:
Customers want more Me, Me, Me
Multiple marketers are predicting that personalization will be the key to a more successful 2022, and that’s in part because consumers are expecting more and more of it. Twilio released their 2021 report on The State of Personalization and found:
Suddenly, consumers wanted brands to remember who they were, where they came from, and what they liked, regardless of which channel they used…
While 85% of the businesses studied by Twilio Segment believe they are offering personalized experiences, only 60% of consumers seem to think that’s the case.
This doesn’t just apply to retail, either; expectations like this affect all industries, so if you’re fundraising for a non-profit and you’re not offering a more personal or even just a high-quality donation experience, you’re lagging behind. But remember that your customers and donors will feel comfortable with personalization only if they consent to it, meaning that they directly gave you their information.
Review your email sign-up forms and what information you ask for when you take someone’s money, see if you’re getting the data you need, and keep in mind the difference between making something personalized and making it personal.
Don’t be afraid to take things offline
A company’s social media channels might seem sacrosanct, but not according to Lush Cosmetics:
Lush Cosmetics announced that the brand would deactivate its Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat accounts in response to growing concerns about the mental health effects of social media. The company took the accounts offline the day after Thanksgiving, and Lush’s chief digital officer Jack Constantine says it has no plans to return them anytime soon, even if it means losing millions of dollars.
This isn’t the first time they’ve made this move to make a point, and these profiles can always be switched back on. But due to cratering trust in social media companies (in part because of the harm these channels can cause to young women and their mental health), companies and organizations (including our own clients!) are once again seriously reconsidering if they should be using Facebook and Instagram. In fact, fashion brands and influencers like Bottega Veneta and Nicolas Ghesquière have dropped them too. It’s a trend!
Okay, that’s cute. But Lush is still keeping Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube, and we have to point out that Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube in particular are also full of negative content and outright hostility, especially for women. And, of course, Lush still has their website, their email marketing, their stores, and their products on many, many, many e-commerce platforms... so losing money isn’t exactly a huge problem here. A smaller company might not be able to afford losing that income by shutting off certain platforms.
But the PR benefits of taking a stand like this aren’t to be ignored, since consumers want brands to share their values and morals. The lesson here for all of us is that, if a channel like Facebook really makes us or our audience uncomfortable or unhappy, it can and should go.
If you’re not making a real investment in content, it’s time
This isn’t a real prediction since it has always been a good idea to invest in content, but, according to Hubspot’s recent survey of 500 social media marketers, in 2022:
26% of marketers say their biggest challenge will be determining which platform(s) they should invest time and resources
24% of marketers say creating engaging content will be their biggest challenge
23% of the marketers report that finding ideas for new content is their biggest challenge
None of these challenges are new! If you haven’t been willing to put the time, money, and effort into quality content, take this as a wake up call. Where you publish that content might change, but you still need to engage your audience and build their trust through great writing, entertaining audio and video, and gorgeous visuals. The standards for this are only going up.
Need help figuring out where you should invest next year? Give us a holler!